Melbourne has been usurped as the most popular travel destination for Australians in winter, according to new search trends.

An "industry leading" building company in Victoria has become the latest builder to go under amid the nation's construction industry crisis.

Interface Constructions Victoria, which has been running for 35 years, has gone into administration following a number of credit inquiries.

The Collingwood-based company has a mix of residential and commercial projects on its website, having previously built childcare centres, schools and petrol stations around Victoria.

READ MORE: Victorians have already lost more than $125K to rental scams this year

It also built the popular Yarra Valley winery Zonzo.

Administrators Richard Lawrence and Richard Albarran from Hall Chadwick were appointed to the company last Tuesday, according to a notice of appointment on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website.

Hall Chadwick confirmed to 9News.com.au it was currently managing the administration of the business.

A virtual meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday between the creditors and the company.

Interface Constructions' collapse follows the the path of a series of other construction companies this year.

READ MORE: Hundreds who lost deposits to collapsed builder to be reimbursed

Melbourne-based Porter Davis Homes (PDH), one of Australia's largest construction giants, went into administration in March with more than 1500 homes partly built.

In February, luxury NSW apartment builder EQ Construction went into administration.

Major Queensland building company LDC went into administration in January, following WA Housing Group in December.

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The man convicted of the National Crime Authority bombing in Adelaide in 1994 has died.

Domenic Perre was transferred from the infirmity in Yatala Prison to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in mid-April, and suffered a suspected heart attack overnight.

The 65-year-old was last year given a mandatory life sentence over the bombing.

Detective Geoffrey Bowen was killed when a parcel bomb built and sent by Perre exploded in his CBD office March 2, 1994.

READ MORE: Budget to predict surplus but what's in it for you?

Lawyer Peter Wallis, who died in 2018, was also injured in the blast, losing an eye and sustaining severe burns.

Justice Kevin Nicholson confirmed the 65-year-old's mandatory sentence in the South Australian Supreme Court for murder and attempted murder in October 2022.

Perre was already behind bars for drug offences, so Nicholson extended his existing non-parole period by 30 years and seven months.

Prosecutors had argued the bombing was a personal attack on Bowen, due to his investigations into the family's drug business.

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"Mr Perre wanted to kill Mr Bowen but intended the NCA bomb to do its work and kill whomever it did," the judge said.

Perre had been charged with murder shortly after the bombing in 1994, however these charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.

He was re-arrested in 2018 after a two-year joint investigation, by a number of state and federal authorities including the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

Perre was set to contest his conviction. 

– With AAP

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers is set to deliver a federal budget surplus of $4 billion today, the first time in 15 years a that a budget has been delivered in the black.

This will come as a surprise to many, who have been living amid a cost of living crisis as soaring inflation squeezes household budgets.

With so many Australians not alive when then-treasurer Peter Costello confirmed our last surplus, it's worth reminding what a budget surplus is, and how it's achieved.

LIVE UPDATES: 2023 Federal Budget

What is a budget surplus?

A budget surplus occurs when tax revenue is greater than government spending.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, it's not that common in modern economies.

This is largely because politicians are tempted to spend more money and cut taxes.

Tonight will be the first time since 2007-08 the budget is in surplus.

So this is a good thing?

Mostly, yes.

Governments with surpluses have additional money that can be reinvested or used to pay off debts.

On the potential downside, a surplus reduces the money in circulation which can create a deflationary effect.

Given Australia is currently attempting to lower inflation, this may well prove to be a positive.

How did Australia achieve a surplus this time around?

The turnaround has been largely been driven by high commodity prices, a strong job market and a boost in net migration.

Is this a sign of things to come?

Sadly, no.

The first surplus in 15 years will be short-lived, with a return to deficit forecast in next year's budget.

READ MORE: What we know so far about the May 9 federal budget

Why is that?

The government will grapple with significant factors such as rising welfare payments and increased costs from the NDIS and aged care.

How much credit can Labor take for this surplus?

Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledges commodity prices have boosted coffers.

But job and wage growth, under Labor's watch, have been even more pivotal, he said.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has insisted anyone could have delivered a surplus this time around – a claim rejected by Chalmers.

READ MORE: What the end of the 'lamington' offset and start of stage three tax cuts will mean for you

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A major glacier in northwest Greenland is interacting with the ocean tides, scientists reported on Monday, resulting in previously unaccounted-for melting and potentially faster sea level rise.

