Power prices are hiking yet again in added blow to the cost of living pressures as Australia shivers through winter.

Adam Corrigan, an energy efficiency expert at Australian Energy Foundation, has a few tips for Australians looking to save some dollars on their next power bill.

The first problem going unnoticed is wall vents, according to Corrigan.

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"The wall vents, you don't need them, close them off, it's just another hole in your home," he said.

"You can actually go to your hardware store and you can actually buy a little plate that just goes straight over the top of it."

The next problem where valuable heat is escaping homes is in door seals.

"Put your draft stripping along there, external weather strip, internal weather strip and you've sealed the door off," Corrigan said.

Corrigan said even the little two-millimetre gaps between the door and the fame is where heat is "diving straight out the door".

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Many may not realise this is eating up the power but Corrigan pointed out electric devices like speakers, modems, DVD players and the Foxtel box functioning on stand-by power are still chewing up the bill.

"In the average home, about 15 to 20 per cent of your electricity spend is just appliances on stand-by," he said.

Corrigan recommended investing in stand-by power remotes to solve the problem.

"Plug them in at the wall socket plug in your powerboard, get a remote and bang you've just turned it off at the wall," he said.

"It will cost you $30 to $ 40. It pays for itself in the first couple of months."

With all of the cold weather, if residents don't have an air conditioning unit that can heat then they may have invested in a small electric floor heater but Corrigan said these are "money guzzlers".

"They're just really just energy hungry," he said.

Comparatively, Corrigan said the electric heater uses about 1500 watts while a high-efficiency air conditioner is using 1300 watts at maximum power.

"That (air conditioner) will heat the room much much more effectively," he said.

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Hot water systems account for up to 40 per cent of household energy use but Corrigan says turning the top temperature down can save cash.

And the second fridge in the garage can often be another appliance sucking energy and adding it to the bill.

"Simple thing, if you want it for your Christmas parties, birthday parties, that sort of thing but turn it off the rest of the time," Corrigan said. 

"Turn it on the day before and away you go."

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A three-month-old baby has had her critical heart surgery scheduled and cancelled four times in the last two weeks.

Amelia Rehn was born with congenital heart failure in Melbourne and first had surgery to implant a stent at just two-days-old.

Her wearied parents Brad and Jessica are from Tasmania and have been unable to take their baby girl home as she needs another surgery at the Royal Children's Hospital to give Amelia a bigger stent.

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"We are tired and exhausted and we have nothing left in the tank," Jessica told 9News.

"We are waiting day by day and waiting to see when we can go home."

At the end of March, 89,000 people were waiting for elective and critical surgery in Victoria.

Baby Amelia has joined them.

"There are not enough beds and the system is broken and there is no room," Jessica said.

"It's awful, she is sick enough to be in the hospital but no sick enough to need emergency surgery."

Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton said the state had passed the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave.

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But the current surgery back-log is due to the thousands of healthcare workers home sick with COVID-19.

"I understand the relief but pressures on the health system will remain for some time to come," Sutton said.

Half of the 773 Victorians in hospital with COVID are over 75 and almost one in 10 new cases has been infected before.

Sutton said vulnerable people should focus on wearing masks and getting their third and fourth COVID-19 vaccinations.

A once-in-a-year storm has arrived on Western Australia's doorstep, with a severe weather warning issued in the south-west from Geraldton to Albany.

"We've already seen wind gusts of above 90km/h and squally showers for the Perth metro this morning," said the Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM) Jonathan How.

Heavy rainfall of more than 30mm is expected over the coming days, with the front expected to extend to southern-eastern parts of the country later in the week.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1553979915183489024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Significant thunderstorms are possible along the front itself as it reaches the coast, as well as in westerly winds following the passage of the front.

The potential for damaging winds and heavy falls in showers and thunderstorms is likely to continue through Tuesday and into Wednesday, according to the BoM.

"Damaging winds above 90km/h do have the potential to cause damage to homes, property and vegetation," How said.

Weatherzone has warned people near the coast to expect large, powerful waves, saying the waves could potentially reach seven to 10 metres today.

The waves are expected to be particularly strong until about Thursday.

"Significant wave heights above seven metres could cause coastal erosion."

Damaging winds will set to increase for South Australia from Tuesday morning.

By Thursday, showers are set to push into parts of inland NSW and southern Queensland.

North-east Victoria and south-east NSW on Wednesday and Thursday can expect heavy rainfall.

"Some areas could exceed 100 to potentially 200 millimetres," How said.

"We will be issuing a flood watch for these areas, including parts of northern Tasmania."

