Arrests, expulsions and suspensions have all been used as debate rages over the rights and wrongs of the protests.

When Jill Crocket's husband, Steve, asked her what kind of house they should build on their regional NSW property, she told him she wasn't too fussed about what form it would take.

"I made the mistake of saying I didn't care if I even live in a shed – well, Steve ran with that," Jill said with a laugh.

What Steve ended up building on their Nemingha farm, in the state's north-east, was a "shouse" – or a shed house.

A shouse has the steel exterior of a shed, but with all the comforts of a home on the inside.

Shouses have grown in popularity in recent years as a potentially cheaper way to build a unique and appealing home amid soaring construction costs.

Social media is littered with groups where Australians show off their shouses, such as the popular Facebook page "Shed Life Australia", which now boasts around 150,000 followers.

For Jill and Steve, their shouse, which was completed three years ago, has been a resounding success.

"It turned out really well," Jill said.

"It just feels like a normal house. It's very open and big.

"People are amazed when they walk in, and it's just 'wow'."

For Steve, who did all the building work on the shouse himself over a two-year period, the benefits came in the substantial amount of money saved and the ease of construction, compared to a conventional house.

However, building a shouse – even from a shed kit as many people do – was not an easy job, Steve cautioned.

Steve came into the project with considerable experience, having previously built a bricks and mortar home.

While not a qualified builder, Steve said he was a retired tradie with "a pretty good grounding in everything".

"Obviously, you still have to have a certain degree of experience with construction," Steve said.

"It's not like those shows you see on TV where they are all having a crack at things with no experience whatsoever."

Shouses are also viewed as a standard dwelling by local councils and are required to comply with all the standards and regulations of a conventional home. 

"It's got to go through all the checks and it's got to be passed as habitable," Steve said.

"You can't build a shed and just live in it. They'll condemn it. 

"All the electrical and plumbing has got to be passed."

Once the external shell of the shed is built, cladding and insulation is added.

Shouses offered far more freedom when designing the internal layout than a conventional home, Steve said.

"There's no limitations on your room sizes," he said. 

"You can put your walls wherever, because it's all freestanding, it has what's called a portal frame."

Steve said he designed the home to be open plan and with soaring ceilings because he and his wife like open spaces.

It was a very straightforward build, he said.

"It's pretty clinical, it's straight lines and clean, I didn't put a lot of frills on it." 

The two-storey, four-bedroom ending up being a massive 1000 square metres, with half of that space dedicated to a garage for Steve's collection of old cars.

The shouse is so big it's been jokingly referred to by some as a "shastle" or a "shansion".

But the shouse came in much cheaper than a bricks-and-mortar home, largely because he was able to do all the labour himself, Steve said.

All up, Steve and Jill's shouse cost around a third of the price of a conventional home of the same size to build.

"We came in a bit over $500 a square metre," Steve said.

"A conventional builder will charge about $1500 per square metre. And then the more complicated and more you want to put into that building, it can go up to $2000 or $3000 a square metre."

Warren Thomas' company Tru Shed sells shed kits, along with packages which include design and engineering support, for shouses.

Over the past few years, Thomas has seen enquiries for shouses grow.

 "I get the gut feel (that the popularity) is predominantly down to a combination of people wanting to live off-the-grid and live somewhat differently," he said. 

"It's a fiscal decision, but then shouses look very appealing too." 

The flexibility of shouses was also an advantage compared to conventional homes, he added.

"You are only limited by your own imagination," Thomas said.

"Whatever you can think of can be built in a shed house. You start with a basic shed kit – a skeleton which has got cladding.

"But then, of course, the first thing that comes off is often the cladding because they want to put something trendy on it."

In many cases, the final product ended up not looking like a shed at all, Thomas said. 

Carissa Perkins, from NSW's Central West, designed her own shed home eight years ago, which she and her husband lived in for five years, before selling it for a profit.

Having worked as a shed designer for a shed company many years ago – well before the trend of shouses took off – Perkins had a thorough knowledge of the industry.

"I designed the shed, from start to finish," Perkins said.

"Then we had the blueprint drawn up, which I sent off to an amazing draftsman who incorporated the engineering of the shed in with the house plan. 

"Basically, it just looked like a normal house plan when we submitted it to council and it was approved."

Perkins and her partner bought a $30,000 shed kit and hired a local builder to do the construction work.

The cost-effectiveness of shouses was an important factor in deciding to build their home, Perkins said.

However, the cost of steel prices had gone up since their build, Perkins said, which had led to an increase in shed kit prices.

