EXCLUSIVE The bad girls (and boys) of Sydney's elite private schools: LUCY MANLY chases down the rich kids who prove money doesn't buy sense - and reveals what no-nonsense magistrates REALLY think of them
The same golden boys and girls who once celebrated top marks and elite university offers with Dom Pérignon are now showing up in courtrooms a decade later, trading champagne for drug tests and defence lawyers.
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Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I ordered an everyday item of clothing from overseas when it was seized at the Australian border... then came the $2,500 bill to get it back
An Australian business owner has lashed out after his clothing shipment was seized at the border and he was forced to pay more than $2,500 before he could get it back. Andy Lowry, who runs clothing store Pamboes, had ordered a shipment of 'blanket hoodies' from China before they were withheld by the Australian Border Force. Authorities had searched the clothing for illegal materials, however they found nothing suspicious inside of them. Mr Lowry was slugged with a $2,524 bill for airport storage fees and informed he would not be able to collect the items until he settled it. 'Apparently because I'm the importer on record, I had to pay that $2,524 bill and they pretty much told me to get stuffed,' he said. 'This is like the cost of doing business essentially.' Mr Lowry claimed the seizure put him behind schedule for marketing the new clothes. 'I can confirm that [Master Air Waybill number] is subject to border processing and we're unable to provide a timeframe as to when it may be available,' an official advised in an email. 'At this point I'm getting stressed cause they like can't give me a timeframe. I'm like how long are they going to keep it for?' Mr Lowry said. In correspondence from the ABF, Mr Lowry was told he could not collect his items until he paid to lift the storage fees. He believed it would cost a few hundred dollars. 'After I wait a week and a half, I get my storage charges and it's storage for $2,524. For what? A hoodie?' Mr Lowry said. 'Then I sort of had this huge back and forth on why I'm having to pay for this, and lo and behold, it is legal. 'The Australian Border Force can do that to any person who is importing.' Mr Lowry said to chase a reimbursement he was deferred to the Department of Home Affairs. He was told he would have to lodge an investigation and complain. Mr Lowry told Daily Mail Australia any fee 'coming out of nowhere' makes it 'tough' to do business. He said the 'seasonal' business relies on customers purchasing his products at the beginning of winter, and estimates the border mishap in June cost him dearly. Mr Lowry began selling the loungewear during the Covid pandemic before realising there was a market for 'blanket'-style clothes. 'This delay cost us two weeks in June, which would be above a six-figure loss in lost sales,' he said. 'Understandably customers do their winter shopping at the beginning of winter so they can get full use out of whatever they have bought.' When he tried to chase an investigation, Mr Lowry found there was no way around paying the fees, as the importer on record is liable for the costs. 'In the time Australian Border Force is checking your goods, your shipping company is forced to hold the goods at their warehouses until Australian Border Force is finished and storage charges are imposed,' he said. 'Some companies may be kind enough to waive these charges, but understandably they are a business too.' Mr Lowry said the costs around occupying commercial real estate are expensive as port space is in high demand. In general, importing can be 'quite difficult' he said. He added Pamboes has thankfully had few issues but acknowledged he had heard 'horror stories'. 'Border holds cost companies millions each year and it's not something you can really prepare for, it's almost a random check,' he said. 'We understand they have to keep our borders safe, but we pay taxes at the border. You would think part of those taxes we pay would cover ABF's work.' He said it hasn't put him off doing business as Pamboes moves into more fashionable blanket-wear and tries to sell off remaining stock in a winter sale.
