Louise McCaughan seeks a ‘nana’ to teach old-school skills in Kerikeri.

Exclusive: With just 48 hours remaining in the world's toughest, windiest, and coldest footrace, Aaron Crook's body was in agony.

The temperature had dropped to -42 degrees, and he was sitting in third place in the grueling 620-kilometre race across the Arctic Circle.

Having slept only 11 hours over the course of seven exhausting days, he had pushed his body to the limit. At risk of hypothermia setting in, he pressed on, overtaking two competitors to claim victory in the race.

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The Adelaide father didn't plan on winning the race, but he was determined to finish it, competing against 15 other ultra-athletes.

He told 9News.com.au that the race was "extremely hard," but he was "pleasantly surprised" by how well his body held up.

"The plan at the beginning… I didn't want to go out too strong, especially considering that the race has a history of lots of people finishing up within the first 24 hours," Crook said.

"I gave myself a chance to get into the first checkpoint, which was about 65 kilometres. When I got there, I was feeling pretty good.

"I decided to push on and I wouldn't sleep, and that was the beginning of what made my race a very consistent one."

Skipping sleep at the first checkpoint set the pace for Crook's race, and in total he only slept about 11 hours over the seven days.

Pushing on, Crook progressed in the race at a good rate, not overly fast.

"I got to the checkpoints and made sure in and out of them. I was a lot faster at the checkpoints than all of the other competitors in the race, which meant that I slept a lot less than everyone else," he said.

"In the end that meant I was right towards the front of the race. That gave me an opportunity to win it… that seemed to pay off in the end."

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'Body under attack'

The Adelaide father admitted there were only a handful of times when he truly struggled, and 48 hours before finishing the race was one of those moments.

While he expressed the weather was relatively mild, the final days were tough.

"It was sitting about the -25 degrees range, but it wasn't too windy. It was manageable in terms of layering and making sure I wasn't sweating but was warm enough," Crook said.

"The last couple of days, the wind really picked up and it got closer to the -40 degrees with the wind chill and a bit over -42 degrees.

"It felt like the body was under attack in those conditions."

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Crook found himself facing the very real prospect of developing hypothermia, as the wind continued to pick up.

"Those last two nights were probably the only time during the race where I actually felt like my life was probably a little bit of risk," he said.

"The wind was hammering my face and I could feel damage occurring on my nose and on my eye. Those conditions, you really can't stop, because if you stop, then, it's almost like you're putting your life at risk because hypothermia is a real issue really quickly.

"You have to keep moving. Keep that in mind, you've been moving for five days with no sleep. The body is in a lot of pain.

"You're constantly accruing more damage on your hands and on your face from the cold temperatures."

Despite the grueling conditions, Crook said there was never a point where he felt like he couldn't keep pushing ahead.

He credits mentally repeating several mantras during the race to his success.

"I kept reminding myself that I was able to be there in the first place, throughout the entire race, I felt incredibly lucky to be able to do it.

"I reminded myself of that. I would just constantly say to myself, 'I can feel my fingers and I can feel my toes, I'm warm enough in my core, therefore, I'm okay and can keep moving'."

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Final push to the finish 

With just a day left in the race, Crook made an incredible comeback, moving from third place to claim the win.

He had left the final checkpoint about two hours behind the two competitors ahead of him.

When the pair stopped for some sleep, Crook made the most of the opportunity, charging forward and crossing the finish line with little to no rest.

"I actually was able to get past them while they were sleeping and then I just went really hard to the finish line," he said.

"The finish was quite exciting as exciting as a finish to a 620 kilometre race can be."

Crook believes his move from the beginning to sleep as little as possible was a main factor behind his success.

"I thought that I would be moving for 18 hours and then I would get like four to six hours of sleep every day," he said.

"In reality, there was a lot more movement and there was a lot less sleep, so I probably slept a total of 11 hours over the seven days and 22 hours it took me to finish the race.

"Going into the race, I didn't think it was possible for a human being to do. It was incredible that I was able to move for that duration of time without sleep, but it was crucial to winning the race."

Crossing the line was a "huge relief", according to Crook.

"I'd been dreaming of finishing this race for five years, I was picturing touching that sign at the (end). When that did happen and knowing that I'd actually won the race, I was filled with relief and gratitude," he said.

"I was just really proud of myself for exceeding my expectations and knowing that so many people back in Australia were following my progress."

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'Proud' of fundraising total 

The father was the only Australian among 15 athletes who completed and was raising money for The Sebastian Foundation and the Adelaide Crows Foundation, which supports youth mental health.

Crook last month said he had admired the foundation's Open Parachute program, which helps equip children with the skills they need to overcome mental health challenges.

