Sydney lawyer Ashlyn Nassif has saved her family $2.6 million simply by showing up to court.

It will be even easier next time as her case has been moved closer to the Concord home she is legally required to share with her mother.

The multimillion-dollar surety was posted when the 28-year-old daughter of property developer Jean Nassif was granted bail earlier in March.

READ MORE: Tradie left with $2500 legal bill after Australia Post bungle

She was charged in February with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage after allegedly securing a $150m loan from Westpac with a falsified pre-sale contract in 2021.

Nassif allegedly submitted misleading contracts to meet a $10.5m pre-sales condition for Skyview Apartments at Castle Hill, in Sydney's northwest, to trigger the $150m bank loan for construction of three towers.

Her father is believed to be overseas after declining to appear at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into property development in the Hills Shire Council.

Nassif made a brief appearance at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, where Magistrate Clare Farnan said she did not want to see her again.

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"(This matter) should normally be at Burwood I'd have thought, what's it doing here?" Farnan asked the court.

Prosecutors were not able to say.

"Do you know if there are any co-accused?" Farnan asked.

"No one else has been arrested yet," the police officer in charge said.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has elected to indict Nassif, taking the matter to a higher court and potentially a jury, rather than have her dealt with by local court magistrates.

"Noting that there has been an election by the DPP in the matter, I'm adjourning," Farnan said.

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Nassif's case will return to a Burwood court on May 10, with a brief of evidence to be served by that date.

Her bail was varied by consent to alter a night-time curfew.

She is still prevented from contacting 25 people, including her father, and required to live at home with her mother.

Nassif handed herself in on February 28 after police simultaneously raided four properties, including her father's multimillion-dollar Chiswick mansion and his Concord-based Toplace development firm.

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Search warrants were executed at the CBD legal firm EA Legal, where Nassif was a managing partner.

The firm's website on Wednesday listed "nothing here" under a tab headed "your team", but its careers page shows two available positions for a construction and planning lawyer.

An archive of the site, taken the day she was arrested, showed Nassif, her sister Evelyn Nassif Helou, and six other lawyers working for the firm.

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A Melbourne mum who ripped off Medicare through her employer, stealing $180,000 because she was angry about working unpaid hours, has had her sentence delayed.

Sarah Ward, 31, was due to be locked up on Wednesday after she admitted a second workplace-based medical fraud.

But on the eve of the sentencing her lawyers produced a third psychological report diagnosing her with a personality disorder – in conflict with two other experts.

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Previous experts found Ward had traits of personality disorders, but did not have a diagnosed condition.

The latest report found she did have a diagnosed personality disorder, with obsessive compulsive traits.

She was not a person driven by sheer greed or plain maliciousness, but by a disordered state of mind, her lawyer Michael Allen said.

Ward put through hundreds of dodgy Medicare claims for herself and her husband while working as a receptionist at the Melbourne Digestive Clinic between March 2019 and April 2020.

She made 1609 false claims in total – up to 80 a day – diverting $181,121.75 into bank accounts for herself and her husband.

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Prosecutor Adam Murphy described it as a "robbery of the Australian community".

The latest medical report described Ward's offending as "passive hostility toward her employers".

Allen said she felt angry she was expected to work unpaid hours, and her obsessive personality provided her with a strategy that momentarily made her feel better about herself.

County Court Judge Geoff Chettle attempted to simplify that, suggesting "that's where she felt she worked too hard and they owed her money and so she stole it".

She'll be jailed when she's sentenced on Friday. She has been approved for a prison program meaning her one-year-old child can go with her.

Ward's offending came as a shock to then-colleague Vanessa Whitelaw, who had initially backed the young mum before being confronted with evidence of her guilt.

Coworkers wondered at Ward's lavish lifestyle, but never dreamed where the money was coming from.

"We thought it was very strange – she was very young, (with a) new family, mortgage driving around in a $150,000 vehicle, Gucci scarves, fancy shoes," she said.

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"But never in a million years did we think that this was going on behind the scenes."

They were not aware that in 2015, Ward dishonestly obtained $29,000 in false refunds on behalf of patients at Cabrini Hospital, where she had worked.

She had been working at another medical practice between the more recent offending and going on maternity leave before the birth of her second child last February.

They were not aware of her fraudulent history.

Ward has since repaid the money.

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Around eight million Australians aged over 18 have experienced physical or sexual violence since they turned 15, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The sobering figure equates to two in five Australians, or about 40 percent of the adult population.

Men are slightly more likely than women to experience violence, results from the bureau's Personal Safety Survey, released today, show.

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"We found 43 per cent of men and 39 per cent of women have experienced either physical or sexual violence since the age of 15," Michelle Ducat, ABS head of crime and justice statistics said.

The survey, which the first of its type in six years, asked 12,000 Australians in 2021 and at the beginning of 2022 about their experiences of violence. 

