Experts say travel, anonymity and time off can fuel irrational tourist behaviour.

As home to the public service, there are fears Wellington will ‘bear the brunt’ of reform.

The executive who headed the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) during the heavily criticised relaunch of its website last year has retired.

Dr Peter Stone, who was the acting chief executive officer of the organisation when a relaunch, which cost $92 million more than first reported, was criticised by users over complaints about various features, usability, and the new rain radar.

The old rain radar was swiftly restored after pressure from the federal government, and Stone stepped aside from his role as acting CEO, being replaced by Dr Stuart Minchin.

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The BoM has now confirmed Stone will leave the agency entirely at the start of next year after finishing active duties next month and taking extended leave.

Stone joined the agency in 2017.

"The Bureau of Meteorology's chief Customer Officer and Group Executive Business Solutions Dr Peter Stone has made the decision to retire," a Bureau spokesperson told nine.com.au.

"Dr Stone's last day at the Bureau will be 30 June 2026."

The bureau came in for significant criticism from the public and politicians, with Environment Minister Murray Watt issuing a rebuke after the overspending was revealed by Minchin.

"Our government's unyielding expectation is that the BoM, as with all federal agencies, spends taxpayers' money efficiently and appropriately," Watt said last year.

He seemed to endorse a change of leadership, saying he was "looking forward to a bit of change in the culture and approach of the BoM."

Minister Watt's office was contacted for comment.

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Customers nationwide are urged to seek refunds or throw the product out.

The federal opposition has opened the door to a potential partnership with One Nation in an attempt to unseat the Labor government. 

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this morning refused to rule out working with One Nation, after the minor party rode a recent record wave of support to steal voters and the seat of Farrer from the Coalition.

"I will work with whoever I can work with to stop Labor getting those taxes through and I will work with whoever I can work with to defeat Labor at the next election," he told Sky News.

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"I hope One Nation will vote with us on axing those taxes and, as I say, we will do whatever we can to beat Labor."

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has previously said she would be willing to offer the Coalition confidence and support in the event they needed her numbers to form a majority in the House of Representatives at a federal election.

However, she said she would not take up a ministerial role in that situation. 

"I don't want a ministerial position because that means they will be able to shut me down, dictate to me, and I have to pass bad legislation, support them on it. I'm not going to do that," Hanson previously told The Australian.

The latest Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age showed Taylor had nudged ahead of Anthony Albanese as the preferred prime minister for the first time.

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Labor's primary vote slipped to 29 per cent, while One Nation rose to 24 per cent and the Coalition remained steady at 23 per cent. 

It was the first poll after the government handed down its federal budget, including changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount and other controversial tax reform, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers admitted could cause a slump in popularity.

"It would surprise me more if we got some sort of bounce in the polls from the difficult decisions we took in the budget," he admitted yesterday.

The Coalition has lost some of its voters to One Nation after its disastrous loss at last year's federal election and in the fallout of several leadership changes.

One Nation's record rise in the opinion polls has been proven at the polling booth after winning seven new state MPs at the South Australian election and snatching the seat of Farrer from the Coalition for the first time in its 77-year history.

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Vladimir Putin will head to Beijing, hot on the heels of Donald Trump's own tour.

Crown says man raped woman in ‘the cruddy cab of a truck in the middle of nowhere’.

Contaminated alcohol is finding its way onto Australian liquor store shelves in alarming numbers, prompting a dire warning from the grieving father of a Melbourne teenager who was fatally poisoned in Laos.

Around 30 per cent of bottle shops in Australia are now stocking dodgy booze, according to new research by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC)

Forensic testing carried out by NDARC has found bootleg vodka is being sold at licensed retailers in Melbourne, often at a cheaper price point than legitimate brands.

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The bottles, which contained methanol and plastic contaminants, are being sold to "unsuspecting customers", NDARC's Dr Michala Kowalski said.

"People have very little to differentiate between cheap and potentially contaminated products when looking between bottles on a store shelf," Kowalski said.

"Ingestion of methanol at sufficient levels can be toxic and lead to symptoms ranging from vomiting and abdominal pain to blindness, coma and death."

Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were killed in November 2024 after unknowingly ingesting methanol-laced alcohol while on a backpacking trip in Laos.

Bianca's father, Mark, told 9News he is "disgusted" by NDARC's findings.

Mark had hoped the illicit alcohol trade which killed his daughter and her friend was a problem that wouldn't reach Australian shores. He was wrong.

"[I'm] quite angry really. Angry that bootleg alcohol is being served here in Melbourne," Mark told 9News.

"To think that the methanol is being sold in retail outlets here is disgraceful.

"It's incredibly scary… we have a heavily regulated alcohol system and it needs to remain that way for a reason."

The sheer scale of the illegal alcohol market in Australia is untested.

However, it is believed to be worth at least $767 million annually, the equivalent of 14 million bottles of vodka, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Mark said Australians need to exercise extreme caution when buying or consuming alcohol products which seem "too good to be true".

"I would encourage everyone to remain vigilant in what they're doing, when they're buying their alcohol," he added.

"It's absolutely not worth it. Be vigilant, check the bottles, make sure they look legit."

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It isn't just limited to bottle shops either.

