Fifteen young people have been arrested overnight after a cluster of stolen vehicles across Auckland led to the alleged culprits fleeing police. At about 11.23pm last night, the first incident occurred near Papakura with spikes…

The artist behind the creation of Greymouth’s famous pink church is “dismayed” and “distressed” by the court’s decision on four men who attacked his home with antisemitic and homophobic graffiti while he slept inside.On October…

Desperate hospitality industry bosses are having to get creative in a bid to nab in-demand staff as a national worker shortage continues to bite.

At the Orchard Hotel in Chatswood, Sydney, posters advertising a $5000 referral reward for a head chef have been on display.

Owner Matt Docker said it was the first time his business had ever offered money for a referral.

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Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at

Migration surge on the way 

A pandemic-induced halt in migration has led to roughly 200,000 hospitality jobs being up for grabs across the country.

However, some relief could be on the way thanks to a recent surge in visa approvals.

Last week, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said more than two million visa applications had been processed since June, including 1.35 million visitor, student and temporary skilled visa applications.

The government had committed $36.1 million to hire 500 staff to help process a remaining backlog of about 880,000 visa applications, Giles said.

Green said the industry was fervently hoping things would get back to normal soon.

"The actions that we're seeing with these incentives are born out of frustration," Green said.

"And a lot of the operators are actually really frustrated because we were trying to trade out of the last two-and-a-half years of losses of revenue. 

"Venues want to be open, particularly as we head into the busy Christmas party season, and have sufficient staff to be able to do that."

A volcano that produced the planet’s largest explosion in nearly 140 years now appears to gone into a period of dormancy, says a Kiwi scientist in Tonga who’s just finished surveying it. But there are signs of fresh activity at…

On January 20, 2020, the smoke was still clearing from the intense bushfires that had ravaged the country. The east coast had been battered by intense hailstorms and flash flooding. And an obscure and as-yet unnamed disease came to Australia.

That date feels like yesterday and a million years ago at once, but today marks 1000 days since authorities confirmed Australia's first COVID-19 case.

On that day, the 2019 novel coronavirus, as it was then called, was listed as a human disease under the Biosecurity Act of 2015.

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Discussion was underway as to whether the government would take the drastic step of stopping the three direct flights coming in from Wuhan to Sydney every week.

And five days later four men tested positive to the virus in Sydney, the first cases in Australia.

With so little known of the virus, the initial advice to Australians was to avoid contact with people with flu-like symptoms, cook meat and eggs thoroughly, avoid contact with live wild or farm animals and not travel to Wuhan.

At that point, the idea of a national lockdown was unthinkable. But 100 days later, things had changed dramatically.

On day 100 of Australia's pandemic, the nation had been in lockdown for more than a month.

On April 29, 2020, cases were in decline and the prospect of lifting COVID-19 restrictions was being discussed.

That day only 19 new cases were diagnosed in the entire country. In Western Australia, there was only one case. In South Australia, there was none at all.

But on that day, more Americans had died of COVID-19 than had died in the Vietnam War.

Meanwhile, billionaire Andrew Forrest announced he had spent $320 million on the capacity to test COVID-19 for all Australians.

At the time, a shortfall of testing capacity was a serious concern worldwide.

August 7, 2020 was one of the most dramatic days of the pandemic in Australia.

All non-essential businesses in Melbourne were closed as full lockdown kicked in in the city.

Meanwhile, thousands of people streamed across the border from NSW to Queensland after a border closure was announced.

The closure was announced following the diagnosis of 12 COVID-19 cases in NSW.

People returning to the ACT from Victoria were told they could not drive through NSW to get home.

And Australia's chief medical officer warned there was no guarantee a COVID-19 vaccine would ever be developed.

On November 15, 2020, the phrase said around the country with praise was "double donut day".

After a nightmare stretch in lockdown, Victoria marked a 16-day streak with no new cases of COVID-19 or deaths that day.

NSW and Queensland also recorded no new COVID-19 cases.

But in the following days, a cluster in South Australia would snap borders shut again.

As Australia was exiting coronavirus conditions, the virus was spreading rampantly in the United States.

But change was in the air. Donald Trump had lost the election two weeks earlier, partly on the back of America's botched handling of the pandemic.

And days earlier, Pfizer had announced its COVID-19 vaccine was 90 per cent effective.

The rollout for the COVID-19 vaccine in Australia was on its second day on February 23, 2021.

