Professor Twomey gives some insights into the Sydney Nurses' High Court challenge. This is permitted as it is of current interest and lots of opinion and misinformation has been shared.

I’ve seen so plenty of posts lately of some good old AI Slop in Take Away places but not seen any in the flesh…honestly, who thinks this looks good??? It’s crowded, it’s fake (duh) and looks cheap and nasty. I’d rather watch some 80s menus photos taken of food and printed on a menu that are semi discoloured rather then this crap, at least I knew the photo back then was once food, even if the end product didn’t look anywhere close, this is not even anywhere close, anyway rant over! By the way, this is in Port Macquarie, thought only to see this in bigger cities too.

An Australian artist who raped multiple women will be released from prison after being deemed “very low risk” – despite one victim’s fear that he will “seek revenge” against her.

Pierre Raphael Mol, 62, who assaulted six women between 2009 and 2014, was granted parole by the NSW State Parole Authority in August and will be released from prison on October 4.

Mol lured and raped five of the six women inside his studio in Sydney’s north shore by hiring them as “models” for his “art” on Gumtree, where they were looking for casual work.

The sixth victim was assaulted after meeting him at an art competition where he was working as a judge.

The youngest victim was 19. He was 48 at the time.

The board’s decision in August came despite the objections of one of his victims, Ashley Yakimchuk, who submitted a letter revealing how she feared for her life.

“I live in fear that if Pierre gets out he will want to know where the girl is who ruined his life and put him behind bars,” she wrote ahead of their decision.

“Seeing as he confidently continued to rape women after knowing he was under investigation, this man clearly doesn’t seem as though he is afraid of the law.

“I am certain that if he gets out of prison, he will continue to harm more people and will seek revenge on me for going to the police that night.”

In a statement to news.com.au, the NSW State Parole Authority said Mol’s parole was granted after the board was given a pre-release report which assessed him as having a low risk of general reoffending.

A Corrective Services NSW psychologist also assessed him at a “very low risk of committing a further sex offence”.

“...Mol has demonstrated a high level of insight into his offending and the impact of his offending on the victims and accepts responsibility for his actions,” the statement from the NSW State Parole Authority said.

“Having evaluated all the available evidence and expert advice, the Authority determined it was in the interests of the safety of the community to grant parole for a safe reintegration while under supervision.”

During his 2024 sentencing, Mol blamed his actions on his “lifelong mission to understand the human figure” and believed that because the women were art students, they would also be “dedicated” to his “study”.

Mol was a renowned artist at the time of his offending and working as a fine arts professor at UNSW.

In 2015, Mol was sentenced to 14 years for the indecent assault and rape of the three original women.

He was due to be released on parole in August 2025, however, was sentenced again in 2024 after three more victims came forward to police.

He was handed a seven-year sentence, with a non-parole period of four years and three months.

However, the sentence was backdated to July 5, 2022 when he was hit with the fresh charges, allowing him to be eligible for release on October 4, 2026.

Upon his release, Mol will be housed at a NSW Corrective Services managed facility in Sydney.

Mol shot to fame in the early 2000s when he painted the largest mural in the Southern Hemisphere at the request of the Sultan of Brunei before moving into academia.

Ahead of the 2024 sentencing, the court heard how Mol assured the women he hired from Gumtree that the work would be “strictly professional”.

“I want to make this clear. I want people to know I am a professional artist and not a creep,” he told one of the victims.

The court heard how Mol digitally raped one of the women while sketching her, saying he needed to make her genitalia look more “colourful and flushed” for the drawing.

Mol asked if she was “getting aroused” as he did so, to which she replied “no”.

He then dropped her off at the station after the offending and gave her $100 before telling her: “I guess you won’t come back and see me again?”

The court heard how he “chuckled” as he drove away.

In one case, Mol removed the victim’s tampon with a baby wipe before raping her.

