What we learned: Friday 5 April
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of what we learned today:
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that two Australians are reported missing after the earthquake in Taiwan.
Major flooding could threaten parts of Sydney with drivers warned to avoid non-essential travel as a deadly storm brings intense rainfall along the eastern seaboard.
The Albanese government has released its national energy performance strategy to drive a high-energy performance economy, help consumers take control of their energy use and save on bills.
Extra police from South Australia have been called to Alice Springs to help manage the ongoing youth curfew, due to end on Wednesday.
The New South Wales shadow health minister, Matt Kean, has resigned from the Coalition for Conservation over its stance on nuclear energy.
A New South Wales police operation that resulted in a man being shot dead by the force while suffering psychosis was significantly “flawed”, an inquest has found.
The findings from an IDF investigation into the killing of seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, in an Israeli airstrike, will be made public on Saturday, according to Col Peter Lerner from the Israel Defense Forces.
The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.
Asbestos has been located at a second park in Melbourne’s Hosken Reserve in Coburg North.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has signalled that next month’s budget is likely to contain cuts to some programs within his portfolio
Mona Foma, the Tasmanian summer festival run by the Museum of Old and New Art, has become the latest casualty of the Australian festival circuit, with Mona head David Walsh announcing on Friday that the festival “ends here”.
Updated
East coast weather: flood warnings for Queensland and NSW as BoM forecasts heavy rainfall
Heavy rainfall will drench parts of Queensland and New South Wales this weekend, with motorists urged to stay off roads.
Laura Boekel, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said a trough is affecting Queensland and New South Wales, producing a significant amount of rainfall across the two states.
“The atmosphere has a lot of moisture in it at the moment and the result of that is we’re seeing these storms producing quite a lot of rainfall,” she said.
Major flooding was affecting parts of Sydney on Friday afternoon, with drivers warned to avoid non-essential travel.
A severe weather warning is in place along the NSW coast from Morisset, south of Newcastle in the Hunter, to Bega on the South Coast and extending west to the Central and Southern Tablelands past Oberon and Goulburn.
More weather news here:
Updated
If you’re just catching up on today’s news, my colleague Luca Ittimani has the top stories in our afternoon update here:
Calls for more water safety education
The drowning of two men from Melbourne’s Indian community has prompted a plea from life-savers to inject more cash into multicultural water safety programs, AAP reports.
Dharmvir Singh, 38, and Gurjinder Singh, 65, drowned after leaping into a pool at a Gold Coast hotel on Sunday trying to save the younger man’s child.
The father and grandfather were able to get the child to safety but could not swim, police said.
Multicultural communities are five times more likely to drown when swimming and the Indian community are particularly vulnerable, according to Life Saving Victoria.
After the tragedy, the state’s peak water safety body said urgent action was needed to better support multicultural communities around water, with 28,000 migrants arriving in Victoria each year.
Updated
Police operation in which NSW man shot dead during psychotic episode was ‘flawed’, inquest finds
A New South Wales police operation that resulted in a man being shot dead by the force while suffering psychosis was significantly “flawed”, an inquest has found.
Todd McKenzie, 40, was suffering from psychosis when he was shot three times by police in his Taree home in 2019 following a nine-hour siege after police responded to reports he was on the street yelling and holding a knife.
The deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame urged the NSW government to hold a summit into how police respond to mental health incidents, saying it was the need for training was a “live issue that needs urgent attention”.
“In my view, it time to grapple with these issues in and away from the pain of each individual death, these issues affect the whole community not just the grief that lasts for ever with the death associated with a love one,” Grahame said.
More on this story here:
Updated
Mona Foma to no longer be held after 2024 festival, museum head announces
Mona Foma, the Tasmanian summer festival run by the Museum of Old and New Art, has become the latest casualty of the Australian festival circuit, with Mona head David Walsh announcing on Friday that the festival “ends here”.
Mona Foma premiered in 2009, curated by Violent Femmes member Brian Ritchie, and has hosted artists including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, David Byrne, Philip Glass, St. Vincent and Dresden Dolls, with events taking place across Launceston and Hobart.
But Walsh said this year’s festival, held in February and March, would be the last, alluding to low ticket sales last year and the rising costs of an extension to the museum that Walsh said “got out of hand”.
“Maybe the end started at Covid. Maybe it’s because the last festival was a poorly attended artistic triumph. But those aren’t the reasons I killed it,” he said in a statement.
“I know that we live for experience but, more and more, I seek permanence, a symbolic immortality. At Mona, I’m building this big thing, hopefully it’ll be a good thing, but it’s a costly thing. I’m addicted to building, and my addiction got out of hand. Some things have to go before I’m too far gone.
“Mona Foma is one of those things. It’s been magical, but the spell has worn off.”
Mona Foma is the latest loss to the Australian music industry, still reeling from the cancellation of this year’s Splendour in the Grass in March, a month after Groovin the Moo was cancelled.
Read more on the pressures facing the festival industry here:
Updated
‘Time to be fearless’: NT attorney general urges Australian leaders to pursue treaty after voice defeat
The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.
The attorney general and deputy chief minister, Chansey Paech, is urging the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and state and territory colleagues not to allow the referendum result to stall progress on the other elements of the Uluru statement from the heart.
“To all other Australian jurisdictions and the commonwealth – don’t be afraid,” Paech, an Arrernte, Arabana and Gurindji man from Alice Springs, said on Thursday. “This is the time to be fearless and do what’s right.”
