Why William Tyrrell's biological parents 'hid him' as a baby, & more in News in 5.

— With AAP.

1. William Tyrrell’s biological parents hid him for six weeks when he was a baby.

William Tyrrell’s biological father admits he was “the number one person not letting him go” when he hid the boy from authorities for six weeks when he was a baby.

But he denies playing any part in his son’s disappearance two-and-a-half years later.

The child was aged three years and three months when he vanished without a trace from the backyard of his foster grandmother’s house in Kendall on the NSW mid north coast on September 12, 2014.

William’s biological parents, who can’t be identified and are no longer in a relationship, were the final witnesses to give evidence on Thursday at the first week of the inquest into his disappearance and suspected death.

When questioned about the involvement of authorities, including the Department of Family and Community Services, William’s father said: “They f***ed up.”

“It was the minister’s duty of care to keep him safe until he was 18 and that was not the case at all. FACS was about keeping kids safe.”

Both parents conceded they “absconded” with William for five to six weeks in early 2012 after a children’s court ordered he be handed to FACS and placed in foster care.

“I couldn’t bring myself to give them my son,” the mother told the NSW Coroners Court.

The father said he was upset, annoyed and angry.

“I was the number one person not letting him go. The number one person putting that (idea) forward,” he said.

The mother said her last supervised contact visit with William was in August 2014.

She first found out William was missing when police knocked on their door in Sydney hours after he vanished.

“They didn’t tell me anything. They asked me if William was there. They looked around, they thought (my other) son was William – he wasn’t. They asked what I’d done … and left,” she said.

She still stands by her statement to police that she “didn’t take him” and “definitely” doesn’t know where he is.

In that document, the woman stated: “If I took him, I would be gone and I would have (his sister) as well. I want a normal life. I don’t want to be hiding away with them somewhere.”

The mother told the court she was aware of adoption plans before William disappeared but not in any detail and “didn’t agree” with them.

“We were still trying to get the children back. We were at court,” she said.

In closing the first week of the inquest on Thursday, senior counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC, said the police investigation continued.

“We certainly haven’t given up. If anybody, either in the room or in the community generally has any further information which they think might be of assistance … we want to hear from them,” he said.

Mr Craddock and Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame agreed the past week had been “the tip of the iceberg”.

A directions hearing will be held on April 24 before four weeks of hearings in August when persons of interest will be called to give evidence.

Listen to The Quicky debrief on the truth about William Tyrrell’s parents, and what happened after the three-year-old’s disappearance. Post continues below.

2. ‘I’ve got gun porn on my phone.’ More footage has emerged of One Nation discussing plans to legalise assault rifles in Australia.

Another damning video released as part of Al Jazeera’s How to Sell a Massacre documentary further shows One Nation members James Ashby and Steve Dickson discussing their plans to weaken Australia’s gun laws.

In the video, the pair once again discuss their hopes of getting political donations from American gun lobbyists.

“If the NRA want to rally their supporters within Australia, that’s one start. Two, I’d love to get my hands on their software. Three, if they can help us with donations…super,” Ashby said.

Mamamia’s daily news podcast explains who the NRA are, and why they are interested in Australian politics.

Mr Dickson then fantasises about using potential donation funds to hire a beach mansion to live like a drug lord with an arsenal of weapons.

“I’m going to be in one of those drug-dealing mansions on the beach. I’ll hire it for a month. You know the ones that are 25 rooms and the chef and everything,” he said.

“We’ll drink and shoot the sh**t of everything down the water. Machine guns and everything. That’s my dream.

“And we can protect ourselves, just in case,” he added.

Dickson is filmed discussing his love for “gun porn”, which he kept on his phone.

In part 2 of #HowToSellAMassacre the NRA set up a meeting for One Nation at US energy giant Koch industries.

In return, One Nation offered them extraordinary influence on Australian politics.

Watch now: https://t.co/lnbP56N1Sm pic.twitter.com/MyX9htlEl0

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 27, 2019

The pair are also shown discussing with American pro-gun lobbyists ways to change the Australian public opinion of guns, particularly by pandering to women.

“It’s like Vegemite. You don’t put a f***ing bundle of the s**t on the toast. A light smear first. Get them used to them flavour,” Ashby said.

“You need to soften people back up again. And part of it will be, let’s start looking at women’s shooting range programmes, self-defence programmes, whatever those things might be.”

Dickson described the need to whittle gun laws down little by little.

“We need to take a piece of bread we know we can get, that’s safe… Then we can get another piece of bread and end up with the whole loaf.”

In further clips, Dickson lamented the loss of his guns after the law change in 1996 and described shooting as “a great thing”.

Ashby revealed he kept a personal email for private business, because his work emails “can be subpoenaed like that”.

Pauline Hanson claimed she and her One Nation colleagues are the victims of an elaborate stitch up, and has labelled the prime minister a fool for cutting her minor party adrift.

Senator Hanson has gone on the attack after she was dragged into the scandal when a video was released of her appearing to suggest the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy.

She is also digging in behind her chief of staff Ashby and Queensland One Nation leader Dickson.

Hidden camera footage by undercover Al Jazeera journalist Rodger Muller, who was posing as a gun advocate, appeared to show Senator Hanson questioning the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

"An MP said it would actually take a massacre in Tasmania to change the gun laws in Australia," she said.

"I've read a lot and I have read the book on it, Port Arthur. A lot of questions there."

Senator Hanson said her remarks about Port Arthur were "heavily edited" and did not reflect her views on the mass shooting.

"There is no question in my mind that Martin Bryant was the only person responsible for the murders of 35 innocent lives," she told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.

The footage also appeared to show her staffers seeking foreign donations and discussing weakening Australia's gun laws.

Senator Hanson said both men made stupid comments "taken completely out of context", but claimed they were set up and deserved a second chance.

