"What's the life expectancy for my child?"

It was the question Melissa Norton never thought she would have to ask.

A routine a GP appointment with her son Henry, who had a slight cold and some teething issues, led to him being diagnosed with an ultra-rare disease that affects just one in five million.

The family live on a farm outside Albury, about four hours from the nearest hospital that offers the treatment needed, and now find themselves making a fortnightly journey to protect their child.

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"Our lives have completely changed over the past few weeks and it really hasn't hit home," Norton told 9news.com.au.

"I don't think it will until we start that new normal life."

Henry lives with atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), which has caused abnormal blood clots to form in small blood vessels in the kidneys.

It can occur at any age, and the clots can cause serious medical issues if they restrict or block blood flow.

The life expectancy can be low for untreated patients but can be managed by an infusion at the Royal Children's Hospital.

He will most likely require this treatment for the rest of his life.

Norton is now unable to work as she becomes Henry's full-time carer, while also looking after her toddler, Lachlan.

"I am unable to work because Henry can't get sick at all," the mother said.

"If he has a temperature, rash or headache, we have to take him to emergency."

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"It will be like this for the foreseeable future.

"This will be our second home."

Husband Craig Norton works full-time as a leading hand at Boral Quarries and has also been forced to take a leave of absence.

"It's been quite challenging," she said.

"We are still learning about it all and getting around all the changes that will happen in our lives."

Henry also lives with x-linked stapes gusher syndrome, which means his atypical shaped cochlear has made him profoundly deaf.

They are currently in the process of finding out if Henry is eligible for a cochlear implant.

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"Both of these illnesses have caused a great impact on Henry's and our lives," Norton said.

The family have headed home this week for the first time in weeks to prepare for what's next.

"We will come back to Melbourne next week for his next infusion and we will continue to do so fortnightly," Norton said.

"We just need to be careful Henry doesn't get sick in the way of a cold or flu, anything that can compromise his immunity. 

"If he gets a flare-up in the meantime, it will lead us back to the hospital."

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For Henry, it might be a challenging road ahead, but he is currently in good spirits. 

"He has turned the corner in the past couple of days," Norton said.

"He's incredible today, he is all smiles."

The Norton family have set up an online fundraising page to assist with the financial cost. 

"We really don't like asking for help but we are seeking some support financially to assist," the mother-of-two said.

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Critical defence bases in northern Australia will receive a $3.8 billion upgrade over the next four years, the federal government announced today.

Defence Minister Richard Marles, speaking from Darwin, said land, air and naval installations will receive funding for vital improvements.

The move followed the release of the Defence Strategic Review on Monday, which recommended the armed forces change strategies towards missiles and long-range weapons.

READ MORE: 'Biggest shake-up in decades' as Australian defence enters 'missile age'

The Albanese will spend a total of $19 billion to carry out the review's recommendations.

"As the Defence Strategic Review rightly observes, our northern bases are a huge asset and critical to Australia's ability to project," Marles said.

"Our immediate investment in these bases will ensure our defence force is able to operate from them effectively."

He gave details about how much of the $3.8 billion will be spent.

Air bases across the Northern Territory, Queensland and Cocos Islands will receive $2 billion for improvements.

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One billion dollars will be spent to upgrade land and 'joint estate' capabilities.

And naval installations, including HMAS Coonawarra and HMAS Cairns, will get $600 million.

The review highlighted the importance Northern Territory bases play in projecting the firepower of the ADF and their vital strategic location.

Since 2011, the Top End has hosted regular rotations by thousands of US Marines who have held drills with Australian forces.

Marles also said today that officials were close to finalising a review into a Chinese company's lease over the Port of Darwin.

"The outcome of that review is not far off … I'm not about to speculate on the outcome of that review. Let's see what it comes up with, but it's not far off."

The 99-year port lease was granted to Landbridge Group in 2015 by the then Country Liberal NT government.

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New figures showing inflation continues to slow could see Australians dodge an interest rate hike next month — but it will be a "close call".

The Consumer Price Index from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday revealed that annual inflation had slowed from a 7.8 increase in the December quarter last year, to 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.

Monthly growth is also slowing, from 6.8 per cent in February to 6.3 per cent in March.

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However, finance comparison website RateCity said that while slower growth could see a further pause on rate hikes, 7.0 per cent was still well outside the RBA's target for inflation.

Therefore another cash rate hike – the 11th since the RBA began increasing them from May last year – could well be on the cards.

The RBA opted to not issue another increase in April.

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Another 0.25 per cent increase would see the cash rate lift to 3.85 per cent, the highest level since April 2012.

