His oil painting won over hundreds of entries, including a portrait on a fake fingernail.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the image of a person who is deceased.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has admitted governments need to do better to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians, after he met with the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby.

It has been almost three weeks since the five-year-old girl was found dead in Alice Springs days after she was allegedly abducted from a town camp.

Speaking this afternoon after meeting with her family, Albanese said the "wonderful, young soul" should have had her whole life ahead of her.

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"This is a young person lost far too early under circumstances that are unbearable," he said after meeting her mother and grandparents.

"(The family) are trying to bear their way through this with dignity, with respect and it will remain something that is with them forever.

"They're proud of their much-loved daughter and granddaughter, of who she was, but also that sense of regret that she won't get to be the young woman and woman that she should have become."

Albanese said his government will work with the Northern Territory government to tackle issues facing local communities, but admitted they all "need to do much better".

"This is a time where what I want to see is different levels of government coming together with the community in the same way that the community has come together itself."

The territory government has been criticised for its response to Kumanjayi Little Baby's death, which included proposed child protection changes and an inquiry.

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Services, Central Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service and Legal Aid NT were some of the organisations that issued a joint statement raising concerns about the proposed response.

The group said it would increase government intervention but fail to address underlying issues.

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Albanese called on the territory government to involve First Nations communities in its decision-making to create better outcomes.

"We'll work constructively with the Northern Territory government, but they also need to work respectfully with the local community, with the family, and need to make sure they involve First Nations people as well in this local community to work through these issues in the most constructive way possible," he said.

"I would say to the Northern Territory government that you'll get better outcomes if you have an inclusive approach and you have buy-in to these issues, and that's why that consultation and engagement is so important."

Albanese also criticised the territory government over the state of town camps.

"Clearly, the Northern Territory government have had responsibilities since 2012 for the town camps," he said.

"Clearly, there's a need to do more to make sure that the living conditions are improved."

The family of Kumanjayi Little Baby have called for Australians not to politicise her death as they conduct sorry business. 

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Police will be at the East Auckland ride to ensure safety for all.

Rachel Lamberth blamed an out-of-control gambling addiction for the offending.

Nine complaints about seagulls were logged with Whangārei District Council.

Former Olympic swimming champion Neil Brooks and his wife Linda were "ecstatic" at learning their long-running fraud charges were about to be formally abandoned in a Brisbane court.

The pair had been accused of making dishonest representations to induce investor Glenn Melcheck and his wife to pay $1.95 million for a 50 per cent stake in their sports merchandise company in 2008.

After being introduced in late 2007 by a third party, the Brooks and the Melchecks held a series of meetings before signing an agreement in January 2008.

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Days later, the Melchecks paid a $50,000 deposit only for the now-defunct company to collapse within months.

In Brisbane District Court today, prosecutors told Judge Anthony Rafter they would not proceed with the case, effectively ending the prosecution.

The Brooks' lawyer, Daniel Hannay, said they were finally vindicated after almost a decade.

"We had a FaceTime discussion last night – where I gave them the good news, they were both overseas," he said in a statement.

"There were lots of tears – but not many words. They are both ecstatic that the matter is finally over, and they can move on with their lives."

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The Brooks were charged in 2017, and during the proceedings, the court heard about alleged relationships with major European football clubs, including Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Prosecutors alleged the couple, as directors of the company, made misleading claims about the business's success and prospects to induce the investment.

Brooks won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and was part of Australia's famed "Mean Machine" relay team before going on to work as a television presenter.

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Australia is one of nearly 100 countries set to be impacted by new visa rules when travelling to Thailand after the Asian nation said it would remove a key visa exemption.

Thailand's government announced it would be removing a policy that allowed tourists from 93 different countries to travel throughout Thailand for up to 60 days without needing to apply for a visa.

The policy was first implemented in 2024, designed to help a recovery in the tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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However, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said his cabinet had reviewed the rule and decided it was in the country's interest to make a change.

"The Cabinet has decided to cancel the 60-day visa-free policy for over 90 countries, and is now awaiting the new policy criteria for each country," he said in a statement.

"The government recently found that the policy needs to be revised to be more suitable for the current situation, both in terms of the economy and national security."

It is understood that the visa-free period of travel for Australian tourists will now be reduced to 30 days, which is what it used to be before the 60-day exemption was introduced.

The changes have not yet taken effect and the timeline of when they will be introduced is unclear.

According to Australian government data, around 750-800,000 Aussies visit Thailand each year.

