New footage shows the moment a family of four was spotted and rescued in outback NSW after they were missing for 48 hours on a long-distance trip across three states.
Darian Aspinall, 27, was traveling with her children Winter Bellamy, two, and Koda Bellamy, four, and the kid’s grandmother, 50-year-old Leah Gooding from Queensland to Adelaide where they were moving.
the family had run out of food and water when a helicopter spotted their car off-track 50 kilometers south east of Tibooburra, in the far north-west of NSW, late on Tuesday afternoon.
The family waved up at the helicopter to help them. (9News)The family of four was found near Tibooburra. (NSW Police Force)
Images show the family waving up at the helicopter with their clothes to get the pilot’s attention.
“The ladies there were waving at us and so as we passed down one side I opened the window and waved back at them to let them know that we’d seen them,” Nick Shew, AeroTech Hems pilot, said.
Police say Google maps took them off track onto a dirt road away from a sealed highway where they got bogged down.
The pilots landed and with the help of emergency services rescued the family. (9News)Police believe the family’s GPS system took them off track. (9News)
Detective Inspector Tom Aylett said yesterday GPS systems sometimes take drivers on “routes that aren’t accessible even though they’re on the map”.
9News understands they tried to walk for four hours for help but decided to return to their car where they remained for 48 hours before they were found.
“It was plainly clear when we landed and got out of the aircraft the sense of relief that they had, it was an emotional moment,” Shew said.
The emergency pilots who rescued the family of four. (9News)
Cows swept 20km in Sydney floods
The pilots who rescued the family said they were relieved but the children were particularly excited when emergency services gave them packets of Twisties and water.
“Once they got the Twisties, they were happy, problem solved,” Shew said.
An eighth teenager has been charged with murder months after a 16-year-old was allegedly chased down and attacked outside a Melbourne house party.
Homicide detectives arrested the boy at Melbourne Airport, taking him into custody early on Wednesday.
Declan Cutler, 16, was beaten and fatally stabbed in Coburg North earlier this year.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced a Children’s Court hours later, where a magistrate heard it was the boy’s first time in police custody. Flanked by three police officers, he sat in handcuffs during the brief hearing, with his mother watching nearby. The boy made no application for bail and was remanded in custody to reappear next month.
His arrest comes five months after eight teenagers allegedly chased and attacked Declan Cutler, a 16-year-old from Reservoir, following a house party in Coburg North.
The court heard that while there were no witnesses to the incident, a friend of Cutler’s was scheduled to give evidence at a compulsory examination hearing to provide details about the teen’s movements before he died.
Police had been searching for an eighth alleged killer since March after the knife attack was captured on CCTV from a nearby home.
The street where Declan Cutler died on March 13.Credit:penny stephens
The seven other teens – aged 13 to 17 – are all also charged with murder and remain in custody. Two of them are brothers.
Police say Cutler had been at a house party when a group of youths in a dark-coloured car chased him along Elizabeth Street in Coburg North at about 2.30am on March 13.
The resignation letter of the former NSW building commissioner has been referred to the state’s corruption watchdog following questions about why he abruptly quit last month.
Key points:
The NSW Opposition compelled the government to make the resignation letter public within 24 hours
Premier Dominic Perrottet revealed the letter had also been referred to ICAC
The building commissioner worked closely with former cabinet minister Eleni Petinos
Pressure has been building on the NSW government to make David Chandler’s letter public after reports he may have resigned because of a strained relationship with former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos.
Ms Petinos was sacked from the NSW ministry last month over bullying allegations, which she denies.
Premier Dominic Perrottet today revealed in parliament that Mr Chandler’s resignation letter had been referred to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Mr Perrottet was pressed during question time about whether the former commissioner’s resignation had anything to do with Ms Petinos.
“Do you stand by your statements of yesterday that the sacking of [Ms Petinos] had nothing to do with the resignation of David Chandler?” Opposition Leader Chris Minns asked.
“Yes,” Mr Perrottet answered.
Since Mr Chandler quit last month, citing the need for a “reset”, the Opposition has been calling for his resignation letter to be made public.
Eleni Petinos was sacked over bullying allegations.(ABCNews)
Today Labor successfully moved a motion in the upper house to compel the government to produce the letter within 24 hours.
Yesterday Mr Perrottet said he had not read the letter, but now he says he has.