The men claim they were "on the sauce" when the conversations took place.

Her Port Arthur comments were the final straw for Scott Morrison, who declared the Liberals would preference One Nation below Labor at the federal election in May.

"Prime minister, you have just handed the keys to The Lodge to Bill Shorten, (Greens leader Richard) Di Natale and the CFMEU," Senator Hanson said.

"You're a fool."

3. Parents of pregnant Gold Coast nurse found dead "shattered".

Gold Coast woman Ravneet Kaur's body has been found in India and four people - including Ms Kaur's husband and an Australian woman he was allegedly having an affair with - have been charged in connection to the 29-year-old's death. https://t.co/DcnczZjbRH

— SBS News (@SBSNews) March 27, 2019

The family of a Gold Coast nurse slain in India say they were shattered to learn that her husband and his alleged lover have been charged with her murder.

Police in India's Punjab state say the body of Ravneet Kaur was found in a canal on Monday, 11 days after she went missing from the city of Ferozepur on March 14.

Her husband Jaspreet Singh and his alleged lover Kiran have been charged with murder. Punjab police allege Singh and Kiran were having an affair which began after she started working at the couple's Gold Coast restaurant.

Punjab police also charged Kiran's sister and another man, Sandeep Singh, with conspiracy and murder over Ms Kaur's death. They claim Ms Kaur was strangled by Kiran and her associates, and her body was recovered from Bhakra Canal.

Grief has "overwhelmed" the parents, said Kaur's sister Kesar.

"My father is totally shattered. My father loved her much more than me. Their father-daughter love was really special," Kesar said.

Kaur's parents say they were bewildered at her disappearance and reported their daughter missing after she left their home and walked out to the street while speaking with Singh on her phone.

They claim that following Ms Kaur's disappearance, Singh refused their request for him to return from Australia to help with the investigation.

Deputy Superintendant Dhawan said police will start the process of requesting the extradition of (Jaspreet) Singh and Kiran from Australia.

Punjab police accuse Kaur's husband of masterminding her murder, an allegation which he denied to Australian radio program SBS Punjabi.

"I don't know what the basis of all these allegations is," Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi.

"I can't say anything. I will have to go to India and find out what happened. I have no role in this whatsoever," he told SBS Punjabi.

4. Liberals plan to preference One Nation below Labor.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered Pauline Hanson's One Nation to be put below Labor on Liberal how-to-vote cards.

The One Nation leader has shot back describing him as a "fool" and predicting it would lead to a Shorten Labor government.

The minor party has been rocked by revelations Senator Hanson questioned whether the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy during an undercover investigation by Qatari TV network Al Jazeera.

Mr Morrison said the issue prompted him to contact the Liberals' organisational wing to ask them to preference One Nation below the ALP at the May election.

"My recommendation to them, which they're accepting, is that One Nation will be put below the Labor Party at the next election by the Liberal Party," Mr Morrison told reporters in Perth on Thursday.

He said the decision was based on the government's strong view about the sanctity of Australia's gun laws, introduced by John Howard after the Port Arthur shootings in 1996.

"The comments, particularly last night, and the linkages to Port Arthur, I'm sure all Australians would be shocked about. I was shocked by them," the prime minister said.

Hidden camera footage also showed Senator Hanson's chief of staff James Ashby and One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson talking about getting $20 million in donations from the US gun lobby.

Mr Morrison said he was disappointed with the response of the One Nation officials, who claimed they were drunk when they made the comments and set up by a Middle Eastern spy.

Senator Hanson used a 17-minute televised statement to blast the prime minister's decision, as well as defend her advisers over the Al Jazeera story.

"Prime minister, you have just handed the keys to The Lodge to Bill Shorten, (Greens leader Richard) Di Natale and the (construction union) CFMEU. You're a fool," she told reporters in Brisbane, reading from a statement.

Labor has committed to putting One Nation last on its how-to-vote cards, with leader Bill Shorten calling for the Liberals to do the same.

Mr Shorten said he was concerned the LNP in Queensland and the Nationals had been given a "leave pass" by Mr Morrison to do preference deals with One Nation.

"This is sneaky. He can't bring himself to put One Nation last because he wants their preferences if he can get away with it," Mr Shorten told AAP on Thursday.

"You can't pretend to stand up for middle Australia while your government colleagues are swapping preferences with conspiracy theorists and con men."

Some conservative government MPs believe the Greens should be below One Nation, arguing their economic policies are more dangerous than Senator Hanson's anti-immigration stance.

Mr Morrison said the Nationals would make their own decision.

He also refused to weigh into where the Greens should be preferenced.

"There's a lot of parties who have a lot of extreme positions and I'm not going to equate the Greens with one of the mainstream parties in this country," he said.

5. Prince William to visit Christchurch to honour terror attack victims.

Prince William will visit Christchurch late next month to honour the victims of the Christchurch mosque terror attacks.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the visit, which follows the attacks that left 50 people dead and another 50 wounded after a gunman opened fire on two mosques on March 15.

"I'm really pleased that he can make a short visit to support those affected by the attack and pay tribute to the extraordinary compassion and solidarity that New Zealanders have displayed in recent weeks," Ms Ardern said in a statement on Thursday.

A national memorial service is being held in Christchurch on Friday, but the Duke of Cambridge's visit, on behalf of the Queen, won't be until April.

"I am mindful that the trauma in Christchurch will last long after the National Remembrance Service this week," Jacinda Ardern said.

"I'm sure all New Zealanders but especially the Muslim community of Christchurch will appreciate seeing the compassion and support, that has been so tangibly demonstrated since the attack, continue into the future.

Prince William visited Christchurch in March 2011 following a deadly earthquake that cost the lives of 185 people.

Further details of the dates and program will be announced in due course.