Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has used parliamentary privilege to accuse Liberal counterpart David Van of sexual assault and harassment, a claim he "utterly rejects".

Van was speaking in the Senate about the handling of Brittany Higgins' rape allegations, when Thorpe began interjecting, calling out "perpetrator" and "you can talk".

As Senate deputy president Andrew McLachlan repeatedly asked Thorpe to stop, the independent senator rose on a point of order.

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"I'm feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence," she said.

After being asked by McLachlan to withdraw the "inappropriate" comment, Thorpe continued.

"I can't because this person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the prime minister had to remove him from his office.

"And to have him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace, on the whole party."

When given the floor again, Van labelled the accusation as "disgusting".

"I utterly reject that statement, that disgusting statement, outright. It is just a lie and I reject it," he said.

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"I withdraw the word lie. It is just not true."

Van later released a statement further denying the allegations.

"In the chamber today, Senator Thorpe made unfounded and completely untrue allegations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny," he said.

"These outrageous and reprehensible comments were made by Senator Thorpe using parliamentary privilege in the most malicious and despicable way.

"My lawyers have written to her already making my position clear in the strongest possible terms."

McLachlan said the matter would be referred to Senate President Sue Lines.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

A truck driver has been rescued from inside his semi-trailer after ploughing into a two-storey shopfront in Melbourne's south-east.

It's believed the experienced driver may have suffered a medical episode before slamming into an Engine Australia shopfront on Lonsdale Street in Dandenong about 6.45am.

The man, aged in his 60s, was rushed to The Alfred hospital after suffering non-life threatening injuries.

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The store owner Greg Cunningham said it was lucky no one was at work at the time.

"The (truck) has gone through far," he said.

"Since they have built this intersection, it has been a concern for us something like this may happen."

A heavy haulage team was called to the scene to remove the truck from the shopfront.

Cunningham said a massive clean-up was underway, adding the business was set to be closed for weeks.

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A former swim coach has been found guilty of 43 child sexual abuse charges relating to 11 different children.

Paul Douglas Frost was convicted on Wednesday afternoon of abusing his former students at a swimming school in Sydney's southwest during the 1990s and 2000s.

The NSW District Court jury had earlier been directed it could deliver majority verdicts before it found him guilty on all counts.

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The 43 charges Frost has been convicted of include several charges of sexual intercourse with a child under his authority or care, multiple charges of aggravated indecent assaults of a person under 16 and grooming children for sexual activity.

A juror entered the witness box to tell the court they had not reached unanimous verdicts and were not going to on Wednesday, before the judge said she would take a majority verdict.

"It is preferable that your verdict be unanimous," Judge Sarah Huggett said, before the guilty verdicts returned hours later.

The nine men and three women will be able to request to have their names removed from the jury duty role due to the length of the trial, the judge told jurors as they were discharged, thanking them for giving up months of their time to sit on the case.

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Frost and the jury spokesperson were permitted to remain seated while the verdicts were returned due to the length of the indictment.

Frost was handcuffed and taken into custody following the jury's discharge and will face a sentencing hearing in August.

A previous trial had its jury discharged without a verdict after 16 days amid allegations of bullying and refusal to deliberate that a judge worried would taint the outcome.

Frost was once a finalist on cooking competition show MasterChef and his father coached Olympic champion Ian Thorpe.

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Support flooding in for family after fire destroys “just about all” belongings.

Two people were killed on Wednesday after a cadet allegedly opened fire on members of his own unit at a military training centre in central Japan, the country's Ground Self-Defence Force (SDF) told CNN.

The shooting took place during a live-fire training exercise and several other people were wounded, the SDF confirmed to CNN.

The cadet was arrested and the motive has yet to be established, authorities said.

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Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the incident happened about 9am at a shooting range in Hino City in the central Japanese prefecture of Gifu.

Two servicemen, aged 25 and 52, died in the incident, according to the Gifu Naka police station.

Another 25-year-old man from the same garrison was also wounded.

"This kind of incident should never happen in an organisation that handles weapons," SDF chief of staff Yasunori Morishita said in a televised press conference.

He said an investigation committee will be set up to examine the incident and prevent similar events from occurring in future.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that the suspect was a teenage member of the SDF who allegedly fired an automatic rifle.

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Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan, a country of 125 million people.

It has one of the lowest rates of gun crimes in the world due to its extremely strict gun control laws.

But a string of high-profile violent crimes have recently been reported in the country.

Last month, four people – including two police officers – died in a shooting and stabbing incident in Nakano City in central Japan.

In 2022, nine incidents involving firearms took place in Japan – including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who was shot dead with a homemade gun during a campaign speech – according to the National Police Agency.

Of the nine incidents, six are believed to have been committed by gangs and other groups. In total, four people were killed and two injured in the nine incidents.

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‘He does not think the way you and I do,’ defence lawyer tells jury.

The road is now closed while the serious crash unit investigates.

The arrests relate to two drive-by shootings and other serious assaults

Partner ‘utterly broken, torn in two’; Officials investigate ‘tragic incident’.