“I have read the resignation letter from David Chandler to the DCS (Department of Customer Service) Secretary Emma Hogan.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, the letter was provided to the ICAC for information.
“I understand the letter is to be provided to the upper house tomorrow.”
The Premier was also pressed on when he learned that the letter had been referred to the ICAC.
“Late last night,” Mr Perrottet replied.
Labor’s move to compel the government to release the document comes after it was revealed Ms Petinos met with a property developer linked to former deputy premier John Barilaro earlier this year.
After the two meetings on June 2 and June 21, a building ban affecting the developer, Coronation Property, was lifted.
Ms Petinos said the lifting of that ban had nothing to do with her and would have been a decision made by Mr Chandler.
Mr Chandler was appointed as the state’s first building commissioner by former premier Gladys Berejiklian in 2019 to clean up the building industry.
A teenage girl who was raped by her schoolmate has told of the nightmares and flashbacks that have made her “a shell of who I used to be,” as she described her attacker as a monster who belongs behind bars.
The girl told the Children’s Court that the rape – at a weekend party in late November 2019 – had left her ashamed and irreversibly damaged. “[I wish] we could turn back time and stay home for a movie rather than go to that stupid party,” she said.
A girl who was raped by her schoolmate said the crime has left her irreversibly damaged Credit:istock
The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was found guilty in May of six counts of sexual intercourse without consent, and one of intentionally choking without permission. He will be sentenced on August 25.
At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the court heard an initially consensual act between two Katoomba High students became non-consensual and involved multiple violations. The perpetrator failed to express remorse and has continued to stick by his not guilty plea.
His lawyer argued for a non-custodial sentence, saying the boy had a job, a steady girlfriend, and no signs of psychopathology or pre-existing personality disorders. He wanted to study music and go into the air force.
He also said the rape had occurred on a mattress in a living room, the girl had her phone, there were people nearby, and the offender had not invited her to the party. “There was no power imbalance,” he said. “I noticed they were the same age.”
But, in her victim impact statement – read in the presence of her rapist – the girl described how she had struggled every day since it happened. “You’ve continued to live your life without the repercussions of raping me,” she said.
“I will never recover from what you did. But I still choose not to end it all every day and live the best life I can for myself in spite of your cruelty.”
She said the boy’s little sisters deserved better. “I hurt for them knowing you are the man they probably looked up to and know the reality of the monster you are.” Her mother de ella had to hold her while she sobbed, and her father de ella had to wake her from her nightmares de ella.
The federal government’s COVIDSafe app has been scrapped just over two years after its launch.
But the $21 million platform, designed to trace close contacts of people who tested positive for COVID, had problems from the start.
What was COVIDSafe?
When COVIDSafe launched in late April 2020, it was touted as a critical part of the government’s plan to reopen the economy.
The app relied on a bluetooth signal which transmitted at regular intervals to make contact with other users nearby.
If a person tested positive for COVID-19, state and territory authorities could request access to the phone log to work out who else may have been infected.
But the lower the number of people actively using it, the less effective it was – and it wasn’t guaranteed to work for those who did.
So, did COVIDSafe work?
When it was launched, Australians were told they didn’t have to do anything special to get COVIDSafe to work.
But the then-government’s own testing showed that when it went live, COVIDSafe only worked effectively about a quarter of the time or less on locked iPhones.
Communications between locked Androids and iPhones was also poor – although this later improved.
The app’s effectiveness was hampered by bugs which had the potential to limit its core function – particularly at big events, according to experts.
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It also took until late 2021 for COVIDSafe to be updated to track the more infectious Delta variant.
Months before, experts had warned the app’s 15-minute exposure window – the time frame used to define a close contact – was “very useless” in tracking the more transmissible variant.
In December 2021 Mark Butler — who was then the shadow health minister — called for it to be scrapped after it was revealed to have identified just two close contacts nationally in six months.
Mr Butler is now the Health Minister, and figures released by his office on Wednesday show just 17 close contacts that had not already been picked up by manual contact tracers were identified in more than two years.
In its lifetime, the app clocked just two unique COVID cases.
Did anybody use COVIDSafe?
At its launch, the government said it would need 40 per cent of Australians – 10 million people – to use COVIDSafe for it to be a success.
But that number has rarely been mentioned since.