Updated
South Australian police head to Alice Springs for curfew backup
AAP is reporting that extra police from South Australia have been called to Alice Springs to help manage the ongoing youth curfew, due to end on Wednesday.
The assistant police commissioner Martin Dole told reporters the extra police had been brought in to “gradually relieve” some of the NT police in Alice Springs.
He said several people from South Australia’s APY lands are stuck in Alice Springs due to recent wet weather:
South Australian police offered to come and boost our resources so we can return some of our officers to Darwin and continue the heightened police presence in Alice Springs.
They’ll be working side by side with NT police.
Dole argued calm had been restored to Alice Springs and just three young people were removed from the CBD on Thursday evening – down from 25 on Sunday:
I think you can see the feeling in the population of Alice Springs that are out for dinner, in the evenings out in the mall and enjoying the open spaces and the beautiful weather that we’ve got down here at the moment.
Updated
ACT integrity commission says it is ‘assessing corruption allegations’ against Walter Sofronoff'
The ACT’s anti-corruption watchdog has confirmed it is “assessing corruption allegations” made against Walter Sofronoff for his conduct during the inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial.
In a rare public acknowledgment due to the “exceptional” circumstances surrounding the case, the ACT integrity commission confirmed on Friday it was looking at Sofronoff’s extensive communications with the media during the inquiry as revealed in a recent supreme court trial. The letter read:
The commission’s general policy is to neither confirm nor deny the referral or investigation of corruption allegations unless the circumstances are exceptional. Here, the issues are especially important, their subject matter has already been widely publicised and the need for the integrity commission to assess and, if necessary, investigate them is apparent.
Once assessed, the integrity body will then determine whether a full investigation should be launched.
The assessment will also look at Sofronoff’s release of the final report to some media before it was handed to the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, as well as other disclosures made by Sofronoff to the media during the inquiry’s seven months.
Sofronoff had 273 interactions with Janet Albrechtsen, columnist for the Australian newspaper, during the inquiry into the handling of the Lehrmann trial.
Those interactions included 51 phone calls, text messages, emails and a private lunch meeting in Brisbane. Call logs submitted to court showed the former judge spent seven-and-a-half hours on the phone with the Australian over the seven-month period with most of that time to Albrechtsen.
A supreme court judge ruled last month those communications gave rise to an impression of bias against the former ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, who Sofronoff had delivered damning findings about in his final report in July 2023.
In Sofronoff’s defence against the claims, his lawyers said he discussed practical matters about the inquiry with Albrechtsen, including when documents would become available.
The ACT integrity commission gave no timeline for the length of the assessment process and said it would offer no further public comment until it has been completed.
Updated
Good afternoon, everyone. I’ll now be with you until this evening.
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today. Jordyn Beazley will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and to my fellow east coasties – stay dry!
Updated
Wong says Netanyahu trying to ‘brush aside’ death of Zomi Frankcom ‘deeply insensitive’
The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to “brush aside” the deaths of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her colleagues in an Israeli missile attack in Gaza, labelling his remark that these things happen in war as “deeply insensitive”.
Wong’s direct personal condemnation of Netanyahu comes as the Israeli military reveals it has completed its investigation into the incident and briefed ambassadors from the countries whose citizens died in the attack.
“I find that statement … frankly, for the family in particular, a pretty insensitive – deeply insensitive – thing to say,” Wong said of the Israeli prime minister’s initial response.
And what I’d say as the Australian foreign minister is we do not accept that explanation. We do not accept any suggestion that this is just something that can be brushed aside as just something that happens in war.
Continue reading:
Activist appeals fine over Tiananmen protest posters
An activist is appealing a fine for illegal political advertising by displaying placards about the Tiananmen Square massacre, AAP reports.
Drew Pavlou was found guilty in a Brisbane court of failing to obtain consent for a regulated activity and not complying with a direction to cease from an authorised person. He was fined $1,000 plus $2,000 for the Brisbane city council’s costs and just under $114 for court costs by magistrate Michael Holohan in October.
Pavlou set up a table and placards near the entrance to the Queen Street Mall and Chinese consulate in Brisbane’s city centre in May 2022 and displayed signs saying “Nothing happened on June 4, 1989, change my mind,” referring to the date when China’s military violently ended a protest, and its government’s efforts to censor discussion of the massacre.
Pavlou was issued an infringement notice after failing to comply with a Brisbane city council officer’s instructions to “pack up” the placards as they constituted unauthorised advertising in the mall.
The university student had been communicating his view of the Chinese Communist Party via his freedom of expression under Queensland’s Human Rights Act, Pavlou’s lawyer Anthony Morris KC argued.
No conviction was recorded after the court heard it would affect Pavlou’s plans to become a lawyer.
Pavlou said he was appealing against the fine as it was unfair that holding a blank sign on Brisbane city council land was subject to a “massive fine”. He told AAP outside court:
I’m sure that we’ll win … [and] it’ll be a great victory for free speech. The Queensland Human Rights Act which makes very strong protections for freedom of speech, we think that that should protect the act of holding a blank sign.
Pavlou’s appeal against the fine due to be heard today was adjourned until 17 May as material had not been filed.
Updated
Train and bus delays in Sydney as extreme weather continues along east coast
Transport for NSW says its rail network is experiencing “widespread delays” as extreme weather continues to hit the east coast.
A spokesperson said delays are affecting the following lines at various locations: T1 North Shore & Western, T2 Inner West & Leppington and T3 Bankstown, T8 Airport & South and T9 Northern.
