Laotian authorities are reportedly preparing charges for up to 13 people connected to the calamity.
But in an interview with 60 minutes on Sunday night, mums Michelle Jones and Sam Bowles slammed the proposed charges as “insulting”.
“Pretty appalling, I’d say pretty insulting,” Ms Bowles said.
“We know that there’s no murder or manslaughter charges, which we feel there should be.”
Ms Jones said the parents were “pretty furious about it.”
The proposed charges include the elimination of evidence, violation of food and health security and unlawful business operations, 60 Minutes reports.
Christine Ahern is the reporter for the P.Diddy court case story.
Christine was on Jase and Lauren on Nova 100 to discuss the story. An audio clip of Christine’s interview with a former personal assistant of P.Diddy was also played on air.
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THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
SUNDAY, MAY 25, AT 8.10PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
FACING THE MUSIC
Dishonest. Violent. Horrible. A promiscuous swinger who lied to, and cheated on, multiple partners. Incredibly, that’s how Sean “Diddy” Combs’ own lawyers describe the billionaire music mogul, who is facing serious sex trafficking charges in a New York court. The defence tactic seems to be to try to convince a jury that while Combs might be extremely unlikeable, it doesn’t mean he’s guilty of criminal offences that could see him locked up for the rest of his life. It’s clearly a risky strategy, especially as more and more accusers come forward with information. One of them is Phil Pines, Diddy’s former executive assistant, who in an exclusive interview with Nine’s Christine Ahern, reveals startling allegations about the rapper’s vile behaviour.
Reporter: Christine Ahern
Producer: Sammi Taylor
SNEAK PEEK
POWER PLAYS
In the increasingly less-than-delicate dance for dominance in our region, there’s no denying China boasts superior force compared with our military. It’s an advantage the People’s Liberation Army love to show off, like they did earlier this year when Chinese warships provocatively sailed a lap of Australia. But while Beijing’s sticks are impressive, their carrots are also proving to be effective weapons, particularly when it comes to influencing our near neighbours. From Tonga, Amelia Adams reports how Chinese money has been buying plenty of friendship in the South Pacific. Adams also speaks with Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, to gauge the next steps Canberra is taking as China moves closer and closer to our shores.
Reporter: Amelia Adams
Producer: Serge Negus
SNEAK PEEK
THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 1, AT 8.40PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
SETTLING THE SCORE
In a series of award-winning stories, 60 MINUTES, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald exposed widespread corruption and criminality within Australia’s most powerful and militant union, the CFMEU. Plenty has been said about the far-reaching investigation, but until now there’s been a deafening silence from the gangland figures at the core of the scandal. A fortnight ago, investigative reporter Nick McKenzie took a call from a man with a fearsome underworld reputation, who had previously threatened him. This time, though, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. Former bikie enforcer, Jonny “Two Guns” Walker, wanted an interview to clear the air and settle the score. Not just with McKenzie, but with the union bosses he once regarded as brothers, that he now accuses of betrayal.
Reporter: Nick McKenzie
Producer: Amelia Ballinger
SNEAK PEEK
ANGEL OF DEATH
It is a crime as shocking as it is evil. The murders of seven babies, and the attempted murder of seven others, by a British nurse who preyed on the infants in her care. The audacity and magnitude of the horrors inflicted by 35-year-old Lucy Letby are striking. Officially, she is one of the most prolific child killers of modern times. But growing doubts could turn this case on its head. Letby’s backers claim concerns about the reliability of complex medical and circumstantial evidence used to convict her have been turbocharged by new information that raises serious questions about her guilt. The implications could not be starker. Either Lucy Letby is a sadistic monster, or she is the victim of the greatest miscarriage of justice in British history.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Anne Worthington
SNEAK PEEK
THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 8, AT 8.40PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
CRUNCH TIME
Since the very start, the harrowing 18-year mystery of Madeleine McCann has been a rollercoaster of high hopes and devastating realities. But right now it’s crunch time for the most high-profile child abduction case in history. This week, acting on information from German investigators, police have swarmed on a stretch of Portuguese coastline, close to where the British toddler vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment in 2007. They’ve been desperately searching for evidence, in a race against the clock to prevent the looming freedom of the prime suspect in the case, German paedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner. And, as Tara Brown reports, in this special 60 MINUTES investigation, they’re not the only ones determined to keep this vile predator behind bars.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Nichola Younger
SNEAK PEEK
THE INVISIBLE LADY
It is one of the most curious questions being asked of Donald Trump’s second term in office. Where on Earth is Melania? While the US President has barely been out of the news, the First Lady has been utterly conspicuous by her absence. Since her husband’s inauguration five months ago, Melania has largely given Washington DC a body-swerve, appearing at just a handful of official public engagements. Her defiance of presidential protocol and longstanding White House traditions has been met with head-scratching, scorn and plaudits in equal measure. So where has the First Lady gone? And what does her disappearing act mean for her 20-year marriage with the world’s most powerful man?
