Rakai Thompson is on trial for the alleged murder of his friend, Te Omeka Akariri-Buckley.

Pauline Hanson has appeared in the Senate wearing a burqa, repeating a stunt she pulled in the chamber in 2017.

The One Nation leader wore the head covering minutes after she was denied leave by the government to table a bill to have burqas and full face coverings banned in Australia.

Hanson has campaigned for the policy for decades.

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The stunt prompted uproar in the chamber, with condemnation coming from Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong, Coalition Senate leader Anne Rushton and other members of the crossbench.

The Senate session was then temporarily suspended.

Hanson's stunt was slammed by Australia's Islamophobia envoy Aftab Malik, who told the Sydney Morning Herald the move could worsen harassment, threats of rape and violence against Muslim women in Australia.

"It is frustrating to see Australian Muslim women's choice of clothing continually tied to national security concerns," Malik said.

"Islamophobia is at record levels in Australia, described as 'unprecedented' by the Islamophobia Register Australia. Muslim women, in particular, face the brunt.

"Senator Pauline Hanson, eight years after her last call to ban the burqa, is again proposing it.

"This will deepen existing safety risks for Australian Muslim women who choose to wear the headscarf, the hijab, or the full face and body covering, the burqa."

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Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi told the newspaper One Nation "has nothing to offer Australians apart from tired culture wars and hollow publicity stunts".

"Nearly 10 years on from Hanson's pathetic burqa stunt in the Senate, One Nation has flipped through its racist, Islamophobic policy generator and landed on the burqa ban once more," Faruqi said.

"The idea that the government should be regulating what a woman can and cannot wear should never be up for debate. Parliament should outright reject this."

Independent WA senator Fatima Payman said Hanson was "disrespecting a faith, disrespecting Muslim Australians".

"This needs to be dealt with immediately before we proceed, it's disgraceful," Payman said in the Senate.

Wong said Hanson's conduct was "not worthy" of the parliament and senators should not be "disrespectful of the Senate".

Ruston called for respect for others and said, "This is not the way you should be addressing this chamber."

Greens leader Larissa Waters called the burqa stunt an "insult".

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Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said Hanson's stunt "weakens her case", "cheapens our parliament" and would prompt most Australians to "look away in disgust".

"Pauline Hanson needs some new material because, as you said, she has recycled this from eight years ago," Canavan told the ABC.

"While this might attract the interest of a small fringe in our society, I just don't think middle Australia like to see our parliament debased like this.

"I think this is disrespectful to Muslim Australians as well, I don't support you ridiculing people who have certain multicultural dress standards, it is not appropriate."

Hanson first wore a burqa in the Senate chamber in 2017.

"Today, the Senate stopped the introduction of my bill to ban the burqa and other full face coverings in public places," Hanson said on social media this afternoon.

"Despite the ban in 24 countries across the world (including Islamic countries), the hypocrites in our parliament have rejected my bill.

"So if the parliament won't ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risk our national security and the ill treatment of women on the floor of our parliament so that every Australian knows what's at stake.

"If they don't want me wearing it – ban the burqa."

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Police are searching for a man who may have been involved in the theft of two pugs from a home in Sydney's southern suburbs.

It is alleged the two dogs were taken from the front of a house Alexander Street in Alexandria in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The owner, who has not publicly been identified, has claimed to offer a $5000 reward if they are found and safely returned, according to missing posters seen by 9news.com.au.

READ MORE: Bureau of Meteorology asked to explain why new website cost $92 million more than reported

They are both black pugs, with Olive being six years old and Monty being 11 years old.

"My two pugs were stolen at 3.30am on Sunday 23rd November," the poster begins

"$5,000 reward if they are found and safely returned to their loving home."

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Police are investigating the incident, and are looking to speak to a man seen in the area at the time of the alleged theft.

He is described as being of Caucasian appearance, of large build and was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt with a white branding logo the front and a black and white stripe pattern in the centre of the back, dark coloured shorts, a black baseball cap with tan work boots.

The man was also carrying a blue, tan and white coloured shopping bag.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact South Sydney Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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An email reportedly from Parliamentary Service says the MP came in under budget.

A Givealittle page for mother Chelsey Field has reached nearly $400,000.

The self-described idyllic life of a family-of-five living in an Italian forest with horses, donkeys and chickens has stalled after a court ordered the children be removed and placed in foster care.

Patrol cars were dispatched to remove the children from their home in Abruzzo to a church-run care facility.

The mother is staying at the same premise but the parents have limited access to the children, their family lawyer said.

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The fate of the children, known in Italian as the Bimbi nel Bosco or kids in the woods, has captivated the country.

Tens of thousands of people have signed an online petition to reunite the family.

The parents, Nathan Trevallion, a 51-year-old British former professional chef, and Catherine Birmingham, a 45-year-old Australian life coach and former equestrian trainer, were named in an order issued by a L'Aquila court as parents of the children – one eight-year-old and six-year-old twins.

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"The family unit lives in housing hardship as the building has not been declared habitable," the order states.

