More than $500 million worth of frozen food risks being binned after a giant Australian trucking company collapsed.

Scott's Refrigerated Logistics entered voluntary administration last Monday, leaving 1500 employees in the lurch.

It is a massive freight business for supermarkets, moving on average 8000 pallets daily to major grocery retailers, independent supermarkets, food manufacturers and exporters.

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Receiver KordaMentha confirmed today the fate of more than $500 million worth of cold items is up in the air as it is trying to relocate about 114,000 pallets of food.

Scott's has 24 warehouses across Australia that need to be emptied due to the company's collapse, but because there are limited alternative cold storage facilities, these products risk being binned.

Coles said it has removed all its stock from the Scott's storage facilities, but some of the supermarket giant's supplier did have their own transport and storage arrangements in place directly with the failed logistics company.

"Our focus remains on continued availability of refrigerated products in stores and online for our customers," a Coles spokesperson told 9News.com.au.

"Coles is no longer relying on Scott's Refrigerated Logistics for our deliveries and we have transferred services to our other transport partners.

"Our teams are also working with suppliers who previously managed their own deliveries directly with Scott's, and we are helping them to quickly secure new options to continue deliveries to major supermarkets. We will continue to closely monitor deliveries across our supply chain.

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"We are working hard to minimise disruption for customers and our farmers and suppliers as deliveries ramp up."

KordaMentha earlier warned there will be supply disruptions for Scott's other contracted supermarkets including Woolworths and Aldi.

"We're working closely with our impacted suppliers to maintain continued products to our distribution centres." a Woolworths spokesperson said.

Aldi expressed its sympathies to Scott's as the freight industry is hit by residual COVID-19 pandemic impacts, diesel shortages and soaring fuel prices.

"The supermarket supply chains rely on many interdependent partnerships, following the challenges presented this week from Scott's Refrigerator Logistics, we have worked with our existing logistics partners to ensure the 3 per cent of Scott's business managed for ALDI now transitions to other logistics partners," an Aldi spokesperson said.

Earlier, KordaMentha's Scott Langdon anticipated there would be a great deal of interest in snapping up the business.

But this didn't come to fruition as the firm approached interested parties about the sale of Scott's but was unsuccessful in securing any bids last Friday, KordaMentha said.

The collapse of the freight giant comes as the industry faces heavy pressures, particularly with fuel costs.

According to the Transport Workers Union, almost 200 companies in the transport industry became insolvent in 2022 alone.

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Perth mother-of-two Justine McGovern doesn't know where she will sleep tonight.

After six frantic and fruitless months of searching for a place to rent, the 55-year-old will join Australia's growing number of homeless today.

"I would never have believed that this would happen to me at my age," McGovern told 9news.com.au.

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All week, McGovern has been sorting out her belongings and putting them in storage, getting ready for today, when she will be forced to vacate the rundown house she has been renting in Thornlie, in Perth's south-west, since September.

The house and its two neighbours on either side have been sold, ready to make way for a new development.

McGovern and her ex-husband normally share custody of their two teenage daughters equally, but now – as she has no place to live – they will move in full-time with their father.

Over the last few weeks, McGovern said she had reached out to various agencies to be assessed for emergency accommodation, but was yet to hear back on whether there was anything to offer her.

Now, her terrifying deadline is suddenly here and she is struggling to cope with the stress.

"I've realised in the last 24 hours that I've actually got the shakes quite badly," McGovern said.

"I'm an insomniac at the best of times, but I think I only slept for one hour last night."

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Without a car to shelter in, McGovern said she was struggling to come up with options of where to sleep.

"I'm terrified of ending up in a homeless shelter, to be honest," she said. 

"I'm having visions of sleeping at the airport as that seems to be the safest option if it comes down to it."

The rising homeless

McGovern is one of many who have slipped into homelessness recently on the back of a national cost-of-living, housing and rental crisis.

The number of homeless in Australia has risen 8 per cent in the four years from 2017-18 to 2021-22, according to the latest report from Australian Homelessness Monitor. 

A Productivity Commission report, released in August last year, acknowledged homelessness was fundamentally tied to housing affordability.

A confluence of high inflation, surging interest rates, and a lack of supply has made renting a home more unaffordable than ever.

In Perth, the vacancy rate for rental properties is currently at a record low of 0.7 per cent.

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Police are investigating the theft of one of the world's rarest racing cars after it was stolen from a property in an exclusive Melbourne suburb.

The 1960s vehicle has been recovered after it was stolen from a property at Hill Street, Toorak, some time between 11.30pm on Wednesday, March 8 and 4am on Thursday, March 9.

It was found a couple of streets from where it was stolen, on Grange Road, by police patrolling the area early on Thursday.

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The Brabham BT 21 race car is one of only six in the world today.

Police said the vehicle's clutch was broken during the theft and is now undrivable.

Investigators have released an image of the Brabham BT 21 in the hope someone may have information about the theft.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online.

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Australia will purchase two types of nuclear-powered submarines in the nation's biggest defence spend according to a leaked three-stage AUKUS plan.

The agreement for Australia to buy Virginia-class submarines will be announced on Monday when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meet in San Diego for talks on the 18-month-old nuclear partnership known as AUKUS.