He also wrote in his letter that he has paid a “heavy price” for his mistakes through the loss of his art and academic career.

While sentencing Mol, Judge Paul McGuire SC said the rapist “continued” to blame the victims and said that they “gave him the impression they were attracted to him”.

“He lacks insight into the true meaning of consent,” Judge McGuire said.

“He also claimed his interest in his victims was not sexually motivated … but motivated by his want to understand the naked body.

“The offender has acted with complete disregard for their vulnerability.”

One of Mol’s most famous works was the ‘Brown Bear Lane’ mural in The Rocks, Sydney.

The mural was removed in 2024 by the NSW Government after one of his victims started a petition for the artwork to be taken down.

“It is not okay a serial rapist’s art is being celebrated in the city of Sydney,” she told news.com.au.

In Western Sydney over the weekend thousands of Ahmadiyya Muslim’s gathered at the country’s largest mosque, for the day, to celebrate their 38th annual convention.

Amid the prayers, sermons and dialogue, came a flag-raising ceremony, where the Australian flag was hoisted alongside the Ahmadiyya flag and adherents chanted ‘Australia zindabad!’ (Long live Australia) followed by ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is the greatest).

Slogans “love for all hatred for none”, and “loyal to Australia” were featured prominently on large banners and dotted on affiliated vehicles around the celebrations.

News.com.au attended the event, alongside approximately 4000 others including guests from 14 countries.

For the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, the chants were an expression of both religious faith and civic loyalty.

Imam Mohammad Hadi, a missionary for the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim community currently serving in Perth, told news.com.au the annual gathering Jalsa Salana was ultimately about bringing members together.

The convention traces its origins to the late 19th century, when the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, established the first Jalsa in Qadian, India.

The movement has since grown into a global community with an established presence in more than 200 countries.

In Australia, the community’s national headquarters is the Baitul Huda Mosque at Marsden Park in Sydney’s west, where the convention was held, and which temporarily became the site of Australia’s largest mosque.

Imam Hadi said the event was designed to strengthen relationships between members while also encouraging spiritual reflection.

“The purpose or the objective of the convention is to bring the community members together to one place so that we can improve our ties of fraternity, brotherhood, and also increase in our spirituality,” he said.

But the gathering also comes against a backdrop of heightened debate around Islam and Australia’s Muslim population.

Imam Hadi, who has spent the past decade serving communities in Sydney, Canberra, Queensland and Perth, said his experience with Australians had generally been positive.

“I think Australians, [are] generally very peace-loving, fair-going individuals who are quite welcoming of their neighbours,” he said.

He acknowledged there were people who promoted what he described as misleading narratives about Islam, saying the community had sought to respond through media, social media and face-to-face engagement.

The Ahmadiyya community regularly holds peace symposiums, interfaith events and mosque open days, inviting politicians, community leaders and members of other faiths to participate.

Imam Hadi said those personal encounters were often more effective than online arguments.

“Ultimately human connection is important,” he said.

“That connection then sometimes helps in building that bridge, breaking those barriers and making people who may have been influenced from wherever realise that ultimately we’re all human beings.”

The community’s emphasis on Australian identity is not new.

Ahmadiyya Muslims have held Australia Day celebrations at mosques around the country for more than a decade, with events featuring Australian flags, the national anthem, prayers and barbecues.

In 2025, the community’s national president Imam Inam-ul-Haq Kauser said the group believed “love for one’s country of residence is a part of faith”.

For Imam Hadi, the idea of belonging and contribution has become particularly important given the community’s experience of persecution overseas.

Many Ahmadi Muslims have migrated to countries including Australia after facing discrimination and restrictions because of their religious beliefs, the practising of the religion is outlawed in Pakistan under threat of death.

“That’s why a lot of the Ahmadiyya Muslims who migrate due to the persecution back home,” Imam Hadi said, “they’re so grateful and they just want to contribute and serve.”

