Latest news with #ValeriuCampan
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Woman's bizarre sign before $4.2m lotto win
A woman who won $4.2m in Saturday's lotto draw has credited a bizarre Facebook post for her enormous windfall. The Wellington woman held one of seven division one winning entries in Saturday night's draw, claiming a whopping $4,285,714.29. The winning numbers in the draw were 17, 23, 40, 42, 44 and 2, while the supplementary numbers were 27 and 39. A NSW woman has won more than $4m in Saturday's lotto. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Speaking to The Lott, the woman said she was scrolling on Facebook when she saw a video that offered an unusual omen about her finances. 'F***ing hell! Wow. I'm glad you warned me to sit down!' she said. 'I'm ecstatic. Oh my god. I can't believe this. 'It's funny, I had a thing on Facebook that said, 'If you watch this until the end, a large sum of money will come your way'. 'I didn't really think anything of it, and here we are!' She claimed to have seen a video on Facebook promising a 'large sum of money'. NCA NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia She said her winnings would help her pay off her car and mortgage, leaving her 'completely debt-free'. This isn't the first time she's won at the lotto, but it's the largest sum to date. 'I've played for decades, since I was 18!' she said. 'I once won $400, but that seems like nothing compared to this.' Another of Saturday's division one wins went to a group of friends from southwestern Sydney. The four mates, who have been friends for three decades, entered as a private syndicate and have won $1,071,428.57 each. The syndicate leader said the four mates would 'help all our families'. 'It's a group of us that won,' he said. 'We've been friends for over 30 years. It'll be split four ways. 'It's funny thinking about how we used to hang out together and play together, and now we've won this together.'
Perth Now
19-07-2025
- Perth Now
Chaos as hoons take over iconic Melb strip
A car meet spiralled into chaos overnight after hundreds of hoons took over Melbourne's iconic Chapel Street. A strong police presence flooded the area on Saturday as of a targeted crackdown on reckless driving, Victoria Police said in a statement. Dubbed Operation Traction, the high-visibility deployment was launched in response to intelligence suggesting a large group of individuals were planning to engage in high-risk driving behaviour. A car meet spiralled into chaos overnight with police closing down Chapel St. Nine News Credit: Supplied Police said a number of infringement notices were handed out. Nine News Credit: Supplied Officers issued several infringement notices to drivers caught participating in dangerous and disruptive activities behind the wheel. A number of defect notices were also handed out for modified vehicles deemed unsafe or illegal. To help manage traffic and prevent further hooning, police temporarily closed sections of Chapel Street during the operation. The move was aimed at both curbing anti-social behaviour and easing congestion in the busy night-life district. Hoons performed burnouts along the iconic strip. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia Police are urging anyone who witnessed dangerous driving, or who may have dashcam footage or other information, to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Perth Now
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
‘Action:' Albo hits out on synagogue fire
Anthony Albanese has defended Labor's track record of working and responding to anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish community, amid attacks from the opposition that there have been too many 'talkfests' and not enough 'action'. While quizzed by journalists in Hobart on Tuesday, the Prime Minister snapped back at a reporter who said Jewish community leaders had claimed the government's response was 'insufficient'. The questions were in response to an alleged arson attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue on Friday night, 'Who is saying that?' asked in response, and said he had spoken to community leaders on Saturday. 'Every time there has been a request, it has been met, expeditiously,' he said. 'On Saturday, one of the reasons why this gentleman has been caught so quickly is because the CCTV that was in place there was as a direct result of Commonwealth Government funding.' The East Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze on Friday night in an alleged arson attack. NewsWire/ Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia The blaze damaged the doors. NewsWire/ Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Albanese also rejected calls for him to convene national cabinet in response to Friday's alleged arson attack. 'Every time an issue comes up, people say, let's have a national cabinet. Let's be clear. What people want is not a meeting. They want action,' Mr Albanese said. Mr Albanese's comments comes after Executive Council of the Australian Jewry president Alex Ryvchin urged the government to adopt its 15-point plan to 'defeat anti-Semitism' in Australia. The plan includes calls for anti-Semitism education in the national curriculum and urges Labor to declare a National Emergency and establish a Joint Counter-Terrorism Taskforce to 'fight against anti-Semitic terror before we have a major terror attack in this country'. Sussan Ley said Labor had not committed to enough action. NewsWire/ David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia Speaking later on Tuesday following a visit to the East Melbourne Synagogue, Sussan Ley maintained the Albanese government was not doing enough to protect Jewish-Australians. 'What I hear from the community is there have been many task forces, there have been many talkfests, many conversations and many words. What they are really calling for is action,' she said, alongside shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser and finance spokesperson James Paterson. Ms Ley also called for stronger state hate speech laws, which would prohibit people from chanting phrases like 'death to Israel,' and said calls for a national cabinet meeting to tackle anti-Semitism were a 'good suggestion'. 'There shouldn't be an ability for people to chant the words 'death' and I won't complete the phase, on the streets of Melbourne, and it just be accepted,' she said. 'It is not a protest, it is hate – pure hate and we need to have laws and levers and I would respectfully ask the Premier of Victoria to consider how she might instruct law enforcement in a way that allows a stronger intervention.'
