The children have been taken for medical checks.

Pirate-battling Kiwi company says funding takes it closer to ruling the waves.

The Wiggles are playing hot potato with their former boss, denying claims he was illegally fired after raising concerns about the hiring of friends and family.

Luke O'Neill says he was denied bonuses and excluded from meetings before being dismissed without a reasonable basis by the famous children's entertainers.

He has launched legal action against the group, blue Wiggle Anthony Field and its general counsel Matthew Salgo in the Federal Court.

LIVE UPDATES: Mushroom killer Erin Patterson sentenced to life in prison with non-parole period

No defence has been filed with the court but the band's lawyer indicated today the allegations were contested.

"There are multiple complaints or inquiries pleaded during the course of the applicant's employment … all of which are denied," The Wiggles' lawyer Bianca Dearing said today.

"We're in the process of taking instructions on the finer points of the defence."

Justice Michael Lee asked the parties to set out timetabling ahead of a potential hearing in April, noting he was "unclear about how long it will take".

A preliminary estimate of three days was offered but the court was told it might be longer if other issues arose.

READ MORE: Mushroom lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson speaks after Erin Patterson sentenced to life in jail

The Wiggles and its former chief executive will likely attend mediation before the end of the year to see if the issue can be resolved before a hearing, the court was told.

O'Neill claims Field – the sole original Wiggle still performing in the group – questioned his competence and "undermined him" in front of more than a dozen staff at a meeting in February.

The former boss complained about the blue Wiggle's nephew being hired to work on an upcoming album and a bonus scheme implemented for Field's friend and daughter's boyfriend without approval, in contrast to the usual scheme.

Field then allegedly took steps to reduce O'Neill's roles and responsibilities, according to court documents.

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That included excluding him from meetings with department store Kmart about selling branded toys and emailing all staff about an intention to remove a tour promoter without prior consultation.

O'Neill made multiple other complaints about staffing and other decisions allegedly made by Field without approval.

He eventually complained in April to the group's director, red Wiggle Simon Pryce, that the decisions were creating budget overruns, endangering his bonus.

Pryce agreed his performance justified a raise after the three-decade-old group's earnings increased from $2 million in the 2023 financial year to a forecast figure of up to $7 million in 2025.

But O'Neill was fired in May, a decision he says came without a reasonable basis and without any prior warning or earlier adverse feedback.

READ MORE: Father on run with three children in wilderness believed to be shot dead during armed confrontation with police

He alleges his dismissal was unlawful and an adverse action taken by the Wiggles after he exercised his workplace rights.

The bonus payment of $86,000 he received in July was less than what he was owed, he claimed in court documents.

O'Neill began working for The Wiggles in a consultancy role in April 2023 before becoming chief executive in January 2024.

He was tasked with implementing strategies to grow the group's revenue, maintaining its budget and overseeing hiring decisions.

The Wiggles formed in 1991 and are among Australia's top-earning and most widely beloved entertainment groups, winning multiple ARIA awards and being inducted into its hall of fame in 2011.

In 2022 they were recognised for outstanding services to Australian music at the APRA awards.

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‘I will get through this setback,’ Haehaetu Barrett posted on social media.

The fate of triple murderer Erin Patterson has been revealed more than two years after she served a death cap mushroom-laced lunch that killed three people and drew international attention.

The 50-year-old has today been sentenced to life behind bars with a non-parole period of 33 years after she was found guilty of the murders of three of her guests.

Patterson has been at the centre of legal proceedings for almost two years. So what happens next for her?

READ MORE: Mushroom lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson speaks after Erin Patterson sentenced to life in jail

What happens next for Erin Patterson?

Patterson is now set to spend at least the next 31 years behind bars, considering the time she has already served.

However, there is the possibility that she could appeal her sentence or her convictions.

She has 28 days from today to lodge an appeal.

Will she appeal her sentence?

Thomson Geer partner and lawyer Justin Quill told 9News he expects Patterson will almost certainly try to appeal today's sentence or her conviction.

"I think she's almost an unbackable favourite to appeal… She's got money, she's got time, she's got nothing to lose," he said.

"Having said that, His Honour noted Ian Wilkinson's offer of forgiveness and said that came with the suggestion that she basically stop the lies…

"I felt like His Honour was saying to Erin Patterson, 'Stop the lies, don't appeal. You've done the crime, now do the time.'"

READ MORE: Erin Patterson's police interview released to the public

Seeing as Patterson has maintained her innocence, an appeal seems more likely than not.

We will have to wait to see if an appeal is lodged by October 6.

What happens if Erin Patterson appeals?

To appeal her sentence or convictions, Patterson's defence team need to provide specific grounds for the appeal, such as errors of law, an unreasonable verdict, or a miscarriage of justice.

Essentially, they need to prove that along the way something went wrong and she was hard done by in order to go ahead with an appeal.

