Latest news with #LakeMacquarie
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Fatal crash under investigation after police chase south of Newcastle
A 20-year-old man has died following a police pursuit in Lake Macquarie. Police say officers attempted to stop a motorbike on King Street, Hamilton, about 7:30pm on Saturday after noticing its number plates were "obscured". When the rider failed to stop as directed, a pursuit began. The chase continued through five suburbs, with police alleging the man was speeding. Five minutes later, the male rider came off his bike and crashed into a traffic pole on the Pacific Highway at Charlestown. Officers and paramedics performed CPR, but the man could not be revived. The rider is yet to be formally identified, but police say he was known to them in relation to previous traffic matters. Assistant Commissioner David Waddell described the incident as a "tragic situation". "His family are suffering and are traumatised … as are our police," he said. A critical incident investigation is now underway to review the circumstances of the pursuit, including the actions of both the rider and police. Assistant Commissioner Waddell said the pursuit was monitored by a senior officer and conducted under firm guidelines. "Our safe driving policy puts some really strict protocols around pursuits," he said. "The operation will be investigated and reviewed as part of the investigation." A GoPro camera was recovered at the scene of the crash. It is not yet known whether it was recording at the time of the incident. Police said they would investigate whether the incident involved "post and gloat" behaviour, a trend where riders film and share dangerous behaviour online. Investigators are urging anyone with CCTV or dash cam footage to come forward. The formal investigation is expected to take several months.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Motorbike rider dies after police pursuit
A man has died in a horrific crash along a major NSW highway after being pursued by police for not having number plates on his motorbike. Officers attempted to stop a motorbike on King St in Hamilton – in the NSW Lake Macquarie region – about 7.30pm on Saturday as it did not have number plates, NSW Police said in a statement. A pursuit began when the rider did not stop as directed. The chase continued south on the Pacific Hwy at Charlestown before the rider – a man believed to be aged in his 20s – came off his bike. He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics but died at the scene. Police have established a crime scene and a critical incident team from the Port Stephens-Hunter Police District will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. 'The investigation will be subject of an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and oversight by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission,' a NSW Police spokesman said. 'A report will be prepared for the Coroner.' The man is yet to be formally identified.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
Man in 20s dies in horrific fatal crash after police pursuit in NSW Lake Macquarie region
A man has died in a horrific crash along a major NSW highway after being pursued by police for not having number plates on his motorbike. Officers attempted to stop a motorbike on King St in Hamilton – in the NSW Lake Macquarie region – about 7.30pm on Saturday as it did not have number plates, NSW Police said in a statement. A pursuit began when the rider did not stop as directed. The chase continued south on the Pacific Hwy at Charlestown before the rider – a man believed to be aged in his 20s – came off his bike. He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics but died at the scene. Police have established a crime scene and a critical incident team from the Port Stephens-Hunter Police District will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. 'The investigation will be subject of an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and oversight by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission,' a NSW Police spokesman said. 'A report will be prepared for the Coroner.' The man is yet to be formally identified.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
As cage eggs are phased out around the world, how can producers lower the risks of free-range ‘hen heaven'?
Near Lake Macquarie on the central coast of New South Wales, Belinda Stauner-Dawson is running what appears to be a chicken utopia. Her 60 egg-laying ISA Brown hens – a popular laying breed – have the run of a 1.4-hectare paddock. Each day they have access to fresh, green pasture and they come and go as they please from a chicken caravan – a trailer with a water tank, feed and roosting perches. Keeping a watchful eye over them are two permanent guardian maremma dogs. Stauner-Dawson prides herself on happy chooks and their eggs, with golden yellow yolks, which are sold to farm-gate customers and to an organic butcher. The utopia is not without challenges. Stauner-Dawson worms her 'girls' twice a year and moves the caravan regularly to reduce parasites, and is wary of diseases, such as avian influenza, which may be introduced from wild birds. Predation has also been a major problem in the past. 'I would use electric fencing to control foxes and I used to lose a lot of birds from wedge-tails and sea eagles but since I've had the dogs I haven't lost a single chook to predation,' she says. 'If I didn't have dogs I couldn't have pasture-raised chickens.' It's not a large-scale operation. 'It's not for everyone,' Stauner-Dawson says. 'It takes more land with fewer birds and is more expensive. It doesn't make a lot of money.' Sixty years ago, most eggs came from free-range and back yard producers. Today, Australia's 19m hens producing eggs for our tables are housed in three main systems: caged, barn-raised (often advertised as cage-free) and free range. The cage system is climate controlled, reduces the occurrence of disease and provides freedom from feather pecking and cannibalism, but it confines the animal without perches or nesting boxes. Free-range gives the bird outdoor exposure and allows it to exhibit natural behaviours but can expose it to predation and disease transferred by wild birds. The barn system gives access to perch and nesting boxes while still confining the bird to an indoor environment. Jed Goodfellow is a director of Australian Alliance for Animals and spent eight years involved with the development of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry. He says all three systems have good and bad points, but a significant difference is the cumulative welfare concerns in cage egg production. Mortality rates in free-range systems can be reduced with proper management practices such as the development of proper hygiene protocols and vaccination programs, he says. 