Other councillors criticised Brown for “predetermining” his preference for selling shares.

The issue seems to be affecting Spark customers nationwide.

It is helpfully titled Manna Coffee Shop. Except that's the one thing it doesn't sell.

One man discovered the unlikely reality when he "specifically pulled over" for his caffeine fix at the Adelaide spot this week.

Then he saw the tiny sign below the words "coffee shop" which read: "Sorry we do not sell coffee here."

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"Today, I saw this place and specifically pulled over to get a coffee from it. But, to my disappointment…" Tyson Drysdale posed alongside the photo on Facebook.

The Norwood cafe, in Adelaide's east, is actually a restaurant that serves "home-cooked Asian and Western dishes made with love", according to its website.

Owner Karen Huang told 9news.com.au the shop did sell coffee when it first opened in 2016 but they found it too expensive and time-consuming to serve the few customers who wanted it.

"We couldn't afford to just sell coffee. We decided to scrape back and concentrate on our food," Huang said.

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On Mondays, a lot of other cafes in the area are closed, she said.

Huang and her partner Ayako Ito decided to put the sign up due to the influx of people asking on that day.

"We put the sign up because every Monday we have people walking in," she said.

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They like the name and don't plan on changing it, or removing the window display.

But they are going to start selling iced coffee – and are happy for diners to bring their own take-away coffees with them while they dine.

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Scientists are puzzled by a black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy after it suddenly adjusted its angle to spew radiation directly toward Earth.

The galaxy has been reclassified as a blazar, meaning it has a black hole at its centre which releases a jet of energy at almost the speed of light.

Crucially, the jet has to be spewing toward an observer, which in this case is Earth.

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"Blazars are very high energy objects and are considered to be one of the most powerful phenomena in the universe," the Royal Astronomical Society said in a statement.

"The research has revealed that in (the galaxy), the jet changed its direction drastically by an angle of up to 90 degrees, going from being in the plane of the sky, perpendicular to our line of sight, to pointing directly towards us."

The researchers still aren't sure what caused the change, but have suggested it could have merged with another galaxy.

The galaxy, named PBC J2333.9-2343, is over 656 million light years from Earth.

READ MORE: Circulation of deep ocean water in Southern Ocean is slowing, which spells bad news for the climate

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Alice Springs residents have expressed their deep frustrations over the Northern Territory city's crime wave by writing an open letter to the offenders responsible.

Over the past years, Alice Springs has seen a dramatic rise in crime , with assaults especially high.

Alice Springs Town Council Mayor Matt Patterson told Today this morning that residents needed to air their concerns about the community crime wave.

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https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/you-can-sleep-over-at-my-house-alice-springs-local/embed

"We just want people to listen and understand what we are going through here in the territory … We just want people to listen and understand what we are going through," he said.

"It is scary to live here at times."

The open letter reads "You have no right to terrorise people in their homes" and is just one of the latest efforts by residents to kerb crime in the community.

Matterson said despite national attention being focussed on spiralling Northern Territory crime levels recently, criminal activity continued.

"Over the weekend in Alice Springs we had two deliberately-lit house fires, two houses burnt down. We had many stolen cars, ram raids into buildings … a handful of houses broken into into."

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He said young criminals were carrying out their acts without any fear of the consequences.

"It has been described as real-life Grand Theft Auto. These kids can effectively do whatever they want with no fear of consequence."

The system of juvenile detention was unable to rehabilitate young offenders, Matterson said.

"If we are going to put a child into juvenile detention – and no one wants to see that but at times it is necessary – they have to fix the environment that it comes from.

"That is the parents and the grandparents as well. They need to be looked after so everyone is educated.

"A we need more police on the ground and we need safe places for these children to go."

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Data released in February showed an alarming spike in crime between 2021 and 2022.

Assaults went up 51 per cent in one calendar year, with 2823 reported in a town of 26,000.

Domestic violence-related assaults spiked even higher, up 65 per cent. Alcohol-related assaults were up 68 per cent.

There were 1886 reported instances of domestic violence and 1521 assaults related to alcohol.

Property damage was up 55 per cent, and commercial break-ins were up 47 per cent.

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Aussie travellers are gearing up for overseas trips to escape the winter cold – and these destinations are rocketing up search lists.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says inflation is still "unacceptably" high as he awaits a report set to recommend major changes to the Reserve Bank for the first time in decades.

The report is set to suggest interest rates should be set by economic specialists rather than the board, while there would also be fewer rate-setting meetings and regular press conferences from the RBA governor to explain monetary policy.

