A MAN has been arrested over the death of a woman in an altercation at a suburban Melbourne home.
Police responded to reports of a fight at the Hampton Park home, in Melbourne's southeast, around 2am (AEDT) on Saturday.
They found an injured 23-year-old woman, who was raced to hospital where she died just before 5am.
Police arrested a 22-year-old Hampton Park man at the home and say the pair knew each other.
The Homicide Squad is now investigating.
SYDNEY teenager Daniel Christie has died less than two weeks after being punched to the ground on New Year's Eve.
Mr Christie's family say he died on Saturday morning at Sydney's St Vincent's hospital.
"While no words can describe how crushed we are, Daniel fought courageously over the past 11 days which allowed everyone to say their farewells," the family said in a statement.
"It has also given us all strength and tightened even further the bond our family share."
The 18-year-old was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a critical condition after being punched in Kings Cross on New Year's Eve.
His alleged attacker, Shaun McNeil, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and three counts of common assault.
Police allege McNeil, 25, struck three young men before targeting Mr Christie and his brother, Peter, when the other young men tried to hide behind them.
McNeil, a labourer, allegedly boasted he was a mixed martial arts fighter before punching Mr Christie in the face as he shielded the other young men.
Through his lawyer, McNeil has previously told a court that the first group of young men was trying to sell him drugs and he acted to protect his girlfriend who was with him at the time.
He was unable to explain his actions towards the Christies, police facts previously tendered in court said.
A court has previously heard that doctors believed Mr Christie would probably have suffered a serious brain injury if he survived the attack.
Police say they expect further charges to be laid against McNeil, who is next expected to appear in court in March.
Describing their son as a beacon of morality, the Christie family said they want to see "coward punches" become a thing of the past.
"People have the right to go out without experiencing mindless violence," they said in their statement.
"Therefore, if you are going for a night out, please honour Daniel's memory by thinking before you drink.
"Make sure your mates don't get carried away and do anything they'll later regret."
Mr Christie's organs will be donated.
"Although we are absolutely devastated at the tragic loss of our Daniel, we believe by sharing such a special gift with those in need, he is well and truly living on," the family said.
Mr Christie's death comes 18 months after 18-year-old Thomas Kelly died after being hit with a single punch in Kings Cross in July 2012.
It is alleged that Mr Christie was hit just metres from where the attack on Mr Kelly took place.
Since Mr Christie was taken to hospital, there has been increased pressure on the NSW government to tackle alcohol-related violence on the late-night strip and introduce tougher sentencing for perpetrators.
In November, Mr Kelly's parents Ralph and Kathy started a petition calling for drunkenness to be a mandatory aggravating factor that must be taken into account in sentencing.
The petition, started in November, was at about 25,000 signatures before New Year's Eve.
But following the alleged assault on Mr Christie, that surged to more than 124,000.
SHAMIRAN Benjamin was expecting a dinner date with her new flame.
But after putting up with her short-term boyfriend's drunk and reckless behaviour at a casino, Benjamin found herself at the centre of a shooting investigation.
The 25-year-old has pleaded guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence after failing to tell police about Ali Khaled firing a gun.
The Downing Centre District Court was told on Friday that the pair had been in a relationship for a few weeks before the incident on January 29, 2012.
Benjamin went over to Khaled's home after he asked her out to dinner.
But when she arrived, Khaled was "drunk", the court was told, and they ended up at a casino with Khaled's friends.
"He started acting reckless in the casino and that's why I wanted to leave," she said during her sentencing hearing on Friday.
"He broke a glass, dropped a drink and started arguing with males."
After catching a taxi back to Khaled's Wiley Park home, Benjamin said she was crying in her car after an argument when she heard a "loud bang".
Benjamin initially drove off but returned to pick up Khaled.
She claimed that she did not see the gun Khaled carried into the car.
After police pulled the couple over a short time later, they found the gun under Khaled's seat.
Benjamin told the court that Khaled had told her not to talk to police.
Asked why she did not tell police about the gunshot she heard, Benjamin said she was in shock.
