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 1. NSW Election 2015: Animal Justice Party wins a seat.

BY ABC

The Animal Justice Party has claimed the final seat in the race for the New South Wales Upper House.

Their candidate Mark Pearson edged out the other minor party in the running, the No Land Tax Party.

The MLC-elect is a former psychiatric nurse who has campaigned against sheep mulesing and kangaroo meat exports.

Animal Justice Party National President and founder Professor Steve Garlick said they got the win on a shoestring budget.

“We ran on a total budget of $12,000, and a lot of passion,” he said.

Professor Garlick said at one fundraiser the candidate Mr Pearson put his operatic skills to good use and sang to raise money.

The result does not affect the balance of power in the Upper House.

That lies with the Christian Democrats, who today claimed a second seat in the legislative council.

This post originally appeared online at the ABC.

2. Husband charged with more than 100 domestic violence offences.

A man has been charged with more than 100 offences against his wife, allegedly committed over 18 years, including soliciting to murder.

The 48-year-old man came to police attention in February after his 51-year-old wife jumped from the first-floor balcony of their home in Sydney’s south-west during a domestic dispute, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Police have charged the man with 103 offences, which date back to the 1990s and include solicit to murder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and sexual intercourse without consent.

He was remanded in custody to reappear in court in June.

3. Plane seat for obese passengers wins a “Cabin Oscar” for innovation.

An aeroplane seat designed to accommodate both obese passengers and passengers travelling with small children has won an award for innovation.

The top Crystal Cabin Award – known as the “Cabin Oscars” – in the passenger comfort category went to SII Deutschland for a seat design that used wasted space to create the adaptable seats, Traveller reports.

The seat would be located at the back of the plane and would be one-and-a-half times the width of a normal seat.

4. Teacher filmed trying to hire a hitman to murder a 15-year-old student after he ended their affair.

A Russian music teacher was allegedly caught on camera ordering a ‘hit’ on a teenage student after the 15-year-old dumped her for a classmate.

Yulia Simonova, 52, is accused of asking a cop posing as an assassin to make the boy slowly bleed to death before she “finished” him and has been charged with attempted murder, the Daily Mail reports.

Simonova allegedly showered the student with gifts and money for a year before he ended their relationship.

She allegedly told the undercover policeman: ‘You must really beat him up because I want him to suffer from unbearable pain.”

What’s making news for you today?