Coldest start to winter in decades in some areas with polar air mass predicted across Australia next week

Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

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Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

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Melbourne and Sydney wake to coldest morning this year after Queensland weather record

Band of cold blankets entire east coast, with widespread frost across Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW

Melbourne and Sydney have shivered through their coldest morning so far this year, after Queenslanders awoke to a blanket of frost across a large swathe of the state’s centre on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Sydney recorded a low of 6.5C at Observatory Hill, compared with Melbourne’s bone-chilling low of 1.4C.

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Australia’s south-east to endure more wintry weather after Melbourne records coldest day in five years

BoM says south-east can expect cold days and frosty nights with below-average temperatures continuing into the coming week

Wintry conditions across south eastern Australia will continue into the weekend, with rain expected in parts of Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia.

Melbourne recovered slightly from a high of only 10.1C on Thursday, its coldest day in five years, reaching a maximum of 13C on Friday. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a frost warning for Victoria’s north-east and a strong wind warning for the East Gippsland coast.

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Labor urged to step up pressure on Israel – as it happened

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Coleman denies double standard over deportation direction

Coleman is being interrogated about his actions as immigration minister relating to direction 79, which was cited by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in “a number of cases” to justify allowing those with criminal convictions remain in Australia.

I’m not familiar with the specific examples.

I don’t agree at all. I made it stronger. That’s the decision I made. The decision that Andrew Giles made was, how do we ensure that people who would otherwise go back to New Zealand get to stay in Australia? That was a shameful decision and that’s why he sought to reverse it in direction 110. But he still kept the connection to the Australian community as a primary consideration, which is the whole problem with direction 99 in the first place. These guys have no idea how to manage the immigration system. That’s why we have seen such terrible results.

I’m very comfortable. We have to cut immigration.

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‘Be prepared for many days of isolation’: emergency services urge NSW residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate

Rain easing but SES says risk to communities remains as wet weather causes Warragamba Dam to spill for third month running

Some New South Wales residents told to flee rising flood waters have been given the all-clear to return as heavy rainfall, which caused a major dam to spill, eases and water levels recede.

Spills had slowed from Warragamba Dam late on Saturday but more than a dozen riverside communities had been warned the flooding emergency remained.

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‘We may not have snow’: Australian ski season opens with a whimper

Mt Buller had the country’s only ski-on chairlift operating on season’s opening day on Saturday – but snow is forecast for the week ahead

It was a grassy start to Australia’s ski season, with one resort trying to remain upbeat “although we may not have snow on the ground” and a few pockets of human-made alternatives to play on elsewhere.

Mt Buller, in Victoria, was blessed with the only ski-on chairlift in the entire country on the opening day of the winter season on Saturday.

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Slushy start to ski season as NSW resort towns say booking numbers down

Resort operators remain hopeful of larger falls later in the season and have introduced other activities not dependent on snowfall

The ski season is off to a mushy start as eager skiers hoping for the first glimpse of snow this weekend are instead met with grass and slush.

In New South Wales, Perisher and Thredbo, the most popular ski resorts in Australia, will only have a beginner’s conveyor belt running, and Selwyn snow resorts will not have any lifts operating.

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Shannon Fentiman referred to Queensland ethics committee over ‘cross your legs’ stoush – as it happened

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Max-Chandler Mather weighs in on Bandt’s potential legal action against attorney-general

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about the ongoing stoush between his party and Labor, with Adam Bandt threatening legal action against the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, over comments on pro-Palestine protests.

Asking me to comment on the specifics of a case like that – outrageous comments by the attorney general, completely baseless and without fact … this is an attempt to distract from the fact that the Labor government is complicit in a genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.

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Australia news live: Sydney drenched by month of rain in day; man arrested after woman found dead in Darwin

Follow the day’s news live

The Coalition has questioned why the government is using drones to monitor people released from immigration detention.

Cabinet minister Murray Watt confirmed on Insiders earlier that “drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation that people are living in, in for example ensuring that it’s not too close to schools or other areas that they’re not supposed to be living close to.”

There’s a couple of issues here. One, either Andrew Giles accidentally and casually disclosed a previously secret drone surveillance program operating domestically in Australia in a Sky News interview with your colleague Kieran Gilbert. Or he made it up and it’s not actually happening at all.

And in a fresh statement provided by the Department of Home Affairs to SBS, I understand yesterday afternoon, they refer to using aerial surveillance to look at people’s locations and other buildings in the area.

