Waka Kotahi has encouraged motorists in Northland to either delay their travel if possible or to be alert and brace for heavy rain and thunderstorms on their journey. Weather forecasters have issued a severe weather warning for…

Kmart shoppers have shared their amusement after opening Easter-themed crackers bought at the popular retail chain.

While bon bons have long been a traditional staple at Christmas gatherings everywhere, Kmart now sells crackers for Easter too – at $2 for a six pack.

But it seems even the manufacturers of the crackers have been left confused by the appearance of bon bons at Easter time.

One Victorian mum took to Facebook to share her surprise at finding Christmas jokes inside her Kmart Easter crackers.

"My husband got a good laugh out of the 'Easter crackers' I got the kids from Kmart," she shared on the Facebook group 'Kmart mums'.

"All six crackers had Christmas jokes in them…good old Kmart and recycling."

Many others commented that they had the same experience after opening their crackers on Easter Sunday.

"We've been laughing at that all day as we experienced the same! Every time someone would crack one open we would all start giggling again!" another Kmart shopper wrote.

Other shoppers weren't so amused.

"I was like WTF, Christmas jokes, never again," one shopper wrote.

It's not the only controversy to surround the Kmart Easter crackers.

Last month, when the crackers first went on sale, one shopper posted a photo on Facebook of an "inappropriate" charade suggestion she found in her cracker. 

Eyebrows were raised after it suggested acting out a scene from the adult book and film "50 Shades of Grey".

"Just make sure the adults vet the jokes/charade things before the kids get to read them and you'll be fine," the shopper wrote on the Kmart Hacks & Decor page.

Again, the joke inside the cracker was also a Christmas one.

Nine.com.au has contacted Kmart Australia for comment.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that from July 1 the government will radically increase the price caps currently placed on the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

Currently the scheme allows up to 50,000 first home buyers to purchase a property with a deposit as little as five per cent, with the government acting as guarantor for the remaining 15 per cent.

Yesterday Mr Morrison announced that the price caps on homes for the scheme will be lifted across almost the entire nation.

From July 1, the scheme will apply to homes worth up to $900,000 in Sydney and up to $800,000 in Melbourne, with raises across all states.

Still confused? Here's what you need to know:

READ MORE: Aussie property price crash 'unlikely' even though interest rates set to lift

What is the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme?

It's typically recommended that in order to avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (or LMI) an aspiring homeowner should have 20 per cent of a property's value as a deposit.

Given Australia's property prices have boomed more than the price of a single deposit in one year, the government has recognised that the hardest part of buying a property is saving for the deposit.

The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme allows up to 50,000 first home buyers to buy with as little as 5 per cent deposit, with the government acting as a guarantor for the remaining 15 per cent so first-timers don't have to pay LMI.

READ MORE: Australia's interest rate forecast to hit 1.5 per cent next year

What's the catch?

There's no real "gotcha" catch to the scheme – but it is limited. The scheme is limited to the amount of people who can do it, and the value of the property they wish to buy.

The government won't allow first-timers to buy with a 5 per cent deposit of a $10 million home.

So how expensive a property can I buy under the scheme?

It depends on where you live.

From July 1 this year the price caps for capital cities and major regional cities are as follows: NSW ($900,000), Victoria ($800,000), Queensland ($700,000), Western Australia ($600,000), South Australia ($600,000) and Tasmania ($600,000).

In the territories the ACT will be lifted to $750,000, the Northern Territory will be lifted to $600,000 and Jervis Bay and Christmas Island will stay at $550,000 and $400,000 respectively.

The full table and changes can be seen below:

Won't this see young first home buyers getting in over their heads on massive loans?

Not necessarily.

To participate, borrowers will still have to meet the usual loan and repayment assessments from their financial institutions.

This ensures that home buyers are protected against entering into a loan arrangement that could result in substantial hardship.

It is effectively shortening the home loan deposit saving period by up to a decade.

READ MORE: 'Avalanche of rate rises' looming for Aussie borrowers

How do I apply or find out if I am eligible?

The full rules can be found on the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation's website here.

Those interested in the scheme can apply via their lender or mortgage broker.

The NHFIC does not accept applications directly and does not use a "waiting list" for the scheme.

Will Labor support the scheme if they win government?

They will.

Today ALP Treasurer Jim Chalmers said they support the increase in price caps for the scheme.

'We've been very supportive of the government's plan for first home deposit save and we have said for some time that we don't think the caps are appropriate," Mr Chalmers said.

"So to the extent that the caps are being changed today, we welcome that. This is obviously not the only part of a good, broad housing policy.

