Class action launched against General Motors over alleged faulty transmission systems in Holdens – as it happened​on January 8, 2025 at 7:25 am

Police have said Nazari was located by hikers off the circuit walk near Blue Lake at around 3.15pm today.

It came after a multi-agency search involving more than 300 people, and over 13 days.

Nazari was winched from the location to the command post, where he is currently being assessed by paramedics.

Riverina Police District Inspector Josh Broadfoot has thanked emergency services for their contributions over the past fortnight.

This is an incredible outcome, after 13 long days he has been located. We want to thank our emergency services partner agencies, volunteers and members of the public for their assistance. We never gave up hope of finding him, and we are elated we can return him safely to his family.

The hiking group, which had been posting daily updates about the search for Nazari, posted that he had been found and thanked God.

Hazara Hikers in Australia posted only minutes ago, saying:

Congratulations everyone.

Hadi Nazari’s has been found by the rescue team.

After 13 days. Alhamdulilah (Thank God).

The 23-year-old hiker missing in Kosciuszko national park since Boxing Day has been found alive.

The hiking group which Hadi Nazari had been travelling with, Hazara Hikers, confirmed the Victorian man has been found alive.

Police are expected to provide an update shortly.

Sydney council hopes to ditch shark nets and switch to Smart drumlines

The home of some of Australia’s best-known beaches is inching closer to ditching shark nets as more communities voice concern about the century-old system, AAP reports.

NSW installs the barrier devices at 51 beaches each summer in an effort to protect swimmers and surfers.

But growing community concern about their effectiveness is leading more councils to press the state government to switch to non-lethal techniques, such as Smart drumlines which allow sharks to be intercepted, listening stations and drones.

Only 15 target sharks were caught by nets in the previous summer, compared to 109 other shark species and 29 turtles. More than a third (36%) of all animals caught by the nets were released alive.

Sue Heins oversees a Sydney council area stretching from Manly to Palm Beach, the longtime home of television drama Home and Away.

The Northern Beaches mayor said she would be thrilled if the government ditched shark nets tomorrow, saying regular users of the beaches did not want them.

“It’s like a hanky floating out there in the ocean,” Heins said. “Each council knows their beaches, our area is not a nursery.

“We’d be happy with no nets whatsoever, we’ve been using the Smart drumlines for quite a while … we know they work.”

No decision had been made about the future of shark nets across NSW beaches, the state’s agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said.

“The NSW government committed to engaging with local councils across the 2024-25 season on shark management,” she said in a statement. “This consultation is ongoing, and we will not be predetermining the outcome of it.”

NSW will remove its shark nets a month earlier than in previous years this summer, with the season set to end on 31 March.

Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you to take you through the rest of the day’s news.

Thanks for following the blog with me this afternoon! I’m going to hand over to Mostafa Rachwani, who will take you through the rest of the day’s stories.

Accused killer fast-tracks case to Victorian supreme court

A man accused of killing a teacher and dumping her body in a wheelie bin has pleaded ‘not guilty’, as he elected to fast-track his case to trial, AAP reports.

Stephen Fleming faced Melbourne magistrates court this afternoon via video link from prison, where he is on remand.

He is charged with the murder of 67-year-old Annette Brennan, an English teacher whom police allege was killed on 1 July 2024, before her body was allegedly placed in a wheelie bin outside a home at Coolaroo in outer Melbourne.

Tip workers found Brennan’s body while moving green waste at a facility in Epping on 3 July.

Fleming’s barrister Michael McGrath confirmed on Wednesday that his client had elected to fast-track his case to the supreme court.

He said Fleming understood this meant he had waived his rights to a committal hearing, where evidence could be tested in the lower court.

Fleming was remanded in custody and will face the supreme court for a directions hearing on 28 January.

Man denies performing Nazi salute at Sydney pub

A man accused of performing a Nazi salute at a pub is hoping CCTV footage of the alleged incident will help clear his name, AAP reports.

Norberto Triemstra was arrested following an alleged incident at the Criterion Hotel in the Sydney CBD shortly after 7pm on 13 December.

Police officers were flagged down by security at the venue, who alleged the 68-year-old was refusing to leave and had performed a Nazi salute.

Triemstra was arrested and spent the night behind bars before facing court the following day when he was granted bail.

