Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has called on Victorians to take coronavirus lockdowns seriously to 'buy time' to treat patients. 'We've got queues at Centrelink offices, that's heartbreaking,' he said. 'We can not have people queuing for intensive care beds ... If you can stay home, you must stay home.'
Continue reading...Category Archives: Victoria
‘Never too late’: Victorian government pledges $10m for stolen generations redress scheme
Scheme will involve measures including counselling, funeral or memorial fund and redress payments
The Victorian government will put $10m into a stolen generations redress scheme that the premier, Daniel Andrews, says is a step to right history’s wrongs.
Announcing scheme with the premier, Victoria’s Aboriginal affairs minister, Gavin Jennings, said on Wednesday that Aboriginal families were historically “torn apart by parliaments like this one”.
Continue reading...Coronavirus school closures: dozens of Australian private schools move to online learning
New South Wales teachers union warns it is ‘impossible’ for schools to practise social distancing measures recommended by the government
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Dozens of independent schools across Australia are going ahead with shutdowns as the New South Wales teachers union warns it is “impossible” for them to practise social distancing measures recommended by the government.
On Tuesday, Pymble Ladies College in Sydney joined dozens of private schools in Victoria when it announced it would move to online classes from Thursday.
Continue reading...How Spanish flu nearly ripped apart Australia’s fledgling federation | Paul Daley
A nation supposedly forged in the hellfire of war almost crumbled in the face of a virulent threat at home
Newly federated Australia, with its population not yet 5 million, was still enduring shocking fatalities on the European western front when its authorities began paying attention to the virulent strain of pneumonic influenza sweeping Britain.
Early Australian awareness of the “Spanish influenza” – an epidemic in Britain by mid to late 1918 – came with an acknowledgment that the new states grown of old colonies would need to stick together should the virus reach this isolated continent.
Continue reading...Killer heat: how a warming land is changing Australia forever
Australia is heating faster than the global average, and extreme heat days are on the rise. Doctors say there’s clear evidence that it’s killing people prematurely
Continue reading...Counting the cost of Australia’s summer of dread
Australia’s catastrophic bushfire season has taken 33 lives, destroyed thousands of homes, shrouded cities in smoke and devastated the country’s unique wildlife. Guardian Australia surveys the damage
Continue reading...Koala ‘massacre’: scores of animals found dead or injured after plantation logging
Victorian environment minister ‘appalled’ by allegations and her department is investigating
Investigators at the scene of a “koala massacre” at a cleared gum tree plantation in Victoria say the number of animals killed is likely to rise above 40 as they make their way through 10 kilometres of felled timber.
A major incident response has been set up at the site, on private land near Cape Bridgewater, with koalas being treated by vets for starvation and broken bones.
Continue reading...Australia fires: threat remains for ACT bushfires as NSW issued with smoke health warning – latest updates
A total fire ban remains in place across the capital territory as fires continue to burn, causing severe smoke and dust haze in NSW
A quick recap.
Looks like the forecast rain is heading over Canberra. We’ll wait to hear if this helps or hinders the firefighting efforts.
Rain heading through Canberra. Let's hope this brings some relief. No sign of the storm yet though. pic.twitter.com/YVJDd3HK3u
Continue reading...Australia fires live: Canberra airport closed, reports of air tanker crash in NSW bushfires – latest updates
ACT residents near bushfire south of Canberra told to seek shelter as contact lost with large water-bombing plane fighting New South Wales bushfire. Follow latest news and live updates
There’s a steady stream of people arriving at the Moruya Showgrounds, which has been re-opened as an evacuation centre. For a lot of people, it’s becoming a home away from home.
One woman from Congo, just south of here, told me it was her third time here since New Years Eve.
The sky is looking ominous outside the Moruya showground where our reporter on the ground, Michael McGowan, captured this image.
Continue reading...Huge hail batters Canberra as severe thunderstorms hit south-eastern Australia
Hail smashes into Parliament House and brings down trees in the ACT, with heavy rainfall hitting NSW, Queensland and Victoria
Australia’s south-east has been lashed by severe thunderstorms and large hailstones that destroyed buildings and cars in Canberra and left two tourists in hospital after they were injured by lightning.
Two supercell thunderstorms brought hail and heavy rain to cities and towns across the east coast on Monday, battering the outer suburbs of Sydney about 3pm, with 4.5cm hailstones recorded and strong winds bringing trees down over cars in the Sutherland area.
Continue reading...Man injured in New Year’s Eve Cobargo bushfire dies, as hail pelts Melbourne
The 84-year-old dies in Sydney’s Concord hospital as Australia’s months-long fire crisis continues
The death toll from the unprecedented bushfires in New South Wales has climbed to 21 following the death in hospital of an elderly man burned in Cobargo on New Year’s Eve.
