The life expectancy of Australians has decreased slightly over the past year, due to a high number of COVID-19 deaths.

A boy born in Australia today can expect to live for 81.2 years and a girl 85.3 years, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

This represents a drop of 0.1 years for both genders between 2020 and 2022, the data shows, marking the first decrease in the life expectancy of Australians recorded since 1993-1995.

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ABS head of demography Beidar Cho said a significant portion of the drop could be attributed to COVID-19 deaths.

"This is the first time that deaths across all three years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been used in calculating life expectancy," Cho said.

"The first two years of the pandemic had the two lowest mortality rates on record from all causes, however in 2022 the number of deaths increased by 20,000, with close to 10,000 of these being due to COVID-19." 

Even with a relatively large increase in the number of deaths, the effect on life expectancy was small, the ABS said.

This is because more than half of the people who died in 2022 were aged 80 years and over.

Despite the drop, Australia is still ranked third in the world for longevity, behind only Monaco and Japan.

Both of these countries also recorded a dip in life expectancy over the past year due to pandemic deaths.

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Life expectancy is lowest for Australians living in the Northern Territory, at 76.2 years for males and 80.7 years for females.

The state and territory with the highest life expectancy is the Australian Capital Territory, where males born today can expect to live to 82.2 years and females to 86 years.

Life expectancy was highest for men living in the Sydney region of Baulkham Hills and the Hawkesbury at 85.6 years.

For women, it is those living in the North Sydney and Hornsby areas of the NSW capital who enjoy the longest life expectancy of 88.2 years.

The argument did not find favour with a Judge.

Traffic is backed up for about 6 km from the Tecoma Street off-ramp.

A knife-wielding man has held up traffic in the middle of a busy road. terrifying witnesses in Melbourne's north.

Captured on dashcam, the incident unfolded between two men near the Olsen Place strip of shops on Widford Street in Broadmeadows on Sunday.

A young man armed with a knife can be seen in the vision approaching an older man driving a blue BMW sedan.

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A bike can be seen being thrown before the older man pushes it towards his car.

After exchanging words, the knife-wielding man picks up the bike and walks back to his car.

Wassim Bailtaji, who works as a barber at a nearby business, described the incident as "disgusting" but not surprising.

"It makes me paranoid and (have) anxiety. It's not good," he told 9News.

"It's normal for the area.

"Something happened to me like this ages ago."

It's unclear what sparked the road rage attack or whether the men are known to each other.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, has CCTV, dashcam footage or any other information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Experts are urging Australians to stay up to date with their whooping cough vaccinations, warning an outbreak of the infectious respiratory disease could be on the way.

The last outbreak of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, peaked in late 2015 with 22,570 confirmed cases.

But infectious diseases experts warn the epidemic tends to occur every three to five years, meaning a major outbreak impacting infants, children and adults alike is "well overdue".

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University of Sydney Professor Robert Booy warned we could see a resurgence of whooping cough in the spring and summer months, when infections tend to spike.

"While respiratory infections such as influenza and RSV have recently risen to pre-pandemic levels, we haven't yet seen this with whooping cough," Professor Booy said.

"Whooping cough follows a fairly predictable pattern and it's very much the sleeping bear of respiratory infectious disease right now.

"We've seen years when whooping cough infections in Australia have neared 40,000, so we must be alert to signs of a pending epidemic."

Known as the "100-day cough", whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial infection that attacks the airways, causing uncontrollable coughing and difficulty breathing.

The coughing fits can be so severe that they cause vomiting, incontinence, broken ribs and hospitalisation.

Whooping cough is more contagious than influenza, measles or COVID-19 and, once infected, a person can remain contagious for three weeks or until they complete a course of antibiotics.

As symptoms of whooping cough don't appear immediately (often for a week or two following infection), the bacteria is easily spread.

Asthma sufferers are at four times greater risk of infection and higher risk of being admitted to hospital.

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Booy said people with an ongoing cough should practice social distancing and seek immediate medical advice.

"Increased levels of socialising and travel during the festive season facilitate the spread of airborne bacteria like whooping cough, so vigilance is required," he said.

Adults require a booster shot at least every 10 years to stay up to date with whooping cough protection, but research shows 80 per cent of Australian adults cannot recall receiving a booster.

The Immunisation Foundation of Australia (IFA) today launched the inaugural Whooping Cough Day to encourage all Australians to remain up to date with vaccination.

IFA founder Catherine Hughes, who tragically lost her four-week-old son to whooping cough in 2015, said there is still room for improvement when it comes to reducing the spread of the disease in the community.

"Most people associate whooping cough with babies, but more than half of all cases are reported in adults," Hughes said.

"Whooping cough can be fatal in infants and can cause serious illness in older children and adults.

"It's easy to check your immunisation status against whooping cough and organise a booster, and it's up to all of us to protect ourselves and our loved ones against whooping cough."

Australians can check their vaccination status by talking to a doctor, pharmacist or by accessing their Immunisation History Statement via the Medicare app.

A Melbourne man who admitted setting two bushfires while declaring civilians would be "tasted by the fire of Allah" has been found not guilty of attempting to commit terrorist acts.

But jurors found Aran Sherani guilty of doing acts in preparation for or planning of a terrorist act, after he admitted filming himself pledging allegiance to Islamic State while armed with a knife and bragging about being on the run from police.

"I'm currently on the run from police," he said in footage filmed in 2021.

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"I slipped away and by the will of Allah I was able to even go to a shop nearby my home and get this," he said, holding up a knife to the camera.

He said he would pursue revenge for Muslims and that the video was a pledge of allegiance.

"I pledge allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria," he declared.

Aran Sherani had earlier pleaded guilty in front of the jury to being a member of a terrorist organisation.

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He also hadn't shied away from the fact it was him captured in that video and in footage of two bushfires being lit in scrub in Melbourne's north in February 2021.

The then-19-year-old was even saying things a "real terrorist" would say, his barrister Pat Doyle told jurors in Sherani's Victorian Supreme Court trial.

His older brother, Ari Sherani, who admitted filming one of the videos, was acquitted of a single charge of attempting to commit a terrorist act.

Their lawyers denied the pair were terrorists or ever intended to be terrorists.

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Doyle claimed Aran Sherani, who is ethnically Kurdish and identifies with the historically oppressed and stateless people, thought filming the pledge video would help him be able to travel overseas to fight with the people of Kurdistan.

"It's the defence case that what Aran Sherani wanted to do was send the videos to people that he believed were members of the Islamic State group and… his purpose in doing that was that they would help him go overseas to fight," he told jurors.

"To fight, in particular, with the people of Kurdistan."

Ari Sherani was immediately freed from custody.

Aran Sherani will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.

The driver had no time to react as the animal bolted at him after being spooked.