Melbourne teen dies in methanol tragedy, 'burst of heat' for millions: Australia news live

Domestic violence and homelessness support services are resorting to giving tents to people seeking help as the housing crisis intensifies.

"That's the reality, and unfortunately in the current climate that's actually becoming more and more," Young Crisis Accommodation Centre (YCAC) manager Kerrie Palmer told the ABC, saying there are five or six families currently in tents in her southern NSW community.

She said the number of people they are now supporting had nearly doubled in the past five years.

"You feel quite helpless at times. Doing this job isn't for the faint-hearted," she said.

One of the two Australian teenagers hospitalised after a suspected methanol poisoning incident in Laos has died, her family have told the Herald Sun.

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away,” they said in a statement.

She is the fourth person to die from the incident which hospitalised at least 14 people.

She was travelling with best friend Holly Bowles, both 19, and the pair fell ill after a night of drinking in Vang Vieng. They were both placed on life support in separate Thai hospitals.

The winner of $1 million in Queensland was so overjoyed with his win he went and gave his newsagent a hug.

The Ipswich man held one of two division one-winning tickets for the Weekday Windfall draw yesterday.

“I just went down to the newsagency to see if the winning news was true, and it’s true!" he told lottery officials.

“I gave the newsagency owner a big hug. I’ve been visiting their store for about six months now.

“Times have been pretty tough, so this couldn’t have come at better time. It feels pretty good."

A British woman is among the tourists hospitalised in Laos in a suspected methanol poisoning that left two young Australians on life support.

Simone White, 28, is one of 14 people who have needed hospital treatment after a night drinking in the holiday town of Vang Vieng, The Times reported.

The concerning incident has resulted in the deaths of two Danish women and a US citizen, their respective nations' governments have confirmed.

White's friend who she was travelling with had taken to Facebook to warn other travellers, saying they had been given free shots at one bar. "Just avoid them as so not worth it," she wrote.

While their reunion tour sparked a huge scramble for tickets, leaving many fans missing out, it seems Oasis haven't been able to sell out their Australian tour.

The British icons released three extra dates in Australia after what they said was huge demand from fans, however the band is still pushing their final Melbourne date. A quick glance at the interactive map shows a raft of tickets still available across Marvel stadium.

The band sparked anger for their high ticket prices, while in the UK tickets rose in price as demand grew.

A report this week from the Australian Council of Trade Union (ACTU) has found that from this week, the gender pay gap means that women across the country are effectively working for free until 2025.

And for Sabrina Scherm, human resources expert from HR platform HiBob, she believes bosses need to act now or lose a big chunk of their workforce. She said the ACTU's findings are "a sobering reminder of how far we still have to go to achieve pay equity".

“Our recent research found over half of Aussie women would consider leaving their jobs if they discovered a gender pay gap within their organisation. Yet, one in three women feel their employer will never prioritise closing this gap. This paints a troubling disconnect between employee expectations and workplace action," Scherm said.

The mercury will be soaring for millions over the next few days as a "burst of heat" sweeps Australia's southeast.

Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart will all experience elevated temperatures over the next six days as a hot air mass is pushed towards the southeast, Weatherzone reported.

Adelaide could reach 37C on Friday, while Penrith in Sydney's west could face 39C on Monday.

Read all about the expected conditions here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called an antisemitic attack in an exclusive Sydney suburb “deeply troubling” and urged people not to make “a platform for prejudice at home”.

Emergency services responded after a car was set on fire on Wellington Street in Woollahra shortly after midnight on Thursday.

While Fire and Rescue NSW was able to extinguish the fire, police found up to a dozen cars and a restaurant graffitied with anti-Israel messages.

Multiple cars were covered in white spray paint that read “f**k Israel”.

Mr Albanese on Thursday morning he had seen the “images of last night’s act of antisemitism in Sydney” and called the incident “disturbing”.

Read more here from NCA NewsWire.

The Australian government has updated its travel advice for Laos following the suspected methanol poisoning tragedy that has claimed the lives of three tourists and hospitalised two Australian women.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Smartraveller page urges Australians to "be alert to the potential risks particularly with spirit-based drinks including cocktails".

Colin Ahearn, who campaigns to raise awareness about methanol poisoning, told Yahoo that it is likely Australians travelling through Southeast Asia will let their guard down at some point but said avoiding free-poured spirits would minimise the risk of poisoning, advice he regularly shares for Bali.

Thinking of getting new turf for your backyard? Well if you're in NSW it won't be coming from Queensland.

A ban has been slapped on the turf crossing the border in a bid to control the spread of fire ants.

But those in the industry have blasted the move. Turf Queensland president Hugo Struss said they've become "a scapegoat for an inadequate" eradication program.

Queensland recently gave up a 20-year fight to contain the ants and they have been slowly creeping south into NSW.

More than 300 university executives were paid more than their state premier while many vice-chancellors earned more than double the prime minister, a National Tertiary Education Union report has found.

"It beggars belief that institutions like Monash University have 16 executives who are paid more than the state premier (Jacinta Allan)," the union's national president Alison Barnes said told AAP.

"They're being paid these extraordinary sums, but there's not much evidence that they're doing great things for the institutions that they're supposed to manage."

Barnes says university executives should be held accountable for job losses and underpaying workers instead of being rewarded with "excessive" salaries.

- AAP

This is the heartbreaking floral tribute for Liam Payne from his son. The former One Direction star was farewelled at his funeral today with a host of stars attending and paying their tributes.

Payne’s fellow bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson were there to remember their friend, who they fondly called their "brother" in their goodbye Instagram tributes to the late star.

Read about his funeral here.

In a worrying update weeks before Christmas, Woolworths workers have gone on strike. But the supermarket giant stresses it is well prepared for such action and has moved to reassure customers. See their statement below.

"We can confirm that indefinite industrial action has commenced at four of our Distribution Centres (DCs) today, three of which are located in Victoria and one in NSW.

We are not expecting any immediate impact to stores in Victoria and NSW as a result of the industrial action, and stores in other states will not be impacted as they are serviced by their own local DCs.

Maintaining supply for customers is our priority in the lead up to Christmas. We have extensive contingency plans in place to minimise any ongoing impact to customers, including significantly increasing stock levels in stores serviced by these DCs, and utilising the other 20 DCs and 8,000 team members in our network to ensure regular deliveries to stores."

The supermarket said it was "committed" to agreeing a new pay deal with the workers before Christmas.

A third tourist has reportedly died in a suspected methanol poisoning in southeast Asia that left two 19-year-old Australians on life support.

The US State Department has confirmed a US citizen has died in the incident, taking the death toll to three after two Danish nationals died, the ABC reported.

Two Australian women remain on life support in Thailand. They are believed to have drank cocktails in the tourist spot of Vang Vieng in Laos, with their drinks feared to have contained methanol which is sometimes not fully removed during the distilling process when making bootleg liquor.