"He had been abusive to me hours before," she said. "I was scared because he was sitting right next to me."
Her barrister, who refused to provide his name to media, said Benjamin had suffered for a five-minute decision.
The court was told that her childcare employment had been put on hold because of her pending charge and her parents disowned her for four months.
Benjamin had also been excluded from her western suburbs community because she had brought shame to her family.
The court was told that Khaled had also pleaded guilty over the shooting.
He was sentenced in November to four years in jail, with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years, on firearms offences including discharging a firearm in a public place.
Benjamin's sentencing was adjourned to January 16.
FEDERAL Education Minister Christopher Pyne is being accused of reigniting a culture war with a review of the national schools curriculum to ensure students "celebrate Australia".
Labor, the Greens and teachers have condemned a review of the curriculum Julia Gillard introduced in 2010, saying the coalition government is trying to impose its political ideology on children.
But the review has the backing of business, which says young people lack appropriate skills for work.
Announcing the review on Friday, Mr Pyne said the curriculum was too rigid and prescriptive.
He wants a more orthodox system and one free of what he calls "partisan bias".
The curriculum should not try to be "all things to all people", he said.
There should also be a greater focus on the influence of western civilisation on Australia, which he said was not being talked about in schools.
"I ... want the curriculum to celebrate Australia and for students, when they've finished school, to know where we've come from as a nation," Mr Pyne said.
Mr Pyne said he hoped that the review would report back by June, with a view to working with states and territories to improve the curriculum for 2015.
He played down concerns that the review was an attack on a perceived left-wing bias in schools, despite appointing two Labor critics to head the investigation.
Former teacher and Liberal staffer Kevin Donnelly and business professor Ken Wiltshire have been critical of the Gonski school funding reforms and what they see as a leftist cultural agenda in schools.
Mr Pyne defended the appointments, saying both men had a long history in the education sector.
"It's not possible to appoint anybody to review the national curriculum who doesn't have a view on education," he said. He said he was confident that the findings would be objective and fair.
But Mr Shorten told Prime Minister Tony Abbott to "stop trying to put your version of politics into the school books".
"Please keep your hands off the school books of Australian children," he said. He said their education should be above politics.
Mr Shorten said the review was nothing but a distraction from the government's backflips on schools funding, in reference to last year's failed attempt to walk away from Labor's deals with the states.
The Greens accused Mr Pyne of wanting to take Australian schools "back to the 1950s".
"The response from Christopher Pyne is pure ideology," acting leader Richard Di Natale said.
Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos said Mr Pyne had appointed "an ex-Liberal staffer and conservative ideologue" to head the review.
"Mr Pyne is clearly determined to play politics with the education of Australian children," he said.
But the business lobby is backing the review, with AiGroup saying it was important that school graduates had the right skills in maths, science and English.
"Employers have regularly raised concerns about low standards in these areas, which makes young people ill-equipped when they join the workforce," AiGroup chief Innes Willox said.
A TEAM of scientists, led by a Melbourne professor, has published research that shows where giant earthquakes are most likely to strike.
Monash University Professor Wouter Schellart says earthquakes mostly occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates when they rub together. But giant quakes happen only in "subduction zones", where one plate sinks below another into the earth's interior.
A global map has been created that highlights these, including an area off the east coast of New Zealand.
"These big earthquakes are most dangerous and destructive," Prof Schellart told AAP.
"We have built a global map which shows which plate boundaries are most likely to produce these massive earthquakes and this gives seismologists an idea of where they may occur."
Prof Schellart said the research can be used by engineers to inform them of where to avoid building homes and buildings.
The zones where earthquakes are likely to occur are located in Indonesia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Greece.
Dr Schellart and University of Aberdeen Professor Nick Rawlinson have been working on the research since 2009.
In 2004, a giant earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, triggered a tsunami which killed more than 200,000 people.
Earthquakes mostly occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates when they rub together, Dr Schellart said.
