The search for donors of a rare blood type needed to save the life of an Australian mother-of-two has been partly successful.

Earlier this week, Lifeblood called out for donors to find a blood type so rare that just one in 10,000 people might be a match.

The blood would be used for an Adelaide woman called Amira, who is about to undergo urgent and life-saving open-heart surgery.

READ MORE: Red Cross needs over 10,000 blood donations in next two weeks

Since the call-out, three suitable donors have been identified.

The donors are from Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.

A statement from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood said the three donors put them about a third of the way towards meeting Amira's needs.

"Anyone with A+, A-, O+ and O may be a match for Amira. We thank everyone who has donated so far, and urge the community to continue to donate blood as we look for more matches," the statement read.

Lifeblood said there was a 20 per cent boost in donation bookings across the country on Thursday, with appointments more than doubling in South Australia.

At the Regent Donor Centre in Adelaide, 90 new donors rolled up their sleeves.

If a donor does not know their blood type, they should still donate to see if they are a possible match, Lifeblood says.

READ MORE: Kiwi man sacrifices rugby career to save father's life

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A tiny community overstaying on a wildlife reserve has been served trespass notices.

Victoria has introduced Dr Clare Looker as the state's new chief health officer following the resignation of Brett Sutton, who finished in the role on Friday.

Looker's 12-month term as CHO began on Saturday, and Victoria Health took to Twitter to introduce her to the state.

"I'm excited and proud to be Victoria's new CHO," Looker said.

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https://twitter.com/VictorianCHO/status/1685070691744571392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"I'm a public health physician who has spent 13 years wrangling with some of the tricky challenges of public health."

Looker has held multiple senior leadership roles since joining the Victorian health department in 2016, including as deputy chief health officer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

"She's highly regarded in the field and has a strong background in public health medicine, particularly in communicable diseases, environmental health and epidemiology," the Victorian Department of Health said.

"Dr Looker has also worked in clinical medicine and as an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine."

Looker replaces Sutton, who began the role in 2019 and led the state through the entire COVID-19 pandemic, including Melbourne's seven lockdowns.

"We once again thank him for his incredible contribution to Victoria since he started in the role in 2019 and wish him every success in his new position at the CSIRO," the department said.

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Seven youths have been charged after a string of alleged robberies, theft and criminal damage in Melbourne's south.

Victoria Police allege the young people broke into homes and stole cars and petrol in the Cheltenham, Parkdale, and Rosebud areas between June 5 and July 23.

"Police will allege some of the charges relate to the alleged serious assault of a 15-year-old girl at a shopping centre in Cheltenham at the weekend," Victoria Police said in a statement.

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"It is believed a group of teenagers approached two girls inside the store near a cinema about 3.15pm on July 23, when a verbal altercation occurred.

"One girl ran from the scene and the second girl, aged 15, was allegedly seriously assaulted."

She was taken to hospital for observation while a 13-year-old boy was charged and is before the courts.

Police alleged they all know each other.

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Sergeant Mick Ferwerder said police were appalled by the behaviour allegedly displayed by the teens and would continue to address youth crime in the region.

"Additional police resources have been tasked to the shopping centre this weekend and Transit Protective Service Officers will be monitoring the transport hubs.

"This is in line with Victoria Police's approach to detecting and disrupting youth gang behaviour, along with our focus on deterring young people from joining gangs in the first place.

"We know serious offending by youths significantly impacts community safety, and we are doing everything we can to disrupt and prevent youth crime."

READ MORE: More than $40,000 raised for five-year-old Perth boy left orphaned by murder-suicide

A 13-year-old boy Oakleigh South was charged with one count each of aggravated home invasion with an offensive weapon, robbery, and affray.

A 16-year-old boy Brighton was charged with aggravated home invasion with an offensive weapon, two counts of affray, theft, and theft of a motor vehicle.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear in a children's court.

A 15-year-old boy Mordialloc was charged with aggravated home invasion with an offensive weapon, criminal damage, and affray.

A 15-year-old boy Mentone was charged with aggravated home invasion with an offensive weapon, and two counts of affray.

A 14-year-old girl Parkdale was charged with one count of affray and two counts of assault.

A 15-year-old boy Beaumaris was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, theft, and affray.

A 16-year-old boy Chelsea was charged with two counts of affray.

They were all bailed and will appear in a children's court at a later date.

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The race for former PM Boris Johnon's old seat drew some colourful entrants.

It's been over 900 days since my dad Andrew ate food.

The foodie who loved eating and enjoyed documenting his meals on his Instagram hasn't shared a meal with my family in over two years and is unsure if he will ever taste his favourite foods or sip coffee again.

Heartbreakingly, he can't swallow food or even his own saliva due to the removal of his epiglottis.

He is one of the only people in the southern hemisphere to be living with supraglottic stenosis, a rare condition caused by radiation for the treatment of his head and neck cancer.

Instead of eating, Dad, 60, injects an oral supplement via a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube three times a day.

It all began in September 2019, when was working as a logistics manager in Airport West.

He started feeling tired and experiencing a sore throat.

Despite a lump on the left-hand side of his neck, a doctor initially dismissed his symptoms as being rundown, prescribing antibiotics for tonsillitis.

Dad continued to work, brushing off feeling fatigued, until he almost passed out when driving me to work one day in October that year.

Doctors at Royal Melbourne Hospital discovered the lump in his neck was in fact a tumour, diagnosing him with stage four tonsil and tongue cancer, which is a form of head and neck cancer.