As of 1pm teams were also on site at Redfern station where a signal infrastructure issue was being fixed.
Sydney Trains is out working in extreme conditions to rectify weather issues as they arise. If access to your station or station car park is affected by flood waters, please do not attempt to enter the station.
Meanwhile, buses are replacing ferry services between Rydalmere and Parramatta due to the Parramatta weir overflowing.
The Transport for NSW spokesperson said there are currently no significant delays for Sydney’s bus network, but passengers were reminded to take care on the roads.
Updated
Three men dead after trucks collide head on
Rescue crews continue to clean up the carnage of a truck collision on a remote highway in South Australia that killed both drivers and a passenger, AAP reports.
The two semi-trailers collided head on just before 7am yesterday, 27km west of Yalata on the Eyre Highway in the state’s west.
The driver of one road train, a 77-year-old man from Adelaide’s north, died at the scene, along with a 25-year-old NSW man and a 45-year-old Victorian man in a second truck.
The Eyre Highway, which is the main road route connecting SA to Western Australia, was closed for most of Thursday while major crash investigators examined the scene but was reopened just after 8pm with a speed restriction in place.
Police have advised motorists further delays are expected throughout today, with possible closures of the highway as the remnants of the prime movers and their trailers are recovered from the scene.
The deaths are the 24th, 25th and 26th lives lost on South Australian roads this year.
Firefighters union calling for inquiry after truck failed during rescue
Victorian firefighters were forced to enter a building without water to rescue occupants last night after a firetruck with a history of faults failed, the United Firefighters Union says.
The union is now calling for a public inquiry into the state of Victoria’s firefighting resources.
Firefighters received the call last night and were told “kids are inside” but on arrival, the water pump failed. The union said firefighters entered the building rather than waiting for a back-up truck. One man was rescued and the building fire was controlled, but the union said firefighters are “furious”.
Secretary Peter Marshall said it was “appalling” that firefighters were being forced to risk their lives simply because the state government refuses to invest to replace old, failed trucks and equipment:
The union has previously said this fire season will be a late and severe one with almost 50 homes lost this fire season. Fire Rescue Victoria has for over two years raised the need for replacement appliances, but the minister has ignored the problem.
The union said it has previously identified 60 fire trucks in metropolitan Melbourne that are more than 15 years old and have cracked doors, old engines, and rusted roofs.
Updated
War of words between Victorian energy minister and federal counterpart
A war of words has erupted between Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, and her federal counterpart, the resources minister Madeleine King, with the former accusing the latter of “sounding like a Coalition minister” when it comes to the issue of gas supply.
D’Ambrosio took to X/Twitter to hit back at comments King made on ABC Radio this morning about Queensland “doing the heavy lifting in terms of gas supply for the whole of the east coast”. King had said:
I’m not interested in criticising decisions of state governments. They make their choices. What I would say is that Queensland is doing the heavy lifting. But any gas you transport from long distances, like from far north Queensland in Gladstone, all the way down to Melbourne or the industrial estates of Victoria, it costs more money to get hold of that gas because you’ve got to move it through a pipeline. Or if the import terminals end up eventuating, you’ve got to freeze the gas and defrost the gas and transport the gas
King said she expected those costs to be passed on to consumers, and said her government had made reforms to shore up gas supply.
D’Ambrosio wasn’t having it. She wrote on X:
So [King] is more like a Coalition Minister on radio this morning. How about talking the facts: 1. [Queensland] gas is not doing ‘the heavy lifting’ as it remains a nett importer of Vic gas 2. There is no ban on Vic onshore con. gas exploration. And Vic fixed Iona – not you
So @MadeleineMHKing is more like a Coalition Minister on radio this morning. How about talking the facts: 1. Qld gas is not doing ‘the heavy lifting’ as it remains a nett importer of Vic gas 2. There is no ban on Vic onshore con. gas exploration. And Vic fixed Iona - not you
— Lily D'Ambrosio MP (@LilyDAmbrosioMP) April 4, 2024
Updated
SES responds to 823 calls for assistance
The deputy commissioner of the NSW State Emergency Service, Deborah Platz, just provided an update on the severe east coast weather to ABC News.
The SES had responded to more than 500 calls for assistance overnight, and that number has now grown to 823:
Predominantly those calls for assistance have been for falling trees, leaking roofs and sandbagging many houses and some aged care and childcare facilities.
Platz said the SES is preparing for more intense rainfall over the next 12-24 hours, particularly around the metropolitan area. With winds up to 90km/h the SES expects trees to be uprooted and potentially some structural damage to buildings.
The SES’s main areas of concern are the Hunter, the Sydney-Illawarra and Central Tablelands. She urged people to stay indoors and avoid driving where possible, particularly in flooded areas.
For us, our state is [divided] into seven zones. Five of those zones currently have active 24/7 incident management command teams operating and we have had over the past 24 hours, 836 volunteers who have been actively out and about helping people in our community.
Updated
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines has shared this update on the severe east coast weather:
Severe Weather Update: Heavy rain impacting eastern states. Video current: 11:30am AEDT 5 April 2024. For the latest forecasts and warnings go to our website: https://t.co/4W35o8iFmh pic.twitter.com/GBChor3b6H
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) April 5, 2024
Earlier, Benita Kolovos reported that asbestos had been found at a second park in Melbourne. She now has the full story with all the details here:
Two Australians missing following earthquake in Taiwan
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that two Australians are reported missing after the earthquake in Taiwan.