It is one of the most popular tourist destinations with Aussies, with people flocking to cultural centres in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, or to beach resorts in Phuket.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not updated its travel advice for Thailand yet.

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An early US and Israeli war goal was to install a former president of Iran famous for hating them.

Australia is frittering away $1 billion every year by building unnecessary carparks that homeowners and renters don't actually want or need, according to a new report.

Local and state law mandates off-street parking for newly-built apartments and townhouses in most Australian capital cities – and it comes at an eye-watering cost.

Researchers from the Grattan Institute have called for an urgent law change to abolish these minimum-parking requirements, which could save $5.2 billion in construction costs by 2031.

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The report, aptly titled "Wasted Space", claims developers could afford to build around 9000 extra homes over five years with this saving.

Meeting the current standards is forcing homebuyers to pay tens of thousands more in an already severe housing crisis.

It can blow out the construction budget for a new two-bedroom apartment by an average of $70,000 in Sydney, by $137,000 in Perth, $113,000 in Brisbane, $62,000 in Melbourne and $95,000 in Adelaide, according to the report.

For three-bedroom units, this cost exceeds $100,000 in most capital cities.

Grattan researchers found that a large chunk of people living in apartments don't need parking.

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Around 40 per cent of those living in studio or one-bedroom apartments don't own a car, while 19 per cent of households in two-bedroom apartments don't have a vehicle.

In Sydney and Melbourne, there are more car spaces in apartment buildings than cars.

As much as 40 per cent of these spaces sit vacant each night, the report found.

The experts at Grattan say reducing or scrapping the legal requirements would lower the price of new homes and drive down rent.

They suggested that developers "unbundle" car spaces so that renters or buyers can opt out of using them.

The report also recommended that state and local governments better manage on-street parking, including more permit schemes, time limits and user charging in high-demand areas.

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Some councils have already abolished minimum car-parking requirements.

Brisbane City Council relaxed the rules for inner-city developments in March 2025 and several Sydney councils, such as the City of Sydney, City of Parramatta and the Inner West, have introduced maximum parking requirements.

And last year, the Victorian government axed minimum requirements for areas that are a short walk from public transport.

If every council and state government does the same, the report notes, Australian cities will have "livelier streets, more productive economies, and a higher quality of life".

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Forty Australian business owners under 40 have penned an open letter to the prime minister, saying his tax reform is an "aspiration ambush".

The self-described "young business builders of Australia" from technology, artificial intelligence, retail and manufacturing sectors told Anthony Albanese that his budget has hit them the hardest.

"We work the hours. We carry the risk," the letter read. 

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"We do it because we believe in the business we are building, and because we have been told, repeatedly, that this spirit of having a crack is exactly what the country needs.

"Unfortunately, the budget your government just announced tells us a very different story."

The budget has decreased the generous capital gains tax (CGT) discount to 30 per cent, adjusted to a cost base indexation, grandfathered negative gearing and discretionary trusts as a way to support younger people to enter the housing market.

But business owners have been swept up in the changes, which the founders claim will affect every growing business in Australia.

Most of the signatories said they supported the CGT changes on the sale of residential investment properties but drew a line at shares.

"The changes to the CGT discount on shares will do nothing to make houses more affordable; all they will achieve is to suck the ambition, drive and hope out of the hearts of young business builders nationwide," the letter reads.

"Surely that can't be the plan?"

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The letter was signed by 40 business owners, including those from workout supplement company Pillar Performance, link-in-bio tool Linktree and AI-led menu and ordering platform me&u.

"Prime Minister, we respectfully look forward to your reply," they concluded in the letter. 

Albanese is being mocked by small business owners around the country who have taken to social media to post AI-generated photos depicting the prime minister as their new business partner, claiming he will be taking 47 per cent of their earnings when they sell their company.

The budget's tax reform has not yet passed parliament. The Coalition have vowed to fight them but the Greens are undecided.

Albanese and senior members of his cabinet are currently on a nationwide campaign to spruik the budget and explain the changes. 

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They have reiterated that there is a one-year grace period before the CGT changes come into effect, consultation with the start-up sector and support for businesses who want to restructure their discretionary trust to a fixed trust.

Businesses with existing concessions will not be affected by the changes.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters yesterday he chose to include shares in the CGT changes so he does not "introduce new distortions into the system".

"Those distortions which were introduced by Howard and Costello made a negative impact on housing in particular, and we don't want to replace one set of distortions with another set of distortions," he said.

"This is about a fairer, more neutral treatment of capital gains."

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