Perth Now
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Extra time for criminals who boast online
Criminals who boast about their crimes online could serve extra jail time under news laws introduced in Victoria. The Allan Labor government will outlaw bragging about certain crimes on social media and messaging apps, which could see offenders serve an additional two years behind bars on top of their sentence. The new law targets criminals who post content about their crimes such as affray, burglary, robbery, car theft, carjacking, home invasions and violent disorder. The laws will also apply to anyone caught encouraging or facilitating the same crimes. Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said Victorians were outraged by offenders posting and boasting about their crimes on social media. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia The legislation was introduced after authorities noticed a 'dangerous trend' on TikTok and Snapchat from users seeking attention about their crimes and copycat offending. Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said Victorians were outraged by offenders posting and boasting about their crimes, which was why they were taking action. 'This crack down alongside our tough new bail laws and machete ban is all about keeping Victorians safe,' she said. Police Minister Anthony Carbines these laws backed the work of Victoria Police and sent a clear message to offenders. 'Crime isn't content, it isn't entertainment, and it won't be tolerated,' he said. Police Minister Anthony Carbines these laws backed the work of Victoria Police and sent a clear message to offenders. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia Similar laws already exist in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory, and are being rolled in Tasmania, West Australia and South Australia making Victoria the last state to act. Shadow Attorney-General Michael O'Brien said the opposition raised an issue that offenders used social media to glorify criminal behaviour 18 months ago, but the government denied action was necessary until now. He said too many Victorians who were victims of serious offending had insult added to injury by perpetrators bragging about their crimes online. Mr O'Brien said the government had been dragged kicking and screaming to act after denying there was a problem. 'Labor did it with weak bail laws. Labor did it with banning machetes. Now Labor is doing it with 'post and boast' offending,' he said. 'Victorians deserve better than 'deny, delay and drag'. It's no way to protect community safety.' Shadow Attorney-General Michael O'Brien said the it had taken the government 18 months to act after the issue was first raised in parliament. NewsWire / David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia But the Justice Reform Initiative's Executive Director Mindy Sotiri said the Victorian government had reverted to political posturing, missing an opportunity to engage with evidence about what worked to support community safety and prevent reoffending. The organisation reported Victoria's correctional system was under mounting strain after changes to bail laws, seeing the adult remand population and the number of children on remand rise by 22 per cent and 71 per cent respectively in the past year. Dr Sotiri said further punishing people for posting to social media failed to address the drivers of that behaviour and won't work as a deterrent. 'Introducing penalties for 'posting and boasting' sounds catchy and might work for political pointscoring in the short-term, but is not based in any evidence, 'she said. 'All the evidence shows that the earlier children have interaction with the criminal justice system, the more likely they are to be cycling in and out of it for years to come. That's a bad result for children, for taxpayers and for community safety. 'We've seen this 'tough on crime' approach repeatedly fail in Queensland and contribute to rapidly rising prison numbers in NSW. 'Rather than trying to outdo other jurisdictions with even harsher laws, Victoria needs to take a smarter approach that meaningfully invests in evidence-based responses to crime that genuinely disrupt its reoccurrence.'