If the appeal grounds are valid, Patterson's case would be heard by judges in the Court of Appeal.

These judges have the ability to overturn sentences or convictions if they find grounds to.

During Patterson's trial, Justice Christopher Beale was very meticulous with his final instructions.

"He almost made the trial appeal-proof," 9News reporter Amber Johnston said.

"He was so, so careful."

READ MORE: Mushroom killer Erin Patterson's mercy plea as life behind bars looms

Justice Beale also made sure to take into account Patterson's difficult situation in custody in sentencing, considering the fact that Patterson is in a high-security unit in continuous solitary confinement for her own protection.

"In their written submissions, the prosecution conceded that your conditions of imprisonment are more burdensome than for a mainstream prisoner and that they are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future," Justice Beale said.

"The harsh prison conditions you have experienced already and the likely prospect of solitary confinement for the foreseeable future are important and weighty considerations which should count for something in the sentencing exercise."

The second police officer killed in a shooting ambush at Porepunkah in Victoria is being farewelled today, as the hunt for his accused killer continues.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, was killed alongside Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart on August 26 as they and eight other officers attempted to execute a search warrant at the home of Dezi Freeman in Porepunkah, Victoria.

A third police officer was wounded.

READ MORE: Mushroom killer's mercy plea as life behind bars looms

Thompson is being laid to rest in a service attended by hundreds of mourners, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan, at the Victoria Police Academy in Glen Waverley.

His partner Lisa Thompson, a serving Victoria Police officer, and his sisters Lois Kirk and Diane Thompson are in attendance.

Lisa spoke of her unimaginable grief during an emotional eulogy.

"Words cannot convey the depth of sorrow and grief that his loss brings," Lisa said.

"I am scared. I don't want to live life without you, and I don't want to finish our dreams on my own, but I will.

"I promise I will be brave. I will love you. I will cherish every moment that I spent with you."

The pair met in 2016 at Wangaratta Police Station when they worked on a shift together.

Lisa said that shift "changed the course of our lives".

"I had never laughed so much with someone who I had just met," she said.

The veteran officer was just days away from retirement after a 38-year career on the force when he was killed.

"Neal was one-of-a-kind, a laid back adventurer who loved to share the outdoors with his mates," the Police Association Victoria said in a post on Facebook.

READ MORE: Sussan Ley in 'damage control' after Jacinta Nampijinpa Price comments

"He was devoted to partner Lisa, the love of his life. He loved his job and he was proud of it.

"Neal had an almost 40-year career of service and a vivid plan for life after policing.

"Sadly, that future has been taken, but his history of service and his impact on the community he served will endure.

"'Thommo' will leave a void at Wangaratta that can't be filled, in policing and in friendship."

De Waart-Hottart was laid to rest last week in a funeral attended by thousands.

READ MORE: Police probe potential mistaken identity after two kids stabbed to death

Victoria Police on the weekend announced a $1 million reward for information leading to Freeman's arrest – the largest award ever offered in Victoria for arrest as opposed to conviction.

The accused gunman is believed to remain heavily armed and has not been sighted since the Porepunkah shooting.

Freeman was last seen wearing dark green (khaki) tracksuit pants, dark green rain jacket, brown Blundstone boots and reading glasses.

Police had previously suggested Freeman could be receiving help from somebody in the community, but in their announcement of the reward said there was nothing to indicate he was being helped by a "specific person".

Anybody with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online.

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The son of suspected cop killer Dezi Freeman has compared his father to "Rambo" and warned he could survive for weeks in the bush.

Freeman has been on the run since two police officers were killed in a shooting ambush at his home in Porepunkah, Victoria.

More than 450 officers are currently involved in the search, with police also announcing a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest on the weekend.

LIVE UPDATES: Mushroom killer learns fate in court

There has been speculation that a person or people in the area could be providing assistance.

But his son Koah Freeman, 20, said his father was capable of surviving on his own.

"No doubt, no doubt at all," he told the Herald Sun.

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"I'm not sure if you have ever seen the movie Rambo, especially the first Rambo movie, it's like that but 10 times' capacity."

Police have also characterised Freeman as a skilled outdoorsman.

Koah said the Mount Buffalo National Park, where Freeman is suspected to have fled with multiple firearms, was familiar territory to his father.

READ MORE: Police probe potential mistaken identity after two kids stabbed to death

"He's been there since he was 16, just going hiking in places no man has ever stepped foot in," he said.

Koah said he suspected his father could be dead, but called on him to turn himself in to police.

He said his and his family's hearts went out to the families of the slain officers Vadim De Waart-Hottart and Neal Thompson.

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Ian Wilkinson, the sole survivor of the four people Erin Patterson poisoned with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington lunch, has spoken after she was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court today.

Patterson, 50, was sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of her one-time in-laws Gail and Don Patterson, and Wilkinson's wife Heather, at Leongatha in 2023.

She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Wilkinson.

