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What we learned today, Saturday 7 January
We will wrap up this news blog for today. Thanks all for your comments, correspondence and company. As we go, a summary:
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Flights have brought thousands of kilograms of food to isolated flood-stricken communities in the Kimberley. An airfield is now accessible, meaning food, water, medicine and other essentials can get in.
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In NSW’s far west, communities in Menindee and Broken Hill are still waiting for flood waters to peak, in some of the worst flooding in decades.
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will visit Papua New Guinea next week. He has described as a “great honour” an invitation to address the country’s parliament.
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Albanese has joined Australians in congratulating Ash Barty, Australia’s most recent Wimbledon champion, who announced she is expecting a baby.
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A 20-year-old man remains missing after getting into trouble swimming at Victoria’s Gunnamatta beach on Friday evening. His father and teenaged brother were both rescued. The search for the missing man continues.
NSW premier visits flood-hit Menindee and warns of ‘long journey ahead’
Communities in NSW’s far west are being warned they face “a long journey ahead” following expected record flood peaks.
Premier Dominic Perrottet visited Menindee and Broken Hill on Saturday, lamenting the immense amount of water from the slow-moving disaster will take weeks to recede.
The Darling River at Menindee is tipped to peak at more than 10.7 metres in the coming days, higher than the previous 1976 record of 10.47 metres, due to further heavy rainfall and planned water releases upstream.
About 30 properties have been impacted by flooding above floor level, with State Emergency Service crews and others working to sandbag, deliver supplies and gather intelligence in preparation for the rising waters.
Perrottet was briefed by the SES alongside other ministers on Saturday, before surveying the extent of flooding around Menindee by helicopter.
“The waters are still rising. There is a long journey ahead once once we hit the peak,” Perrottet said.
“We’ve got so many roads that are underwater, many properties that are affected, evacuation orders are still in place, and from above you can see the extent of the damage and the time it’s going to take to get through this event.”
Assessments were also being made of the threat to communities downstream of Menindee, in particular at Wentworth on the Murray River bordering Victoria.
The SES assistant commissioner, Shawn Kearns, said his organisation was beginning to reach out to landholders and communities south of Menindee to assess their risk.
The emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, said financial support would remain available for impacted residents as it had been throughout last year, when hundreds of communities across the state were affected by floods.
“The focus at the moment is to make sure that we get through the current response phase,” Cooke said.
“But we will move very quickly at the appropriate time into recovery and that’s when we’ll be able to do those all important rapid damage assessments, understand the damage to people’s homes and that will provide that basic intelligence to make sure we put the right supports in place.”
One of the biggest flood impacts in regional communities has been damage to roads, which last week the state government committed $500m to help fix.
The independent MP Roy Butler, who represents the state’s largest electorate of Barwon, welcomed the funding but said the actual cost of fixing regional roads would likely be much higher.
“It’s fair to say the repair of roads and improving roads so that we’re not cut off for as long in our communities is going to be in the billions of dollars,” Butler said.
He said there weren’t enough road crews to keep up with demand for repairs regardless of the amount of funding.
“It’s going to take a long time, there’s no easy way to say it,” Butler said. “This shire has 2,700km of unsealed roads. It’s going to take a long time.”
Water levels at Menindee are expected to remain above the major flood level of 9.7 metres through to mid-January, according to the SES.
Albanese says addressing PNG parliament a ‘great honour’
Anthony Albanese says his visit to Papua New Guinea next week will hopefully help boost ties with Australia’s immediate neighbour and promote “friendship” within the Pacific community.
The prime minister will become the first political leader outside of PNG to address the island nation’s parliament in the capital Port Moresby on Thursday.
“I want to thank Australia’s great friend, Prime Minister James Marape, on giving not just me but, I believe, Australia that great honour,” Albanese told reporters in Geelong on Saturday.
His trip will also be the first to PNG by an Australian prime minister since 2018.
Talks between the two leaders are expected to focus on economic and security arrangements, while Albanese says he is keen on “advancing our friendship in the region” particularly in relation to climate change.
Albanese was set to travel to PNG before Christmas but the trip was postponed after he tested positive for Covid.
While there, he and Marape will also travel to Wewak, on the country’s north coast, to visit the resting place of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, who became PNG’s first prime minister after the country gained independence from Australia in 1975.
Sir Michael, who died in February 2021, is regarded as the “Father of the Nation”.
Adelaide police charge eight boys after stolen SUV chase
Eight South Australian boys led police on a chase early on Saturday morning in a stolen car before the tyres were spiked and police dogs found them in suburban gardens.
Just after midnight, police in Adelaide spotted a Toyota SUV that had been stolen the previous day.
A police helicopter began following the car as it travelled west from the city before officers spiked the vehicle’s tyres on Henley Beach Road.
The car kept going before stopping a short time later in a suburban street off the main road.
The eight occupants dumped the car and fled.
Police dogs Duke and Chaos worked to help officers find all of the boys, who were hiding in nearby gardens.
Those arrested include a 14-year-old from Hampstead Gardens, two 12-year-olds from Greenacres, a 14-year-old from Pennington and two boys from Hendon, aged 13 and 14.
All have been charged with illegal use of a motor vehicle and were bailed to appear in Adelaide youth court on 24 February.
A 12-year-old from Campbelltown and a 17-year-old from Oakden have been charged with illegal use of a motor vehicle and breach of bail offences.
They were refused police bail and will appear in Port Adelaide magistrates court on 9 January.
The family will gather to watch a livestream of a rocket launch in the US. On board the rocket will be a small inscribed metal token holding a portion of ashes. This, from Eva Corlett, is intriguing:
Related: ‘He will always be stardust’: New Zealanders find connection with space burials
Dylan Storer, an ABC journalist in Fitzroy Crossing, has posted these images of food arriving for flood-stricken communities:
Albanese government confident on Aukus despite US submarine questions
Here’s a more fleshed-out version of what the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and defence minister, Richard Marles, said earlier about the Aukus deal.
It emerged on Friday that US senators warned Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia because it could stretch the home industrial base “to breaking point”. Which sounds ominous – the US is at full capacity building its own submarines, so how they’ll help Australia out is a live question.
But Albanese and Marles say it’s all going swimmingly:
Related: Anthony Albanese ‘confident’ about Aukus deal despite US submarine scepticism
Posted without context, I was just rather tickled by this picture of the US tennis player Taylor Fritz at the United Cup:
When is imposing a pre-flight Covid test requirement on travellers from China against medical advice not a breach of a commitment to follow that advice? When it’s done out of an “abundance of caution”, enough other countries are doing it and it might help squeeze China for more information about its Covid outbreak, apparently.
Those were the explanations the health minister, Mark Butler, offered throughout the week.
Although the requirement itself for a negative Covid test in the 48 hours prior to departure may not be onerous, it was still a surprise to see such a break from the “follow the medical advice” mantra of the first two years of the pandemic.
To understand how we got here, perhaps it’s best if we start with the government’s messaging last week, when the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, publicly observed there was no need for pre-flight tests because Australia already had the variant circulating in China.
Thank you, Ben Doherty, for a stellar afternoon’s work… although I’m a little daunted now, cannot compete with that epic Elvis post…
Parkes shakes, rattles and rolls for 30th Elvis festival
Stephanie Gardiner reports from Parkes for AAP, and the Guardian’s own Mike Bowers is there too!
It’s dusty, stinking hot, and buzzing with blowflies, but for just a few days rural NSW is taking a Hawaiian holiday.
Two months after savage floods devastated the central west, the Parkes Elvis festival is bringing cheer, celebrating its 30th anniversary in the theme of Blue Hawaii.
A brass band dressed in floral shirts and leis led a shaking, rattling and rolling parade on Saturday morning, followed by roaring hot rods packed with Elvis and Priscilla lookalikes.
Swing dancers twirled down the main street, alongside Marilyn Monroe and Cher impersonators and cheerleaders throwing gold batons.
An Elvis dressed in electric blue and tottering on stilts loomed over the crowd, while a trio of Presley admirers spun in homemade hoop skirts decorated with hundreds of paper flowers.
Thousands of revellers who came from interstate and overseas got a glimpse of rural life when a tiny brown wallaby suddenly bounded up Clarinda Street, expertly dodging the cavalcade.
“Yes, there is a wallaby,” a State Emergency Service volunteer’s radio chirped.
