One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering has acknowledged using illegal drugs during his twenties and has also disclosed that he was once part of an open relationship.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the former Australian Defence Force member said he had experimented with marijuana, ecstasy and amphetamines when he was younger, while firmly denying allegations that he had ever used ice.

Pickering addressed the media after claims about his past were raised by his former partner, Jo Scott.

“I had utilised illegal drugs in my 20s. Never would I have said… that I was a drug addict,” Pickering told reporters.

“I did use them as a young man. And I’m not proud of that,” he said.

Pressed on which substances he had taken, he said: ‘We’re talking about speed, amphetamines, ecstasy and marijuana.’

Pickering insisted he was not a habitual drug user and dismissed suggestions he was heavily involved in drugs.

‘I wasn’t an experienced drug taker,’ he said.

Asked if he had ever used ice, Pickering was adamant he did not.

‘Ice is not on that list. Never,’ he said.

He also strongly denied allegations he had used methamphetamine in a house while children were present.

‘It’s wrong. It’s the worst accusation, that I smoked ice in a house with children,’ he said.

Pauline Hanson’s former chief of staff and One Nation director James Ashby stood alongside him, defending Pickering and highlighting that the claims related to events nearly two decades ago.

Ashby also addressed claims relating to a note Pickering allegedly gave Ms Scott, in which he referred to acting in a ‘sexual’ and ‘devious’ manner.

‘Pickering was referring to behaviour that involved the couple’s open relationship,’ Ashby said.

‘They opened that relationship to a third person, and at the same time, Pickering was exploring his own sexuality.’

Pickering said one of his greatest regrets was failing to give his children the best possible environment.

‘I should have been able to provide them, regardless of being a young man, the best possible environment to thrive, as they deserved,’ he said.

‘You would not wish the trauma that these kids, these poor kids had to endure to have the type of relationship we’ve got. I’m just very blessed that they are made of the right stuff, and they have become more tenacious as a result.’

Pickering said he had spent years rebuilding his life and accepted responsibility for the harm caused by his actions.

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‘The mistakes I made in my 20s hurt people. They hurt me. They hurt people I loved. And I will live with that forever,’ he said.

He said his life changed dramatically after joining the Australian Defence Force at age 28.

‘What I did since then was change my life dramatically, for the benefit of not only my children, but for myself, and those around me,’ he said.

‘By joining the Australian Defence Force and starting on that path, I changed the entire course of my life.’

Pickering also admitted to drink-driving offences as a young man.

‘I believe I lost my licence for drink driving as an 18-year-old, and again, as a 20-year-old,’ he said.

‘Again, things I’m not proud of.’

He rejected other allegations made against him and said he stopped using drugs long before joining the military.

‘I stopped long before I joined the Australian Defence Force,’ he said.

Asked why voters should judge him differently from his critics, Pickering said people should be assessed on how they respond to mistakes, not only the mistakes themselves.

‘It depends how, as a matter of perspective, how you want to judge someone, by their past, or by the direction they’ve taken since,’ he said.

‘What have they done to redeem themselves? Not only their family, but their community, but within themselves. I’m proud of the man I am today.’

Ashby stood by his colleague’s record, saying Pickering’s experiences are similar to the backgrounds of many One Nation candidates.

‘People with lived experience. People that refuse to be a victim of their own past, and people that can hold themselves to a higher standard now,’ he said.

Pickering’s children also mounted a strong defence of him, accusing their mother of a years-long campaign against him.

His eldest stepson Johnny told reporters his mother was a ‘narcissistic, compulsive liar’ who had been targeting Pickering for years.

He claimed she had a history of substance abuse and said she was ‘loving what she’s doing at the moment to Warren and One Nation’.

Despite Pickering’s past mistakes, he said the One Nation leader had transformed his life and remained a positive influence on the family.

‘What he’s done for himself is unbelievable,’ he said.

