What we learned, 16 March 2025
With that, we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
Prime minister Anthony Albanese says Australia is willing to consider forming part of a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire;
Deputy Coalition leader Sussan Ley, meanwhile, has ruled out Australia contributing to such a force under a Dutton government, saying it is a matter for Europe;
Greens leader Adam Bandt has made a forceful call for Australia to abandon the Aukus arrangement and the subs deal with the US after Trump’s tariffs;
Bandt also ruled out forming a coalition with the Coalition in the event of a hung party, saying the Greens would prefer to do a deal with Labor;
Rain has slammed the brake on the Supercars spring in Melbourne.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
Auction activity remains strong with sharp increase on last week
Auction activity has remained stable this weekend with 2,550 auctions to be held.
This is well above the 1,572 held last week, but a fall on the 2,834 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 69.1% across the country, which is just short of the 69.6% preliminary rate recorded last week but not far above the 66.7% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 678 of 921 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.4%
Melbourne: 873 of 1,227 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.3%
Brisbane: 105 0f 171 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 59%
Adelaide: 74 of 126 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62.2%
Canberra: 61 of 87 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 57.4%
Tasmania: Two auctions held.
Perth: 11 of 16 auctions held with a preliminary clearance rate of 81.8%.
Updated
Jobs market appears to hold strong in face of tariff threat
Australia’s unemployment rate is expected to stay remarkably low when jobs data is released on Thursday, as the Reserve Bank considers more rate cuts.
As US tariffs on steel and aluminium threaten to put thousands of Australians out of work, they can at least be encouraged that jobs remain plentiful in a historically strong labour market.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.1%, well below pre-pandemic levels, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force statistics on Thursday.
Market consensus is for 30,000 new jobs to have been added to the economy in February, after an unexpectedly strong 44,000 gain in employment the month before.
The labour market’s persistent strength, which has obliterated all expectations of the Reserve Bank, has been underpinned by growth in the non-market sector.
Health care, education and public administration dominated gains in employment in 2024, the ABS’s labour account figures released earlier in March revealed, although the market sector did show some improvement, including a 3.9 per cent growth in mining jobs over the year.
Anthony Albanese has ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US, which will limit the immediate price impact on imported goods, while any boost to inflation from a weaker Australian dollar will be offset by weaker economic growth, analysts said.
Tariff announcements last week sparked a global stock market sell-off as traders contemplated the risk of a US recession.
– AAP
Updated
Man’s body found near Talegalla Weir
Queensland police are investigating the sudden death of a man near Talegalla Weir, on the Fraser Coast, this morning.
Emergency services were called to Talegalla Road about 7.35am after a member of the public found a dead body.
A crime scene has been set up and investigations into the cause and circumstances of the man’s death are under way.
There is no further information at this time.
Updated
Sydney close to record-breaking March weather
Just a note on the hot weather in Sydney to say that if the Sydney Observatory Hill mercury gets above 37.9C, it will be the hottest March day in five years, and if it gets above 38C, it will be Sydney’s hottest March day ever.
This is looking unlikely at this stage, with the temperature only just tipping over 36C – and 2pm is usually the hottest part of the day.
Meanwhile, it is now 14.6C in Melbourne after a balmy maximum of 21.4C at 10am.
Human-caused climate breakdown will continue to drag up temperatures and break records into the future, unless a meaningful effort is made to address the issue.
Updated
Search for missing man in Brisbane River
A search and rescue operation is under way to locate a Queensland man reported missing at Jindalee boat ramp this morning.
Emergency services were called just before 5.40am after reports the man had fallen into the water and has failed to resurface.
Search crews include general duties officers conducting foot patrols, water police, and swift water rescue.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that may assist is urged to contact police.
Updated
At least one home lost in bushfire at Melbourne’s outer east
At least one home has been lost and another partially damaged after a bushfire on the outskirts of Melbourne.
The blaze swept through Montrose on Saturday night, sparking an emergency warning to scores of residents in its path after igniting about 9pm.
Police confirmed the loss of one home on Sunday morning.
Another suffered “partial loss,” the state control centre told AAP.
The emergency warning was downgraded to watch and act alert about 3.30am as more than 100 firefighters, four helicopters and two bulldozers battled the blaze.
The fire, which started in a reserve about a kilometre west of the Mount Dandenong observatory, had burned through 33 hectares by sunrise.
