OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon suggests privatisation is on the cards.

She is rebuilding relationships with the party after championing controversial policies.

The cargo included 4311 sheep, 598 lamb carcasses, and 2226 sheep tongues.

A home buyer was told the house had sold to him. Then the auctioneer reopened bidding.

Hamas-led militants released three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages on Saturday, and Israel freed 183 Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile agreement that has paused the war in the Gaza Strip.

The hostages' emaciated condition and scenes of Hamas forcing them to speak in a staged release ceremony sparked outrage in Israel and could increase the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week phase.

Netanyahu has previously signalled he would resume the war, even if that meant leaving dozens of remaining hostages in Hamas captivity.

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Before a crowd of hundreds, armed Hamas fighters led Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, onto a stage to make public statements before handing them over to the Red Cross.

The three civilian men were among about 250 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war.

They appeared in much poorer physical condition than the previous 18 hostages released during the ceasefire that began January 19.

Later Saturday, Israel began releasing dozens of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom also appeared gaunt and weak. The Red Crescent said seven of those released were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Hostages' condition sparks concern

The hostages' emaciated condition and the public statements — a departure from previous hostage releases where the captives were not made to speak — sparked outrage in Israel.

"Israel views Hamas' repeated violations with great severity, and the condition of the three hostages who were released this morning with even greater severity," said Gal Hirsch, the Israeli prime minister's coordinator for hostages.

"We will not remain silent about this. A message has been passed on to the mediators, and action will be taken accordingly."

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the "difficult scenes" were reason to extend the truce and bring home the remaining hostages.

In an apparent response to concerns over the released hostages' health, Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, claimed it had "made efforts to preserve their lives despite the (Israeli) bombardment."

Many Palestinians released from Israeli jails during the ceasefire have also appeared gaunt and pale, and have alleged abuses and mistreatment in Israeli custody.

The current phase of the truce does not appear to have been affected by US President Donald Trump's stunning proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, which was welcomed by Israel but vehemently rejected by Palestinians and most of the international community.

But it could complicate talks over the second and more difficult phase, when Hamas is to release dozens more hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire.

Hamas may be reluctant to free more captives — and lose its main bargaining chip — if it believes the US and Israel are serious about depopulating the territory, which rights groups say would violate international law.

The first phase of the ceasefire calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. Israel says Hamas has confirmed eight of the 33 are dead.

Last week, wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt for the first time since May.

This was the ceasefire's fifth swap of hostages for prisoners, with 21 hostages — including five Thais who were not counted in the 33 — and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners now freed.

More than 70 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says 34 are believed to be dead.

Who was released on Saturday?

Sharabi and Ben Ami were both captured from Kibbutz Beeri, one of the hardest-hit farming communities, while Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival.

Sharabi's wife and two teenage daughters were killed in the attack. His brother Yossi was also abducted and died in captivity. Levy's wife was killed during the attack and his now three-year-old son has been cared for by relatives.

It is unclear whether either man was aware of what had happened to their families.

Ben Ami, a father of three, was kidnapped with his wife, Raz, who was released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023 that saw more than 100 hostages released.

Relatives of the hostages cheered, clapped and cried as they watched live footage of the release.

Levy's brother, Michael, said his brother's young son, Almog, was already told his father was on his way.

"Mogi, we found daddy," Michael Levy said he told the boy, using his nickname, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12. "We haven't seen happiness like that in him for a long time."

The Palestinian prisoners released by Israel include 18 serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 Palestinians from Gaza detained after the October 7 attack but not tried for any crime. All are men and are aged between 20 and 61.

Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned.

Ceasefire's next phase is uncertain

It is unclear whether Israel and Hamas have begun negotiating the ceasefire's second phase, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached.

Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the ceasefire.

A key far-right partner in Netanyahu's coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire's first phase.

Hamas says it won't release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

In the October 7 attack, some 1200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory war, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas for operating in residential neighborhoods.

Senior militants among Palestinian prisoners released

Seven of the released prisoners were transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.

Others were transferred to Palestinian custody near Ramallah in the West Bank, where scores of relatives, friends and supporters welcomed them cheering and clapping. One frail-looking prisoner was carried off the bus and taken to an ambulance.

Some had been detained over offenses ranging from bomb attacks to involvement in militant organisations, in some cases dating back decades.

They include Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been locked up for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas attacks in crowded civilian areas that killed dozens of Israelis during the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

That included a notorious 2004 suicide bus bombing in Israel's southern city of Beersheba that killed 16 people, including a 4-year-old.

Another is Jamal al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of al-Bireh village abutting Ramallah.

