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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Donna Lu (now) and Royce Kurmelovs (earlier)

SES urges residents of several NSW areas to evacuate – as it happened

Flood Social Security Australia Jim Chalmers Lismore
Tumbulgum, in northern NSW, is one of several areas in the state under an evacuation order.
Tumbulgum, in northern NSW, is one of several areas in the rain-drenched state under an evacuation order. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/EPA

The day that was, Sunday 23 October

The time has come to wrap up the blog for the evening. Here is a summary of the day’s top stories.

  • Flood warnings are in place across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, with wet weather forecast to persist until the middle of next week. Flood waters in towns in northern Victoria have reached record levels, while 20 evacuation orders have been issued across NSW.

  • The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, announced that Australia has joined 122 countries in committing to lower methane levels in the atmosphere.

  • Housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services are set to receive an extra $560m over four years in Labor’s first budget since being elected.

  • The NSW transport minister, David Elliott, announced he will leave state politics at the March election, to avoid a factional preselection battle.

  • The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of “cowering in the corner” on the climate crisis, with current and former staff describing a conservative culture that left the Australian public poorly informed.

Thanks for joining us today. Wherever you are around Australia, stay dry and safe.

Netball Australia boss says sport must balance ‘social conversations’ with ‘commercial realities’

Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan has responded to accusations of virtue signalling from the organisation following the loss of a $15m sponsorship, AAP reports.

Billionaire Gina Rinehart’s mining company Hancock Prospecting on Saturday pulled the plug on its controversial offering in a major blow to the sport’s financial future.

The deal appeared to be a lifeline after NA suffered losses of more than $7m in two Covid-impacted years.

Hancock had agreed to a $15m sponsorship deal over four years, due to go directly to the high-performance program. NA and Diamonds skipper Liz Watson both publicly supported the Hancock deal during the week.

But the players’ association has since confirmed its support of Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who had flagged the company’s record on Indigenous matters dating back 40 years to offensive comments by Rinehart’s late father Lang Hancock.

Roy Hill, majority-owned by Hancock, will withdraw its sponsorship of Netball WA and the West Coast Fever, the companies offering a four-month deal to allow NA and Netball WA time to secure new partners.

Read the full story here:

‘We’ve just got to hold this area’

John Williams is a busy man.

In charge of extending the Torrumbarry levee before the Murray River floods hit next week, the fate of more than 2,000 homes hangs on his shoulders. It’s a heavy burden.

He said, between handing out orders to volunteers:

I haven’t had a drink in weeks … When I walked out of the meeting two weeks ago, I knew it was going to be the battle of a lifetime because it’s such a long area. We’re looking after 129kms of river.

Torrumbarry is 20 minutes west of Echuca. It’s a small community now in charge of saving the surrounding farms.

Working around the clock, they’ve built 26 kilometres of extra levee - hundreds of people are helping out. At one stage, guys were eating their dinner on escalators so they could keep working. Williams:

We had 11 excavators, a heap of trucks, and two or three graders working. It is a big operation.

If we lose this, it’s going to put pressure on the irrigation system from Cohuna and Koondrook probably down as far as Kerang. You don’t need any more water there. We’ve just got to hold this area.

Updated

Here are some photos and footage from the town of Moree, in northern NSW, which is bracing for its worst flooding in a decade.

The NSW minister for emergency services and resilience, Steph Cooke, has released a statement following her press conference with premier Dominic Perrottet earlier this afternoon.

Cooke, who is also minister for flood recovery, said in her statement that 43 local government areas were now subject to natural disaster declarations. Cooke said:

Disaster declarations like these [are] the crucial first step in unlocking assistance for those in need.

In a blow to the residents of Lismore, who have been hammered by flooding this year, the NSW SES has advised people to prepare to evacuate by 9am on Monday (24 October), due to predicted rising floodwaters causing major flooding:

Updated

It’s Donna Lu here with you again, taking you through into Sunday evening. Hope you’re all staying dry out there. As always, please get in touch at Donna.Lu@theguardian.com or @donnadlu on Twitter if you spot anything I should know about.

Here’s some footage from a very soggy Byron Bay:

Updated

Departing MP laments factionalism of modern politics

New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, has lamented the factionalism that rules modern political parties after the threat of a preselection battle forced him to announce his resignation from state politics at the March election.

Speaking at Circular Quay on Sunday, he also ruled out a tilt at federal politics, saying his wife Nicole had told him he can’t go to Canberra “unless it’s under strict adult supervision”.

Elliot’s seat of Baulkham Hills will be abolished at the 2023 election and Elliott said it became clear over the past few days that did not have the support for a preselection battle in a new electorate.

He said the premier, Dominic Perrottet, whose faction has effectively pushed him out, had done everything he could to save him but was unsuccessful.

