Good morning everyone!
Who’s looking forward to the race that stops the nation? Scroll down for regional news headlines, weather and more.
Welcome to Melbourne Cup day
One of Australia's biggest punters has labelled Jameka "no chance of winning and a true 50-1 at best" despite the only Australian-bred horse in the Melbourne Cup threatening to rip tens of millions of dollars out of bookmakers' bags if she can win on Tuesday. Read all about it.
Take a Melbourne Cup tip from Hayley – stay classy Australia.
Pell knew about abuse but failed to act, inquiry told
Cardinal George Pell had knowledge of serious allegations of sexual abuse by Ballarat Catholic clergy in the early 1970s, but failed to act, a royal commission has found. More here.
Trick or treaters besiege Ballarat
Fifteen years ago Tania Graham had to import her Halloween pumpkins from America via a Melbourne grocer. She and her husband Tim lived for two years in Canada and have raised their children to celebrate Halloween on a par with Christmas and Easter. This weekend was their fifteenth Halloween party. More here.
Mayoral race off and running
It took minutes after the successful candidates of Bendigo’s council elections were declared before the mayoral race was off and running. More here.
Women the majority on Bendigo's new council
For the first time in its history, the majority of City of Greater Bendigo councillors will be women. More here.
Ridsdale in Wimmera without psych approval: allegation
Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, one of Victoria’s worst sex offenders, was sent to Edenhope without approval from a Catholic Diocese psychiatrist. This is an allegation put forward by counsel assisting the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, led by Gail Furness. More here.
Ararat man, woman, charged with drug trafficking
A 21-year-old Ararat man and 28-year-old Ararat woman have been charged after police seized a large quantity of drugs on Thursday. The arrests came as a part of a joint operation between Ararat police and Ararat Crime Investigation Unit targeting drug activity in the city. More here.
Girl escpaes death after ingesting GHB
A young girl has narrowly avoided death or serious injury after allegedly ingesting GHB at an Albury home. More here.
Fake car buyer’s $110,000 law loss
THE sale of a classic car which turned out to be a fake has left a man $110,000 out of pocket and facing legal bills for failed court appeals. More here.
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered.
► ILLAWARRA: Berkeley looked like a scene from a Hollywood action movie on Monday.
Berkeley was in lockdown for more than six hours with reports a gunman was holed up inside a home on Bristol Street. Full story.
► BEGA: A man thought to be in his 50s has died while scuba diving near Tathra on Monday.
The man, believed to be from Victoria, was unable to be revived after he got into difficulty while scuba diving at Kianinny Bay. Full story.
► REDLAND: Five people have jumped from a speedboat after it caught fire off South Stradbroke Island on Sunday. Full story.
► BALLARAT: A man and woman have been remanded in custody after more than 250 plants were seized during a drug raid at Miners Rest on Monday morning.
The Ballarat Divisional Response Unit carried out the search warrant at 103 Howe Street as part of its ongoing investigation into commercial cannabis grow houses. Full story.
► NEWCASTLE: JENNIFER Hawkins is counting down to Christmas in Newcastle, after a busy year that has included celebrating her mother’s cancer recovery, her tequila company winning an international award and being caught up in a Donald Trump “media storm”. Read on.
► EDEN: The NSW DPI has up-scaled its Twofold Bay algal toxin alert, now warning the public to avoid consuming abalone and crayfish as well as shellfish due to the risk of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning. Full story.
National news
► CANBERRA: The federal government handed a $2 million grant to a small trades training school chaired for a decade by senator Bob Day, the crossbencher whose business woes are a threat to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's bid to resurrect the building industry watchdog. Full story.
► QUEENSLAND: A Twitter war of words has broken out between Senate crossbenchers, with combative Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm labelling Derryn Hinch "a dumb heap of parrot droppings". Full story.
► SYDNEY: The Star casino has been accused by the NSW liquor and gaming authority of not reporting every violent incident at the venue to police, which the regulator says risks skewing official crime statistics. Full story
National weather radar
International news
► ARCTIC: Climate change has a habit of throwing up some surprising outcomes and this has to be one of them: sea ice is now at record low levels at both ends of the planet. Full story.
► JAKARTA: Australia and Indonesia are considering joint patrols in the highly sensitive South China Sea amid escalating tensions in the region over the hotly-contested waters. Full story.
► WORLD: Time to look hard at who has your software on their hardware. Your future may depend on it.
From the presidency of the United States to the presidency of South Korea, it would seem that if you want to avoid trouble, you need to look out for computers. Full story.
On this day:
1952 - The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
1968 - The movie rating system of G, M, R, X, followed by PG-13 and NC-17 went into effect.
1994 - The Amazon.com domain name was registered.
Faces of Australia: George Gittoes
Award winning artist and filmmaker George Gittoes said he always had a problem with fear.
He remembers a story of when he was a young boy living in Rockdale racing billy carts.
Each of his friends knew when to stop short of the nearby hill but he was the only one to go over the edge resulting in a trip to hospital. Read on.