The group of glaciologists from the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory published the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Observations from the Petermann Glacier revealed that the glacier's grounding line — the area where the ice sheet begins to extend out on top of the ocean — can shift significantly as tides come in and out each day.

READ MORE: Severe weather warnings for NSW as icy blast grips the east coast

Petermann's grounding line "migrates between 2 and 6 kilometres (1.2 to 3.7 miles) as tides come in and out," according to Enrico Ciracì, the lead author of the study and a scientist at UCI.

This is an important finding: The traditional view among scientists was that the grounding line did not migrate with the tides – and this introduces another major source of melting that could be accelerating sea level rise.

Between 2016 and 2022, warmer tidal cycles melted a 670-foot-tall hole in the underside of the glacier along the grounding line — big enough that two Statues of Liberty could be stacked on top of one another inside it.

The phenomenon could worsen in the coming years and decades as ocean temperatures climb.

CNN recently reported that sea surface temperatures were at their highest on record this spring — a spike that has alarmed scientists who are concerned it could be part of a worrying new trend.

The study raises more concerns for the already worrisome prospect of sea level rise, which threatens coastlines around the world.

READ MORE: Labor to forecast first budget surplus in 15 years

Greenland's melting ice is the single largest contributor to sea level rise, according to NASA, which has been accelerating in recent years.

But current projections do not account for this newfound contribution from under-ice interactions with warming tides.

"These ice-ocean interactions make the glaciers more sensitive to ocean warming," said co-author Eric Rignot, a professor at UCI and NASA JPL research scientist, in a statement.

"These dynamics are not included in models, and if we were to include them, it would increase projections of sea level rise by up to 200 percent – not just for Petermann but for all glaciers ending in the ocean, which is most of northern Greenland and all of Antarctica."

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Two high school students have been taken to hospital after suffering a severe reaction to a vaping product in Melbourne.

The boys from Whitefriars College, in Melbourne's east, were taken to hospital after using a vape on Friday, principal Mark Murphy said in a letter to parents.

The first boy fell ill about 9am, the second needed help about midday, with two ambulances called hours apart.

READ MORE: What does the new crackdown on vaping mean for Australians, and why do doctors want strong regulations?

"Both students were provided with first aid by a health care centre team and other college staff," Murphy said.

Both boys were taken to Box Hill Hospital and were discharged by Saturday morning.

The principal said the college was investigating, and said the matter was reported to Victoria Police.

It comes just a week after the federal government announced a nation-wide crackdown on recreational vaping.

The importation of non-pharmaceutical vapes would be outlawed under the changes.

Single-use disposable vapes will also be banned, the volume and concentration of nicotine concentrations and volumes and both flavours and packaging will be required to be plain, the latter with warning labels.

READ MORE: Man shot dead through windscreen of stolen BMW after chase

President of the Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Nicole Higgins told 3AW young people were more at risk when vaping.

"If we don't do something now, we are going to have this massive health crisis in the future," Higgins said.

"We know that vapes are being targeted to our kids, with all of the colours, flavours and packaging, we need to make sure we keep them safe.

"We also know that we've got a third of our 14 to 17 year olds who use nicotine vapes and young vapers are three times more likely to start smoking, so we need to do something now."

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During a morning shower, a 40-year-old man first heard smashing and banging.

Then he saw a masked intruder with a hammer in the bathroom.

Moments later he was struck in the head with the weapon during a home invasion in which another man was fatally shot near his 13-year-old daughter.

READ MORE: Major changes to welfare payments

Beau Edward Cunningham and James Carstairs-Patten were among four people who broke into Michael Menzel's residence in October 2019 to recover a drug debt.

They were all armed and wearing "menacing" Halloween masks in the early morning attack south of Brisbane.

Cunningham – who had a machete – kicked in the bathroom door before Carstairs-Patten confronted Menzel's 40-year-old housemate.

Carstairs-Patten threw zip ties at the housemate and told him to put them on.

When the 40-year-old got out of the shower and refused, Carstairs-Patten hit him above the forehead with the hammer.

READ MORE: State warned over the next 24 hours

The bleeding housemate punched Carstairs-Patten who stumbled back before swinging the hammer again but missing.

