Category Archives: Australia weather

‘Likely a nightshade’: Australians urged not to seek out spinach products for recreational high

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Warning comes as more than 130 people who ate range of contaminated fresh food items suffer symptoms including hallucinations and delirium

Australians are being urged not to seek out contaminated baby spinach products for a recreational high after more than 130 people who ate a range of fresh food items suffered symptoms including hallucinations and delirium.

Authorities were on Sunday night testing the weed believed to be responsible for the widespread recall of products containing spinach thought to have come from a farm in Victoria.

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Riviera Fresh – Riviera Farms Baby​ Spinach

Fresh Salad Co – Fresh and Fast Stir Fry

Woolworths – Chicken Cobb Salad and Chickpea Falafel Salad

​Coles – Spinach, Chef Blend Tender Leaf, Baby Leaf Blend, Kitchen Green Goddess Salad, Kitchen Chicken BLT Salad Bowl, Kitchen Roast Pumpkin, Fetta & Walnut Salad, Kitchen Smokey Mexican Salad, Kitchen Egg and Spinach Pots

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Victoria police to prosecute pitch invaders; more contaminated spinach cases in Queensland – as it happened

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Sport governing body says ‘such behaviour has no place in Australian football’. This blog is now closed

‘We will look at the facts’

James Johnson is asked whether Melbourne Victory has any outstanding sanctions for past incidents. He says he is not aware of any but past events may be considered as an “aggravating factor” as an investigation into the incident unfolds:

There is no other suspended disciplinary action that I’m aware of, but what I will say is that we will be working through that today. We have already started working on the show cause process as of late last night, and we will be moving forward as quickly and swiftly as possible to finalise it, because it is important we get ahead of this issue as a sport.

What I can say is that we will look at the facts, we’ll look at it objectively and we will take a decision that we believe is in the overall best interest of the game but I prefer not to comment on the specifics of the outcome because we have to go through that process first.

What happened during the game last night and what happens with the result;

A “show cause letter” to Melbourne Victory;

An attempt to identify individuals involved in the pitch invasion.

This is an element that … infiltrates our game and tries to ruin it for the people who love us was in. We’ll be looking to weed out those people from the sport.

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Senator says plan ‘a Band-Aid on a festering wound’ – as it happened

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Severe weather warning for damaging winds in NSW and Victoria

Several children have been injured after a firework shot into a crowd during a Christmas event in Sydney’s northern beaches last night.

An 11-year-old boy was initially taken to Royal North Shore hospital, before being transferred to the Children’s hospital at Westmead for treatment of burns and a chest injury.

An eight-year-old girl was taken to Northern Beaches hospital for treatment of burns and a wrist injury. She has since been released.

Police have been told a 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his parents for treatment to minor burns and has since been released, and six other people were treated on scene by NSW Rural Fire Service for minor injuries, and left prior to the arrival of paramedics and police.

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MPs’ Pacific islands tour to show bipartisan support – As it happened

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Senior politicians from both major parties to travel to Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau this week. This blog is now closed

The Bureau of Meteorology expects scattered showers expected over South Australia.

Meanwhile the heatwave that has settled across northern Australia is expected to ease.

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‘When will the rain stop?’: Australia’s most searched words on Google in 2022

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Australians also searched for ‘floods’ and ‘La Niña’ more than any other country in the world

Australians searched for “floods”, “La Niña” and “when will the rain stop?” more than any other country in the world in 2022, according to Google.

As a year of floods and wet weather hit large parts of the eastern seaboard, Google recorded more searches for “mould” in Australia than ever before.

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Temperatures forecast to reach mid-40s as heatwave hits northern Australia

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North of Western Australia, NT and Queensland to swelter in up to 47C as ‘monsoon break’ allows build-up of intensely hot air mass

Temperatures are expected to soar across northern Australia over the coming days as a heatwave spreads across Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said hot air was building over the north-west of the continent and moving east, driving temperatures in some areas as high as 5C to 6C above average.

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PM urges climate ‘wake up’ amid floods; man mauled to death by dogs – as it happened

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights extradition from Britain to US, where he is wanted on criminal charges. This blog is now closed

We now have more details from NSW authorities about the four-vehicle crash on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge shortly before midnight last night, which killed two people.

NSW police have named the two victims as a 25-year-old female from the local area and a 38-year-old man from Sydney’s south-west. A police representative has been speaking to reporters:

At about 11:45 last night, there was a minor collision on the Anzac Bridge involving two vehicles. A 25-year-old female and a 38-year-old male were exchanging details or doing what you need to do after you’ve had a minor collision.

At that point, there’s been another two vehicles that have become involved in that stationary collision. One was a taxi and the second was a Commodore. Tragically, the way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars has impacted with the two pedestrians who were out on the road exchanging details and unfortunately those two people have been killed.

The last 12 hours have seen an absolute tragic number of road trauma incidents in NSW. Six people have lost their lives. Six families are grieving the loss of family members.

