A man who filmed himself mowing down emus in victoria’s mallee district has had his sentence reduced. 

The man was originally charged with 42 days in jail and fined $800 for driving through the mob of emus last year. 

His sentence has been reduced to just 21 days in jail and a 9 month community corrections order including 100 hours of unpaid work. 

In his County Court appeal on Thursday, Macdonald's barrister Jacqualyn Turfrey argued he was a young man with no criminal history who voluntarily helped out farmers in his isolated community.
 

The NSW government will make maths compulsory for year 11 and 12 students under a plan to ensure school graduates have key numeracy skills.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the NSW government would begin consultation with education stakeholders over how mathematics could be incorporated from kindergarten to the end of the HSC.

“My vision is for every child in NSW to have the necessary maths skills to succeed in life, whether that’s managing home budgets or preparing them for the jobs of the future in science, technology and engineering.”Ms Berejiklian said.
 

A quick, cost-effective, cloud-based platform, which could solve one of fish farming’s biggest challenges, has received a US $100,000 grant for concept development and testing according to the University of Queensland.
 
The cloud-based service accurately diagnoses a range of fish diseases by using DNA sequences from infected fish.
 
 

An Award-winning Cameroonian journalist has been denied a visa by Australian authorities after being invited to give a speech at a conference in Brisbane today.
 
Mimi Mefo, winner of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award, was intending to give a keynote address at the Integrity 20 conference hosted by Griffith University.
 
However, Australian authorities told her they “were not satisfied that the applicant’s employment and financial situation provide an incentive to return”.
 

Mr Boochani’s boat came ashore on Christmas island four days after a new agreement was signed with Papua New Guinea that meant he would never be resettled in Australia.
 
After fleeing Iran and attempting to seek refuge in Australia, the writer and journalist spent six years in the offshore detention system on Manus Island until it was closed last month.
 
Mr Boochani wrote an influential book detailing his experience by texting messages to a friend and has since been freed from the detention centre.
 

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has revealed that he searched CIA and NSA databases for proof of Aliens.
 
Mr Snowden says he found no evidence of extraterrestrial life after scouring the top secret US networks.
 
He says ““If [this information is] hidden, and it could be hidden, it’s hidden really damn well even from people on the inside.” 
 

Indigenous musician and activist Archie Roach is awarded the Victorian Australian of the Year.
 
Mr Roach runs Ruby’s foundation – named after his late wife – which aims to improve opportunities for young First Nations people through art and culture.
 
Mr Roach said "We live in the most blessed country on this Earth," as he accepted the award.
 
The 63-year-old will join winners from across the country for the announcement of the national awards on Australia day eve in Canberra.
 

Melbourne drivers are facing delays on the Monash Freeway in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone after an earlier crash.
 
Police were called to the scene about 2.15pm on Thursday and investigators were told a car crashed into the back of a broken down truck on the freeway between Huntingdale Road and Forster Road.
 
The driver, a 29-year-old Patterson Lakes man, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
 

Brisbane City Council committee chairs have new guidelines on the use of ratepayer-funded Cabcharge cards.
 
It was revealed in August that ratepayers had footed the bill after spending almost $14,000 on taxis this last council term for committee members using taxis since 2016.
 
The Cabcharge cards are issued     to members of the council’s establishment and coordination committee, the chair of council, the leader of the opposition and the chief executive officer.