Sydney Now: What you need to know on Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Good morning.

Lest you haven't heard it's going to be rather warm today. How warm? I'm glad you asked: 36 in the city and as high as 39 in Penrith.

What's more tonight will be the city's hottest December night in 40 years. For other weather-related milestones and analysis do read on.

Goose getting on

Spare a thought for the NSW government, which is bracing for a potential downturn in the housing market.

The state's budget is on track for a $4 billion surplus but it's no doubt been helped in recent years by a goose that lays golden eggs, in the form of stamp duty taxes on Sydney's hyperactive property market.

More than 10 per cent of the state's budget comes from taxes on property taxes and that can't go on forever.

Hemmes expands

Justin Hemmes has crossed into the inner-west.

His newest venture, Queens Hotel, is on Enmore Road.

The bad news is the gastropub does not do steak and chips. The good news is they do nod at the concept of steak and chips with beef cubes and stir-fried crisp potatoes.

The menu will include scallops with XO, Alaskan crab dumplings, whole roast duck with a sheen of plum sauce, South Australian pipis doused in Young Henrys lager and aromatics, and Typhoon shelter crab, an iconic Honkers dish served deep-fried with soy bean pulp. Dessert includes a whimsically named "Forgotten Koi fish in the frozen pond".

Sewerage battle

Sydney's sewerage network, one of the Whitlam government's overlooked achievements, is under siege from a new fad that has adults using baby wipes.

The Herald's Julie Power has long-chronicled the strain this is putting on the city's pipes. Now it's heading to court.

The ACCC is suing the manufacturer of some of the offending products, alleging they mislead consumers when advertised as disintegrating when flushed.

"This is a major matter for us, and the allegations we are making are extremely serious," said ACCC chairman Rod Sims.

Bravura flourished

The Opera House hosted an international ballet contest this weekend.

Sixteen year old Joshua Price won for a "classic exhibition piece, full of athletic delights, which he danced with relish, devouring the difficulties in a bravura flourish."

NAPLAN crash

In July the state government announced it wouldn't be handing out the HSC to any student who doesn't meet minimum literacy and numeracy standards.

It seems like that might have been overconfident. More than half of NSW year 9 students would fail at the first hurdle to get their HSC based on this year's NAPLAN results, new statistics from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority have revealed.