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News in 5: Aussie teen dies in Bali; Virus kills zoo elephant; Gillard on female leadership.

-With AAP

1. 19-year-old Melbourne woman dies in Bali in tragic accident days before her birthday.


A Melbourne woman has died while on a holiday in Bali with friends just three weeks after her mother passed away.

Kristen Mace, 19, was found by her friends lying face down in their villa’s pool on Sunday and could not be revived. It’s believed Kristen had an epileptic seizure and fell into the pool.

According to The Age, her father Justin Mace said friends and a nearby New Zealand family tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.

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A GoFundMe page has been set up to cover costs of her funeral. Image: GoFundMe.
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"We don't believe there is anything other than the seizure that contributed to this awful tragedy," the grieving dad said.

The 19-year-old, who was only days from celebrating her 20th birthday, had just been grieving at the funeral of her mother Jodie. She had died from cancer three weeks ago.

Friend Harrison Pirrie set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to repatriate her body and pay for her funeral. It has so far exceeded its target, raising more than $68,00o in less than two days.

"Kristen was an amazing girl and will be dearly missed by all," he wrote on the page.

2. Deadly virus kills endangered elephant at Taronga Zoo.

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A fast-moving and deadly virus has claimed the life of one of Taronga Zoo's endangered Asian elephants called Tukta.

Keepers noticed the eight-year-old female was lethargic and off her food on Monday and the zoo's team of vets commenced emergency treatment for suspected elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.

Vet Larry Vogelnest says the disease, which can fatally affect elephants up to the age of eight, appeared to be in its early stages on Monday morning when he examined Tukta.

Despite the team's best efforts Tukta died later that afternoon.

"There is no vaccine available for this virus and at present drug treatment is effective only in one-third of cases," Dr Vogelnest said in a statement on Tuesday.

The elephant keepers at Taronga are devastated.

"Our hearts are broken by Tukta's sudden and unexpected loss," Taronga chief executive Cameron Kerr said in a statement.

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"She was a much-loved member of Taronga's elephant herd who loved caring for her little brother Jai Dee."

A zoo spokesman told AAP that Jai Dee is being given preventative antiviral treatment while the other two elephants at Taronga are not susceptible because of their age.

Tukta's death will come as a blow to the breeding program designed to conserve the species.

She was the third of six elephants born in the program at Taronga. The zoo's spokesman said there were no plans as yet for a memorial or grave site for Tukta.

3. Julia Gillard says gender equality in leadership is progressing at "glacial" pace.

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Image: Getty
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The move towards gender equality in leadership positions is occurring at a "glacial" pace, former prime minister Julia Gillard says.

Ms Gillard says problems remain across politics, business and in the media with women still having to contend with stereotypes that they are less interested or adapted to leadership roles.

She says across the globe women currently account for 23 per of national parliamentarians, 26 per cent of news media leaders, 27 per cent of judges, 15 per cent of corporate board members and 24 per cent of senior managers.

"Now, if we were seeing a fast rate of change in the statistics I cited then there would be nothing wrong with sitting back and waiting to wake up in a more equal world," Ms Gillard said in a lecture at the University of Adelaide on Tuesday.

"But the rate of change is glacial.

"For example, the number of women in senior management globally has risen just one percentage point in 10 years.

"In politics, at the current rate of progress, it will take another half-century to reach parity with men."

The former PM said it was equally troubling that any gains made could also be reversed, citing the slump in the representation of women in the current US cabinet under President Donald Trump.

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Mr Gillard said to make change it was necessary to examine all the barriers present along a woman's career path.

"Rather than talk about one high, hard glass ceiling, we talk about the glass labyrinth," she said.

"The myriad of points in a career where a woman's experience can be profoundly different to a man's."

4. Man arrested over allegedly harassing women at work.


A man has been charged with stalking after allegedly sending sexually explicit letters and making inappropriate calls to businesses in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

The 68-year-old from Bellbrae sent the handwritten letters to businesses at Coburg, Torquay, Anglesea and Essendon in January called their female staff members, police allege.

"Investigators probed previously unsolved incidents of a similar nature and revealed that the man's offending dated back to January 2014," police said in a statement.

The man has been bailed to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on November 1 charged with eight counts of stalking.

5. Peter Dutton to face inquiry over au pair visa decision

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Home Affairs Peter Dutton's decision to grant two European au pairs visas will face scrutiny from a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra.

The Senate's legal affairs committee will start its inquiry into whether Mr Dutton misused his ministerial power by intervening in visa cases on Wednesday.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan will appear via teleconference to explain his involvement in lobbying Mr Dutton to overturn an au pair's visa rejection.

Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide airport in October 2015 after admitting she intended to work in breach of her tourist visa for grazier Callum MacLachlan, the AFL boss' second cousin.

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Leaked documents show Mr MacLachlan contacted Gillon McLachlan, who directed the AFL's head of government relations and former Liberal staffer Jude Donnelly to forward an email from his cousin to Mr Dutton's chief-of-staff.

Ms Donnelly is set to give evidence at the same time as her boss.

Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo and Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram are listed to appear before the committee in the morning.

Mr Dutton is also facing questions over a second au pair he saved from deportation, an Italian woman who was apparently planning to work for a former Queensland police colleague.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing in both cases, saying he had no personal link to anyone involved.

Labor senator and committee member Kimberley Kitching said Mr Dutton and his staff had been invited to give evidence to the inquiry but were yet to respond.

"I think that until he does give a full explanation, there will be people questioning his integrity," she told the ABC.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed Mr Dutton ahead of a Greens attempt to move a no-confidence motion in him when federal parliament resumes next week.