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For the first time, the survey also included questions about economic abuse.

An estimated 16 per cent of Australian women had experienced economic abuse, which occurs when a person's access to economic resources is controlled or restricted by their partner, the survey found.

Around one in thirteen men also indicated they had experienced economic abuse.

The survey results have given an insight into violence and abuse levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to those reported back in 2016.

"We saw similar rates of physical violence and sexual violence in 2021-22 when compared with 201," Ducat said.

An unexpected finding of the survey showed the rate of sexual harassment declined for both women – down from 17 per cent in 2016 to 13 per cent in 2021-22 – and men – 9.3 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline (13 11 14).

Australia's overall use of illegal drugs dropped by about 10 per cent in the year to last August, according to the latest findings from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program.

But Australians still consumed more than 14 tonnes of methylamphetamine (commonly known as ice), cocaine, MDMA, and heroin – worth an estimated street value of $10 billion – in the 12-month period, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has revealed.

Sydney recorded the most cocaine use and the second-highest MDMA use in all the Australian capital cities in April 2022, the wastewater analysis showed.

READ MORE: Man left with $2500 legal bill after deed to house lost in Australia Post bungle

Melbourne came in as the capital city with the highest MDMA use, with regional South Australians using the highest amount of MDMA use in the country.

Regional Queensland was found to have the highest amount of ketamine use.

Adelaide turned out to be the capital city with the highest amount of ice use, while Hobart was the capital city with the highest oxycodone use.

The Northern Territory came in as having the highest levels of alcohol consumption in all of Australia.

The wastewater samples collected in April covered about 56 per cent of the national population – 14.1 million Australians.

Overall, the ACIC data has shown cocaine, ketamine and heroin consumption was higher in capital cities, while alcohol, nicotine, ice and MDMA use was higher in regional areas.

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Acting ACIC CEO Matt Rippon has said the drug use found was "a concerning amount".

"Both in terms of economic cost – the actual expenditure on drugs – and the cost to the community – through violence, road trauma, property crime, illness, injury and deaths associated with illicit drug use," he said.

"The findings show methylamphetamine continues to be the most consumed illicit stimulant by some margin.

"We also saw record low national consumption of cocaine."

The ACIC found the low level of cocaine consumption is primarily due to police seizures and detections which limited supply, as there was no tangible evidence of a reduction in demand.

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Despite sandbags, anti-tank obstacles, trenches and land mines a common site in Kyiv, residents are living their lives as normally as they can.

From a cabin concept that completely eradicates the middle seat to a swanky design that takes single-aisle aircraft business class to a new level, this year's Crystal Cabin Awards shortlist offers an exciting glimpse at aviation's potential future.

A surprising winner was chosen as the best Aussie town of the year. It beat out some beloved food havens, and iconic natural hotspots for the yearly honour.

Australian governments need to do more this year to help households with the outrageous cost of living, especially energy costs which are set to rise by around 20 per cent for the second year running.

The federal government has promised an extra $1 billion in relief, to be allocated by the states, but only about half of them have revealed new payments so far.

If you're a concession card holder or a self-funded retiree, chances are there's going to be more help for you this year.

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Pensions and other welfare payments will receive a half-yearly increase of 3.7 per cent on 20 March, almost keeping up with inflation.

But Wesley Mission, Foodbank, the Salvos and others are already reporting a spike in people asking for help – many of them mortgage borrowers.

Key Points

• Until 24 March, Victorians can get up to $500 just for visiting their government energy comparison website
• Almost every state now has a website where you can easily check you're getting every payment you're entitled to
• Self-funded retirees with an income under $90,000 can now get a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card which opens up health discounts plus cost of living payments in NSW, SA, WA & ACT.

Here's the government relief announced so far.

VICTORIA

• Up to $500 'power saving bonus' for households (if you're quick).
• Use the Victorian 'Savings Finder' to check what you're eligible for.
• The Victorian government has announced another round of its "$250 power saving bonus" from 24 March, which billpayers get just for visiting the government comparison website compare.energy.vic.gov.au

Top tip

If you've already claimed one $250 bonus, claim another after 24 March. If you haven't claimed one yet, make sure you do so before 24 March, then claim another after that date. When I posted this one on TikTok a few weeks back, it shot to over 200,000 views in a few days and some commenters even said they've been able to claim an extra $250 after moving house: "If you moved houses between when it came out and now, you can apply earlier. Meaning I got $500 from this round and can still claim $250 on 24th."

Meanwhile, Victoria also has a range of other payments for concession cardholders:

• Annual electricity concession (17.5% of electricity usage and service costs up to annual bills of $3000, which equals up to about $500)
• Winter gas concession (17.5% of winter gas bills up to $1734, which equals about $300).
• Up to 75% off council rates

There are also a range of vouchers and discounts on registration, transport and health for eligible households.

