Bureau of Meteorology says higher-than-average temperatures and moisture levels could spell more wild weather
Emergency services are preparing for a stormy spring as the clean-up continues after wild winds swept across south-east Australia.
Higher-than-average temperatures and moisture levels could spell more wild weather ahead, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...Derwent Valley residents say the water rose at a frightening pace in the biggest flood since Meadowbank dam was built
Everything is saturated in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley.
The sodden ground is scattered with debris. Large trees and branches have been moved upriver. It is eerily quiet.
Continue reading...Weather situation overnight in Victoria has led to about 1,900 calls to the SES for assistance. Follow today’s news live
Delays predicted at Melbourne airport amid strike action
Melburnians catching a flight this morning may want to give themselves extra time as severe delays are predicted, with security screeners striking between 6am and 8.30am at the domestic airport.
Continue reading...The south-east of the country is taking a battering and there is more to come as a ‘very strong cold front’ moves through on Sunday
Emergency services have warned Victorians to expect more destructive winds as a powerful cold front heads towards Melbourne, while Tasmanian residents and businesses along the Derwent River prepared to evacuate on Sunday, as wild weather batters the south-east of the country.
Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, Rick Nugent, said severe weather had already damaged more than 600 homes and left 35,000 without power, and would continue into the early hours of Monday morning.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...Unseasonably strong winds and record-breaking warm weather has been forecast to continue through the weekend
Winter has ended in Australia with weather records broken across the country – with expectations of August temperature records being broken on the final day of the month.
Amid wild winds in the country’s south, a warm run of weather was expected to continue through the weekend in central and southern Queensland, along with north-eastern New South Wales. Brisbane is expected to see multiple days of over 30C.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...Man in his 60s killed in incident involving on-duty Tasmania police officer in town of Lady Barron
The death of a volunteer firefighter struck by a police car on Flinders Island will have an impact on the whole community, a senior officer says.
Tasmania police say the man was on foot when he was hit by the police vehicle driven by an on-duty officer on Saturday night.
Continue reading...Pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 was infested with thousands of parasitic nematodes that may have eaten away at its blowhole
A vial of white parasitic worms left for decades in a Tasmanian museum may help solve a timeless mystery: why do whales strand themselves on beaches?
The worms were collected from the blowhole of a pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 and then stored in Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
Continue reading...Influx of highly pathogenic strain a case of ‘not if, but when’ and could devastate native wildlife, experts say
The Australian government is ramping up preparations for a highly pathogenic and contagious strain of bird flu potentially reaching Australia via its Antarctic territory and Macquarie Island, warning it could devastate wildlife and be passed to people.
Government agencies led by the Australian Antarctic Division at a planning exercise in Hobart on Wednesday were told an influx of the virulent H5N1 Avian flu strain that has killed millions of seabirds, wild birds and poultry overseas was a case of “not if, but when”.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Import ban fails to curb flow of Nazi-linked items
The number of items imported into Australia bearing Nazi imagery has not been slowed by a national ban on the symbols, AAP reports.
The importation into Australia of Nazi memorabilia, both historically genuine items and modern recreations, has not abated with the passage of [the ban].
Where these goods are imported in quantities which indicates the goods are likely to be traded, the Australian Border Force refers the goods to the Australian federal police to consider investigation under the criminal code.
Consumers are crying out for clear information on how to save money, protect their health and reduce emissions – and they want that information online where they make their purchasing decisions.
We call on the state and federal governments to give consumers the real truth about the risks of gas appliances, by mandating comprehensive pollution labels on all their ads and websites.
Continue reading...Tasmanian Labradoodles agrees to close to avoid charges laid for alleged overbreeding
More than 250 labradoodles – many who have never been in contact with a human – are in “urgent” need of a home after RSPCA Tasmania shut down the state’s biggest puppy breeder over animal welfare concerns.
Tasmanian Labradoodles surrendered all of its dogs last Friday in a “landmark out-of-court agreement” that led to the immediate and permanent closure of the business, the RSPCA said in a statement.
Continue reading...Court hears Gregory Geason, who denies assaulting the woman, searched ‘how to get domestic violence charges dropped’ in days after argument
A Tasmanian supreme court judge denied punching his former partner and pushing her into a mantelpiece, telling a court she was unsteady, fell and hit her head on a table.
Justice Gregory Geason is facing a court hearing after pleading not guilty to assault and one count of emotional abuse or intimidation.
In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Supreme court justice Gregory Geason has pleaded not guilty to emotional abuse or intimidation and common assault
A Tasmanian supreme court judge allegedly assaulted a woman and left her with two large “egg” bumps on her head after he saw a funny photo she received from a colleague, a court has heard.
The woman, who cannot be named, continued giving evidence on Tuesday in a hearing over her alleged “controlling and coercive” relationship with Tasmanian justice Gregory Geason.
Continue reading...BoM says most severe impacts expected on Sunday and Monday, with warnings of flash flooding in Tasmania
An intensifying low pressure system off Australia’s south-east is bringing frigid temperatures to large parts of the country’s south and a chance of snow as far as northern New South Wales.
The Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) was carefully monitoring the system on Saturday, which was expected to move from the NSW coast towards Tasmania, intensifying as it goes.
Continue reading...Donations to school building funds are tax deductible, with Brethren-owned businesses across three states the beneficiaries
Schools set up by the Exclusive Brethren sect have spent millions of dollars with businesses owned by church members on major building projects, including to a company majority-owned by the powerful Hales family, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
The Brethren’s OneSchool Global (OSG) schools are registered charities in Australia and exempt from income tax. The schools also have building funds endorsed for deductible gift recipient status.
Continue reading...Weather bureau says the cold front sweeping from SA to Tasmania will move up into alpine areas to bring much-needed snowfalls
Large parts of Australia will shiver through much of the coming week, with temperatures as much as 4C below average expected in some regions.
The Bureau of Meteorology says ski fields could also expect some much-needed snowfalls in time for school holidays in some of the eastern states.
Continue reading...Controversial monument of a Tasmanian premier who beheaded the body of an Indigenous man damaged and graffitied
A controversial statue of William Crowther has been toppled in Franklin Square, Hobart, after its legs were cut through the night before a decision on its removal.
It was dumped face-down on the ground beside its podium, which was graffitied in red with the word “decolonize” and “what goes around”.
Continue reading...Social media users post pictures of skies lit up around the country while the Bureau of Meteorology warns of solar storm’s impacts
Aurora australis has lit up skies across southern Australia after an “extreme” geomagnetic solar storm.
Social media users in posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and across the Tasman in New Zealand.
Continue reading...Cambridge scientists critique research that concluded the disease is no longer a threat to the species’ survival
Cambridge researchers have challenged a previous study which had concluded a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.
Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, first emerged in the 1980s. The spread of DFTD led to the species being listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2008.
Continue reading...Man found unresponsive shortly after being arrested over a ‘simple offence’ in the Moonah area
Tasmanian authorities have launched an investigation into a man’s death in police custody in Hobart on Saturday.
Police arrested the 29-year-old man from Glenorchy at about 1:55am, after several reports he was acting “in a suspicious and erratic” manner in the Moonah area.
Continue reading...Tasmanian Liberal MP labels comments ‘wholly inappropriate’ after PM says he was ‘taken aback’ by opposition leader’s speech
Peter Dutton has drawn widespread criticism, including from one of his own MPs, for comparing the 1996 mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur to a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House.
The Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer labelled Dutton’s comments “incredibly disrespectful” and “wholly inappropriate”.
Continue reading...