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The co-founder of NXIVM, a US self-help organisation that concealed a "sex cult", has asked that she receive no jail time, claiming she too was a victim of the group's leader.

Lawyers for Nancy Salzman, 66, argued that she had been "fooled, controlled, humiliated and ultimately led to engage in criminal conduct by an egotistical, self-important sex fiend", the New York Daily News reported.

Keith Raniere, the organisation's leader, has already been jailed for 120 years.

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Followers of the organisation included millionaires and Hollywood actors.

Members of NXIVM paid Raniere thousands of dollars for invitation-only self-help retreats.

Additionally, some were inducted into a "harem" where they were branded with Raniere's initials and made to act as his sex slaves.

Prosecutors said Raniere led what amounted to a criminal enterprise, inducing shame and guilt to influence and control co-conspirators who helped recruit and groom sexual partners for Raniere.

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He was convicted on charges including racketeering, alien smuggling, sex trafficking, extortion and obstruction of justice.

Salzman – whose daughter Lauren earlier this year avoided jail for her role in the organisation – has pleaded guilty to committing identity theft against perceived NXIVM enemies, and to editing video recordings before surrendering them to the authorities.

She maintained she knew nothing about the Raniere's sex cult, the Daily News reported.

However, prosecutors have asked for her to face jail time.

TV actress Allison Mack, of Smallville fame, was recently jailed for three years for her role in recruiting women to the organisation.

A koala who survived the black summer bushfires of 2019 has been pictured in the wild – and she had a very special companion in tow.

"Ember" has welcomed a joey after being released back into the New South Wales bush in April 2020.

She was spotted by the person who rescued – Ros Irwin, former president of Friends of the Koala.

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The then 18-month-old marsupial was found wondering the scorched ground of Whiporie in northern NSW, November 2019.

She was so badly injured vets didn't think she'd make it.

IFAW are "heartened" by the fact she's adjusted to life in the wild.

"So many koalas were lost in the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, and we honestly thought Ember would be another casualty," said International Fund for Animal Welfare-sponsored vet nurse Marley Christian.

"It is truly heartening to see her thriving in the wild and contributing to the wild population."

A study published late last year found three billion native animals died in the unprecedented fires of 2019 and 2020.

This includes mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs.

More than 60,000 koalas were impacted.

In NSW koalas are listed as a vulnerable species.

Some of Australia's biggest news organisations could face defamation claims for third-party social media comments, following a landmark ruling by the High Court in Canberra today.

News Corp, Fairfax Media (now owned by Nine, the publisher of this website) and Australian News Channel lost a bid to distance themselves from Facebook comments written on news articles about former Northern Territory prison detainee Dylan Voller.

The ruling opens the organisations to be sued for defamation by Mr Voller, who alleges comments on articles about his treatment in prison, which sparked a royal commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory, were defamatory. 

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Images of Mr Voller shackled to a chair while in prison first surfaced in 2016.

Lawyers for the media groups argued they were not publishers of any defamatory material and did not have knowledge or control over the comments on their Facebook pages.

Today's ruling mirrored the findings of the Supreme Court, which stated the media companies facilitated the communication and are therefore liable.

In a statement, a Nine spokesperson said: "Nine recognises the decision of the High Court which makes news businesses liable for any post made by the general public on their social media pages as 'the publisher' of those comments.

"We are obviously disappointed with the outcome of that decision, as it will have ramifications for what we can post on social media in the future."

There is still yet to be a ruling about whether the comments posted on social media were defamatory.

The case will now return to the Supreme Court, where the media companies will seek to rely on other defences to the claim.