Category: Newcastle News

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a man after his vehicle was located abandoned in the Lake Macquire area.

Darko Tomic, aged 50, was spoken to by family members about 9am on Friday 27 March 2026.

About 8.20am today (Saturday 28 March 2026), officers attached to Lake Macquarie Police District responded to reports of a concern for welfare, after a vehicle was located abandoned on O’Donnelltown Road near the intersection of Railway Street, at West Wallsend.

Initial inquiries revealed Darko was the registered owner, and a land search commenced to locate him.

Police hold concerns for Darko’s welfare.

Darko is described as being of Aboriginal/ Torres Strait Islander appearance, 180cm tall, of solid build, shaved head, brown eyes and full sleeve tattoos on both arms.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Lake Macquarie Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Following is a summary of resolutions from the Ordinary Council meeting of Tuesday 24 March. NB: it is not a full record of resolutions. 

Ordinary business 

City of Newcastle Committees Annual Reports

Council received 2025 annual reports from the Access and Inclusion Standing Committee, Asset Advisory Committee, Community and Culture Strategic Advisory Committee, Future Fund Governance Committee, Guraki Aboriginal Standing Committee, Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Committee, Liveable Cities Strategic Advisory Committee, Public Art Standing Committee, Strategy and Innovation Strategic Advisory Committee and Youth Council Standing Committee.

Adoption of Community Land Plan of Management 

Council voted unanimously to adopt the Community Land Plan of Management, which guides the future management of all Council owned or managed public land classified as ‘community’ under the Local Government Act.

Executive Monthly Performance Report

Council voted unanimously to receive the Executive Monthly Performance Report for February 2026.

Tender report – processing of FOGO 

Council voted unanimously to accept a tender for the processing of Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) at a third-party facility for City of Newcastle and Port Stephens Council. City of Newcastle conducted the tender process on behalf of the Councils.

Notices of Motion 

Strengthening seniors programming and progressing Newcastle as an age-friendly city

Council unanimously supported an amended notice of motion to hold an expression of interest process for membership of the Seniors Reference Group. The group would continue to advise Council on the options for planning and delivery of seniors-relevant activities and strategic priorities to support Newcastle becoming a more age-friendly city.

Bringing Newcastle buses back into public hands 

Council supported an amended notice of motion to write to the Minister for Transport and local State members for Newcastle, Charlestown and Wallsend to express support for the State Government to bring the bus contract back into public hands and provide increased funding to create a quality bus service worthy of NSW’s second largest city.

Mater maintenance mess 

Council voted to lay on the table a notice of motion to write to the Minister for Health and local State member for Wallsend seeking that the Public-Private Partnership with Novacare for the Mater Hospital be terminated and maintenance brought back into public hands.

Celebrating one million stories in Refugee Week 2026 

Council unanimously supported a notice of motion for City of Newcastle to work with local agencies, schools and cultural organisations to celebrate Refugee Week 2026 as part of the Neighbourly Newy Program.

International Women’s Day 2026 – standing against domestic violence

Council unanimously supported an amended notice of motion to request that the CEO investigate State and Federal grant funding programs alongside community organisations to support the development of a City of Newcastle Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy.

Participatory budgeting and project co-design

Council supported an amended notice of motion that City of Newcastle explores a trial of participatory budgeting as part of the development of the 2027/28 Budget and Delivery Program, focusing on a clearly defined and manageable component of the budget to manage risks and strengthen representativeness.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) continues to investigate a fish kill event in the Hunter River at Mount Thorley.

Teams of officers have been taking water samples and following up leads in the community each day since the EPA was informed of the fish kill by government agencies on Friday, 20 March.

NSW EPA Director Operations, David Gathercole, said the EPA has directed significant resources to the matter, and water samples are being processed by the laboratory as a high priority.

“Yesterday our officers saw live fish, including juvenile fish fry, swimming in the river and fish that appear to have died last week,” Mr Gathercole said.

“This indicates that whatever caused the fish deaths may well have passed.

“There can be many reasons for fish death events, including natural reasons, such as low dissolved oxygen or human causes such as pollution or pesticide spills. Our investigations are continuing into all possibilities.

“We have prioritised water quality testing and will let the community and industry know when water quality is within normal limits.

“We acknowledge the community’s concern about this issue and appreciate the help they have provided us. We are following up information from the community. If anyone has evidence they would like to share with us, please send it to our Environment Line via info@epa.nsw.gov.au.”

As a precaution, the EPA recommends anyone swimming in the river follows standard NSW Health advice not to drink any untreated water.

For downstream users who don’t need to extract water from the river could err on the side of caution and wait until the EPA has confirmation that the water quality is normal.

The EPA has established a meeting with representatives from various State Government agencies, Singleton Council and key stakeholders to ensure a whole of Government response to the fish kill.

Newcastle City Police have arrested one man after a second man was allegedly stabbed at a sports club near Newcastle yesterday evening.

