TRANSCRIPT:
- Victorians in fire danger zones urged to evacuate while they still can;
- New South Wales Police criticised after the bodies of a missing Sydney couple found;
- Danill Medvedev bounces back after his loss in the Australian Open final.
The New South Wales Police Commissioner has been criticised for apparently expressing gratitude to the alleged killer of a Sydney couple, whose bodies have been found after a week of searching.
The accused allegedly drew police a map of the property in Bungonia, near Goulburn, where he had put the bodies of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.
Karen Webb had said she was very grateful for that assistance - a phrase that some friends of the couple objected to.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald has defended her choice of words to Radio 2GB.
"I'm very surprised with the criticism the commissioner's got. She's been nothing but supportive. She's given us every resource known to man and woman to achieve the results we've got. So those words were - those comments were reiterated by us. We're grateful that we could bring some resolution as early as possible to the families."
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Victorians have been told to flee fire danger zones while they still can, before extreme conditions descend on the state.
Country Fire Authority chief Jason Heffernan has asked anyone left in the area who is planning to defend their home to reconsider, as no houses are designed to survive catastrophic conditions.
The Bayindeen bushfire raging northwest of Ballarat has already burnt through more than 21,000 hectares, with forecast temperatures to be in the high 30s with wind gusts of up to 80 kilometres an hour.
The danger is set increase from midday.
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A leading Islamic group has asked the Victorian state governments to cancel this year's Iftar dinner over Labor's response to the conflict in Gaza.
The Islamic Council of Victoria wants the government to cancel the annual event during Ramadan.
Spokesman Adel Salman says the community is in "no mood" for a celebratory event and it would be inappropriate to host the dinner.
But the state government says they have organised the dinner since 2015, and it will proceed this year.
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A senior United Nations official says a quarter of the population in the Gaza Strip are on the brink of famine.
Ramesh Rajasingham from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has told the Security Council that widespread famine is "almost inevitable" without action.
Mr Rajasingham says the ongoing seige on the territory has plunged civilians into a dangerous scenario.
"Here we are at the end of February with one in six children under two years of age in northern Gaza, suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting. And practically the entire population of Gaza are left to rely on woefully inadequate humanitarian food assistance to survive. Unfortunately, as grim as the picture we see today, there is every possibility for further deterioration. Military operations, insecurity and extensive restrictions on the entry and delivery of essential goods have decimated food production and agriculture."
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The Greens are calling for negative gearing to be axed, as a condition of their support for Labor's landmark housing bill.
Under the Help to Buy housing shared equity scheme, the government would cover roughly 40 percent of the cost of homes for 40,000 people.
Labor will need support from the crossbench to pass the legislation.
But Greens leader Adam Bandt says it won't address the real issues with affordability.
"If Labor wants our support, then tackle the causes of the housing crisis that are hurting millions of renters and first home buyers by fixing negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts, capping and freezing rents, and building more public housing. That's how you address the housing crisis. But as things stand, Labor is refusing to tackle the cause of the housing crisis and backing wealthy property investors."
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A dedicated group of friends are getting ready to climb Mount Everest to raise money for a First Nations mental health centre.
The group - called the Blak Trekkers - hope to raise $50,000 for the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre.
Joining the trek is prominent First Nations psychiatrist Dr Clinton Schultz.
“Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough awareness raised to that a mass majority population so more than anything I want to get the message out that majority population. This is something that our communities are having to face every day."
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Danil Medvedev has won his first match since losing the Australian Open final.
He's opened his title defence at the Dubai Championships by beating Alexander Shevchenko 6-3 7-5.