Kelly Hendry, a Parkes local, gathered neighbourhood friends and their children to walk in the parade, along with Parkes East Public school’s therapy dog, an excitable fawn labrador named Nixon.
“We take the Christmas tree down, and Santa’s out, then Elvis is in the building,” Hendry said.
“2022 was a really difficult year and there’s a lot of people still dealing with the grief and the trauma and the repairs.
“But if this can put a smile on some people’s faces and they forget their troubles for a couple of days, that’s a great thing.”
Alex Gardner, from Jervis Bay, and Tony Schneider, from Brewarrina, met at the Tamworth country music festival a decade ago, and make the trip to both festivals every January.
The friends clung to inflatable guitars and were kitted out in rhinestone suits, towering black wigs and oversized golden glasses.
“Every performer here is unreal, they play Tom Jones, Buddy Holly, and – what’s he called – John Lennon,” Gardner said.
For Schneider, who found his outfit hanging at a Dubbo op-shop, the appeal is simple: “It’s wine, women and songs, music is just one part of it.”
The festival began as a quaint dinner and dance in 1993, in an effort to bring visitors to the town during the quiet heat of summer, and now attracts about 24,000 visitors.
The federal MP Michael McCormack, dressed in a tailored blue jumpsuit with gold beading, said the festival was one of the highlights of his year.
“Thirty years, how good is that? It’s amazing to think the central west can have a festival to an American icon,” McCormack told AAP.
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Food and medical supplies flown in to flood-hit WA communities
Thousands of kilograms of food has been flown in to flood-affected communities in Western Australia, as authorities head for Fitzroy Crossing to listen to people’s “frustrations”.
Efforts to take food and medical supplies into the communities in the Kimberley region were hampered by the severe weather, and residents were worried they would run out.
The emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson, says Australian Defence Force planes and other aircraft are now able to use the airstrip at Fitzroy Crossing as the weather has improved.
He also warns that record water levels, the fallout from ex-tropical cyclone Ellie, which has been dumping water in the region for days, are set to hit Looma and Pandanas Park.
Evacuations have continued, and Dawson says while there has been a “reticence” by some people to leave their homes, those attitudes have changed, while the authorities are taking food to those who choose to stay.
He and the fire and emergency services commissioner, Darren Klemm, will go to Fitzroy Crossing this afternoon for a community meeting. Dawson says:
It’s really an opportunity for us to listen and hear their frustration. I know they’re frustrated. I am aware though, having spoken to people this morning, there is a sense of relief now as planes have started to fly in and land and drop off food supplies.
The ADF planes will be joined by other aircraft including Chinooks to continue the resupply effort, while barges will be used to take supplies into Broome.
Klemm says that effort will “really ramp up today and in the days ahead” as the weather has improved.
The WA government has also announced $3m for a distress fund set up by Perth lord mayor, Basil Zempilas.
Albanese defends cut to subsidised psychology sessions
Albanese is now talking about the decision to stop subsidising 20 psychology sessions – it will go back to 10 per person.
“There was a temporary measure put in place which stopped at the end of 2021,” he says.
The issues are complex, he says:
And the evidence was that, for so many people, they weren’t able to access any support at all. And that was something the government bore in mind. This is something that we’ll continue to work through.
Anthony Albanese outlines his government’s challenges for 2023
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, are holding a press conference in Geelong.
Albanese says his government faces four main challenges this year.
The first is the international economic situation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact on power prices, and the level of national debt.
The second is national security. Albanese says:
In the first quarter of this year, you will see Australia laying out the optimal pathway that we have to advance the Aukus relationship with the US and the UK, including the development of nuclear-powered submarines.
Then there are the defence strategic reviews, and security in the region. Albanese is heading to Papua New Guinea on Thursday and will be the first non-PNG leader to address its parliament. He says:
In part, a necessary precondition of Australia advancing our friendship in the region has been my government taking climate change seriously. For our Pacific neighbours, climate change is no laughing matter.
And then there’s fairness, he says:
How do we promote fairness in our society?
Younger girls are increasingly attending emergency departments in mental distress or having self-harmed, Australian doctors say, while young women have the highest increase in antidepressant use.
Two new studies published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry reveal alarming levels of mental illness among young people, particularly teenage girls who are least likely to be admitted to hospital when seeking treatment.
Related: Younger girls increasingly presenting to Australian hospitals in mental distress
Australia declare with Khawaja five runs short of double-century
Pat Cummins has declared. Usman Khawaja stranded on 195 not out… tough, tough call.
See updates from the inimitable Geoff Lemon here.
Search continues for man missing in heavy seas on Mornington Peninsula
Emergency services resumed a search on Saturday for a missing young man after being called to the Gunnamatta surf beach on the Mornington Peninsula on Friday night.
A man noticed his sons, aged 20 and 16, were struggling and went in to help them.
Rescuers managed to pull the father and the teenager from the water, but the older son could not be located.
“It was a heavy swell and strong winds at the time,” Victoria police acting inspector Ian Pregnell said.
Police, surf life savers and State Emergency Service personnel, including helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, were initially deployed in the search on Friday.
Helicopters were seen still circling the beach on Saturday.
The rescued father and teenager were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.
Japanese Jetstar flight reportedly makes emergency landing after bomb threat
Reuters is reporting a Japanese Jetstar flight has been diverted and forced to make an emergency landing after an alleged bomb threat…
A Jetstar flight has been forced to make an emergency landing in central Japan after receiving a bomb threat, according to local media.
The aircraft was reportedly travelling from Narita airport near Tokyo to Fukuoka on Saturday, when it was forced to divert to Aichi prefecture, public broadcaster NHK said.
No injuries were reported, however footage posted to social media appeared to show passengers disembarking via emergency slides and walking across the tarmac.
The broadcaster said 149 passengers had made reservations for the flight.
NHK said police had received information of the threat and that the emergency landing prompted Chubu airport to temporarily suspend takeoffs and landings.
Jetstar Airways has stakes in sister airlines Jetstar Asia Airways and Jetstar Japan, which is joint-owned by Qantas, Japan Airlines and Tokyo Century Corporation.
Jetstar has been contacted for comment.
Queensland authorities issue almost 800 fines in e-scooter crackdown
A crackdown on e-scooter offences has led to almost 800 fines being issued by Queensland authorities since November.
Nearly 400 riders have been caught without a helmet, while 161 were nabbed on prohibited roads and 52 while exceeding the speed limit.
Almost 50 operators have been fined for illegally carrying a passenger and 23 have been accused of failing to stop at a red light.
Queensland cut footpath speed limits for e-scooters and increased fines for some offences to more than $1,000 in a suite of changes on 1 November, targeting reckless users.
Under the rules, the maximum speed for e-scooters and other mobility devices like e-skateboards were slashed to 12km/h on shared paths, with people caught breaking the limit to be hit with a minimum $143 fine.
A speed limit of 25km/h remains on infrastructure like bike paths and local streets.
Warning bells are now mandatory for all devices and penalties can extend to a $1,078 fine for anyone caught using a mobile phone while riding.
The transport minister, Mark Bailey, said at the time the government made no apologies for cracking down.
“We want every person who uses our footpaths, bikeways and bike lanes to be safe from harm, and these reforms go a long way in tightening the Queensland road rules around this new technology,” he said.
Riders caught drinking face fines of $431, while they can be penalised $143 for not wearing a helmet or “doubling”.
Transport researchers warned earlier this month that a “patchwork” of conflicting laws governing electric scooter use across Australia was putting riders and pedestrians at risk.
Over the new year period, a serious e-scooter incident left a NSW man in an induced coma and two teenaged Queensland riders suffered “critical injuries” following an accident involving a car.
A recent e-scooter trial in Melbourne also revealed more than 250 crashes over the course of a year.
Two people die in car crashes in NSW
Two people have died in separate crashes on NSW roads overnight.
Police are working to identify a man who died after a two-vehicle crash in Sydney’s inner west late on Friday night.
The man, believed to be in his 20s, was driving a Mazda hatchback that collided with a Toyota hatchback on the Princes Highway in Tempe.
Paramedics tried to revive the man but he died at the scene.
The driver of the Toyota, a 54-year-old man, was hospitalised in a serious but stable condition and underwent mandatory testing.
Police established a crime scene and are investigating the circumstances of the crash. A report will be prepared for the state coroner.
