Aussie drama beats world's best for top prize at prestigious European TV awards

Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

Sydney Morning Herald

4 hours ago

Sydney Morning Herald

Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

From a celebration of reading, to war heroes and Donald Trump's economic policies in our non-fiction round-up, to a creepy cli-fi thriller and a queer black comedy in fiction releases, this week's reviews have something for almost every reader. Happy reading. FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK A creepy mix of cli-fi disaster fiction and psychological thriller, Emmanuelle Salasc's My Sister arrives in the English-speaking world in a brisk translation from the French by Penny Hueston. It's a tale of twin sisters, Clemence and Lucie, reunited in the remote mountain village of their childhood, about30 years after Clemence left it and her sister behind. What has she been doing all that time? She doesn't have time to reveal all before a siren goes off – a warning that the glacier above the village is in imminent danger of cracking and laying waste to all in its path, as it did 150 years ago. Lucie is desperate to evacuate with the rest of the town, but her sister demurs – claiming she's on the run, among other things, and manipulating Lucie into staying in the shadow of ruin. With panic on one side, and preternatural calm on the other, a game of cat and mouse ensues. Salasc writes with enviable crispness, and she laces the central conflict with an exquisite sense of psychological cruelty and menace and mystery. You'll find yourself wondering which twin to believe as this tale of sibling rivalry and ancient dread unfolds. Monica Raszewski follows her previous novel, The Archaeology of a Dream City (shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Award for New Writing), with Crimson Light, Polished Wood, a compassionate meditation on legacy and loneliness. Falling in love with schoolteacher Margaret, Leonora emigrated from London to Melbourne. Near the novel's opening, Margaret dies of cancer and Leonora finds herself locked in a potentially acrimonious legal battle with her partner's grieving, but bigoted, mother over the estate. Meanwhile, Leonora has developed a complex bond with Polish neighbour Anna, introducing Anna's daughter Lydia to art and literature in a way that leaves an indelible impression. It is from Lydia's perspective that the novel is largely drawn, and Raszewski captures the intensity and ambiguity of the intergenerational friendship with tension and tenderness. This is a delicately wrought queer novel that stakes out contradictions of inheritance and belonging – their tenuousness, their ferocity – while allowing enough scope for the reader to interpret characters, events and emotions in more than one light. Described as an 'all-round chaos merchant', Nell Jenkins is suddenly compelled to perform acts of filial piety against her nature. She fled her childhood home in Aotearoa New Zealand at the first opportunity as a teen, but now her mother's had a stroke. Her brother nursed their father through cancer, so it's Nell's turn to care for their mother. Her homecoming isn't exactly badly timed – Nell has an ongoing issue with her former boss (who is also, messily, her ex-girlfriend), and a stocktake of her life in Sydney is warranted. Soon, though, Nell's anarchic approach to sexuality re-emerges, and she winds up having sex with people she probably shouldn't – the brother of her dead best friend from childhood, and Katya, beguiling assistant to a washed-up TV psychic, Petronella Bush, into whose orbit Nell is inevitably drawn. Unresolved – and indeed irresolvable – grief does lie behind some of the sexual antics and unfulfilling romantic cul-de-sacs in Dead Ends, deepening the emotional ambit of this queer black comedy from the other side of the ditch. Music, love, literature… and sheer dogged perseverance. They're all you need to sail through a nightmare