The group of Papua New Guinea residents were brought to NZ to work but were hardly paid.

Two civilians are dead after a gunman armed with a pump-action shotgun stormed a building.

A famous quote says that any technology that is advanced enough often seems like magic.

So when things wash up on the beach that nobody can recognise, people are quick to speculate on their mysterious origins.

A woman who defrauded millions of dollars from a major Australian bank has been jailed for at least eight years.

Helen Mary Rosamond, 48, falsified and inflated invoices from her event management company Human Group, swindling more than $19 million from the National Australia Bank between 2013 and 2018.

A jury found Rosamond guilty in November, finding she gave corrupt benefits to Rosemary Rogers, former chief-of-staff to NAB chief executives, and obtained or attempted to obtain property by deception.

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"The overarching motivation of the offender is accurately described as one of greed, self-gratification and enrichment," Judge Robert Sutherland said on Thursday, sentencing Rosamond to 15 years in prison with a non-parole period of eight years.

Successfully hiding her derived financial benefit from her own company and even her co-offender, Rosamond defrauded the bank for almost five years, a testament to her level of planning, the judge said.

Rogers pleaded guilty to corruptly receiving benefits for her role in the same scheme in February 2020 and is serving a maximum jail sentence of eight years with a non-parole period of four years and four months.

The judge rejected submissions seeking to place greater blame on Rosamond's co-offender.

Rather than being dominated by Rogers, Rosamond and her co-offender clearly depended on each other to conduct the fraud, for which they were equally culpable, the judge said.

"During the years in which the fraud continued, both Rosemary Rogers inside the bank, and Helen Rosamond within Human Group, were extremely efficient," the judge said.

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Rogers received a house, a BMW, boat, holidays and other benefits, Rosamond's trial heard.

Human Group began conducting legitimate work for NAB in 2006, before starting to defraud it in 2013.

Rogers would ensure contracts were extended with Human Group and pay its inflated invoices, with a delegated authority to approve spending up to $20 million.

When a new CEO took over, they did not know Rogers had such authority.

The judge said such a large authorisation exemplified the level of influence and trust Rogers enjoyed within the bank, which she abused.

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Rosamond had not breached the trust placed in her at the same level, but also engaged in repeated and ongoing deception of her own company.

Her claim she wanted to express remorse, which came through "an apparently unquestioning third-party", was treated with "considerable reserve" by the judge, as Rosamond herself gave no evidence.

She will be eligible for release in December 2030.

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Netflix's crackdown on password sharing appears to be paying off.

The streaming giant said it added nearly six million paid subscribers during the three months ending in June, bringing its total to more than 238 million globally.

The company said it has now launched paid sharing — its effort to get users to stop sharing accounts with others for free — in more than 100 countries, after beginning its broad rollout earlier this year. Netflix said revenue in those regions is now higher than before the service launched, and that "sign-ups are already exceeding cancellations".

READ MORE: Netflix's password sharing crackdown works out for streaming giant

Netflix's chief financial officer, Spencer Neumann, called the launch of paid sharing Netflix's "primary revenue accelerator in the year" during the company's second quarter earnings call.

"Most of our revenue growth this year is from growth in volume from new paid memberships and that's largely driven by our paid sharing rollout," he said.

The results come at a pivotal moment for Netflix as the streamer looks to boost revenue by restricting password sharing and introducing an ad-supported subscription option while also contending with a fresh challenge: strikes by both the Hollywood actors and writers unions that could impact its future slate of original shows and movies.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed the strikes on the call Wednesday, saying it was "not the outcome we wanted."

Explained: How changes to Netflix password sharing affect you

Sarandos also said the company produces "heavily across all kinds of content," pointing to Netflix's investments in unscripted and international content, among others, when asked whether the company might run out of original content if the actors' and writers' strike persists.

"The real point is we need to get the strike to a conclusions so that we can all move forward," he added.

While Netflix's password-sharing clampdown helped boost revenue for the quarter, it still fell just shy of what Wall Street analysts had expected.

"While we've made steady progress this year, we have more work to do to reaccelerate our growth," the company said in a letter to investors about the results. The company noted that subscriptions to its lower priced, ad-supported plan have doubled since the first three months of this year but that "current ad revenue isn't material for Netflix."

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) fell more than 4 per cent in after-hours trading Wednesday following the results.

Nine, the publisher of this website, is also the owner of Stan.

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Deep off the coast of Canada, a team of researchers have made a remarkable discovery; a bubbling underwater volcano covered with "maybe a million" giant eggs.

Researchers on the Northeast Pacific Deep-Sea Expedition were exploring what was previously believed to be an extinct ancient volcano when they discovered it was still active.

