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Youth underemployment was exacerbated by the pandemic but was not a new crisis for younger Australians, research suggests.

Young people bore the brunt of recent economic disruptions like the global financial crisis and recessions in the late twentieth century, so job losses during the pandemic speak to deeper structural issues, according to a study from the University of Melbourne and University of Newcastle.

The study argues the casualisation and insecure nature of work has been normalised over previous decades with major consequences.

"While the pandemic was experienced as a shock or sudden crisis by many, its impact on the employment of some young adults represented a continuation of existing patterns of insecure employment and precarity rather than a new crisis," the authors wrote.

Australia's youth unemployment rate as of February 2023 was 7.9 per cent, more than double the national rate of 3.5 per cent.

In 2020, young people were more likely to be on casual contracts than older workers in industries heavily impacted by lockdown measures such as retail, hospitality or tourism.

Researchers say the reasons behind this trend need to be examined.

"What you have is a greater proportion of creation of jobs that are part time, casual or fixed term, that means not permanent," lead author Professor Hernan Cuervo told AAP.

"This generates, for example, in people that are entering the labour market like young people a greater possibility to have horizontal mobility in terms of employment ... but not vertical mobility, that sense of going up the social or employment ladder."

The findings were based off a survey of 470 people aged in their early thirties taking part in the Life Patterns study in 2021.

Almost a third of those who responded said their financial position was negatively impacted by the pandemic.

About the same number said their employment and financial wellbeing was not affected while one in ten believed they benefited financially through the pandemic because they were able to save.

That group included people in insecure work who were eligible for government programs like JobKeeper and had more flexible income to spend on essentials such as groceries and bills.

"Of course, once this supplementary income support from the government (through) coronavirus went away they returned to the struggles of being unemployed and in poverty, which basically shows that the unemployment benefit has to be raised in Australia," Prof Cuervo said.

Many participants on casual or on fixed contracts did not identify as being in insecure employment, even though the authors deemed them to be.

"The normalisation of this state is perhaps the clearest indication that it has been a reality that has far pre-dated the pandemic for some of our participants," the study authors said.

© AAP 2023

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Police will sift through garbage landfill for the body of a Brisbane woman, believed to have been picked up in a wheelie bin.

Detectives have been treating the disappearance of Lesley Trotter, 78, as a possible homicide.

On Tuesday they confirmed their focus had shifted to six commercial waste sites across Brisbane.

Investigators said last week they believed she was dead after conducting extensive searches at Brisbane's Mt Coot-tha, where Ms Trotter was known to bushwalk.

She last spoke to her family on March 27 and was not at her Toowong home when relatives visited the following day.

Her mobile phone and wallet were found in her unit and her car was still in the garage.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said police believe Ms Trotter's body was in a wheelie bin on Maryvale Street at Toowong on March 28 before rubbish trucks delivered its contents to a Nudgee transfer station.

"We have strong evidence to suggest that, evidence I'm very confident in," Supt Massingham told reporters.

Detectives couldn't rule out foul play and continued to treat the matter as suspicious.

An additional 22 trucks visited the site that day.

Their loads were compressed before being taken to six dump sites across Rochedale and Swanbank.

"The location of that rubbish at each of those sites has now been quarantined. In fact, it was quarantined over the weekend," Supt Massingham said.

"We are currently planning an extensive search of both those sites to recover the remains of the person we believe to be Lesley Trotter."

Supt Massingham indicated the search would be complex and difficult, with excavation needed at Rochedale.

Once engineers finalise the scale of area to comb, police will commence a "piece-by-piece" operation.

"These types of searches are not uncommon, but I think the scale of this one will make it quite complex," he added.

"It will require a combination of resources from many different specialised areas to ensure we leave no stone unturned."

Supt Massingham said it was important for police to not disclose information about Ms Trotter's body until they were able to "exhaust people's memory" with respect to their recollections of March 28.

He did not rule out links to a dispute over recycling in the area, with Ms Trotter well known in the neighbourhood for ensuring rubbish was put into the correct bins.

"It is a line of inquiry," he said.

"It's certainly an issue that has been raised by a number of people in respect to that behaviour and we can't rule out that that has something to do with her death in some way."

© AAP 2023

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Police will search six commercial dump sites across Brisbane for the remains of missing woman Lesley Trotter, with indications her body was transported from a wheelie bin near her home through refuse transfer stations.

Detectives have been treating the disappearance of the 78-year-old as as a possible homicide.