The review was carried out by an independent panel of experts during the past six months.

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However, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that there is unlikely to be any change to the bank's policy of fighting inflation with interest rate increases.

The report will be delivered to Chalmers tomorrow, ahead of next week's anticipated April interest rates announcement from the RBA.

Speaking on Today, Chalmers avoided speculating on the future of rate hikes, but said it was "encouraging" to see inflation moderating.

"It is encouraging that inflation looks to have peaked at the end of last year and yesterday's numbers more or less confirm that," he said.

"That is an encouraging sign but it is a sign of the times as well that inflation with a six in front of it is seen as welcome news.

"So we still have this challenge in our economy for a little while longer."

A growing number of economists believe the bank will hit pause on its record-breaking run of rate hikes, though further increases are still likely.

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Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans said there would likely be a pause in rate hikes in April followed by a final increase in May.

"We now expect a pause in April to be followed by a final increase of 0.25 per cent at the May meeting," he said.

Currently the cash rate target of 3.6 per cent is the highest since May 2012, after the RBA hiked interest rates for 10 consecutive meetings.

The RBA's target inflation rate is between 2 and 3 per cent.

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Just days after Sydney IT professional Ankit Mehta was forced to vacate the rental unit he and his wife were living in, he says he was blindsided by a real estate advertisement that left him stunned and angry.

With a nationwide rental squeeze deepening, Mehta and his wife were bracing for a hike to their rent when their yearly lease came to an end last month.

So, when they were told the weekly rent on their one-bedroom unit – in the north-west suburb of Epping – was going up by $75 to $500, they decided to cop it on the chin.

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"I asked the real estate agent, 'Would it be possible to negotiate?' and she said 'No'," Mehta told 9news.com.au.

"So we decided to stay. We didn't want to get into the chaos of finding a new place to rent, considering the situation right now.

"The price of moving adds up too, as there are a lot of expenses.

"I did ask if she could organise pest control in the apartment as we were signing a new lease and she refused, saying it was the tenant's responsibility. I said, 'OK, I will organise it'."

To Mehta's surprise, he received an email from the agent a few days later, not with a new rental agreement to sign, but a 30-day termination notice.

The email, seen by 9news.com.au, informed Mehta they would need to move out because the landlord's parents were coming to Australia to live, having obtained a visa, and they needed the property.

What followed was a frantic month of desperately searching for a new place to live, Mehta said.

"My wife and I had to plan in such a way that we both had to inspect properties separately and in different suburbs," he said.

"I must have inspected 60 properties and applied for 15 of them," he said.

Eventually, with just three days to spare, Mehta and his wife managed to find a new rental to live in.

Then, the day after moving out, Mehta said his wife noticed a real estate advertisement pop up online.

To their shock, it was for the same property they had just moved out of, and it was asking for $575 rent a week – a 35 per cent increase on what they had been paying.

"I couldn't believe it. How did it go from $425 to $575 a week? It's just (a) one bedder, it's not even a two-bedroom apartment," Mehta said.

Mehta said he felt like landlords and real estate agents were taking advantage of desperate tenants.

"It's absolutely a shocker. In this situation, they're just getting as much as they want because there is a shortage of housing, they're using it as a weapon," he said.

"There has to be an upper limit somewhere.

"Interest rates are increasing, but how do you justify a more than 30 per cent increase?"

What are the laws for rent increases in NSW?

Laws relating to rental increases in NSW vary, depending on whether you have a fixed-term lease, a rolling lease or no lease at all.

If your lease has ended, landlords can give you a notice to increase the rent by any amount they like.

Tenants who feel a hike is excessive are able to lodge an objection with the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal. 

However, the onus is on the tenant to prove the increase is out of step with market conditions.

It's because of this that the excessive rent increase provisions are little used, representing just two per cent of applications to the tribunal's tenancy division, the NSW Tenants' Union suggests.

For tenants with rolling leases, or an agreement lasting two years or more, landlords can only increase the rent once in 12 months.

If your lease is for less than two years, the rent can only be increased if your agreement sets out the amount of the increase or the method of calculating it.

During Labor's NSW election campaign, soon-to-be premier Chris Minns promised his government would implement several changes to help renters, including establishing a rental commissioner, introducing portable bonds and better regulating rental bidding.

NSW Tenants' Union CEO Leo Patterson Ross said Minns, who was sworn as premier in this week, needed to urgently implement his party's promises.