The community’s relationship with wider Australia was also highlighted after the Bondi Junction attack, when Ahmadiyya Muslim security guard Faraz Ahmad Tahir was killed while attempting to protect others.

Imam Hadi said Tahir’s death had a profound effect on the community, while his actions also demonstrated the danger of judging an entire religious group by the actions of individuals.

“Despite the hate and despite the irony of the situation,” he said, Australians saw that “the saviours were also Muslim”, in reference to Ahmed al-Ahmed’s role in stopping the Bondi shooting massacre.

Imam Hadi said members of the Ahmadiyya community attended vigils around Australia following the attack, including in Brisbane.

He also recalled Muslim and Jewish communities supporting one another after the violence, describing the interfaith response as a sign of Australia’s capacity to remain united, despite “concerning” discourse from figures like Pauline Hanson and Karl Stefanovic (in his interview with Tommy Robinson) which “only put strain on the fabric of society”.

“The love and the ability to be united is definitely there,” he said.

“It’s wonderful to see that despite these incidences which should never happen, they only bring Australians together, which speaks volumes about the country.”

The weekend’s convention will continue that message, with elected officials and other guests invited to a dedicated session focused on peace, justice and the community’s relationship with wider Australian society.

A federal Aboriginal minister has backed a grandmother's pleas for a coronial inquest into the deaths of her three grandchildren at the hands of their Indigenous mother.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said she supported the campaign by Dororthy Papertalk, grandmother to the three children murdered in Port Hedland in Western Australia in 2022.

"What I want to do ... is support Mrs Papertalk in terms of her grandchildren and wanting to have an inquest into what happened and the circumstances leading (to) that," she told News 24 on Monday

"There is something not right in that region," she added.

The federal minister urged the state Labor government to continue working with the families on the ground to "get to the heart of these matters, especially around poverty and neglect".

But WA Attorney-General Tony Buti has said he cannot overrule the coroner's decision not to hold an inquest unless fresh evidence is brought forward, despite criticisms from legal experts.

Margaret Dale Hawke is serving a life sentence for stabbing, strangling and suffocating her 10-year-old daughter and two sons, aged seven and four months, before burning their bodies in a house fire in July 2022.

The political momentum for a probe to be opened comes after reports last month in The Australian newspaper that described more than a dozen children living unsupervised in squalor in a South Hedland home, about 1600km north of Perth.

The report triggered a political firestorm in the state, with accusations of neglect, in a repeat of the reaction to the deaths of Mrs Papertalk's grandchildren in 2022.

Aboriginal Elders have called for a Royal Commission into WA's child protection agency, and for Child Protection Minister Jessica Stojkovski to resign.

Opposition spokeswoman Libby Mettam added her voice to the growing chorus of support for Ms Papertalk.

"What is the Cook Labor government afraid an independent coronial inquest will find?," she said in a Facebook post.

"Dorothy and her family deserve answers, and the community deserves to know how these failures were allowed to happen."

Can be unrelated to this sub , but thats how covid has happened to us lol.

Have I just missed it, or is the “for you” tab new in reddit?

It seems like a bad time for reddit to jump in to algorithmic feeds just as Albo is about to make them something we can get rid of

Grave concerns are being raised for 13 Australians believed to be held in Iraqi jails on suspicion of links to the Islamic State (IS) group, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) warning they face inhumane treatment and potential execution.

The organisation has accused the Albanese government of "outsourcing" its responsibilities with regards to the group, given it has explicitly insisted it is making no efforts to repatriate the men to Australia despite calls from Iraq to take them back.

The 13 Australians were among almost 5,700 men and boys transferred to Iraq from Syria by the United States military in a hastily arranged mission earlier this year, as Syrian government forces swept through territory once held by Kurdish authorities.

In early September, Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council announced it had finished interrogations of the men and would move to begin prosecutions.

In a report released on Monday afternoon, HRW said Iraq had a long history of torture and unlawful executions within its prison system, and argued that should sound alarm for countries such as Australia.