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More than 400 Brisbane homeowners devastated by the February floods disaster have expressed interest in having their homes bought back with valuations to begin in the next few weeks.

A further 1300 homeowners are prepared to have their homes raised, and 1500 want their homes rebuilt to be flood-proof.

Queensland Reconstruction Authority Chair Brendan Moon today said there remained 2000 uninhabitable properties across South East Queensland, and hundreds of people still at a loss as to how to move forward after the disaster.

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"There is still 600 people who are unsure of their next steps," Moon said.

"Our approach now is very much supporting them, getting them to the right decision, one to get them back into their home as soon as possible, but also to support their decision to reduce flood-risk into the future."

He said the QRA had identified the most damaged and highest flood risk properties but the buy-back process was voluntary and relied on the homeowner agreeing to an independent valuation of their property.

"This is a big decision for people so we are not going to rush this," he said.

The government has set a two-year deadline for the work to be done but it's unclear at this stage what impact the rising cost and falling supply of building materials might have.

On Saturday, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner released the Council's Rebuild & Recover: Flood Recovery Action Plan with 51 tasks designed to ensure the city is stronger in the face of future severe weather events.

The plan lays out how and when Council will deliver on the 37 recommendations from the 2022 Flood Review report of the disaster by Paul de Jersey AC, including that riverine and waterway infrastructure be better designed, land-use in flood-prone commercial and industrial areas be reassessed, and communities be better informed.

The extraordinary rain event, which hit South East Queensland, the Northern Rivers and other parts of NSW in February and March 2022, was the second costliest in Australia's history – worse than Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and falling only behind Sydney's 1999 hailstorm.

Losses from the disaster totalled a record-breaking $5.134 billion, according to data released Friday by the Insurance Council of Australia.

A recent CSIRO megatrends report has warned the cost of natural disasters will triple over the next 30 years as a result of climate change.

"The scale and impact of the increasing likelihood of further events, as detailed in the CSIRO report, make it imperative that the rebuild and reconstruction from this flood significantly improves the resilience of these communities to future extreme weather events," ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

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More warning signs at a popular lookout spot in Victoria's west could have prevented a woman's death, a coroner has found.

Rosy Loomba was taking a photo with her husband at the Grampians' Boroka Lookout in December 2020 when she fell to her death.

The 38-year-old was trying to walk back from the "selfie rock" ledge to her children and friends but lost her balance and fell 30 metres, Deputy State Coroner Jacqui Hawkins found.

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Mrs Loomba died from multiple injuries, including skull fractures and a dislocated spine.

While the lookout spot is fenced off, Ms Hawkins said it was common for people to climb over the "easily scaled" wire fence to take photos on the rock ledge.

At the time of Mrs Loomba's death, there were 30 other people waiting to take their photo.

Ms Hawkins recommended Parks Victoria install extra signage in the area that expressly stated people have died and been seriously injured at the location.

"I note that adventurers and park attendees may continue to climb fences to access lookouts in order to get a photo or for their own curiosity," the coroner said in her findings.
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"Mrs Loomba's death is a reminder of the dangers associated with ignoring signage and fencing which is put in place to keep people safe."

The coroner's report noted Parks Victoria installed additional infrastructure and signage at Boroka Lookout this year.

Parks Victoria will provide a written response to the coroner within three months, setting out how the recommendations will be addressed.

"We're reviewing the existing signage at the Boroka Lookout, including reviewing the recommendations from the Coroner's Court," a spokesperson told AAP in a statement.

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Pork barrelling in the New South Wales government "could be" considered corrupt conduct in some circumstances, the state's anti-corruption watchdog has found.

Pork barrelling is when a politician or party allocates public funds, mainly taxpayer money, and resources to certain projects in order to win votes.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found ministers can be deemed corrupt if they influence a public servant's decision-making powers, or pressure another public servant to carry out actions in breach of public trust.

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It also found ministers could be considered corrupt if they allocate grants based on merit, or deliberately exercise power to approve grants for partisan reasons such as for family members, the party or particular interests in the electorate.

"The report notes that those who exercise public or official powers in a manner inconsistent with the public purpose for which the powers were conferred betray public trust and so misconduct themselves," the report said.

The watchdog said it wishes to make clear that ministers "do not have an unfettered discretion to distribute public funds".

"The exercise of ministerial discretion is subject to the rule of law, which ensures that it must accord with public trust and accountability principles."

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The report made several recommendations including ministers should consider whether approving funding is "efficient, effective, economical and ethical" and to follow existing frameworks.

The investigation was sparked by controversy surrounding a $250 million Berejiklian government Stronger Communities Fund grants scheme which was considered a blatant example of politicians using taxpayer money to buy votes.