He said:

Contemporary politics is transactional and I accept that. You can’t come into this game and be so thin-skinned that you spit the dummy just because a deal is done or [a faction] plays out against you.

It is disappointing. The community doesn’t like factions in politics ... It’s evolved over the last 20 years to a point where both political parties, their DNA is the same. They have factions. Unfortunately on occasions they’re built around personalities and on this occasion, for some strange reason, my personality didn’t win out.

The divisive MP said he had been “controversial and active” during his time on Macquarie Street.

I’ve taken advantage of every opportunity, I’ve made people know where I stand, I’ve made some mistakes.

You can read more on his resignation here:

Updated

Man charged with murder of 19-year-old Queensland woman

A 18-year-old man has been charged with murder following the discovery of an 19-year-old Queensland woman’s body in bushland.

The pair, who were known to each other, met on Saturday afternoon at a car park in Strathpine, north of Brisbane, police say.

The woman from Petrie did not return home, leading to her family raising concerns.

Police tracked down the Kallangur man on Saturday evening at a service station Nambour, about an hour’s drive north of Strathpine.

The woman’s body was found overnight in bushland at Nambour, and the man has since been charged with murder and moving a corpse.

He is expected to face Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday.

- from AAP.

Updated

Your timely reminder to give wildlife a wide berth in flooded areas. Many will be looking for escape and confused.

Updated

Following Chris Bowen’s press release there are two points to make clear: the climate change minister specifically thanked industry associations, including the cattle industry, the National Farmers Federation and the oil and gas industry’s peak body, APPEA. These are industry arguably responsible for the production of the bulk of Australia’s methane emissions.

How much?

According to offical government data, agriculture is responsible for 70 million tonnes of CO2-e from methane. Next comes coalmining at 28m tonnes, followed by 18.7m tonnes from the gas industry and 9.5m tonnes from waste.

The International Energy Agency, analysed by progressive energy thinktank Ember, suggests emissions from coalmines could be double official estimates.

Perhaps this explains why Bowen stressed Australia’s participation in the treaty would be “voluntary”.

For more detail about the significance of Australia’s methane pledge, check out this explainer by Guardian Australia environment reporter Graham Readfern.

Updated

Coalition addicted to lies and deceit on climate change: Bowen

Bowen comes out swinging when asked why it has taken Australia so long to sign up to a pledge alongside 122 other nations.

Bowen:

I can completely understood why the government wanted to check and make sure and work through the pledge but having done so, in government, can I say this [is] a very sensible thing.

It is very clear to me the previous government was addicted to denial, to delay, they are addicted to lying about emissions whether they be methane or CO2.

It was a government addicted to lying to the Australian people about the implications of their action on climate change.

I can only conclude that their refusal is a sign of their pattern of behaviour.

Updated

Australia signs methane pledge

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has announced Australia has joined 122 countries in committing to lower methane levels in the atmosphere.

Bowen says Australia will implement a safeguard mechanism through a combination of research and development, investment and collaboration or partnership with industry. It will not involve targets, taxes or livestock reduction, he says.

Bowen thanks the Cattle Council, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and the National Farmers Federation.

He has also announced $5m in federal projects over the next four months.

When there was speculation of the Albanese government signing this pledge, the opposition went into a predictable and very disappointing tailspin of lies.

Australia is moving from their denial.

Updated

Here’s Anthony Albanese (the country’s prime minister, you may recall) in pyjamas at the Telethon7 charity telethon in Perth on Sunday – what you might call a made-for-TV moment.

Still, you have to give him credit for going above and beyond the standard set by the former PM Scott Morrison. For a start, Albanese seems to actually be having fun amidst the absurdity of it all.

Updated

Speaking now, WA Premier Mark McGowan says that his state will be sending volunteers and staff to assist with the flooding on the east coast.

He is also referring to a mankini incident – which I appear to have missed.

And that’s a wrap.

Updated

A question on multi-employer bargaining and the opposition to the idea from the Coalition.

Albanese takes direct aim at the opposition leader:

Peter Dutton opposes everything. He’s just opposed to everything. There’s been no consideration of the fact they weren’t successful at the last election. Peter Dutton is the leader of the No-Alition, not the Coalition.

He’s someone who is negative. He is someone who hasn’t got the message that Australians are sick of conflict.

Updated

On the budget, Albanese says his government will hand down a “responsible” budget that “does not add to inflationary pressure”.

Among the budget hints is a commitment to an Indigenous cultural centre in Perth.

Other areas being targeted are childcare, healthcare costs and the National Broadband Network “and other infrastructure aimed at areas that will boost productivity, boost the economy and therefore provide that assistance to people”.

