Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

Update:

Court papers show that the 30-year-old mother of baby found in a western Sydney drain admitted to police that she dumped her newborn baby boy down the drain knowing it would kill him.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was refused bail at Blacktown Local Court this morning.

Police will allege the boy was born in the early hours of November 18 and pushed down a stormwater drain hours later.

The woman will next appear in court on Friday.

1. Mother arrested and charged

By ABC News

A 30-year-old woman has been charged with the attempted murder of her newborn baby boy, who was found in a drain in Sydney’s west.

Cyclists heard the baby crying from the bottom of a two-and-a-half-metre drain near the M7 motorway at Quakers Hill on Sunday morning.

Police conducted an extensive search to find the baby’s mother, including hospital record checks and doorknocks.

On Sunday afternoon a 30-year-old woman from Quakers Hill was arrested after attending Blacktown police station.

She has been charged with attempted murder and will face Blacktown local court today.

It is believed the baby was born on Monday and police will allege he was placed in the drain the following day.

The baby was taken to Westmead Children’s Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

The woman has been refused bail and has been remanded in custody.

Baby sounded like a ‘kitten screaming’

David Otte and his daughter Hayley said they were riding along the M7’s cycleway when they thought they heard a kitten screaming.

“No-one in their right mind would ever come across something like this,” Mr Otte said.

They could hear the baby’s cries from a small opening in the drain but were unable to lift the lid.

“We couldn’t get it off. We couldn’t get it off, we had to wait to help the police,” he said.

“Luckily we were there, right place right time. There was someone looking over us and told us to stop and have a look.

“At the end of the day we need to find what the truth is behind it and really find out if we can help the little fella.”

Both he and his daughter were deeply shaken and thought at one point the baby had died.

“All I wanted was for this baby to be safe so I’m glad that we got there and saved him,” Hayley Otte said.

Newborn would not have survived hot day

As Sydney’s west sweltered in 40 degree plus heat on Sunday, the chances of the baby surviving if he was not found were slim, police said.

Inspector David Lagats said finding the baby inside a drain was horrific.

“It was already undernourished and dehydration would have taken effect,” he said.

“The baby was conscious and breathing.

“He was removed from the drain and placed in the care of police.

“Ambulance were called and he’s been taken to the Westmead Children’s Hospital.”

A version of this story was originally published by ABC News and has been republished with full permission.

2. Schoolies brawl

Overnight a brawl on the Gold Coast has broken out leaving a number of schoolies revellers with facial injuries.

The Courier Mail reports that the Gold Coast has been flooded with cheap ecstasy and that in one instance a woman was selling the drugs in an escalator in a high-rise building.

On Saturday night two 17-year old Ipswich women were arrested and charged with drug supplying and possession after police allegedly found a stash of ecstasy in their Surfers Paradise hotel.

It is believed this is the first time officers have actively executed search warrants on a Schoolies hotel room.

 3. Police investigate schoolies sexual assault

South Australian police are investigating an alleged sexual assault of a schoolie at a Victor Harbor caravan park.

The Advertiser reports that police had received two reports of alleged sexual assaults on Saturday night, but only one was being investigated.

4. Woman receives nasty note

A Queensland woman has been on the receiving end of a nasty note pinned to her front door asking her to “cover up.”

She says the note made her feel humiliated and ashamed.

For more read this post here.

5. Jacquie Lambie prepared to jump ship

Jacquie Lambie will make a decision about her future perhaps as early as today.

Last night she was forced to defend herself against bizarre accusations by Clive Palmer.

The ABC report that Clive Palmer said Lambie was “planted” by someone in the Palmer United Party to “act irrationally”.

“When you start a new party like our party the established parties and others try to wreck it,” Mr Palmer told the ABC’s AM program.

“She’s been sent in there by someone to cause trouble and I think that’s the reality of it,”

Last night Lambie told the ABC that the accusations were baseless.

“It’s a distraction,”

She says she is seeking legal advice.

“Today I’m certainly a member of the Palmer United Party … yes, you know, tomorrow’s a new beginning.”

“When you have somebody very powerful who has a lot of money you have to cover all your bases and make sure if they’re going to come at you for whatever reason you have everything covered,” she said.
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6. Medibank Private

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the $5.679 billion raised from the sale of Medibank Private will be invested in infrastructure, as promised.

The Government has set a final price for shares for institutional investors of $2.15 per share and $2 for retail investors.

“Given the very strong retail demand we felt it was appropriate to allocate 60 per cent to mums and dads across Australia to ensure they can appropriately share in the future of Medibank,” Senator Cormann said.

Medibank Private will make its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday at 12:00pm (AEDT), with the ASX code of MPL.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

7. Cleansers clogging up our waterways

A common face cleanser that many of us use has been found to be polluting waterways such as Sydney Harbour.

Fairfax Media reports that Unilever, which owns the Dove brand, will start phasing out the use of microbeads in January.

