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Labor Senator dies following health battle

Labor Senator Linda White has passed away following a health battle. Just last month, the ALP Senator for Victoria announced that she would be taking leave from the senate to "deal with some health issues". "For the next while I will be focusing on getting well again so I can return to my full duties representing the people of Victoria," the statement read. However, today Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed her death and led a wave of tributes for the senator. "All of our hearts in the Labor family are broken at the passing of Senator Linda White last evening," Albanese said. "Linda was formidable. A beloved friend, a valued colleague, a dedicated parliamentarian and, through all her efforts in the wider labour movement, a devout supporter of working Australians." "Linda believed in a better, fairer and more compassionate Australia," Albanese added "A belief that was always backed by her energy and action." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Vale Senator Linda White. <a href="https://t.co/b70CTMWMJU">pic.twitter.com/b70CTMWMJU</a> — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1763340992403681721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote> Labor MP Tony Burke also paid tribute to White and praised her achievements. "Linda campaigned for years in the union movement for paid family and domestic violence leave. As a senator she helped make it law so no one would have to choose between safety and pay. RIP," he wrote. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Linda White leaves an extraordinary legacy for working people in Australia. Linda campaigned for years in the union movement for paid family and domestic violence leave. As a Senator she helped make it law so no one would have to choose between safety and pay. RIP — Tony Burke (@Tony_Burke) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tony_Burke/status/1763331902856155521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote> Fellow senator and Foreign Minister Penny Wong praised White for modelling "integrity, persistence, and skill". "Linda fought the illness that has now claimed her life privately, but with all the tenacity and determination that has marked not just her short time in the Senate, but her decades of commitment to the Labor movement and Australian workers," she said. The leader of the opposition in the Senate, Liberal Simon Birmingham also offered his condolences and praised her work. "The Senate has lost a determined and passionate sitting senator far too soon," Birmingham said in a statement. "A senator who clearly had much more to contribute, but who will be remembered with respect by those who had the privilege to serve with her." White was elected the ALP Senator for Victoria in 2022. Prior to this she had a long career in law as a trade union official. She served as vice president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions for 10 years, and was assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union (ASU) from 1995 to 2020. The ASU also shared their condolences after the loss of "one of our great warriors". "We wish Linda could have taken up this fight for longer. However, we are so fortunate to have had Linda in our lives for as long as we did, and that she dedicated so much of her life to building up the next generation of activists and change makers," the statement read. "Her strength, smarts, and determination for equality will live on through them." Image: X

Caring

“Dig a hole in my chest”: Supermodel reveals double cancer fight

Supermodel icon Linda Evangelista has shared the devastating details of her cancer battle, after being diagnosed twice in five years. In a candid interview with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/linda-evangelista-steven-meisel-32909b7b?mod=style_lead_story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WSJ magazine</a>, the 58-year-old revealed why she chose to "keep it quiet" and only tell a handful of people close to her about her health battle. Evangelista was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 after a routine mammogram, and decided to undergo a bilateral mastectomy: a surgical procedure to remove both breasts. "The margins were not good. [I chose this treatment] due to other health factors, without hesitation, because I wanted to put everything behind me and not to have to deal with this. "Thinking I was good and set for life. Breast cancer was not going to kill me." Four years later in 2022, Evangelista felt a lump on her chest and an MRI revealed cancer was present in her pectoral muscle. "I just went into this mode that I know how to do – just do what you've got to do and get through it," she said. "And that's what I did." "Dig a hole in my chest," she recalled telling her doctors. "I don't want it to look pretty. I want you to excavate. I want to see a hole in my chest when you're done. Do you understand me? I'm not dying from this." After another round of surgery, she was told the outlook was good for the future, but there is always a possibility the cancer could return. "Well, once it's come back, there's a chance," she recalled the oncologist's words. "I know I have one foot in the grave, but I'm totally in celebration mode." Image credits: Instagram / Getty Images

