What we learned: Sunday, 17 March
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday, and, especially for our NT and Queensland readers, stay safe and dry.
Here were the major developments of the day:
Top End residents have been warned to expect days of wild weather as Tropical Cyclone Megan moves towards the coast. It was upgraded to a category three system this afternoon and is forecast to hit the coast sometime tomorrow.
Interest rates have been on pause at 4.35% for the past two Reserve Bank meetings and are likely to stay unchanged for a third when the board meets this week.
New South Wales police are investigating after a man was found critically injured on a road in Tamarama in Sydney’s east this morning.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says he has been “extensively briefed” by “the intelligence community on the danger of TikTok” but it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go into detail” about the nature of that briefing. In an interview on ABC’s Insiders, Paterson said TikTok was a “bad faith actor” and a risk to Australia’s national security.
Updated
Authorities warn people to leave or take shelter as Tropical Cyclone Megan approaches
In the case of medical emergencies amid road closures, NT police Supt Sonia Kennon says authorities will consider “other options” including flying in and out of high risk communities.
The additional responses are being considered amid heightened risk of the cyclone intensifying to a category three system.
That additional response is consideration for the safety and movement of potential community in there that are not in a house or in an area that is able to provide sufficient emergency shelters … the local area controller at the moment is reviewing the population.
Badly affected communities are being urged to “self relocate” if possible, and to use a four-wheel drive.
If they are and they do have to remain in that location, they need to enact their household emergency plan. Now, their safety is the utmost importance, because what we’re here to do is to ensure that no lives are lost during this weather event.
We need you to prepare your property and secure your loose items … check on your neighbours to make sure that they have prepared as well. Prepare to take shelter. Listen to the emergency services warnings. Decide if you’re going to stay or leave if it’s not too late to do so.
Updated
Tropical Cyclone Megan a ‘severe weather event’, says NT police Supt
NT police Supt Sonia Kennon, who is incident controller for Tropical Cyclone Megan, is speaking now.
She says the NT is experiencing a “severe weather event” that is placing a large strain on local communities.
In Groote Eylandt communities are being assisted by emergency response workers, while other remote areas are blocked off and isolated.
There are roads that have suffered quite severe damage and it’s unknown at this time as to when those roads will be repaired and able to be accessed by members of the community, also by other considerations for us as emergency services to provide emergency response to that island.
However, they are all OK at this point in time. There is enough food, they have support … [and] in the coming days it will be decided about what ongoing support is further required for that community.
Updated
Tropical Cyclone Megan could be upgraded to category four
There is a “moderate chance” the cyclone could be upgraded to a category-four system in the coming hours.
As the situation continues, the warning area is expected to be extended.
Bureau of Meteorology’s Shenagh Gamble warned destructive winds of up to 125km/h are forecast in the south-west Gulf of Carpentaria from Nathan River around to the Northern Territory Queensland border, this afternoon or overnight to tomorrow.
The very destructive core of severe Tropical Cyclone Megan is expected to cross the coast during Monday, and those very destructive winds will be gusting up to 220km/h. There is a moderate chance that this system could develop into a category four tropical cyclone.
We could expect to see widespread heavy totals of 150 to 200mm of rain, but particularly around the core of this system as it approaches the coast and extends inland, we could see rainfall totals around 300 or 400mm or more.
She says there is a “very dangerous storm tide” associated with the system at significantly higher levels than normal. Damaging winds and dangerous flooding is projected, particularly with already full catchments.
Updated
Wind gusts of 165km/h in Tropical Cyclone Megan’s centre
Authorities are speaking on Tropical Cyclone Megan now.
As we mentioned, the cyclone has intensified to a category three system, making it a “severe tropical cyclone”.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Shenagh Gamble says wind speeds at sustained speeds of 120 km/h and maximum gusts of 165 km/h are being witnessed around the centre of the tropical cyclone.
During today, this system started moving south, and this was when it also intensified to a category three cyclone. It’s located in the south-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and it’s quite a large tropical cyclone, taking up around a third of the Gulf of Carpentaria area.
The heavier rainfall that we did see over Groote Eylandt during yesterday has now been more over water, so we haven’t had such heavy rainfall totals in the past 24 hours.