Then they noticed the conical, giant eggs covering the slopes of the volatile peak, which soars to a height of 1100 metres and is located nearly 1.5-kilometres beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

The volcano has been dubbed NEPDEP 58, and is one of more than 45 new seamounts mapped by the expedition. 

READ MORE: Sharks found living in active volcano one of enduring ocean mysteries

Lead researcher, Cherisse Du Preez, a deep-sea marine biologist from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said she was left in shock at the discovery.

She explained the eggs belong to the Pacific white skate, Bathyraja spinosissima.

"I was in disbelief when I realised the seamount top was covered in hundreds of thousands of skate eggs, maybe a million," Du Preez told 9news.com.au.

Prior to the find, the only other known Pacific white skate nursery was in the Galapagos and only a couple dozen eggs were observed there.

"That was a big deal discovery and so I immediately recognised the significance of what we had discovered," Du Preez said.

"But really, at that point, we had just scratched the surface of what was to come."

READ MORE: New venomous snake found in Australia

Du Preez and the team then witnessed a "one-of-a-kind encounter".

"Everyone on the vessel was giddy with excitement over the eggs, and I joked, wouldn't it be amazing to be the first to document a Pacific white skate, or any deep-sea skate, laying an egg," she said.

"And just like that (we saw), a large female skate 'swoop' to the seafloor.

"I had speculated what it'd look like when they laid, and the swoop was exactly as I'd imagined.

"We documented it all. She flew down to the seafloor and used the corals to bush up against and pull the egg. At this point, you couldn't ask for more.

"The behaviour was beautiful. The encounter was one-of-a-kind".

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Du Preez said the heat from the active volcano provides an ideal environment for the species to incubate their eggs, a timeframe believed to take a massive four years.

"We deployed the submersible thermometer, and that's when we discovered the volcano was venting hydrothermal fluid, which is a rare discovery in the world and a first in Canada," she said.

"That was it – the draw for the skates.

"Warmth is thought to accelerate incubation times and result in more successful young hatching.

"Here, in this amazing nursery ground, they are sheltered from predators by the corals and warmed by the volcano itself,

"We believe that the eggs are safe here, the juveniles grow to be strong, and the young have a better chance at survival, to grow larger, descend into the deep, and wander the open ocean."

The fruitful expedition wrapped in June and had been exploring the deep sea since 2017.

"This is an example of how a seamount is essential to helping populate an ocean basin," Du Preez said.

"This is so important considering the current question of deep-sea mining of seamounts for their cobalt crust."

The team are yet to publish their findings. 

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A senior bureaucrat has been suspended without pay following the scathing royal commission report into the robodebt scheme.

Kathryn Campbell was suspended from her high-ranking role as an advisor on AUKUS – the trilateral security and defence pact between Australia, the UK and US - after findings from the robodebt inquiry.

Last year, Campbell was appointed as an advisor on the nuclear submarine deal on a salary of $900,000 annually.

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Campbell was head of the Department of Human Services when the controversial debt recovery program began, and was criticised by the royal commission's report.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Campbell has been stood down from her current position.

"I'm not going to comment on individual cases in detail about the future because there are processes in place, but I certainly have been advised that that is the case," Albanese told ABC radio.

"Most people who have a look at the human tragedy that was caused by robodebt and the findings of the royal commission are very, very clear about failings by the Morrison government, and indeed before going back to when Scott Morrison was the minister, but also some failings with the bureaucracy as well, and it's appropriate that there be a response to that."

The royal commission report found the robodebt scheme to be a "crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal" perpetuated through "venality, incompetence and cowardice".

It referred individuals for civil and criminal prosecution through a confidential, sealed chapter.

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The robodebt scheme ran for four-and-a-half years, from July 2015 to November 2019, during which time $1.73 billion in unlawful debts were raised against more than 400,000 people.

A class action lawsuit over the scheme was settled for $1.2 billion in 2020.

A further $721 million in wrongly issued debts was repaid.

Robodebt victims told of being pushed to the brink of suicide after being chased by debt collectors, while the inquiry heard from the loved ones of people who took their own lives after being issued with debt notices.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

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Telstra is set to axe almost 500 jobs in a cost cutting move aimed at "reshaping the business" to "remain competitive and efficient".

The telco giant is believed to have informed staff – a total of 472 employees – yesterday, in the first round of layoffs under new Chief Executive Vicky Brady.

It's expected the job cuts will save the company some $500 million, with affected staff set to receive redundancy packages.

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"I can confirm we have proposed some changes to continue to reshape our business so that we remain competitive, efficient as well as effective in the way we work," a Telstra spokesman told 9news.com.au.