A spokesperson said the Australian Office in Taipei is making “urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm their welfare”.
Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years. It has killed at least nine people and injured hundreds, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides.
18 people remain missing in total.
Updated
‘Megadroughts’ of more than 20 years will worsen due to global heating, research finds
Australia should prepare for “megadroughts” that last more than 20 years and will worsen due to human-induced global heating, new research has found.
Megadroughts are exceptionally severe periods of below average rainfall that last decades. Climate modelling by the Australian National University, published in the journal of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences last week, found droughts spanning more than two decades have occurred in Australia over the past millennia and recur every 150 to 1,000 years, depending on the modelling used.
The study concluded that megadroughts of 20 years or more were “a natural feature of the Australian hydroclimate”, supporting previous research drawn from ice cores that found a 39-year drought hit eastern Australia about 800 years ago.
But Dr Georgy Falster, who led the research, said that a megadrought has not yet been officially recorded because Australia’s observational rainfall records have only been kept for a relatively short period of about 120 years.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Two injured and two reported missing after boat accident
Two people have been found injured and two others are believed to be missing after a boating accident on the Gold Coast, AAP reports.
A member of the public called emergency services at 5am today after a boat was spotted unmanned at Runaway Bay, a suburb on the Gold Coast.
One man was found by paramedics on the shore while another man was rescued by water police. The pair in their 30s were assessed for arm and leg injuries before they were taken to Gold Coast university hospital.
Police are still searching the water after receiving unconfirmed reports that two people remain unaccounted for.
The investigation is continuing.
Updated
Measles warning after second case in SA in two weeks
A second case of measles has been reported in quick succession with South Australian health authorities warning at-risk individuals to be on alert amid a potential wider outbreak, AAP reports.
A 17-year-old boy from Adelaide is in a stable condition in hospital after being exposed to an infected infant who became ill after returning from overseas.
Health alert: Measles case
— SA Health (@SAHealth) April 4, 2024
Read here https://t.co/I5GSYTM6gx pic.twitter.com/v4pgB7930s
Measles is “a serious and highly contagious infectious disease,” SA Health said, spread in the air through coughing or sneezing by someone who is unwell with the disease.
Symptoms include fever, sore eyes and a cough followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash which typically spreads from the head and neck to the rest of the body.
It can take up to 18 days for symptoms to appear after exposure.
Locations visited by the latest infected case include a medical centre in Norwood on 2 April and the Women’s and Children’s hospital emergency department on 3 April. A full list of public exposure sites, stretching back to 15 March, are available on the SA Health website.
It is the third reported case of measles in South Australia so far this year after a one-year-old child tested positive in February.
Updated
Here is another look at the New South Wales weather forecast, showing a huge swathe of the state expected to experience severe storms today:
⛈️ Thunderstorm Forecast for today (Friday): Severe storms possible for central and northern NSW, with risk of isolated heavy falls and potential flash flooding. Heavy falls may lead to river rises. Latest warning details at: https://t.co/Ss766eSCrL pic.twitter.com/cN9qCxwvrs
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) April 5, 2024
Severe weather warnings for Sydney, Illawarra, Hunter and Blue Mountains
The Bureau of Meteorology has updated its severe weather warning for the east coast of New South Wales.
Severe Weather Warning (Heavy/Intense Falls, Damaging Winds) current for #Sydney #Illawarra #BlueMountains #Hunter as more rain expected this evening into early am Sat. The risk area will then shift to #SouthCoast & S.Ranges through Sat. Warning https://t.co/EIDIQ98q7d pic.twitter.com/Fxasc7YgIm
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) April 5, 2024
It said a trough is expected to deepen today and Saturday, bringing heavy rain and gusty showers. This will gradually shift south overnight, easing through Saturday as it moves towards the Tasman Sea, the Bureau said.
Heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding is forecast for southern parts of the Hunter to metropolitan Sydney, the Illawarra and Central Tablelands today.
Six-hourly rainfall totals between 50mm to 90mm are likely, reaching up to 130mm over the Illawarra escarpment. 24 hour totals of 70mm to 120mm are also likely.
24-hour rainfall totals of up to 300mm may occur over the Illawarra region, the Bureau said.
Wind gusts around 90km/h are possible from this evening along the coastal strip, including metro Sydney.
Updated
Approximately 92 flights cancelled at Sydney airport due to bad weather
Sticking with the interruptions at Sydney airport, and it is understood about 92 flights have been cancelled.
This has mostly been across the domestic network.
The Sydney airport website lists 50 domestic departure flights that have been cancelled today.
Updated
Delays at Sydney airport amid severe weather
A number of flights have been cancelled or delayed at Sydney airport as severe weather lashes the east coast.
It is understood all runways remain open but there have been a number of cancellations and delays, mostly impacting the domestic terminal.
A spokesperson for Sydney airport said:
Due to storm activity, there have been some flight delays and cancellations. We encourage passengers to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.
Updated
Former mayor puts up hand to lead Tasmanian Labor
A record-breaking mayor and once-rejected election candidate could become the next leader of the only Labor opposition in Australia, AAP reports.
Dean Winter, from Tasmanian Labor’s right faction, has confirmed he would nominate for the party’s leadership position.
Tasmanian Labor failed to make inroads at the recent state poll which delivered a hung parliament. The Labor leader, Rebecca White, subsequently stepped down from the role.
The nomination has the support of the current party deputy, Anita Dow. Winter said in a statement that Labor needed to again earn the trust of Tasmanians.
