General practice doctors across Australia are raising concerns about a shortage of antibiotics, which is leaving them unable to prescribe the best medications for patients, especially in regional areas.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) rural health chair Michael Clements said GPs were struggling to prescribe common antibiotic medications, as well as other painkillers, due to low stock levels.

"This is a real, real thing," he told 9news.com.au.

"There's an antibiotic that we use quite routinely, that's now not available, meaning that we have to use the second or third best."

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Clements said the stock shortages were the worst he had seen since he began working as a GP 15 years ago.

"If you're in an urban area or in a city, stock shortages have less of an impact because you can shop around and go and visit different pharmacies," he said.

"In the rural and remote areas, we know that with just the one pharmacy, it can either be impossible to get access to certain medications or it could take a lot longer.

"In some cases, if the first line tablets are not available, that might mean that we do need to use intravenous drugs that does need a hospital admission."

Clements said a shortage of medication and "not being able to prescribe what's best for the patient" had become common practice among GPs in recent years.

He said manufacturers were blaming COVID-19 for supply issues but now that was not possible.

Clements said the two main reasons for the shortage were an increase in demand and the manufacturer not being able to get the basic ingredients.

Calls for long-term solutions

RACGP President Professor Karen Price said the shortage of antibiotics in Australia was a significant public health issue.

"We need to fix this problem with a long-term solution because when people go without medicines they need, it can adversely affect their health and wellbeing," Price said.

"At a minimum, security of medicinal supply chains must be reviewed by government to protect the Australian people."

A spokesperson for Health Minister Mark Butler said there was a new strategic agreement with the medicines industry in place to help protect Australians from the impact of global medicine shortages.

"In the event of a serious shortage, the TGA may also publish a Serious Scarcity Substitution Instrument (SSSI) which allows community pharmacists to substitute specific medicines without prior approval from the prescriber," the spokesperson said.

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The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said it was aware of the shortages of some antibiotics, including some amoxicillin medicines.

"Disruptions to the supply of Australian medicines can occur for many reasons, ranging from shortages of raw materials, batches of the medicine not meeting Australian specifications, or logistical delays including potential impacts of global events," the TGA said.

"Whilst pharmaceutical companies do their best to maintain supply through demand forecasting and stock control, situations can arise where a disruption to the supply of a medicine cannot be avoided.

"The TGA is committed to reducing the impact of medicine shortages and works collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including medicine sponsors, health professionals and wholesalers to minimise the impact on patients."

A full list of shortages can be found on TGA's website here.

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When Zoe decided to quit her well-paid advertising career and start an online business with no experience in the field, many people told her she was making a mistake.

Well, that business made $6.84 million in the past financial year.

The business is 10-years-old, and began growing slowly, but hard work and determination has led Byron Bay Gifts to becoming the thriving company it is now.

Zoe Gordon has shared how her and her husband Anthony Cox's turned a fun idea into huge success with 9news.com.au.

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How it started

Zoe was working in corporate advertising in Brisbane in 2012 when at age 35, she decided it was no longer for her.

"I was getting paid quite well but I was under a lot of pressure and that was making life a bit unenjoyable," she said.

"I was really looking at sort of the next phase in my life. I knew I wanted to start a business. I just didn't know what that business would be."

It was then that she took a trip away with a friend and fell in love with the products at the Byron Bay markets.

"I thought, 'wow, these products are just amazing. I'm going to start a business selling them'."

Zoe said she had no idea about the products and did not even check out her future competitors before her passion led her to registering her business name and setting up a website.

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Have you got a story? Contact Serena at Here are the main factors causing passport processing delays

Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Zoe's advice to anyone starting a business is to simply just start.

"I've noticed that a lot of people a lot of people will come up with ideas and they don't act on them.

"You can talk about it or theorise about how it's going to work. But really, you have just got to start, whether that be buy a domain name or set up a website. Get that ball rolling

Her next piece of advice is that the key to success is persistence and hard work.

"You need that first year or two to get your offering right and to start getting traction on Google." 

She has recently set up a second online business around wellness for people with depression and anxiety and is ready to ride the wave from the beginning again.

Hundreds of royal fans lined up outside Windsor Castle for the chance to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth II as the chapel where the late monarch was buried opened to the public Thursday for the first time since her death.

The Queen's death certificate says the 96-year-old monarch died of old age.

The certificate, published by National Records of Scotland on Thursday, records that Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle in Ballater, Scotland on September 8 at 3.10pm (12.10am September 9 AEST). The document was signed by the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne.

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Many want to visit the tomb of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. It is marked by a slab of hand-carved Belgian black marble inside the King George VI Memorial Chapel, part of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The Queen's name is inscribed on the ledger stone in brass letter inlays, alongside the names of her husband, mother and father.

