Australia news live: immediate evacuation orders as central west NSW faces dramatic floods; record early voting in Victoria

The SES has said the Lachlan River is rising faster than originally forecast. Follow all today’s news

Some issues ‘we have raised will be solved overnight’: Chalmers

Albanese has said there are no preconditions ahead of the meeting with Xi but Karvelas is pressing Chalmers on what could be on the table. He’s staying pretty tight-lipped but here are some of his answers.

We’ve made it really clear for some time … that these trade sanctions are not in Australia’s interests, and we want to see them lifted.

I don’t think anybody pretends some of the issues China has raised, certainly some we have raised will be solved overnight, but again we give ourselves a much better chance where there is engagement and dialogue.

Australia’s made its views clear over a long period of time when it comes to the detention of these two people.

What’s Australia’s ambition here?

We seek a more stable relationship with China.

We will speak up for our national interest where necessary, but we believe engagement is important to give ourselves the chance to work through some of these issues if we’re talking to each other.

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Flagship post-Brexit Australia trade deal ‘not actually very good’, MPs hear

Former minister George Eustice tells Commons senior civil servant in charge of negotiations should be replaced

The UK’s flagship post-Brexit trade deal with Australia is “not actually a very good deal”, former environment secretary George Eustice has said.

In highly critical comments, Eustice called for the resignation of Crawford Falconer, the interim permanent secretary for the Department for International Trade, telling the Commons Falconer “resented” people who understood technical trade issues better than him.

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Australian business hails Albanese’s meeting with Xi as ‘tremendous reset’

Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott sees a chance to ‘start building relationships’ damaged by trade and human rights disputes

The Business Council of Australia has hailed the Albanese government’s “tremendous reset” with China as a breakthrough meeting was planned for Tuesday between the Australian prime minister and the Chinese president on the sidelines of the G20.

The BCA’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, told journalists on Monday night that Labor’s “huge foreign policy reset” with Indonesia and Pacific countries, and the “tremendous reset announced today with China”, was creating opportunity “for business to come in behind … and start building those business-to-business relationships”.

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UK gave away ‘too much for too little’ in free trade deal with Australia, says former minister, blaming Truss – as it happened

George Eustice says the free trade deal with Australia – hailed by Boris Johnson as one of the big gains from Brexit – was poor. This live blog is now closed

James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, was criticised last month for saying that gay football fans visiting Qatar for the Word Cup should “be respectful”, and make allowance for the country’s intolerance of homosexuality.

In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Cleverly defended his comments, saying that the Foreign Office always advises people to obey local laws when they are travelling. He told the programme:

My focus is to make sure that British visitors, particularly LGBTQ+ visitors to Qatar going to enjoy the World Cup, are safe and that they enjoy their tournament. So my advice was purely about ensuring that they have a safe and secure time at the World Cup.

We always say that you have to respect the laws of your host nation. That is a universal element of British travel advice.

I’ve spoken at length with the Qatari authorities on this and it’s worth bearing in mind that men and women don’t typically hold hands in Qatar, and other conservative Muslim countries like Qatar, so my strong advice is to look at the UK government’s travel advice.

This deal is just the same as previous deals - spending money and resources on intercepting and obstructing people crossing the Channel, while doing nothing to address their need for safe access to an asylum system.

The inevitable result will be more dangerous journeys and more profits led by ruthless smuggling gangs and other serious criminals exploiting the refusal of the UK and French government to take and share responsibility.

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Fraser Island’s formation over 1m years ago was critical to development of Great Barrier Reef, study reveals

Scientists say the world’s largest sand island helped create clearer water conditions for reef growth

The world’s largest sand island formed around a million years ago and enabled the southern and central Great Barrier Reef to develop, new research suggests.

An international team of scientists have dated K’gari (Fraser Island) and the nearby Cooloola Sand Mass in south-east Queensland as forming between 0.7m and 1.2m years ago.

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Australia still trails most developed countries in climate performance ranking

Despite Labor’s increased emissions target, Australia has only improved four places to 55th out of 63 in the annual index

Australia continues to trail other developed countries in addressing the climate crisis, in part due to the Albanese government’s support for new fossil fuel developments, according to an analysis released at the Cop27 UN conference in Egypt.