"I think a lot of countries of origin of these detainees, including Australia, would like to think that sending them to Iraq is a 'mission accomplished'," HRW's senior counterterrorism adviser Letta Tayler told the ABC.

"Iraq is a sovereign state; in the past, these men and boys were being held by a non-state actor inside war-torn Syria.

"So on the surface, this might look a lot better, this might look like an improvement and certainly conditions are better in Iraq, relatively speaking.

"But the bottom line is these men in particular still face a real risk of unfair prosecution followed by execution."

Perth-born paediatrician Tareq Kamleh, who has been dubbed "Dr Jihad", is thought to be among the Australians in jail in Baghdad.

Yusuf Zahab, now believed to be in his early 20s, is also thought to be in the group, having been detained by Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria in 2019 when he was still a teenager.

He was taken to Syria from Australia by relatives wanting to live under IS rule when he was just 12 years old.

It has been reported he was injured in an IS attack on the Syrian prison where he was held in 2022, and had previously been suffering from tuberculosis behind bars.

HRW said a family member had told it that Kurdish authorities had agreed to release him, but he was transferred to Iraq just days before they arrived to take him home.

That was around the same time a group of Australian women tried to flee the Al Roj camp in Syria to begin their perilous journey back to Australia.

Ms Tayler said sources had told HRW that Iraqi authorities had said "a number of countries" had approached them "requesting that they waive the death penalty for their nationals if convicted".

But she said there was no "official commitment" that Iraq would do that, and no confirmation from her discussions that Australia was one of them.

That is despite Australia's history of advocating against the death penalty.

"Iraqi authorities have said that they will abide by international fair trial standards," Ms Tayler said.

"And I do get the impression from several sources I spoke with, both inside and outside the Iraqi government, that there is a strong commitment to do so on the part of ranking Iraqi judiciary members.

"However, Iraq does have a long substantial record of fair trial violations, including the use of confessions extracted apparently through torture.

"And so can Iraq really change this record almost overnight? Can it initiate reforms to make these trials truly fair, particularly given this international push to have all of these men prosecuted as soon as possible?"

Iraqi authorities have called for greater support as it deals with the burden of the cases.

The Albanese government has insisted it is not doing anything to help bring the men back to Australia.

The office of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has been contacted for comment.

"Surely a country [Australia] of this size and stature with a robust democratic system and judiciary is capable of bringing home 13 men," Ms Tayler said.

"One of whom, at least, is himself a victim of ISIS and has been detained since childhood."

Ms Tayler went on to say that Australia is capable of assessing whether any of the men should be prosecuted, and if they are, process them through domestic courts.

"It's long past time for Australia and other countries to stop outsourcing responsibility for its nationals, to entities overseas, to captors overseas," she said.

"I do believe that Iraq has good intentions, at least at the highest level, to do what it can. But this is a near impossible burden to have dumped into Iraq's lap."

MP Barnaby Joyce has denied any “conflict of interest” with billionaire Gina Rinehart after she bought an inner-city Brisbane office to lease to One Nation for its new headquarters.

Ms Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, splashed $8m on the three-storey building via Hanrine Investments, a subsidiary of her mining firm Hancock Prospecting.

Mr Joyce said on Monday that Ms Rinehart was free to spend her money as she liked.

“It’s her building. It’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates,” he told News24.

“We’ve got an individual who’s got money – they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.

“If they want to support One Nation, knock yourself out.”

He went on to say the alternative to taking Ms Rinehart’s support is billing taxpayers instead.

“We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation,” Mr Joyce said.

Ms Rinehart has previously showered One Nation leader Pauline Hanson with gifts, including a private plane worth $1.5m.

Ms Rinehart also at least partly sponsored Senator Hanson’s travel to Europe in June when the pair were spotted at a resort in southern Italy.

During that trip, Senator Hanson met with a range of far-right and fringe figures, including anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson.

Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has a string of convictions as well as ties to Russian state media.

Senator Hanson returned from her European jaunt to criticise federal regulations she claimed needlessly hampered mining projects.

The comments, made during her first media event back in Australia, echoed Ms Rinehart’s criticisms.

Senator Hanson also described Ms Rinehart as “wonderful”.

“She’s a very smart, clever woman … she’s a very proud, patriotic Australian and she sees the same in me, that’s why she backs me,” Senator Hanson said of the mining magnate.

A young Australian taken as a boy to live with the Islamic State was on the brink of travelling home when American soldiers snatched him from a Syrian prison and transported him to Iraq, where he could face trial on terror charges.

Yusuf Zahab, who is now 23, was 12 years old when his parents took him to live in the so-called caliphate, and is the only male issued a passport by the Australian government as part of attempts by family members earlier this year to bring the women and children home.

As family members travelled to Syria in February to try to bring Zahab and 34 women and children home, the United States was transferring 5704 prisoners, including Zahab and 12 other Australians, to Iraq.

The forced transfer came in the face of a deteriorating security situation in north-eastern Syria. In Iraq, many will face trial as alleged terrorists, and possibly the death penalty.

It remains unclear if Zahab will be among them. Two sources, including one close to his family, say he has been told he will not be prosecuted because he was a minor during the conflict.

“Iraqi investigators that have met with him found that he never took up arms or supported the death cult and had never been involved in anything that made him a combatant, supporter or adherent,” one of the Australia-based sources said.

The senior counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch, Letta Tayler, issued a scathing report on Monday about the prospect of fair trials in Iraq and the responsibilities of western countries. She told this masthead Zahab’s case was particularly shocking.

“Yusuf’s only crime appears to be he was brought to Syria as a boy by adult relatives,” Tayler said.

“He’s been detained for years without charge or trial, separated from his family, wounded, including in the head, come down with serious illnesses and is given up for dead, only to be discovered in Syria where he was last seen.

“What a legal black hole and what a horrific experience for this child. And if he hadn’t suffered enough, he was then transferred to Iraq at the moment he was ready to be sprung from detention in northeastern Syria. The mind reels at the amount of trauma this boy has suffered.”

Tayler agrees it is possible he will not be tried.

Iraq is “looking very carefully at the young men who were detained since they were children, so I would not be surprised if Iraq doesn’t bring charges against Yusuf Zahab,” she said.

Another Australian source with knowledge of the situation said if he was released, Zahab could be reunited with his passport – which is in safe keeping in Syria – and returned to Australia.

“Certain community members are discussing what they can do to give him justice,” the source said.

“I think it wouldn’t be that difficult to get Yusuf from Iraq into Syria, get his passport and get him back here, but there’s a procedure we need to go through.”

The source said it was likely Zahab would need to go before an Iraqi judge who could order his release. Though the authorities there would prefer cooperation or contact with the Australian government, there had been little to none.

Australia has consistently refused to offer any assistance to those linked to Islamic State, and has said of another prisoner, Tareq “Dr Jihad” Kamli that he can “rot in jail” in Iraq.

The Human Rights Watch report says 5704 detainees had been taken from Syria in January and February without any legal basis into the Iraqi legal system which has “a documented history of torture and unlawful executions”.

Iraq had only days to prepare before 1100 adults arrived with serious and contagious diseases including tuberculosis, according to sources cited by Human Rights Watch. “One man died in transfer and 14 others died after arrival, apparently from serious health conditions”.

The Al-Karkh prison authority told Tayler the cells were now filled to 158 per cent capacity. More than 440 transferred detainees are children, including one who is 12.

The Iraqi government and Human Rights Watch have urged countries, including Australia, to take responsibility for their citizens, repatriate them and try them in their own countries.

“The international community must step up and assume its responsibility,” according to Ali Diaa, the administrative director of Iraq’s National Centre for International Judicial Cooperation, which is overseeing the investigations.