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Flood could cut off NSW town of Moulamein ‘through December’, authorities say

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About 85% of the town’s 484 residents chose to stay despite being told to evacuate, with roads out expected to be closed for several weeks

Hundreds of residents of the small Riverina town of Moulamein have elected to stay and defend their properties against the rising flood waters even though authorities have warned they may be isolated into December.

The State Emergency Service warned the whole town to evacuate by 2pm Tuesday or face weeks being cut off as the Edward River, which joins with the swollen Billabong Creek in the town, was expected to peak at 6.2 metres on Thursday.

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Australia politics live: Qantas plays ‘hardball’ on workplace relations, Shorten says; Karen Andrews makes emotional speech on domestic violence

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Liberal MP Karen Andrews addressed the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in parliament. Follow all the day’s news

Independents to launch report on whistleblower protections

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has been arguing for more protections for whistleblowers for years. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has proposed new laws to boost whistleblower protections, but there are still calls the law needs to go further.

Protecting Australia’s Whistleblowers: The Federal Roadmap draws on landmark research and synthesises three decades of reviews to outline a comprehensive, 12-step roadmap for better protecting and empowering whistleblowers.

Establishment of a whistleblower protection authority to oversee and enforce Australia’s whistleblower protections;

Upgraded whistleblower protections for Australian public servants in line with domestic and international best practice, including a positive duty to protect whistleblowers and steps to make it easier for whistleblowers to enforce their rights;

Consolidation and harmonisation of whistleblowing laws across the private sector in one new single law covering all non-public sector whistleblowers; and

Stronger, simpler protections for whistleblowers who make disclosures to the media and members of parliament.

The mortality ratios from Covid in Australia are quite similar to those estimated in other advanced nations. As a share of the population, fewer people died from Covid in Australia than in most other affluent nations. Yet among those who died, the same health inequalities can be seen in Australia as in other advanced countries.

What might have driven the socioeconomic disparities in Covid mortality? And why might many of those disparities have been largest in the Delta wave? As I have noted, disadvantaged people may be less able to work remotely, more reliant on public transport, and more likely to live in crowded households. Uptake of vaccination and antiviral treatments have varied across society as vaccines and treatment became increasingly available. Another factor is that successive Covid waves have had varying degrees of severity. A final factor is that in the years since Covid began, population immunity has steadily risen.”

Across all waves of the pandemic, deaths from Covid were highest among those aged 80‑89 years. The median age of those who died from Covid was 87.4 years for females and 83.6 years for males. Males had a higher number of registered Covid deaths than females. For every 100 female Covid deaths, there were 126 male Covid deaths. Around 3-quarters of all Covid deaths occurred in Victoria and New South Wales.

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BoM update suggests big wet to continue as La Niña lingers – as it happened

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David Pocock was asked how he would vote on the IR bill, if he was made to vote for it today while on ABC radio RN.

He said he couldn’t “in good conscience” vote for the bill, if it came to the crunch today (which it won’t, it was a hypothetical).

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Australia politics live: Albanese accuses Dutton of ‘dog-whistling’ over Cop27 climate damage fund

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Follow the day’s news live

Buy now, pay later review has been coming for a while

The last time the issue was examined, under the previous government, it was decided the industry could regulate itself.

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Authorities warn of flooding impacts for ‘months’ as second death recorded in NSW

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Body thought to be that of Les Vugec, 85, who was last seen at his Eugowra home on Monday

Major flooding is forecast to continue along several river systems in New South Wales as flood-hit communities survey the damage and authorities warn it could be months before the deluge comes to an end.

A second death was recorded in Eugowra on Saturday after a body was found on the outskirts of town.

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Flood warnings in Victoria and NSW – as it happened

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Birmingham against a windfall tax for oil and gas companies

Birmingham says he is opposed to a windfall tax for oil and gas companies to help assist with rising energy prices.

We don’t think that simply slugging a tax in relation to companies is going to do anything for the energy prices of Australians. You’ve got to fix supply in the gas market to provide for genuine outcomes there, and those types of taxes will actually only hurt you in the longer term because they will act as an investment disincentive and you have less supply for the future.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has previously said limiting global heating to 1.5C as set out in the Paris agreement meant there can be no new oil, gas or coal investment beyond 2021.

A windfall tax is not about shoring up gas supplies, but generating revenue which can re-invested in new renewable energy projects and other decarbonisation projects.

I strongly support recognition and have done for many years and, of course, the debate around the voice has come along subsequent to early efforts to try to achieve Indigenous recognition. When it comes to the model for the Voice, I do think Australians deserve to see more detail and have more answers about how it will work, how it will be constituted and how it will make a difference. I understand the very passionate views by those who argue for the voice and I don’t wish to see them disrespected in any way, but I also acknowledge that there are strong Indigenous views of doubt and question about whether the voice will be actually effective in achieving any substantial change on the ground in relation to Indigenous disadvantage.

We are going to be asked to support a constitutional change for a model that is as undefined by the government in relation to that model. It is not unreasonable to want to see the detail of the model.

An economy growing as strongly as possible, keeping unemployment as low as possible – those are the things that our government managed to achieve, with strong economic growth in our last year in office, with unemployment down to 50-year lows, creating the conditions for economic growth to help to drive productive wages growth.