Robert Gates' memoir contains an anecdote about a dinner he shared with former PM Kevin Rudd (pic). Source: AAP
AS Kevin Rudd's long soliloquy about Australian history dragged on, the dinner's guest of honour - then-US defence secretary Robert Gates - couldn't help but nod off.
Gates' memoir Duty has been making international headlines due to his criticisms of US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, but it also contains an amusing anecdote involving Australia's former PM.
Mr Gates visited Australia in February 2008 as part of a global tour, but he says a broken shoulder made for some awkward moments.
"At a very nice dinner given in my honour by Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, I was doing fine at table conversation until Rudd began a long soliloquy on the history of Australia," he writes.
"I had made it just past World War I when the combined effect of a painkiller, jet lag, and a glass of wine caused me to fall asleep.
"This led to not-so-subtle attempts by my American colleagues at the table to rouse me."
Mr Rudd was "very gracious" about the whole thing, Mr Gates says.
RAPIST John Alan Wilde has lost his court fight to have curfew restrictions eased so he can spend more time with a Christian motorcycle club.
Wilde has been living under curfew since his release from jail in 2008.
On Wednesday, the 51-year-old applied to have his daily 6pm curfew lifted until 11.30pm on Thursdays and Sundays so he can attend bible studies with the God Squad Motor Cycle group and an evening church service.
But Justice Elizabeth Fullerton on Wednesday rejected his bid for an interim extension on his curfew.
In handing down her orders, she said Wilde would not disagree that he was a high-risk offender.
"Yes I do," said Wilde.
Wearing a Harley Davidson motorcycle jacket and with heavy metal rings on his fingers, Wilde also appeared to disagree with an allegation read out in court that he had offered to don his leathers to intimidate someone on behalf of a female friend.
When Crown lawyer Gillian Mahony read out the allegation, Wilde loudly exclaimed, "What?"
Earlier, his lawyer, Sam Pararajasingham, told the court that Wilde had been spending time with the Christian motorcycle club The God Squad, which once a week meets until 11.30pm.
His curfew had periodically been extended to 9pm and 11.30pm on a case-by-case basis.
Halfway through Wednesday's proceedings, Wilde's team amended their application for his curfew to be extended only on two days of the week.
"If it's so flexible, if it's so malleable, why not give him the extra three hours?" Mr Pararajasingham said.
The Crown argued that the 9pm curfew allows for case workers to do spot checks on Wilde, including random blood-alcohol tests.
Under the terms of his release, Wilde is not allowed to drink alcohol.
Extending the curfew would make spot checks harder to do, the Crown argued.
"There is the risk it will start to be abused," Ms Mahony said.
Justice Fullerton ordered that Wilde be seen by two psychiatrists for an assessment.
Outside court, Wilde told reporters that he was never a threat to society, but remained silent when reporters pointed out his multiple convictions.
Wilde was last jailed in 1993 for 16 years after forcing his way into a Sydney woman's home and ordering her to perform oral sex on him at knifepoint, only 13 days after he was released on parole in 1991.
It was the third time Wilde had committed such an offence, having already served jail terms for home invasions and rapes committed in 1981 and 1983.
His maximum jail term expired in 2007, but Wilde was held on a series of interim detention orders until the end of 2008 while the NSW Supreme Court heard applications for his further incarceration.
An application for permanent orders on the extension of his curfew will be mentioned in court on February 4.
Two men have been banned from Kings Cross venues for a year under NSW measures to tackle violence. Source: AAP
THE failure of a tender for ID scanners means bars in Sydney's Kings Cross will have to rely on photos to identify banned patrons under new anti-violence measures.
Two Sydney men on Wednesday became the first patrons to have 12-month bans from "high-risk venues" at the Cross approved by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA).
The bans are part of new measures by the NSW government to combat drunken violence in the popular entertainment precinct.
The banned pair, a 43-year-old from Double Bay and 34-year-old from Lakemba, can't enter 35 venues in the Cross and face fines of up to $5500 if they do so.
The ILGA can approve bans from NSW Police if a person has been charged or found guilty of a serious offence involving alcohol-related violence.
Bans can also kick in if a partygoer has been issued with three temporary banning orders in a year.