Nearby residents were being warned on Sunday morning that firefighters had been able to slow the spread of fire “but the situation can change at any time.”
A relief centre has been opened at Kilsyth sports centre.
Montrose is one of several suburbs in the foothills of the Dandenong Rangess, Melbourne’s highest point.
– AAP
Updated
Police arrest Hobart’s alleged e-scooter bandit
A 31-year-old Tasmanian man who allegedly targeted e-scooters, e-bikes and bicycles across Hobart has been charged with 19 counts of theft.
The man was arrested by Taskforce Saturate, initially launched in 2018 as a temporary initiative to tackle rising crime rates, after a three-month investigation. He was also charged with multiple breaches of bail and failing to appear in court.
Police said the total value of the property stolen was just under $60,000.
A search carried out as part of the investigation turned up stolen property, and police were making inquiries regarding ownership of the items.
The man was detained and was due to appear in the Hobart magistrates court on Sunday.
Updated
Search for missing snorkeler in Western Australia continues
The search for a 6o-year-old Western Australian snorkeler will continue on Sunday.
The man had been snorkelling among the rocks at Greens Pool – William Bay, near Denmark, when he became distressed.
People nearby could not immediately reach the man to assist him.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by weather conditions and poor visibility.
WA police officers including divers, and personnel from Surf Life Saving WA, the Department of Parks and Wildlife and volunteer marine rescue will be assisting with the search today, on the water and along the shore.
The national park remains closed for the rest of the weekend.
The missing man and his family were visiting WA.
Updated
NSW police say off-duty officers’ shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar boom’ after dispute with Muslim man were ‘banter between friends’
A NSW police internal investigation has found that off-duty officers who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar boom” and “Hezbollah” at a Christmas party after a verbal dispute with a Muslim man who lived next door were indulging in “banter between friends”.
The incident allegedly took place on 13 December at Glenmore Park in western Sydney, after the man complained to his neighbours about water from their swimming pool leaking into his property.
In CCTV footage viewed by Guardian Australia, people at the party can be heard shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “Allahu Akbar boom”. More than an hour later, a number of voices chant “Allahu Akbar” in unison, followed by laughter, and a call of “Hezbollah”, followed by laughter.
The party guests who shouted the words cannot be seen in the footage.
For more on this story, read the full report by The Guardian Australia’s Daisy Dumas:
Calls to ban steel-jaw traps after man convicted of animal abuse
Steel-jaw traps used to “inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering” should be consigned to the scrap heap, animal advocates say.
The call comes after a man was convicted in an Adelaide court for using the trap in his back yard to catch his neighbour’s four-year-old cat, Lunar.
The 71-year-old admitted to police he was aware the cat was in the trap for about two hours “but left her meowing in pain”, RSPCA South Australia said in a statement on Sunday. The cat’s toe was crushed by the trap and required amputation.
After the injured cat was freed, an RSPCA inspector and police attended the man’s property to find the steel-jaw trap had been reset. It had been set next to a hole in a fence and surrounded by brickwork to funnel cats entering through the hole directly into the trap.
RSPCA SA’s chief inspector, Andrew Baker, said there was no good reason to own a steel-jaw trap and encouraged anyone who owned one to turn it in for scrap metal.
These are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering.
It’s tragic to think that some animals could become trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony.
– AAP
Updated
Five Coalition senators billed taxpayers total of $10,000 to attend conservative conference CPAC
Coalition senators who addressed last year’s Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) billed taxpayers thousands of dollars in flights, accommodation and car expenses on the weekend of the event.
Guardian Australia can also reveal the former Labor senator Fatima Payman claimed more than $4,000 on a whirlwind Perth-to-Melbourne trip in which she appeared at a public meeting in solidarity with the embattled CFMEU construction union.
Politicians are permitted to charge taxpayers for travel expenses if the dominant purpose is parliamentary business, which covers a broad range of activities including electorate, party political and official duties.
Shadow ministers Bridget McKenzie and Barnaby Joyce and Coalition backbenchers Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and Keith Pitt were invited to speak at October’s CPAC Australia conference, the annual showcase of rightwing political activism.
Parliamentary expenses figures show the five politicians claimed almost $10,000 between them on the weekend of the event, which was headlined by the former UK prime minister Liz Truss.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Dan Jervis-Bardy:
Updated
New IVF, contraception and endometriosis drugs added to PBS
A new oral contraceptive, reproductive health and treatments for endometriosis will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May.