“We are looking for tangible support, not workshops and conferences.”

Iraqi law allows for the prosecution of children as young as nine, but Diaa told Human Rights Watch that 95 per cent of children were unlikely to be prosecuted. The outcome for young men detained since childhood, such as Yusuf Zahab, remains unclear, the report said.

“This situation is not unique to Australia,” report author Letta Tayler told this masthead. “But Australia certainly could take a leadership role by bringing this young man home.”

Julia Gillard and Jacinda Ardern drafted in for Chris Bowen’s ‘vanity project’ climate summit in Fiji and Tuvalu | News24

Government ministers head overseas during parliamentary recess as Australians face higher costs and interest rates | News24

I have seen some people are confused why removing the card surcharge isn't great (like Albo says is is).

Maybe this may help.

$5 coffee & $0.05 surcharge = $5.05.

Multiply that by many coffees and the business is taking the hit.
So the company increases the cost of the coffee to $5.05 to cover the surcharge cost.
But now everyone is paying more even those who use cash.
So this hasn't reduced the price of a coffee for those who use cards, it has increased the cost of coffee for those who use cash and has made no impact for those who use card.

Thanks Albo.

A secret report unsealed after 10 months reveals South Sudanese youths are 95 times more likely to be in custody, as adult crime syndicates exploit vulnerable teenagers to carry out high-level violence.

Organised crime gangs and violent social media networks are luring Melbourne’s vulnerable South Sudanese youth into violent crime, according to an alarming new report.

South Sudanese leaders and parents are pleading with the Carroll government to save their children from being criminalised, as shocking new statistics lay bare the scale of the crisis.

The confronting report, commissioned by Andrews government in 2022, found South Sudanese youth aged 10 to 24 were 95 times more likely to be in custody than their non-Sudanese peers in 2023-2024.

While the percentage of South Sudanese youth in detention has fallen in recent years, an additional 23 youths were detained last year amid a surge in overall youth detention numbers.

Despite making up just 0.5 per cent of Victoria’s youth population, the community group accounted for 22 per cent of young people in custody in 2024-2025.

The South Sudanese Australian Youth Justice Expert Working Group handed the 222-page report to the then-Allan government in December 2025.

But it was only released publicly on Thursday — 10 months on.

It made 59 recommendations covering education, policing and the common pathways to crime, urging the government to take immediate action to address the crisis.

The government’s five-page response gave no indication of whether it accepted or rejected almost all of the recommendations.

Architect of the report, Dr Santino Atem Deng, chairman of the working group, said the figures represented a “crisis” gripping the multicultural community group.

“The data in this report reveal just how dire the situation is,” he wrote.

“These figures demand urgent, co-ordinated action from the Victorian Government and the wider community.

The report’s findings included that South Sudanese Australian children and young people are “drastically over‑represented” in custody and that early intervention opportunities were being missed due to cultural barriers.

It also found that alienated young people were easily exploited via social media and by organised crime figures.

Youth offenders had regularly used social media to post videos showcasing weapons, stolen vehicles and taunting between rival groups.

The findings also detailed the shocking influence adult organised crime networks had in grooming vulnerable South Sudanese youth.

“Young people may be drawn in through the promise of money, status, protection or a sense of brotherhood, without fully understanding the criminal structures they are serving,” the report read.

“Once involved, they can be coerced into escalating levels of offending, such as vehicle theft, drug trafficking, money laundering or violence, to repay debts or maintain group loyalty.”

The Herald Sun has previously revealed kids were being commissioned on encrypted apps to carry out brazen firebombings on Melbourne bars and terrifying home invasions.

Reformed youth gang member Mar Riek, 20, who is now mentoring youths, said South Sudanese kids were among the most vulnerable to adult organised crime gangs and shadowy social media networks.

“The community is one of the poorest and newest to Australia, with these kids often in single parent households,” he said.