"We should make it clear that there won't be any reductions to our Telstra consumer teams who serve our customers in store, on the phone or at home.

"More broadly across our business we've proposed changes to address impacts from exiting legacy products and services as well as gaining efficiencies from increased digitisation, automation and new technology. 

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"These are critical for us to remain competitive and achieve our customer ambitions."

When the changes proceed, it will see "some people leave the organisation" and the "creation of new roles", with a "net reduction of around 472 jobs."

"Decisions like this are always difficult," the spokesman said.

"We know and feel the personal impact on our people and their families."

The company has roughly 30,000 staff across the country.

It's understood that Telstra will work with those in the affected jobs to try find them work elsewhere within the company.

If that's not possible they'll be paid out redundancy packages and offered support services.

These reductions are expected to occur in the 2024 financial year.

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A new species of venomous snake has been identified in Central Australia by a team of researchers spanning from South Australia to Western Australia. 

The desert whip snake, also known as Demansia Cyanochasma, has been mistaken for another species for decades.

But this week it was determined to be its own distinct species, through research led by University of Adelaide geneticists James Nankivell, Mark Hutchinson and Perth researchers Brad Maryan and Brian Bush.

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"This discovery was made through a combination of genetic studies and sampling physical specimens," Nankivell told 9News.com.au.

"The desert whip snake has a wide distribution through Central Australia; from the Western Australian goldfields to Flinders Range in South Australia, all the way up to southwest Queensland.

"It's quite commonly seen through outback towns."

The blueish and copper-coloured snake has a unique hunting style which makes it a fierce predator.

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"The cool thing about whip snakes is they're fast-moving and have these big eyes," he said.

"They're active predators that are out during the day to hunt down prey."

Thankfully, the venomous species is unlikely to cause a fatal bite in humans.

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"The species is mildly-venomous, but not likely to cause a serious bite, pain and swelling is most likely," Nankivell said.

The desert whip snake's unique coloured body was the inspiration behind its scientific name, Demansia cyanochasma, which means blue gap.

The next step for the researchers is to do more sampling and genetic tests, as it's possible more distinct snake species remain unnamed. 

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"Whip snakes are the most diverse venomous snake in Australia," Nankivell said.

"And only slight colour variations tell them apart, but colour fades in museum specimens.

"There are 15 species we know of but it's possible more species are out there, probably in the tropics."

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Farmers are urged to keep a lookout for telltale signs of mice damage with one expert saying they've seen "highly unusual" numbers over winter already, flagging areas at risk of a population boom.

The warning comes after the devastating 2021 plague in NSW caused more than $1 billion in damage to winter crops.

CSIRO mice expert Steve Henry said scientists are seeing signs a springtime surge could occur, and urged those in regional communities to keep an eye out.

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"What we're seeing around the place is patchy high numbers, apart from South Australia, on the Eyre Peninsula, where there looks to be a more widespread outbreak," he told 9news.com.au.

Henry said the "patchy high numbers" are occurring around the Adelaide Plains, northern NSW, "basically right across the cropping zone."

"In Walpeup, up in northwestern Victoria, we recently had some traps out and we got about 50 per cent of trap success," he said.

"That's highly unusual for this time of year. Normally in winter, mouse numbers are quite low.

"We were quite surprised to get those types of numbers."

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Reports of "localised outbreaks" have also emerged from Mildura.

"Some of the farmers there said they had significant numbers of mice," Henry said.

Mice, like rats, are a vector of disease with Leptospirosis and viral meningitis among the more serious illnesses they carry.

"The psychological impact is just massive too," Henry said.

"There's just no break from them. You can't get away from them."

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'The key measure': Numbers expected to increase

Henry said numbers are expected to increase as a decent winter crop is highly likely.

"Rainfall would need to cut out completely now for them not to get an average crop," he said.

"If we get an average crop there will be food in the system for mice in the springtime.

"So, we're saying to farmers they need to be really vigilant at the end of the winter before the crop puts that extra food in.

"And if they're seeing signs of mice in the crops be prepared to bait at the end of winter, start of spring. That's the key measure.

"If you're finding mice at the end of winter that's a significant warning sign."

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The great NSW mouse plague of 2021 partly came off the back of a strong La Niña event, which fuelled crop growth.

Henry said if an El Niño does develop in Australia – bringing warmer and drier conditions – this will help control numbers.

"Crops associated with El Niño tend to be poorer, which means less food," he said.

However, he pointed out that not all El Niño events are immediately hot and warm.

"We need to remember in El Niño scenarios that it doesn't always lead to bad, or hotter, dryer seasons.

"Sometimes you achieve an average.

"And good crops are advantageous for mice."

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