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A woman living on the NSW-Victoria border sustained bruises and deep gashes after a kangaroo attacked her with no warning, forcing her pet dog to intervene and act as saviour.

Pam Baldwin, 71, was walking her Rottweiler "Bundy" to a mates' house along Nail Can Hill on Sunday, when she got the sudden sense something was behind her.

Turning, she came face to face with eyes and a furry nose.

The attack came out of nowhere, she told Today.

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"The next minute he's just gone bang with his two back legs," she said.

"I gave him a few choice words."

The attack left Baldwin with bruises to her stomach and a deep scratch on her arm.

Bundy noticed the attack and rushed in to save his owner.

Baldwin said her beloved dog nearly died when the kangaroo lured him into a dam and pinned him down.

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"Bundy is the fifth Rottweiler I've had, I wouldn't have another dog," she said.

"He almost lost his life for me.

"He was within 20 to 40 seconds of being drowned because the kangaroos lead them into a dam if there's one around.

Baldwin said the kangaroo was scared off when her friends approached with a long pole.

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The long-time resident said the native marsupials are becoming a real problem around her community of Nail Can Hill. 

"A traumatic experience, someone needs to do something about it," she said.

"I went to the council and reported it. They didn't want to know me. It 'wasn't their problem', the rangers, 'wasn't their problem'.

"People take their children, ladies push their babies in a pram. What if it was one of them of them?"

9News has contacted Albury City Council for comment. 

When Perth single dad James Brougham hits a roadblock, you can guarantee his solution will be equal parts unconventional and inspiring.

A few years ago, Brougham, 31, was facing down the grim prospect of trying to find a rental for himself and his two young daughters, Halle and Isla.

That's when he got the idea to buy a small yacht for the young family to live on and experience an adventurous life at sea.

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"Our prospects were pretty damn bleak, to be totally honest, but I thought if I could get the boat, I knew I could work it out," he said.

"I also wanted the girls to see what the world was like outside of living in suburbia and going to school."

Escape suburbia they did, setting sail on an epic voyage of more than 1500km up the coast, arriving last month in Dampier. 

But Brougham is not one to sit still, and has set his sights on a new challenge while in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

This month, he'll be aiming to run 500 kilometres to help raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).

To make it happen, Brougham said he knew he would need to find a way to bring both of his girls, aged six and two, along for the ride.

After discovering running prams could cost close to $1000, Brougham again came up with a novel solution to meet his needs. 

"I went out and bought a wheelbarrow," he said.

"At $200 for a concreter's barrow, it's the most durable, cost-effective way to cover that distance."

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With a big soft cushion and plenty of snacks, Halle and Isla have been more than happy to tag along as Brougham racks up the kilometres in the WA outback.

Halle said everything about the runs with her dad had been fun.

"It's fun having snacks and fun sitting in the wheelbarrow," she said.

"It's fun stopping at the playground and fun stopping at the servo and getting stuff from there."

So far this month, the trio have covered more than 330km, averaging around 16-20 kilometres a day.

They had piqued the interest of locals who were curious about what they were up to, Brougham said.

"We are getting a lot of support from everyone, a lot of beeping and waving … we certainly stick out," he said.

Roadside treasure hunts helped fill the time, with the family finding many things along the way that would come in handy on their boat, Brougham said. 

'We have found so many fishing lures on the side of the road and cable ties," he said. 

"Just heaps of fishing gear that must blow off people's cars."

The kilometres were coming easier as they neared their goal, but Brougham said he may soon need another pair of shoes.

"I actually bought a new pair at the start of this and these are getting pretty close to worn out," he said.

Brougham has so far raised close to $6000 for the RFDS with his fundraiser.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

This will be the fifth Conservative prime minister in just over six years — and the third within this parliamentary term. But who might the next leader be?

Lidia Thorpe has today resigned as the Greens' deputy leader in the Senate after she failed to disclose a relationship with former Rebels bikie gang president Dean Martin last year.

During that relationship she was the member of a joint parliamentary law enforcement committee.

Greens leader said Thorpe had accepted his request to resign from the post, following reports by the ABC about her undisclosed relationship with Martin.

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Bandt said she had shown an error in judgement and he had asked her to resign.

"As a leader I expect my senators and MPs, especially those in leadership positions, to exercise good judgement.

"At a minimum, Senator Thorpe needed to disclose to meet her connection to Mr Martin and her failure to do so showed a significant lack of judgement."

