Heavy rain and whistling winds of about 220 kilometres per hour have lashed northern provinces, as clean-up crews eye a grim task ahead.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard's ex-partner will admit to a sexual assault charge but may escape a criminal conviction over the crime.

Timothy Raymond Mathieson, 66, appeared remotely in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday from his lawyer's office.

The court was told Mathieson was initially facing three charges.

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He sat behind his barrister Brad Penno, who told the court Mathieson would plead guilty to one sexual assault charge.

The prosecution will strike out the other two charges.

Penno asked for Mathieson to be assessed for a diversion, which would mean he escapes a criminal conviction and has the case diverted out of the justice system.

The prosecution asked for two weeks to assess whether a diversion would be appropriate.

Mathieson will return to the court on August 31 for a further mention.

Mathieson was in a relationship with Gillard for more than 10 years but the pair are no longer together.

The pair met when he was working as a hairdresser, before he moved into property.

In March 2022, Gillard told the Adelaide Advertiser they had broken up about 18 months earlier.

The couple lived together at The Lodge and Kirribilli House throughout her three-year term as prime minister.

He was colloquially known as the "first bloke", a reference to the tradition of the wives of US presidents being called first ladies.

A spokesperson for Julia Gillard said she will not be making any comment on the matter.

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Exclusive: Just over two-thirds of readers surveyed think it is time for more employees to return to the office or in-person work, according to an exclusive poll.

The poll of 535 Nine.com.au readers found that 67 per cent believe it is now time more employees return to the workplace following a big shift to work from home prompted by the COVID pandemic.

The survey suggested readers miss the community workplaces provided when working from home, with just under half listing interaction with colleagues and the social aspect of the office being the biggest drawback when working remotely.

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However, the research shows working from home reduces congestion, increases productivity and saves people time and money.

Decision-making and choice professor at the University of Sydney Business School Matthew Beck said people wanted to go to the office because "everyone recognises that social interaction is important".

"Knowing your colleagues is important, being creative and brainstorming is far easier in the flesh."

He said his research showed most people who were able to work from home strongly expressed a desire to "have a balance between working from home and working from an office location".

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"What we found is that people really enjoy working from home because it gives them a little bit more dedicated time for thinking and getting through more complex tasks where you don't want a lot of interruptions."

The biggest benefit of working from home was no commute, according to nearly half of the readers surveyed.

Beck said during the peak of the pandemic people were saving roughly $1700 in actual monetary costs and about $3000 in time savings a year.

He said currently people commuting 30 kilometres to and from a workplace were losing about 240 hours per year due to congestion, which was costing them an additional $450 a year in petrol.

"In an environment where we are all busy, and the cost of living is going up, not having to commute can save time and can save money.

"When people save time, they are taking almost half of that time that they are saving from commuting and using it to do more work.

"So there is benefit to employers and from people working from home as well."

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Just over one-third of readers polled thought a company's work-from-home policy was important when accepting a job offer.

Readers were also not willing to take a pay cut to be able to work from home, which was consistent with Beck's findings.

"If you have got two jobs that are identical, one offers work flexibility and the other does not, the one that does not would have to offer about $6000 per year more to make it equally attractive as the one that does offer working from home."

He said at the moment their research showed people who could work from home wanted to work remotely about two to three days per week, which would save the average person 72 minutes a day from not commuting.

That adds up to three weeks per year saved.

Beck said there were some people who couldn't work from home and might have the view that everyone should be back in the workplace because they had to be.

But he said having more people working from home was a good thing as it was the easier way to ease congestion on our roads and public transport network.

"When the systems are very congested all it takes is for something very small to happen and the system falls apart, traffic stops moving.

"So if people can work from home then you are taking stress out of the system, the system flows better so those people who have to travel benefit through better travel times and a more reliable travel network."

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He said if the systems were less congested due to less commuters, it could save governments and taxpayers billions on building new rail networks and roads.

Despite the continued divide between in-person and remote work, Beck said all the research they had done showed worker productivity remained unchanged.

"We were looking at workers evaluating their own productivity, but also the employers evaluating the productivity of their workers.

"So the idea that people are less productive while working from home is not really backed up through any form of evidence and now that we are better at working from home… then productivity might even increase."

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A desperate appeal is underway to find a match for an Australian mother-of-two's extremely rare blood type as she awaits urgent and life-saving open-heart surgery.

Adelaide mum Amira, 37, has a blood type so rare just one in 10,000 people might be a match, a figure officials say has prompted them to look overseas, after potentially "exhausting Australian supplies".

