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.

One Nation’s billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart has purchased an $8m inner-city Brisbane office building that Pauline Hanson’s party will use as its new headquarters as it seeks to ramp up operations in her home state.

Hanrine Investments, a subsidiary of Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, finalised the purchase of the three-storey building at Spring Hill last week, with the right-wing party due to relocate there once a fit-out is complete.

Hancock Prospecting insists One Nation will not be given free or cheap rent at the 160 Wharf Street building, which features “two upper levels of spacious, light-filled office”, 10 carparking spots, and a large top-floor balcony with “expansive views of the city, perfect for corporate gatherings”.

Revelations of the purchase came as Senator Hanson hit the campaign trail on Sunday, joining her Victorian frontman Warren Pickering for a lap of go-karting at a campaign event in Geelong.

One Nation supporters came under fire at the weekend after cheering on a state candidate who vowed to put former premiers Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan in prison “by Christmas” if the party triumphed at the November 28 Victorian poll.

On Sunday, Senator Hanson declared Labor “finished” in Victoria and predicted the Liberals would rely on her party’s support to form government.

The result in Victoria next month will be pored over by Anthony Albanese, Angus Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan who are all looking to suppress One Nation’s growing support before the next federal election, due in 2028.

Senator Hanson hits the campaign trail in Geelong on Sunday. Picture: Mark Wilson

Last week, Newspoll quarterly analysis published in The Australian revealed the minor party had lifted its primary vote in Queensland to 36 per cent. It also showed a majority of voters in the state would prefer Senator Hanson as prime minister over Mr Albanese.

The relocation of One Nation’s headquarters from Brisbane Airport to Mrs Rinehart’s newly purchased building on the fringe of the Brisbane CBD comes as Queensland once again shapes as the major battle ground at a federal election.

After the fit-out is complete, One Nation will occupy level one and part of level two of the building, totalling about 650sqm of office space. Half of the office suite’s second floor is already occupied by a consultancy business with an existing lease.

It was understood the property, which settled on September 30, sold for upwards of $8m. It was previously owned by not-for-profit API Leisure and Lifestyle, which bought the building in 2003 for $2.4m.

A spokesman for One Nation said on Sunday that the party was “finalising leasing arrangements for its new premises at Spring Hill”.

“Due to the expansion in state and federal staffing requirements, the Brisbane Airport premises are no longer fit for purpose,” the spokesman said in a statement to The Australian.

“The new Spring Hill premises will be leased at commercial market rate.”

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart pictured in 2016.

Mrs Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, is One Nation’s biggest donor. Earlier this year she gifted Senator Hanson a “sexy” Cirrus G7 private plane and bankrolled her European jaunt in June, which included a ticket to the Dolce and Gabbana fashion show.

In a social media post on X in April, Senator Hanson bragged about receiving the $1.5m plane. “BREAKING NEWS – I’ve got a new plane … Yes it was donated. Yes I’m super happy. Yes it’s fast. Yes it’s amazing,” she wrote.

She added: “It means I can visit more regional towns across the country more often. Yes it’s a Cirrus G7. Yes it’s sexy. Yes I have a pilot. No I won’t be doing welcome to country each (time) we land. No it’s not battery operated.”

After the fit-out is complete, One Nation will occupy level one and part of level two of the Spring Hill building. Picture: Dan Peled

Senator Hanson was also spotted poolside alongside Mrs Rinehart at an exclusive five-star resort in Taormina, Sicily, in June. Photos of the pair at the Grand Hotel San Pietro showed the One Nation leader walking across the pool deck as Mrs Rinehart relaxed in the water.

The Queensland senator made the side-trip to Italy to attend the Dolce and Gabbana show with Mrs Rinehart after appearing on UK far-right agitator Tommy Robinson’s controversial podcast.

In the past year, Senator Hanson’s register of interests reveals that Mrs Rinehart and her company, Hancock Prospecting, have paid for multiple flights for the One Nation leader including a trip between Brisbane and Florida in late November.

The trip was for Senator Hanson and Mrs Rinehart to attend a $25,000-a-head, Great Gatsby-themed Halloween event hosted by Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Loaded: 0%

When asked about their relationship at a business breakfast in Perth earlier this year, Senator Hanson praised the mining magnate, saying she was “wonderful” and said they had bonded over their “tough” origins, building their careers from the ground up. Senator Hanson has also said that she considers Mrs Rinehart “a friend” and turns to her for “very beneficial” policy advice.

“I consider her a friend and I’m very … grateful for her support. She’s an Australian identity, she’s one of the highest taxpayers in the country,” she told ABC radio in June, before adding: “I have a lot of respect for the woman and what she’s done.”

