Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air “O le ala ile pule o le tautua”, is a Samoan proverb meaning “the pathway to leadership is through service”.Hailing from the village of Puipa’a in Samoa, and residing in South…

Twenty-eight pou will watch over the soon-to-be-built $15 million wellness and diagnostic centre in Enderley, Hamilton.A team of five skilled carvers from Te Kōhao Health have custom-made the 28 pou that will mark the Tennyson…

An 11-year-old boy is still "very much in shock" after being sucked into a flooded stormwater drain in Melbourne.

Jake Gilbert was riding his bike with a friend when he unwittingly cycled over a submerged drain and was sucked 10 metres under the road in Altona last Thursday afternoon.

"I can't believe that happened to me … how have I survived," Jake said today.

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The schoolboy managed to grab a metal grate on the other side of the road when passerby Justin Costello, who is coincidentally a State Emergency Service member, rushed to help.

He called police and started removing the bolts from the grate Jake was clinging to.

Constable Peter Ivory arrived on the scene and with other officers helped pull the grate off and get Jake out as he became fully submerged. 

Jake was taken to hospital but was stable.

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The forceful flood waters also washed Jake's friend off his bike, but he managed to brace himself before getting sucked into the drain.

He reunited with his rescuers today and expressed his gratitude for those who saved his life. 

"It feels good to actually be able to meet the people who rescued me in person," Jake said.

Ivory praised Jake's resilience and strength for coming out of the potentially deadly situation.

"It's good to see him in the family and how happy they are that everything went well," Ivory said.

"It was a very intense situation."

The 11-year-old was also presented with a new bike, to replace the one lost in the floodwater. 

South Australia is set to criminalise stealthing, the act of non-consensually removing a condom during sex.

The Criminal Law Consolidation (Stealthing) Amendment Bill passed through the state's parliament yesterday, with offenders to face a maximum of life imprisonment if they are convicted.

Stealthing has already been criminalised in Tasmania, NSW, ACT and Victoria.

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SA Best MP Connie Bonaros, who put forward the bill, said stealthing was a "repugnant and disgusting act of betrayal".

"From a judicial perspective it needs to be treated by the police and our court system in the same manner," Bonaros said.

"Such grotesque acts of indecency deserve to be treated in the same manner as rape and a crime punishable by terms of imprisonment."

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Bonaros' new law will replace the current Criminal Law Consideration Act, to explicitly state that a person's consent is negated if it is caused by the misrepresentation by the other person about the use of a condom.

Last month, a study of 10,000 people by the Australian Institute of Criminology found one in three women and one in five men, who had sex with men, had been stealthed.

Simarpreet Singh, 17, had just finished a school exam when she went for a dip with her cousin at a rough Auckland beach. Tragically, the teen never came home.It was November 23 last year when the girls headed to Karioitahi Beach…

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shut down questions raised over his integrity after fresh revelations were made by a cyclist who was hit by the premier's car – when it was being driven by his wife – nearly a decade ago.

Ryan Meuleman was 15 when he was seriously injured in the crash on the Mornington Peninsula in January 2013.

The 24-year-old is now engaging lawyers to dispute Daniel Andrews and his wife's version of events, according to a report in the Herald Sun.

READ MORE: Dehydrated and malnourished koala rescued from cave in Victoria

Andrews responded to and shut down nearly all questions about the crash in a press conference today.

"I've canvassed those matters in great detail and I've got no further comment to make," he said.

Meuleman spent 11 days at the Royal Children's Hospital before he was visited by two police officers at his home.

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He claimed to the Herald Sun he was unable to speak to the officers because there had been "tubes removed from (his) throat".

"They did not come back at any time thereafter to get a statement from me," he said.

Victoria Police did not lay any charges in relation to the incident. 

New South Wales residents have been warned the state is in the early stages of its next COVID-19 wave.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant provided an update on Twitter today, saying case numbers are expected to rise in the coming weeks.

