With floodwaters rising around her, Margaret had to act.

La Niña isn’t done with NZ’s drenched north, with another soaking possible in early March.

The squatter ‘pestered friend’ for the gun in order to shoot goats, he said.

During her eight-year-old son's hospital stay, Jodie — a registered nurse — kept telling staff something wasn't right.

However, she was left feeling like "that dramatic parent who is worrying about nothing".

Barely 48 hours after being admitted to hospital, her autistic son Hunter was dead.

A coroner has found staff at a regional Queensland hospital did not act on Jodie's calls for reassessment and failed to properly diagnose the boy who died of a bowel obstruction in March 2020.

In her non-inquest findings, acting coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard said a "constellation of issues" led to a failure to recognise and respond to the boy's deterioration.

Hunter, who was diagnosed with autism at two years old, was taken to the unidentified hospital's emergency department with stomach pain on the afternoon of March 15, 2020.

He was transferred to the paediatric ward with his mother — who staff were aware was a registered nurse — by his side.

A nursing entry made at 2.45pm the next day noted Hunter was "miserable".

He suffered persistant abdominal pain and increasing vomiting but couldn't tell doctors specifically where his stomach was hurting.

In messages sent to her husband on the second evening, Jodie expressed concerns about their hospital stay.

She felt "like everyone is getting the shits with me because Hunter is sick".

Jodie thought her son's condition should have improved but felt "I'm being that dramatic parent who is worrying about nothing".

Hunter vomited about 1.5 litres on the second night.

At 9.30am the next day an urgent review was requested with about 20 doctors present.

"Don't worry Jodie about all these doctors here, they are here so we don't miss anything," the mother was told.

Jodie asked during the review whether they thought her son had a bowel obstruction but they didn't think so.

He deteriorated further and about 11.45am "suddenly turned grey, his lips were blue, his eyes sunken".

Hunter was declared dead soon afterwards.

"Hunter's family expressed significant concern about the apparent failure by his treating teams to recognise and respond to his clinical deterioration despite Jodie voicing her concerns," the coroner wrote.

"The family also felt the surgical team did not have enough training in looking after children with autism.

"Her concerns that something was not right were not acted on with reassessment and further clinical investigations."

The coroner said while Hunter's autism complicated his assessment, clinical information coupled with repeated parental concerns should have prompted the junior surgical team to seek consultant input as early as his first night at the hospital.

"The lack of senior surgical and paediatric oversight, review and management was a significant missed opportunity to have further investigated and diagnosed (Hunter) … and may potentially have changed the outcome," Kirkegaard said.

The coroner was satisfied that the hospital and health service had conducted a comprehensive review that identified management and decision-making deficiencies.

She said the hospital had since taken appropriate steps to implement guidelines for managing paediatric patients with acute abdominal pain including those with developmental disorders.

"The circumstances in which Hunter died reinforce the vital importance of treating teams listening to and acting on parental/family/carer concerns about a paediatric patient," the coroner wrote.

"No parent or carer who knows their child best, let alone one with current clinical training and knowledge, should ever be left feeling like they are being 'that dramatic parent is who is worrying about nothing'."

After six years a couple will have to pay the legal costs of a builder they sued.

An Australian academic is one of five researchers who have been taken hostage by an armed group in a remote part of Papua New Guinea.

The group was doing fieldwork in remote Papua New Guinea when he was held at gunpoint by 20 men.

His captors are asking for $1.4 million dollars.

READ MORE: Aussie killed in shark attack at tourist beach

Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape confirmed in a press conference several people, including an Australian, had been taken hostage.

"Unfortunately as of last night one Australian as well as a couple of Papua New Guineans were taken hostage in the middle of the Southern Highlands," Marape said.

"We have been keeping this under close wrap because of the sensitivity and the need for us to get our friends who have been captured get them alive and safe.

"The government for the last 18 or so hours have kept this to ourselves."

Marape confirmed negotiations are underway and he is "prayerful" he will get them out.

"I want to inform the families of those taken hostage that we have been at work and contact has been made with people in the bush through secondary sources," he said.

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"We're treating this very very diligently and carefully because lives are at risk and life is at stake."

9news.com.au contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment.

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Vision has captured the horrific moment an Australian tourist was killed by a shark at a crowded beach in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia just weeks after another attack.

The 59-year-old man, who was holidaying and is believed to have been travelling alone, was swimming close to a pontoon about 150 metres from the beach in the capital Noumea on Sunday when the shark attacked, biting him several times.

