Lara Warwick had been working as a high school teacher for 18 years when she made the decision to quit her job last year so she could homeschool her own two children full time.

The Perth teacher's decision came at a point when she was well and truly burnt out from her job.

"When I made the decision to leave, I was exhausted," she told 9news.com.au.

"I found the education system was becoming inflexible, the work-load increased exponentially and there was also a lot of politics happening behind the scenes. 

"I left jaded and suffering from PTSD."

In her time working in the profession, Warwick said she had seen the school system change to one where teachers were pulled in all directions trying to cater for so many students with different needs.

When Warwick's "quirky and creative" daughter – who is now nine – was born, she also began to wonder how well that "inflexible" education system would suit her.

Warwick's daughter also had some special needs, with a speech impediment. On a limited budget, Warwick and her husband couldn't find a local school which they felt was right for her.

They decided to see if homeschooling would be a good fit.

Warwick's daughter began her education by attending a small homeschool co-op with eight students part-time, with Warwick also doing some of her homeschooling on days off and weekends.

Encouraged by how well her daughter was thriving, Warwick resigned from her permanent teaching position at the beginning of 2023 to homeschool her daughter, and now also her four-year-old son, full time.

Warwick, who still does some relief teaching and casual work at a local university to help boost the family's income, said she had no regrets.

"It has given me the space to de-school, and to recover from the stress of teaching," she said.

Educating her children at home had also allowed her to re-discover her passion for teaching in a creative way, Warwick said.

"We love the flexibility and the fun, my kids are often finishing their work after a couple of hours and spending the afternoon climbing their trees, writing elaborate stories, playing shop or building amazing lego creations," she said.

"I love that I can engage my kids, within their interests, and allow deep learning to occur in ways I couldn't in the classroom. 

Warwick said home learning did not suit all kids, with some needing the structure of school to learn, but it was proving to be a success with her family.

The high-school teacher said she also knew of many other educators who had followed a similar path to pull back from their jobs to homeschool their children.

It was, in many ways, the ultimate judgement of a school system that was currently failing some students, Warwick said. 

"The fact that there are many teachers not just walking away from the school system as a whole, but who are then choosing to homeschool their own kids, gives us a very clear indication of what the system is like at the moment."

Teachers riding the homeschooling wave 

Rebecca English is a senior lecturer at Queensland University of Technology who has been researching the topic of homeschooling for the past 13 years.

English is currently writing a book about teachers choosing to homeschool their own children, a trend she has noticed growing for some time.

Queensland Department of Education data shows the proportion of teachers among homeschooling parents is high.

In a 2023 survey of around 550 homeschooling parents, 20 percent were qualified teachers or educators.

English said the increasing numbers of teachers quitting their jobs to homeschool their own kids was part of a surge in rates of children being homeschooled more generally in Australia.

There are now roughly 40,000 Australian children who are home schooled – double the rate of before the pandemic in 2019.

Queensland has seen the sharpest increase in home-schooling rates, with numbers ballooning by 19 percent in a single year in 2023, to more than 10,000 students.

New South Wales also has a record number of home-schooled students, with 12,400 enrolled at the end of 2022.

English said the make-up of the homeschooling community had shifted dramatically during the last decade, and particularly post-pandemic.

"In the beginning, it was the stereotypical homeschoolers; the Christians and libertarians, people who maybe because of their beliefs don't want the government in their family life, with a few school refusers as well," English said.

"Now, it's increasingly the school-refuser families, those children, many of whom have extra needs which aren't being met, and a lot more teachers who've been in schools and decided that is not for my kid."

Around 80 percent of the growth in homeschooling in Australia could be seen as coming from parents who were "accidental" homeschoolers, English said.

"They're people who never really set out to homeschool. But, for whatever reason, an experience in that child's or that parent's life led them to this choice," English said. 

While teacher burnout could be seen as one driving factor behind those leaving the profession to homeschool their own children, so too could other reasons, such as their kids' needs not being met in the current system, she said.

"It's all interconnected, and I think people are just really unhappy with how schools are currently run, because if the schools worked, people would use them. 

