Online betting was the ‘direct and paramount’ cause behind Kyle Hudson’s decision to take his own life, inquest finds

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Kyle Hudson was “a young man brimming with promise”, with a loving and supportive partner, family and friends, and prospects.

“It was a near ideal picture – except for the grip that online sports betting had upon him,” the Victorian coroner Paul Lawrie said on Tuesday.

Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief secures second place, while Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe rounds out podium dominated by men

Cloudstreet, Tim Winton’s sprawling Australian family epic, has been voted Australia’s favourite book in a poll run by ABC Radio National.

The broadcaster announced over the weekend the results of a nationwide poll to determine a list of readers’ top 100 Australian books.