Among the early arrivals was Anne Daley, 65, from Cardiff, who got to the castle at 7:30am, well ahead of the 10am opening time.

She was also one of the first in line as tens of thousands of people shuffled through Westminster Hall over four days to see the queen's lying in state before her funeral.

Daley said she felt emotional thinking about the monarch's death on September 8, as well as that of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.

"The castle feels like empty, gloomy. Nobody's living in it. You know, you've lost the queen, you've lost the duke, you lost the corgis," Daly said, referring to Elizabeth II's beloved dogs.

"It's like when you've sold your house and all the history is gone."

To visit the chapel, royal fans have to buy a ticket to Windsor Castle. The price for adults is £26.50 pounds ($45) Sunday through Friday, and £28.50 ($48.40) on Saturdays.

The memorial chapel sits within the walls of St. George's Chapel, where many members of the royal family are buried.

It has also been the venue for several royal weddings, including the marriage of Prince Harry to the former Meghan Markle in 2018.

Melissa Caddick's husband has denied playing any role in his wife's disappearance and that he deliberately delayed reporting her missing to buy time or avoid police attention.

Anthony Koletti told the inquest into the fraudster's disappearance and suspected death that he definitely did not assist in her vanishing without a trace.

"Did you delay reporting her missing in order to give her time to try and go somewhere … or end her own life?" counsel assisting Jason Downing SC said.

"I did not," Koletti said.

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Earlier, the hairdresser and part-time DJ was again questioned about the day he says Caddick disappeared on November 12, 2022 from their Sydney eastern suburbs home.

That evening he drove to a friend's place in Rose Bay to get an "e-cigarette", he told the NSW Coroners Court.

"Was it, in fact, to smoke a joint?" Downing asked.

"I don't know … it's possible," Koletti said.

"You must remember," Downing said.

"Let's just say I did, what's your point?" Koletti said.

"On a night you told us you were conducting searches throughout the day … you in fact went to smoke a joint with a friend," Downing said.

Koletti said he was concerned about his wife and accepted he smoked weed to calm himself down.

The text messages exchanged with that friend were later deleted by Koletti before he handed his phone over to police to assist with their inquiries, Downing said.

Koletti said doing that must of had "something to do with marijuana".

He formally reported his wife missing the following day on November 13, and was asked if he had been out the night before.

"Not that I know of," he said.

The day she went missing is "all a bit of a blur," Koletti said on Thursday before adding his recollection is "quite hazy".

"I don't recall going anywhere," he said.

In several different police reports and for weeks after Koletti maintained Caddick left the home in black exercise gear and silver Asics.

But after she failed to return he says he assumed she was meeting a lawyer, or staying in a hotel before her court appearance the following day.

Downing asked why he insists she left in athletic wear if he later believed she was meeting a lawyer.

Koletti said it was based on assumptions, but denied seeing her wearing them.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle diagnosed Caddick with a "narcissistic personality disorder" but noted the limitations of never having interviewed her and purely based on statements and other records.

Caddick portrayed herself as a highly successful and affluent person and fed her self-esteem through the admiration of others, Eagle told the inquest.

Facing exposure as a fraud and not appearing as brilliant as she projected, if she felt she could not recover from such humiliation she may suddenly feel no other outlet than suicide, Eagle said.

But from her assessments, the doctor did not believe she displayed psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies.

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Caddick's Ponzi scheme victims, mostly family and friends, lost $20-$30 million she used to fund her lavish lifestyle

In February 2021, her decomposing foot encased in a shoe washed ashore at Bournda Beach on the NSW south coast.

Meanwhile, Caddick's brother Adam Grimley has said in an affidavit the family was "floored" counsel assisting seemed to be "going after" his brother-in-law.

He noted counsel seemed to be presenting "unverified gossip as fact" and said Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.

In a statement to Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan on September 19, he described Koletti as an "extremely gentle and kind man" who remains a valued member of the family.

"I make this statement in response to the line of questioning taken by counsel assisting which suggests that my brother-in-law … could have harmed my sister or in some way be complicit in her disappearance," Grimley said.

"The family categorically dismisses such ideas and are absolutely floored that counsel assisting seems to be going after Anthony and saying Anthony or police are to blame for Melissa's disappearance."

He noted counsel seemed to be presenting "unverified gossip as fact" and said Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.

The statement was tendered in court before Koletti was called to give evidence this week but was asked to step down due to his confusion and distress on Wednesday.

Earlier he told Downing that on the morning of November 12, 2020 when Caddick disappeared he assumed she had gone out to exercise.

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"I didn't think anything of it … she's just gone for a walk which she does every day, not a problem," he told police in an interview.

In evidence Koletti agreed his wife had no habits, her exercise regime was irregular and she mostly jogged on the treadmill.