Caring

“How do you pay someone for 20 years?”: Folbigg’s big compensation question

Since her <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/kathleen-folbigg-pardoned-after-20-years-behind-bars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release from prison</a>, Kathleen Folbigg has been the centre of a media frenzy, with networks battling it out to secure an exclusive tell-all interview. Following a fierce bidding war, Seven Network has won the rights over Nine for the interview believed to have cost more than $400,000. A source from Seven said the exclusive interview will be aired on the Sunday evening current affairs show, 7News Spotlight. Others have proposed the deal has cost the network close to $1 million. The deal could see her on the list of select few Australians awarded seven-figure sums in light of their wrongful convictions, including Linda Chamberlain. Chamberlain’s lawyer Stuart Tipple said Folbigg needs to be declared innocent and be given compensation for her years in prison, noting she had a solid case. “The sad thing is all she can get is money, how do you pay someone for 20 years?” he said. “And also, I think we need to reflect on an injustice just doesn’t affect Kathleen. “I feel tonight very much for her husband and the father of those children and the injustice that just affects so many people, so many lives. “I feel very, very badly for him tonight and I just think of the whole process of just how harmful it is to them and to our society and our confidence in the whole judicial system.” Robyn Blewer, director of the Griffith University Innocence Project, noted two recent cases to illustrate how Folbigg could be compensated for her 7,300 days in jail. West Australian man Scott Austic received $1.3 million in May 2023 on top of an earlier payment of $250,000 after serving nearly 13 years for murdering his pregnant secret lover. He had sought $8.5 million after being acquitted on appeal in 2020. Both payments were ex gratis, unlike David Eastman’s award of $7 million in damages by the ACT Supreme Court in 2019. Eastman served almost 19 years over the 1989 shooting murder of federal police assistance commissioner Colin Winchester, where he was acquitted at a second trial. "The difference is it was in ACT which has a human rights act and under that, there is an entitlement for compensation under human rights," Dr Blewer told AAP. "Mr Eastman was then able to sue because there was a right to compensation. "The court assessed his damages in the same way they would a tort ... the court went through every time he was injured.” Like Austic, Chamberlain was awarded an ex grata or grace payment. She was awarded $1.3 million in 1992 which now equates to about $3 million. Folbigg will need specific legal advice about whether a civil claim is possible due to NSW lacking a human rights act like that of the ACT. Dr Blewer said she could become reliant on what the government was willing to pay. "Twenty years is a substantial amount of time lost," she said. "It might depend on the good grace of the NSW government." No further steps can be taken until Folbigg’s lawyers obtain the final report of former Chief Justice Tom Bathurst. An application to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to quash her convictions will likely follow. Image credit: Facebook / Instagram

Legal

“I am grateful”: Linda Evangelista returns to modelling

After sharing the story of the “nightmare” beauty procedure that left her “brutally disfigured” earlier this year, Linda Evangelista has made her return to modelling for a special occasion in the world of fashion. On Sunday, Evangelista took to Instagram to share a photo of her upcoming collaboration with Italian luxury fashion house Fendi with her fans. In the photo, the Canadian supermodel is holding two silver Fendi Baguette bags, wearing a grey top, pink-rimmed sunglasses and multiple pink caps. “On September 9 2022 Fendi will host a special fashion show in New York City to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fendi baguette … and two years since Kim Jones joined the Maison as artistic director of couture and womenswear,” Evangelista captioned the photo, adding that she was “so grateful” to those involved in the photoshoot. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CgE3cyTLoFN/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CgE3cyTLoFN/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Linda Evangelista (@lindaevangelista)</a> </div> </blockquote> The collaboration marks the first time Evangelista has modelled after a fat-freezing procedure she had several years ago went horribly wrong, and comes several months after she went public with her story. After a CoolSculpting procedure, Evangelista experienced Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side-effect that she said left her with hard, fatty lumps all over her body. “To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised,” she shared on Instagram in September 2021. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CaDMK_RJx3-/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CaDMK_RJx3-/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Linda Evangelista (@lindaevangelista)</a> </div> </blockquote> In <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/beauty-style/linda-evangelistas-first-photoshoot-in-five-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview with People</a> earlier this year, the 57-year-old said she was “done hiding in shame”, having lived reclusively in New York for several years. "I can't live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn't live in this pain any longer. I'm willing to finally speak," she told the publication. Evangelista has filed a lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics, the parent company of CoolSculpting, for $50 million in damages, claiming she has been unable to work since undergoing the treatment between 2015 and 2016. Image: @lindaevangelista (Instagram)