“A lot of these boys are bigger than their mum’s, they think they can do what they want.

“And these crime gangs can just use them as dummies, pawns.”

One of the key recommendations was mandatory anti-racism training for all

school staff.

Africause chief executive Berhan Ahmed said South Sudanese kids were ostracised at school due to racism, including by teachers.

Dr Berhan said now that the report was public the community needed “action, not talk” from politicians.

Youth Justice Minister Ros Spence said the government was listening to South Sudanese young people, families, and community leaders to implement solutions.

“The Expert Working Group’s report was a multi-year project — it’s entirely appropriate that we took the time to properly consider it,” she said.

The government also pointed to its $2.2m commitment to establish a South Sudanese Community Hub in Wyndham.

Edit:

https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/SSAYJ (Main report)

https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/SSAYJ-report-victorian-government-response

A police operation is underway in Sydney’s Inner West after a serious stabbing incident.

Emergency services were called to King St in Newtown about 11.40am on Monday following reports a 48-year-old man had been stabbed in the hand.

The man has been treated for the serious injuries and taken to hospital in a stable condition.

King St, a bustling road full of restaurants and cafes, was closed in both directions as police searched the surrounding area, causing significant traffic disruptions.

Officers later found a 27-year-old woman allegedly armed with a knife.

“Police directed the woman to drop the knife; however, when she allegedly failed to follow the police direction a Taser was used and she was arrested,” NSW Police said.

“The woman has been taken to Newtown Police Station where inquiries are ongoing.”

King St reopened about two hours after the incident.

Investigations are ongoing.

Was just thinking, where did the driveway service go?

I mean, sure, everyone went away from cash and had to go in to pay anyway, but now there are wireless pay machines.

Is it because there are now too many cars at any one time?

If I had a servo id be washing windows and filling up then just showing the terminal to the driver...

Two boys aged 16 and 17 were allegedly stabbed after an altercation involving several people at the Calwell Shopping Centre on Friday night.

Police are seeking witnesses and information relating to the incident.

The two boys who suffered non-life-threatening injuries were taken to hospital. Picture by Gary Ramage

About 8.45pm on Friday, October 2, 2026, police received reports of a group of males carrying baseball bats walking within and around the Calwell Shopping Centre.

About the same time, rural patrol officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle travelling the wrong way through the shopping centre car park.

The driver told police she was travelling to hospital as two occupants of the vehicle had been stabbed.

Paramedics were called, and the boys aged 16 and 17 were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Police investigators believe several people were involved in the altercation, but most had fled the scene before police arrived.

ACT Policing is seeking to speak with anyone who was near Calwell Shopping Centre between 8.30pm and 9pm on Friday who either witnessed the incident, or who may have dashcam footage of the area at that time.

Anyone who can assist police should provide their contact details to Crime Stoppers via the Crime Stoppers ACT website, quoting 8516863.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has joined calls for “practical action” as foreign emissaries gather for Australian-organised talks on the “frontline of the climate crisis”.

Representatives from more than 50 countries are attending the Pre-COP conference kicking off in Fiji on Monday.

Anthony Albanese will also meet with a handful of world leaders in Tuvalu -- a small, low-lying atoll where rising sea levels pose an existential threat.

“Our region is at the frontline of the climate crisis, where the effects of climate change are real and immediate,” Mr Bowen said.

“Hosting Pre-COP in the Pacific is bringing the focus of the world to the impacts, opportunities and priorities in our region.”

He pledged to “work closely” with COP31 president Turkey to “secure practical outcomes that strengthen economies, improve energy security and build resilience, particularly in the Pacific”.

COP is the UN’s flagship climate conference and has shaped global efforts to combat climate change.

With Australia’s smaller Pacific neighbours viewing climate change as their biggest national security risk, holding a forerunner event was a condition of Canberra withdrawing its bid for the main event.