"We have also got our policy around social and affordable housing."

Labor's social and affordable housing project policy can be read here.

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

Click through to see Australian politicians' throwback photos. How many can you recognise?

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Australia has today dismantled a major barrier to international tourists visiting down under.

More than two years after the coronavirus pandemic began, overseas travellers no longer need to provide a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test before flying.

This means travellers can avoid RATs and expensive PCR tests which had to be taken within 72 hours of boarding a flight, with a dreaded positive result causing untold chaos to a passenger's itinerary.

READ MORE: Qantas insider reveals other side of call centre crisis

International travellers must still provide proof of double vaccination and masks remain mandated on international flights.

Unvaccinated travellers may be required to quarantine on arrival in Australia at their own expense, while some countries and airlines require outbound passengers from Australia to take a pre-departure test before they can travel.

The ending of the government's long-running Biosecurity Emergency Determination heralds the return of cruise ships to Australian ports.

Travellers arriving on cruise ships must complete a Maritime Travel Declaration, documenting health and other information, before they disembark.

READ MORE: Almighty effort to prep cruise ships for Aussie return

It is now up to individuals states to decide if cruise ships can enter.

NSW, Victoria and Queensland will welcome vessels, with the P&O's 266-metre long Pacific Explorer set to dock in Sydney this morning.

Cruise liners were banned by the Federal Government since March 15, 2020, days after the infamous docking of the Ruby Princess where hundreds of sick passengers went onshore.

READ MORE: Airlines slash payments to Aussie travel agents

Before Russia's war on Ukraine began, Kira Obedinsky was a joyful, loved 12-year-old girl. Now orphaned, injured and alone in a Russian-controlled hospital in eastern Ukraine, she has become an unwitting pawn in Moscow's information war.

Obedinsky's mother died when she was a baby. Her father Yevhen Obedinsky, a former captain of Ukraine's national water polo team, was shot and killed as Russian forces fought their way into the southeastern city of Mariupol on March 17.

Days later, Kira and her father's girlfriend tried to flee the city on foot alongside neighbours. But after she was injured in the blast from a landmine, Kira was taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region, which is controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

READ MORE: Ukrainians defy deadline to surrender in Mariupol or die

Now Kira's grandfather, Oleksander, fears he will never see her again. He said an official from the breakaway government in Donetsk phoned and invited him to travel there to claim her, which is impossible because of the war.

He says he spoke to the hospital and was told Kira will eventually be sent to an orphanage in Russia.

The Russian government has said it has helped move at least 60,000 Ukrainian people to safety across the Russian border.

The Ukrainian government has said around 40,000 have been relocated against their will describing it as abduction and forced deportation.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has said that over 433,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Russia since Feb. 24, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have said that thousands have been forcibly deported to Russian territory after Russian troops blocked safe passage to Ukrainian-held territory and moved evacuees against their will into far flung parts of Russia.

Speaking to CNN, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of forcing people fleeing Mariupol into Russia.

"Several thousand, tens of thousands, were forced to evacuate in the direction of the Russia Federation and we don't know where they are, they've left no document trail," the president told CNN."

And among them are several thousand children, we want to know what happened to them.

Whether they are in good health. Unfortunately, there just isn't any information on this."Moscow has denounced claims of forced deportations as lies, alleging that Ukraine has hindered its efforts to "evacuate" people to Russia.

But CNN has spoken to a number of Ukrainians who said they were given only two options: Go to Russia or die. In interviews with 10 people, including local Mariupol residents and their loved ones, many describe Russian and DPR soldiers descending on bomb shelters and ordering those inside to leave immediately.

None knew where they were being taken. Five were ultimately sent to Russia; three have since made it out.

READ MORE: Russia bans UK PM Boris Johnson over sanctions

Ukrainian and US officials and independent human-rights monitors also alleged that Russian and separatist troops are processing tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians through so-called "filtration camps" where they are biometrically screened and their phones and documents are confiscated before they are being sent to Russia.

Oleksander said the Russians have also taken away Kira's documents and said she would be provided with new ones in Russia.

Russian media, which has repeatedly downplayed the brutality of the conflict in Ukraine, has shown video of Kira talking happily about how she's sometimes allowed to call her grandfather.

This is "proof" that she wasn't abducted, according to one Russian TV presenter, who dubbed the claim another "Ukrainian fake."

Meanwhile, Oleksander has received an audio message from Kira telling him not to cry.

But the young girl who has lost her family, her freedom and her home in Russia's war, cannot stop her own tears.

"I haven't seen you for so long", she says. "I want to cry."