LIVE UPDATES: Mushroom killer arrives at court to learn her fate

Wilkinson, who gave evidence at Patterson's trial and made a victim impact statement, offered a public thank-you to police outside court.

"They brought to light the truth of what happened with the death of three good people," he said.

"We're grateful for their skills that brought this truth to light, and I'm also very grateful for the kindness and compassion they showed us, me and my family throughout the long process that has brought us to this day."

READ MORE: 'I just have no more words': Russia blasts Ukraine with biggest attack yet

In his sentencing remarks, Justice Christopher Beale noted that Wilkinson suffered ongoing health problems related to the poisoned lunch, including reduced kidney function.

Wilkinson also thanked prosecutors and health staff who had been involved in the aftermath of the lunch.

"There are so many services and agencies and people involved that I can't start naming names, but please, each one, accept my sincere gratitude for the part that you have played in this process," he said.

"We're thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover."

READ MORE: Police probe potential mistaken identity after two kids stabbed to death

He also thanked people around Australia and the world, particularly in the communities of Leongatha and Korumburra, who had offered their support, care, and prayers.

"I'd like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other," he said.

Wilkinson asked for his family's privacy to be respected as they continued to "grieve and heal".

He did not mention Patterson in his post-sentencing remarks, but during a pre-sentencing hearing, he said he offered her his personal forgiveness for what she had done to him.

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People rose early – or stayed up light – to catch a look at the rare astronomical phenomenon.

Pope Leo XIV has declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church's first millennial saint, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname "God's influencer".

Leo canonised Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass on Sunday in St Peter's Square before an estimated 80,000 people, many of them millennials and couples with young children.

During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonised another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.

Leo said both men created "masterpieces" out of their lives by dedicating them to God.

"The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God's plan," Leo said in his homily.

The new saints "are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces".

An ordinary life that became extraordinary

Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family.

They moved back to Milan soon after he was born and he enjoyed a typical, happy childhood, albeit marked by increasingly intense religious devotion.

Acutis was particularly interested in computer science and devoured college-level books on programming even as a youngster.

He earned the nickname "God's Influencer," thanks to his main tech legacy: a multilingual website documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles recognised by the church, a project he completed at a time when the development of such sites was the domain of professionals.

He was known to spend hours in prayer before the Eucharist each day. The Catholic hierarchy has been trying to promote the practice of Eucharistic adoration because, according to polls, most Catholics don't believe Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic hosts.

But Acutis limited himself to an hour of video games a week, apparently deciding long before TikTok that human relationships were far more important than virtual ones. That discipline and restraint has proved appealing to the Catholic hierarchy, which has sounded the alarm about the dangers of today's tech-driven society.

In October 2006, at age 15, Acutis fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukaemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which known for its association with another popular saint, St Francis.

Millions flock to Acutis' tomb

In the years since his death, young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi, where they can see the young Acutis through a glass-sided tomb, dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt. He seems as if he's sleeping, and questions have swirled about how his body was so well preserved, especially since parts of his heart have even toured the world as relics.

Both saint-making ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year, but were postponed following Pope Francis' death in April.

Francis had fervently pushed the Acutis sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.

"It's like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo may be, but I can be looking after him and be like, 'What would Carlo do?'" said Leo Kowalsky, an 8th grader at a Chicago school attached to the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish.

Kowalsky said he was particularly excited that his own namesake — Pope Leo — would be canonising the patron of his school.

"It's kind of all mashed up into one thing, so it is a joy to be a part of," Kowalsky said in an interview last week.

Much of Acutis' popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a "saint next door" who was ordinary but did extraordinary things in life. In Acutis, they found a relatable tech-savvy millennial — the term used to describe a person born roughly between 1981 and 1996 who was the first generation to reach adulthood in the new millennium.

The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of priests had signed up to celebrate the Mass along with Leo in a sign of the saints' enormous appeal to the hierarchy and ordinary faithful alike.

Popular piety for the digital age

An hour before the Mass, St Peter's Square was already full with pilgrims, many of them young millennial Italians, many with toddlers in strollers.

"I learned from different people what his professors, his teachers said about his joy and the light he carried around him," said Leopoldo Antimi, a 27-year-old Roman who got to the square early to secure a spot.

"So for me personally as an Italian, even on social networks that are used so much, it is important to have him as an influencer."

Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross college in Worcester, Massachusetts, said Acutis' canonisation extends the church tradition of popular piety to the digital age.

"He becomes an emblem or model of how Catholics should approach and use the digital world–with discipline and with a focus on traditional Catholic spirituality that defies the passage of time," he said in statement.

"He is a new saint of simplicity for the ever complex digital landscape of contemporary Catholicism."

Frassati, the other saint being canonised on Sunday, lived from 1901-1925, when he died at age 24 of polio.

He was born into a prominent Turin family but is known for his devotion to serving the poor and carrying out acts of charity while spreading his faith to his friends.

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