From 52m ago 00. 21 GMT Ed Sheeran breaks Australian record for ticketed concert attendance Pop sensation Ed Sheeran ’s second gig at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last night has reportedly broken the record for the highest ticketed attendance at an Australian concert. Samantha Clode , a communications director at Frontier Touring, confirmed to Guardian Australia that 109,600 tickets had been sold for the Friday night concert. With additional attendees such as invited guests, Frontier puts the figure at 110,000 . Sheeran wrote on Instagram: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} This really is a dream come true, what an incredible venue. Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . Allow and continue Sheeran broke his own previous record, set on Thursday night, with 108,000 in attendance. Sheeran’s record seems to be distinct from crowd size, a record which was set by The Seekers in 1967. They performed to an estimated crowd of 200,000 people at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, with reports suggesting audience numbers stopped being counted at 100,000 people. (Are there any readers out there who attended this concert? I can’t find any information on whether it was ticketed!) 110,000 for #EdSheeran at the MCG looks like this pic. twitter. com/v5tsOfxb3c — Jo Woods ???????? ???? (@jwo30) March 3, 2023 Updated at 00. 33 GMT Key events 52m ago Ed Sheeran breaks Australian record for ticketed concert attendance 2h ago 'Unauthorised protest' took place in Newtown, NSW police confirm 3h ago Labor accused of ‘fiddling at the margins’ on super 4h ago Welcome Filters BETA Key events ( 4 ) Labor ( 6 ) Greens ( 5 ) NSW ( 3 ) Australia ( 3 ) Sydney ( 3 ) 15s ago 01. 13 GMT A journalist asks whether Albanese is disappointed that “Prince Charles” has overlooked Australia as part of his planned international tour. Albanese: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} King Charles ! I’m disappointed at your refusal to acknowledge the change. ” Cue laughter. Albanese continues: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} King Charles will be a welcome visitor here in this country whenever he decides to visit. It was a great honour for me to have an audience with King Charles. I have been invited to his coronation on the first Saturday in May. I will attend along with the Governor-General and with other guests as well who have been invited by the palace … King Charles is the head of state and he would be welcome here, as would other members of the royal family, at any time. 6m ago 01. 08 GMT Anthony Albanese has been answering questions in Aston , where today Labor candidate Mary Doyle launched her campaign for the byelection. He is asked why Labor won’t lower the threshold of proposed superannuation changes to $1. 9m, as the Greens have suggested, instead of Labor’s proposed threshold of $3m. Albanese: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} In terms of super changes we are proposing, the impact on people in Aston will be less than one-tenth of 1% of superannuation invested … We have got the balance right, making a difference. It will come in after the next election in 2025. Updated at 01. 11 GMT 23m ago 00. 50 GMT Museum IT contractor charged over alleged $90,000 theft A man has faced court for allegedly stealing $90,000 from the Australian National Maritime Museum, other businesses and individuals, AAP reports. It is alleged the Macquarie Park man accessed the museum’s accounts payable system through his work as a contracted IT support worker to a third-party provider. The 23-year-old is accused of changing bank account details in the system to his own. He also allegedly made a series of unauthorised credit card purchases after stealing financial information regarding several other businesses and individuals. The alarm was raised in November when the museum noticed anomalies in the financial details for contracted companies. The man has been charged with 11 offences after law enforcement allegedly linked him to unauthorised access of several systems and servers. A laptop, hard drives and a mobile phone were taken from his home for further forensic testing and could lead to fresh charges. The total amount of money involved is about $90,000, according to Australian federal police detective leading senior constable Clare Yammine . Yammine said: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} We will allege the motivation for this activity was greed, and it came at the expense of hard working Australians who are already feeling the impacts of everyday living expenses. These men and women were innocently impacted while one individual reaps the rewards. Updated at 01. 08 GMT 38m ago 00. 36 GMT Scammers take advantage of tight rental market This is a concerning look, from my colleague Cait Kelly (who will join us on the blog later today), at how scammers are taking advantage of Australia’s tight rental market to dupe people who are desperately looking for housing. The ACCC received more than 658 reports about rental and accommodation scams last year, with a reported loss of $544,846. Cait spoke to Aven , at 21-year-old who was scammed out of thousands of dollars and left with only $400 in the bank. Read the full story here: ‘Web of lies’: how scammers are taking advantage of Australia’s tight rental market Read more Updated at 00. 41 GMT 52m ago 00. 21 GMT Ed Sheeran breaks Australian record for ticketed concert attendance Pop sensation Ed Sheeran ’s second gig at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last night has reportedly broken the record for the highest ticketed attendance at an Australian concert. Samantha Clode , a communications director at Frontier Touring, confirmed to Guardian Australia that 109,600 tickets had been sold for the Friday night concert. With additional attendees such as invited guests, Frontier puts the figure at 110,000 . Sheeran wrote on Instagram: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} This really is a dream come true, what an incredible venue. Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . Allow and continue Sheeran broke his own previous record, set on Thursday night, with 108,000 in attendance. Sheeran’s record seems to be distinct from crowd size, a record which was set by The Seekers in 1967. They performed to an estimated crowd of 200,000 people at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, with reports suggesting audience numbers stopped being counted at 100,000 people. (Are there any readers out there who attended this concert? I can’t find any information on whether it was ticketed!) 110,000 for #EdSheeran at the MCG looks like this pic. twitter. com/v5tsOfxb3c — Jo Woods ???????? ???? (@jwo30) March 3, 2023 Updated at 00. 33 GMT 1h ago 23. 50 GMT I hadn’t twigged how quickly time had passed until I saw this tweet from Adam Gilchrist : today marks one year since the deaths of cricket greats Rod Marsh and Shane Warne . To the man who inspired me to chase a dream and the bloke who was a dream to have on your side…may you both continue to #RIP ????????