This weekend more than 50 indigenous practitioners will gather on Whareroa Marae in Mount Maunganui to showcase their art at the Toi Kiri: World Indigenous Tatttoo Culture Festival 2022. Before opening to the public this weekend,…

A woman who killed a young man and injured two others in a crash when she refused to merge lanes has appealed her conviction. The news has come as a shock to the victim’s mother, who felt the woman had already received “the minimum”…

A garbage truck driver who caused the death of a pedestrian in Sydney has broken down in court telling the victim's family he is "so sorry" for what happened.

Barry John Reidy, 56, faced a sentence hearing in Downing Centre District Court after being convicted at a jury trial earlier this year of dangerous driving occasioning death following the fatal incident at Doonside on March 31, 2020.

Reidy, a council worker, was behind the wheel when his truck hit and killed 61-year-old Dani Gordon as she crossed the road in the western Sydney suburb.

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On Friday, Reidy told the court he had to accept the jury's verdict.

"I'm so sorry for what's happened. If I could take it back I'd take it back in a heartbeat," he said, choking back tears, to friends and family of Ms Gordon in court.

"It was purely a terrible accident."

Reidy's barrister, Sophie Walsh, urged Judge Sharon Harris not to impose a custodial sentence on her client for what she termed his "momentary inattention" behind the wheel, which caused Ms Gordon's death.

In her submissions, she said Reidy, an experienced garbage truck driver, was going 30km/h in a 60km/h zone in a dark, narrow street with no footpaths when the incident occurred in the early morning.

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She pointed to the truck's dash cam picking up Ms Gordon for only 0.88 second before the fatal collision.

The barrister argued Reidy was a man of good character from an impoverished background who was committed to the local community and his family, and had developed a "major depressive disorder" after Ms Gordon's death.

"He will continue to suffer as a result of what occurred," Ms Walsh said.

She conceded that while it was a "very serious matter" the appropriate punishment for Reidy was a lengthy community service order.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Isaacs, in his argument, noted there was no guilty plea from Reidy to take into account and that the incident took place in a residential street that the driver was familiar with.

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Earlier, Ms Gordon's widower, Graham Wilson, read a victim impact statement to the court, recalling how he went into shock at the scene of the incident.

"I felt my heart was being ripped out of my body," Mr Wilson said.

He said he held onto the good times that the pair had together, would always remember the moment he met Ms Gordon and still spoke to a photo of her in the house they had shared.

"I struggle to get out of bed every day," he said.

Judge Harris adjourned the matter to October 6 for sentence.

A lawyer who drunkenly groped a colleague 30 years his junior at a work event has been ordered to pay the woman $5000. The man, known only as Mr A, repeatedly touched the woman’s arm, encouraged her to drink alcohol and grabbed…

As a butcher, Bruce Saunders had a "safety first" approach at work before his body was found in a woodchipper, a court has heard.

Sharon Graham, 61, and Gregory Lee Roser, 63, have pleaded not guilty to murder after Saunders, 54, died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

Graham is accused of asking Roser and another man, Peter Koenig, to kill Saunders and make it look like an accident to claim her ex-partner's $750,000 life insurance policy.

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The jury has been shown pictures and police video of Saunders' legs protruding from the chipper at the Goomboorian property near Gympie after he had been clearing trees with Roser and Koenig.

Roser and Koenig told the property's owner after the tragedy that Saunders had been an "absolute idiot on the day" and had been standing on the chipper, leaning back into it, the Brisbane Supreme Court has heard.

Graham's friend Leonie Whyte also earlier told the jury that Koenig and Roser said Saunders' death was an accident after he had been "messing around" with machinery and "wasn't being very careful".

However, work colleagues on Friday said Saunders was safety conscious, always wore protective gear and was careful around band saws as a butcher.

"He was good, always wore his mesh glove, safety was always first with him," Joseph Sciberas told the jury.

Fellow butcher Ross Mills told the court that Saunders would definitely not act recklessly at the workplace.

"He was very tidy, not clumsy, really careful working with the band saw," he said.

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Graham has been accused of being in a "love quadrangle" with Roser, Koenig and Saunders, plotting the latter's murder for months.

