One person in a serious condition was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Watercare says the positive E. coli sample likely arose during collection.

Large crowds gathered for a ‘special day’ of Waitangi Day commemorations.

ACC logged almost 6000 surfing injury claims nationwide in 2025.

Herald photographers captured the week’s events as they unfolded.

Neil Ericksen trapped seven cats in two weeks but the problem kept growing.

Thousands of Australian pub goers risk being ripped off at the bar over the size of their drinks, a new government report found.

Results from the National Measurement Institute (NMI) show 30 per cent of licensed premises visited by undercover inspectors were not serving customers what they paid for.

Officials went to 436 venues across Australia last October for "secret shopper" trial purchases to check the size of every pot, schooner, middie, pint, nip, shot and glass poured was correct when sold by measurement.

READ MORE: Spirits tax set to rise to almost $108 a litre in Australia

The results of the inspections led to 130 non-compliance notices being issued, mostly for the wrong glasses and also spillage.

But overall, the NMI report says the vast majority of pubs – seven in 10 – were serving correct drink sizes to their patrons.

"The results show good compliance overall, with 84 per cent of measuring instruments accurate and 68 per cent of trial purchases delivering the correct amount," the report.

The major shortcomings at non-compliant venues were inaccurate or unverified instruments, unapproved glassware or simple measures and pillage during pouring, meaning customers got less than they paid for.

READ MORE: Man shot dead by police after woman stabbed in northern NSW

Australian Hotels Association national chief executive Stephen Ferguson said the industry group recognised there were issues over non-compliance notices to "some venues regarding short pours".

"The aim of every venue is to ensure our patrons receive the accurate amount for their beer or spirit – and pubs are working hard to do just that," he said.

"Unfortunately, issues sometimes arise due to incorrect measuring devices and spillage – especially when things are busy at the bar.

READ MORE: Huge weather turnaround to bring storms, floods for millions

"We are working with our membership to ensure we fix any short comings to ensure all patrons receive exactly what they have paid for."

Sydney publican Brian McGettigan says the findings show some industry "rogue operators" were ripping off customers.

"The hotels industry by and far does an amazing job for customers and ensuring the training is right and the pints and the schooners and the wines are all poured correctly," he told Today this morning.

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.

• Download the 9NEWS App here via Apple and Google Play
• Make 9News your preferred source on Google by ticking this box here
• Sign up to our breaking newsletter here

The family of two girls who have died in hospital following a house fire in Townsville in North Queensland on the weekend say there are no words to describe the pain of losing them.

Evie, 13 and Hallie, two, were pulled from the burning two-storey home on Gum Court in Bushland Beach by first responders early on Sunday morning.

The girls were taken to Townsville University Hospital in a critical condition, where they died yesterday from their injuries.

READ MORE: Person with close ties to household of Gus Lamont identified as suspect in his disappearance

A statement released by the girls' family said they were devastated to confirm the girls had "passed away, surrounded by loved ones".

"There are no words to describe the pain being experienced by the girls' parents, Karah and Zac," the statement said.

"Both parents would like to thank friends, extended family and the wider community for the care, compassion and support shown during this incredibly difficult time.

"As the family grieves and supports their other children and loved ones, they kindly ask that their privacy is respected.

"Thank you for your understanding and kindness."

A fundraising page has been set up to support the girls' mother Karah, a nurse and single mother-of-four.

Two teenage boys were able to escape the fire.

The investigation into the circumstances of the fire is ongoing, but it is being treated as non-suspicious.

Anybody with informaton is urged to contact police.

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.

• Download the 9NEWS App here via Apple and Google Play
• Make 9News your preferred source on Google by ticking this box here
• Sign up to our breaking newsletter here

Parts of Australia that recorded temperatures of 50 degrees are forecast to soon receive a drenching, with storms and rain likely to impact every state and territory in the coming days.

This week, huge amounts of moisture have been building over northern and central Australia, reports weather channel Weatherzone.

Forecasters say it will trigger wet and stormy weather over the entire country during the weekend and possibly into next week, with flooding likely in some areas.

READ MORE: Thousands of pub goers risk being ripped off with drink sizes, report says

Parts of northern and central Australia could record weekly rainfall totals of 100mm, while some areas might receive several hundred millimetres.

They include communities that sweated through temperatures over 40 degrees only a few days ago.

The South Australian town of Marree, where the mercury soared to 49.8 degrees last Thursday, could be soaked by 50mm to 100mm of rain by tomorrow.

READ MORE: $23 billion tax break could be overhauled in matter of months

This downpour raises the chance of flooding and may cut off roads in central Australia.

The wet weather system may also raise a tropical low over Western Australia and the Northern Territory to tropical cyclone level, warns the Bureau of Meteorology.

