Charges have been laid over the deaths of three South Australian children – aged between six and 15 – after an "unprecedented" investigation into alleged child neglect.

Three parents were charged today with manslaughter relating to the deaths of three different children after a task force was established in July last year to investigate the death of Charlie Nowland.

The six-year-old was found unresponsive in a home in Munno Para and later died in hospital.

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Charlie's mother Crystal Hanley, 47, has been charged with manslaughter in relation to Charlie's death and the criminal neglect of four other children – aged between eight and 14 – living in the same home.

Hanley faced Adelaide Magistrates Court today where she was granted bail to her home address.

The task force also investigated a second child's death, Makai Wanganeen, who was taken to hospital while "very sick" in February last year.

A post-mortem found the seven-year-old died from "several serious health issues".

Shane Wangannen, 50, has been arrested and charged over his son Makai's alleged manslaughter.

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The death of Jasmine Wilmott in 2018 was also part of the inquiry.

Jenni Wilmott was charged with criminal neglect in 2020 but the charges were dropped in 2021.

She has now been arrested again after police gathered new evidence.

The 54-year-old has now been charged with manslaughter

"The woman was further charged with other criminal offences arising from the same set of circumstances," SA Police said. 

Wangannen and Wilmott will face court on Thursday.

Assistant Commissioner John Venditto said police had collected physical, financial, forensic and expert evidence.

None of the cases are linked, nor are the victims connected.

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"It is extremely rare to charge an adult with the death of a child, to charge three in one day is unprecedented," he said.

"The facts and circumstances that give rise to a charge of manslaughter are different in each case.

"What is the same, the adult charged with manslaughter owed a duty of care to the child at the time."

There are not expected to be any further arrests over the deaths of Charlie, Makai or Jasmine.

Police would not detail the relationships between the accused and their alleged victims.

Manslaughter or criminal neglect convictions can carry a life sentence, Venditto said.

Last year, two reviews into the state's child protection system were launched to investigate how systemic failings may have contributed to the deaths of Charlie and Makai.

Former police commissioner Mal Hyde found there were 500 South Australian children who could be living in danger and criminal law did not have enough power to prosecute parents.

There were 31 recommendations made and the government agreed to adopt them all.

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After years of wet seasons, Australia is looking increasingly likely to be hit by drier-than-usual conditions, potentially by as soon as winter.

In its latest climate driver update, released on Wednesday afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said an El Niño weather system may form in the next few months, but said the chances of one this year remain at 50 per cent.

"There are signs El Niño may form during winter," the BoM said.

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"International climate models suggest neutral El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions are most likely to persist through autumn.

"From July, all but one of the models indicate El Niño thresholds will be met or exceeded, with all models meeting El Niño thresholds by August."

However, the bureau noted ENSO forecasts for beyond autumn should be treated cautiously, due to a lower level of accuracy than predictions made at other times of the year.

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Adding to the chances of a dry second half of the year is the possibility of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), the BoM said.

"All models suggest that a positive IOD event may develop in the coming months," it stated.

"A positive IOD can suppress winter and spring rainfall over much of Australia, potentially exacerbating the drying effect of El Niño."

ENSO conditions are currently neutral, after the rain-inducing La Niña system ended last month.

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There are calls for the woman described as Australia's worst female serial killer to be released immediately after the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted new scientific evidence casting doubt over on the mother's guilt.

Kathleen Folbigg has been found guilty of killing her four children but the senior barrister assisting an inquiry into her convictions said there was reasonable doubt surrounding the conviction.

University of British Columbia's Emma Cunliffe said she believed Folbigg should be paroled today.

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Folbigg's best friend and biggest believer Tracey Chapman said the truth and the facts were finally aligned.

"To hear it in the courtroom this morning… I should have brought more tissues, I cried a river," Chapman said.

"I'm ready to go and get her and bring her home."

'Rare and exceptional' mercy power considered

"On the whole of the body of evidence before this inquiry, there is a reasonable doubt as to Folbigg's guilt," Sophie Callan SC said, summarising her closing submissions on Wednesday.

Former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst KC is heading the inquiry, triggered by a petition from scientists.

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Bathurst will prepare a report for the governor on whether to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy, a power the Department of Communities and Justice describes as "rare and exceptional".

Folbigg's case is similarly rare and exceptional.

She was jailed in 2003 for killing her four children and is serving a 25-year minimum sentence after being found guilty of three counts of murder and one of manslaughter.

Callan said the case against Folbigg remains circumstantial, not to be looked at in a "piecemeal fashion".

Folbigg maintains her innocence, claiming her four babies – Laura, Sarah, Caleb and Patrick – died of natural causes between 1989 and 1999.

Folbigg and her two daughters were later found to carry a rare genetic variant, casting doubt on her convictions and triggering the inquiry, the second into her convictions.

The CALM2-G114R genetic variant impacting the calcium-binding calmodulin protein, identified in Folbigg and her two daughters, was a "reasonably possible cause" of Sarah and Laura's deaths according to cardiology and genetics experts.

Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, was also a reasonable possible cause of Laura's death.

"Persuasive expert evidence" submitted Patrick may have died from an underlying neurogenetic disorder such as epilepsy, which may have also caused an apparent life-threatening event that hospitalised him before his death, Callan said.

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Reasonable hypotheses on the deaths of those three children undermines the tendency reasoning used to convict Folbigg of Caleb's manslaughter.

"The cause of Caleb's death at 19 days remains undetermined," Callan said.

It is possible, but extremely unlikely, a woman could smother her four children without leaving any signs, she said.

Journal entries used at Folbigg's trial contained certain entries that could be interpreted as admissions, however expert psychological evidence "uniformly indicates that it would be unreliable to interpret the entries in this way".

Guilt and self-blame were typical for someone suffering a major depressive disorder and "maternal grief" after the successive deaths of their children, Callan said.

"This casts Folbigg's expressions of guilt and responsibility for the deaths of her children in her diary and journal entries in a very different light."

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Other submissions to the inquiry argued there were compelling reasons to continue treating the entries as admissions of guilt, but overall, the evidence undermined the probative value of the journal entries, tending to render them neutral, she said.

The Director of Public Prosecutions accepts it is open to the inquiry to conclude there was a reasonable doubt about Folbigg's guilt, Callan said.

"Does that mean I ignore the fact the jury, on the evidence before them, found Folbigg guilty?" Bathurst asked.

New, further, and additional evidence has emerged at the inquiry and "altered the balance" since then, Callan said.

Submissions on Folbigg's behalf urged Bathurst to go as far as finding "a strong probability" she is innocent.

The submission differed from counsel assisting however contained some common ground regarding the new evidence, Callan said.

The inquiry continues.

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The number of cruise ships docking in New South Wales this winter is expected to double that of last season as the industry bounces back from COVID-19.

Over summer 286 ships sailed into NSW bringing over 600,000 passengers to the state, and the season's numbers were just below pre-pandemic levels.

Cruise passengers like Marilyn, who is is celebrating her 70th birthday onboard a cruise, are excited the industry is growing again.

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"We're here for four days heading to Moreton Island and really love cruising," she told 9News.

NSW Port Authority CEO Philip Holliday said it was a sign the health of the industry was growing.

"We've got new cruise lines coming, we've got a complete diversity of the sorts of ships that have something for everybody," he said.

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Carnival Cruise Line president Maguerite Fitzgerald said there was still space available on most cruises this winter.

"Don't let the weather hold you back… rush out book your winter cruise now, before it sells out," Fitzgerald said.

Deals for 2024 are also available.

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