Wreckage washes up near Wollongong amid search for missing fisherman
Emergency services responded to a distress call about 1pm on Sunday after the boat capsized near the breakwall off the coast of the Port Kembla steelworks.
An 18-year-old man swam to safety but the other occupant, a 78-year-old man, has not been since since.
Marine Rescue personnel, NSW Police divers and Surf Life Saving (SLS) volunteers continued the search on Monday, along with a Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
SLS NSW duty officer Anthony Turner said the fishermen were visiting the area.
"We have spoken to a number of the families who have just been visiting here," he said.
"They have thanked the lifesavers and the emergency services who have been out there searching for the last two days.
Part of the wrecked boat was found about 9:30am on Monday and taken to Port Kembla Harbour.
Search teams found contents from the boat throughout the day, including an esky and a life jacket.
"Unfortunately, the person has not been located yet but a number of items from the fishing vessel which has broken up, have been retrieved and brought back to Port Kembla Harbour," Mr Turner said.
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
How RFK Jr is eroding global trust in vaccines
Sam Hawley: Donald Trump once declared them a medical miracle. Now his health secretary is taking an axe to them. Robert F Kennedy Jr doesn't believe in the science behind mRNA vaccines that were deployed across the world during COVID, and he's cut nearly half a billion dollars in research funding. Today, public health professor at Sydney Uni, Julie Leask, on what Kennedy's anti-vaccine stance means for global health. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Julie, why don't we start with a reminder of Robert F Kennedy Jr's history when it comes to vaccines and science? He is a sceptic, and he doesn't mind a conspiracy theory or two, does he? Julie Leask: Yeah, exactly. He doesn't. Sen. Chris Murphy: Are you actually still recommending people get the vaccine, or are you not? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: Senator, if I advise you to swim in a lake that I knew there to be alligators in. Wouldn't you want me to tell you there were alligators in it? Julie Leask: So he first really got very interested in vaccines in 2005 when he was hearing from parents about their concerns about autism and a belief that vaccines linked to autism. Now, they came to him because he'd been an environmental lawyer litigating governments and companies over environmental pollutions, you know, the lakes, the lands. And so I think he kind of carried that theme of being against pollution. In this case, he started to believe that vaccines pollute the body, if you like. And that's been quite an intense campaign for him in the last 20 years since the publication of this infamous article in Rolling Stones magazine called Deadly Immunity, which was retracted. Sam Hawley: And just to make clear, there is no scientific evidence that vaccines are linked to autism. Julie Leask: No, there's not. This has been looked into over decades now, and many large and well-done, rigorous studies repeatedly show no link between vaccines and autism. Senator Bernie Sanders: The evidence is there. That's it. Vaccines do not cause autism. Do you agree with that? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: As I said, I'm not going to go into HHS with any preordained... Senator Bernie Sanders: I ask you a simple question, Bobby. Studies all over the world say it does not. What do you think? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: If you show me those studies, I will absolutely, as I promised to Chairman Cassidy, I will apologize. Senator Bernie Sanders: That is a very troubling response. Julie Leask: And what's tragic there is that this idea keeps being resurrected and fed, and that's awful for parents of children with autism who are trying to understand the causes. And it really is redirecting resources away from better understanding and better science around this into what's really just a dead-end cause. Sam Hawley: Yeah, he often rejects established science. He's also rejected that when it comes to HIV and AIDS, that HIV causes AIDS. He's questioned the safety of polio and measles vaccines. He's falsely linked antidepressants to school shootings, and it goes on and on, right? Julie Leask: It does. And so it was so deeply concerning when it started to look like he would lead up the US Health and Human Services, which is essentially the role of the health minister for the United States. And that's what has happened. So our worst possible nightmare is coming true. Sam Hawley: Yeah. All right. Well, he says he's not an anti-vaxxer, but in 2021, he told Louisiana lawmakers that the coronavirus vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever made. Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: Now, if you look at their post-licensing record, it confirms that this is the deadliest vaccine ever made. Sam Hawley: Now, that's just not true, is it? It's not. Julie Leask: It's completely false. In fact, the coronavirus vaccines are estimated to save many millions of lives. Now, this vaccine does carry some rare serious side effects. So the mRNA COVID vaccines are known to potentially cause myocarditis or pericarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle or the area around the heart. And also, of course, you know, common minor side effects. So it's not like vaccines are risk free and nobody is ever saying that. But what RFK Jr has done is sort of perpetuate junk science, made it look like there are all these studies showing the vaccine to be unsafe, when in fact the benefits of this vaccine far outweigh what are known risks of rare but serious side effects. Sam Hawley: All right, well, Julie, that's a reminder of RFK Jr's view on medicine and science. Now, as you say, he is leading the health system in America. And in June, he fired all 17 members of a committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations. Just tell me about that and who replaced all these people. Julie Leask: So, this committee is very important. I mean, the equivalent in Australia is what people might have heard of as ATAGI, which is the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. These committees around the world are high level experts who have done a lot of research and published on vaccination and have deep expertise. They're vetted very carefully. They form a committee that looks at the evidence around vaccines, their safety, their benefits, their cost effectiveness. And they then make recommendations to the government. So he fired all 17 members of this committee and he replaced them with eight individuals. And the new committee consisted of some people who had a bit of a track record in vaccination, but themselves usually tended to be COVID lockdown sceptics or very critical of the government's responses, which aligned with how he thought. Also, there are some vaccine sceptics on that committee. There are very, very clever people who are new to vaccination. And there are some people who are just extremely low on any vaccination expertise, but handpicked by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., because of their positions that are more likely to align with his very marginal views. And that has really caused a great deal of concern among the US medical community, public health community and also among policy advisors as well because of the ramifications of this. Sam Hawley: Hmm. All right. So he puts this new, really controversial committee in place. And then, Julie, last week he cancelled nearly 500 million dollars of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. Now, this was the technology, of course, used during the pandemic. Just give me your initial reaction when you saw that news. Julie Leask: I was not surprised, but also very concerned, as I have been, about the sort of, I'd say, public health vandalism that the Trump administration are engaging in public health globally and, of course, locally in vaccination programs. So mRNA vaccines have helped save millions of lives by stopping people from getting really severe COVID and dying from it. They also hold promise for enabling us to quickly pivot to vaccine development with a new virus that could be the next pandemic. So one of the concerns has been about avian influenza, bird flu. This mRNA technology enables you to quickly develop the vaccine without sort of having to sort of grow the incubate, the germ in eggs and take six months or more in production. So there's so much promise with these vaccines. And then the therapeutics have promise and are being studied for their ability to treat cancer and certain types of anemia. So huge promise. And it's just driven a massive wedge in that scientific field and in development. So we're going to see a big brain drain in mRNA science, particularly from the US, where there's been so much exciting and positive work. Sam Hawley: Well, in a video released on social media, RFK Jr. argued that mRNA vaccines don't work. Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk and benefits for these respiratory viruses. Sam Hawley: And then he then said in a statement that they encourage new mutations and can actually, he says, prolong pandemics. That's his view. How damaging are those words? Julie Leask: They are damaging. A lot of my research is in how people respond to these kinds of messages. What this is doing, and it's unique, this is one of the most influential countries in the world when it comes to vaccine science and policy. And it now has its leadership, someone who is ostensibly, by their actions, demonstrated to be an anti-vaccination activist in the health portfolio. And this is going to really supercharge not just the vaccine misinformation that is peddling, but also diminish people's confidence in vaccines because we rely a great deal on trust and trust in the expert systems that produce and recommend vaccines. And now the public are being told, yes, trust those systems and those experts, except when it comes to the United States. So in a way, we're having to sort of do this dual thing of saying, trust us, but don't trust them. And that becomes incredibly confusing and difficult for the public. Sam Hawley: And presumably that's not contained within America. Faith in public health, that could have an impact here too, right? In a GP surgery in Australia. Julie Leask: It could and, you know, we're hearing from the nurses and nurses are the biggest providers of vaccines. I'm a former nurse myself and a midwife. We're hearing from them around the country that they're getting more and more questions about vaccine, the schedule in the first year of life. You know, whether there are too many vaccines given, whether they're really that necessary, because these what we're seeing is very marginal positions and now being, you know, allegedly legitimised by the US administration. So it is going to affect Australia. We might