About 7.40pm (Sunday 22 March 2026), emergency services were called to a sports club on Caldwell Street, Merewether, following reports of an assault.

Officers attached to Newcastle City Police District attended and were told a man – who was working as a musician at the club – had allegedly been stabbed several times near the club’s entrance by another man.

The injured man – aged 69 – was treated by a doctor at the scene before NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived to continue treatment.

He was then taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition with stab wounds to his chest and back.

The other man allegedly left the area prior to police arrival.

Police established a crime scene and Newcastle City detectives commenced an investigation into the incident.

Following inquiries, detectives arrested a 53-year-old man at a home in Stockton, about 1.40am today (Monday 23 March 2026).

He has been taken to Newcastle Police Station where investigations are ongoing.

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a man missing from the Newcastle area.

Codie Sams, aged 32, was last seen in Morisset, about 4pm on Friday 13 March 2026.

When he was unable to be contacted or located, Police were notified and commenced inquiries into his whereabouts.

Police and family hold concerns for Codie as he requires regular medication.

Codie is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 175cm tall, of medium build, with short blond/brown hair, a similar coloured beard and moustache and has a tattoo on his right hand.

He was last seen wearing a green hoodie, green pants and black shoes.

Codie is known to frequent the Belmont and Newcastle areas.

City of Newcastle and Port Stephens Council have joined forces to progress the development of a new kerbside collection service designed to reduce the amount of food waste ending up in landfill.

The neighbouring councils issued a joint tender last year for the processing of food and garden organics (FOGO) at a third-party facility, as part of plans to roll out a kerbside FOGO service in mid-2027.

The preferred tenderer will be considered by both Councils at their respective Council meetings next week.

City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said while each council would run its FOGO service independently, the collaborative approach to the tender took advantage of the available economies of scale to secure a better outcome for both communities.

“We are committed to delivering waste and recycling services that are responsible, environmentally sustainable, and commercially feasible, now and into the future,” Mr Bath said.

“While both Newcastle and Port Stephens currently accept garden organics as part of their kerbside collections, we are working towards the introduction of a new FOGO service in each local government area mid next year.

“This will allow both councils to meet the requirements of the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy well ahead of the statewide mandate for councils to implement a FOGO collection service by 2030.

“Collaborating on this joint tender with Port Stephens Council is a great outcome for both communities, putting aside local government boundaries to reduce duplication, enhance the competitiveness of the bid process and deliver strategic, operational and financial benefits.”

Port Stephens Council General Manager Tim Crosdale said we’re excited about this step towards implementing FOGO across Port Stephens.

“Providing a joint solution to support the introduction of FOGO will help us accelerate our progress toward state targets, reduce costs for our community and deliver a sustainable waste management service for the Port Stephens community,” Mr Crosdale said. 

City of Newcastle currently receives around 21,000 tonnes of garden organics and Port Stephens collects around 7,000 tonnes, which is transferred to at Summerhill Waste Management Centre each year before being transported to an external site to be processed into compost.

Collectively, the new FOGO services are expected to divert an additional 10,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill annually, while also reducing the methane emissions produced when food breaks down in landfill.

Managing Director of Waste Services David Witherdin said the introduction of FOGO aligns with City of Newcastle’s long-term strategy to manage the city’s waste.

“We’re implementing a range of waste management, recycling and recovery initiatives to cater for the needs of our city’s growing population,” Mr Witherdin said.

“This includes planning for the development of the next landfill cell at Summerhill, which has recently commenced, and working towards the implementation of the new weekly FOGO service, which meets the expectations of our community, who are supportive of measures to divert waste from landfill.”

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a man missing from the Hunter Valley area.

Matthew Griffiths, aged 54, was last seen on Tindale Street, Muswellbrook, around midnight on Thursday 19 March 2026.

Officers attached to Hunter Valley Police District were notified and commenced inquiries into his whereabouts.

Police and family hold concerns for Matthew’s welfare.

Matthew is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance, about 170cm tall, of medium build, fair complexion, with black hair and brown eyes.

He is believed to frequent the Muswellbrook, Hamilton South, Hamilton and Newcastle areas.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is investigating a fish kill event in the Hunter River at Mount Thorley.

Officers were called to the site on Friday 20 March where they collected water and fish samples for analysis.

Reports from locals suggest hundreds of dead fish were seen along a 2-kilometre stretch of the river. At this early stage, the cause is unknown.

NSW EPA Director Operations, David Gathercole, said the Hunter River at Mount Thorley receives inputs from a range of sources including industrial estates, agricultural runoff and mining activities.

We are contacting any licenced facilities in the area that have known discharge points into the river to ensure they are operating normally and to determine if a pollution incident has occurred,” Mr Gathercole said.

We will work with other relevant government agencies to finalise sampling results and monitor water quality in the area.