CCTV footage shows lifesavers rushing out on jet skis to help the man who suffered severe wounds to his arms and legs.

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Lifesavers took him to shore and try and resuscitate him for 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived but he died at the scene.

It is believed a four-metre tiger shark attacked the 59-year-old.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed the death of the Australian man and said it is providing consular assistance to his family.

"DFAT offers its condolences to the family, who has requested privacy at this difficult time," a DFAT spokesperson said.

"Owing to our privacy obligations and out of respect for the family's wishes, we are unable to provide further comment."

The sea off the was packed with people at the time of Sunday's incident.

One witness to the attack described the horrific injuries the man suffered.

"I offered my help to give CPR because back in France I'm a paramedic," Amal Gicquel said.

"But when I arrived there were many people helping already like nurses and doctors were helping the lifeguards.

"I saw the victim and he was bitten on the legs, one hand was gone and the other hand was gone.

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"It was really bad."

Police evacuated the beach after a mass rush from the waters to the beach.

Local prosecutor Yves Dupas told AFP two people sailing their boat nearby rushed him back to the Chateau-Royal beach, just south of the capital Noumea, where emergency services tried to save him.

Details have emerged of the man's injuries and efforts to save him.

Paramedic Vincent Ouradou told local television network Nouvelle Caledonie 1ere that the victim had been bitten three times by the shark: on the right leg and on both arms.

"The man was simply swimming. I think at least three parts of his body have been bitten off, his right leg and his two arms, he unfortunately died of these injuries," Ouradou said.

Following the man's death, authorities deployed three drones to search for the shark but it has yet to be observed. The search will continue on Tuesday.

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The beach had only reopened last Thursday after a similar attack three weeks ago in the same spot.

Local Bridgette Do, 49, is currently recovering in Westmead Hospital after she was attacked by a shark on her daily swim.

She lost a hand, four fingers from the other hand and part of her leg.

Do's father Owen Drew was asked whether it was a miracle she was alive and he said yes as she suffered "unbelievable wounds".

"She is very lucky she had those people assist her on the beach," Drew said.

Noosa couple Lance Rae and his wife Jane, who is a nurse, were among the first on the scene when Do was attacked.

"She was very calm and she was very resilient and you could see she had a strong will to live," Jane said.

"She had lost a lot of blood but she remained conscious until the paramedics arrived."

But while she was being treated on the shore, the shark was lurking after following the trail of blood towards the beach.

"I saw the shark was coming in again I said to the policeman 'shoot the shark', I said 'give me the gun I'll shoot the shark' ," Lance said.

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President of New Caledonia's Southern Province Sonia Backes said witnesses had been left in distress after Sunday's attack.

"There were young children who were shocked by what they saw," she told Nouvelle Caledonie 1ere.

Chateau Royal Beach and other nearby beaches have been closed indefinitely.

Following the death, authorities also announced a culling program for tiger sharks and bull sharks. 

New Caledonia lies 1200km east of Australia.

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, it is ranked 13th in the world for the total number of shark attacks.



Around 650 competitors aged between 11 and 70 plus took part in the event.

Large labels warning that a product is high in saturated fat, sugar or salt could soon be found on popular supermarket items.

Researchers from Deakin University found saying something is unhealthy was not as effective as a large graphic warning label on the front of packaging to encourage people to make healthier choices.

Professor Chris Dubelaar said other types of food labelling, including the 'Health Star Rating', would not stop people from buying high-processed junk foods.

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"A basic food label that tells you something is not good for you doesn't work, people ignore it," the co-author of the research paper said.

"Unless it has a big warning label on the front of that pack that explicitly says, 'this is going to hurt you', people will ignore it."

The calls are supported by those in the health sector who believe obesity is a growing problem, only made worse by ultra-processed foods.

READ MORE: Australian tourist killed by shark in New Caledonia

One in four Australian children between the ages of two and 17 are overweight or obese, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

These rates are far higher in adults. 

The ABS states two in three Australians aged over 18 are overweight or obese, which is about 12.5 million people.

Being overweight or obese increases the likelihood of developing many chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, back problems, chronic kidney disease, dementia, diabetes, and some cancers.

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"We have a very serious problem in Australia, it's overwhelming our hospital system," Obesity Policy Coalition Executive Manager Jane Martin said.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand is considering whether to include added sugar information on the nutrition labels for packaged foods.

The Victorian Health Department, which is in charge of the voluntary health star rating system, has said the government is committed to the implementation of the National Preventive Health National Obesity Strategies.

The well-loved man failed to return home after going out for a kayak on Thursday night.