Slinda is currently available privately, with 80,000 women paying $80 for three months’ supply, but the drug will receive wider availability with the subsidy that is expected to lower the price to $7.70 for concession card holders and $31.60 for general payments.
A new treatment option for endometriosis for patients who have experienced moderate to severe pain and cannot get adequate relief from other hormonal treatments and painkillers has also been added to the scheme.
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the addition of the treatments to the scheme will give “Australian women more choice, lower costs and better health options”.
Women have asked government to take their health care seriously, and we have listened.
These listings could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.
The new subsidy is in addition to the federal government’s $573m women’s health funding announcement made in early February.
Minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said women often have more expensive and more complex health issues.
This announcement is all about making treatment cheaper and easier, so women can focus on getting the care they need.
Updated
Trade minister 'still not clear' what US wants from tariff decision
Australia is continuing to negotiate with Trump despite the decision to impose tariffs.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said he had spoken to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on Friday but stressed the future remained uncertain.
It wasn’t a pessimistic conversation. But he gave no assurances about what might happen in the next round of negotiations.
The trade minister has another talk scheduled with US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday.
We’re going to work out, firstly, what it is that the Americans want out of this arrangement.
It’s still not clear to me what it is that they are seeking, but once we find that out, we’ll work through this issue, and we’ll work through it in Australia’s national interest.
Senator Farrell confirmed Australia had reached out to other nations, such as South Korea, about expanding and diversifying trade relationships.
– AAP
Updated
Buster brings cool relief from fierce autumn heatwave
A change is bringing cooler conditions, with residents in three states glad to see the back of a short but sharp autumn heatwave.
A cool change has delivered relief to thousands of Australians forced to hit the beach or camp under air conditioners in two states, but the summer-like heatwave rippling across the nation’s south-east persists in NSW.
The cool change is already on the way with showers, cold winds and thunderstorms to follow.
High and possibly damaging winds are likely in alpine areas of Victoria and NSW into Monday, as is snow across Tasmania’s highlands.
The change will bring relief to fire crews in South Australia and Victoria.
A grassfire propelled by heatwave conditions destroyed one home and damaged another at Montrose on Melbourne’s outskirts on Saturday night.
South Australian firefighters are also battling blazes near Katarapko Island, north-east of Adelaide, and in the state’s lower south-east near Lucindale.
– AAP
Updated
Rain slams brakes on Supercars sprint in Melbourne
Heavy rain has forced Supercars officials to call off Sunday’s 14-lap sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney was primed to claim his second win of the season from pole position at Albert Park before officials canned the race due to unsafe track conditions.
The 30-minute session on Sunday had started under a safety car and was eventually suspended under a red flag after three laps.
It was vastly different track conditions for the 24-strong Supercars grid, who battled through sweltering heat on Saturday.
Conditions are expected to clear for the season-opening Formula One race at 3pm AEDT.
– AAP
Updated
From sterilising baby bottles to charging laptops, some Australians powered through Cyclone Alfred using EV batteries
When Kat Hickey and her husband talked about what they would do if Tropical Cyclone Alfred knocked out the power in their north Brisbane home, they were more concerned than most.
The pair have a nine-month-old daughter and a three-year-old son – having a reliable way to sterilise bottles and boil water for formula was critical.
They knew the battery from their white BYD Atto 3 could power their home using the vehicle-to-load system (V2L) – a backup power system that allows the car battery to power appliances – but neither had actually hooked it up. They wondered how much it could handle.
When Alfred made landfall and they were among 450,000 homes to lose power, Hickey figured she had nothing to lose. She set to work snaking extension cords through the house as her husband baby-proofed the setup.
Together the couple hooked up a fridge, kettle, toaster, phone chargers, a laptop charger and a lamp – and then, she says, there was light.
We called the lamp our canary. It’s this little lamp that normally sits out of the way, we hardly ever use it. During the storm, it became essential. Whenever we were putting too much stress on the system, it would flicker or turn off completely.
Afterwards, we had to thank it for its service, put it back in the corner, and it hasn’t been used since.
For more on this story, read the full weekend feature:
A few photos of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at the Fuldol celebration in Kemps Creek in Sydney.
