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A class action has been launched over a cruise that allegedly sailed from Brisbane into the path of a category 5 cyclone in 2017.

The P&O Pacific Aria left Brisbane on May 5 that year.

"Before departure a cyclone warning had been issued for Vanuatu as had a forecast that the category 3 cyclone was heading in the direction of Noumea," Carter Capner Law director Peter Carter said.

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He claimed passengers were given no pre-boarding cancellation option for the seven-day South Pacific cruise to Noumea and Vanuatu.

The cyclone intensified to a category 4 on May 6, Carter said, and then to category 5 on May 8.

"On arrival at Noumea (New Caledonia) the ship was required to dock in the industrial port due to the high winds rather than at the cruise ship terminal," Carter said.

"Nothing was open in the city as Noumea was in lockdown for the arrival of the cyclone, and several passengers left the ship in Noumea because of the terrible sea conditions they had experienced and flew back to Brisbane."

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Carter claimed when the ship left Noumea, water was washing over the port and starboard sides of the vessel, and that deck six had been completely closed.

"This was truly a cruise from hell, with many passengers so scared they confined themselves to their cabin," Carter said.

He said passengers reported restaurant crockery thrown across the galley, meals tossed off the restaurant tables, tables and chairs being overturned, bottles of wine and spirits falling off the shelves and flying across the deck, seawater sloshing down corridors and into some cabins, and the ship listing for about an hour.

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The weather event also allegedly affected the operation of lifts while several onboard activities were cancelled.

The vessel did not stop at the intended ports of Lifou, New Caledonia and Port Vila, Vanuatu, Carter said.

The claim, filed against parent company Carnival, seeks to recover damages from P&O for "disappointment, frustration, discomfort and distress and a refund of the cruise fare paid by each passenger".

A spokesperson for P&O said that as the matter was before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment.

9news.com.au has also contacted parent company Carnival PLC for comment.

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An amber alert warning is in place with with forecast westerly winds of 75-85km/h.

The two 17-year-old boys face charges relating to burglary and taking a motor vehicle

A baby has been born with the DNA of three separate people in the UK.

In a national first, scientists combined the DNA of the child's parents with 0.1 per cent of that of another woman.

The trailblazing move is aimed at preventing children from being born with mitochondrial diseases – a devastating set of disorders that occur when structures that produce energy for a cell malfunction.

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As a result of the pioneering technique, five babies have been born across the globe.

Mitochondrial diseases are incurable, with families all over the world having reported losing multiple children to the same condition.

Death can occur after just days. 

Mitochondria are the small vessels inside nearly every cell of the human body that transform food into usable energy.

They are passed down from a baby's mother and mitochondrial donation treatment is essentially a modified form of IVF, which uses mitochondria from a healthy donor egg.

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"News that a small number of babies with donated mitochondria have now been born in the UK is the next step in what will probably remain a slow and cautious process of assessing and refining mitochondrial donation," Sarah Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust said, according to the BBC.

Though the technique was pioneered in Newcastle, England, with laws introduced to allow the creation of such babies in the UK in 2015, the birth is the first of its kind in the country.

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Actor Vince Colosimo will seek counselling as he tries to put himself in the best position to pay back more than $65,000 in unpaid fines, his lawyer says.

The Underbelly star, 56, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court today for a brief hearing over a Fines Victoria warrant against him for failing to pay more than 160 fines.

Wearing a black suit jacket, a white shirt and black-rimmed glasses, he appeared by video link in court.

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His lawyer Julia Munster said Colosimo had only recently received funding from Legal Aid for her legal representation.

She said he was arranging counselling and working hard to put himself in a better position, but needed two months to do this.

"These are significant matters, there's significant quantum involved," she said.

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The enforcement report is 68 pages long and Colosimo is facing five different fine enforcement cases, the court was told.

No lawyers for the Sheriff of Victoria, which enforces fine repayments, were in court on Wednesday.

In October last year, Colosimo was fined $2500 after being caught drug driving for a second time and lying to police about who he was.

The court was told at that time Colosimo also owed more than $65,000 for other unpaid fines.

He will return to court on July 13.

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The grieving mother of a German backpacker who died at a Queensland avocado farm has journeyed across the world to find out what happened to her daughter.

Jennifer Kohl, 27, was crushed to death when the ride-on mower she was riding with her then-boyfriend rolled while they were working at Mt Tamborine Avocados in December 2017.

Cornelia Kohl travelled from Germany to be in the court as an inquest into the tragedy began in Southport on Wednesday.

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The inquest will investigate what caused the mower to roll and whether employers implemented appropriate workplace health and safety measures for mower use on the property.

It will also explore whether the delay in dispatching emergency services could have been avoided.