Beauty & Style

Jimmy Barnes reveals family tragedy

Jimmy Barnes has announced that his beloved sister, Linda, has passed away. The legendary singer confirmed the news online, while also thanking fans for their love and support during the difficult family time. "Thank you for all your messages of condolence for my beautiful sister Linda's passing," he said. "This week has been tough and overwhelming. Your support is appreciated." While Linda's cause of death has not been publicly revealed, Jimmy's older rockstar brother John Swan – better known as Swanee – announced her passing on Facebook last week and said she had Multiple Sclerosis. "It is with great sadness I have to tell you," John's post, which featured a photo of Linda smiling, began. "My little sister Linda passed away this morning, she fought so hard. God I love her to Kim, James, Katie, and Ali you guys rest in the knowledge she is at peace ❤️🙏". John shared a black-and-white photo of Linda on stage with a microphone in her hand, saying he wanted to "refresh memories" of his late sister. "This is Linda when she did backing vocals with Stevie Wright and Jimmy's first solo band. First song I ever sung was with her as a duet theres a hole in the bucket dear Liza." "She was such a champion she knew long ago and only told us recently she was sick. Saying that she had MS and was in wheelchair but that never slowed her down. Warrior." Image credits: Getty Images / Facebook

Caring

Linda Evangelista's first photoshoot in five years

Linda Evangelista has debuted her first photo shoot since saying her face had been "permanently deformed" and her “life destroyed” after a botched surgery.The 56-year-old supermodel has been living in seclusion for nearly five years after once being one of the most photographed women in the world.Now, in a new interview with People where she also graces the cover, Evangelista said she is "done hiding in shame"."I loved being up on the catwalk. Now I dread running into someone I know," the model tearfully told the publication."I can't live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn't live in this pain any longer. I'm willing to finally speak."Late last year, Evangelista said she had been left "brutally disfigured" after undergoing a CoolSculpting fat-freezing procedure. She later filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the procedure for negligence and misleading advertising. It is alleged that the company failed to warn customers of the possible side effects.Evangelista said that three months after the procedure, she noticed bulges in her chin, bra area and thighs."I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong," the supermodel said. "I got to where I wasn't eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind."Evangelista said she went to a doctor about the issue in 2016, and recalled "dropping her robe" for him and "bawling"."I said, 'I haven't eaten, I'm starving. What am I doing wrong?'" she recalled.She had been diagnosed with Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), which is a side effect for less than 1% of CoolSculpting patients where the fat-freezing process causes fatty tissue to expand and thicken.Evangelista was told that no amount of exercise or dieting would fix it. She is seeking US$50 million (approx. $69.4 million) in damages as she alleges she has been unable to work due to the rare side effect.She claims that Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc, CoolSculpting's parent company — did offer to pay for liposuction to "make it right", but only if she signed a confidentiality agreement. Evangelista refused, and paid for two full-body liposuction surgeries herself.Evangelista had to wear compression garments, girdles and a chin strap for eight weeks after the surgery in 2016 to prevent the PAH from returning, but she says it came back again anyway, and in July 2017, she underwent a second liposuction."I don't look in the mirror," she said. "It doesn't look like me."The supermodel said that in making her lawsuit public and sharing her story, she is recovering her sense of self."I always knew I would age. And I know that there are things a body goes through. But I just didn't think I would look like this," she confided to People, saying she feels like the supermodel Linda Evangelista is gone.She said she hopes she can shed the shame she feels and help others who may find themselves in the same situation as she did.Images: Getty & People Magazine