"Teachers are showing they are prepared to sacrifice – and what a sacrifice – they are sacrificing career advancement, they're sacrificing superannuation and all sorts of things, stability in their financial situation, to look after their kid and that is better than sending the child to school and going back to school yourself."

'I didn't want that for my kids'

Northern Rivers mum-of-three Catherine Chamberlain was a primary school teacher for 15 years, working in the public, private and religious sectors, before she quit teaching seven years ago.

Like Warwick, Chamberlain felt stressed and dissatisfied with the growing bureaucratic demands of teaching.

"In the 15 years I was teaching, the paperwork probably quadrupled," she said.

"I'm a teacher that loves my students, and I love teaching but to actually achieve what I wanted in the classroom, which is to have good lessons and a connection with the children, I couldn't attain that because my energy and my time had to go towards all the assessments and paperwork and politics."

Chamberlain now homeschools her eldest two children, who are aged seven and six.

The former teacher said choosing to homeschool her children over going back to school herself was an easy decision.

"It was a choice between teaching 26 children in the system or to teach my own three children," she said.

"Teachers see the everyday nitty gritty (of the school system) and over the years I just saw a decline in the positive fruit from it and I didn't want that for my kids," Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain said she and her children regularly met with a group of other homeschooled families. The group allows the students to socialise and parents to support each other.

The former teacher said she could not see herself going back to work as a teacher within the school system, but would more likely explore mentoring opportunities within the home-schooling sector in the future.

Former Montessori teacher Rachel Gibson now homeschools her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son after quitting teaching in 2018.

Gibson runs the popular Sunshine Coast Homeschool Community Facebook page, which has more than 7,000 members.

The mother-of-four, who also has two adult children, said she knew of many other teachers who had made the move into homeschooling.

For Gibson, deciding to homeschool her children, rather than paying private school fees, made financial sense.

"We were in an alternative system and I couldn't imagine putting them into a mainstream system, but just the cost of sending my children to school was pretty much my entire wage," she said.

"I was working with other homeschool children at the time. So I thought, 'We'll give this a go.'" 

While Gibson's children did go back to school for a time before COVID, the pandemic brought with it new anxiety issues which made homeschooling a better once more.

Gibson said putting her traditional teaching career on hold had opened up a new career path in helping the growing number of parents homeschooling their children.

"I write curriculum now for homeschool. I have an online platform where parents can go in and get their weekly lessons and materials," she said.

Homeschooling is legal in all Australian states and territories. Families are required to register their children for homeschooling, with reporting rules differing according to each state or territory government.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

A burst of fierce winds, snow and rain is forecast for southern Australia over the coming days, driven by a looming Antarctic airmass.

The cold and windy weather this week brought a couple of centimetres of snowfall at ski resorts in New South Wales and Victoria yesterday, but is just a taste of what's to come, forecasters say.

The expected blast of chilly and damp conditions is being driven by a deep low-pressure system tracking towards south-east Australia.

READ MORE: Julian Assange freed: WikiLeaks founder needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

It is forecast to link up with a north-west cloud band and tropical moisture bringing thick cloud and rain from tomorrow.

The cloud band and associated rain will reach Queensland on Sunday, while the low-pressure system will also move an Antarctic airmass over southern Australia from tomorrow and into next week.

This frigid airmass will cause temperatures to drop further on the weekend in Adelaide, with the mercury struggling to reach 14 degrees for about five days, while temperatures in Melbourne will be about 12 degrees.

The colder air will also reach Sydney and Brisbane next week, with the potential for the NSW capital's maximum temperature to drop to 16 degrees for a day or two.

Chilly nights are also forecast across southeast regions early to mid next week, as the skies clear, causing overnight temperatures to plummet.

READ MORE: Kenyan President withdraws controversial finance bill following protests

There is also the potential for decent snow to fall in the alpine regions from the weekend.

The chilly conditions will be accompanied by strong southerly winds, making the temperature feel much colder than the actual one

Strong winds will begin to impact South Australia tomorrow, with before the gusts reach Victoria, Tasmania, parts of the ACT and NSW on Saturday.