world, right? I suspect there'll be more than a few readers who baulk at the rose-coloured glasses I Cheerfully Refuse puts on, and I count myself among the chipper refuseniks on that score. Leif Enger has created a jarring picaresque that's hard to get invested in and is ultimately too shallow to succeed as allegory. What starts as a cosy love story set in a lakeside town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, turns into a bleak and wildering voyage when Rainy, a musician, sets sail upon Lake Superior after his wife Lark is murdered. Lark's passion for reading and literature was intrinsic to their romance and the idealisation of both carries Rainy through, trenchant and largely unchanged by disaster, delivering unlikely blasts of optimism in the face of a grim world. And it is societal collapse-level grim – so grim for many, in fact, that a suicide drug known as 'willow' has become popular. Rainy has the drug aboard, though as he veers from coast to coast on the lake encountering a motley mix of stragglers, strangers and escapees, he stays immune to the disillusionment claiming others. Unfortunately, Rainy never really develops or grows, other characters can feel like mouthpieces, and the episodic plot militates against depth, refusing to coalesce behind anything more defined than vague platitudes of a stoical variety. The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds Gina Butson Allen & Unwin, $34.99 Running away from a catastrophe for which she feels responsible, guilt-ridden Thea escapes her life in New Zealand through travel, eventually joining throngs of others in San Pedro, a Guatemalan town that's become a party destination for international backpackers. There, she meets the attractive Chris and his partner Sarah, before another tragedy strikes, building a new layer of guilt and secrecy. The novel wends its way through 15 years. Thea finds a partner with secrets as consuming as hers, and although their relationship becomes gnarled by what they can and can't hide from one another, Thea chooses to abandon a rootless life running from her feelings in favour of a settled one in Tasmania. The truth will have its due, however and, during the pandemic era, amid lockdowns, pressure mounts to reveal dual mysteries from the past. Despite the clanger of a title, The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds is rich and deft literary fiction – it's full of vivid, sharply observed travel writing, all nested within a psychologically intricate examination of the effect of guilt on human personalities and relationships. The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump Philip Coggan Profile Books, $17.99 When describing the wrecking ball of Donald Trump, celebrated British economics writer Philip Coggan likens him to a Marvel character looking at the global trading system and shouting 'Hulk, smash!' He might also be an overgrown baby throwing a tantrum and smashing his toys. Except they're not toys. Like the election of Trump himself, his trade wars amount to a mass exercise in self-harm – but it won't be confined to the US. As Coggan points out, clearly, with a mix of the amused and bemused, the tariffs will be paid, not by foreign companies, but American ones, which will pass the cost on in increased prices for domestic goods. Coggan is also deeply aware of the history of such economic folly, likening Trump's tariffs to Churchill's decision in 1925 to move England back on the gold standard – which eventually resulted in the general strike of 1926. Underpinning that move, and MAGA (not to mention Brexit), is an absurd nostalgia for the lost paradise of imperial greatness. On top of this is the sheer uncertainty of world trade now – policies issued one day, being reversed the next. The only certainty is that those who voted for Trump will be the ones hurt most, and the already obscenely rich will get richer through tax cuts for the wealthy. This is brilliant synoptic analysis. Australia's Aviation Heroes Colin