Concerns a tropical low will strengthen as it moves south towards the west of Darwin
There is concern a tropical low brewing off northern Australia may reach cyclone intensity west of Darwin on Boxing Day.
A severe weather warning was issued for parts of the Northern Territory’s Arnhem district early on Christmas morning.
Continue reading...Brisbane braces for a downpour, Darwin is on cyclone watch, Perth to endure 43C, and other capitals in for a warm and partly cloudy day
Most Australian capitals are in for a warm and partly cloudy Christmas with a chance of a shower in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.
Sydney was told to expect a maximum of 30C and a warm night with a minimum of 21C, while Melburnians would be able to enjoy a moderate high of 20C before temperatures dropped to 13C.
Continue reading...Victoria has 2,108 new infections and Queensland 765 as tens of thousands around the country forced into isolation
New South Wales has recorded its highest ever Covid daily caseload, with 6,288 new infections announced on Christmas Day, as tens of thousands of Australians are forced into isolation over the festive period.
Covid transmission is also continuing to surge in Victoria, where authorities announced 2,108 new Covid-19 infections and six deaths from the virus.
Continue reading...Nicolas Baudin’s voyage at the height of the Napoleonic wars gave us dozens of French place names, and left with kangaroos for the Empress Josephine
From La Perouse in Sydney to Victoria’s French Island and South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, hints of early French exploration dot the country’s coastline.
In fact, French familiarity with our region was such that they were the first to print a near-complete chart of Australia’s coast in 1811, beating the British by three years. But for a few other historical quirks, at least part of the nation might now be Francophone.
Continue reading...Some of Australia’s most prominent researchers nominate the most surprising, important and inspiring scientific developments of the past 12 months
With all of the worrying news emerging from the fields of health and science this year, some of the incredible advances that occurred may have been overlooked. But there have been many weird and wonderful feats in the world of research.
Life-saving tests, treatments and vaccines were developed and rolled-out – including those led by Australian doctors – and a world-first malaria vaccine for children was endorsed by the World Health Organization. A new species of dinosaur was discovered in south-west Queensland, adding to our understanding about how they evolved. We learned from Nasa that the much-feared asteroid, Apophis, won’t hit Earth for at least 100 years, so that’s a relief.
The development and the success of RNA-based vaccines has had enormous global impact during the past year. There’s enormous short-term success but it also opens up a lot of potential long-term opportunities in delivering RNA as a vaccine for emerging diseases and also as a means of developing new therapeutics to treat a whole range of disorders.
To get a new type of vaccine out there requires very big clinical trials because a crucial thing with a vaccine, of course, is safety.
Antarctica is a bellwether for climate change impacts, with recent evidence of ecosystem collapse and that a major ice shelf in west Antarctica may fail within the decade.
So for me, this year’s most exciting advance is not a discovery but solid investment in future Antarctic science, heralded by the arrival of Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, the most advanced polar research vessel in the world, and the initiation of not one, but three new university-based Antarctic research initiatives.”
From my point of view, the origins of Sars-CoV-2 has been the big story.
Knowing from where viruses and pandemics start is crucial to understanding the interactions between humans and animals, and how this is influenced by human behaviour, industrialisation, and climate change.
In both my personal and professional roles, it’s incredibly difficult to look past the incredibly rapid development of effective Covid-19 vaccines in terms of amazing scientific advances over the last couple of years.
But, in my other life I’m a wannabe astronaut, and I am completely astonished by Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter, which has made 18 successful flights on a whole other planet in 2021!
I think the most important finding that came out in 2021 is a study relating to ocean conditions around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), which locks up in total about seven metres of global sea level. Lose the WAIS and hundreds of millions of people worldwide would be displaced. The WAIS is known to be the most vulnerable component of the Antarctic ice sheet system and uncertainty about future melt rates is one of the biggest unanswered questions in polar climate science.
The published ocean measurements were taken adjacent to Thwaites Glacier, which is the most rapidly changing outlet of the WAIS. Using an autonomous underwater vehicle, the study documents the first ever temperature, salinity and oxygen measurements at the Thwaites ice shelf front. The measurements revealed warm water impinging from all sides on what are known as ‘pinning points’ of the glacier – these are critical to ice-shelf stability.