Dairy farmers in Denmark face having to pay an annual tax of 672 krone ($145) per cow for the planet-heating emissions they generate.

The country's coalition government agreed this week to introduce the world's first carbon emissions tax on agriculture. It will mean new levies on livestock starting in 2030.

Denmark is a major dairy and pork exporter, and agriculture is the country's biggest source of emissions. The coalition agreement – which also entails investing 40 billion krone ($8.6 billion) in measures such as reforestation and establishing wetlands – is aimed at helping the country meet its climate goals.

READ MORE: 'You saved my life': Assange needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

"With today's agreement, we are investing billions in the biggest transformation of the Danish landscape in recent times," Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement on Tuesday.

"At the same time, we will be the first country in the world with a (carbon) tax on agriculture."

The Danish dairy industry broadly welcomed the agreement and its goals, but it has angered some farmers.

The move comes just months after farmers held protests across Europe, blocking roads with tractors and pelting the European Parliament with eggs over a long list of complaints, including gripes about environmental regulation and excessive red tape.

The global food system is a huge contributor to the climate crisis, producing around a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

Livestock farming has a particularly big impact, accounting for about 12 per cent of global emissions in 2015, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation. A share of this pollution comes from methane, a potent planet-warming gas produced by cows and some other animals through their burps and manure.

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Reducing livestock emissions

The tax, expected to be approved by Denmark's parliament later this year, will amount to 300 krone per tonne of CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock from 2030, rising to 750 krone in 2035.

A 60 per cent tax break will apply, meaning that farmers will effectively be charged 120 krone per tonne of livestock emissions per year from 2030, rising to 300 krone in 2035.

On average, Danish dairy cows, which account for much of the cattle population, emit 5.6 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year, according to Concito, a green think tank in Denmark. Using the lower tax rate of 120 krone results in a charge of 672 krone per cow.

With the tax break in place, that levy will rise to 1680 krone per cow in 2035.

In the first two years, the proceeds from the tax will be used to support the agricultural industry's green transition and then reassessed.

"The whole purpose of the tax is to get the sector to look for solutions to reduce emissions," Concito's chief economist Torsten Hasforth told CNN.

READ MORE: 'Bicycle Bandit' Kym Parsons dies by voluntary euthanasia 

For example, farmers could change the feed they use.

But Danish farmers' group Bæredygtigt Landbrug said the measures amounted to a "scary experiment".

"We believe that the agreement is pure bureaucracy," chairman Peter Kiær said in a statement.

"We recognise that there is a climate problem … But we do not believe that this agreement will solve the problems, because it will put a spoke in the wheel of agriculture's green investments."

Peder Tuborgh, the CEO of Arla Foods, Europe's largest dairy group, said the agreement was "positive" but that farmers who "genuinely do everything they can to reduce emissions" should not be subjected to a tax.

"It is essential that the tax base for a (carbon) tax is solely based on emissions for which there are means to eliminate (them)," he added in statement.

Kristian Hundeboll, the CEO of DLG Group, one of Europe's biggest agricultural businesses and a cooperative owned by 25,000 Danish farmers, said it was "crucial for competitiveness" for the tax to be "anchored" in European Union legislation.

"Neither the climate, agriculture nor the ancillary industries benefit from Denmark acting unilaterally," he said.

It was a peculiar setting to the final act in a legal drama that has now spanned the globe: a rural Western Pacific island, where visitors are usually tourists – attracted by laid-back resorts, snorkelling, diving and golf – and the furthermost reach of the US.

When Julian Assange stepped from a car today to enter the Saipan courthouse, from which he would emerge hours later a free man, it was against a backdrop that could have adorned a travel brochure. Palm trees waved gently and verdant hills stood against a bright blue sky.

If the location felt bizarre to Assange, his sudden arrival – along with dozens of reporters from news outlets across the world – was equally startling to the 43,000 residents of the largest island and capital of the Northern Marianas, a territory of the United States.