Wednesday's approval of the bans for the two men comes amid a concession by the NSW government that the stalling of a planned roll-out of ID scanners was not ideal.
The scanners, designed to help venues recognise patrons who'd been banned, were due to be rolled out by December 6.
But the government was forced to take over a tender from the Kings Cross Precinct Liquor Accord after it failed amidst serious privacy and probity concerns.
NSW Hospitality Minister George Souris says it's not ideal that the tender had failed, but he told reporters that clubs would manage with photos of banned patrons in their absence.
"Police will provide identification, including photographic identification, to the 35 venues that are part of this ban," Mr Souris said.
"We do believe this scanner technology, once implemented, will make the situation safer ... the identification of anyone breaching a banning order will be surer."
Mr Souris said the government had no new deadline for the scanners to be in place but he hoped it would be in the first half of 2014.
Fourteen more police applications for long-term patron bans are being considered by the ILGA.
Police have described as a tragedy the death of a four-year-old boy fatally struck by a 4WD in NSW. Source: AAP
THE death of a young boy run over on NSW's Central Coast has prompted a safety plea from police.
The four-year-old died at MacMasters Beach on the Central Coast after a 4WD struck him on Monday night.
Police believe that the boy, who was on holiday at the beach with his family, had run out into the road when he was hit.
"He has come from behind a parked car and just appeared out on the road," Gosford Police Inspector Paul Taylor told AAP.
"And unfortunately there is now one less child in the world."
The driver, a woman in her 60s, stopped to help the boy but he died at the scene.
The driver, who was not known to the boy and his family, was taken to Gosford Hospital suffering shock and to undergo usual blood and urine tests.
Insp Taylor said it did not appear that the woman would be charged.
Police have pleaded with the community to look out for children.
"I think the message would be, whether you are on the road or otherwise, look out for children," Chief Inspector George Bradbury told reporters on Tuesday.
Victorian taxi operator Royal Taxis has gone into administration, officials say. Source: AAP
LOW taxi fares and rising gas prices have been blamed for a third Victorian taxi operator going under in two years.
Royal Taxis, based in Melbourne's south east, has gone into administration in a move industry experts say affects about 75 taxis or up to 200 drivers.
Victorian Taxi Association CEO David Samuel blames rising LPG prices and unsustainably low taxi fares, which have not changed for about five years.
"The price the customer is expected to pay a taxi hasn't changed since 2008 which effectively means the industry is expected in 2014 to work at 2008 prices," he said.
"Clearly that's ridiculous and unsustainable."
Royal Taxis in Springvale is the second large Victorian taxi operator to go under in the past 12 months and the third in two years.
Mr Samuel says the industry has repeatedly warned the Victorian government about the effect low fares and high input costs are having on profit margins of taxi businesses.
Fares are 10 per cent lower than CPI and about a third behind comparable Australian states, he says.
Victoria's Essential Services Commission (ESC) is reviewing taxi fares and will announce a decision in June.
But Mr Samuel has called on Transport Minister Terry Mulder to act before then and increase fares in line with inflation.
Mr Mulder told reporters he has asked ESC to bring forward its decision on fares, hopefully to March.
The minister says he does not know the reasons for the latest closure, but customer service is not expected to be affected.
He added cab drivers who have lost their jobs would have no problem finding work because there is a driver shortage.
POLICE say a gunshot wound sustained by a man at a Melbourne shopping centre carpark was self inflicted.
A 45-year-old man, from Dandenong, was found with a gunshot wound to the leg at the Keysborough shopping centre last Thursday.
He was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
A short time later, another man turned up in hospital with facial injuries.
Police said last week the matter was not bikie related, but they were trying to figure out what happened.
Police now say they now believe the gunshot wound was self inflicted.
The other man was trying to prevent the Dandenong man from injuring himself, police say.
Detectives are not treating the matter as suspicious.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 100 659 467.
Senator Cory Bernardi says discussion about abortion being a woman's right needs to be reopened. Source: AAP
OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten says Cory Bernardi's comments on abortion and non-traditional families are backwards and offensive.
