
We’ve rounded up the biggest news stories the afternoon – and it will only take you a few minutes to catch up on these headlines.
FOR NEWS UPDATES on the Cairns tragedy, please see this post here.
1. Sydney siege hostage reveals her unborn baby is unharmed – and pays homage to Katrina Dawson
By ABC NEWS
A survivor of this week’s deadly siege in Martin Place, Sydney, has released a statement remembering her “closest friend, role model and confidant”, Katrina Dawson and the “courageous” Tori Johnson, who both died in the gunfire that ended the siege.
Julie Taylor, a barrister at Eight Selborne Chambers and colleague of Ms Dawson, wrote of her grief at losing her friend.
“Katrina Dawson was the most wonderful person I have ever met. She was my closest friend, a role model and confidant,” Ms Taylor wrote.
“Her bravery and strength was, and continues to be, a comfort and inspiration for me.
“She invested every moment of her life in her friends and family, and will be greatly missed by everyone who has known her.
“My thoughts and sympathy are with her family, whom I have come to know and love.”
(PHOTO: Julie Taylor, a hostage in the Sydney siege, has written of her grief at losing friend and fellow hostage Katrina Dawson.)
Ms Taylor also paid tribute to Tori Johnson.
“Although our acquaintance was forged under the worst imaginable circumstances, I feel privileged to have known you and I will always remember you as a kind, considerate, level-headed and courageous person,” she wrote.
Top Comments
When will something be done - 1 woman a week in Australia is murdered - it's an outrage - we are supposed to live in the lucky country. Lucky if your not a woman maybe...
I wonder if the murderer of the children in Cairns has a history of mental health issues (I'm guessing yes because no sane person would do such terrible things)? The mental health system in Queensland is an absolute disgrace. My own mother suffers from schizophrenia and has threatened to stab her neighbors and we cannot get any help at all from the system. How many more people will be killed before something is done to improve the system. I read the quote from Tony Abbott in the news about this afternoons tragedy saying people shouldn't hesitate to ask for help. Help from who, the system is so under-resourced, there is no help to be had.
One of the cuz's interviewed on TV mentioned that the perpetrator may have been psychotic on ice (let's keep hard drugs illegal, folks). No surprise there. Can I just mention that there is no correlation between mental illness and violence? Bad people murder, not mentally ill people per se. Mental illness should be no excuse. It's very bad for the mentally ill to have people assuming a link and treating them like potential murderers if they happen to be muttering to themselves in the street.