As bad as this Liberal government has been, Tasmanians were not prepared to elect enough Labor members for us to govern. Too many times over the past 12 months, I’ve been asked “what does Labor stand for?”.
Winter was first elected in the southern electorate of Franklin in 2021, after his preselection was initially denied by state Labor – a decision overturned by the party’s national executive. The 38-year-old grew up in Kingston, south of Hobart, and in 2018 became the youngest-ever mayor of the Kingborough Council.
The party’s caucus will meet next week once final election results are known, with a ballot to be held if more than one person nominates for leader.
Updated
Asbestos located at second Melbourne park
Asbestos has been located at a second park in Melbourne.
Guardian Australia understands asbestos was found at Hosken Reserve in Coburg North, which is run by the Merri-bek Council.
It is believed to be unrelated to the discovery of two pieces of asbestos at Donald McLean Reserve in Spotswood earlier this week.
The council has been approached for comment.
More to come.
Updated
Warragamba dam likely to spill as deadly rain band moves across NSW
AAP is reporting that Warragamba dam, which serves as Sydney’s main reservoir, is likely to spill on Monday.
Water NSW’s chief executive, Andrew George, said today:
We require about 90mm of rain to fill Warragamba Dam … we’re expecting 100mm to 150mm.
The spill will occur likely when the rainfall event has moved on, so it is very important that the community remain vigilant.
The dam, on the city’s south-western fringe, was 96.3% full on Friday morning.
Updated
Physicians call for health lens to tackle youth justice issues
Australian physicians say the key to addressing youth justice is to take a healthcare approach, rather than treating children as criminals.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) has made a submission to the Queensland parliament’s youth justice reform select committee, and is calling on the state government to not criminalise children under 14 but use a health lens to address the issue.
Dr Jacqueline Small, a paediatrician and RACP president, said access to support services for those under 18 with complex health and social needs is crucial “so there can be meaningful intervention and to reduce the chances of them winding up in the justice system.”
Children who interact with the criminal justice system face greater disadvantage than their peers who do not – and these gaps in health, development and well-being widen as they grow older, resulting in poorer health and well-being outcomes as adults.
We have been calling on state and territory governments to step up and protect our young people and their futures. The time to act is now, as reform to our criminal justice system is long overdue.
In its submission, the RACP recommends the age of criminal responsibility be raised to at least 14 “with no exceptions”. It also recommends no children of any age be incarcerated in adult facilities, health assessments for all children entering custodial settings, and the prioritisation of Indigenous leadership.
Updated
NSW weather warnings wrap
Here is an overview of the current weather warnings active across New South Wales, according to the Bureau of Meteorology:
Marine wind warning: Gale warning for Sydney’s enclosed coast, Macquarie coast, Hunter coast, Sydney coast and Illawarra coast. Strong wind warning for Coffs coast and Batemans coast.
Severe weather warning for the east coast, stretching from just above Merimbula to just below Newcastle, and inland to Putty, Bathurst, Crookwell and the ACT.
Hazardous surf warning for the Macquarie coast, Hunter coast, Sydney coast and Illawarra coast
Warning to sheep graziers statewide for cold temperatures, rain and showers.
Minor to major flooding possible in the Hawkesbury-Nepean river from late Friday.
Minor flooding possible at Lismore.
Minor flooding possible at Yarraman Bridge in the Gwydir River catchment into Friday.
Minor flooding occurring at Willara Crossing in Paroo River catchment.
Minor flooding possible at Coraki and Bungawalbyn in Richmond River catchment into Friday.
Updated
Nuclear energy ‘would make power more expensive in Australia’, SA premier says
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has argued that nuclear energy would make power more expensive in Australia rather than cheaper.
He spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier and was asked to give his thoughts on nuclear being part of the country’s future energy mix.
Malinauskas argued the debate about nuclear energy had been “utterly captured by ideology” on both sides and that in the past there had been “too many decisions driven by unpragmatic ideology”.
He said nuclear power would contribute to the “decarbonisation of the energy mix globally” and argued the technology had evolved beyond safety concerns, but the main question remans: is it affordable?
Every single objective, independent analysis that has looked at this has said nuclear power would make power more expensive in Australia rather than cheaper. Why we would impose that burden on power consumers in our country is completely beyond me.
One day in one hundred years time, nuclear technology might evolve and that could change. In South Australia, over 75% of all our energy comes from renewables now. When the sun is shining on a day like today, the price of power collapses and nuclear simply wouldn’t be able to compete, which would result in an additional cost when the tens of billions of capital investment would have to be paid down. We have to stick to pragmatic solutions, and for us that is renewables and with gas-fired generation firming it.
Updated
School closures across NSW amid severe weather
Ten schools across New South Wales are non-operational amid the severe weather.
According to the Department of Education, eight public schools are closed today:
There are currently 8 NSW public schools non-operational.
Baryulgil public school
Coffee Camp public school
Corndale public school
Longneck Lagoon environmental education centre, Maraylya
Megalong public school
North Star public school
Orama public school, Thora
Tulloona public school
Meanwhile, two independent schools are also non-operational:
Al-Faisal college, Auburn
Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula school, Eungella
Updated
Stay indoors alert issued for Sydney, Wollongong
The NSW SES has just published a warning for people in Sydney, Wollongong, Nowra, Batemans Bay and Goulburn to stay indoors.
This is due to damaging winds and heavy to intense rainfall, it said.