Updated

'Climate change is having an impact' on flooding, says Albanese

Albanese:

It’s expected that this event that we are witnessing will continue for some period of time. It’s important to remain vigilant

The PM is asked about whether there is any forward preparation taking place. He says the full cabinet was briefed last week and the national cabinet was briefed during the last event.

He says the event will continue for “weeks”.

There’s so much rain that there’s no where for it to go. There’s no soaking in.

Albanese says it will take three-to-four weeks for the water landing on the east coast to flow into South Australia.

We need to recognise that climate change is having an impact. We’re seeing more frequent events and they’re more intense when they occur.

Investing in infrastructure and mitigation is cheaper of course than waiting for disasters to occur.

Updated

Albanese is stepping back in now to talk about the floods on the east coast. He says he spoke with Mark Coulton in New South Wales who is “very concerned” about communities such as Moree.

“Flood warnings and watches stretch continuously right down the east coast at the moment,” Albanese says.

PM launches undersea cable connecting Australia to the Middle East

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Perth with Premier Mark McGowan to launch a new undersea cable to connect Australia to the Middle East.

Perth acts as a gateway to the internet on the western side of the Australian continent and the 9,800km Perth-to-Oman cable provides a direct connection.

The cable will allow faster speeds between Australia and the rest of the world, benefitting gamers, financial institutions and researchers who are able to share a massive amount of data at a tenth of a second.

Australian technology entrepreneur Bevan Slattery says the 9,800km cable sits 2000m at the bottom of the ocean with 50 terabits of capacity.

“That’s a lot of Youtube,” Slattery said.

Slattery says the cable is armoured and buried, with in-built sensors in parts that will allow it to detect ship anchors or fishing nets.

“This is the first cable to have situational awareness as to its surroundings,” he says.

The data entering the cable will be encrypted “end to end”.

Updated

Perrottet takes questions from reporters. In response to a criticism about government responses in previous disasters, he says, through interjections:

Every single day I have been in this job, as premier and previously as treasurer, we have worked tirelessly to help our people through natural disasters and I have been on the ground there. A lot … When natural disasters and tragedies occur, it is a difficult time for so many people and our role as the government is to be there and help everyone through and that’s exactly what we have done.

Carlene Yorke, commissioner of the New South Wales SES, says:

What we are facing in NSW is a very significant weather event, in the western area, central west, Riverina and particularly northern rivers. At the moment, the SES is out across all those areas of risk, being assisted by our emergency service partners and other volunteer agencies, police and interstate resources and the ADF …

Please be aware, ring family and friends, make sure that they’re OK, make sure that they’re keeping up to date with our messaging. We’re very much assisted by the ADF in that preparation in relation to sandbagging and door knocking, but we cannot knock on everyone’s doors …

If you have been in these areas and have suffered from floods before, you know what your risk is, so be prepared. Have an emergency kit. Understand what you can do with your animals and do it early …

As soon as the rivers start to reduce in various areas, we will be going in, doing rapid damage assessments and declaring when it is safe to return and getting ready to hand over to recovery.

Updated

Wee Waa and Narrabri are also experiencing significant water levels, Golding says. The Murray River is at 94.83m and is expected to reach 95m overnight and stay “quite high for quite a few days,” she says. All of the flood forecasts are based on rain that has already fallen.

Unfortunately we are looking to see more rainfall over inland areas over the next couple of days, and then again later in the week.

We are seeing a system come in from South Australia today already seeing moderate totals along the South Australian border and that rain and those storms will extend eastwards across to the slopes today and a bit further eastwards tomorrow. That means more river rises are likely over inland areas and I’m really not looking at any respite unfortunately anytime soon.

In the northern rivers, Golding says the key areas of concern are the Tweed, Wilsons and the Richmond rivers.

With the forecast rainfall, they could expect to see the river starting to rise tomorrow … We have issued a major flood warning already for the Wilsons River, a river that includes Lismore, for reaching 9.7m tomorrow …

The northern rivers on the coast is the key area to be watching closely today and tonight and as the system is further southwards, the mid north coast and possibly the Hunter [region] might come into play.

Updated

Jane Golding of the Bureau of Meteorology is speaking next:

We currently have numerous flood warnings out across the state and the majority at the moment of them are for inland New South Wales. Half of the ones out over there are for major flood warnings.

When we talk about ‘major’, we’re talking about widespread inundation of rural and urban areas, significant disruption to transport routes and utilities, water into properties, isolations and evacuations. A significant proportion of New South Wales is affected by major flood warnings at the moment.

She shares information on the town of Moree, which has been experiencing major flooding since yesterday:

The peak has yet to arrive. We’re expecting a peak of 10.7 metres there this afternoon, which is higher than what they saw in March 2021 – obviously significant impacts in that for that community.

