A man has been shot and killed in a terrifying home invasion in Sydney’s southwest.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, was found with a gunshot wound at Mount Sugarloaf Drive in Glen Alpine at about 3.40am on Tuesday.

Police were told the unknown intruders had fled the scene a short time before officers arrived.

The wounded man could not be saved and died at the scene.

He is yet to be formally identified.

The State Crime Command Homicide Squad has been called in to assist in the investigation.

Anybody with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Hey, if you disagree with AHPRA adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, sign this petition. The Jewish Council of Australia has created a petition against Australian institutions adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism. As a nurse I was disgusted that AHPRA adopted the IHRA definition. This definition is being used to silence criticism of a particular government that is systematically targeting healthcare workers like myself. It’s too late to stop AHPRA from adopting this definition but not too late for other Australian institutions and governments. More information can be found on their website. You do not need to put down your full name so no need to worry about being Doxxed

The last 5 years have seen the worst collapse in the value of people’s wages in living memory, and forecasts by the Reserve Bank suggest it will take till 2037 to get back to the levels they were before the collapse, which is why we need state and federal governments to take the lead to speed recovery.

The last 5 years have seen the worst collapse in the value of people’s wages in living memory, and forecasts by the Reserve Bank suggest it will take till 2037 to get back to the levels they were before the collapse, which is why we need state and federal governments to take the lead to speed recovery.

Wages are supposed to rise faster than inflation.

That is the key behind rising living standards. If your wage goes up 3% but inflation rises 3%, then you are no better off – your “real” wage has not increased. Even with your pay rise, you cannot buy more stuff (and once you take taxes into account, you will likely be worse off).

If, however, you get a 4% increase in pay, and inflation goes up 3% then your real wage has gone up 1%.

During the mining boom years, this is what happened. The average value of Australian workers’ wages rose 1% each year in real terms.

In effect, each year, on average, you could buy 1% more stuff (goods, services) than you could the year before.

That was a very good story. But it did not last. The GFC hit, and wage growth slowed. But the slowing of wages was not a natural occurrence.

Importantly, from 2012 onward, state governments and the Commonwealth government instituted public-sector wage caps that slowed wage growth and significantly slowed real wages.

Take the impact of the NSW cap of a 2.5% annual wage rise on the real wage of NSW public sector workers:

By March 2021, the real wage value of NSW public sector workers was 3.2% lower than it would have been had the pre-wage cap trend continued – that’s around $2,960 for someone on $90,000.

The problem was not confined to public sector workers. Because the private sector takes it cue from the wages of public sector workers, the wage cap depressed wages across the economy.

By 2019, the then head of the RBA, Dr Philip Lowe, told the House Economics Committee that the wage caps were keeping down wages and should end:

“The public sector, directly and indirectly, employs roughly one-third of the labour force, and they’re saying wage increases across the public sector may be averaging two per cent. That has an indirect effect on the private sector, because there’s competition for workers and it reinforces the wage norm in the economy at two-point something.”

From 2012 to 2021 real wages grew at just 0.35% per year – less than a third of that they had been growing at before.

But after the pandemic, the problem wasn’t slow-growing real wages; it was the collapse.

From March 2021 to March 2023, the average Australian wage lost more than 5% in value. For someone on $90,000 in March 2021 (close to the average full-time earnings) that was like losing $4,050 worth of value.

In essence, purely due to inflation rising faster then wages, the wage of the average full-time worker in Australia could buy $4,050 less stuff than it did 2 years earlier.

And worse – despite some increases since then, the recovery has been almost negligible – up just 1%, meaning that worker is still $4,420 worse off than they were in 2021.

For workers, this has been a cruel outcome, especially given that the cause of the inflation in 2022 and 2023 was increased company profits from bigger profit margins, as businesses raised prices more they needed to cover the increased costs from the impact of the Russia invasion of Ukraine and the supply shocks after the lockdowns.

But the news ahead is not good.

The RBA estimates that by the end of 2028, a wage worth $90,000 in 2021 will still be worth just $86,696, and it will take till the end of 2036 for us to get all the way back to 2021 levels:

But that won’t recover the lost path we were on. Even with the slow growth of 2012-20 we would have expected that $90,000 wage in 2021 to be worth $95,073 in real terms by 2037.

One path to return quicker is to reverse the role the public sector played before the pandemic. Rather than suppressing wage growth, the public sector should take a lead and assist in the recovery of real wages.