The 37-year-old remains in hospital as Lifeblood, with the Australian Red Cross, hunt to source 20 bags of blood that the mum will require before, during and after her surgery.

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Any O or A blood donor in Australia – or internationally – could be a match.

"Most people will be either O or A blood type, but Amira has a rare combination of other blood types that need to be matched, which means any donor with O or A blood type might prove to be a perfect match," Lifeblood Medical Director Dr James Daly said.

"We have identified a few suitable donors, but this mum will require a large number of units to see her through her surgery and finding as many donors as we can with the right blood type will ensure we can meet her transfusion needs both now and, in the future.

"We've exhausted Australian supplies of this rare blood type and we're now working with international blood services to search for potential donors.

"We hope to receive a small number of units from overseas but for Amira's surgery to proceed safely at least 15 donors with the same rare combination of blood types are still needed within the next few weeks."

Daly encouraged Aussies who think they're a match to "book a donation over the coming week", with all donated blood set to be "tested to identify donations that will undergo further screening to find a suitable match."

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Amira's husband Ahmed echoed Daly's sentiment and thanked those who had already donated. 

"We are so grateful to family, friends and the wonderful people in the community, many of whom we do not know, who have heard about Amira's plight and have rolled up a sleeve to donate blood," he said.

"I urge as many people as possible across the country with O and A blood to donate blood this week, so we can find more donors to help Amira.

"This is not a situation you ever expect to find yourself in. Any help or support is much appreciated."

To be a match for Amira a donor's blood type must be "O" or "A".

If a donor does not know their blood type, they should still donate to see if they are a possible match, Lifeblood says.

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The search of Rex Heuermann's Long Island home has ended after investigators turned up "quite a lot of evidence" in the Gilgo Beach serial killings, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Tuesday.

"We are for all intents and purposes done with the search," Tierney told reporters.

The district attorney said it will take "some time" for analysts to review the "massive amount of material" collected from the cluttered home, including around 279 weapons.

READ MORE: Musician, activist Sinéad O'Connor dead at 56

Investigators had been digging up the yard in Heuermann's Massapequa Park home for days, using ground-penetrating radar, a backhoe and a police dog in the search for additional evidence, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Monday.

"There was nothing of note taken from the backyard, as far as remains," said Tierney, adding that investigators will be conducting forensic and DNA analysis on any items recovered inside the home, including hair fibers.

Authorities have been operating on the theory that Heuermann committed the killings in his home, which is just a few miles from where the remains of the women were found.

Heuermann was arrested July 13 in New York City, where he worked as an architectural consultant, and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the "Gilgo Four" – women whose remains were found in 2010 along a short stretch of Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach.

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He has pleaded not guilty in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.

"I did not do this," his court appointed-attorney, Michael Brown, said Heuermann told him.

The 59-year-old architect is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and killing of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, but he has not been charged in that case.

"We're working towards that," Tierney said, referring to the filing of charges in the fourth case.

The disappearances occurred during times that Heuermann's family was out of town, suggesting he may have lured victims to the home where he lived with his wife, their daughter and stepson, according to a source involved in the investigation.

Committing the killings at home would have given Heuermann control of the environment and access to materials that were found at the crime scene, including tape and burlap bags, the source told CNN.

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Investigators discovered between 200 and 300 guns stashed in a walled-off vault which was locked behind a metal door in the home, a source told CNN.

Harrison confirmed there was a vault with guns at the home.

The investigation has expanded to other parts of the country.

Police in Las Vegas are sifting through unsolved cases that Heuermann may have been involved in.

The suspect and his wife had bought two timeshare condos in Las Vegas between 2003 and 2005, according to property records obtained by CNN.

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The couple sold the first property, the records show, and it is unclear whether they still own the second.

In northern South Carolina's Chester County, where tax records show Heuermann owns four large parcels of land, the sheriff's office said it has been gathering evidence since before the suspect's arrest.

Heuermann was first identified as a potential suspect in early 2022, shortly after a multi-agency task force was formed to examine cold cases involving nearly a dozen sets of human remains found along Long Island's South Shore between 2010 and 2011, including the Gilgo Four.

"We're going to look at the other instances where the bodies were recovered in that area as well," Tierney said Tuesday.

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A towering construction crane caught fire high above the West Side of Manhattan on Wednesday morning, causing its long arm to snap off, smash against a nearby building and plummet to the street as people ran for their lives on the sidewalk below.

Several people suffered minor injuries in the collapse, but no one died, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.

"As you can see from the debris on the street, this could have been much worse," the Democrat said at a news conference, noting that the street at that hour of the morning is often filled with pedestrians, cars and buses.

