1. Tragic drowning
A family celebrating Christmas on a north NSW Island have been hit with tragedy with their four-year old son drowning after going missing.
The parents of Connor Elliott Graham woke on Boxing Day and found their son was not in his bed and nowhere to be seen.
After a search of Chatsworth Island involving police, the dog squad, helicopters, residents and 29 State Emergency Service volunteers, it is understood a resident discovered the boy’s body hours later in the Clarence River, near the family home.
Police Inspector Brendan Gorman said he did not suspect foul play.
“We believe the child left the premises of his own volition,” Inspector Gorman told the ABC.
2. Mother arrested after baby left in car
A mother is expected to face charges after leaving her 17-month-boy locked in the car at a Doncaster shopping centre in Melbourne while she went shopping for the Boxing Day sales.
She parked in an undercover car park and went alone to the shops, leaving the boy locked in the car.
A passer by spotted the boy about half an hour after he was left and told security, who removed the child. For more on this read this post here.
3. Childcare provider says no to Govnt.
Early Learning, which is the nation’s biggest childcare provider has rejected calls by the Abbott government to hand back $60 million earmarked under Labor for pay rises.
The childcare provider has told the government it won’t co-operate with Assistant Education Minister Sussan Ley’s plea to “do the right thing” and drop its claim to the money sourced from a funding agreement signed the day before the federal election.
Goodstart runs 641 early learning centres attended by 73,000 children, with 13,000 staff.
The Australian reports that the Minister said she was disappointed by Goodstart’s move.
4. Sex selection
A leading IVF pioneer, Professor Gab Kovacs, has called for an overturn of the ban on sex selection of babies. Writing in the International Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Prof Kovacs said preimplantation genetic diagnosis should be allowed, but not be encouraged.
“I do not believe that sex selection should be advertised by those who offer the service … or that it should be encouraged. But it should not be prohibited,” Prof Kovacs said.
He said he found it difficult to understand the overwhelming opposition to the practice. In the Herald Sun a mother who travelled overseas to have a baby girl after three sons backs his call.
5. QLD siege
A man has been found dead in a home after a five-hour siege in QLD. A mother and her teenage daughter were shackled in a bathroom with police sending in remote camera robots and even an aerial drone. The gunman was found dead by the robot inside an upstairs room about 7.25pm. Police say they have no idea what motivated the siege.
6. Governor-General
The Federal Government has said that no decision has been made on who the next governor-general of Australia will be, despite reports yesterday that former general Peter Cosgrove had already been picked.
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office told News Limited “an announcement will be made in due course as per the usual process.”
7. Novelist criticizes refugee treatment
Prize winning novelist Alex Miller has slammed Australia over its treatment of refugees, saying that his original experience of Australians as welcoming and generous “doesn’t seem to be true any more”
Writing an essay in a new book, A Country Too Far he has likening Australia’s “cruel and inhumane” treatment of asylum seekers to Britain’s treatment of the Jews fleeing the Nazis for British-ruled Palestine.
8. Hero fire-fighter
An off-duty firefighter used a tomahawk and a sledgehammer to help save two children from a burning Brisbane home on Christmas Day.
An eight-year old boy and a 15-year old girl escaped the blaze. A woman, believed to be the children’s mother died.
9. Clown craze
A Facebook craze where people dress up as clowns and carry knives and balloons intending to scare others is making headlines in the UK.
The trend emerged when the ‘Northampton Clown’, who posts photos of himself in public places, gained nearly 200,000 ”likes” on Facebook. Over the Christmas period clown sightings right across the UK were reported to police.
10. Poppy returns
A pet dog has returned to her family this Christmas three years after going missing.
Ava McAninly was just three years old when Poppy, a maltese shitzu, ran away from their hillside home during fireworks on New Years Eve 2010. She returned matted and hungry on Christmas day.
11. Women more chivalrous
A new survey has shown that women are the more polite sex – with women 12 per cent more likely to say hello to a complete stranger, 10 per cent more likely to share a transport pass and 7 per cent more likely to hold the door open for you.
In Brief:
Schapelle Corby’s sentence has been cut by a further two months meaning she could be free to return home by the middle of 2015.
In the cricket England is 6 for 226 at stumps, having been sent in after Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss.
Supermaxi Perpetual LOYAL is narrowly in the lead in the Sydney to Hobart
What news are you talking about today?
Top Comments
Good on Goodstart!! How utterly ridiculous of the govt to ask the industry to do the right thing and hand back well earned raises!! Shows what we are dealing with.
On the note of the gender selection I don't get why everyone is so up in arms. If you are against it I would love to hear why?
I think I am. Why do we always have to have what we want? Why can't we be happy with what we're given?
Well, don't complain the Government didn't ask them nicely. This whole murky and irregular deal, signed on the eve of the election against the caretaker convention, is now after investigaton going to the Auditor General for a further look. We shall see what the AG thinks of it.
Why? One word: China. I know Australian culture is not as 'male-centric' in terms of social and economic needs, but the gender imbalance there is having a terrible toll. Who would be monitoring to make sure there's an even balance of genders (no disrepect to gay couples, but I'm sure you understand my point.)
I hear you, but I respectfully disagree. China has another issue altogether with the one child policy, which has been in place since the 80's (and yes I know they are relaxing it, but even so). I don't believe that Australia can be compared to China in this respect. Also, I don't think that the people who support gender selection, as a rule, are doing it for the greater good, as you may be suggesting. I'm generalising, but I think the majority of the time (and in the example cited above) it's about a couple having a child of one sex, maybe more than once, and desperately wanting a child of the other sex. I just think that sometimes just because we can do these things, doesn't mean we should. And that's my personal opinion.
The childcare payrises were inherently unfair as they weren't for everyone. I live in Sydney and a friend who works at a preschool told me that their boss didn't even apply to the government for the money as it could only be given to 5 of 35 staff. Giving a payrise to 1 in 7 does not foster good morale amongst staff members!
It was stupid policy on the run by the captain of a sinking ship & unfortunately the mess has to be cleaned up by someone else.
Maybe look at the ministerial report out? Opened on 23 July, 41 mins later the group submitted 5000 pages of material, sniff, sniff, whao! 12 hours later applications were closed as the fund was exhausted. Sweet, on the eve of the election, taking a wiping her butt with the Caretaker convention, Minister Ellis signs over 80% of the 300 million to them, binding the next days govenment to the obligation.
You could only get the money if you were on the unions EBA, so community childcare workers for instance would never see a dime, even if they could respond in full in 12 hours.
This whole union-Labor deal stinks. A wage increase should have and is going through fair work Australia, like any other wage claim, but this one is special, a few bucks for a limited time if you joined the union. Ellis blew hundreds of millions of borrowed money on a union recruiting drive. The best part being the union, United Voice, in turn donates money back to the ALP. Stinks to high heaven.
'You could only get the money if you were on the unions EBA'
Rubbish! Read the facts and stop perpetuating anti-union propaganda.
You would do much better to point out the flaws in the scheme than to blame the unions/Labor as you always do. Facts are far more effective than blatant bias.
Her boss obviously didnt understand anything about it. It wasn't only or union members. It's a shame there was such misunderstanding.
Maybe reread my comment... I never mentioned union membership!
I was told by my friend that they checked into it fully and were informed that they would have to choose 5 staff members to give the payrise to & they were not allowed to divide the money between all staff... so they decided to avoid the likely unrest amongst the staff & not bother applying.