Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is talking up the importance of New Zealand’s “family ties” with Australia to counter China’s increasing influence in the Pacific.And though New Zealand and its neighbour will not always see eye-to-eye…

Members of a Northland whānau are grateful to be alive after smoke alarms alerted them to a house fire that took hold as they slept. The family of nine, including young children, have been left shell shocked and homeless after…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and fiancée Carrie Symonds have married in a small private ceremony in London, his Downing Street office has confirmed.

Mr Johnson's office confirmed reports in the Mail on Sunday and The Sun that the couple wed at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a small group of friends and family.

"The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,'' Downing Street said.

"The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer."

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The newlyweds have reportedly sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for a celebration on July 30, 2022.

Under current coronavirus restrictions in England, no more than 30 people can attend a wedding.

Mr Johnson, 56, and 33-year-old Ms Symonds, an environmental advocate, announced their engagement in February 2020 and have a son together, 1-year-old Wilfred.

The marriage is Ms Symonds' first and Mr Johnson's third. He has at least five other children from previous relationships.

The last British prime minister to marry in office was Lord Liverpool in 1822.

The nuptials come after a tumultuous political week for Johnson, who was accused by former top aide Dominic Cummings on Wednesday of bungling the government's response to the coronavirus and being "unfit for the job."

On Friday, an ethics inquiry found the Prime Minister acted "unwisely" in renovating his Downing Street apartment without knowing where the money had come from but it cleared him of misconduct.

A member of the opposition Labour Party, Jon Trickett, suggested the wedding was "a good way to bury this week's bad news" on Mr Cummings' testimony and the report on the funding of the Downing Street flat.

A Perth mother has issued a desperate plea to help find her teenage daughter, who has been missing for more than a day.

Rose Burns, 15, has been missing since Saturday afternoon and her family is concerned for her safety as she's been unwell.

"You stay at home and you think, 'I've got to go and find her', so I roam around aimlessly and maybe I'll find her," Sue Burns told 9News.

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"Where is she, is she warm? Is she safe?"

Ms Burns said her daughter wasn't carrying money or any means of communication such as a phone to contact home.

The teenager left the Bicton area in Perth on Saturday afternoon and was last seen in Mount Lawley.

"She did, last night, contact somebody, she just knocked on a random door and she went in and a very kind lady let her sleep on the settee that night and gave her something to eat," Ms Burns said.

But Rose left the woman's house before the alarm was raised. She hasn't been seen since.

"I love her so much," Ms Burns told 9News, before breaking down.

"We've had a great bond, we've had a great bond all our life."

Rose is 170cm tall, with a slim build and long blonde hair.

A massive search is underway for a surf skier who has been missing for more than a day in dangerous waters off North Stradbroke Island.

Police hold grave fears for Jordan Kelly, 26, who left Dunwich with his friend Jack McDonald, 28, heading for Cylinder Beach at 10.30am on Saturday.

As the pair were making their way to Cylinder Beach just after 1.30pm, Mr McDonald's ski started taking on water and Mr Kelly tried to help him.

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Queensland water police acting Senior Sergeant Mitch Gray told reporters the men both held on to the one ski, until after dark when they had become weak and tired from being in the water, resulting in Mr Kelly "slipping away".

Authorities were alerted when the men failed to arrive at their camp in the afternoon to meet their partners.

More than a dozen boats and aircraft, from the Brisbane water police, Surf Life Saving Queensland and the coastguard, launched a full-scale rescue mission just after 2.30pm on Saturday but neither man was able to be found.

At 8pm on Saturday night, after being at sea for some 10 hours, Mr McDonald managed to make his way to Amity Point Wharf.

Authorities believe the pair hit trouble in the notoriously dangerous South Passage Bar.

He was treated at the scene for minor hypothermia and has since been reunited with his family.

An air search continued throughout last night looking for Mr Kelly. It was set to finish at 1am on Monday and resume again at sunrise.

So far, the search has found no trace of Mr Kelly and authorities hold grave fears for his welfare.

