Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has been pulled to the ground by police after she tried to speak against an anti-transgender rally in Canberra.

Thorpe was part of a counterprotest near the event outside Parliament House in Canberra earlier today.

Speaking at the event was anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a British woman also known as Posie Parker.

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Thorpe walked up to the podium as Keen-Minshull was speaking, shouting, "You are not welcome".

When she approached the podium, she was pulled to the ground by a police officer. 

As they tried to pull her back to her feet, Thorpe cried out "let me go" and then crawled away, before getting to her feet and walking away.

"We do not tolerate this kind of filth being on Ngunnawal-Ngarigo country," Thorpe later said, referring to the anti-transgender activists.

"Let alone the Nazi support that they have. They are racist. They are homophobic. They are destroying people's lives.

"This country should be ashamed that they even let people like this into this country."

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Thorpe said she had been "pulverised" by the police.

"I've been assaulted by the police today," she said.

"The police need to answer for the assault but also this government needs to answer for why these people are let into the country."

The event was sparsely attended, with only a handful of attendees outnumbered by counter-protesters.

Thorpe was elected on the Greens ticket but quit the party in February over the Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Last month she also drew the ire of many in the LGBTQ community after she blocked the Sydney Mardi Gras parade by lying in front of a float.

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A pensioner lost her entire savings after receiving a text saying her daughter had dropped her phone in the toilet.

Donna Jaeger, from Newcastle, was caught off guard when she received a message from an unknown number claiming to be her daughter.

"I got a text message from my daughter, and she said, 'oh, mum I can't access my banking, would there be a chance you could pay a bill for me'," the 66-year-old told NBN.

Newcastle pensioner Donna Jaeger has lost her entire savings after she was scammed out of hundreds of dollars over a text message.

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But the person texting her was not her daughter.

It was a scammer who asked if Jaeger could save this "new number" as her daughter's phone had been lost after being dropped in the toilet. 

After a brief, but otherwise normal-looking text exchange, the sender then asked Donna for a substantial amount of money.

The texter promised to pay her back after she sent an initial payment of $1,900 and a further transfer of $6,300.

"She said, 'I can't explain it all now, I just need you to pay it'," Jaeger said.

"By this time I was really upset."

She replied saying: "I'm so sorry I can't help you, I'm crying now."

The convincing scammer replied: "Don't cry mum you'll upset me."

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Jaeger's bank had a daily transfer limit and she was only able to send $960.

Unfortunately, this drained the pensioner's savings account.

"I haven't got any spare cash really," she said.

"But of course, if your daughter asks you for money, you're going to give it to her. Whatever you've got that you can give her."

Jaeger had a conversation with her daughter the following day, which is when she realised she'd been scammed.

Her bank is now working to retrieve the cash.

Scamwatch has received more than 1,200 reports of 'Hi Mum' scams between January and February this year alone, costing Australians more than $600,000.

University of Newcastle Cyber Strategist Professor Vijay Varadharajan said incidents like this have become more common over the last 18 months.

"The interesting thing about these scams nowadays, is the context, somehow, they know your context."

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have urged people of all ages and tech prowess to protect themselves.

If you receive a message from a new number claiming to be someone you know, reach out on the number you are familiar with.

If you think you've been scammed, contact your bank, cancel your credit card and report the incident to authorities.

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The kaumātua, now 77, took into his care two young girls then sexually abused them.

Statistics show many whānau aren’t registered with a GP because of the cost.

A car crashed onto its side between the Ellerslie-Panmure off-ramp and Green Lane on-ramp.

Melbourne was plunged into darkness as thunderstorms left properties without power and flash flooding inundated streets.

Flash flooding occurred across the city causing delays and traffic chaos shortly after the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a storm warning about 8am.

A severe thunderstorm warning remains in place for heavy rainfall and damaging winds for northern Victoria.

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About 21mm of rain was recorded at Anakie, north of Geelong, in just 30 minutes.

State Emergency Service (SES) crews responded to 182 requests for assistance across the state, 75 of those were in metro Melbourne.

At the height of the storm, more than 50,000 homes and businesses were left without power.

A Powercor spokesperson said crews are yet to restore power to up to 7,000 homes.

"Early this afternoon, a storm cell hit the Shepparton region, bringing down poles and wires," the spokesperson said.

"Powercor has mobilised extra crews and are working to get power on to about 5,000 customers in the Kyabram, Mooroopna and Shepparton areas.

"In the Kyabram area, about five poles have been damaged by lightning, while in other areas trees have brought down lines and cut power to homes.

"We have also had reports of a roof hitting lines and causing damage to the power network in Shepparton."

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Peter Phoebe, who works in Southbank, raced the storm to work.

He was surprised by the wild conditions, as only a 50 per cent chance of rain was originally forecast. 

"As I was walking to it at about 8.30, the skyline looked like the end of day scene in Ghostbusters," he told 9news.com.au.

"Luckily I avoided the rain just in time then looked at the rain radar online to see what was about to occur."

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Almost a million households are yet to feel the full impact of the Reserve Bank's barrage of interest rate hikes.

Economists warn that as many as 880,000 borrowers are heading towards a "mortgage cliff" when their low fixed rates expire this year and they're forced to adopt a significantly higher interest rate.

Rate City Research Director Sally Tindall said as many as one in five mortgage holders were in for an "almighty shock".

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"They're going to be hit with 10 RBA hikes all in one go," she told 9News.

"They could see their interest rate more than triple overnight. That would see their monthly repayments soar by around 60 per cent."

About 880,000 households are paying a low fixed mortgage rate which will end this year.

If households decide to refinance, they will find their borrowing capacity has plunged.

Compared with a year ago, someone with an average wage can now borrow about $170,000 less.

"At the very least this will mean less spending power in the economy and a slow-down in demand," AMP Capital Chief Economist Shane Oliver said.

"It also runs the risk of increased mortgage stress and people having to sell their homes because they can't meet their mortgage payments."

While the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the ninth consecutive time overnight, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe this week signalled Australian rates are closer to a "pause".

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Lowe addressed the Australian Financial Review's Business Summit earlier this month and forecast some welcome news for mortgage holders with a pause in rate rises on the horizon.

"With monetary policy now in restrictive territory, we are closer to the point where it will be appropriate to pause interest rate increases to allow more time to assess the state of the economy," Lowe said.

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It was an awful sight and local councils have done nothing to stop this, says resident.

A freak phytoplankton bloom may help scientists better predict climate change effects.

Guy Sebastian's former manager Titus Emanuel Day is fighting his conviction after a jury found he embezzled more than $650,000 from the pop star.

In November last year, the then 49-year-old was sentenced to up to four years in jail and ordered to repay about $624,000 which was fraudulently taken from the Australian Idol winner over eight years.

Day faces at least two years and six months behind bars and will be eligible for parole on May 16, 2025. His full prison sentence expires on November 16, 2026.

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A NSW District Court jury found the former manager guilty of 34 fraud charges and not guilty of a further 13 charges in June last year.

With payments for Sebastian's performances sent to trust accounts held by Day's firm 6 Degrees, the talent manager failed to remit what was owed to the pop star from 2009 until November 2017, when the pair fell out.

Funds owed included royalties, performance and ambassador fees, including for a wedding in Venice, singing at a Taylor Swift tour, an ambassadorship for Dreamworld, and playing at a New Year's Day Big Bash cricket event.

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Day has taken his challenge to the NSW Court of Appeal, where it was briefly heard on Thursday.

The appeal will seek to overturn the conviction and, if unsuccessful, will not attempt to change his sentence.

Sebastian has also filed a civil suit against his former manager which has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

The appeal hearing will take place on June 23.