Invercargill councillor was the subject of a complaint from an 18-year-old female.

Hinepare Nurses’ Home has been vacant since 2012.

The offender wore a Waste Management uniform and drove a vehicle with the company logo.

Recreational vaping will be banned and the tax on tobacco products will increase over the next three years under a massive smoking crackdown announced by Health Minister Mark Butler.

Butler said the excise on tobacco will increase by five per cent over the next three years, starting in September, and the treatment of all tobacco products will be aligned, in a move that he says will generate more than $3 billion in tax revenue.

"These changes will raise an additional $3.3 billion over the coming four years, including $290 million in GST payments to the states and territories," the health minister told the National Press Club today.

READ MORE: Scans reveal what happens to brain of person in coma as they die

Butler also officially unveiled the crackdown on recreational vaping during his address, which comes after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provided the government with a "clear road map" following community and health group consultation.

Under the plan, which Butler said would address the "biggest loophole in Australian healthcare history", the importation of non-pharmaceutical vaping products will be prohibited, meaning they will only be able to be purchased with a prescription from pharmacies.

Single-use disposable vapes will be banned, the volume and concentration of nicotine concentrations and volumes and both flavours and packaging will be required to be plain, the latter with warning labels.

READ MORE: Dozens of children under five poisoned by vapes: Health Minister

"To obtain an import permit, an importer will have to show that the vapes that they propose to sell comply with new standards and processes established by the TGA," Butler said.

"They will have to be imported for sale only in pharmacies. The import of vapes for sale in retail settings will end.

"These are supposed to be pharmaceutical products so they will have to present that way, no more bubble gum flavours, pink unicorns or vapes disguised as highlighter pens for kids to hide in their pencil cases."

Butler said vaping posed a major health threat to young people.

"Vaping has now become the number one behavioural issue in high schools and it is becoming widespread in primary schools as well," he said.

"Over the past 12 months, Victoria's poisons hotline has taken 50 calls about children under the age of four ingesting vapes. Under the age of four.

"Vapes contain more than 200 chemicals that do not belong in the lungs."

The federal government will work with states and territories to close down the sale of vapes in convenience stores and other retail settings.

READ MORE: Celebrity chef and MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo dies

But it will still be legal to buy a vape with a prescription from your chemist to help smokers quit for good and Butler said the government will make it easier for doctors to prescribe them.

"Only one in 20 doctors are authorised by the TGA to prescribe vapes to those who need it. We think this has to change," he said.

"It will require removing the restrictions on doctors prescribing so that all doctors can write a script for those who really need it.

"Governments will also consider whether other proper therapeutic pathways should be examined to allow patients to obtain vapes through a pharmacy where they need them."

'Momentous' cancer screening program to start

Also announced by Butler during his address were a number of health programs to be included in next week's federal budget, including $30 million to help people quit smoking, a $260 million lung cancer screening program, and $240 million to address higher-than-average cancer and smoking rates in First Nations communities.

The green-lighting of the screening program has been called "momentous" by the Lung Foundation Australia.

Lung cancer is the nation's biggest cancer killer, with 14,500 patients diagnosed annually.

Only 20 per cent of those are alive five years later.

Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke said it has been campaigning for five years for the scheme, which is predicted to save 12,000 lives over ten years.

"The announcement today gives much more than hope, it gives a second chance at life," Brooke said.

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The day before Ellie Price was found dead in her Melbourne apartment she spent the day with her on-off boyfriend Ricardo Barbaro.

They made a video call to Price's mother and both visited the GP for a medical appointment.

But before the sun rose the next morning, Barbaro had stabbed the 26-year-old six times, including a large cut across her throat, prosecutors allege.

READ MORE: RBA hands down shock interest rate hike in fresh assault on inflation

He then allegedly got into her Mercedes Benz and fled.

Barbaro has denied he killed Price and faced the first day of a trial in front of 14 jurors on Tuesday.

Price's body was found on May 4, 2020, in a blood-soaked Park Street, South Melbourne, flat.

Police found her dead on the floor of her bedroom during a welfare check, after her mother Tracey Gangell became worried her daughter had not returned her calls.