Today the lower pressure system is forecast to move off the Kimberley coast in northern WA, and strengthen over the weekend as it tracks west.

The bureau is warning gales of up to 120km/h are possible for some coastal parts from late tomorrow.

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.

• Download the 9NEWS App here via Apple and Google Play
• Make 9News your preferred source on Google by ticking this box here
• Sign up to our breaking newsletter here

Speculation is building one of Australia's most controversial tax breaks will be overhauled as the centrepiece of this year's federal budget, with senior government ministers refusing to categorically rule out changes despite days of reports.

Under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Labor has previously baulked at tinkering with the capital gains (CGT) discount following the party's particularly ill-fated attempt at the 2019 election.

But with young Australians becoming increasingly priced out of the property market, the budget desperately needing a way out of its structural deficit, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking of the need to address the country's widening intergenerational divide, some signs are pointing towards a possible overhaul in the coming months.

READ MORE: Why a beer tax break has some claiming the 'system is broken'

Why is the capital gains tax discount up for discussion?

Readers would be forgiven for thinking all of this is old news – the capital gains tax discount seems to become a major political flashpoint every couple of years.

It was only in late 2024 that reports emerged of the government directing Treasury to investigate a potential overhaul of the tax break.

This time, there are a couple of fresh factors at play. 

The first is a Greens-led Senate inquiry into the tax, which has received dozens of submissions and is due to report next month.

The second – and more significant – are reports, published first by the Australian Financial Review, that the government is considering changes to the CGT discount.

FROM 2024: What is negative gearing and why are calls to change it so controversial?

That, in turn, followed ALP national secretary Paul Erickson, the mastermind of Labor's last two election victories, hinting this year's budget on May 12 will include some significant, ambitious reform.

"You will see some pretty substantial contributions over the coming months from the PM and from the treasurer, and the lead-up to the budget that will set that out," he told the AFR over the weekend.

Senior Labor figures have since had the opportunity to categorically rule out the changes, but declined.

READ MORE: The lone Aussie state that puts age limits on e-bike riders

Take a look at what Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said in October 2024, when he was asked to rule out changing the discount:

"I just did. And not only have I done that, the prime minister has made that clear."

Compare that to yesterday morning, when Marles was asked about capital gains once again but wasn't quite as demonstrative:

"Our position in respect of housing policy is clear. And that hasn't changed. And nor has our position in respect of the tax arrangements around housing. 

"And we've got to have more houses in this country and that is a real challenge."

READ MORE: The phone call that will have the world on notice

Why is the capital gains tax discount so controversial?

Alongside negative gearing, the CGT discount provides property investors with generous tax incentives at the same time as housing has become unaffordable for many, particularly young, Australians.

Introduced in 1999 by the Howard government, the policy allows investors to sell an asset they've owned for at least a year and to only be taxed on half of the profit.

While it applies to all types of assets, it has coincided with a significant increase in property prices:

READ MORE: How much more you could be paying on your mortgage after cash rate hike

Unsurprisingly, the policy is popular with many Australians who have benefited from it over the past three decades, and a proposal to wind back the provisions has been widely cited as a reason why Labor lost the 2019 federal election.

But, at the same time as the concession is costing the nation's coffers around $23 billion a year – a number that will only rise – the government desperately needs to find new revenue for the federal budget, which is forecast to be stuck in the red for the foreseeable future.

Parliamentary Budget Office modelling commissioned in early 2024 by independent senators Jacqui Lambie examined five options for winding back both negative gearing and the CGT tax discount for property, all of which included so-called "grandfathering" provisions – that is, exemptions for existing property investors from the changes.

The analysis found reducing the concessions could save the federal budget between $15.6 and $59.9 billion over the next 10 years, while also making housing more affordable.

Leading economists including former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, Saul Eslake and Richard Holden have also thrown their support behind various changes to the CGT tax discount.

READ MORE: NSW urges federal government to scrap $23 billion tax discount

Would any changes get through parliament?

One factor in the government's favour is that, if it does decide to go ahead with winding back the tax discount for investment properties, the overhaul would likely sail through parliament.

Labor easily has the numbers to get any bill through the lower house, and only needs the support of the Greens – who have long supported scrapping tax concessions for property investors – to get laws past the Senate, where the likes of Pocock and Lambie are also likely to lend their support.

"There's a real opportunity here for sensible reform to the capital gains tax discount on investment properties to incentivise the new housing supply our country so desperately need," Pocock said earlier this week.

"It won't solve housing affordability on its own but it will help."

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.

• Download the 9NEWS App here via Apple and Google Play
• Make 9News your preferred source on Google by ticking this box here
• Sign up to our breaking newsletter here