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Australia put on La Niña watch by Bureau of Meteorology as Pacific sea surface temperatures cool

Weather bureau says there is now a 50/50 chance of La Niña forming this year

Australia has been placed on La Niña watch by the Bureau of Meteorology with early signs the climate pattern linked to cooler and wetter conditions across most of the country could form later this year.

The bureau said there was now a 50/50 chance of La Niña forming this year with sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific steadily cooling since December.

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Aurora australis offers second chance of ‘bloody awesome’ southern lights display on Sunday

Solar storm effects delight stargazers in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia but most in NSW miss out

Australians should have a second chance to see the aurora australis on Sunday night, experts say, after a Saturday southern lights display so spectacular it left at least one astronomer in tears.

Social media users posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and around the world.

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‘A lot of asbestos in the streets’: WA declares ‘hazmat emergency’ after tornado hits Bunbury

More than 100 homes damaged when tornado ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and sucked up debris in state’s south-west

Asbestos scattered over residential streets has prompted a “hazmat emergency” response in Western Australia’s south-west, with specialist crews urgently working to contain any possible exposure aftter a devastating tornado.

More than 100 homes were damaged when the tornado ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and sucked up debris into the sky at Bunbury on Friday afternoon.

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NSW weather: Warragamba dam spills over as heavy rainfall warning issued for south coast

SES issues minor flood warnings for the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond and the Colo River

Sydney’s Warragamba dam began spilling over for the second time in a month on Sunday after heavy downpours across New South Wales.

WaterNSW has confirmed the dam began spilling at 7.30am after widespread rain across the city’s catchments.

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Aurora australis: spectacular southern lights might be seen as far north as Queensland after ‘extreme’ solar storm

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.

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Australia weather: spill warning for Sydney’s Warragamba dam as Bunbury recovers from freak WA tornado

Warragamba dam in NSW nearing capacity after two West Australians were hospitalised on Friday

Warragamba dam could spill over the Mother’s Day weekend amid severe weather warnings on the east coast, and after a tornado tore through the West Australian city of Bunbury, injuring two people.

WaterNSW issued a warning on Friday that the Warragamba dam was nearing capacity after several days of rainfall, and that a spill event was “likely in coming days”.

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Flood fears as weekend rain and thunderstorms forecast for NSW, with Sydney dam likely to spill

More rain is expected to lash NSW as BoM issues severe weather and flash flood warnings

Another wet and stormy weekend is ahead for New South Wales with widespread rain and thunderstorms expected to batter much of the state.

The heaviest downpours of up to 200mm are forecast to hit the South Coast and Illawarra, prompting widespread flash flood warnings.

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Sydney on track to receive month’s worth of rain in first week of May, bureau warns

By Sunday morning the city had recorded 92.8mm of rain this month – fast approaching May average of 117.4mm, BoM says

The wet start to May for much of New South Wales is likely to continue for another week, with a severe weather warning for the state’s south coast and flash flooding on the Central Coast.

Sydney’s Observatory Hill had, by Sunday morning, recorded 92.8mm of rain this month – and was fast approaching the May average of 117.4mm.

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NSW braces for heavy rain and potential flash flooding after wet week

Heaviest falls forecast for Illawarra, Hunter, Central Coast and greater Sydney from Saturday evening

An already saturated New South Wales is bracing for significant and widespread rain that could lead to flash flooding on the state’s east coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the heaviest falls will hit the Illawarra, Hunter, Central Coast and Greater Sydney from Saturday evening into Sunday.

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Australia news live: Pauline Hanson ‘plainly targeted’ Greens senator with well-known racist phrase, court told

Final submissions begin in racial discrimination case brought by Mehreen Faruqi against Hanson. Follow the today’s news live

As we flagged earlier, the treasurer Jim Chalmers will today announce foreign investment changes, with approvals to be made quicker and greater scrutiny to be placed on potential risks.

You can read all the details on this from Peter Hannam below:

Right now, we treat investments from right around the world more or less the same. We want to streamline it for the less-risky investments so we can devote much more time and energy and resources to screening the sorts of investments that we’re seeing in critical industries – like critical minerals, critical infrastructure, critical data, and the like.

This is all about strengthening the foreign investment framework to make sure that investment is in the national interest. We want to maximise the right kind of investment, but we want to minimise risk and that’s what these changes I’ll announce today are all about.

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