http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/faheys-daughter-dies-in-crash/story-e6frg6nf-1111112743339
Deputy National News Editor
Sydney
A DAUGHTER of former NSW Liberal premier John Fahey has been killed after being thrown from her car in an early-morning road accident.
Tiffany Fahey, 27, a mother of two, was killed on Sydney's M5 southwestern motorway shortly after 3am yesterday when her blue Ford Laser hatchback swerved and rolled several times near the Moorebank toll booths.
It is understood Ms Fahey, who recently completed a nursing qualification, had suffered from personal problems and that her two children were in the care of Mr Fahey and his wife Colleen.
The death toll on the nation's roads over the Christmas period had reached 25 last night, one more than during the same period last year.
Melanie Fahey, 31, home from the US for the holidays, spoke on behalf of her family last night.
"It's a tragedy," she was reported as saying. "Another young life lost due to the roads.
"My parents are devastated, besides themselves. It's absolutely awful. You read about it being somebody else, you don't read about it being yourself."
Tiffany had been returning to her home at Camden, on Sydney's southwestern outskirts, after "a great day" at a family get-together at her aunt's Sydney house, Melanie said.
Mr Fahey, 61, and his wife were driven to Sydney yesterday from their home near Bowral, in the NSW southern highlands. Mr Fahey identified the body at Glebe morgue.
After leaving NSW politics following the Coalition's defeat at the 1995 state election, Mr Fahey entered federal politics and served as finance minister in the Howard Government. He retired in 2001 in the midst of a battle with lung cancer.
He is currently chairman of Connector Motorways, the builder and operator of Sydney's new 3.6km Lane Cove Tunnel, which is due to open in February.
Ms Fahey was found by a passing motorist lying on the edge of the southbound lane of the motorway. She had suffered head injuries. The motorist called police and ambulance, but resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful and she died at the scene.
NSW Coalition justice spokesman Chris Hartcher, who worked with Mr Fahey when he was premier between 1992 and 1995, said last night he had last seen Ms Fahey when she was at high school and described her as a "lovely young girl".
"This is absolutely devastating," Mr Hartcher said.
The Faheys have two other children, Melanie, 32, and Matthew, 36.
Across Australia, seven people died on Christmas Day - four in Victoria, two in South Australia and one in Western Australia. This was one more than on Christmas Day last year.
So far this holiday period, eight people have died on NSW roads, six in Victoria, five in Queensland and two in each of South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
The latest tragedy occurred in Western Australia on the Eyre Highway, about 108km east of Norseman late yesterday, when a truck driver was killed in an accident involving a prime mover and two trailers. The driver, whose name was not released, is believed to be from Mandurah, south of Perth.
Two people died in separate accidents on Victorian roads on Christmas night. Police say a woman was killed when her car flipped near Meredith, west of Melbourne. A man died when his motorcycle collided with another vehicle at Kyneton, northwest of Melbourne.
However, homicide police last night were investigating whether the collision was deliberate amid speculation the victim was riding a stolen motorcycle.
Police confirmed the bike that Dennis George Yannopoulos, 35, was riding belonged to the family of the other driver. Mr Yannopoulos died at the scene after he was dragged more than 20m along Piper Street.
The driver of the other vehicle was uninjured. He was questioned by police yesterday morning but released without charge.
The rain brought slippery conditions to Brisbane roads yesterday, causing more than a dozen accidents, but no fatalities.
In one two-hour period, police recorded more than six nose-to-tail accidents on the Ipswich motorway, causing some minor traffic delays.
Yesterday afternoon, a six-car pile-up closed one lane on the Gateway motorway at Eight Mile Plains, but motorists involved escaped with minor injuries.
A Brisbane police spokeswoman said: "We are urging motorists to drive to the current conditions and leave enough room between their car and the car in front to be able to stop in the wet and slippery road conditions that we are currently experiencing."
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