Four members of a Florida family who vanished during a flight near the Bahamas have been found dead, relatives confirmed, bringing a desperate search effort to a heartbreaking end.

Mario Lamar, 80, was flying a Piper PA-34 Seneca on Monday morning with his wife, Lili Lamar, 79, and two grandchildren, Sofia Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22, on board when the aircraft disappeared from radar off the Bahamian coast.

By Tuesday afternoon, the bodies of all four passengers had been recovered. Family members were among those who joined the search, working alongside others who responded after the plane went missing.

In a statement shared with the Daily Mail, the family said: “It is with profound sadness that we confirm all four of our family members have been found deceased.”

“The search and recovery mission was conducted alongside family members and civilians who answered our call for help,” the statement continued. “Our relatives ultimately located our loved ones and had to bring them aboard their own vessels.”

‘We are now in communication and working with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring our loved ones home safely and with dignity.

‘We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported us, searched alongside us, and kept our family in their prayers. We respectfully ask for privacy as we mourn this unimaginable loss.’

Sofia, a neonatal physician assistant, texted the family chat to say the group was flying home shortly before they disappeared, NBC Miami reported.

Hours later, when messages to Sofia from her lawyer mother, 56-year-old Guilaine Sosa, went unreturned, the family looked up their five-seat Piper PA-34 Seneca on the flight-tracking service FlightAware.

The plane departed Great Harbour Cay at approximately 11.12am, and was en route to Opa Locka, Florida.

Data showed the plane was last seen on radar as its speed rapidly fluctuated before its altitude dropped from around 10,000 feet to 3,700 feet in just three minutes.

The plane’s path also showed it looped in a circle before it dropped off the radar over the waters off Red Bays.

FlightAware’s recording of the plane’s partial path toward Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport also shows it crossed rough weather near the north end of Andros Island.

Air Traffic Control reported it lost contact with the aircraft about 13 miles west of Andros Island, where authorities are now focusing their search efforts.

But rough weather briefly blocked Bahamian forces from initiating the search for the family.

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The US Coast Guard has also confirmed it was helping with the search. 

‘The @USCG is assisting the @TheRBDF following a report of a downed aircraft with four souls onboard approximately 15 mi off Andros Island, Bahamas,’ US Coast Guard Southeast wrote on X.

‘A @USCG HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane is supporting the search. The case is ongoing.’

In a desperate effort, Mario and Lili’s 52-year-old son, Mario, who is a managing director and financial adviser at Morgan Stanley, according to LinkedIn, decided to fly to the island to get a boat and help with the search.

‘Please help,’ Larrieu, pleaded, according to the Miami Herald.

‘I ask anybody out there, if you can help with search and rescue efforts, we would greatly appreciate it. We need to bring them home.’

Larrieu said her uncle was a trained pilot with 40 years of experience and always kept his plane in ‘pristine’ condition, with all required safety gear on board.

‘They’ve spent their whole life going there. That’s like their second home,’ Larrieu, said.

Public records show Sofia and Christian’s parents live in a $2.1 million home in Miami, and the grandparents they were traveling with live nearby in a $4.5 million home.

Sofia received her master’s degree from Florida International University in December 2023 and graduated from Wake Forest University in 2020, according to LinkedIn.

Christian previously worked as a freelance photographer for the Los Angeles Rams and graduated from Loyola Marymount University this year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Their mother, Guilaine, is an attorney in Florida who received her law degree from the University of Miami School of Law and runs her own firm, according to the Florida Bar.

A teenage fast-food employee who carefully put aside years of birthday cash has been caught out by a little-known tax rule aimed at preventing parents from sheltering money in their children’s bank accounts.

The 15-year-old, who has been saving toward his first car, made $6,200 working at KFC during the most recent financial year.

He paid those earnings into a savings account that already held several years of modest cash gifts from birthdays and other occasions.

The account earned roughly $500 in interest — a figure that, based on a typical 5 per cent savings rate, suggests his balance was around $9,000.

