Tag Archives: oceania

Third shark attack in Sydney in two days

A surfer is in a critical condition after a third shark attack at a Sydney beach in just over 24 hours.

Emergency services were told the man had been bitten on his leg at Manly Beach about 6.30pm today. 

A group pulled the man from the water and onto the sand.

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A NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the victim was in a critical condition.

Multiple emergency services, including paramedics, the intensive care ambulance, a helicopter and police, are on scene responding to the incident.

It comes after a suspected bull shark bit an 11-year-old boy's surfboard on Sydney's Northern Beaches this morning and another child was mauled at a beach in the city's east yesterday.

Authorities said a shark took an estimated 15-centimetre chunk out of the boy's surfboard at the netted Dee Why Beach, near Dee Why Point, about 11.45am today.

The boy, who was helped by lifesavers, managed to walk away from the close encounter unscathed.

Authorities said a shark took an estimated 15-centimetre chunk out of the boy's surfboard at the netted Dee Why Beach, near Dee Why Point, about 11.45am today.A photo of the surfboard shared by the Manly Observer.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said photo analysis of the bite mark suggested it was likely from a bull shark.

Department crews, lifesavers and the local council were responding to the incident.

Jet skis were patrolling the waters as a drone monitored the area from above.

Dee Why Beach has been closed for at least 24 hours.

All other ocean beaches on the Northern Beaches, except for Palm Beach, remained closed today due to dangerous surf conditions.

Swimmers are advised to be careful, avoid the beaches, and stay clear of low-visibility and murky water.

The incident comes just a day after another suspected bull shark mauled a 12-year-old boy about 27 kilometres away near Shark Beach in Vaucluse.

He suffered serious injuries to both legs and was pulled from the water by his friends and emergency services. 

He is fighting for his life at Sydney Children's Hospital. 

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Police ‘traumatised’ after woman, 19, found dead and surrounded by dingoes

Police have been left "traumatised" after a 19-year-old Canadian woman was found dead and surrounded by 10 dingoes on the Queensland island of K'gari this morning.

The woman told friends and colleagues at a backpackers' hostel where she worked that she was going for a swim about 5am.

Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie said two men driving near Orchid Beach, north of Maheno Wreck, then saw a large pack of dingoes near an object before 6.30am.

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Police have been left "traumatised" after a 19-year-old Canadian woman was found dead and surrounded by 10 dingoes on the Queensland island of K'gari this morning.

"Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was, in fact, a female person at the scene," he told reporters this afternoon.

"It was obviously a very dramatic and horrific scene for them to uncover."

Algie confirmed the dingoes had bitten the woman's body, but could not say what the exact cause of death was. 

"We simply can't confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes," he said.

"I can confirm there was markings on her body consistent with having been touched and interfered with by the dingoes."

Police have been left "traumatised" after a 19-year-old Canadian woman was found dead and surrounded by 10 dingoes on the Queensland island of K'gari this morning.

The woman's body was transferred to mainland Queensland this afternoon and will undergo a post-mortem examination. 

Police are working to get in contact with the woman's family in Canada. 

The woman had been working with a friend from Canada at a backpackers' on K'gari for the past six weeks.

Algie said her friend has been left "extremely traumatised". 

He added that police were also "traumatised" and that this incident would have widespread impacts on the entire community.

"They are absolutely horrified and shocked at what's occurred," he said.

"We are acutely aware of how deeply this impacts not only the community that live on K'gari, but also the many, many thousands of people that visit there each year."

READ MORE: Suspected bull shark takes 15cm chunk out of boy's surfboard day after teen mauled

Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie

Police are working with the local rangers, the Department of Environment and Science and the community to piece together what happened in the hour and a half she was gone.

K'gari locals and visitors are advised to stay away and not to interact with dingoes.

"Dingoes are wild animals, and whilst they are very culturally and significant to the local First Nations people and to the people that live on the island, they are still wild animals and need to be treated as such," Algie said. 

