Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Scott Morrison has declared the government will deliver all the big-spending elements of Tuesday night’s budget even if the rosy assumptions underpinning the economic statement turn out to be wrong.
As the government embarked on the traditional media blitz to sell the budget, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, was preparing to use Thursday night’s budget reply speech to outline elements of new childcare policy and a commitment on energy.
Brisbane watches hotspots after youth detention centre outbreak, Victoria’s hotel inquiry continues and politicians gather in Canberra for the first time in 10 weeks. Follow today’s latest updates
SES orders parts of Moruya, Nowra and Captains Flat to evacuate as kayaker in Canberra dies and 400 calls for help come from Sydney and Blue Mountains
Several New South Wales south coast communities were on high alert on Monday morning as river levels continued to rise and towns evacuated.
The body of a kayaker was found in swollen river waters in southern Canberra on Sunday. He became separated from a group on the Murrumbidgee River near Canberra about 2pm on Sunday, after his boat became stuck under a bridge.
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says the Australian state has experienced “another difficult day” as multiple emergency fires burned across its south-east.
Huge fires to the south smother city with smoke amid weather forecast for heatwave and searing temperatures as Scott Morrison prepares to address National Press Club today. Follow live news and latest updates
From Tuesday night. A lot of ACT residents are comparing this fire to the devastating 2003 blaze.
Just a reminder of where we’re at. On Monday, a defence helicopter landed in the Namadgi national park, south of Canberra, and accidentally sparked what authorities have called the city’s “most serious” bushfire threat since the city’s devastating 2003 fires.
Tuesday saw dramatic images of the fire approaching Canberra’s southern suburbs, but conditions eased throughout the evening and the fire was downgraded from emergency level to watch and act just before midnight.
ACT residents near bushfire south of Canberra told to seek shelter as contact lost with large water-bombing plane fighting New South Wales bushfire. Follow latest news and live updates
There’s a steady stream of people arriving at the Moruya Showgrounds, which has been re-opened as an evacuation centre. For a lot of people, it’s becoming a home away from home.
One woman from Congo, just south of here, told me it was her third time here since New Years Eve.
The sky is looking ominous outside the Moruya showground where our reporter on the ground, Michael McGowan, captured this image.
Hail smashes into Parliament House and brings down trees in the ACT, with heavy rainfall hitting NSW, Queensland and Victoria
Australia’s south-east has been lashed by severe thunderstorms and large hailstones that destroyed buildings and cars in Canberra and left two tourists in hospital after they were injured by lightning.
Two supercell thunderstorms brought hail and heavy rain to cities and towns across the east coast on Monday, battering the outer suburbs of Sydney about 3pm, with 4.5cm hailstones recorded and strong winds bringing trees down over cars in the Sutherland area.
Golfball-size hailstones have hit Canberra as severe thunderstorms move through parts of south-eastern Australia. The hail struck parts of Canberra including Parliament House while roofs, windows and cars were damaged across the city. The wild weather follows weeks where the Australian capital has been enveloped in smoke from nearby bushfires
Australian PM Scott Morrison says government won’t change its climate change policy as New South Wales premier says ‘not much left’ of town of Balmoral
The devastation from Australia’s bushfire crisis became clearer on Sunday, as the South Australian premier said 72 homes had been destroyed and his New South Wales counterpart revealed there was “not much left” of the town of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney.
It is feared the figures for homes lost may get much worse as authorities continue to assess the damage from Saturday, and with dozens of fires still active.
Sydney lord mayor approached by police investigating accusations the emissions reduction minister relied on a falsified document to attack her. Follow all the day’s political news live
That’s where we’ll leave the live blog for the day. Thanks for following along.
It’s been another messy day. Many say the medevac repeal has made it one of parliament’s darkest.
Another development on the Angus Taylor front.
The City of Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has been approached by police to provide a statement for their investigation into accusations Taylor relied on a falsified document to attack her travel-related emissions. The council said in a statement:
The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, says there have been more than 400 ‘senseless loss of life’ since 2001. Follow all the day’s politics – live
Cormann’s full response to the order to produce the Morrison-Fuller transcript has been tabled. The full text of the letter is below.
Dear President
I refer to the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, and agreed by the Senate on 2 December 2019, requesting documents associated with phone call between the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force that took place on Tuesday, 26 November 2019.
Labor is furious at the government’s response to an order to produce the transcript of the Morrison-Fuller phone call about the Angus Taylor police investigation.
The Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, read the government’s response to the Senate after it was provided to her at the outset of Senate proceedings by the finance minister, Mathias Cormann. The letter simply referred the Senate to previous answers and said the documents would be subject to a public interest immunity claim because they relate to a police investigation.
This is transparency from the Morrison government. This is the transparency and integrity, or lack thereof from the Morrison government.”
Former premier says he objected to Will Fowles ‘using the coverall of a mental health illness’ when explaining his confrontation
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has accused a state Labor backbencher who kicked in a door at a Canberra hotel of wrongly playing the mental health card.
Will Fowles smashed a door at the Abode hotel during a confrontation with staff over his luggage on Thursday morning. Police have questioned the MP for the Melbourne seat of Burwood but he has not been charged over the incident.
Fire and rescue teams in Australia remove rogue fruit in a sealed bag after it was left near an air vent
A piece of fruit prompted the evacuation of an Australian university library last week.
On Friday afternoon fire and rescue teams in the Australian Capital Territory responded to calls of “a strong smell of gas” inside the University of Canberra library.
Home affairs minister previously said he will stay in parliament if Labor wins the election but he retains his seat of Dickson
Peter Dutton has sold his Canberra apartment, raising doubts about his plans to stay in parliament if the government loses next month’s election.
Dutton, who is fighting to hang on to his marginal seat of Dickson in Brisbane’s outer northern suburbs, has previously said he would stay on as an MP even if the Coalition lost government.
Fears rise for homeless and vulnerable people as communities brace for another week of relentless hot weather
It was 48.9C last Tuesday in Port Augusta, South Australia, an old harbour city that now harvests solar power. Michelle Coles, the owner of the local cinema, took off her shoes at night to test the concrete before letting the dogs out. “People tend to stay at home,” she said. “They don’t walk around when it’s like this.”
It’s easy to see why: in the middle of the day it takes seconds to blister a dog’s paw or child’s foot. In Mildura, in northern Victoria, last week gardeners burned their hands when they picked up their tools, which had been left in the sun at 46C. Fish were dying in the rivers.
Diplomatic headquarters in Canberra also targeted as firefighters remove bags labelled ‘Danger asbestos’
The United States, Pakistani, Swiss, Indian, South Korean and New Zealand consulates in Melbourne are among a number of foreign diplomatic headquarters across the city and in Canberra targeted with suspicious packages.
The deliveries on Wednesday sparked an emergency “hazardous material” response and, in some cases, evacuation.