Category Archives: Australia weather

Firefighters battle blaze in Adelaide Hills as residents of Montacute advised to take shelter

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Bushfire downgraded to ‘watch and act’ on Saturday afternoon as nine firebombers and spotter aircraft tried to contain the spread

Firefighters were battling a blaze in steep terrain in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia on Saturday that threatened the small town of Montacute.

About 59 firetrucks were on the ground by Saturday afternoon, with six firebombers and other spotter aircraft trying to control the fire.

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Flood-hit Murray River caravan parks miss out on vital holiday tourism as clean-up continues

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Piles of rubbish fill the space normally taken by summer visitors, with businesses facing the loss of a season’s earnings

Caravan parks and more than 100 national parks remain closed across New South Wales and Victoria after widespread flooding damaged infrastructure, filled waterholes with debris and made some areas unsafe for swimming.

The summer holidays would usually be the busiest time of year for the McLean Beach holiday park in Deniliquin, in the NSW Riverina region.

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News live updates: Albanese flags Australian interest in Papua New Guinea hydro and hydrogen; NSW and Victoria rule out Pell state funeral

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Victorian premier says there will not be a state service for cardinal, out of respect for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Follow live

Visa processing problems in spotlight

Pat Conroy acknowledged ongoing visa processing issues and said the government was “hopeful that we can get a resolution on that issue”:

People in Papua New Guinea are also very keen on our Pacific engagement visa, which is about creating 3,000 permanent migration spots each year into Australia … and there’s also lots of interest in Papua New Guineans working, studying in Australia as well.

His message around democracies is that [it is] incumbent upon politicians in both countries [to] defend democracy and we defend democracy by demonstrating it’s the best system to deliver actual benefits for the people that we govern. So that’s about investing in stronger health outcomes, lifting stronger economic outcomes.

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Concerns over use of ‘cheap and easy’ offsets – as it happened

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More than 80% of council areas declared disasters in the past four years, Watt says

Murray Watt was hesitant to attribute the individual disaster in the Kimberley to climate change, unlike his colleague Chris Bowen. But he said the overall pattern of increasing disasters was “undoubtedly climate change”:

I don’t think that you can point to one particular event and say it’s due to climate change, but there is no doubt that we are seeing before our eyes is climate change happening. We know from all the scientists that we’re going to be facing more of these intense events more frequently.

I was actually advised yesterday by our agency that just in the last 12 months we’ve seen 316 of Australia’s 537 council areas disaster-declared: that’s about 60% of the council areas in the country. And if you go back four years to the black summer, 438 council areas in Australia have been disaster-declared, which is over 80%.

A lot of people aren’t aware but the wet season in northern Western Australia … generally doesn’t begin until later this month. So their wettest months actually tend to be February and March rather than starting as early as January. So to have this amount of water come through the system this early in the wet season is a concern.

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Warning over tropical swimming spots after tourist swept away at Mossman Gorge

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Call for closures from water safety researchers comes as police search for woman missing in far north Queensland waterway

Experts have called for popular tropical attractions to be closed when waterways reach dangerous conditions, after an incident at waterhole in far north Queensland.

The search for a 54-year-old woman, who was swept away in distress at Mossman Gorge, 68km north-west of Cairns, entered its fourth day on Monday, with police divers scouring the water for the missing tourist. She was last seen in the water on Friday.

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Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice

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Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed

‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’

Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.

I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.

I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.

I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.

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ADF airlifts food to Western Australia areas hit by floods – as it happened

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Australian Defence Force planes now able to use the airstrip at Fitzroy Crossing as weather improves. This blog is now closed

“Bonza the bogan airline” sounds like a crap children’s book, but it’s an interesting story about another moving part in Australia’s turbulent air transport industry. Also, Elias Visontay managed to get budgie smugglers into it, making the skimpy swimwear somewhat of a sub theme on the blog today:

Waters at Menindee expected to peak

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Lifesavers rescue 1,200 over holiday period in Australia – as it happened

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‘Challenging night’ for WA fire crews in south-west

Earlier today, Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Peter Thomas said it had been a “challenging night” for fire crews in the south-west, as bushfires threaten the region.

So our volunteers from the Donnybrook area across the south-west [who have] come to deal with this incident.

We’ve had some strong winds that have been coming consistently from the east, but been fairly strong and making it challenging for our crews.

When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.

It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.

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WA government declares emergency as record flood hits Kimberley

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Fitzroy River expected to peak 1.5 metres higher than previous record as ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie brings heavy rain and damaging winds across the region

A record flood has hit Western Australia’s Kimberley region as ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie passes through the region.

The Fitzroy River was above 15 metres on Tuesday morning and was projected to reach 15.6 metres on Tuesday night – 1.5 metres higher than the previous record.

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PM’s China dialogue comments ‘sneaky’, opposition says – as it happened

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Authorities to crack down on taxi and rideshare rip-offs

The Point to Point Commissioner is expecting a busy New Year’s period, after a “landslide of complaints” to the taxi industry hotline in the lead-up to the holiday period.

Businesses in the hospitality, tourism and retail industries heavily rely on a transport system that is safe, reliable and cost-effective to get Sydneysiders around our city.

If the system fails on delivering this service then people will not come into the city, which in turn will have an adverse knock-on effect on other businesses as a result.

Yes we have to continue to pursue them but the easiest way they could be resolved is by the Chinese government ending the sanctions on barley and wine. If they did that, then obviously, those disputes we no longer need to continue to take them – that would be the best thing that could occur, although I see no sign of that at the moment.