Investigators said last week they believed she was dead after conducting extensive searches at Brisbane's Mt Coot-tha, based on the fact Mrs Trotter was an avid hiker and bushwalker.

She last spoke to her family on March 27 and wasn't at her Toowong home when they visited the following day.

Her mobile phone and wallet were found in the unit and her car was still in the garage.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said police believed Mrs Trotter's body was in a wheelie bin on Merivale St at Toowong on Tuesday, March 28 before rubbish trucks delivered its contents to a Nudgee transfer station.

He said due to the positioning of her body, detectives couldn't rule out foul play and continued to treat the matter as suspicious.

"That rubbish truck went to the Nudgee transfer station where the rubbish was dropped into a pit," Supt Massingham told reporters.

An additional 22 trucks visited the site that day. Their loads were compressed before being taken to six dump sites across Rochedale and Swanbank.

"The location of that rubbish at each of those sites has now been quarantined. In fact, it was quarantined over the weekend," Supt Massingham said.

"We are currently planning an extensive search of both those sites to recover the remains of the person we believe to be Lesley Trotter."

Supt Massingham said the search would be complex and difficult, with excavation needed at Rochedale.

Once engineers finalise the scale of area to comb, police will commence a "piece-by-piece" operation.

"I thank those members of the public ... we have so far interviewed," he added.

"Our doorknocks in the area are coming towards the end.

"It was important the information relevant to the location of her body was kept quiet across the weekend until we were able to exhaust people's memory with respect to their recollections on Tuesday the 28th of March."

© AAP 2023

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Ethan Ewing now has his own Bells Beach trophy to keep next to his bed, right alongside the one his mother won 40 years ago.

The 24-year-old triumphed in an all-Australian final against Ryan Callinan on Tuesday before Tyler Wright claimed back-to-back titles, dominating another local in World Surf League rankings leader Molly Picklum in the women's decider.

Ewing and Wright became the first dual Australian champions at Bells since Mick Fanning and Sally Fitzgibbons in 2012, while the last time four Australians made the finals was back in 1991.

A trail-blazer for women's surfing, Ewing's late mother Helen Lambert won the title in 1983, splitting a 10-year domination by American surfers.

Dying of cancer when he was six, Ewing said he couldn't remember a time when her trophy wasn't on his bedside table or a time when he didn't strive to win his own.

He has only seen photos of her victory and said she had been a huge inspiration.

"I have memories of her taking me surfing and watching her surf, they're really special memories," an emotional Ewing told AAP.

"To put my name on the trophy next to hers, it's really special for my family."

Growing up on Queensland's Stradbroke Island, he spent as much time as he could at Bells to try to master the famed break.

Ewing came close last year when he was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champion Filipe Toledo, but in the 60th year got to ring the famous trophy bell.

"I've had the trophy next to my bed pretty much my whole life and looked at it and dreamt of it," Ewing said.

"I've spent a lot of time down here to work out the waves and learn a lot and to have it pay off is huge."

Jumping to No.4 on the world rankings on the back of the win, Ewing was rewarded for some smart surfing on a marathon day.

He conserved his energy, going for quality over quantity as he picked out the best waves of each heat as he moved through the rounds.

Ewing went all out in the final, surfing 11 waves with his score of 14.50 trumping Callinan's two-wave total of 11.00.

"It was definitely worried about fatigue so I tried to pick the eyes out of the waves and not use too much energy," he said.

"It was such a big day, an amazing day, and now I'm so tired."

It was his second WSL title after winning at South Africa's J-Bay last year.

From Newcastle, 30-year-old Callinan's performance saw him rocket to No.6 in the rankings and secured his place in the top 24 after he missed the mid-season cut last year.

In the women's showdown Wright set the pace against 20-year-old Picklum, laying down back-to-back scores for a combined tally of 16.00.

Picklum fell short with a two-wave score of 12.00.

Wright had to fight her way through the elimination round and then took down contenders Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore en route to the final.

"I didn't expect too much this week ... last year there was so much emotion in it as it took me 12 years to try and get the first one," said Wright, who has moved up to world No.2.

"Both wins are incredible and I felt I learnt a lot from last year on how to manage Bells.

"To have Steph and Cariss and Molly in the final, it's been a really nice journey and it feels really special."

Picklum will remain rankings leader heading into the next event at Margaret River while Brazil's Joao Chianca has taken the yellow jersey from Jack Robinson as the men's No.1.

© AAP 2023