RateCity found another 0.25 per cent rate rise would mean the "average borrower" with a $500,000 loan before the hikes started in May last year, could soon be paying a total of $1058 more a month.

"It's going to be another close call at Tuesday's RBA meeting," RateCity research director Sally Tindall said.

"A second pause would buy the RBA more time to see how households are holding up against the 10 rate hikes to date. This round of inflation data gives the Board cover to do this."

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She said many loan-holders would still only have had the eighth or ninth hike passed on to them so far, meaning they would be facing a further increase even if the RBA opted for a pause.

"Inflation in Australia might be moving in the right direction, but ultimately it's still too high," Tindall said.

"While many economists are predicting cash rate hikes as soon as the end of this year, borrowers should keep their heads down and focus on getting through the next few months.

"It's going to be a long, tough winter for many households around the country. If you don't think you can make it through without breaking the bank, stick up your hand and ask for help."

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Exclusive: The array of deeply intimate financial information today confirmed as stolen in the Latitude hack is "as bad as it gets", a cyber privacy expert has declared, leaving 290,000 victims potentially vulnerable to blackmail, extortion and theft.

9news.com.au can confirm hackers gained access to highly private banking, work and personal records that almost 300,000 Latitude customers had entrusted to the firm, including details of employment, income, household expenses, assets and liabilities. Hackers also hoovered up those customers' BSB and account numbers.

The 290,000 people affected are part of the 14 million overall customer records known to have been stolen in the breach.

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Today's revelations depict an alarming level of exposure, privacy expert Dr Brendan Walker-Munro told 9news.com.au. 

"In terms of exploitation, this is as bad as it gets," Walker-Munro said.

"This kind of financial detail is on a scale worse than Optus, closer to Medibank.

"With Medibank the danger was criminals using the stolen data to blackmail or harass people with vulnerable or compromising medical conditions.

"Here, they can just go straight for the money."

The full extent of the hack has grown significantly worse since the company revealed the attack in March.

Walker-Munro said the breadth and specificity of information taken from 290,000 customers allowed anyone who holds it to essentially mimic a victim's legal identity to a financial institution.

"A criminal could apply for bank accounts, loans, credit cards – the works."

Although cyber criminals can just falsify things like someone's assets and expenses, having the actual details of a real-life person gives scammers a detailed example of a customer who has already received credit, Walker-Munro explained.

"This means they don't have to try to game the algorithms behind the credit decisions by making up 'believable' numbers."

EXPLAINED: What to do if your data is compromised in a company hack?

Hackers can also potentially use that detail to access accounts already held in the name of that customer, he said, or to try and get more information about the person from a government department.

Almost 8 million drivers licenses are known to have be stolen.

Walker-Munro also warned of the possibility that hackers could use this kind of highly personal information in a direct blackmail or ransom scenario.

A victim could get a phone call from criminals threatening to expose how close they are to bankruptcy, or their level of debt, unless a ransom of Bitcoin was paid.

"You have to remember that, statistically, at least some of the customers in the hacked data were having debts recovered from them by Latitude for overdue payments, contract breaches and other things," he said.

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A Latitude spokesperson confirmed "approximately 290,000 BSB and account numbers provided for personal loan disbursements, as well as income and expense information used to assess loan applications", were compromised in the March cyber-attack.

"No account passwords were stolen," the spokesperson told 9news.com.au.

"Some cancelled or expired credit card numbers provided for debt consolidation were also compromised.

"No card expiry dates or CVC numbers were stolen."

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Australia's migration system is set to undergo a major overhaul following a scathing review which claims it is failing to meet current needs.

The 190-page report highlighted a lack of policy for lower-paid workers and increasing labour shortages, particularly in the care sector.

It said the migration system is not effectively targeted to either current or future needs and warned Australia was failing to attract skilled migrants during a time of global competition for labour.

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Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neill will reveal the federal government's migration reforms at the National Press Club in Canberra later today.

The review said there was widespread evidence that temporary migrants workers are being exploited and aspects of the migration system heightened the risk.

It called for an overhaul of the government's skilled occupation lists for employer sponsorship, claiming they don't meet current needs for labour.

There are concerns Australia will not have the available housing to meet a future influx of migrants.

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The country is expected to see a shortfall of 175,000 new homes over the next five years due to higher migration and larger mortgages.

About 650,000 migrants will arrive in the next couple of years increasing demands for housing.

Last year the Albanese government announced the skilled migrant worker was being lifted to nearly 200,000 people a year from its current rate of 160,000 due to a national labour shortage.

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Armed with a compound bow, Benjamin Jeremy Bourke hunted a 15-year-girl in a supermarket "like an animal".