There is no suggestion Thorpe has shared any confidential information with anybody who is not authorised to receive it.

Martin was associated with the Rebels for 25 years.

There is no suggestion Martin has an association with the Rebels any longer after stepping down as president in 2018.

He has no criminal convictions.

In a statement, Thorpe said she accepted she had not shown good judgment.

"I accept that I have made mistakes and have not exercised good judgement.

"I will now reflect on this and focus on my important portfolio work, especially advocating for First Nations people."

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking from Perth, described the revelations over Thorpe as "concerning".

"I think that these concerning revelations. Australians are entitled to believe that the oversight processes that are there within the parliament over our legal systems will be maintained in a way that ensures integrity and ensures that any information which is given there is kept in a confidential basis," Albanese said.

"I note that Senator Thorpe has said that this is an error of judgment.

"That's the least description that I would put to it and Mr Bandt has to explain what his office knew and what he knew and if he wasn't informed about these issues, given his office was informed, why that's the case."

Bandt said Thorpe had assured him there was no breach of rules while she sat on parliamentary committees during the undisclosed relationship with Martin.

"She has told me that at no stage was there any breach of the rules regarding those committees or her work, no sharing of confidential information, and to date no one has suggested otherwise," he said.

"But that is not enough. It was clear that – it was clear that this could be perceived as affecting her work and her failure to disclose that, at the very least, to me was an error of judgement."

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Bandt said he expected Thorpe to reflect on her actions and show better judgement in the future.

Earlier today, the ABC reported that two former staff members of Thorpe's office said they raised concerns with the office of Bandt about her relationship with Martin.

But Bandt insisted none of his staff, including his chief of staff, told him about the relationship.

"I have a very good and competent chief of staff who makes many good decisions. This was not of them. I expect that I should have been told about this," he said.

"Ultimately, it was (Lidia Thorpe's) issue that she needed to tell about."

Bandt also said Thorpe's conduct may have technically broken the Greens' code of conduct.

He said the Department of Finance – through an independent agency – is launching a review into her relationship.

The Russian-installed leaders in Ukraine's Kherson region have begun massively ramping up the relocation of up to 60,000 people amid warnings over Russia's ability to withstand a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of generating "hysteria" to compel people to leave. Residents in the city of Kherson began to receive text messages on Wednesday morning from the pro-Russian administration.

"Dear residents," it read. "Evacuate immediately. There will be shelling of residential areas by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There will be buses from 7:00, from Rechport (River port) to the Left Bank."

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Meanwhile on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had signed a law introducing martial law in Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claims to have annexed, in violation of international law. The other regions are Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk.

In his first outing on Russian state television as the Kremlin's new commander for Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin said on Tuesday that the situation in Kherson was "far from simple" and "very difficult".

"Our further plans and actions towards the city of Kherson will depend on the military and tactical situation on the ground," he said.

Ukrainian forces have been advancing through several parts of the Kherson region in recent weeks, capturing villages and farmland along the western bank of the Dnipro River, also known as the right bank.

Russia's ability to resupply its troops in Kherson has been severely hampered by frequent Ukrainian missile and artillery strikes on Russian-controlled bridges crossing the Dnipro. The explosion earlier this month that badly damaged the Kerch bridge, which connects Russia to Crimea, further bottlenecked Russia's logistics.

Last week the head of the Russian-backed administration appealed to the Kremlin to help with the evacuation of civilians near the frontline.

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On Tuesday, the rhetoric hit a new level when Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration, posted a video to his Telegram channel.

"The Ukrainian Nazis pushed by the West will start their attack on Kherson very soon," he said. "We are strongly advising to leave the right bank area."

This morning, just after 8am, he followed that up with: "Cross as quickly as possible onto the left bank [the eastern side] of river Dnipro." Hours later, the Russian-backed administration went so far as to close off all entry to the right bank of the Dnipro River for seven days.

Ukrainian officials believe that fewer than half of Kherson's civilian population are left in the city – around 130,000 people.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed leader in the Kherson region, told Russian state television on Tuesday evening that they planned to move 50,000 to 60,000 people from the right to the left bank of the Dnipro River.

The Ukrainian leaders-in-exile of the Kherson region accuse the Russian leaders of drumming up "hysteria" to intimidate the population and enact "voluntary deportations" to Russia, where they've been promised help with housing.

"On the one hand, we understand that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will liberate Kherson and the region – accordingly, there may be active hostilities, and this is a risk for the local population," Yurii Sobolevskyi, deputy head of Ukraine's regional council for Kherson, told CNN on Wednesday.