Reporter: Dimity Clancey
Producers: Anne Worthington, Nichola Younger
SNEAK PEEK
Beating a dead horse again I see Nine. Do they seriously have nothing else to talk about? Feels like this story comes up every few months even though there’s been the square root of jack in terms of development.
To be fair police did conduct new searches for evidence just this week. So it’s not perhaps as irrelevant as you think.
The Australian re Adam Hegarty and 60 Minutes
Diary can reveal Hegarty – who only joined the show two short years ago – is currently off on extended leave as he weighs up his future with the program.
Apparently, all that business-class travel and free-flowing champagne isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and the young reporter has until the end of the month to decide if he wants to stay or go. (Spoiler alert: we hear he’s been telling friends he wants to go.)
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You can tell 60 is under budget cuts. Adam and Dimity were very odd signings to begin with for this show. The replacements for Adam suggested in that article are even worse.
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Who are they suggesting?
Sam Cucchiara, Tim Arvier and Alex Heinke. It says that Christine Ahern deserves the gig, but won’t get it because they wouldn’t have an all female line-up.
‘Sent off on extended leave’, in other words, had one’s job description somewhat modified and someone isn’t happy.
Good lord, none of those options are any good. Agree Christine deserves the role.
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Was shared here a few days ago.
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THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, AT 8.35PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
BITTER PILL
It’s a scandal that’s hard to believe. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s as many as one hundred and fifty thousand young Australian women were coerced into giving up their babies. The reason? They weren’t married. For the vast majority it was a heartbreaking torment. But as Tara Brown reveals in this 60 MINUTES special report, there was worse to come. Tens of thousands of these teenage mothers, maybe more, were then made to take a drug to stop their supply of breast milk. What they weren’t told, despite it being widely known at the time, was that Stilboestrol, also called DES, was linked to cancer and other serious diseases. It’s a bitter pill that has not only wreaked havoc on the women, but they now fear they’ve passed on its terrible curse to their subsequent children and grandchildren.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Laura Sparkes
SNEAK PEEK
THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 22, AT 8.40PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
MURDER IN PARADISE
The words Fiji and murder are rarely used in the same sentence. Similarly, five-star luxury resorts are seldom the scene of violent crimes. Tragically though, the stabbing death of Australian man Jason Rigby in the tourist town of Nadi last December combines all three elements. But this murder in paradise is also one that, so far, hasn’t been investigated properly. In fact, if it wasn’t for the perseverance of Jason’s family, who were forced to hire a private detective to conduct their own inquiries, his killing would probably have been dismissed as not even suspicious. On assignment for 60 MINUTES, Nine’s Christine Ahern travels to Fiji to report on his family’s frantic mission to discover the truth.
Reporter: Christine Ahern
Producers: Laura Sparkes, Toni Ambrogetti
SNEAK PEEK
RUSH OF EGO
Two years ago, almost to the day, the United States Coast Guard was tasked with leading the search for the Titan, the submersible missing on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic. At first there was hope the experimental craft could be rescued, but as is now well known, 90 minutes into its journey and three kilometres below the surface, Titan imploded. All five men on board were killed instantly. Among them was Stockton Rush, the boss of OceanGate, the company which designed, built and operated the doomed sub. Not surprisingly he has been a main focus of the Coast Guard’s investigation into what went wrong. Its official report is expected to be released imminently, but as Amelia Adams reports, already this disaster seems to be a case of ego overruling expertise.
Reporter: Amelia Adams
Producer: Serge Negus
SNEAK PEEK