"It is the beginning of the end of this pandemic," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese rolled up his sleeve the day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison did so.

"They're safe. They're effective. Do it for Australia," Albanese said.

With limited stocks, the vaccine was only available to the elderly and vulnerable and those in high-risk jobs.

That day, the COVID-19 death toll hit 500,000 in the United States. New president Joe Biden marked the milestone with a moment of silence.

A hundred days later, the optimism from months earlier had been replaced with dread.

Melbourne was in lockdown again despite just three new cases on June 3, 2021. But infectious experts suggested the restrictions could end early if cases remained low.

In South Australia, Chief Health Officer Nicola Spurrier was widely mocked for saying spectators at AFL games should not touch the ball if it was kicked into the crowd.

"This is an object touched by I don't know how many sweaty men on a football field – if you do catch the ball, just sanitise your hands immediately after," she said.

By September 11, 2021, several states had been deep in lockdown for months.

Australians had gone from obsessing over new case numbers to a new figure – the vaccination rate.

Earlier that week, the NSW government had announced the hard lockdown would end when 70 per cent of the population was double vaccinated.

Day 600 marked regional Victorians' first days out of lockdown.

https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1436224114897817628

Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced she would no longer be holding daily press conferences on the pandemic.

On Day 700 of the pandemic, most Australians had been vaccinated, but a new variant had taken hold.

On December 20, 2021, Omicron was beginning to spread rapidly around the country.

The Omicron surge overwhelmed PCR testing capacity around the country.

In the following week, the massive backlog of testing samples meant most people who had caught COVID-19 had recovered by the time they got their result back.

Health authorities were considering whether to allow the diagnosis of COVID-19 through rapid antigen tests.

But a rush on pharmacies meant rapid antigen tests were not on shelves.

By March 30, 2022, tens of thousands of Australians were catching COVID-19 every day.

But by then, the public mood had shifted away from concern over the disease.

Instead, the eyes of the nation were on northern NSW, which was being overwhelmed with flooding.

In South Australia, the government announced that unvaccinated teachers would be allowed to return to classrooms.

On July 8, 2022, a surge in COVID-19 cases combined with a winter flu put hospitals under incredible strain.

In Victoria, a one-year-old suspected to have COVID-19 died in an emergency department during the ramping crisis.

"COVID is not over," NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said that day.

But the crisis of COVID-19 was not keeping people indoors. Airports around the country were overwhelmed by a surge of travellers and a shortage of staff.

A thousand days after COVID-19 first came to Australia, the virus is no longer being treated like an exceptional disease.

As of last week, people who test positive for COVID-19 are no longer required to isolate, and are allowed to go about their lives as normal.

Health authorities ask people who are symptomatic to stay at home, but they are no longer legally required to.

Nearly all pandemic-related restrictions have ended.

And states are no longer releasing their COVID-19 numbers on a daily basis.

"At the moment, we have very low rates of both cases, hospitalisations, intensive care admissions, aged-care outbreaks and various other measures," Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said last month.

In the past 1000 days, 15,487 Australians have died from the disease, and more than 10 million cases have been reported.

A member of the public had an unfortunate run-in with the world's second most deadly land snake as they attempted to relieve themselves in a Queensland pubic toilet.

A eastern brown over a metre long was seen slithering inside the facility, located at Alex Surf Club, earlier this week.

Pictures shared by Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers show the venomous reptile curled up on a sanitary bin.

READ MORE: States staring down barrel of floods crisis amid 'highly unusual' system

Heather McMurray attended the job, with word of the unusual incident quickly spreading to owner Stuart McKenzie.

"It was a healthy snake about 3.5 foot long," he said.

"It was relocated to natural bushland."

The company explained wet weather is fueling an already busy snake season, as it's displacing reptiles from their natural habitats, forcing them to seek shelter indoors.

"(There's) been plenty of snakes on the move before the wet weather," it wrote.

"Thanks to all the members of the public who kept a safe distance and kept an eye on the snake."

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Australia is in the grips of it's third consecutive La Niña event, with record-breaking floods currently unfolding across Victoria and New South Wales.

Earlier this week NSW SES issued a warning to anyone tempted to play in floodwater as swollen rivers recede slightly, explaining snakes are often flushed into riverways.

""(They) get flushed out of their riverside winter nests during floods and are looking for something to cling to in the water – including people jumping off wharves," the unit said.

"It sounds like a heap of fun, until someone comes unstuck.

"The river is still rising and will be up for a few weeks yet. So be careful, don't be a goose, stay dry and out of trouble."

