
BREAKING NEWS Sydney light rail stopped for urgent repairs: When it will return
The L2 and L3 services went down about 10am due to urgent repairs at Town Hall.
The service was cut off from Circular Quay at the Town Hall stop.
Commuters were instead directed to the trains running between the two transport hubs.
Available light rail services continued between Town Hall and both Randwick and Juniors Kingsford.
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Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The new threat facing Australian children in daycare centres
Experts are concerned that fast-tracked childcare courses could be putting young lives at risk. Traditional four-year university degrees in early education are being whittled down to just 10-month graduate diplomas as institutions cash in on an industry shortage of teachers and market 'worthless' courses to international students. The industry has come under the spotlight in recent days after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was charged with over 70 child abuse offences, including the sexual penetration of a child and producing child abuse material. At Southern Cross University in regional NSW, an estimated 6,000 students have enrolled in its 10-month early education graduate diploma in the last two years. University insiders claim that the majority are international students, including older men in their 40s and 50s with corporate backgrounds. 'Childcare services are recognising that students are quite openly telling them that they are only there to get their permanent residency and that's why they are undertaking the course,' a university insider told ABC's 7.30 program. Parents should be concerned that people are coming to Australia to study childcare as a pathway to permanent residency, immigration expert Mark Glazbrook says. 'They're looking after our children and in some cases they're not attending their classes,' he told the program. 'There are a lot of education providers that are set up to deliver courses that are worthless, they're useless. This is a big concern.' University of Sydney early education professor Dr Marianne Fenech said the growing number of international enrolments was a 'cash cow for universities'. 'Employers of high quality services are telling us that the quality of graduates coming out is not what it used to be, it is not as high as it should be,' she said. Dr Fenech was alarmed to hear claims that students were placed with childcare centres that failed to meet minimum national quality standards. Southern Cross University told the program that the graduate diploma is a 'rigorous, high quality program' which includes 60 days of practical experience in early childhood education settings. It is also fully accredited by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. 'Within 10 months, our Graduate Diploma in Education (Early Childhood) will prepare you to work in early childhood education and care services, long day care centres, and preschools,' a course description on the university website states. 'Our course covers key areas of early childhood education and care, theory, principles and practices that best support children's learning and development.' The regulator has since confirmed that it has launched a review into the university. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Southern Cross University for further comment. Parents of 1,200 children were advised to consider testing them for sexually transmitted diseases after coming into contact with Brown. The 26-year-old worked at a total of 20 childcare centres over an eight-year period between January 2017 and May 2025. Brown was not known to police before his arrest and had a valid Working With Children Check, which has since been cancelled. Police discovered evidence of the alleged horrific offending by the childcare worker while investigating 36-year-old Michael Simon Wilson. Wilson, from Hoppers Crossing, was charged with 45 child sex offences on Wednesday, including bestiality, rape and possession of child abuse material, according to court documents. It is understood Brown and Wilson are known to each other, but Wilson's charges are not linked to any childcare centre and involve different alleged victims.


Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
I just moved to Sydney from Italy and I'm deeply bothered by how everyone behaves here - is it just me?
A young woman who moved to Sydney from Milan has confessed that her everyday interactions are leaving her so confused and disheartened that she sometimes ends up in tears. In a now-viral Reddit post, the Italian woman who has lived Down Under for four months described how she feels 'people are annoyed with [her]' every time she goes about her day - and she's struggling to understand why. 'I recently moved to Sydney from Milan and I'm finding daily interactions pretty frustrating,' she wrote. 'I have a persistent feeling that people are annoyed with me, and I can't quite pinpoint why. Sometimes I even cry after just running errands because I don't understand what's going on.' The woman explained that although she's well-travelled and used to city life - having spent time in both Los Angeles and New York - Sydney's social cues feel completely alien. 'In [LA or NYC ] I could easily read people's expressions and intentions. Even if people were blunt or cold, I never took it personally. But here in Sydney, I'm completely lost,' she said. She wondered whether her Italian-American accent or her fashion choices - what she described as 'too Milan' - could be putting people off, but was at a loss to explain the disconnect. One social custom in particular has her feeling even more out of place: the casual 'how are you today?' greeting. 'In Italy, we don't really have this, and in LA it felt easy and natural,' she explained. 