Meanwhile, a woman died after a single-vehicle crash on the Central Coast about 6.30pm on Friday.
Police said the Toyota ute she was travelling in crashed into a tree on a median strip in Somersby, leaving her with critical injuries.
Paramedics treated the 48-year-old woman at the scene but she died.
A man in the ute sustained minor injuries and was hospitalised.
Police are investigating how the crash occurred and will prepare a report for the coroner.
‘This is just fantastic news’: PM joins in congratulations to Ash Barty
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has joined in congratulations and well wishes to an excited Ash Barty after the retired tennis champion shared the news she is pregnant.
While Barty won’t defend her Australian Open crown this month she continues to draw headlines.
The 26-year-old former world No 1 revealed her baby joy on social media on Friday night.
Barty posted a photo on Instagram of her dog Origi with a pair of baby shoes.
“2023 set to be the best year yet. We are so excited for our new adventure,” Barty wrote in a caption including a baby emoji.
“Origi already the protective big sister.”
Her husband, golf pro Garry Kissick, also posted on Instagram a photo of the baby shoes with the dog and a baby-sized Liverpool kit with the caption “Little Red, 2023” and a baby emoji.
The PM joined those sending well wishes to former Young Australian of the Year Barty.
“This is just fantastic news that Ash Barty is going to be a new mum in 2023,” Albanese said on Saturday.
“Ash Barty is someone who is a great credit to Australia. I had the privilege of being there to watch her win the Australian Open in January of last year.
“Ash Barty carries herself so well and is just a great Australian and I think that all Australians will wish Ash Barty all the very, very best.
“I look forward to seeing Ash Barty in whatever she does. She’s going to be a winner on the court and off the court and congratulations.”
The three-time grand-slam champion’s news comes nine months after she shocked the tennis world by quitting the sport just seven weeks after ending Australia’s 44-year singles title drought at the Open.
Barty has already been busy in retirement, publishing a series of children’s books, releasing her own autobiography, My Dream Time, starting a foundation and mentoring emerging young tennis star Olivia Gadecki.
While she won’t be playing, Barty will still be a conspicuous presence at Melbourne Park this month, supporting Gadecki when the 20-year-old makes her eagerly-anticipated Open debut when the major starts on 16 January.
Remembering the ‘superstar’ Australian economist who made global poverty his life’s work
The words “superstar” and “economist” are not always the most natural pairing.
But it’s a sobriquet entirely apt for Martin Ravallion, the Australian who dedicated his life to eradicating global poverty and inequality.
Peter Hannam (the Guardian’s own superstar economist) has filed this thoughtful piece…
Related: Remembering Martin Ravallion, ‘superstar’ Australian economist who made poverty his life’s work
SCG open to day-night Test option to combat bad light stoppages
The SCG Trust chairman, Tony Shepherd, is adamant the Sydney Test must be played in its New Year’s time slot despite weather concerns but would be open to reimagining it as a day-night match to combat bad light stoppages.
Six of the last seven SCG Tests have been interrupted by rain and showers have affected the first four days of the current Test against South Africa with no play at all on Friday.
That has prompted renewed calls to shift the SCG Test to a time slot less likely to be affected by rain.
Last summer, Shane Warne suggested Sydney could switch Tests with Brisbane so as to host the first match of the season in early December.
But Shepherd said the SCG would not surrender its New Year’s time slot, despite conceding the La Niña weather pattern of the past two years had brought the ground’s bad run of weather into sharper focus.
“This is the tradition. We’ve just got to live with the climate,” he said on SEN on Saturday.
“We do get a bit of rain here and sometimes it does disrupt play but we’ve just got to get through that.
“It’ll be a good season next year because I think we’re going to get El Niño (weather pattern) next year, which will mean we’ll be in the middle of a drought.”
After bad light forced two stoppages in play on day one against South Africa, Shepherd met with the Cricket Australia chief executive, Nick Hockley.
While Hockley previously said he was hopeful updates to the SCG’s floodlights would prevent similar delays in future, Shepherd suggested Sydney could follow Adelaide’s lead and host a day-night Test with a pink ball.
The pink ball’s brighter colour makes it more visible than the traditional red ball and allows play to continue into darkness under lights.
“We could do a day-nighter or we could just use a pink ball the whole game,” Shepherd said.
“The alternative would be if you had that sort of light issue towards the end of the day, just have a bag of pink balls there and substitute them.”
At stumps on day one, the Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne pushed back against the idea of substituting the red ball out for a pink one as the balls do not react in the same way when bowled.
But Shepherd said the fans needed to be considered.
“In my view, cricket and all elite sports survive on fans,” he said.
“The show must go on. We should do everything in our power to make sure we don’t have that (stoppages) happen again.”
Rain delays play in Sydney Test
Rain has again delayed play in the Sydney Test, with the start of day four pushed back and Australia’s chances of completing a 3-0 series sweep taking another hit.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t join Guardian Australia’s Geoff Lemon as he waits … and waits …
“Maybe we just need to re-envisage the rain as Test cricket,” he writes in our cricket live blog here.
You can join Lemon, who earlier described himself as “just a boy, standing in a front of a ground, asking it to please stop being festively damp”, here:
Related: Australia v South Africa: third Test, day four – live
‘Aussie Cossack’ defends ‘prank’ video on Ukrainian ambassador after complaint to police
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia has claimed a controversial pro-Putin YouTuber who broadcast his personal phone number – which had been included in a press release – to more than 160,000 subscribers has enabled a campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Australian federal police have been made aware of Vasyl Myroshnychenko’s complaint that Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname “Aussie Cossack”, made a prank call on Thursday which was filmed and published on social media.
Myroshnychenko claimed that following the publication of his phone number he received dozens of insulting and threatening calls from strangers. Boikov has denied inciting harassment and criticised the ambassador for having his phone number available publicly.
Read more here:
Catholic mass held to pray for survival of Nicholas Tadros
The Glenmore Park community in western Sydney has attended a Catholic mass to pray for the survival of Nicholas Tadros, 10, who is on life support after the fatal Gold Coast helicopter crash.
The ABC estimated around 200 family and friends attended the mass at St Padre Pio church, where Nicholas received his holy communion. Nicholas’s mother, Vanessa Tadros, 36, was with him when the two Sea World helicopters crashed into one another on Monday afternoon.
Three other people who were on the same helicopter died in the crash, including the pilot, Ashley Jenkinson, and a British couple, Ron and Diane Hughes. Winnie de Silva, 33, and her nine-year-old son survived the crash.
A Queensland Health spokesperson said yesterday that Nicholas was in an “unchanged” condition from Thursday, when he was listed as being in a critical condition and in an induced coma.
Albanese government plays down US concerns over Aukus
The first question is about Aukus, and those concerns about whether the US has the capacity to provide Australia with submarines. Albanese says “we still regard the US relationship as one of our most important alliances … so I’m very positive”.
He says the National Security Committee has been meeting almost weekly.
Richard Marles says one of the reasons the US and the UK are part of the Aukus deal is that it’s in their strategic interests to help Australia with the capability. He says:
There really is a shared sense of mission between the US, the UK and Australia in seeing Australia acquire this capability, but there are lots of challenges and there’s no doubt about the pressure this places on the industrial base of the US and also the UK … We’re very aware of it, that’s why it’s so important that Australia develops its own industrial capability to build nuclear-powered submarines, which we will do in Adelaide.
Albanese celebrates Ash Barty’s pregnancy
It’s “just fantastic news” that tennis champ Ash Barty is set to have a child in 2023, Albanese says, adding that she’s going to be a winner at whatever she does.
Prime minister says WA floods ‘devastating’
And a final word on those WA floods. Albanese says “the floods are having a devastating impact” and are the largest for a long period of time.
He says his government is working constructively with the WA government (as well as the SA and NSW governments). He plans to visit regional NSW and Queensland on the way to PNG.
Marles says nuclear submarines ‘will require the industrial base of the whole nation’
Albanese says the national security committee is talking about “preparedness and training and upskilling” in areas such as nuclear technology, and the other skills that will be needed to sustain the fleet of nuclear-powered submarines that Australia plans to acquire.
How does Australia benefit from this technology and what is very advanced manufacturing, so it has a flow-on effect throughout the economy?
We are determined to have a future made in Australia, including upskilling so that it has a benefit, and not just in SA.