Perth Now
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Aussies battle it out for free flights
Aussies have stormed a quiet neighbourhood park in medieval get-up in an epic battle to win $50k worth of free flights. Eight contestants chosen from the ultimate costume contest geared up to compete in a Live Action Role Play (LARP) event 'Knight of the Skies' in a bid to win a free trip, or a few, in celebration of Jetstar's 21st birthday. Contestants fought to win $50k free flights in a massive LARP battle for Jetstar's 21st birthday. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia The eight were split into two teams, Team Jet and Team Star – to wield battle alongside long-time LARP warriors from Australia's largest LARPing organisation, Swordcraft. The event was co-hosted with Swordcraft – biggest LARPing organisation in Australia. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia With $50k worth of free flights on the line, no one held back, and insane battle scenes roared out on the quiet Saturday morning. Puzzles, politics, and full on battle all ensued in the crisp Melbourne air at Edinburgh Garden, North Fitzroy as the LARPers fought it out. People were pommeled to the ground, hit over the head with swords, kicked and punched – all in the name of good old medieval fun. Aussies had to face up against ogres, Vikings and everything in between for a shot at the free flights. Credit: Supplied They will be split into two teams to wield battle alongside long-time LARP warriors from Australia's largest LARPing organisation, Swordcraft. Australian comedian and radio star Liam Stapleton is playing the role of Jetstar birthday host and LARP wizard himself, joining in on the action this Saturday. 'The folks from Jetstar reached out and look, it's not too far from a stretch, like I dress up and chase my wife around as Shrek and that sort of stuff on the weekend, so I've never done LARPing before though, but I felt like I was the right man for the job,' Stapleton told NewsWire. Liam Stapleton led the massive LARPing group. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia Radio and TV star Stapleton said impressions and role-play have been a big part of his career. 'It's something I've done like since I was a kid … and it's led to fun opportunities like this. Like now I'm dressed as a wizard in a park speaking to you.' Radio and TV star Liam Stapleton will also be trying his hand in medieval battle. Credit: Supplied The event centres around 21 being the age of knighthood in medieval times, and everyone is dressed the part with knights, fire mages, goblins, alchemists and everything in between. 'When you work in radio, you are always afraid of the axe. But this is, you know, today I'm afraid of real axes because people have that sort of weaponry,' Stapleton said. There was a variety of weaponry, each deadlier than the last. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia If he wins, Stapleton said he would love to fly to Japan. 'Top of the list. Yeah. It's somewhere I've always wanted to go … I've heard cherry blossom season is the time, it's literally like the top of my wife's and myself's bucket list. So that's where I'd love to go.' But Stapleton is not sure about his chances of winning. 'Look, I'm an optimistic man, but there is some genuine giants. LARPers were very well prepared in their medieval armour. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia 'There's some people who are like dressers giants and there's other people who are like, no, you are actually seven foot. 'There's some intimidating looking figures with proper armour. I'm wearing basically a dressing gown. So I don't know how we're going to go.' Stapleton did not win – Team 'Jet' emerged victorious, and four lucky winners won the ultimate $50k prize – Genevieve Maisey, Cameron Riches, Nicole Brownlie and Julian Dods. Four lucky Aussies walked away with $50k in free flights, to share. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia Either way, Swordcraft head of advertising Lou Harwood is glad more people got to take part in LARPing and hopes the contestants enjoyed the medieval role-play. 'The rush you get when you're in combat is like nothing else. So if they even if they don't win, if they just come away, just feeling excited, having had given it a go, that's a win in our books,' she told NewsWire. Ms Harwood said she is glad more people have been able to experience LARPing. Credit: Supplied 'I've really found my chosen family in this crew. And I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world. 'We're so grateful for the opportunity to show off lap to the wider community and get people to see how much fun it can be.'