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Father of brave cancer fighter attacked by fox north of Melbourne

The father of brave cancer fighter Tyler Fishlock has been taken to hospital after he was attacked by a fox on his property north of Melbourne.

Paramedics rushed to a homestead in Romsey, 60 kilometres north of Melbourne in the Macedon Ranges, about 6am after reports of an "animal related incident".

Brad Fishlock, 51, had come to the aid of one of his baby alpacas as it was being attacked by a fox.

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Brad, Tyler and Georgette Fishlock.

The fox then attacked Mr Fishlock, sinking its teeth into the inside of his thigh.

Advanced life support paramedics treated him for lower body injuries and he was taken to Northern Hospital in a stable condition.

He underwent emrgency surgery on a deep wound on his leg this afternoon.

Paramedics who attended the scene at the time that he was lucky not to have severed an artery.

Exotic wildlife veterinarian Dr Nicole Su said attacks on humans by foxes were "really out of the ordinary".

"Unfortunately we are seeing [foxes] encroaching onto more and more urban areas and we're having more sightings as well, and what we are seeing is they are getting bolder," she said.

"This is the first time I've heard of such a bad attack on a person, but I have heard of chickens snatched out of their coops, rabbits snatched out of their enclosures."

She warned anyone who encounters aggressive behaviour from the animals to report it to their local council.

Exotic wildlife veterinarian Dr Nicole Su said she had never heard of a fox attack on a human before.

"We are really careful to warn pet owners that this is a really big risk, even if you're living in the inner city of Melbourne, we still do hear it happening with these guys," she said.

"If they are, let's say, coming into your backyard, or if you've got pets that you're worried about, lights and noises, those are gonna be the best things to scare them away."

9News met the Fishlock family in 2006 when Tyler Fishlock lost his sight in both of his eyes to cancer before his fourth birthday.

Tyler went on to face another two cancer battles.

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Parts of outback WA could hit 50 degrees as temperatures surge

Parts of outback Western Australia could hit 50 degrees this week, with Perth in line for temperatures close to 40 degrees.

The sweltering heatwave will hit the Pilbara region, one of the hottest parts of the nation.

Temperatures will hit the high 40s and could even hit 50 degrees, according to Weatherzone.

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Parts of outback Western Australia could hit 50 degrees this week, with Perth in line for temperatures close to 40 degrees.The sweltering heatwave will hit the Pilbara region, one of the hottest parts of the nation.

Forecasters say a "battle" between sea and land breezes could nudge the temperatures up.

"Australia has not seen a 50-degree day since 2022," Weatherzone said.

"The hottest recorded temperature to date this year in Australia was 49°C at Onslow on January 7. 

"On January 13, 2022, the coastal WA town of Onslow (in the Pilbara) reached 50.7 degrees at 2:26pm, which equalled Australia's all-time high temperature record (jointly held by Oodnadatta, SA)."

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Parts of outback Western Australia could hit 50 degrees this week, with Perth in line for temperatures close to 40 degrees.The sweltering heatwave will hit the Pilbara region, one of the hottest parts of the nation.

Perth is forecast for 39 degrees on Tuesday, 38 degrees on Wednesday and 37 on Thursday.

It will cool off to around 30 degrees towards the weekend.

Sydney is recovering from extreme weather over the weekend which caused floods, landslides and flash flooding.

Experts say the dangerous wild weather was a 'one in 500 year event'.

One woman was killed when a tree branch fell and hit her car in the Southern Highlands.

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Safety plea after three cliff rescues across Victoria in as many days

Lifesavers have issued a renewed safety reminder after three people were seriously injured in separate cliff falls across Victoria since Friday.

A man in his 20s was winched from The Pillars in Mount Martha after a fall around 5.15pm yesterday.

Paramedics treated him at the scene for serious injuries and he was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital last night.

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A man was rescued from the Pillars in Mount Martha yesterday.

Just a few hours later, around 8.30pm, high-angle rescue specialists rescued a teenager after he plummeted 40 metres from a cliff edge at Half Moon Bay in Black Rock.

