Category Archives: Australia weather

Australia news live: back safeguard mechanism to ‘put climate wars behind us’, Labor urges Coalition and Greens – as it happened

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‘The onus is on Labor’ to explain why it needs more coal and gas: Bandt

There’s some discussion about possible alternatives – one suggestion is to pause new developments on gas and coal developments while reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 have been hammered out.

We are up for good-faith discussions and proposals like that are coming from people like the Climate Council, from The Australia Institute. I’ve seen the Australia Conservation Foundation out saying there are serious problems with the government’s proposal.

You can’t put the fire out while pouring petrol on it.

I don’t think the penny has quite dropped with the government how much things are have moved on. 66% of people between 18 and 34 back our position – don’t want new coal and gas mines opened. 57% of the general population. Things have moved on.

I know Labor talks a lot about history, but the students who are marching in the streets at the moment, behind banners saying, “No new coal and gas” were in primary school in 2009. They do not want it, no one can understand why we are coming up to the year anniversary of the floods in Lismore, people cannot understand why Labor says they want to open up new projects.

Why does Labor want to go to the wall to open new coal and gas projects? These are huge climate bombs. They’ve got a very – I think it is an untenable task...

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WA’s Pilbara hits 45C as large swathes of Australia swelter in heatwave

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Extreme conditions in the north of the state with Victoria, NSW and Queensland also experiencing high temperatures

Large swathes of Australia sweltered amid a heatwave on Friday, including in the Pilbara, where temperatures reached 45C.

Sumaoa Bayliss, the manager at the Red Sands Tavern in the northern Western Australian town of Newman – where it reached 44C – said life goes on in the dangerous conditions, albeit under air conditioning.

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Storm Gabrielle: thousands without power on New Zealand’s North Island

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Red weather warnings issued for rain and wind; schools closed and flights cancelled in Auckland

Evacuations were under way and thousands of people were without power as Storm Gabrielle approached New Zealand’s North Island, where the largest city is still recovering from record rain last month.

As the former tropical cyclone barrelled towards New Zealand, the MetService issued a series of red weather warnings for intense rain and gale-force winds, including for Auckland, the largest city, which was hit by flooding a fortnight ago.

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Fines against WA climate protester ‘absurdly excessive’, Human Rights Watch says; refund for Myki charges during outage – As it happened

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Productivity commission report will be released in March

Chalmers says he has received a five-year review from the productivity commission about how Australia can respond to flagging productivity across the Australian economy.

I’d like to do that sooner, ideally in May, so that we can have this national debate about our productivity performance and some of the recommendations in there. Now, inevitably, a government won’t pick up and run with every single one of the recommendations from the Productivity Commission, but there may be some that we can run with. There will be some that align with the government’s economic plan and our policy objectives.

No doubt people will want to ask him about that and he can explain it. I think there’s a broader issue here about how the bank communicates the context for its decisions. This is one of the things that I have been discussing with the RBA Review Panel. I actually discussed it with them on Friday in one of the regular meetings that I have with the review panel, how they communicate their decisions and the context behind their decisions is one of the key focuses of that review.

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Australia news live: NSW Labor leader Chris Minns promises to ban gay conversion therapy; Cyclone Gabrielle intensifies

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Minns says that, if elected, his government will outlaw the ‘dangerous and damaging practice’

The Norfolk Island administrator, Eric Hutchinson, says there are “probably anywhere between 800-950 visitors on the island at the moment.”

Flights have been suspended for the next couple of days, although the usual flight from Sydney arrived as scheduled yesterday, as did the flight from Brisbane on Thursday.

We’ve moved through four stages of alertness, we are now at an orange. The Emergency Management Norfolk Island is meeting now and there is the possibility that they will then increase that to the highest level of alert, which is a red alert, and that basically means that people stay at home and don’t go out.

People are doing the right thing. The community has been well communicated with and, as I say, we have just got to now see this out. There is an emergency shelter that has been set up just now, where I am at the moment in the hall, so that is probably going to be used we think by visitors to the island.

It was a pretty wild night but the impact of Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle isn’t expected to make its full impact until early this afternoon and that can potentially extend into the early hours of Sunday morning.

I will say, though, that Emergency Management Norfolk Island, we’ve had an incredible amount of support through the National Emergency Management Agency.

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Cyclone Gabrielle: Norfolk Island issues red alert as tropical storm approaches

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Authorities prepare emergency shelter for residents and tourists with fears of significant damage from gale-force winds and dangerous surf

A red alert warning was issued on Norfolk Island with residents urged to take shelter in the strongest part of their homes as Cyclone Gabrielle approached with wind gusts of up to 140km/h and dangerous surf conditions.

Emergency Management Norfolk Island urged residents to stay inside until an all-clear message was broadcast. An emergency shelter was established in a town hall for those who could not make it home safely.

