A ute and trailer has plunged off a bridge into the Clutha River and been completely submerged. Emergency services are responding to the incident in Cromwell. The accident happened about 5.15pm on State Highway 8B on the Cromwell…

By Katie Scotcher of RNZ A New Zealander in Australia was forced to care for her premature baby in hospital alone after her multiple attempts at securing an emergency Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) room were rejected.There…

A father and son have died after the man dived in to try to rescue his son who had been washed off rocks off the Sydney coast.

The pair were believed to be fishing off rocks on the southern end of Little Bay just after 3pm today when the nine-year-old boy was knocked into the water.

The man, aged in his 40s, plunged into the water in an attempt to save the boy, but both got into trouble in the swell.

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Emergency services were called but by the time they arrived the situation was critical.

"Both were under the reef, couldn't get out and died, drowning basically — and the wife looked on hopelessly," a witness told 9News.

The child was winched from the water and airlifted to a nearby golf course where CPR was performed. He could not be revived.

The man was pulled from the water by lifesavers and CPR was performed on the rocks but he did not survive.

A distressed woman who witnessed the incident was treated by paramedics.

Surf Life Saving NSW said surf lifesavers had responded to 18 emergency incidents at the same location in the last three years.

Surf Life Saving NSW President George Shales, who was the duty officer attending the incident, extended his condolences to the family of the man and child.

There have been more than 35 coastal drowning deaths so far this summer, a 13 per cent increase on last year.

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Victoria's Chief Health Officer has been grilled at a public hearing into the state's COVID-19 pandemic response, revealing he has not given advice on key health matters.

The decision to increase tennis crowd capacity, the introduction of booster shot mandates and halting IVF procedures were all decisions Professor Brett Sutton did not make, the hearing heard.

Professor Sutton and the Department of Health's Deputy Secretary Public Health Policy Nicole Brady appeared at the first Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee's public hearing today.

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"Was it your advice to stop IVF?" Professor Sutton was asked in the hearing.

"Ah, no it wasn't," he said.

Professor Sutton said he had not been consulted for public health advice on the issue of introducing more vaccine mandates.

"I haven't been requested to provide broader advice on vaccine mandates," he said.

It comes after Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday said additional booster vaccine mandates were set to come into effect for more Victorian workers.

"There has already been some mandating done for third doses and there will be more," Mr Andrews said.

"As for fourth and fifth doses, let's wait and see how this goes. Being vaccinated saves lives."

Professor Sutton also answered questions on easing crowd capacity limits at the Australian Open, which increased from 50 per cent to 80 per cent by the end of the tournament.

The decision about increasing crowd capacity at the Australian Open was made by Health Minister Martin Foley.

"I had a request for a public health view and I provided no recommendation for or against," Professor Sutton said.

"I said that it was primarily a matter really of social license and social considerations as a really significant public event."

The tense meeting lasted for just over two hours and it is expected there will be more public hearings throughout the year, which could see the premier and health minister answer questions.

Victoria's daily COVID-19 cases have continued to fall, with 10,053 new infections recorded today as students returned to classrooms.

The mother of a woman killed in a boating accident on Australia Day said her daughter's death could have been prevented.

Emily, a young mother from Camden, died when the boat she was on with her fiancé, their two children, and her father capsized at Penrith Weir on the Nepean River.

Her mum Bev Warn is calling for warning signs to be placed in the area after another near-tragedy in the same location in the days following her daughter's tragic death.

"(She had) the kindest most beautiful heart," Ms Warn said, describing Emily as "full of life".

READ MORE: Father and son die in tragedy off Sydney coast

"When I saw that accident yesterday, I thought, this has just got to be stopped, [Emily's] death should have been plenty," she added.

Three adults and two young children had to be winched to safety after their boat overturned at the same spot yesterday afternoon.

The close call was the third incident at Penrith Weir in two-and-a-half months. Two men were rescued in November.

The river is supposed to have yellow buoys to warn people, but these have been washed away.

Water NSW, who is the authority responsible for the weir, said it only discovered the damage during a routine check last Tuesday – a few days before the tragedy.

This afternoon Marine Officers were on the water, installing interim safety markers until the damaged buoys are properly replaced.

"Those buoys are going to be replaced, they'll be replaced by next Tuesday," Water Minister Kevin Anderson said.

Ms Warn said she hopes they will help save someone else's life.

"The weir was invisible, I don't think people realise that," she said.

"Without those buoys, no one has a chance to know it's there."

A homeless man has been charged after a woman was allegedly seriously assaulted in Melbourne CBD early this morning.

The 54-year-old woman remains in a serious condition at a Melbourne hospital after suffering head and facial injuries in the alleged attack.

Police were told the woman, from Canterbury, was walking along Exhibition Street, near Flinders Lane, when an unknown man approached her about 8am.

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"It is alleged the man seriously assaulted the woman before nearby tradesmen came to her aid," police said in a statement.

"A 44-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested at the scene."

The man has been charged with intentionally causing serious injury and intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence.

The man is expected to face a remand hearing at Melbourne Magistrates' Court today.

Police believe a double shooting early this morning in Invercargill in which two teenagers suffered firearms injuries was a “targeted attack”.A 17-year-old female remains in a serious condition and a 16-year-old male is fighting…

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A 22-year-old Queensland man has been charged with murder, following investigations into the death of a two-month-old baby boy.

Police were alerted of the baby's death last year after it was taken to Cairns Hospital in a critical condition from Woree on June 6.

The baby was airlifted to Townsville University Hospital for treatment where he later died.

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An Incident Centre was set up in the Cairns Police Facility, where Child Protection and Investigation Unit detective's worked to investigate the baby's death.

Dubbed Operation Tango Weimar, the investigation also called on Brisbane's Homicide Group and the Child Trauma Task Force.

"These investigations have led police to allege that the infant was in sole company of the 22-year-old man at a Woree residence," a police statement read.

The 22-year-old man was charged with murder on Saturday and appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court today.

He has since been taken back into custody and is due to reappear in court on March 30.

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The Government says it’s working fast to figure out how rapid Covid-19 testing will work for critical workers in different stages of the planned Omicron response.Confusion emerged after some truckies received emails saying publicly-funded…