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The crane was operating 45 stories up when its engine compartment caught fire at around 7:25am, authorities said.

Photos and videos on social media show flames bursting from the crane hundreds of feet above 10th Avenue at 41st Street.

The crane's arm, which was carrying a 16-ton load of concrete, dangled before breaking off.

"That weight of 16 tons is attached by a cable," said Joseph Pfeifer, first deputy commissioner for the Fire Department of New York. "As the fire heats the cable, the cable weakens to a point where it loses its strength, and that's where the collapse occurred."

The person operating the crane tried to put out the fire as it spread but had to flee to safety, Pfeifer said.

Nine civilians experienced minor injuries in the collapse or its aftermath, according to a fire department spokesperson.

Two firefighters experienced heat exhaustion and chest pains.

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A worker at a nearby construction site said everyone stopped and watched as flames engulfed the top of the crane and a column of black smoke rose above buildings.

Within a few minutes, firefighters were shooting water down at the blaze from a balcony of an adjacent building.

"I never seen anything like that," said Charles Pescatore, 18, a college helper on a construction site a few blocks away. "It could have killed a bunch of people."

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Authorities said they also planned to investigate the structural integrity of the residential tower, which is under construction and expected to rise to 54 stories.

The crane is owned by the New York Crane & Equipment Corp, one of the city's most widely used crane providers, officials said.

The Queens-based company has been involved in other crane problems in recent years, leading to criminal charges and new safety measures around New York City's crane operations.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

In May of 2008, a collapse of the company's tower crane killed two workers on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The company and its owner, James Lomma, were acquitted of manslaughter and other charges; a mechanic pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

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It was one of two deadly crane accidents in 2008, leading to the resignation of the city's buildings commissioner, as well as new safety measures around testing and oversight of crane operations.

Five years later, a crane owned by the company left a concrete cube dangling above a bustling pedestrian area for several hours, shutting down a major thoroughfare in Midtown Manhattan.

Delecia McInnis, a Long Island resident who saw the crane come down Wednesday, said she was surprised no one was seriously injured.

"There's so many things going on at 7 o'clock in the city, people are going to school, summer camp, there's always someone around in this area," she said.

The location is near the Port Authority Bus Terminal and an entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, which carries auto traffic to and from New Jersey under the Hudson River.

Streets surrounding the site were closed to traffic on Wednesday morning.

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Inflation slowing is good news for many Aussie households but economists fear it may not be quite enough for the Reserve Bank of Australia to hold on its next rate decision.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest data showed on a 12-month basis from June this year inflation grew by 6 per cent, down from 7 per cent in the prior quarter.

Impact Economics' lead economist Dr Angela Jackson told 9news.com.au the annualised rate of inflation is running at 3.2 per cent which is close to the Reserve Bank of Australia's target range of 2 to 3 per cent.

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"It is really good news for Australian households in terms of facing cost of living pressures," she said, noting it puts pressure on the Reserve Bank to ease interest rate rises given the financial impact on households.

But the composition of the inflation data has changed which could also cause concern for the central bank.

"We are seeing weaker inflation in terms of goods, supply issues have resolved and demand has shifted but we're seeing stronger inflation in services like hairdressing, childcare, rent and insurance," she said.

"That may cause concern to the Reserve Bank that inflation is becoming entrenched. So while they're seeing it slow significantly, some of these price rises are becoming entrenched in the economy.

"It may give them reason to think a little bit harder to lift [interest rates] again."

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But the decision remains in the hands of the central bank which wants to battle inflation.

Canstar's editor-at-large Effie Zahos said having headline inflation come in better than the central bank's forecast of 6.3 per cent annually does increase the chance of a pause in the August decision.

"Even though job numbers in June came in surprisingly strong, the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator," she said.

"If the June retail sales, which come out on Friday, are flat then there is certainly less pressure for the Reserve Bank to hike the cash rate in August."

Currently, the cash rate sits at 4.1 per cent after the bank held at the July decision.

On a $500,000 loan, mortgage holders are paying approximately $1217 more a month than they were in May last year.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe and the board did weigh up another increase in the July decision despite surging repayments and likely will again in the August call.

"Members agreed that some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to bring inflation back to target within a reasonable timeframe, but that this depended on how the economy and inflation evolve," the recent minutes read.

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Inflation doesn't just relate to the central bank's decision it can also signal good news for grocery prices as goods inflation slows.

Annual inflation for goods was 5.8 per cent in the latest data, down from 7.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Jackson said hopefully grocery shop costs will alleviate in the coming months as high inflation slows but the question remains whether prices will fall as quickly in Australia as overseas.

