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Flood-devastated communities in northern NSW will receive an additional $742 million in joint federal and state recovery funds targeting businesses, industry and residents.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Bridget McKenzie announced "the fourth tranche" alongside NSW Emergency Minister Steph Cooke in Ballina saying more than $2 billion has been disbursed in the last three weeks to the region.

The sizeable funds split 50-50 between state and federal governments are comprised of:

* $100 million for small and medium size business in the highly impacted LGAs of Ballina, Byron, Tweed, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley

* $35 million for rural landholder grants

* $150 million for the primary industry sector

* $142 million to provide assessment of properties and the demolition of those found to be uninhabitable.

NSW government will also step in with a $265 million package allocated to council for capital funds and critical infrastructure particularly water treatment and sewage works.

This pushes the whole federal and state package for the state to $1.7 billion since the rains fell.

Some 660,000 people in NSW are also being supported through an additional $653 million in federal government disaster recovery assistance.

"We know that catastrophic event that occurred was not seen elsewhere across the country," Ms McKenzie told reporters.

"Any of us that have been on the ground in Lismore in the days since that event can attest to the devastating impact to it and the broader community."

Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said the funding was an "injection of hope" for the community, after it had been used as a "political football".

"We're suffering, the whole region is suffering and whatever help we can get we're welcoming it with open arms because it's so badly needed," she told AAP on Friday.

The latest funding comes after the federal government announced Thursday two additional disaster recovery payments to residents in the flood-ravaged Tweed, Byron, Kyogle and Ballina council areas.

The support was extended a week after the same payments were given to residents in Lismore, Clarence Valley and Richmond Valley council areas.

Jihad Dib, the NSW Opposition's spokesman for Emergency Services, said actions had not matched words.

"The government has dropped the ball... We don't want to see announcements for the sake of announcements, we want to see delivery on the ground," he told reporters on Friday referring to residents unable to access long-term housing.

On Thursday the NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said the framework for allocating funds had failed and there were multiple examples of flood-affected communities going without support.

Mr Kean said he understood the anger Ballina locals were feeling, and was working with the commonwealth to get grants into pockets.

He said the cost of the floods disaster would likely exceed the $5 billion the NSW government spent on the 2019-20 bushfire crisis.

Multiple outlets reported the announcement of joint state and Commonwealth flood relief was held up by Prime Minister Scott Morrison's visit to Western Australia.

This was denied by Mr Morrison, saying he received the NSW government's proposal on Tuesday and had met with the attorney-general and national security committee of cabinet to go through the details.

© AAP 2022

Russian missiles have struck an area near the airport of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the mayor says, while Japan and Australia imposed new sanctions on Russian entities as punishment for its invasion.

Western sources and Ukrainian officials said Russia's assault has faltered since its troops invaded on February 24, further dashing its expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government.

Russia has relied heavily on missiles and shelling to subdue Ukraine's forces but has yet to secure any of its 10 largest cities.

At least three blasts were heard near Lviv's airport on Friday morning, with videos on social media showing large explosions and mushroom-shaped plumes of smoke rising.

Lviv's mayor, Andriy Sadovy, said several missiles has struck an aircraft maintenance facility, destroying buildings but causing no casualties.

The city has escaped significant fighting so far.

Despite battleground setbacks and punitive sanctions by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown little sign of relenting.

His government says it is counting on China to help Russia withstand blows to its economy.

The United States, which this week announced $US800 million in new military aid to Kyiv, is concerned China is "considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

President Joe Biden, who described Putin as a "murderous dictator", will make clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call Friday that China "will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia's aggression", Blinken told reporters.

China has declined to condemn Russia's action in Ukraine or call it an invasion. It says it recognises Ukraine's sovereignty but that Russia has legitimate security concerns that should be addressed.

Japan and Australia announced separate measures sanctioning Russian individuals and organisations, including two oligarchs with links to Australia's mining industry, as well as Russia's state-owned arms exporter, its finance ministry and central bank.

The UN human rights office in Geneva said it had recorded 2032 civilian casualties in Ukraine - 780 killed and 1252 injured.

Some 3.2 million civilians have fled to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.

A fourth straight day of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators took place on Thursday by videolink, but the Kremlin said an agreement had yet to be reached.

Rescuers in Mariupol, a southern port city, dug survivors from the rubble of a theatre that officials said had been hit by an air strike on Wednesday as civilians took shelter there from bombardments. Russia denies striking the theatre.

Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power. City officials say they are not able to estimate the number of casualties from the theatre.

Northeastern and northwestern suburbs of Kyiv have suffered heavy damage but the capital itself has held firm, under a curfew and subjected to deadly rocket attacks nightly.

A building in Kyiv's Darnytsky district was extensively damaged on Thursday. As residents cleared glass, a man knelt weeping by the body of a woman covered in a bloody sheet.

Viacheslav Chaus, governor of the region centred on the front-line northern city of Chernihiv, on Thursday said 53 civilians had been killed there in the past 24 hours.

© RAW 2022

The South Australian opposition has declared Saturday's election an opportunity to get the state's health system back on track as the government continued its attack on Labor's reckless spending promises.

Labor leader Peter Malinauskas and Premier Steven Marshall were back on the streets on Friday for a final pitch to voters.

The premier began with a pre-dawn visit to a cafe in his eastern suburbs electorate and then the Adelaide Central Market.

Despite trailing in opinion polls, Mr Marshall said he believed the government could win.

"The people of SA know that under a Liberal government you are always going to have a stronger economy, stronger finances and that is good for families," he told ABC radio.

Mr Marshall also renewed criticism of Labor's costing for its election pledges, claiming basic errors in what funds would be available to meet the opposition's $3 billion in promises.

"They have no credibility when it comes to the economy," the premier said.

Mr Malinauskas focused once again on health, gathering with hospital and ambulance staff.

"This election is a health election," he said.

"This election is an opportunity to get our health system back on track with a considered plan, a fully funded plan."

In its costings, Labor said it would use a combination of savings and uncommitted capital already in the SA budget to fund its election commitments.

It said it could save about $670 million over the next four years by imposing a 1.7 per cent efficiency dividend on government departments not delivering frontline services.

Agencies such as health, police, emergency services and education would be exempt from the savings measure.

It would also use about $1.5 billion in uncommitted capital reserves already in the state budget as well as bringing forward the $662 million the Liberal government planned to spend on a new Riverbank Arena in Adelaide.

Those funds would largely go to pay for Labor's $1 billion in health initiatives, including plans for hospital upgrades, more hospital beds and the recruitment of extra doctors, nurses and paramedics.

But the government said much of the claimed uncommitted capital had been already earmarked for transport and other infrastructure projects.

"They've made assumptions that there's a lazy couple of billion dollars sitting behind the treasury sofa that they can spend without any impact on the budget," retiring Treasurer Rob Lucas said.

© AAP 2022