Beauty & Style

Rare photos from dingo expert unearthed that show Lindy Chamberlain’s innocence

Lindy Chamberlain’s world was turned upside down in August 1980, when she was jailed for the disappearance of her nine-month-old daughter Azaria. Lindy insisted a dingo took her daughter from their camping spot at Uluru, but many refused to believe the lack of evidence that pointed to a wild dog attack. Lindy served three years in jail over Azaria’s death, before being pardoned and set free when new evidence arose. Despite many doubting Lindy’s story, one man named Les Harris, an aeronautical engineer and part-time dingo expert, repeatedly tried to give the courts valuable evidence that would clear Lindy’s name. Now, 30 years on, a trove of material he collected throughout the case proceedings, including <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10079223/Dingo-expert-shown-Lindy-Chamberlain-did-not-kill-baby-Azaria-Uluru.html">photographs and a dingo skull</a>, will go under the hammer at an auction house. Among the valuable documents are statements he made explaining how dingoes can easily hold the weight of a baby without dragging it, could have removed clothes using their teeth, and eat their prey whole - with not even bones remaining. Les Harris was the president of The Dingo Foundation in the early 1980s and based his evidence on his extensive knowledge of Australia’s wild dog. He was interviewed for a documentary produced by Network Ten and screened in 1984 called Azaria: A Question of Evidence. “Based on the factual evidence available at the very time that this happened, we believe that the probability that a dingo, took, killed and carried off Azaria Chamberlain, is of such a high order as to be nearly a certainty,” Harris said. During Lindy’s court proceedings, Les was constantly rebuffed as he tried to share this valuable information. He wrote to magistrates and judges explaining why a dingo was almost certainly responsible for Azaria's death but his efforts were largely ignored. Harris’s collection of valuable material on Azaria’s death will be sold by <a href="https://sydneyrarebookauctions.com.au/">Sydney Rare Book Auctions</a>, some years after his death in the New England region of New South Wales. Harris was firmly among those who believed the Chamberlains had nothing to do with the tragic death of their daughter, which became one of the most high-profile cases in Australia. Image credits: Getty Images

Legal

Linda Evangelista suing over "disfiguring" surgery

Image: Getty Linda Evangelista has made a startling claim about a cosmetic procedure which she said left her “brutally disfigured”. The Canadian supermodel, who rose to prominence in the 1990s, took to Instagram on Thursday to explain the reason she hasn’t been working in the industry is allegedly due to the shocking effects of a fat freezing service. She also revealed she is planning legal action against the company involve. “To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that when I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised,” Evangelista claimed in her post. “It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries.” The 56-year-old said as a result she has developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia or PAH, a risk she claims she wasn’t made aware of before she had the procedure. “PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, but it has also sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depths of self-loathing,” she said. “In the process, I have become a recluse.” Evangelista, who has been featured on more than 700 magazine covers over her career and is one of the most accomplished models of all time, she said she kept the health battle a secret for more than five years. “Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years”. It is unclear if the lawsuit has already been filled. “I’m so tired of living this way. I would like to walk out my door with my head held high, despite not looking like myself any longer,” she wrote. PAH has been reported as a rare complication after cryolipolysis (fat freezing). It’s when the treated area becomes larger rather than smaller in the weeks after the procedure, leaving a “painless, visibly enlarged, firm, well-demarcated mass” under the skin. “Based on the data from the manufacturer of the crylipolysis equipment, PAH has been estimated to occur in one out of every 4000 treatment cycles, for an incidence of 0.025 per cent,” a report in Science Daily stated. PAH can be treated with liposuction, but patients must wait a few months before treatment, the report explains. “Surgeons must be extremely sensitive when dealing with patients who have PAH, both when explaining the problem and when offering them a potential surgical solution.” At this stage, Evangelista hasn’t shed any more details about the procedure, except that it left her “looking unrecognisable.” The former model, who captioned the post with hashtags ‘the truth’ and ‘mystery’, left her almost one million Instagram followers in shock after revealing what had allegedly happened. “Dearest wonderful Linda I am so sorry to hear this! I love you and respect you beyond words!” one fan wrote. “You are the greatest icon, forever beautiful from the inside out. We are all here to support you and love you,” said model Carolyn Murphy.