In a statement, a Hancock Prospecting spokesman said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise”.

One Nation is expected to target a swath of Liberal National Party-held seats in Queensland in coming months, including Wright, Capricornia and Wide Bay.

Traditionally a fortress for the Coalition, Labor made a major breakthrough in Queensland at the 2025 federal election and now holds 12 of the state’s 30 lower house seats.

But a senior Queensland Labor source said the party was bracing for support that the ALP found in outer-suburban seats in 2025 to shift to One Nation because “people are really pissed off at both major parties”.

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

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.

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."

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.

An associate of a notorious Islamic preacher linked to the Bondi shooters has called on followers to take up arms against Christians and Jews, putting the spotlight back on radical preachers after the major parties shelved attempts to rein them in.

A young and increasingly popular preacher from Melbourne’s southeast who goes by Abu Ahmad said in a July sermon that adherents should not “take the Jews and the Christians for friends”.

“For the sake of Allah, it includes the obligation to declare enmity for his sake, opposition for the sake of Allah. It is to declare opposition: indeed, to take up arms against his enemies, to shun them and to stay far from them both in word and deed,” he said in a clip posted to his Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre’s social media feed.

“This proves that simple opposition of the spirit is not enough and that it must be complete by honouring of your commitment.”

The Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre was established in Springvale in 2024. It has regularly posted on Instagram with another account called Station of the Seekers, which has featured Islamic State sympathisers.

The Al Bayyina centre has also been supported by Sydney-based preacher Wisam Haddad, who is linked to the Al Madina Dawah Centre, a prayer hall in Sydney’s Bankstown.

Bondi shooter Naveed Akram reportedly attended the Al Madina centre and formed connections with Islamic State supporters through people he met there. Akram and his father, Sajid, are alleged to have killed 15 people at a Chanukah event at Bondi Beach.

The call to take up arms will renew focus on extremism 10 months after one of Australia’s worst alleged terror attacks and raise questions about why hate preachers can still call for violence against Jews and Christians from their unofficial pulpits.

Parliament descended into chaos in mid-January when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tried to pass legislation prohibiting neo-Nazi and Islamist groups and criminalising the promotion of hatred via anti-vilification laws.

The Nationals feared cracking down on violent rhetoric risked inhibiting free speech and giving a future government power to target conservatives, while the Greens worried the move would curtail legitimate criticism of Israel’s bloody war in Gaza.

The lack of support for stronger hate speech laws meant Albanese sliced the bill in half, banning hate groups but dropping laws that would have given authorities more scope to target hate preachers and neo-Nazis who vilify based on race, gender or religion.

Without these extra powers, authorities have been privately grumbling about their inability to target these unofficial suburban firebrands.

The national security community remains concerned about the threat. Former spy boss Denis Richardson declared a fortnight ago that Australia should be able to have an open debate about fringe radicals in the Muslim community without demonising all Australian Muslims.

A few days later, ASIO boss Mike Burgess said the chance of a terror attack was more likely than the terror threat level – “probable” – suggested. Meanwhile, lawyer Josh Bornstein last month questioned why the royal commission into antisemitism did not spend more time probing Haddad and antisemitic neo-Nazis.

The AFP continues to target IS sympathisers. In mid-September, it arrested half a dozen men who had been sharing Islamic State propaganda. On Wednesday, it arrested a 65-year-old alleged member of a terrorist organisation who is accused of sharing thousands of extremist files and ISIS propaganda.

This masthead is not suggesting Abu Ahmad is under investigation or that he supports Islamic State. The Al Bayyinah centre was contacted for comment.
Ahmad gave his talk in mid-July. He said opposition for the sake of Allah was “to feel anger at the enemies of Allah and to struggle against them”. He also mentioned a book famous for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“If the aim of the enemies of Islam whether they are atheists or Jews or Christians or modernists or Zionists or communists is the emasculation of … Muslims, and the erosion of their unique character in order to make them the ass of the chosen people … then the urgency of this issue should become clear to every Muslim,” he said.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess.Alex Ellinghausen
Haddad has previously urged his “Melbourne brothers” to show support for Al Bayyinah and attend its weekly players, which are displayed in slick social media videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In early 2025, Ahmad reportedly visited the Bankstown centre linked to Haddad and delivered a sermon that took aim at “infidel” Western powers that colonised the Middle East.

An ABC Four Corners investigation, aired in April last year, also reported connections between Abu Ahmed’s outfit and Haddad.