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"It might not happen due to a lack of competition in some of these markets like supermarkets and big retailers where there isn't the same level of big competition," she said.

"I think the Reserve Bank will be keeping a close eye on that. As demand comes off and supply side issues resolve, do we see all the price decreases flow through to consumers as well."

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Sinéad O'Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," the singer's family said in a statement reported Wednesday by the BBC and RTE. No cause was disclosed.

She was public about her mental illness, saying that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. O'Connor posted a Facebook video in 2017 from a New Jersey motel where she had been living, saying that she was staying alive for the sake of others and that if it were up to her, she'd be "gone."

When her teenage son Shane died by suicide in 2022, O'Connor tweeted there was "no point living without him" and was soon hospitalised.

Recognisable by her shaved head and elfin features, O'Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. She was a star from her 1987 debut album "The Lion and the Cobra" and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince's ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U," a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the grey-eyed O'Connor in intense close-up.

She was a lifelong non-conformist — she would say that she shaved her head in response to record executives pressuring her to be conventionally glamorous — but her political and cultural stances and troubled private life often overshadowed her music.

A critic of the Catholic Church well before allegations sexual abuse were widely reported, O'Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing live on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and denounced the church as the enemy.

The next week, Joe Pesci hosted "Saturday Night Live," held up a repaired photo of the Pope and said that if he had been on the show with O'Connor he "would have gave her such a smack."

Days later, she appeared at an all-star tribute for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden and was immediately booed. She was supposed to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You," but switched to an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War," which she had sung on "Saturday Night Live."

Although consoled and encouraged on stage by her friend Kris Kristofferson, she left and broke down, and her performance was kept off the concert CD. (Years later, Kristofferson recorded "Sister Sinead," for which he wrote "And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't/But so was Picasso and so were the saints.")

She also feuded with Frank Sinatra over her refusal to allow the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at one of her shows and accused Prince of physically threatening her. In 1989 she declared her support for the Irish Republican Army, a statement she retracted a year later. Around the same time, she skipped the Grammy ceremony, saying it was too commercialised.

In 1999, O'Connor caused uproar in Ireland when she became a priestess of the breakaway Latin Tridentine Church — a position that was not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church.

For many years, she called for a full investigation into the extent of the church's role in concealing child abuse by clergy. In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland to atone for decades of abuse, O'Connor condemned the apology for not going far enough and called for Catholics to boycott Mass until there was a full investigation into the Vatican's role, which by 2018 was making international headlines.

"People assumed I didn't believe in God. That's not the case at all. I'm Catholic by birth and culture and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation," she wrote in the Washington Post in 2010.

O'Connor announced in 2018 that she had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name Shuhada' Davitt, later Shuhada Sadaqat — although she continued to use Sinéad O'Connor professionally.

"Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in a statement on social media.

O'Connor was born on December 8, 1966. She had a difficult childhood, with a mother whom she alleged was abusive and encouraged her to shoplift. As a teenager she spent time in a church-sponsored institution for girls, where she said she washed priests' clothes for no wages.

But a nun gave O'Connor her first guitar, and soon she sang and performed on the streets of Dublin, her influences ranging from Dylan to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Her performance with a local band caught the eye of a small record label, and, in 1987, O'Connor released "The Lion and the Cobra," which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and featured the hit "Mandinka," driven by a hard rock guitar riff and O'Connor's piercing vocals. O'Connor, 20 years old and pregnant while making "Lion and the Cobra," co-produced the album.

"I suppose I've got to say that music saved me," she said in an interview with the Independent newspaper in 2013. "I didn't have any other abilities, and there was no learning support for girls like me, not in Ireland at that time. It was either jail or music. I got lucky."

"Nothing Compares 2 U" received three Grammy nominations and was the featured track off her acclaimed album "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got," which helped lead Rolling Stone to name her Artist of the Year in 1991.

"She proved that a recording artist could refuse to compromise and still connect with millions of listeners hungry for music of substance," the magazine declared.

O'Connor's other musical credits included the albums "Universal Mother" and "Faith and Courage," a cover of Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" from the AIDS fundraising album "Red Hot + Blue" and backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's "Blood of Eden." She received eight Grammy nominations overall and in 1991 won for best alternative musical performance.

O'Connor announced she was retiring from music in 2003, but she continued to record new material. Her most recent album was " I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss," released in 2014 and she sang the theme song for season seven of "Outlander."