NSW

State election promises at least $250 in extra payments. Use the NSW Savings Finder to check what you're eligible for.

The coalition government has promised to copy Victoria if re-elected on 25 March and pay $250 to those who use the government comparison website. 

Labor has said it will give $250, to be matched by another $250 from the federal government, to concession card holders, Family Tax Benefit recipients and self-funded retirees with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

NSW also has the following in place already for concession cardholders, families and (unlike Victoria) also for some self-funded retirees:

• Up to $1000 in various vouchers for families.
• Energy Accounts Payment Assistance Scheme: $50 vouchers up to $1600p.a. For households experiencing a short-term financial crisis or emergency.
• Low Income Household rebate $285p.a.
• 'Energy Bill Buster': If you get the Low Income Household Rebate, you can now get a free 3kw solar system or energy efficiency upgrades worth up to $4000 by trading in 10 year's worth of rebates.
• Gas Rebate: $110p.a.
• Family Energy Rebate: $180. For recipients of the Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• Seniors Rebate $200p.a. For self-funded retirees with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC). 

Top tip

The means testing for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card went up by about 50% last year, so do check if you can get it.

There are also a range of discounts on tolls, registration, transport and health for eligible households.

Queensland

No change yet to $625 in payments delivered last year 

Use the 'Smart Savings' concessions finder to see what you qualify for.

A $175 cost of living rebate was automatically applied to all energy bills last year and the Queensland government has not yet said whether it will do it again in 2023. 

They also have these payments for concession cardholders

• Electricity Rebate ($372.20p.a.) 
• Reticulated Natural Gas Rebate ($80.77p.a.)
• 20% subsidy on council rates
• Home Energy Emergency Assistance Scheme: up to $720 for an unforeseen emergency or a short-term financial crisis. 

South Australia

Over $700 in energy bill relief so far.

Visit ConcessionsSA to see what you're eligible for or call 1800 307 758.

Like NSW and WA, SA has payments for concession card holders but also for self-funded retirees with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Like QLD, it has not yet announced any increase in payments from last year.

SA also has the following for concession cardholders, low income households and self-funded retirees:

• Energy Bill concession: Up to $241.63 p.a. for Electricity & Gas.
• Cost of Living Concession: $449 for owner-occupiers, $224.60 for renters/self-funded retirees.
• SA Concessions Energy Discount Offer – this special plan from retailer Origin Energy is available only to Concessions customers and offers 17% off electricity and 11% off gas, along with flexible payment plans and no late fees. 
• Affordable SA is a one-stop-shop for information for any South Australian struggling with affordability issues. It is run by The Salvation Army with support from the Government of South Australia.
• There are also concessions for water and sewerage bills. 

WA

No news yet on $400 energy payment.

Visit the Concessions WA website to see everything you're eligible for

Last year, West Australians got $400 from the government to help with power bills and the pressure is on for WA to offer it again this year but there's no news so far.

Here's what they have in place so far for pensioners, concession card holders and self-funded retirees:

• Energy Assistance Payment: $318.37
• Dependent child rebate: $334.77 for one child and $87.72 for each additional chil
• The Air Conditioning Rebate: $68.68 per month for the cost of running an air conditioner in areas that are deemed high heat discomfort locations
• Hardship Utilities Grant Scheme: Up to $960/year for households experiencing financial hardship and at risk of disconnection.

ACT

Pensioners and concession cardholders can get the Utilities Concession ($750 last year, plus a one-off bonus of $50).

The ACT Government says it has more than 65 discounts, rebates and subsidies to help with housing, rates, utilities, transport, health and other services.

Use the ACT 'Savings Finder' to check what you're eligible for.

Tasmania

Tassie has an Annual electricity concession ($574.73p.a. + $119 Winter Bill Buster discount in 2022) and a Heating allowance ($56p.a.) for pensioners and concession cardholders. 

NT

The NT has one of the most generous payments with an Electricity concession (Up to $1200p.a.). 

Don't forget non-government help too

Energy retailers and telcos and banks all have hardship schemes for those who are having trouble paying. If you get onto one of these schemes, you'll be less likely to get cut-off or chased by debt collectors and you might then qualify for other assistance too.

A range of charities and not-for-profits such as Foodbank, Vinnies, the Salvos and Wesley Mission give free food, financial counselling or other assistance to families in need.

Joel Gibson is the author of KILL BILLS & EASY MONEY. He's spent the last two decades hunting down money-saving tricks, hacks and loopholes and sharing them with households via his books, regular media appearances, and on TikTok, Instagram & Twitter.

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.

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A Victorian man says he has spent months dealing with an Australia Post "nightmare" that began with a mystery signature and ended with him being forced to foot a $2500 legal bill.

At stake was an important document lost in the mail – the deed to the Geelong home of Colin Chapman and his wife.