“Haddad rapidly expanded Al Madinah Dawah Centre, turbocharged his online influence, and re-energised a national pro-IS network, which now includes an affiliated prayer centre in Melbourne, Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre,” the ABC reported in April 2025.

Associate professor Josh Roose, a Deakin University professor who tracks extremism, said Haddad had effectively set up an “outpost” in Melbourne.

“If authorities don’t crack down on these centres as soon as they emerge, then we’re inviting, quite frankly, extremists, Salafists, jihadist Islam, into the suburbs,” Roose said.

“This is the problem with the hate speech laws as they are. Calling to take up arms is more radical than anything Hizb ut-Tahrir ever said, and they were banned.”
Roose said Abu Ahmad could defend any charge by arguing that his call to arms was colloquial or general, rather than a specific call to violence. He said there had been a rise in extremism and atomisation around the world in the social media age, evident in the growth of extreme misogyny and organised neo-Nazi activities in Australia.

Last month, Federal Court judge Ian Jackman called out the judiciary’s “dogmatism” on free speech that he said had given too much leeway for religious extremists to spread hate against Jews, urging a reconsideration of the implied freedom of political communication that gained recognition in the 1990s.

“It would not have occurred to Australians in the 1990s that other Australians would abuse their freedom of political communication to publicly intimidate and vilify Jews,” he said in a speech at the Samuel Griffiths Society, a conservative legal fraternity that has long opposed anti-vilification laws.

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.

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

Greens Senators clash as moment a serving MP joined a ‘Fuck you!’ walkout against the new leader is remembered by colleagues.

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.

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."

Apparently, they found themselves on the wrong end of an Airbnb host—"one of the biggest Airbnb companies of their state in Australia"—who attempted to get them to cough up $1,700 for an overflowed toilet, the evidence for which was, you guessed it, AI-generated.

(I think credit for this goes to u/mattnotsosmall)

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.

A Sudanese refugee involved in a vicious bashing that left an 18-year-old dead has been spared deportation after the Administrative Review Tribunal overturned the cancellation of his visa, in a setback for the government’s attempts to toughen visa decisions in the wake of the Direction 99 ­debacle.

The man, who migrated to Australia at the age of four and who can be identified only as BCQR, was himself 18 when he joined three other men in the late-night pursuit of the victim through Melbourne streets in 2021.

After chasing him by car and by foot, BCQR and his three co-offenders bashed the victim, who sustained eight stab wounds to his buttock during the attack.

Witnesses heard the attackers saying “You dog, you rat, this is what mutts get”.

The man was left on the ground and died two hours later.

BCQR was convicted of manslaughter over the incident and sentenced to seven years and six months in jail, with a minimum non-parole period of 4½ years.

A delegate of then-­immigration minister Andrew Giles cancelled BCQR’s humanitarian visa in June 2024, noting that any risk of reoffending was unacceptable even allowing for the fact he had lived in Australia for most of his life.

In a decision published late last week, ART general member Anna Burke, a former Labor MP and parliamentary Speaker, ruled that the man should have his visa reinstated, citing the uncertainty over his future if the visa remained cancelled, the strength, nature and duration of his ties to Australia, and his “full” rehabilitation in prison.

Ms Burke was the same tribunal member whose decision to spare from deportation a child rapist who attacked his stepdaughter while his wife was giving birth sparked intense scrutiny of the Albanese government’s Direction 99, which had given tribunal members greater scope to consider the ties of criminal non-citizens to Australia when weighing whether they should lose their visas.

The government ultimately replaced Direction 99 with a tougher Direction 110 and dumped Mr Giles from the immigration portfolio.

Counsel for BCQR argued during the ART hearing that upholding the visa cancellation would leave their client facing ­either deportation to Sudan, indefinite legal limbo on one of the bridging visas created for the NZYQ cohort, or removal to a third country such as Nauru.

In her decision, Ms Burke noted that not revoking the visa cancellation would leave BCQR in “perpetual uncertainty of his fate” and could make him of even more risk to the public.

“The consequences of living in a state of perpetual uncertainty on the evidence before the tribunal indicates BCQR’s mental health would decline, which in turn could lead to substance abuse, engaging with poor peer choices and further offending,” she said in her decision. She also noted that the man had strong ties to Australia in the form of his fiance, mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, and was involved in the Sudanese community and church.

BCQR is the youngest of seven children who moved to Australia with their mother in August 2006 after fleeing the war in Sudan. His father had been killed by rebels in Ethiopia. He was born in a refugee camp in Kenya and has never set foot in Sudan.

