Two incredible whale encounters played out off Australia's east coast this week as humpbacks "danced" in the blue waters of the Sunshine State.

In one encounter, shared with 9News, a group of divers came across two "curious" humpbacks off Coolangatta.

The friendly duo came up close and circled the divers before descending back into the deep.

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In a separate encounter, again captured on film, a different pair put on a show for unsuspecting fishermen off Noosa.

The majestic mammals twisted, turned and slapped their tales metres from the crew's boat.

The duo performed for over 20 minutes much to the delight of the onlookers.

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The sightings come as humpback whales frolic in the warmer waters of the north after completing their annual migration from Antarctica.

They will head back towards the Southern Ocean from September to November.

The east coast population is said to number around 40,000 individuals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused his predecessor of "an extraordinary and unprecedented trashing of our democracy", following revelations he secretly swore himself into several ministerial roles.

Between March 2020 and May 2021, Morrison was appointed to five additional portfolios in secret, Albanese revealed today.

"This has been government by deception. Government in secret," Albanese said.

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Morrison was operating as minister of health, finance, home affairs, treasury and industry, science, energy and resources.

Albanese said the implications of Morrison's multiple portfolios "are still being worked through".

"We know that there is a legal matter in the issue of resources," he said.

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"I am seeking further advice as to the use of these extraordinary powers by Scott Morrison and other examples of it."

Albanese has sought advice from the solicitor-general, which should be ready by next Monday.

He said Morrison's colleagues "sat back and watched power be centralised within the Morrison government".

"They ticked off on the arrangements that had Scott Morrison as the only member of a Cabinet committee," he Albanese said.

EXPLAINED: The Morrison secret portfolio story

"This is a sad indictment of not just Mr Morrison but all those cabinet colleagues of his."

He cited the text message sent to millions of Australians on election day of an illegal boat interception as an example of Morrison's alleged misuse of portfolios.

Albanese said the text message was an attempt to "pervert the result of the election on May 21".

"It's undermined our democracy," Albanese said.

"It's an attack on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy as we know it."

The Prime Minister did not reveal whether the secretaries of the various ministries were aware Morrison had secretly sworn himself in as minister.

Karen Andrews was the official Home Affairs Minister, though Morrison had also been sworn into the role.

Greg Hunt served as Health Minister and Josh Frydenberg served as Treasurer.

Mathias Cormann served as Minister for Finance for eight months with Morrison also sworn into the role. After he left Parliament, Simon Birmingham took over the role.

Meanwhile, Keith Pitt was ostensibly the Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

"We will produce more information over a period of time," Albanese said.

"This won't be the last time I speak about it."

He did not reveal whether Morrison had exercised his powers as minister for the various portfolios.

Albanese was asked if he knew why Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into multiple portfolios.

"No. If you work it out, let me know," Albanese replied.

He said Morrison did not accept additional payment for the portfolios.

Morrison told 2GB this morning his assumption of the ministerial roles was motivated by the extraordinary situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had previously claimed to be unaware of the reports of his secret portfolios, saying he was not involved in "day to day" politics following the election.

Ex-minister lashes out

Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews called on Morrison to resign from parliament.

After the revelation Morrison had sworn himself into the portfolio on May 6, 2021, she called on him to quit.

Andrews was unaware Morrison had also taken on the portfolio without her knowledge.

"It is absolutely time for him to resign from parliament. This is unacceptable," she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I did not know. When it was all unfolding over the last 24 hours I wondered if Home Affairs would come up for no reason other than he had launched himself into a range of portfolios.

"I had nothing from him, nothing from PMO, no knowledge."

Andrews remains the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs in the opposition.

Current Liberal leader Peter Dutton, by contrast, claimed Morrison had provided "context" to explain his decisions.

He called for "cool heads" to prevail and said the current process needed to unfold before any judgement could be made.

"The prime minister has come out of his holiday swinging, and he'll get his teeth into this, clearly," he said.

Dutton said there were "bigger issues" to focus on.

"At the time (Albanese) is concentrating on this, he's not explaining to the Australian public how it is that they are going to pay their bills," he said.

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A wooden bridge over a river in southern Norway collapsed early Monday local time, with a car plunging into the water and a truck getting stuck on a raised section.

The drivers of both vehicles were rescued and doing well, police said.

Police were alerted shortly after 7.30am (3.30pm yesterday AEST) that the bridge had collapsed as a truck and a car were crossing over it. The cause wasn't immediately known.

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The car plunged into the river while the truck remained on the bridge in a nearly vertical position on a section that was raised at a steep angle out of the water.

A helicopter assisted in the rescue operation and pulled out the truck driver, police said. The driver of the car managed to get out of his vehicle by himself.

The nearly 150-metre bridge connects the west bank of the Gudbrandsdalslaagen River and the village of Tretten. The bridge opened in 2012.

"It is completely catastrophic, completely unreal," local mayor Jon Halvor Midtmageli told the Dabgladet newspaper.

"It is also a fairly new bridge.

"It is completely destroyed, everything has fallen down."

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The Norwegian Automobile Federation said the bridge was checked in 2021, raising concern about the safety of such bridges.

"We who travel on the roads must be able to trust that the bridges are safe to drive on," the organisation's spokeswoman, Ingunn Handagard, told the Norwegian news agency NTB.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration said Monday it wanted an independent investigation into the collapse.

"It must be safe to drive on Norwegian roads. That is why it is important to get to the bottom of this case," said the administration's head, Ingrid Dahl Hovland.

Atle Formo, who lives by the Tretten bridge, said he heard "an intense crash".

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"The whole house was shaking. I was rolling up the blinds in the bedroom and looked right at a bridge laying in the river," he told Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

A similar nearby bridge in Sjoa in the Gudbrand valley, also made of glued laminated timber, collapsed in 2016. The driver of a truck who was crossing the bridge at the time of the collapse was slightly injured.

Following that collapse, 11 similar bridges, including the one in Tretten, were temporarily closed by the government body that is in charge Norway's infrastructure. The agency said in a report about the 2016 collapse that "the direct cause of the bridge collapse is a defective joint in the framework."

Norwegian transportation minister Jon-Ivar Nygård was due to visit the site of the latest bridge collapse later Monday.

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The mystery as to why the Great Australian Bight supports so many marine predators may have been explained, with scientists claiming they have found a "missing link" in the food chain.

Year-round apex predators such as great white sharks and orcas, flock to the southern coastal waters with shark sightings in particular said to be on the increase.

For the first time a team of Australian oceanographers have described "substantial" subsurface phytoplankton layers deep beneath the eastern part of the Bight.

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Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) data uncovered this "missing link" of subsurface phytoplankton at water depths of 30m to 70m.

Until now the tiny organisms had gone undetected, even by satellite imagery.

It's claimed a "seasonal upwelling of nutrient-rich water" fuels the production of phytoplankton.

The findings were published in a new study in Continental Shelf Research.

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Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf, study co-author and Flinders University researcher, said the finding proves the Bight is one of the most important marine ecosystems in the country.

''Our observation of subsurface phytoplankton layers is the missing key explaining the high productivity of the region," he said.

''This study demonstrates how little we actually know about the functioning of marine ecosystems.

"And how important real field observations are".

Phytoplankton are important as they form the "base" of the food chain, providing food for small to large fish as well as whales.

This in turn attracts the larger predators who feast on them.

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