Updated
Authorities are due to provide an update on Tropical Cyclone Megan shortly. We will bring it to you here.
Jacqui Lambie accuses Libs of playing ‘gutter politics’ after party launches attack website
Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has slammed the Liberal party for playing “gutter politics” after the party created a website with a similar URL to launch a political attack against her.
The Liberal party bought the lambienetwork.com domain, which mirrors her official site minus the domain suffix .au, in a practice known as cybersquatting.
The attack website, which features the independent party’s logo, reads:
[The Lambie Network] talk a big game, they trash the other candidates, but they are yet to release a single policy this election.
Lambie told Sky News on Sunday the conduct was “grubby” and “absolutely disgusting”.
The independent senator, who is running 12 candidates in the upcoming state election, said no Liberal party women had called her to check in on her despite Lambie saying she considered some friends.
So, you know, nothing changes in the Liberal party, bow down to the men. We’re taking control. And we’re playing gutter politics, because that’s what we need to do.
Updated
Man dead, two critical after being pulled from water at Victorian beach
A man has died and two people are in a critical condition after being pulled from the water near the popular tourist spot of Apollo Bay this afternoon.
The trio, all yet to be formally identified, were swimming in the ocean at Marengo when they got into trouble at about 1.15pm, police say.
A female passerby was able to bring the unconscious men to shore one by one and other witnesses on the beach began CPR. But despite their best efforts, a man was declared dead at the scene.
The other two were airlifted to hospital.
Victoria police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Updated
Tropical Cyclone Megan upgraded to category three
Tropical Cyclone Megan has been updated to category three as it continues to move southwest towards the coast.
The cyclone is now lying southeast of Groote Eylandt, a small island in the Northern Territory, and is expected to strengthen further before crossing the south-western Gulf of Carpentaria coast on Monday between Nathan River and the Northern Territory/Queensland border.
The latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone was moving at six km/h.
Gales with DAMAGING WIND GUSTS to 110 km/h are currently being experienced over parts of Groote Eylandt, and are expected to persist for the remainder of Sunday.
DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h are likely to develop about the southwestern Gulf of Carpentaria coast, between Nathan River in the NT and the NT/Qld border, from late this afternoon or overnight as Megan moves closer to the coast.
The VERY DESTRUCTIVE CORE of Megan, with wind gusts up to 220 km/h, is expected to cross the coast between Nathan River in the NT and the NT/Qld border during Monday.
Updated
Rescued Ballarat miner in stable condition
A miner rescued after surviving a rockfall in an underground collapse that killed his colleague is on the mend in hospital.
The 21-year-old Ballarat man was rushed to the Alfred hospital in a critical condition hours after becoming pinned underneath fallen rocks at the Ballarat goldmine at Mount Clear on Wednesday.
On Sunday, a hospital spokesperson confirmed his condition was no longer critical.
This patient is in a serious but stable condition.
Bruthen man Kurt Hourigan, 37, died in the collapse, with heartbroken friends and family paying tribute to him on social media.
The collapse happened 500m underground and three kilometres from the mine’s entrance, forcing 29 other miners to take refuge in a safety pod before being brought to the surface.
Victoria police are preparing a report for the coroner while the workplace health and safety regulator investigate the collapse.
– AAP
Updated
Boy dead after quad bike rollover
A 16-year-old boy has died after a quad bike rollover on a private property near Toowoomba, the Courier Mail reports.
Paramedics assessed the boy on scene in a critical condition at Darling Heights about 1.22am.
The forensic crash unit attended the scene. Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Updated
Man arrested after woman, 22, stabbed to death
Western Australia police are investigating a 22-year-old woman’s death in Perth’s northern suburbs.
Police and emergency services responded to a report of a serious assault on Walderton Avenue in Balga at 7.55pm on Saturday. They found the woman with serious stab wounds.
Paramedics provided treatment and transferred the women to Royal Perth hospital where she later died.
A 30-year-old man has been taken into custody.
Police believe the man was known to a second woman who was with the 22-year-old woman at the time of the assault.
Updated
NSW police appeal for help over man’s death on Sydney road
New South Wales police are appealing for help from the public as they investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Sunday morning.
The man was found critically injured on a road in Tamarama this morning.