The singer married four times; her union to drug counsellor Barry Herridge, in 2011, lasted just 16 days. O'Connor had four children: Jake, with her first husband John Reynolds; Roisin, with John Waters; Shane, with Donal Lunny; and Yeshua Bonadio, with Frank Bonadio.

In 2014, she said she was joining the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party and called for its leaders to step aside so that a younger generation of activists could take over. She later withdrew her application.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

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Kevin Spacey has been acquitted of sexual assault after the Oscar winner's testimony as a witness in his own defence spared him a possible prison term and gave him a shot at a career comeback.

Tears rolled down Spacey's cheeks as the final not guilty verdict was read on his 64th birthday on Wednesday.

He spoke briefly outside the courthouse, thanking the jury, his legal team and the court staff.

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"I imagine that many of you can understand that there's a lot for me to process after what has just happened today," he said, emotion obvious in his voice.

But I would like to say that I'm enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision.

"And I am humbled by the outcome today."

Spacey's wide-ranging testimony climaxed as he choked up speaking of the six years he'd gone without work after sex abuse allegations surfaced against him during the #MeToo movement in the United States in 2017.

Three men accused the Oscar winner of aggressively grabbing their crotches.

A fourth, an aspiring actor seeking mentorship, said he awoke to the actor performing oral sex on him after going to Spacey's London apartment for a beer and either falling asleep or passing out.

Spacey said he was a "big flirt" who had consensual flings with men and whose only misstep was touching a man's groin while making a "clumsy pass".

All the men said the contact was unwanted but Spacey testified that the young actor and another man had willingly participated in consensual acts.

He said a third man's allegation that he grabbed his privates like a striking "cobra" backstage at a theatre was "pure fantasy".

He said he didn't remember a fourth incident at a small party at a home he rented in the country but accepted that he touched the groin of a man he had met at a pub during a night of heavy drinking.

Spacey said he had misread the man's interest in him and said he had probably made an awkward pass.

Defence lawyer Patrick Gibbs said three of the men were liars and incidents had been "reimagined with a sinister spin".

He accused most of them of hopping on a "bandwagon" of complaints in the hope of striking it rich.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew told jurors that Spacey was a "sexual bully" who took what he wanted when he wanted.

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She said he was shielded by a "trinity of protection": he knew men were unlikely to complain; they wouldn't be believed if they did complain; and if they did complain, no action would be taken because he was powerful.

Spacey had faced nine charges, including multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The accusations date from 2001 to 2013 and include a period when Spacey — after winning Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty — had returned to the theatre, his first love.

During most of that period he was artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London.

The men came forward after an American actor accused Spacey of an incident of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo movement heated up in 2017.

Several of the men said they had been haunted by the abuse and couldn't bear to watch Spacey's films.

One of the men broke down when speaking with police as he provided details in a videotaped interview about the oral sex incident that he said he'd never told anyone before.

Another man said he was angry about the abuse that occurred sporadically over several years and began to drink and work out more to cope with it.

Spacey choked up and became teary eyed in the witness box as he described the emotional and financial turmoil that the US accusations brought and the barrage of criticism that followed on social media.

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Gibbs said Spacey was being "monstered" on the internet every night and became toxic in the industry.

Spacey was booted from House of Cards and his scenes in All the Money in the World were scrubbed and he was replaced by Christopher Plummer. Aside from some small projects, he has barely worked as an actor in six years.

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A New York jury last year swiftly cleared Spacey in a $US40 million ($59 million) lawsuit by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp on allegations dating back three decades.

Spacey had viewed the London case as a chance for redemption, telling German magazine Zeit last month that there were "people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London".

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An elderly man who died in a unit fire at a retirement village north of Melbourne had only moved into the property with his wife three weeks ago.

Police have confirmed the blaze, which burnt through two units at Kingsgate Village in Kilmore, is not being treated as suspicious.

The body of the 78-year-old man was found inside the partially destroyed unit by police early this morning.

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His wife managed to escape the fire physically unharmed, Acting Inspector Jaymee Cutler said.

"His wife is obviously in a fair bit of shock," she told reporters.

A couple who lived in a second unit, which was completely destroyed in the blaze, managed to escape unharmed.

More than 22 emergency service vehicles were called to the village after the fire started about 6am.

About 40 residents evacuated themselves before firefighters arrived on the scene.

Residents of the village told 9News they heard a "huge explosion" around the time the fire started.

"It's very scary because I thought my house would definitely go," one resident said.

The fire was declared under control at 7.13am, but firefighters were still extinguishing part of the fire and blacking out hotspots at 8am.

The village is located about 65km north of Melbourne's CBD.

Arson detectives remained on scene for most of the day and are still working out how the fire started.

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