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Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle intensifies on path to Norfolk Island and New Zealand

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Weather system off the Queensland coast predicted to intensify to category three, with winds of up to 224km/h

Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle is expected to strengthen to category three as it barrels towards Norfolk Island, in line to pummel New Zealand’s North Island.

The system is predicted to intensify to category three on Friday morning, picking up speed and strength with winds of between 165km/h and 224km/h, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

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Summer pause: cold weather forecast for south-east Australia to bring snow across Alps

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Sharp temperature drops expected in SA, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania on Friday while north-east faces heatwave conditions

Break out the winter woolies. Temperatures across Australia’s south-east are set to plummet with some areas expected to experience their coldest February days in two decades on Friday.

A strong cold front is pushing up from southern Australia and is forecast to sweep across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania on Friday.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton to attend voice referendum working group meeting remotely

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Follow the day’s news live

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.

Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:

We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.

We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.

What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.

There’s no doubt that migrants have been key to the formation of modern Australia.

I think [migrants] should be recognised for their contribution to this country. And I think that’s fair enough, but that’s not minimising the Indigenous.

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Boy struck by lightning at beach near Wollongong

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Paramedics administered CPR to 10-year-old, as Bureau of Meteorology issues severe thunderstorm warning for eastern NSW

A 10-year-old boy was struck by lightning at a beach near Wollongong on Thursday.

New South Wales Ambulance said the accident happened at Barrack Point near Wollongong after a storm cell hit the area on Thursday evening.

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Warm and dry conditions expected across most of Australia for 26 January

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Party cloudy skies forecast for Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, with rain for Darwin and sun for Brisbane and Perth

Workers in Australia taking 26 January off as a holiday will be met with warm and dry conditions in most capital cities across the country.

Sydneysiders can expect a high of 31C and partly cloudy skies, while Melbourne will experience a maximum of 22C, also with partly cloudy skies, according to the Bureau of Meteorology .

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Record levels of renewable energy push demand for electricity to all-time low for December quarter

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Increased output from renewables, with a near-zero fuel cost, also nudged more coal and gas out of the generation market

Milder temperatures and record levels of renewable energy drove electricity demand to its lowest levels for any December quarter, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Wholesale power prices also retreated during the period, particularly after the Albanese government imposed price caps on black coal and gas that are used to generate power, AEMO said in its quarterly report released on Wednesday.

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Two NDIS providers banned after fraud claims – as it happened

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New Australian factory to make construction material from recycled goods

A company making construction products entirely from used drink cartons, soft plastics, disposable coffee cops and similar products will launch its first Australian manufacturing plant at Warragamba next month.

It’s basically like making a big cheese toasty. You heat it up and cool it down a couple of times and the plastic melts between the gaps in the fibre.

It’s a straightforward process, but it’s focused on reducing problematic waste ... materials which, until we came along, had been completely un-recyclable and collected by container deposit schemes.

In Australia alone, we could unlock a massive $2tn worth of potential savings across two decades.

Those potential savings could come, for example, through reusing valuable resources currently going to waste in landfill, such as plastics, glass, masonry and metals.

For far too long healthcare in western Sydney has been an afterthought.

The thousands of people moving into the area every year deserve world class healthcare.

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Sydney enjoys first day over 30C in nearly a year, ending cool streak

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Observatory Hill recorded the city’s hottest temperature in 331 days on Wednesday

Sydney marked its hottest temperature in 331 days on Wednesday as the mercury in many parts of the city soared past 30C.

Maximum temperatures had stayed below 30C since 21 February last year – the longest cool streak since a 339-day record set in 1883.

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Australia prepared for possible Russian cyber-attacks after troops sent to train Ukraine soldiers – as it happened

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Australian Open disrupted by weather

Extreme heat and late night rain has left 22 first-round singles matches cancelled or postponed into day three of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

The Black Hawk capability will be a crucial element for us to protect Australia’s sovereignty, and deliver foreign policy objectives, including providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The Black Hawk will support the deployment of our troops and their equipment where they are needed in times of crisis. The Black Hawk is a reliable, proven and mature platform supported by a robust global supply chain.

This will not only support the capability, but also maximise Australian industry participation, laying a foundation for future helicopter industry growth across the service life of the helicopter.

Delivery of the Black Hawk helicopters will commence this year.

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Australia news live updates: Queensland flood waters rising; tributes roll after death of Jim Molan

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Rising flood waters have cut north Queensland’s main transport corridor, the Bruce Highway, with more rain on the way. Follow the day’s news live

Dreyfus opens discussion about judicial watchdog

Today the attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, will open consultation for the creation of a federal judicial commission, to police what he described as the “relatively rare” instances of “problematic conduct by judges”.

The three diseases that we’re focusing on on this trip – malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – three diseases that Australia has a good control over or good management over.

HIV cases are on the rise for a range of different reasons. Tuberculosis is just devastating and any young child with tuberculosis is an extremely confronting and devastating thing to see it’s a horrible disease. And malaria is an ongoing killer.

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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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