Emergency services were called to Fletcher Street shortly after 4am on Sunday but police and paramedics were unable to revive the man and he died at the scene.
Officers attached to eastern suburbs police area command have established a crime scene and requested specialist assistance from the crash investigation unit.
Police believe the man is a 28-year-old.
They are appealing for information from the public to establish how he was injured.
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/.
Updated
Steven Miles promises to ‘do better for Queenslanders’ after poor byelection results
Queensland premier Steven Miles has acknowledged the results from two byelections overnight as “clearly very bad”, saying that his government will “heed this message” from voters.
Clearly they wanted to send us a message that we need to work harder, particularly on cost of living and on community safety. And that’s what we will do. Every member of my team. Will heed this message, and we will now be even more focused on those concerns of Queenslanders, their hip pocket, concerns about the cost of living, as well as their concerns about community safety. We are a government that is determined to help them, a government that is determined to listen and deliver, and that is what we will do after these byelection results.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Miles said the result was worse than his expectations.
It was always going to take more than three months for us to turn around on those big picture issues like cost of living and community safety. That’s not surprising to me. I always knew it was going to take more time to deliver on those issues. But you’re right in these two byelections, we’ve seen very substantial swings, and I’m determined to take that as a message to do more, to do better for Queenslanders.
Updated
Dozens arrested at Saturday’s Extinction Rebellion protest in Melbourne
Dozens of people have been arrested after Melbourne’s CBD ground to a halt as climate protesters staged a blockade.
Hundreds of people joined an Extinction Rebellion march from Treasury Gardens to Flinders Street Station in the city on Saturday afternoon.
A smaller group of protesters then staged a sit-in, blocking traffic as they refused to move off the road at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets.
In a statement released on Saturday night, Victoria police said:
A number of protesters remained at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets after being told to move on.
Police arrested 32 people who remained on the roadway, with 27 of them to be charged on summons with obstruction of a road.
Five of the protesters needed to be carried from the road by police.
They will be charged with intentional obstruction of an emergency worker and hindering police.
- AAP
Updated
Auction clearance rate rises to 74%
Auction activity has risen sharply this weekend with 2,723 auctions held.
This is a sharp rise on the 1,745 held last week but a modest gain on the 2,226 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 74% across the country, which is higher than the 72.8% preliminary rate recorded last week and above the 58.8% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 864 auctions held with a preliminary clearance rate of 74.8%
Melbourne: 1,387 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 72.4%
Brisbane: 181 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 72.3%
Adelaide: 159 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 92.6%
Canberra: 110 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 69.9%
Tasmania: Three auctions to be held.
Perth: Eight of 19 auctions held.
Updated
Cash rate expected to hold for third time in a row
Interest rates have been on pause at 4.35% for the past two Reserve Bank meetings and are likely to stay unchanged for a third when the board meets this week.
Due to meet over two days, the central bank’s board members will assess the state of the Australian economy and where it is headed before coming to a decision on the cash rate on Tuesday afternoon.
For the second time under the new monetary policy setting regime of fewer meetings and longer deliberations, RBA governor Michele Bullock will take questions from the press to explain the thinking behind the call.
The central bank started lifting interest rates from record low levels of 0.1% in May 2022 in response to fast-rising inflation.
Thirteen rate hikes later, the economy is slowing and inflation is moderating as a result, but consumer prices are still growing faster than the two-three per cent target range.
With the latest data showing sluggish economic growth and the labour market softening, most forecasters believe the next move in interest rates will be down.
- AAP
Updated
More than half of Victorians back decriminalising cannabis
The “war on drugs” should not go on against cannabis, according to a Victorian poll.
More than half (54%) of 1511 Victorians over 18 who took part in an online survey late last year were in favour of decriminalising cannabis and creating a regulated market for personal adult use.
Almost one in three (28.5%) of respondents opposed the idea and 17.5% were unsure.
The survey, conducted by polling outfit RedBridge on behalf of public health research and drug policy body Penington Institute, shows the highest level of support for regulation over criminalisation in an Australian independent third-party poll so far.
Penington Institute CEO John Ryan, who chaired an independent panel review into the North Richmond supervised injecting room, said the community wanted change and the state must listen.
