-With AAP
1. Jarryd Hayne has been charged with sexual assault.
NRL player Jarryd Hayne has been charged over the alleged sexual assault of a woman in NSW.
Hayne, 30, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and inflicting actual bodily harm after handing himself into Ryde police station on Monday afternoon.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
A woman claims she suffered injuries during a sexual encounter with Hayne in the NSW Hunter Valley and that she had photographs to back up her story.
It’s understood the alleged victim was interviewed by the NRL’s integrity unit before the matter was referred to police.
Police allege the assault of the 26-year-old woman took place in a Hunter region home on September 30.
Hayne has been granted strict conditional bail to appear at Burwood Local Court on December 10.
The former Parramatta and NSW origin star is currently out of contract and the allegations will severely damage his prospects of a new NRL deal.
2. Sydney dentist who came to the defence of seven-year-old girl being allegedly assaulted speaks for the first time.
A south Sydney dentist who came to the defence of a child allegedly being sexually assaulted has spoken about the incident.
Jeffrey Slack helped in the search for a seven-year-old girl who went missing for 30 minutes at a Kogarah dance studio on Thursday.
With the help of local father Nicola Gilio, Slack located the young girl in the bathroom of St George Dance Studio. She was allegedly being sexually assaulted at knife point by a 54-year-old man.
Gilio was allegedly stabbed in the abdomen and neck during the altercation and other citizens made a citizen’s arrest.
“It was all very traumatic. It was a shocking experience, trust me,” Stack told 9News.
The revelation that the alleged molester was on parole has provoked a call for a system-wide review of NSW’s early release program.
The man had been on parole since September last year after being jailed over a violent sexual assault in the Illawarra region in 2012.
The State Parole Authority revoked his parole within hours of Thursday’s arrest.
NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley said the incident was more than just a rudimentary mistake and was a failing on the part of the government.
He called for a system-wide review of parole and more resources for police.
“The police do an amazing job keeping tabs on some of the most dangerous offenders in our society but they cannot do it with one hand tied behind their backs,” he said in a statement.
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott said he was “deeply troubled” after learning the girl’s alleged attacker was on parole for a violent sexual attack and requested an urgent briefing.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian backed her minister and said her government would address any issue that may be uncovered in the dance studio case incident.
“Once we get further details, we’ll determine if we need to take further action,” she told reporters.
“NSW has the toughest parole laws in the land, we have the toughest supervision laws in the land.
“I don’t want to leave a single stone unturned.”
The man, who is yet to be charged, remains under police guard in hospital with facial injuries.
The man, who served three years in prison for the 2012 sexual assault, first became eligible for parole consideration in October 2016 but wasn’t released until September 2017, a parole authority spokeswoman told AAP.
His sentence expires on October 21, 2019.
3. Victorian teachers to walk off job in Nauru protest.
Hundreds of Victorian teachers will walk out of classrooms bound for the steps of Parliament House, calling for children to be freed from detention and the closure of off-shore refugee camps.
Teachers from the public and private sector will leave their students to take a stand on the final day of the #KidsOffNauru campaign on Tuesday at Victoria’s parliament house.
“We are taking this action because we are so concerned about what has been happening on Manus (Island) and Nauru,” Teachers for Refugees spokeswoman Lucy Honan told AAP ahead of the rally.
“It is time to close those camps.”
Mehdi, an Iranian refugee on Nauru, will be live-streamed to the rally along with other speakers including former Nauru teachers.
With people still on Nauru and Manus islands, and 16 children in a detention centre in Melbourne, the teachers want the federal government to resettle them in Australia.
“A lot of us are teachers with kids who have come from refugees backgrounds. It is impacting the classroom. It is a live issue. We have been given responsibility for the children and setting an example,” Ms Honan said.
She said hundreds of teachers had been given permission from their school principal to take leave without pay.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Education and Training said teachers are free to support causes in their own time but they should not use their professional position to make political statements.
“Teachers have a role in encouraging students to consider and think critically about a range of perspectives on complex issues being debated in the community,” she added.
Teachers will also rally in Queensland as part of the campaign.
4. Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer to announce game-changing reforms to parental leave.
More Australians will be able to access paid parental leave under a swag of changes aimed at improving women’s financial security.
Some people who have faced domestic violence will also be able to dip into their superannuation early under the federal government measures, worth $109 million over the next four years.
Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer will detail the initiatives while delivering Australia’s first women’s economic security statement at the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday.
She said Australia has taken great strides in improving women’s economic independence and security in the past few decades, with more women are in work than ever before and the gender pay gap moving in the right direction.
But the minister said problems remain, including women earning less than men, retiring with 42 per cent less in their superannuation and being twice as likely to work part-time.
“Even though we have come a long way, we still want Australian women to be able to do even better,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
“We want to ensure that women can build their financial security to help them choose their own path so they and their families can live their best lives.
“These new measures will help just give women and their families’ greater choice, and will also help grow the Australian economy.”
The coalition’s plan is focused on increasing the workforce participation of women, supporting their economic independence and improving their earning potential.
Changing the work test for the federal government’s paid parental leave scheme is part of the workforce participation measures.
Currently, parents need to have worked at least 330 hours in 10 of the 13 months prior to their child’s birth, with a break of no more than eight weeks between two working days.
But parents will still qualify if they’d had a break of up to 12 months, and be able to move their work test period if they had to stop work early due to a workplace hazard.
Extra flexibility will also be added to the scheme, with families able to split their parental leave period into blocks.
An initial minimum of 12 weeks would need to be taken, with the remaining six weeks able to be claimed within two years of a birth or adoption.
The coalition is also extending the early release of superannuation for domestic and family violence victims.
That comes as further funding is going towards legal assistance for victims of domestic violence, to save them from being directly cross-examined by their perpetrators in family law matters.
Programs aimed at encouraging women’s entrepreneurship are also among the measures.
5. Two Sydney school students approached by same man.
NSW police are appealing for public assistance after two young girls from the same high school and suburb were approached by the same man.
A 14-year-old girl left her school about 2.20pm on Monday and walked to Formica Park in Busby, in the City of Liverpool. As she was sitting on a bench, a man approached her and tried to put his arm around her. The teen left the park.
A 12-year-old girl left the school and began walking home when she was followed closely by the same man who tried to engage her in conversation. As she approached her home, her mother spotted him and came out to meet her daughter. The man fled.
The man has been described as aged about 25 to 30 years old, wearing a black and green hat with a black and green horizontal stripped shirt and three-quarter length pants. He was carrying a skateboard with a black top and a timber bottom with red wheels.
Police are seeking witnesses and dashcam footage of South Liverpool Road and St Johns Road.