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When temporary visa holder Leonard* started to work in a restaurant, his colleagues noticed there was something different about him.

The recent arrival to Australia slept at work, didn't appear to have much money and seemed very reluctant to engage with his co-workers.

His colleagues spotted what the signs of criminal exploitation could be and eventually helped him to escape.

READ MORE: Vaccinations offer hope to 'long COVID' sufferers

This is one of the many stories Anti-Slavery Australia founding director Professor Jennifer Burn hears on a regular basis.

The law and research centre is dedicated to advancing the rights of people who have experienced all forms of modern slavery.

The team is currently helping more than 400 people who have been enslaved, trafficked, in forced labour or forced marriage.

During the COVID pandemic, there was a 27 per cent increase in calls to their services.

This did not reflect the trafficking of people into Australia but rather the increased exploitation of people already here.

This was particularly the case for people on temporary visas, such as student visas and working holiday visas.

As whole industries closed, it was impossible for people in casual work to continue.

The lockdown meant jobs were lost.

"That increased a pool of people who were vulnerable to exploitation," she said.

"That was an unexpected development."

This year the team, based at the University of Technology Sydney, will focus heavily on improving the response to survivors of modern slavery.

"Generally speaking, our support framework is based on criminal justice outcomes," she said.

"But clearly we know there are some people who are so traumatised or fearful that they're unable to engage with an investigative process or they're terrified of speaking to the police."

How Australians can help

Professor Burn said there were several ways Australians could help stop this crime.

The first is learning about modern slavery via a free online course and information on the Anti-Slavery Australia website.

According to Anti-Slavery Australia, the signs of modern slavery include:

• Controlled or restricted freedom of movement – monitored, guarded or confined
• Intimidation and threats including threats of deportation
• Threatened or actual physical and/or sexual violence
• Travel or other important documents have been taken by employer or a third party
• Abusive living and/or working conditions
• Living at the workplace or another place owned/controlled by employer
• Isolation – geographic, social and/or linguistic
• Withholding, underpayment or no payment of wages
• Excessive hours of work
• Debt bondage (for example, labour or services are provided as security or repayment of an inflated debt)
• Deceived or lack of information about nature and conditions of work
• No discretion over life decisions
• Unable to end employment at any time

READ MORE: Coronavirus supplement payment ending in weeks

Another way Australians can help is by being an ethical consumer.

Australians can view the government's modern slavery register, which requires big businesses to upload a statement to address the risk of modern slavery in their business and supply chains.

'Light at the end of the tunnel'

Professor Burn and her team are working towards better outcomes for survivors.

She knows with the right support, survivors can move past their traumatic experiences.

One woman, who she has known for a long time, recently became an Australian citizen and bought a house.

The woman's situation was different 15 years ago, as she was in a modern slavery situation.

READ MORE: State facing major recovery effort as weather conditions ease

"There are people with incredible bravery and resilience who can draw on the support," she said.

"However it can be easier for some than others.

"With the right support, there is light at the end of the tunnel."

*name has been changed

Road Rules Awareness Week is giving road users the chance to refresh their knowledge of the NSW road rules.

Whether you are a driver, pedestrian, motorcyclist, passenger or bicycle rider, it is important to be aware of how to use the roads safely.

The rules of roundabouts is one of the topics being highlighted this week.

READ MORE: The ocean is absolutely freezing in Sydney right now – here's why

How many of the following rules do you know?

Approaching a roundabout

When you approach a roundabout, you must use your indicator if you intend to turn left or right or make a U-turn at the roundabout.

You must give other road users sufficient notice of your intention to turn.

Entering a roundabout

When entering a roundabout, you must slow or stop to give way to any vehicle already in the roundabout. 

You must also continue to use your indicators if you intend to turn left or right, or make a U-turn.

Turning left

When turning left, you must indicate left on approach and be travelling in the left-hand lane, unless there are road markings with other instructions.

Stay in the left lane and exit in the left lane.

Turning right

When turning right, you must indicate right on approach and be travelling in the right hand lane, unless there are road markings with other instructions.

Making a U-turn

When using a roundabout to make a U-turn, you must approach in the right lane and signal right. 

Changing lanes in a roundabout

Drivers may change lanes in a roundabout if they wish.

The usual road rules for changing lanes apply. You must use your indicator and give way to any vehicle in the lane you are entering.

Going straight ahead

You don't need to signal when approaching the roundabout if you are going straight ahead.

