Friday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Search for missing Melbourne dad, Mark Tromp continues overnight.

The search for a missing Melbourne father has continued overnight in what police describe as one of the most bizarre cases they have come across.

Mark Tromp and his wife Jacoba “Coby” Tromp went missing after they became “separated” from their adult children while they family were fleeing stress at home.

Mrs Tromp was found alive in a NSW country hospital yesterday – but her “mental health and wellbeing wasn’t of a good standard” reports the ABC while Mr Tromp is still missing in the Wangaratta area, 350km away.

He was last seen running away from a Peugeot he was driving that belonged to his daughter Ella.

Mark Tromp’s children yesterday pleaded for him to return, saying he had feared for his life when they left their farm at Silvan, in the Yarra Ranges.

“It’s really hard to explain or put a word on it … They were just fearing for their lives and they just decided to flee,” Mr Tromp’s son, Mitchell, 25, said of his parents.

Ella, 22, Riana, 29 and Mitch, 25, had joined their parents on a “technology free” road trip, but the three adult children had abandoned the trip separately as their parents got mentally distressed, The Herald Sun reported.

Riana Tromp was found mentally unwell at the side of a road and admitted to hospital. Ella drove a different car she somehow acquired back to the family home in the Yarra Valley from Goulburn while Mitch Tromp, who caught trains to Sydney then back to Melbourne. He mysteriously threw his phone out the car window while travelling back to Melbourne.

Police fear Mark Tromp is hiding.

2. Parents angry at school for not telling them about alleged rape of 6-year-old girl earlier.

Parents at the Northern Beaches school in Sydney where two 12-year-old boys have been charged with a rape of a six-year-old girl in a school toilet block have said they are angry the school did not tell them earlier.

Police revealed yesterday they had charged the boys over two alleged attacks at the northern beaches public school last month.

The year one girl told Child Abuse Squad officers the boys attacked her in early August and again a week later.

One boy, charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, was granted bail.

The other year six boy charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and sexual intercourse with a child under 10, was also granted bail to appear at Children’s Court on October 20.

The Daily Telegraph reports that parents they were angry they weren’t told earlier.

“It’s more horrific that parents haven’t been advised. There are ways of letting parents know without telling the children,” one parent told the newspaper.

“It’s disgraceful, where do they get ideas like that? What’s happening at home?”

Another said: “I’m just horrified we haven’t been told, I’m gutted actually.I would have expected more from our principal.”

A father said the school should have informed parents.

3. Government loses three consecutive votes in the lower house last night.

The Turnbull government has been left red faced after it lost three consecutive votes in the lower house last night.

It is believed to be the first time in 50 years a majority government has lost a vote in the House of Representatives.

Three senior ministers — Peter Dutton, Michael Keenan and Christian Porter were absent— meaning three votes were lost to Labor – who also almost succeeded in an endorsement of a banking royal commission.

Mr Keenan, who was on a plane to Melbourne for an event was asked to fly back to Canberra to meet with Mr Turnbull.

4. Queenslanders face tough new smoking laws.

New smoking laws have come into effect in Queensland meaning bus stops, taxi ranks and outdoor shopping malls will now be off-limits for smokers in Queensland.

Smokers will have to be at least five metres from public transport waiting points such as bus stops, taxi ranks and ferry terminals and there will be no smoking in outdoor pedestrian malls and public swimming pools.

The buffer zone outside non-residential building entrances will be increased from four to five metres.

While February 1, 2017, smoking will be banned within 10 metres of campsites and public picnic facilities, toilet blocks, picnic tables, barbecues, jetties and boat ramps.

5. Little girl found hanging by her neck from a backyard swing’s marvellous recovery.

The family of Zoey Baillie who was severely injured last week by a backyard swing where her mother found her hanging by her neck have shared some good news.

Queensland Police Service last issues issued a statement saying that Zoey has made a “remarkable recovery in hospital, much to the joy of her family.”

A family member told The Courier-Mail: “Zoey’s doing fine. She has complete co-­ordination in her limbs.”

“As far as we’re concerned, there could not be a better outcome.”

Zoey’s family have extended their gratitude to all those involved in.

Queensland Police Service said it was “a good news story to brighten your Thursday.”

6. Man charged over sexual assault of woman at Selena Gomez concert.

A man, who allegedly sexually assaulted a teenager girl at last month’s Selena Gomez concert in Melbourne, has been charged with a string of sexual assaults on teenage girls over a 12-month period at music concerts.

The man’s picture was widely circulated after he allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl at Margaret Court Arena on Saturday, August 6.

The 30-year-old man from Altona is accused of sexually assaulting six teenage girls and an adult woman between September 2015 and August 2016.

7. New Zealand struck by magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

Tsunami warnings were issued following a 7.1 quake that shook New Zealand’s North Island in the early hours of this morning.

The quake hit at 4.37am, around 100km northeast of the East Cape settlement of Te Araroa.’

The Tairawhiti Civil Defence Emergency Management Group has asked people in the region’s self-evacuation areas to self-evacuate.

The jolt lasted for almost a minute and was felt across much of the North Island.

The quake was followed by several moderate-sized aftershocks, including a M5.6 jolt at 5.01am, and a M4.6 quake at 5.03am. People said they had felt shaking and rattling, but so far there were no reports of serious damage to houses or belongings.

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