❤️ pic. twitter. com/CJVGr5kz1d — Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) March 3, 2023 1h ago 23. 44 GMT Adam Bandt says Greens could support key Labor climate policy if fossil fuels developments paused The Greens say they could support the Albanese government’s changes to the safeguard mechanism – a key climate policy – if it agreed to pause new fossil fuel developments until the parliament has dealt with planned changes to national environment laws. The Greens’ leader, Adam Bandt , said he could be open to other ways of dealing with coal and gas other than the outright ban it has proposed, including a suggestion by the Climate Council that the government halt approvals until reform of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act is worked through later this year. The minor party is pushing for the EPBC Act to include a climate trigger, which would for the first time require the environment minister to consider the climate impact of a major development during the approval process. Read the full story, from Katharine Murphy , our political editor, and Adam Morton , our climate and environment editor, here: Adam Bandt says Greens could support key Labor climate policy if fossil fuels developments paused Read more 2h ago 23. 39 GMT Important to also note this is Adani’s own water model that says no impact from open cut mining. The country’s best groundwater experts dispute there is enough data available to reach that conclusion. https://t. co/vzel5nnn9F — Ben Smee (@BenSmee) March 3, 2023 2h ago 23. 32 GMT NSW Labor pledges to keep Western Harbour Tunnel publicly-owned With three weeks to go until state elections in NSW, Labor is vowing to keep the Western Harbour Tunnel in Sydney a public asset and cap tolls at $60 a week. AAP has the story: The opposition, keen to distinguish itself from the government’s penchant for privatisation, says drivers are ultimately footing the bill and it wants a “fresh start”. Labor claims drivers will pay $115bn in tolls over the life of existing contracts with nearly all of it going to private toll road operators, making “Sydney the most tolled city” in the world. The Western Harbour tunnel, which is under construction, is projected to cut travel times from western Sydney to the city’s north by 20 minutes and significantly reduce traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It will be the second tunnel under the iconic landmark and around 6. 5 kms long. Chris Minns , who is neck and neck with premier Dominic Perrottet as preferred leader, said: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Under Labor - no more privatisation. We’ll build the tunnel but we won’t sell it. Any revenue from tolls goes straight back into public hands to build for the future. Labor says toll revenue has already paid for several major highways and tunnels including the M4, M5 East and Northconnex. Meanwhile, Perrottet says he’ll make sure people have more say on developer contributions to local community use investments and infrastructure if re-elected. Under the plan, government would work with councils to allow feedback via Service NSW on how local contributions are spent and the types of community projects built such as new parks and sports facilities. Long-term critical growth and maintenance infrastructure would be excluded. 2h ago 23. 08 GMT 'Unauthorised protest' took place in Newtown, NSW police confirm NSW police have confirmed an “unauthorised protest” took place in Newtown, Sydney, on Friday night, after videos circulating on social media showed a Christian march taking place on King Street. Images show a group of men walking under police escort and chanting prayers. Newtown is an LGBTQIA+ hub and has hosted many Pride Inner West events this month. NSW Police said in a statement that around 8pm on Friday evening: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Officers attached to Inner West Police Area Command, along with specialist police resources attended King Street, Newtown, in relation to unauthorised protest activity. Police spoke with a group of about 30 people who marched along the footpath on King Street, Newtown, before dispersing just before 9pm. No arrests were made. While we won’t comment on specific individuals, or groups, the community can be assured we continue to monitor activities and will take action where appropriate. In a series of tweets, the Greens MP for Newton, Jenny Leong , denounced the march and said: . css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Our Newtown community wears with pride our diversity - and we celebrate difference … these incidents can be traumatic and make you feel violated. Let’s keep flying the rainbow flag with pride. Updated at 23. 28 GMT 2h ago 22. 56 GMT Alan Dare to be given posthumous bravery award The family of the neighbour who was killed in a rural Queensland gunfight that resulted in the deaths of two police officers will accept a bravery award on his behalf, AAP reports. Queensland man Alan Dare was murdered alongside the officers during a siege in the state’s west last December. Gunshots and smoke alerted him to trouble at a neighbouring property at Wieambilla and he followed his instinct to help. In a show of public appreciation, a posthumous bravery medal will be presented to Dare’s family on Saturday. The Queensland Police Bravery Medal is generally awarded to officers for their acts of bravery in the face of grave hazards, but it is also awarded to civilians who show great courage. It is the highest-level Queensland Police Service medal a civilian may receive. The ceremony will be held on Saturday at the Chinchilla Botanical Gardens, about 300 kilometres west of Brisbane. Dare was killed alongside constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow in a premeditated attack carried out by family trio Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train. The three perpetrators, who were killed after police reinforcements arrived, were inspired by “Christian extremist ideology”, Queensland investigators have said. Dare was given a hero’s send-off in December when hundreds of people lined the streets at his funeral in his hometown of Ipswich. Updated at 23. 06 GMT 3h ago 22. 30 GMT Henry Belot NT gambling regulator failed to pass along identities of addicts who asked to be banned Australia’s main sports gambling regulator has admitted the identities of almost 50 addicts who asked to be banned from betting were not sent to several bookmakers, in some cases for at least five years since they first asked for help. The oversight, which has been described as “disgraceful” and “shameful” by harm reduction advocates, has added to calls for a new and better-resourced national regulator to oversee the $50bn sports gambling industry. Almost all online betting companies in Australia are licensed in the Northern Territory for historical tax purposes, despite the bookmakers operating nationally and many having headquarters on the east coast. On Tuesday, the Northern Territory Racing Commission wrote to several companies alerting them to a flaw in the territory’s self-exclusion register, which also allows people t