Latest news with #Lachlan
NZ Herald
26-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Lachie Jones inquest: Coroner delays releasing findings, asks for more submissions
But mortuary technician William (Bill) Little - who helped to conduct the autopsy - said there were no signs Lachlan had been frozen. Lachlan appeared to be a well-nourished young boy, he said. The autopsy team - Little and a pathologist whose name is suppressed - was given no information to suggest anything suspicious had happened, he said. 'The general conversation once we'd both read the Pol 47 (a report the police prepare) was that it is a routine procedure,' Little said. 'There was nothing at all there to indicate to us that there was a suspicious or unexplained cause of death.' Little also fielded questions about missing photos, which he said were lost when the mortuary computer was disposed of after the mortuary was decommissioned from doing coronial work. Coroner's counsel Simon Mount KC asked him why the autopsy was not as thorough as the one initially requested, and why the phone call with a duty coroner that led to that change was not recorded. 'That is what the procedure should have been. But in this case I don't there was a redirection issued,' Little said. 'I think he was just on a little adventure' Preschool teacher Leisa Diamond described Lachlan as a well-behaved boy with a good grasp of right and wrong. His mother told the inquest earlier that he had run away with a full nappy when she tried to change him on the night he died. Diamond said that was not the Lachlan she remembered, but in response to questions from police lawyer Robin Bates, she said children could act differently at preschool than they did at home. When asked if she thought he could climb the wooden fence near the sewage pond, she said it would be very difficult and she did not think he would have any interest to try to do it. In her statement, she said Lachlan was not one to run away. She was also asked to explain why she had said she could imagine Lachlan going off an adventure while pretending to be a police officer. 'At that time, I didn't know any other facts. 'How long it was, where he was found, any of those other - what he had to go over so I think in what I had in my head was he was just on a little adventure being a police man,' Diamond said.
Scoop
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Joyce Prescher Releases Her 2nd Single With Lachlan Bryan
Joyce Prescher was born and raised in the Netherlands but has lived in Melbourne for over a decade. Her albums, Home (2017) and Out of My Mind (2022), are filled with songs of isolation and alienation, delivered with a delicacy befitting their lilting melodies, meandering time-signatures and often melancholic lyrics. Last month Joyce released the first of her recording collaborations with Lachlan Bryan, a cover of Absynthe Minded's ' My Heroics '. The song, with it's hypnotic groove and intimate vocals, has been played across Australian community radio, on Double J and ABC Country, and on more than 50 American public radio stations via The International Americana Music Show. The second single in this collaborative series is ' Nothing Really Ends ', which premiered on Vital Bits/ 3RRR. It's a track originally recorded by Belgian band dEUS, and the first song Joyce recorded with Lachlan – a beginning marked by a song about endings. For Joyce, dEUS are more than just a band, they're part of the fabric of her youth. ' I've listened to them since the mid-90s,' she says. ' They've been with me throughout my life, and I always come back to them. This song, to me, has this depth, this melancholy, but also a sense of calm and peace." There's a cinematic feel to this version – layered guitars, strings, and a rhythm that simmers just below the surface. It doesn't rush. It unfolds. Lachlan and Joyce trade lines like two people trying to make sense of a shared memory, their voices weaving together and pulling apart. It's richer than a stripped-back ballad, but still intimate – the kind of arrangement that reveals more with each listen. ' We recorded this song fast, in a very instinctual kind of way,' says Lachlan. ' We would grab hold of the instrumental hook from the original and try and reimagine it, but because I didn't know the song very well it quickly became its own thing. I was learning it from Joyce rather than from dEUS, and I think that's part of the charm." The emotional terrain of 'Nothing Really Ends' – longing, ambiguity, resignation – felt like a perfect mirror for Joyce and Lachlan's long walks and long talks through the empty streets of Melbourne during the pandemic. There's a tension in the song, but also acceptance. ' It doesn't scream, it just lingers,' Joyce reflects. ' That's what I love about it. To me it's about understanding that endings aren't always clear. Sometimes, the things we think are over never really leave us. They're always there, in some form.' 'Nothing Really Ends' captures the fragile beauty of that idea—a reflection on the things that persist, long after they've passed. It's a re-imagining of a song that's always felt deeply personal to Joyce, and through her collaboration with Lachlan, it becomes something even more intimate and reflective. With this second release, Joyce Prescher continues to reveal new layers of herself – not just as a songwriter, but as an interpreter, curator, and collaborator. These aren't just songs she admired from afar; they're part of her personal history, now reshaped and re-voiced with care. JOYCE PRESCHER Following the release of her first album, Joyce signed to independent record label Cheersquad Records & Tapes in July 2022. She released the singles 'Paper and Pen' and 'Black on White', prior to releasing her 13-track album Out Of My Mind in October 2022. Upon release the album charted in both the ARIA Top 20 Australian Country Albums and the Australian Independent Record Labels Association 100% Independent Albums chart. Joyce was a finalist in the 2022 and 2023 Australian Folk Music Awards (AFMA), has toured and