Why is this article in an Australian newspaper? You could hardly call it news.

it was in the Australian newspaper because it was taken from the newswire service and used as a filler story. Meaning they didn't have a story long enough or enough ads to fill the spot.(you can't leave a blank in the paper) And they probably used that because of the human interest side of the story.

Know all that tanyamm, just frustrated at the lack of news in mainstream - all conservative crap and lots of human interest stories ( which don't make the world go round.) It shows a total arrogance towards the readers.

You've got that right. They want us to buy and read papers, then give us something to read.
The papers that bother me are the little local newspapers. The letters to the editor section are the worst part. One letter can be over one and a half columns long, I'm talking short to medium length essays here. At least they're free.