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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined other world leaders in condemning North Korea after the rogue state fired an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Mr Albanese joined leaders from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea to call for the United Nations Security Council to have an emergency meeting on the matter.

The missile landed near Japanese waters on Friday and showed a potential ability to reach and to strike the entire US, Japan has said.

Mr Albanese met his colleagues on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Bangkok in a multi-lateral meeting called by US Vice President Kamala Harris.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Japan's president Fumio Kishida, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also took part.

Mr Albanese said North Korea's provocation violated multiple UN resolutions and must stop.

"The nature of these missiles is that they are long range ... (and) threaten the security of the entire region," he told reporters in Bangkok.

"This action does threaten our security, it does destabilise the region and this is precisely the reason why the UN Security Council was established."

Ms Harris said the United States strongly condemned North Korea's actions which "unnecessarily raises tensions".

"Together the countries represented here will continue to urge North Korea to commit to serious and sustained diplomacy," she told reporters.

Mr Albanese earlier called the missile launches reckless and unprecedented.

"We stand with the world and indeed with our allies in opposing and condemning this action in the strongest possible terms," he said.

"We stand ready to be part of a global response to this."

with Associated Press

© AAP 2022

Economist Sean Turnell has arrived back in Australia after spending almost two years in a Myanmar jail, praising the efforts of those who helped free him.

Professor Turnell's flight touched down on Friday morning at Melbourne Airport, where he was reunited with his wife Ha Vu.

"I appreciate the efforts of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian government and thank the whole community of Australia for their support," Prof Turnell told AAP.

"I still love the people of Myanmar."

He left Bangkok late on Thursday evening before getting an overnight flight following his surprise release.

Prof Turnell was arrested in early 2021 after Myanmar's military junta seized power.

He was sentenced to three years' jail in September for "violating the country's official state secrets act".

Ha Vu said on Friday she was thankful to everyone who advocated for his release, including Foreign Minister Penny Wong and others in the Australian government.

"I am overwhelmed with joy at the news that my beloved husband, Sean, is coming home," she said in a statement.

"After nearly 22 months apart, our priority right now is to spend time together as a family."

Prof Turnell's friend, economist Tim Harcourt, said he should receive an Australia Day honour and shouldn't have been imprisoned for doing his professional duty.

"Sean's heart was with the people of Myanmar to help lift them out of poverty and help Myanmar reach its economic potential," he said.

Senator Wong said she spoke to Prof Turnell after he landed in Bangkok and described him as being in very good spirits.

"His return will be an enormous relief to his wife Ha Vu and to all of his friends and supporters here in Australia and overseas," she told reporters in Adelaide.

"Ha Vu has been a tower of strength through this ordeal and I wish both she and Sean well for this reunion and time together."

Prof Turnell was freed earlier on Thursday under an amnesty covering close to 6000 prisoners to celebrate Myanmar's National Victory Day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in Bangkok for the APEC summit, spoke to the 58-year-old over the phone.

Prof Turnell, who lives in Mr Albanese's Sydney electorate, was even making jokes and apologised for not voting in the election.

Mr Albanese reassured him he would not be fined.

Prof Turnell told Mr Albanese "people have been wonderful" and wanted to thank Australians for their support.

"He's a remarkable man and he was (in Myanmar) doing his job as an economic policy adviser - nothing more, nothing less," Mr Albanese told reporters.

Prof Turnell told Mr Albanese the Australian embassy in Myanmar dropped off food hampers in tote bags emblazoned with the Australian crest while he was in jail.

"He would put the tote bags where the bars were on the cell ... so both he and the guards who were detaining him could see the Australian crest and he could keep that optimism," Mr Albanese said.

"The Australian crest, of course, with the kangaroo and emu that don't go backwards."

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the government should consider imposing sanctions on Myanmar's military dictatorship.

"Professor Turnell's release and return home finally brings to an end what, for many, has been a long and painful saga," he said.

© AAP 2022

An emotional former police officer has confronted the NSW premier over the response to a flash flooding "tsunami" that decimated Eugowra.

One woman died, two men remain missing and the town's 750 residents are facing months of recovery after powerful flash flooding dislodged homes from foundations, overturned cars and left widespread debris on Monday morning.

Peter Jones, a Eugowra resident and former police officer, approached Premier Dominic Perrottet during his visit to the local SES on Friday.

Mr Jones grew emotional as he said help had not come quickly enough.

"A tsunami - that's exactly what it was," Mr Jones said angrily.

"It's taken us five days to get absolutely nowhere."

Mr Jones said Eugowra residents were let down by communications outages and a lack of emergency resources.

"We've had no food, no clothing, no one telling us what is going to happen next."

Mr Jones said evacuees sent to Orange would return to Eugowra with nowhere to live.

"If you're still in parliament next year, I want a personal date with you in your office or my house ... I've had a gutful," he said

Mr Perrottet said the government would follow up on his concerns and promised it would stand with flooded communities and support the rebuild.

"What I have seen, everywhere I go across the state is we get through it and we rebuild and the communities come back and they come back stronger," he said.

His government on Friday increased payments for affected farmers and said caravans would soon be brought in to re-home the town's evacuees.

"We will ... put people back on their home blocks, even if their home is not habitable, in a caravan if they so choose," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.

Telecommunications were re-established in Eugowra on Friday with a portable tower after the floods destroyed local infrastructure.

The cell, owned by Fire and Rescue NSW, was last used after a 2019 bushfire disaster in Rappville. It will operate for about two weeks, allowing major carriers time to repair their networks.

Eight central west and western NSW councils received a combined $15 million on Friday to begin road repairs and reconnect devastated towns.

It would allow them to deploy more crews, pay overtime and hire more equipment, Regional Roads Minister Sam Farraway said.

Meanwhile, flood-weary NSW residents have been warned to expect the disaster to continue into the new year as emergency services brace for more rain over already saturated inland catchments.

Major flooding is expected to continue along several major river systems on Friday, including the Lachlan, Darling and Murrumbidgee.

Condobolin and Euabalong are bracing for the worst after the Lachlan River rose beyond records set in 1952 while flooding in Forbes isn't expected to cease until early next week.

Bourke, on the Darling, is also expecting a flood peak on Monday near levels reached in 1998.

With some rivers in flood for the past six months, SES Chief Superintendent Ashley Sullivan said interstate and international help was on hand to relieve fatigued SES personnel.

"This flooding at this rate is anticipated to be around right through Christmas ... and right into the new year," he told ABC News.

The SES conducted five flood rescues across the central-west region in the 24 hours to Friday morning in addition to 244 other calls for assistance.

Much of the country's southeast would experience clear conditions on Friday morning before thunderstorms returned to western NSW in the evening and continued into Saturday, the weather bureau said.

© AAP 2022