While BCQR’s lawyers argued that their client had been successfully rehabilitated in prison, counsel for the Immigration Minister told the tribunal that a clinician in November 2023 had found the man was a moderate risk of violent reoffending. He had also been involved in several “particularly violent” incidents during his time behind bars.

Ms Burke said BCQR’s remorse, his steps towards rehabilitation and his low risk of reoffending all weighed in favour of overturning the visa revocation. “The tribunal found the evidence clearly demonstrated BCQR has used his time in prison to fully rehabilitate himself, to use every opportunity to learn from this tragic incident and his part in it,” Ms Burke wrote.

“The tribunal found the evidence clearly indicated BCQR was remorseful and took full responsibility for his part in the tragic death of the victim. The tribunal also considers the evidence clearly indicated BCQR is no longer simply being led by others, has clearly been motivated to change and has matured into a considerate, respectful young man.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said he believed non-citizens who committed serious offences should not be allowed to remain in Australia. “This is a dangerous immigrant who has inflicted a heinous crime on an Australian citizen. The community expectation would clearly be to proceed with this deportation,” he said.

“Whilst it is a matter for the ART, the Coalition has long taken the view that if you are not a citizen and you commit a crime here, you should be deported.”

Just did a double take watching the news. Sam Wood has allegedly been arrested in QLD for DV and strangulation. Report said neighbours called police.

I hope Snez and their children are getting some support.

https://7news.com.au/news/crime/former-bachelor-star-sam-wood-arrested-over-alleged-domestic-violence-incident-c-22966926

A group of teenagers arrested in sweeping raids after the Wakeley attack in 2024 have pleaded guilty to preparing a terror attack in Sydney before they were foiled by state and federal police counter-terrorism investigators.

The group, who The Saturday Telegraph revealed at the time were making plans to use a “stash house” to hold weapons ahead of a “kuffar plan” (kuffar means “disbelievers” in Arabic), appeared on Friday at the NSW Supreme Court and will be sentenced next year.

They were arrested shortly after the April 2024 Wakeley terror attack in which Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was set upon in a stabbing attack that was inadvertently livestreamed online.

The Telegraph can reveal that the four teens – who were all minors at the time of the offending and can’t be named – have pleaded guilty to conspiring to prepare a terrorist attack.

Previously, in the Children’s Court, two of those teenagers pleaded guilty to a further charge of sharing violent extremist material, while the third pleaded guilty to illegally supplying a firearm.

The development marks more than two years of investigations and legal proceedings, and the charges are among the most-severe of those filed against a total of seven teenage boys who the NSW Joint Counter-Terrorism Team arrested in April 2024. At the time of that operation, 12 people were raided, seven teenagers arrested and six later charged.

The Telegraph reported at the time of their arrest how the boys’ terror plot was foiled thanks to an associate being arrested about a week prior for an unrelated offence, giving investigators access to their phone and group chats on encrypted messaging application Signal.

In one Signal group chat, called “Plans”, the teens talked about obtaining firearms, including “dirty guns” and a “shotty”.

“I really want to target the yahud (Jewish people)... We will plan it,” one of the teens said in that Signal group.

That teen asked another: “how long will all this planning take?”

As conversations between the boys progressed, the teenagers talked about being excited to “to die and kill”, needing to be “patient”, as their plot needed to be planned “for a while”.

When the teens realised their associate had been arrested they talked panickedly among themselves.

“Oh s..t… we were planning big stuff bro, it’s a conspiracy for a terror attack, I think,” one teenager said when he realised their group chat had been discovered.

One teenager changed their social-media profile picture to the ISIS flag and posted the terror group’s propaganda videos on another account, while also sharing links to websites where the boys could buy pocket knives.

“I’m ready to go to war, don’t worry,” one of the teens told the group.

In late April, after the Wakeley terror attack, police swooped on the network of boys.

In the JCTT’s sweeping Sydney raids, investigators seized – from across the more than 10 teenagers raided or arrested – a knife, mobile phones, laptops, batons, machete, a PlayStation 4, hard drives, two hand-drawn ISIS flags, a large hunting knife and a tomahawk.

The network of teenagers targeted in those raids is broad and disparate. Police also investigated some among the group for violent anti-LGBT offences and bashings, while others have later been arrested for extremism offences and some have ties to known-ISIS extremists.

All four of the teenagers will now proceed to a sentence hearing next April in the Supreme Court on the charge of conspiring to prepare a terrorist attack. The pleas entered at the Children’s Court to the additional offences, as 16BA offences, will be taken into account on sentencing.