EASTERN NSW Severe Weather – STAY INDOORS!
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) April 4, 2024
The NSW SES is advising people in the following areas to STAY INDOORS due to damaging winds, and heavy to intense rainfall: #Sydney, #Wollongong, #Nowra, #BatemansBay, #Goulburn. pic.twitter.com/Rzn00PHghk
Updated
SES conducted seven flood rescues overnight
Chief superintendent of the NSW State Emergency Service, Dallas Burnes, said the service had responded to more than 550 incidents across the state during the past 24 hours.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning, Burnes said it had responded to 165 incidents in Sydney alone, and 552 statewide.
Around 800 volunteers have been active during the past 24 hours, he said.
We’re obviously very concerned with the rainfall to date and what’s forecast for the next day. We’re expecting to see flash flooding and riverine rises, and we’re keeping a very close eye on where those falls are landing to make sure that we’ve got teams ready to respond as needed.
The SES conducted seven flood rescues overnight, six related to people in vehicles. Burnes reiterated a call for people to avoid non-essential travel.
The majority of calls have related to leaking roofs, as well as leaking sky lights, gutters overflowing, and localised light flooding, he said.
Updated
New South Wales motorists told to avoid non-essential travel, take care on roads
Circling back to that earlier point from emergency services to avoid non-essential travel:
In a statement earlier this morning, Transport for NSW urged motorists across the state to take care on the roads and to avoid non-essential travel amid severe weather in the coming days.
Parts of NSW could be hit by up to 300mm of heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours, with the worst of the weather expected to arrive overnight Friday into early Saturday morning.
Those travelling to or from the Illawarra and Hunter, Nepean and Blue Mountains were warned to expect severe weather impacts.
Motorists who need to travel were warned to take their time and plan ahead by checking Live Traffic to see if their route is impacted by severe weather. Executive director of customer journey management, Craig Moran, said:
Drive to conditions, turn your headlights on and allow plenty of distance between you and the car in front. Do not drive through flooded roads. If weather conditions become too severe, find a safe place to stop and wait until it passes.
The warning extended to those taking public transport, who were urged to plan ahead, check timetables and allow extra travel time.
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Flood warnings for river systems in northern NSW
The Bureau of Meteorology was next to provide an update. A spokesperson said the weather system is currently impacting eastern NSW and central parts of the NSW coast, but would move south-east and into the Tasman Sea during Sunday.
He said severe weather warnings are in place for heavy rain and intense falls from Newcastle down to the south coast.
We will start to see more rain from now into Friday night and into Saturday. The intense rainfall … is the driver for likely flash flooding. The broader rain is for the effects on run flooding …
He said that over the next 24–48 hours there will be severe weather and a “flow-on effect” into catchments in the south of Newcastle down to the south coast.
Sydney received more than 100mm overnight, and the Wollongong area captured 50-80mm in different locations.
The spokesperson pointed to the four current flood warnings:
One of them relates to previous rain in the north-west of the state. The other three relate to the current weather situation and they are the Wilsons River [where] there was a peak just below minor [flooding] overnight … The Richmond River nearby seems to have peaked overnight just below minor. We are keeping an eye on the Gwydir River today.
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Winds up to 90km/h expected across Sydney, SES says
The NSW SES commissioner, Carlene York, is next to address the media on the wet weather event in New South Wales.
She said SES resources are pre-positioned across the state to help those affected by rain, storms and potential flooding. The SES is expecting winds of up to 90km/h across the metropolitan area, she said.
York reiterated a call from Transport for NSW to avoid non-essential travel and to take care on the roads:
At the moment out there the roads are dangerous, heavy rain. I am asking people to driver to the conditions. If it is not a necessary trip, put it off to another day.
The SES had 550 calls in the 24 hours to 6am, largely for fallen trees affecting different homes and areas.
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Seven rescues across NSW since Monday amid wet weather, premier says
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is providing an update from the SES headquarters on the wet weather situation in Sydney and right across the state.
He said this is a “significant weather event” and it is vital everyone listens to the latest warnings and updates.
There has been seven rescues since Monday by the SES across New South Wales. That number is expected to increase in the coming days.
It is crucially important that people in New South Wales … don’t take unnecessary risks, that they listen to broadcasts from the SES and they are aware of their surroundings … Hopefully this weather pattern will move through metro Sydney and through the NSW south coast in the next few days.
It is a volatile event and we need to make sure we have the latest information.
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Coalition for Conservation responds to Matt Kean’s resignation
The Coalition for Conservation has provided us with a statement following Matt Kean’s decision to resign.
Kean, a former NSW energy minister and the current state shadow health minister, said he was concerned about the direction of the Coalition and its pro-nuclear energy stance (you can read more on this earlier in the blog here).
The Coalition said it regret’s Kean’s decision to stand down as an ambassador, and that it “firmly disagrees” with the notion the organisation is “conservative-minded” because of its advocacy for nuclear energy. The Coalition also said it operates “independently of any funding from nuclear suppliers or the nuclear industry”.
The statement reads:
Our commitment to environmental protection remains unwavering, and our exploration of nuclear energy stems from its potential to reduce land and biodiversity impact. It’s worth noting that many environmental organisations and think tanks globally are embracing nuclear energy as a component of a balanced energy mix. We continue to support a balanced approach that will ensure equality and protect our communities. We make no apologies for our efforts seeking alternative approaches to minimise environmental impact, and will continue to support behind the metre solar, small grids, good renewable projects that are placed in the right sites avoiding farming and forest land destruction as well as nuclear as part of the transition.