The controversial Liberal senator from South Australia has reignited the abortion debate with comments in his latest book, The Conservative Revolution.
He says it is unacceptable that the abortion "death industry dispatches 80,000 to 100,000 unborn children" in Australia every year, and describes people who advocate a woman's right to choose as being "pro-death".
He also accuses some women of using abortion as "an abhorrent form of birth control", although he stops short of saying it should be banned.
Mr Shorten condemned the comments.
"His attitude on abortion represents a massive step backwards when it comes to women's reproductive health rights," the Labor leader said in a statement.
Senator Bernardi also uses his book to argue that the traditional family model should be restored to prime position over others, like same-sex, single-parent and step-families.
Mr Shorten says these views are offensive too.
"As a father in a blended family, I reject Senator Bernardi saying that step-families are somehow inferior," he said.
"These are not the views of a party that understands or respects modern Australian families."
Mr Shorten said Prime Minister Tony Abbott must explain to the public why it's acceptable that a member of his parliamentary team holds such views.
A spokesperson for Mr Abbott issued only a brief statement: "Senator Bernardi is a backbencher and his views do not represent the position of the government".
Mr Abbott dumped Senator Bernardi from a senior coalition role in September 2012 for comments he made linking gay marriage to bestiality.
The Australian Greens says many people believe Mr Abbott and Senator Bernardi are "cut from the same ideological cloth".
"If Tony Abbott fails to clearly distance himself from Senator Bernardi then it will be impossible to escape the conclusion that he is quietly pleased that his dirty work is being done," acting leader Richard Di Natale said.
Mr Shorten says Senator Bernardi has also "belled the cat" on the Abbott government's workplace relations agenda by calling for the resurrection of some aspects of the Howard government's much-maligned WorkChoices regime.
BIG revs, blown tyres and a lead-up beer or two.
As Summernats 27 draws to a close in the nation's capital, last year's burnout champion, Mark Schwirse, shares his top secrets behind the perfect burnout.
First, he insists heading to a private property away from the public to avoid your car being temporarily confiscated by police.
"Young guys can give the industry a bad name, but with our cars and the reputation that we've got, we keep it in the right environment," the 36-year-old from South Australia said.
"I like to go back to friends' houses, we'll have a few cans and do a burnout. It's good fun, it's in your blood."
Once your location is settled, the fun begins.
To nail that perfect burnout, you'll want some hard revs, followed by a big throw in.
"People are a bit scared to stand on it," Mr Schwirse said. "But the guys that aren't stand on them hard, throw them in and blow tyres."
Schwirse and his car BLOWN won the 2013 Summernats burnout championship.
This year he competed in the masters championship alongside the 20 best burnout drivers in the country.
And thus it's overcoming the nerves that can lead up to that one furious minute of burning rubber - and often engines - that's essential to pulling off the textbook burnout.
"Leading up to the burnout, there's the crowd and the butterflies in your stomach," he said.
"But when you've got over 1000 horsepower at your feet, you just stand on it, the thing just glides under your feet and off you go."
UK fighter jets have flown for the first time with parts made using 3D printing technology. Source: AAP
UK fighter jets have flown for the first time with parts made using 3D printing technology.
BAE Systems said the metal components were successfully used on board Tornado aircraft which flew from the defence firm's airfield at Warton, Lancashire late last month.
The company said its engineers are using 3D technology to design and produce parts which could cut the Royal Air Force's maintenance and service bill by over STG1.2 million ($A2.23 million) over the next four years.
BAE Systems is working at RAF Marham, Norfolk to engineer ready-made parts for four squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft, including protective covers for cockpit radios and guards for power take-off shafts. Some of the parts cost less than 100.
Mike Murray, head of airframe integration at BAE Systems, said: "You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things. You can manufacture the products at whatever base you want, providing you can get a machine there, which means you can also start to support other platforms such as ships and aircraft carriers.
"And if it's feasible to get machines out on the front line, it also gives improved capability where we wouldn't traditionally have any manufacturing support."
