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After years of abuse and emotional manipulation by her partner, Amanda made the decision to leave her relationship and ended up homeless.

The Melbourne resident was in the early stages of her pregnancy but had no other option with limited savings and little support from family and friends.

"You never think it's going to happen to you," said Amanda, who did not want her surname published for safety reasons.

"I've gone through the guilt trip, thinking that it's my own fault. I've definitely been told several times that it is my fault.

"But it's never the fault of the person who's in that situation."

Amanda reached out to Melbourne support services like Launch Housing for crisis accommodation.

She ended up spending four-and-a-half years in transitional housing before she was able to move into a private rental property last year.

"Without (those services), I don't know what I would have done," she said. "I don't even want to think about it."

Amanda's story is not uncommon across Australia, with more and more women and children experiencing homelessness as a result of family violence.

"We are seeing the demand from that vulnerable grouping increase for permanent housing by 135 per cent in just the last six or seven years," Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith told AAP.

But while the demand for support has increased, Ms Smith said there were not enough places to house everyone.

"We're trending in the wrong direction," she said.

"The private rental market is not and cannot do the job because we have really low vacancy levels at the more affordable end of the private rental market.

"If you have people with complexity in their lives fronting up to the private real estate agent, they really just can't compete."

The council is calling on all sides of Victorian politics to commit to a housing guarantee before November's state election.

"We want an explicit commitment to build the social housing that's needed, to monitor the demand against the supply and also commit to more rental subsidies for women and children who really need a kickstart into a new rental," Ms Smith said.

Such a commitment would make a big difference to women and children fleeing family violence, Amanda told AAP.

"The number one thing is to provide more housing," she said.

"It's just ridiculous that there are so many empty blocks or vacant offices in Melbourne. I don't understand it.

"There needs to be more housing and different approaches to access different forms of accommodation for women and people in crisis."

The council is also calling for other measures like a youth-specific homelessness strategy and funding for 23 additional case managers as part of its state election wishlist.

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© AAP 2022

Australia's Oscar Piastri, the most wanted man in Formula One, says he's "extremely excited" to have landed a drive with British giants McLaren in next season's championship.

McLaren won its contract battle with French rivals Alpine on Friday, enabling the team to announce 21-year-old Piastri will be the man to take over from fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo next season.

Ricciardo will leave McLaren after two largely disappointing years - but hopes are high that Melbourne's Piastri will become the next Australian F1 superstar.

"I am super-excited to be joining the grid and with such a prestigious team like McLaren," Piastri said on social media.

"I have no doubt it's a great place to start my career. It's been a long road up until this point."

The reigning Formula Two champion Piastri, who's managed by former Australian F1 star Mark Webber, had gone public during the contract battle over his determination to join McLaren.

He had been Alpine's reserve driver but said he didn't want to take up the place vacated by Fernando Alonso next season.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer had been confident of retaining him but after the dispute went before F1's Contract Recognition Board this week, the four-person tribunal ruled McLaren had an existing contract in place.

"The only contract to be recognised by the board is the contract between McLaren Racing Limited and Mr Piastri dated 4 July 2022," governing body FIA said in a statement on Friday.

"Mr Piastri is entitled to drive for McLaren Racing Limited for the 2023 and 2024 seasons."

Alpine said it accepted the ruling, which leaves it with a vacant seat next year - with which Ricciardo's name has already been linked, along with AlphaTauri's French driver Pierre Gasly.

Alpine had been enraged by Piastri's stance, with Szafnauer saying last week he wished the youngster "had a bit more integrity".

But on Friday, the Victorian thanked the team for the backing they had long given him.

"I've been racing for 12 years and this was my dream from the very beginning," he said.

"So I just want to thank everybody who supported me throughout my journey, including my colleagues at Alpine for the past few years."

McLaren's team principal Andreas Seidl welcomed the Australian, saying: "Oscar has an impressive racing career to date, and we are sure that together with Lando, he will be able to help us move another step forward towards our ambitions."

Indeed, Piastri has a remarkable motorsport resume already, having won the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup before going on to win the 2020 Formula Three title and last year's Formula Two crown in successive rookie seasons.

"The team has a long tradition of giving young talent a chance, and I'm looking forward to working hard alongside Lando (British teammate Lando Norris) to push the team towards the front of the grid," said Piastri.

"I'm focused on preparing for my F1 debut in 2023 and starting my F1 career in papaya."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown hailed Piastri as "one of the up-and-coming talents" and said he could form a potent, youthful combination with Norris, who has had six podium finishes by the age of 22.

"In Lando and Oscar we have a young, exciting F1 line-up with a huge amount of potential, standing us in good stead to achieve our future ambitions," Brown said.

"Oscar is an exciting addition to the McLaren family, and we look forward to seeing him grow with our F1 team."

© AAP 2022

Mercedes-Benz has been ordered to pay a $12.5 million penalty for failing to use attention-grabbing and high-impact language when telling customers about the recall of potentially deadly Takata airbags.

The company has admitted it breached consumer law by failing to abide by a mandatory recall notice issued by the federal government in 2018.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Delia Rickard said it was the first time a business had been penalised for breaching such an order.

Between 2018 and 2020 a total of 23 Mercedes-Benz customers were told the recall was a precaution, according to a Federal Court ruling delivered on Friday.

Four customers were effectively told in 2020 the airbags in other manufacturers' vehicles had not had any faults or caused any accidents, injuries or deaths.

Defective Takata airbags have been associated with about 33 deaths, including one in Australia, and more than 350 injuries globally.

"We believe the statements made by Mercedes-Benz staff had the potential to give the impression to consumers that the airbag replacement was less urgent than was warranted by the real risks posed," Ms Rickard said.

Suppliers were required to recall and replace defective airbags by December 31, 2020, and develop and implement a plan to communicate with consumers to maximise airbag replacement.

"Given the risks ... increased over time, we were concerned about the risks of any potential for delay in having these faulty airbags replaced," Ms Rickard said.

The ACCC described the Takata recall as the most significant recall ever in Australia, affecting four million airbags in some three million vehicles.

The Federal Court ordered Mercedes-Benz to pay the penalty within 30 days, as well as $100,000 towards costs incurred by the ACCC.

The ACCC says manufacturers had successfully recalled 99.9 per cent of vehicles with faulty Takata airbags by July 2021.

© AAP 2022