You may approach the roundabout from either the left or right lane, unless there are road markings with other instructions.

Exiting a roundabout

As when you exit a road, you must signal left when leaving a roundabout if it is practical to do so, and you should stop indicating as soon as you have exited the roundabout.

However, when you are travelling straight ahead on a small single lane roundabout, it may be impractical to indicate when exiting.

Towns in northern New South Wales remain in the grips of their worst flooding in over a decade while thousands return home to devastation in Sydney's west.

More than 20,000 people remain stranded around the state with fresh evacuation warnings in place for the Moree area.

The Mehi River recorded a major flood peak this morning at 10.4 metres, with residents in low-lying areas forced to flee overnight and this morning.

LIVE UPDATES: ADF to ramp up flood relief efforts

"It is believed that most river systems have peaked however complacency is a concern for us," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

More than 3000 people were able to return to their communities since yesterday after six evacuation orders were lifted due to easing weather conditions.

As floodwaters drop, the state's mammoth recovery effort has now begun with insurance companies predicting the damage to top $1 billion.

"We appreciate it will be a very challenging time for people today and tomorrow as they go back to their homes and their properties," Ms Berejiklian said.

https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1374899619692433408

"We are seeing a number of areas where we are starting to see the water recede including locations around Taree and Kempsey," Deputy Commissioner of NSW SES Daniel Austin said.

"A significant effort going into resupply and to get food and possessions into those communities."

The easing conditions will give emergency services an opportunity to focus on resupply to communities isolated by flooding Australian Defence Force ramps up its relief efforts.

"There are many supplies being loaded onto helicopters and our boats to go out to those communities, and restocking some of those supermarkets, which is good news," NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said.

"Today, we're really about the resupply, we're really about making those areas in Grafton and looking after those people that have been evacuated overnight, making sure they're safe and looked after."

READ MORE: NSW schools and roads closed as disastrous flood waters rise

NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott told Today the emergency still exists and urged residents to follow advice from authorities.

"The Hawkesbury River and the Northern Rivers does remain a concern for the state emergency services," Mr Elliott said.

"This rain may have gone away but what happened is of course all the tributary, all the streams, all the rivers that lead into these large waterways are still full and they're still pushing water downstream."

Mr Elliott said the emergency had affected 24,000 people and flood-hit communities faced a huge – and potentially hazardous – clean-up effort.

"What we see now is that sewerage has overflown. What we see is snakes and spiders are in some of those areas. What we see now is the debris needs to be cleaned up very quickly, and then we still have to resupply a lot of communities."

ADF personnel to join flood relief efforts

The Australian Defence Force will join the flood relief effort in NSW today, with 290 personnel deployed to hard-hit areas.

Military helicopters began search and rescue missions over flood regions earlier this week after the NSW Government requested help.

But the ADF is now expected to start helping on the ground.

READ MORE: Dry weather brings relief for flood-hit NSW communities but concern remains over rising rivers

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Federal Parliament yesterday they would be helping "recovery support and clean-up operations".

After the initial deployment of 290 ADF personnel, the number is expected to rise to 700 over the coming days.

Three more military helicopters will join the two already flying missions over NSW.

Western Sydney and other flood-hit parts of NSW can expect a largely dry day today.

A Weatherzone spokesman told nine.com.au showers were forecast for this afternoon but they were not expected to be heavy or extensive.

Tomorrow a southerly change will arrive bringing more light rain.

Emergency turns deadly

Yesterday the flood crisis turned deadly with two men killed in separate incidents in New South Wales and Queensland.

Ayaz Younus, aged 25, died after his car became trapped in floodwaters in Sydney's north-west, while a 38-year-old man, who had been reported missing on Monday, was found in car in floodwaters on the Gold Coast.

The death of the 25-year-old is an "unfortunate but timely reminder" of the dangers of flood waters, Mr Austin told Today.

"Our hearts go out to friends and family as well as the rescuers that were involved in the job itself," he said.

"It does unfortunately serve as a reminder that the risk remains."

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said it would be "unhelpful to speculate" on the circumstances surrounding the incident.

"This is a graphic and tragic reminder of the dangers that occur on our road as this crisis unfolds," he said.

One of the most famed lines of poetry written about Australia pithily sums up its sometimes devastating duality.

"I love a sunburnt country … of drought and flooding rains," Dorothea Mackellar wrote in My Country, first published more than 100 years ago in 1908.