I see we’re dangling carrots out in front of the Chinese ... accession to CPTPP [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership], which was something we never talked about, I see the new government is talking about it. This is very concerning – that they would offer access to that incredibly important trade arrangement to try and get the Chinese [government] to move.

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Southern parts of Australia swelter through summer’s first heatwave

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Adelaide stayed at 27.4C overnight while Victoria is forecast to dip no lower than 26C, the state’s hottest night in four years

Adelaide has sweated through a 38C morning as millions of people in the country’s south endure the peak of a summer heatwave.

Heatwave warnings were issued for South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and isolated parts of Western Australia with temperatures 8C to 16C above average.

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Sydney flats evacuated after shopping strip fire and gas leak; sunfish knocks yacht out of Sydney to Hobart – as it happened

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Firefighters forced to flee scene of Newport fire after part of the roof collapsed revealing a ruptured gas line; Louis Ryckmans of the crew of Yeah Baby says he initially thought collision with ‘leviathan’ sunfish was boat hitting a reef. This blog is now closed

Heavy rainfall expected across northern Australia: BoM

Howe says the tropical monsoon period is “very active” at the moment across northern Australia.

That’s associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie which is continuing to deliver heavy rainfall across the NT.

There is a warning for intense rainfall and damaging winds. We’ve already seen rainfall totals of more than 200mm over the last few days, causing roads to be washed out. Reminding travellers to take care and check conditions before heading out.

We will see a cool change move through Adelaide late tonight and towards midnight, moving through western Victoria in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

We will see the cool change move through around lunchtime today for Melbourne and also tomorrow afternoon for Hobart.

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Wong condemns Taliban’s decision to ban women from NGOs – as it happened

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Ferry services resume in Sydney as fog clears

The fog looks to be clearing in Sydney, or at least the sun has just broken through the clouds where I’m sitting.

Passengers should continue to allow extra travel time and check information displays for service updates as services return to timetable.

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Christmas Day weather: Australia expects hot day before southern heatwave

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All state and territory capital cities besides Hobart are expecting temperatures from the high-20s to the low-30s

After an unseasonably cold start to summer, Christmas Day is set to be a hot one across most of Australia, with above average temperatures in southern Australia heralding a heatwave.

All state and territory capital cities besides Hobart are expecting temperatures from the high-20s to the low-30s on 25 December.

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South Australia floods expected to inundate thousands of homes as NT town hit by one-in-50-year deluge

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Murray River forecast to peak in coming days as 241mm of rain falls on Timber Creek in the Northern Territory in 24 hours

Thousands of residents in South Australia’s Riverland region are on high alert, with the rising Murray River forecast to peak in the coming days and thousands of properties expected to be inundated in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, a one-in-50-year flood has hit a remote town in the Northern Territory as authorities warn more rain is on the way for the rest of the territory.

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Australia news live: charges laid against operators of REDcycle soft plastic recycling scheme

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Wieambilla siege victim Alan Dare to be awarded police bravery medal

An innocent man killed during a violent encounter at a rural Queensland property will be awarded the Queensland Police Bravery Medal.

Well, I think matters about Scott Morrison’s future are best addressed to him.

The review did sign that Scott was personally unpopular and they’ve been very, very effectively demonised in an intense, aggressive and continuing campaign by the Labor party and by the broader green left campaigning apparatus.

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Thousands left without power in Victoria as huge storm sweeps state

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Melbourne airport grounded flights because of flooded terminals and the risk of lightning, as geelong was hit by hail up to 3cm in diameter

Thousands of Victorians have been left without power and Melbourne airport has been forced to ground flights as a major storm front swept across the state’s south.

There was also extreme weather on the way for parts of the Northern Territory and West Australian coasts on Friday as a tropical low deepened over the Timor Sea.

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‘Going to be quite a shock’: southern Australia set for a heatwave after Christmas

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Bureau of Meteorology expects Adelaide to hit 41C on Tuesday and an elevated bushfire risk in southern NSW

After an unseasonably cold start to the summer, southern parts of Australia are expected to swelter through a heatwave that will peak next week and ease ahead of New Year’s Eve.

The weather on Christmas Day itself will be “perfectly warm and sunny” in most mainland capital cities, said the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan How. “You really could not have asked for anything better.”

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Union fury over Labor decision to split aged care pay rises – as it happened

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Crossbench say Australia needs to ‘get cracking’ on Cop15 commitments

More reactions are coming in after the close of the biodiversity Cop15 – which leading scientists have called “vastly more important” than the Cop27 climate meeting, because it decides the “fate of the living world”.

We need to get cracking on implementation to deliver on commitments.

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Wong urged to raise human rights concerns on Beijing trip – as it happened

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It’s officially a week before Christmas, which means the forecasters at the Bureau of Meteorology are fairly confident they can tell us what whether we can set up for an al fresco Christmas lunch or not.

For some parts of the country, there is a chance of showers:

Particularly in the south, we can get some volatile weather but all the patterns really starting to change as we move into later part of this week.

So we’ll see a weather system move through southern parts of the country, Thursday and Friday. Then a big high-pressure system behind it will quickly move into the Tasman Sea and then kind of sit there over the Christmas weekend into early the following week and normally that drives a lot of warm weather across much of southern parts of the country and our guidance is showing a similar pattern with that as well.

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