Australia's snake season generally runs from September to April as reptiles seek mates, and breed and feed.

READ MORE: Warning issued as venomous snakes spotted swimming through floodwater

Four states are in the firing line of another floods crisis as a dangerous weather system threatens to spill, isolating communities yet again.

In the last 24 hours, two men have been confirmed dead in floodwaters in Victoria and New South Wales. It comes after a 71-year-old man's body was found in floodwater in Victoria on Saturday.

More than half of Queensland is under a thunderstorm warning with the Bureau of Meteorology saying damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain is possible for eastern inland Queensland, stretching to the coast from Bowen to Shoalwater Bay.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1582641023255285760

Residents are advised to keep across the Bureau's warnings as the system bears down. NSW can be viewed here, Victoria here, and Queensland here. 

Emerald, a town in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, recorded 145 mm of rainfall yesterday, marking their wettest October day on record.

A woman had to be rescued from the Mackenzie River, near the township, after her vehicle was submerged in floodwaters.

She was reportedly clinging to her ute for 90 minutes but is now recovering.

"The system is absolutely massive and it is starting to track towards the coastline," 9News reporter Mia Glover said.

"Tomorrow we'll likely to see the worst of the storms here in the south-east and over the weekend.

"Seqwater is pretty concerned about this system, so much so it started to release water from Wivenhoe Dam."

A thunderstorm warning is also in effect for a broad swathe of central western NSW, with hail and damaging winds possible there.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1582603888624115712

The wet weather is being fuelled by a slow-moving low that's drawn on "vast amount of tropical moisture" after sitting over the countries centre, Weatherzone said.

The weather service has branding the system "highly unusual".

"Parts of outback South Australia which are usually extremely dry have received record October rainfall," it said.

"A cut-off low passing over SA caused persistent rain and thunderstorms during the last 24-36 hours, with falls even exceeding some of last week's readings in flood-affected parts of Victoria."

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In Woomera 74.4 mm fell in just 24 hours, making it the wettest October day on record. The October monthly average in the outback community is just 15.3 mm

Record flooding is also unfolding across Victoria, with some rivers in the state's north currently experiencing their biggest flood event in decades.

As of 6am there are 49 flood warnings in effect across Victoria. Evacuation orders are current for Barmah, Barmah East, lower Moira, Echuca and Echuca Village.

READ MORE: Border communities prepare for 'once in a lifetime' flood event

Residents in the Victorian town of Echuca are divided with the hopes of the town resting on a makeshift levee that's split the community in two.

"It is such an anxious wait for these residents. This is a creeping flood," Today reporter Izabella Staskowski said.

"They can see it coming up to their homes, some residents tell me they have seen the Murray River coming up for days and at this point they just want it to hit.

"That's how anxious they are at this moment."

The Murray River is now at major flood level and is still rising. It's expected to peak at 95 metres tomorrow.

Satellite imagery reveals the extent of flooding along the Goulburn River as it inundated Shepparton.

READ MORE: How you can help those impacted by Victoria's floods

"On Sunday night, the Goulburn River reached a peak height of 12.06 metres at Shepparton, well above its major flood level of 11.0 metres and around the same height as the 1974 flood peak of 12.09 metres," Weatherzone said.

"Bendigo's 117 mm of rain during the 48 hours ending at 9am on Friday, October 14, was its highest two-day total on record, with data available back to 1863."

NSW border communities are also frantically sandbagging and building levels as the river threatens to spill.

NSW SES has issued 66 flood warnings across the state.

Of these, eight are at emergency level.

A woman is on the run after a police officer was injured in a car chase south of Brisbane.

Officers were called to the Gem Hotel in Alberton on the Gold Coast yesterday after reports of a stolen car.

A chase ensued after police arrived, with one officer pinned to a tree after the car was cornered.

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A 38-year-old man was arrested inside the Gem.

A 36-year-old man was arrested after the car was corralled, but a woman fled the scene.

The police officer, a 32-year-old constable, has been released from hospital after suffering minor injuries.

The Duchess of Sussex has responded to the backlash she received for critical comments about the royal family, partially blaming her "open" and "trusting" nature.

In a wide-ranging Variety cover story published on Tuesday, Meghan touched on the death of the Queen and her legacy, the #MeToo movement and her relationship with the entertainment industry.

The actor and non-working royal declared she could survive the criticism thrown her way after saying she and Prince Harry were "happy" to leave Britain and had been "upsetting the dynamic" of the royal hierarchy "just by existing".

