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The Guardian
20-05-2025
- The Guardian
‘Brutal' killing of plumber in Sydney driveway looks like targeted hit, police say
The 'very brutal and distressing' shooting of a young plumber in his driveway has all the hallmarks of a targeted hit, New South Wales police say. Two people are on the run after the shooting in Condell Park, in Sydney's south-west, on Monday night, that left the 23-year-old man dead. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email CCTV shows the victim returning home about 10.30pm and backing his car into the driveway before another car pulls up and parks him in. A man holding what is believed to be a Glock pistol exited the second vehicle from the rear driver's side door and fired up to 10 bullets at the man. At least four hit the victim, according to a NSW police superintendent, Rodney Hart. 'He slumped to the ground at the front of his home and the offender returned to the hatchback,' Hart said. 'We believe this is … extremely brutal and violent execution-style murder is a targeted attack.' About 20 minutes later police found a car that had been set on fire in nearby Fairfield East, with a Glock pistol inside. The victim and his family were not known to police and there were no known links to organised crime, Hart said. 'We believe he is a plumber and possibly working in his father's business,' he said. 'We need to look at who he is involved with, who he knows and what he did leading up to this brutal attack. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'This has all the hallmarks of a targeted, brutal hit, so that is what we are treating it as.' Police believe the victim lived at home with his parents, along with adult sisters. Detectives are asking for anyone with information, including CCTV, to contact Crime Stoppers.
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- The Guardian
Hundreds of little corellas killed in suspected poisoning attack in regional Victorian city
Victoria's conservation regulator has launched an investigation into the suspected fatal poisoning of 300 little corellas in Horsham, in the state's north-west. The incident, which began on Tuesday last week, has killed hundreds of protected birds in a popular park near the Wimmera river, just south of the city centre. 'It's illegal and dangerous to poison wildlife and we're calling on the community to come forward with any information they might have that will help us to track down whoever is responsible,' said Kate Gavens, chief conservation regulator. Samples from dead birds have been taken for testing, Gavens said. The incident follows a mass poisoning of more than 200 little corellas in Newcastle, which New South Wales authorities revealed was caused by a common agricultural pesticide. Glenn Coffey, who manages the Horsham Riverside caravan park near where the birds were found, first noticed large numbers of sick and dying birds on 29 April. 'They were just sitting on the banks, falling out of the trees – they were drowning,' he said. Sick birds were still turning up one week on. 'They don't move,' he said. 'It looks like they're standing up sleeping.' Coffey was concerned the dead birds had begun appearing in a popular garden area on the river, frequented by food trucks and recently 'done up' by the local council. 'It's not just the birds. You've got people playing there on the grass. You've got ducks walking around, all different breeds of birds. You've got people walking their dogs.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Horsham Rural city council has undertaken an extensive clean-up of the affected area. Council workers have been collecting dead birds by boat and on foot. 'Teams have also removed grain suspected to be poisoned, using vacuum cleaners in grassed areas and covering larger patches to prevent further harm to wildlife,' a council statement said. In January, Victoria's conservation regulator and agriculture department investigated another suspected poisoning of dozens of corellas in the rural town of Wunghnu, in northern Victoria, but was unable to determine the cause of the birds' deaths. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Dr Holly Parsons, who manages the urban bird program at BirdLife Australia, said corellas had adapted well to cities and towns and often attracted attention for their engaging antics. Corellas were often attracted to well-watered gardens and sports fields, and enjoyed digging in the roots of lush lawns. 'We've created great places for them. We built it, and they've come,' she said. But the birds' playful and 'quite cheeky' nature had contributed to the perception among some that corellas were a pest, she said. The birds explored with their beaks and could cause damage to crops and infrastructure, she said. 'They can chew rubber, they can get into plastic fittings. They can cause a little bit of chaos. 'The other side of that is that they are really intelligent birds. They are really social birds. So they love being around in noisy flocks.' The conservation regulator said corellas were protected under Victoria's Wildlife Act, and there were 'significant penalties for unlawfully hunting, taking or destroying protected wildlife, including imprisonment'. 'If you find dead or sick birds, do not touch or move them. Instead, take photos, note the location, and report clusters of five or more dead or sick birds by calling the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.'
