The Northern Territory Labor senator Nova Peris has suggested that the release of some of her personal emails are part of an attempt to blackmail her over a family dispute. Emails published by News Corp this week claimed that Nova Peris tried to use taxpayer funds to pay for the track star Ato Boldon to visit Australia, so that the pair could pursue an affair. Senator Peris has denied any wrongdoing and asked Federal police to investigate. 

 

A New South Wales grandmother is anxiously awaiting news about the plight of her six orphaned grandchildren. The siblings from Liberia had been granted visas to travel to Australia, but they had been stopped from boarding a plane in Ivory Coast because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. If they do make it to Newcastle, they'll undergo health checks before being placed in quarantine.

 

Now the parents of Cameron Baird the Australian soldier posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross have met the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Kay Baird has said meeting Her Majesty was a great honor but that she wished her son could have been there instead. He was killed during an intense firefight with Taliban insurgents in an Afghan village.