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Those comments were made in an August cover story for New York Magazine's The Cut, which was criticised by some as snarky or self-serving.

"The story was intended to support Archetypes and focus on our projects," Meghan said.

"I've had some time to reflect on it. Part of me is just really trusting, really open — that's how I move in the world. 

"I have to remember that I don't ever want to become so jaded that that piece of me goes away. 

"So despite any of those things? Onward. I can survive it."

The interview's publication was pushed because of the death of the Queen and Meghan reportedly worried any of her comments on the subject would be a "distraction".

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But she took time to praise the monarch as a "shining example" of female leadership, whom she was deeply grateful to have known.

"There's been such an outpouring of love and support," Meghan said. 

"I'm really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time. 

"What's so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts."

Meghan was keen to stress the importance of people seeing her as a real person and avoiding dehumanising people, revealing her hardest podcast interview was with Paris Hilton because the reality star provoked her "envy and judgement".

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Having spoken in her recent podcast episode about the daily "suck it in" comments that eventually prompted her to quit US TV game show Deal or no Deal, Meghan spoke to Variety about the #MeToo movement.

"We didn't have a name for it at that time. There were just certain things that were accepted," she said.

"If there was any discomfort, you just dealt with it. It forced a lot of women to live with this idea of staying silent, not being disruptive, not giving voice to the things that might create concern or discomfort."

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Markle also revealed she wouldn't be returning to acting but would be supportive if her children, Archie, 3; and Lilibet, 1; wanted to go into the entertainment industry.

"I'm done. I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not," she said.

Katrina Christou watched for 70 minutes as the love of her life died.

Hospital staff worked Daniel Vasiljevic's chest, performing CPR, but could not save the new father from a fatal heart attack.

"My favourite person has been stolen from me. My daughter's father – gone," Christou said.

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"That's our whole future ripped away, because of negligence."

Vasiljevic, also known as Danny, knew he was in trouble whilst picking up groceries on the night of September 23.

The 36-year-old called his wife, complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath, before dialling triple zero.

It took his wife 11 minutes to drive to and find her husband at the Arena Shopping Centre car park in Officer, in Melbourne's south-east.

Vasiljevic was passing out, their 10-month-old daughter Ariana was alone in the back seat, and paramedics hadn't arrived.

READ MORE: Second flood-related death in five days as Victoria's flood emergency continues

In a split second, Christou had made her decision, she was going to drive her husband to hospital herself.

"I didn't think twice about taking him to the hospital," she told 9News Melbourne.

"I could see how quickly he was deteriorating. No one was on the phone with him. No one called him back to check in.

"There was nothing put in place for the safety of my child in the back of the car with him and if I had come a little bit later, he would have been unconscious and she would have been in the car by herself."

Christou said it wasn't until they arrived at the hospital that he really deteriorated.

"I would like to hope that if someone was there earlier, we would be in a different predicament right now," she said.

Paramedics arrived 22 minutes after Vasiljevic dialled triple-zero.

READ MORE: How you can help those impacted by Victoria's floods

Victoria's ambulance crisis continues

Code one emergencies in Victoria are supposed to have an ambulance arrive within 15 minutes.

Ambulance Victoria's Anthony Carlyon said on that night they were "particularly busy".

"We do accept at this point in time it looks like our arrival in the vicinity of 22 minutes."

The deaths of 33 Victorians were linked to delays in the state's triple-zero service by the state's Inspector General of Emergency Management in September, since December 2020.

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Premier Daniel Andrews insists those outcomes are improving.

"We are seeing improvements. We are seeing better performance," he said.

"There are 2200 more paramedics on the road today than when we came to office."

Ambulance Victoria says it is now investigating, as is the state's triple zero call taker (ESTA), which had its computer system collapse at 7:40 last night.

Attorney General Jaclyn Symes says ambulance calls were prioritised as dispatchers switched to a manual system.

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It took almost six hours for their computer program to come back online.

But according to the Opposition's Brad Battin, for "13 hours the system was down from its full capacity".

That's little comfort to a mother-of-one who lost the love of her life, in the midst of planning a second child.

"He'll be spoken about every day," Christou said.

"He has to be, he was such a good person. And this shouldn't have happened to him.

"Is the care actually there in my eyes? Still no. This happened nearly four weeks ago, I've only just heard from them now."

Christou is waiting on the coroner to investigate.