We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Number of baby deaths at Bacchus Marsh now at 12.
The number of potentially avoidable baby deaths at Bacchus Marsh hospital has now been revealed to be 12.
The Herald Sun reports that a second extensive investigation of infant deaths at the hospital has uncovered five more suspect deaths between 2001 and 2013, which had not previously been disclosed by the health service.
Health Minister Jill Hennessy said officials had begun meeting with bereaved mothers whose babies may have died in preventable circumstances at the hospital over the past 15 years so they could receive the “answers and certainty they deserve” reports The Age.
An initial investigation last year found seven baby deaths at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital from 2013-14 could have been avoidable.
According to News Limited the Health Services Commissioner has opened inquiries into 43 more reports of botched births at the hospital. It has been reported that four of the families have already been informed that hospital failings may have led to the death of their child.
2. 60 Minutes criticised for putting entertainment value before journalism.
A former TV executive producer and Professor of Journalism has critisised 60 Minutes for the way it has handled cases like that of Sally Faulkner.
Peter Manning an adjunct professor of Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a former head of news and current affairs at ABC TV and Seven told Fairfax Media “the entertainment value has been allowed to outweigh the journalism value”.
“I do think this is an example of journalism standards being under pressure in competitive commercial environments and we may see much more of this,” he said. “In general it’s the sort of cowboy behaviour … which is not what journalism should be about.”
60 Minutes’ reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Benjamin Williamson, sound recordist David Ballment face charges relating to kidnapping and will remain in custody after the case was adjourned until Monday.
Professor Manning said the situation had damaged the 60 Minutes brand.
“I’ve got every confidence in 60 Minutes normally,” he said. “I think behind all this is the incredible competition that exists between Channel Seven and Channel Nine on Sunday evenings. The Sunday program of Channel Seven and the 60 Minutes program of Channel Nine are battling it out … they’re very much part of the big ratings cycle for both channels.
“I think 60 Minutes wanted to push the limits, to maybe have a promo that would drag people in and destroy their opposition. I think that’s going too far. I think they went well beyond the limits of journalism and the [Australian journalists’] code of ethics and a few other things as well.”
“It’s not up to media programs to decide family law disputes, whether they’re on the ‘correct’ side or not; the law has to take its own path. I think what happened with the TV crew is that they fell in love with being cowboys for justice.”
3. UNICEF report shows Australian children falling behind.
A major report has shown that Australian children are falling behind children in other nations in terms of health and education.
The Fairness for Children report shows Australia ranks 27th out of 35 in health equality outcomes among OECD countries and 24th out of 37 in education equality results.
Fairfax Media reports that 2.5 million Australians are living below the poverty line, including 602,604 children, 22 per cent of 13- and 14-year-olds reported suffer from psychosomatic health problems daily and in education, 9.1 per cent of 15-year-olds failed to achieve the basic levels of reading, maths and science literacy in the latest round of PISA tests.
The report shows that Australian children have poorer health and education outcomes than Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia.
UNICEF Australia’s director of policy and advocacy, Nicole Breeze said it was concerning.
“The report raises some very stark questions about government policy. Australian children are falling too far behind at that bottom end against some key international measures,” she said.
“The size of Australia’s economy suggests that the outlook for Australian children could be significantly better,” Ms Breeze told Fairfax Media.
“Australia must place equity at the heart of our child well-being agendas and the ‘leave-no-one-behind’ principle should form the foundation of future social strategies,” she said.
4. Bringbackourgirls video shows evidence some are still alive.
A video of 15 of the suspected dead schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Harem has give hope to devastated families.
The footage of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped two years ago was apparently filmed in December. It shows 15 girls in black robes identifying themselves.
The girls were among 276 girls taken from a school in the town of Chibok by members of the Islamist group Boko Haram.
The kidnapping of the girls two years ago today triggered the global social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls, but most of the girls are still missing.
The footage of the girls is the first to be seen since May 2014, when around 100 of them were shown in a video.
Two of the three mothers of the 219 schoolgirls still missing since the mass abduction on April 14, 2014 recognised their daughters on the video but another broke down as hers was not there.
5. Queensland suffers disastrous flu season already.
Despite peak flu season being months away Queensland has seen already double the average numbers of flu for this time of years sparking fears of a horror flu season ahead.
The Courier Mail reports 2514 cases of the flu in Queensland this year, which is estimated to have cost the economy up to $4.39 million in time off work.
The average for this time of year in Queensland is 1062.
The state’s flu numbers are almost 1000 higher than that of NSW and nearly 2000 higher than that of Victoria. Tasmania and the ACT have recorded fewer than 100 cases of flu each.
Influenza Specialist Group professor Paul Van Buynder said Queensland was leading flu numbers because of a surge in cases in the tropics early in the year.
He blamed the large numbers on the tropics who have a year round flu season and on international visitors.
6. Rolf Harris pleads not guilty to eight new charges.
Rolf Harris will face a second trial in January after pleading not guilty to seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.
The entertainer faces eight charges alleging he attacked women and girls between 1971 and 2004.
The 86-year-old appeared via videolink at London’s Southwark crown court.
He spoke only to confirm his identity and to say “not guilty” to each of the eight charges as they were put to him.
The judge set a trial date of 9 January 2017.
7. Teenager who murdered his mother – a popular food blogger- had a brain injury brought on by concussions from football say his family.
The family of a 19-year-old man who police say murdered his TV food reporter and blogger mother and brother said the teen had a “brain injury” from multiple concussions and “snapped” the night of the attacks.
Stacy Fawcett, a popular food blogger in the US and her son, Josiah, 17, were stabbed to death by Fawcett’s oldest son, McCann Utu Jr..
Utu called emergency services in Texas to report the murders before turning the knife on himself inside the family’s home, police said.
He died at a hospital of self-inflicted wounds a short time later.
According to Fawcett’s brother, McCann Utu Jr. had been living with what was described as “a traumatic brain injury” he sustained while playing basketball more than a year ago.
8. Victorian students get lessons in the dangers of porn.
Students are learning about the dangers of pornography in a new high school curriculum for the first time.
Year 10 students in Victoria, under the Building Respectful Relationships resource will discuss if porn is ever good, and decipher if a set of statements is based in the “media world”, such as pornography, or in real life. They will also analyze music clips and ads to better understand the mainstream sexualisation of women.
The state government’s “respectful relationship” resource aims at tackling domestic abuse.
It discusses myths around the typical size of a man’s genitalia, that sex commonly occurs between more than two people at once and that women orgasm easily from whatever men do to them, and that it’s quite common for women to have cosmetic surgery on their faces, breasts or genitalia reports The Herald Sun.
The course also engages students on the dangers of sexting.
9. Woman banned by court from naming daughter “Cyanide”.
A mother has been told by a court she cannot name her baby daughter Cyanide.
The woman has infant twins and wants to name her son Preacher and her daughter Cyanide, saying the poison is a “lovely, pretty name” with positive associations because it helped kill Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Local officials objected, and a family court judge ruled against the mother in September, saying she was not acting to secure her children’s welfare.
She challenged the ruling, saying it was her right to choose her children’s names but the Court of Appeal upheld the earlier decision.
One of the justices, Eleanor King, said it was “one of those rare cases” in which judges should intervene.
“It is hard to see how … the twin girl could regard being named after this deadly poison as other than a complete rejection of her by her birth mother,” she said.
The woman has a history of drug abuse, her children have been placed in foster care.
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