READ MORE: 'You saved my life': Assange needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

Fuelled by tourism, Saipan's economy is struggling to rebound after the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating typhoon in 2018, with a declining number of direct flights to the island vexing the local travel industry.

Near the courthouse where Assange's spectacle unfolded, Hitomi Matagolai, a wedding planner, had come to windsurf off the beach because her business was slow.

"The hearing was not like, talk of the town here and people are not all that interested," she said.

"People here have more important things to worry about, like their work, and that's what we talk about."

The so-called "Caribbean of the Western Pacific" has traditionally been a vacation spot for Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists escaping wintry weather at home, said Mark Rabago, editor of the Saipan Tribune, a weekday newspaper.

"We haven't had this kind of publicity since the Miura case 15 years ago," Rabago said, referring to the case of businessperson Kazuyoshi Miura, who in 2008 was arrested in Saipan in connection with the death of his wife.

AS IT HAPPENED: Julian Assange's wife and lawyers address the media after he arrives home

More than 15 years on, Assange's case was much different: with the expected outcome known in advance, the world's media converged on Saipan for theatre, rather than surprises. But their arrival came unexpectedly for the low-key, rural island.

Accommodation providers, restaurants, law enforcement and tourism officials had "literally less than 24 hours" to prepare for the influx, said Christopher Concepcion, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority.

Police officers were deployed to the airport and the courthouse as the WikiLeaks founder arrived there and hotels reported a surge in bookings as reporters scrambled to find places to stay.

"We're used to seeing a bunch of tourists from east Asia, but seeing international media descend on the island all at once, if you will, has been an interesting phenomenon," Concepcion said.

READ MORE: From Wikileaks to plea deal: Julian Assange's legal saga timeline

The tourism agency recorded a surge in the number of people visiting its website and social media platforms, and the tourism head said he hoped the balmy island setting for Assange's last legal hurdle would prompt interest from international visitors – particularly as the case emphasised the island's relative proximity to Australia.

"In show business, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right?" Concepcion added.

Central to Wednesday's events was a building not frequented by most tourists: the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, one of Saipan's newest and grandest buildings.

Opened in 2020, the 3300-square-metre courthouse looms over the downtown landscape. In front, tall, white pillars mark an elegant and imposing forecourt, while windows at the rear of the building show a commanding view of glittering azure sea.

READ MORE: Why after a 12-year-long chase, the US is letting Assange walk

Before the notorious murder extradition case in 2008, the last time Saipan made world news was when the Japanese emperor and empress visited sites of military significance in 2005, said Rabago of the Saipan Tribune.

Steeped in WWII history, the island was the site of one of war's bloodiest battles in the Pacific, in which more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians died.

Banzai Cliff became known as Suicide Cliff after the mass suicides of soldiers and civilians jumping off the cliff at the end of the Battle of Saipan in the summer of 1944, when Japan was headed toward World War II defeat.

Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in 2019, prayed at the Banzai Cliff in 2005 when he made a rare foreign visit to pay tribute to the war dead.

On Wednesday afternoon, the cliff – a popular tourist site – was host to a group of four South Korean visitors who were outnumbered by workers mowing the grass.

One man preparing to depart in his pickup truck said the case was probably the biggest event to happen on Saipan in decades – although he had mixed views on Assange himself.

It might have been the most unusual Wednesday in memory for some, but as Assange's plane took off hours after the hearing – reporters not far behind him – the familiar pace of things returned.

"It's back to normal beach resort life for us on Thursday," Concepcion said.

Still, he hoped the island had not seen its last of the Australian.

"When he has the time, we totally invite him to come back and enjoy a vacation here with his family," Concepcion said hopefully.

His promise to Assange? "People tend to mind their own business and there's no paparazzi."

At least not usually.

After years behind bars, Australian Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the US Justice Department that has seen him walk free from prison in the UK.

Assange pleaded guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act in a court in Saipan, a US commonwealth in the Pacific, ending a long legal saga that has been running for more than a decade.

Here are the key events that have led to him walking out of court a free man.

