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Fallen NRL star Brett Finch has been spared going to jail after an attempt to buy drugs ended with him pleading guilty to child abuse charges.

Judge Phillip Mahony sentenced Finch to two years imprisonment, suspending it with a $1000 surety and conditions in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday.

Judge Mahony accepted there were "exceptional circumstances" to his offending, which was the result of Finch's drug addiction and not motivated by a sexual interest in children.

The two-year sentence is suspended under a recognisance release order.

He will have to remain of good behaviour, continue treatment with a psychologist, and undertake rehab among other conditions.

Finch pleaded guilty in August to one count of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child abuse.

The 41-year-old said his only goal in leaving the messages on FastMeet - a telephone service for gay men - was to obtain cocaine, telling the court he was introduced to the service by drug dealer connections.

His explanation was not challenged by Crown prosecutors and was accepted by Judge Mahony.

"It could only have been borne out of desperation to obtain drugs to feed his addiction," he said.

Finch made the "twisted" comments about children, which cannot be published, because he thought it would draw a response from people who were on drugs or had access to them, he said.

The messages were short but contained "highly depraved and sexualised" references to children aged from 12 to 16, and posed a danger of inspiring others to offend, Judge Mahony said during sentencing.

After leaving his first message in November 2020, Finch ceased using the service in January 2021, almost a year before he was arrested.

When police came knocking in December 2021, Finch admitted to using the service and provided access to his devices, on which no child abuse material was found.

He agreed in court it was a terrible way to buy drugs and was ashamed of it.

Expert evidence also suggested a level of hypomania and noted Finch had suffered concussions during his playing career.

His offending was unsophisticated, using his own phone rather than the internet, and not part of a larger network, Judge Mahony said.

The messages were also not able to be perpetually retransmitted like material on the internet.

Outside court, Finch's lawyer Paul McGirr requested privacy to allow Finch to rebuild his life.

"This man does not have any sexual interest in children and unfortunately drugs have played a major part in ramblings of what he was saying," Mr McGirr said.

"That's just another example of the dangers of drugs and how far they can send someone down into a spiral."

"Brett holds his head up and we move on."

Finch's drug addiction came quickly after he first tried cocaine during an overseas trip following the end of his NRL career in 2013, when he struggled to transition to a less structured post-football life.

He felt his whole life had revolved around rugby league.

Finch played three State of Origin matches for NSW and won a premiership with Melbourne Storm in 2009.

His crowning moment came in the 2006 Origin opener when he kicked a match-winning field goal for the Blues.

Post-football, Finch suffered mental health issues and spoke publicly about his battles with substance abuse.

© AAP 2022

A Liberal MP has shared her emotional experience supporting a loved one facing domestic violence and promised to use her time left in federal parliament to stop it.

Speaking ahead of the international day for eliminating violence against women, Queensland MP Karen Andrews told parliament the issue was a blight on society that had "transcended time, culture and location".

She became emotional as she spoke about Australia's domestic violence statistics and said there was much more society needed to do to eradicate it.

"It is likely we all know many of these victims. Unfortunately I have had to wait for text messages to come in - the phone calls are much worse - wondering if someone you love is still alive," she said on Wednesday.

"For those people who haven't experienced this, you can have no idea what it's like."

Ms Andrews, who is opposition spokeswoman for child protection and family violence prevention, said she would dedicate her time left in parliament to work to eradicate the issue and support people and services on the frontline.

"When you're there at night and the phone rings and you're wondering what you're going to hear, it is a terribly traumatic experience," she said.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said more than a billion women globally experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly at the hands of an intimate partner.

"As an international community this is a chance to reflect on this violence, stand in solidarity with victim-survivors, and commit to a world in which all women and girls are safe," she said.

In Australia, one woman dies every 10 days at the hands of her former or current partner.

"This should not be allowed to happen," Ms Andrews said.

"Ensuring that domestic violence does not span generations should be a national priority."

© AAP 2022

Australia is facing longer fire seasons, more intense tropical cyclones and oceans riddled with acidity due to rising global temperatures.

The country's climate has warmed on average by 1.47C since national records began in 1910, according to the new State of the Climate report released on Wednesday.

The eight years from 2013 to 2020 were the warmest on record, with 2019 taking the top spot for the hottest recorded year.

"Concentrations of greenhouse gases are at the highest levels seen on Earth in at least two million years," director of the CSIRO's Climate Science Centre Jaci Brown said.

Since the 1950s, extreme fire weather has increased and fire seasons are starting sooner and ending later.

The increased rainfall in recent La Nina seasons can heighten fire risks because thick vegetation dries out and creates fuel loads.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the report's findings reinforced the need for further climate action.

"It reminds us that we need to prepare for the worst," she told ABC TV on Wednesday.

"We have managed to join with like-minded countries to stop that watering down (of international climate targets) but it will take global action, we need to do our share here in Australia."

The report from the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO found Australia in the coming decades will experience increasing air temperatures and decreasing cool-season rain, with short but heavy rains expected.

Sea levels will continue to rise and warmer ocean temperatures will mean coral bleaching becomes more likely across the country's coastline.

"We're seeing mass coral bleaching events more often and this year, for the first time, we've seen a mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef during a La Nina year," Dr Brown said.

Australians will experience fewer tropical cyclones, but the ones that do eventuate will be more intense.

As those in flood-affected areas could attest to, the intensity of short rainfall events has increased by 10 per cent per storm.

The report comes following widespread flooding in parts of NSW and Victoria.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said it was still too early to determine the cost of the flood damage,

"The costs are enormous ... it'll run into hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars," he told ABC Radio.

"There's the individual cost when you have flood damage and water across the floorboards. It is nothing short of a disaster."

Science Minister Ed Husic said the Labor government was listening to the science.

"We are acting across government to bring down emissions while creating jobs and economic opportunity," he said, pointing to $3 billion set aside from the National Reconstruction Fund for renewables and low-emission technologies.

The State of the Climate report has been published every two years since 2010.

© AAP 2022