By the time of its decommissioning, there were 7.9 million registrations, according to Mr Butler, who called it a “failed app”.
The vast majority of sign-ups – more than 6 million – were in the first few weeks.
But the app relied on active users, and people consenting to their positive test results being used, to work.
The app cost $21 million but detected only two unique COVID cases.(ABC News: Emma Machan)
Fewer than 800 users consented to their data to be collected, according to Mr Butler’s office.
In September 2021, as COVID cases spiked in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, the ABC revealed the app hadnot uncovered any close contacts in those outbreaks.
In fact, the ACT never used data from the app at all, instead opting to rely on its own contact tracers.
How much did taxpayers pay for COVIDSafe?
The previous federal government entered into contracts worth nearly $10 million for work on the app until the end of 2021.
It refused to join Apple and Google’s joint contract tracing system, which was adopted by more than 50 jurisdictions around the world.
The total cost of the Australian app, which had a monthly operating price tag of $100,000, now sits at $21 million.
Of that, $10 million went to develop the app, a further $7 million on advertising and marketing, $2.1 million on upkeep and more than $2 million on staff.
What happens now?
Users are now being asked to uninstall COVIDSafe.
Doing so will delete all their data, according to a message on the app.
The Health Department will no longer gather personal data, and the data gathered via the app so far will be deleted as soon as possible, Mr Butler said.
The app will be formally decommissioned on August 16.
Two men have been taken to hospital after a seaplane crash near Moruya on the far south coast of New South Wales.
Key points:
Emergency services were called to Coila Lake just after 1pm
Two men in their 50s sat on the plane while it was sinking
The men were winched to safety and have been taken to hospital
Emergency services were called to Coila Lake at Tuross Head just after 1pm after reports of a plane crash.
Police said the male pilot and passenger escaped the wreckage and sat on the plane while it was sinking before being winched to safety by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
Both men, aged in their 50s, were treated for minor cuts and abrasions and taken to Moruya District Hospital as a precaution.
Shane Daw, general manager for the Westpac Surf Life Saving Rescue Helicopter, says the plane had flipped over in the lake.
He said it could have been a far worse outcome.
“We found two people in the water trying to climb up onto the aircraft itself,” he said.
“The pilot of the seaplane was able to put the aircraft down and, whilst it’s flipped, it could’ve been a far more tragic story.
“There was a bit of luck involved there but also it was very fortunate that we were close by.”
Marine Rescue NSW were also called to the scene of the seaplane crash to assist.(Supplied: Marine Rescue NSW)
Fire and Rescue NSW were also called to the scene to help with hazardous materials, including a potential fuel leak.
“The crews have managed to use boats and booms and put it around the plane as a precautionary action to make sure if fuel does float to the top, it’s going to be contained and allowed to evaporate off before it causes any harm,” said Acting Superintendent with Fire and Rescue NSW Phil Eberle.
Fire and Rescue NSW has referred the matter to the EPA.
Surf Life Savers from the Far South Coast branch were also called to assist, with their branch director praising the teamwork between the emergency services.
“It’s not the typical call you expect to go to but it’s really fortunate outcome and lucky to have so many services so close by,” said Far South Coast Surf Life Saving director Cheryl McCarthy.
China’s ambassador to Australia has stressed there will be no compromise on Taiwan, saying Beijing has been “waiting for a peaceful reunification” but will not rule out using other means if necessary.
Key points:
As China continues military drills around Taiwan, Xiao Qian says there is no room for compromise
He has addressed ties with Australia, saying a change in government provided an “opportunity to reset”
The media came under attack for souring relations through its “negative” China coverage
“As to what does it mean ‘all necessary means?’ You can use your imagination,” Xiao Qian said.
Addressing the National Press Club as China’s historic military drills in the Taiwan Strait entered a sixth day, Mr Xiao would not predict how long the exercises would continue.
“If every country put their ‘One China’ policy into practice with sincerity, with no compromise, it is going to guarantee the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“There’s no room for compromise. How long it’s going to last, a proper time? I think there will be an announcement.”
The drills were triggered by a visit to the island from United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week, angering China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own.
Saying Beijing’s response is “legitimate and justified”, the ambassador repeated China’s blame on the US for the current tensions.
“It is the US side that should, and must, take full responsibility for the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Xiao said.
The largest-ever Chinese exercises surrounding the island have included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air attacks in the skies and seas surrounding Taiwan.