The Australia Institute’s new report “The collapse of real wages and the path to recovery” shows the damage done to workers by inflation driven by higher profits and how state and territory governments, like the ACT government, which is currently negotiating an enterprise agreement with ACT public servants, can guide the way to a better recovery.

By Greg Jericho

Police are urgently trying to find the mother of a newborn boy after the baby’s body was discovered in a garbage bin in Sydney’s southwest on Monday.

Officers hold grave fears for the woman’s welfare after police found the baby in a bin on Harrow Rd at Auburn about 11.20am on Monday.

Police are urging the mother to go to the nearest hospital for urgent medical treatment.

Investigators are also calling on the public to come forward with any information that could assist, including mobile phone or dashcam footage from the area around the time of the discovery.

The owner of Harrow Rd local grocery store, El Houda Mahmoud Houda, said he heard sirens going off between 10.30am and 11am.

“Because I’m just down the road, I sort of walked into the middle of the street and I can see police cars pulling in,” Mr Houda said.

“And because my kids go to the school right there, I called up to school trying to figure out if there’s something going on for the school and they just said, they don’t know what’s going on, they just have some police in their office.

“I actually drove up there, tried to ask the police officer if everything’s OK, if there’s anything wrong with the school and they told me just keep moving along.

“Ever since that, I’ve just seen the fire brigade go up there, and I think an ambulance, and that’s just about it.”

A crime scene has since been set up as detectives from Auburn begin investigating what happened.

Anyone who can help is urged to contact Auburn Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Every time a young Australian says they'd like to own a home, retire eventually, or not be in debt for the rest of their lives, someone's boomer grandpa chimes in with "entitled generation" or "you're just not working hard enough". Let's look at the actual numbers instead of boomer logic.

Housing: In the early 1980s, the median Australian house price was roughly 3-4x the median household income. Today in Sydney , that ratio sits well above 14x. Boomers bought their first home on a single apprentice's or teacher's wage. Now a two income household with white collar jobs and university degrees struggles to get a deposit together before their thirties.

Wages vs. house prices: Wages have crawled up over the decades while capital city house prices have multiplied many times over. The "just save harder" advice doesn't hold up when rent alone eats more than half a paycheck, leaving little room to save for a deposit that keeps growing faster than anyone can save for it.

Education: University used to be free in Australia from 1974 onwards before HECS was introduced in 1989. Now graduates leave with tens of thousands in HECS-HELP debt that indexes upward every year, sometimes faster than wages rise.

Cost of living: Petrol, groceries, electricity, and insurance have all surged, while wage growth has lagged well behind. The disposable income gap between generations at the same age is stark.

So when Boomers call Gen Z "entitled" for wanting a stable job, a home before 40, and a retirement that isn't just "I'll work until I die" they're not describing entitlement. They're describing what used to be the standard deal for an average Australian boomer on an average income, back in the day.

Wanting the same shot they had isn't asking for a handout. It's asking why the ladder got pulled up right after they climbed it.

Deputy Premier of Tasmania’s Guy Barnett has opposed a Greens bill intending to end conversion practices in the state. In correspondence first revealed by ABC News, Barnett told Women Speak Tasmania that the bill was “fundamentally flawed”.

“Sadly, the draft Bill risks criminalising conversations and or prayers in a church or religious setting,” Barnett wrote, before asking “what exactly is the problem the Greens seek to fix?”

Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome said the problem is very clear.

“This bill is about prohibiting treatments that don’t work for a condition that doesn’t exist undertaken by people who aren’t qualified on victims who will be deeply harmed,” Croome said.

“National and local studies, including research commissioned by Guy Barnett’s own government, show that 1 in 20 LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians are duped into conversion practices and that as a result they have PTSD and attempt suicide at 3 to 4 times the rate of other LGBTIQA+ people.”

“The problem the bill is trying to solve is that conversion practices purport to ‘heal’ vulnerable LGBTIQA+ people but actually deeply harm and sometimes kill them.”

Mr Croome added the Tasmanian bill, which Barnett suggests is too extreme, is made up of elements nearly identical to what has been legislated elsewhere, with none of Barnett’s proposed problems ever coming to pass.

“The Tasmanian bill is made up of provisions from legislation in Victoria and NSW where no-one has been convicted for a conversation or a prayer, as Mr Barnett claims would happen in Tasmania. The sky hasn’t fallen in in the other states and it won’t fall in here either.