'Within the cage system issues such as behavioural deprivation, fatty liver disease and bone breakage on depopulation are inherent in the system itself,' Goodfellow says. 'But the welfare issues of cage-free systems such as feather pecking, increased mortality and cannibalism, all of which are serious concerns, can be alleviated as producers become more experienced with the system.' The Alliance for Animals this month joined a global call for faster action to ban cage eggs, off the back of an investigation in 37 countries, including Australia, which allegedly showed 'systemic suffering' in chickens. Brian Ahmed is the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation egg group and in the 1960s his father started the family egg business with free-range hens, before overseeing the change to caged-egg production in the 1970s. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter 'Back then you couldn't control disease and the science showed taking chickens off the ground [into cages] and away from their faeces improved their welfare and reduced parasite issues and the use of antibiotics,' Ahmed says. 'We had better control in the sheds and this gave us a more affordable egg.' Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion Ahmed says animal health then was measured by freedom from injury, disease and pain, hunger and thirst and for these reasons caged egg production was considered superior to other farming systems. The psychological wellbeing of the animal, as addressed in contemporary animal welfare science, was not considered in the 1960s. Goodfellow also points to the EU's ban of caged-egg production in 2012 in the discussion of chicken welfare. Although Australian eggs are not exported, he believes our continued use of the cage system negatively affects trade relations. 'The Europeans are very sensitive about animal welfare generally and the fact Australia continues to permit [cage production] negatively impacts the general perception of Australia's broader animal welfare standards.' Greg Mills is a consultant to the egg industry, working primarily with caged egg systems. He pointed to research commissioned by the Australian Egg Corporation in 2012, which measured levels of the hormone albumen corticosterone in eggs as a way of measuring the stress of chickens and found 'no differences in mean corticosterone concentrations' across production systems – but a significant difference between different farms, even of the same production type. Mills says it comes down to a question of 'mortality or confinement,' arguing that cage systems see lower mortality rates than free range 'but as humans we don't like confinement'. But animal welfare advocates argue that while the risk factors potentially leading to higher mortality rates – like temperature fluctuations and predation – can be managed or reduced in free-range systems, or alleviated entirely in open barn-raised systems, the issues associated with confinement are inherent in cage egg systems. Some egg producers, such as Canobolas Eggs in central NSW and Somerville Eggs near Werribee in Victoria, employ all systems. Lou Napolitano from Somerville Eggs says the diverse business is based purely on market demands but his preference from an animal welfare standard remains cage or simple barns. 'The worst thing you can do to chooks is let them out,' Napolitano says. 'When you let them out there is no biosecurity because they mix with wildlife; it looks nice when they are free-ranging but it is very deceiving. Disease can still get in cages, but biosecurity can be better controlled. All I have to do is open the door of our sheds and listen. The hens are all chattering and cackling and telling us everything is fine.' Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
ABC News
27-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Ross Willis relives memories modelling suits in the 1950s
At the back of a Lake Macquarie office, hidden under a stamp and coin collection, lies a time capsule of sorts. It's a collection of magazines dating back to the late 1950s, which feature a fresh-faced 18-year-old Ross Willis modelling for various Newcastle suit tailors. When Mr Willis rediscovered them during a spring clean more than 65 years later, he showed his daughter Stephanie. "When he said to me he was 18, I just couldn't believe it," Ms Willis said. Ms Willis said it was a "time warp" seeing her now 85-year-old father modelling. "It's like what my kids once said to me: you forget your parents have had a whole life before you even came along." In 1958, Mr Willis was picked from a group of university students to model for a handful of suit-tailoring businesses in Newcastle. "I think they looked for the best-looking people that would be able to be models," he said. "There must have been about 10 of us [university students] altogether who came up and did shoots around the place." Mr Willis was studying at Avondale University, known as Avondale College at the time, for his "leaving certificate", the equivalent of a Higher School Certificate today. Never having modelled before, he jumped at the chance. "Looking back on the photos, it's a thrill," he said. "Though I was paid nothing at all. In the 1950s, dozens of suit-tailoring businesses lined Hunter Street in Newcastle. Mr Willis said that was a sign of the times, when men wore suits for regular outings. His daughter was curious to find out if any of them were still open. She found just one. Opened in Newcastle in 1908, Rundle Tailoring is a fourth-generation family business still operating in the CBD. It was one of Australia's largest suit manufacturers from the 1950s until the 90s. "I said [to Dad], 'Next time I visit, I'll take you down there' and a few months later we did it," Ms Willis said. The pair was given a tour of the facility, bringing back a range of memories. "It amazed me that the tailoring is still done there," Mr Willis said. Shop owner Andrew Rundle said it was the only suit tailor left in the region. "Now, there's us … there hasn't been another tailor that can make a suit from scratch in this area for 20, 30 years." Rundle Tailoring has had its ups and downs, surviving the Great Depression, World War II, tariffs and COVID-19. "The history of the business is so rich," Mr Rundle said. "This [the magazine] was something I didn't even know about until Ross came in and we discussed it.