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Footy fans are slammed for making videos that poke fun at suicide after twin AFL stars Adam and Troy Selwood took their own lives
A leading AFL fan page has issued a grovelling apology after posting videos showing footy supporters mocking suicide in a year that has seen two former players take their own lives. Carlton News & Stats is a popular fan page on social media platform X, run by Blues supporter Adam Joseph. Joseph describes himself as a media personality, ex-journalist and also runs a UK Premier League page on X called No Question About That. His page, which operates under the handle @Upthebaggers, posted the videos after Carlton suffered yet another defeat, this time a 24-point hammering by Hawthorn last Thursday night. Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to publish the clips, which show AFL fans pretending to throw themselves off balconies at the MCG, or hang themselves with their scarves, before laughing about it. Their actions mimic a viral video posted by US comedian Justin Silva, who shot to fame for a clip that makes light of suicide. Silva filmed himself in his apartment, pretending to throw himself over the balcony, drink bleach and set fire to the unit with aerosol spray and a lighter, before making a goofy 'just kidding' face after each action. The furore over the clips on the Carlton page surfaced as the team sits in 12th place on the AFL after a horrible run of form that crushed fans' early-season confidence they would push for the premiership. Frustrated fans have lashed out at the club while a Collingwood supporter was banned from the MCG for five years for sending a death threat to coach Michael Voss. Fans are furious the page joked about suicide after the AFL was left reeling when West Coast premiership winner Adam Selwood's took his own life. Adam tragically died in May aged 41, just three months after his twin brother Troy also committed suicide. Fellow West Coast Grand Final winner Adam Hunter also died earlier this year, aged 43, although police ruled out suicide in that case. Former Collingwood and Richmond AFL player Andrew Krakouer was another footy star who died young in 2025, from a suspected heart attack aged just 42. It comes after the Carlton News & Stats account had previously attacked other content creators for making light of suicide. I keep seeing all this Justin Silva content and he was just in Baltimore. Just realizing this is him… 😂 — Sathickums 🍑 (@sadie_deedee) June 8, 2025 'After my post yesterday, someone reached out to send me this video from The Monday Blues,' the post read. 'That person was deeply troubled by suicide jokes being made by prominent content creators, regardless of it being based on an existing video. 'When I talk about toxic content creators, The Monday Blues, The Jumper Punch, 2 Passionate Bluebaggers, amongst others, are the kinds of creators I am talking about. 'You have influence and choose to use it to capitilise, intentionally or not, on fan frustration. 'That frustration manifests itself into further abuse, vitriol and aggression towards the football club. How is that helpful? 'There is no value add as a content creator if that's what you are doing, regardless of our justified and ongoing frustrations as fans of the footy club.' Carlton News & Stats issued the above apology on X after other content creators threatened to take legal action That led to those content creators threatening to take legal action unless the post was removed. 'Unsure when our podcast has said anything about suicide etc. that this person makes,' one of the 2 Passionate Bluebaggers podcast hosts posted. 'I've already sent this to our solicitor about defamation. The creator has 24hrs to remove this post our I'll be taking it further.' The Carlton News & Stats account later removed the post and apologised for attacking the content creators. 'I want to apologise directly to The Monday Blues, The Jumper Punch and Two Passionate Bluebaggers for a post today that was bang out of order on my part,' the post read. 'Inference between them and something as serious as suicide was wrong, especially with my own lived experience & passion for the mental health space. 'Initially I didn't delete what I said, because it was already out there, screenshotted but as someone pointed out, leaving it up arguably just made it worse. 'Accountability and responsibility is something I need to demonstrate if I want to set an example with my platform. I wasn't doing that with what I said earlier.'
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Hanging up the car keys for good: the decision to stop driving is complicated, but are age-based restrictions the answer?
Hiding car keys and deflating the car's tyres were some of the steps Melbourne woman Beth Nielsen took to prevent her grandfather from getting behind the wheel in the final years of his life. Nielsen's grandfather had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2016 but remained determined to drive. Some nights he would sleep with his car keys under his pillow. 'It was his obsession,' Nielsen says. 'It became a massive ordeal in the family to try to manage.' Despite having his licence revoked in 2018 after a family member reported him to authorities, Nielsen says her grandfather, aged in his late 80s, continued trying to drive and was 'obsessed with getting his licence back'. 'It turned into this sort of twisted tale, because it was clear by that stage he actually didn't have the capacity to realise that he wasn't safe to drive,' she says. Nielsen's grandfather died in 2019. In the final months of his life, he struggled with the loss of independence and may have felt like his family were 'out to get him', Nielsen says. 'When it's the last years of your loved one's life, you don't want to be having these arguments with them,' she says. 'We felt like the bad guys.' Decisions about when an older person should stop driving can be difficult for both the driver and their loved ones. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads After decades behind the wheel, Ray, also from Melbourne, decided to hang up his car keys in his late 80s. The 91-year-old had been diagnosed with Ménière's disease in his 20s and suffered bouts of balance issues throughout his life. As he approached his 90th birthday and his health deteriorated, Ray, who requested his surname not be used, and his wife agreed she would be the couple's primary driver. 'I've done a lot of kilometres but I didn't want to be a burden to other people,' he says. 