Beauty & Style

Linda Reynolds faces defamation lawsuit for “lying cow” comment

Lawyers for Brittany Higgins have revealed they’ve served letters threatening to sue Linda Reynolds for defamation after she called Higgins a “lying cow.” The Defence Minister reportedly made the slur against Higgins on February 15 after she alleged that she was sexually assaulted in the minister’s office in March 2019. Higgins’ lawyers reportedly intend to sue Reynolds for “hurt and distress” caused by “malicious remarks”, unless the minister goes forward with a full public apology. Lawyers for Higgins accuse the Senator of making a “demeaning and belittling” statement that was “highly defamatory”. “The cavalier manner in which those words were spoken make it plain that they were not spoken privately or in confidence,” the letter has stated. “You are also aware that this distasteful character assassination of our client has been republished widely, causing her immense hurt and distress. “Our client is appalled that an apology has not been extended to her.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that Reynolds “deeply regretted” making the remarks. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLnVhHNpon2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLnVhHNpon2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by mUMPIRE (@mumpire_au)</a> </div> </blockquote> He said she had let the comment pass I her private office to staff members after “a stressful week”. “That doesn’t excuse it, not for a second,” he said. “And she made the appropriate apologies to her staff and rectified that.” Morrison said the comment came after articles stated that Higgins didn’t feel supported by the government following her alleged rape. “She was not making those comments, as she said to me this morning, in relation to the allegation of sexual assault,” he said. “Her comments, she said to me, related to the further commentary about levels of support provided and her frustrations about how she felt that they were doing everything they believed in their power to provide support. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CImyxy_De3Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CImyxy_De3Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Senator Linda Reynolds (@lindakreynolds1)</a> </div> </blockquote> “Clearly, over a period of time, there was a very different view about that.” Senator Jacqui Lambie said on Thursday that Reynolds’ career was “done.” “She will have to come out and she’ll either have to defend herself or say whether or not she made those comments,” Lambie said to Sky News. “If she did, she’ll have to resign at the same time. “I think Reynolds is gone. “If she’s not coming out and denying that and now she’s trying to smooth it over … her career is done.” If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

Legal

The heartbreaking letter that freed Lindy Chamberlain

Lindy Chamberlain has revealed the heartbreaking letter she had smuggled out of jail, after being thrown behind bars for four years following the death of her baby daughter, Azaria. During a family camping trip in Uluru on August 17, 1980, Chamberlain’s world fell apart after a dingo took her baby Azaria from the family tent. The nine-week old was never seen again. The disappearance led to a number of court cases and inquests and saw a now 72-year-old Chamberlain jailed for life in 1982 - before she was eventually cleared in 1986. Now, Sam Neil takes a critical look into the investigation in a two-part series, titled Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story. While the documentary is a retelling of the entire case, it also goes in depth about Chamberlain’s personal life. In May 1984, four years after Azaria’s death - the governor-General was given a petition signed by 131,000 people, demanding a judicial inquiry into the Chamberlain case. The National Freedom Council was adamant the campaign would not end until Lindy was free. Looking at spending her third Christmas in jail with no release date set, Chamberlain had a heartbreaking letter smuggled out of her cell detailing how unjust her treatment had been. “I’ve tried to co-operate, but still this farce continues,” she wrote. “For nearly three years, I have worked as an inmate of this prison for 30 cents a day, trying to do whatever I was asked pleasantly. “I have sought an inquiry whereby the NT Government had a chance to redeem their own name. In return, they have ignored decency and justice and still scoff at it. “As from 1 pm Darwin time today, I’m refusing to work in any way whatsoever for this prison. “I did not kill my lovely daughter and refuse to be treated as a criminal any longer.” Chamberlain was exonerated in 1986, after a piece of Azaria’s clothing was found near a dingo den. Before her release, Michael Chamberlain and their three children Aiden, Reagan and Kahlia – who was born while Lindy was behind bars – could only visit Lindy three times a year, with media “desperate” to catch a glimpse of Australia’s most infamous family entering the prison. Ita Buttrose, who went to the Mulawa Women’s Prison to interview Chamberlain, said her time behind bars was “very, very isolating” and these visits – including her interview visit- were deemed a “treat”. “Everyone in Australia judged this woman before she ever got a trial,” Buttrose said “Even when she was in jail, she was still being judged.”