Burgess Simon & Schuster, $36.99 In April 1918, Australian reconnaissance pilot Jack Treacy was a pallbearer when the Red Baron (shot down by Australian anti-craft) was buried. As the body was lowered, however, the ground gave way, and he nearly went to the grave with the German ace. It's one of the more comic tales in this record of Australian airmen in war and peace – often taking pivotal roles. In 1942, no-fuss Queenslander Donald Bennett, for example, founded the Pathfinders squadron, which went ahead and dropped flares over target areas – highly dangerous. A more flamboyant character was fighter ace Clive 'Killer' Caldwell, who downed five Stukas in one operation. This account of their exploits and of others, involving interviews with many of the flyers, goes from the rough and tumble days of WW1 (when the life expectancy of a pilot was five flying hours) to the Korean War. Dramatic times, dramatic tales. When counsellor and educator Lael Stone talks about 'owning' your story, she means facing up to it. For more than 20 years, she has been dealing with individuals and families who are existentially held back because they don't. A painful past leaves psychological 'imprints', which, if not addressed, can result in repeated patterns of behaviour. This, in turn, stops us from moving on and living 'authentic' lives (authenticity being a key term throughout the book). To an extent, it may sound like psychology 101, but when she delves into such notions as 'the dark night of the soul' and the possibility of rebirth that's written into the concept, she does it from a deeply personal point of view (the traumatic birth of her third child), as well as from case studies put together over the years – all of which ground her theory in lived experience. She tends not to quote her sources, but it was difficult not to feel that – with frequent mention of the 'authentic' and 'individuation' – the ghosts of Heidegger and Jung were not far away. A very accessible self-help guide. One of T.S. Eliot's greatest poetic gifts was his sense of the rhythm of language, the child Eliot often making up a line, getting halfway, and finishing with 'dum-ta-dum'. The rhythm told him the sentence was unfinished, and that very rhythm was the key to finding the words. Teacher/librarian Megan Daley, in this updated version of her 2019 publication, emphasises the centrality of reading to a child from birth in developing a sense of the 'rhythm of words' and a 'network of language'. She takes us on the journey of becoming a reader from the cot to adolescence, noting the need for young people to enjoy reading, but also the need to develop their skills. She covers the waterfront, such as the benefits of an embracing diet of genres, also saying children shouldn't be protected from darker texts – a female student once asked her where in the library the 'sad' books were. Incorporating the contributions of authors, this is a first-rate guide for parents, teachers and carers. When Gwyneth Paltrow was filming Shakespeare in Love – which, apparently, she initially rejected without having read the brilliant script that gave her an Oscar – she seems to have made herself quite disagreeable. Despite its claims to being definitive (Amy Odell interviewed over 200 people from family to colleagues and friends, but never interviewed Paltrow, as much as she tried), this biography, often as not, highlights the problem any biographer has to face - the impossibility of getting inside the head of the subject. Odell takes us back into a childhood (father film producer, mother actress, Stephen Spielberg her godfather) that was almost designed to produce a Hollywood star. She also delves into Goop, her company that markets wellness products, much to the horror of the US medical profession. What comes through is the paradoxical nature of her subject; constantly in the spotlight, but elusive and often retiring. Odell attempts to give us a portrait from all sorts of angles, and not just her good side.