Following an interstate police manhunt, Barbaro was arrested 10 days later in NSW.

Gangell told the jury she spoke to her daughter on April 28, the day before it's alleged Barbaro killed her, on a Facebook video call. Barbaro was present during the 12-minute call.

"Just a normal conversation. She seemed okay," she said.

That was the last time she spoke to Price. In the following days she sent several text messages and tried calling, but did not hear back.

"If you don't ring me tomorrow, I'm calling the police," one of Gangell's final texts to her daughter said.

READ MORE: Melbourne midwife suspended over high-risk homebirths

She called triple zero on May 4.

Police found Price with six stab wounds, including an 8cm long cut across her neck and a 7cm deep cut to her back, prosecutor Patrick Bourke told the jury.

He alleged Barbaro's DNA was found in blood stains across the apartment, including at the bottom of the stairs, and his finger print found on a mirror in her bedroom.

"His intention was to kill her or to cause her really serious injury," Bourke said.

He alleged after Barbaro stabbed Price, in the early hours of April 29, he got into her Mercedes Benz and left the apartment about 4.30am.

The prosecutor said Barbaro was seen on CCTV meeting up with his father, Joe Barbaro, in Williamstown later that morning.

The father and son were later seen in Diggers Rest, where Bourke alleged they abandoned the Mercedes.

He said there was a history of domestic violence between Barbaro and Price, who were dating on and off from 2019 until she died.

Gangell said Price, who was a single mother, would often visit her family in Tasmania.

On one such trip in March 2020, Gangell said her daughter told her she planned to come home to Tasmania to stay and she wouldn't return to Melbourne "until Rick was out of her life".

Barbaro's barrister Rishi Nathwani said his client was not the last person to see Price alive, and questioned other people she may have met as an exotic dancer.

"Were there any other people who she upset…Who wanted to harm her?" he said.

The trial before Justice Lex Lasry continues.

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

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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has handed down another interest rate hike in a fresh rally to bring down a stubbornly high rate of inflation.

The central bank today decided to lift the official cash rate target by 25 basis points from 3.6 per cent to 3.85 per cent.

It is the 11th interest rate hike since April 2022, when interest rates were at the record-low level of 0.1 per cent. The nation's cash rate is now the highest it has been since April 2012.

READ MORE: Most young Aussies 'giving up on home ownership'

Today's hike adds another $96 to the average monthly repayment on a $600,000 loan.

Over the life of the loan, that represents a near-$35,000 increase.

Since the start of May 2022 – when interest rates were just 0.1 per cent – monthly repayments have increased by $1351.

In his monetary statement, RBA Governor Philip Lowe said the cost of living in Australia was "still too high".

"Inflation in Australia has passed its peak, but at 7 per cent is still too high and it will be some time yet before it is back in the target range," he said.

"Given the importance of returning inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe, the Board judged that a further increase in interest rates was warranted today."

Lowe said it would take "a couple of years" for inflation to hit the RBA's target range of 2 to 3 per cent.

Currently, the annual rate of inflation in Australia is 7 per cent.

"The Board held interest rates steady last month to provide additional time to assess the state of the economy and the outlook," he said.

"While the recent data showed a welcome decline in inflation, the central forecast remains that it takes a couple of years before inflation returns to the top of the target range; inflation is expected to be 4½ per cent in 2023 and 3 per cent in mid-2025."

READ MORE: RBA boss warns more rate hikes on the way despite housing, rental supply crisis

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said today's decision will come as a cruel blow to thousands of Australian households.

"This is a really difficult position for a lot of Australians who are already under the pump," he said.

"This is a reminder of the difficult economic conditions in which we frame the Budget."

Chalmers said it was an "inevitable consequence" that the economy "will slow substantially", but stopped short of predicting a recession when asked by journalists.

"I think the rate rise is a pretty stark, pretty brutal reminder of the difficult economic conditions," he said.

READ MORE: What we know so far about the May 9 federal budget

Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, said he believes we are at the peak of the RBA's tightening cycle.

"Australians with an average loan size of $586k will be forking out around $14,000 more per year compared to what they were paying this time last year.

