Latest National news
Eliza Szonert's desperate plea to Julie Bishop
Rory Callinan 9:54 PM Australian actress Eliza Szonert who snatched her son in Malaysia has been released from the local jail where she had been locked up for refusing to reveal the boy's whereabouts.
Top politicians get festive with community for Christmas
![The Prime Minister was mobbed for selfies during his visit to the Wayside Chapel's Christmas Day street party.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/y/p/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gluzco.png/1451035737587.jpg)
Steve Lillebuen and Michael Koziol 7:28 PM Australia's top politicians did their bit to spread some good cheer among the community on Christmas Day.
Coles and Woolworths slammed for Christmas supply shortage
![Bob Hart's Turkey Brine and Glazed Ham](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/r/u/4/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gluox5.png/1451010561209.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw 12:28 PM Coles and Woolworths slammed for Christmas supply shortage
Complaints soar in Centrelink's 'woeful year'
![Generic Centrelink sign.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/9/8/p/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsikg.png/1451012847743.jpg)
Noel Towell 12:22 PM 2015 was a year to forget for the welfare agency.
Public service: Oh, what a year
![Finance Department secretary Jane Halton has no peer in the public service in bending politicians to her will.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/h/a/m/g/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glt3zt.png/1450989284912.jpg)
Noel Towell 6:34 AM After about as wild a year as you could hope for in the Australian Public Service, let us reflect on a few highlights.
Paramedics accuse each other of threats, bullying, rape
![ambulance](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/j/0/8/f/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glumrq.png/1448204154659.jpg)
Harriet Alexander Police have been swamped with allegations made by paramedics about their colleagues following the ambulance commissioner's invitation to staff to report criminal conduct to the police.
Ho no! How to avoid a Christmas wrapping disaster
![Do your presents look like this?](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/n/v/a/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glh41t.png/1450219521253.jpg)
Robyn Grace It's 10pm on Christmas Eve. Now it's time to sit back and ... Ha! As if. You're heading into the bedroom for several hours of what you've been putting off for weeks: gift wrapping.
'Now I feel sick to my stomach'
![Whistleblower: Mitchell Broadstock.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/2/3/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glttm6.png/1450932588674.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw Homeless and with a pregnant girlfriend, 19-year-old Mitchell Broadstock was looking for a chance when a private college network offered him a job in January.
Pell's former housemate 'sexually abused' teen
![Father John Walshe was the subject of a historical sexual abuse claim.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/d/q/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gluduu.png/1450874763510.png)
Staff reporters A Catholic priest who defended Cardinal George Pell at the child abuse royal commission last week was the subject of a historical sexual abuse claim.
Does wine differ according to the glass?
![Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/c/9/q/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gky6a0.png/1450866142703.jpg)
We humans have drunk alcohol for thousands of years. This means that we've had plenty of time to make many different shapes of glasses from which to drink alcohol.
Labor threatens inquiry into drug given to soldiers
![Major Stuart McCarthy has raised concerns more veterans have been harmed by mefloquine than the ADF has disclosed.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/9/t/c/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltzlv.png/1450860974445.jpg)
Henry Belot The federal opposition says it will launch a Senate inquiry unless ADF investigates the use of a drug linked to hallucinations, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Australian woman falls 300 metres to her death while climbing New Zealand mountain
![Mount Sefton, left and The Footstool, right, in the Mt Cook National Park, where Nicola Andrews fell.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/2/b/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glu200.png/1450954387016.jpg)
Chris Hyde An Australian woman has died after falling 300 metres off a mountain in New Zealand's Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park.
Too thin to work? Fashion models should be benched if they're underweight, US health experts say
![A very thin model walks the runway at the Rosa Cha spring 2007 fashion show in New York.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/t/x/m/3/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltwhl.png/1450833923948.jpg)
Karen Kaplan Following a law introduced in France, US health experts want to fine agents who use models with a BMI under 18.
Defence aware of drug's links to depression and nightmares
![Major Stuart McCarthy has raised concerns more veterans have been harmed by mefloquine than the ADF has disclosed.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/9/t/c/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltdqv.png/1450852577772.jpg)
Henry Belot Previously classified documents show the Australian Defence Force kept giving soldiers a harmful drug for at least 14 years after first becoming concerned about its serious side effects.
Immigration denied dying student a final visit from family
![Hassan Asif came to Australia as a student before being diagnosed with terminal cancer.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/t/o/z/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltoso.png/1450907005692.jpg)
Kate Aubusson A terminally ill student who wanted to see his family one last time has had his request rejected by Australia's immigration department.
