Dangerous pests forming floating rafts with their bodies to survive in Queensland after floods
Invasive fire ants have used recent flooding in Queensland to expand their Australian invasion, teaming up and forming floating rafts with their bodies to allow them to survive for weeks at a time.
Eradication officers in Queensland have captured photos of the dangerous ants forming the rafts in flood waters.
Continue reading...The PM campaigned in Gilmore in NSW, while Labor leader is in Bass in Tasmania; Tanya Plibersek defends Anthony Albanese after opposition leader addresses his rates stumble; phone voting available for people in isolation on election day; NSW reports three Covid deaths and Victoria one. This blog is now closed
Scott Morrison just appeared on ABC breakfast TV, where he was asked about his relationship with the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance.
Q: Andrew Constance said that you got the welcome that you deserved [in the region after the bushfires]. Emotions are still running deep in the bushfire-affected communities. Are you concerned about that being repeated today?
With Andrew Constance being part of my team and choosing to be part of that team, I think that that addresses it. Andrew and I spoke not long after the terrible experiences that particularly he and others and so many went through, and we worked the issue. We ensured that we addressed thing like small business payment and we got the money on the grouped and supported people in the areas that the federal government were responsible for. And I really thank Andrew for the way that we came together and really started to work together to address those issues. He’s a fine advocate for this part of Australia on the south coast of New South Wales.
He’s demonstrated that time again. And the fact that he wants to be part of my team and is running here as our Liberal candidate in Gilmore, I think that that addresses those issues fairly, squarely, that we’ve actually addressed the short comings that he was outlining at the time and we’ve gone forward with a strong plan to ensure that we’re providing that support. Not just in relation to the fires, but in relation to other natural disasters. And we’ve seen so many of those over the last three years.
Continue reading...Insufficient accomodation and government support spark calls for better resourcing and planning in disaster responses
After being evicted from her short-term accommodation to make way for tourists, flood victim Margaret was left with nowhere else to go.
“I would have been homeless, living out of my car with two dogs,” the 79-year-old said.
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Continue reading...Labor told it needs to ‘find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders’, where the Liberal party holds 23 of the state’s 30 seats
Scott Morrison largely had Queensland to thank for his “miracle” 2019 election, with the party now heading into the 2022 poll holding 23 of the 30 seats in the state, all but one with a margin of under 4%.
Many commentators credit the wave of blue to local objections to Bob Brown’s anti-Adani convoy, doubts over Labor’s climate change and tax policies and preference flows from minor parties, namely Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia party.
Labor’s post-2019 election review found the party needed to “find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders” if it is to win the next election and indeed, opposition leader Anthony Albanese has spent significant time in Queensland, including visiting a coalmine.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says federal election about choosing between ‘a government you know and a Labor opposition you don’t’; Anthony Albanese says ‘Australians deserve better’ at campaign launch; at least 13 more deaths from Covid. This blog is now closed
Very glad to report the ABC has a live feed of the PM’s plan taxiing along at Sydney airport. Thoroughly engaging stuff.
The ABC is now reporting the PM has jumped aboard the official prime ministerial jet at Sydney airport, heading to Canberra.
Continue reading...Ukraine ambassador flags need for further support from Australia; RBA says potential rate rises to hit borrowers’ repayments; PM says election call ‘won’t be very long from now’; Russia bans 228 Australian officials; NSW records first ‘Deltacron’ cases as nation records at least 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Australian Border Force officials searched 822 travellers’ mobile phones in 2021, despite admitting it has no power to force arrivals to give them the passcode to their devices.
In January, Sydney software developer James told Guardian Australia that he and his partner were stopped on their return from Fiji by border force officials who asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper before taking the codes and their phones to another room to examine for half an hour. The phones were then returned and they were allowed to leave.
It will be a big win for the Ukrainian forces in their attempts to stare down the barbaric efforts of the Russian forces.
Continue reading...Seventeen asylum seekers expected to be released from detention; flood evacuation orders in NSW; Marise Payne meeting Nato members to discuss Ukraine; NSW records 16 Covid deaths and 22,255 new infections; Victoria records four deaths and 12,314 new infections; WA records 7,998 new infections and three deaths over past weeks; Queensland records seven deaths and 10,984 new cases. Follow all the day’s news live
The man seeking a high court challenge against federal intervention in NSW Liberal preselections has been expelled from the party.
In an escalation of the factional stoush, Matthew Camenzuli has asked the high court to prevent Scott Morrison’s hand-picked candidates from receiving Liberal endorsement on ballot papers pending the urgent case.
