Case could set precedent for minimum wage earners.

An investigation is underway after a woman was found dead in a home in Perth's north east.

Western Australia Police went to a house on Sabina Road in South Guildford about 10.40am today.

The woman, believed to be aged in her 30s, was dead when they arrived. 

READ MORE: Man shot dead in Sydney's south-west

"Inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the woman's death are ongoing," WA Police said.

More to come…

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The then-Justice Minister was reportedly found by police 500 metres from her crashed car.

A 77-year-old man has been charged after two kilograms of heroin were allegedly found in the lining of his suitcase.

The New Zealander arrived at Melbourne Airport from Thailand yesterday.

Australian Border Force officers (ABF) examined the luggage and allegedly found "white powder" hidden inside.

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Police allege a test revealed it was heroin.

The man faced Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday and was remanded in custody.

The AFP charged the man with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled substance, namely heroin, contrary to section 307.2(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).

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He could face life in prison.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Amanda Glover said the AFP works with law enforcement partners to stop illicit drugs from reaching Australia.

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"Drug traffickers prey on our community, causing drug-related crime and the associated health and social costs," Glover said.

"Every detection of drugs at the border keeps our community safer and ensure that drug traffickers cannot reap profits by preying on Australians."

ABF Superintendent Kelly-Anne Parish said ABF officers are always on alert.

"Criminals will try to hide illicit drugs in a variety of ways, however no matter the amount of drugs that are hidden, big or small, our officers have the technology and expertise to find them," Supt Parish said.

READ MORE: Suspected human remains found in search for Tasmanian teen

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Heavy rain and whistling winds of about 220 kilometres per hour have lashed northern provinces, as clean-up crews eye a grim task ahead.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard's ex-partner will admit to a sexual assault charge but may escape a criminal conviction over the crime.

Timothy Raymond Mathieson, 66, appeared remotely in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday from his lawyer's office.

The court was told Mathieson was initially facing three charges.

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He sat behind his barrister Brad Penno, who told the court Mathieson would plead guilty to one sexual assault charge.

The prosecution will strike out the other two charges.

Penno asked for Mathieson to be assessed for a diversion, which would mean he escapes a criminal conviction and has the case diverted out of the justice system.

The prosecution asked for two weeks to assess whether a diversion would be appropriate.

Mathieson will return to the court on August 31 for a further mention.

Mathieson was in a relationship with Gillard for more than 10 years but the pair are no longer together.

The pair met when he was working as a hairdresser, before he moved into property.

In March 2022, Gillard told the Adelaide Advertiser they had broken up about 18 months earlier.

The couple lived together at The Lodge and Kirribilli House throughout her three-year term as prime minister.

He was colloquially known as the "first bloke", a reference to the tradition of the wives of US presidents being called first ladies.

A spokesperson for Julia Gillard said she will not be making any comment on the matter.

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Exclusive: Just over two-thirds of readers surveyed think it is time for more employees to return to the office or in-person work, according to an exclusive poll.

The poll of 535 Nine.com.au readers found that 67 per cent believe it is now time more employees return to the workplace following a big shift to work from home prompted by the COVID pandemic.

The survey suggested readers miss the community workplaces provided when working from home, with just under half listing interaction with colleagues and the social aspect of the office being the biggest drawback when working remotely.

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However, the research shows working from home reduces congestion, increases productivity and saves people time and money.

Decision-making and choice professor at the University of Sydney Business School Matthew Beck said people wanted to go to the office because "everyone recognises that social interaction is important".

"Knowing your colleagues is important, being creative and brainstorming is far easier in the flesh."

He said his research showed most people who were able to work from home strongly expressed a desire to "have a balance between working from home and working from an office location".

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"What we found is that people really enjoy working from home because it gives them a little bit more dedicated time for thinking and getting through more complex tasks where you don't want a lot of interruptions."

The biggest benefit of working from home was no commute, according to nearly half of the readers surveyed.

Beck said during the peak of the pandemic people were saving roughly $1700 in actual monetary costs and about $3000 in time savings a year.

He said currently people commuting 30 kilometres to and from a workplace were losing about 240 hours per year due to congestion, which was costing them an additional $450 a year in petrol.

"In an environment where we are all busy, and the cost of living is going up, not having to commute can save time and can save money.

"When people save time, they are taking almost half of that time that they are saving from commuting and using it to do more work.

"So there is benefit to employers and from people working from home as well."