But when the teenager filed his first tax return, hoping for a $16 refund he planned to spend treating his family to KFC, he instead discovered he owed the tax office $50.

The boy’s father, Trevor Monaghan, a forensic accountant, said his son was furious with the outcome, especially since his brother earned more than him and still received a refund. 

‘When he saw he owed money instead, he was like, ”What the f***? Why am I paying tax when my brother earns more than me?”’ Mr Monaghan told news.com.au. 

While the teenager’s wages from his job were not the source of the tax bill, the interest earned on savings built up from the years of birthday money and cash gifts triggered the unexpected debt due to a law introduced 43 years ago.

Under Australian law, the first $18,200 that a worker earns is not taxed, with the young man not reaching that threshold.

However, children earning more than $416 from bank interest or other passive income can be hit with tax rates as high as 66 per cent, before the rate falls to 45 per cent.

The law was put in place to discourage parents from keeping their income in their children’s accounts as a way to lower their own tax bills.

Mr Monaghan felt the ruling was harsh but said it taught his son a lesson. 

‘He’s learning that you have to work within the system you’re given and that life isn’t always fair,’ he said. 

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‘It’s not even about the $50, it’s the disappointment on his face. 

‘He’s asking why the government wants his money when he’s just trying to save.’ 

However, Mr Monaghan’s biggest issue with the law was that the $416 threshold has remained the same for over four decades and hadn’t changed with inflation rates. 

If that wasn’t the case, that figure would now be over $1,350, allowing thousands of teenagers to put money aside for their first car, computers or university without having to pay tax on the small cash gifts received from family. 

‘This young generation coming through, how do they catch up?’ he said.

‘If you don’t own a house and don’t have wealthy parents, what mechanisms are there in the tax system for you to build wealth? 

‘Everything feels stacked against them. 

‘We talk about closing the wealth gap, but the system penalises young people trying to get ahead on their own initiative instead of encouraging financial independence.’ 

Mr Monaghan also argued that the cost of trying to figure out how much interest his son earned from his KFC job compared to his monetary gifts would be more expensive than the $50 tax bill. 

‘We have a system where you need to hire an accountant to help you avoid paying tax on money you legally shouldn’t be taxed on in the first place,’ he said. 

‘He doesn’t have the skills to do the daily spreadsheet, I don’t have the time, so in the end, we just pay the tax.’ 

Republicans are growing uneasy behind the scenes over Mike Collins’ Trump-backed Senate bid, as the campaign struggles under the weight of multiple scandals, an ethics inquiry and a massive fundraising disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is seeking another term, appears to be strengthening his position and building a lead that party strategists increasingly view as difficult to overcome.

A August InsiderAdvantage poll of 800 likely voters showed Ossoff ahead of Collins by 50 percent to 43 percent, with seven percent still undecided. The survey carried a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The numbers arrive after a summer in which Ossoff expanded his advantage, a trend that has begun triggering alarm among Republicans watching the Georgia Senate race closely.

Collins’ campaign is now being characterized as having “gone disastrously wrong,” with a string of political setbacks prompting fresh doubts inside the GOP about whether he can unseat Ossoff in November.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Republican strategists are increasingly concerned about the campaign’s fundraising, controversies and ability to break through with Georgia voters.

And the stakes go far beyond one Senate seat.

Republican strategists are warning that a poor showing by Collins could drag down candidates across the GOP ticket in a state that Republicans once considered safely within their reach.

‘Most politicos see the race, once considered a toss-up, as firmly blue,’ the Wall Street Journal reported, describing the situation as a major disappointment for Republicans.  

Democratic strategist Mike Nellis called Mike Collins an ‘absolute disaster of a candidate for the Republicans,’ though he acknowledged that Collins could still win because Georgia remains a closely contested battleground.

‘But putting him up against a politician as talented as Ossoff, who is running basically a flawless campaign, was a tremendously stupid thing for Republicans to do,’ Nellis told the Daily Mail.

