Latest news with #Padstow

News.com.au
13-07-2025
- News.com.au
NSW Police charge 26-year-old man after teen dies in Padstow red light crash
An 18-year-old man has died while allegedly crossing the road at a traffic light stop, with a driver arrested and charged with major offences. A teen has died after being struck by a ute while crossing a road at a traffic stop, the police have said. The crash happened on Davies Rd in Padstow, western Sydney, last night, with emergency services rushing to the scene about 10.40pm. 'An 18-year-old man was critically injured when struck by a ute, which allegedly failed to stop at a red light,' the police said on Sunday. 'Passing motorists stopped and commenced CPR until the arrival of Ambulance paramedics. 'However, the man died at the scene.' The police have arrested a 26-year-old man. He was taken to Bankstown Hospital for mandatory testing before being taken to Bankstown Police Station, the police said. The police have charged the man with dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death, not stopping at a stop line or red light and disobeying a right-turn-only sign. The man, from Illawong, will appear at Parramatta Local Court later today.

Sydney Morning Herald
22-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Chalmers must realise any reform relies on trust
Peter Hartcher acknowledges the media needs to give Jim Chalmers the space to consider the many possible changes needed to, among other things, our tax system, to prepare our democracy for the future (' Gentle Jim levels path to reform ', June 21). Chalmers says those changes will be viewed from the centre, that is, with no inherent political bias but with the country's needs as the guide. If that is the case, we will expand the GST to cover all items including food and increase it, acknowledging that is how you tax the rich. We will fairly distribute GST between states rather than buying votes of smaller states by robbing from larger ones. We will consider including the family home in the assets test for the pension if it exceeds, say, $2 million, and we will tax superannuation in retirement if that becomes necessary. If Chalmers can tell me he will at least consider all those things, then he may be a worthy successor to Paul Keating. If he can't, he shouldn't waste our time with grand speeches. Brian Barrett, Padstow Peter Hartcher's refreshingly positive look at our treasurer's vision for Australia prompts this old-timer to look back as well as forward. I would urge Jim Chalmers to focus on two traditional turns of phrase used affectionately and ironically. The first is 'a fair go'. We love thinking of ourselves as open-minded in the land of equal opportunity, but are the exorbitant tax privileges of just 80,000 of the richest people in the world proving a fair go is a joke? If so, how can we reinvent it with pride? Our second phrase is 'she'll be right, mate'. All too often, though, it reflects a dismissive apathy afflicting Australia and the West from the effects of globalisation and bullies wearing tin stars. The government's goal should be to inspire a genuine fair go until it can say 'she'll be right' and mean it. Peter Farmer, Northbridge I find Hartcher's take on Chalmers' proposed new superannuation tax on balances over $3 million to be confounding. Hartcher should realise it's not the increase in tax that's the problem but the taxing of unrealised capital gains and the lack of indexation that has made this legislation unprecedented and unfair in the minds of many Australians, and rightly so. Jock Weir, West Wyalong Chalmers is right to ask whether Australia still has the appetite for meaningful reform. It's a fair question. But if he really wants the public to come with him, he'll need to show more care in how these reforms are shaped. Take the proposed superannuation tax on balances over $3 million. It's not the lift from 15 per cent to 30 per cent that's causing alarm — most retirees can see the logic and could plan for that. What's concerning is the move to tax unrealised gains. That's not income – it's just a value on paper; it's volatile and it may not persist. So a policy change which could have been accepted without fuss has become the 'sheer ventilation' Hartcher describes. Reform depends on trust – on people believing the process is fair, measured and transparent. By making unreasonable demands like this and framing them for minor tweaks, Chalmers risks the very consensus he's asking for. Marina Cardillo, Beecroft Chalmers deserves support for his plans to rejuvenate our faltering economy. If the naysayers, big business, the conservative press and the Coalition, torpedo his efforts, they will be forever condemned for their negativity. Andrew Macintosh, Cromer If Chalmers wants to improve productivity through tax changes, start with housing. Australia puts too much investment into housing, reducing investment in skills, equipment, transport et cetera. Many people spend two hours-plus a day commuting as they can't afford to live near their work. Meanwhile, housing completions decline, rents increase and house prices accelerate again. House prices