READ MORE: Julian Assange free from prison, set to plead guilty as part of US deal

2006  
Wikileaks is founded by Assange.

2007
Wikileaks posts the procedures manual for Camp Delta, the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay.

April 5, 2010
Wikileaks posts a video showing a US military helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claims that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.

July 25, 2010
Wikileaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war.

August 20, 2010

Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange based on allegations of sexual assault. The arrest warrant is rescinded the next day.

August 31, 2010
Assange is questioned by Stockholm police and told of the charges against him.

READ MORE: Julian Assange walks free: What happens next

October 22, 2010
Wikileaks publishes classified military documents related to the Iraq war.

November 20, 2010 
The Stockholm Criminal Court issues an international arrest warrant for Assange.

November 28, 2010 
Wikileaks begins publishing diplomatic cables from US embassies.

December 7, 2010 
Assange turns himself in to London authorities. He is remanded in custody. On December 16, he is released on bail and put on house arrest.

February 24, 2011
A judge rules in support of Assange's extradition to Sweden.

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April 24, 2011 
Wikileaks begins releasing classified military documents providing details on the behaviour and treatment of detainees being held at the US Navy's detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.

September 2, 2011 
Wikileaks releases its archive of more than a quarter million US diplomatic cables.

November 15, 2011 
The UK Judicial Office announces Assange has applied to take his appeal against extradition to Sweden to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

On May 30, 2012, the British Supreme Court denies his appeal, but grants him two weeks to file another appeal. This is unusual because rulings are supposed to be final.

June 19, 2012 
Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London, requesting political asylum. On August 16, Ecuador announces it has granted his asylum.

August 19, 2012 
Assange addresses the public from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, demanding that the United States drop its "witch-hunt" against Wikileaks.

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September 26, 2012 
Delivers a speech via satellite to a full conference room at the United Nations, asking the US government to end its actions against him and his website. The event is held by the Mission of Ecuador on UN grounds but is not officially sponsored by the world body.

November 2012 
Assange's book, Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, is published.

February 10, 2015 
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe tells LBC Radio the operation guarding Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is "sucking our resources in" as costs spiral to more than 10 million pounds (approximately $20.36 million).

May 11, 2015 
The Swedish Supreme Court denies Assange's appeal to dismiss an arrest warrant for allegations of sexual assault.

READ MORE: US inmate facing execution despite key witness recanting testimony

July 3, 2015 
France rejects Assange's request for "protection" after he publishes an open letter in national newspaper Le Monde.

August 13, 2015 
Swedish prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations involving sexual molestation and coercion as statutes of limitations in the investigation run out this month. However, the allegation of suspicion of rape still stands, and he may be investigated until 2020, Swedish prosecutors have said.

February 5, 2016 
A UN rights working group says its investigation found that Assange is being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom.

May 25, 2016 
A Swedish court upholds the arrest warrant for Assange, with a Swedish prosecutor saying there's still probable cause to prosecute him on a rape allegation and that "the risk of him evading justice is still large."

July 22, 2016 
Wikileaks publishes nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The hacked emails appear to show the committee favouring presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary.

On July 29, Assange tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that the email release was timed to coincide with the start of the Democratic National Convention.

September 15, 2016 
Wikileaks tweets that Assange agrees to serve prison time in the United States in exchange for President Barack Obama granting clemency to imprisoned former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to Wikileaks.

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September 16, 2016 
A Swedish appeals court states again that the arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of rape still stands. This is the eighth time the European arrest warrant has been tested in a Swedish court. All eight judgments have gone against Assange.

October 7, 2016 
Wikileaks begins publishing hacked emails from Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.

November 14, 2016
Wikileaks tweets that Assange is giving a statement in the presence of a Swedish prosecutor regarding allegations he sexually assaulted two women in the country six years ago.

January 3, 2017 
During an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Assange says that the Russian government was not the source of the hacked DNC emails. He also denies talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin and says he did not have contact with the campaign for US President-elect Donald Trump.

April 20, 2017 
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces that the Department of Justice is preparing charges for Assange, and that his arrest is a "priority."