He was extricated from the cliff face and lowered onto the beach, where an ambulance transported him to The Alfred hospital in a stable condition.

On Friday, emergency services were called to Beaumaris, next to Black Rock, around 1.15pm after a woman fell from a cliff.

The woman, aged in her 30s, was rescued by firefighters and rushed to The Alfred in a critical condition.

The rescues come as Victorians continue to flock to beaches, sparking a renewed safety message from Life Saving Victoria.

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"It can be inviting to go to these secluded locations, but we do know that this is where people are most often getting into danger," Life Saving Victoria's Dr Bernadette Matthews said.

"Tragically we have found that this has resulted in deaths that have occurred and also tragic injuries as well, spinal injuries that really cause that long-term impact for people."

Matthews urged beachgoers to only visit water areas that were patrolled by lifesavers.

"We know that with this warmer weather and over the summer period, people are really looking at those different locations ot go and recreate around," she said.

"It can be really enticing to follow that latest social media trend, but really that is not worth the cost of a life."

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Australian billionaires’ wealth rose by $600k per day in 2025: new report

A new report has found the average Australian billionaire saw their wealth rise by almost $600,000 per day in 2025, while one in three households faced food insecurity.

Oxfam Australia, a branch of the global charity organisation, found that 48 billionaires held more wealth than the bottom 40 per cent – almost 11 million people of Australia's population of 27 million.

And their wealth only increased last year, growing a collective $10.5 billion.

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Harry Triguboff, Gina Rinehart and Anthony Pratt.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart was the richest person in Australia last year with $38.1 billion, followed by property developer Harry Triguboff with $29.6 billion, recycling businessman Anthony Pratt with $25.8 billion, co-founder of software company Atlassian and investor Scott Farquhar with $21.4 billion and mining tycoon and former politician Clive Palmer with $20.1 billion, according to the Australian Financial Review's 2025 Rich List.

Triguboff, for example, had a wealth increase equivalent to the amount needed to build 10,600 new homes.

The latest analysis is in line with a global trend that saw the world's 3000 billionaires' wealth rise 16 per cent to $27.7 trillion last year – the highest level in history.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, became the first to briefly surpass half a trillion dollars and is on track to be the first trillionaire.

Meanwhile, more than 3.7 million people live in poverty in Australia, according to Oxfam.

One in three households was found to have faced food insecurity last year, which meant they either stressed about or struggled to put food on the table.

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Nick McKim at a Senate estimates hearing, October 10, 2025.

Oxfam Australia chief executive Jennifer Tierney said rising billionaire wealth exposed a failing system.

"While millions of Australians are cutting back on essentials, struggling with soaring rents and mortgages, and watching global crises like conflict in Yemen, Sudan and Syria receive dwindling humanitarian support, Australia's billionaires are accumulating extraordinary wealth at extraordinary speed," she said.

"The gap between those doing it toughest and those benefiting most is stark, and well evidenced."

Oxfam called on the Australian government to reduce the gap by reforming the tax system to effectively tax billionaires, including ending the capital gains tax discount and phasing out negative gearing.

Greens treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim, who is chairing a Senate inquiry into the capital gains tax discount, agreed that Labor needed to make billionaires pay their fair share.

"The Oxfam report shows exactly what's broken in our economy," he said.

"While renters and working people are doing it tough, billionaires are pocketing more than half a million dollars a day, turbo-charged by tax breaks like the capital gains tax discount.

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Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 8 December 2025. fedpol Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

"Ending handouts to the extreme wealthy would free up billions for housing, cost-of-living relief and the services Australians rely on."

Research by national housing campaign Everybody's Home has found the federal government was losing tens of billions of dollars each year in forgone revenue through negative gearing deductions and the capital gains tax discount.

NSW Treasury, in a submission to the inquiry, called for the federal government to review the capital gains discount as it was found to have a damaging effect on housing affordability and home ownership and was disproportionately skewed to benefit the rich.

But federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out any changes to negative gearing or the capital gains tax discount after Labor's promises of tax reform cost the party at the 2016 and 2019 elections.

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