1. Police have uncovered the remains of a woman, believed to be Patricia Gay.
Homicide detectives believe they have found the remains of Patricia Ann Gay, who went missing in central Victoria more than two years ago.
The 55-year-old was last seen by her daughter and family in her pyjamas at her Malmsbury home on a Sunday night in March 2012.
Police said they suspected her disappearance was a case of murder.
Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O’Connell said human remains had been found at a Malmsbury property and they believed it was Ms Gay.
“The human remains were located by a property owner near Back Creek,” he said.
“Following initial examinations, sadly, we believe the remains belong to Patricia Ann Gay.”
He said they were currently searching a property.
“Our investigation into the suspicious disappearance of Patricia has been ongoing and our search today will hopefully uncover evidence and or further human remains,” he said.
Police had earlier issued a $100,000 reward for anyone who provided information that lead to a conviction relating to the possible murder.
A version of this article appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
2. Another Qantas plane is turned around, total now three in less than 24 hours.
Qantas has confirmed an Airbus A380 forced to turn back en route to Dallas yesterday was a replacement, after the original aircraft was grounded following an air conditioning fault.
Three Qantas planes were forced to make unscheduled landings in the space of just 24 hours, but the pilots’ association says it is confident the problems on the aircraft were not related.
In the most recent incident, an Airbus heading from Sydney to Dallas on the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight was forced to turn back four hours into its flight after problems with toilets, seat power and in-flight entertainment.
The airline said flight QF7 returned to Sydney for “customer comfort” reasons.
“While the aircraft could have continued flying safely to Dallas, the decision was made to return to Sydney in the interests of passenger comfort on what is a long flight,” the airline said in a statement.
A version of this article appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
3. Sean Abbott has returned to the pitch, two weeks after the death of Phillip Hughes.
NSW cricketer Sean Abbott has made a solid return to the cricket pitch, bowling four overs in the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland at the SCG, even bowling a controversial Bouncer.
It is two weeks to the day since Abbott bowled the bouncer, which struck team mate Phillip Hughes and tragically cost him his life.
Earlier in the day as the players took the field, the small crowd took to their feet to show their support for the young bowler.
4. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announces that $7 GP fee will be scrapped.
The plan to charge patients an extra $7 GP fee has been scrapped by the Federal Government.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the contentious budget proposal will be dropped.
“There will be no change to bulk billing for children under 16, for pensioners, for veterans, for people in nursing homes and other aged care institutions,” Mr Abbott said.
However, the Government is cutting the Medicare rebate paid to doctors by $5 a visit in a bid to address the “troublesome issue of six-minute medicine” and encourage doctors to spend more time with patients.
The $7 fee on visits to the doctor, pathology and diagnostic imaging services was announced in the budget and had been regarded as a “barnacle” stuck to the Government.
Mr Abbott told Coalition MPs late last month that he would be removing some “barnacles” from the Government before Christmas.
The patient contributions were touted at budget time as saving $3.5 billion over five years – savings that were to be invested into a Medicare Research Future Fund.
A version of this article appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
[raw]
[/raw]