May 19, 2017 
Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation of rape allegations against Assange, ending a nearly seven-year legal impasse.

December 12, 2017 
Becomes a naturalized citizen of Ecuador.

March 27, 2018 
Assange's internet communications outside of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London are suspended for at least the second time since October 2016. The government accuses him of failing to commit to an agreement not to release messages interfering with other nations' affairs.

READ MORE: Security guard plotted to rape and murder British TV presenter, court told

October 19, 2018 
Assange directs his legal team to launch proceedings against the government of Ecuador for "violating his fundamental rights." On October 29, the lawsuit is rejected by an Ecuadorean court.

During a video-linked hearing, Judge Karla Martinez alerts Assange he will have to abide by the new rules imposed by Ecuador's embassy in London.

November 2018 
A court filing in a case unrelated to Assange mistakenly reveals that the Wikileaks founder has been charged under seal in a US federal court.

April 11, 2019 
Assange is arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department. He is charged with conspiracy to attempt to hack a computer in connection with the 2010 release of classified military information obtained via Manning.

On May 23, it is announced that Assange has been charged with 17 additional counts under the Espionage Act.

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May 1, 2019 
Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in a UK prison after being found guilty of violating his bail conditions when he entered Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden in 2012.

July 15, 2019 
CNN reports on newly obtained documents that describe how Assange transformed the Ecuadorian embassy into a command centre and orchestrated a series of damaging disclosures that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States.

A day later, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa says his country was aware that Assange was interfering in the 2016 US presidential election while staying at the embassy.

November 19, 2019 
Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor announces that authorities are ending their investigation into an allegation of rape against Assange. The investigation into Assange was reopened in May following his removal from Ecuador's embassy in central London the previous month.

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April 11, 2020 
In a video posted online and shared by Wikileaks, Stella Moris reveals that she and Assange had two sons while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Moris is part of the international legal team working for Assange, but she is not involved in the current extradition case.

June 24, 2020 
The US Justice Department announces a second superseding indictment against Assange. The Justice Department alleges Assange recruited hackers to obtain information for Wikileaks, but does not add any new charges.

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January 4, 2021 
A British judge rejects a US request to extradite Assange to America, ruling that such a move would be "oppressive" by reason of his mental health.

January 6, 2021 
A British judge denies bail for Assange, ruling that "there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court and face the appeal proceedings".

March 2021
A bipartisan delegation from Australia's federal parliament meets with the US embassy's charge d'affaires, Michael Goldman, asking for Assange to be allowed to return home.

The delegation is composed of independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Labor's Julian Hill, and George Christensen from the Nationals.

July 26, 2021 
The Judicial Branch of Ecuador rules in favour of revoking the citizenship of Assange. The court's decision nullifies Assange's status as a naturalized citizen of Ecuador.

December 10, 2021 
US authorities win their bid to overturn a British judge's ruling that Assange should not be extradited to face charges in the United States, on the basis of assurances given about his treatment there.

January 24, 2022 
Wins permission to try and appeal the decision that allows him to be extradited to the United States. Lord Chief Justice Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde denied Assange permission to directly appeal December's ruling, but leave it to the UK's Supreme Court to decide whether or not to take up the appeal.

On March 14, the Supreme Court refuses Assange's permission to appeal.

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March 23, 2022 
Marries his fiancée and mother of his two children, Stella Moris, inside Belmarsh prison in London.

April 20, 2022 
A London court issues a formal order for Assange to be extradited to the United States. The court sends the order to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for approval. On June 17, Patel signs off on the order.

September 2023
Another bipartisan delegation from Australian parliament lobbies the US to drop its pursuit of Assange.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Labor MP Tony Zappia, independent Monique Ryan, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Greens David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Wilson travelled to the United States to meet with Department of Justice representatives and several Republican and Democratic congressmen.

January 2024
Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus raises Assange's case with his US counterpart, Merrick Garland.

February 2024
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supports a motion in parliament calling for Assange's release. The same month, Assange's lawyers launch a final legal bid at the UK High Court to stop his extradition.