He has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli jail, with the military reporting his last arrest in 2021 over his alleged participation in violent riots and efforts to entrench Hamas' leadership in the West Bank.

He was then transferred to administrative detention, a repeatedly renewable six-month period in which suspects are held without charge or trial.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.

One of Western Sydney's oldest and most popular golf courses is at the centre of a new turf war, which people say will turn green space into dead space.

The golfers' paradise, Carnarvon Golf Course in Lidcombe, could soon serve a new heavenly purpose, local MP Lynda Voltz claims.

Voltz believes the course, located a stones throw away from Rookwood, is one of three sites on crown land being considered by the government for a new cemetery as Sydney runs out of burial space.

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"This is the biggest golf course in Western Sydney it is one of a busiest sporting precincts," the member for Auburn told 9News.

Golfer Brian Forrester said the decision would impact thousands.

"We've got 800 members here plus thousands of non-members who play here as well, so all those people are going to be effected," he told 9News.

The fight for Sydney's fairways is a familiar one.

Despite a fierce campaign to keep it in tact, the government is set to halve Moore Park Golf Course for public green space, as North Sydney council investigates other purposes for Cammeray golf course.

But some believe this could hit even harder

"You're taking something that's an active precinct for living people and absolutely handing it over to people that are no longer here," Voltz said.

While many are teeing off at the idea of losing another of Sydney's golf courses, the state government insists that no decision has been made.

"Any preferred sites that are pursued for new cemeteries will be done in consultation with key stakeholders and the community," Minister for Lands and Property, Steve Kamper, said in a statement to 9News.

The club hopes it will be still able to celebrate its centenary of play in 2027.

"We have 10 years on our lease and the fact that we're even being considered is obviously a concern," Carnarvon Golf Club general manager Adam McGregor told 9News.

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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan addressed the party faithful on Saturday night, as vote counts trickled in following byelections in Werribee and Prahran.

Allan conceded the Werribee byelection – triggered after former treasurer Tim Pallas' resignation from politics in December – would come "down to the wire".

"It's very, very tight. It's going down to the wire," Allan said, adding the race is "too close to call".

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The Victorian Liberals held on to hope with the results still so up in the air.

Deputy leader Sam Groth told the contingent in Werribee on Saturday night that the party still has a chance of taking the seat from Labor for the first time in decades, after a strong swing to the Liberals.

"We haven't given up tonight," Groth said, according to The Age.

"We know there's huge amounts of pre-poll numbers [to be counted].

"The swing that we've seen though, the swing that we've seen away from the government tonight, if we replicate that in 21 months' time, we will see a change in government in Victoria."

Labor's candidate for the outer-western suburb, John Lister, had 28.74 per cent in the primary vote compared to Liberal candidate Steve Murphy's 29.06 per cent, as of 11.45pm.

A leak in the roof at Victorian Electoral Commission's early voting centre, led to the delayed counting of pre-poll and postal votes, according to The Age.

This meant only one third of those votes had been counted by 10pm and 74.91 per cent of total votes counted by 11.45pm.

The state's second byelection came after former Prahran MP Sam Hibbins' resignation due to an affair with a staffer in November, with the seat "on a knife's edge", according to Greens MP Ellen Sandell.

As of 11.45pm there were 64.29 per cent of total votes counted in the progressive inner-city seat of Prahran.

Early figures have Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo neck-and-neck with Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway, with both taking 36 per cent in the primary vote so far.

The Greens have maintained hold of Prahran since 2014 but, with Labor failing to put up a candidate, the seat may come down to preferences. 

Pallas and Hibbins' departures left voters to have their say today at ballot booths in both districts to determine their next members of parliament.

Voting closed at 6pm and counting is underway but results will take a while to be known in both byelections.

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As votes were counted, formerly ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming spoke to Liberal Party supporters in Werribee.

She thanked the new Opposition Leader, Brad Battin, who replaced John Pesutto – the ex-leader who had exiled her from the state Liberal Party.

"Thank you especially to Brad for really putting the effort into fight for the west," she said, according to The Age.

"I can honestly say that the reaction to your leadership and the way you have taken the west seriously has been noticed."

Most eyes were watching the count in Werribee – a seat Labor has held since 1976.

In the last election in 2022, Pallas won the seat with a near 11 per cent margin.

When former premier Daniel Andrews retired in 2023, Labor suffered a 10 per cent swing meaning that a loss in Werribee could be terminal for the state government. 

Premier Jacinta Allan joined her candidate to campaign for votes in Werribee earlier today and knocked back concerns about losing the seat.

"I'm firmly focused on working hard for Victorians," she said.