performed a project called Sing a Song of Sixpence, with other artists including Abby Dobson, Freya Josephine Hollick, Charm of Finches, and Van Walker. She had performed as part of the sold-out tribute shows to Justin Townes Earle at the Brunswick Ballroom, and shared the stage with many Australian favourites, including Tim Rogers, Kylie Auldist, Mick Thomas, Debra Byrne, Sarah Carroll, Kerryn Fields, and XANI. LACHLAN BRYAN Over more than a decade, Lachlan Bryan has built a reputation as a master storyteller, regardless of whether he's performing solo, fronting his band The Wildes, or collaborating with country music icon Catherine Britt in The Pleasures. His songs range from hard-hitting social commentary to deeply personal musings, but each contains a unique turn of phrase, dark humour, and an ever-present sense of romance. Lachlan has toured with artists such as Justin Townes Earle, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin, and Henry Wagons, as well as headlining his own tours and performing at festivals all over the world. He's released five full-length albums with The Wildes, all of which have received critical acclaim, featured in yearly top ten lists, and in some cases even charted strongly in the ARIA Official Australian Albums charts.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Parents of teen workers accuse union of ‘predatory' sign-up tactics
The families of teenage workers at fast food and retail outlets have accused one of Australia's largest unions of 'predatory' recruitment tactics. Guardian Australia has spoken with several young workers and families who feel their teenagers were pressured to join the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) in their first days on the job, including a 14-year-old who was recruited in mid-2024 on her first shift at Hungry Jack's. Sarah* described the encounter as 'unsettling'. Mid-shift, her manager said there was someone there to speak with her. At first she assumed the SDA organiser was a fellow employee – he already knew so much about her. One-on-one at a table, he presented her with a membership form and instructed her to sign. 'When I struggled to recall my contact details, he directed me to retrieve them from my phone, guiding me through the form completion process as if it were mandatory,' she said in a statement. 'As a 14-year-old on my first day of employment, I felt vulnerable and ill-equipped to navigate this situation. I was … anxious about making a misstep.' Her father, Lachlan*, was outraged when she got home, and he called to cancel the membership. 'You've got a kid who's nervous as hell, starting their first job … It's just wrong,' he told Guardian Australia. Signing up new members is the bread and butter of any union, but former insiders said it is a particular priority for the SDA, which represents a young and highly transitory workforce. The union has historically been known for its close relationship with employers, influence within the right faction of the Labor party and conservative stance on social issues such as abortion. Maintaining its position as one of the largest unions in the country – despite declining membership across the retail sector - is key to the SDA's political influence. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Susan* said her 16-year-old daughter, Jess*, left a union induction session when she started work at Kmart in late 2024 with no understanding of what a union was. She thought it would pay her if she was ever sick or injured, so she signed up. Her mother only realised when Jess's union dues started to come out of her pay. 'They should've been allowed to bring that paperwork home,' Susan said, 'because they're not earning bugger-all at that age'. The national secretary of the SDA, Gerard Dwyer, said the union has measures in place to ensure that workers under the age of 18 'are treated with special care and attention', including a requirement that a letter be sent to parents outlining that workers can cancel their membership at any time as well as a two-week cooling off period. Susan told Guardian Australia she never received a letter from the union. Dwyer said the union could not comment on experiences like Sarah and Jess's without first-hand knowledge. 'Young workers face particular challenges at work, which is why the SDA takes educating young people about workplace rights and union membership very seriously,' he said. 'Any complaints, and they are few and far between, are treated systematically and seriously by the SDA.' Lachlan, said he got a text from the union around the time his daughter Sarah was signed up, but he did not believe that was sufficient. Lachlan is a union member himself, but in his view the SDA organiser's manner left no room for his daughter to say no. He said it was not the right approach for a 14-year-old first-time worker: 'I support the unions, but I don't support predatory tactics.' He said Sarah is now a member of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) – an upstart union that formed in 2016 in opposition to the SDA. A spokesperson for Hungry Jack's said the company 'has an agreement with the SDA'. 'The company supports freedom of association.' Georgia* was an organiser who left her job at the SDA after just a couple of months. Among other concerns, she was disturbed by what she claims was an emphasis on recruitment, especially of young people. She remembered taking aside a new worker at KFC who was only about 15 or 16. 'You get these two uniformed people, [saying] come on round the back, outside in the food court and we're gonna have a chat … it's just such an intimidating process,' she said. 'How could you reasonably be expected to understand what's happening or not feel pressured?' Georgia, along with several other former SDA organisers, confirmed the SDA has recruitment targets for its organisers. While this is not necessarily unusual, she said she felt there was more priority given to signing up new members than helping existing ones. 