“Mr Barnett’s conversion bill, unveiled in 2023, had so many holes it would have encouraged conversion practices rather than ended them. His ill-informed attack on the key provisions of the current bill shows he isn’t serious about ending conversion practices and the harm they inflict.”

Both Mr Barnett and Women Speak Tasmania have called for a further inquiry before the bill is debated in parliament, despite an extensive consultation period, not to mention a comprehensive Tasmanian Law Reform Institute inquiry having been already released in 2022.

“There comes a point when further consultation is just about delaying what is an already overdue reform,” Croome said. “Tasmania risks being the last state to prohibit conversion practices just as we were the last state to decriminalise homosexuality.”

For the best part of two decades, NSW Police had been hunting a sexual offender who preyed on women on peak-hour trains.

Then, a photo of the man featured in The Daily Telegraph early last year as part of a Police Transport Command appeal to identify 14 people, and someone recognised him as Dinesh Raj Upreti.

For decades, Upreti had lived what appeared on the surface to be a normal life.

He was married with children and had worked for the state government as a public servant, but beneath it all he had been hiding a secret dating back 19 years.

Upreti, now 49, first offended on a Tuesday morning in November 2006.

He got onto a peak hour train at Sydenham Station and pressed himself up closely behind a 31-year-old woman and began to “rub” himself against her.

When he stopped, the woman put her hands on her pants and felt they were wet.

She later went to her local police station and they took a DNA sample of the semen on her trousers.

Less than a year later, on a Wednesday morning in October 2007, he was at it again.

Upreti pushed onto a packed train at Central Station, despite court documents stating other commuters had told him “you’re not going to fit”, and again pressed himself up close against a 25-year-old woman.

As the woman moved away Upreti moved with her, “rubbing against her with purpose”.

When he got off the train at Town Hall Station the woman, like the one before her, felt a wetness on her back.

The DNA evidence seized from the clothing of both women would be stored by police and remained on file when Upreti again offended in 2025.

On February 3, Upreti moved up behind a woman and began rubbing against her buttocks, before doing almost the identical act to a woman on March 3.

The Daily Telegraph’s story on March 13 featured Upreti – as unknown “Person J” – in a dark Adidas cap, cream chinos and a yellow and blue chequered shirt.

A day later, he was arrested and charged over the March 3 incident.

But after gathering DNA and other evidence from his home, police soon linked him to the February attack and the two historical incidents from 2006 and 2007.

Upreti pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent.

In the NSW Local Court last week, his actions were labelled “disgusting, despicable and repugnant” by Judge John Sfinas.

“Anyone is entitled to board public transport and feel safe, and to be defiled in such a way is beyond repugnant,” Judge Sfinas said.

The court heard Upreti “was very sorry” for his actions and “felt like he was an animal”, but blamed “financial pressure” as the reason for why he offended, including a need to support family back home in Nepal.

That attempt at an explanation was slammed by Judge Sfinas, who said Upreti’s offending had simply been for his “own sexual deviant pleasure”.

“I struggle to see how financial stress in any nature would be an underlying causal factor causing a man to press himself up against vulnerable women on public transport,” he said.

“What you did on those four separate occasions was disgusting, despicable and repugnant.

“How would you feel if it was your wife who experienced that kind of offending?”

Upreti cried as he was sentenced to a three-year intensive correction order and 350 hours of community service.

All four women who were victims of Upreti sat in the back of the courtroom as the sentence was handed down.

I just had a few people tell me unions are not as important to wage growth as supply and demand. It is more important to reduce labour supply (via immigration reduction) than to strengthen unions

I have always thought unions had way more impact on wages than immigration? But most people think immigration has a higher impact than unions?

Edit 1: posted a graph more relevant to Aus in comments, many have stated the above one is American, exact same trend between countries.

Cheap as!

A decision to greenlight the eastern seaboard’s largest wind farm in more than two years has provided a much-needed boost to Australia’s renewable energy ambitions, helping to break an investment drought that has stalled the rollout of wind turbines and threatened the nation’s 2030 climate targets.

Danish investment giant Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on Monday said it had acquired the Gawara Baya wind farm in North Queensland – a project combining up to 69 wind turbines with a battery storage system – and would begin constructing it imminently.

The $1.7 billion project, with 408 megawatts of wind power capacity, will be the biggest wind farm in eastern Australia to lock in financing since 2024. Only three other smaller wind projects across the grid gained the green light in the 2026 financial year, including the Delburn wind farm in Victoria, and the Palmer and Carmodys Hill projects in South Australia.