"We didn't do the cost comparisons (to a conventional build) at the time because I knew that a shed house would be so much cheaper. But I would recommend people do that today," she said.

All up, the cost to build their 295-square-metre home, including the installation of rainwater and environmental septic tanks, was $360,000, Perkins said.

"Our builder was amazing and we got a large home for such a good price," Perkins said.

Like the Crockets, Perkins said she was attracted to the idea of being able to build a unique home with a shouse.

Hers included raised, 5m-high ceilings and incorporated recycled materials, and was designed to make the most of the property's spectacular views of the Wellington Valley.

Double insulation and double-glazed windows helped make the home more energy efficient, Perkins said. 

"Inside, the temperature was amazing, even in summer. And then in winter, obviously it held the heat inside quite well." 

When it came time to sell the shouse, Perkins said she had no trouble.

"When we did open house, people just could not believe it when they walked through," Perkins said. 

"They were absolutely blown away. It was not what they expected at all.

"They loved how unique it was. We had no issue selling it. I sold it privately without going through an agent, and it sold pretty much straight away."

Matt Redfern, from Matt Redfern Constructions, is the local builder who built Perkins' shouse.

Redfern said there was one factor which could make it harder to build shouses going forward.

New residential sustainability standards (BASIX), introduced by the NSW government last October, were very stringent and could prove a problem for shouses, he said.

"The big issue that's going to come forward shortly is these changes to BASIX, because what they've changed is insulation levels and thermal comfort and all that's going to mean it's a lot harder to get those steel-clad buildings certified."

While it was "still a bit of a grey area" about how shouses would be affected, it could mean building with materials such as double-glazed windows became a must for shouses, which would add to building costs significantly, Redfern said.

Millions of Australians are in for a rude weather shock from today when a run of sunny, warm weather over the school holidays ends, giving way to damp conditions.

Large parts of eastern and south-western Australia can expect a soaking this week, bringing a risk of flooding in New South Wales and welcome drought relief for Western Australia.

Rain and thunderstorms, triggered by multiple upper-level troughs and low pressure systems, are forecast over coming days.

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They will bring major rainfall and possible flooding for parts of eastern Australia.

A weak cold front will also mean a drop in temperatures from today after many parts of NSW enjoyed warm and balmy conditions over past days.

The mercury in Sydney hit a top of 28 degrees yesterday but it will feel much cooler today, with a maximum 22 degrees forecast.

But rain and damp conditions will be the main feature of the weather for the rest of the week.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting 15mm to 30mm of rain every day from Tuesday, with potentially heavier falls on the weekend.

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Meanwhile, in Western Australia, showers and thunderstorms will develop over western parts from today before it spreads south and east.

Accumulated rainfall totals of 5mm to 20mm are forecast, but some areas of the far south-west could see more than 50mm by the end of the week.

This week's rain will be falling over parts of WA that have just endured their driest seven-month period on record, including Perth and Bunbury.

– With Weatherzone





Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, has become the first member of the UK royal family to visit Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, after she made a surprise visit to Kyiv.

Buckingham Palace said Sophie met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska, and delivered them a handwritten message of support from King Charles III.

The duchess also paid her respects at the site of a mass grave in Bucha, and visited a cathedral in Kyiv.

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Buckingham Palace said the purpose of the duchess' visit was "to demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war and in a continuation of her work to champion survivors of conflict-related sexual violence."

The timing and other details of the trip were not disclosed.

Before Duchess Sophie's visit, the closest a British royal had come to the conflict was a visit by William, Prince of Wales, to a military base in Poland, where he thanked UK troops for their service.

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The announcement from the palace comes on the heels of a declaration from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that the alliance's delays in replenishing Ukraine's weapons stockpile was handing Russia a battlefield advantage.

Outgunned, Ukraine's troops have struggled to fend off Russian advances on the battlefield.

They were recently compelled to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the east, where the Kremlin's forces have been making incremental gains, Ukraine's army chief said Sunday. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed on Monday (Tuesday AEST) its forces had also taken the village of Semenivka.

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"The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces," Stoltenberg said.

Kyiv's Western partners have repeatedly vowed to stand with Ukraine "for as long as it takes".

But vital US military help was held up for six months by political differences in Washington, and Europe's military hardware production has not kept up with demand. Ukraine's own manufacturing of heavy weapons is only now starting to gain traction.

Now, Ukraine and its Western partners are racing to deploy critical new military aid that can help check the slow and costly but steady Russian advance across eastern areas, as well as thwart drone and missile attacks.

Zelenskyy said new Western supplies have started arriving, but slowly.

