The long-term impact of interest rate rises has delivered almost half of mortgage holders a hip pocket hit reaching well into the tens of thousands of dollars, according to new research.

When we think about the impact of rate hikes, it's generally a fairly straightforward, short-term equation – higher rates mean higher mortgage repayments, which in turn means less spare cash for households to spend.

However, the string of 12 increases since May last year – which is tipped to rise to 13 later today when the RBA board gathers for its November meeting – is also preventing Australians from making extra repayments and getting ahead of their loan, according to Canstar.

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On average, homeowners contribute an extra $266 per month to their mortgage repayments, paying the loan off sooner and therefore saving them tens of thousands of dollars in avoided interest in the long run.

"Making extra loan repayments not only reduces the long-term cost of the loan but also cuts the period of time that borrowers are indebted to the bank and making repayments," Canstar finance expert Steve Mickenbecker said.

But the finance comparison service says 45 per cent of mortgage holders have lost the ability to invest in the strategy due to the cost of living crunch.

It says someone with 15 years and $200,000 left on their mortgage will miss out on $26,288 in interest savings, as they'll take three fewer years to pay the loan off.

For a newer borrower with $400,000 owing over 25 more years, the damage is far worse: $94,426 in missed savings and being locked into the loan for four years and nine months longer than what would otherwise have been the case.

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Or, for a new 30-year loan for $500,000, the difference between making extra repayments and not is more than $150,000.

"Unfortunately, right now borrowers are abandoning the strategy in their droves," Mickenbecker said.

"Many borrowers who had their heart set on repaying their loan earlier have had to ditch the idea to simply meet higher interest rates and the cost of living pressures.

"Making extra repayments to the home loan is a way to be financially free sooner.

"When the mortgage is repaid the homeowner can move on to their next big financial goal and continue to grow their wealth.

"Borrowers who have had to forgo making extra repayments will potentially be inhibited from launching into a full-on investment strategy by another three to six years of shelling out loan repayments."

The 38 per cent of mortgage holders who, according to Canstar, are making extra repayments at the moment could dwindle to an even smaller share of the market, with experts expecting the RBA to hike the cash rate a further 0.25 per cent today.

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That would push minimum repayments up once again, making it even more difficult to pay off a loan early.

Mickenbecker said it's hard to prioritise extra repayments while struggling with the cost of living, but that it's a worthwhile strategy when circumstances allow.

"When the Reserve Bank started to hike the cash rate 18 months ago, the banks reported that a high proportion of borrowers would cope comfortably because they had built up balances in offset accounts or available for redraw," he said.

"Fewer borrowers are doing that today and will as a result be indebted for longer and be less resilient to future shocks.

"It's hard to preach the message of higher repayments when borrowers are doing it tough, but times will get better and when they do, borrowers can and should go into repair mode by restoring their extra loan repayments."

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.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it is in Australia's national interest to be engaged with China, pointing to the significant trade ties between the two nations ahead of a meeting with President Xi Jinping tonight.

Albanese is the first Australian leader to set foot in China in seven years, a sign of the thawing relations between the countries.

Barriers between the two remain, though, including significant trade tariffs that are set to be on the agenda when Albanese meets with Xi.

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The prime minister said he was looking forward to constructive discussions with Xi after recent concessions made by China in relation to the importation of Australian barley.

"There are promising signs," Albanese said.

"We've already seen a number of the impediments to trade between our two nations removed and an uplift already, substantial uplift, in the trade between our two nations…

"Barley already restarting, barley arriving here, making a difference.

"What that means is Australian jobs."

From the outset of his prime ministership, Albanese had demanded that China immediately lift what he described as "unjustified" official and unofficial trade barriers costing Australian exporters $20 billion a year.

Those barriers have since been substantially reduced and now cost about $2 billion.

Labelling China Australia's most important trading partner, Albanese said it was crucial to remain engaged with the Asian superpower, just as it was to remain engaged with the United States.

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"Yesterday [at a trade fair in Shanghai] I was with 250 Australian businesses," he said.

"That's about Australian jobs. That has an impact on our economy.

"That has an impact on inflation and how successful we are.

"We are a trading nation. This is very much in Australia's national interest for us to be engaged just as it was in Australia's national interest for me to be engaged in the United States."

The comments come after Albanese stopped by the China International Import Expo to help showcase the produce of more than 250 Australian companies, including crayfish and beef producers.

Also on the agenda when the two leaders meet tonight will be human rights issues, with Albanese promising earlier to bring up the jailing of Australian pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in China without conviction for almost five years.

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"I'll be saying that Dr Yang's case needs to be resolved and I'll be speaking about his human rights, the nature of the detention and the failure to have transparent processes," Albanese told reporters in Darwin on Saturday, shortly before his plane departed for Shanghai.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry this week defended Yang's prosecution, saying his case had been handled in strict accordance with the law.

While saying he was "very positive" about the talks, Albanese vowed to be forthright with Xi when they meet.

"What he can expect from me is the continued patient, calibrated and deliberate way of engaging, and what I expect from President Xi is the same," Albanese said.

