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A man has been found dead in floodwaters at a home in Rochester in Victoria's north, as authorities prepare for one of the largest evacuation operations in the state's history.

The 71-year-old was found in the backyard of his High St home about 9.30am on Saturday but police were unable to reach the property as it was cut off by floodwater.

On Saturday afternoon evacuation orders were issued for Shepparton in central Victoria and parts of Echuca, in the state's north.

Flooding in Shepparton is expected to reach around 12 metres by Tuesday which could make it the area's worst flood in almost three decades.

Some residents in Echuca could be away from their homes for many days as a second peak is expected mid-to-late next week.

Evacuation orders were also issued for Charlton Township at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and Orrvale, Kialla West and Mooroopna near Shepparton.

It is now too late to leave the nearby towns of Murchison and Murchison East.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner David Clayton said officers remain in evacuated areas to prevent looting.

"We anticipate that in coming days we're going to see some of the largest evacuations that we have ever seen," Mr Clayton told reporters.

Charlton resident and business owner Lindsay Patullo said water was already lapping at the door of his massage clinic on Saturday afternoon.

"It's still a very nervous wait as to what's going to happen," he told AAP.

The business was badly damaged in the 2011 floods and he was bracing for it to happen again.

"It would be the second time in eleven years if we go under but yeah, we'll see what happens, it's our livelihood" he said.

"It'd be heartbreaking to go through all that again."

By Saturday morning more than 460 homes were damaged by floodwater rising above floor level and around 500 properties remained isolated.

The SES has performed about 350 rescues over the flood emergency.

Of those rescues, 160 happened at properties in Rochester when residents who chose to remain in their homes had to be saved, while 150 involved people being rescued from stranded vehicles.

Fourteen relief centres and 55 sandbag collection sites have been established across the state.

The extent of the damage to hundreds of homes in inner Melbourne is just starting to become clear after the Maribyrnong River breached its banks on Friday.

Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten said many houses and a lot of community infrastructure had been damaged.

"I think that people here knew the theory of flood damage, but because it hasn't happened in a couple of generations of this significance I think it's a shock," Mr Shorten told ABC News.

People displaced by the floods are eligible for one-off payments of $560 per adult and $280 per child.

Some 3000 Victorians had applied for the payments by 11am on Saturday.

The federal and state governments have agreed to use the recently retired $580 million Mickleham quarantine facility as emergency accommodation.

The facility will reopen early next week for 250 people with crisis accommodation available for six to eight weeks and could eventually provide shelter for up to 500.

Premier Daniel Andrews said defence personnel were assisting with the emergency across regional Victoria and up to 60 additional ADF experts will help with the clean-up in coming days.

Some contractors working on major infrastructure projects have paused construction to carry out repair work in flood-affected areas.

Mostly dry conditions were forecast until Tuesday across Victoria however flooding is expected to return late in the week.

© AAP 2022

Australians will get an extra six weeks of paid parental leave in a major shake-up designed to get women into work and help households with the cost of living.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese laid out the proposal to Labor party faithful in Sydney after receiving a rock star's welcome.

The NSW Labor conference is taking place throughout the weekend with more than 800 delegates expected.

"It's a modern policy for modern families," he said on Saturday.

An extra fortnight of paid parental leave will be added each year until the full 26 weeks is available from July 2026.

By that time, every family with a new baby will be able to access a total of six months' paid leave, shared between the two parents.

Families will also have greater flexibility, with paid parental leave able to be taken in blocks between periods of work.

Single parents will be able to access all 26 weeks.

The scheme will maintain "use it or lose it" rules to encourage more fathers and partners to take the paid leave and ensure caring responsibilities are shared more equally.

Mr Albanese said the paid parental leave reforms would benefit families, improve women's economic equality and boost the broader Australian budget.

"This is economic reform," he said.

"The full and equal and respectful participation of women in our economy is our nation's greatest untapped resource."

Mr Albanese said 26 weeks of parental leave was a "baseline" and he expected employers to compete and offer working parents the best possible deal.

The reform promises to be the centrepiece of the Albanese government's October budget, which the prime minister said would put equality for women at its heart.

Mr Albanese promised a "responsible, fair and reforming" budget as he blasted the previous coalition government's economic management.

This included a lack of aged care and disability care investment, stagnant wage growth and a looming $1 trillion in debt.

"We understand that not every problem can be solved in one budget," Mr Albanese said.

"We all know that progress demands patience, change can be painstaking. Building to last always takes time."

Mr Albanese also recommitted his government to holding a referendum on Indigenous voice to parliament next financial year, telling critics: "If not now, when?"

Earlier, Labor supporters were told an election war chest was ready as the party looks to have NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns take Macquarie Street in March next year.

He is facing an internal brawl at the state conference over tough anti-protest laws.

The party's left faction wants a Minns-led government to repeal the penalties designed to stop activists causing traffic chaos, laws the state Labor leader has backed.

Labor members were urged to put factionalism and infighting behind ahead of the state poll to help secure a win.

Unions NSW head Mark Morey told party delegates not to "let this moment slip by".

"Don't get me wrong, it's going to be hard," he said on Saturday.

"We're up against a formidable opponent. They'll lie, they'll slander."

© AAP 2022

Robbie Coltrane, the larger-than-life Scottish actor who played the beloved half-giant Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 72.

His agent of 40 years Belinda Wright said Coltrane died on Friday and thanked the medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk in Scotland for their "care and diplomacy".

"Robbie was a unique talent ... He will probably be best remembered for decades to come as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films," she said.

"A role which brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years.

"James Bond fans write too to applaud his role in GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough.

"For me personally, I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client as well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be to called his agent, I shall miss him."

Coltrane's more than four-decade-long career ranged from roles in the James Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough to the lead in the 1990s British TV series Cracker, as criminal psychologist Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling led the tributes on Twitter, writing: "I'll never know anyone remotely like Robbie again.

"He was an incredible talent, a complete one off, and I was beyond fortunate to know him, work with him and laugh my head off with him. I send my love and deepest condolences to his family, above all his children."

In a statement, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe called Coltrane "one of the funniest people I've met".

"I've especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid's hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up," he said of the film released in 2004.

Rubeus Hagrid is the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, the primary setting for the first Harry Potter novels.

Coltrane's agent Belinda Wright called Coltrane a "unique talent" and said he had brought joy to children across the world playing the boy wizard's monster-loving friend.

"As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent..., brilliantly witty ..., and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him," she said in a statement.

Born March 30, 1950, in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Anthony Robert McMillan changed his professional name as a homage to celebrated jazz musician John Coltrane.

He was a gifted comic actor and a star of Britain's 1980s alternative comedy boom, playing a string of television roles that included regular appearances in The Comic Strip Presents anthology series.

In 1987, he rose to greater prominence starring alongside Emma Thompson in John Byrne's mini-series Tutti Frutti as doomed lead singer Big Jazza McGlone in a tale of fictional Scots rock'n'roll band The Majestics.

With crime series Cracker in the 1990s, he showed he could also play serious parts.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was her favourite of his roles.

"Robbie Coltrane, Scottish entertainment legend - you will be hugely missed," she wrote.

British actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry - a fellow breakout star of the alternative comedy boom - wrote that he had met Coltrane almost exactly 40 years ago.

"I was awe/terror/love struck all at the same time. Such depth, power & talent: funny enough to cause helpless hiccups & honking as we made our first TV show, "Alfresco". Farewell, old fellow. You'll be so dreadfully missed".

Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell.

with PA

© PAA 2022