New Zealand’s booming property market, at a time when other jobs are disappearing, has made real estate agents one of the country’s 10 most popular jobs in 2020.Police officers once again topped the list of most-searched-for jobs…

Wellingtonians commuting by bus are advised to check their travel today as a union meeting is expected to disrupt some bus services. A Tramways Union meeting may disrupt bus services between 9am and 3pm on Wednesday, Metlink advised….

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The Queen is grappling with a crisis that is threatening the monarchy, leaving Buckingham Palace with little choice but to respond to Prince Harry and Meghan's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, royal experts say.

The Palace has remained silent since the blockbuster tell-all aired on Sunday, and royal expert Victoria Murphy understands the family has been locked in meetings ever since.

She said the Crown faced a crucial decision about how to react, particularly to accusations of "concerns and conversations" within the palace about how "dark" Archie's skin would be when he was born.

"She (the Queen) has weathered a lot of ups and downs but I do think this is a really crucial point for the monarchy," Murphy told 9News special The Crown In Crisis.

WATCH NOW: The Crown In Crisis – a 9News special

"It's absolutely a crisis.

"I think it's a very brave person who claims to know what the Queen is thinking, but clearly the Royal Family is absolutely reeling from this."

Former Buckingham Palace staffer Dickie Arbiter said the family could no longer ignore the issue because too many accusations had been levelled.

"I don't think they will ignore it. They can't ignore it. There were too many accusations levelled at the Palace," Arbiter told The Crown In Crisis.

"There's the accusation of racism. That's an interesting one, because Meghan referred to it as conversations, plural, during her pregnancy. 

"Harry, who comes into the interview an hour after it started, refers to a conversation before they were married. So what was it? While she was pregnant or before they were married?"

Another key point to emerge from Sunday's interview was Meghan's mental health struggles and what she described as a lack of support from the Palace. 

"I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that I've never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere," she said. 

"And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution."

Arbiter said he found it hard to believe that "nobody would raise a finger or even a hand to help her" during that dark time.

"To say that she wasn't looked after, I do find it a bit rich and that is something that the Palace will have to look into," he said. 

"Did she actually talk to somebody in the palace and, if so, who did she talk to?"

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Plans to increase quarantine capacity in the Northern Territory to allow more Australians to come home have raised concerns the state will be left open to a potential COVID-19 outbreak.

The NT has recorded just 106 cases of coronavirus — the majority linked to international travel — no community transmission and zero deaths.

But Territorians now fear a quarantine leak could happen when highly skilled Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) staff leave the Howard Springs Quarantine Centre near Darwin, as capacity ramps up to 2000 people repatriated to Australia a fortnight.

READ MORE: More than 100,000 Aussies granted travel exemptions during pandemic

"AUSMAT have obviously had a very high level of training and supervision in respect to quarantine supervision," Dr Robert Parker of the Australian Medical Association told 9News.

"It's probably not going to be as high as it was under the AUSMAT group."

The staff and procedures put in place by AUSMAT have been highlighted as the key to Howard Springs' success.

Commonwealth and NT Government on Friday struck the deal to increase capacity, which will see the centre consolidated into one facility, combining the currently separated domestic and international arrivals.

AUSMAT, from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, oversees operations of international arrivals, while staff from the NT Health Department manage domestic quarantine.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the consolidated model was more sustainable long term.

"The NTCCRC actually have a lot of other demands upon their time that they need to be available for," he said.

NTCCRC executive director Professor Len Notaras moved to reassure Territorians his staff would lead a careful transition.

"We will be watching very closely that the scale-up is compliant with the very strict and high standards we've established, which have kept the Territory safe," he said.

But NT Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro isn't convinced the territory government will be able to continue managing the facility successfully.

"We've seen rave parties, attempted escapes and of course there has been questions around the territory government's ability to attract the right staff," she said.

A national recruitment drive will be launched over the next few weeks in a bid to recruit the 400 extra staff needed to manage the increased capacity.

One of the men charged over the bashing of teenage girls on Mardi Gras in Sydney has other violent charges against women in his criminal history, a court has heard.