took off after John Howard and Peter Costello introduced the capital gains tax 50 per cent discount in the late 1990s. Reduce the discount to 25 per cent on housing. Exempt the first house for small investors. Put the additional tax received into construction trades training, more pre-apprenticeship courses, skilled migration and incentives to builders. If politically necessary, 'grandfather' existing investment in housing or take it to the next election. There'll be more homes built so prices and rents will level and productivity will improve. Have courage. If not now, when? Kevin Fell, Cooks Hill Pipes and poles Treasurer Daniel Mookhey startles with the budget (' $120b for new 'pipes and poles' in the budget ', June 21). Water and power services for new housing are not government budget funded. They are budget 'taxed'. Only the rural-based Essential Energy, Sydney Water and a few other urban water authorities belong to the NSW government. All our pipes and poles companies are commercial entities that borrow money to fund capital investments. State government-owned utilities pay 'tax' to the state government equivalent to what they would pay the Commonwealth if privately owned. In saying water and power will be a priority for the foreseeable future, the treasurer is effectively saying infrastructure is not a priority of the government. Public sector wages remain its priority. Peter Egan, Mosman When Mookhey says spending on infrastructure over the next decade will be defined by 'pipes and poles', I hope the emphasis will be on pipes, including the orange ones for underground power distribution. Many Sydney suburbs already have more than their quota of ugly poles and wires, especially on major roads, where they are both a safety hazard and an eyesore. Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills There is not one mention of any spend for rural and regional communities in this account. Says it all. It's as if we do not exist; that is until the city complains about the cost of food all transported at increasing cost from 'over the mountains' on 'dog tracks' for roads. A tunnel under the mountains, nah, the spend is on tunnels under Sydney; you will have to put up with a single lane climb up Mt Victoria, then a track festooned with Christmas tree traffic lights and changing speed zones for the next 60 kilometres. Bruce Clydsdale, Bathurst Nature under attack Reading reports of fossil-fuelled environmental disasters such as the algal bloom affecting South Australian waters leaves me in despair (' The South Australian algal bloom the rest of the country should be worried about ', June 21). People can move from areas affected by bushfires, droughts, flooding and sea level rise but flora and fauna can't. Where is the justice that allows government-approved fossil fuel exploitation to continue unabated at the expense of the natural environment? In addressing this question, the crux of the proposed environmental protection laws must be inclusion of projects' impacts on climate change. Roger Epps, Armidale Courage of gang rape survivors Bravo to Karen Iles for speaking up (' I survived gang rape. We need to talk ', June 21). I am also a survivor of a gang rape – in 1966. I was also 17, and the headline in the paper was almost identical to the current one, almost 60 years later. The perpetrators were not 'others', children of migrants. They were five 'good' Aussie boys. This crime transcends ethnic boundaries. The police would not believe my claim when I reported it. Not until a very invasive test by a doctor, with various other people present, watching with salacious glee, proved I had been a virgin. In those days, if I hadn't been, then there would have been no case. I had asked for it. Still, the defence lawyers managed to make it look as if I had invited and enjoyed the encounter. In the end, some got off and the others got a slap on the wrist. In hindsight, I would not have put myself through the court case. But I had thought it would make things easier for future victims. The local gossip mill at the time remained in overdrive for years after it happened. Yet here we are, more than half a century later. The case being held in an open court meant there was no control over who heard and interpreted the proceedings. My heart goes out to this girl. All I can say is that you can survive and overcome it. My proof is my four kids, 10 grandchildren and a loving husband who did not judge when I told him about it. Name and address supplied I am staggered after reading Karen Iles' article. Like many octogenarians, I have completed a memoir including my involvement in the ferment of the 1970s Women's Movement. I described the era of my youth when publicity of sexual assaults on women resorted to judgmental terms like the ones Karen Iles mentions. Back then, reports lacked any wider objectivity, which could include questioning the man's behaviour. Why have we made so little progress despite the evolution of behavioural science? I really want to know. Glenda Gartrell, Newtown I cannot imagine the horror of what you went through, Karen, but I am so glad that you survived and speak for those who cannot. It needs to be said. Bravo. Michele Sharp, Bondi Beach How brave of Karen Iles to speak out about the horrors of gang rape. This shocking crime must be suitably punished and laws should reflect the severity of the crime. The brave girls and women who report these crimes must have the total support of police and the justice system to encourage others to come forward knowing they will be given all the help they need to survive a harrowing criminal justice process. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach Karen Iles is to be applauded for tackling a subject we shrink from. One aspect shines a spotlight on the sheer brutality inherent in rape. It is all too often employed in times of war when an invading army uses rape to terrorise and subdue a civilian population. Misogyny is a term that almost sanitises rape – it is an act of pure hatred and utter contempt. If a bunch of rugger buggers ever thinks it might be fun, Chris Minns has an opportunity, indeed an obligation, to come down harder than ever before on the crime of rape. Margaret Johnston, Paddington Dead reckoning My son recently came upon a poem that I think is as apt today as it was in the 1930s. From The Book of the Dead, by activist Muriel Rukeyser: 'What three things can never be done?/Forget. Keep silent. Stand alone.' Pauline McGinley, Drummoyne EVs' energy boost With petrol being the 'single biggest weekly expense for most households' and the global oil market so volatile, an EV is a wise investment (' There's no crisis in oil markets yet − but your bowser bill could creep up', June 21). Secondhand EVs are as cheap as chips, due to largely unfounded claims about battery reliability. By saving on weekly fuel costs, it's possible to pay off a good used EV sedan in about three years. New EVs are increasingly affordable as Chinese models flood the market. It makes a lot of sense for the government to encourage EV uptake for our energy security when petrol prices are unreliable. On top of this, transport contributes more than a fifth of our domestic emissions. Perhaps the biggest benefit would be a reduction in our pollution levels. Anne O'Hara, Wanniassa (ACT) Hurtful words I am outraged, and more (‴ Fungus bench' should outrage school parents ', June 21). And I'm not even a school parent. Also, I am alarmed for the good public servants dismissed by their boss as 'oxygen thieves'. What a lowlife wordsmith Anthony Manning is. What happens next? Jennifer Fergus, Croydon Barking madness It's hard to find anything more self-indulgent than the growing cult of treating dogs as mini humans, not the domesticated animals they are (' From 'puppitinis' to pooch-only high teas ', June 21). In a city where food banks are stretched to the limit and children live in poverty, it appears that some think it makes sense to indulge in their fur baby's unnecessary 'dog-lato'. Michael Berg, Randwick Years ago I went to a hardware shop to look for a self-assembly dog kennel kit. One of the older staff helping me look for it asked me why I wouldn't just let the dog sleep in the space under the house. It made total sense. Another pet shop owner told me, not too long ago, people have too much time on their hands when I asked him if he had a toothbrush and toothpaste kit for my dog. He said he could sell it to me but questioned the need for it. When I read about the pooch-cafes I only want to say, 'Really?' It is anthropomorphism gone barking mad. Manbir Singh Kohli, Pemulwuy Homme de plume Dear Doctor, I seek advice on transitioning to become an emu. I'm completely turned off by the dangerously nutty humans I see on the news and don't identify as one any longer. I want a simple, peaceful life without any politics, warmongering or religion. I have long skinny legs and beady eyes, so feel my choice is appropriate and the species-affirming won't be too much of a problem. Dave Watts, Avalon


Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The 10 best TV chefs — from Nigella to Keith Floyd
This week, as the excellent Disney+ drama series The Bear returns for a fourth season, chefs on TV are front of mind. British television has a great tradition of real-life celebrity chefs, each with a unique style and offering a different spin on the culinary experience. So who should be awarded a Michelin star for their cooking on screen, and who needs to continue to work on their menu? Here, our critic picks his favourite British celebrity chefs. The irreverent and unconventional style of Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson made them near instant stars when they roared on to our screens on a Triumph Thunderbird and sidecar in the 1990s. The one-time barrister and the former Spectator food writer cooked up a storm with a healthy lack of pretension and a whole lot of (not always so healthy) accessible ingredients. • Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews Padstow-based Stein inspired have-a-go-at-home chefs with his accessible approach to cooking. Uncomplicated recipes and influences from across the globe fuse with a friendly manner and beautiful backdrops as he cooks. From his earliest