The mother of a former cop who allegedly killed two men has been refused bail, as she faces accusations she attempted to influence a witness in her son's trial.

Coleen Lamarre, the mother of accused killer cop Beau Lamarre-Condon, beamed into Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court from a prison cell on Thursday.

The 63-year-old former police officer has been charged with perverting the course of justice but has not yet entered pleas.

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She wore prison greens and took copious notes with pen and paper as her barrister applied for her to be released on bail.

The application was refused, meaning Lamarre will remain behind bars for two months if she doesn't make a bail application in the state's highest court.

She is accused of attempting to influence a witness in the trial of her son who, like her, previously served as a police officer.

Lamarre-Condon allegedly fatally fired his service pistol at TV presenter Jesse Baird and his flight attendant partner Luke Davies at their inner-city Sydney home in February 2024.

The former police officer bundled their bodies into surfboard bags and dumped them at a rural property in Bungonia near Goulburn, according to prosecutors.

The men's bodies were found eight days later after an extensive search.

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Lamarre-Condon, who briefly dated Baird, has pleaded not guilty to their murders.

He joined the force in 2019 and was the first serving NSW police officer charged with murder in decades.

The then-senior constable was charged and eventually sacked by NSW Police after handing himself in.

He faces two counts of domestic violence-related murder, and aggravated break and enter. His case will return to court later this month.

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The proceedings have become one of the state's most high-profile criminal cases in recent years, with suggestions hundreds of witnesses may be called to testify at trial.

In a previous hearing, Lamarre-Condon said he opposed any orders for a closed court at his trial, adding he "will not be silenced".

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EXCLUSIVE: The operators of Snowy Hydro 2.0 are bracing for a more than 10-fold cost blowout in the mega project that is already running seven years behind the original schedule.

But the federal government remains committed to the renewable energy project, which is now two-thirds complete.

9News visited Snowy 2.0 at an important milestone – the breakthrough of tunnel boring machine (TBM) Eileen into a cavern deep underground, completing her six-kilometre section of the tunnelling task.

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TBM Florence, which infamously got stuck for 11 months just 150 metres into her dig, is now seven kilometres into her 15-kilometre task, with project director Dave Evans confident she can reach boring speeds of 90 days for every remaining kilometre.

"The logistics of getting deep underground to build such a big power station comes with challenges, and that's what we're here for," Evans said.

"This project that we're building will last 150 years, so it's going to be here for hell of a long time."

All up, 19 kilometres of the project's 27-kilometre tunnels have been bored by the four TBMs.

When completed, Snowy 2.0 promises to be Australia's biggest battery, storing the equivalent of 26 million home batteries by using excess solar and wind energy to pump water into the upper Tantangara reservoir for release when power is needed.

9News visited the enormous cavern nearly one kilometre below the surface that will house a six-turbine generator.

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The 200-metre-long cavern is big enough to fit the Sydney Opera House and at 67 metres tall could comfortably fit the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

But the spiralling cost of Snowy 2.0 remains problematic.

When then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Snowy Hydro 2.0 in 2017, it was given a price tag of $2 billion and a completion date of 2021.

The projected cost escalated to $6 billion, then lifted to $12 billion in 2023, with Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes conceding this figure will be exceeded and the completion date pushed back to late 2028.

"We're not going to get it done for $12 billion so we've asked our contractor to do a line-by-line assessment, which they're due to complete in the next couple of weeks," Barnes said.

9News understands the project's latest price tag will be about $22 billion – 11 times the original estimate.

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Barnes defended the blowout, saying the project was "one of the most complex engineering projects underway in the world" that demanded millimetre precision in a remote part of Kosciuszko National Park.

"The announcements in the early days were all pre-feasibility stage," he said.

"Obviously, as you do more, you learn more. And progressively, over the last 10 years or so, we've gone through a few stages where we've understood more.

"Although there was the famous $2 billion by 2021 announced, no work had been done at that point.

"When we got to about 40 per cent of the way through the project, three years ago, we reset the project. We said when it was going to finish, and we said how much it was going to cost. Now, some of those have proven wrong, but until you do the work, you don't really know."

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One of the major financial pressure points for the project is labour and associated logistical costs such as fly-in fly-out arrangements, accommodation and meals.

Workers on the TBMs are paid more than $300,000 under two weeks on, one week off arrangements.

Last week, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the Albanese government was committed to the project, notwithstanding the fact that the "incoming government had to deal with the consequences of that poorly scoped, poorly designed project".

"It is a huge, massive infrastructure undertaking and it has encountered several challenges that were not understood at the point that that project was approved by the former government," she said.

"We're working through all of those issues, as you'd expect."

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Angus Taylor will hand down his budget reply, with the centrepiece being a migration-led policy that ties the nation's net intake of immigrants to the amount of new houses that are built.

As Donald Trump landed in Beijing this morning, he brought along an entourage of family, business leaders and billionaires.

Put together, the group aboard Air Force One had a combined net worth of well more than a trillion dollars.

Elon Musk is joining the delegation despite an order from a judge that he be ready to be recalled to testify in a civil case between himself and tech company OpenAI.

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NBC News reported Musk did not get permission from the judge to leave the country as the trial continues.

As a consequence, the Tesla CEO could find himself in serious trouble if he is called to take the stand again and he doesn't show up.

Also on the trip are bosses of Apple, Boeing, Meta, Mastercard, Visa, Goldman Sachs and Micron, as well as many others.

And NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was a last-minute invitee, boarding Air Force One as it refuelled in Alaska.