The climate change performance index, published by Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network with input from 450 climate and energy experts and campaigners, found Australia was still a “very low performing country”. It ranked 55th on a list of 63 countries and country groupings, up from 59th last year.

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‘Dialogue is always good’: Anthony Albanese to meet Xi Jinping on sidelines of G20 in Bali

Prime minister says ‘we need to talk to develop mutual understanding’ as China declares it’s ready to meet Australia ‘halfway’

Anthony Albanese will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, ending three years of diplomatic deep freeze between the two countries.

Australia’s prime minister confirmed the conversation would take place on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of the G20. It will follow a landmark meeting on Monday night between Joe Biden and the Chinese president – the first face-to-face talks between the two men during Biden’s presidency.

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PM’s meeting with Chinese president confirmed – as it happened

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Andrews rules out deal with the Greens and independents in event of minority government

Dan Andrews was also asked what would happen if Labor finds itself in a minority government situation – will it do a deal with the Greens?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

And independents – no deals with independents?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

So if you’re in a minority situation and you hold more seats than the Liberal party, what happens? You go back to another election?

Well, I think what the best thing to do, and what happens, Michael, is we work hard for the next 13 days, we work hard to put a positive and optimistic plan out there, and we’ll see what the verdict of Victorian voters is. I’m arguing, I’m urging people to vote for a strong, stable majority Labor government, to vote for your local Labor candidate.

The new SEC – government-owned, not private for-profit, but government-owned electricity, so owned by every single Victorian – creates nearly 60,000 jobs – 6,000 of those will be apprentices. It will be 100% renewable electricity. These companies can’t be relied upon to replace themselves. They’ll just put another profit machine in place. We need to make sure that we’re looking after pensioners, we’re looking after families and, indeed, businesses. And without electricity, there is no economy, so we have to replace them. And we choose to replace them with a public option – a government-owned option. An option that’s owned by every single Victorian.

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Army helicopter sparked massive Canberra bushfire after crew stopped for toilet break, inquest hears

ACT coroner’s court is investigating 2020 Orroral Valley bushfire, which was started by helicopter’s search light

The crew on an army helicopter that started Canberra’s devastating 2020 bushfires were landing for a toilet break when they inadvertently ignited the monster blaze.

An inquest began at the ACT coroner’s court on Monday with evidence from the man in command of the helicopter that started the fire.

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Tasmanian salmon farms used more than a tonne of antibiotics in 2022 disease outbreaks

Tassal and Huon Aquaculture did not announce use of antibiotics, which may contribute to growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs

More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.

Reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency by Tassal and Huon Aquaculture revealed wild fish had scavenged antibiotic-laced pellets below the salmon cages. One sample of three flathead caught off Coningham beach, 2km from the boundary of Tassal’s Sheppards lease, revealed antibiotics in the flesh of the fish above the reportable threshold. The monitoring reports were not made public until months after the disease outbreak.

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Dozens of shipping containers thrown from tracks after train derailment outside Geelong

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred near Inverleigh along the Hamilton Highway in regional Victoria

Dozens of shipping containers have been thrown from the tracks when a freight train derailed in Victoria’s west, closing the rail corridor to Adelaide.

The train derailed near Inverleigh along the Hamilton Highway outside Geelong at about 5.30am on Monday.

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‘I’m not getting better’: Jackie O steps away from radio show to recover from long Covid

Kyle & Jackie O Show radio host reveals on air she is ‘struggling with this fatigue’ and has received medical advice to stop working

Radio host Jackie O is stepping away from her long-running breakfast show with co-host Kyle Sandilands in order to recover from health issues months after contracting Covid-19.

While presenting the Kyle & Jackie O Show on KIIS FM on Monday, Jackie O, real name Jackie Henderson, said she had been struggling to recover after she contracted Covid-19 earlier this year, and that she had received medical advice to stop working in order to address an enduring cough and fatigue.