Richard Marles says it’s a “really exciting opportunity for Australia to develop the industrial capacity to build a nuclear-powered submarine for our nation”:
We will need to develop that capability in order to contribute to the industrial base of the three countries – the US, the UK and ourselves – and we are doing that at pace right now.
He says it is “such a large endeavour that it will require the industrial base of the whole nation”.
The “optimal pathway” will be announced soon, he says.
And that, folks, is that for now.
Anthony Albanese says he’s now met three prime ministers of the UK (which could have happened in a relatively short period of time, to be honest).
He says he sat next to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at the G20:
The dialogue that is occurring between the three countries can’t be more constructive, be more supportive of each other and our common interests.
Albanese talks about Labor’s childcare and gender equity initiatives, and:
The voice to parliament referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our … constitution, that will take place in the second half of the year. For my government, I’m very proud of the way that work began.
*Insert some joshing here about Marles’ football team*
Albanese accuses Coalition of politicking on Covid requirements
The next question is about the government’s decision to ensure travellers from China show a negative Covid test before flying to Australia.
Anthony Albanese says the government has been transparent about the decision-making process, and that the government continues to take advice from the chief medical officer and state health officers. The tests are a “simple measure”, he says, accusing the Coalition of politicking about it.
Marles defends Australian weapon exports
Richard Marles is asked about that story I mentioned earlier, about Australia exporting weapons to countries with dubious human rights histories. He says:
I’m not going to comment on the specifics of any particular export, but Australians should have a sense of confidence that the way in which we have engaged in exports over the course of the last 12 months and certainly the way in which we will do so in the future is consistent with the very tight guidelines that we have.
This is the law of the land, and the law of the land is completely transparent in terms of the obligations it places upon us as a government in terms of the exports that we undertake, and we are meeting those obligations.
PM says Australia was ‘transparent’ about Covid test announcement
I didn’t catch the actual question, but Albanese is now talking about people using the hospital system because they don’t have access to GPs, or because of issues with the aged care system.
He says it’s “perplexing” to hear critics saying the China Covid tests are “a bigger deal” than Australians being tested to go to China.
“We were transparent about the announcement,” he says.
Albanese says it’s in Australia’s interest to have better relations with China
On China, Albanese says:
We’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we will engage in our national interest. It is in Australia’s national interest to have better relations with China, it is in China’s national interest to have a good relationship.
Search for teenage surfer off Victorian coast
AAP is reporting a teenage boy is missing off the Victorian coast after he and two other people got into difficulty in the surf.
Emergency services were called to Gunnamatta surf beach on the Mornington Peninsula about 6.45pm on Friday.
They rescued a man and a teenage boy, but were unable to find the other teenager.
The two rescued males were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police, surf life savers and State Emergency Service personnel, including helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, are all involved in the search for the boy, which resumed on Saturday.
Water, water, everywhere – the peak is moving down the River Murray (yes, that’s how we say it in South Australia). You can read the background here:
Queensland woman to face court after being charged with murder of father and daughter
A Queensland woman will face court today after being charged with the murder of a father and his young daughter.
The remains of Todd Mooney, 54, and his 10-year-old daughter, Kirra, were found after a shed fire at Biggenden, south-east of Bundaberg, on 20 December.
Mooney, a local bakery owner, was due to marry his fiancee on 28 December.
Investigators initially believed the pair died in a tragic accident before post-mortem results steered police to treat the incident as a homicide.
Police have charged the 24-year-old Maryborough woman with two counts of murder and one count of arson.
Investigators are appealing for anyone who may have seen a white Holden Barina wagon with a distinctive solar panel on the roof in the area around the time of the fire to contact police.
– AAP
And they’re presenting at younger ages, as Melissa Davey reports:
Related: Younger girls increasingly presenting to Australian hospitals in mental distress
“Bonza the bogan airline” sounds like a crap children’s book, but it’s an interesting story about another moving part in Australia’s turbulent air transport industry. Also, Elias Visontay managed to get budgie smugglers into it, making the skimpy swimwear somewhat of a sub theme on the blog today:
Related: Bonza the ‘bogan’ airline has had a tough year – but it may finally be about to take off
In some good news for Western Australia, AAP reports that it has been listed as a top travel destination for this year by global news broadcaster CNN.
A highlight will be the solar eclipse on 20 April, and the accompanying Dark Sky festival. The Margaret River wine region and “quokka-covered” Rottnest Island also got mentions.
Waters at Menindee expected to peak
Waters at Menindee in New South Wales are expected to peak this weekend:
The ABC is reporting concerns that the Stuart Highway could be cut off by the flooding in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. The authorities yesterday said the ongoing severe weather – including water across the Fitzroy Crossing airstrip – was an ongoing challenge for bringing in supplies, and bringing out people. So triple road trains will be used, but they’ve already got quite the journey:
Related: Floods force road trains supplying Kimberley to detour extra 7,400km via SA and NT
Remember when then-defence minister Christopher Pyne declared Australia should become one of the world’s top weapons exporters? He promised it would not do so “willy-nilly”. Anyhoo, here’s this from the ABC:
And (warning, another clunky segue approaches), having only just learned that budgie smugglers are de rigueur for Sydney’s gay men, AAP has an interview with Sydney WorldPride’s chief executive, Kate Wickett.
WorldPride is a “17-day extravaganza” and will feature more than 300 official events, dance parties, concerts, and a pride march. Wicket says:
Invite your mum, your dad, your brother, your sister – there is truly something for everyone.
This is about our community, Australia and Sydney in particular coming together to celebrate and advocate for equality and who we are as Australians.
New year, same old pandemic. Christopher Knaus has been tracking outbreaks in aged care:
Related: Covid deaths in Australian aged care surpass 100 a week, the highest rate since August
We’ll keep an eye on those floods today. But also, budgie smugglers are back. Cait Kelly takes a look at the post-Abbott era swimwear that makes some people a little twitchy:
Related: ‘Happy to let it hang out’: budgie smugglers are back on Australian beaches
This was linked below but deserves its own spot – Sarah Collard has been talking to people on the ground in Western Australia’s Kimberley region:
Related: ‘People have lost everything’: flooded houses in the Kimberley could be uninhabitable for months
Good morning.
Residents in two major Western Australian towns have been warned their communities are about to become islands amid the state’s worst flooding on record.
A 50km-wide inland sea is surging towards the Kimberley coast after the swollen Fitzroy River devastated the town of Fitzroy Crossing earlier in the week.
The WA emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson, warned residents they would become isolated by flood waters.
“Derby will be an island in the next few days, it will be cut off,” Dawson told reporters yesterday. “The weather and the water, it’s coming towards it so there will be isolation for probably Broome and Derby.”
The massive flood peak that reached a record 15.81m in Fitzroy Crossing late on Wednesday slammed into the tiny Indigenous community of Noonkanbah, 280km east of Broome, yesterday. Looma and Willare are also flooded, with dozens of others isolated, after seven-day rainfall totals up to 600mm were recorded across the region.
A 400km section of the Great Northern Highway south of Broome has been closed and a 500km part of the same freight route between Willare and Halls Creek remains shut.
Late yesterday it emerged that two top US senators, Jack Reed and James Inhofe, had urged president Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, warning it would diminish US national security given the vessels are “scarce”.
The intervention confirmed the US was under pressure not to sell its submarines before Australia was able to build its own as part of the Aukus alliance – meaning it could be decades before Australia gains nuclear submarines.
A spokesperson for the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, played down the leak, saying “the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines is taking shape, and an announcement remains on track to be made in the first part of this year”.
Air crash investigators could take 18 months or more to deliver their findings on a helicopter collision that killed four people on the Gold Coast.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) updated its website on Friday to state the anticipated date for completing its investigation was between July and September in 2024.
“A final report will be released at the conclusion of the investigation. Should a critical safety issue be identified during the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties, so that appropriate safety action can be taken,” the bureau’s website said.
The Australian National Audit Office 2019 report into the bureau’s investigative efficiency found that it took an average of 19 months to produce a report on “complex” incidents.
With that, let’s get into it.
Follow live.
We will wrap up this news blog for today. Thanks all for your comments, correspondence and company. As we go, a summary:
Flights have brought thousands of kilograms of food to isolated flood-stricken communities in the Kimberley. An airfield is now accessible, meaning food, water, medicine and other essentials can get in.
