Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds is pursuing defamation action against Brittany Higgins’ partner David Sharaz. In a writ lodged with the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the local senator claimed Mr Sharaz falsely defamed her via two tweets posted in 2022. Ms Higgins alleged she was raped in 2019 by Bruce Lehrmann inside Senator Reynolds’ ministerial office, for whom they both worked …

Four people have been confirmed as dead among 13 injured – three critically –  after two helicopters collided before one crashed into the Broadwater on the Gold Coast. One chopper ended up upside down on a sandbar at the water’s edge with debris strewn around the area after the crash about 2pm on Monday near the Sea World theme park …

An Adelaide man has taken to social media to describe a disastrous experience with scammers on New Year’s Eve, saying he and more than 100 other revellers were conned by a fake yacht party. TikTok user Jayden Clark said he paid more than $100 for a ticket for a boat party which was supposed to be picking up a large group of people at Glenelg shortly …

Controversial property developer Jean Nassif has been suspended from holding a building licence in NSW for 10 years, while the building licence of his company, Toplace, has been permanently revoked. The NSW Department of Fair Trading imposed the bans, which will come into effect next week, after an investigation. The investigation found more than 40 defects in residential developments constructed by …

Medibank has warned more customer data stolen by hackers, including passport numbers, will be uploaded to the dark web after the first files were dropped overnight. The data trickle includes names, birthdates, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, health claims information, Medicare numbers for Medibank’s ahm customers and passport numbers for international student clients. The leak comes after Medibank clients spoke out …

Queensland police have charged a 31-year-old man with manslaughter over the sudden death of an 11-year-old boy who was bitten by a snake. The man allegedly failed to seek medical attention after the boy reported being bitten at a property at Murgon in Queensland’s South Burnett region on November 21 last year. Police say the man and the boy were …

A judge has called for the media to fall silent and ensure a fair trial for the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins in Parliament House. Bruce Lehrmann will face a new trial in the ACT Supreme Court after juror misconduct caused a mistrial. A trial date has been set for February 2023. Mr Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to the …

The first group of Australian women and children held in a detention camp in north-east Syria since the fall of the Islamic State (IS) group in 2019 is en route to Sydney. The ABC can reveal four women and 13 children were taken from the camp on Thursday afternoon and made the 30 kilometre trip to the Iraq border before boarding a …

Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has resigned as the party’s deputy leader in the Senate. The ABC revealed earlier today that Senator Thorpe “briefly dated” the ex-president of the Victorian Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang, Dean Martin, while sitting on a parliamentary law enforcement committee. Senator Thorpe acknowledged she did not disclose the relationship to Mr Bandt. Within an hour of the ABC’s report, …

The jury continues to deliberate in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, the man accused of raping his former colleague Brittany Higgins in 2019. Mr Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty and has said no sexual activity occurred. The jury today began its first full day of deliberations after retiring on Wednesday afternoon. This week lawyers finished giving their closing submissions in …