'The drive for members, members, members, members – it's from everyone,' she said. Luca*, another former SDA organiser, said the target at his branch was about 15 sign-up 'cards' per week. He never saw anything deceptive about the sign-up process and said he was told to contact the parents of those who signed up who were under the age of 18, but said the emphasis on recruitment was 'intense'. 'The recruitment target is always the elephant in the room,' he said. 'It's not why anyone works for a union, but it ends up being the driving force just by the nature of the system.' Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Everyone was honest, hard-working and believed what they were doing,' Luca said of his time at the SDA. '[But] leadership, they were in their own world. They're always going to be the ones focused on hitting the targets.' Accusations that the SDA prioritises its relationship with employers in order to maintain access to new workers at the expense of conditions have dogged the union, which remains highly influential within the Labor party. In the mid-2010s, a series of reports in the Age detailed how part-time workers at McDonald's, Coles and other retail employers were being underpaid due to deals negotiated by the union, leading to accusations of a 'cosy' relationship between the SDA and employers. '[The SDA] has always bargained in the best interests of workers within the industrial relations framework at the time,' the union said at the time. A number of SDA-brokered deals between workers and employers came under scrutiny at the time. Its 2015 deal with Coles, for example, had to be remedied after the Fair Work Commission decided it failed the 'Better-Off Overall Test' (BOOT) because a cut in penalty rates had left a substantial number of workers worse off. Andrew Stewart, a Queensland University of Technology professor of work and regulation, was a strong critic of the SDA for some of its earlier 'sweetheart' deals but said he has seen its strategy change. 'We've seen much greater willingness to not only push for genuinely better agreements at the big retailers but [also] the willingness to pick a fight,' he said, pointing to its current stoush with McDonald's to extend collective bargaining. Dwyer said the SDA's campaigns to ensure that supervisors have 'working with children' checks and that workers aged between 18 and 20 receive adult wages rather than junior rates were 'practical steps to improve the welfare and wellbeing of young workers'. Australia's largest two supermarkets, recently named as among the most profitable in the world, continue to provide a significant part of the SDA's membership base – but negotiations over worker compensation are increasingly bitter. James*, a former SDA official, told Guardian Australia that Woolworths retail stores share with the union a list of new hires by employee number, team and store. A Woolworths spokesperson confirmed: 'In the case of our retail team members, there are provisions set out in the [enterprise agreement] that allow unions access to new starters on their first shift.' Guardian analysis in December found that gross operating profits in the retail sector had increased by more than six times since 2001, according to ABS data. Meanwhile, retail wages had risen by less than half as much. Coles and Woolworths both struck SDA-brokered enterprise agreements in 2024 with store workers. The latter deal locked in base wages of about 40 cents an hour above the minimum award, which is now $25.65. In a case currently before the federal court, RAFFWU is arguing the 2024 Woolworths deal ought to be overturned. The agreement was approved with the Fair Work Commission, over objections from RAFFWU and the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union but with SDA support. RAFFWU said the FWC erred in its decision-making because the deal failed to pass the BOOT and because there were failures to complete a valid ballot process and ensure the agreement had been genuinely agreed. Woolworths denies these claims. It argued in its submission to court that RAFFWU's argument about the BOOT was 'untenable' and the RAFFWU's application should be dismissed. Close arrangements between an employer and a union create risks, critics say. Because they control the tap of access to new workers, employers could also one day turn it off. A previous sign-up form for the SDA's Victorian branch, seen by Guardian Australia, explicitly said in orange and white at the top: 'Woolworths encourages its employees to become members of the SDA'. Young workers say workplace organising is vital – but needs to be done in a more consultative way. Serena* was brought into a group SDA induction session when she was 17 and just about to start work at Kmart in March 2023. She said she filled out a card on the understanding she would receive more information to consider, when it was actually a sign-up form. She considered it 'sneaky practices'. Lucy*, then 16, described being signed up in the same way in an induction session when starting at Woolworths mid-last year. 'I also felt tricked,' she said. She says her parents cannot recall any contact from the SDA. Unions are 'absolutely essential for workers,' Serena said. 'But I just think that the SDA specifically … it's starting to feel less like a union and more just like a … union facade.' * Names have been changed to protect privacy. Do you know more? Email or abogle@
Washington Post
07-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Nevada hearing may give first public view into legal spat over control of Murdoch media empire
CARSON CITY, Nev. — A hearing Wednesday before Nevada's high court could provide the first public window into a secretive legal dispute over who will control Rupert Murdoch's powerful media empire after he dies. The case has been unfolding behind closed doors in state court in Reno, with most documents under seal. But reporting by The New York Times , which said it obtained some of the documents, revealed Murdoch's efforts to keep just one of his sons, Lachlan, in charge and ensure that Fox News maintains its conservative editorial slant.
