Afternoon Update: Mushroom murderer’s lawyers argue against convictions, Sydney Swans ‘ashamed’, and becoming an auntie

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Good afternoon.

It’s been more than a year since a Victorian juryhttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/07/erin-patterson-guilty-australia-mushroom-murder-trial-ntwnfb"> found Erin Patterson guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives and attempting to murder a fourth at a beef wellington lunch.

Today, Patterson, 51, began an https://viewer.gutools.co.uk/australia-news/2026/aug/18/mushroom-murders-erin-patterson-court-appeal-victoria-australia-ntwnfb">appeal against her convictions, while the DPP is appealing against the sentence handed down to her, arguing it is “manifestly inadequate”.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/19/sydney-swans-players-sanctions-stood-down-rest-of-afl-season-ntwnfb">Sydney Swans ‘embarrassed and ashamed’ as five players stood down for breach of standards

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/19/bushfire-danger-risk-heightened-fire-australia-nt-nsw-queensland">‘Prepare early’: bushfire authorities sound alarm for NT, NSW and Queensland

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/19/catholic-schools-nsw-chief-wiped-phone-icac-evidence-ntwnfb">Catholic schools chief denies wiping critical evidence after performing factory reset on phone, Icac hears

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/19/justice-desmond-fagan-sydney-anti-israel-graffiti-incorrectly-labelled-antisemitic-supreme-court-ntwnfb">NSW judge says anti-Israel graffiti case went ‘haywire’ when vandalism was labelled antisemitic

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/19/first-nations-mp-yingiya-guyula-resigns-nt-parliament-slow-genocide-indigenous-people-ntwnfb">First Nations MP resigns from NT parliament, accusing government of passing laws which are ‘dehumanising, oppressing and destroying” Indigenous people

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/19/nestory-irankunda-pauline-hanson-socceroos-monocultural-claim">Pauline Hanson’s Socceroos monocultural claim made ‘us boys angry’, Nestory Irankunda says