Gunnedah is also affected, and Golding says the river there is expected to peak at 8.6m based on the rain already falling.

The scene in Keen Street, Lismore in northern NSW this morning.
The scene in Keen Street, Lismore in northern NSW this morning. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AAP

Updated

Cooke reiterates the premier’s request that people do not drive through flood waters:

We have seen 34 flood rescues over the past 24 hours and that is 34 too many … If it is flooded, forget it.

Cooke says authorities are in the process of establishing a base camp at Moree, in addition to one already in place in the town of Deniliquin:

We are now setting up one in Moree, where we will see 150 personnel based there. That will take pressure off local accommodation so that our emergency services have a base from which they can work including the ADF and our partners from right across Australia.

Cooke turns to the northern rivers:

We know that in the northern rivers we are likely to experience major flooding again. I have spoken numerous times in recent hours with the mayor of Lismore and the community is anxious, understandably … we have put more resources and more preparations in place there than we have seen in recent times.

We have helicopters pre-positioned, 100 ADF moving into the community. We have swift in-water teams, rescue teams pre-positioned up there and ready to go … we have personnel from Surf Life Saving, police and marine rescue all working together to make sure the community remain safe at this time.

Updated

Perrottet hands over to Steph Cooke, minister for flood recovery of NSW, who begins by saying that the state is facing a “very dangerous” 48 hours:

What we are currently experiencing is more flood threats in more communities and locations than at any other time this year. At present, we literally have a flood risk in every corner of the state …

We are calling on communities far and wide to continue to listen to the advice put out by the SES, pay attention and keep up to date with the advice and warnings put out by the Bureau of Meteorology … I know that our communities are tired, that you are sick of seeing grey skies and the rain falling, but we will get through this challenging time.

Perrottet thanks volunteers for their efforts across the state:

Every time we have these difficult times, the great Australian spirit comes to the fore. That is what makes Australia great, the spirit of service and sense of volunteerism. To see it on display, to see people coming together, uniformed volunteers and non-uniformed volunteers. People in the community, to help others, people filling sandbags – that is the great Australian way …

Everybody across the state, particularly in the northern [and] north-western areas: we will get through this. We have gotten flood event after flood event over this period of time and we will get through this one as well.

Perrottet:

We currently have over 550 SES volunteers in the field right across our state looking after our communities, and that is on top of our RFS support, police, maritime rescue.

He asks people in affected communities to follow the instructions of emergency services:

If there is an evacuation order in place, do not wait for a knock on the door from the SES. Please follow the instructions. Those instructions are not there for the sake of it. They are there to keep you and your family safe …

Following those orders keeps you safe and keeps safe our volunteers. Please don’t drive through flood waters. It is really important this message comes across. We say it every press conference but still have people who continue to drive through flood waters.

Yesterday we had someone drive through floodwaters who needed to be rescued by 20 emergency service volunteers.

Updated

It’s Donna Lu here, with you for the next little while so Royce Kurmelovs can grab a bite to eat. The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, is currently speaking at a press conference:

It continues to be a very difficult time for the people of New South Wales, right across our state, facing incredibly challenging flood conditions. We currently have over 120 warnings in place, and of those 120 warnings, we have 20 evacuation orders.

The main areas that are under threat and being affected are in the Northern Rivers … there are concerns in relation to current flooding but also potentially further rainfall heading our way in the Northern Rivers, particularly around Lismore and the Tweed.

Moree and Gunnedah continue to remain challenging with the rivers rising in that area.

Flooding expected across four Australian states

Emergency warnings are in place across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, with rain and thunderstorms expected to lash the east coast over the next few days.

The event is expected to continue into next week, with severe thunderstorm warnings in place across New South Wales, Tasmania and the potential for alerts to be issued across Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

Echuca, in Victoria, has already broken records for flood while an alert has been issued for the northern rivers region in New South Wales, including the town of Lismore. If it floods in Lismore it will mark the third time the town has been inundated this year.

For the full details read the report from Guardian Australia science correspondent Donna Lu.

Updated

Everyone has their coping mechanisms.

Record flood event at Echuca

The Murray River has surpassed the 1993 flood level at Echuca on the Victoria-NSW border, as the premier urges remaining residents to consider evacuating.

The 1993 level of 94.77 metres above sea level was exceeded at the town on the Victoria-NSW border on Saturday night and was expected to peak around 95m overnight.

More rain is forecast for the flood-hit state as a low pressure system moves over northern Victoria on Sunday.

The state’s northeast and far northwest are tipped to cop the brunt of the falls and the Bureau of Meteorology predicts the system will bring wet weather to southern Victoria early in the week.

At Echuca, authorities warned anyone left in the area to leave after water spilled over a levee near the centre of town on Saturday.