"I was told to have 35 sessions of radiation and chemotherapy to cure my cancer and be done with the treatment by December, and then go back to my normal life," he said.

"But I didn't recover, my symptoms only got worse.

"The radiation pretty much burnt the inside of my throat, my airways were just closing in to the size of a piece of rice.

"I had no idea how bad it was, doctors originally thought the coughing and soreness were just side effects that would go away."

Since Dad's second devastating diagnosis, he's undergone over a dozen surgeries, including four tracheostomies.

He still has a tube in his throat today to stop his airways from collapsing.

His most severe surgery was a throat reconstruction in October 2021, which involved taking the skin from his left arm and turning it inside out to manually make a bigger airway. It's an extremely rare procedure and he was lucky to survive it.

He hasn't been able to return to work.

Due to the rarity of his condition, his disability isn't widely recognised and budgets his six-figure medical bills around his disability pension, which is around $100 a week.

He has applied for the NDIS but is still awaiting approval.

Without a weekly wage, he relies on taking early payments from his super, despite not being a pensioner yet.

Dad holds a takeaway coffee cup in public – to try and "fit in with Melburnians down the street" – when he actually uses it to spit saliva into.

"People stare at me, confused why I am always coughing up saliva, not realising I have a medical condition and can't swallow," he said.

"For months, I wouldn't leave home, embarrassed about the tube poking out of my neck and my stomach."

As an avid cook and fan of Melbourne's food scene, this no-swallowing side effect was a particularly devastating blow to both himself and his daughter.

Even though he can't eat the food, Dad still wanted to be part of family meals so turned to the kitchen, making meals for Mum and I.

Frustrated by the looks Dad received in public, I started a TikTok channel to share him cooking dinners and help him build confidence.

The account has over 6.5 million likes and 68,000 followers.

A video showing Dad, unable to eat himself yet cooking my favourite meal, has been watched by over one million people.

I have been appointed as an ambassador for Head and Neck Cancer Australia.

July is World Head and Neck Cancer Awareness month.

Watching what my dad has gone through, knowing that others are also suffering with so little funding and awareness, yet knowing there is one charity in Australia doing its best to make a difference to those people, I am on a mission to make Head and Neck Cancer Australia well-known.

I especially want to help create support for Head and Neck Cancer patients following treatment.

The reality is that many continue to be affected by their treatment for years, if not for life.

I also want to be a spokesperson for carers and family members who can feel just as impacted as the patient.

Despite his ordeal, Dad remains optimistic and hopes additional treatment will allow him to swallow once again.

"I dream of the day I can sip beer again and take a bite into a sandwich or have a coffee with my wife," he said.

"I'm proud of my daughter for being my voice, when I'm fighting to keep mine."

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out an early election in 2023 – but didn't rule out a double dissolution if the government's key housing bill stalls in the Senate for a second time.

Albanese today announced plans to send the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill back into the lower house when parliament returns next week.

One of the government's signature policies, the bill previously passed the House of Representatives but became bogged down in the Senate. 

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The fund would provide $500 million annually to build social housing.

While the Coalition opposes it as wasteful, the Greens have also proved a roadblock, saying the bill doesn't offer enough.

The minor party wanted $5 billion a year for housing, which they later scaled down to $2.5 billion – both pitches the federal government knocked back.

READ MORE: Teen girl charged with murder over man's death in western Sydney

Albanese said this morning that the government had a clear mandate for the legislation as it had been a long-time central proposal from Labor.

And he put the onus for any double dissolution on the parties opposing the bill across the political spectrum – who he characterised as a "no-alition" of the Liberals, Nationals, Greens and One Nation.

"The way in which you rule out having a double dissolution election is to have no triggers – that's the way that you rule it out," he said.

"This is a sensible reform that has the support of the housing industry, has the support of the building sector, has the support of community and social housing providers, has the support of (the Australian Council of Social Service) and the welfare sector."

A double dissolution would see the governor-general dissolve both houses of parliament, and send voters to the polls early.

During a double dissolution election, all seats in the Senate go up for grabs, instead of half as in a standard election.

The last time Australia had a double dissolution election was in 2016, which was the first since 1987.

Only seven have ever been held since Federation.

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A married couple who were light plane enthusiasts have been killed after two planes collided mid-air in a "devastating" incident at an airfield north of Brisbane, 9News understands.

The Brisbane man and woman, both aged in their 60s, were in a Jabiru J430 that was involved in the crash just after 10.30am at the Caboolture airfield.

The aircraft's registration states it was an "amateur-built aircraft".

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The second aircraft involved was a Piper PA-25 Pawnee, which is generally used for agricultural spraying.

The pilot of the second plane survived the crash "relatively uninjured", with that aircraft sustaining damage to the left wing.

Earlier Queensland Police Superintendent Paul Ready said officers were determining who was onboard the two aircraft.

"It occurred low to the ground at the eastern end of the airfield," he said.

Ready said the two people that died were in an aircraft that was taking off at the eastern end of the airfield.

The pilot in the second aircraft was assisting police with the investigation.

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Ready said it was incredibly lucky the pilot in the second aircraft survived "when you look at the damage on the ground".

Images from the scene show the wreckage of a light aircraft on the airfield and another aircraft with damage to the wing.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will carry out an investigation into the crash.

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Claudie Thompson’s assaults on his partner were at the highest end.

The prosecutor says the evidence showed a clear ‘pattern of behaviour’ by the defendant.