They have fueled discussion about the global response if China were to attack the island.
It has also prompted Taiwan to begin its own military drills to test combat readiness, and prepare air raid shelters for its 23 million residents.
“I would rather not use the word ‘invasion’ when we talk about China and Taiwan,” Mr Xiao said.
“Taiwan is different from any other scenario or situation. Taiwan is not an independent state … Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China.”
People in Taiwan have been told to take shelter and cover their eyes and ears in the event of a missile attack.(Reuters: Ann Wang)
Mr Xiao’s comments came as China released a new statement mirroring the remarks.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring Taiwan under its control.
An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would “work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification … But we will not renounce the use of force”.
Mending Australia-China relations
Repairing China and Australia’s fractured ties dominated much of the ambassador’s speech.
He said the change in government provided an “opportunity to reset” the relationship between the two nations.
In recent years, the relationship has deteriorated, with China imposing trade sanctions on several Australian exports such as wine and lobsters.
The ambassador said recent high-level meetings had been productive, but that there was still a long way to go.
“The positive progress in our bilateral relations is encouraging. It’s [an] encouraging start. And, of course, there’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.
Mr Xiao pressed the importance of cooperation and not being swayed by interests with other partners.
While he has avoided naming the US, he said Australia should make its own judgments and decisions, “free from interference from a third party”.
“When we cooperate, we both win. When we don’t, we both lose,” he said.
“So, it is imperative for the governments of our two countries to adopt positive policies towards each other, take positive and concrete measures to improve the atmosphere of cooperation.”
Ms Pelosi met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit to Taipei. (AP: Taiwan Presidential Office)
Australia has joined with other nations — including the US — to condemn Beijing’s decision to extend military drills around Taiwan.
Chinese officials have said condemnation by Australia was undermining regional peace and stability, and amounted to meddling in its affairs.
Prior to Mr Xiao’s address, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles called on China to end its combat exercises and maintain the status quo.
He added that there was little the federal government could do to ward off constant Chinese criticism of Australia, saying it was up to China whether relations with Australia thawed or deteriorated again.
“If engaging in a more respectful, diplomatic way takes us some way down a path, it does — and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Mr Marles said.
“We can only control our end of this equation. But we will always be speaking up for the national interest.”
Media comes under attack
Australia’s media was also criticized for its role in sourcing relations.
The ambassador said China was rarely portrayed in a positive light, instead coverage was overwhelmingly negative and unfair.
“Media coverage of China is, at many times, misleading and harms friendship between the two peoples,” he said.
“No country is perfect, however the coverage on a country that is always in a negative perspective is nowhere near to telling the truth about that country.”
Fan Yang, a research fellow in Chinese-Australian communities at Deakin University, said she tended to agree with the ambassador that “there was a lack of diversity in Australian journalists reporting on issues of China.”
She said this was because Australian interests and angles were applied to coverage on China.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in July, in the first such talks since 2019. (Supplied: Australian Embassy in Jakarta)
Mr Xiao said China was committed to strengthening ties, marking December 22 — the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries — as a key date.
“I think it’s perfect time for our two countries to review the past, look into the future, take concrete actions in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefits.”
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor from the University of Technology Sydney, said nothing new came out of the address and was disappointed that Mr Xiao did not elaborate on concrete measures to reset and improve Australia-China relations.
“He pretty much attributed all the reasons for the deterioration of Australia-China relations in the past few years to the policies of the previous Australian government, without suggesting that China had any responsibility, [and] even denying Chinese economic coercion in general, which is untrue,” Dr Feng told the ABC.
“The policy of the previous Australian government was a bipartisan consensus, a fact the ambassador ignored.”
Premier Dominic Perrottet has revealed a confidential resignation letter from the NSW building commissioner has been referred to the state’s independent corruption watchdog.
David Chandler resigned abruptly last month, prompting speculation about the circumstances of his departure amid scrutiny over the conduct of recently dumped minister Eleni Petinos, to whom he reported.
Former NSW fair trading minister Eleni Petinos, former building commissioner David Chandler and Premier Dominic Perrottet.Credit:Wolter Peeters, Kate Geraghty, NCA Newswire
Perrottet on Wednesday revealed during question time that Chandler’s resignation letter was sent to the secretary of the Department of Customer Service, who referred it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on August 1.