Continue reading...Victims of family violence in childhood often only given support once recognised as adult perpetrators
Queensland’s child protection system is failing First Nations children exposed to domestic and family violence, with some victims going through their entire childhood without receiving therapy or specialist support despite being in and out of home care, a report has found.
Often it is only when a man is later recognised as a perpetrator of violence himself that he receives help for his experiences as a child, according to the New Ways for Our Families report, released on Thursday.
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Continue reading...Matthew Camenzuli expelled from Liberal party after seeking leave to appeal preselections ruling in high court; Scott Morrison says he has been ‘upfront with Australian people’ about running full term; Albanese calls Berejiklian a ‘straight talker’ after second round of leaked texts; at least 23 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
New text messages from former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian have emerged, building on former leaks and labelling Scott Morrison “obsessed with petty political pointscoring.”
News.com.au has reported it has received a second screenshot of text messages between Berejiklian and a mystery cabinet minister, in which she says she is “so, so disappointed,” in Morrison:
Thx. I’m just so so disappointed. Lives are at stake today and he is just obsessed with petty political pointscoring. So disappointed and gutted.
We’ve seen unprecedented collaboration with both the local government and state government, with support being delivered in record time … we were able to get $3bn of recovery support out, in just over the first three weeks – that’s a record number of people supported.
The PM has written to Premier Perrottet to say we’re very happy to share in costs of that program ... but the PM has made clear that it’s for the one-in-500-year flood event.
Continue reading...Foreign and defence ministers label Putin a ‘war criminal’; major Optus mobile network outage; ministers respond to criticism of Scott Morrison; NSW records 12 Covid deaths and 19,183 new infections; Victoria records eight deaths and 12,007 new infections. Follow all the latest updates live
Another senior Liberal has taken aim at Scott Morrison, accusing him of “self-serving ruthless bullying” and claiming he has “ruined” the Liberal party.
Catherine Cusack, a NSW Liberal who announced two weeks ago she would resign from the Legislative Council over her anger about flood relief, adds her voice to a growing chorus of critics of Morrison from within his own party in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia.
The concerns over the prime minister’s character are now well established, and they’re well established not by the Labor party, but the people who know him best.
I mean his own deputy prime minister called him a liar and a hypocrite*. These people know him best, they’ve served in cabinet with him, in the Liberal party with him over a period of many years ...
Continue reading...Outgoing Tasmanian premier says time to focus on family after two years of Covid; rescue operation under way in Blue Mountains; state member for Lismore questions federal flood support effort as NSW announces relief package; changes to Victorian Covid isolation rules would be ‘premature’, Jaala Pulford says; at least 14 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news
NSW has reported 15,572 new cases and six deaths overnight:
Bruce Baird, the former member for Cook, Scott Morrison’s current seat, has come out and defended the PM against allegations he racially vilified a contender in a preselection battle in 2007.
He [Morrison] worked with me for two years when I was on the Tourism Council and I never heard him use racist terms.
I’m sure that people who are opponents of Scott and of the Liberal party would raise it for their own reasons, and Towke was feeling concerned because he’d lost the preselection … but in terms of all my dealings, and I was around him all the time, never once did I hear that allegation.
Continue reading...Figures tabled in parliament reveal demand on victims of crime fund growing 16% this year
It took Lisa* and her son just three days to receive a disaster support payment after they were forced to abandon their flooded Brisbane home in February.
But Lisa says after fleeing an allegedly physically and sexually violent relationship, she waited eight months for an initial payment from the state government through Victim Assist Queensland (VAQ).
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Continue reading...Former judge Anthony Whealy says size of funding promises justifies keeping body to scrutinise water projects
The costs of the federal government’s commitment to fund dams in Queensland without the scrutiny of a now-abolished national advisory body should be a cause for concern for the community, a former supreme court judge says.
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce disbanded the National Water Grid Advisory Body this week, claiming it was “an appropriate time for it to conclude its work”.
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Continue reading...Scott Morrison says Bushmaster vehicles bound for Ukraine after confusion in Senate estimates; PM delaying election announcement to run political ads, Albanese claims; Michele Bullock becomes first female deputy governor of RBA; child younger than five in SA among at least 16 Covid-related deaths across nation. This blog is now closed
Independent Zali Steggall has certainly caused a stir last night after she was pushed to admit on Q&A that, if the Coalition was to change their leadership (and give Morrison the boot) she would be open to the idea of supporting them if it came down to a hung parliament.
Steggall:
Well, where it’s changed is the conversation we’ve just had around leadership. And I do have grave concerns in relation to Scott Morrison’s leadership.
I want to be clear on this. If they had a different leader, you might support them into a minority government?
Ah, that is obviously an open possibility.
