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Many Australians believe the toll on communities from more severe storms, floods and bushfires should be covered by coal, oil and gas firms.

Launching a report on Wednesday, independent senator David Pocock said increasing climate disasters couldn't become the new normal as calls grow for tougher taxes on fossil fuel producers and users.

Senator Pocock said there needed to be accelerated action and more ambitious climate change policy.

"Communities right around the country are already feeling the devastating impacts from more extreme weather events and natural disasters, which are only getting worse," he said.

Respondents to an Australia Institute survey supported a polluter pays tax (74 per cent), windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry (66 per cent) and a levy on fossil fuel exports to fund climate adaptation (59 per cent).

Three-quarters of those polled expect climate change to result in more expensive insurance premiums and fear climate-related disruptions to supply chains will make it harder to buy essential goods.

Ex-Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell said the insurance premiums in her community had already gone up after major flooding.

She said hikes were in the order of $1000 to $30,000 and this was before additional flood insurance was factored in and that had become a determining factor for some people about whether they stayed in the NSW Northern Rivers region.

"Many people cannot source insurance at all, which means that they can't get a mortgage," she said.

Ms Dowell said other needs included where people would move to after flooding and the cost of house buybacks.

"Our community is in limbo. I cannot speak loudly enough to say do not forget Lismore and all the flood communities, the bushfire communities around Australia, we need action," she said.

"We need all governments at all levels to take action with better planning regimes for local government (and at) state and federal level, but also for financial assistance to come in to help the communities that are currently suffering."

Polly Hemming, climate and energy director at the Australia Institute, said communities and households were feeling the pinch from challenges on multiple fronts.

Rising electricity prices were blamed on profit-seeking electricity companies and poor policy making rather than climate impacts.

"Australians want those who are profiting from the climate crisis to pay for the damage they are causing," she said.

The Climate of the Nation research is Australia's longest continuous survey of community attitudes to climate change.

Meanwhile, a group of protesters in Wallabies jerseys and made up as zombies gathered outside Parliament House on Wednesday to protest against resource company Santos' sponsorship of rugby.

The Dead Wallabies called on the government to ban fossil fuel sponsorships and advertisements, in recognition that they are the main cause of global warming.

© AAP 2023

A rhinoceros has attacked a married couple working as zookeepers in Austria, killing the woman and seriously injuring the man as he attempted to save her, authorities say.

The attack happened at the Hellbrunn Zoo in the western Austrian city of Salzburg.

Zoo director Sabine Grebner told reporters that the 33-year-old woman, a German citizen from Bavaria, was assigned that day to put insect repellent on the rhino's body because they are very sensitive to insect bites.

The 30-year-old female rhino Jeti attacked the keeper although it was not clear why, Austria's APA news agency cited Grebner as saying.

Salzburg police said the woman "succumbed to her injuries at the scene of the accident".

Attempts to resuscitate her were not successful.

The other zookeeper, a 34-year-old Austrian citizen who was feeding other animals at the time, was also attacked and injured when he tried to chase the rhino away from his wife.

The woman suffered severe chest trauma while her husband had a fractured leg and was taken to a hospital, APA reported.

The names of the two zookeepers were not released in line with Austrian privacy rules.

The man, a trained animal keeper, has worked at the zoo since 2008, and his wife, a certified animal keeper, since 2014.

Previously, she was employed in Munich, the zoo director said.

The zoo director said she was known to be "very careful and thoughtful with the animals, and she had an extremely good sense" when dealing with them.

Grebner said the exact circumstances of how the attack occurred had yet to be determined.

"Maybe there was some kind of irritation," she said.

"We are deeply upset and shocked."

All safety regulations will be re-evaluated, she said, adding that there had been no previous incidents at the rhino enclosure, which was set up nearly 30 years ago.

Grebner said Jeti weighs 1.8 tonnes and has been at the zoo since 2009.

She said the rhino was co-operative and had never been boisterous.

She took on the role of an aunt to the young animals and gave birth to a cub herself in 2015.

Salzburg Zoo has four rhinos -- three females and one bull, APA reported.

"The animals are very co-operative and have been at Salzburg Zoo for a very long time," the zoo director said.

She said all of the rhinos respond to handling, come from outside into the rhino house when they are called by their names and veterinarians can take their blood without anaesthesia, APA reported.

Police are investigating the attack, the news agency said.

The zoo will remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

© AP 2023

South Sydney recruit Jack Wighton has received a three-match ban after being found guilty of biting Newcastle five-eighth Tyson Gamble in Canberra's elimination-final loss.

After an 80-minute hearing on Tuesday, the judiciary panel, chaired by Geoffrey Bellew SC and comprising Penrith great Tony Puletua and former referee Paul Simpkins took 20 minutes to reach their decision.

The panel retired at 8pm to consider their sentence, with Wighton's defence providing a character reference from Raiders legend and Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga in their push for a two-match ban.

The NRL counsel suggested a four-match ban before the panel settled on three.

The ban is shorter than that received by the last men's player charged for biting, ex-Gold Coast second-rower Kevin Proctor in 2020, and lighter still than those handed to James Graham (12 games in 2012) and Brad Morrin (eight, 2007) for the same offence.

Both parties agreed the bite on Gamble's arm had been on the lower end of the scale in terms of severity and posed a lower risk of injury than a bite to another area.

Wighton is South Sydney's highest-profile signing for 2024, and the ban is a blow to their hopes of making a fast recovery from their disappointing ninth-placed finish to this season.

Wighton will notably miss the Rabbitohs' historic match against Manly in Las Vegas to begin 2024.

Ordinarily, players could apply to count representative matches towards their ban such as Australia's end-of-year matches.

But Wighton won't be eligible having announced his representative retirement earlier this year.

The match review committee referred Wighton directly to the judiciary after he was placed on report just after half-time of the Knights' 30-28 win in Newcastle on Sunday.

Gamble's forearm was wrapped around Wighton's chin while attempting a tackle, after which Gamble immediately claimed to referee Ashley Klein he had been bitten.

Klein told the bunker he had seen a row of bite marks on Gamble's forearm but opted against sending Wighton from the field, instead placing him on report.

Wighton entered a not-guilty plea and appeared via video link before the judiciary, supported by Raiders football manager Matt Ford and chief executive Don Furner.

Defence counsel Nick Ghabar did not dispute contact had been made with Gamble's forearm but Wighton claimed the tackler had applied "extreme" pressure to the back of his head and his face.

"His forearm actually fell into my mouth before I could even close it," Wighton said.

"I've got no alternative, nowhere to go. It was full body weight, full pressure (on my head).

"My mouth was jammed open, not at one stage did I clench, not one little bit."

The case of NRL counsel Patrick Knowles hinged on the suggestion there had not been any more pressure applied than in any standard NRL tackle. Wighton didn't like the claim.

"How many games of rugby league have you played?" he retorted before being reprimanded by Bellew.

Knowles suggested that mere pressure alone would not have created such a clear indentation on Gamble's forearm and there was an intent to bite.

Ghabar said no intent to bite could be proven, insisting the six camera angles of the incident did not show a tightening of Wighton's facial muscles that would be consistent with a bite.

But the judiciary counsel was persuaded by Gamble's immediate approach to Klein claiming to have been bitten, and an apparent tilting action from Wighton consistent with a bite.

© AAP 2023