Blue-green algae has been found in the wetlands at the Rozelle Parklands, sparking outrage from locals who "have had enough" of the issues riddling their suburb.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has given Transurban Group until Monday to address the public safety issue before he said the council would take legal action.

The newest problem comes after the parklands was found to be riddled with asbestos-contaminated mulch earlier this year.

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"We've had the kids exposed to asbestos, now the dogs and wildlife exposed to blue-green algae. What's next? Do we have to test the soap dispensers in the toilets for nuclear waste?" Byrne said.

"The community of Rozelle has had enough … we were promised nirvana and all we've been left with is a tunnel to a traffic jam and a contaminated park that nobody can use.

"We are sick and tired of what should be a community asset being undermined through a failure of commercial entities to take responsibility for keeping the place safe."

Byrne says Transurban was responsible for the care, control and management of the wetlands for the last six months.

He is demanding to know the company's testing regimen.

"Transurban have questions to answer, we have powers under the Local Government Act to issue orders to them to address this public safety issue."

The parklands were due to reopen on Monday after a four-month operation to remove the asbestos-contaminated mulch, but they will remain fenced off, Byrne said.

Blue-green algae is known to be fatal to animals and can cause skin and eye irritations, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness and cramps to humans who are exposed, according to the CSIRO.

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Woolworths has been fined $1.2 million after admitting it failed to pay out more than $1 million in leave entitlements to about 1200 Victorian workers.

The supermarket giant was facing a maximum penalty of more than $10 billion, but Melbourne Magistrate Nahrain Warda on Friday found the smaller fine to be suitable punishment.

Woolworths self-reported its breaches to Victoria's wage watchdog in February 2022 after it undertook a review of its payroll systems.

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It discovered some of its employees were not being paid their long service leave entitlements after leaving the company due to discrepancies in payment calculations.

The Wage Inspectorate Victoria's investigation found the underpayments happened on 3617 occasions between January 2020 and July 2022.

The company was charged for those who were underpaid more than $250, which resulted in about $1 million in unpaid leave for 1227 former Victorian staff.

Woolworths pleaded guilty on April 18 in Melbourne Magistrates Court to the more than 1000 charges laid down by the inspectorate.

The company's barrister Saul Holt KC said Woolworths had been described as a "model accused" by prosecutors as it had self-reported and self-investigated the underpayments.

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He urged the magistrate to steer clear of the proposed $10 billion maximum penalty.

In sentencing on Friday, Warda said long service leave entitlements were inherently important to employees and it was incumbent on corporations to ensure they were paid correctly.

The sheer number of victims, the protracted period of the offending and the amount that was underpaid were all aggravating features, Warda said.

But she noted Woolworths had self-reported, co-operated with the regulator's investigation and apologised to the victims before any charges were laid.

The former employees were also compensated and offered support through a dedicated service set-up after the offending, the magistrate said.

She fined Woolworths $1,277,000 without conviction, while its subsidiary Woolstar was handed a $36,000 penalty.

The company was ordered to pay the regulator's $15,000 legal costs.

UK miner Anglo American has rejected a near-$60 billion takeover bid from BHP this afternoon, nixing what would have been the largest mining deal on record.

"The board has considered the proposal with its advisers and concluded that the proposal significantly undervalues Anglo American and its future prospects", it said in a statement.

The UK-listed company said BHP's proposal was "opportunistic", and failed to value the prospects of Anglo American.

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BHP said in a statement on Thursday that it valued Anglo American shares at £25.08 ($47.40) apiece, or £31.1 billion ($38.9 billion) in total.

The acquisition would have increase BHP's access to copper reserves, it added.

Copper is an essential component in some renewable energy technologies, including solar panels and electric vehicles, as well as in electrical grids.

And it is in high demand: The price of the metal on the London Metals Exchange has risen more than 13 per cent so far this year to almost $15,000 a metric ton, its highest level in about two years.

"First and foremost" the spurned takeover was about copper, William Tankard, principal analyst of base metals at CRU Group, told CNN before it was rejected.

BHP is the world's second-biggest producer of mined copper, while Anglo American is the ninth-biggest, according to CRU Group analysis.

Their combination would have attracted the scrutiny of competition authorities around the world, Tankard added.

Had it gone ahead, the BHP-Anglo American deal would have been worth more than the $58.2 billion acquisition of Switzerland's Xstrata by commodities company Glencore in 2012, according to Dealogic data.

It would also have been the biggest merger or acquisition in the mining industry by value since Dealogic began collecting the data in 2004.

But Anglo American's board believed the offer was "highly unattractive for Anglo American's shareholders, given the uncertainty and complexity inherent in the Proposal, and significant execution risks," the company said.

"The board has therefore unanimously rejected the proposal," they added.

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BHP has been looking to bulk up in copper for a while. A year ago, the Melbourne-based company acquired Australian rival Oz Minerals to widen its access to copper and nickel.

The Oz buyout was part of BHP's strategy to "meet increasing demand for the critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels," company CEO Mike Henry said in a statement at the time.

Tankard at CRU Group called copper "the ubiquitous future-facing commodity".

"Whether we're talking about EVs or data centres, or general electrification… there's a common theme, and that theme is copper."

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NSW Police have released a drawing of a man they wish to speak to about a sexual assault investigation.

Police allege a woman was walking along Missenden Road, in the inner Sydney suburb of Camperdown, when she was grabbed by a man, pulled into a nearby laneway and sexually assaulted at 1.30pm on Sunday, February 11.

Detectives have released a computerised image of a man who they believe can help with their investigation.

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The man is described as being Caucasian in appearance with short slicked-back brown hair, aged in his 60s.

He is believed to have been wearing a black singlet, black tracksuit pants and thongs at the time of the alleged attack.

Anyone with any information is urged to come forward and contact police or Crime Stoppers.