Wellington mayoral candidate Paul Eagle is promising to run the ruler over council spending, a new City Development Authority, and a world class arts precinct. The Labour MP for Rongotai is taking leave and donating his salary to…

Victorian teenager Bianca Stranger has been hailed as a hero after saving the life of a kite surfer who was washed out to sea at Parkdale in Melbourne.

The 15-year-old paddled out to the man who was in serious trouble after her police officer father sounded the alarm.

"I was just at home and then dad gave me a call and was like 'there's a man out in the water, we don't know his situation, if he's tangled in his gear or what's going on'," she said.

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"I just raced out, I wasn't really thinking too much, just get to him and make sure he's alright."

The girl's father, Murray Stranger, heard calls for the man to be urgently rescued through police radio.

"I heard the job over the radio and it sounded fairly dire," he said.

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He said a water police vessel was going to take too long and that his well-trained, lifesaver daughter was close by.

"When the units got to the beach their situation reports were fairly concerning."

"The weather was bad, the water temperature was extremely cold and I heard that the water police, the closest vessel is 40 minutes away."

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"I thought 'oh, that could be a tragic situation'."

Murray Stranger said he is "always" proud of his brave daughter, but said that the credit goes to the "countless hours" put into the kids by coaches and trainers at Victoria Lifesaving.

"It's really all the training that the coaches put into these kids," he said.

"Countless hours of training which gave me the confidence to tell her to go and do it."

Bianca put her confidence in lifesaving down to growing up by the ocean.

"We've grown up around the water, our whole life so I mean it's kinda just natural to go out and into the water, especially this time of the year, to help people," she said.

The 15-year-old said she is proud her dad trusts her enough to call on her in times of need.

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