Good morning! Here are your headlines from around regional Australia and beyond. Scroll down and refresh for weather, road reports and more.
BUNBURY: A kitten is lucky to be alive after it was thrown from a moving vehicle and an Eaton vet fears a second cat admitted the same day could be a victim of the same perpetrator. Read more.
MANDURAH: A Mandurah man accused of accessing child pornography online is likely to face trial in a Perth court later this year. Read more.
BUSSELTON: The union supporting staff at the Busselton Health Campus, United Voice, have slammed the working conditions for hospital staff. Read more.
WA: The Liberal government have pledged to introduce legislation to scrap the time limit for child sex abuse victims to sue their attackers if re-elected in the state general election on March 11. Read more.
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered.
Regional news
►WANGARATTA, VIC: The death of a Wangaratta woman killed while walking across a pedestrian crossing will leave a hole in many lives, say those closest to her. Married mother-of-three Roberta Brown, 53, was hit by a truck while walking her dog..read on.
►GREAT LAKES, NSW: Shucks, it’s an oyster harvest high on the Mid North Coast. With the Pacific Oyster industry in Tasmania hard hit by disease, it has created an opportunity for Mid North Coast’s Sydney Rock Oysters to gain a stronger foothold in the market...full story.
► QUEANBEYAN, NSW: It's the stuff of dreams - being paid by a global sportswear brand to travel the world and do what you love, day in and day out. And pro skater Jack Fardell is living it...read about his journey here.
►TASMANIA: Police are weighing up an historic apology to child-sex abuse victims in institutionalised care whose cries for help were initially not believed by officers...read on.
National news
► Australia's most dangerous venomous creature is not a snake or a spider, nor even a jellyfish. It's the bee and other stinging insects that pose the biggest public health threat, according to an analysis of more than a decade of Australian bites and stings.
►More than half of Australia's young adults have done unpaid work as part of an internship or a job trial, raising questions about the need for greater regulation of unpaid work to prevent exploitation, a landmark national study has found...full story here.
► A man has been charged following a fatal crash at Hallidays Point near Taree on Tuesday. At about 5.45pm, a 60-year-old man was riding a BMW motorcycle east along Blackhead Road and collided with a four wheel drive...read more.
National weather radar
International news
► BALI: A hotel security guard has claimed he witnessed Byron Bay murder suspect Sara Connor with her hand around the neck of a Balinese police officer who was later found dead on Kuta beach...full story here.
►PHILIPPINES: Donald Trump's conflict of interest risk is on glittering display in the Philippines at Manila's newest sky-scraper which soars 57 storeys above the sprawling city's financial district of Makati...full story here.
►LONDON: In a historic, detailed speech, Mrs May dashed the hopes of Remainers and delighted Brexiteers by setting out a vision of an independent UK – a "trading nation" that will look beyond Europe to "new friends and old allies".
Faces of Australia: Jill Brookes
It’s a classic labour of love for Jill Brookes, her dozen staff and her merry band of nearly 50 volunteers.
Jill is the owner and manager of Dardanup Heritage Park, built on 121ha (300ac) property south east of Bunbury and boasting 20 sheds.
‘The Park’ boasts the largest collection of heritage items in the Southern Hemisphere, along with some of the best "re-builders" and "restorers" – usually retired cockies enjoying life in what, for them, is the best Men's Shed going.