Sciberas told the court that Saunders said Graham had left him for another man but later returned "like nothing had happened" to his Nambour home to live in a separate bedroom.

Graham had told Saunders "to go out and get another woman, she didn't want to be in a relationship anymore", another work colleague Mark Bridger told the court.

But during what became his final shifts Saunders told Bridger that he had bought a caravan and built an extension to his Nambour house because Graham wanted it.

He said Saunders told him he had "refinanced things to make it happen so she was happy".

Bridger said Saunders didn't know where Graham went on weekends but thought she was visiting her ex-husband, however "couldn't prove it".

Saunders also often said that he "wanted to provide everything for her but she wanted nothing to do with him" and that Graham had blocked him on Facebook, Bridger told the jury.

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Meanwhile, Justice Martin Burns dismissed an application for a mistrial by Graham's barrister Peter Richards after evidence from Saunders' friend Demelsa Watts on Friday.

Watts said Saunders had told her in a phone conversation that Graham knew "some unsavoury people if you ever need someone knocked off".

She said Saunders laughed after she told him to "be careful, it could happen to him", the court heard.

"When assessing that sort of evidence the statement said to have been made to Ms Watts was obviously not under oath, it was a telephone conversation," Burns told the jury.

"What Mr Saunders told Ms Watts … is untested and untestable because Mr Saunders sadly of course can't be examined to ascertain its reliability.

"I warn you that you need to exercise caution in deciding whether to accept it is reliable."

The trial continues.

The burning of an Australian flag at Melbourne's anti-monarchy protests has been slammed by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) as "deplorable" and disrespectful to Australian servicemen.

RSL Australia President Greg Melick said the protestors burning the flag and campaigning against the monarchy on the National Day of Mourning disrespected service people who fought to defend the nation.

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia, was Patron of the RSL for more than 70 years and Australians, including First Nation's people, have fought and died under the Australian National Flag over the decades," he said.

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"Both Her Majesty and our National Flag are entitled to and deserve the deepest respect.

"The protesters' actions yesterday were deplorable and dishonoured Australian service men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation."

The thousands of protesters that swarmed Australian cities had called for an end to Indigenous deaths in custody, and pointed out differences in reporting on issues facing First Nations Australians compared to the Queen's death.

Some First Nations people have called for the monarchy to be abolished, discussing the role it played in the colonisation of Australia and the treatment of Indigenous people.

"While they mourn the Queen, we mourn everything her regime stole from us: our children, our land, our loved one's lives, our sacred sites, our histories," Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, which organised the protests, said.

"Today is about reflecting on the pain and trauma that the monarchy has bought to our country," a Melbourne protester told 9News.

"When is anybody going to mourn the deaths that we lost … everybody … my ancestors … who's mourning that?"

Protests took place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra. 

At one point, protesters poured red paint on to the Australian flag, their hands, and the outside of the office of the British consulate.

"We've been asking for a day of mourning since they made January 26 so-called Australia Day. But eight hours after the Queen's death, they can make this day a day of mourning," First Nations woman Sarabi Gristwood told 9News in Sydney.

Good news for those who lament that Bertie Beetles are chocolate insects only in a figurative sense.

A Western Australian company has announced the introduction of chocolate-coated crickets as a sweet treat.

That's right. Actual insects, to be eaten on purpose.

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The Margaret River Chocolate Company claims to be the first boutique chocolate maker to offer insects in their treats.

"We believe there is huge potential for interesting and delicious chocolate insect combinations that are healthy, environmentally friendly and a rich source of protein," company co-founder Martin Black said in a statement.

"Obviously we are not going to stop making any of our delicious tried and tested favourites, but if we can open people's minds and taste buds to alternatives, that's all part of the adventure."

The company is also trialling a chocolate bar with ground crickets and mealworms.

Black said crickets and mealworms can be farmed very efficiently and have a very high nutritional value.

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The insects are rich in protein, iron, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid and various vitamins.

All nutrients consumers aren't getting much of when they enjoy a Milky Way or Kit Kat.

The company's statement notes the cricket clusters will be available "just in time for Halloween".

Whether a chocolate-coated cricket is a trick or a treat is a matter of debate.

The cricket clusters can be bought in their stores in the Swan Valley and Margaret River and ordered online.

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