Continue reading...Carl Stanojevic got a text asking him to take his Queensland neighbour’s bins out. So the 54-year-old Mackay photographer took wheelie bin number 6 for a spin around the town
Australian man Carl Stanojevic might be the world’s most considerate neighbour after he was asked to “take the bins out” and dutifully followed the request – to the letter.
The practical joke began when the 54-year-old photographer from Mackay, in Queensland, received a late-night text message from his neighbour, Nick Doherty – who works remotely – asking if Stanojevic “would be able to take my bins out please”.
Continue reading...Labor MP Jim Chalmers was up and about on breakfast television earlier today, expressing shock at NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s slow limp to reintroducing mask mandates.
He said mask mandates were just “common sense” right now:
It’s a bit strange frankly that they held out for so long and in that period we probably lost a bit of ground when it came to tracing and tracking outbreaks of the virus, particularly the new strain.
It’s an interesting thought but it’s not a thought which I think should turn into practice. We have a universal health system ... we care for people who need that care. We should encourage people to get vaccinated, it’s the best thing we can do to protect our health, but I don’t think our health system should discriminate.
Continue reading...Sometimes the only contact Covid intensive care patients had with their family was via FaceTime or Skype, Dr Katrina Tonga says
Three intensive care workers share the stories that have remained hidden from public view during the pandemic.
Continue reading...WA to introduce mask mandate after community case; SA records 484 new Covid cases; fires break out at Melbourne hotel housing refugees; NSW records 5,715 cases and one death; Victoria records 2,005 cases and 10 death; Queensland reports record 369 casess. Follow all the day’s news live
Covid-19 testing clinics are reducing their openings hours during the Christmas period despite “unprecedented demand” and reports of hours-long wait times in several states.
Guardian Australia analysis shows 77% of the 490 testing sites listed on the NSW Health website on Wednesday will either close or operate on reduced hours through the Christmas and new year period.
Novavax is still going through the approval process. I know they’re getting closer. We’re looking forward to get Novavax into the mix of available vaccines as well. It won’t be until the new year. I don’t know exactly when.
As soon as Novavax is ready to go, we’ll be delighted to get it out there. I know some people have been holding out for Novavax specifically. It will be part of our arsenal and we look forward to helping people access that vaccine if that’s what they want.
Continue reading...Indigenous leaders argued participants faced tougher welfare penalties than those in other parts of Australia
The federal government will pay a traditional owners corporation representing some of the poorest communities in Australia more than $2m after settling a class action that argued the remote “work for the dole” program was racist.
The Community Development Program (CDP) has required about 30,000 jobseekers in remote communities to work up to 25 hours a week to receive the dole. Participants, 80% of whom were Aboriginal, were said to have faced tougher welfare penalties than those in other parts of Australia.
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Continue reading...Disgraced art collector John Wayne Millwood was jailed in 2016 and released on parole in 2019
A man sexually abused as a child by disgraced Tasmanian art collector John Wayne Millwood has been awarded more than $5m in damages.
He was abused by Millwood under the guise of medical examinations in the 1980s when he was aged between 10 and 15.
Continue reading...PM says mask guidelines up to states; NSW records 3,763 new cases and two deaths; Victoria records 1,503 cases and six deaths; ACT records 58 cases; Tasmania records 12 cases; national cabinet to meet as confidence in interstate travel plummets. Follow all the day’s news
More than 300 doctors around the world have written to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce today urging him to seek Julian Assange’s immediate release from prison in the UK on medical grounds.
The letter cites concern over Assange’s apparent mini stroke, warning it may be “the tip of a medical iceberg”:
Indeed his symptoms suggest as much. It is therefore imperative that Mr Assange be released from prison, where his health will otherwise continue to deteriorate and where his complex medical needs cannot be met.
Perhaps our concerns were previously dismissed by your colleagues as hyperbolic. They are not. On the issue of cardiovascular pathology, we have been proven right. We do not wish to be proven right on the issue of Mr Assange’s survival.
We implore you, as Deputy Prime Minister, to intervene with the UK Government to seek Mr Assange’s immediate release on urgent medical grounds. We reiterate that he is an Australian citizen innocent in the eyes of the law, and guilty of and charged with nothing in the UK.