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Sydney set to receive a month’s worth of rain in a single day, Bureau says
Helen Reid from the Bureau of Meteorology has just provided us with an update on the Sydney rain and said the city could very well receive a month’s worth of rain in one day.
She pointed to the Observatory Hill gauge and said on average in April, there is around 126.5mm of rainfall during the month. Since 9am yesterday morning, there has been 106mm of rain.
We are expecting rainfall over Sydney to increase during today … I would suggest that if we got more than the April average, that wouldn’t be too beyond too far beyond this stretch of imagination.
The Bureau’s key message is that it’s going to be a very wet, difficult day – people should call emergency services if they need help and stay out of flood waters, Reid said.
She also encouraged people to stay across any warnings as they are published today. We’ll keep you updated on these right here on the blog.
Read more on the wet weather and flood warnings for New South Wales:
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Criminal charges possible for aid convoy airstrike, IDF spokesman says
Q: If individual members of the IDF were responsible for this attack, will they be named and will action be taken against them?
Col Peter Lerner:
I don’t know the outcome but if that is the situation, I would expect nothing less.
Q: How independent was the IDF’s investigation into the strike that killed seven aid workers?
Lerner:
When I say independent, it’s independent of the chain of command, which means the people that are leading it are former military professionals – so people that are privy and understand and have extreme military experience, either pilots or infantry or artillery intelligence, former senior officers of the IDF. But they are not under the control of the IDF … they are completely independent of the system. But they have full access to all of the information, the operational details, the operational plans, the laws, the rules of engagement for specific missions, intelligence, what we knew, what we didn’t know and notes and so on. Aerial footage, other operational orders – all of the tools that created around specific incident will be helping produce to the independent inquiry.
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IDF investigation into airstrike on aid convoy will be released in next 24 hours, spokesman says
Col Peter Lerner from the Israel Defense Forces is speaking to ABC RN after seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
He said the findings from an IDF investigation into the situation will be made public in the next 24 hours.
The independent investigation has been already presented to the ambassadors of the relevant nations and we will be presenting them to the World Central Kitchen, I expect tomorrow morning and then we’ll be bringing them to the public as well.
It is put to Lerner that there were at least three separate strikes on three cars travelling some distance apart, in a de-conflicted World Central Kitchen convoy coordinated with the IDF, and with at least one logo on one of the roofs.
Q: Is this just something that just happens in wartime, as Benjamin Netanyahu has said?
Lerner:
The nature of warfare is that it is always full of tragedies. Since the dawn of war civilians have been caught up in warfare. We have to be better than that, we have to do better and I think that is our message this morning …
We need to make sure that [humanitarian workers] are not in harm’s way and this is a clear failure of what we are expecting. We spoke yesterday to the office of the liaison officer of the IDF as an officer who was working closely with the [World Central Kitchen]. And he was just devastated from this because he was part of that coordination process. And we need to, and as I said, the details the specifics of what went wrong will be made public within the next 24 hours here in Israel.
Asked about how well IDF commanders on the ground are complying with the rules of engagement, Lerner said if there are any breaches “then they need to be dealt with by disciplinary command level capabilities and perhaps even criminal [charges] if there’s been a very dire mistake.”
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Advocacy for nuclear power 'against the public interest': Matt Kean
The New South Wales shadow health minister, Matt Kean, has resigned from the Coalition for Conservation over its stance on nuclear energy.
Kean, who was formerly an energy minister under the Berejiklian government, published his resignation letter to X last night and said he had become “increasingly concerned with the direction of the Coalition”.
Kean said he first joined as an “enthusiastic supporter” but he is now concerned about a growing focus on nuclear power in the electricity system:
While I recognise that one cannot rule out nuclear playing a constructive role in the Australian electricity system in the distant future, the reality is there is no feasible pathway to play any material role in helping Australia replace our coal fired power stations in line with the climate science.
Kean argued large scale nuclear reactors “have proven costly and slow to deliver” and said Australia does not have “the industry base, skilled workforce, regulatory architecture or social licence” for nuclear power stations to be rolled out “at a pace consistent with averting the worst effects of climate change”.
For these reasons I not only regard advocacy for nuclear power as against the public interest on environmental, engineering and economic grounds, I also see it as an attempt to delay and defer responsible and decisive action on climate change in a way that seems to drive up power prices in NSW by delaying renewables.
The Coalition for Conservation has been contact for comment.
I have had concerns about the direction of @CforConserv for some time, but in recent months it’s become very clear the group’s values are not conservative and it has little interest in conservation. Here is my resignation letter from the organisation pic.twitter.com/KARhcAa3Om
— Matt Kean MP (@Matt_KeanMP) April 4, 2024
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New South Wales braced for flood threat
Major flooding could threaten parts of Sydney with drivers warned to avoid non-essential travel as a deadly storm brings intense rainfall along the eastern seaboard, AAP reports.
An inland low and coastal trough joining forces over NSW is forecast to bring heavy localised falls to much of the state today.
Authorities warned 24-hour totals could top 200mm in Sydney and the south coast, with as much as 300mm dumped on the Illawarra Escarpment overlooking Wollongong.
Major flooding was possible along the Hawkesbury-Nepean River bounding Sydney from late today, with Penrith likely to cop as much rain in a day as one-and-a-half Aprils.
Transport for NSW took the rare step of warning drivers statewide to avoid non-essential travel.