His lawyer, Steven Mercael, entered not guilty pleas today to charges including publicly displaying a Nazi symbol, performing a Nazi salute and behaving offensively.

A plea is yet to be entered for a further charge of refusing to leave a premises.

Mercael told the court he is waiting for police to send CCTV footage of the alleged incident, which he said may help settle the matter.

Laws prohibiting the display of Nazi symbols were introduced in NSW in 2022 and carry a maximum penalty of 12 months’ jail, an $11,000 fine or both.

Triemstra’s matter is due to return to court on March 5.

The Greens have claimed “echoes of Trumpianism” are already permeating Australian politics through the opposition party’s rhetoric and policies, as speculation over when the federal election will be held continues.

The party’s acting leader, Sarah Hanson-Young, warned this afternoon big tech companies, including X and Meta, were “sucking up” to the incoming US president-elect, Donald Trump, and could boost their preferred political parties over others in an election campaign.

Overnight, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced its decision to ditch its independent fact-checkers. Hanson-Young labelled the change a “dangerous move” and “damaging for democracy”.

The South Australian senator has also taken aim at X’s owner, Elon Musk, who has recently come under fire for intervening in UK and US politics. On Wednesday, Hanson-Young said she predicted Musk would “platform Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party above others in the next election” because their policies echoed some of Trump’s own. She said:

We’ve now got a situation where we’ve got two big tech billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, thinking that they should run the world, that they should dictate what is said, who says it, how loud it is said, and whether it’s truthful … Echoes of Trumpianism are already coming through from the Dutton opposition party and in their election policies.

Cottesloe beach closed in Perth after shark sightings

Lifeguards have closed Cottesloe beach in Western Australia due to a shark sightings.

The first shark was sighted about three hours ago.

The beach remains closed after a further sighting.

Northern Territory Police investigate car crash that killed four

Police are investigating a crash that left four dead, involving two vehicles near the Yirrkala community in East Arnhem land.

Police received a report of an unlawful entry at a residence in Nhulunbuy about 6:45am, with a grey Toyota Corolla reported stolen.

Later, the allegedly stolen vehicle was reported to be allegedly driving dangerously near the Yirrkala community, before it was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle.

Emergency services confirmed four people were deceased at the scene, three from the allegedly stolen vehicle and one from the second vehicle.

Police say another person from the second vehicle suffered minor injuries.

The victims are yet to be formally identified.

Inflation ‘stubbornly high’ says opposition spokesperson

Angus Taylor says Australia isn’t seeing interest rate cuts because inflation remains “stubbornly high” compared with other nations whose central banks have started dropping rates.

Taylor says the government needs to go “back to basics” on economic measures, like cutting red tape for small business.

We’ve seen the cost of food go up by over 12%, rents up over 16%, gas up over 36%, health over 10% and so on the list goes on. All of those cost pressures continue to be there, and there’s no expectation the prices are going anywhere but up from here.

Earlier treasurer Jim Chalmers said today’s figures show “the very substantial and sustained progress made in the fight against inflation.”

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is responding to the inflation figures

Taylor says the government is “playing games” and headline inflation “isn’t where it needs to be”.

It’s seeking to hide inflation, but we know underlying inflation is not where it needs to be. Now you don’t need to tell any Australians that they know it. They see it in the bank account. They see it when they go to the checkout. They see it when they have to pay their bills. They are suffering, and we know they’re making tough decisions at a time like this.

ASX rises on hopes of February rate cut

The local share market has moved into positive territory after official statistics revealed the Reserve Bank’s preferred inflation metric slowed in November, keeping hopes alive for a February rate cut, AAP reports.

At noon today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 20 points, or 0.24%, to 8,305.1, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 13.7 points, or 0.16%, to 8,556.6.

The ASX200 had been down by as many as 22.8 points but jumped into the green after the Australian Bureau of Statistics released consumer price index figures for November.

Krishna Bhimavarapu, Asia-Pacific economist at State Street Global Advisors, said that annual trimmed mean inflation had continued moving towards the RBA’s target band, with inflation in new dwellings the weakest since mid-2021.

Yes, we can now confidently say that disinflation is running apace in Australia.

The ASX200 has now recovered all but four of the 141 points it lost in the 19 December sell-off, which was prompted by the US Federal Reserve signalling fewer US rate cuts in 2025.

At midday it was also on track for its fifth straight day of gains, its longest winning streak since mid-September.