The ACT decriminalised personal use of cannabis in 2020 and Ryan said evidence showed there had since been little uptick in consumption rates, no change in cannabis-related hospitalisations and significantly fewer cannabis-related arrests.
Less arrests means fewer resources wasted, and less harm to otherwise law-abiding community members.
Cannabis law enforcement costs the Australian community well in excess of $1.7bn per year.
Currently, medicinal cannabis or marijuana can be used with a doctor’s prescription in Victoria but recreational use by adults is a crime.
- AAP
Updated
Tasmanian Liberals propose law to oust quitters
Quitters would be prevented from “stealing” majority government from Tasmanians and “causing chaos” under a proposal to force MPs out of parliament when they quit their party.
The proposal was revealed by premier Jeremy Rockliff, whose Liberal government has spent 10 months in minority after two MPs headed for the cross benches.
Then-premier Peter Gutwein was also relegated to minority government in 2021 after Sue Hickey quit the Liberals when not re-endorsed as a candidate for the forthcoming election.
Under Tasmania’s political system, resignations from parliament force a seat recount that is usually won by another candidate of the same party.
The Premier said on Sunday that, by sticking around on the cross benches, MPs who quit ignore the facts of how they made it to parliament, “turn their backs on their party and its volunteers, and cause chaos”.
This situation is clearly untenable, unfair and lacking integrity on the part of these ‘renegade’ MPs.
Tasmanians deserve to have the government they voted for.
The so-called stability clause has emerged six days out from the state election.
The poll was triggered a year ahead of schedule after Rockliff failed to resolve a standoff with two cross-bench independents who quit the Liberals over Tasmania’s deal for an AFL team and stadium.
- AAP
Updated
Tropical Cyclone Megan forecast to strengthen into severe category
Circling back to Tropical Cyclone Megan, which is now moving south towards the Northern Territory and Queensland border as a category two system. The cyclone is expected to continue strengthening today and to reach a category three system later today or this evening.
Category three is considered a severe cyclone, which can bring peak wind gusts of up to 200km/h, causing a significant threat to homes and untethered objects, as well as power failures.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Miriam Bradbury told Guardian Australia there were still different possibilities about how exactly the cyclone would intensify, but a “fairly consistent story” was being projected.
It will be a category two or three when it crosses the coast, the timing likely to be Monday or early Tuesday, with destructive winds of up to 200km/h close to the core of the system. Cyclones are known to slow down or speed up when they approach the coast but [wind gusts] of 100km/h already bring down trees and power lines.
We’re seeing quite a lot of damage and disruption from these wind gusts that are 100 km/h slower.
Areas outside the direct route of the cyclone are also under flood watch, with heavy rainfall expected to continue.
Updated
Aged care sector at risk due to lack of funds, says minister
Aged care minister Anika Wells also fielded questions on the government-commissioned review into funding the aged care system.
The very sustainability of this sector stands at risk because there isn’t enough money going into a sector that needs more money when you look at the demographic trends before us.
It’s not yet clear if there will be reforms and funding arrangements in place in time for the May budget though Wells confirmed there would be no new levy on Australian taxpayers, nor changes to the treatment of the family home.
A key recommendation of the taskforce was for those with more savings to pay more for their later life care to take pressure off the federal budget.
- AAP
Updated
Aged care minister dismisses worker pay inflation fears
The sizeable pay bump for hundreds of thousands of aged care workers has been defended from inflation fears by the aged care minister.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Anika Wells dismissed the possibility of a wage-price spiral and says pay increases for the nation’s lowest-paid workers isn’t a major inflation driver.
We don’t have inflationary problems in this country because our lowest-paid workers are earning too much.
We have inflationary problems in this country because there is a war in Ukraine, there’s uncertainty across the globe, we are in an inflationary cycle.
Roughly 400,000 workers will receive a wage boost of up to 28% after the Fair Work Commission delivered a landmark decision for the sector on Friday.
Personal carers will get an increase between 18.2% and 28.5%, home-care staff will get a rise between 15% and 26% and there will be a 6.8% boost for those involved in support services.
Wells said neither the Reserve Bank governor nor the treasury secretary believed Australia was experiencing a wage-price spiral, which is where inflation expectations cause workers to ask for higher wages and businesses lift prices to cover those costs, in a loop.
