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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mike Hohnen

Afternoon Update: Queensland residents prepare for Kirrily; PM begins selling stage-three tax cuts; and Captain Cook statue toppled

A satellite image shows Cyclone Kirrily making landfall over north Queensland on Thursday
A satellite image shows Cyclone Kirrily making landfall over north Queensland on Thursday. Photograph: Bureau of Meteorology

Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.

Much of the day’s discussion has revolved around the political storm caused by Labor’s stage-three tax cuts. However, residents in Queensland are facing a real and potentially life-threatening storm, with people in Townsville issued a “shelter in place” order as Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is upgraded to a category 3 system and expected to make landfall on Thursday evening.

Residents have been instructed to stay where they are by Mayor Jenny Hill while the Bureau of Meteorology warned all communities within the warning zone to be alert for heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding.

As well as Townsville, emergency alerts have been issued for Palm Island, Burdekin, Hinchinbrook and Magnetic Island.

Locals are “prepared and ready for the worst” with the Queensland premier, Steven Miles, pre-emptively declaring a disaster, and readying assistance from the federal government and other states.

Top news

Prime minister Anthony Albanese at the National Press Club in Canberra
Prime minister Anthony Albanese speaks about revised stage-three tax cuts at the National Press Club in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
  • PM defends stage-three tax cut changes | At the National Press Club today Anthony Albanese has defended Labor’s plan by arguing it will deliver “a tax cut for every taxpayer” and that modification of the stage-three tax cuts was “the right thing to do” in changed economic circumstances.

  • ACCC to investigate supermarket prices | The prime minister says the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will direct the competition watchdog to conduct a 12-month price inquiry into supermarkets.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley at a press conference in Parliament House in Canberra
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley at a press conference in Parliament House, Canberra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Council workers assess the Captain Cook statue in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia which has been cut down overnight ahead of Invasion Day on the 26th of January.
Council workers assess the damaged Captain Cook statue which was cut down ahead of 26 January. Photograph: Stephanie Convery/The Guardian
A demonstrator speaks with a member of the Gendarmerie outside the National Congress, during a one-day national strike
A protester speaks with Gendarmerie outside Argentina’s National Congress.
Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/Reuters
  • Argentinians strike against president’s far-right agenda | Tens of thousands of marchers have taken to the streets as schools and businesses closed in protest at Javier Milei’s extreme legislation.

  • Tuvalu election: what could it mean for Taiwan, China and the Pacific? | Against a backdrop of intense geopolitical competition, the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu will head to the polls to elect members of its 16-seat parliament.

In video …

Stage-three tax cuts explained

Forget everything you know about the stage-three tax cuts because it’s all about to change. And if you never understood them to begin with – well, good news, Guardian Australia’s Matilda Boseley is here to bring you up to speed. Labor has announced plans to amend the controversial tax cuts in a move designed to offer cost-of-living relief to low- and middle-income earners. Watch the video here.

What they said …

Prime minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the National Press Club in Canberra
Anthony Albanese at the National Press Club. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

***

“If the cost of essentials is rising too fast, people hardly have time to think about the future, let alone plan and save for it.”

At the beginning of his speech at the National Press Club, Anthony Albanese says at the heart of what his government is seeking to achieve is “economic security to plan for your future [and] to make a good life for yourself and your family”

In numbers

$804 – the tax refund for Australians earning less than $45,000 under the revised stage-three tax cuts

Greg Jericho breaks down the numbers behind Labor’s stage-three tax cuts.

Before bed read

Part of an early-model central processing unit on display at the Computer History Museum
‘Apple began selling a personal computer that would change how we think about computing technologies.’ Photograph: Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images

Forty years ago Apple debuted a computer that changed our world, for good or ill. In many ways, the long 21st century began when Apple launched the Macintosh with its “1984” Super Bowl ad.

Siva Vaidhyanathan looks back at four decades of Apple Macintosh.

Daily word game

Wordiply screenshot

Today’s starter word is: SUS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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