Petinos was sacked over workplace bullying allegations the day before the letter was sent to ICAC. She had denied the bullying allegations.
“This is a personal letter related to an employment matter. I’ve been advised by the secretary that appropriate action was taken by her in relation to the contents of the letter,” Perrottet said.
“Out of the abundance of caution, the letter was provided to the ICAC for information.”
The NSW opposition on Tuesday said it would use Legislative Council powers to compel the government to release the letter after it was revealed that Petinos met representatives from a property development company that employed former deputy premier John Barilaro. The letter is expected to be released to the upper house on Thursday.
The opposition has queried the meetings between Petinos and Coronation Property, given a stopwork order had been placed on one of its major projects. Chandler had oversight of stopwork orders and whether to revoke them. It is not yet known whether Chandler’s resignation letter relates to that issue.
Both Petinos and Barilaro have issued statements saying that Barilaro was not in attendance at a June 2 meeting between Petinos and Coronation Property.
“They’re pretty expensive and large houses,” she said. “It creates a requirement to have a wealthy owner to purchase and maintain properties like that.”
Fowler said having the airport within a 35-minute drive was also appealing to a cashed-up clientele, particularly people who traveled regularly for work.
Greater Macedon Ranges Shire Jennifer Anderson said while Mount Macedon had a veneer of wealth and was home to some rich people, there were many in the wider community who were also struggling.
“People might come up here and see it’s a beautiful environment with all these large houses and rich people, but you can forget that among that we have a diverse community,” she said.
The latest census data showed Mount Macedon had a median weekly income of $2,647 with median monthly mortgage repayments of $2,604. The median weekly rent was $330.
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Anderson said the council offered outreach services to local residents who were struggling.
“Often these people don’t want to say they’re at risk if they’re surrounded by others doing well,” she said.
Stonnington councillor Matthew Koce, whose ward covers Toorak, also insisted his municipality took in an economically diverse community with some residents of public housing living not far from some of Melbourne’s most pricey real estate.
He said the calls he took from Toorak residents echoed the concerns of other areas, which typically included problems with street trees, footpath damage and required upgrades to drainage.
“I find the community to be reasonable across the board,” he said.
Brighton and North Brighton were among the wealthiest postcodes with an annual average income just shy of $140,000. The Red Hill postcode was also on the rich list pushing past $108,000.
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An intruder who broke into a snow monkey enclosure to scoop coins from a pond could have unwittingly exposed themselves to “potentially fatal” herpes, with authorities urging them to seek immediate medical attention.
Key points:
A person who stole coins from a pond inside a monkey enclosure could be exposed to the potentially deadly herpes B virus
Symptoms of infection include “blistering, pain, muscle aches, respiratory distress, encephalitis and neurological dysfunction”
The intruder has been urged to seek medical attention
Tasmania’s City of Launceston issued a press release today, following the break-in at the City Park monkey enclosure on Tuesday night.
The enclosure, which houses a population of macaques — established as part of a sister-city relationship with Ikeda in Japan — is popular with tourists and locals, who toss coins into the pond.
Major Albert Van Zetten said the intruder caused damage to an electric fence and stole “coins out of the surrounding moat”.
“Unfortunately, this action has potentially exposed the intruder to the herpes B virus, which is carried by the City Park monkeys,” Mr Van Zetten said.
The macaque enclosure is a popular tourist attraction in Launceston.(Wikipedia)
“The virus is not considered a risk to the monkeys and exhibits symptoms similar to that of cold sores in humans.
“However, it is potentially fatal to humans, with more than 30 known deaths recorded worldwide… [and] only one confirmed case of human-to-human transmission.”
Mr Van Zetten said symptoms of viral infection included “blistering, pain, numbness near the infection point, flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle aches, headache, and fatigue, respiratory distress, encephalitis and neurological dysfunction.”
Most macaques around the world carry diseases, authorities said.(City Of Launceston)
The majority of macaques around the world carry the virus and there is signage at the Launceston enclosure stating that the monkeys on-site are infected.
Mr Van Zetten said Tasmania Police and the Tasmanian Department of Health “have been advised of the break-in”.
“We ask that anyone with information regarding the break-in contact Tasmania Police immediately.
“But importantly, council urges the intruder to seek medical attention as a matter of some urgency.”