Jesse Mackenzie, 29, is accused of assaulting two girls during a brawl in Pyrmont on Saturday night.

The court heard Mackenzie is accused of punching one 16-year-old in the face, and grabbing another by the hair, dragging her five metres, then throwing her off a concrete ledge.

READ MORE: Fourth man sought over alleged Mardi Gras assault of teen girls

"Whilst the experience must have been traumatic, we hope they make a full and speedy recovery," his lawyer Mostafa Daoudie said outside court today.

In a bid for bail Mackenzie, a Telstra worker, offered to live under house arrest when not at work or reporting to police.

This was denied after a magistrate read his criminal history, which includes other violent charges against women.

Two other men, William Shepley and Hong Lee, also remain behind bars over the attack.

The trio were charged after video of the fight was posted to social media yesterday.

We've been told for years eating fish will ward off heart disease but a new study has raised questions about just how beneficial it really is.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and included data collected from close to 200,000 people in 40 countries over almost a decade. The participants had to keep a record of their fish consumption.

The research found if you already have cardiovascular disease, eating two serves or 175g of fish a week lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke.

READ MORE: The simple test that could predict your risk of heart attack

But the benefits weren't seen in healthy people.

Despite the findings, experts say fish is still a highly nutritious food.

"There's been a lot of evidence over the years – epidemiological evidence – that people who eat fish tend to get less heart disease and our recommendation still stands," Heart Foundation Cardiologist, Professor Garry Jennings said.

READ MORE: Junk food diets keeping teenagers up at night

The Heart Foundation recommends all Australians eat two to three servings a week.

Some of the best types are salmon, mullet, mackerel and sardines.

"It's a matter of eating the right fish, at the right time, with the right other foods as part of a balanced diet," Professor Jennings said.

A staff member has been taken to hospital after a mystery object was thrown through the window of Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan's electorate office.

At about 4pm local time this afternoon, a man ran into the office, flung the object, which appeared to be something wrapped in foil, through a window, and then fled.

The office was immediately evacuated and one staff member was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Mr McGowan was not in the office at the time, but arrived later.

He said they were still not aware what had been in the "package".

"We're obviously in a very heightened environment at the moment, I'd just urge everyone to behave appropriately," he said.

Western Australia is set to head to the polls on Saturday, for a state election Mr McGowan is expected to overwhelmingly win.

The attack on Mr McGowan's office followed a death threat yesterday when a man at a Perth early polling booth told people he had a gun and he planned to shoot the premier.

Police are investigating both incidents.

This is the full keynote speech delivered by Jamila Rizvi at the Future Women Leadership Summit, held today.

I was 22 years old when I started working as a government staffer at Australian Parliament House. I was employed there for four years.

I grew up in a building where everyone else seemed very grown up and it wasn't until years later that I realised just how unusual the experience was.

Let me set the scene. One night I was at a hotel bar with a dozen or so colleagues. Most of them are men. Everyone is drunk.

It's after 11 at night. We have an early start in the morning but that doesn't seem to bother anyone awfully much.

READ MORE: Brittany Higgins responds to 'lying cow' comment from Linda Reynolds

There are two women, aside from me. Neither of whom I know very well. We're seated together on a long couch, sitting primly with our knees together – not that there is any real alternative when wearing a skirt suit

The man who has been sitting on my left stands to make his goodbyes. He's a married father. We've been chatting for much of the night.

The way he talks reminds me of my dad holding court at the breakfast table back when I was at high school, arguing as a method of preparing me for an exam.

His questions are confrontational, but his tone is warm and encouraging. Oozing with charm, my new friend makes a point of singling out everyone in the group for individual mention as he departs. They all feel special.

He's an important guy. Being recognised by him makes them feel important too.

As he walks off, I realise he's left his hotel room key on the table in front of me. Innocently, I jump up and call out his name, waving the plastic card in the air. 'I think you forgot something?'

He walks slowly and deliberately back towards us. He comes right up close beside me to collect the card. His fingers clasp unnecessarily around mine as he leans in, face inches from my own. 'You're so naïve, it's delicious,' he says.