Kowalski said illicit alcohol is also being sold in pubs and nightclubs across Australia.

"We have also been told by law enforcement and liquor regulators in several states that these products are increasingly being sold not just in bottle shops but at on-licensed venues like pubs, nightclubs and pubs," she said.

Victoria Police's State Liquor Unit said it is currently investigating 80 licensed venues for production and importation of illicit alcohol.

National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline 1800 250 015

Support for families and friends of individuals experiencing alcohol or drug dependency: Family Drug Support Australia 24/7 Support Line – 1300 368 186

A resurgence of an almost-eradicated, highly contagious disease in the Northern Territory has now spread across three state borders, in what federal Health Minister Mark Butler has described as a "very concerning" development.

The Northern Territory has recorded 133 cases of diphtheria to date, prompting a major push to increase vaccination rates amongst those in the hardest-hit communities.

One person in the Territory has died, although the exact cause of death remains under investigation.

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Western Australia is also facing a growing outbreak in the Kimberley, with 79 people confirmed to have the illness.

Now, it's been confirmed diphtheria has also spread across the South Australian and Queensland borders, with six and five cases recorded in those states respectively.

"This is probably the biggest diphtheria outbreak we've seen – certainly for decades," Butler told ABC National Radio this morning.

"There's no question this is serious."

Butler said "almost all" of the current cases in the NT were Indigenous Australians and the government was working with the Aboriginal-controlled sector to increase vaccination rates in those communities.

For decades, diphtheria was among the leading causes of death in Australian children, killing more than 4000 Australians between 1926 and 1935 alone.

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However, a vaccination drive starting in the 1940s brought it close to eradication by the 1950s.

Two children in New South Wales caught diphtheria in 2022 but the last death was recorded in an unvaccinated adult in 2018.

It's thought that a drop in childhood vaccination rates globally following the COVID-19 pandemic may be contributing to the current resurgence.

Australian children are vaccinated against diphtheria through a series of shots starting at two months old as part of the National Immunisation Program.

But the number of fully vaccinated children has been creeping downwards since 2020, with the number of two-year-olds who are fully vaccinated dropping below the crucial threshold of 90 per cent for the first time in 2024.

Diphtheria is caused by toxins produced by certain strains of Corynebacterium bacteria.

Early symptoms are similar to that of a cold or flu, including a fever and sore throat, but the more severe form of the disease - respiratory diphtheria – causes swelling of the throat and neck which can block the airways and impact breathing.

The bacterial toxin can also damage the heart, kidneys, brain and nerves.

Spread through respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing as well as skin sores, it is highly infectious. 

Head of Immunisation and Health Systems Strengthening at Burnet Institute, Dr Milena Dalton, said the scale of the current outbreak was "deeply concerning".

"This is no longer an isolated outbreak, and it highlights how quickly vaccine-preventable diseases can re-emerge when there are immunity gaps," she said.

"Diphtheria remains rare in Australia because vaccination works. But this outbreak is a reminder that rare does not mean impossible, and that protection needs to be maintained through timely boosters for adolescents and adults.

"Vaccination and boosters remain our best protection… and they are especially urgent in communities where people face barriers to healthcare."

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The brother of a domestic violence victim has decried the response Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave when he was asked if he would order a royal commission into femicide.

Appearing on Hit 100.9FM Hobart yesterday, Albanese was asked if his government would take action on a petition with more than 93,000 signatures calling for the royal commission to be ordered.

He responded by asking "what does a royal commission do besides fund lawyers?"

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"There's calls for a royal commission about everything," he told the radio station.

"They deserve justice. The question is, does the royal commission do that?

"Royal commissions, they're just processes that take time, cost a lot of money, rather than money going into services."

His answer has disappointed Shaun Azzopardi.

Azzopardi's 35-year-old sister Nikkita was bludgeoned to death by her partner Joel Micallef at their Melbourne home in October 2024.

"Life's never the same. You carry on your day-to-day, but it's like a fake life, in the sense, like it's not meant to be this way and there's a lot of things that could have prevented my sister from being killed," he said.

Micallef was found not guilty because of mental impairment in December last year. He was found dead at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in March.

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Azzopardi says he feels let down by the legal system and has signed a growing petition calling for a royal commission into the killing of women and girls.

The petition is calling for an investigation into current laws, systemic failures, police and the legal system, factors of violence, social media and disproportionately higher rates among First Nations women.

According to the latest government data, a woman was killed by an intimate partner every 11 days in the 2024-25 financial year.

The petition's organiser, anti-violence advocate Sherele Moody, said more than 1300 women and girls have been killed since January 1, 2000.

She has tallied up the number of women killed by men and found 77 were killed in 2025 and 105 in 2024.

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Azzopardi said he felt the federal government was not taking the issue of femicide seriously.

"I just think it's blood on their hands," he said. 

"The question should be back to the prime minister, then. How many more lives is it going to take for it to be taken seriously?"

Questioned about the government's stance, a spokesperson for the prime minister said it will "consider anything that is effective to protect women and their children".

"We have ongoing consultation with the sector about the best way to have an impact," the spokesperson said.

But until a royal commission is held, Azzopardi believes women and girls will continue to be killed. 

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