Updated
NSW Labor divided over Chris Minns’ plan to extend controversial youth bail laws
The New South Wales premier is facing growing internal dissent over his plan to extend controversial youth bail laws, with one MP telling caucus the laws had put the government on a “slippery slope”.
Sources say Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence – a former barrister and one-time mayor of Dubbo – argued during a February meeting that the government was on a path whereby it could adopt further punitive approaches because the laws introduced a year ago weren’t working.
If crime wasn’t going down there could be calls for even tougher measures, leading to a dangerous downward spiral, Lawrence suggested.
The reforms are aimed at repeat young offenders. They make it harder for 14- to 18-year-olds charged with serious break-and-enter and motor vehicle theft offences while on bail to get bail again.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Jordyn Beazley:
Updated
Rishworth defends PM over refusal to attend rally
The Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth has defended the prime minister’s decision not to attend rallies calling for an end to male violence against women.
Anthony Albanese was invited to attend one of several rallies on Saturday but declined to attend. Several other politicians across major parties were also invited.
Organiser Sherele Moody told a rally in Melbourne she was disappointed many invited politicians had failed to attend:
Leaders were invited, especially Albanese … There’s been no presence from him. There’s no one turning up for the rallies in WA, no one bothering to turn up the huge rally in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Canberra, they’re just, it’s like they don’t care. Heading into the national election … people need to vote for the parties that give a shit about women.
In response to Moody’s criticism, the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, defended the government’s track record on addressing domestic violence:
The Albanese government has made ending family, domestic and sexual violence a national priority from day one. It is something as minister for social services I have thought about, and worked on, every day since taking on this portfolio and this work will continue. I have attended rallies, community events and regularly engage with and listen to women’s safety leaders and organisations to better understand and address community needs.
Albanese travelled from Perth to Melbourne on Saturday before attending a Holi celebration in regional Victoria and discussing a possible peacekeeping deployment to Ukraine with European leaders.
Last year, the prime minister brushed off claims from an organiser of similar rallies that he lied about being asked not to speak, blaming it on an “emotional” day and issue.
This year’s events were organised and funded by the Australian Femicide Watch and the Red Heart Campaign.
Updated
Australian participation in Ukraine peacekeeping force ‘would be a small contribution’: PM
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been in Melbourne this morning where he spoke about the prospect of Australia contributing to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Well, first of all, you need peace, of course, to have a peacekeeping force, and the participants last night were all committed to peace in Ukraine.
In order to achieve that, Russia must agree to a ceasefire, firstly, but it must also agree to stop its aggression against Ukraine, and so it is premature to talk about that detail.
But Australia has a proud record, over 80 years, of participating in peacekeeping missions, including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of countries around the world.
It would be a small contribution if we chose to do so, but what we want to see is peace so that we can have peacekeeping.
The prime minister reiterated Australia’s support for Ukraine in a meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and other European leaders overnight, as he committed Australia to joining a “coalition of the willing” of countries willing to support Ukraine even if the US steps away.
Updated
Ley attempts to clear up confusion on Coalition insurance policy
Earlier we reported that Sussan Ley spoke to Sky News on Sunday morning where she discussed Ukraine. She was also asked about the mixed message the Coalition was sending on whether or not it will intervene to break up insurance companies if re-elected.
Asked about the contradicting messages between Coalition MPs and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, in recent weeks – described by her interviewer as “amateur hour” – Ley insisted “there hasn’t been any difference in our positions and our statements” on insurance.
Let me step it out for you like this: what Peter said front and centre was: we’ll always be on the side of consumers.
Now, back to divestiture. When we were in government, of course, we enacted divestiture around the energy sector. In opposition, we’ve said that our policy on divestiture would encompass already supermarkets and hardware stores.
And then we said, both Peter Dutton and I and others, that if we get to government and there is evidence of concentration of market power in the insurance sector, and the insurance industry is doing the wrong thing, what you just heard Peter Dutton refer to, then we won’t hesitate to step in.
Ley was then challenged by the host, who said it was not what she had said during a previous appearance on Sky, to which she responded that she had been selectively quoted.
I don’t think you’ve played my full quote.
For more on this, read our previous warning here:
Updated
‘I want to see Peter Dutton kept as far away from the Lodge as possible’: Bandt rules out backing Coalition
Bandt rules out supporting Peter Dutton and the Coalition in the event of a hung parliament at the next election saying “I want to see Peter Dutton kept as far away from the Lodge as possible”:
His Trump-style politics of division have no place in Australia and this has to be the election that we will say, we will not import that here into this country. He punches down. He emulates himself on Trump.