"The market consensus is that we are now at the peak of a frenzied, steep climb.

"The question yet to be answered is how well Aussie homeowners will be able to breathe in the thin air."

Compare the Market's general manager of money, Stephen Zeller, said the RBA's decision to raise the cash rate for the eleventh time in 12 months was a "necessary evil".

"But these rate rises are just the tip of the iceberg as homeowners are being hit with even higher costs with the cost of groceries, fuel and energy all soaring," Zeller said.

"With the home loan interest rate grenade set to blow for many borrowers this year, many Aussies will be looking to refinance.

"If you're on a fixed rate due to expire, you should be looking for the most competitive rate available and planning to make the switch or negotiating a lower rate with your current lender at least a month beforehand."

READ MORE: Met Gala 2023: All the outfits from the red carpet

RateCity.com.au research director Sally Tindall said the RBA is "hammering" home a message to Australians that inflation must be brought under control.

"By reverting back to a rate hike, the RBA is hammering home the message it is prepared to do what it takes to rein in inflation," she said.

"After a month's reprieve borrowers were still catching up to the rate hikes rather than catching their breath. To have another one piled on top will feel like another kick in the guts.

"Someone with a $500,000 debt at the start of the hikes, will now need to find more than $1,000 in spare change to stop their repayments from falling into the red.

"Some families may find this is the rate hike where they come up short."

READ MORE: Government won't rule out JobSeeker lift for over-55s

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The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

Former Australian Test cricketer Michael Slater has pleaded not guilty to assaulting and obstructing Queensland police, describing the incident as a misunderstanding.

Slater, 53, spoke to media after appearing in Noosa Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

He has been charged with one count of assaulting police and two counts of obstructing police.

READ MORE: Qantas announces new CEO to take over Alan Joyce

Police allege officers were called just before midnight to an address north of Brisbane on March 31 in relation to an alleged domestic violence-related matter and medical incident.

The former opener and TV commentator obstructed officers at the Noosa Heads address, assaulting one who suffered a cut to his hand, police say.

Slater said the incident occurred during a "mental health dip".

"It was an unfortunate situation that evening where it was a welfare check on my mental health," he said outside court.

"I had a good friend reach out. The police were doing their job and they came to the door, and I was really startled and sort of tried to refuse them entrance to my apartment and that's basically the amount of it.

"The ambulance then came. I spent the night in the hospital under observation and then everything's sort of back on track."

READ MORE: MasterChef in limbo as world mourns Jock

Slater said he would keep working hard on his mental health, telling reporters it had been an ongoing battle for a number of years.

"It's been highly embarrassing I suppose on a personal level to undergo everything that's happened … I've lost a lot in the last couple of years," he said.

"I've made some mistakes and I think there have been some mistruths as well.

"But we fight hard to get on top of things and life's not easy but I've got three beautiful kids where my focus is and looking for a job."

Asked if there was a need to talk more about former sports stars and their mental health, Slater said: "I still think there's a lot of gaps that can be filled but certainly retired sportspeople, there's a list of struggles in retirement.

"Not that my retirement was bad. I was working in TV for 20 years and then you know it sort of all snowballed."

READ MORE: Recreational vaping to be banned under major health shake-up

After making his debut during the 1993 Ashes tour, Slater played 74 Tests for Australia, amassing 5312 runs at an average of 42.83 with 14 tons.

He also played 42 one-day internationals.

Slater retired from cricket in 2004, embarking on a successful TV commentary career.

His matter is set for mention at Noosa Magistrates Court on July 4 after he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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OPINION: Having a punt or a wager is as Aussie as Vegemite.

The Melbourne Cup is the race that stops the nation, but there's increasing awareness of the impact of problem gambling, which is taking an enormous toll.

Australia has the highest rate of gambling losses per adult on the planet.

READ MORE: Qantas announces new CEO to take over Alan Joyce

A total of $25 billion is lost every year.

Seven per cent of Australians are at risk of gambling harm and it's not just individuals — families are torn apart by gambling addicts who simply cannot stop, with far too many easy and accessible ways to lose the lot.

So it's good to see a commonsense crackdown on online gambling and credit cards.