The harmful polyethylene microbeads, smaller than half a millimetre, have been found in sediment in Sydney Harbour and can be ingested by worms which are then consumed by fish.

One area of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour had among the highest levels recorded in the world.

 8. Bonsoy payout

A woman who drank Bonsoy while pregnant is leading the charge to sue the soy milk distributors and the brand’s owner.

The woman who drank the milk while pregnant and while breastfeeding became so sick she could barely get out of bed, her hair started falling out and her gums bled.

She was twice hospitalized, and she now has chronic fatigue and an auto-immune disease reports The Courier Mail.

Almost 500 victims claim they got sick from the dangerously high iodine levels in Bonsoy and they are set to get a $25 million compensation payout.

The proposed settlement is the biggest in Australian food safety class action history, lawyers say.

 9. Tattooed woman told not to return to restaurant unless covered up

A 25-year old woman has been told not to return to a restaurant in Adelaide unless her tattoos are covered up.

Alisa Giuliani said on her Facebook page that the Base Bar at The Bath Hotel asked her, during a meal on Friday that she would not be welcome again if she didn’t cover up her tattoos.

“You know what’s awesome?? Paying $50 for a pizza and some cider, sitting down to enjoy your meal and the company of a lovely guy… When the security guard from the bar attached next door decides to approach you mid-meal and let you know that “the owners don’t want full sleeves in here, but I won’t throw you out this time, just make sure you’re all covered up in future”.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. You discriminatory jerks!!??? Thanks for waiting until after we’ve paid you to insult us.” She wrote.

She told The Advertiser “It seems really odd to be so specific and it’s so outdated. Everyone is tattooed these days.”

The restaurant said that every hotel in South Australia had some form of dress code.

“If that dress code excludes tattoos then that it what it is. People getting a tattoo need to be aware they may be exempt from some venues.”

 10. Busted!

A woman about to be induced for the birth of her baby was busted having sex with her husband by a hospital cleaner in the UK.

The Mirror reports that the cleaner was shocked at the couple’s antics, but the hospital said they just encourage “frisky” couples to put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

The shocked newspaper is now running a poll “Should sex be banned in hospitals?”

 11. Pornographic baby clothing

An online retailer selling what some say are ‘pornographic’ baby clothes has been called out by grassroots initiative Collective Shout as they feel the products encourage child abuse.

The retailer, Cafe Press, sell baby items with slogans such as “F*** like a pornstar” and “Awesome bondage”

News Limited reports that Collective Shout campaigner Caitlin Roper said “Last May we confronted Cafepress over their porn-inspired imagery and slogans on baby clothing. We came across baby onesies with slogans including “I love being a gang bang s***”, “Product of Mummy Daddy rape”, “No gag reflex” and perhaps even hundreds of similar sexualised slogans on baby clothing and merchandise.”

Café Press have said that they have removed many offensive items from their site.

12. Genes to blame for cheating

Researchers at the University of Queensland have found that cheating may be in your genes.

A study of twins found that 63% of unfaithful behaviour in men and 40% in women could be put down to genetic interference.

Dr Brendan Zietsch told The Daily Mail “Our research clearly shows that people’s genetic make-up influences how likely they are to have sex with someone outside their main partnership. “

13. ABC announces budget cuts

By ABC NEWS

More than 400 ABC staff could lose their jobs as the public broadcaster moves to implement the $254 million the Federal Government will cut from the public broadcaster over the next five years.

Managing director Mark Scott made the announcement when he addressed staff at the ABC’s Ultimo Centre in Sydney this morning.

Mr Scott said the Corporation was committed to using back-office and overhead savings to fund the $207 million that would be cut from the ABC’s budget from July 2015.

“We anticipate that more than 400 people – close to 10 per cent of our ongoing workforce – face potential redundancy as we adjust our activities over coming months,” Mr Scott said.

“We regard the changes as vital to securing the long-term health of the organisation but I acknowledge that is no comfort to those who will lose their positions.”

In his address, Mr Scott said there would be a review of the ABC’s property holdings, with its site at Gore Hill in Sydney to be sold.

Mr Scott said there would also be a rationalisation of the ABC’s television outside broadcast vans and a scaling-back of television sporting broadcasts.

The announcement also included details of proposed programming changes for ABC News, Radio and Television.

A national 7.30 program on Fridays will replace the current state 7.30 editions and will include extended cross-platform coverage of state and territory issues seven days a week.

Lateline will be moved to a new fixed timeslot of ABC News 24 and the broadcaster’s foreign bureaux will be restructured to create “multiplatform hubs” and a new Beirut post will be opened.

There will also be changes to ABC Local, Radio National and ABC Classic FM programming and an overhaul of ABC TV’s sports coverage.

Mr Scott has also proposed the creation of a new regional division and ABC Digital Network, to begin in mid-2015, and a $20 million digital investment fund.

This post was originally published by ABC News and has been republished with permission.