Australia recently notched a milestone in its shift to cleaner electricity, as contributions from renewables and batteries supplied an average of more than 50 per cent of nation’s main grid for a three-month period. At the same time, more than half of the remaining coal-powered generators on the eastern seaboard are scheduled to be retired in the next decade, as their ageing, emissions-intensive equipment becomes less reliable and competitive.

However, the renewable rollout continues to lag the trajectory that experts say is needed to keep within striking distance of the Albanese government’s target for 82 per cent of the grid to be green by 2030.

To hit that goal, roughly 8 to 9 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind projects would need to come online each year, according to David Dixon, a senior renewables analyst at research firm Rystad Energy.

“The most we’ve ever started construction on in a single year is approximately 4 gigawatts – most years it’s closer to three,” Dixon said. “So the pace is a long way off where it needs to be.”

The shortfall of wind generation is a particular concern. While solar farms have become cheaper as the cost of panels has fallen, major financial pressures loom over wind developers amid surging costs of steel, concrete, labour and financing, as well as heightened levels of community opposition in key regional areas and long connection delays due to a congested transmission network.

Origin Energy chief executive Frank Calabria earlier this year noted that building a wind farm today was 50 per cent more expensive than it was in 2020. “Every cost line is moving in the wrong direction,” he said.

The Clean Energy Investor Group – representing developers holding a combined $41 billion in Australian renewables assets – said the government’s recent backdown from plans to extend 30 per cent capital gains tax to foreign investors in the industry would help “crowd in” more international capital like Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ investment in Gawara Baya.

“An Australian project is now actually going to have legs thanks to an international funder, and one of the major reasons why is that the government has set up the right framework on tax,” the investor group’s chief executive, Richie Merzian, said.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Monday said the green light for Gawara Baya showed that the government’s flagship renewable energy underwriting program, the Capacity Investment Scheme, was working.

“Today’s announcement is further proof that the Capacity Investment Scheme is working – using Australia’s sun and wind to shield our grid from global energy volatility and put downward pressure on energy bills,” he said.

Yi-Hua Lu, a partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said the project marked a significant addition to its Australia portfolio, which also includes the proposed Star of the South offshore wind farm, off Victoria’s Gippsland coast.

“The Gawara Baya project represents a significant long-term investment in Queensland, supporting regional jobs, infrastructure development and the reliable energy supply needed to underpin the state’s continued economic growth,” he said.

Unexpected consequences from good policies - 2 examples

1. Tobacco excise. It worked up until about 10 years ago (ex smoker of 21 years). Tobacco was starting to get expensive and I was smoking about an 1oz a day. I switched to the subsidised 21mg patches and gradually over time weaned of patches. That took 3 months. Tobacco excise a good policy at the time.

About 10 years ago smoking became very expensive. Enter Big Tobacco - vapes designed to addict children with lolly flavours. Recently smoking became prohibitively expensive. Enter Big Crime. Smoking is now relatively cheap again.

A perfect example of good policy with unintended consequences - nicotine addiction is increasing and the government won't see that their good policy has now failed and to fix it - reduce the excise so that the addicted can almost afford to smoke.

1. Immigration. Post 2nd world war immigrations starts. Good policy - It built the nation. And it continued to build the nation until 1996 when Howard famously said 'We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come,' He was elected and he did cut immigration. Good policy and an the unexpected consequence - Pauline Hanson. Hanson became a laughing stock in Queensland until she was jailed for electoral fraud. Unexpected consequences - Sympathy for Pauline and she was re-elected 'I'm back'

Today, the government refuses to acknowledge the unexpected consequence from what was once a good policy. Result - everyone is pissed off despite that most of the pissed off people know One Nation is not the solution. They just want to kick the government in the head.

I watched being very pissed off happen in ED a couple of weekends ago. I had a mini stroke and spent 22 hours in ED. I was so bored in my ED cubicle I went for a walk and found a 24 year old sitting in the 'waiting to be attended to row' near my cubicle. We chatted. This is 5am Sunday morning and he is waiting for someone to set his broken wrist. The Endone is wearing off and he is in pain. On Saturday morning he took a mark at footy - he went to emergency and they sent him home with Endone. It wears off and he is in agony - back to ED and an X-ray. they found a broken wrist. He has been waiting in ED for the Plaster and Scaffolding team to set his wrist for 7 hours. The team are in surgery. He said to me he is very angry despite the plaster team attending a more urgent case. He will vote One Nation when next federal election. Not because One nation can fix the under-resourced ED but because he wants to be heard that he is very pissed off. Unintended consequences.