- AAP
Updated
Man dies on Sydney road
New South Wales police are investigating after a man was found critically injured on a road in Tamarama in Sydney’s east, this morning.
Emergency services were called to Fletcher Street shortly after 4am on Sunday but police and NSW Ambulance paramedics were unable to revive the man and he died at the scene.
Officers attached to Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command have established a crime scene and requested specialist assistance from the crash investigation unit.
Motorists are advised to avoid Fletcher Street between Glen and Silver streets.
The man has not yet been identified.
There has been heavy rain in the area overnight.
Updated
Hydrogen car sales down
Just six hydrogen-powered cars were sold in 2023 in a sign the transport technology is failing to find a place with the Australian public.
These sales are down on the 15 hydrogen cars sold the year before, amounting to lower sales than cars from luxury brands such as Maserati and McLaren.
Australia currently has 12 hydrogen refuelling stations under construction, according to the CSIRO, but electric cars, trucks and buses are already growing in popularity.
Electric vehicle sales in Australia jumped 120% in 2023, with more than 180,000 EVs on Australian roads and 98,436 bought the year before.
For more on this story, read Guardian Australia’s previous reporting:
- with AAP
Updated
Penny Wong marries long-term partner Sophie Allouache
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong and Sophie Allouache have tied the knot after nearly two decades together.
The couple were married in Adelaide on Saturday in a ceremony attended by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and senior ministers.
The couple’s two daughters – Alexandra, 11, and Hannah, 8 – were reportedly flower girls at the wedding.
In a post to Instagram on Sunday, Wong said:
We are delighted that so many of our family and friends could share this special day with us.
- AAP
Updated
Sunday’s Pro-Palestine rallies
Weekly pro-Palestine rallies are being held across Australian capitals. Here are the details of the planned protests for Sunday:
Sydney: 1.30pm at Hyde Park
Melbourne: 12pm at the State Library of Victoria
Perth: A rally was held at 4.30pm in Forrest Place on Saturday
Brisbane: A rally was held at 5pm in Queens Gardens on Saturday
Adelaide: n/a
Hobart: n/a
Darwin: n/a
Updated
‘Government should apologise’: visas should never have been issued to Palestinians, says Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson was asked about the decision by the Australian government to pull the visa of Palestinians seeking to escape the violence as they arrived in the country.
He says the visas should never have been issued.
They were granting visas to people that their own security advice says they shouldn’t and no wonder, they were rushing them through quickly. Some of the visas were approved in 24 hours. The ABC reported there was a visa granted in a single hour. It is not possible to do adequate identity, let alone security checks, of people coming from a war zone run by a terrorist organisation in that short time.
It’s hardly surprising we have had to cancel visas issued while the people were in the air. Frankly, the government should apologise. They assured us all the necessary checks were done, they were thorough and there was nothing to be concerned about. Clearly that was not true.
Updated
Unwra not the only agency capable of providing aid to Gaza, says Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says there are other options aside from relying on Unwra to distribute aid to Gaza, including airdrops and delivery by sea.
Let me come to that. That means we explore every alternative, the airdrops, the delivery by sea, the first delivery by sea happening overnight, by a United Arab Emirates delivery working with the World Central Kitchen. We heard there is no one other than Unwra capable of delivering aid. That is clearly not true. The US is exploring sea delivery and options, other charities are operating there. We should do everything in the safest way to make sure the listed terrorist organisations of Hamas does not end up with Australian taxpayer funds.
The Israeli government has remained steadfast in its refusal to allow aid into Gaza and has expanded a list of items that it believes have dual civilian-military uses, directly hampering efforts to address the situation.
Attempts by the US to airdrop aid to Gaza killed five and injured 10 after the parachutes failed to open and the package fell on a the roof of a house.
Because so much infrastructure has been damaged during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the US government is considering building a floating port off the coast. Ensuring the success of this approach would, however, rely on infrastructure and equipment that does not exist.
Updated
Paterson repeats Israeli allegations about Unrwa
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson is asked about the claims against Unrwa, the UN agency responsible for distribution of public services and aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and repeats a series of allegations made by the Israeli government regarding the agency.