Acting Senior Sergeant Mitch Gray said swells had been between four to six metres high with south-easterly winds up to 20 to 30 knots.

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"To describe the conditions, I would say they are hazardous," Sgt Gray said.

"Not suitable for the activity they had planned to do.

"We're doing everything we can, with everything we've got.

"We've got over 16 vessels and we've got eight aircrafts which have flown over 440 square nautical miles of ocean to try and find him."

Sergeant Gray said as time went on "we become more and more concerned we will not have a happy ending".

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Mr Kelly is understood to be in good physical health and was training for a surf ski event at the Sunshine Coast, giving authorities some hope.

Mr Kelly's family members are believed to be flying in from New Zealand today.

The three suspects in Italy's cable car disaster have been allowed to leave prison after a judge indicated most of the blame fell on a service technician who intentionally disabled the car's emergency brake because it kept locking spontaneously.

Judge Donatella Banci Buonamici said there wasn't sufficient evidence suggesting the owner of the Mottarone cable car company, Luigi Nerini, or the maintenance chief, Enrico Perocchio, knew the technician had deactivated the brake on several occasions even before the May 23 disaster, which killed 14 people and left a five-year-old child in hospital.

After evaluating the prosecutors' case and request for the trio to remain behind bars, Buonamici ordered the owner and maintenance chief be freed while allowing the technician, Gabriele Tadini, to leave under house arrest.

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The three men left the Verbania prison on Sunday, accompanied by their lawyers.

Fourteen people were killed when the lead cable of the Mottarone funicular overlooking Lake Maggiore in northern Italy snapped and the emergency brake failed to prevent the cable car from reeling backward down the support line.

The cable car pulled off the line entirely when it hit a support pylon, crashed to the ground and then rolled down the mountain until it was stopped by a stand of trees.

The lone survivor, five-year-old Eitan Biran, remains hospitalised but conscious.

It is not known why the cable snapped.

The Italian region of Piedmont observed a minute's silence at noon on Sunday (8pm AEST), and flags were flying at half-mast to mark the moment one week ago when the disaster struck.

Mr Tadini admitted during questioning that he had left a fork-shaped bracket on the cable car's emergency brake to disable it because it kept locking on its own while the car was in service, his lawyer Marcello Perillo said.

Speaking to reporters outside the Verbania prison, Mr Perillo said Mr Tadini never would have left the bracket in place if he thought the lead cable would snap, as it did.

South Australia could soon be home to international students after the state's Chief Health Officer signed off on a plan to allow them entry.

The plan still requires approval from the federal government, but universities have expressed their desire to get overseas learners back as soon as possible.

Under the plan, arrivals would be required to quarantine for two weeks at Parafield Airport in Adelaide's north.

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In 2019, international students were worth over $40 billion to the local economy, with that figure down by $9 billion during the pandemic, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Overseas students already in Australia can continue to study, however, since the closure of the international borders those abroad have been barred from returning.

Adelaide CBD medi-hotels would continue to be used for returning Australians under the state's proposal.

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Earlier this month Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was working on schemes to allow international students back in New South Wales, the Northern Territory as well as SA.

Mr Morrison told 2GB's Ben Fordham the commonwealth was working with states and the university sector on the proposal, which would be paid for by universities.

Michael Daley, former leader of the NSW opposition, has announced that he will once again run for leadership of the Labor party following the resignation of Jodi McKay last week.

Ms McKay stepped down on Friday after weeks of mounting pressure from within the party room and a devastating result at the crucial Upper Hunter by-election that saw Labor's primary vote plummet.

Also adding to her demise were the resignations of frontbencher Chris Minns and shadow treasurer Walt Secord.

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Mr Daley, who is the member for Maroubra, announced his intention to run for leader again at a rally today surrounded by supporters.

He reportedly told supporters that he was "was very" sad to see Ms McKay resign and that it "should not have come to that".

In a statement released on Friday, Mr Daley thanked Ms McKay for leading the party and said she showed "great integrity".

"She was democratically elected overwhelmingly by both the membership and the caucus," he said.

