Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash has denied that allegations one of her staff members had sexually assaulted another would have been “politically embarrassing” while giving evidence in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann today. Mr Lehrmann is accused of raping Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House after a drunken night out with colleagues. He has pleaded not guilty. Ms Higgins worked for Senator Cash from …

The police officer son of former NSW premier and federal senator Kristina Keneally has been charged with fabricating evidence. Constable Daniel Keneally, 24, was investigated by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) earlier this year, over an incident on February 24 last year. He has now been charged with one offence of fabricating false evidence with the intent to mislead …

Syrian authorities fear the 77 asylum seekers known to have drowned en route to Europe may represent only half of the doomed vessel’s human cargo. The boat, packed with Lebanese fleeing the chaos of their ravaged and divided Mideast nation, went down off the Syrian coast earlier this week. The mass tragedy was deadliest so far as surging numbers of …

A teenage boy has been sentenced to at least two months in custody for raping a fellow student from a Blue Mountains high school during a house party. The girl’s family is now receiving advice about taking legal action against the NSW Department of Education and the school, their lawyer revealed outside Parramatta Children’s Court. The boy was 16 when …

Police have named two Saudi Arabian sisters found dead in a unit in Sydney’s south-west last month, as the mystery over their “unusual” deaths continues. Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead in separate beds at their Canterbury unit during a welfare check at 9.30am on Tuesday, June 7. Police said the women, who arrived in …

Some 36 years after he was sexually abused by one of his high school teachers, Sam Leishman stood up in a courtroom and read a statement, detailing the impact it had had on him. CONTENT WARNING: This story contains details that may cause distress.  It was a turning point for him. No longer was he a terrified young boy who did …

A Tasmanian councillor has been fined $800 for flashing his penis three times at a Crown prosecutor and her son on a beach in the state’s north-west. Councillor Darren Fairbrother, who has served on the Waratah-Wynyard council since 1996, was found guilty last month on a charge of prohibited behaviour. In delivering her sentence, magistrate Teresa Anderson said the offending was …

Los Angeles police were ready to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage, an Oscars producer said. Will Packer said the Los Angeles Police department was ready to “go get him” in an interview to “Good Morning America.” “They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment,” …

Four people – all believed to be young women – have been killed after a car collided with a truck near Stanthorpe in southern Queensland. They were all travelling in a vehicle that collided with a semi-trailer at a New England Highway intersection in the Southern Downs at about 5.30pm on Wednesday. The women reportedly died on impact. The truck …

Four people have been taken to hospital after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s security detail was involved in a serious car accident on the campaign trail in Tasmania. A vehicle carrying two federal police and two Tasmanian police officers was following Mr Morrison’s car when it rolled near Elizabeth Town in the state’s north on Thursday afternoon. In a statement, the …