He continued 'That was meant for you.' He speaks in an exaggerated faux whisper. The whole group can hear him and that's exactly what he wanted. Everyone is looking at us. Everyone laughs. And I am mortified.

READ MORE: Politics needs to change, Frydenberg says after Bishop weighs in

That's one occasion that stands out in my memory but there were many. As a staffer, I was a young woman in a world of older men, and for many of those men, parliament was their playground. Away from their family and friends for 22 weeks of every year, Canberra was a place where they worked hard and played harder.

I know now, of course, that I was one of the lucky ones.

While sexual harassment certainly happened to me, I was not sexually assaulted. I was not raped. I was spared that indignity, that distress, that trauma and brutality and the memories that go along with it.

I was spared the experience alleged by Brittany Higgins. The brave former liberal staffer who says she was raped on the couch of Australia's now Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

While Brittany went public with what she says happened to her in late February, we know that Brittany is not alone. And not only because other women have made allegations against the same man.

We know Brittany is not alone because as women working in any industry, we know that our safety and security at work are not guaranteed.

We know that Brittany is not alone because just this week an online petition for sexual consent education in schools was swamped with stories from women who said they were assaulted by their teenage male peers.

This is not about party. This is not even about politics. As women we know that in male dominated environments, we are particularly vulnerable.

According to a report by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' office, almost 40 percent of women have been sexually harassed at work.

This work, as well as similar studies show that the rate of sexual harassment is much higher amongst vulnerable groups including young women, queer women, Indigenous women, migrant women and non-binary people.

READ MORE: Rape claims continue to haunt government

Make no mistake. Sexual harassment and assault tend not to be the fault of one evil wrongdoer.

They are the result of a culture that normalises the privilege of powerful men and says they can do and take what they want.

In fact, nearly half of those people who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace consider it common behaviour. Two in five are aware of someone else in their workplace being harassed. Yet only one in five will make a complaint.

While the nation's Defence Chief, General Angus Campbell reportedly thinks women can ward off the sexual violence of men by avoiding alcohol and 'presenting themselves as attractive' – the truth is that none of that matters.

Not in schools, not in communities, not at church, not at a bar or a party. And not in workplaces where the very infrastructure – the so-called system – that is supposed to protect us, is protecting the powerful.

I haven't met Brittany Higgins, but I know she did not come forward with these allegations for herself.

I know this from speaking to the half a dozen or so fellow former staffers who have called me in recent days to whisper, to reveal, to sob and to say out loud for the first time that they too experienced sexual assault while working in Australian Parliament House.

Brittany Higgins came forward to protect others.

My friends tell me that is the only reason they would consider doing the same.

I imagine Brittany Higgins made her allegations public in both a desperate bid for justice, and to make sure another woman did not experience what she alleges happened to her. And what did she get for her trouble?

A media storm seeped in inuendo, a bunch of raised eyebrows, her boyfriend forced to resign his job, her old boss reportedly calling her a 'cow' – and an employer – a government – whose focus appeared fixed on the political consequences and not their former employee's personal wellbeing.

Let me take you on another trip down memory lane. When we were teenagers, my sister and I watched a lot of Neighbours. It was our go-to mode of decompression following classes and sporting matches but before family dinner.

We'd lounge on the couch after school, munching on the good biscuits if Mum wasn't looking, and inhaling the increasingly ludicrous plot lines. We were addicted. I wonder if some of you were also.

There was the episode when Harold fell off a cliff face before returning five years later with amnesia and thinking his name was Todd. There was the car crash that saw Dee and Toadie plummet into the sea between their wedding and the reception. Poor Toadie would continue to be morbidly unlucky in love.

Neighbours released Delta Goodrem's Born to Try single as part of an actual plotline involving a complex love triangle with Taj and Jack. Paul Robinson was pushed from the Lassiter's balcony, after having lit the place on fire a couple of years prior.

The six possible suspects who all lived on the same street provided literal months of content. And then, in the year I turned eighteen, the year I started university and would later leave home, my sister and the old TV playing Neighbours behind?

Izzy falsely accused her boyfriend Gus of rape. My 15-year-old sister and I lapped it up. We called our mates on three-way-dialling to dissect this shocking plot twist. It was appalling. Disgusting.