May 20, 2024
London's High Court rules that Assange has the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US.

READ MORE: Former bikie boss' sentencing delayed for birth of child

June 24, 2024
Assange reaches a plea deal with the US Justice Department that will see him plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information.

He walks free from Belmarsh prison and boards a plane to leave the UK, flying to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, an external US territory near the Philippines where his plea and sentencing hearing will be held.

June 26, 2024
Assange faces court in Saipan, where he enters a guilty plea to one charge of espionage and is sentenced to 62 months in prison, crediting time already served.

As he had already spent 62 months in Belmarsh, he leaves court a free man.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to "immediately" order a cease-fire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO.

Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Putin's proposal.

"We will do it immediately," Putin said in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

READ MORE: G7 leaders agree to loan Ukraine billions of dollars

His remarks came as leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations met in Italy and as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders — but not from Moscow — this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. The US and Ukraine this week also signed a 10-year security agreement that they hailed as a milestone in relations.

Russia launched its a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After Ukrainian forces thwarted a Russian drive to the capital, much of the fighting has focused in the south and east – and Russia illegally annexed regions in the east and the south, although it doesn't fully control any of them.

Putin said his proposal is aimed at a "final resolution" of the conflict in Ukraine rather than "freezing it", and stressed that the Kremlin is "ready to start negotiations without delay".

Broader demands for peace that the Russian leader listed included Ukraine's non-nuclear status, restrictions on its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population in the country. All of these should become part of "fundamental international agreements", and all Western sanctions against Russia should be lifted, Putin said.

READ MORE: Nine killed in attacks on Ukraine as US widens sanctions on Russia

"We're urging to turn this tragic page of history and to begin restoring, step-by-step, restore the unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general," he said.

Putin's remarks represented a rare occasion in which he clearly laid out his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but it didn't include any new demands. The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognise its territorial gains and drop its bid to join NATO.

Russia doesn't fully control any of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022, but Putin insisted on Friday that Kyiv should withdraw from them entirely and essentially cede them to Moscow within their administrative borders. In Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Russia still doesn't control the region's namesake administrative capital with a pre-war population of about 700,000, and in the neighbouring Kherson region, Moscow withdrew from Kherson's biggest city and capital of the same name in November 2022.

Putin said that if "Kyiv and Western capitals" reject his offer, "it is their business, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed".

A Perth man has been charged with manslaughter over the death of an 11-year-old boy.

Levi Mippy was allegedly neglected as a baby and suffered catastrophic injuries.

He survived more than a decade before he died in 2021.

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Levi's grandmother Doris Mippy devoted her life to looking after the little boy after he was left seriously disabled as a baby.

He was blind, suffered quadriplegia, and had to be fed with a tube.

Levi was injured at home in 2010 when he was eight months old.

His mother Amber Minnet was jailed for child neglect in 2012, having failed to take him to the hospital.

Minnet died in 2022.

As Levi's condition deteriorated, he was put into palliative care where he died in September 2021, aged 11.

Yesterday, his mother's former boyfriend, Cassidy James Johnstone, was charged with manslaughter.

During a brief court appearance today, the 37-year-old only spoke to confirm his name and that he understood the charge.

Johnstone made no application for bail and will reappear later this month.

It is alleged the injuries Levi received as a baby were connected to his death.

South Australia's health system remains under strain, with code yellow still in effect across metropolitan hospitals.

However, nearly all elective surgeries resumed this afternoon, providing some relief to the overburdened healthcare system.

The resumption came as health ministers from across the country convened in Adelaide to address the pressing issues affecting healthcare systems nationwide. 

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They met with federal minister Mark Butler following an open letter requesting increased funding.

"There's no question health systems across the country are under pressure, indeed across the world they're under pressure" Butler said.

Despite the challenges, some of the strain on South Australian hospitals has eased. 

The ban on elective surgeries, which resulted in the postponement of nearly 600 procedures over the past two weeks, has been lifted by 90 per cent, according to Health Minister Chris Picton.