READ MORE: MasterChef in limbo as world mourns Jock

As it stands, you cannot use a credit card to wager in casinos or pubs and clubs or for any land-based gambling at the TAB or on the pokies, and the ban has been in place for more than two decades.

But incredibly, credit cards have been allowed for online and app-based betting accounts, which are one of the biggest growth areas for punting, and one of the easiest to use.

An increasing number of young people have online gambling accounts, and having a punt on the races or the footy or even the colour of the prime minister's tie is considered a fun and social thing to do.

READ MORE: Recreational vaping to be banned under major health shake-up

When people know when to cut their losses and stop, there's no harm done.

But it beggars belief that credit cards were ever allowed for online gambling.

It's betting with money you don't have, and if you can't pay the credit card bill, the debts spiral even further.

A federal parliamentary inquiry that called for the ban found that credit cards were used for 20 per cent of deposits into online wagering accounts.

It's a big problem.

Wagering services like Sportsbet, PointsBet and Ladbrokes are on board with the change, with new legislation to be introduced within months.

It's long overdue.

Now we just need NSW Premier Chris Minns to stump up and deliver cashless gaming for the pokies, which are a scourge that needs to be reined in.

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Nadia Mattiazzo remembers going to her regular café one day back in 2016 and trying to buy a cup of coffee.

To her shock and dismay, she found there was no way she could pay for it.

Mattiazzo, who is blind, said the café had installed a new eftpos machine overnight which had a touchscreen.

READ MORE: MasterChef in limbo as world mourns judge

With no fixed buttons to help her orientate the location of the digits, Mattiazzo could not enter her PIN.

"I went in to buy my coffee and suddenly there was this screen and I had no cash," Mattiazzo, who is the CEO of Women with Disabilities Victoria, said.

Soon, Mattiazzo started noticing similar eftpos touchscreens appearing in other cafés and restaurants.

"Suddenly they were popping up in a lot more places and I was like, 'This is ridiculous'," Mattiazzo said.

Angry and frustrated, Mattiazzo teamed up with former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes to sue the Commonwealth Bank, with the pair taking their landmark case to the Federal Court.

What followed was a stressful two and a half years for Mattiazzo as she sought to take on the major bank.

In January 2019, the bank agreed to settle the case and improve their eftpos touchscreen terminals to enhance accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision.

READ MORE: Government tipped to raise JobSeeker for over-55s

But now, four years on, the larger battle is far from over.

In fact, the rapid proliferation of touchscreens means the problem is worse than ever, according to Mattiazzo and other disability advocates.

"It has grown exponentially. Now, everything is touchscreen," Mattiazzo said.

"They're everywhere. You go to the supermarket and what are the self-service checkouts? They are touchscreen.

"Where are the buttons? There aren't any."

With fewer and fewer checkouts at supermarkets manned by staff, it was becoming a more stressful experience to go to the supermarket, Mattiazzo said.

"I use online shopping a lot simply because that's one of the solutions, but if I'm wanting something urgently, I will go to the shops. 

"I just have to hope somebody is available to go through the items with me and put them through the checkout," she said.

READ MORE: Qantas announces new CEO to take over Alan Joyce

Mattiazzo said she dreaded hitting $100 on her tap-and-go transactions because it meant putting in a PIN number.

"There are two choices then – you either walk out and not buy what you need, or you break the law," Mattiazzo said. 

"(Bank regulations) state you should not give your PIN number to anybody.

"If you do, then you're liable for any future transactions relating to that PIN number.

"I have to admit there have been instances where I've given my PIN number to the person I'm with – I've whispered it."

Then there are other items with touchscreens, like vending machines and lifts.

Last week, US man Mario Bonds shared a video to TikTok of himself being stuck in a lift for 10 minutes at a Hilton Hotel because the digital control panel had no buttons in Braille. 

Experiences like Bonds' were becoming more common, Bruce Maguire, who is the lead policy adviser at Vision Australia, said.

"Hotels have increasingly got touchscreens for their lifts and you just can't use them," he said.

While some modern buildings have included an accessibility button on touchscreen-operated lifts, which activates voiced instructions, many do not.

