Experts warn of increased risk for vulnerable Australians and say sports codes will need to put heat policies into effect earlier in the season
South-east Australia is set to swelter this weekend, with temperatures forecast to reach highs of 29C in Melbourne and 36C in Sydney.
The unusual heat is likely to impact both the NRL and AFL grand finals, with the NRL reportedly planning ahead with extended breaks and play potentially delayed depending on the conditions.
Continue reading...Emergency services say 14 people were rescued at the facility on Mangan Street, Balwyn, on Sunday night
Firefighters have rescued residents who were trapped inside a burning care facility in Melbourne’s east, with the blaze being treated as suspicious.
Many residents made phone calls to triple-0 just before 10pm on Sunday as smoke filled the two-storey building in Mangan Street, Balwyn.
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Semi-professional firefighters being considered: Watt
Watt is asked about whether Australia can continue to rely on a volunteer firefighting force to respond to increasingly larger and more threatening fires as a result of climate change.
That work will carry into the new year and I don’t want to pre-empt those recommendations but as I say, we are taking short-term steps in the meantime by investing in those kind of groups like Disaster Relief Australia. But it is possible in the future that we will have the need of turning to semi professional firefighter services like they have in California, where people can be paid just for the fire season, rather than the entire year. There are all those sort of options under consideration at the moment.
We do live in a more uncertain strategic world than we have in the past and it is important that the ADF can be focused on their core mission, with is the defence of the nation, and the reality is that every time we do call on the defence forces to assist in a disaster situation, that is taking them away from their training and their preparedness for their core duty.
I think in a situation like we faced in Lismore and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, there is no doubt you would need the ADF deployed for that kind of thing and in the recent floods in the Kimberley, we were bringing people from across from Townsville, aircraft in Townsville and getting the But it is about making the balance right and not over-relying on them.
Continue reading...Stretch of hot weather enters fourth day as temperatures climb significantly above average in NSW, Victoria and South Australia
A vast swathe of Australia entered its fourth consecutive day of well above average heat on Monday, delivering elevated fire dangers and an early start to an unusually hot and dry warm season.
Northern Victoria, inland New South Wales and inland South Australia were all forecast to record temperatures from 10C to 16C above average on Monday. Port Augusta in SA was predicted to reach 39C, Penrith in NSW was set to reach 37C and Sydney was forecast to hit 31C.
Continue reading...Bureau of Meteorology forecasts warm weather to remain over coming days, with Sydney set to reach 30C and Melbourne 24C
Marathon runners are expected to swelter on Sunday, with temperatures again set to hit 30C in Sydney on an unseasonably warm weekend across the east coast.
More than 17,000 runners has registered for the Sydney Marathon, the most runners it has ever hosted and making it the largest marathon in the country. But the event coincides with a surge of heat that is expected to see temperatures between 10C and 12C above average in Sydney until Tuesday night.
Continue reading...Residents cautioned to minimise heat exposure as the mercury in eastern states forecast to reach up to 12C above average
Australians can expect a hit of summer-like weather over the weekend, with temperatures expected to reach above the mid-20s in Melbourne and 30C in Sydney, prompting NSW Health to issue a heat alert.
Inland Australia will crack the mid to high 30s while the south-east corner of Western Australia will be the only region to hover below 20C.
Continue reading...Four people arrested – including a 16-year-old girl released without charge - after car allegedly stolen in Northcote
Four people have been arrested after a man was allegedly abducted and stabbed in Melbourne’s inner north-east, prompting a police chase.
A worker at a hire company at Northcote in the city’s north called police about 9.40pm on Sunday, after their silver Hyundai was allegedly stolen from Mitchell Street.
Continue reading...Talks on deal had been stalled due to impasse on geographic indicators for products such as feta and prosecco. This blog is closed for now
Asked what a no vote will say about Australia, Pearson says he withhold judgement until the night of the referendum.
I will make that judgement the day after the referendum. I believe we still have the capacity to do the right thing. I tell you one thing, though, I just don’t believe when the hand of friendship and reconciliation is extended from Indigenous people that at the end of the day, their love will be unrequited. I can’t believe that. I cannot believe we’re still in an Australia where that hand would be just slapped aside. This unrequited love is my worst nightmare. I just don’t believe Australians are capable of that at this time in our history.
The separation was there in 1901. The original separation, the original equality was in our constitution in 1901. What we’re going to do in 2023 is fix that exclusion, fix the omission, fix the lack of recognition and when we do that, our constitution will be whole. We will complete the commonwealth of Australia and it will be a great thing to do.