In NSW’s far west, communities in Menindee and Broken Hill are still waiting for flood waters to peak, in some of the worst flooding in decades.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will visit Papua New Guinea next week. He has described as a “great honour” an invitation to address the country’s parliament.
Albanese has joined Australians in congratulating Ash Barty, Australia’s most recent Wimbledon champion, who announced she is expecting a baby.
A 20-year-old man remains missing after getting into trouble swimming at Victoria’s Gunnamatta beach on Friday evening. His father and teenaged brother were both rescued. The search for the missing man continues.
Communities in NSW’s far west are being warned they face “a long journey ahead” following expected record flood peaks.
Premier Dominic Perrottet visited Menindee and Broken Hill on Saturday, lamenting the immense amount of water from the slow-moving disaster will take weeks to recede.
The Darling River at Menindee is tipped to peak at more than 10.7 metres in the coming days, higher than the previous 1976 record of 10.47 metres, due to further heavy rainfall and planned water releases upstream.
About 30 properties have been impacted by flooding above floor level, with State Emergency Service crews and others working to sandbag, deliver supplies and gather intelligence in preparation for the rising waters.
Perrottet was briefed by the SES alongside other ministers on Saturday, before surveying the extent of flooding around Menindee by helicopter.
“The waters are still rising. There is a long journey ahead once once we hit the peak,” Perrottet said.
“We’ve got so many roads that are underwater, many properties that are affected, evacuation orders are still in place, and from above you can see the extent of the damage and the time it’s going to take to get through this event.”
Assessments were also being made of the threat to communities downstream of Menindee, in particular at Wentworth on the Murray River bordering Victoria.
The SES assistant commissioner, Shawn Kearns, said his organisation was beginning to reach out to landholders and communities south of Menindee to assess their risk.
The emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, said financial support would remain available for impacted residents as it had been throughout last year, when hundreds of communities across the state were affected by floods.
“The focus at the moment is to make sure that we get through the current response phase,” Cooke said.
“But we will move very quickly at the appropriate time into recovery and that’s when we’ll be able to do those all important rapid damage assessments, understand the damage to people’s homes and that will provide that basic intelligence to make sure we put the right supports in place.”
One of the biggest flood impacts in regional communities has been damage to roads, which last week the state government committed $500m to help fix.
The independent MP Roy Butler, who represents the state’s largest electorate of Barwon, welcomed the funding but said the actual cost of fixing regional roads would likely be much higher.
“It’s fair to say the repair of roads and improving roads so that we’re not cut off for as long in our communities is going to be in the billions of dollars,” Butler said.
He said there weren’t enough road crews to keep up with demand for repairs regardless of the amount of funding.
“It’s going to take a long time, there’s no easy way to say it,” Butler said. “This shire has 2,700km of unsealed roads. It’s going to take a long time.”
Water levels at Menindee are expected to remain above the major flood level of 9.7 metres through to mid-January, according to the SES.
Albanese says addressing PNG parliament a ‘great honour’
Anthony Albanese says his visit to Papua New Guinea next week will hopefully help boost ties with Australia’s immediate neighbour and promote “friendship” within the Pacific community.
The prime minister will become the first political leader outside of PNG to address the island nation’s parliament in the capital Port Moresby on Thursday.
“I want to thank Australia’s great friend, Prime Minister James Marape, on giving not just me but, I believe, Australia that great honour,” Albanese told reporters in Geelong on Saturday.
His trip will also be the first to PNG by an Australian prime minister since 2018.
Talks between the two leaders are expected to focus on economic and security arrangements, while Albanese says he is keen on “advancing our friendship in the region” particularly in relation to climate change.
Albanese was set to travel to PNG before Christmas but the trip was postponed after he tested positive for Covid.
While there, he and Marape will also travel to Wewak, on the country’s north coast, to visit the resting place of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, who became PNG’s first prime minister after the country gained independence from Australia in 1975.
Sir Michael, who died in February 2021, is regarded as the “Father of the Nation”.
Adelaide police charge eight boys after stolen SUV chase
Eight South Australian boys led police on a chase early on Saturday morning in a stolen car before the tyres were spiked and police dogs found them in suburban gardens.
Just after midnight, police in Adelaide spotted a Toyota SUV that had been stolen the previous day.
A police helicopter began following the car as it travelled west from the city before officers spiked the vehicle’s tyres on Henley Beach Road.
The car kept going before stopping a short time later in a suburban street off the main road.
The eight occupants dumped the car and fled.
Police dogs Duke and Chaos worked to help officers find all of the boys, who were hiding in nearby gardens.
Those arrested include a 14-year-old from Hampstead Gardens, two 12-year-olds from Greenacres, a 14-year-old from Pennington and two boys from Hendon, aged 13 and 14.
All have been charged with illegal use of a motor vehicle and were bailed to appear in Adelaide youth court on 24 February.
A 12-year-old from Campbelltown and a 17-year-old from Oakden have been charged with illegal use of a motor vehicle and breach of bail offences.
They were refused police bail and will appear in Port Adelaide magistrates court on 9 January.
The family will gather to watch a livestream of a rocket launch in the US. On board the rocket will be a small inscribed metal token holding a portion of ashes. This, from Eva Corlett, is intriguing:
Related: ‘He will always be stardust’: New Zealanders find connection with space burials
Dylan Storer, an ABC journalist in Fitzroy Crossing, has posted these images of food arriving for flood-stricken communities:
Albanese government confident on Aukus despite US submarine questions
Here’s a more fleshed-out version of what the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and defence minister, Richard Marles, said earlier about the Aukus deal.
It emerged on Friday that US senators warned Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia because it could stretch the home industrial base “to breaking point”. Which sounds ominous – the US is at full capacity building its own submarines, so how they’ll help Australia out is a live question.
But Albanese and Marles say it’s all going swimmingly:
Related: Anthony Albanese ‘confident’ about Aukus deal despite US submarine scepticism
Posted without context, I was just rather tickled by this picture of the US tennis player Taylor Fritz at the United Cup:
When is imposing a pre-flight Covid test requirement on travellers from China against medical advice not a breach of a commitment to follow that advice? When it’s done out of an “abundance of caution”, enough other countries are doing it and it might help squeeze China for more information about its Covid outbreak, apparently.
Those were the explanations the health minister, Mark Butler, offered throughout the week.
Although the requirement itself for a negative Covid test in the 48 hours prior to departure may not be onerous, it was still a surprise to see such a break from the “follow the medical advice” mantra of the first two years of the pandemic.
To understand how we got here, perhaps it’s best if we start with the government’s messaging last week, when the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, publicly observed there was no need for pre-flight tests because Australia already had the variant circulating in China.
Related: Reasons for pre-flight tests on China are now clear but home Covid strategies remain murky | Paul Karp
Thank you, Ben Doherty, for a stellar afternoon’s work… although I’m a little daunted now, cannot compete with that epic Elvis post…
Stephanie Gardiner reports from Parkes for AAP, and the Guardian’s own Mike Bowers is there too!
It’s dusty, stinking hot, and buzzing with blowflies, but for just a few days rural NSW is taking a Hawaiian holiday.
Two months after savage floods devastated the central west, the Parkes Elvis festival is bringing cheer, celebrating its 30th anniversary in the theme of Blue Hawaii.
A brass band dressed in floral shirts and leis led a shaking, rattling and rolling parade on Saturday morning, followed by roaring hot rods packed with Elvis and Priscilla lookalikes.
Swing dancers twirled down the main street, alongside Marilyn Monroe and Cher impersonators and cheerleaders throwing gold batons.
An Elvis dressed in electric blue and tottering on stilts loomed over the crowd, while a trio of Presley admirers spun in homemade hoop skirts decorated with hundreds of paper flowers.
Thousands of revellers who came from interstate and overseas got a glimpse of rural life when a tiny brown wallaby suddenly bounded up Clarinda Street, expertly dodging the cavalcade.
“Yes, there is a wallaby,” a State Emergency Service volunteer’s radio chirped.
Kelly Hendry, a Parkes local, gathered neighbourhood friends and their children to walk in the parade, along with Parkes East Public school’s therapy dog, an excitable fawn labrador named Nixon.
“We take the Christmas tree down, and Santa’s out, then Elvis is in the building,” Hendry said.
“2022 was a really difficult year and there’s a lot of people still dealing with the grief and the trauma and the repairs.
