Surf Cat

Email

Photo: Police were called to a home after reports of a stabbing. (Supplied.)

Map: NSW

Here’s what you need to know this morning.

Teen arrested after woman stabbed

A woman has died and a 16-year-old boy has been arrested after an overnight stabbing in Sydney.

Police said emergency services were called to a home at Woolooware in the city’s south after 1:00am.

They found a 42-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds in the back. She was treated at the scene but died later in hospital.

The boy was arrested at the scene, and is being interviewed by police.

‘Mixed messages’ about coronavirus

The NSW Department of Education has apologised for changing its coronavirus advice, after asking all children who visited China in the past two weeks to stay home from school.

Yesterday’s announcement came just hours after the Government said only students who had direct contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus should stay away.

Shadow Health Minister Ryan Park slammed the late notice.

“We’ve got thousands of students who are heading back to school today and only late last night, perhaps by chance their parents maybe became aware of this latest revelation,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has told Australians to reconsider all travel to China and not to travel to Hubei Province at all as the worldwide death toll climbs to 106.

Longer firefighting response times

The response time of firefighters in much of NSW is longer and wage costs have increased by more than $180 million, a report released today finds.

The Productivity Commission report reveals it took crews at least one minute longer to arrive at structural fires in major cities and about three minutes longer in regional and remote areas.

However, the report — which looked at the period from 2018-19 — found response times improved by about 11 minutes in ‘very remote’ areas.

It also found the majority of firefighters were aged between 40 and 60 years old, which could create problems in the coming decade if younger people are not recruited.

Wakeboarder death

A 42-year-old man died in a wakeboarding accident on the Hawkesbury River yesterday.

At about 3:30pm, emergency services were called to a caravan park on Hall Street, Pitt Town, after reports a man had been injured while wakeboarding.

NSW Ambulance officers were unable to resuscitate the man and he died at the scene.

Opera House makeover

Photo: The Sydney Opera House, which was recently lit up in honour of firefighters, is getting a makeover. (AAP: Paul Braven)

This week sees the final performances in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall before it closes for two years for renovations.

The $150 million project will take up to two years to complete and aims to improve the acoustics of the iconic venue for artists and audiences.

The renovation features state-of-the-art theatre machinery and staging systems to ensure the hall is better-equipped to present a range of performances, from classical to contemporary music — which has seen a massive growth in audience numbers.

Wednesday’s weather

Partly cloudy. 20 per cent chance of a shower in the early morning.

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, states-and-territories, nsw, sydney-2000