"This process must be speeded up," he said at a news conference with Stoltenberg.

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Scotland's first minister, Humza Yousaf, resigned on Monday rather than face a no-confidence vote just days after he torpedoed a coalition with the Green Party by ditching a target for fighting climate change.

Yousaf, whose Scottish National Party has been weakened by a campaign finance scandal and divisions over transgender rights, stepped down after failing to strike a deal with a breakaway nationalist party whose single seat could have given him a majority in Scotland's devolved regional parliament.

With no prospect of victory, Yousaf quit rather than face defeat later this week when Scottish lawmakers were scheduled to vote on motions of no confidence in Yousaf and his government.

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"After spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for my party, for the government and for the country I lead, I've concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,'' he told reporters.

"I have therefore informed the SNP's national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader."

The debacle in Scotland adds to the fevered political climate in the broader United Kingdom, where concerns about immigration, health care and government spending have undermined support for the ruling Conservative Party.

The Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party had proposed separate no-confidence motions as they sought to weaken the SNP before a UK-wide parliamentary election expected to take place later this year.

The SNP has been the dominant party in Scottish politics for almost two decades and currently holds 43 of the country's 59 seats in the UK parliament.

On Thursday, England and Wales will hold local elections that are seen as barometer of support for the government.

In an effort to save his government, Yousaf had written to all of the party leaders asking for separate meetings to discuss their concerns "in a hopefully constructive spirit".

With all the other parties lined up against him, the tight electoral math in Scotland meant that Yousaf's fate hinged on the upstart Alba Party, which holds just one seat in the Scottish parliament.

The SNP has 63 of the 128 voting lawmakers, leaving Yousaf one vote short of what he needed to eke out a victory.

The mother of a young boy allegedly abducted from a skate park south of Brisbane has relived the terrifying moment.

The 10-year-old was allegedly snatched by a stranger and thrown inside a Jeep before he was terrorised for about 30 minutes on Friday afternoon in the Logan suburb of Kingston.

His mother, who did not wish to be identified in an exclusive interview with 9News, said her son was left traumatised.

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"My son now has to live with the rest of his life that he's been put in car, he's been [allegedly] kidnapped," she said. 

The man allegedly responsible had been furious his passing car had been hit by a rock thrown by children. 

But his mother said her son had been at a friend's house nearby when that happened and didn't go to the skate park until much later. 

He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, she said.

CCTV footage showed the Jeep returning to the skate park.

Two men and one woman were seen confronting three children before allegedly grabbing the 10-year-old and putting him in the back seat.

They then allegedly drove him around local streets for 30 minutes. 9News understands the group did not take the boy to a police station.

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"I don't wish that upon my worst enemy. Nobody should have to have that feeling of being told that their son's been taken. Nobody deserves that," his mother said.

The boy's friends called his parents, who began driving around the streets and found the Jeep less than two kilometres from the skate park.

His parents allegedly began brawling with the alleged kidnappers.

"My automatic reaction, I jumped straight out the car and straight to the back of that car," the mother said. 

"They were threatening to run us over. They'd already tried to run me over." 

The boy's father was allegedly knocked unconscious and hospitalised. 

"There were three or four – I don't know I can't remember how many – on him kicking him, hitting him," his mother said.

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The group then allegedly took off in the Jeep but were arrested about 10 minutes later on Ewing Street. 

"It wasn't really until we had (our son) in the car and we got him home that it was registering that we had him back. I just hugged him and loved him and made me appreciate that he was okay," the mother said. 

The man accused of kidnapping the boy, 27-year-old Teuvela Soe, has been refused bail.

A 22-year-old man and 29-year-old woman were also charged with assault and kidnapping but have been granted bail.

An immigration detainee released from detention following a High Court decision late last year is one of three people charged over the alleged violent bashing of a Perth grandmother and theft of $200,000 of jewellery from her home.

Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, 43, was arrested yesterday evening over the alleged home invasion, which took place on April 16.

He was part of the large group of detainees released following November's landmark High Court ruling, which found indefinite detention was illegal.

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The government opposed that ruling and rushed through curfew and monitoring laws in response to the decision.

Doukoshkan had been charged with breaching his curfew but was granted bail.

The aggravated burglary he is charged over allegedly occurred when Perth grandmother Nannette, 73, and her 76-year-old husband Phillip let three men into their Girrawheen home after they were shown a fake police badge.

Phillip opened the door and was allegedly immediately pushed to the ground and restrained by tying his hands behind his back.