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Gina Rinehart urges Liberals to stick with Trump-like policies in the wake of election loss
Gina Rinehart has encouraged the Liberal party to stick with Donald Trump-like policies after the opposition's electoral thumping on Saturday night in a campaign overshadowed by the controversial US president. The mining billionaire also singled out Italy and Hungary, which are governed by populist rightwing coalitions, as countries Australia could aspire to, where people were 'abandoning the myths or untruths of the left' and returning to 'common sense and truth'. Anthony Albanese won a second term as prime minister with a crushing victory against his conservative challenger, Peter Dutton, who failed to brush off comparisons with Trump and ended up losing his own seat. In a lengthy statement to the Daily Mail on Monday, Australia's richest person broke her silence following the Coalition's wipeout on Saturday night. 'The left media did a very successful effort, frightening many in the Liberal party from anything Trump, and away from any Trump-like policies,' she wrote. 'This has been especially obvious this year, with the Liberals instead becoming known as the 'me too' party. Trump-style 'make Australia great' policies via cutting government tape, government bureaucracy and wastage, and hence being able to cut taxes, too scarce in Australia this year to rate a mention. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'No doubt the left media will now try to claim that the Liberal loss was because the Liberal party followed Trump and became too right! The two simply don't add up!' Rinehart urged the Liberals to return to 'commonsense and truth' principles as a first port of call while rebuilding the party, which together with the Nationals could be left with as a few as 42 seats. She added voters were 'very short on understanding' that new investments create revenue and living standards, leading to jobs and economic prosperity. 'It shouldn't be rocket science, but apparently it is,' Ginehart said. The mining billionaire, who had cultivated a close relationship with Dutton as opposition leader, then turned her attention to left-leaning voters. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Referencing a trip to the US before last November's election, Rinehart said she had met with former Democrat voters who had since turned Republican. 'Why are Americans getting it, and we aren't?' Rinehart said. 'There are dedicated organisations working hard to bring back common sense and truth in the USA.' Rinehart said Argentina had been a socialist country for more than a century, leaving its 'people suffering terribly' before its rightwing leader, Javier Milei, took office in 2023. The self-declared 'anarcho-capitalist' has committed Argentina to leaving the World Health Organization and the Paris accord in moves mirroring Trump. Rinehart also pointed to Italy and Hungry, where populist rightwing coalition governments rule, as countries that 'get it' and ones Australia should look to. Hancock Prospecting's executive chairwoman mostly stayed mum during the federal election, airing her policy ideas only once during an Anzac Day eve speech. To an audience that included three former prime ministers – John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison – along with Dutton and the defence minister, Richard Marles, Rinehart said Australia needed to lift its defence spending to at least 5% of GDP and invest in an Israeli-style Iron Dome defence system. At her national mining day event last November, Rinehart said Australia should learn from the success of Trump. 'As I have repeatedly stated, we need to cut government tape, regulations, governments' wastage and tax burdens across Australia,' Rinehart said. 'We need a USA-style Doge [department of government efficiency] that delivers action, one that helps to return dollars to our pockets and investment back to Australia. 'Don't be frightened to call for 'make our bank accounts great again'.'
