Australia news LIVE Cleo Smith found alive and well Victoria records 941 new local COVID-19 cases eight deaths NSW records 190 new cases four deaths COP26 Glasgow summit continues

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Victorian state Liberal MP Tim Smith is holding a press conference.

It comes after he crashed his car while driving at more than twice the legal blood-alcohol limit over the weekend. Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has called for Mr Smith to leave politics.

Watch live below.

France’s ambassador to Australia has laid out his country’s timeline of events leading up to the federal government dumping the $90 billion submarine deal, saying his country had concluded that the “deceit was intentional”.

In a speech at the National Press Club today, Jean-Pierre Thebault reiterated that his government has no gripe with Australia or the Australian people, but with “certain aspects of the ‘Canberra Bubble’ and its ‘Secret city’s’ practices”.

The French ambassdor to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, has defended his country’s submarine program saying it was never over budget or delayed.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The speech follows the diplomatic flare up between Australia and France which intensified this week after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of lying to him, while Mr Morrison said he would not cop “sledging of Australia”.

France reacted furiously to Australia’s decision in September to the dump the French agreement and instead sign the AUKUS defence pact with Britain and the United States to build nuclear-powered submarines. Following the announcement both Mr Thebault and the French ambassador to the United States were recalled to Paris for consultations with the government.

In his first public appearance since returning to Australia, the French ambassador repeated his government’s accusation that Australia’s actions amounted to a “stab in the back”.

Read more here.

Victorian Liberal MP Tim Smith has backed himself in and defied Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s calls for him to step aside at the next election, in a dramatic press conference on Wednesday.

“Does one error mean a career is over forever?” Mr Smith said.

Tim Smith is under pressure to quit Parliament over the crash. Credit:

Mr Smith had earlier told radio station 3AW he had “a couple” of glasses of wine, but later said he’d consumed “clearly far too much” alcohol before driving his five-week-old Jaguar car into another vehicle, then into a fence outside an 8-year-old child’s bedroom.

He said he had been drinking at a home in Kooyong for “a few hours” before driving, believing he was safe to do so but recording a blood alcohol reading of 0.131, more than twice the legal limit of 0.05.

Mr Smith said everyone deserved a second chance, and he would spend the next few weeks reflecting on his life after “the worst decision of my life”.

He refused to rule out recontesting for the electorate of Kew after "a terrible, terrible error, a massive error" as asked by Mr Guy. But he ruled out quitting immediately.

“I’m not resigning from the Parliament," he said.

People apologised on his behalf on Saturday night after the crash, after a staff member at his office attended the scene, and he said sorry to the family by phone on Sunday.

Read more here.

WA Premier Mark McGowan says the police investigation into the disappearance of Cleo Smith will be looked at by police forces in other states and the world.

Mr McGowan said police analysts had done marvellous work examining thousands of phone calls as well as mobile data to trace down the four-year-old, who was found locked inside a home in Carnarvon in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

WA Premier Mark McGowan addressing the media. Credit:Nine

“I was talking to the analysts earlier and I said there’d be movies made about this,” he said.

A smiling Mr McGowan revealed he was sleeping when Police Commissioner Chris Dawson had messaged him with the news just before 1.40am (local time).

“I woke up at about 3am and saw the message,” he said. “He sent me a photo of little Cleo on a hospital bed smiling.

“It often is a tragic outcome, but this is great news and uplifting for the entire country especially for those who put their life and soul in finding Cleo.”

Mr McGowan said there was “no doubt there’ll be changes coming from this”.

“It’s beyond belief that someone would do that.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan is due to hold a press conference shortly.

Watch live below.

The four new COVID-19 deaths reported in NSW on Wednesday included people in their 50s, 60s and 70s who had not received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The fourth person who died from the virus was a woman in her 80s with underlying health conditions who had received both doses of a vaccine, NSW Health said in a statement.

One of the deaths was from south-west Sydney, two were from western Sydney and one was from Queanbeyan.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the state was continuing to see the impact of vaccination in its COVID-19 hospitalisations and intensive care admissions, asking anyone who had not already been vaccinated to please come forward.

“We have got a little room to do better,” Dr Chant said, stressing that the state wanted to “leave no one behind”.

The Chief Health Officer asked people to ask around in their circles and check no one needed help in finding or attending a vaccination appointment and for the parents of 12- to 15-year-olds to make sure they are vaccinated in order to keep high schools open and safe.

“I’ve been so pleased with the uptake in the 12- to 15-year-olds who have come forward to get vaccinated [but] stubbornly we are seeing this taper off around that 80 per cent first dose level,” she said.

While 93.6 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received a first dose of vaccine, this figure is only 79.5 per cent in children aged 12 to 15.

She reminded people who have chronic health conditions including cancer or an organ transplant to check with their doctor as to whether they were eligible for a third dose of the vaccine, which can be administered as early as two months after the second.

Other people who were vaccinated more than six months ago are eligible for a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

The Acting Commissioner of WA Police, Col Blanch, has described the moment Cleo Smith’s rescue was captured on body-worn cameras.

“I’ve seen [the vision], it’s burned into my memory for life,” he told radio station 6PR.

Western Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch.Credit:Peter de Kruijff

“You cannot look at that and not just feel it in your heart, it was an unbelievable moment.

“I saw detectives who have worked for 18 days straight, 24/7, see little Cleo in a room, and just the look on their faces. Just the care that was expressed, the cuddling, the asking of her name.

“The little voice, she basically looked straight into the camera and said, ‘My name is Cleo.’ I mean your heart breaks just hearing that because you know she’s been there for 18 days.

“The relief on those detectives faces to realise this has really happened.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan is due to address the media in the next 10 minutes or so. Stay tuned.

The house where Cleo Smith was found after 18 days of tireless searching was just seven minutes from her family home in the WA town of Carnarvon.

Cleo was rescued from the Tonkin Crescent duplex property in the Carnarvon suburb of Brockman at 12.46am this morning.

The house where Cleo Smith was found.Credit:Josh Dawe, Nine News Perth

The house sits on a dusty patch of suburbia on the eastern edge of the small coastal town known for its fishing and banana plantations.

Police used battering rams and a crowbar to enter the house where she was found alone.

A 36-year-old man has been arrested, but no charges have been laid.

Read the full story here.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is due to hold a press conference at 10.30am AEDT.

He will be joined by NSW Skills and Tertiary Education Minister Geoff Lee and Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello.

Watch live below.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has released a statement on missing four-year-old girl Cleo Smith being found alive and well.

Here’s his statement in full:

WA Premier Mark McGowan.Credit:Peter de Kruijff

In the early hours of this morning, WA Police raided a house in Carnarvon where they found four-year-old Cleo Smith alive.

I’m beyond relieved. The nightmare is now finally over for Cleo and her family.

I’d like to thank the Western Australian community for all their assistance over the past few weeks, and acknowledge the WA Police who did incredible police work to bring Cleo home to her parents.

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