Nellis said the situation was ‘entirely of Trump’s making,’ arguing that the president has repeatedly elevated candidates in Senate races who are unpopular with voters.

‘Trump keeps elevating people in Senate races whom voters hate. He’s doing the same thing in Texas right now,’ Nellis said.

He pointed to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying, ‘Texas likely would not be as competitive if Donald Trump hadn’t endorsed Ken Paxton, but here we are. Now they’re spending tens of millions of dollars there.’

On Georgia, Nellis added, ‘They’ve basically given up on Georgia. Just, I mean, bonkers-bad party building, and it’s going to cost his party in the midterms.’

 The trouble began almost immediately after Collins launched his campaign.

His official campaign ‘war room’ posted a launch video featuring the slogan ‘Georiga, Let’s Ride’ – misspelling the name of the state he was seeking to represent.

But what initially looked like an embarrassing campaign gaffe was followed by a string of far more serious controversies.

Collins has also faced scrutiny over a House ethics investigation into allegations that his chief of staff used congressional resources to hire an intern for a no-show job.

A House Ethics Committee report released in January said there was ‘substantial reason to believe’ Collins had used congressional resources for unauthorized purposes. Collins has called the allegations meritless.

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Revelations concerning controversial social-media activity by people in Collins’ orbit, including his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, have also engulfed the campaign in controversy.

The Daily Mail previously reported that Scheer, who lives on property owned by Collins, promoted white nationalist ideology, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Nazi imagery on social media. 

Among his posts were comments calling for Muslims to be deported and material promoting the white nationalist movement.

Scheer has not publicly offered a substantive denial of the posts described in the reporting. Collins, however, has sought to distance himself from his son-in-law’s views, saying Scheer has no role in his campaign and condemning the comments.

Collins also said the material was not representative of his own views.

A former intern for Collins was also photographed in KKK garb, further complicating the Republican’s efforts to broaden his appeal to Georgia voters.

The controversies have continued to overshadow his campaign, but ultimately, the biggest problem is money.

Ossoff has built one of the largest Senate campaign war chests in the country, with nearly $98 million raised this election cycle, according to the Journal.

Collins, by comparison, had raised about $7.4 million through June 30, according to Federal Election Commission filings. His campaign committee reported roughly $2.08 million in cash on hand at the end of June.

The enormous fundraising disparity gives Ossoff significantly more money to spend on his reelection campaign.

Republican-aligned outside groups are attempting to close the gap with major spending commitments aimed at keeping the seat competitive.

But the financial disparity illustrates the fundamental problem confronting Collins.

He is running against an incumbent who has transformed himself into a national fundraising powerhouse.

The growing concern inside Republican circles is not simply that Collins could lose.

It is how badly he could lose.

The Journal reported that some Georgia Republicans believe a Collins defeat by a significant margin could hurt other Republican candidates running statewide.

One strategist warned the Journal that a loss of more than six points could have consequences further down the ticket.

That is particularly concerning because Georgia’s 2026 elections include a competitive governor’s race and other statewide contests.

One Georgia Republican strategist, Jordan Fuchs, told the Journal that Collins was ‘really having difficulty breaking through’ amid his fundraising problems and controversies.

Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections also told the Journal there is ‘a general concern that Collins isn’t the right candidate or running the right campaign to defeat Ossoff.’

Collins ultimately won the Republican nomination after a competitive primary and runoff, with President Donald Trump’s backing.

Trump’s support gave Collins a powerful boost inside the GOP and helped him secure the nomination.

But it hasn’t translated into a dominant general-election campaign.

Instead, Ossoff has increasingly used the race to build a national profile of his own, positioning himself as one of the Democrats’ most prominent opponents of Trump.

Collins is set to speak at Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas, an event designed to help craft Republican messaging and rally the faithful amid a daunting political environment.

The Daily Mail reached out to the Collins campaign for comment.