Australia News Blog

Disgraced ex-footballer Wayne Carey has put his Port Melbourne apartment on the market and is planning to move to Queensland with girlfriend Kate Neilson.
In January, the apartment was the scene of a confrontation with police which ended with officers using capsicum spray on the former North Melbourne player.

A source close to Carey said the fallen star and Neilson are back together and planning a move to Queensland, despite a split in early April.

“They’re going to start a life up here (on the Gold Coast),” the source said.

Ms Neilson has family in south east Queensland.

She has one week left of her five-week drug rehabilitation program at exclusive Sydney clinic Southern Pacific Private Hospital, and it is believed Carey is also seeking treatment. (news)

A psychology student from Sydney was crowned Miss Universe Australia at a lavish event in Toorak, Victoria last night.

Laura Dundovic, 21, beat 28 other hopefuls from across the country to take out the title - the same one that launched Jennifer Hawkins’s career four years ago.

She attributed the win to her supportive family and boyfriend - who were all in the audience - and hard work.

“I have always worked hard at what I do and that probably paid off tonight,” Dundovic said.

“It would be great to reach the success of my predecessors, but at the moment I am the over the moon to be here.” (news)

The woman was crossing Clarendon Street at the pedestrian crossing between the exhibition centre and Crown Casino when she was knocked to the ground by the 109 tram, which was travelling north, en route from Port Melbourne to Box Hill, according to witnesses.

Police said woman was crossing the road when she was hit about 12.50pm by a tram south of Flinders St near a tram stop outside the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Clarendon St.

Metropolitan Ambulance spokesman Paul Bentley said paramedics had given the woman pain relief and inserted a drip to stabilise the patient before transporting her to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition.

Another 44-year-old wheelchair bound woman was also treated for a grazed hand after she was thrown forward when the tram suddenly stopped, Mr Bentley said. (news)

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said in a television interview on Wednesday that she is expecting twins with husband Brad Pitt, the Hollywood couple’s fifth and sixth children.

Jolie, being interviewed at the Cannes film festival alongside comic actor Jack Black for the syndicated entertainment program “Access Hollywood,” acknowledged that she was having twins after Black made reference to them.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve confirmed that already,” Jolie, 32, said, according to a transcript provided by the show. “Well, Jack’s just confirmed it actually.”

Excerpts of the interview, conducted by a reporter for NBC’s “Today” show to promote the animated film “Kung Fu Panda,” featuring characters voiced by Jolie and Black, was set to air on “Access Hollywood” on Wednesday night. (news)

“The Love Guru” has not received a warm welcome from some Hindu groups, who reportedly have requested that India’s Central Board of Film Certification and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ban screenings of the Mike Myers comedy in India.

In March, U.S.-based Universal Society of Hinduism president Rajan Zed was one of the first to protest the film when he said it “appears to be lampooning Hinduism.”

Media reports Tuesday quoted Bhavna Shinde, a representative of Mumbai-based Hindu organization Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society for Scientific Spirituality as saying that the censor board should “stop distributing or screening the movie till Paramount has made necessary changes … so that it will not hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu community.” (news)

The grieving family of Heath Ledger could be bracing for more skeletons to emerge, with a US gossip show arriving in Australia yesterday to dig up the dirt.

E! True Hollywood Story producers flew into Perth, despite being turned down by Ledger’s immediate family for an interview.

The program, due to air in July, is understood to have secured support from a number of the late Aussie actor’s school friends and former colleagues.

But it is claims that Ledger fathered a secret love child that have generated the most interest from the American TV network.

E! producer Dana Drake has been quoted as saying they would be “open” to tackling the controversial areas of his life, including the Ledger family in-fighting between father Kim and his brothers.

“Our intentions are to produce a thoughtful and heartfelt program about one of the greatest talents of his generation,” Drake added. (news)

Media baron James Packer has reportedly done the dirty on close friend Tom Cruise and left the Church of Scientology.

Close friends say Packer has told them he ‘no longer needs’ the religion that many see as a cult.

Cruise introduced Packer to Scientology in 2002.

It’s claimed son of the late Kerry Packer first showed interest when going through a tough period - his marriage to swimsuit model Jodhi Meares had fallen apart and the businessman had lost at least $300 million with the collapse of One Tel. (news)

TerriI Irwin has vowed to “fight to the end” to stop mining in the Cape York wilderness area dedicated last year to her late wildlife warrior husband Steve Irwin.
The Australia Zoo director said yesterday there could be no compromise which would allow mining within the 135,000ha Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve because even the removal of a small section of bauxite would affect the site’s delicate ecology.

Instead Ms Irwin said she was drawing up a world-class management plan for the reserve which would not only see the area preserved as a conservation property but also become a focus of international wildlife study, the arts and medicinal research.

Calling her fight Save Steve’s Place, Ms Irwin has begun an email campaign to garner international support against mining plans. (news)

Mercedes Corby admitted yesterday to a history of drug use but said her marijuana smoking, some of which was captured in photographs tendered to the Supreme Court, had been in her teens when she and her friends were being “young and silly” and she had had a “few puffs”.

She said she had taken portions of ecstasy tablets on three occasions - in 1997 and 1998, and in 2002 when she was living on the Gold Coast and a mother of two young children.

She had only been “posing” when she was pictured with a marijuana pipe at the age of 21 or 22 and had not smoked marijuana in Bali, where she had married and settled. She had last held marijuana in her hand in 2000 and the last time she had had ecstasy was in early 2002. (news)

Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT wants Australia to adopt a scheme, introduced in New Zealand, to distribute emergency contraceptive pills for free.

The organisation’s executive director, Tim Bavinton, says the so-called ‘morning-after pill’ is currently available over the counter through pharmacies.

He says the cost can vary between $20 and $50, making it too expensive for those on low incomes.

Mr Bavinton says free distribution of the “morning-after pill” would have to be accompanied by safeguards.

“Currently anybody who comes in and requests emergency contraception can access that,” he said. (news)