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- The Guardian
Mark Haines coronial inquiry: police initially misidentified teenager's body
The morning teenager Mark Haines was found dead on rural train tracks, a hysterical mother pounded on her son's front door. The woman was looking for her son Raymond Ervine, whose birth certificate was on Haines when his body was found on train tracks near Tamworth, New South Wales, on the morning of 16 January 1988. Police initially wrongly identified Haines as Ervine, an older friend who had given the 17-year-old his birth certificate to get into nightclubs while they were out the night before. Ervine gave emotional evidence at an inquest into Haines' death on Tuesday morning, recalling police and his mother knocking on his door having feared he was dead. 'My mother ... was hysterical, she just grabbed me,' he told the inquest via audiovisual link at the NSW coroners court in Sydney. 'The police had been to her home and told mum it was me.' Amid the confusion, he soon realised the body on the tracks was Haines. 'I just remember mum saying 'he's dead out on the ... train tracks'. 'It was horrible.' Ervine became teary several times during his evidence, describing how he feels some responsibility for his friend's death. 'If I hadn't have given him my birth certificate he might have come home with me,' he said, his voice shaking. The inquest is examining Haines' death after an initial police investigation concluded he lay on the tracks either deliberately or in a dazed state after a car crash. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A stolen white Torana was found near the train line, its smashed windscreen lying on the road, leading police to believe it had rolled. The body of the Gomeroi teenager was found with a folded towel or a blanket propped under his head and cardboard boxes nearby. With many unanswered questions and swirling rumours about who knew more about Haines' death, his uncle Don Craigie fought for years to have the case re-examined. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Ervine said the teenager was not a troublemaker and would never have driven or been a passenger in a car he knew was stolen. '[Police] said straight from the start that Mark had stolen a car and crashed it out on the train tracks,' he said. 'None of it made sense at all, it was never his character. 'It was just unbelievable, we all knew that's not what happened.' Opening the final round of hearings at the inquest, which began in April 2024, counsel assisting Chris McGorey described the hours before and after Haines' death. He said the coroner may consider questions including how and why Haines came to be on the tracks and who may have been with him. 'A number of questions have arisen over the past 37 years,' McGorey told the inquest on Monday. The hearings are due to continue into Friday before deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame. For information and support in Australia call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for a crisis support line for Indigenous Australians; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
The Guardian
30-03-2025
- The Guardian
Mark Haines coronial inquiry: an uncle's quest for the truth in rural NSW could finally be at its end
For the past 37 years, on the anniversary of his nephew's death, Don Craigie has made a pilgrimage to the Tamworth police station to hold a press conference demanding answers about the grim mystery he has made it his life's mission to solve. This week, he hopes to get some. The body of 17-year-old Mark Haines was found on the railway outside Tamworth in January 1988. The bizarre circumstances of the Gomeroi teenager's death and the initial police investigation have been subjected to intense scrutiny, inspiring a documentary and podcast series in 2018 that helped trigger a fresh coronial inquest, which resumes on Monday. Craigie still recalls the moment he stood at a taxi rank in his then home town of Moree and his life changed for ever. 'It was pissing down rain all over the north-west,' he said. 'My brother pulled up in his car and told me that Mark was killed … mate, I had this bloody feeling of dread.' From the outset, it was a strange crime scene. There was a pillow under the teenager's head; there was only a small amount of blood on the tracks; and despite the muddy ground, his shoes were clean. A crashed white Holden Torana was nearby. Local police concluded the teenager had likely stolen the car, crashed, walked to the tracks and laid down either deliberately or in a daze. The family rejected the theory outright. '[We] believed that he met with foul play and we maintain that today,' Craigie said. An autopsy found Haines died from a traumatic brain injury. An initial coronial inquest in October 1988 heard that police lost or mishandled key evidence, but was unable to draw conclusions about what led to the teenager's death. As rumours swirled and an investigation led by Muruwari journalist Allan Clarke unearthed fresh evidence, NSW police reopened their investigation in 2018 and offered a $1m reward for information. They sent a review of the case to the coroner and a second inquest began last April. To date, the court has heard from the retired police officers in charge of the initial investigation, forensic experts, Haines' friends and others rumoured to have knowledge of the events before his death. It also heard Haines was partying with friends at a local club the night before his body was found. This week the inquest moves from Tamworth to Sydney, where the coroner will hear from a dozen witnesses, including a friend who was with Haines that night and is alleged to have made confessions about his involvement in the teenager's death. He has previously denied the allegations in court. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion This week's hearings will also interrogate the adequacy of the original and subsequent police investigations. Craigie, too, is expected to give evidence, and is making the five-hour drive south to witness the proceedings. 'I need to hear every word and to see everything,' he said. Back in 1988, he made a promise to Haines' parents. 'I said to them, 'This is going to be a long, drawn out process. I'll deal with this. You just get on with your lives.'' Both have since died. Hearings are expected to finish on Friday, a year after the inquest began. Initially set down for two weeks over two sittings, the inquiry was due to finish in October, but was adjourned for six months after possible new evidence emerged. The coroner is expected to deliver her findings in Tamworth later this year. By then, Craigie's unrelenting quest for answers will have spanned nearly four decades. Has the 68-year-old has ever felt like it was all too hard? 'Never,' he said. For information and support in Australia call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for a crisis support line for Indigenous Australians; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