Penalty rate row stirs strife at pharmacies
![pics for know your local pharmacy 30.7
GENERIC PHARMACIST CHEMIST TELEPHONE
NArnold@illawarramercury.com.au](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/t/l/w/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltc58.png/1450817514746.jpg)
Nick Toscano Pharmacists in Australia have voted to launch industrial action for the first time, starting on Christmas Eve, as a national outlet chain moves to slash their penalty rates.
8000 students in limbo as college's registration cancelled
![The exterior of AIPE college on Sussex Street in Sydney.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/g/h/7/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glt0av.png/1450771435977.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw A college that cost taxpayers more than $1 million per graduate last year has had its registration cancelled by the federal government.
Jackson ordered to pay HSU a further $900,000
![Former HSU head Kathy Jackson.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/o/d/p/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gltkhr.png/1450825894824.jpg)
Nick Toscano Disgraced former union secretary Kathy Jackson has been ordered to pay the Health Services Union another $900,000, bringing the amount owed to about $2.4 million.
Australian actress Eliza Szonert held in custody after snatching back her child from former partner
![Eliza Szonert reunited with her child.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/k/o/n/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glswyg.png/1450748326489.png)
Rory Callinan Australian actress Eliza Szonert who snatched her son from her former partner was being held in police custody in Malaysia last night but had not been officially arrested, her mother Kay confirmed.
Acquire Learning casts 'a very dark shadow' over its clients
![Ben Mutch, at home in Warrnambool, is unemployed was pressured into signing up for a training course, with Aquired Learning.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/r/l/g/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glqtjj.png/1450759619875.jpg)
Michael Bachelard The desperate and jobless are sold hope, but all they are buying is debt
Play me a memory
!["Eighteen-year-olds still come in asking for Rocket Man."](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/0/p/q/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl0pud.png/1450742513704.jpg)
Peter Munro John Watson has played piano at a Sydney bar every weekend since 1983. Musical tastes have changed little over that time, he says.
Australia lowers official travel warning for Iran
![News spread quickly of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's trip to a bazaar in Tehran in April, where western politicians are a rare sight.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/o/9/b/g/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glt1f1.png/1450741198117.jpg)
Daniel Flitton Australia has just lowered its travel warning for Iran - potentially putting a trip to the Islamic Republic on a holiday bucket list for keen travellers.
Centrelink's IT meltdown hits disability pension
![More than 800,000 Australians are being paid disability pensions of about $800 a fortnight.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/s/e/w/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gls7ls.png/1450926717142.jpg)
Noel Towell Centrelink's tech woes disrupts Disability Pension medical crackdown.
'Fat but fit' counts for nothing scientists say – obesity is what drives early death
![Funny sports man](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/z/j/c/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsx1f.png/1450725284522.jpg)
Laura Donnelly Obese people who regularly exercise are far more likely to die early, compared with slim people who are unfit, research suggests.
New ABC head commits to editorial independence but open to advertising
![Newly appointed ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie in the ABC studios, Ultimo, Sydney.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/s/g/x/q/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsoem.png/1450721228098.jpg)
Heath Aston, political correspondent Incoming ABC boss, Michelle Guthrie, has pledged to protect the tradition of editorial independence at the national broadcaster but has also left the door open to advertising and digital paywalls.
What were they smoking? The five worst anti-drug campaigns of all time
![Screen grab from the "Stoner Sloth" campaign.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/r/n/d/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsvtz.png/1450696796020.jpg)
Liam Mannix Drugs are bad, m'kay?
'Cowering and weak': APS Commissioner hits back
![Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/x/r/b/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gls90b.png/1450926681558.jpg)
Noel Towell APS commissioner John Lloyd hits back at claim that the public service has become 'weak' and 'lacking self-confidence'.
More APS pay offers voted down
![ABS chief David Kalisch wants to know why his public servants rejected the pay deal they were offered.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/v/p/6/f/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsfxm.png/1450926699464.jpg)
Noel Towell Thousands more public servants vote no as ABS boss orders investigation.
Doctors say raising legal age for smoking 'won't work'
![Studies showed most smokers began smoking before they turned 25, says Tasmanian Health Minister Michael Ferguson.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/s/u/6/3/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsocy.png/1450712118127.jpg)
Jane Lee Australia's two biggest states are not following Tasmania's plan to raise the legal smoking age to 21, and doctors warn it will not lower the number of smokers.
Stoner Sloth: It's now a joint attack on campaign
![My chat with Stoner Sloth.](/web/20151225124445im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/s/h/2/q/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glsg2x.png/1450679521970.jpg)
Rachel Browne The owner of the US medical marijuana website stonersloth.com has slammed the Australian campaign of the same name, describing it as "over dramatic".