Every $15 raised for the foundation will provide a primary or secondary student access to the program for an entire school year.

He has since raised $26,000 for the foundation.

"That's been such a huge part of this. I'm really proud of it," he said.

"We were able to continue to fundraise until after the race, and we've fundraised over $26,000 which exceeded our goal. It is a really significant amount of money and is going to make a huge difference in so many children's lives.

"I'm really happy with the result of the race. I'm blown away by family and friends and small businesses that have come together to contribute to that fundraiser."

Back home in Adelaide, Crook is happy to be reunited with his family and friends, who supported him every step of the way.

He plans to spend the next few months resting after suffering some superficial frostbite on his nose and cheek.

He still doesn't have feeling in the tips of his fingers.

"The body's just got to recover now. It's just a huge trauma, but I'm home now, so I'll have plenty of time to recover," he said.

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Australians can expect another significant boost to cost-of-living relief in the next federal budget as the government gears up for an election in May.

While it had been presumed for months that an expected early election would get in the way of the budget, Tropical Cyclone Alfred delayed the calling of the vote, meaning Treasurer Jim Chalmers will have to hand down the national accounts as scheduled on March 25.

Because of that, there have been far fewer early announcements than in previous years, and what new measures will be handed down by the government remains a bit of a mystery.

READ MORE: The cyclone blew away an April election, so when will it be held now?

However, there have still been some hints from senior ministers about what to expect, as well as some earlier announcements that will form part of the 2025 budget.

Here's what you can expect on March 25.

Massive student debt discount

The roughly 3 million Australians who have student debt will get a welcome boost on June 1 when their outstanding balances are cut by 20 per cent.

The one-off discount represents a massive $16 billion in student debt reduction – more than five times larger than last year's move to retrospectively lower the indexation applied to those debts.

The new measure was announced by the government as an election promise in November, and will now need to be factored into this year's budget.

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Energy bill relief

The centrepiece of last year's budget was the $3.5 billion in energy bill relief – a $300 rebate, spread over the course of the financial year, for every household in the country.

Although the government has not given a cast-iron commitment to extending that policy, there are hints something similar could be on the way this year, particularly after the national energy regulator approved price increases of up to 9 per cent from July 1.

After that decision, Energy Minister Chris Bowen was asked whether repeat rebates would be on the cards.

"As the prime minister, the treasurer and I have made clear, we will always consider what more can be done," was his reply.

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"There's a budget coming soon, and we'll continue that approach of considering what more we can do."

Albanese also mentioned energy subsidies when he was asked on March 9 about what cost-of-living relief could be expected in the budget.

"We will always do what we can to assist people," he said.

"That is one of the defining characteristics of my term of government, is that we were saying yes to energy bill relief, yes to tax cuts for all Australians, yes to cheaper child care, yes to free TAFE, yes to providing a range of support, including lifting rental assistance by 45 per cent over two budgets."

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Subsidised childcare for everyone

That cheaper childcare Albanese mentioned will also feature heavily in the budget.

Like the student debt discount, this was an election promise unveiled in late 2024, well after the last budget: three days a week of subsidised childcare to families with a combined income of less than $530,000 a year.

The activity test will also be scrapped to make it easier for low-income parents to access cheaper childcare, a measure recommended by the Productivity Commission and long called for by economists.

The policy will come into effect on January 1, 2026, if Labor wins the federal election, and will cost $427 million over five years.

READ MORE: PM unveils 'nation-defining' $427m childcare relief election promise

Boost for Australian-made goods as tariffs hit

One of the big economic uncertainties plaguing financial markets at the moment is US President Donald Trump's explosion of tariffs.

Australia has been hit by Trump's 25 per cent tax on all steel and aluminium imported into the United States, and while we shouldn't expect a retaliatory tariff in the budget – that was ruled out by Albanese – there's set to be some kind of response.

Local manufacturers fear a flood of cheap, international produce onto the Australian market from all the other nations who have also been denied free access to American consumers, which would be a significant business challenge.

Albanese has flagged support for local industry will be handed down.

"In the March budget, we'll provide additional support for our 'Buy Australian' campaign which we'll be announcing as part of the budget process," the prime minister said in his press conference responding to the introduction of Trump's tariffs.

EXPLAINED: How hard Trump's tariffs will hit the Australian economy

Other announcements

There are a number of other policies that will form a part of the 2025 federal budget, including:

• A new $1 billion fund to build and expand early education centres
• $1 billion to reserve land for a future rail line linking Western Sydney Airport with south-west Sydney suburbs

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Former central banker Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada's new prime minister on Friday, and will now try to steer his country through a trade war brought by US President Donald Trump, annexation threats and an expected federal election.

Carney, 59, replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader. Carney is widely expected to trigger a general election in the coming days or weeks.