"We hope the establishment of a rental commissioner, tasked with listening to and advocating for renters, will spark a fresh conversation about regulating rents," Patterson Ross said.

Patterson Ross said NSW could also look to other parts of Australia for inspiration when it came to policies for helping limit excessive rent rises.

"There are a number of models for putting in place fair limits on rent increases that the incoming NSW government should consider – including the ACT model where landlords cannot increase rent by more than 10 per cent above rent CPI without justifying it," he said.

The Greens have been calling on the federal government to introduce a rent freeze, similar to what was in place during the pandemic, saying in December that Australians would have been $10.7 billion better off if rents had been frozen nationwide for the past 12 months.

In a bid to address runaway prices, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday announced rent hikes will be limited to once a year, rather than every six months.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.

Scammers are upping the ante to impersonate banks and trick victims out of thousands of dollars that could be their life savings.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found scammers are becoming trickier by using new technology to make a call appear to come from a bank's legitimate phone number or send a text to appear in the same thread as bank messages.

Last year, more than 14,000 reports were made about bank impersonation scams.

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More than $20 million was lost to these types of scams.

In the bigger picture, scammers are impacting Australians across the board – not just bank impersonation scams – with more than $169 million lost in total to different types of ploys.

But impersonation scams are on the rise.

These frauds can pretend to be one of the big four banks and other financial institutions.

The modus operandi used by these scammers usually entails a sense of urgency where they play on fraudulent or suspicious activity to a person's bank account.

Other signs to look out for are texts with warnings such as "your bank account has been accessed", "your bank account has been locked", or "a payment has been made from your account. If this was not you, please call (phone number)".

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The rise of bank impersonation scams has authorities concerned as they can empty a victim's entire bank account.

"We are incredibly concerned about bank impersonation scams because they can be so convincing, they are very hard to detect," ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.

"What's equally worrying about this particular scam, is that it is emptying every last cent out of victims' savings accounts, with losses averaging $22,000 and more than 90 reports of losses between $40,000 and $800,000.

"This causes both financial and emotional devastation."

Lowe said the ACCC saw the case of a man who lost over $500,000 after being called by someone claiming to be from a major bank's security department to authorise a payment.

Another case was when a man lost $38,000 after receiving a text regarding a suspicious transaction in his bank account.

"The scam text appeared in the same conversation thread as legitimate messages from his bank," Lowe said.

"He called the number in the text and was put through to a member of the bank's fraud team.

"Unfortunately, it was an elaborate scam and he lost everything."

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Lowe has called on all Australians to remember no matter how urgent these calls or texts may seem, a bank will never ask you to transfer funds.

Her tips to avoid falling prey to these scams include:

• If you receive an SMS or phone number to call, don't use it -instead call your bank directly
• Hang up if you get a call from someone claiming to be your bank and asking you to transfer funds
• Always ask for a reference number and call your bank back on details you find independently
• Never provide online banking passwords, one-time security codes, pins or tokens over the phone
• Never click on links in text messages
• Contact your bank immediately if you think you've been scammed

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Exclusive: Howard Gorrell's Sydney property is so heavily infested with ticks that a doctor urged him to sell up and move.

Gorrell said he gets viciously attacked and bitten, sometimes by up to 100 ticks at a time, whenever he goes outside to enjoy his tree-lined, one-acre plot in Glenhaven, which is located in The Hills District.

The 76-year-old grandfather said the attacks have ramped up since massive rains smashed Sydney in late summer last year, combined with changes to local bylaws which have made it more difficult to burn mulch, an environment where ticks can prosper.

Adding to his frustration and discomfort, Gorrell said many GPs and hospital doctors have misdiagnosed the severe reactions that parasite bites trigger in him, and that many medical practitioners do not properly understand the problem.

Gorrell said he can be struck with body aches and bouts of dizziness, and even suffers heart palpitations which have concerned his cardiologist.

"It's terrible," the retired automotive salesman told 9news.com.au, describing the intense, uncontrollable itching and large red patches that break out on his body after the ticks inject potent neuro-toxins into his bloodstream.

"They (the ticks) could be used for torture treatment."

Ranging in size from a tiny dot to the head of a match, Gorrell said he often doesn't know there's a tick on his body, inserting sharp barbs into his skin to feed on blood, until it's too late.

"It normally takes a couple of days before you realise," he said.

"They're just a little black speck, like a full-stop from a pen.

"And if you don't realise what they are, you start scratching them and then the itch sets in and usually lasts a couple of weeks, even if you get rid of them.

"It's just unbelievable. It drives you crazy."

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