Search crew finds body of man near Rosebud beach on the Mornington Peninsula after two-hour search
A kayaker has died in waters off Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Emergency services were called to Rosebud beach about 3.30pm on Thursday. There were reports a man on an inflatable kayak had got into trouble and gone into the water up to 800 metres off shore.
Continue reading...Patterson allegedly served death cap mushrooms to visitors at the residence, three of whom later died
Two people are under arrest following an alleged burglary at the home of accused triple murderer Erin Patterson in Victoria’s east.
The 49-year-old is currently behind bars charged with three counts of murder after allegedly serving death cap mushrooms in a meal at the residence.
She is also charged with five counts of attempted murder.
A person claiming to be her friend took to social media on Wednesday to ask for help after the Leongatha home was allegedly robbed.
“Need some help from the community,” the post read.
“We have had a friends house broken into in Leongatha 3 times over the last month or so [sic].”
The post claimed several items had been stolen including a car, televisions and vacuum cleaners.
It included several images of a person on what appeared to be the deck of Patterson’s home wearing a cap and cloth over their face.
On Thursday afternoon, Victoria police confirmed officers expect to charge a woman and a man over a burglary in Leongatha on Christmas Eve.
A red MG Sedan was allegedly stolen during the burglary, a spokesperson said.
A woman, 23, and a man, 18, from the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham were arrested in the allegedly stolen car at 1am on Thursday.
Both are expected to be charged on summons to appear at a later date.
Police allege Patterson killed her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
All three died in hospital days after consuming a meal at her home on 29 July.
She is also accused of attempting to murder Wilkinson’s husband Ian, 68, who spent close to two months in hospital critically ill.
Police will allege she attempted to murder her ex-husband Simon Patterson four times.
Erin Patterson has denied any wrongdoing.
Body recovered from ocean off Dhilba Guuranda-Innes national park on the Yorke Peninsula
A teenage boy has died after a shark attack near Ethel Beach in South Australia, police say.
At 1.30pm on Thursday police received reports of a shark attack in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes national park, on the Yorke Peninsula.
Continue reading...Tents and caravans were swept away during 30-minute deluge that inundated Buchan campsite
Holidaymakers have described the terrifying moment a wall of water inundated a popular camping site in regional Victoria on Boxing Day, leaving two people dead and millions of dollars worth of damage.
Those who were at the Buchan Caves Campground, about 350km east of Melbourne, said the usually sedate Spring Creek that flows through the reserve became engorged without warning on Tuesday, before sweeping away tents and caravans.
Continue reading...Some households could go without electricity into the new year as state endures high temperatures following extreme weather
Areas of Queensland affected by “unprecedented” storms now face the prospect of days without electricity amid extreme heat.
Storms and flash flooding across south-east Queensland have claimed the lives of seven people since Christmas but households have now been warned to prepare for a heatwave.
Continue reading...Arizona conspiracy theorist who was arrested in connection to Queensland terrorist attack seeking to have charges dismissed
A US conspiracy theorist linked to the Wieambilla shooters has argued he was not seriously expressing an intent for violence when he said “the devils come for us, they fucking die”, and as such should be protected by the US constitution’s first amendment.
Donald Day Jr, a conspiracy theorist in Arizona, was recently arrested by FBI agents in connection with last year’s religiously motivated terrorist attack on a remote Queensland property in Wieambilla.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘We can’t just put it all on the police’s shoulders’ says NSW premier as Aboriginal people make up 59% of juvenile detention population
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has defended the way police interact with young Aboriginal people and said the force is not to blame for disproportionate Indigenous incarceration rates.
Speaking in Bourke, in far western NSW, Minns also said he was reluctant to meet the demands of the Country Mayors Association, police union and some Nationals MPs to hold an inquiry into regional crime.
Continue reading...AFP unable to rule out whether users are visiting modern opium dens to buy and consume the drug
One of Australia’s emerging niche drugs in 2023 happens to be one of the country’s oldest.
About 180 years after opium was first imported into the country, the Australian federal police seized more than double the amount of the drug this year than in 2022. It is also almost six times the amount seized in 2021.