"We will never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States. America is not Canada," Carney said. "We are very fundamentally a different country."

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The governing Liberal Party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war and repeatedly has said Canada should become the 51st state. Now the party and its new leader could come out on top.

Carney has said he's ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he doesn't plan to visit Washington at the moment but hopes to have a phone call with the president soon.

"The president is a successful businessman and deal maker. We're his largest client in so many industries," Carney said. "Clients expect respect and working together in a proper commercial way."

Carney navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis, and then in 2013 when he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England — helping to manage the worst impacts of Brexit in the UK. He will now try to steer Canada through the trade war brought by Trump.

Carney, a former Goldman Sachs executive with no experience in politics, becomes Canada's 24th prime minister. He said protecting Canadian workers and their families in the face of unjustified trade actions and growing the economy will be his top priorities.

Carney said he will travel to Europe to visit French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the coming days. He received invitations from both.

"We must diversify our trade partners and strengthen our security in so doing," Carney said.

Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on Canada's steel and aluminium and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products on April 2. He has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.

Carney called the idea "crazy."

The US trade war and Trump's talk of making Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are cancelling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.

The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party's chances in a parliamentary election expected within days or weeks, and Liberal showings have been improving in opinion polls.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surge.

But after decades of bilateral stability, the vote on Canada's next leader now is expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with the United States.

"He will do very well. He's respected internationally," former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien told reporters on Friday. But, he added: "There is no magic solution. This is not a normal situation. We've never seen someone who changes his mind every five minutes as president of the United States. It creates problems everywhere, not only in Canada."

A new Cabinet of 13 men and 11 women was sworn in, smaller than Trudeau's 37-member team. François-Philippe Champagne becomes Canada's new finance minister, the government's second most powerful position. He was previously industry minister.

Dominic LeBlanc goes from finance to intergovernmental affairs.

Mélanie Joly remains foreign minister. Chrystia Freeland, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister who lost to Carney in the Liberal Party leadership race, becomes minister of transport and internal trade.

Carney met with his Cabinet on Friday afternoon. He strongly suggested he would scrap an unpopular carbon tax enacted by Trudeau by the end of the day. He called his government "Canada's new government" in an effort to distance himself from Trudeau.

Carney also took aim at opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who Carney said is always negative.

"Negativity won't pay the rent or the mortgage. Negativity won't bring down the price of groceries. Negativity won't win a trade war," he said.

Poilievre urged Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth mandate, saying it's the same Liberal government and that Carney is "just like Justin."

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A massive clean up is underway in Western Australia after a second microburst in just three weeks pummelled the south west.

The storm first hit Perth, hard, ripping roofs of homes in the foothills and tearing up trees.

As the monster weather system moved south, it was still packing a punch as it hit Albany early this morning, dumping a record amount of rain on the south coast town.

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Torrential rains swallowed roads delivering Albany's highest ever rainfall with 126mm falling in 24 hours, leaving the Great Southern city soaking.

The deluge came from a microburst, similar to one that hit Perth three weeks ago, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

A microburst is a sudden, intense downdraft of wind, blasting down from a storm cloud. It can hit with torrential rain and cyclonic force winds.

The winds reached 113km/h in Gooseberry Hill on Thursday, downing power lines and trees.

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"Lightning struck the house which was very loud and scary," resident John Roberts told 9News.

"I got quite concerned, I saw some stuff flying through the air, so I went and hid in the garage."

John Roberts' home is one of three in the Perth suburb that lost its roof.

He's unsure if he'll ever be able to live in it again.

"It's bad inside – a lot of water damage, wind damage," Roberts said.

"The wind knocked a lot of the windows open and just tore the place up inside."

More than 200 SES volunteers have been out since yesterday, responding to 271 calls for help.

The storm caused several minutes of destruction, that will take months to clean up.

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Paul Charlton is challenging his murder conviction, after a jury found him guilty of killing singer Joanne Howe in Melbourne's south-east.

Joanne had been trying to leave Charlton in 2007, when she was strangled in her Hughesdale home.

Charlton told police he found her after taking his dog for a walk.

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It was a decade and a half before Charlton was charged and in 2023, a jury convicted him of Joanne's murder.

Appealing the conviction Charlton's defence claimed the jury got it wrong because they weren't given proper directions during the trial.

His lawyer telling the Court of Appeal there wasn't enough weight given to the defence claims that someone else could have attacked Joanne.

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"This was plainly a murder – the question was who was criminally liable," Paul Smallwood said.

Charlton has always maintained he didn't kill Joanne.

During his murder trial his defence claimed Joanne could have been killed by her estranged brother, by another man known to her, or during a random break in.