Despite a makeshift dirt levee in the town holding, Premier Daniel Andrews said some residents were heeding the advice and pleaded with others to consider following suit.

“People give that very careful thought. We don’t issue those warnings lightly,” he told reporters on Sunday.

About 50 people from flood-hit communities across the state have taken refuge at the Mickleham quarantine centre, Mr Andrews said.

More than 65 flood warnings remain active in Victoria.

- From AAP

Updated

Victorian flood information summary

Here is the summary on the floods that the Victorian SES’s chief of operations, Tim Wiebusch, just gave:

  • The Loddon River at Kerang has reached its peak at 77.97 metres, below the 78-metre mark that had been forecast. The community remains isolated but is stocked and helicopters are on standby to help resupply if needed. Water levels have only slightly receded to 77.84 metres and will slowly drain over the coming days.

  • A levee has already been breached in the Kerang area, causing water to move into caravan parks in the south-west, an industrial area, a ranch and 20 homes. The rest of Kerang has remained safe and dry.

  • At Rochester, the Campaspe River peaked last weekend and is now back at minor flood levels. The community is, however, preparing for fresh rain. It is not expected water will rise more than in previously.

  • At Echuca the Campaspe River remains at moderate flood level and will remain at that level where it merges with the Murray River. as the waters are backed up by the Murray.

  • Access to Echuca is still possible but there are a number of road closures in the area.

  • The Murray River around Echuca is the key focus where the water is currently at 94.83 metres, with the peak forecast at around 95 metres overnight and into Monday.

  • At Echuca Village, 20 homes need to be doorknocked as there has been “some seepage” through the levy.

We can’t emphasise enough that those levees, while they are holding at this point in time … do continue to be a vulnerability for that particular community. And our advice is to evacuate rather than becoming isolated or compacted.

  • Flooding is expected downstream around Torrumbarry “all the way” through to Barmah. Major flood levels are expected by Wednesday and Thursday, higher than previous levels recorded in 1993 and 2016.

  • At Swan Hill, forecasts are that major levels are expected around the first week of November. It is expected the peak will be above the 1993 floods in the area and local residents are advised to get prepared.

  • In and around Shepparton and Mooroopna, levels have receded to minor flood levels but it is possible flood waters may rise again with renewed rainfall. This may rise to a moderate flood level around 11-11.1 metres.

  • On the Barwon River near Geelong, a moderate flood-water warning has been issued with some roads cut off. The event will be similar to what occurred a week ago.

  • In or around metropolitan Melbourne, the Werribee River has started to recede, as has the Yarra River where minor flooding has occurred in some parts. However, renewed rainfall overnight may see it grow again.

  • There have been more than 8,700 calls for help and 750 water rescues.

  • If you’re looking for information, it can be found at emergency.vic.gov.au or on 1800 222 6226.

Updated

SES: Low numbers of power outages in Victorian emergency at the moment

On power outages, Wiebusch says there are “very low numbers of power outages” in the current emergency.

The numbers are in the handfuls at the moment relating the flood itself.

Ahead of the long weekend Wiebusch is advising people to look at the VicEmergency app to see which areas are open, and which areas are closed or flood-prone.

Updated

SES Victoria advises Echuca residents under warnings to evacuate now

Wiebusch says there have been over 750 evacuations in the previous few days, mostly among those that chose to remain in their properties despite being warned to leave.

He advises those in Echuca to leave now rather than “either being isolated and needing support, or needing to be rescued in the worst-case scenario”.

When we see these forecasts at major heights, that does put inundation around communities, our strong advice when those evacuation directions are up is to leave.

As we say, bag it, block it, lift it but the last part of that message, is to leave.

Updated

Levees at Echuca not breached but evacuation orders still in place

Wiebusch says the levees at Echuca have not been breached and “remain structurally sound” for the moment but evacuation orders remain in place for the community as in any emergency there are always risks.

On Kerang, Wiebusch says the community remains isolated by flood waters but local shops have stocked up in preparation for seven days of isolation and helicopters are on standby “should we need to continue resupply into those locations”.

Updated

Peak of Murray River expected tonight or tomorrow

SES Victoria’s chief officer of operations, Tim Wiesbusch, is giving an update on the flooding now – the information is coming quickly. Because I don’t want to give misinformation in an emergency, I will summarise after the press conference.

Wiesbusch is asked about the challenge on the high water level at Echuca and the moving timeline.

“At Echuca the Murray River is one of the most challenging hydrological areas to model because of the inflows,” he says.

He says he’d expect the peak to come tonight or tomorrow.

Updated

Update on Victorian flooding

Authorities in Victoria are giving an update on the floods with Michael Efron, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, saying 18mm of rain fell in 20 minutes overnight and 10 to 20mm in parts of Victoria’s northwest in the last half hour.

