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 …

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 …