In a Truth Social post, Trump lashed reporting from CNBC that stated Huang had not been invited.

"In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC's reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS!" Trump said.

It is not apparent if CNBC reported the purported snub before or after Huang was added to the guest list.

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In his post, Trump made it clear why the leaders were joining him in China.

"It is an Honour to have Jensen, Elon, Tim Apple, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzmann, Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), and many others journeying to the Great Country of China where I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to 'open up' China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People's Republic to an even higher level! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request," he wrote midflight.

Trump once again referred to Apple CEO Tim Cook as Tim Apple, a gaffe he was widely mocked for during his first term.

It is not certain whether he was repeating his mistake or making a wry joke with today's misnaming.

The various business leaders will be hoping to be making deals of their own while they are in China.

While it is not unusual for CEOs to tag along on US presidents' foreign visits, this is a particularly big delegation of billionaires.

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But Trump has a long history of surrounding himself with business titans. 

At his second inauguration, billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were given front-row seats, in front of Trump's own cabinet.

The US delegation will be hoping to restore profitable relationships with China after a major falling out between the two countries.

Trump's Liberation Day tariffs led to a chilling of relations with China.

Last year, Chinese purchases of American exports dropped by 25 per cent. Chinese spending on American products has halved since 2017.

The US delegation will be hoping to see China buy more of their planes and agricultural equipment.

China, meanwhile, is seeking for the US to open up their market to their electric cars.

Musk may want to be close to Trump during the trip to make sure that doesn't happen.

Despite their successes in the EV market elsewhere, including Australia, Chinese EVs are prohibited from the US.

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Also joining the delegation is director Brett Ratner, who will reportedly scout locations for the upcoming movie Rush Hour 4.

The disgraced filmmaker was directly asked by Trump to make another sequel of the buddy cop comedy.

Ratner had not directed a movie since 2014, after which he was accused of sexual assault and harassment by six women.

He made his comeback with the documentary Melania this year.

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Two people are feared dead and another is fighting for life after a bus crash on a major highway in Queensland.

Emergency services were called to the Bruce Highway near Rangemore Road at Gumlu, about 135 kilometres south of Townsville, before 4pm today after reports the large coach had rolled.

Queensland Ambulance paramedics were assessing 30 people at the scene.

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Ten people have been flown to Ayr Hospital, while another four have been taken to Bowen for treatment.

The condition of the other passengers had not been confirmed.

Almost a dozen ambulance crews were at the scene.

The road is closed to all traffic in both directions and motorists are being told to avoid the area.

The crash happened near the scene of a 2024 crash involving a Greyhound bus.

In that crash, three women aged 56, 33 and 21 died, while several other bus passengers were injured.

More to come.

‘I know he’s very grateful for this club and loves this club.’

Chris Hipkins warns ministers are using the fund to back favourite acts.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has dodged questions about thresholds for criminal responsibility in young people, after a 14-year-old girl had more than 100 charges against her dropped.

The 14-year-old girl was facing 109 charges for an alleged two-month spree of incidents, including some alleged anti-semitic attacks. She was denied bail in April due to the severity of her alleged offences.

Police today withdrew the charges after the prosecution was unable to reach the Doli incapax legal threshold that the girl, who was 13 at the time of the alleged offences, was capable of committing a criminal offence.

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"The charges were withdrawn because the police prosecution was unable to rebut the legal presumption that a child aged 13 and under is incapable of committing a criminal offence," A Victoria Police spokesperson told 9News.

"This is a high legal threshold that requires the prosecution to prove the child knew their conduct was seriously morally wrong."

The premier today agreed the teen's behaviour was "far from in line with community expectation".

"As a parent it is quite shocking to think that there are kids that age undertaking this sort of behaviour and it's showing them the consequences of what happens if you continue down that path," Allan said.

"That sort of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and it's why we've toughened the bail laws, it's why we've introduced adult time for adult crime."

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But Allan and Victorian Attorney General Sonya Kilkenny were both unwilling to comment on why the teen was let off.

"In terms of the specifics of the individual or individual court case I've not been briefed on that matter," Allan said.

"I will need to get further advice and come back to you."

When asked whether the government would look into reviewing the Doli incapax ruling, Kilkenny said she was "not here to make an announcement on those matters".

"Every matter is different with every victim, with every offender we are talking about different circumstances, which is why it is so important not to pull out individual cases but look to a system as a whole," Kilkenny said.

Police had alleged the girl's phone search history showed she had Googled "how long the sentence is for running someone over", as well as "where do Jews live" prior to some offences.

"If you're old enough to be able to Google the punishment, then you should be certainly old enough to take the punishment," Opposition spokesperson David Southwick said.

"I think this young person would be laughing at Victoria and our legal system right now."

In one incident on March 30, the girl was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car in Brighton in Melbourne's south-east and attempted to hit a cyclist with the passenger door of the car.

The court heard about other alleged incidents targeting Jewish people, including antisemitic remarks shouted at pedestrians in Hampton, Ripponlea and Caulfield, and swerving towards a Jewish family in Ripponlea in March — causing them to run for cover.

Victoria Police insisted the concerns of the Jewish community were still being taken into account despite the withdrawal of the charges.

"We understand the concern these incidents have caused in the community, especially for members of the Jewish community," the spokesperson said.

Reported with AAP

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Residents say they moved to Pegasus for the course and are devastated by the news.

The Glorit pylon collapse cut power to about 90,000 Northland electricity customers.