Jim Jefferies described the fatal crash and grounding of the ADF fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters as “terrible”, “intentionally-drawn out” and a “government cover-up”, while appearing on the ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast with American comedian Theo Von in late August.

The carrier that would become Australia’s second largest airline group operated its first flight, from Brisbane to Sydney, on 31 August 2000, and benefited from the collapse of Ansett a year later before rebranding to Virgin Australia in 2011.

The Indonesian flag carrier will add more services from Melbourne to Denpasar, as well as from both Melbourne and Sydney to Jakarta, as demand rises for travel between Indonesia and Australia.

The fourth stage of the Gold Coast light rail, which would have connected Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta via the airport, has been given the chop and will be potentially replaced by “multi-modal transport” including more rapid bus services and possible future heavy rail.