The Age

4 hours ago

The Age

Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

From a celebration of reading, to war heroes and Donald Trump's economic policies in our non-fiction round-up, to a creepy cli-fi thriller and a queer black comedy in fiction releases, this week's reviews have something for almost every reader. Happy reading. FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK A creepy mix of cli-fi disaster fiction and psychological thriller, Emmanuelle Salasc's My Sister arrives in the English-speaking world in a brisk translation from the French by Penny Hueston. It's a tale of twin sisters, Clemence and Lucie, reunited in the remote mountain village of their childhood, about30 years after Clemence left it and her sister behind. What has she been doing all that time? She doesn't have time to reveal all before a siren goes off – a warning that the glacier above the village is in imminent danger of cracking and laying waste to all in its path, as it did 150 years ago. Lucie is desperate to evacuate with the rest of the town, but her sister demurs – claiming she's on the run, among other things, and manipulating Lucie into staying in the shadow of ruin. With panic on one side, and preternatural calm on the other, a game of cat and mouse ensues. Salasc writes with enviable crispness, and she laces the central conflict with an exquisite sense of psychological cruelty and menace and mystery. You'll find yourself wondering which twin to believe as this tale of sibling rivalry and ancient dread unfolds. Monica Raszewski follows her previous novel, The Archaeology of a Dream City (shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Award for New Writing), with Crimson Light, Polished Wood, a compassionate meditation on legacy and loneliness. Falling in love with schoolteacher Margaret, Leonora emigrated from London to Melbourne. Near the novel's opening, Margaret dies of cancer and Leonora finds herself locked in a potentially acrimonious legal battle with her partner's grieving, but bigoted, mother over the estate. Meanwhile, Leonora has developed a complex bond with Polish neighbour Anna, introducing Anna's daughter Lydia to art and literature in a way that leaves an indelible impression. It is from Lydia's perspective that the novel is largely drawn, and Raszewski captures the intensity and ambiguity of the intergenerational friendship with tension and tenderness. This is a delicately wrought queer novel that stakes out contradictions of inheritance and belonging – their tenuousness, their ferocity – while allowing enough scope for the reader to interpret characters, events and emotions in more than one light. Described as an 'all-round chaos merchant', Nell Jenkins is suddenly compelled to perform acts of filial piety against her nature. She fled her childhood home in Aotearoa New Zealand at the first opportunity as a teen, but now her mother's had a stroke. Her brother nursed their father through cancer, so it's Nell's turn to care for their mother. Her homecoming isn't exactly badly timed – Nell has an ongoing issue with her former boss (who is also, messily, her ex-girlfriend), and a stocktake of her life in Sydney is warranted. Soon, though, Nell's anarchic approach to sexuality re-emerges, and she winds up having sex with people she probably shouldn't – the brother of her dead best friend from childhood, and Katya, beguiling assistant to a washed-up TV psychic, Petronella Bush, into whose orbit Nell is inevitably drawn. Unresolved – and indeed irresolvable – grief does lie behind some of the sexual antics and unfulfilling romantic cul-de-sacs in Dead Ends, deepening the emotional ambit of this queer black comedy from the other side of the ditch. Music, love, literature… and sheer dogged perseverance. They're all you need to sail through a nightmare world, right? I suspect there'll be more than a few readers who baulk at the rose-coloured glasses I Cheerfully Refuse puts on, and I count myself among the chipper refuseniks on that score. Leif Enger has created a jarring picaresque that's hard to get invested in and is ultimately too shallow to succeed as allegory. What starts as a cosy love story set in a lakeside town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, turns into a bleak and wildering voyage when Rainy, a musician, sets sail upon Lake Superior after his wife Lark is murdered. Lark's passion for reading and literature was intrinsic to their romance and the idealisation of both carries Rainy through, trenchant and largely unchanged by disaster, delivering unlikely blasts of optimism in the face of a grim world. And it is societal collapse-level grim – so grim for many, in fact, that a suicide drug known as 'willow' has become popular. Rainy has the drug aboard, though as he veers from coast to coast on the lake encountering a motley mix of stragglers, strangers and escapees, he stays immune to the disillusionment claiming others. Unfortunately, Rainy never really develops or grows, other characters can feel like mouthpieces, and the episodic plot militates against depth, refusing to coalesce behind anything more defined than vague platitudes of a stoical variety. The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds Gina Butson Allen & Unwin, $34.99 Running away from a catastrophe for which she feels responsible, guilt-ridden Thea escapes her life in New Zealand through travel, eventually joining throngs of others in San Pedro, a Guatemalan town that's become a party destination for international backpackers. There, she meets the attractive Chris and his partner Sarah, before another tragedy strikes, building a new layer of guilt and secrecy. The novel wends its way through 15 years. Thea finds a partner with secrets as consuming as hers, and although their relationship becomes gnarled by what they can and can't hide from one another, Thea chooses to abandon a rootless life running