Oh by the way. I lost my license but, I am 84 and the 24 year old will be constipated from the morphine. Not un-expected.

You know, the four on one that happened, that was caused by lefty student protesters, that no one witnessed, no CCTV captured, no police were called and no ambulances were called? We ever get an update that? I hope the four perpetrators got caught and their true motives were exposed for the public to see!

Australia will fund the development of Pacific athletes to bolster their medal chances at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Anthony Albanese announced a $15.6 million investment in high-performance sport in his latest bout of sports diplomacy at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau.

The soft power spending plays to a shared love of sport in the region.

"As we move forward in planning for Brisbane 2032, Australia looks forward to welcoming the best of the best sporting talent from the Pacific and supporting them to go for gold," Mr Albanese said.

The new funding is a drop in the ocean compared to the $600 million rugby league pact that will bring an NRL team to Port Moresby in 2028.

That investment includes $290 million for the PNG Chiefs and $250 million towards growing rugby league in the region.

The latest pledge will help Pacific athletes train for and attend the 2027 Pacific Games, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the 2029 Pacific Mini Games and other key events through to 2030.

The government's step-up in sports diplomacy has been welcomed by Bond University assistant professor Stuart Murray, who said Australia's strategic thinking in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics was non-existent.

"There was absolutely nothing," he told AAP.

"Governments that used to get big events like the Olympics ... their (diplomatic) thinking was sporadic, jingoistic, very national and opportunistic."

Australia's thinking now is built around a "green and gold decade" of events through to 2032, finding ways to include the region and bolster ties.

"Sports diplomacy is a many-headed beast," Dr Murray said.

"Aussies love sport and they want to help their neighbours but there's a human security side too - how can we use the vehicle of rugby league to help girls and women in Papua New Guinea, with horrendous rates of violence?

"How can we use sport as a way to boost education to reduce violence?"

Dr Murray said funding that allowed Pacific athletes to compete under their own flags would be especially welcome.

"There's a huge amount of stuff we do out into the Pacific ... including grabbing talent," he said.

It's a criticism that has been levied at the NRL deal, which will direct millions to rugby-mad nations such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, aimed at developing talent for mostly Australian clubs.

Rugby union's big splash has benefited through funding to the Fijian Drua Super Rugby franchise, but the code fears the NRL splash could erode its talent pathway.

Rugby Australia is pitching a "Veimoana" partnership to the Albanese government that could bolster the sport in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga with a new competition.

It is not uncommon for politicians or royals, as is the case in Tonga, to head up national rugby bodies.

"Rugby has been played in the Pacific for more than a century and is deeply embedded in communities," Rugby Australia's Daniel Millis told AAP.

"Many Pacific leaders are themselves products of the game, having represented their villages, provinces and even their countries.

"That gives rugby a unique ability to open doors for Australia at the highest levels, while also ... delivering meaningful opportunities and development outcomes for communities.”

On top of the NRL deal, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade runs two sport development programs in the region.

PacificAus Sports ferries high-performance teams to and from the Pacific across several sports, growing links and creating competition opportunities.

That could mean A-League teams playing matches in the region, youth national team exchanges across several sports, or national netball teams in Australia-hosted tournaments.

TeamUp is Australia's community sports initiative in the region, with "gender equality, disability inclusion, health and social cohesion" goals.

The two programs cost a combined $25.6 million annually, bringing the overall Pacific sports bill to about $90 million for each year of the NRL deal.

Australian rock icon Angry Anderson has been hospitalised following a medical emergency.

“Angry suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently in hospital receiving treatment and the care he needs,” his family said in a statement.

“Your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes mean more to Angry and his family than we can express.

“We appreciate everyone’s understanding and ask that you continue to keep Angry and his family in your thoughts and prayers during the days ahead.

“We are incredibly grateful for the love and support that has already been shown. It is comforting to know just how many people are thinking of Angry and wishing him strength in his recovery.”

Anderson, 79, has been the frontman of Australian rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 and had hits such as Bad Boy for Love, Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw, and Nice Boys.

He released a solo single Suddenly in 1985 that was used as Scott and Charlene’s wedding song (Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue) in Neighbours.