Look, I think if you look at Steggall’s voting record she’s been with the Labor party and the Greens on many more occasions than she’s been with the Liberal party so we should be realistic.
I think we should look at words and actions. I know Zali, I deal with her, I like her but I would be amazed if Zali Steggall supported the Liberal party if there was to be a hung parliament.
We know that [China has] been trying to get into Papa New Guinea and elsewhere to build ports. We know that they’re already in Sri Lanka. And this is a very concerning development.
On that question of whether it’s become a done deal or whether we can you know, stop it. What’s, what’s your view on that?
Well, again, I mean, there are some things that we’ll say publicly and other things that we’re able to do privately and we’re working closely with the Solomon Islands ...
I mean, they’re a sovereign nation, and they have the ability to make decisions for themselves and we fully respect that and they will do what’s in what they believe is in their country’s best interest, but I think there are many neighbouring countries in the region who have expressed their concern, rightly, about this development.
Continue reading...Investigation began after discovery of ‘deviated’ wells drilled from neighbouring properties
The Queensland government has fined coal seam gas company Arrow Energy $1m for breaches of land access rules over four years, after an investigation into allegations the company drilled diagonally beneath farmland without notifying the landholders.
The fine is among the most significant non-compliance penalties ever issued to a resources company in Queensland. Groups that have raised concerns against the rapid spread of the coal seam gas wells in Queensland’s farming communities say the penalty is a “small start”, but that landholders’ rights to object to gas drilling must now be strengthened.
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Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Australian contribution to become more critical as Scott Morrison pledges extra $25m in military assistance to Ukraine; Sydney rainfall tops record set in 1956; flood and hazardous surf warnings across NSW; nation records 32 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Parliament has passed legislation that can stop deadly mitochondrial disease in babies, using a partial DNA donation. It passed in the Senate scramble last night. Here’s the background:
Communities in the northern rivers region of NSW are going to get some reprieve from the rain today as the east coast low drifts away from the coast.
A reprieve from floodwaters on Tuesday afternoon did not last, with Lismore locals waking to news the town’s levee is again set to be topped
Thousands of northern New South Wales residents still reeling from catastrophic flooding have been forced to evacuate their homes for the second time in a month as heavy rainfall lashed Lismore, Mullumbimby and Tumbulgum.
Some Lismore residents on Tuesday evening were told it was safe to return home after evacuation orders were lifted for the northern rivers town’s CBD, Lismore Basin and low-lying areas of East Lismore and Girards Hill.
Continue reading...Exclusive: extract of leaked letter reveals school withdrew student counselling on sexuality and gender issues
Brisbane religious school Citipointe Christian college restricted its school counsellors from providing any support to students on matters of sexuality or gender identity last month, amid uproar about new “discriminatory” enrolment contracts.
The school’s principal, Brian Mulheran, took extended leave in February after asking families to sign an enrolment contract that said students could only be enrolled by their “biological sex”.
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Continue reading...Palaszczuk government’s push to extend Covid pandemic powers meets opposition in parliament
The Palaszczuk government’s attempt to extend Covid-19 emergency powers by another six months has been met with fierce opposition from parties across the political divide.
The Greens and Liberal National Party have both called for greater transparency and oversight over the state’s pandemic legislation, in rare agreement.
Continue reading...Many buildings in Lismore are ‘expected to flood again’ as CBD ordered to evacuate; severe weather warning for large parts of NSW; foreign minister announces ‘Magnitsky-style sanctions’ targeting 39 Russians; treasurer Josh Frydenberg says election will be held ‘in a matter of weeks’; nation records 24 Covid deaths, with record high daily case numbers in Tasmania. Follow the latest updates live
The New South Wales government has approved fewer than 400 disaster relief grants for flood-ravaged northern rivers businesses, despite receiving almost 8,000 requests for help since applications opened almost a month ago.
After the state’s north was left reeling by weeks of devastating floods, the government announced grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses to help pay for cleanup costs, repairs, replace damaged stock and to lease temporary premises.
Today it’s been revealed that the unemployment rate will have a friend for the first time in 50 years. This is a remarkable achievement that belongs to 26 million Australians. We’ve avoided the scouring of the labour market so reminiscent of previous recessions in Australia in the 80s and 90s.
We now have an unemployment rate that is very, very low and we are banking that dividend, now with the cost of living.
Would you be providing that if Australians weren’t going to the polls in a matter of weeks?
We would of course be providing cost-of-living relief given the circumstances that Australia now faces. There’s higher expected inflation, indeed, it’s a global phenomenon. There’s petrol prices rising above $2 a litre and with the other challenges on Australian companies.
Continue reading...