As a precaution, we recommend anyone swimming in the river follows standard NSW Health advice not to drink any untreated water.

For downstream users if you don’t need to extract water from the river, wait until we have confirmation that the water quality is normal.”

Water sample analysis results should be available within the next week. Fish sample analysis could take up to three weeks.

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a teenage boy missing from the state’s north.

Eli Tomaszewski, aged 13, was last seen on Nile Street, Mayfield, about 8.30pm on Tuesday 17 March 2026.

When he was unable to be located, officers attached to Port Stephens Hunter Police District were notified yesterday (Thursday 19 March 2026), and commenced inquiries into his whereabouts.

There are concerns for Eli’s welfare due to his young age.

Eli is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 150cm tall, of thin build, with brown hair, and brown eyes.

He was last seen wearing a maroon shirt, black denim shorts and blue Nike shoes.

Eli is known to frequent the Raymond Terrace area.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Raymond Terrace police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Almost 40 years since the Tangara trains were built in Newcastle, the work to extend their life is coming back to the Hunter, with the Minns Labor Government establishing two new production lines at the rail facility in Cardiff. 

This investment will create around 100 new jobs and 20 apprenticeships in the Hunter, rebuilding the train manufacturing workforce after the former Liberal-National Government ended passenger train manufacturing in the region in 2013 and prioritised overseas manufacturers. 

The $447 million Tangara Life Extension program will extend the life of 55 eight-carriage trains by over a decade by replacing internal cladding, the computer operating system, installing more accessible emergency help points, emergency door release, passenger visual displays, upgrades to the passenger address system and CCTV.

The two new production lines in the Hunter, in addition to the existing three lines at Auburn and Flemington, will increase the pace of train upgrades from 12 per year to 20. This increased capacity means more upgraded Tangara trains will be on the network sooner.

The 100 new jobs and 20 apprenticeships in the Hunter brings the total number of jobs on the Tangara Life Extension program to 320. 200 people including apprentices are already working on the program at Auburn and Flemington. 

This investment in local skills will help develop the workforce that will build the new Tangara fleet in NSW, which will begin procurement by 2027 and meet the 50 per cent local manufacturing target as part of the Future Fleet Program.

The life extension program is part of the Government’s focus on improving rail reliability in response to the Independent Rail Review.

The Tangaras are some of the oldest rolling stocks and refurbished carriages will help to reduce maintenance faults. 

To date, four Tangara trains are undergoing upgrades with the first train now in the network undergoing dynamic testing activities before it re-enters service on the network.

Tangara vision and historic images can be downloaded HERE.

Minister for Transport John Graham said:

“I lived in Newcastle when it was a proud train building city. We’re now bringing train manufacturing jobs back to the Hunter, the home of the original Tangara fleet.

“The former government sent Hunter jobs offshore because of their obsession with buying trains overseas. Anywhere but NSW, that was their policy on transport manufacturing jobs.

“This investment accelerates the life extension of our Tangara fleet while creating real jobs and skills development in the Hunter region.

Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley said:

“The people of Newcastle built these trains more than 35 years ago, and it’s only right that the Hunter is once again at the heart of this work. We’re truly a proud train manufacturing town.

“But this is about more than upgrading trains. It’s about creating secure jobs, training apprentices and giving local families confidence that opportunity exists right here in our region.

“We’re backing Hunter workers and making sure the skills and industries that built this region continue to thrive into the future.”

Minister for Regional Transport Jenny Aitchison said:

“Almost 40 years after the Tangara trains were first built in Newcastle, it is fantastic to see this work returning to the Hunter.

“This is what rebuilding public transport capability in NSW looks like – more skilled jobs in the Hunter, more apprenticeships and more work being done here at home.

“After years of offshoring and neglect, we are rebuilding the workforce and capability NSW needs for the future.”

Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement Courtney Houssos said:

“This is a key step as we rebuild our domestic manufacturing capability and turn around 12 years of offshoring by the previous Liberal-National Government.

“We know that for every one job in manufacturing there are a further 3.5 in the supply chain, and that’s why we want our procurement dollars creating jobs here in NSW.

“We want to better leverage our precious procurement dollars through projects like this so we can maximise our support for workers and industries here in NSW, not on the other side of the world.”

Member for Wallsend Sonia Hornery said: 

“The two lines to be added to this facility are also adding new jobs and apprenticeships, offering great opportunities for locals. 

“There will be cost savings associated with the acceleration of the program of work and by opening up these additional lines, the project will be finished sooner than previously forecast. 

“That means the benefits of this initiative will be felt far beyond Wallsend.” 

Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland said:

“The Tangara Life Extension Program is the most comprehensive refurbishment of its kind ever undertaken by Sydney Trains.

“Our teams in Sydney and soon, in the Hunter are carrying out critical system upgrades, modernising on‑board technologies and improving safety and accessibility features to bring these trains in line with contemporary standards.”