Overnight Sunday and into Monday, the Bureau is expecting rains to extend further south and become more extensive into Monday.

Updated

NSW transport minister to retire from politics to head off factional stoush

The New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, will leave state politics at the March election to avoid a factional preselection battle.

Following months of speculation about his future, Elliott announced he would quit on social media on Saturday night. His seat of Baulkham Hills will be abolished at the 2023 election and Elliott did not have the support to win a preselection fight in the Castle Hill electorate.

In a statement, Elliott said:

With the abolition of my Baulkham Hills electorate and advice that I cannot be accommodated in the new seat of Castle Hill on factional grounds, I have today advised my community that I will not be recontesting the 2023 state election.

Having spent nearly two decades serving my country in both the military and the NSW parliament, I leave public service content that I’ve done the best job I could.

Elliott will address the media at a press conference later today. More below:

Updated

Government must be active on social security payments: campaigners

The federal government’s announcement that social security payments will rise by $33bn has not washed with anti-poverty campaigners, who say Labor is expecting credit for minimum effort.

Pas Forgione, a campaigns coordinator with the Anti-Poverty Network SA, says allowing indexation to do the heavy lifting on jobseeker is not enough.

Low-income people are facing huge and unsustainable rises in rents, power bills, food, and other basics. We hear stories of job seekers copping $30-50 a week rises to their rent, which blows their budget to pieces.

It’s heartbreaking and inexcusable that a permanent raise to jobseeker and other income support payments appears to have been ruled out of Tuesday’s federal budget.

We’ve never come across more people who are a couple of bad weeks away from falling into crisis.

Updated

Union welcomes community service funding increase

The Australian Services Union has welcomed the Albanese government’s pledge of $550m over four years for community service organisations.

The ASU’s assistant national secretary, Emeline Gaske, said:

This gives the sector room to breathe after three years of providing services under the constraints of the pandemic with chronic underinvestment by the previous federal government also taking a toll.

Wage and super increases were a great outcome and will help to attract and retain more people needed in community services, but clearly had to be matched with more funding.

Most people in the community recognise that community services workers are over worked and underpaid and support government investment here.

The past few months shows what is possible when the community’s concerns are matched with a government that actually cares about workers and out most vulnerable.

This is the first time in over a decade that community workers feel listened to by their federal government.

It is a huge win for community services workers who have worked through their unions towards this outcome for a long time.

Updated

That’s a lot of water – and a sense of what’s been moving through river systems overnight.

South Australian man killed in lightning strike in Eba

A man has died after being struck by lightning on a rural property in South Australia.

The 29-year-old was struck by lightning at Eba, about 160 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, on Saturday afternoon and died at the scene, police say.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

A 39-year-old man was struck and killed by lightning at Cornerstone College at Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills in 2016.

Five to 10 people are estimated to die from lightning strikes in Australia each year, and more than 100 are injured.

- from AAP

Updated

Bureau of Meteorology ‘cowering in the corner’ on the climate crisis, former staff claim

The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of “cowering in the corner” on the climate crisis, with current and former staff describing a conservative culture that left the Australian public poorly informed.

Talking proactively on climate change was seen as a risk for the bureau, staff said, and scientists within the bureau were frustrated at the agency’s position.

The bureau this week backtracked on a request it no longer be referred to as the “BoM” after a rebuke from the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek.

Employees said the furore over the rebranding had made an allegedly toxic work culture worse, with Guardian Australia revealing staff and their union had contacted federal government ministers documenting complaints.

For more on how the Bureau of Meteorology was banned from talking about climate change, read the full story from the Guardian’s environment report Graham Readfearn.

Updated

Heavy rain forecast across east coast

The BoM is warning heavy rain is expected along south-east Queensland.

Over 100 flood warnings have been issued across New South Wales on Saturday as Lismore braces for what could be its third major flood of the year.

Authorities have also received 395 calls for help and carried out 31 flood rescues.

The Bureau is also predicting rainfall from New South Wales through Victoria and down into Tasmania.

There are also thunderstorm and flood warnings across parts of regional South Australia along the border with Victoria.

Updated

Angus Taylor supports more women getting into politics but not gender quotas

Taylor is asked about whether the former UK prime finister Liz Truss was punished for her sweeping tax cuts.

Taylor:

I think there’s a combination of factors here, no doubt about that.

On Sussan Ley’s calls for a 50% quota within the Coalition to ensure half of those pre-selected are women, Taylor said he supports more women getting into politics but is against quotas:

I don’t support quotas, and I know she hasn’t suggested that. I think we should support getting more women in, and 50% is absolutely right. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s going to require really careful work being done by senior people. I see, as we approach the New South Wales election, very good work being done in this area. But it needs to continue.