not be seeing too much of it yet, but we will in the coming years as this administration continues to reap the havoc on public health. Sam Hawley: Well, Julie, Donald Trump, we presume, is backing this move, even though he hailed mRNA vaccines as a medical miracle during the pandemic. And he did seem to still support the technology when he was asked about the funding cut by a reporter last week. Journalist: You were the driving force behind Operation Warp Speed, these mRNA vaccines that are the gold standard. Now your health secretary is pulling back all the funding for research. He's saying that the risks outweigh the benefits, which puts him at odds with the entire medical community and with you. What is going on? Donald Trump, US President: Research on what? Journalist: Into mRNA vaccines. Donald Trump, US President: Well, we're going to look at that. We're talking about it and they're doing a very good job. Operation Warp Speed was, whether you're Republican or Democrat, considered one of the most incredible things ever done in this country. Sam Hawley: So what do you fear? What do you think we might see next from RFK Jr.? Julie Leask: It's going to be very interesting because Trump likes chaos. That's pretty clear from what he's done. And even saying about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I'm going to let Bobby go wild on health. So if he's sort of seen or feels like the technologies that he once promoted are now being undermined by his health secretary, he might start to push back against that. And really, the hope would be that he doesn't like to see quite so much damage being done to this technology. It's, as always with Trump, sometimes quite hard to predict what he will do. Sam Hawley: But it sounds like if this isn't reversed, it could have very severe and lasting consequences for the world. Exactly. Julie Leask: And, you know, it will not just undermine our access to these technologies, but it's undermining public confidence. And one of the things that we think is very important is getting people mentally ready for the sorts of misinformation they might hear about vaccines, such as, you know, we found the cause of autism, it's this or that ingredient of vaccines. And therefore, you know, avoid having it. And then the government could probably be stronger in the way it supports research and development. So if we've lost all this capacity in the US, there's that opportunity that comes with that, that we can capture some, harness some of that lost talent from the US and augment our existing incredible talent we've got here in Australia too. Sam Hawley: Julie Leask is a professor of public health at the University of Sydney's Infectious Diseases Institute. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Cinnamon Nippard and Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again on Monday. Thanks for listening.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Ex-Geelong footy player Ray Card jailed over fatal car crash
A former Geelong footballer says he will have a 'lifetime of hurt and regret' after he was sentenced to nine years' jail for causing a horrific traffic accident in November last year. Ray Card played 110 games for the Cats in the 1970s and 80s, but now lives 'under a shroud of sadness and shame' following the drunken accident that killed his partner and left a 19-year-old woman with significant injuries. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Card and Mandy McDonald attended a wedding in Lara, outside Geelong, on November 16 when he made the fateful decision to drive home, as reported by the Geelong Advertiser. Card, 68, who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.226, more than four times the legal limit, drove onto the wrong side of Melbourne's Ring Road and collided with a BMW. McDonald died at the scene and the teenager from Lovely Banks, who was a passenger in the BMW, was left with a dislocated and fractured hip, a broken forearm and permanent nerve damage. Card pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury, with Judge Gerard Mullaly telling Geelong's County Court on Thursday Card made a 'catastrophically bad decision' to get behind the wheel. Peter and Jenny, the parents of the young lady involved in the crash who is now 20, spoke outside the court after the sentence. 'The Justice had his reasons, but I think it's time that a stronger message was sent that too much alcohol doesn't do anybody any good,' Peter said. 'And it's time something was really done about it to reduce these sorts of incidents and the suffering it causes.' Asked about his daughter, Peter said: 'It's still a long road to follow, to get over the trauma that it caused her is probably the biggest issue I think 'She's still got a long way to go … she used to be an active volleyballer and she's not able to do that sort of thing yet. 'But she certainly wants to be able to.' Jenny added: 'The sentence for serious injury was two years and 10 months, Angelina will be still struggling with all her injuries well past two years and 10 months. 'At 20, that's a hard pill to swallow.' Card had a number of character references during the trial, including some former teammates, which were taken into account by the judge. But he still called Card's conduct a 'diabolically bad decision'. Card wrote an apology letter to Angelina, when he stated he now 'lived under a shroud of sadness and shame'. 'The prison time I will serve will not compare to the lifetime of hurt and regret I will have caused you,' he wrote.