The 84-year-old was taken from his home on Tuesday 31 December to South East Regional hospital before he was transferred to Concord hospital in Sydney where he died in the early hours of Saturday.
Continue reading...Australian bushfires from the air: before and after images show scale of devastation
Nine aerial photos depict the crisis from beach to bush, farm to forest, across NSW and South Australia
More than 10.7m hectares of land have burnt so far in Australia’s bushfires – larger than the total area of South Korea, or Portugal, and 1.3 times the size of Scotland.
The ongoing and unprecedented bushfire crisis has spread across six states and multiple months.
Continue reading...Rain brings joy to farmers in NSW and Victoria and dampens some bushfires as others burn
Fire-hit areas receive desperately needed rain, as severe thunderstorms cause flooding in Melbourne
Up to 50mm of rain has fallen across parts of New South Wales and Victoria, dampening bushfires even as dozens more continue to burn.
Fire-hit regions of NSW’s Snowy Valley and south coast, and Victoria’s East Gippsland and north-east, received as much as 15mm of desperately needed rain on Wednesday and Thursday, while severe thunderstorms caused flooding in Melbourne.
Continue reading...A billion animals: the Australian species most at risk from the bushfire crisis
Fires take an enormous toll on wildlife, with huge numbers of mammals, birds, reptiles and insects killed
Australia’s continuing bushfire crisis has taken an enormous toll on wildlife, with huge numbers of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and other species killed.
The ecologist Chris Dickman has estimated more than a billion animals have died around the country – a figure that excludes fish, frogs, bats and insects.
Continue reading...George Pell reportedly moved to regional prison after drone flown over Melbourne CBD jail
Drone reportedly flown over visitors’ garden where disgraced cardinal’s job was to weed and water
Disgraced Cardinal George Pell has reportedly been moved from his central Melbourne prison to a high security facility in regional Victoria after a drone was flown over the jail.
“Corrections Victoria can confirm an incident involving a drone flying over the Melbourne assessment prison on Thursday,” a justice department spokeswoman said on Sunday.
Continue reading...Australia bushfires: firefighters injured amid push to contain blazes
An off-duty volunteer firefighter in New South Wales was seriously injured protecting his own property and another four also injured
Australian firefighters are preparing to use one week of calmer conditions to contain the most volatile parts of bushfires that are threatening private property and destroying large swathes of national parks in eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.
The state of disaster in Victoria lifted at midnight on Saturday morning after firefighters managed to slow the progress of a 60,000ha fire that threatened the Alpine townships of Bright and Harrietville in north-east Victoria on Friday night.
Continue reading...Australia bushfires live: NSW and Victoria survey damage as fires merge to form new ‘megablaze’ – latest updates
This liveblog is now closed
We will leave our coverage of the ongoing bushfire crisis here for the night. A mercifully quiet day on firegrounds across the country.
Here is where things stand:
We have a bit more information about the man who was burned while defending his property near Tumbarumba in New South Wales yesterday.
The man was an RFS volunteer, but he was not engaged in RFS work yesterday. Instead, Guardian Australia understands, he was driving a quad bike around his own property defending against spot fires when he received burns to his leg.
Continue reading...Blazes flare amid extreme conditions in Australia – as it happened
This blog is now closed. Our live coverage will continue tomorrow morning
We are wrapping up the live blog now, but we will be back at 7am AEDT for the latest on the fires.
As of 9pm, this is what we know.
There’s now what media (but not RFS) refer to as a megablaze in the Kosciuszko national park with three fires at emergency level in that area of southern NSW, just near the Victorian border.
There’s also concern that a fire at watch-and-act level in Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains could worsen around midnight once the southerly reaches there. People in the Wentworth Falls and Leura areas are being advised to stay alert.
Australia bushfires: towns face anxious wait as strong winds drive fires
Alpine areas of Victoria and NSW among those most under threat, while climate protesters take to the streets in major cities
Thousands of climate protesters flooded the streets of Australian state capitals on Friday night as fire authorities warned of another dangerous night ahead in four states.
Firefighters in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia continued to battle fires, with gusty winds expected to create hazardous firefighting conditions late into the night.
Continue reading...Australian fires: Victorians urged to leave amid fears ‘heat spike’ will cause bushfires to merge
East Gippsland and Victoria’s north-east told to evacuate as NSW braces for heatwave and firefighters battle Kangaroo Island blaze
Residents in large areas of Victoria have again been advised to leave their homes before a day of “extreme” fire conditions throughout south-eastern Australia that could see the merging of at least two major fires.
At least 5% of Victoria has already burned. Authorities sent a text message to East Gippsland and the north-east region on Thursday advising people within the at-risk area, which extends from the New South Wales border to the coast, to evacuate before “heat spike” conditions on Friday.
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