"You don't know in advance which one's going to have it and which one doesn't," Maguire said.

Maguire said everyday appliances were another area where touchscreens were becoming a major problem for blind people and those with low vision.

Coffee machines, air conditioners and washing machines all increasingly have touchscreens.

"I decided earlier this year that I was going to get an air fryer," Maguire said.

"Even for the air fryers under $100, a lot of them now have touchscreens.

"There's very few that have knobs."

Australia's Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in how goods and services are provided.

However, there is currently no legislation which requires appliances to be made accessible. 

This means that if something is bought online, for example, then the website needs to be accessible, but there is no requirement for the products themselves to be accessible.

Maguire said "one glimmer of hope" was that many major electronics companies were now including apps that could be synched to devices. 

"If the app has been designed to be accessible, then you can use the app to control the device," Maguire said. 

"I've got a coffee machine that has a touchscreen, but it has an app. 

"I've been able to put little marks down the left-hand side and right-hand side of the screen so I can touch various places.

"Then I can use the app that connects to it.

"But I don't want to have to use an app every time I want to make coffee or use the washing machine."

Maguire said the most frustrating part was that all of the products he had mentioned could be made accessible.

"It's not a technology problem, it's a people problem because the people who create the products don't include accessibility in the design."

Maguire said Apple iPhones had paved the way, showing what was possible for touchscreen accessibility.

Apple's VoiceOver screen-reading technology has been part of the iOS mobile operating system since 2009, when the iPhone 3GS was released.

iPhones are designed to be accessible from the moment they are bought in a box.

VoiceOver turns off the iPhone's single-tap function so users can move their fingers across the screen to hear what is on the display described.

The first touchscreen Maguire ever came across was on an iPhone 3GS.

"The guy from Apple showed me how it worked and I hadn't encountered touchscreens before. I thought, 'I can use this, this actually seems usable.'" 

Since then, smartphone technology has opened up the world to blind people and those with low vision, Maguire said.

"I would say if I could only have one device to use in my daily life it would be the iPhone," he said.

"I can use Siri, check my mail, use WhatsApp and Twitter. I can do my online shopping through Woolworths or buy stuff on eBay.

"I have an app that's a light detector. I can wander around and make sure that the lights are switched off when I want them to be switched off."

There was no reason for other electronic companies not to adopt similar technology to Apple's VoiceOver system, Maguire said.

Mattiazzo said new laws were needed to force companies to make their products accessible.

"We need the laws to change so it says you cannot introduce new technology into the community without it being accessible to the point that it's private, that it's confidential, and that it's easy to use," she said. 

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When wildlife photographer Florian Walsh noticed "activity" in the waters off Ventry Bay Beach, near Dingle in Ireland, he raced back home knowing he and his friends were witnessing something rare.

Walsh picked up his drone, drove back to the grey glass harbour and launched the device, in the hopes of recording the rare shiver of "very large sharks".

He told 9news.com.au the scenes he captured on April 29 – are ones he "will never forget".

READ MORE: Qantas announces new CEO to take over Alan Joyce

"As soon as I got the drone up my jaw dropped," he said.

"It was just absolutely mind-blowing to see so many in one place. The harbor was full of them, I would say that there was about 40-plus sharks.

"I noticed a few kayakers which was perfect to use as a scale as they are very large sharks."

READ MORE: MasterChef in limbo as world mourns Jock

Basking sharks are found in cool waters, and can reach incredible lengths of up to 10 metres.

But they are gentle giants, with small teeth and "brush-like gill rakers" that strain food from water, Australian Museum says.

"They were feeding on plankton and very gently swimming around," Walsh said.

"We get Basking sharks here every year but this was a very special and rare moment to be able to capture an image with at least a dozen in one shot."

READ MORE: Recreational vaping to be banned under major health shake-up

In October, 2022 scientists off the coast of New England in the USspotted several clusters of basking sharks swimming in an "unusual" cartwheel formation.

"Usually, we see basking sharks swimming alone, so this was quite surprising," a statement about the sighting read.

In Australia basking sharks are typically found off the southern coastline, but they have been sighted off Port Stephens in New South Wales.

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