The Australian
6 hours ago
- The Australian
Man accused of bribing Australian Border Force employee to smuggle drugs granted bail
A man accused of bribing an Australian Border Force employee with gifts to smuggle in nearly 7kg of cocaine into the country has allegedly been threatened behind bars, sparking concerns he could be killed if released on bail. Cosmo Commisso, 67, allegedly conspired with Australian Border Force (ABF) employee Rita Gargiulo, 51, to get a 6.9kg parcel of cocaine through an ABF examination and into the country. Mr Commisso, alleged to be an organised crime figure in court documents seen by NewsWire, allegedly gave Ms Gargiulo cash, jewellery and designer accessories in exchange for information to get drugs through the border. Ms Gargiulo was allegedly able to search cargo systems and decide if parcels needed to be flagged for examination as part of her role as an ABF supervisor, the Australian Federal Police previously alleged. She and Mr Commisso allegedly used burner phones for 'clandestine' communications over a nine-month period during which it was suggested Mr Commisso gained knowledge of ABF operations, a court was told. Prosecutors on Thursday fought against an application for Mr Commisso's bail, arguing he may fail to front court if released as he may be killed or seriously injured. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) prosecutor Melanie Moss told the court Mr Commisso had already sought protective custody over claims 'all bikie gangs have put a threat against me through my family'. 'I confess, I've not previously heard or considered a concern with respect to an application failing to appear as a result of being hospitalised or killed by others,' Justice Hament Dhanji said. He argued Mr Commisso's safety was at higher risk while in jail, a 'notoriously dangerous place'. '(The) presence of persons in jail to settle grievances or scores is common,' Justice Dhanji said. The court was also told Mr Commisso, who suffers from several health conditions including diabetes, had complained he wasn't receiving access to medications in prison, which Justice Dhanji accepted could cause him anxiety. His health conditions also satisfied Justice Dhanji that he was unlikely to be a flight risk if released. Justice Dhanji noted the charges were 'extremely serious' and would likely result in a significant jail term if Mr Commisso were to be convicted when handing down his decision. He found there was no possible risk of Mr Commisso reoffending in the same way given Ms Gargiulo was also charged, and it was unlikely he'd risk reoffending while on bail. Mr Commisso was ultimately granted bail under a set of extensive and strict conditions, including home detention conditions and requirements preventing him from using or possessing a smartphone or encrypted communication devices including Snapchat and Telegram. He's also been barred from going within 500m of any international point of departure or getting a passport, and he cannot have more than one mobile phone. He was also required to put up $1.6m in security. Ms Gargiulo was also granted bail on Thursday, the conditions of which also prevent her from going within 500m of any point of international departure. She also had to surrender her passport prior to her release. Both Ms Gargiulo and Mr Commisso have been ordered not to contact each other, nor two other alleged co-offenders Daniel Nuumaalii and Ali Riza Eren. Mr Commisso was charged with import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, communicating and dealing with information by non-Commonwealth officers, and bribe a Commonwealth public official, while Ms Gargiulo was charged with aid and abet importation commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, commonwealth public official receive bribe, official abuse public office to gain advantage and commonwealth officer disclose information. Mr Nuumaalii, 25, was charged with possess commercial quantity unlawful import: border controlled drug, while Mr Eren, 65, was charged with import commercial quantity of border controlled drug and attempted possess commercial quantity unlawful import: border controlled drug. All four are yet to enter pleas. Clareese is a Court Reporter at NewsWire. She previously covered breaking news for the outlet after completing the 2023 NewsCorp cadet program, where she worked at The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, the National News Network and NewsWire. National Breaking News The latest wastewater report reveals Australians consumed 22 tonnes of illicit drugs worth billions of dollars in one year. NewsWire The 'temporary suspension' of over 100 courses will affect both domestic and international students at one of Australia's biggest universities.