Pleading for help, the girl ran around the Aldi store west of Brisbane with Bourke shooting arrows in pursuit.

One arrow pierced her upper torso after going through her hand and the phone case she was holding up to protect herself.

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In CCTV footage of the September 2020 attack shown in Brisbane Supreme Court today, panicking shoppers can be seen trying to escape the Booval store as Bourke stalks the girl.

After a good Samaritan shields the 15-year-old, Bourke closed in with a sledgehammer before being tackled by other customers.

Bourke targeted the girl after hatching a plan to kill himself following an argument with a housemate.

He decided the way to achieve his goal was to be killed by police.

"In order to provoke the police into a violent standoff he decided to take a life," crown prosecutor Matt Le Grand said.

Arming himself with the bow, five arrows, three sledgehammers and two knives, Bourke put on a mask and went out looking for someone to kill.

Walking down the street, he shot an arrow at a woman jogging past but missed.

He decided against targeting another woman with a baby before noticing the 15-year-old outside the Aldi store, taking off his mask as he approached her.

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"I will let you see who I am first," he said before shooting an arrow at the girl who retreated into the shop.

CCTV footage shows the girl running around the aisles begging customers for help and trying to hide as Bourke shoots arrows in the supermarket, at one stage narrowly missing other shoppers.

"She was hunted like an animal around the store for about four minutes," Le Grand said.

A female shopper eventually shielded the girl when Bourke approached with the sledgehammer after running out of arrows.

He asked the sobbing girl to return the arrow that was later surgically removed from her hand, saying they were expensive, before being tackled and detained by two customers.

The girl was in court with her parents today, silently sitting through the CCTV footage as Bourke held his head in his hands.

The court heard the girl's social and family life had been impacted since the attack and she remained hyper vigilant and suspicious of people in public.

Bourke has not shown remorse, the court was told.

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A psychiatric report said Bourke had developed a primitive and immature personality, was angry at the world and felt justified in his anti-social behaviour.

He was diagnosed with mild autism and a personality disorder.

Bourke's drug use was "not an excuse" and he had not been experiencing psychosis during the attack, Le Grand said.

Bourke, 28, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison by Justice Tom Sullivan, with a serious violent offender declaration.

Bourke must serve 80 per cent of the sentence before being eligible for parole.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Two vulnerable teenage women were attacked late at night in central west New South Wales and one of them murdered by a man who violently acted on his sexual urges, jurors have heard.

Craig Henry Rumsby is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of murdering 17-year-old Michelle Bright after she left a friend's 15th birthday party in Gulgong in the early hours of February 27, 1999.

Bright's body was found three days later hidden in long grass by the side of Barneys Reef Road.

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Her blouse had been pushed up, the clasps of her bra ripped off, and her jeans and underwear were around her ankles.

An autopsy of her body, which had grazes on the abdomen, thighs and knuckles, could not confirm the cause of death, with a report saying Bright was killed by "homicidal violence of an undetermined aetiology".

Rumsby has also been accused of choking another female victim who was then 18 years old with the intent of raping her after she left a New Year's Eve party on January 1, 1998.

He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

At Dubbo Courthouse on Wednesday, crown prosecutor Lee Carr SC said Rumsby had made an alleged confession to police in which he claimed he wanted to have "a crack" at raping the 18-year-old woman after she emerged from her home alone.

"He stated he wanted to try and f— her. He said she was 18 and had a good body," Carr said.

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Rumsby is also alleged to have said he hit Bright after hearing her footsteps behind him.

He said he covered her mouth with his hands for 10 minutes until she stopped breathing.

"He decide to kill her because he didn't want to get pinned for it," the prosecutor said.

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Carr argued there were "significant similarities" between the two attacks on young women who were grabbed by the throat while they were alone in the dark.

"The Crown says that he had a sexual interest in females of late teens and a tendency to act on that by committing sexually motivated violence.

"It would be extraordinary if by coincidence there were different perpetrators."

NSW police had interviewed Rumsby regarding both the alleged murder and rape since 1999 but only made their arrest after the unsolved homicide team reopened the cold case in 2019.

In August 2020, police publicly announced a $1 million reward for anyone who had information about the murder.

Rumsby commented on a post about the announcement put on the NSW Police Force's Facebook page.

"It's so sad they haven't caught her killer yet. Michelle was like a sister to me. I feel sorry for her," he wrote.

Jurors heard Rumsby offered a DNA sample to police in their investigation but that no scientific evidence had been produced linking him to either alleged crime.

The trial continues on Thursday.

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