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Sydney news: Inquiry into alleged asbestos cover-up at Castle Hill High School

Here's what you need to know this morning.

Parents expected to give evidence at asbestos probe

Teachers and parents from a north-west Sydney high school will appear before an asbestos parliamentary inquiry today — six years after it was found on the grounds.

The school community said Castle Hill High School was not told that some buildings had tested positive to asbestos in 2016.

Parents are concerned they have been kept in the dark, with some considering pulling their children out of the school.

"We've had to go to freedom of information requests and sifting through parliament house documents to try and get any idea of what is going on at the school in terms of risks to our kids," parent Jeremy Henson said.

"So much asbestos is an accident waiting to happen, and I don't know if there has been misses or near misses this year.

"There's been a lot of issues this year that have not been disclosed to the parents."

Mr Henson is among those due to give evidence at today's inquiry.

Fatal crash teenager in court

The 18-year-old accused of driving recklessly and causing a horrific crash that killed five teenagers in Sydney’s south west earlier this month might apply for bail in court this morning.

Tyrell Edwards was driving the car that hit a tree in Buxton on September 6 with five passengers inside, all aged between 14 and 16.

They all died at the scene and Edwards was the sole survivor.

He was charged with five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death – and driving in a manner dangerous.

He was remanded in custody and less than 48 hours later he was denied bail by Picton Local Court.

He is due to reappear today.

Police appeal for witnesses

Police are appealing for witnesses to two fatal car crashes in central west New South Wales last week.

In one crash at Goolma near Dubbo on Friday afternoon, a 29-year-old man driving a utility and a 63-year-old female passenger in another car died.

Another two adults and three children were seriously injured. 

A 26-year-old man also died in a two-car crash near Alectown, north of Parkes, on Friday night. 

Rail union and government resume private talks

The rail union and the New South Wales government will resume conciliation talks at the Fair Work Commission this afternoon.

It's hoped the private negotiations will iron out points of contention with the enterprise bargaining agreement.

Over the weekend, the union backed down on this Wednesday's planned industrial action and cancelled turning off Opal card machines.

It came after the government lodged an application to the Fair Work Commission to declare the action as "unprotected".

Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary Alex Claassens said they were committed to ongoing negotiations.

"Any opportunity we get to sit at the negotiating table is a good one," he said.

"But .… if the government aren't serious about sending a decision-maker to the table, to have those conversations and to actually reach an agreement, then the ball is fairly and squarely in the government's court."

Flood waters hit north eastern NSW

Residents in the north eastern New South Wales town of Gunnedah are cleaning up this morning after a weekend of rising flood waters.

Local Michael Edmunds said the town was unprepared for the early morning deluge.

"There was houses with 12 centimetres of water across every room of their home, making it unliveable," he said.

"Without assistance that's pretty tough on people when they're doing everything on their own."

More flooding is also expected to hit the area this week.

NSW Western Zone SES spokesperson David Rankine said heavier downpours will likely hit the town by Thursday.

"We are seeing predictions of up to 30 to 60 millimetres mid-week," he said.

"And our concern is that the flooding we experienced Friday and Saturday night, if we do receive that rain there's every chance we'll see very similar flooding around the same time Thursday, Friday, Saturday." 

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