Day surgeries will resume in metropolitan hospitals, although non-urgent category two and three surgeries requiring overnight stays remain suspended.

The state-wide code yellow, which indicates an internal emergency, continues as the health system grapples with a surge in flu and RSV cases, even as COVID-19 cases decline.

"It's really important that we watch very carefully as we reintroduce elective surgery to make sure we don't lose the traction on the initiatives that we've started," Dr Robyn Lawrence said.

While there is some improvement to the health system, how long the state-wide code yellow remains in place is unknown.

"The code yellow may well exist after there is no more elective surgery restrictions in place at all to make sure we are utilising all of the care pathways across the system," Picton said.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.

A Queensland mother is fighting for answers after she was forced to call for an urgent review for her critically ill daughter at the Queensland Children's Hospital using a process known as Ryan's Rule.

Carly Mulheran's daughter Zara died in April and she wants to know if more could have been done to prevent the little girl's death.

"They could have done something," Mulheran said.

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On March 25, at Queensland Children's Hospital, Mulheran used the emergency procedure Ryan's Rule.

Established after a child's death in 2007, Ryan's Rule is for cases where a person's medical condition is not getting better or not improving as expected while in hospital.

Mulheran demanded a clinical review of her daughter Zara's care after she became critically ill. 

But by April 3, the child's life support was turned off.

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"It's any parent's worst nightmare, deciding it's time and you've got to let them go," Mulheran said. 

Mulheran spent much of Zara's short life advocating for her daughter.

After her child's death, Carly requested medical records from the hospital and spent weeks poring over them in search of answers.

"Since she died, I have not had one single person sit down with me and explain what happened overnight on the 24th of March that led her into the ICU," Mulheran claimed.

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The 20-month-old had a rare condition called hyperinsulinism.

Just before her death, she contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.

Mulheran also had long-held concerns about her daughter's heart. 

"I believed that there was a heart and lung issue going on with her and no one listened," she said.

She said an X-ray and ECG done at the Caboolture Hospital in February noted abnormalities, indicating Zara's heart was enlarged. 

She said she was never told about those test results.

A month later, Zara was admitted to the Queensland Children's Hospital. 

"They also did a chest X-ray," Mulheran said.

"That X-ray came back with pneumonia, which they told me about but it also stated that her heart was enlarged and to call cardiology and get an echo(cardiogram).

"That wasn't done until after her cardiac arrest on the Monday."

A clinical review panel has been established at the Queensland Children's Hospital to examine Zara's case.

But the mother says urgent change is needed. 

"I can't save her, I can't bring her back, but I can save the next person who's sitting in that hospital right now, fighting a system that's broken," she said.

She has also launched a petition for a rule to give parents and nurses the power to call for an immediate medical intervention if they deem a patient is in a life-threatening situation and feel their concerns aren't being heard, further adding to Ryan's Rule.

A major police investigation is under way after a man died and a woman was critically injured in an intense fire at a unit complex in Brisbane's north-east.

Danny Carr, 67, was found dead after fire crews were called to Amelia Street in Albion about 4.30pm yesterday.

"I just felt like my whole life had shattered and scattered before my eyes," Mr Carr's daughter Belinda told 9News.

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Neighbours who were on the scene first found a woman who had escaped the building calling for help.

Mr Carr's partner and carer Jasmin Boyd managed to escape but suffered critical burns.

The onlookers helped to throw wet towels on the 33-year-old, and comforted her until paramedics arrived.

"It is quite a traumatic scene, especially for the neighbours and the people that were there," a QFES spokesperson said.

Much of the property was destroyed in the inferno, which fire crews described as very intense.

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"The moment I found out I just got chills down my spine," Ms Carr said.

"I knew by my mum's voice something had happened to Dad."

Mr Carr has been remembered as a caring and generous man.

His daughter said he was deaf and wheelchair-bound, but still full of life.

He was "really fun to be with and around, because he lightened up the room, putting a smile on everyone's faces", she said.

Friends of Mr Carr visited the home today to lay flowers and pay their respects.

Police deemed the fire suspicious and declared the home a crime scene. 

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