For those who need to travel, please take your time and plan ahead by checking Live Traffic NSW to see if your route is impacted by severe weather.
Continue reading:
Good morning everyone, and happy Friday. Many thanks to Martin for kicking things off. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be bringing your our rolling coverage today – from a very rainy Sydney!
If you see something that needs attention on the blog you can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
Let’s bring you more details about the plan by Richard Marles to make “hard decisions” to cut some defence projects.
Speaking at the Sydney Institute last night, Marles was asked whether he had the support of the defence bureaucracy to cut back on historically high “over-programming” of the defence budget. The defence minister replied:
It does mean taking some programs and not going ahead with them. It means re-profiling some. It means delaying others, re-scoping them. But unless we do that, the numbers don’t add up.
Doing that is something which I actually think builds morale, because people now know that what’s going on is real. This is not make-believe money, or make-believe announcements, or hoopla – it’s actually fair dinkum.
And whilst there are difficult decisions that you need to digest, at least there is a sense that what’s happening is fair dinkum and real.
Marles said he “couldn’t be happier with the response that we’ve received from within Defence in respect of that” but he said it made sense “because it means that people are going to work each and every day with a sense of purpose about what they’re doing”.
Elsewhere in the speech, Marles confirmed defence spending was on track to reach 2.4% of GDP by 2033–34.
That goal is not in question but the particular projects funded are up in the air.
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Richard Marles signals budget likely to contain cuts to defence programs
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has signalled that next month’s budget is likely to contain cuts to some programs within his portfolio, even as defence spending increases overall.
In a speech to the Sydney Institute on Thursday night, Marles flagged plans for “tough but necessary decisions to divest, delay, or re-scope” some projects in order to accelerate other projects “that will have the greatest impact on our strategic objectives”.
He said the former Coalition government had “adopted the habit of making large defence announcements without the money to turn these announcements into reality”.
Marles said Labor had “inherited a defence budget that was at historically high levels of over-programming”, meaning programs that were promised without enough money allocated. He said that in some years “that over-programming reached 30 to 40%”:
That means that for every $100 Defence had to spend it was planning to spend $140. Or, in other words, more than a quarter of what Defence had planned to buy or deliver, it had no money for.
Marles said some level of over-programming made sense, similar to the principle of managing a queue to allow for unforeseen circumstances or delays. But he said more than 20% over-programming was “costly for industry and ultimately dishonest” because not all projects could happen and “everyone is just waiting for the eventual train wreck”.
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Government launches national energy strategy
The Albanese government has this morning released its national energy performance strategy to drive a high-energy performance economy, help consumers take control of their energy use and save on bills.
The plan targets five main areas where Australians can improve energy performance and ensure consumers can use energy more efficiently: the economy; households; communities, businesses and industry; the energy system itself; and technology and innovation.
This means investing in home energy ratings tools, lifting minimum standards for new builds, social housing upgrades, grants for small business and local government, and $1bn for low-cost loans to households.
In a statement released this morning, ministers claim the strategy has highlighted that:
Between 2011, under changes made by the last Labor government, to 2022, minimum standards and transparency on energy efficiency saved Australians $12-18bn in energy costs.
Flexible demand – including both large-scale demand and controllable EV charging and batteries – would generate up to $18bn in cost savings for consumers through lower capital and wholesale prices by 2040.
Around 20% of global emissions reduction by 2030 will be achieved by electrification.
It is hoped that consumers can make savings by upgrading appliances, homes and buildings; maximising off-peak times to reduce energy costs; and harnessing renewable energy technologies like solar, batteries or electric vehicles.
Ministers say they will also collate and publish more data to better track energy performance across the economy, better integrate demand-side opportunities into system planning, and establish an advisory group to better coordinate collaboration across business and governments.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be taking you through a few of the top overnight and breaking news stories until my colleague takes over.
The pressure on Australia to take a stronger stand against Israel after the Gaza aid worker killings intensified overnight when the charity involved urged the governments of the staff who died to join its call for an independent inquiry. Anthony Albanese called out his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday, saying the latter’s comments that “this happens in war” were “not good enough” to try to justify the deaths of Australian Zomi Frankcom and six other aid workers who were delivering food in Gaza on Monday. But the international food charity World Central Kitchen has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strikes and called on the governments of Australia, Canada, the UK, Poland and the US to back the demand. There’s also pressure on Joe Biden to act and he discussed the incident with Netanyahu overnight.
When thousands of Australians began receiving demands for back tax from the ATO last year, many assumed they were the only ones to receive the letter. But Guardian Australia went on to reveal the campaign – quickly dubbed “robotax” – was designed to capture up to 1.8 million taxpayers of one description or another, mainly individuals, and raise in excess of $15bn. Jonathan Barrett unravels how the scheme started, how people reacted and what politicians are doing in response.
US shipyards are running up to three years late in building new Virginia-class submarines, according to a report ordered by the US navy secretary, Carlos Del Toro, which was published this week. The findings will only add to existing concerns about the viability of the plan for Australia to buy at least three Virginia-class submarines to fill a “capability gap” in the 2030s. It comes as the defence minister, Richard Marles, has signalled that next month’s budget is likely to contain cuts to some programs within his portfolio, even as defence spending increases overall.
And the huge storm predicted for New South Wales is expected to arrive today and could threaten parts of Sydney and other regions with flooding. Drivers have been warned to avoid non-essential travel as an inland low and coastal trough join forces over the state.
More coming up.
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