Stats NZ says 72,700 New Zealanders left in the past year, mostly for Australia.

Dozens of firefighters are battling a blaze at a furniture factory in Sydney's west.

Emergency services were called to a fire on Park Road and Rose Crescent in Regents Park about 2.30pm today.

A total of 40 crews and 12 trucks are there.

READ MORE: One state to swelter through the hottest day in over a year tomorrow

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said crews are currently trying to control the fire, and it is too early to say why it started.

"The situation is ongoing and developing," he said.

"We'll get the fire out first before we start to have a look at where and how it started."

Police, paramedics and the energy authority are also on scene.

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Emergency services were notified after the Emergency Locator Transmitter was activated.

A 57-year-old woman will appear in the Kaitāia District Court tomorrow.

Parts of Western Australia will start their week with their hottest day in more than a year due to a suffocating combination of hot winds and temperatures soaring past 40 degrees.

A deepening trough over the Pilbara will move down the west coast tomorrow, with temperatures expected to hit a maximum of 35 degrees in Perth.

Most of the west coast will reach mid-to-high 30s, Geraldton 40 degrees, and inland Gascoyne and the Central West to exceed 40 degrees. 

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Weatherzone said for some parts of the state tomorrow will be the hottest day since last autumn.

The sweltering conditions have sparked moderate to extreme fire danger warnings across the state tomorrow, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. 

The Midwest Coast and Midwest Inland, including Geraldton, Northampton, Chapman Valley, Mingenew, Morawa, Perenjori and Three Springs, will be under an extreme warning.

Parts of the Kimberley, north interior, Pilbara, Burrup, Ashburton, Exmouth, west interior, Yalgar, Gascoyne, Lesueur, Yarra Yarra, Lockwood, Mortlock, Avon and Swan will be under a high warning while remaining parts of the state face moderate warnings.

South Goldfields is the only area to escape warnings tomorrow.

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The trough is expected to generate moisture, which could cause thunderstorms across the western and southwestern parts of the state from as early as tomorrow.

But, as the week goes on, temperatures will fall. 

Perth will likely see storms beginning on Wednesday and Thursday, with the mercury expected to drop to 26 degrees by Saturday.

Storms will lash Geraldton and Gascoyne starting tomorrow and into Tuesday before conditions clear.

Temperatures will fall to 26 degrees in Geraldton and 34 degrees in Gascoyne by Saturday.

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The Herald has spoken to several locals who knew the family living at the Sanson house.

This week, Jayden Wells shed tears as he was sent to prison on a variety of charges.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stopped short of saying he supported Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan's new "adult time for violent crime" law reforms, which could see children as young as 14 jailed for life.

The federal and state leaders fronted a press conference together today to announce the opening of Melbourne's highly anticipated West Gate Freeway Tunnel, just days after Allan's controversial announcement earlier this week.

Her government said it will introduce new legislation to crack down on youth offenders committing serious offences — like machete crime, home invasion, carjacking and armed robbery — to be tried in an adult court and face greater penalties.

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Albanese was questioned on what he thought about the proposed measures on his first visit to the state since they were announced.

He failed to say whether he supported the laws, but understood the premier had made the decision to keep residents safe.

"Australians want to be safe. State governments determine their own policy, but Australians do want to be safe," he told reporters.

"So I certainly understand that the Premier has made this decision, which is consistent with her commitment to keeping Victorians safe."

Under the proposed laws hoped to be passed by parliament before the end of the year, children as young as 14 will be tried in adult court for a range of violent offences, with the maximum penalty to be raised to life imprisonment.

The reforms are akin to the Queensland government's tough "adult crime, adult time" laws.

"We want courts to treat these violent children like adults, so jail is more likely and sentences are longer," Allan said at a press conference earlier this week announcing the measures.

"This will mean more violent youth offenders going to jail, facing serious consequences."

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But the premier came under fire from her colleagues across the bench and legal experts, who claim the laws would impede the state's human rights obligations.

They have also questioned the timing of the announcement, as the premier seeks another term at next year's looming state election.

Senator Lidia Thorpe said the laws were not about safety, but the election, adding that Indigenous and ethnic children would be unfairly targeted.

"The Premier wants to lock up 14-year-olds for life and pretend that's leadership. It's unfathomably cruel and the most shameful attempt to cling to power," she said.

"Every child Labor locks up is a child the government has already failed — in housing, mental health, disability support, education and care.

"Prison makes children more traumatised, more disconnected, and more likely to reoffend. It is harmful and does not make anyone's communities safer."

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Human Rights Law Centre, and Amnesty International have all strongly condemned the laws and called for the state to reverse their course of action, saying the penalties are "cruel", "shameful" and "inhumane".

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The kumete whakairo was carved as a peace gift to politician Robert Graham in 1878.

An Australian scientist has discovered a new species of bee with demon-like horns while researching an endangered flower in Western Australia.

Native bee scientist and Curtin Adjunct Research Fellow Kit Prendergast was surveying pollinators of the Marianthus aquilonaris wildflower in Bremer Range in the remote WA Goldfields when she stumbled upon an unfamiliar type of bee.

Prendergast named the female bee Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer, a nod to her favourite Netflix show, because of the winged insect's distinctive horns.

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Lucifer is a British drama series starring Welsh actor Tom Ellis as the title character.

"I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree," Prendergast said.

The Australian native lucifer bee has never been spotted before – and DNA barcoding confirmed it does not match any previously discovered species.

Its presence during a mass flowering of an endangered host suggests this bee may be of "conservation concern", according to a journal article published by Prendergast and Joshua W. Campbell.

"This species visits a critically endangered plant, Marianthus aquilonaris, in a region that targeted for mining (around Lake Johnston of the Goldfields)," Prendergast said in a post on Instagram.

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"For many threatened plants, we do not even know what visits them.

"For many mining and development projects, there is no requirement to even survey, let alone mitigate or offset potential impacts on the native bee and invertebrate communities.

"Not only does the name lucifer refer to Lucifer, but it is also Latin for 'Lightbringer', and I hope this new species shines light on the need to better invest in, monitor, and research Australian native bees and their conservation."

The Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer bee is the first of its genus to be discovered in 20 years.

Australia is home to an estimated 2000 native bee species.

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