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Nannette was allegedly held down as an offender repeatedly punched her in the face, causing her to lose consciousness.

Photos of Nannette's badly beaten and bruised face horrified police and the public.

Today, Western Australia Police confirmed they have arrested and charged a woman and two men – one of whom is Doukoshkan – with offences related to the alleged aggravated home burglary.

On Saturday, detectives executed several search warrants in Nollamara, in Perth's north.

During the search of a house on Newhaven Way, police allegedly found handcuffs, a WA Police badge wallet and police-issue brim hat.

Several items of jewellery were also allegedly recovered.

A 38-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were arrested at the home.

The man was charged with a number of offences relating to the burglary.

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On Sunday, police raided a home on Bangalla Place in Balcatta, also in Perth's north.

Police arrested a 48-year-old woman, who allegedly drove three men to and from Nannette and Phillip's home on the night of the incident.

The 43-year-old Doukoshkan was arrested during a raid on a home in Osborne Park.

Police allegedly found several jewellery items at the home and he has been charged in relation to the burglary.

Following his arrest the opposition has once again criticised the government over its response to the November High Court ruling.

"If they can't explain what they are going to do to make sure this never happens again, then they should both resign," Coalition senator James Pattinson said, referring to Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

"If they don't resign, the prime minster should sack them."

In a statement, the Department of Home Affairs said, "The safety and security of the community remains the absolute priority… we will continue to work closely with our state and territory partners". 

Several others have also been charged with related offences over the alleged burglary.

It will be alleged the accused stole more than $200,000 worth of jewellery and other items before fleeing the home on foot.

Investigations are continuing.

As the cosmetic laser industry booms, thousands are chasing perfect skin with quick and cheap treatments. 

But dermatologists are concerned the largely unregulated procedures are covering up the signs of something more sinister.

Sydney gallery owner Christa Billich consulted a cosmetic physician in 2021 after she noticed a small mark on her face.

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"He said, 'Oh, it's a sunspot, we can laser that, it's not a big deal'," Billich said.

For two years and with two different doctors, she underwent more than 12 rounds of laser.

But she later discovered her sunspot was actually a melanoma and laser was hiding the evidence.

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"It's still growing, unnoticed, to me or anyone else," she said. 

"The danger of having laser is much, much bigger than ignoring it."

By the time Billich had it triple-checked by a dermatologist the spot covered half her left cheek.

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"I thought, 'How could I do this? How could I be so ignorant and ignore everything? just because a couple of people told me it was a sunspot?'" she said.

Since the surgery in January, she has been cancer-free and her scar is healing.

"I have been extremely lucky," she said.

Specialist dermatologist Dr Ritu Gupta told 9News the laser surgery was unregulated in Australia, which made it "the wild west".

"Unfortunately the person that suffers is the public," Dr Gupta said.

"Once you've lasered it, you don't have any pathology.

"By the time it pops its head up again, it's going to be much thicker, it's going to be more serious and potentially have spread."

"We recommend that a person goes to a doctor, their GP, and they seek advice," Cancer Council NSW skin cancer prevention manager Liz King said.

Training requirements for staff in cosmetic laser clinics differ from business to business and state to state, with no national standard. In New South Wales there is no regulatory oversight.

"For anyone else who thinks they have a sunspot – please don't wait that long," Billich said.

More than 600 people gathered this afternoon to farewell Victorian woman Hannah McGuire, who was allegedly murdered by ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young earlier this month.

The 23-year-old was laid to rest today after an emotional service, weeks after her body was found in a burnt-out car in Scarsdale just outside Ballarat.

Her heartbroken family wore white ribbons to remember their "princess".

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"Hannah touched our lives in profound ways and her memory will forever be etched in our souls," mother Debbie McGuire said.

"Hannah we miss the way your presence made everything feel right."

"Rest in peace, Hannah. Always remember you mattered. You were important and loved and you brought to this world things that no one else could. Princess you will forever be missed," family friend Nicole Van Berkel said.

Hannah was remembered as a keen netballer and a primary school teacher, who would light up every room she walked in. 

Her students paid tribute in a video played at the service, in which they described how she made them laugh not just as a teacher but also as a friend. 

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"Hannah loved the children as much as they loved her," Van Berkel said.

"She had found what she was truly meant to do with her life."

Lachlan Young, 21, was out on bail for separate assault and burglary charges when he allegedly killed Hannah.

He has been charged with one count of murder and will remain in custody to face court in September.

Hannah is the fourth Victorian woman allegedly murdered by a man this year. 

She eventually pulled one of his hands off her neck and whispered ‘take the money’.