"He gets to come out of prison, lucky him he gets a day trip," Joanne's sister Lisa Hennessy told 9News following the hearing.

"I hope he gets another 10 years put on his sentence for putting our family through all this again."

Charlton is currently serving 24 years behind bars.

Three court of appeal justices will now rule on his conviction.

It is expected the decision will be handed down in the next few weeks.

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The Herald is aware of at least seven schools that closed their tuckshops today.

A beloved Darwin tourist attraction and reptile education centre has been targeted by a brazen thief who unlawfully entered the premises, stole a Holden Rodeo ute and used it to ram through multiple gates.

The offender appeared to have broken into Crocodylus Park after jumping a boundary fence.

The unknown male allegedly forced entry into multiple buildings at the park about 12am yesterday, with CCTV footage also capturing the thief picking up a 65-centimetre crocodile and taking selfies with it before placing it on the ground.

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Park Manager Emily Moyes said the young crocodile measuring 65 centimetres managed to escape but remains missing at the park.

"Very lucky and fortunate that this particular individual hasn't decided to take the crocodile with him," she said.

"They're pretty smart, so he'll be going along, hiding as he goes and probably enjoying himself in a new body of water somewhere."

The park's staff are confident the saltwater crocodile will be located within a few days, though it wasn't the only animal harmed during the ordeal.

Moyes also told 9News that the offender attempted to steal five vehicles, damaging two of them, before successfully escaping in the Holden ute which has since been found at Casuarina Beach.

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"We've lost a car, it's been burnt out so we've got a mechanic in. It will be well over $15,000," she said.

"Which is really hard for a small family business. We are privately run and tourism is a tough business as hard as it is. This is a huge setback for us."

The thief also ran over a family of ducks before making his escape in the stolen car.

"In the footage, you can clearly see him running over the family. It's not very nice at all," Moyes continued.

"We have seen them again, but we do have a few missing."

NT Police are investigating the incident, however, 9News understands no one has been arrested.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to make contact on 131 444 or quote reference number NTP2500026561.

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Police are appealing for dashcam footage after a disturbing video emerged of a road rage incident involving a machete in western Sydney.

In the footage, a man wielding a machete can be seen confronting the driver of a ute at the intersection of Glossop Street and the Great Western Highway in St Mary's at about 5pm yesterday afternoon, smashing a window of the Toyota Hilux and damaging a side mirror before walking back to his Honda Civic.

"Oh my god," the woman filming is heard saying in the video.

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She was a passenger in a nearby car when the incident unfolded, and was too afraid to be identified.

"As soon as he was tapping on the window with the machete, I'm like 'yeah, something's going to happen'," she told 9News.

"We have no idea what happened, why he did this… it was just so scary." 

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Police have since spoken to the man behind the wheel of the Hilux, who was uninjured in the attack.

Meanwhile, the alleged machete-weilder is behind bars.

Exactly what led to the attack remains unclear, with Nepean police appealing for other witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to come forward.

A 12-year-old year seven student was allegedly attacked by a student two years her senior at a Sydney high school.

The 14-year-old allegedly launched a brutal attack on the 12-year-old as dozens of students watched and filmed it on their phones.

"I received a distressing call from my daughter, she's crying, she's saying 'Mum, I've been ganged up on please come help me,'" the girl's mother told 9News.

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That was a week ago, and the mother says the school's response since has been a failure.

"Where were you guys? This was lunchtime," she said.

"Teachers are supposed to be on duty.

"No ambulance was called to check on her, other than them just giving her some tissues to wipe her bloody nose and bloody eye."

She also claims they refused to suspend the attacker despite it being recommended by police. 

"When I tried to speak to the principal about that, I got a laugh and she said 'we don't do that anymore'," the mother claims.

The girl's mother reached out to Premier Chris Minns and Education Minister Prue Car.

Their offices today confirmed to 9News that the student did end up being suspended later that day.

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Part of the mother's concerns are also why the students were able to use their phones, to record and post the videos online during school hours. 

The Department of Education says after the incident, the principal sent a reminder letter home to all students and families, reinforcing that mobile phones are banned.

"She's not OK," the girl's mother told 9News.

"She's not really eating, barely drinking, just in her room.

"She is such a bubbly, loving outspoken little girl, and I can't see that in her anymore."

Department of Education full statement:

Violence of any kind is completely unacceptable in NSW public schools.

Incidents of this kind are dealt with at a school level through the NSW Department of Education's Behaviour Management Plan.

One of the students involved in the incident was suspended on the day of the incident.

One of the students was provided with first aid for a bloody nose. There was no other evidence of injury.

The school continues to support students involved.

Minister for Education and Early Learning full statement:

"Our schools have zero tolerance of violence, and the principal took swift action against the perpetrator."