Laws that jail intoxicated Victorians will be scrapped on Melbourne Cup Day, in a move that advocates claim will protect the state's most vulnerable Indigenous Australians.

Being intoxicated in public will no longer be a crime from Tuesday, with Victoria to adopt a "health-led" response that will focus on targeted support.

The move will attempt to address the longstanding issue of indigenous deaths in custody, and was in large part a result of the tireless advocacy from First Nations communities following the death of elder, Aunty Tanya Day.

"These reforms strike a balance between supporting people who are intoxicated and community safety, and… will undoubtedly change and save lives," Minister for Mental Health, Ingrid Stitt said.

READ MORE: Public drunkenness will be decriminalised in Victoria on Melbourne Cup day. This is what you need to know

Indigenous deaths in custody were this year at their highest in the past 15 years, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology.

In 2021–22, there were 106 deaths in custody: 84 in prison custody and 22 in police custody or custody-related operations.

The important law change in Victoria was in large part inspired by the death of Yorta Yorta Indigenous elder, Tanya Day, who died in police custody after she was arrested for public drunkenness.

From November 7, public intoxication will now no longer be a crime and police won't be able to arrest people for being drunk and detain them in police cells.

It comes four years after the state committed to transitioning from a criminal justice to public health approach to the issue.

Instead, people will be supported to go to a safe space like a sobering up centre.

Police will still be able to arrest drunk people if they're committing an offence.

The health-led model prioritises services for First Nations Victorians, in acknowledgement of the disproportionate impact public intoxication laws and police interactions has had for too long.

"For too long we have seen First Nations Victorians disproportionately affected by current laws and too many tragic outcomes when they are in custody," Stitt said.

"Being intoxicated in a public place should not be a crime."

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Aboriginal outreach services will be operated across Melbourne, Frankston and Wyndham, supporting Aboriginal Victorians who are intoxicated in public.

The dedicated First Nations sobering centre in St Kilda will operate from an existing service that is already open and run by Ngwala, and other dedicated services will provide support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across eight key areas of need in regional Victoria.

There will also be 24/7 outreach services available for the general public across Melbourne.

The services will work alongside local health and social support services to ensure people can also access help for concerns like alcohol and other drug addiction, family violence, homelessness, mental health and wellbeing, or financial difficulties.

At 55 years old, former nurse Mia Smith* did not expect to be living in a crammed sharehouse with no hot water, no locks on the doors, a broken toilet seat and stained carpet.

But for three months, that was her reality.

As the nation's housing crisis continues, desperate renters are forced to settle for "unliveable conditions" in crowded rentals.

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After moving 40 times, Mia found the Melbourne property on Facebook Marketplace, agreeing to pay $910 a month for a room.

She lived in the share house for three months, until deciding enough was enough.

"There's no minimum standards to the place that is a requirement in Victorian law," she said.

"I've had to give up this room and break a lease that's non-existent … I'm basically homeless," she said.

She is now forced to couch surf at friend's houses while she searches for a permanent place to live.

Alice Stolz, national property editor at Domain, said Mia's situation exemplifies the harsh reality of the nation's current housing shortage.

"Fundamentally it speaks to just how severe this affordability and rental problem is," she said.

"People who really feel they have no options and have been driven to areas like Facebook marketplace really need to exercise caution."

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Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Victorian conference director Rebecca Auriant has been tasked with helping Mia, and thousands of other struggling renters, find a suitable home.

"I strongly feel that the exploitation of people who are vulnerable is a crime," she said.

"It makes me really sad that people like private landlords will charge excessive amounts for just a room … these rooms aren't meeting minimum standards."

WWII veteran Ronald Russell Allison died in a suspicious house fire at Te Karaka in 2013.

Weeks after marrying her soulmate, Grace Wilson received a phone call that changed her life forever.

"The man I married nine weeks ago was stabbed, that's a phone call no wife wants to receive," she said, in a statement read by her mother Barbara, to the Supreme Court on Monday.

"We were on such a high from getting married and that all came crashing down."

Wilson, 25, was left a single mother when her husband Dylan Bond, 26, was murdered and his brother Heath seriously injured, in April 2021.

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The morning after his death, their 17-month-old son picked up Dylan's work boots and searched their Geelong home for him.

"He kept searching for his dad to play with him," she said.

The Bond brothers' mother wept as she described being taken into a family room at hospital to be informed one of her sons was in surgery and the other was dead.

"I started to feel I too had left my body and I was looking down at myself screaming, shaking and crying uncontrollably," Fiona Hollowood told the court.

"My head could not cope, I had just been told I had lost one son and now I may lose another."

She showed the court a photo of Heath's injuries, and turned around to face her son's killer, Ashley Feetham.

"That's what you did," she said, pointing at the image.

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After a 12-day trial in October, a jury found Feetham guilty of murder and intentionally causing serious injury.

He faced a pre-sentence hearing on Monday, where more than a dozen emotional statements from Dylan's family and friends were read out.

Feetham repeatedly stabbed Dylan and Heath during a brawl at his girlfriend's Geelong home, amid a romantic dispute.

Heath's fiancee, Abbey Sexton, had an affair with Feetham and the pair began a relationship after she had broken up with him.