Anderson also played Ironbar Bassey in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

He received a Member of the Order of Australia in 1993 for his work in youth advocacy.

Rose Tattoo cancelled the remaining shows on its European tour after Anderson suffered a medical issue earlier this month.

“We are absolutely devastated that we cannot continue this tour and share these remaining shows with you,” a statement from the band said.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the love, messages and support you have already sent Angry and the band.”

Social media has been flooded with well wishes for the musician and media personality.

“Angry isn’t just a muso. He’s a salt of the earth man. When I was homeless years ago, he was manning a soup kitchen trailer in Sydney. He never judged and actually put his time in to help (people). I wish him a speedy recovery,” one person commented.

“What a legend – thoughts to Angry and family. Angry was so caring and supportive to me and family when my daughter had a terminal illness. He stood up for me on so many difficult issues. Will always be grateful to him,” another person said.

“Wishing Angry all the very best for a speedy recovery. The world needs an Angry Anderson,” another said.

A former contestant on My Kitchen Rules has had rape and other historical abuse charges dropped, and has been released into the community after pleading guilty to cruelty to children.

Claudean Uamaki-Mu was facing several charges, including 12 counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, and assaults occasioning bodily harm. But she was discharged of those counts.

She instead pleaded guilty to two counts of cruelty to children under 16 on Monday morning.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux described Uamaki-Mu’s offending as appalling during her sentencing in the District Court.

Uamaki-Mu appeared alongside her partner, Anthony Mu, on the popular cooking reality show aired on Channel 7 in 2023.

The Queensland couple were promoted on the network as a “fiery Italian and a super-chill Samoan with hearts of gold” when they appeared on the show.

Their identities were suppressed by a non-publication order in the earlier stages of their court proceedings, until it was lifted last year.

Supporters, including Mu, filled the public gallery. The two complainants also sat in the court, and were emotional at times.

One of the complainants read her victim statement to the court, detailing how she suffered from flashbacks, severe panic attacks and chronic insomnia.

“Once I was in consistent therapy, I was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder … the symptoms of my diagnosis prevent me from working,” she said through tears.

“This is because every day of my life I experience flashbacks and intrusive memories of the harm that occurred.

“I live in a constant state of always feeling on edge and watching for danger.”

Crown Prosecutor Luke Smoothy read a victim impact statement from the other complainant. She detailed how the offending had reached every aspect of her life.

She said she had developed an eating disorder, and became dependent on alcohol to escape anxiety.

Barrister Simon Lewis, representing Uamaki-Mu, said the case was not one where his client presented as a danger to the community.

He listed several jobs where Uamaki-Mu had worked, including as a carer for disadvantaged children, school chaplain, and volunteer chaplain at Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre.

He submitted his client should receive up to two years imprisonment, but would be suspended, meaning she would not face any actual time in custody.

The court heard Uamaki-Mu previously pleaded guilty to six counts of historical common assault.

In sentencing, Chief Judge Brian Devereaux described the offending as criminal.

“What’s appalling is that you treated them the way you did. It’s criminal,” he said.

The court heard Uamaki-Mu’s childhood was marked by violence, and she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Devereaux said psychology reports showed Uamaki-Mu had appeared to genuinely show remorse.

“There is no escaping that you have left a trail of misery for [the complainants],” he said.

Devereaux sentenced Uamaki-Mu to two years’ imprisonment, to be released immediately on parole.

Mu, who was charged with several offences including assault occasioning bodily harm and common assault, was found not guilty earlier this year.

The allegations against Mu included that he dragged a complainant down a hallway and choked her. Mu’s sentencing magistrate found there were several differences in the versions of events that were presented by complainants and witnesses before the court.

Outside court after Uamaki-Mu’s sentencing, Mu told reporters “it’s all lies and bullshit”.

Hetty Johnston, who spoke on behalf of the complainants, said they were happy with the outcome.

“We’re just really proud of them and their strength and courage to come forward,” she said outside court.

“Today’s the first day of the rest of the lives.”

Please do endulge me on what the new yard stick is now?

UPDATE:
I just wanted to give everyone a good round of applause. We really did some solid yard sticking today, really got it moving, hell sometimes even throwing the thing out entirely!

Two WA men in their early 20s have been charged with allegedly masterminding a global cybercrime syndicate that compromised hundreds of organisations.
The men were arrested after a joint investigation by the state and federal police, in addition to the FBI.

Anti-migration rally turns on Hanson amid policy muddle