The intruders began fleeing after Menzel, 48, was shot by a co-offender.

Menzel's daughter was awoken by the front door being kicked in before seeing intruders in the Gleneagle house, Brisbane Supreme Court heard on Monday.

One intruder took her phone and tablet before the 13-year-old heard a gun fire and her father scream.

After the intruders fled, the girl found Menzel in a puddle of blood.

He was treated at the scene for about an hour by paramedics but died from a shotgun wound to the thigh.

Days before the attack, a co-offender had a confrontation with Menzel over a drug debt and was "made to feel like a goose", crown prosecutor David Nardone said.

As a result, the co-offender allegedly planned to go to Menzel's house and take money and drugs.

Masks and equipment to restrain people were bought.

READ MORE: Mother dies protecting child from killer

A ute and registration plates were also stolen for the home invasion plan.

On the drive to Menzel's house, the co-offender allegedly gave directions to the other four – including Cunningham and Carstairs-Patten – and ordered them to put on gloves and the "skull" masks.

The co-offender had a shotgun when he kicked in the front door after Carstairs-Patten's failed attempt, court heard.

Three others followed him in – including Cunningham and Carstairs-Patten – while another remained in the ute.

The intruders fled after Menzel was shot. The ute was later burned.

The court heard Cunningham was involved in the home invasion plan but Carstairs-Patten had only joined the group the night before.

Both Cunningham and Carstairs-Patten pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.

READ MORE: State's huge change to driver's licences

Cunningham, 36, was sentenced to almost 10 years in jail by Justice Sean Cooper.

He received eight-and-a-half years for charges relating to the home invasion, with another 16 months for a separate drug offence added.

He is eligible for parole in October.

Carstairs-Patten, 36, received five years in jail, suspended for five years.

Both had spent more than three-and-a-half years in pre-sentence custody, which was declared time served.

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Dob in a fake text and win a new car – that's the offer on the table for Aussies as a major toll road operator tries to fight back against scammers.

Transurban is urging people who receive fake texts demanding immediate payment of toll fees to report them after new data showed many Australians were either taken in by the scammers – or simply ignoring them.

"Don't ignore it, report it," Transurban group executive customer and technology Simon Moorfield told 9News.

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"It allows us to get that information to the telcos to get those scam messages blocked."

Transurban's research found that 57 per cent of people who received the SMS deleted it, while just nine per cent reported it to Linkt.

But now, those who choose to report the message rather than dismiss it could win an electric Hyundai or a $50 gift card.

READ MORE: Who will get the $500 sweetener in cost of living cash splash

According to the ACCC, the federal government's Scamwatch received more than 14,500 reports of road toll scams last year, with losses totalling $664,000.

KPMG partner Stuart Mort said the concept behind the scam texts was "very simple.

"They can be threatening in nature, so people read them and panic," he said.

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Transurban says Linkt customers will never be asked to provide their payment details via a link sent in a text message.

Customers should always log directly onto their account using the website or the app.

People are also urged to look out for poor spelling and grammar, strange links, and threats, as signs of a scam.

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Community leaders are calling for calm in Rockhampton, Queensland amid fears vigilante tensions will boil over.

Angry locals say they'll continue to confront alleged youth criminals despite warnings from the premier and the police commissioner.

The town is simmering after a group of anti-crime protesters tried to storm a house yesterday.

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Outnumbered police formed a blockade around the house to stop the group, which had come from a rally in Central Park.

Video showed the protesters calling out criticisms of the police.

Capricornia Police Superintendent Glen Pointing said today such actions only left the town more vulnerable, with officers called away from other jobs.

"Really all that does is leave the rest of the city exposed," he said.

"Taking the law into your own hands is fraught with danger."

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll warned "what we'll end up with is a death".

"People putting information on social media is not always correct," she said.

"I think we have to be incredibly careful about that."

Speaking from Cairns today, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged people to not take the law into their own hands.

"If you have evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity, please report it to the police," she said.

"It is of concern that so many people would want to be doing that."

READ MORE: Who will get the $500 sweetener in cost of living cash splash

Palaszczuk acknowledged that people had "very strong feelings" about crime in their communities, but urged people to "let the police do their job".

"Someone could get hurt, this is the problem here. There could be unforeseen consequences," she said.

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Strike action will continue as “key areas” of the teacher’s demands have not been met