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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mike Hohnen

Afternoon Update: police arrest alleged ‘kill team’ in Sydney; Price calls out Liberal leaks; and an ode to horny Hollywood

A still from video showing police searching a vehicle
Police searched two cars in Sydney’s south-west and allegedly found two firearms, balaclavas, body-worn cameras and two jerry cans filled with petrol. Photograph: Mary Mohamad | Facebook

Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.

New South Wales police have charged three men with conspiracy to commit murder, alleging they were a hired “hit team” arrested while on their way to kill a man near a Sydney daycare centre.

Just before 4pm on Tuesday, police conducted “high-risk” stops of two vehicles in Revesby using less than lethal rounds and arrested the three men, aged 18, 19 and 26. A search of the cars allegedly found two firearms, balaclavas, body-worn cameras and two jerry cans filled with petrol. A third firearm was later found in another unoccupied vehicle allegedly linked to the men.

“This was a calculated and coordinated intervention that stopped what we will allege was a planned killing nearby a daycare centre – a deeply concerning scenario,” Scott Cook, an assistant commissioner and state crime commander for NSW police, said in a statement. Cook said the location of the alleged murder attempt could have resulted in “so much collateral damage”.

The three men were refused bail and were due to appear in Bankstown local court later on Wednesday.

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In pictures

From cool congress and Corpus Christi, to Oasis and Oman – the Guardian readers submit their best photos from the past month. Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page.

What they said …

***

“It’s got to stop. There’s been commentary on the fact that we look like a clown show.”

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she has written to Sussan Ley demanding she intervene to put a stop to the leaks and backgrounding against their own side. The former frontbencher’s remarks come after the Nine papers reported supposed details from Peter Dutton’s confidential interview with the Liberal election campaign review, which was highly critical of Andrew Hastie’s performance in the last term.

Full Story

The ‘civil war’ brewing within the Liberal party

It’s Senate estimates week in Canberra but all eyes are on Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, the former SAS soldier with leadership aspirations.

Nour Haydar talks to the political editor, Tom McIlroy, and political reporter Krishani Dhanji about Hastie’s recent resignation to the backbench, the pressure that puts on the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, and how close we are to a leadership spill.

Listen to the episode here.

Reader callout

Cast your vote for the 2025 Australian bird of the year! You will be able to see the voting tally for each bird throughout the competition. The bottom five birds will be eliminated at the end of each day, with tallies starting afresh just after midnight. You can vote every day.

Before bed read

A floppy-haired Brendan Fraser, a smokey-eyed Rachel Weisz, some grisly scarabs and biblical plagues? Hail to a lost era of multiplex entertainment, The Mummy: a relic of horny Hollywood that remains a classic bisexual awakening movie.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: HOB. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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