"Working people need Labor governments who support them, who back them in, because working people know what Liberals do; they cut teachers, they cut nurses."

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The last time the Liberals flipped a Labor seat during a byelection was in 1948. 

Opposition Leader Brad Battin, who also joined his candidate down at Werribee, had told reporters a win would be difficult to achieve.

"I'm not going to predict how people are going to vote, as I've said quite publicly, the change of seat during a byelection is always difficult," he said.

"But we're out here working and listening and my message to those in Werribee, I encourage you to vote Liberal however, whatever the result is, I guarantee you over the next 650, 660 days towards the next election, we'll be out here meeting with those local businesses all the way through the west."

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Tens of thousands of dollars worth of Pokemon cards have been stolen during a string of attacks on collectable stores across Melbourne.

A group of thieves hit businesses in Thomastown on Monday, Moonee Ponds on Wednesday and Eumemmering yesterday.

They used crowbars to get into the locked stores and brought wheelie bins to fill with collectable items. 

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CCTV footage showed the group ignoring alarm-triggered lights and loud sirens to instead clear the shelves and load their getaway cars. 

Grand J Games' Jason Zhe said he had just locked up his store and left when the thieves broke their way in.

"That's what really scares me. These people were stalking me, they've figured out my routine and they've attacked when I left," he said.

"They had a wheelie bin, they had this entire thing planned out," he added.

Blacklist Cards and Collectables' Umit Berkant said what happened was "shattering".

"They're just animals," he said. 

"I don't think they seem to understand that these are small businesses."

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In total, each store has lost thousands of dollars in stock and more for damages. 

The most expensive cards were worth up to $600 each.

Police are searching for the trio and, in the meantime, the collectable stores are keeping in contact to make selling and profiting from the cards a lot harder.

"There's that many people that are now keeping an eye out for everyone around us that eventually something's gonna pop up or one mistake's gonna be made and all of a sudden, we've cracked the code," Berkant said.

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A woman has died after lightning strikes during a storm in New South Wales sent fragments of a tree flying.

Emergency services were call to a home on Old Razorback Road, south-west of Sydney in Cawdor, about 5.30pm following reports two people were hit by the tree fragments.

A woman in her 40s was treated at the scene, located in the Wollondilly Shire, but could not be revived, NSW Police said in a statement on Saturday night.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1888097481738563989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A second woman, also aged in her 40s, was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics and taken to Liverpool Hospital where she remains in a serious but stable condition.

The tragedy comes after parts of the state were hit with a severe weather warning for a "very dangerous thunderstorm" bringing intense rainfall, large hailstones and damaging winds.

Following the Bureau of Meteorology's weather warning, the SES asked residents in High Range, Robertson, Colo Vale, Hill Top and Bowral to "stay indoors" as the storm passes.

The system impacted Nattai National Park, Yerranderie and the Nattai Tablelands before moving northeast towards Oakdale, the western parts of the Wollondilly Shire and the area west of Picton.

A severe thunderstorm warning is currently in place for people in parts of the Hunter, Illawarra, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains Forecast Districts.

The severe thunderstorm, which are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding, is gradually easing, the bureau said in its latest update to residents.

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An 18-year-old man said he is relieved to have been rescued after spending three brutal days missing in mountain ranges west of the Gold Coast. 

Nathaniel Green slept in his car at Mount Barney on Wednesday night so he could hike and catch the sunrise in the morning.

But things began to go wrong, leaving him lost.

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"My phone died and I ran out of water so I got lost and I thought I was going down the route that I needed to go home and turned out it wasn't," he told 9News.

Emergency services were alerted to his disappearance when he didn't return home that day and a search mission, comprised of some of Green's friends, began.

"I saw choppers going above at night and during the day," he said.

"Sort of seeing the helicopters fly over, even though they may not have seen me straight away, the most hopeful thing was knowing I was being looked for."

Green ended up spending two nights out in the cold.

He was able to survive on a muesli bar, some lollies and running creek water.

After spending days crying for help, he was finally heard this morning.

"I don't know who it was but whoever it was saved my life probably," he said.

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Green was winched to safety. Besides being exhausted and starving, he was okay. 

"At no point did I think I was going to die on this mountain, it was more a point of when was I going to get rescued, or am I going to get myself out of this situation," he said.

Green admitted he is not an experienced hiker and this was his first time up Mount Barney. 

"As seen by the fact I got stuck on the side of a mountain," he said.

"Someone was like 'oh you should try Mount Barney because me and my mate climbed a different peak a month ago.' I thought it'd be chill. It was not chill."

Green will be spending the rest of his weekend recovering from the ordeal.

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