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South Australia suffers biggest blackout since 2016 as weather system brings more flooding to inland NSW

Severe storms continue to drench exhausted communities as a humid air mass prompts flash flooding alerts in eastern Australia

Wild storms have caused the biggest blackout in South Australia since the entire state went dark in 2016, as flash flooding caused havoc in parts of New South Wales and Victoria.

More than 423,000 lightning strikes were recorded in SA on Sunday. Heavy winds downed trees and SA Power Networks received more than 500 reports of fallen wires.

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Medibank mental health data posted on dark web as Russian hackers vow to ‘keep our word’

Group releases file containing hundreds of customer claims as government considers banning ransom payments for cybercrime

Medibank customer data related to claims for mental health treatment are the latest to be posted on the dark web by the Russian hacker group.

On Sunday night the group posted a file on its dark web blog labelled “psychos”, which contains hundreds of claims from policyholders that appear to be related to mental health treatment.

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Albanese and Biden discuss climate action and Aukus pact ahead of G20 summit

In a 40-minute meeting, the prime minister also invited the US president to address federal parliament next year during meeting of the Quad

Anthony Albanese has compared notes with the US president ahead of Joe Biden’s landmark meeting with Xi Jinping on Monday at the G20, and discussed Aukus and climate cooperation in a warm catch-up spanning 40 minutes.

Australia’s prime minister met Biden on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Sunday in Phnom Penh. That catch-up followed Albanese speaking on Saturday night with the Chinese premier Li Keqiang – which is the first leader-level contact between Australia and China in three years.

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Albanese meets Chinese premier Li Keqiang at summit – as it happened

Victorian opposition vows to restrict gas produced in the state from being exported in a bid to reduce household bills; Anthony Albanese speaks to Chinese premier Li Keqiang at East Asia Summit gala dinner. This blog is now closed

Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground Saturday during a Dallas airshow, federal officials said, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Officials didn’t immediately make clear how many people were on board the aircraft or if anyone on the ground was hurt. Nonetheless, an ABC News producer – citing reporting from a colleague – said on Twitter that at least six people, all crew members, were feared dead after the crash.

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Australian mother jailed for baby deaths should finally be cleared, say scientists

Inquiry will hear new evidence of fatal gene mutation that may be to blame

In 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was convicted of smothering and killing her four young children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura. She was given a prison sentence of 40 years and dubbed Australia’s worst female serial killer.

Folbigg had to be kept in protective custody to prevent violence from other inmates but has steadfastly maintained her innocence, a claim that has slowly gathered support over the years. Scientists, including several Nobel prize winners, have since argued that a mutant gene was responsible for the children’s deaths.

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Leaked audio reveals cultural problems in Queensland police force, human rights commissioner says

Scott McDougall calls for independent scrutiny of police after recordings reveal racist and violent language at Brisbane watch house

Queensland’s human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, says “clear” and “pervasive” cultural problems are plaguing the state’s police force after leaked audio revealed violent and racist conversations by Queensland police staff.

Police service officers at the Brisbane city police watch house can be heard using racist slurs and offensive language while working in the holding cells, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears that Australia “will be fucking taken over” in a series of leaked tapes published by the Guardian Australia on Sunday.

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Pharmacists to get prescription powers in NSW ‘game-changer’ trial that GPs call ‘madness’

The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, said allowing pharmacies to prescribe vaccinations and other medications would mean better access to healthcare

New South Wales residents will soon be able to get vaccinations and some treatments prescribed at their local chemist, in a move a doctors’ group has slammed as “madness”.

It mirrors a similar trial under way in Queensland, and practices in other countries such as the UK and Canada.

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Floods, hail, intense storms heading for NSW and Victoria, prompting new emergency warnings

Bureau has predicted 50mm-100mm of falls for communities already suffering flooding after many months of drenching rain

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A band of intense rainfall and thunderstorms is about to drench many already overflowing rivers and flooded communities in New South Wales and Victoria, forecasters warn.

Stretching from southern Queensland to Tasmania, many areas will see up to 50mm of rainfall between Sunday and Monday morning, with 100mm or more expected in south-eastern parts of New South Wales and north-east Victoria.

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