Downing continued questioning Koletti on Wednesday about this inconsistency, asking if he was now trying to justify his answers.

"One of the accounts must not be true," Downing said.

"I'm guessing so, yes," Koletti said.

"Why are you guessing?" Downing said.

"Because your questions are confusing, the way you talk is not the way my mind works," Koletti said.

Ryan eventually asked Koletti to leave the witness box, saying she relied on him being able to focus on the questions and respond truthfully.

Yesterday an ocean expert told the inquest Caddick's severed foot could have travelled from Sydney cliffs before washing up on the NSW south coast months later.

An examination of goose barnacles found on the foot show it was likely floating off the coast for three to seven days before washing up on Bournda beach – some 400km from Caddick's Dover Heights mansion.

Oceanographer David Griffin said it was possible her body entered the water when she was last seen in November 2020, then floated close to the ocean floor in strong currents for about 93 days before resurfacing in February 2021.

"The NSW coast is the most energetic oceanographic part of Australia," he said.

"It is highly unlikely anything can just drift along the continental shelf without getting caught or snagged."

The daughter of a man accused of murdering her mother has told a jury of seeing him choke her nights before she went missing 40 years ago.

"My dad was angry and he threw his dinner plate and was shoving the food down her top," Brenda Boyd testified on Thursday.

"He was choking her and they were yelling.

"I remember holding on to her leg and yelling at my dad to stop."

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She was giving evidence at the NSW Supreme Court trial of her father, former ambulance officer, John Douglas Bowie.

The 72-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering Roxlyn Bowie, who was 31 when she vanished from their Walgett home in northern NSW.

The Crown alleges the former ambulance officer killed his wife on or about June 5, 1982 so he could have an unfettered relationship with another woman.

Her body has never been found.

Boyd said she was aged six on June 5 and remembered her parents arguing a little before her mother put her younger brother to bed with her help.

"I remember saying goodnight to my mother and the next morning she was not there," she said.

When she asked her father where she was, he read her a note he said he found.

"He said she was sorry and she had to leave and he didn't know where she was."

The conversation was quite short and her father didn't seem upset.

"I remember crying. I was eating a pie and I remember the pie coming out of my mouth."

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After a few days, her father took her and her brother Warren – who has since died – to their grandparents' home in Killara, Sydney.

"I remember playing with my dolls and my father was packing up the house," she said.

She also remembered meeting a woman called Gail Clarke and her children, after her father told her they were going to have a new family and she would have a brother and a sister.

Earlier, the jury was read notes of a police interview on April 24, 1988 with Gail Clarke, who has since died.

The divorced woman said she met Bowie in his capacity as an ambulance officer in the May school holidays in 1982 when she was staying in a caravan on the banks of the Barwon River at Walgett.

"She was previously informed by John Bowie that he and Roxlyn led different lives, and she had a boyfriend," the notes said.

She said they formed a relationship for the duration of the holidays before she returned to her Sydney home.

Some weeks later he phoned her before coming to her home towards the end of June 1982.

He told her his wife had left him and suggested he move in with her.

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Clarke said she refused his request, but saw him on a number of occasions before terminating the relationship after two to three weeks and never saw him again.

She said he was extremely keen to form a serious relationship but she never entertained the idea.

Boyd said her father once told her her mother had left with her boyfriend, a bank manager, while another time he said his wife told him if he went out on the night of June 5 she would not be there on his return.

Before her seventh birthday, Boyd said she, her brother and father moved into a unit with a woman called Ann whom he married.

She said the couple both drank a lot and their relationship was quite violent, involving choking, punching, kicking and screaming on both sides.

Her father once kicked her stepmother in the knee and she was in a cast for quite a while.

Under cross-examination, Boyd denied that her evidence relating to when she was aged six was substituted memories from speaking to people over the last couple of decades.

The trial continues before Justice Dina Yehia.

Occupants of a car that flipped on Auckland’s southwestern motorway near Māngere tonight were lucky to get away with no injuries. Police were called to the single-vehicle accident on State Highway 20 southbound near the Walmsley…

A prison officer has been rushed to hospital in a serious condition after allegedly being stabbed by a prisoner at a Ravenhall correctional centre in Melbourne's west.

A male prisoner allegedly set upon the officer about 11am, leaving him with stab wounds to his upper body.

He was taken to hospital in a serious but non-life-threatening condition.

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Police are investigating the attack.

Speaking on the attack, Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesperson has said: "All acts of violence against our hardworking corrections officers are completely unacceptable and referred to police."

"Prison officers are supported with training on tactical options and de-escalation, specialist units that undertake careful analysis of risks and intelligence, and ongoing assessment and placement of prisoners," the spokesperson said.

"Any prisoner responsible for injuring a prison officer faces significant punishment, including extra time in prison."

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