For many Australians, the past year has shown up that terrible contrast in the stark twin realities of destructive fire and flood.

READ MORE: NSW flood victim identified as police investigation continues

In the last months of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, out-of-control bushfires swept through the eastern states, with particularly intense battles fought on the northern and southern NSW coasts.

By March 2020, 26 people had been killed and nearly 6000 buildings destroyed.

And with communities still struggling to rebuild 12 months later, the same regions were hit with destructive floods, prompting the evacuation of thousands.

The damage bill for this year's catastrophe is not yet known, but two people have so far been killed.

As always, pictures offer a better summary, and looking at the images of the same regions side-by-side mere months apart shows the battering the country has taken even as it continues to fight a deadly worldwide pandemic.

Cobargo Hotel-Motel licensee David Allen posted two such photos online, showing the fires of 2020 next to the floods of 2021 from the same perspective.

He said the pictures were taken as a gesture of solidarity to areas ravaged by the floods.

READ MORE: Further flood evacuation orders as 20,000 stranded

"I wanted to say that we've been through this, and we're thinking of others going through it now," he told nine.com.au.

The flooding in Cobargo, in NSW's south-east, was relatively minor, with 300-400mm of rain falling on the town.

For a town still recovering from the devastating fires a year before, it was a rare reprieve.

"The fires were terrible," Mr Allen said.

"About 140 homes were destroyed in and around Cobargo. We're still cleaning up (at the hotel), we had to rebuild the beer garden and repair a lot of damage.

"People are still trying to do normal work, and live their normal live, and with all the clean-up work on top of it, it's very tiring. It's a really tough, arduous process."

Many homes were still not rebuilt a year on.

READ MORE: Elderly woman carried from flooded home in Taree saves prized possession

Even if people have received their insurance payout and approval for their rebuild, Mr Allen said, a lack of materiel and workers had caused long delays.

"It's hard now to import building materials from China, and all the forests have burned down, so for example framing timber is really scarce," he said.

"And COVID has shut down travel so a lot of carpenters, builders and the like that might have come in from overseas for the work haven't been able to get here."

Some people had taken the payout and sold up, leaving Cobargo behind – while other people, leaving the cities for a work-from-home lifestyle made possible by COVID's forced adaptations, were filling up accommodation in the town.

Travellers too had passed through Cobargo in huge numbers, confined to their home state by border closures. Mr Allen said it had been the busiest year his business had known.

And the people in town know they still have a long road ahead.

"We got a lot of publicity after the fires, all the TV networks were down here, people sent us donations – all of which was wonderful, you can't ask for anything more," Mr Allen.

"But the messages that stuck with us was from people who'd been through it, people who'd been through the King Lake bushfires. And they told us, it would take time.

"It's the work of years, not months."

The mother of a missing man found dead submerged in a flooded Gold Coast creek has paid tribute to her late son, describing him as "the best". 

Suzy Allington took to social media this morning after swift water rescue crews retrieved the body of her son David Hornman, 38, from his ute that was found overturned in raging floodwaters.

The heartbroken mother thanked those who had sent her messages of support since the grim discovery and said she would have taken her son's place for him to still be here. 

READ MORE: Floral tributes laid for man found dead submerged in Gold Coast creek

"Thank you for all your messages – I wish God had taken me instead," the post said. 

"RIP my beautiful son – you were the best.

"My love for you will never die."

The emotional post has so far had hundreds of friends and strangers sending condolences for Mr Hornman's death, with one commenter calling the past 24 hours an "unimaginable pain as a mother." 

"Our hearts are broken for you, sending you lots of love and hugs at this hard time, I too was sharing and hoping that your son would be found safe," one commenter said. 

"I have never met you or your beautiful son, (I) was one who shared your post in the hope you would find him. Sending you so much love and prayers tonight as you grieve," another added. 

The tribute follows a number of other posts from Ms Allington about Mr Hornman's disappearance earlier this week, pleading for him or his ute to be found. 

"Oh David where are you my beautiful boy," she posted on Tuesday.

"Please check any dash cam footage you may have for Monday morning from 06.00 am  – anywhere," she followed up yesterday morning. 

https://twitter.com/R_DAlessandro9/status/1374810861911429124

Mr Hornman was last seen leaving a home on Lamington National Park Road around 6am on Monday. 

Police are still investigating the circumstances that led to Mr Hornman's death and are appealing for any mobile or dash cam vision to assist them in their queries.