"We're starting to see an increase in COVID cases and changes in the variants circulating in New South Wales, which tells us that we're entering the next COVID wave," she said.

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"By looking at all the local information we have and what's happening overseas, we believe COVID cases will rise in the coming weeks."

Chant said while the Omicron mutations that have been most prevalent for much of the year – BA.4 and BA.5 – remain the most common, new sublineages are beginning to grow.

"BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron continue to be the most common variants, however we are seeing a rise in XBB, BQ1.1 and BA.2 sublineages."

XBB, which contains mutations from BA.2, was originally detected in August and has since spread rapidly, particularly in Singapore, where it took three weeks to become the dominant subvariant.

READ MORE: Ongoing impact of COVID-19 revealed in a new study

Both it and BQ.1 have mutations that help escape immunity, but while XBB is a subvariant under monitoring by the World Health Organisation, BQ.1 isn't yet.

Chant said NSW was well-placed to deal with the incoming wave due to existing immunity.

"The protection the New South Wales community has from vaccination and previous infection continues to reduce the risk of severe illness," she said.

"However, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions will continue to be at higher risk."

She also encouraged people to find out whether they will need anti-viral medication if they catch the disease, and to stay up to date with vaccinations.

"This is your best protection, including against the latest variants."

Three weeks have been set aside for a court hearing when former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston will fight allegations he concealed his father's sexual offences.

Houston's matter was mentioned in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday but he was excused from appearing.

Hearing dates have been confirmed from December 2 to December 22.

READ MORE: Brian Houston outraged after Hillsong sacks his wife Bobbie

He earlier pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence of another person.

Police will allege Houston's father Frank indecently assaulted a male in 1970, and that the younger Houston knew or suspected it for five years before his father died in 2004.

In a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, a choked up Houston said he felt "shame and humiliation" and "judgemental attitudes" towards his family, leading to his resignation from the church board in March.

READ MORE: Hillsong founder Brian Houston resigns as head of megachurch

"Over 12 months ago I was charged with a crime that I'm yet to defend and that I will fight," he vowed.

"Sadly I'm no longer an employee of Hillsong Church."

Houston and his wife Bobbie founded Hillsong in 1983 in Sydney's western suburbs. It has churches around the world.

“Fresh out of the pot” was a text allegedly sent to customers after a long-awaited batch of methamphetamine was finally ready. Another, seemingly attesting to the quality of the drug, said “compliments to the chef”.The texts are…

The parents of a "beautiful and spiritual" Queensland woman killed four years ago are still waiting for "justice" as her alleged murderer remains at large.

Toyah Cordingley, 24, met a violent end in October 2018 as she walked her dog along Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns.

"Toyah will never get the chance to live a full life… never get the chance to have children or grandchildren, to grow old," her father Troy Cordingley said today.

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"This was taken away from her by a horrendous act and the person who committed it.

"This person is right now living free with no consequences for their terrible crime and could even be committing more atrocious acts," Cordingley added.

The man identified by police as the main suspect in her alleged murder is Rajwinder Singh, a nurse in Innisfail who boarded a plane for India days after she was killed, leaving behind his job and family.

Australian authorities have been working with the Indian government to secure an extradition order for Singh, which is now in place – but he has not yet been found.

"While justice will not bring Toyah back, justice is the least she deserves."

Police have today offered a $1 million reward to find him – the biggest ever offered by Queensland.

Uniquely, it is not contingent on Singh's conviction but can be awarded on the basis of an arrest.

The animal lover's mother, Vanessa Gardiner, also hopes the reward encourages someone to come forward.

"I just hope that I get that call very soon to say that they've found him," Gardiner said today.

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"Toyah was a beautiful, spiritual person and her life was taken way too early."

This comes as police release new security footage of Singh before he left Australia on October 23, 2018.

In the first CCTV he is seen wearing a blue shirt and shorts, and it's understood he flew from Cairns to Sydney.

It's thought he then got changed into long black pants, a pink button up shirt and a black vest to board another flight back to India.