Bandt says the Greens “preference is to work with Labor and to have an understanding”, but he is opened minded about whether there might be a formal agreement or another arrangement.
In a situation where at the moment, less than a third of the country votes for the government, a bit more than a third votes for the opposition, and about a third of the country votes for someone else – what people are wanting is more voices at the table to push Labor to act on some of these things that they’ve been ignoring.
And the flipside is that when you have greater representation in parliament, we have all got to work together and cooperate to get outcomes with people, and that would be the spirit that we would go into it with.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
Bandt is asked about a proposal by the Greens to “Dutton-proof” certain policies by legislating policies to lock them in and ensure they are delivered regardless of the outcome of the election.
These include a promise to reduce student debt by a fifth, and to triple the bulk billing incentive. Bandt says the Greens would like to see dental and mental health get into Medicare and more affordable homes built.
Asked about internal politics within the Greens – the suspension of Queensland Greens co-founder Drew Hutton over social media posts in 2022 that were allegedly transphobic – Bandt says internal party process within the Queensland Greens are being followed.
There’s a process that is going through. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on that.
Updated
There is no need to continue delivering gas to people’s homes, Bandt says.
Because gas is as dirty as coal and we’ve just seen communities smashed by a cyclone. We’ve got people still dealing with the aftermath of floods. And we know these extreme weather events are being fuelled by coal and gas. Now, we should be having a discussion at the moment about how to take real climate action and stop opening coal and gas mines.
Updated
Bandt: government could deliver cheap renewable energy
The Australian government could use publicly owned electricity generators and retailers such as Snowy Hydro to offer power at cost to households and businesses, Bandt says.
I think a surplus mentality, understanding that we have got an enormous amount of sun and wind and if we back it up with storage, we could really drive down the cost of electricity in this country, and make it a place that you bring your businesses to from overseas, deliver cheap electricity for households. A mind shift is needed and the government could play a big role in that given its stake in a publicly owned generator.
Asked about Aemo saying 26 new gas plants are needed by 2050 to support renewables, Bandt says: “There’s plenty of gas in the system at the moment”.
We need to fast-track the build of renewables and also of storage.
Updated
Bandt says Greens would prefer not to see Australian troops sent to Ukraine
On whether Australia should commit to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, Bandt says his party would prefer “not to be putting troops in harm’s way” but left the door open for his support.
But look, we have to wait to see – is there a peace [deal]? What is the agreement? What is the request that is being made? There are things that could be done right now, though. The ABC reported a couple of weeks ago that Australia is still the largest buyer of Russian oil. And it’s meant to be sanctions imposed.
Bandt said the Greens would support more sanctions on Russian oil which is something Australia “could do right now”.
Updated
Money being spent on Aukus submarines could be reallocated in defence: Bandt
Asked about whether Australia should close Pine Gap, Bandt says his “priority right now is Aukus” given that Australia has already been paying the US and UK to rebuild their shipyards.
The prime minister and the government just gave Donald Trump the best part of $1bn in the last couple of weeks for submarines that may never arrive. And what’s happened in return? We have tariffs imposed on us and now the threat of more.
That is something that we could concretely do right now, instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on submarines that may never arrive.
Pressed on the possibility of increased defence spending if Australia were to walk away from the US alliance, Bandt says the money currently being spent on nuclear submarines could be reprioritised, including to other parts of the defence force.
We have costed the Aukus contributions. It’s over the near-term, the next decade. We’re looking at $70bn being spent on it. Now, reallocating that would go a long way to ensuring that Australia has a fit for purpose defence force.
Updated
Bandt says Australia should cancel Aukus payments and leave pact
Bandt says Australia should reconsider its relationship with the US and particularly the Aukus pact.
It is being led by a very dangerous man, and we should get out of Aukus. Now is not the time to be hitching Australia’s wagon to Donald Trump. It puts Australia at risk, and it is billions of dollars that is being spent on submarines that might never arrive, even the United States Congress has said that they’re not building the submarines at the rate that is needed to in order to abide by the Aukus agreement.
Bandt says that Aukus commits Australia to serving as “an attack force of the United States” and that any assumption the Trump administration is committed to standing with Australia if there was a security threat is a mistake.
Thinking that Donald Trump will ride to our rescue if there’s any security threat, is now absolutely wishful thinking.