Continue reading...Royal Life Saving Society chief says Australians may not be ‘as strong swimmers as we believe’ as December toll hits 22
Another person has drowned in New South Wales, adding to the rising drowning death toll that has prompted a warning from lifesavers at what is considered the deadliest time of year.
Four people were pulled from the water at Port Stephens on Wednesday afternoon, including a 33-year-old man who could not be revived and died at the scene.
Continue reading...The Australian cook and writer, who taught himself to cook, died peacefully at hospital in London on Christmas Day
Chefs and writers have taken to social media to remember Bill Granger as a “culinary legend” and “brilliant” person who exported Australian food culture to the world.
The Australian cook and restaurateur died at a hospital in London on Christmas Day, the family of the food writer confirmed on Instagram. He was 54.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Cricket begins
Day two of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan has just started in Melbourne. You can follow the latest on our separate live blog here:
Continue reading...Two campers in Victoria and three friends on a fishing trip in Queensland among 10 lives lost as storms ravaged eastern Australia
The body of a man has been discovered in flood-affected regional Victoria, taking the death toll from storms that wreaked havoc on eastern Australia over the Christmas period to 10.
Victoria police received information on Wednesday that it was believed a man was camping with a woman who was located deceased following flash flooding in Buchan in East Gippsland on 26 December.
Continue reading...About 39kg of the drug was found by a fisherman on Tuesday, before a similar amount was discovered in Newcastle
A fisherman on Sydney’s northern beaches is one of several members of the public to discover packages containing 124kg of cocaine that have washed up on the New South Wales coast, sparking a police investigation.
NSW police on Wednesday confirmed its state crime command were investigating after the packages were discovered on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle from Friday. The initial barnacle-encrusted discoveries sparked a warning against removing or opening any more that were discovered.
Continue reading...Globally successful restaurateur and food writer known as the ‘godfather of avocado toast’ dies peacefully in London
The Australian cook and restaurateur Bill Granger has died in London aged 54.
Fellow cooks, celebrities and lovers of his restaurants paid tribute after the family of the food writer confirmed on Instagram he had died peacefully in hospital on Christmas Day.
Continue reading...Nine-year-old girl and three men confirmed dead after boat capsized in south-east Queensland among death toll
The death toll from Australia’s Christmas storms has risen to nine, as the Gold Coast mayor warns his city is “not out of the woods”.
The people confirmed dead include a nine-year-old girl whose body was found after she was feared lost in stormwater drains in Brisbane.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia suggest job provider APM referred woman for role she had already won; APM deny wrongdoing
One of the country’s biggest job providers has been accused of claiming it referred a jobseeker into work she got herself, which could trigger publicly funded incentive payments.
In July, a New South Wales woman, who asked for her name not to be used, found herself a job as a youth worker just as she was accessing jobseeker and matched with employment service provider, APM.
Continue reading...Emergency services called to Penrith Beach on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing
A man’s body has been found after a search at a newly opened beach in Sydney’s west.
Emergency services were called to Penrith Beach just after 2.30pm on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing.
Continue reading...Two women reported missing in flood waters in Gympie as Bureau of Meteorology warns of further thunderstorms on Boxing Day night
Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to continue to batter the east coast until at least Wednesday evening, as thousands of households remained without power on Boxing Day.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for large parts of the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland coasts, covering metropolitan areas as well as some regional areas.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
What’s causing the storms?
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines from the Bureau of Meteorology just spoke to ABC News about the severe thunderstorms hitting the east coast.
[It is] primarily driven by some warm humid air in the low levels of the atmosphere, which is partly contributed to by a ton of warm ocean temperatures off the east coast of Australia providing a lot of that warmth and humidity into the atmosphere.
We also have a big low pressure system higher up which just provides that extra energy and support which allows these thunderstorms do develop and grow, and as you say, they have been causing extensive disruptive weather over the last few days.
Continue reading...The 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has begun under dark skies that threatened to be much worse as the scheduled start time approached.
Thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds blanketed Sydney Harbour an hour before the 1pm AEDT start but cleared as the 103-vessel fleet jostled for position.
Continue reading...