Kohl and her boyfriend Paul Tunik arrived in Australia in February 2017 and worked at Mt Tamborine Avacados for two to three weeks before the incident, counsel assisting Melina Zerner told the inquest.

"Ms Kohl and Mr Tunik had been travelling on a large John Deere four-by-four mower. It was attached to a trailer when it rolled over, pinning Ms Kohl under the mower and causing fatal injuries," Zerner said.

"When the incident occurred, Mr Tunik called triple zero. Due to his poor English, there was some miscommunication as to his location."

A panicked Tunik told emergency services that the accident occurred at Mount Coot-tha.

"Clearly, he was very distressed and desperate," Zerner said.

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Eventually, the backpacker flagged down two passers-by to talk to operators and redirect paramedics to the MacDonnell Road, Tamborine Mountain property – only for paramedics to again be sent to the wrong address.

"Because of the miscommunication, the QAS paramedics were dispatched to McDonald Road, Jimboomba instead of Tamborine Mountain.

"There was a delay, and once the address was confirmed, the QAS were redirected."

Kohl remained trapped under the mower until paramedics arrived and together were able to lift it off the critically injured backpacker.

Farm owner Kenneth William Jacobi initially refused to give evidence until being granted immunity and being directed to answer by coroner Carol Lee.

Jacobi told the inquest the backpackers had responded to a Gumtree advertisement and had been working around the property for about two weeks before being shown how to operate the tractor the day before the tragedy.

The tractor's cutting deck had been removed, with the four-by-four used for transporting avocados and general transportation.

The court was told that removing the deck significantly altered the John Deere machine's weight.

He said farm co-owner Kathryn Singleton demonstrated the use of the mower, which operated on a hydrostatic system and the backpackers were warned not to use the vehicle on the incline.

"There was not a great difficulty in understanding … I don't remember any difficulty at all," Jacobi said.

He did not believe the backpackers had significant difficulties understanding English despite using Google Translate.

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Queensland Workplace Health and Safety charges against the farm owners were dropped last year after Tunik declined to travel to Australia to give evidence.

Tunik, who now lives in New Zealand, has declined to give evidence and cannot be compelled to testify.

The inquest is being held at Kohl's request after she took her fight for answers to the office of former prime minister Scott Morrison.

"Your departments such as Workplace Health and Safety and Fair Work Australia need more attention to detail when it comes to dealing with families of backpackers who die in your country," Kohl wrote to Morrison after the tragedy.

"I was never able to say goodbye to my daughter."

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A call is made to the Kids Helpline every 80 seconds in Australia, equating to a devastating 330,000 cries for help from children around the country every year.

Despite the obvious demand, most of these calls will ring out unanswered.

It's a dire situation that mental health experts are desperately trying try to reverse, with a "serious funding shortfall" meaning that hundreds of thousands of Aussie children are "simply not getting the timely care they need".

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Of the 328,424 young people who tried to contact the Kids Helpline in 2022, just 145,000 were connected to a counsellor.

That's just two in every five calls.

Tracy Adams, CEO of youth-focused mental health support organisation Yourtown, which operates the helpline, said immediate government funding is required to combat the skyrocketing volume of calls.

"As the prevalence of mental health and wellbeing related issues in childhood rises, the significant gap in accessing support deepens," Adams said.

Do you have a story? Contact reporter on exclusively reported that calls for help from Aussie kids to Lifeline – as young as five – had soared

At around 9am each day, when parents set off to work and kids are left alone – either at home, school or anywhere else in between – traffic to the text line skyrockets, with volunteers within the organisation similarly unable to keep up with demand.

Data released in March revealed Lifeline had attracted some 26,000 searches for support, throughout the month of January alone, the highest ever to date.

Readers seeking support can contact Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

A joint Australia-New Zealand investigation has been launched after the theft of personal information from consumer finance giant Latitude Group earlier this year.

The Office of the Australian information Commissioner (OAIC) and the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) will examine the personal information handling practices of the Latitude companies.

Hackers gained access to the data of about 290,000 customers, including details of employment, income, household expenses, assets and liabilities, BSB and account numbers.

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The OAIC investigation will focus on whether Latitude took reasonable steps to protect the personal information entrusted to them.

The investigation will also consider whether Latitude took reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that was no longer required.

If the investigation finds that Latitude breached one or more Australian Privacy Principles, the group could be ordered to ensure the practices that led to the breach is not repeated, and to "redress" any loss or damage.

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Serious privacy breaches, if discovered, could merit a penalty of up to $50 million for each contravention of Australian privacy law.

The OAIC will not comment any further before the investigation is finished.

9News.com.au has contacted Latitude Financial for comment.

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