About two weeks after the break up, Feetham and Sexton were out when Heath caught wind his ex was nearby and met up with her.

Feetham interrupted their conversation and the men started fighting.

After the brawl, messages were exchanged on Facebook between Feetham and Heath's older brother Dylan, who said "let's sort it" and arranged to go to Sexton's house.

On April 26, 2021, Heath walked around the side of the house and yelled out "Ash", opening the sliding door.

Feetham ran towards Heath and stabbed him with a large kitchen knife, before Dylan jumped in and tried to restrain Feetham.

But Feetham then turned on Dylan, stabbing him multiple times including a large fatal wound to his chest.

Feetham fled with his sister, after she hit the wounded Bond brothers with a metal rake, and Feetham's mother drove him to hospital.

Dylan died at the scene and Heath, who lost 1.5 litres of blood, survived after undergoing emergency surgery and spending days in intensive care.

Defence barrister Hayden Rattray said Feetham acted out of "excessive self-defence" due to a belief the brothers planned to harm him.

"The offending simply would not have happened if Dylan Bond and Heath Bond had not entered the house," he said.

Feetham, who injured his hand in the fight, told police he felt "quite s— about it all" when interviewed, he said.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson said the offending was made more serious by Feetham's choice to use a knife and his history of violence.

Justice Stephen Kaye will sentence Feetham on November 23.

‘I fell in love with Reefton, because it is as a town used to be.’

‘New Zealand is entering a 30-year renaissance of growth and prosperity.’

A South Australian woman previously convicted of animal cruelty will face court tomorrow after being charged with breaching a court order that limited the number of dogs she was allowed to have.

Kerrie Fitzpatrick, 48, was handed a suspended jail sentence in August after being found guilty of 16 animal cruelty offences for keeping 300 dogs on a breeding farm in horrific conditions.

As part of her sentence, she was given a $500 good behaviour bond for three years, ordered to not have any dogs other than her two pets at the time, and told not to sell any animals.

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In October, the RSPCA raided Fitzpatrick's property in Lewiston, on the far northern outskirts of Adelaide, and seized 86 dogs and puppies that were allegedly in her care.

"Ms Fitzpatrick has been on our radar for some time, and this is an example of RSPCA South Australia performing its duty of care and actively enforcing prohibition orders," RSPCA South Australia's Chief Inspector Andrew Baker said in October.

"Ms Fitzpatrick was on the premises yesterday and we will be alleging that she is the sole owner of the property and that the dogs were in her custody, which puts her in breach of her court order."

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Fitzpatrick is due to face the Elizabeth Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Before her sentencing in August, the court heard Fitzpatrick had multiple convictions in Victoria, where she was handed a 10-year ban on working as a breeder before she moved to South Australia to do the same thing.

"If there was anyone who should have been obsessed about not being involved in a dog-selling business, it was you," Magistrate Karim Soetratma said.

A brave 700kg giraffe has undergone surgery for a case of sore hoof in Adelaide, with a team of specialists having to move her neck every ten minutes to avoid complications.

After suffering from a foot abnormality and swelling over several months, four year-old giraffee Nolean went under at the Adelaide Zoo last month.

It took a team of 30 vets, zoo keepers and other experts to anaesthetise and perform a two-hour procedure on Nolean, which turned out to be caused by a bad case of hoof overgrowth.

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"It was rewarding to see people with different expertise come together from across the country and work as a team to help Nolean," senior zoo keeper Arliah Hayward said.

There are significant challenges when it comes to anaesthetising giraffes safely, due to their size.

Adelaide Zoo's keepers and vet team worked alongside a team of external experts including animal and hoof specialists, experienced anaesthetic practitioners and x-ray equipment experts.

Vets and vet nurses monitored Nolean throughout the procedure to keep her stable throughout the anaesthetic procedure, collected blood samples, and took multiple x-rays of Nolean's hind feet.

The team of farriers evaluated and trimmed all four feet to address Noelene's hoof woes.

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Keepers helped carefully reposition Nolean's body once she was asleep, and managed Nolean's neck to prevent complications.

Adelaide Zoo Veterinarian David McLelland said taking care of a giraffe's neck was crucial under general anaesthetic to avoid a range of complications.

"It is a long way down when a giraffe is going under anaesthetic. They can easily injure their neck as the anaesthetic takes effect, and also in recovery. Modifications to the giraffe house were undertaken ahead of time to minimise this risk.

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"Once Nolean was anaesthetised her neck position was adjusted every ten minutes and several keepers massaged her neck muscles to avoid spams.

"Keeping the procedure time short is ideal for a successful recovery, so it was fantastic to complete the procedure in about an hour and a half," said David.

There are only 117,000 giraffea remaining in the wild and the species is listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union of Conservation (IUCN)

The outcome of the procedure was good news for Nolean, with x-rays showing an old healed injury in her fetlock.

Nolean was back on her feet shortly after the procedure and the dedicated team of keepers and vets closely monitored Nolean while she recovered from the anaesthetic.

Nolean is now moving around her habitat well as she gets used to her 'new shoes'.