from her feelings in favour of a settled one in Tasmania. The truth will have its due, however and, during the pandemic era, amid lockdowns, pressure mounts to reveal dual mysteries from the past. Despite the clanger of a title, The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds is rich and deft literary fiction – it's full of vivid, sharply observed travel writing, all nested within a psychologically intricate examination of the effect of guilt on human personalities and relationships. The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump Philip Coggan Profile Books, $17.99 When describing the wrecking ball of Donald Trump, celebrated British economics writer Philip Coggan likens him to a Marvel character looking at the global trading system and shouting 'Hulk, smash!' He might also be an overgrown baby throwing a tantrum and smashing his toys. Except they're not toys. Like the election of Trump himself, his trade wars amount to a mass exercise in self-harm – but it won't be confined to the US. As Coggan points out, clearly, with a mix of the amused and bemused, the tariffs will be paid, not by foreign companies, but American ones, which will pass the cost on in increased prices for domestic goods. Coggan is also deeply aware of the history of such economic folly, likening Trump's tariffs to Churchill's decision in 1925 to move England back on the gold standard – which eventually resulted in the general strike of 1926. Underpinning that move, and MAGA (not to mention Brexit), is an absurd nostalgia for the lost paradise of imperial greatness. On top of this is the sheer uncertainty of world trade now – policies issued one day, being reversed the next. The only certainty is that those who voted for Trump will be the ones hurt most, and the already obscenely rich will get richer through tax cuts for the wealthy. This is brilliant synoptic analysis. Australia's Aviation Heroes Colin Burgess Simon & Schuster, $36.99 In April 1918, Australian reconnaissance pilot Jack Treacy was a pallbearer when the Red Baron (shot down by Australian anti-craft) was buried. As the body was lowered, however, the ground gave way, and he nearly went to the grave with the German ace. It's one of the more comic tales in this record of Australian airmen in war and peace – often taking pivotal roles. In 1942, no-fuss Queenslander Donald Bennett, for example, founded the Pathfinders squadron, which went ahead and dropped flares over target areas – highly dangerous. A more flamboyant character was fighter ace Clive 'Killer' Caldwell, who downed five Stukas in one operation. This account of their exploits and of others, involving interviews with many of the flyers, goes from the rough and tumble days of WW1 (when the life expectancy of a pilot was five flying hours) to the Korean War. Dramatic times, dramatic tales. When counsellor and educator Lael Stone talks about 'owning' your story, she means facing up to it. For more than 20 years, she has been dealing with individuals and families who are existentially held back because they don't. A painful past leaves psychological 'imprints', which, if not addressed, can result in repeated patterns of behaviour. This, in turn, stops us from moving on and living 'authentic' lives (authenticity being a key term throughout the book). To an extent, it may sound like psychology 101, but when she delves into such notions as 'the dark night of the soul' and the possibility of rebirth that's written into the concept, she does it from a deeply personal point of view (the traumatic birth of her third child), as well as from case studies put together over the years – all of which ground her theory in lived experience. She tends not to quote her sources, but it was difficult not to feel that – with frequent mention of the 'authentic' and 'individuation' – the ghosts of Heidegger and Jung were not far away. A very accessible self-help guide. One of T.S. Eliot's greatest poetic gifts was his sense of the rhythm of language, the child Eliot often making up a line, getting halfway, and finishing with 'dum-ta-dum'. The rhythm told him the sentence was unfinished, and that very rhythm was the key to finding the words. Teacher/librarian Megan Daley, in this updated version of her 2019 publication, emphasises the centrality of reading to a child from birth in developing a sense of the 'rhythm of words' and a 'network of language'. She takes us on the journey of becoming a reader from the cot to adolescence, noting the need for young people to enjoy reading, but also the need to develop their skills. She covers the waterfront, such as the benefits of an embracing diet of genres, also saying children shouldn't be protected from darker texts – a female student once asked her where in the library the 'sad' books were. Incorporating the contributions of authors, this is a first-rate guide for parents, teachers and carers. When Gwyneth Paltrow was filming Shakespeare in Love – which, apparently, she initially rejected without having read the brilliant script that gave her an Oscar – she seems to have made herself quite disagreeable. Despite its claims to being definitive (Amy Odell interviewed over 200 people from family to colleagues and friends, but never interviewed Paltrow, as much as she tried), this biography, often as not, highlights the problem any biographer has to face - the impossibility of getting inside the head of the subject. Odell takes us back into a childhood (father film producer, mother actress, Stephen Spielberg her godfather) that was almost designed to produce a Hollywood star. She also delves into Goop, her company that markets wellness products, much to the horror of the US medical profession. What comes through is the paradoxical nature of her subject; constantly in the spotlight, but elusive and often retiring. Odell attempts to give us a portrait from all sorts of angles, and not just her good side.