'But here, I often get what feels like an annoyed or stiff reaction. I never know how much warmth to put into my response, or if I'm doing something wrong.' She also suggested that Aussies seemed 'dissociated' in public settings - something many expats agreed with her on. 'I keep reading everywhere about how nice Australians are. That's true for my partner (who is from the suburbs, though), his family, and pretty much everyone I meet through him,' she said. 'But then he leaves for work, and I go run my errands, and everyone is... just as you said, dissociated.' Despite her growing unease, the woman shared that most people do seem to 'loosen up' slightly after a few minutes of conversation - a small glimmer of hope as she tries to integrate into her new home, where she lives with her Australian fiancé. The post struck a nerve, especially with expats and Australians who had lived abroad and returned home. 'I'm Australian but spent over a decade in the US - and I felt the exact same way coming home,' one person replied. 'Americans are conditioned for cheerfulness and extroversion. Australians can seem cold by comparison - but it's really just a cultural difference.' Others chimed in with practical advice: 'If you're enthusiastically asking strangers "How are you today?" in Sydney, people might think you're a charity fundraiser,' one user said bluntly. 'Try "How's it going?" instead. The more casual, the better,' a second advised. Another added, 'When Australians say "how are you", it's really just a long version of "hello". They're not actually asking for a full update on your life.' Aussies also warned that striking up casual conversation with strangers in the city can sometimes backfire. 'In Sydney, people often assume anyone trying to chat them up in public either wants something or is a bit unhinged. It's not personal.' But not everyone thought the issue was purely cultural. 'It's most likely your accent. For most Australians, an American accent is grating,' one sensationally claimed. Despite the mixed responses, many agreed the woman's experience touches on a deeper truth about adjusting to Australian social norms, particularly for those used to more outwardly expressive cultures.


The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump tariff disruption could have ‘small, positive effect' on Australian economy, productivity commission finds
Donald Trump's trade tariffs will have only a minor impact on our economy according to the Productivity Commission, as a leading economist said Australia was in the 'best position' in the world to withstand the surge in US protectionism. The American president on Tuesday morning posted a series of letters which outlined individual countries' tariff rates that were close to previously announced levels, while extending the negotiation deadline from 9 July to 1 August. As the world braces for potentially another three more of disruption and speculation about where tariffs will eventually land, Warwick McKibbin, an ANU economics professor, said the good news was that 'Australia's in probably the best position to handle' the fallout from the Trump's assault on global trade. McKibbin, who is a recognised world leader on modelling the potential impact from America's new era of trade protectionism, told the Australian Conference of Economists on Monday that Australia should be looking at these disruptions as an 'opportunity' to expand trade with our partners. 'We should be doing trade negotiations. We should be lowering barriers which make trade harder,' he said. McKibbin's conclusion that Australia would be left relatively unscathed by US-led trade disruptions was backed up by separate PC analysis which showed our economy could even receive a small boost from America's higher trade barriers. The PC's modelling found that retaliating with our own tariffs would be counterproductive, and that the best response was to pursue reforms at home to boost the productive potential of Australia's economy. With Anthony Albanese yet to meet the US president in person, Jim Chalmers in a statement said the PC's conclusions backed the government's approach to American protectionism. Jim Chalmers said 'the key message from the PC review is that Australia is best served by continuing to advocate for free and fair trade, and that's exactly what we've done'. James Paterson, the shadow finance minister, told Channel 9 that 'the only fair tariff on Australia would be 0%, and I hope that's what we get'. 'But we haven't given ourselves the best chance of securing that from the Trump administration because the prime minister has not even met President Trump, now seven months after he was elected,' Paterson said. The PC modelling found the 'small, positive effect' on Australia's economy comes about as goods previously sold to the US are diverted to us at a cheaper rate, and as we also scoop up some of the investment that flows out of America and heavily tariffed countries. But Alex Robson, the PC's deputy chair, warned the 0.4% modelled lift in GDP did not account for other, harder to model knock-on effects. 'The proposed tariffs are likely to have a relatively small direct effect on us, but the global uncertainty they've brought about could affect living standards in Australia and around the world,' Robson said. Trump's letters he posted on social media threatened tariff rates of 25% on Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, all within 1 percentage point of previously threatened tariffs. Tapas Strickland, NAB's head of market economics, said there were some early clues about where import tax rates may eventually settle. 'If the agreement with Vietnam is anything to go by, then countries where the US has a trade deficit with look destined to have a 20% tariff, and those where the US has a trade surplus with a 10% tariff,' Strickland said. 'That could mean eventual tariff rates settle higher than what the current consensus is which is broadly for a 10% across the board tariff with a higher tariff on China.'