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Just over one-third of readers polled thought a company's work-from-home policy was important when accepting a job offer.

Readers were also not willing to take a pay cut to be able to work from home, which was consistent with Beck's findings.

"If you have got two jobs that are identical, one offers work flexibility and the other does not, the one that does not would have to offer about $6000 per year more to make it equally attractive as the one that does offer working from home."

He said at the moment their research showed people who could work from home wanted to work remotely about two to three days per week, which would save the average person 72 minutes a day from not commuting.

That adds up to three weeks per year saved.

Beck said there were some people who couldn't work from home and might have the view that everyone should be back in the workplace because they had to be.

But he said having more people working from home was a good thing as it was the easier way to ease congestion on our roads and public transport network.

"When the systems are very congested all it takes is for something very small to happen and the system falls apart, traffic stops moving.

"So if people can work from home then you are taking stress out of the system, the system flows better so those people who have to travel benefit through better travel times and a more reliable travel network."

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He said if the systems were less congested due to less commuters, it could save governments and taxpayers billions on building new rail networks and roads.

Despite the continued divide between in-person and remote work, Beck said all the research they had done showed worker productivity remained unchanged.

"We were looking at workers evaluating their own productivity, but also the employers evaluating the productivity of their workers.

"So the idea that people are less productive while working from home is not really backed up through any form of evidence and now that we are better at working from home… then productivity might even increase."

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A desperate appeal is underway to find a match for an Australian mother-of-two's extremely rare blood type as she awaits urgent and life-saving open-heart surgery.

Adelaide mum Amira, 37, has a blood type so rare just one in 10,000 people might be a match, a figure officials say has prompted them to look overseas, after potentially "exhausting Australian supplies".

The 37-year-old remains in hospital as Lifeblood, with the Australian Red Cross, hunt to source 20 bags of blood that the mum will require before, during and after her surgery.

READ MORE: Red Cross issues urgent call for blood donors

Any O or A blood donor in Australia – or internationally – could be a match.

"Most people will be either O or A blood type, but Amira has a rare combination of other blood types that need to be matched, which means any donor with O or A blood type might prove to be a perfect match," Lifeblood Medical Director Dr James Daly said.

"We have identified a few suitable donors, but this mum will require a large number of units to see her through her surgery and finding as many donors as we can with the right blood type will ensure we can meet her transfusion needs both now and, in the future.

"We've exhausted Australian supplies of this rare blood type and we're now working with international blood services to search for potential donors.

"We hope to receive a small number of units from overseas but for Amira's surgery to proceed safely at least 15 donors with the same rare combination of blood types are still needed within the next few weeks."

Daly encouraged Aussies who think they're a match to "book a donation over the coming week", with all donated blood set to be "tested to identify donations that will undergo further screening to find a suitable match."

READ MORE: Desperate plea for blood donations from pets amid national shortage

Amira's husband Ahmed echoed Daly's sentiment and thanked those who had already donated. 

"We are so grateful to family, friends and the wonderful people in the community, many of whom we do not know, who have heard about Amira's plight and have rolled up a sleeve to donate blood," he said.

"I urge as many people as possible across the country with O and A blood to donate blood this week, so we can find more donors to help Amira.

"This is not a situation you ever expect to find yourself in. Any help or support is much appreciated."

To be a match for Amira a donor's blood type must be "O" or "A".

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

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The search of Rex Heuermann's Long Island home has ended after investigators turned up "quite a lot of evidence" in the Gilgo Beach serial killings, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Tuesday.

"We are for all intents and purposes done with the search," Tierney told reporters.

The district attorney said it will take "some time" for analysts to review the "massive amount of material" collected from the cluttered home, including around 279 weapons.

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Investigators had been digging up the yard in Heuermann's Massapequa Park home for days, using ground-penetrating radar, a backhoe and a police dog in the search for additional evidence, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Monday.

"There was nothing of note taken from the backyard, as far as remains," said Tierney, adding that investigators will be conducting forensic and DNA analysis on any items recovered inside the home, including hair fibers.

Authorities have been operating on the theory that Heuermann committed the killings in his home, which is just a few miles from where the remains of the women were found.

Heuermann was arrested July 13 in New York City, where he worked as an architectural consultant, and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the "Gilgo Four" – women whose remains were found in 2010 along a short stretch of Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach.

READ MORE: 'Difficult decision' made after whales re-strand in WA

He has pleaded not guilty in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.