This fictional crime was so great that it seemed too awful to comprehend, even for the terrible Izzy. It was unbelievable. Which is exactly right. It was unbelievable. Because false claims of sexual assault and rape are exceedingly rare.

The most commonly cited figure is that five percent of rape allegations are found to be false. But to rely on that figure alone would be a misrepresentation.

Because only one in ten women actually reports her sexual assault to police. The vast majority of us stay silent.

What this means is that 90 percent of rapes go unreported. And because the 'five-per cent of rape allegations are false' figure can, by its very definition, only apply to reported rapes, this leaves the actual false allegation figure at around 0.5 per cent. Or one in two hundred. 

And yet these are the stories we were fed as teenagers. And it is a myth that is still allowed to permeate dinner table discussions and water cooler conversations. It is the undertone of internet articles and snide tweets.

There is a repeated intimation that women can't always be trusted in these matters.

That women make things up. That women bend the truth. That women are mad, crazy, emotional beings.

That women lie.

On Friday a week and a half ago, the media reported that a cabinet minister was at the centre of a historical rape allegation made by a woman who had since taken her own life. A letter detailing the deceased's accusation had been sent to the Prime Minister, amongst other powerful political figures, by the woman's friends.

On Wednesday last week, that minister – the Attorney-General Christian Porter – came forward. In a press conference, he denied the allegations. Vigorously and categorically. He was visibly distressed and rattled.

On Thursday morning last week the Prime Minister dismissed calls for an independent inquiry. This is despite the fact the Prime Minister did not read the contents of the accusatory letter. He was merely briefed on them by others.

During his emotional press conference, Christian Porter – the highest law officer in our country – asked journalists to imagine, just for a second that the allegations were not true. This is a perfectly fair and reasonable question to for him to ask. He is the subject of a serious and life-altering allegations that may well be false.

However, the woman who made those allegations is now deceased. She cannot ask us to imagine the opposite. And so, we must do that for ourselves.

I would like to share with you now, some powerful words that are not my own:

While we can't be so vain to pretend to answers, we must be so humble to fall before those who were forsaken and beg to them our apology. A sorry that dare not ask for forgiveness. A sorry that dare not try and make sense of the incomprehensible or think it could. A sorry that does not insult with an incredible promise. A sorry that speaks only of profound grief and loss. We honour every survivor in this country, we love you, we hear you and we honour you.

Those are the words of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Spoken as part of his apology to the survivors of institutional child sex abuse. His speech was delivered in parliament during October 2018 following the Royal Commission.

That Royal Commission heard testimony from survivors whose abusers have since died. Survivors for whom a conviction of their abuser would never be possible, but for whom an apology still mattered.

The Commission also heard testimony from the friends and family of child sex abuse victims had taken their own lives or since passed away. Their stories were meaningful and their evidence significant to the Commission's final report.

Just because the police have decided not to investigate, that does not render other forms of inquiry void. And just because testimony cannot be given by the alleged victim, does not make an independent inquiry futile.

At present there is no clear forum in which this woman's allegation against the Attorney General can be tested. It is imperative that one is created. Otherwise, the court of public opinion will decide.

And that serves nobody's interest.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has been admitted to hospital.

A media statement issued by his office said the minister was suffering a "suspected infection".

"He is being kept overnight for observation and is being administered antibiotics and fluid," the statement said.

"The minister is expected to make a full recovery.

READ MORE: Julia Gillard joins Greg Hunt for AstraZeneca vaccine official launch in Australia

"His condition is not considered to be related to the (COVID-19) vaccine."

Mr Hunt received the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab on Monday alongside former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

In launching the vaccine, Mr Hunt said getting the shot was about "the gift of being able to protect somebody else's life… particularly our elderly".

"With the commencement of the AstraZeneca vaccine, those numbers will grow significantly," Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt has served as Federal Health Minister through the coronavirus pandemic, having stepped into the role in 2017.

His trip to hospital follows Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews' admission to intensive care earlier today.

Mr Andrews broke several ribs and damaged some vertebrae, and will remain in hospital for the next several days.