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"On the other hand, there are no guarantees that the evacuated people will be safe there and far from the front line. Now people make their own decisions – to leave or stay. It is difficult to say what decision they will make."

The "massive deportation of civilians" by Russia could, along with other alleged abuses, constitute crimes against humanity, according to a July report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In September, the UN Security Council also said Russia's forcible deportation of 2.5 million people from Ukraine – including 38,000 children – constitutes human rights violations.

Ukraine denounced Russia's "filtration" scheme at a United Nations Security Council meeting last week. Deputy Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn said Ukrainians forced to head to Russia or Russian-controlled territory are being killed and tortured.

Hayovyshyn told the Security Council that thousands of Ukrainian citizens are being forcefully deported to "isolated and depressed regions of Siberia and the far east.

Ukrainian citizens are terrorised, under the pretence of a search for "dangerous" people by Russian authorities, Hayovyshyn said. Those who have different political views or are affiliated with the Ukrainian government or media disappear into a grey area. Children are ripped from the arms of their parents, the Ukraine representative declared.

Vital strategic city

In the heady early days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when confusion reigned, the capture of the southern city of Kherson was a key strategic and propaganda victory for the Kremlin.

On just the seventh day of the war, Kherson's mayor announced that Russian soldiers had entered his office, and the city had fallen.

Geographically, it was vital: Kherson lies on the mouth of Ukraine's central artery, the Dnipro River, and not far from the canal that supplies water to Crimea. Ukraine's government had shut that canal down in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the peninsula.

It was the first major city Russia captured, and the only regional capital taken since February. (In addition to Crimea, Russian-backed forces have controlled Donetsk and Luhansk cities since 2014.) It's the second-biggest population centre that Russia has captured after Mariupol.

Seventh months later, the Kremlin considers the Kherson region to be part of Russia, after claiming to annex it last month. And yet, everyone from Russia's designated leaders in the region to the new commander of its entire Ukrainian war effort are sounding the alarm on their ability to withstand a Ukrainian offensive in the region.

Russia's puppet administration has promised that there is no plan to abandon Kherson city, and that once the military "solve all of the tasks," normal life will return.

In his remarks on Russian television, Surovikin, the Russian commander, repeated what has become a bit of a trope in Russian circles: that the Ukrainian military was preparing to shell Kherson's city centre, or even to strike the dam that's part of a hydroelectric plant at Nova Kakhovka, and unleash floodwaters on low-lying areas downstream.

Ukrainian officials have dismissed that idea as Russian propaganda. It will not be easy for Ukraine to retake Kherson city if Russia seriously contests it, and the Ukrainian military will be reluctant to attack an urban centre where tens of thousands of civilians could remain.

But Ukraine's military brass remain bullish over the Kherson offensive.

"We will make significant progress by the end of the year," the head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence Agency, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, said on Tuesday.

"These will be significant victories. You will see it soon."

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The mother of a NSW Central Coast woman who was allegedly murdered is now begging the community to help her champion change.

Leisl Smith, 23, was last seen leaving her Wallerah home on the state's Central Coast Tuggerah in 2012.

Her car was found abandoned at Tuggerah railway station more than a month after she vanished from her nearby Wallerah home. Despite extensive searches, her body has never been found.

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Her ex-lover, James Church, was charged in 2018 with murdering Smith and faced a lengthy murder trial at the NSW Supreme Court. 

The day before the verdict was due to be delivered in July, Church took his own life.

His death legally sealed Justice Elizabeth Fullerton's decision forever.

Smith's mother Sandi Harvey has spent 10 years without her beloved daughter and still remains without answers, despite spending 68 days in court at Church's trial.

"She's on my mind, on my mind all the time," Harvey told 9News.

Harvey wishes a verdict would have been handed down in the case even after Church's death.

"If she handed down a not guilty plea then I would have to accept that because I heard everything she heard."

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Through an online petition, Harvey is demanding change.

She hopes "Leisl's Law" would ensure verdicts are still handed down in the event of an accused's death and will ensure no families are stuck in legal limbo.

More than 800 people have signed the petition.

"I would at least have satisfaction knowing… one way or the other. That's basically it," Harvey said.

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As for the case itself, Smith's mother believes someone knows something and she's appealing for help.

"They can do it anonymously, just tell me where she is. If we never have a body… just tell me what happened to her," Harvey said.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.