In relation to the scope issue, David, our opponents in the no campaign said that somehow we’d be dictating policy on nuclear submarines. That wasn’t reasonable. That wasn’t a fair representation of the scope.
Continue reading...Melton West allegedly drove into cars and pedestrians, killing a 76-year-old man and injuring five others
Homicide detectives have charged a 26-year-old man with murder after he allegedly drove his car into pedestrians and vehicles in Melbourne’s CBD.
Police said on Saturday night the Melton West man had been charged with one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of intentionally causing serious injury and two counts of conduct endangering life.
Continue reading...Victoria police believe a shooting in the city’s north-west that left a man dead and another injured was targeted
Police in Melbourne have launched an investigation after a fatal shooting in the suburb of Keilor in the city’s north-west.
The man killed is yet to be formally identified.Officers say the shooting appears to have been targeted.
Continue reading...Police insist city is ‘tremendously safe’ following Friday night crash at same Bourke Street mall where six people were killed in 2017
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has said there were no feasible safety measures that could have prevented the fatal crash in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday night, as police assure residents the city is “tremendously safe.”
Police say a white Toyota Aurion struck three pedestrians near a tram stop on Bourke Street on Friday evening, before it continued along the street, T-boning another car and killing the 76-year-old driver.
Continue reading...Resignation of associate dean Dr Eddie Cubillo comes after he delivered speech on his encounters with racism at Melbourne Law School
A leading academic at the University of Melbourne (UoM) has resigned from his role heading Indigenous programs after public complaints over institutional racism at the faculty.
Dr Eddie Cubillo, a Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrernte man, was working part-time as an associate dean and senior fellow at the university’s prestigious Melbourne Law School (MLS).
Continue reading...A Frankston boy, 14, was charged with offences including armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury
A teenager has been charged over a violent attack in Melbourne on a boy walking home from school that left him with life-threatening injuries.
The 14-year-old was confronted by a group as he left Glen Eira College in Glen Huntly on Monday afternoon.
Continue reading...Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures ever as the country’s winters get hotter
Dozens of longstanding temperature records tumbled across Australia during a warm July.
Across the country maximum temperatures were overall about 1.2C above the long-term averages in July and all capital cities except Canberra were warmer than average, Bureau of Meteorology data shows.
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‘Mistakes of the past’: David Littleproud compares voice to ATSIC advisory body
Littleproud says the proposal for the voice to parliament will “repeat the mistakes of the past”, comparing the proposal to ATSIC.
No, again, David, the problem comes from the lived experience we have. And it might work in suburbs in capital cities but when you’re talking about representative bodies in rural and remote Australia, you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, hundreds of different diverse communities that have different challenges and needs.
We were saying let’s have common sense.
Why not let the market decide but let’s educate Australians. This won’t happen overnight. This is something we need to bring them on that journey. That’s why I wanted to have some political leadership but from across the aisle, and say let’s have a national energy summit, bring Australians into our trust and let them decide what the energy mix should look like and live town our international commitments.
Continue reading...One of the main factors contributing to the unusually high temperatures is the warm ocean conditions, a BoM meteorologist says
Unseasonably warm weather swept across the eastern states this weekend, with Sydney hitting 25.2C on Sunday, with high temperatures set to continue.
Parts of the country were expected to reach temperatures about 8C above normal for July on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Continue reading...Aluel Ajak died after being struck by a car on Shaws Road in Werribee on Wednesday night
A nine-year-old who died after being hit by a car in Melbourne’s west has been described as a courageous and beautiful girl.
Aluel Ajak was struck by a car on Shaws Road in Werribee about 9.15pm on Wednesday.
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Continue reading...Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32am on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne
A 4.6-magnitude earthquake has rattled residents in regional Victoria and Melbourne, with thousands of people feeling the early morning tremor.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32am on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne.
Continue reading...After an estimated 4 million people queued online for tickets on Wednesday the US pop star has announced two more Australian concert dates
Taylor Swift has announced two more shows in her Australian tour next February after record-setting ticket sales on Wednesday.
Presale tickets to three Sydney concerts and two in Melbourne sold out in hours after more than 4 million users joined the online queue for under half a million tickets – though some of the numbers may have been fans opening multiple browsers to maximise their chances.
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Continue reading...Australian fans faced hours-long virtual queues and tried a range of strategies as second tranche of Eras tour presale tickets went on sale
Taylor Swift has broken a national record with more than 4 million users vying to gain access on Wednesday to highly coveted presale tickets to her Sydney and Melbourne shows.
The second round of tickets went live for Swift’s three Sydney shows at 10am, amid unprecedented demand. By 1.43pm, all general Frontier presale tickets for Sydney had sold out, Ticketek Australia said in a tweet.
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