"The members of the Trevallion family have no social interaction, no fixed income, the home has no toilet facilities, and the children do not attend school.

"The order is based on the risk of violating the right to social life in consideration of the serious and harmful violations of the children's rights to physical and mental integrity the parents should be suspended from parental responsibility."

READ MORE: Bureau of Meteorology asked to explain why new website cost $92m more than reported

Giovanni Angelucci, the family's lawyer, says the family heats the home with fireplaces and uses solar panels for light and to charge their devices.

The family removed running water to avoid microplastics as well as costs and instead draws fresh water from a well on the property.

They don't have an indoor toilet but instead use an outdoor composting toilet.

The family's living situation came to light in September 2024 after all five were hospitalised for poisoning after eating wild mushrooms from the forest.

After that time, the family was visited by social service officials and law enforcement, but their lawyer said they did not comply with recommendations to have the children receive regular medical care and attend schools.

Trevallion told local media at the time he was shocked by the decision.

"They are happy, smell good, well-mannered, and well-fed; why break this bond?" he said Friday, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

CNN reached out to the family via Birmingham's website, which advises that they don't check electronic communications often.

Angelluci said the family will appeal the decision next week.

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Birmingham runs a life coaching and energy reading business, according to her website, which is filled with images of animals and the children – photos the court order said violated the children's privacy and were posted only to show the appearance of a normal living situation after the social services' investigation began.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her deputy Matteo Salvini have both criticised the court decision.

Meloni, who said the removal of the children was "alarming," has called the Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio over the case, according to her spokesman.

Salvini, who plans to visit the family home next week, told reporters at the Venice Bienniele on Friday that it was "shameful that the State is concerned with private education and the personal life choices of two parents who found Italy a hospitable country, yet it steals their children."

The family purchased the home in 2021, at which time Birmingham wrote on her website, "Recently we found our dream forever home. … With the energy of the place being very special, we bring people to stay for healing and awakening, connecting to the wild, without and within, eating home grown and home cooked organic vegan food."

Giuseppe Masciulli, the mayor of nearby Palmoli, also condemned the removal of the children.

"I'm a father myself, so I was deeply shocked by the situation," he told CNN, adding that he believed the situation could be resolved if the family promises to meet certain requirements, including reinstalling running water and meeting with the local school on a weekly basis to assess the children's academic progress.

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Police stopped the 22-year-old in Palmerston North and found a shotgun.

The plan shifts to a data‑driven model for social and affordable homes.

The brightly coloured children’s sand products have been recalled.

The federal government has asked the Bureau of Meteorology to explain why the total bill for their unpopular new website cost $92 million more than the agency previously stated.

The Bureau's new chief, Stuart Minchin, yesterday revealed that the project had cost $96.5 million rather than $4.1 million, which was only the cost of redesigning the front-end of the website.

The total figure includes a $78 million contract for Accenture Australia.

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"The remaining cost reflects the significant investment required to fully rebuild and test the systems and technology that underpin the website, making sure it is secure and stable and can draw in the huge amounts of data gathered from our observing network and weather models," Minchin said in a statement.

Environment Minister Murray Watt, who oversees the Bureau of Meteorology, today said he was "not happy" to learn of the blowout.

"The initial figure that the BoM provided in the range of $4 million was for one aspect of the website development," he told ABC.

"It's a matter for them why they chose to provide that figure rather than a broader figure.

"But there's no doubt that there have been increases in the cost of this website as it's been developed, and one of the things I have asked the new CEO of the BoM to get on top of is what happened here."

Watt has met with Minchin twice since he took on the Bureau's top role a fortnight ago, first to raise concerns about criticisms of the new website and a second time to discuss the total cost figures.

"I'm looking forward to a bit of a change in the culture and the approach of the BoM," he said, throwing his support behind Minchin to "get on top of this and drive some change".

"If there are lessons around future procurements that are needed, then we need to know what they are."

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The Bureau of Meteorology's website, which is one of the most visited sites in Australia, was last upgraded under Kevin Rudd's first term as prime minister and found to have vulnerabilities after a cyber intrusion in 2015.

The redesigned website went live on October 22 under former chief Andrew Johnson and was met with heavy criticism over usability issues, including difficulties finding features, and complaints about the rain radar and weather map.

The federal government ordered the Bureau of Meteorology to fix the website, with some changes already made.

Minchin said a website update was scheduled to go live last week, but was postponed due to the severe Tropical Cyclone Fina off the Northern Territory coast.

The update will respond directly to community feedback received during the beta phase, with a focus on making the rain radar and weather map easier to use.

It will also include video tutorials, website help and troubleshooting to help users navigate the site. 

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"Given this [$96.5 million] investment, it's vital we get it right," he said in a statement.

"I want to assure you that our dedicated teams are working hard to continue delivering website updates and improvements as quickly as possible."

The Bureau of Meteorology's new website update will be rescheduled as soon as the severe weather subsides, with a date to be announced soon. 

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