Lindy Chamberlain opens up about divorce and finding love again

Her story gripped the entire nation, with Lindy Chamberlain falsely accused of murdering her own daughter leading to a wrong conviction. But despite the tragic situation, she still had love. In fact, two loves, the first being her husband and pastor Michael Chamberlain. When Lindy was sent to prison, she was the mother of Aidan and Reagan, and a baby girl on the way, Kahlia, which were under the care of Michael. But despite being wrongly accused by so many, Lindy admitted in a 2016 interview with <a rel="noopener" href="http://news.com.au/" target="_blank">news.com.au</a> that “it’s my ex-husband” that’s hardest to forgive. While many believe the hardship the couple were faced with resulted in a divorce in 1991, Lindy revealed in her autobiography Through My Eyes that wasn’t the case. "Many thought my marriage break-up was due to the case and the additional pressures of prison and the press, but it was not." However, former journalist and Chamberlain’s longtime friend Malcolm Brown spoke to Who, revealing the baby’s death drove a wedge between them. "Lindy was in jail for more than three years. Mike was stuck with the two boys and Kahlia with foster parents, so there were difficulties that arose between them then." He added, "When Lindy got out of jail she published a book in 1990 and you could see then she was critical of Michael, accusing him amongst other things of saying that she was too fat. In fact she was pregnant with Kahlia during the trial and he was accusing her of being overweight." Michael passed away in 2017 at the age of 72 after battling acute leukaemia. But Lindy was fortunate to find love once more, after she encountered her now husband Rick Creighton during a speaking tour of the US in 1992. They tied the knot 10 months later after he won the approval of Aidan, Reagan and Khalia. "I call him God's bonus at the end of all this," she told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/news/real-life/lindy-chamberlain-now-58013" target="_blank">Woman's Day</a> last year. Lindy says Rick helped her leave the pain behind, and that she became a better person as she learnt to forgive the detectives and forensic scientists who led the witch hunt to wrongly convict her. "Would I have chosen to learn the things I've learnt through other ways? You bet I would have. Did I want my daughter to die so I could learn to forgive? No, I did not. But am I sorry I learnt to forgive? No, I am not. You can let your mind be occupied by regrets or by vengeance or by anger or you can move on. "It's part of your history but it doesn't have to be part of your future or your present. It's part of the foundation of who you are, but it doesn't have to be all you are. You don't forget, but your coping methods and your ability to deal with things gets better, and time helps that."

Relationships

How Lindy Chamberlain is finally moving on from her tragic past

Having suffered one of the worst injustices in Australian history when she was wrongly convicted and jailed for murdering her baby daughter, it would be understandable if Lindy Chamberlain was full of resentment. Instead, the inspirational mum could teach many about the art of forgiveness. Now, four decades after the horrifying incident when a dingo savagely snatched her daughter from a tent at Uluru – and the terrible aftermath to her tragedy - she’s haunted by the loss of Azaria. Speaking to Woman’s Day she said, “you can’t turn it off”. "You dwell on different memories over time, and there are aspects of it that soften – little insignificant parts of it. But others, I can just close my eyes and re-roll the film. I can see her in my arms. I can still clearly see expressions on her face when I was feeding her and talking to her, and the way she'd respond.” Recently she spoke about forgiveness and how she’s focusing on the positives and letting the past go. "It's not what happens that counts, it's how you choose to deal with what happens," she said at a National Christian Family Conference in Sydney. "You can choose if you're going to live with anger, regret and revenge and miserably think yourself a victim. Or you can choose to be a hero in your own life and forgive the past and move on. It doesn't happen immediately. Sometimes I go back and have to remind myself to start all over again. It isn't easy." But then Lindy has never had it easy since the tragic night on August 17, 1980 when she screamed into the night, “The dingo’s got my baby.”

Caring

Lindy Chamberlain opens up about Azaria's death in harrowing new interview

It’s been 40 years since Lindy Chamberlain lost her daughter Azaria, while out camping in Uluru. The unimaginable pain Lindy still feels over she and her husband losing their nine-week-old baby girl on the fateful night of August 17, 1980 still leaves her shaken to this day. Her pain was deepened when in 1982, Lindy was charged with the murder of her baby and sentenced to a life in prison. While she has always maintained from the outset that a dingo had taken Azaria from their tent, it wasn’t until 2012 when a coroner ruled that she had been telling the truth all along that she was given the dignity she deserved. Despite Lindy’s name being cleared, she is still mocked by strangers in the street to this day. Ahead of a new documentary mini series into the horrific story, she told The Sunday Project of the cruel taunts she still cops. She was asked whether she thinks some Australians doubt her innocence. “Obviously they do, they tell me so at times,” she said. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837412/new-project.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/4c27a3390518464a8851ad31700fe2fd" /> “It’s only about three weeks ago since I got my last dingo howls.” Lindy says she “pretty much ignores it”. “What’s the point? They’ve got the problem, not me,” she said. She was then asked whether it was painful to discuss the events of the night in 1980, four decades on. “It’s not my favourite topic,” she said. “It’s a bit like going over the same things over and over again and I often think if I was asked a different line of questions you’d get totally different answers. And you’d go, ‘Wow, I never knew that.’” <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.53846153846155px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/24591/lindy-charmberlaid.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/dd932c0235ab416a8f10991972b48a26" /> She said she is never asked about her time in prison. “Up until this mini series, I’ve only ever done one interview on prison,” she said. “And I often think, ‘Wow, there’s three years of my life and people want to know everything but are they scared of that topic or what?’ “That amazes me. And they often tend not to ask you have you learnt anything? Have your opinions changed?” “It was just like life was freeze framed. And then I got out and normal life continued.” An inquest into Azaria’s disappearance in 1981 cleared her and her husband Michael of wrongdoing and found that a dingo had taken the baby. However, a second inquest in 1982 ruled that Lindy was guilty of murder. Chamberlain was eight months pregnant when she was sentenced to life in prison for supposedly killing Azaria by slicing her throat. In June 2012, a coroner made a final ruling, saying that a dingo really did take Azaria Chamberlain and killed her. A new documentary into the case called A Dingo’s Got My Baby will be broadcast on Channel 10 in the near future.