"I did not do this," his court appointed-attorney, Michael Brown, said Heuermann told him.

The 59-year-old architect is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and killing of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, but he has not been charged in that case.

"We're working towards that," Tierney said, referring to the filing of charges in the fourth case.

The disappearances occurred during times that Heuermann's family was out of town, suggesting he may have lured victims to the home where he lived with his wife, their daughter and stepson, according to a source involved in the investigation.

Committing the killings at home would have given Heuermann control of the environment and access to materials that were found at the crime scene, including tape and burlap bags, the source told CNN.

READ MORE: Why the RBA may lift rates again despite inflation slowing

Investigators discovered between 200 and 300 guns stashed in a walled-off vault which was locked behind a metal door in the home, a source told CNN.

Harrison confirmed there was a vault with guns at the home.

The investigation has expanded to other parts of the country.

Police in Las Vegas are sifting through unsolved cases that Heuermann may have been involved in.

The suspect and his wife had bought two timeshare condos in Las Vegas between 2003 and 2005, according to property records obtained by CNN.

READ MORE: Suspected human remains found in search for Tasmanian teen

The couple sold the first property, the records show, and it is unclear whether they still own the second.

In northern South Carolina's Chester County, where tax records show Heuermann owns four large parcels of land, the sheriff's office said it has been gathering evidence since before the suspect's arrest.

Heuermann was first identified as a potential suspect in early 2022, shortly after a multi-agency task force was formed to examine cold cases involving nearly a dozen sets of human remains found along Long Island's South Shore between 2010 and 2011, including the Gilgo Four.

"We're going to look at the other instances where the bodies were recovered in that area as well," Tierney said Tuesday.

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A towering construction crane caught fire high above the West Side of Manhattan on Wednesday morning, causing its long arm to snap off, smash against a nearby building and plummet to the street as people ran for their lives on the sidewalk below.

Several people suffered minor injuries in the collapse, but no one died, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.

"As you can see from the debris on the street, this could have been much worse," the Democrat said at a news conference, noting that the street at that hour of the morning is often filled with pedestrians, cars and buses.

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The crane was operating 45 stories up when its engine compartment caught fire at around 7:25am, authorities said.

Photos and videos on social media show flames bursting from the crane hundreds of feet above 10th Avenue at 41st Street.

The crane's arm, which was carrying a 16-ton load of concrete, dangled before breaking off.

"That weight of 16 tons is attached by a cable," said Joseph Pfeifer, first deputy commissioner for the Fire Department of New York. "As the fire heats the cable, the cable weakens to a point where it loses its strength, and that's where the collapse occurred."

The person operating the crane tried to put out the fire as it spread but had to flee to safety, Pfeifer said.

Nine civilians experienced minor injuries in the collapse or its aftermath, according to a fire department spokesperson.

Two firefighters experienced heat exhaustion and chest pains.

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A worker at a nearby construction site said everyone stopped and watched as flames engulfed the top of the crane and a column of black smoke rose above buildings.

Within a few minutes, firefighters were shooting water down at the blaze from a balcony of an adjacent building.

"I never seen anything like that," said Charles Pescatore, 18, a college helper on a construction site a few blocks away. "It could have killed a bunch of people."

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Authorities said they also planned to investigate the structural integrity of the residential tower, which is under construction and expected to rise to 54 stories.

The crane is owned by the New York Crane & Equipment Corp, one of the city's most widely used crane providers, officials said.

The Queens-based company has been involved in other crane problems in recent years, leading to criminal charges and new safety measures around New York City's crane operations.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

In May of 2008, a collapse of the company's tower crane killed two workers on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The company and its owner, James Lomma, were acquitted of manslaughter and other charges; a mechanic pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

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It was one of two deadly crane accidents in 2008, leading to the resignation of the city's buildings commissioner, as well as new safety measures around testing and oversight of crane operations.

Five years later, a crane owned by the company left a concrete cube dangling above a bustling pedestrian area for several hours, shutting down a major thoroughfare in Midtown Manhattan.

Delecia McInnis, a Long Island resident who saw the crane come down Wednesday, said she was surprised no one was seriously injured.

"There's so many things going on at 7 o'clock in the city, people are going to school, summer camp, there's always someone around in this area," she said.

The location is near the Port Authority Bus Terminal and an entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, which carries auto traffic to and from New Jersey under the Hudson River.

Streets surrounding the site were closed to traffic on Wednesday morning.

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