news

Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Shock and grief after a student dies on a school camp.

A student has died while away on a school camp prompting an outpouring of grief from the school community.

The 17-year-old boy, a student at Huntingtower School in Mount Waverley, died while camping at Plumbago Station near Yunta, southwest of the NSW town of Broken Hill.

It is understood his death may have been due to a medical condition.

Principal Sholto Bowen told The Herald Sun “it’s an extremely difficult time for everyone.”

It is understood that the year 11 boy reported feeling unwell four to five hours into the first hike of the camp yesterday.

He was treated by paramedics but died after his conditioned worsened.

In a statement to the school community Mr Bowen said “It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the sad passing of a Year 11 student on the camp to Plumbago Station beyond Broken Hill,’’ he wrote.

“Our thoughts, sympathies and prayers are with the student’s family and friends, and with the students and teachers who were on the camp.

“The camp has been cancelled and the students are returning to Huntingtower.

“Counselling is being provided for the students and staff, and the wider school community.

“We are unable to provide further information as police will prepare a report for the coroner.”

2. Non-vaccinated students sent home from school.

Twenty-one non-vaccinated students have been sent home from a Melbourne primary school after a measles outbreak and told not to return till March 1st.

ADVERTISEMENT

Two students at North Carlton’s Princes Hill Primary School have contracted measles – neither were vaccinated.

They are among five new cases connected to a Melbourne measles cluster that has now infected 14 people.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy said families needed to vaccinate to protect their children.

“We really do have deep concerns about the exposure of all of these 14 people with measles across the community, because people do not just go to school, they go to coffee shops, playgrounds and workplaces and it is highly likely we will see an increase in the number of people that will be diagnosed,” she said.

“We’ve got to circuit-break this ongoing resistance that some people have to vaccination, we have got to keep making vaccinations accessible and challenge down the myth-makers who say vaccinations are not safe.

3. Mother of baby left on doorstep comes forward.

The mother, thought to be just 14, who left her baby son on a doorstep with a note saying she could not care for him has come forward.

Griffith resident Rodel Acuna found the baby boy wrapped in a blanket and the note that read,

“Please look after him, he is beautiful, and I cannot look after him because I am only 14 years old … my parents will kill me.”

Police have said that the young woman, revealed to be over the age of 18, went to Griffith Base Hospital and confessed who she was.

Family and Community Services are now supporting the mother and her baby son.

ADVERTISEMENT

4. PM calls snap review of Safe Schools LGBTI program.

The Prime Minister has called a review of the $8 million taxpayer-funded program aimed at teaching schoolkids about sexual orientation and transgender issues after several MPS mounted a campaign to kill off the program.

The Australian reports that the group that included National senator Barry O’Sullivan, Cory Bernardi, Andrew Nikolic, George Christensen, David Fawcett and Jo Lindgren demanded the Prime Minister withdraw the remaining $2m in funding.

Senator Bernardi said the Coalition partyroom shared “concerns of parents who wanted schools to teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic” rather than “indoctrinating them with a radical political and social agenda” reports The Australian.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham defended the program saying “It is essential that all material is age appropriate and that parents have confidence in any resources used in a school to support the right of all students, staff and families to feel safe.”

The independent review will report in March.

 

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews took to Facebook to protest the review.

After all, they’re far more likely to get bullied at school – and this program is designed to make them feel safe.

Now some Liberals have discovered it, and want to see the end of it.

Here’s what I think.

Schools have to be a safe place for every kid – no exceptions.

Teachers have to be given the tools to deal with every situation – no excuses.

ADVERTISEMENT

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this effective little program, which achieves the above two aims and nothing more.”

5. Emergency crews battle large blaze across Victoria.

Firefighters have battled 115 blazes across Victoria after temperatures soared to 44 degrees.

In Mt Bolton a 1300 hectare grass fire burnt, while in Somerville grassfires raged close to homes.

Severe fire danger ratings and Total Fire Bans remain in force in four districts today the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central and North East — which includes from Mildura to Corryong and Castlemaine.

6. Women suffer another consequence of their gender – less leave and entitlements.

Twenty per cent of working women have no access to paid leave.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown that twenty per cent of working women have no access to paid leave reflecting the widening gender pay gap.

The stats show that two working mums in ten have no access to paid leave entitlements, including annual leave, carers leave or parental leave, that’s more than double the proportion of working father who are without access to paid leave.

Single mothers fare worse with a quarter of all single mums working in jobs that do not provide paid leave.

Lisa Conolly, the Director of Family and Community Statistics at the ABS told News Limited the disparity reflected the way many working mothers took casual work to be able to continue to care for their children.

“This is another example of some inequality, where women don’t have those leave entitlements.”

7. Swedish doctor jailed for abducting women.

A Swedish doctor, who abducted a woman and kept her locked up in a soundproofed bunker for almost a week has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

ADVERTISEMENT

Martin Trenneborg, 38, was found guilty of meticulously planning the woman’s abduction over a long period of time. He was found to have drugged the woman with chocolate-coated strawberries laced with Rohypnol and then taking her to a soundproofed bunker he built inside a machine shed next to his home.

Trenneborg denied having kidnapped her or having raped her.

The court though did not convict him of rape saying it found insufficient evidence beyond reasonable doubt that he had subjected the victim to sexual intercourse when she was sedated.

The court said it based its verdict on the victim’s description of what happened and extensive documentary evidence, and said that it found no mitigating circumstances.

8. Mars recall affects 24 countries.

Chocolate maker Mars has ordered a recall of chocolate products in 55 countries for products ranging from funsize Mars and Milky Way bars, Snickers and boxes of Celebrations.

It comes after a customer in Germany found bits of plastic in a Snickers bar in January. The plastic was traced back to the Mars factory in the southern town of Veghel in the Netherlands.

A spokesperson for Mars said the recall only involved products manufactured at the Dutch plant.

The recall covers mostly countries in Europe and does not extend to the US, where Mars is based – but Mars have not announced if it affects Australia.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au