Updated

Coalition calls for investment in renewables to be matched with investment in gas

Taylor is now asked about the profits being reaped by fossil fuel companies during this period of high prices. Speers points out that Woodside’s profits have quadrupled in September to $5.6b and that Santos’ profits were up $3.4b.

Q: Do you know how much tax they are paying and is it enough?

Taylor: We will see how much tax they are paying obviously when they put in their tax returns, but at the end of the day we do know that as commodity prices go up, company tax goes up – there is no question about that. But what we want to see is supply. That’s the important thing.

Taylor is sticking to message, refusing to budge on hammering the point about supply.

He also repeats the line that the “best way to get through this transition” is for investment in renewables to be matched with investment in gas resources.

Updated

Coalition to support Labor changes to parental paid leave

Taylor confirms the Coalition will support Labor’s proposed change to the paid parental leave scheme saying “they were announced in our last budget and they were budgeted for.”

Speers now asks about gas prices and whether the Coalition supports a default gas price similar to the electricity price.

The best way to get lower gas prices, or the best way to cap the price of gas is to have more gas flowing into the domestic network. We’ve seen that work here in Australia. It did work here in Australia.

We’ve seen it work in other countries – we’ve seen it work in the United States – where you can separate the domestic gas price from the international gas price by having more supply.

Speers tries to focus Taylor on a price cap.

“It’s not clear that that will result in more gas going into the domestic network,” Taylor says, adding that there’s been no proposal on a price cap.

Updated

Taylor: potential inflation decrease ‘a good thing’

Taylor is now discussing inflation and says the Coalition believes inflation will be down to 2.5% in the next financial year according to Labor’s forecasts.

“That’s a good thing,” he says.

He then pivots to discussing “bracket creep” which he says is the “real thief in the night” – this is a reference to discussions about the fate of the stage-three tax cuts.

As the government preps the ground to potentially abandon them with this budget, the Coalition are doing their best to defend them.

Updated

Taylor: ‘regional investments paying back in spades’

Asked about the regional grants program and the car parks grants, Taylor is attempting a heroic defence of the program saying he just spent the last eight days cycling through regional New South Wales.

“Those regional investments are paying back in spades right now,” he said.

I’ve got to say many of the investments I’ve seen out in regional New South Wales have added to productivity, very significant impact.

Updated

Angus Taylor: cost of living relief must be wary of additional inflation

Taylor is asked again about whether the budget is in structural deficit – obviously a thorny question as it challenges the Coalition’s talking points, as they were responsible for it over the last ten years.

Taylor:

The key is to make sure you’ve got economic growth stronger than spending growth, and then you’re not in structural deficit. That’s the goal. We achieved it. We showed how it could be achieved. Look, I was in many of the NRC meetings and cabinet meetings when spending decisions were made and there was enormous discipline.

Mathias Cormann was [a] consistent feature throughout that time period, making sure ministers brought savings, if [they were] bringing forward spending proposals.

Asked about whether there should be any cost of living relief in the budget, Taylor says “you have to be cautious not to have spending proposals that fuel additional inflation and bring about the Reserve Bank adding to interest rate pressure”.

Updated

Coalition lays out budget wishlist

The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is on ABC Insiders this morning to talk about the upcoming budget. The first question is: do you accept the budget is in structural deficit?:

The starting point, David, of course, is that we have a very strong economy and actually a surprisingly strong budget right now. We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in the budget situation just over recent months and indeed [a] $50bn turnaround in the last financial year.

What is needed now is a responsible budget and a recognition that economic growth over the medium term has to be stronger than spending growth.

Taylor lays out the Coalition’s wishlist: pensions “coming back into the workforce”, no “toxic industrial relations environment” and a “pro-growth environment” in the “medium term”.

That’s why the tax cuts remain extremely important. You don’t want to see bracket creep eating up people’s income pay.

Updated

Couples earning $350k to get paid parental scheme in ‘family friendly’ budget

Labor has promised to expand the taxpayer-funded paid parental scheme to allow parents to be assessed for eligibility on their combined income.

Parents who earn over $156,647 are not currently eligible for the scheme but the Nine papers have reported that, from 1 July next year, they can be assessed on the dual-income threshold of $350,000.

They will also be allowed to time their leave together so both parents can be home to raise their child. Fathers and partners who meet residency requirements will also be able to access the scheme even when the birth mother does not qualify.

It is expected the change will affect 180,000 families.

Updated

Housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services to get $560m boost in budget

Community organisations such as housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services will receive an extra $560m over four years in Labor’s first budget since its re-election.

The partial indexation of funding revealed by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, aims to help community services keep up with rising costs.

