1. Ice addict parents who had eight children taken away from them have a full-time care worker in their home to help them keep their ninth child.
A couple addicted to ice and living a life marred by violence and neglect have had a full time care worker appointed to them to assist them in their home to help them keep their ninth child, a baby boy.
The NSW scheme has been called a “radical new child protection scheme”, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The baby boy was identified as being one of the more than 2,000 unborn babies across NSW each year “at risk of significant harm” before birth.
Western Sydney Local Health District Kylie Hughes told The Daily Telegraph the couple lost eight children because of drugs, alcohol and domestic violence issues.
But through the scheme, with the help of the full time worker in their home they have retained custody of their newborn baby boy, who is now seven months old.
“We had someone in their house with them assisting them with their interactions with the baby (and) observing them and ensuring that there was no more violence,” she said.
Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard said some parents “know more about dope than they do about the food necessary to keep their babies alive”.
2. Community struggles to come to terms with the death of two children, allegedly at the hands of their father.
The community of Yanchep is struggling to deal with the murders of two children aged 5 and 3, allegedly by their father Jason Craig Headland.
Locals gathered to lay teddies, cards and flowers at the home where the bodies of Zaraiyah-Lily, 5, and Andreas, 3, were found on Thursday night. It has not been revealed how the siblings died.
Their 35-year-old father is under police guard at Royal Perth Hospital with a self-inflicted injury.
The children’s mother, FIFO worker Anatoria Headland, was not home at the time of the alleged double murder reports WA Today.
Mr Headland’s sister, Melissa Headland, thanked the community for the outpouring of love and support.
Mr Headland’s work colleague Kayne Amiet urged all men with any mental health issues to seek help in a Facebook post over the weekend.
“I urge all you blokes of any race/colour/background or religion to please please talk to someone if you’re having troubles,” said Mr Amiet.
3. Man forced 4-year-old to stand in backyard holding brick above head as punishment.
The boy was made to hold a brick above his head as punishment. Via iStock.
A four-year-old boy forced to hold a sandstone brick over his head as punishment has sustained fractures and bruising to his entire body, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Last week, the man was sentenced to 12 years jail for the abuse.
The boy, who lived with the man, the man’s de facto partner and the child’s mother was found to have “significant bruising” to his entire torso, abrasions to his face, elbows, feet, back and thighs. He also had fractures to his radius and ulna, toes and feet, fingers, ribs and vertebrae and missing teeth.
The court heard he had also been continually kicked and punched.
The man was sentenced to 16 years in Parramatta District Court last week, with a non-parole period of 12 years.
4. Australian dad and media personality, Leslie Nassar, killed in hit and run in US.
Australian media personality and technology expert Leslie Nassar has been killed during an alleged hit-and-run crash while walking his two daughters in the north-western United States.
News Limited reports that Mr Nassar, 43, who previously worked for Victoria Police, the ABC and digital agency, Razorfish was killed on Saturday morning around 7.30am local time when he was allegedly struck by a utility driven by a 20-year-old man in Nampa, Idaho.
Mr Nassar was described by former colleagues as having a “biting wit” and “joy for life”.
5. Labor won’t support any changes to paid parental leave.
Labor Leader Bill Shorten said yesterday that he will never vote for the government’s planned crackdown on parental leave payments because it punishes new mothers.
It's estimated 80,000 women each year will be worse off under the changes, which reduce the 18 weeks of leave paid for by the government if a new parent's employer offers paid leave.
Laws to tighten access to the paid leave scheme are before parliament due to start in January 2017.
“Labor will never vote to punish ordinary people,” Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told reporters yesterday.
“Why should nurses, or shop assistants or other people who have foregone pay rises in lieu of getting a paid parental benefit now be slugged because they’ve negotiated these conditions and not get the minimum paid parental leave?”
6. Male contraceptive pill one step closer as scientists make what they call a “startling discovery.”
The male contraceptive pill is one step closer as scientists have made a breakthrough that changes the way human cells work, “switching off” sperm’s ability to swim, to render men temporarily infertile.
Scientists hailed the results as “startling – and almost instant.” The contraceptive could come in a form of a fast-acting pill or a nasal spray that a man could take hours or even minutes before sex.
Researchers believe the effects of a male pill would happen almost instantly and wear off within a matter of days.
Lab researcher Professor John Howl of Wolverhampton University, said the new compound, made in the lab, had shown immediate results.
“The results are startling – and almost instant. When you take healthy sperm and add our compound, within a few minutes the sperm basically cannot move,” he told the Mail on Sunday.
“This is a totally unique approach,” said Prof Howl. “Nobody else has ever done this before.”
7. Adult film star becomes 14th woman to accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
An adult film actress has become the 14th woman to come forward and publicly accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
Jessica Drake, 42, said the Republican presidential candidate "grabbed" her and two other unnamed women tightly and kissed them on the lips "without asking permission" during a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe 10 years ago.
Ms Drake also released a photograph of her with Mr Trump, and said the New York tycoon offered her $10,000 and use of his private jet if she agreed to accompany him to a party and escort him to his room.
The Trump campaign denied the allegations in a statement saying the story is totally false and ridiculous.
“The picture is one of thousands taken out of respect for people asking to have their picture taken with Mr Trump.”
“Mr Trump does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her. This is just another attempt by the Clinton campaign to defame a candidate who just today is number one in three different polls.”
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Top Comments
1. They need to be sterilised!
I will be in the minority in saying this but I support the PPL changes (in principle - I haven't yet read a full article recently on exactly what the proposed legislation says, only what was discussed a few months back).
I don't believe the current system was ever meant to be anything more than a safety net. My kids aren't that old, but I had them before the government had any kind of PPL. I worked in private enterprise and was not entitled to anything more than getting my job back after 12 months of (unpaid) leave. I would have loved a government scheme then! To then be cranky nowadays that you only get one PPL instead of 2 (which is what taking from the employer and the government is doing) is, dare I say it, a bit greedy?
Maybe people in the public service don't realise this but most people outside of the government service don't get any kind of PPL from their employers - the gov scheme was meant to pick up those people and give them some support to take maternity leave. It was to make things more equitable. Those people will still be covered, as I understand. I think when they originally drafted the legislation for that they weren't imagining people would try to get both. Now those people screaming poor because they can't get both are akin to a toddler screaming because they were offered a lolly and took two and now been told 'hang on, you were only supposed to take one. Don't be greedy!'.
That said, I think that they should probably shift the start date out by about 6 months to make sure that currently pregnant people aren't affected - if someone is only a couple of months from their due date they have probably made plans and are going to be pretty stressed by this. Bring in the change that should always have been the case, but do it with enough notice that people who aren't pregnant yet can make appropriate plans for their future time. People should be allowed to go into things with their eyes open.
As I said, this won't be a popular opinion....!