“But if this can put a smile on some people’s faces and they forget their troubles for a couple of days, that’s a great thing.”
Alex Gardner, from Jervis Bay, and Tony Schneider, from Brewarrina, met at the Tamworth country music festival a decade ago, and make the trip to both festivals every January.
The friends clung to inflatable guitars and were kitted out in rhinestone suits, towering black wigs and oversized golden glasses.
“Every performer here is unreal, they play Tom Jones, Buddy Holly, and – what’s he called – John Lennon,” Gardner said.
For Schneider, who found his outfit hanging at a Dubbo op-shop, the appeal is simple: “It’s wine, women and songs, music is just one part of it.”
The festival began as a quaint dinner and dance in 1993, in an effort to bring visitors to the town during the quiet heat of summer, and now attracts about 24,000 visitors.
The federal MP Michael McCormack, dressed in a tailored blue jumpsuit with gold beading, said the festival was one of the highlights of his year.
“Thirty years, how good is that? It’s amazing to think the central west can have a festival to an American icon,” McCormack told AAP.
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Thousands of kilograms of food has been flown in to flood-affected communities in Western Australia, as authorities head for Fitzroy Crossing to listen to people’s “frustrations”.
Efforts to take food and medical supplies into the communities in the Kimberley region were hampered by the severe weather, and residents were worried they would run out.
The emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson, says Australian Defence Force planes and other aircraft are now able to use the airstrip at Fitzroy Crossing as the weather has improved.
He also warns that record water levels, the fallout from ex-tropical cyclone Ellie, which has been dumping water in the region for days, are set to hit Looma and Pandanas Park.
Evacuations have continued, and Dawson says while there has been a “reticence” by some people to leave their homes, those attitudes have changed, while the authorities are taking food to those who choose to stay.
He and the fire and emergency services commissioner, Darren Klemm, will go to Fitzroy Crossing this afternoon for a community meeting. Dawson says:
It’s really an opportunity for us to listen and hear their frustration. I know they’re frustrated. I am aware though, having spoken to people this morning, there is a sense of relief now as planes have started to fly in and land and drop off food supplies.
The ADF planes will be joined by other aircraft including Chinooks to continue the resupply effort, while barges will be used to take supplies into Broome.
Klemm says that effort will “really ramp up today and in the days ahead” as the weather has improved.
The WA government has also announced $3m for a distress fund set up by Perth lord mayor, Basil Zempilas.
Albanese defends cut to subsidised psychology sessions
Albanese is now talking about the decision to stop subsidising 20 psychology sessions – it will go back to 10 per person.
“There was a temporary measure put in place which stopped at the end of 2021,” he says.
The issues are complex, he says:
And the evidence was that, for so many people, they weren’t able to access any support at all. And that was something the government bore in mind. This is something that we’ll continue to work through.
Anthony Albanese outlines his government’s challenges for 2023
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, are holding a press conference in Geelong.
Albanese says his government faces four main challenges this year.
The first is the international economic situation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact on power prices, and the level of national debt.
The second is national security. Albanese says:
In the first quarter of this year, you will see Australia laying out the optimal pathway that we have to advance the Aukus relationship with the US and the UK, including the development of nuclear-powered submarines.
Then there are the defence strategic reviews, and security in the region. Albanese is heading to Papua New Guinea on Thursday and will be the first non-PNG leader to address its parliament. He says:
In part, a necessary precondition of Australia advancing our friendship in the region has been my government taking climate change seriously. For our Pacific neighbours, climate change is no laughing matter.
And then there’s fairness, he says:
How do we promote fairness in our society?
Younger girls are increasingly attending emergency departments in mental distress or having self-harmed, Australian doctors say, while young women have the highest increase in antidepressant use.
Two new studies published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry reveal alarming levels of mental illness among young people, particularly teenage girls who are least likely to be admitted to hospital when seeking treatment.
Related: Younger girls increasingly presenting to Australian hospitals in mental distress
Australia declare with Khawaja five runs short of double-century
Pat Cummins has declared. Usman Khawaja stranded on 195 not out… tough, tough call.
See updates from the inimitable Geoff Lemon here.
Search continues for man missing in heavy seas on Mornington Peninsula
Emergency services resumed a search on Saturday for a missing young man after being called to the Gunnamatta surf beach on the Mornington Peninsula on Friday night.
A man noticed his sons, aged 20 and 16, were struggling and went in to help them.
Rescuers managed to pull the father and the teenager from the water, but the older son could not be located.
“It was a heavy swell and strong winds at the time,” Victoria police acting inspector Ian Pregnell said.
Police, surf life savers and State Emergency Service personnel, including helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, were initially deployed in the search on Friday.
Helicopters were seen still circling the beach on Saturday.
The rescued father and teenager were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.
Japanese Jetstar flight reportedly makes emergency landing after bomb threat
Reuters is reporting a Japanese Jetstar flight has been diverted and forced to make an emergency landing after an alleged bomb threat…
A Jetstar flight has been forced to make an emergency landing in central Japan after receiving a bomb threat, according to local media.
The aircraft was reportedly travelling from Narita airport near Tokyo to Fukuoka on Saturday, when it was forced to divert to Aichi prefecture, public broadcaster NHK said.
No injuries were reported, however footage posted to social media appeared to show passengers disembarking via emergency slides and walking across the tarmac.
The broadcaster said 149 passengers had made reservations for the flight.
NHK said police had received information of the threat and that the emergency landing prompted Chubu airport to temporarily suspend takeoffs and landings.
Jetstar Airways has stakes in sister airlines Jetstar Asia Airways and Jetstar Japan, which is joint-owned by Qantas, Japan Airlines and Tokyo Century Corporation.
Jetstar has been contacted for comment.
Queensland authorities issue almost 800 fines in e-scooter crackdown
A crackdown on e-scooter offences has led to almost 800 fines being issued by Queensland authorities since November.
Nearly 400 riders have been caught without a helmet, while 161 were nabbed on prohibited roads and 52 while exceeding the speed limit.
Almost 50 operators have been fined for illegally carrying a passenger and 23 have been accused of failing to stop at a red light.
Queensland cut footpath speed limits for e-scooters and increased fines for some offences to more than $1,000 in a suite of changes on 1 November, targeting reckless users.
Under the rules, the maximum speed for e-scooters and other mobility devices like e-skateboards were slashed to 12km/h on shared paths, with people caught breaking the limit to be hit with a minimum $143 fine.
A speed limit of 25km/h remains on infrastructure like bike paths and local streets.
Warning bells are now mandatory for all devices and penalties can extend to a $1,078 fine for anyone caught using a mobile phone while riding.
The transport minister, Mark Bailey, said at the time the government made no apologies for cracking down.
“We want every person who uses our footpaths, bikeways and bike lanes to be safe from harm, and these reforms go a long way in tightening the Queensland road rules around this new technology,” he said.
Riders caught drinking face fines of $431, while they can be penalised $143 for not wearing a helmet or “doubling”.
Transport researchers warned earlier this month that a “patchwork” of conflicting laws governing electric scooter use across Australia was putting riders and pedestrians at risk.
Over the new year period, a serious e-scooter incident left a NSW man in an induced coma and two teenaged Queensland riders suffered “critical injuries” following an accident involving a car.
A recent e-scooter trial in Melbourne also revealed more than 250 crashes over the course of a year.
Two people die in car crashes in NSW
Two people have died in separate crashes on NSW roads overnight.
Police are working to identify a man who died after a two-vehicle crash in Sydney’s inner west late on Friday night.
The man, believed to be in his 20s, was driving a Mazda hatchback that collided with a Toyota hatchback on the Princes Highway in Tempe.
Paramedics tried to revive the man but he died at the scene.
The driver of the Toyota, a 54-year-old man, was hospitalised in a serious but stable condition and underwent mandatory testing.
Police established a crime scene and are investigating the circumstances of the crash. A report will be prepared for the state coroner.
Meanwhile, a woman died after a single-vehicle crash on the Central Coast about 6.30pm on Friday.
Police said the Toyota ute she was travelling in crashed into a tree on a median strip in Somersby, leaving her with critical injuries.
Paramedics treated the 48-year-old woman at the scene but she died.
A man in the ute sustained minor injuries and was hospitalised.
Police are investigating how the crash occurred and will prepare a report for the coroner.