guest appearances on Keith Floyd's shows in the 1980s through to Rick Stein's Food Stories in 2024, he has become one of our best-loved chefs. Berry, who is 90, has published more than 75 cookery books since she trained at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in France, aged 22. Although she has hosted numerous general cooking shows across her career, she is best known to modern viewers for her baking prowess and won over a generation of fans after judging The Great British Bake Off opposite Paul Hollywood between 2010 and 2016. Dave Myers and Si King's easy charm and genuine friendship, twinned with motorbikes and interesting friends they met along the way, made their shows compelling. The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook began in 2004 and was so popular it spawned a number of globetrotting series. The pair's unique appeal was shown by the public outpouring of emotion after Myers' death in 2024. • Hairy Bikers roar ahead in race to be Christmas TV's master chefs You'll struggle to find an amateur cook's bookshelf in Britain that doesn't have at least one Delia Smith title on it. Her television shows (and accompanying books) span decades and are considered by many the last word in how to prepare a host of dishes. With her brisk, no-nonsense style, she revolutionised cookery in Britain, inspiring millions to transform a teatime chore into a creative skill. Rhodes was a serious chef with a serious attitude. He held a Michelin star at 26, and by the 1990s had become one of the best-known culinary names in the country. Rhodes Around Britain in 1994 began a journey that led to a raft of cookery shows. It was his love for British food and nonchalant presenting style that made him stand out, and paved the way for many of the more recent greats, from Gordon Ramsay to Jamie Oliver. If this list were decided on worldwide fame, Ramsay would surely be No 1, having broken America and built a global brand. But for all the effing and blinding, Kitchen Nightmares and fronting of Hell's Kitchen, we don't see Gordon doing much cooking on the TV any more. And yet, whether he's preparing food or delivering scathing putdowns, he is a culinary television phenomenon. • Yes, chef! Cooks are the new rock stars Initially Lawson was parodied for her breathily indulgent style, but she loves food and isn't afraid to share that joy with her audience. Her intimate and playful style draws the viewer in and makes them feel like she's a friend sharing secrets. The focus remains on pleasure and comfort, and her Christmas shows are almost as unshakeable a part of the season as turkey and stuffing. Many of the modern charismatic and irreverent TV chefs owe a lot to Keith Floyd. Glass of wine in hand, he was an entertainer, a passionate gourmand and a presenter with flair who was unafraid to get messy and make mistakes. His unscripted shows on location across the globe featured local chefs, insightful chat and unpolished recipes. His programmes in the 1980s and 1990s really did change TV and cookery. Oliver exploded on to our screens in 1999 as the fresh-faced, casually dressed and extremely energetic Naked Chef. He taught food lovers how to cook without airs and graces, and with his cookbooks became one of Britain's bestselling authors. Although he continues to make popular shows, it's for his high-impact campaigns, from improving school meals to lobbying for a sugar tax, that he is perhaps now best known. Most recently he was on our screens in the admirably honest Jamie's Dyslexia Revolution on Channel us know your suggestion in the comments below

News.com.au
20-06-2025
- News.com.au
Major blow for amateur boxer Adam Abdallah who broke soccer ref's jaw
An amateur boxer who was jailed for breaking a soccer referee's jaw and leaving him with four missing teeth in a wild brawl has failed in his push for a lighter sentence. Adam Abdallah, 26, attacked soccer referee Khodr Yaghi following a match at Padstow Oval in southwestern Sydney in April 2023. Mr Yaghi was left with a broken jaw and four missing teeth after Abdallah landed multiple blows to his face and kicked him in the head during the attack. Video of the attack was widely shared on social media in the aftermath. The amateur boxer initially pleaded not guilty to reckless grievous bodily harm and was granted bail in May 2023 after an extended version of the viral video appeared to show he'd been attacked first. He later changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to two years and three months behind bars in February with a non-parole period of one year and two months. He will be eligible for parole in March 2026. Abdallah applied to appeal his sentence, with his defence lawyer Thomas Woods telling the Court of Criminal Appeal in May that his client was seeking an intensive corrections order that would allow him to serve time in the community as opposed to in jail. The Grounds of Appeal argued the sentencing judge had erred by finding Mr Yaghi's 'provocative conduct' didn't significantly mitigate Abdallah's conduct, and also by failing to address a submission to reduce the penalty following his guilty plea.