'I just felt it wasn't fair [to keep driving].' A fatal crash near a playground in Wantirna South in Melbourne's east on 10 July involving a 91-year-old female driver has placed rules for elderly drivers across Australia under scrutiny. The crash resulted in the deaths of two pedestrians – a 59-year-old woman and 60-year-old man. A two-year-old boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Speaking afterwards, Supt Justin Goldsmith said the car lost control near an intersection and mounted the footpath. On Friday, the woman was interviewed by police and released pending further inquiries. Unlike other Australian jurisdictions, Victoria has no mandatory age-based restrictions or required testing for elderly drivers. But drivers are still required by law to inform the roads authority, VicRoads, of any long-term medical conditions or injuries that may affect their ability to drive safely. Members of the public can also make referrals to VicRoads if they have concerns about someone's ability to drive safely. After the Wantirna South crash, the Victorian government flagged it would consider changing testing rules for older drivers. Asked if elderly Victorians should have to prove their fitness to drive, the state's deputy premier, Ben Carroll, said it was a 'valid' question. Carroll said he would work with the state's road safety minister, Melissa Horne, on this matter but did not outline potential reform the state would consider. A Victorian Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson last week said the state would review the 'current approach to licensing fitness to drive'. Guardian Australia understands the DTP is partnering with Monash University to review the effectiveness of mandatory reporting and assessment. Road safety experts say while research is limited, it does not show that jurisdictions with mandatory age-based testing regimes have lower crash rates than Victoria. New South Wales is the only state that mandates a practical driving assessment for older drivers (from 85) every two years. In Queensland, drivers over 75 are required to have a doctor assess them and, when on the road, carry a current medical certificate showing they are fit to drive. The Australian Capital Territory has a similar model, requiring drivers over 76 to undergo yearly medical assessments. In Western Australia, annual medical assessments are mandatory for drivers from 80. Victorian woman Sophie, 46, was involved in an accident earlier this month with a 102-year-old driver who reversed into her vehicle. 'The driver couldn't hear my horn and I wasn't able to get out of the way as there was another car behind me,' she says. 'I leapt out of my car and knocked on his window and he didn't register [that] I was there. When I opened his door he looked surprised.' Sophie, who requested her last name not be used, says the driver was struggling to hear her when they exchanged licence details. 'I was just concerned that he's driving around with no ability to hear other people and clearly not looking,' she says. Victorian motorists aged over 65 were responsible for at least 145 road deaths and more than 7,000 injuries in the five years to June 2023, police data shows. But Dr Sjaan Koppel, an associate professor at the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC), says there is no direct correlation between age and fitness to drive. 'A driver of any age can have medical conditions. They can have functional impairments associated with those medical conditions and even the ageing process starts from the age of 40 in terms of a reduction in vision,' she says. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion 'We can see young, novice drivers who might also have medical conditions that make them unfit to drive, and the same with older people.' A 2011 study led by Koppel found that older drivers were involved in few crashes in terms of absolute numbers, but noted they represented one of the highest risk categories for crashes involving serious injury and death per number of drivers, and per distance travelled. Koppel says one of the reasons older people are overrepresented in crash and serious injury statistics is due to frailty bias. 'As we age … we have changes in our neuromuscular strength,' she says. 'If we are involved in a crash, regardless of whether it's our fault or not, we do have a propensity to be more injured in that crash.' Koppel says there is limited research that has examined whether certain licensing requirements reduce crash rates. A 2004 study by MUARC concluded that jurisdictions with age-based mandatory assessment programs did not have lower crash rates than Victoria. Another study concluded that mandatory assessment programs had no 'demonstrable safety benefits' for older driver fatalities or other road user fatalities. Swinburne University's Dr Amie Hayley, who has a research interest in impaired driving, pointed to a 2023 study which found after mandatory cognitive screening for Japanese drivers over 75 was introduced in 2017, there was a decrease in vehicle collisions but an increase in road injuries among older people as pedestrians and cyclists. Hayley says Japan's screening tool is intended to capture the most severe forms of decline, including dementia. She says the results suggest that a simple cognitive screen can be useful to identify groups potentially most at risk. In Victoria, there is no mandate for GPs to inform VicRoads if they have concerns about a person's fitness to drive. South Australia and the Northern Territory are the only Australian jurisdictions that legally require certain health professionals, including GPs, to report a patient's medical condition to the licensing authority if they believe it makes them unfit to drive safely. Dr Kate Gregorevic, a Melbourne-based geriatrician, says the gold standard is an on-the-road driving assessment with an occupational therapist. She says a lack of mandated age-based assessments in Victorian means conversations about driving in older age are not normalised. 'The reality is, as people get older, they're more likely to have conditions that impact driving, things like cardiovascular conditions, things like diabetes, but particularly dementia,' she says. 'Some people will decide they're not going to drive at night any more. Some people will decide that they're only going to drive in their local area. But unfortunately, particularly people living with dementia don't have the insight to make these kinds of decisions for themselves.' Gregorevic, who works predominately in hospitals, says telling people they are unfit to drive is challenging. 'I never enjoy telling someone that they're not able to drive,' she says. Dr Anita Muñoz, the Victorian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), says mandatory testing could mean a driver outsources the responsibility for making a decision to drive to a third party. 'It can give people a false sense of confidence that nothing will happen if they get behind the wheel,' she says. Muñoz says older Australians and people with chronic illnesses should see their GP regularly to discuss their fitness to drive. Council on the Ageing Victoria opposes mandatory driving tests for older motorists, saying they constituted an 'ageist' and 'arbitrary' approach that failed to reflect the variation in experiences of ageing. The chief executive of the council, Ben Rogers, says it continues to support Victoria's approach, which 'emphasise[s] your behaviour and medical fitness to drive'. 'Ageing is undoubtedly connected to changes that may impact the ability of older people to drive – such as vision loss, hearing loss and slower movement and response times – but these can impact Victorian drivers of any age,' he said in a statement.