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NSW floods: Condobolin waits behind 3km wall of sandbags as record peak flows west from Forbes

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Forbes mayor criticises decision to base recovery team in Parkes as towns and villages downstream wait days for peak

The New South Wales central-west town of Condobolin is experiencing the worst flood in its history and the expected peak is still days away.

The State Emergency Service has predicted the Lachlan River at the town 100km west of Forbes will peak at 7.8 metres on Monday – a record flood height. On Saturday afternoon an evacuation order was issued for low-lying parts of the town.

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Central NSW braced for more flooding as Lachlan River set to hit 70-year-high level

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Forbes braced for second inundation in a fortnight as woman’s body found in Eugowra flood waters after ‘wall of water’ decimates NSW town

Communities in New South Wales are braced for more flooding with warnings of historic river rises and prolonged peaks in the state’s central west.

Across the state, the authorities have issued 117 warnings and 23 “evacuate now” orders, including for central western Forbes and Gooloogong, Gunnedah in the north-east and the southern border town of Moama.

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News live: Penny Wong condemns Russia’s deadly missile attacks; Deliveroo to end operations in Australia

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Foreign minister says ‘Australia stands with Ukraine’ following reports a Russian missile landed in Polish territory killing two people. Follow the day’s news

ABC Radio asked Simon Birmingham about reports from this morning that a Russian missile has hit Poland near the Ukraine border: The shadow foreign affairs minister says:

This is deeply, deeply troubling news.

If an accident occurs it can result in a real escalation ... it shows just how dangerous a game Russia is playing.

We can’t expect instant miracles, but the ultimate test of dialogue will be the outcomes that are received if this dialogue is successful, to see breakthroughs in regard to those trade barriers... and also critically the just treatment of Australian’s detained in China.

And then of course challenges in terms of engagement within the region, that we must continue to argue for China to respect international law, international rules and norms

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Australia news live: immediate evacuation orders as central west NSW faces dramatic floods; record early voting in Victoria

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The SES has said the Lachlan River is rising faster than originally forecast. Follow all today’s news

Some issues ‘we have raised will be solved overnight’: Chalmers

Albanese has said there are no preconditions ahead of the meeting with Xi but Karvelas is pressing Chalmers on what could be on the table. He’s staying pretty tight-lipped but here are some of his answers.

We’ve made it really clear for some time … that these trade sanctions are not in Australia’s interests, and we want to see them lifted.

I don’t think anybody pretends some of the issues China has raised, certainly some we have raised will be solved overnight, but again we give ourselves a much better chance where there is engagement and dialogue.

Australia’s made its views clear over a long period of time when it comes to the detention of these two people.

What’s Australia’s ambition here?

We seek a more stable relationship with China.

We will speak up for our national interest where necessary, but we believe engagement is important to give ourselves the chance to work through some of these issues if we’re talking to each other.

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PM’s meeting with Chinese president confirmed – as it happened

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Andrews rules out deal with the Greens and independents in event of minority government

Dan Andrews was also asked what would happen if Labor finds itself in a minority government situation – will it do a deal with the Greens?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

And independents – no deals with independents?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

So if you’re in a minority situation and you hold more seats than the Liberal party, what happens? You go back to another election?

Well, I think what the best thing to do, and what happens, Michael, is we work hard for the next 13 days, we work hard to put a positive and optimistic plan out there, and we’ll see what the verdict of Victorian voters is. I’m arguing, I’m urging people to vote for a strong, stable majority Labor government, to vote for your local Labor candidate.

The new SEC – government-owned, not private for-profit, but government-owned electricity, so owned by every single Victorian – creates nearly 60,000 jobs – 6,000 of those will be apprentices. It will be 100% renewable electricity. These companies can’t be relied upon to replace themselves. They’ll just put another profit machine in place. We need to make sure that we’re looking after pensioners, we’re looking after families and, indeed, businesses. And without electricity, there is no economy, so we have to replace them. And we choose to replace them with a public option – a government-owned option. An option that’s owned by every single Victorian.

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South Australia suffers biggest blackout since 2016 as weather system brings more flooding to inland NSW

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Severe storms continue to drench exhausted communities as a humid air mass prompts flash flooding alerts in eastern Australia

Wild storms have caused the biggest blackout in South Australia since the entire state went dark in 2016, as flash flooding caused havoc in parts of New South Wales and Victoria.

More than 423,000 lightning strikes were recorded in SA on Sunday. Heavy winds downed trees and SA Power Networks received more than 500 reports of fallen wires.

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Albanese meets Chinese premier Li Keqiang at summit – as it happened

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Victorian opposition vows to restrict gas produced in the state from being exported in a bid to reduce household bills; Anthony Albanese speaks to Chinese premier Li Keqiang at East Asia Summit gala dinner. This blog is now closed

Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground Saturday during a Dallas airshow, federal officials said, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Officials didn’t immediately make clear how many people were on board the aircraft or if anyone on the ground was hurt. Nonetheless, an ABC News producer – citing reporting from a colleague – said on Twitter that at least six people, all crew members, were feared dead after the crash.

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