"It's a shameful thing that she felt forced to go.

"I wish her well and hope that she stays in public life for a very long time."

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Member for Kogarah Chris Minns had earleir been tipped to replace Ms McKay but has yet to formally announce whether he will run.

If does chose to do so, a preferential vote will have to take place.

Mr Daley was previously leader of the NSW Labor party from November 2018 to March 2019 after defeating Mr Minns in a leadership spill.

In March 2019, he led the Labor party to an unsuccessful election. Following the loss, Ms McKay took over as leader.

Other candidates who had put their hat in ring for leader include health spokesman Ryan Park, however he was ruled out from running after an intervention from Labor headquarters, urging him it was "in the interests of party unity."

A surge in COVID-19 vaccine demand has forced workers to turn people away from a Melbourne vaccination hub and overloaded a dedicated phone line.

Scores of people who queued in near-freezing temperatures at the walk-in line at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Melbourne on Sunday morning were turned away.

Video taken from outside the centre showed a female medical worker stepping outside to inform those waiting there were no Pfizer vaccines available for walk-ins.

"Please stop yelling at me," she can be heard saying.

"It's not fair. I'm doing my best."

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After apologising for a lack of jabs, the woman was hit with a barrage of questions before walking back inside.

"I've been here in the cold for an hour waiting and now they've come out and said there is no Pfizer for walk-ins," one woman who had been queuing told 9News.

"You can't get through on the phones, what are we supposed to do?

"I'm looking after my mum who's not well. She's really worried."

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The federal and state governments have urged Victorians to get vaccinated as the state battles a new outbreak.

One of the many queuers said they had been at the centre for three consecutive days attempting to get vaccinated.

Another said they had tried to call the Victoria Health vaccination line hundreds of times without success.

"I've tried 200 times to call the line and I can't get through," the man said.

"The ineptitude is just staggering."

A number of people were able to receive the Pfizer jab in Geelong, some making the trip down from Melbourne.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack urged Victorians to remain calm.

"It's not a race," Mr McCormack told reporters today.

"We don't want to see panic. We want people to be alert and not alarmed."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is in New Zealand meeting with NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern echoed Mr McCormack's sentiment.

"We will continue to support Victoria, to get Victoria open and do everything we can to ensure Victoria does not close itself again," Mr Morrison said via video.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said the Commonwealth vaccination program had been delayed.

"The reality is, outside of Howard Springs, there is no alternative quarantine facility outside of hotel quarantine," Mr Merlino told reporters on Sunday.

He said this made further COVID breaches inevitable. Leading epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws agreed.

"Hotels are built like your home. They're not built as proxy hospitals," she told 9News.

"Their airflow change isn't anyway near 10 full changes with fresh air every hour per person."

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Currently, there's no online booking system for those seeking a jab, meaning all appointments must be booked over the phone. Some people told 9News they would not be returning tomorrow.

Health Minister Greg Hunt was able to receive his second AstraZeneca jab on Sunday.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley told people not to give up trying to get through to the vaccination booking line.

He reminded people they could also contact their GP about booking, with more due to join the vaccination program.

Four teenagers are recovering after being stabbed by a group of gatecrashers during a brawl at a party in Sydney's east.

The young men, aged between 16 and 18, were attacked when a fight broke out at a 21st birthday celebration in Malabar.

"One was to the back, one was to the chest," NSW Ambulance Acting Inspector Lucky Phrachanh told 9News.

"There was another male that was stabbed in the leg and another that looked like a defensive wound to the hand."

The injured teens were rushed to hospital, two of them suffering from punctured lungs.

Police said a group of unknown men arrived outside the party on Adams Avenue before an altercation erupted just after 10pm.

"Everyone was going at it. There wasn't one person who wasn't throwing a punch," witness Annabelle Lingwood told 9News.

Ms Lingwood was sitting in her car when the fight unfolded.

"They were attacking each other. It was really aggressive, very violent. And I was like 'oh my god, I'm going to get attacked'".

Police are now investigating the incident.