Telegraph
19-06-2025
- Telegraph
‘Stanley Tucci put my local Florentine trattoria on TV – now I can't get a table'
'It's amazing: you've sustained this culture for thousands of years,' gushes Stanley Tucci in his new National Geographic travelogue, Tucci in Italy. It is the third such venture for the Academy Award nominee, joining a long tradition of celebrity-fronted travel shows that find 'hidden corners' of the globe. This time, however, the stakes are different. Overcrowding at renowned beauty spots has been particularly marked in recent years, so much so that waves of protests have taken place across southern Europe. Generally, the sense has been that this was the fault of social media-obsessed influencers, snapping shots of Instagram-friendly scenes without much care for local people. Could it be, however, that travelogues are the original reason places feel overwhelmed? Take Padstow as an example. The Cornish fishing village, once charming, is now a prime example of the hype created by television programmes. The harbour-front teems with visitors; available restaurant tables are rarer than sustainably caught salmon. It's a phenomenon that has long been attributed to TV chef and seafood connoisseur Rick Stein, to the extent that it is often dubbed 'Padstein'. Stein first showed the town in Taste of the Sea, broadcast in 1995. The harbour town has featured, repeatedly, in his programmes since; elevated for its camera-ready coves and, above all, 'authenticity'. In the first instance, Stein probably did alight on something remarkable: this was the home of a declining industry, pulling in exquisitely fresh fish, in an extraordinarily quaint setting. But the ensuing mania has long since eroded that initial charm. His investment in the area – some four restaurants, alongside accommodation, has presumably entrenched his interest in the place. With that comes greater promotion (and more tourists). In the intervening years, this phenomenon has been repeated. Rick Steves took on Cinque Terre. Comedians – Jack Whitehall, Dara O'Brien, Sue Perkins – have explored Romania, the US and Vietnam. An inordinate number of city breaks were taken by Richard Ayoade and latterly Joe Lycett in Travel Man, with each element eminently replicable, down to pricing per activity. Its YouTube channel garners some two million views a month. This is broad-strokes stuff, aimed at the general holidaymaker. Anthony Bourdain's oft-repeated line about being a traveller, not a tourist, possibly inspired a different kind of holiday than Stein et al. The American chef's effect, though, might well be the same, especially for once under-the-radar spots. The travel magazine Skift cited an 88.8 per cent increase in internet searches for Sicily after an episode of Parts Unknown was filmed there. And many of the restaurants featured in his programme are far from unhappy. Bún chả Hương Liên, the restaurant in Hanoi where Bourdain ate with Barack Obama, has encased their table in perspex. It now advertises itself as 'Bun Cha Obama'. Travelogues do not solely send people in pursuit of restaurants. Take Joanna Lumley's series, exploring, earnestly, places such as the Silk Road, the Danube, the 'Spice Trail'. Her entreaties to visit these (often post-colonial) destinations are of a different style – and price point – to the exploits of Bourdain. Her programmes cater to those who remember her as a model in the Sixties, or her work as an actor in the intervening decades. And this is a demographic with money to spend. A recent report by consultancy firm McKinsey found that baby boomers – those born between 1946-1964 – spent three times more than Gen Z on travel in 2023. Here is, possibly, the difference. While influencers might display the delights of a stylish, design-focussed hotel, many followers will not have the income to take the same trip themselves. The Lumley brand is different: a leisurely Nile cruise is within reach for a large proportion of her viewers. This, too, is the appeal of Tucci. Here is Hollywood royalty, walking the streets of Florence – as the viewer can. He is just like us, the programme posits, making simple pasta dishes and drinking crisp apéritifs. He is stylish, undeniably, but he does all this with humour, and so can you. And here he is in a tiny, Florentine trattoria – tucked away from the main tourist areas, but accessible enough that, some locals fear, it will soon be heaving with visitors. 'It was a very, very, very local bar, totally neighbourhood,' says local resident Lucy Millar*, who has lived in Florence since the early 1980s. The owner has promised to reserve tables for her regular customers, regardless of the expected post-Tucci rush. 'I don't know if this will be possible, though, because I think she will be swamped. This is a whole different level,' she says. Such a situation has form. Tucci's first series highlighted the centuries-old Tuscan practice of serving drinks out of tiny hatches. Now, says Millar, the once-quaint cobblestones are besieged. 'The street is crammed with people every day waiting for a drink out of the wine window,' she complains. 'I have a friend who lives near the window that Tucci originally featured and there are people sitting on the doorstep 24 hours a day.' She does not, however, blame Tucci himself: 'It lies with the fixers who are doing the groundwork for him. They know exactly what they are doing. They have a responsibility.' For residents of a city, a travelogue might seem to diminish its essential character; the streets thronging with visitors all yearning for the same experience. As Millar puts it, though, that same sentiment might not be felt by business owners. In cities such as Venice and Florence, the tourism industry accounts for such a large proportion of the local economy that it is unlikely they will turn away promotion. 'It's a dilemma,' she says. 'You can't bite the hand that feeds you.' One thing is for certain, though: after somewhere features in a travelogue, 'it will never be the same.' *not her real name