Continue reading...As the environmental benefits of casks become more important to new consumers, the quality of their contents is on the rise
Boxed wine is one of Australia’s most extraordinary contributions to the wine industry, also known as cardboardeaux, bag-in-box or, more commonly, goon (from flagon).
The Australian winemaker Thomas Angrove patented the design for a one-gallon polyethylene bladder in a cardboard box in 1965, inspired by the ancient method of storing wine in goat skins. The first model required drinkers to cut a corner of the plastic bag and reseal it with a special category peg (used to transport battery acid).
Continue reading...AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; South Australia records 154 new Covid cases, Queensland 86; RACP calls on state and territory governments to reintroduce restrictions as PM says ‘we’re not going back to lockdowns’; Victoria records 1,245 cases; NSW records 3,057 cases; national cabinet to discuss vaccination timeframes and mask mandates – follow all the day’s news live
According to Seven News Scott Morrison is supportive of an indoor mask mandate in light of the Omicron variant spreading throughout Australia, but not further lockdowns.
Thousands of customers are still without power on Sydney’s northern beaches after the brief but cyclonic weekend storm that felled power lines, leaving a trail of destruction, reports AAP.
It’s a very difficult time of year to be without power, and we apologise for the delays. We are doing everything we can to turn the lights back on as soon as possible. Where we can, we are progressively turning power back on, and as always the safety of our customers and staff remains our number one priority.
Continue reading...Allies voice grave concerns about ‘erosion of democratic elements’ after overhaul of electoral system
China has accused the Australian government of “violently interfering” in its internal affairs after Australia joined with its Five Eyes allies to voice grave concerns about the “erosion of democratic elements” in Hong Kong.
Pro-Beijing candidates have been confirmed to occupy nearly every seat in Hong Kong’s new legislature after an overhaul of the electoral system that authorities said would ensure “patriots run Hong Kong”.
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Continue reading...Dan Johnson was surprised to see he had hooked a shark while fishing from the Proserpine riverbank, then the region’s resident croc made his move
When Dan Johnson first heard the commotion coming from the Proserpine riverbank in north Queensland, he thought he had just snagged a really good fish.
It wasn’t until he took a closer look that he realised he had hooked a shark, and local celebrity “Boofhead” – a four-metre crocodile – was coming for his catch.
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Continue reading...Nuclear waste has been reprocessed in the UK and will be stored at Lucas Heights until Napandee facility is ready
A monolithic steel cask designed to withstand an earthquake and a jet strike will arrive in Sydney next year, carrying two tonnes of radioactive waste.
For security reasons authorities won’t say when the hulking capsule – containing four 500kg canisters of “intermediate-level material” – will arrive from the UK.
Continue reading...‘You can only build a net, it’s never a wall,’ says Dr Michael Novy, who cared for 160 inmates through a flap in a locked door
From prisoners to the homeless and people living with disabilities – these are some of the at-risk communities hidden from public view during the pandemic. Now the health workers working with them share their stories.
Continue reading...Bureau of Meteorology’s official prediction for 25 December includes good beach weather for Melbourne and Sydney
Christmas Day will bring warm weather and calm conditions for most Australians, but those in the north should brace for a potential storm, while temperatures are set to soar in the west.
The La Niña downpours of recent weeks are not expected to make an appearance on Christmas Day, with warm and potentially cloudy weather opening the door to outside festivities across most state capitals. The south-eastern cities will enjoy temperatures just shy of 30C, while Queenslanders should prepare for showers. Perth is set for a 40C scorcher and Darwin may be in for a storm.
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Continue reading...It took a pandemic and work-from-home order to convince me it’s possible to keep working and live where you want to live
I have spent a lot of time picking up rocks. This is not what I dreamed about doing as we sat in Melbourne during the city’s sixth lockdown and waited out the three-month settlement period to move to our new farm in central Victoria. That time was spent on cottagecore fantasies and planning out wildly unrealistic renovation schedules.
Then we took possession in October and I’ve been picking up rocks ever since. Rocks and sticks and, for one particularly disgusting week before we had scrubbed down the house, a series of dead starlings that had become stuck in the fireplace and under the oven.
Continue reading...