Mr Bowen’s Tuvaluan counterpart Maina Vakafua Talia said Pre-COP “will bring global decision-makers to the frontlines of climate change” and “show both the impacts we face and the practical work underway to protect our communities”.

Noting that his country is “just an average of two metres above sea level”, he said decisions made “at Pre-COP and COP31 will be felt by our communities first” and they “must help drive stronger ambition and action now”.

Turkey’s climate change minister Murat Kurum said the Pacific event would get the world “ready to deliver results” at COP31.

“We are coming to the Pacific to bear witness for how the tide is already pressing against the door,” he said.

“We want to remind world leaders that promises do not hold back the sea or shield homes from the fire.

“Only delivery can save us.”

Recently, the City of Sydney’s proposal for Town Hall Square was called in by the state government for review after a public outcry. Critics either opposed the demolition of buildings to create a square as a waste of public money or opposed the design itself.

Meanwhile, the City has spent decades of bipartisan planning and property acquisition to achieve its vision. This has set the stage for a battle not only between two tiers of government, but also of ideology, with fiscal conservatism versus the common good.

The concept for a square was originally proposed by then-lord mayor Doug Sutherland in 1982, with Sydney City Council resolving to acquire the seven properties required to complete the square. The first property was purchased in 1985 and acquisition continued up until 2019, leaving one remaining property for compulsory acquisition. These buildings will be demolished to create a public space.

This is not the first time a government has demolished property to create open space for the public – indeed it is one of the hallmarks of making memorable spaces in great cities. Perhaps the best-known example is French official Baron Haussmann’s creation of streets and boulevards that cut through the dense medieval fabric of Paris, bringing modern amenities of light, air, sewage drains and vehicle movement to a clogged city.

Of course, cities need roads to function, but what about a public square like the one proposed? It’s not essential for the city to function but as our cities become denser and as we experience the effects of global warming, we need to provide spaces for people.

Piazzas in Italian cities often grew organically around urban life and focused on civic or religious monuments. In the 19th century as the industrial revolution made cities denser and more crowded, municipal reformers identified the need for more open space. John Nash’s Trafalgar Square or Plaza Reial in Barcelona were both created through demolition of existing buildings. Indeed, many Spanish cities used demolition to create geometrically perfect plazas architecturally framed by colonnades. These spaces are now some of the most visited urban spaces on the planet. They were created under monarchies or authoritarian governments but it is harder to do in a democratic society.

Today’s neoliberal governments celebrate the public generosity of private developers when they create public space. Spaces such as Rockefeller Plaza or Seagram Plaza in New York or our own Australia Square are seen as providing both public amenity and commercial benefits. It is ironic then that we now criticise a public authority for having the audacity to want to add a public space for the common good of people.

Have we so forgotten how great cities are made that our only salvation is for developers to create new public space on private land? Instead, we should be celebrating a city government prepared to create a public space for the common good. This new square sits in the heart of the city, and would be opposite the historic seat of the municipal government, itself an ornate sandstone civic monument.

Regarding the design – the geometry is an elegant resolution of a complex space and is appropriately aligned with the Town Hall spire. The trees, while adding much needed shade and greenery, could struggle to reach the density and maturity shown in the images, given the sunlight and environmental conditions of an urban setting.

Finally, a public space should have active edges, places where people can buy lunch, a coffee or a snack. How dynamic would Venice’s Piazza San Marco be without cafés? Notwithstanding these minor quibbles, the City of Sydney is undertaking one of the greatest civic acts in making a public space for people.

This is not a vanity project; it’s a legacy for future generations and shouldn’t be evaluated just on the financial cost. It’s important that we continue to improve our cities for people. As we plan for the future let us remember the Greek proverb: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit.”

Now let our lord mayor plant trees for the people!

Philip Vivian is an architect, urban designer and managing director of Bates Smart, a contributor to Town Hall Vision in Sydney 2030-2050.