My view is we shouldn’t tolerate a single Australian dollar going to a to potential terrorist. This is not the only accusation against them. There is a Hamas datacentre underneath their headquarters in Gaza, [getting] mains power from Unrwa, who admitted in the past their textbooks in Unrwa schools in Gaza had antisemitic [material] that promotes hatred against the Jewish people. Israel have been warning us for years about the behaviour of Unrwa and the warnings were ignored. And the employees participated then on the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Unrwa has 13,000 staff; there were 12 people alleged by the Israeli government to have been involved in the 7 October attacks. Unrwa has admitted it fired those accused without investigating the claims as a pre-emptive measure in an example of “reverse due process”.
Israel has also claimed one in 10 Unrwa employees are Hamas supporters and called for the organisation to be dismantled.
The Israeli government has been repeatedly asked to supply evidence to support its claims but has so far failed or refused to do so.
Updated
Government should not make ‘concessions of fact’ in immigration cases, says Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says that the Australian government should not make “concessions of fact” in immigration cases, noting that in previous cases, an acknowledgment that an individual had “no reasonable prospect” of being deported was “highly significant”.
I hope they don’t make mistakes like that again.
Updated
Paterson blasts government’s immigration detention policy
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson is now asked about immigration detention, given the government has been briefing that the high court is unlikely to allow indefinite detention to continue.
The senator said a briefing on Friday was a “desperate attempt to lower expectations about the government’s ability to respond, with good reason” and that the government should act to re-detain several individuals that include, according to Patterson, seven murderers and 37 offenders.
We have a risk now, that is that offenders, foreign offenders, are in the community reoffending against Australians. People are victims, who should haven’t been, because these people should not have been released. Once they were, they should have been taken off the streets.
Updated
Paterson defends Coalition’s TikTok usage
It is pointed out to shadow home affairs minister James Paterson that even as the Coalition considers its options on TikTok, the party also has its own TikTok account.
So should the Liberal Party be on TikTok?
All Australian politicians are active on the platform. I think that is OK as long as they follow the government’s national security advice about mitigating the risks. For example, it shouldn’t be on the same device they have their work or personal information on, on a stand alone.
Paterson, who is not a TikTok user, says the app is safe to use so long as the relationship with “the Chinese Communist Party and the app is severed”.
Updated
Misinformation a concern on all social media platforms but TikTok worse, says Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson acknowledges that misinformation can spread on any platform but says TikTok is a vehicle for Chinese Communist Party influence.
It does happen on all platforms. This is important. Facebook regularly publicly assesses that there are attempted Chinese party interference attempts on their platform. They disclose that. They block it. They remove it. TikTok has never once found in its view a Chinese foreign attempt on the platform That’s curious. If the Chinese government is using western headquartered social media platforms for disinformation, why wouldn’t they use the platform in their own jurisdiction, that they can directly control.
Asked whether the Coalition would ban TikTok, Paterson says the party is seeking advice about its options and that there are several options it may consider. He also says he has concerns about WeChat.
I’m not advocating a ban for TikTok and to WeChat. [What] I’m advocating is removing the Chinese Communist Party control over all these.
Updated
Asio considers TikTok a security threat, says Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says Australian intelligence agencies consider TikTok a security threat, as evidenced by a ban on the use of the platform on government devices.
It’s not safe to be on the phone of a bureaucratic, so why should 8 million Australians have it on their devices.
The senator also says the data it collects is a threat.
They can use it for espionage against individual people and at scale to build a sophisticated picture of our society, an important asset in a digital age. When Asio assesses that foreign interference and espionage are [a] security threat and we know much is cyber enabled, having TikTok on the devices of almost half of Australians and Americans is a serious national security threat.
Updated
TikTok a ‘bad faith actor’, shadow home affairs minister says
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says he has been “extensively briefed” by “the intelligence community on the danger of TikTok” but it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go into detail” about the nature of that briefing.
Sticking to material in “the open source arena”, Paterson says TikTok has been “exposed” for “using their app to spy on journalists to identify their sources and they lied about it”.
He also says “independent researchers” have found there is more pro-China propaganda on TikTok and more pro-Hamas information on the platform.
