“If she thought it was so valuable why did she put a $100 reserve on it?” – auctioneer.

Breaking news. More to come.

Police were notified of the crash around 3.20pm today.

Police are still searching for a pregnant mother and her three children missing from Sydney's south-west since Sunday, with concerns they could be in Queensland.

Elizabeth Harpley, 36, and her sons – Mathew Harpley, 10, Christopher Harpley, nine, and Mitchell Devine-Harpley, five – were last seen at Koshigaya Park, Campbelltown about 2pm on Sunday.

Family and police have serious concerns for their welfare as the children live with conditions that require medication, which they do not have with them.

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They may be travelling with a man, 49, who is known to the family, and may be travelling in a red Jeep with Queensland registration plates 061 VKM, police said.

Elizabeth is described as being of Caucasian appearance, with medium-length brown hair. She is heavily pregnant and was last seen wearing jeans, a black t-shirt and a cardigan.

Mathew is described as being of Caucasian appearance, with a slim build and short, blonde, curly hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a dark green hooded jumper.

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Christopher is described as being of Caucasian appearance, with a slim build and short, brown, curly hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans with a brown hooded jumper.

Mitchell is described as being of Caucasian appearance, with slim build and short, blonde, wavy hair. He was last seen wearing dark blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt.

They are known to frequent the areas of Campbelltown and Wollongong in NSW, and Pullenvale in QLD.

Anyone who sees the children should call triple zero immediately.

Monaro Kerr-Wilson owed a drug debt to gangs – and defrauded people to pay it back.

The Queensland Police Union may buy the regional property where two officers were ambushed and "executed" last week.

Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, were shot dead by Nathaniel Train, his brother Gareth and sister-in-law Stacey at a Wiemballa property on Monday last week.

Union president Ian Leavers said he wants to secure the property as a "permanent place of solace and reflection" to honour the two young officers.

READ MORE: Four teens found alive after going missing in Port Phillip Bay

He said he has spoken with premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about the proposal.

"She has supported our idea for the land to be resumed so a meaningful memorial can be created, the families of Matt and Rachel are also backing our proposal," Leavers said.

In the aftermath of Monday's bloodshed, Train was linked to anti-authoritarian views in various writings found scattered online.

Leavers said in light of these links it is more important to secure the land so it doesn't "fall into the wrong hands and become a beacon for evil".

"I do not want this land to be used by anti vaxxer, pro-gun conspiracy theorists, or sovereign citizens to use the reputation of this site for their warped and dangerous ideologies," he said.

"The QPU has an obligation to safeguard this property to honour the police and a good intentioned neighbour who lost their lives at this location."

The union wants a memorial to be created at the Wieambilla site and has proposed the rest of the property be used as a retreat for serving and retired officers or a training facility.

READ MORE: January 6 panel urges criminal charges against Donald Trump

The state's police minister Mark Ryan supports the union's proposal and said the government would consider what the land could be used for but it should host a memorial space.

"In my view, that ground is now sacred ground. That is where the lives of two heroes of Queensland were taken," Ryan said.

"I can think of no better way to preserve that forever than a process around how that block might be owned by the government or police union."

As the state and country grapples to come to terms with the violent attack on the officers, the federal government is considering how to prevent a mass shooting, particularly targeting the police force, from occurring again.

"My government will take any advice, particularly from police and law enforcement, about better ways in which we can have coordination and better laws to protect people," Anthony Albanese said.

"I am certainly up for dialogue with the states and territories about how there can be a better national consistency and national information that can serve the interests of police going about their duty."

Albanese said at the next meeting of national cabinet in the new year leaders will talk about preventative measures but the country's gun laws will not be up for discussion.

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Meanwhile, it is just one day before the memorial service for the fallen officers which is set to be the biggest Queensland has ever seen.

Starting at 10am (AEST) on Wednesday, more than 8000 people are expected to attend to pay their respects to the constables.

The ceremony will be livestreamed on Channel 9 for viewers in Queensland and 9news.com.au for viewers around the country.

A human heart has been discovered in the Tennessee Department of Transportation's salt barn in the small US town of McEwen.

According to Humphrey's County Sheriff Chris Davis, TDOT workers were combining products to make brine on Thursday. As workers were retrieving salt from their barn, they discovered what they believed to be a weirdly shaped rock.

"I've got 32 years in law enforcement," Davis said. "I do have to say this is probably in the top five of most bizarre things that I've ever seen."

READ MORE: Four teens found alive on Swan island after going missing in Port Phillip Bay

The heart had been there for a while, Davis said, and was dehydrated from the salt.

