Two polls in two days have put NZ First above 5 per cent and back in Parliament.

Investigations into the crash’s circumstances are now under way.

The radio host was ambushed and stabbed dozens of times in his ute.

Victim says the bogus car seller ‘seemed like a legitimate guy’.

Almost one million people have already voted in the Voice to parliament referendum, prompting questions as to whether Australia will know the result of the national question on the night of October 14.

The Australian Electoral Commission [AEC] confirmed that about 950,000 pre-poll votes had been cast in the first three days of early voting.

That's a similar level to the early pre-poll levels of the 2022 federal election, but it's too early to tell whether the same rush to the early voting centres continues through this week and next.

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Regardless, the AEC said, the "vast majority" of pre-poll votes would be counted on the night of the referendum, as most early voters still voted within their electorate, and it would be unlikely to delay the count.

No early votes are counted before the polls close on October 14.

While early ballots will mostly be available on the night, postal votes are another matter.

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The AEC has had about 1.74 million postal vote applications so far – well down on the pandemic-era 2022 federal election, which had about 2.7 million applications at the same stage.

Some postal votes will be counted on the night of the referendum, but others may not have found their way to a counting centre by then, potentially delaying the result, particularly in the context of a close context.

As with a federal election, the ballot count is repeated when it is complete, to ensure the accuracy of the result.

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This is not what's called a "recount", which occurs when the end result is so narrow as to warrant further confirmation, or allegations of misconduct in the count are found to be valid – a situation which is, the AEC notes, the exception and not the rule.

"Like in a federal election, if the overall result is close it may require up to 13 days after polling night for a result to be known," the AEC says on its website.

"This is the timeframe allowed under referendum legislation for postal votes to come back to the AEC for inclusion in the count."

Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament-style competition to find the fattest bear at Katmai National Park in Alaska, US.

It now costs $170,000 in Singapore simply for the paperwork needed to buy a car. Here is a look at the costliest countries for vehicle owners.

A Sunshine Coast woman has had the shock of her life, unknowingly taking a shower centimetres away from a cold-blooded surprise coiled around her toilet roll yesterday afternoon.

The Doonan woman had taken to her shower, hoping to beat the spring heat in her renovated bathroom.

Little did she know, so had this scaly home intruder.

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After half an hour, the woman finally realised that the entire time she had been showering, a five-foot long coastal carpet python had taken up refuge on the soft, three-ply surface of her loo-roll holder.

Rattled by the find, she called Luke the Snake Catcher from Snake Catcher Noosa, after snapping a photo of the snake from "a very safe distance".

Luke the Snake Catcher told 9news.com.au that people who call his business are often calm in the presence of a potentially dangerous reptile.

But not this time.

"She was not too impressed to find it"

"She was not doing well with the snake there," he said.

After retrieving the python, it was discovered the snake had come up through a hole in the floor of the bathroom made while the owner was doing renovations on the bathroom.

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Coastal Carpet Pythons are one of the most common breed of snakes on the Sunshine Coast and south-east Queensland.

As a result, Luke the Snake Catcher said "they're the ones that we get in the most random spots."

And after sharing the catch with his local community, he predicts that a lot of people will be checking their toilet rolls this spring.

The world's tallest timber hybrid building is set to be built in Perth after planners gave it the green light.

The 189-metre South Perth C6 building will be a groundbreaking 50-storey design with about 200 apartments, according to the project's architects Fraser & Partners.

Its developers have spruiked the environmentally sustainable features of its design and construction. 

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More than 40 per cent of the structure will be made of lightweight but sturdy timber, including floor panels, joinery and beams.

Fraser & Partners said it will be carbon negative, holding more carbon than it emits.

The tower is designed to operate on 100 per cent renewable energy through an embedded network.

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Sustainable transport facilities, such as bike shares and an electric vehicle carshare fleet of 80 Teslas, are also planned for the project.

The Grange Development project at 6 Charles Street in Perth was approved by state government planners this week.

The current tallest timber building in the world is the 25-storey Ascent in the US state of Wisconsin, which stands at 86.6 metres.

A 104-year-old American woman is hoping to be certified as the oldest person to ever skydive after leaving her walker on the ground and making a tandem jump in northern Illinois.

"Age is just a number," Dorothy Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground Sunday at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, about 140 kilometres south-west of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Guinness World Record for oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden. But Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner's jump as a record, WLS-TV reported.

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Hoffner first skydived when she was 100. On Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the plane — a Skyvan — and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.

"Let's go, let's go, Geronimo!" Hoffner said after she was finally seated.

When she first skydived, she said she had to be pushed out of the aircraft.

But on Sunday, tethered to a US Parachute Association-certified instructor, Hoffner insisted on leading the jump from 13,500 feet (4,100 metres).

She looked calm and confident when the plane was aloft and its aft door opened to reveal tan crop fields far below shortly before she shuffled toward the edge and leaped into the air.

She tumbled out of the plane, head first, completing a perfect forward roll in the sky, before flying stable in freefall with her belly facing the ground.

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The dive lasted seven minutes, including her parachute's slow descent to the ground. Coming in to land, the wind pushed Hoffner's white hair back, she clung to the harness over her narrow shoulders, picked up her legs and plopped softly onto the grassy landing area.

Friends rushed in to share congratulations, while someone brought over Hoffner's red walker. She rose quickly and she was asked how it felt to be back on the ground.

"Wonderful," Hoffner said.

"But it was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn't have been better."

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After her jump, Hoffner's mind quickly turned to the future and other challenges.

The lifelong Chicago woman, who's set to turn 105 in December, said she might take a ride in a hot-air balloon next.

"I've never been in one of those," she said.