TikTok is a bad faith actor. It is a risk to our national security. The government should take action to protect Australians from this serious threat.
As an aside, for balance, it is worth remembering the role Facebook played in steering election outcomes through the activity of groups like Cambridge Analytic.
Updated
US plan to force TikTok sale will make it safer, says James Paterson
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says a plan by the US government to force TikTok to be sold so as to limit the influence of the Chinese government is not a “ban” on the platform but a plan to “make TikTok safe by removing the influence of the Chinese Communist Party”.
The threat is to make sure that TikTok complies with the law. I hope that millions can use TikTok but [without] the risk that the Chinese [Communist Party] can put its thumb on the algorithm to pump misinformation to our democracy.
Updated
Wild weather warning for Top End
Top End residents have been warned to expect days of wild weather as Tropical Cyclone Megan moves towards the coast.
The warning zone for the category two system stretches hundreds of kilometres from Alyangula in the Northern Territory’s northeast down the coast to the border with Queensland.
It’s expected to become a category three system by Sunday night before it reaches the coast on Monday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone would have a “very destructive core” when it made landfall, with wind gusts of up to 185km/h expected from the Nathan River in the NT down to Queensland.
Tropical #CycloneMegan has formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is forecast to reach Cat 2 tonight and Cat 3 Sun night before landfall on Monday. It should weaken quickly as it tracks west through the #NT. For the latest track maps and updates, head to https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ pic.twitter.com/phmdUT3PGk
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 16, 2024
Severe conditions were expected from early Sunday, with meteorologist Miriam Bradbury warning communities to expect sustained gale-force winds and damaging gusts of up to 100km/h.
We could see trees and tree limbs downed by these winds, leading to debris on the roads and potentially disrupted transport routes.
She warned communities outside the tropical cyclone warning zone could still feel the impacts of wind and rain, with a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall issued in the East Arnhem district.
Twenty-four-hour rainfall totals could exceed 200 millimetres, which can lead to flash flooding.
The weather system is expected to return to a tropical low as it heads farther inland on Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting the bureau to issue flood watches for further river rises across the territory.
Abnormally high tides are likely along the gulf’s coast and large waves could produce minor flooding along the foreshore, the bureau said.
It comes one month after category one ex-tropical Cyclone Lincoln crossed the territory’s coast in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, bringing high winds and heavy rainfall.
-AAP
Updated
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson will be speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers.
Coming up on #Insiders with David Speers:
— ABC News (@abcnews) March 16, 2024
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson interviewed🔎
Zoe Norton Lodge📸
Dan Bourchier, Samantha Maiden and Phil Coorey 🛋️
See you at 9am #auspol
We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.
Updated
Labor may lose Ipswich West seat in byelection
Queensland’s Labor government has taken a huge hit in two byelections, seeming likely to lose the once-safe seat of Ipswich West and suffering a huge swing in Inala, previously held by the former premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Queensland’s governing party also bled votes to the left in Saturday’s local government elections, with the Greens registering their best-ever result.
Labor appears to have lost nearly half its primary vote – 30% – in its safest seat, Inala. If the result holds, it would be worse than when the Liberal National party, led by Campbell Newman, experienced two disastrous byelections before its defeat at a general election in 2015.
Labor appeared to have suffered a 17.7% two-party preferred swing in Ipswich West, according to early counting.
The LNP candidate in Ipswich West, Darren Zanow, a retired former concrete business owner, campaigned on a platform of cracking down on youth crime.
Members of the LNP were confident of taking the seat on Saturday night, although not yet declaring victory
For more on this story read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Queensland state reporter, Andrew Messenger.
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Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Queensland’s state government has taken a hit in two recent byelections after it appears to have lost the safe seat of Ipswich West, and suffered a swing in its safest seat, the former premier’s seat. In what is being seen as a test case ahead of an upcoming state election, Queensland Labor lost nearly half its primary vote in Inala – a result which foreshadows a major LNP win.
Tropical Cyclone Megan is heading towards the north Queensland coast, sparking warnings for Top End residents to prepare for days of wild weather. The cyclone is expected to become a category three system on Sunday night before it makes landfall on Monday morning with the Bureau of Meteorology warning it would have a “very destructive core”.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
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