"Somebody, somewhere knows, and we're seeking information," Davis said. "I always reach out to the public if you happen to have any idea or just an inclination."

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was on the scene Friday, helping sheriff's deputies sift through sand to look for other body parts. As of Friday evening, they hadn't found anything.

"We're just going to keep doing that until we feel really good that there's no other remains here on the scene," Davis said.

READ MORE: January 6 panel urges criminal charges against Donald Trump

Davis is appreciative of the TDOT workers who acted on an uneasy feeling and called police.

"They did act out of suspicion and my hat's off to them. You know, they got to thinking and when they got that first inclination or doubt in their mind they made the right call," Davis said.

"I'm very appreciative of that and hopefully when we can find the rest of the remains then the family, I hope will be thankful for that as well."

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the heart was determined to be that of an adult male.

Additional DNA testing will be performed to try to determine the heart's origin. The investigation remains ongoing and will be led by TBI special agents and deputies with the Humphreys County Sheriff's Office.

China's abrupt and under-prepared exit from zero-Covid could lead to nearly one million deaths, according to a new study, as the country braces for an unprecedented wave of infections spreading out from its biggest cities to its vast rural areas.

For nearly three years, the Chinese government has used strict lockdowns, centralised quarantines, mass testing and rigorous contact tracing to curb the spread of the virus.

That costly strategy was abandoned earlier this month, following an explosion of protests across the country against stringent restrictions that have upended businesses and daily life.

READ MORE: China announces first COVID-19 deaths in weeks as virus surges

But experts have warned that the country is poorly prepared for such a drastic exit, having fallen short on bolstering the elderly vaccination rate, upping surge and intensive care capacity in hospitals, and stockpiling antiviral medications.

Under the current conditions, a nationwide reopening could result in up to 684 deaths per million people, according to projections by three professors at the University of Hong Kong.

Given China's population of 1.4 billion people, that would amount to 964,400 deaths.

The surge of infections would "likely overload many local health systems across the country," said the research paper, released last week on the Medrxiv preprint server and which has yet to undergo peer review.

Simultaneously lifting restrictions in all provinces would lead to hospitalisation demands 1.5 to 2.5 times of surge hospital capacity, according to the study.

READ MORE: Paleontologists solve mystery of fossil death bed

But this worst-case scenario could be avoided if China rapidly rolls out booster shots and antiviral drugs.

With fourth-dose vaccination coverage of 85 per cent and antiviral coverage of 60 per cent, the death toll can be reduced by 26 per cent to 35 per cent, according to the study, which is funded partly by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Hong Kong government.

On Monday, Chinese health authorities announced two Covid deaths, both in the capital Beijing, which is grappling with its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

They were the first officially reported deaths since the dramatic easing of restrictions on December 7, although Chinese social media posts have pointed to a surge in demand at Beijing's funeral homes and crematoriums in recent weeks.

An employee at a funeral home on the outskirts of Beijing told CNN they were swamped by the long queues for cremation, and customers would need to wait until at least the next day to cremate their loved ones.

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On Baidu, China's dominant online search engine searches for "funeral homes" by Beijing residents have hit a record high since the pandemic began.

Other major cities are also facing a surge in infections. In the financial hub of Shanghai, schools have moved most classes online starting from Monday.

In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, authorities have told students that are already taking online classes and pre-schoolers not to prepare for a return to school.

In the megacity of Chongqing in the southwest, authorities announced on Sunday that public sector workers testing positive for Covid can go to work "as normal" – a remarkable turnaround for a city that only weeks ago had been in the throes of a mass lockdown.

It is difficult to judge the true scale of the outbreak by official numbers. China stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week, conceding it was no longer possible to track the actual number of infections.

READ MORE: January 6 panel urges criminal charges against Donald Trump

These asymptomatic cases used to account for the bulk of the country's official caseload. But the rest of the case count has been rendered meaningless too, as cities roll back mass testing and allow people to use antigen tests and isolate at home.

Chinese experts have warned that the worst is yet to come. Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese CDC, said the country is being hit by the first of three expected waves of infections this winter.

Speaking at a conference in Beijing on Saturday, Wu said the current wave would run until mid-January.

The second wave is expected to last from late January to mid-February next year, triggered by the mass travel ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on January 21.

READ MORE: Calls for asymptomatic COVID-19 testing to be introduced in schools

Every year, hundreds of millions of people who have left their hometowns to build a life in China's fast-growing cities pour into trains, buses and planes to see their family – a weeks-long travel rush known as the largest annual human migration on Earth.

For three consecutive years, these homecoming trips have been discouraged by authorities under the zero-Covid policy.

