It’s been third time’s a charm for Sydney artist Tony Costa who has won the 2019 Archibald Prize for his portrait of painter Lindy Lee. Costa has been announced the winner of the prestigious prize at the Art Gallery of NSW and takes home $100,000 prize money. “I’m absolutely overwhelmed, honoured and thrilled,” Costa said in a statement. “I am …

Australia reached their first Fed Cup final for 26 years with a 3-2 win over Belarus in Brisbane. Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur beat Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 3-6 6-2 in the deciding doubles tie to seal victory. Barty also won both her singles matches, while US Open champion Stosur lost twice. In November’s final, Australia will host …

A woman has received 28 demerit points — enough to have a driver’s licence suspended twice over — after a single police stop on the NSW Central Coast at the weekend. NSW Police said they pulled over the 24-year-old on the Pacific Highway at Ourimbah yesterday afternoon after noticing she was using her mobile phone behind the wheel. While they …

Scott Morrison has crossed paths with Tony Abbott away from the official election campaign trail at a Good Friday church service, telling the former prime minister he’d be on the hustings in Warringah “soon”. The Prime Minister, who was with his wife Jenny Morrison, read a traditional Good Friday reading from the Book of Isaiah at the St Charbel’s liturgy …

Popular Australian actor Lincoln Lewis has issued a warning on the perils of social media after he was inadvertently embroiled in a malicious catfishing scam, which destroyed the lives of two young women. Melbourne woman Lydia Abdelmalek created fake accounts of celebrities, including the former Home and Away star, and used them to lure the women into destructive online relationships. …

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has called for regulators and governments to play a “more active role” in establishing rules that govern the internet. Mr Zuckerberg, whose company is under pressure for failing to adequately police hate speech and protect user privacy on its platform, wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post that a “standardised approach” …

As-salamu alaykum We’ve all been shocked by the terrorist attack in Christchurch, we’ve all been devastated by the terrible loss of life. Innocent worshippers in their mosque, at prayer. People at their most humble and vulnerable, gunned down in an act of hate-filled terror. This was an attack on the Muslim faith and it was an attack on all people …

Audit office’s damning review finds home affairs department working in neither a time-efficient nor resource-efficient manner The Department of Home Affairs dropped its target of processing 80% of citizenship applications within 80 days after it got through just 15% last financial year, an efficiency review has found. Of the 15%, nearly all were deemed to be “invalid for processing”, while …

The Matildas have claimed the Cup of Nations with a 3-0 win against Argentina sparked, once again, by captain Sam Kerr. The Australian skipper rose bravely and superbly to give her side a lead with a header after less than four minutes, ensuring a Matildas’ win was never in doubt on Wednesday night at Melbourne’s AAMI Park. Alanna Kennedy doubled …

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has picked a fight with some of Sydney’s most prominent figures as he attempts to revive his signature election issue. Mr Daley said he did not care if he made “powerful enemies” as he told broadcaster Alan Jones that he would sack the powerful Sydney Cricket Ground Trust’s board if elected. In a fiery exchange …