We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Bali Nine: Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran to be moved to Nusakambangan island today, ahead of executions.
By George Roberts, ABC.
The ABC understands the Bali Nine duo are to be moved from their prison to the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan this morning, but the date of their executions is yet to be decided.
Senior security and Indonesian justice sources have told the ABC it is due to happen this morning, with two saying that it will be around 6:00am (local time).
If this latest plan runs to schedule, security personnel will arrive at Kerobokan prison to take custody of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Under heavy guard they will then be transferred to Nusakambangan island prison, off the coast of Java, where their executions are to take place.
Prison officials have been told to get ready to discharge the two Australians.
“We have prepared the administrative part of it. We keep checking and rechecking, so there won’t be any mistakes in the dots and commas,” prison governor Sujonggo said.
“Our job is just that, to prepare the people, papers, and that’s it. And they all have to match.”
The rest will be up to prosecutors acting under the authority of attorney-general Muhammad Prasteyo and the police and military personnel involved in the transfer.
Bali’s chief prosecutor, Momock Bambang Samiarso, told reporters on Tuesday that within two days he planned to send the pair to the island where they were due to be executed.
Mr Prasetyo, who is in charge of the executions, said on Tuesday afternoon that he was still waiting for a report on preparations at the island prison in the next couple of days.
He said preparations were 95 per cent complete.
Mr Prasteyo has to give Chan and Sukumaran 72 hours’ notice before the men can face a firing squad.
A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.
2. Details emerge about Toowoomba murder/ suicide.
Warning: This item contains details of a suspected murder/suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
Desperately tragic details have emerged from the Toowoomba murder/ suicide that claimed the lives of a pregnant mother, her father and her seven-year old son.
The deceased have been named as suspected killer Derek John Sharpley, 52, his pregnant daughter, Kris-Deann, 27 and seven-year-old Jackson.
The bodies were found when Kris-Deann’s sister Tara went to the house with her boyfriend to collect clothing.
Sharpley and his daughter were found with close-range rifle injuries to the head report that Police believe the grandfather turned the gun on himself after killing Kris-Deann and Jackson.
Jackson was tucked up in bed with no visible wounds.
It has been reported that Derek John Sharpley suffered mental health problems and substance abuse and had previously attempted suicide.
The Courier Mail reports that only days earlier he had told friends he lived for his family.
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3. Police divers to focus on swamp today in search for William Tyrell.
The search for missing three-year old William Tyrell will today focus on a nearby swamp. This is the third day of the police search of bushland 20km away from where William went missing in Northern NSW.
The reports that the search was initialed by a tip off.
4. Rosie Batty to back call for national summit on violence against women.
Fairfax Media reports that Australian of the Year Rosie Batty will back a call by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for a national crisis summit on violence against women.
In a speech today Mr Shorten will call on the Prime Minister to convene an urgent summit.
He will say a “national crisis summit on violence against women is required for the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to agree to urgently implement coordinated judicial and social services reform within their areas of responsibility to better deal with family violence,”
Mr Shorten is expected to propose that $70 million be committed to various projects to ensure violence against women and children can be combatted. This will include $50 million to legal services, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services.
5. Medicare co-payment ‘death’ should dampen leadership chatter.
Outspoken Abbott Government backbenchers are celebrating the “death” of the controversial Medicare co-payment and say it should further dampen leadership chatter.
Liberal MPs Andrew Laming and Mal Brough previously publicly criticised the proposal.
But both men have now said Mr Abbott’s decision to declare the policy “dead, buried and cremated” is “hard evidence” the Prime Minister is listening.
“I think you’ll see a renewed Coalition now”, Mr Laming said.
“This [policy] has done enormous damage to the Coalition brand. This was the big one.
“I’ve got no doubt Tony Abbott is a new man since the [failed leadership spill motion] of a couple of weeks ago.”
Last month, Mr Brough, a former Howard Minister, declared Mr Abbott did not have his “unequivocal support”. But he has now changed his opinion.
“I actually rang him up on the Monday night after he spoke, after the spill, and said ‘you have my support, you have my total support’,” Mr Brough said.
“What I can say to you is you have seen a person recognise where there are shortcomings, he’s tried to address those shortcomings.”
Mr Brough would not say if he would rather Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal leader, but dismissed reports he had ever considered challenging Tony Abbott.
“No I haven’t. This is hyperventilating by the media,” he said.
“I’ve had a lot of people say I’ve done a lot of things.”