‘This is just fantastic news’: PM joins in congratulations to Ash Barty
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has joined in congratulations and well wishes to an excited Ash Barty after the retired tennis champion shared the news she is pregnant.
While Barty won’t defend her Australian Open crown this month she continues to draw headlines.
The 26-year-old former world No 1 revealed her baby joy on social media on Friday night.
Barty posted a photo on Instagram of her dog Origi with a pair of baby shoes.
“2023 set to be the best year yet. We are so excited for our new adventure,” Barty wrote in a caption including a baby emoji.
“Origi already the protective big sister.”
Her husband, golf pro Garry Kissick, also posted on Instagram a photo of the baby shoes with the dog and a baby-sized Liverpool kit with the caption “Little Red, 2023” and a baby emoji.
The PM joined those sending well wishes to former Young Australian of the Year Barty.
“This is just fantastic news that Ash Barty is going to be a new mum in 2023,” Albanese said on Saturday.
“Ash Barty is someone who is a great credit to Australia. I had the privilege of being there to watch her win the Australian Open in January of last year.
“Ash Barty carries herself so well and is just a great Australian and I think that all Australians will wish Ash Barty all the very, very best.
“I look forward to seeing Ash Barty in whatever she does. She’s going to be a winner on the court and off the court and congratulations.”
The three-time grand-slam champion’s news comes nine months after she shocked the tennis world by quitting the sport just seven weeks after ending Australia’s 44-year singles title drought at the Open.
Barty has already been busy in retirement, publishing a series of children’s books, releasing her own autobiography, My Dream Time, starting a foundation and mentoring emerging young tennis star Olivia Gadecki.
While she won’t be playing, Barty will still be a conspicuous presence at Melbourne Park this month, supporting Gadecki when the 20-year-old makes her eagerly-anticipated Open debut when the major starts on 16 January.
Remembering the ‘superstar’ Australian economist who made global poverty his life’s work
The words “superstar” and “economist” are not always the most natural pairing.
But it’s a sobriquet entirely apt for Martin Ravallion, the Australian who dedicated his life to eradicating global poverty and inequality.
Peter Hannam (the Guardian’s own superstar economist) has filed this thoughtful piece…
Related: Remembering Martin Ravallion, ‘superstar’ Australian economist who made poverty his life’s work
SCG open to day-night Test option to combat bad light stoppages
The SCG Trust chairman, Tony Shepherd, is adamant the Sydney Test must be played in its New Year’s time slot despite weather concerns but would be open to reimagining it as a day-night match to combat bad light stoppages.
Six of the last seven SCG Tests have been interrupted by rain and showers have affected the first four days of the current Test against South Africa with no play at all on Friday.
That has prompted renewed calls to shift the SCG Test to a time slot less likely to be affected by rain.
Last summer, Shane Warne suggested Sydney could switch Tests with Brisbane so as to host the first match of the season in early December.
But Shepherd said the SCG would not surrender its New Year’s time slot, despite conceding the La Niña weather pattern of the past two years had brought the ground’s bad run of weather into sharper focus.
“This is the tradition. We’ve just got to live with the climate,” he said on SEN on Saturday.
“We do get a bit of rain here and sometimes it does disrupt play but we’ve just got to get through that.
“It’ll be a good season next year because I think we’re going to get El Niño (weather pattern) next year, which will mean we’ll be in the middle of a drought.”
After bad light forced two stoppages in play on day one against South Africa, Shepherd met with the Cricket Australia chief executive, Nick Hockley.
While Hockley previously said he was hopeful updates to the SCG’s floodlights would prevent similar delays in future, Shepherd suggested Sydney could follow Adelaide’s lead and host a day-night Test with a pink ball.
The pink ball’s brighter colour makes it more visible than the traditional red ball and allows play to continue into darkness under lights.
“We could do a day-nighter or we could just use a pink ball the whole game,” Shepherd said.
“The alternative would be if you had that sort of light issue towards the end of the day, just have a bag of pink balls there and substitute them.”
At stumps on day one, the Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne pushed back against the idea of substituting the red ball out for a pink one as the balls do not react in the same way when bowled.
But Shepherd said the fans needed to be considered.
“In my view, cricket and all elite sports survive on fans,” he said.
“The show must go on. We should do everything in our power to make sure we don’t have that (stoppages) happen again.”
Rain delays play in Sydney Test
Rain has again delayed play in the Sydney Test, with the start of day four pushed back and Australia’s chances of completing a 3-0 series sweep taking another hit.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t join Guardian Australia’s Geoff Lemon as he waits … and waits …
“Maybe we just need to re-envisage the rain as Test cricket,” he writes in our cricket live blog here.
You can join Lemon, who earlier described himself as “just a boy, standing in a front of a ground, asking it to please stop being festively damp”, here:
Related: Australia v South Africa: third Test, day four – live
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia has claimed a controversial pro-Putin YouTuber who broadcast his personal phone number – which had been included in a press release – to more than 160,000 subscribers has enabled a campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Australian federal police have been made aware of Vasyl Myroshnychenko’s complaint that Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname “Aussie Cossack”, made a prank call on Thursday which was filmed and published on social media.
Myroshnychenko claimed that following the publication of his phone number he received dozens of insulting and threatening calls from strangers. Boikov has denied inciting harassment and criticised the ambassador for having his phone number available publicly.
Read more here:
Related: Pro-Putin YouTuber ‘Aussie Cossack’ defends ‘prank’ video on Ukrainian ambassador after complaint to police
The Glenmore Park community in western Sydney has attended a Catholic mass to pray for the survival of Nicholas Tadros, 10, who is on life support after the fatal Gold Coast helicopter crash.
The ABC estimated around 200 family and friends attended the mass at St Padre Pio church, where Nicholas received his holy communion. Nicholas’s mother, Vanessa Tadros, 36, was with him when the two Sea World helicopters crashed into one another on Monday afternoon.
Three other people who were on the same helicopter died in the crash, including the pilot, Ashley Jenkinson, and a British couple, Ron and Diane Hughes. Winnie de Silva, 33, and her nine-year-old son survived the crash.
A Queensland Health spokesperson said yesterday that Nicholas was in an “unchanged” condition from Thursday, when he was listed as being in a critical condition and in an induced coma.
The first question is about Aukus, and those concerns about whether the US has the capacity to provide Australia with submarines. Albanese says “we still regard the US relationship as one of our most important alliances … so I’m very positive”.
He says the National Security Committee has been meeting almost weekly.
Richard Marles says one of the reasons the US and the UK are part of the Aukus deal is that it’s in their strategic interests to help Australia with the capability. He says:
There really is a shared sense of mission between the US, the UK and Australia in seeing Australia acquire this capability, but there are lots of challenges and there’s no doubt about the pressure this places on the industrial base of the US and also the UK … We’re very aware of it, that’s why it’s so important that Australia develops its own industrial capability to build nuclear-powered submarines, which we will do in Adelaide.
Albanese celebrates Ash Barty’s pregnancy
It’s “just fantastic news” that tennis champ Ash Barty is set to have a child in 2023, Albanese says, adding that she’s going to be a winner at whatever she does.
Prime minister says WA floods ‘devastating’
And a final word on those WA floods. Albanese says “the floods are having a devastating impact” and are the largest for a long period of time.
He says his government is working constructively with the WA government (as well as the SA and NSW governments). He plans to visit regional NSW and Queensland on the way to PNG.
Marles says nuclear submarines ‘will require the industrial base of the whole nation’
Albanese says the national security committee is talking about “preparedness and training and upskilling” in areas such as nuclear technology, and the other skills that will be needed to sustain the fleet of nuclear-powered submarines that Australia plans to acquire.
How does Australia benefit from this technology and what is very advanced manufacturing, so it has a flow-on effect throughout the economy?
We are determined to have a future made in Australia, including upskilling so that it has a benefit, and not just in SA.
How does Australia benefit from this technology and what is very advanced manufacturing, so it has a flow-on effect throughout the economy?
We are determined to have a future made in Australia, including upskilling so that it has a benefit, and not just in SA.
Richard Marles says it’s a “really exciting opportunity for Australia to develop the industrial capacity to build a nuclear-powered submarine for our nation”:
We will need to develop that capability in order to contribute to the industrial base of the three countries – the US, the UK and ourselves – and we are doing that at pace right now.