A European official and a person familiar with the matter spoke about details on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

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Australia will acquire the nuclear-propelled submarines in three planned stages, the sources said.

The first in 2027 at the earliest will see US nuclear-powered submarines rotated through Australia. The second won't come until the mid-2030s when Australia buys up to five Virginia-class submarines. By the 2040s, Australia will receive up to eight UK Astute-class submarines.

The total cost is estimated to be $100 billion, making it Australia's biggest defence spend.

The AUKUS agreement, announced in 2021, paved the way for Australia to get access to nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered boats.

The three-nation defence pact was launched amid growing concerns about China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The submarines, which cost $4.5 billion each, are built at shipbuilding plants in Virginia and Connecticut. Under the terms of the agreement, subs would eventually also be built in Australia and the UK with US technology and support, the person familiar with the matter said.

The initial plans called for all of the subs to be constructed in Adelaide.

The US would also step up its port visits in Australia to provide the country with more familiarity with the nuclear-powered technology.

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Albanese, who is visiting India, confirmed that he would appear with Biden and Sunak in San Diego next week to make a major announcement.

On Thursday Albanese flew to Mumbai, where he visited India's homemade aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in the Indian navy in September.

He said in a tweet that the Indian Ocean is central to both countries' security and prosperity. "And we are working together to ensure the Indo-Pacific is open, inclusive, and prosperous."

He announced that Australia will host Exercise Malabar for the first time later this year, bringing together the navies of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

The annual exercise includes fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers, anti-submarine warfare, counterpiracy operations and anti-air warfare operations.

Modi and Albanese will hold official talks on Friday in New Delhi.

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A red-bellied black snake that doesn't sport the feature that helped earned the serpent its name has been found in a rural South Australian property.

The snake was nabbed yesterday by Snake Catchers Adelaide on a farm in Currency Creek, 84 kilometres from the SA capital, and instead of a red belly, had dark black scales all over.

Snake catcher Ange Broadstock told 9news.com.au the species can in fact have several different colourings.

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"Red-bellied black snakes can have red, orange, pink, white, grey or black bellies," she said.

"That's the only species that would be in that area.

"In other parts of South Australia, you'll get Tiger Snakes.

"But that's definitely a red belly snake, even if it's black."

Red-bellied black snakes are one of eastern Australia's most commonly encountered snakes and, according to the Australian Museum, are "responsible for a number of bites every year".

It is not an aggressive species and generally retreats from encounters with people, but can attack if provoked.

Symptoms from a bite include "bleeding, swelling at the bite site, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, sweating, local or general muscle pain and weakness, and red-brown urine".

They are typically found along Australia's east coast from Cairns all the way to the lower parts of South Australia.

This snake was removed from the property and safely relocated. 

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Top tips for 121 festival-goers: Bring water and snacks, put on sunblock and be friendly.

A murder investigation is underway after a woman in her 50s was found dead at a home in Brisbane's north.

The woman's body was found inside a house in Kallangur about 12.50pm today after police recieved reports of a fight.

A 36-year-old man is "assisting police".

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"The property has been declared a crime scene, with an investigation underway into the circumstances surrounding her death, which is being treated as suspicious," Queensland Police said in a statement.

No charges have been laid. 

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Parts of Queensland have been issued with more flood warnings as water levels continue to rise.

Major flood warnings have been issued for the Nicholson, Gregory and Leichhardt Rivers and the surrounding areas.

Burketown is expected to bear the brunt of the flood, with water levels expected to exceed the March 2011 record of 6.87m on Friday.

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Flooding at Doomadgee has already hit record levels, peaking at 7.85m this morning.

Riversleigh flooding peaked at 18m, which is 12.5m above the official major flood level.

The lower Flinders River region at Walkers Bend has also been issued with a major flood warning, with over 170mm of rain hitting the area in 24 hours.

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The river peaked at 9.5m and is expected to remain at major flood levels until Friday as the region is hit by more rain and thunderstorms in the next few days.

The Cloncurry River has been issued a minor flood warning, with officials saying the river could reach 3m overnight.

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A remand centre manager who stole more than $100,000, including cash confiscated from prisoners, has been jailed for 19 months for theft.

Brenton John Williams, took the money from a safe in the Adelaide Remand Centre between April and July 2022.

In his role as general manager, the 47-year-old was responsible for the safe which also included the centre's petty cash.

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Sentencing Williams in the South Australian District Court on Thursday, Judge Jo-Anne Deuter said he was caught after a trap was set with cash placed in a tin under his desk.

The cash was found to be missing the next day and after Williams failed to turn up for work, police were called.

Judge Deuter said investigations found Williams had used the money to help fund his gambling addiction, which included funnelling more than $1 million into poker machines last year.

He had turned to gambling as a way to pay off debts from a failed business.

"Unfortunately, for what happened later, you had an early significant win," the judge said.

"This led to you believing that the only way to recover your financial situation was to continue to win monies by gambling.

"You were gambling, as I have already said, very large amounts of money, chasing that win which would solve your financial problems.

"The money in the remand centre safe provided you with a means to do so."

Judge Deuter said Williams' offending involved a significant breach of trust and was too serious for a bond or home detention.

She jailed him for almost three years with a non-parole period of 19 months.

Both were backdated to July last year.

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St Peters celebrates 90 years.