Trial for Outback Wrangler Matt Wright hears explosive claims

West Australian

a day ago

West Australian

Trial for Outback Wrangler Matt Wright hears explosive claims

A Netflix reality star 'idolised' by his staff was an 'anti-vaxxer' who broke Covid-19 laws and was allegedly secretly recorded talking about tinkering with flight records while visiting a chopper crash survivor left paraplegic in hospital, a jury has heard. The extraordinary claims about Outback Wrangler Matt Wright were made this week during his trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, where he is charged with three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The 45-year-old celebrity is accused of failing to accurately record flight times in the Robinson-R-44 that crashed in February 2022, killing his co-star Chris 'Willow' Wilson. It is not alleged Mr Wright is responsible for the crash. Mr Wilson, 34, was dangling from a sling attached to the helicopter during a dangerous crocodile egg collecting mission when the chopper crashed in Arnhem Land. CHOPPER RECORDS ALLEGEDLY FUDGED Pilot Seb Robinson, who survived the crash but is now a paraplegic, testified his former boss was an 'anti-vaxxer' despite Mr Wright going to two Covid restricted areas – the remote helicopter crash site and the injured pilot's Brisbane hospital room. He told the jury the main reason Mr Wright was not on the egg mission was 'because he was an anti-vaxxer'. At the time, there were strict Covid rules for anyone entering remote areas in the Territory, where they needed to provide proof of vaccination and take a rapid antigen test. The jury previously heard Mr Wright flew to the crash site with Wild Harvest NT director Mick Burns and off-duty senior NT Police officer Neil Mellon. Following the crash, Mr Robinson spent one month in hospital, where Covid restrictions meant two people could visit and everyone needed to provide a valid vaccination certificate. Mr Robinson said he had just come out of a coma, was heavily sedated and 'hallucinating' but 'vaguely' remembered a visit from Mr Wright and his wife Kaia on March 11. 'I have a vivid memory of him having some sort of paperwork in his hands,' Mr Robinson said. He alleged his boss wanted to move 'a few' hours from the crashed helicopter – with the call sign IDW – to Mr Robinson's personal chopper, with the call sign ZXZ. Mr Robinson, 28, also alleged Mr Wright 'asked to go through my phone and delete a few things'. 'I remember looking over and seeing him holding my phone and flicking through it and deleting things,' Mr Robinson said. The jury heard the former pilot also deleted 'some stuff', including phone notes for start and stop times for IDW during egg collection trips. 'It was a very hard time for me. I didn't know who to trust and I panicked and went along with it,' he said. Mr Robinson alleged on Mr Wright's second hospital visit he brought Jai Thomlinson to again discuss the transfer of hours from IDW to ZXZ. 'I just remember having concerns about what was happening,' Mr Robinson said. 'I said I didn't feel comfortable doing it,' he said. 'I don't think (Mr Wright) was upset … he sort of said: 'That's OK.'' A secret mobile audio recording of this hospital visit allegedly captured Mr Wright talking about IDW flight times over the phone. Mr Robinson admitted he initially repeatedly lied to investigators because he 'panicked' and was worried about losing his pilot's licence. PILOT'S COCAINE PARTYING Mr Robinson admitted he used cocaine 'a couple times a year' – up to 10 times over 12 months – but he denied he was a 'raging cocaine junkie'. The former pilot said he had never flown a helicopter while intoxicated, either by drugs or alcohol. He admitted he sometimes supplied cocaine for his mates and footy players, as well as flying small amounts of booze into Aboriginal communities. But Mr Robinson denied being a 'drug dealer' while being questioned about a series of texts about his wild partying. Mr Wright's defence counsel David Edwardson accused Mr Robinson of 'sourcing and supplying' cocaine from 2018 to the time of the crash. Mr Edwardson read messages from the pilot's friends asking 'are you getting more coke?', 'Seb any chance you know where to get the good stuff?' and 'anyone got bags?'. In one message exchange, Mr Robinson told a friend he was 'crook as a dog', with his mate replying 'snorting too much coke out of Matty's arse?'. Mr Robinson said the friend knew Mr Wright. But the lawyer has said the reality star had a 'zero tolerance' approach to drugs. Under cross-examination, Mr Robinson was also grilled about a message sent to a mate in November 2019, saying there were 'footy players in town wanting bags' and other texts referring to 'zingers' and 'pills'. 