Legal

Tony Jones blunt slapdown on Q&A

Q&A host Tony Jones and Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds didn’t hold back in a fiery on-air spat about the future funding of the ABC. Their exchange began when a member of the audience asked how an initiative, supported by some in the Liberal party to privatise the public broadcaster at a conference on the weekend, could be beneficial to the Australian public. “Why do you think this is a beneficial decision when the ABC is the most trusted news source and broadcasting corporation in Australia?” the audience member asked. “If it was privatised, how would you guarantee its independence?” Senator Reynolds responded to the question by saying that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had “made it very clear” the ABC won’t be privatised. “I was there at the conference over the weekend and I heard the debate on the motion and, from my perspective, I think it’s not so much about privatising the ABC which is not going to happen, but $1.2 billion of your taxpayers’ money goes into the ABC every year. “I think it’s valid for us in Parliament and for all of you to actually question whether that money is being best spent. “So, for example, I’m from the state of Western Australia and I hear frequently from people in rural and regional areas in Western Australia that they don’t feel that they get enough service from the ABC.” She then turned to Mr Jones and challenged Q&A to visit Western Australia, which she claimed they hadn’t done in “about six or seven years”. “You might have to increase our funding just a little bit, Linda,” Mr Jones replied. “That’s one of the problems, I’m afraid.” <img width="500" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7819213/2_500x280.jpg" alt="2 (89)"/> The audience erupted into laughter and cheers at his quick response as the senator continued to probe the host. “I think in $1.2 billion you can find a few dollars,” she said. However, Mr Jones replied saying that there were many services the organisation had to cover. “We’d love to do that, so write to the managing director and see if they can find the money in the diminishing budget,” he said. “Come to Port Hedland and the Pilbara and where 40 per cent of our nation’s wealth has been generated and probably 40 per cent of your salary comes from Western Australia,” Senator Reynolds said in one last jab at Mr Jones. On Saturday, the Liberal federal council passed a motion with a two-to-one majority to call on the coalition to sell off the ABC, except in regional areas. However, the following day, Malcolm Turnbull said the ABC will always be in public hands, after members of the Liberal Party voted to sell it off. “The ABC will always be in public hands. It will never be sold. That is my commitment. It is a public broadcaster. It always has been and it always will be,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra. On Q&A, the other panellists were largely supportive of the ABC remaining publicly funded. “The motion we saw at the Liberal Party Federal Council on the weekend, it’s not an isolated incident,” said Tim Watts, a Labor member for the western Melbourne seat of Gellibrand. “Five Liberal Party senators have spoken in favour of privatising the ABC before. “It sounds insane. It sounds like a crazy idea, but this is the mainstream of the modern Liberal Party. “There was a time when conservatives cared about institutions. They cared about the things that we needed to sustain a democracy. Now it’s just off-the-shelf ideology from America.” Senator Reynolds responded by saying the claim that the Coalition’s ideology comes from America “doesn’t make sense”, adding that the ABC plays a “really important role”. “But that said, it is still publicly funded,” she added. “What we want to do is, like we do with any other organisation that’s publicly funded, is keep challenging it to make sure it is still serving the purposes for which we fund it and for which we require.” What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Money & Banking