The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) and Australian Services Union had both called for a 5.5% increase in payments to community organisations, as surging inflation puts services already under strain from high demand during Covid at risk.

The union pointed to increases in the superannuation guarantee and minimum wage, and inflation tipped to peak at 7.75% as sources of pressure that could force some organisations to shut their doors or reduce services.

In its pre-budget submission Acoss said “many organisations in the sector have seen real cuts to the value of their funding” due to inconsistent indexation.

Acoss warned that “unfunded shortfalls seriously impact the sector’s capacity to offer services to local communities, especially at a time of rising community demand and increased complexity of service user need”.

For more on this exclusive from Guardian Australia’s political reporter Paul Karp, read the full story here:

Updated

On Liz Truss’ tenure as UK Prime Minister, Chalmers refused to comment, saying “we don’t take shots at the domestic politics of another country”:

On a personal level, I wish Liz Truss well, and Kwasi Kwarteng well. I had the opportunity to spend some time with him quite recently.

But I think there are very … clear lessons from economic policy in the UK. You need to get your fiscal and monetary policy lined up. You need to make sure that governments aren’t working against the difficult job that central banks are asked to do.

And I think what we’ve done in the budget is we have nicely lined up those two things. I think that’s the primary lesson. But I think, as well, if you want to make big changes in the budget, you need to have a run-up, you need to explain them to people, you need to make sure that you’re bringing people along on the journey.

Updated

Treasurer: we want Australians with a disability to be central to NDIS review

Chalmers was asked about the $100bn in extra revenue the government has to play with, but the treasurer played down expectations, saying that the government has $1tn in debt that it inherited the Coalition.

“That’s a big and growing area of spending. Same with the NDIS and aged care and health and defence,” he said.

To help compensate, Chalmers said the government is focusing on childcare and paid parental leave, “cheaper energy costs”, “cheaper medicines” and “getting wages moving again in a sustainable way”:

In addition to that, we supported a decent pay rise for minimum-wage workers. We’re supporting a pay rise for workers in the care economy. We’ve got those indexation arrangements for people on payments and pensions.

But we do understand that people would like us to be there when times are tough – and we are. And we will be, in this budget. But our responsibility, when we’ve got lots of inflation, is not to spray money around in an indiscriminate or untargeted way, because that would make our inflation problem worse.

On the costs associated with the NDIS, Chalmers said he did not see it as an area of concern, but as an “important opportunity to support Australians with a disability”:

We want to put people at the centre of that. One of the reasons why minister [Bill] Shorten has got the review into the NDIS was because we want to make sure that every dollar that we spend on that, we’re getting maximum value for money.

It will be a feature no matter what going forward. But we need to make sure that, when the costs are growing as they are, that we’re getting value for money. And we judge that value for money by what it means for Australians with a disability.

We want them to be central, front and centre, as we review the scheme via minister Shorten. And we hope that we can make it the best version of itself. We created it. We believe in it. It will be central.

Updated

Chalmers: ‘Inflation will persist for longer than we’d like’

The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has spoken to the ABC this morning ahead of Tuesday’s budget with the government saying spending on social security payments will grow by $33b.

Speaking to the ABC’s Andrew Probyn, Chalmers said the budget would be “family friendly” and “responsible” as he warned “inflation will persist for longer than we’d like”.

Chalmers said a third of the $33b increase to social security payments would go to pensions and another third would go to payments like jobseeker.

We know that people are still doing it tough. But one of the pressures on the budget is making sure we can find room for that indexation so that people who are on pensions and payments get a little bit of extra help twice a year to try and keep up with these skyrocketing costs of living.

Because social security payments are indexed to inflation they gradually rise over time without any intervention by the government. It is not clear whether this promised increase includes any additional spend.

The poverty line in Australia is about $450 a week. Most people on JobSeeker earn about $310 a week.

Chalmers pointed to the impact of natural disasters, many made worse due to the effect of climate change, and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as “pushing up energy prices for longer”.

He said the government expected inflation to grow at 5.75%.

Updated

Good Morning

And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has promised a $33b lift to social security payments in Tuesday’s upcoming budget. Chalmers said the raise would apply to both pensions and payments which is “partly a consequence of indexation which is there to try and keep up with inflation”. The treasure said a third will be for the age pension and another third for jobseeker.

Lismore and other communities in the Northern Rivers region are bracing for more flooding as heavy rain lashes the area. The Bureau of Meteorology says falls of 150mm are expected in some areas with heavy rainfall expected in Lismore, Grafton, Casino, Kyogle, Yamba and Maclean. Residents have been warned to prepare, with 100 flood warnings issued across New South Wales on Saturday night and possible flash flooding and riverine flooding in some areas.

I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.

With that, let’s get started ...

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