'Are you implying I'm a drug dealer? … No,' Mr Robinson said. While Mr Robinson did not believe he was a trafficker, Justice Alan Blow explained: 'It is trafficking, even if you're not making any money for yourself.' Trace amounts of cocaine were detected in Mr Robinson's blood, which prosecutor Jason Gullaci said experts were likely to say was from use days before the crash. Mr Robinson admitted to flying in booze to remote communities, but said he did not sell the alcohol. He said 'on occasion' he would take a small amount of alcohol under the seat of his chopper for people in Arnhem Land. PILOT'S INJURIES Mr Robinson said his last memory from that fateful day was 'having a laugh' with his mate in the chopper. The jury was shown a photo of Mr Wilson piloting the Robinson R-44, with the image appearing to capture the fuel gauge between three-quarters and completely full mark. Mr Robinson said at that level, the helicopter should have been able to travel from Noonamah to King River and back. He became emotional as he shared his next memory – waking up in hospital, then being told his friend was dead and he would likely never walk again. Mr Robinson's spinal cord was completely severed, he had 12 broken ribs and puncturing in his lungs. His neck, elbow and both ankles were also fractured. He said he struggled with his memory due to a traumatic brain injury. NETFLIX STAR AN 'IDOL' Fellow helicopter pilot Jock Purcell told the jury he took official aviation records from Mr Robinson's home two days after the crash but could not recall who asked him to do it. He said he did not show the logbook to anyone or take photos of the official records, but was later asked by Mr Robinson to return the records. 'I took it home, and then Seb's brothers come and got it from my house,' Mr Purcell said. However, in a tapped telephone conversation between Mr Purcell and Mr Wright five months after the crash, the pair allegedly discussed Mr Robinson talking to investigators, the crashed chopper's maintenance release and Hobbs Meter, which records flight hours. 'Something had gone on with the Hobbs there, I dunno, they've moved it forward or some f***ing thing as well,' Mr Wright said. 'I'm just trying to think how much Sebby's, or what Sebby's tried to say to them, if anything even.' The pair then said some of that information could have been gathered from the maintenance release, which pilots fill out to record flight hours and service histories of helicopters. Three years after the bugged call, Mr Purcell told the court he was unsure if it was related to the crash investigation. Mr Purcell, who arrived at the crash scene, initially said he did not remember anyone approaching but then said the only thing removed were a few headsets. However, under cross examination, Mr Purcell said: 'I know someone lifted the dash of the helicopter.' Mr Purcell said he checked to see why the chopper might have gone down, and happened to notice the Hobbs Meter was connected. But Mr Gullaci alleged the sole purpose for Mr Purcell to look under the dash was to inspect this device 'because you knew there was a practice among Matt Wright's helicopters of the Hobbs Meter being disconnected'. 'And you wanted to see whether it was connected or not, for when investigators turned up to look at the crashed helicopter?' Mr Gullaci asked. Mr Purcell said he did not believe that was the case. When asked what else he could have been inspecting, the experienced pilot said: 'I'm not an investigator so I don't know.' However, Mr Purcell had already conceded there was a pattern of not recording flight hours, and had previously seen both Mr Wright and Mr Robinson disconnect the Hobbs Meter. He said there were times when the flight hour recorder was disconnected because 'it was getting close to service'. Mr Robinson also made full admissions to the jury of his own dodgy record keeping practices, which he said were common across the Territory helicopter industry. After almost a decade in the industry, Mr Robinson alleged he had worked for two other businesses which had similarly failed to properly record flight hours. Mr Robinson agreed he continued to 'break the rules' while working at Mr Wright's company. '(Mr Wright) would say 'pop the clock for this trip',' Mr Robinson alleged. He also said Mr Wright 'controlled all aspects of his aircraft regarding maintenance scheduling'. Mr Robinson said employees 'absolutely' followed Mr Wright's directions. 'We were young men, we looked up to him,' he said. 'Everyone looked at Matt as an idol. He'd say 'jump' and they'd say 'how high?' 'He had an aura about him. 'Everyone wanted to be around him, work for him, everyone bent over backwards to try and be a part of what he was doing.' The trial continues.

Aussie drama beats world's best for top prize at prestigious European TV awards

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Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

Trial for Outback Wrangler Matt Wright hears explosive claims

Aussie drama beats world's best for top prize at prestigious European TV awards

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Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

Searching for something to read? Here are 10 new books

Trial for Outback Wrangler Matt Wright hears explosive claims

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