And experts warn that with domestic travel restrictions lifted, the virus could sweep through China's countryside, where vaccination rates are lower and medical resources are lacking.

A third wave of cases would run from late February to mid-March as people returned to work after the week-long holiday, Wu said.

Authorities have dealt with a smooth criminal of a different kind, after a highly venomous snake breached Australian Federal Police's (AFP) Adelaide headquarters.

AFP confirmed the intruder, an eastern brown snake, was found in the carpark of its airport office yesterday.

Officers contained the animal in a box and waited for a snake handler to arrive.

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"While waiting for the catcher to arrive, the duty Sergeant took this x-ray of the box to confirm the snake was safely contained," AFP said.

"We aren't usually in the business of snakes (depends who you ask though), but with temperatures starting to rise, remember to take care of yourselves and your animals.

"Thanks to our Adelaide team for the lawful removal of this intruder."

READ MORE: Australia's own snake island, where 'giant' tiger snakes slither

The warning comes in the midst of snake season, which typically runs from September to April.

Last week a Queensland family came face to face with their worst nightmare when an eastern brown popped up between garage floorboards

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Eastern brown snakes are Australia's second most venomous land snake.

An untreated bite is believed to be capable of killing in as little as 30 minutes.

Tiger King star Carole Baskin is preparing for a busy 2023 and has issued a callout to her followers after the US Senate last week passed the monumental Big Cat Public Safety Bill.

This week, US President Joe Biden is expected to sign the act. By doing so, the legislation will end roadside zoos – such as Joe Exotic's infamous GW Zoo, which was permanently closed in 2020 after being awarded to Baskin – and regulate the ownership of big cats as pets.

For Baskin, an animal rights activist and CEO of non-profit animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue, it's a culmination of her life's work.

But another task is just beginning.

READ MORE: Four teens found alive on Swan island after going missing

The 61-year-old has been lobbying for the bill since 1998 and said it would stop "the most egregious form of big cat abuse"; private exotic cat ownership, and cub petting, a practice where parks offer paying customers close encounters with baby animals.

She told 9news.com.au she didn't think the day when it would be passed would actually come.

"Every two-year session I thought, 'this would be the year,'" she said.

"This became the last chance. If it hadn't passed this year I don't think it would have passed with the kind of Congress we have set up for next year.

"I really think this is the first step to saving the tiger in the wild.

"And when I say the tiger, I mean the lions, the leopards and everybody because they're all critically endangered."

READ MORE: January 6 panel urges criminal charges against Donald Trump

Baskin shot to fame in March 2020 after the release of the Netflix series Tiger King, which focused on her ongoing feud with media personality Joe Exotic, otherwise known as Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage.

Exotic is currently serving a 22-year sentence after attempting to hire a hitman to kill Baskin.

Since the series' release, Baskin has claimed she was misrepresented in the production.

Alongside the feud, the documentary covered the unexplained disappearance, and rumoured murder, of Baskin's second husband Don Lewis – a rumour Exotic helped perpetuate.

Baskin admitted the series played a dual role in the law's passing.

READ MORE: 'Serial Grinch' arrested stealing Robert De Niro's Christmas presents

"One of the good things about Tiger King is people saw the way those animals lived and they hated it," she said. 

"People saw what the real issues were, and it wasn't just some crazy feud between crazy cat people."

However, even though the documentary helped raise her profile, the animal activist suspects it initially hampered the passing of the bill.

"There's been two sides to it," she said.

"In 2020 we passed the House with two-thirds. We sent the bill over to the Senate and I really thought it was going to pass, but then Tiger King came out.

"People were calling it the 'Tiger King Bill', and the senators who didn't like it were mocking it, saying they didn't want anything to do with it.

"So it didn't pass when it could've."

Baskin said she's disappointed it has taken this long for the bill to be passed by the US Senate.

"There aren't even words for how disappointed I am with my own country for allowing this to continue for so long," she said.

"Most other countries, the UK being one and Australia of course, they haven't allowed this kind of activity since the 70s.

"You guys cleaned up your mess a long time ago.

"The US has not regulated the trade of these animals until now ... it will be the first step to saving the wild cats who are being poached for these purposes."

Baskin said next year will be a busy one, as she works to support the enforcement of the law.

"This is going to be the first step in a (big cat) registration program," she said.

"A big part of what we will be doing will be trying to find out where these cats are.

"We're going to be asking our huge social media audience to try and pin down where it is these cats are actually living, so we can make sure they are registered.

"That's the only way to know whether people are buying and breeding more, is to have an initial count."