Annalouise Spence allegedly used credit card to make ‘unauthorised purchases of luxury and personal items, including clothing, artwork and jewellery’

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The former private secretary of billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson has been charged with dozens of counts of fraud after she allegedly used a business credit card to make more than $1m worth of purchases, including luxury clothing, artwork and jewellery.

Annalouise Spence, 50, was refused bail at a local court hearing on Thursday after being charged with 68 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.

Two staff suspended after damning review finds department was warned last December that triple murderer Regina Arthurell was living in the home

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Two staff members in the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice have been suspended following a review into why two foster children went to live with a convicted triple killer.

The review, which was made public on Wednesday, found “significant failures” by the department led to foster children aged 12 and 14 living alongside convicted murderer Regina Arthurell until her removal from the home last month.

Exclusive: Australian Recreation Union says it plans to support candidates and parties that oppose gun control laws brought in after terror attack

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A gun users’ group targeting marginal Labor seats in next year’s New South Wales election plans to campaign for candidates who oppose the government’s firearm laws enacted after the Bondi terror attack.

In an email sent to the electorate offices of 15 Labor backbenchers last week, the Australian Recreation Union (ARU) said it had recruited campaign managers across 17 “vulnerable” electorates, including Kogarah, the seat of the premier, Chris Minns, and Swansea, held by the police minister, Yasmin Catley.

Greens criticise premier’s ‘extraordinary attack’ on judiciary and urge him to accept he ‘got it wrong’

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The New South Wales premier has doubled down on an anti-protest law struck down in the state’s highest court last week, defending the legislation introduced by his government as “rational and proportionate”.

But advocates for protesters charged at demonstrations restricted under the laws have criticised Chris Minns’ comments, calling them a “extraordinary attack” on the judiciary.

Former SAS corporal allegedly placed man on his knees and ordered fellow soldier to shoot him, according to statement of facts

Australian soldiers have told prosecutors they executed unarmed civilians at the orders of Ben Roberts-Smith or in complicity with him, according to a statement of facts tendered to the New South Wales local court.

Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient and once one of Australia’s most lionised soldiers, faces five charges of the war crime of murder, allegedly committed while he served in the Australian SAS in Afghanistan.

Each victim was unarmed and present in a location where Roberts-Smith could reasonably have suspected insurgents to be located;

Each offence was committed in a situation where there was no active engagements with enemy forces and the Australian Defence Force was in control of the environment;

Evidence was planted or falsely associated with each deceased to enhance reporting that each of the killings was within the lawful rules of engagement;

Each deceased was handcuffed, detained for a period, and questioned prior to their execution;

None of the deceased was killed in a situation where the Australian Defence Force did not have effective control of the battlespace.

Exclusive: Minns government announces contract with Snowy Energy to power public transport in seven-year contract

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Electric bus, train and light rail services in New South Wales will run on fully renewable energy from next year under a new $1.9bn deal, the state government says.

The Minns government on Friday announced it had signed a contract with Snowy Energy to bring all public transport operations in the state under a single renewable energy agreement for the first time. The seven-year deal comes into effect from July 2027 and will last until 2034.

Court finds law – which effectively meant protesters could not march without risk of arrest – is unconstitutional

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New South Wales’ highest court has struck down an anti-protest law brought in after the Bondi beach terror attack which gave police the power to restrict marches, including at the anti-Herzog rally earlier this year.

The court of appeal handed down its findings on Thursday after three activist groups – the Blak Caucus, the Palestine Action Group and Jews Against the Occupation ’48 – filed a constitutional challenge in early January against the legislation.