Daily Record
01-05-2025
- General
- Daily Record
People who clean up after themselves at restaurants have five unique personality traits
Wiping the table or pushing your chair in before you leave a restaurant apparently says a lot about your character Going out for a nice meal or splurging a bit more than usual at a fancy restaurant are one of life's luxuries. Whether it's a birthday party, an engagement dinner, or simply a Saturday night, it is a joy to have your dinner made for you. We might not always think about our behaviour when we're out for some slap-up nosh, though. Cleaning up after yourself is also an action some of us may do automatically but others might not even think about. It turns out these gestures in an eatery, however small, may say more about us than we think. Lachlan Brown, psychology enthusiast and founder of Hack Spirit, a self-improvement guide, recently took it upon himself to examine those customers who tidy up before leaving a restaurant despite having no obligation to do so. Lachlan wanted to explore whether these patrons were simply polite or if there was more to it. And what he uncovered is quite eye-opening. Lachlan found that these individuals often show five unique behaviours that set them apart from other punters. These behaviours may prompt Brits to think about their own restaurant etiquette and what it says about them. Respect for others' space "The first behaviour that struck me was the immense respect these individuals have for others' space," Lachlan wrote for "Cleaning up after oneself in a restaurant isn't just about tidiness, it's about acknowledging that this space isn't just ours – it's shared with other patrons, waitstaff, and restaurant workers. These folks are aware that their actions affect others. Their courtesy is a manifestation of empathy, an understanding that their behaviour can either contribute to or alleviate the burdens of those around them. "It's a small act, but it speaks volumes about their character. They're not just thinking about themselves, but about the community they're part of." Consciousness of actions "I remember a time when I was dining with a friend who always cleans up at restaurants," Lachlan explained. "Halfway through our meal, I spilled some sauce on the table. Without missing a beat, my friend reached for a napkin and quickly wiped it off. "When I thanked him, he simply shrugged and said, 'I'm conscious of my actions and their impact. It's just how I am.' "My friend's action wasn't just about cleaning up a spill. It was a choice he made consciously, reflecting his values and beliefs. "He didn't do it out of obligation or because he was told to. He did it because he understood that his actions, no matter how small, have an impact on the world around him. Self-discipline "I was out for lunch with my sister, another one of those who clean up after themselves," Lachlan went on. "As we finished our meal, she began stacking our empty plates and tidying up the table even though we were running late. "When I pointed this out, she replied, 'Discipline isn't about what's convenient. It's about doing what's right, even when it's not easy.' "It wasn't just about cleaning a table. It was about her commitment to doing the right thing, regardless of the circumstances. " Self-discipline is a strong indicator of character. It shows a willingness to take responsibility and a determination to stick to one's principles, even in the face of inconvenience. "This level of self-discipline can extend into other areas of life too – work, relationships, personal goals – and often leads to more productive habits and successful outcomes." Detail-oriented "Interestingly, those who clean up after themselves at restaurants also tend to be detail-oriented," Lachlan said. "Once had a colleague who was meticulous about tidying up our lunch table... I asked him why he paid so much attention to these minor details. He replied, 'I believe that how you do one thing is how you do everything. "Paying attention to the small details helps me stay focused and organized in other areas of my life as well.' "His words reminded me of a study by the University of Minnesota which found individuals who are detail-oriented are more likely to deliver high-quality work and meet their objectives. "So, if you've ever found yourself painstakingly arranging your table after a meal, take it as a compliment. Your attention to detail could be a sign of your high standards and dedication to quality in all aspects of your life." High emotional intelligence "I remember a dinner with a friend who always insists on leaving the table spotless," Lachlan continued. "I asked him why he took the trouble to do so, and he said, 'I think about the waiter who has to clean up after us. "It's a small thing I can do to make their job a little easier.' "His response showed... the ability to understand and manage not only his own emotions but also empathise with others. Emotionally intelligent people are often considerate, kind, and understanding. "They're aware of their own actions and how they affect those around them. So, if you're someone who takes the time to clean up at a restaurant, it's likely you have a high degree of emotional intelligence. "This trait is not only beneficial in personal relationships but can also be a powerful asset in your professional life." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. 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