Both Mr Laming and Mr Brough claim the Federal Government’s position in the polls is likely to improve if the Government makes further changes to contentious measures from last year’s budget.
A version of this story was originally published on and has been republished with full permission.
6. Malcolm Turnbull supports Prime Minister.
Federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pledged his support to the Prime Minister telling the ABC that some of the commentary and speculation over the past few weeks was “utterly wild”.
“The real world is the 102 members of the party room and I can assure you that all of us are absolutely committed to giving Australia sound, responsible, good government,” he said.
“We support Tony Abbott as our leader, he has the support of the party room.
“Yes, there was a spill motion but it was not carried and we are all behind the leader, every single one of us.”
7. One year on from MH370 Danica Weeks interview.
SBS’s DatelinePaul Weeks, a New Zealander was travelling to Mongolia to work when the plane went missing.
Danica said that one year on all she wants to know if the truth – and to be able to tell her sons.
For more read this post here.
8. Rolf Harris stripped of British honours.
Jailed sex offender Rolf Harris has had his British honours taken off him at the order of Her Majesty – a week after being stripped of his Australian honours.
An announcement in the Crown’s official publication, the London Gazette, stated: “The Queen has directed that the appointment of Rolf Harris to be a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 17 June 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”
9. Secret koala cull in Victoria.
A series of secret culls on koala populations to avoid confrontations from green groups have killed nearly 700 koalas in Victoria.
The Australian reports that the koalas were killed by lethal injection near Victoria’s Great Ocean Road in 2013 and 2014.
here is now speculation that a similar program will be used to deal with a starving koala population in manna gum woodlands at Cape Otway, about 230km southwest of Melbourne.
The Australian reports that up to 8000 koalas in this area.
Victorian Environment Minister Lisa Neville refused to rule out further reductions in the koala population but promised an open and transparent agenda.
“This is a challenging and complex issue that we need to address humanely and effectively,’’ she said.
10. Benjamin Netanyahu addresses US Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed US Congress for the third time a rare honour only matched by Winton Churchill.
He has used his address to the US Congress to rile against Iran.
Criticising a potential nuclear deal with Iran – currently being negotiated – he said it gives the Iranian regime too much nuclear infrastructure.
In a rousing speech, frequently interrupted by applause, he called on the US to stand together against Iran.
11. Mum bans Peppa Pig.
A mother in the UK has spoken out about the “antisocial behavior” of one of the world’s most famous cartoon characters and has decided to ban Peppa Pig from her home.
Naomi Greenaway has written in The Daily Mail that the small outspoken pig has had such a negative influence on her children she has called it quits and placed her family on a Peppa Pig free diet.
12. Tony Abbott has given the defence force a pay rise.
Defence personnel will be offered a higher pay increase as the Abbott Government continues to try to cast aside unpopular policies.
The Federal Government had been criticised heavily, including from some of its own backbenchers, for offering ADF personnel a pay rise of 1.5 per cent.
It has now lifted that offer to 2 per cent.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the boost was appropriate, particularly given the announcement yesterday to send more troops to Iraq.
“It is just above the current inflation rate,” he said.
“It is still frugal Government, if I may say so. But it is frugal Government that acknowledges the special place that the Defence Forces have.”
This article originally appeared on the ABC and was republished here with full permission.
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Top Comments
The Otways have also been subject to decades of destruction of its native forest habitat through unsustainable logging practices which destroys the "homes" of many animals including Koalas. This forest and its inhabitants has links to ancient Gondwana land forests and deserves to be looked after and celebrated - not actively mismanaged.
Cape Otway Reserve has been having major problems with overbreeding and the death of habitat since 2012, the area is coastal and other natural coastal vegetation has been preventing the koalas preferred trees from reestablishing from seedlings in the numbers required, they have been trying to reestablish the trees and are having success but not at the same speed as the koalas breed, sterilizing koalas was not a viable option. Trying to reestablish the forest is almost impossible with immediate pressure from the existing over population on young trees. Relocating animals is a very complex issue, not just for the animals involved but for the environment they are being relocated into and the animals and vegetation already present there.Koalas particularly have very specific habitat needs which are only present in small areas, theyare also highly territorial and have a stable home range for foraging and breeding, they can be up to 45ha per animal. You cannot just introduce new members into an existing area without major problems "Give them to a zoo" is also a simplistic naive suggestion, ignoring the real logistics of doing such a thing with large numbers of animals regarding time, available enclosures, quarantines etc. In these cases all the options are looked into before a decision to cull is made, which is sadly, often the only viable option when a situation such as this arises.