Updated
‘We need to rethink our relationship’ with US, Bandt says
Retaliatory tariffs are not the answer to Donald Trump’s tariffs right now, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says, adding that it is “clear” Trump will not be giving Australia special treatment.
I think that Donald Trump is dangerous. Donald Trump is a threat to peace. Is a threat to democracy. And he’s a threat to Australia as well. And Donald Trump right now is attacking marginalised communities at home and delivering for billionaires and abroad he’s attacking allies and ripping up long-standing arrangements. Now, this should be a wake-up call for Australia that we need to rethink our relationship with the United States.
Bandt says he believes more tariffs are on the way, and that “it is clear that Donald Trump does not have regard to longstanding arrangements with other countries”:
I think that there’s strength in numbers at the moment. Donald Trump is doing this to other countries around the world, and economically, we should be exploring, diversifying our relationship with those other countries who are also on the receiving end of Trump’s actions.
But in terms of a lasting arrangement now for the future, it has to be much more based on what’s in Australia’s interest rather than hoping that Donald Trump will ride to rescue or somehow give us special treatment. It’s clear that he won’t.
Updated
Boots on the ground in Ukraine matter for Europe: Coalition deputy leader
Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley has poured cold water on the suggestion a Coalition government would commit Australian troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, Ley said the Coalition “will always stand with Ukraine against the illegal and immoral invasion” by Russia, but flagged that Australia’s support has limits.
We think, though, that when it comes to boots on the ground, this is a matter better handled by Europe.
Ley said that “when it comes to Ukraine, it’s what you deliver that counts”.
Sydney to swelter through Sunday before cold front brings relief
Sydney has been staring down the barrel of its hottest March day as it swelters through a weekend heatwave but a cold front sweeping through southern Australia is expected to bring relief later on Sunday.
A hot air mass settled across south-east Australia on Saturday, bringing temperatures as high as 44C in Ceduna, South Australia and above 42C in other parts of the state.
Victoria peaked at above 40C, with the mercury reaching 35C in Melbourne. Further north, temperatures spiked to around 39C in Western Sydney, with a very warm night developing.
The Bureau of Meteorology says there’s more hot whether in store until the fever breaks with senior meteorology Jonathan How says New South Wales can expect to see maximum temperatures of between 6c and 12c above average.
That means we will see temperatures soaring into the mid-to-high 30s inland, even pushing 40C through western parts of the state.
We’ll see temperatures reaching the mid-to-high 30s, including the Illawarra, the Hunter and in Sydney, the temperature will reach 37C in the city and 37C-to-38C in Western Sydney.
How also warned of increased fire risk across New South Wales, South Australia and parts of Victoria.
Australia willing to consider joining peacekeeping effort in Ukraine
Anthony Albanese has told European allies that Australian would consider contributing to a future peacekeeping effort in Ukraine.
The PM spoke to the UK prime minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders overnight where he committed Australia to a “coalition of the willing” that would continue to provide support to Ukraine as it seeks to defend itself against Russia.
Albanese described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “imperialistic” and said Australia would continue to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
It is the right thing to do and it is in Australia’s national interest. Because what happens in the Euro-Atlantic has serious implications for our region – the Indo-Pacific – and vice versa.
This is a struggle not just for the people of Ukraine and their national sovereignty. This is a struggle for the international rule of law.
President Putin’s regime has imperialist designs, for Ukraine and beyond.
The PM said Australia has already committed $1.5bn to help Ukraine defend itself, including $1.3bn in military support including equipment and training.
The “coalition of the willing” is a throwback to the collection of companies that George Bush organised to facilitate the invasion of Iraq.
Updated
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, will speak to ABC insiders host David Speers on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the minister for trade and tourism, Don Farrell, has been doing the rounds on Sky News this morning, with the Coalition’s Sussan Ley following on his heels.
We will bring you the latest as it happens.
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Anthony Albanese has told the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, that Australia will consider joining a future peacekeeping effort in Ukraine as part of a “coalition of the willing”. Albanese made the pledge in a virtual meeting overnight where he reiterated Australia’s support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia.
Sydney is braced for a very hot day with gusty winds after a warm evening but the Bureau of Meteorology says a cool change is on the way. A cold front has swept through South Australia and parts of Victoria overnight, and is expected to bring relief through the Sydney area later on Sunday.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