He says it is “such a large endeavour that it will require the industrial base of the whole nation”.
The “optimal pathway” will be announced soon, he says.
And that, folks, is that for now.
Anthony Albanese says he’s now met three prime ministers of the UK (which could have happened in a relatively short period of time, to be honest).
He says he sat next to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at the G20:
The dialogue that is occurring between the three countries can’t be more constructive, be more supportive of each other and our common interests.
Albanese talks about Labor’s childcare and gender equity initiatives, and:
The voice to parliament referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our … constitution, that will take place in the second half of the year. For my government, I’m very proud of the way that work began.
*Insert some joshing here about Marles’ football team*
Albanese accuses Coalition of politicking on Covid requirements
The next question is about the government’s decision to ensure travellers from China show a negative Covid test before flying to Australia.
Anthony Albanese says the government has been transparent about the decision-making process, and that the government continues to take advice from the chief medical officer and state health officers. The tests are a “simple measure”, he says, accusing the Coalition of politicking about it.
Marles defends Australian weapon exports
Richard Marles is asked about that story I mentioned earlier, about Australia exporting weapons to countries with dubious human rights histories. He says:
I’m not going to comment on the specifics of any particular export, but Australians should have a sense of confidence that the way in which we have engaged in exports over the course of the last 12 months and certainly the way in which we will do so in the future is consistent with the very tight guidelines that we have.
This is the law of the land, and the law of the land is completely transparent in terms of the obligations it places upon us as a government in terms of the exports that we undertake, and we are meeting those obligations.
I’m not going to comment on the specifics of any particular export, but Australians should have a sense of confidence that the way in which we have engaged in exports over the course of the last 12 months and certainly the way in which we will do so in the future is consistent with the very tight guidelines that we have.
This is the law of the land, and the law of the land is completely transparent in terms of the obligations it places upon us as a government in terms of the exports that we undertake, and we are meeting those obligations.
PM says Australia was ‘transparent’ about Covid test announcement
I didn’t catch the actual question, but Albanese is now talking about people using the hospital system because they don’t have access to GPs, or because of issues with the aged care system.
He says it’s “perplexing” to hear critics saying the China Covid tests are “a bigger deal” than Australians being tested to go to China.
“We were transparent about the announcement,” he says.
Albanese says it’s in Australia’s interest to have better relations with China
On China, Albanese says:
We’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we will engage in our national interest. It is in Australia’s national interest to have better relations with China, it is in China’s national interest to have a good relationship.
Search for teenage surfer off Victorian coast
AAP is reporting a teenage boy is missing off the Victorian coast after he and two other people got into difficulty in the surf.
Emergency services were called to Gunnamatta surf beach on the Mornington Peninsula about 6.45pm on Friday.
They rescued a man and a teenage boy, but were unable to find the other teenager.
The two rescued males were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police, surf life savers and State Emergency Service personnel, including helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, are all involved in the search for the boy, which resumed on Saturday.
Water, water, everywhere – the peak is moving down the River Murray (yes, that’s how we say it in South Australia). You can read the background here:
Queensland woman to face court after being charged with murder of father and daughter
A Queensland woman will face court today after being charged with the murder of a father and his young daughter.
The remains of Todd Mooney, 54, and his 10-year-old daughter, Kirra, were found after a shed fire at Biggenden, south-east of Bundaberg, on 20 December.
Mooney, a local bakery owner, was due to marry his fiancee on 28 December.
Investigators initially believed the pair died in a tragic accident before post-mortem results steered police to treat the incident as a homicide.
Police have charged the 24-year-old Maryborough woman with two counts of murder and one count of arson.
Investigators are appealing for anyone who may have seen a white Holden Barina wagon with a distinctive solar panel on the roof in the area around the time of the fire to contact police.
– AAP
And they’re presenting at younger ages, as Melissa Davey reports:
Related: Younger girls increasingly presenting to Australian hospitals in mental distress
“Bonza the bogan airline” sounds like a crap children’s book, but it’s an interesting story about another moving part in Australia’s turbulent air transport industry. Also, Elias Visontay managed to get budgie smugglers into it, making the skimpy swimwear somewhat of a sub theme on the blog today:
Related: Bonza the ‘bogan’ airline has had a tough year – but it may finally be about to take off
In some good news for Western Australia, AAP reports that it has been listed as a top travel destination for this year by global news broadcaster CNN.
A highlight will be the solar eclipse on 20 April, and the accompanying Dark Sky festival. The Margaret River wine region and “quokka-covered” Rottnest Island also got mentions.
Waters at Menindee expected to peak
Waters at Menindee in New South Wales are expected to peak this weekend:
The ABC is reporting concerns that the Stuart Highway could be cut off by the flooding in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. The authorities yesterday said the ongoing severe weather – including water across the Fitzroy Crossing airstrip – was an ongoing challenge for bringing in supplies, and bringing out people. So triple road trains will be used, but they’ve already got quite the journey:
Related: Floods force road trains supplying Kimberley to detour extra 7,400km via SA and NT
Remember when then-defence minister Christopher Pyne declared Australia should become one of the world’s top weapons exporters? He promised it would not do so “willy-nilly”. Anyhoo, here’s this from the ABC:
And (warning, another clunky segue approaches), having only just learned that budgie smugglers are de rigueur for Sydney’s gay men, AAP has an interview with Sydney WorldPride’s chief executive, Kate Wickett.
WorldPride is a “17-day extravaganza” and will feature more than 300 official events, dance parties, concerts, and a pride march. Wicket says:
Invite your mum, your dad, your brother, your sister – there is truly something for everyone.
This is about our community, Australia and Sydney in particular coming together to celebrate and advocate for equality and who we are as Australians.
Invite your mum, your dad, your brother, your sister – there is truly something for everyone.
This is about our community, Australia and Sydney in particular coming together to celebrate and advocate for equality and who we are as Australians.
New year, same old pandemic. Christopher Knaus has been tracking outbreaks in aged care:
Related: Covid deaths in Australian aged care surpass 100 a week, the highest rate since August
We’ll keep an eye on those floods today. But also, budgie smugglers are back. Cait Kelly takes a look at the post-Abbott era swimwear that makes some people a little twitchy:
Related: ‘Happy to let it hang out’: budgie smugglers are back on Australian beaches
This was linked below but deserves its own spot – Sarah Collard has been talking to people on the ground in Western Australia’s Kimberley region:
Related: ‘People have lost everything’: flooded houses in the Kimberley could be uninhabitable for months
Good morning.
Residents in two major Western Australian towns have been warned their communities are about to become islands amid the state’s worst flooding on record.
A 50km-wide inland sea is surging towards the Kimberley coast after the swollen Fitzroy River devastated the town of Fitzroy Crossing earlier in the week.
The WA emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson, warned residents they would become isolated by flood waters.
“Derby will be an island in the next few days, it will be cut off,” Dawson told reporters yesterday. “The weather and the water, it’s coming towards it so there will be isolation for probably Broome and Derby.”
The massive flood peak that reached a record 15.81m in Fitzroy Crossing late on Wednesday slammed into the tiny Indigenous community of Noonkanbah, 280km east of Broome, yesterday. Looma and Willare are also flooded, with dozens of others isolated, after seven-day rainfall totals up to 600mm were recorded across the region.
A 400km section of the Great Northern Highway south of Broome has been closed and a 500km part of the same freight route between Willare and Halls Creek remains shut.
Late yesterday it emerged that two top US senators, Jack Reed and James Inhofe, had urged president Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, warning it would diminish US national security given the vessels are “scarce”.
The intervention confirmed the US was under pressure not to sell its submarines before Australia was able to build its own as part of the Aukus alliance – meaning it could be decades before Australia gains nuclear submarines.
A spokesperson for the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, played down the leak, saying “the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines is taking shape, and an announcement remains on track to be made in the first part of this year”.
Air crash investigators could take 18 months or more to deliver their findings on a helicopter collision that killed four people on the Gold Coast.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) updated its website on Friday to state the anticipated date for completing its investigation was between July and September in 2024.
“A final report will be released at the conclusion of the investigation. Should a critical safety issue be identified during the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties, so that appropriate safety action can be taken,” the bureau’s website said.
The Australian National Audit Office 2019 report into the bureau’s investigative efficiency found that it took an average of 19 months to produce a report on “complex” incidents.
With that, let’s get into it.