When the couple paid off their mortgage in November last year, Chapman said he asked staff at the Commonwealth Bank if he could come and personally collect the certificate of title for the property when it was ready.

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"I was told, 'No, we have to send it to you by registered post,'" Chapman said.

Chapman, who runs his own excavation and landscaping small business, told 9news.com.au he was following the tracking information closely on the day the deed was due to arrive at their home.

After getting to work in the morning, Chapman said he checked the tracking number and saw it had already been marked as delivered.

"I called my wife, who was at home, and asked her if she had received it. She told me nothing had come," he said.

Puzzled, Chapman said he immediately went down to the local post office to ask what had happened.

That's when things grew even more strange.

Chapman said he was shown a copy of the delivery signature supposedly signed by his wife at 8.30am that morning.

"I looked at it and said, 'That's not my wife's signature'," Chapman said.

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Chapman said both he and his wife were at home at the time the delivery was supposedly made – but neither heard a knock on the door.

The gate at the front of their property was also locked, making it impossible for the delivery driver to enter, he said.

"We weren't expecting it (the delivery) to come that early and the gate was still locked at 8.30am."

What followed, Chapman said, was five frustrating and stressful weeks dealing with Australia Post's customer service department.

"What I had to go through with Australia Post was just a complete nightmare," he said.

"It took them three-and-a-half weeks just to get them to admit it was lost in transit. 

"They kept trying to say that it was delivered, that my wife had signed for it, and that the driver had dropped a 'pin' outside our house. 

"Well, my wife didn't sign for it – but the question is, who did?"

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"I lost sleep, it was so stressful. I reckon I sent about 60 to 70 emails, and spent 100 hours of my time to get an answer out of them."

Australia Post eventually acknowledged Chapman's delivery had been lost, but there was still the problem of the missing deed.

Chapman said his solicitor advised him a new deed would need to be applied for, along with a supporting affidavit from Australia Post to confirm the first certificate of title was lost in transit.

All up, Chapman estimated he spent about $2500 on legal fees to get a digital certificate of title issued, which he finally received in January. The deed lost in the mail was a paper version.

Chapman said Australia Post had offered just $100 in compensation after his ordeal – but added his dissatisfaction was not just about the money he had lost.

"Australia Post need to be held accountable for all of the stress they have caused us. They have pushed us pillar to post and it seems like all they are concerned with is protecting their brand."

An Australia Post spokesperson said the service was sorry for Chapman's experience.

"Australia Post sincerely apologises to the customer for this issue," the spokesperson said in a statement to 9news.com.au.

"Our processing and delivery teams work hard to deliver every item with care, and the vast majority of items make it to their destination safely. In this instance, unfortunately the item has been lost. We have reached out to the customer to offer compensation."

Chapman's experience with Australia Post comes just weeks after the Federal Government announced it was conducting a sweeping review of Australia Post and the services it provides.

At question is whether Australia Post's unprofitable letter delivery service should be scaled back to allow more focus on its fast-growing parcel service instead.

While Australia Post is entirely government-owned, it is also self funded. It is under obligation to deliver letters to Australian homes five days a week and operate post offices close to homes.

READ MORE: The government cost-of-living payments everyone needs to know about

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Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally announced on Monday that he is "pausing" all social media activity after revelations that he repeatedly commented on posts of nearly nude photos of a young gay model and other LGBTIQ personalities.

McNally, a Republican, initially stated last week that he "had no intention of stopping" when pressed about why he repeatedly commented on racy social media posts by the 20-year-old.

He later issued an apology, saying it was not his intention to embarrass his friends, family or members of the legislature.

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However, the 79-year-old legislative leader has since received national attention — including being parodied on Saturday Night Live — with critics accusing McNally of being hypocritical. Particularly, McNally supported legislation restricting where certain drag shows can take place.

Some of the posts that have sparked the most uproar include commenting on a photo of the man's backside, where he was wearing only underwear, saying "you can turn a rainy day into rainbow and sunshine."

McNally then posted a comment using only heart and fire emojis. In a separate post, McNally posted a heart emoji of the man pulling down his underwear.

"While I see now that I should have been more careful about how my comments and activity would be perceived, my intent was always engagement and encouragement," McNally said in a statement. "For this reason, I will be pausing my social media activity in order to reflect and receive more guidance on the use of social media."

McNally added while he may have made "some mistakes," he disagreed that he had a record of being "anti-gay" and pointed to his opposition of a 2020 law that assured continued taxpayer funding of faith-based foster care and adoption agencies even if those organisations exclude LGBTQ families and others based on religious beliefs.

Yet McNally then pointed to his support of "traditional marriage" and support of bills that "keep obscenity out of the public sphere."

"There is no contradiction here," he said.

McNally, who is from Oak Ridge, became lieutenant governor in 2017. He has been a state lawmaker since the late 1970s.

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