The one person Lindy Chamberlain cannot forgive

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton has been wronged by many people, but there’s one person in particular that she says she can never forgive. The 68-year-old revealed at the National Christian Family Conference in Sydney on Monday that she struggles to forgive her ex-husband Michael Chamberlain. Three decades ago Lindy was wrongfully jailed for life over the murder of her newborn baby, Azaria, after a dingo had snatched her from a tent. <img width="258" height="344" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1c96d640850da512f570f8c696cf5a1d" alt="Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton has learned to forgive." style="float: left;"/>Lindy told the audience she tried not to “get stuck on bitterness and resentment”, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/you-cant-get-away-from-it-the-person-lindy-chamberlaincreighton-struggles-to-forgive/news-story/cb9f61e19af2487d566f3bbb74171640">news.com.au</a> reports. “You can’t get away from it. It sleeps with you at night. It goes to the bathroom with you. It showers with you. It has parties with friends with you. It’s always there. You need to choose your battles wisely. You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to. A fight without a foe - where’s the battle? “If you’re holding the anger… you’re not hurting them at all. They’re succeeding well beyond their wildest dreams. It’s you that’s dying.” The publication asked Lindy who she struggled most to forgives: the Northern Territory Police, the media, the judicial system or the public – all of whom screamed murder when Azaria went missing from a camp site at Uluru in 1980. “No, it’s my ex-husband,” Lindy replied. “That’s private.” Lindy, who divorced Michael in 1991, also revealed the scars from her past are slowly healing after 32 years. She said it was the Australian public's “responsibility” to “carry the pain” after many wrongly accused her of murdering her baby daughter. “People often get involved in things and take sides with no knowledge,” she said. “I’ve never felt I had to carry that pain. That’s their responsibility. God and I knew the truth and that was enough for me. Because all the way through I felt absolutely positive that at some stage He would make sure that it all came out right.” Lindy, who had always maintained that a dingo snatched her baby, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1982. In 1986, a crucial piece of evidence was found – Azaria’s jacket – after an English tourist David Brett fell to his death from Uluru. His body was recovered from an area of dingoes, where police discovered the baby jacket. Lindy was released from prison in 1998, the Supreme Court of Darwin quashed all convictions and declared the Chamberlains innocent. But it wasn’t until 2012 that Azaria’s death was officially ruled as a result of her being taken by a dingo. Lindy told the audience in order to be happy she had to forgive, focus on positives and let the past go. “It’s not what happens that counts. It’s how you choose to deal with what happens,” she said. “You can choose if you’re going to live with anger, regret and revenge and miserably think yourself a victim. Or you can choose to be a hero in your own life and forgive the past and move on. “It doesn’t happen immediately. Sometimes I go back and have to remind myself to start all over again. It isn’t easy.” Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/05/parliament-house-architect-romaldo-giurgola-dies/">Parliament House architect Romaldo Giurgola dies aged 95</a> <a href="/travel/domestic-travel/2016/04/10-images-canberra-unique-hotel/">10 images from Canberra’s most unique hotel</a> <a href="/travel/travel-tips/2016/05/tripadvisor-reveals-favourite-landmarks-australia/">Sydney Opera House not Australia’s favourite landmark</a>

News

Sir Tom Jones breaks silence following wife’s death

Sir Tom Jones has broken his silence following the death of his wife, Lady Melinda Rose Woodward, and thanked fans for their support. The Welsh singer has been mourning his wife of 59 years since she passed away from her battle with cancer on April 10. The 75-year-old music icon posted a heartfelt message to his fans on Twitter on Thursday. "A heartfelt Thank You to all who sent notes of their sympathy and support to me and my family over the last couple of weeks," it read. "So many beautiful and meaningful things were said and reading these genuine and lovely messages has lifted us all. See you soon." Tom and Linda, as she was known, married in 1957 when they were just 16. The couple had a complicated marriage, with Jones admitting he had a number of affairs. He maintained, however, that Linda was always the love of his life. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2016/04/paul-mccartney-and-john-lennon-secret-fight/">Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s secret feud</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2016/03/surprising-facts-about-the-beatles/">8 facts about The Beatles most people don’t know</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2016/03/video-of-the-last-time-the-beatles-played-together/">Video of the last time The Beatles played together</a>

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