Heavy rainfall has driven one in 500-year flooding along one river and overflowing waterways along the New South Wales mid-north coast.
The Manning River at Taree has broken its previous record flood level of 1929 after overflowing at a rate seen only once every 500 years on average, according to Andrew Gissing, chief executive at Natural Hazards Research Australia. Gissing said:
It is too early to know the extent that climate change has contributed to the extreme rainfalls. We do know that under a warmer climate that our atmosphere holds more water and that heavy rain events are more likely.
Read the latest on the NSW floods here:
Updated at 03.13 EDT
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Anthony Albanese urges NSW residents in flood areas to heed evacuation orders
The prime minister has sent a message of support to people in NSW affected by heavy rain and flooding as the risks rise for hundreds of thousands of residents along the state’s mid-north coast, and he has asked locals to follow evacuation directions.
Anthony Albanese encouraged people in the region to turn to the Bureau of Meteorology and State Emergency Service for updates. He wrote in a post on X:
Our hearts are with all those impacted by the devastating floods across NSW. Emergency services are working tirelessly to assist those in need. With more rain forecast, please stay updated … If advised to evacuate, do so to stay safe.
Updated at 04.31 EDT
Kelly Burke
First Nations writer stripped of $15,000 State Library of Queensland award over Gaza tweet
The State Library of Queensland has suspended its national Indigenous fellowships and withdrawn the award to one of this year’s recipients over a social media post about Gaza.
The First Nations writer Karen Wyld, who now writes under the name K A Ren Wyld, was stripped of her Creative Australia-funded $15,000 black&write! fellowship, less than five hours before it was to have been awarded to her, for comments she made on social media in October about the conflict in Gaza.
The entire ceremony, due to take place in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon, was cancelled without notice.
Read the full story here:
Updated at 04.25 EDT
NSW SES tells people in parts of Nambucca to evacuate, says night rescues may not be possible
The New South Wales State Emergency Service has issued more evacuation orders as the risk of more flooding increases and heavy rain continues along the state’s mid-north coast.
People in parts of Nambucca, especially the low-lying areas along the Nambucca River have been asked to evacuate immediately. Other areas with recently issued evacuation orders include Kempsey, Kinchela, Smithtown, Macksville, Gladstone and Settlement Point.
The SES has asked residents in affected areas to leave immediately, warning it cannot guarantee flood rescues during the night. You can see the full list of alerts here.
Updated at 04.15 EDT
Rafqa Touma
Snowy 2.0 workers strike for pay parity with Melbourne colleagues
About 900 workers on the Snowy 2.0 renewable energy project downed their tools today in a strike for pay parity with their Melbourne colleagues.
Italian company Webuild is paying workers on the North East Link project in Melbourne “significantly more” than workers on Snowy 2.0, the Australian Workers Union said in a statement.
This is despite Melbourne-based workers being able to return home each night to their families.
In contrast, Snowy 2.0 workers work 12-hour shifts underground and then return to an isolated camp in the wilderness of the Snowy Mountains where there is little more than a mess hall and rooms for sleeping.
Tony Callinan, NSW Australian Workers Union secretary, told Guardian Australia the action will continue into next week. Lead agency Snowy Hydro was contacted for comment.
Updated at 04.04 EDT
Australian shares close at levels not seen since February, banks lead the way
The Australian sharemarket is closing in on its record high, today reaching levels not seen since February, after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates and the bank governor said inflation was less of a concern.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.52% to 8,386, although earlier in the session it surpassed 8,400 points, approaching its all-time high of 8,555 points reached in mid-February.
Big banks led the way, with Commonwealth Bank rising 2.55%, while health care stocks Resmed and Fisher and Paykel also rose. Goldminers saw some of the biggest gains after a bumpy few weeks for gold prices, with 10 metals companies rising more than 5% over the day.
The Australian dollar rose to nearly 64.5 US cents, recovering most of the losses it endured after the RBA’s rate cut, as the US dollar continues to weaken internationally as investors sell their American assets.
Updated at 03.56 EDT
Adeshola Ore
Police searched for term ‘death cap mushrooms’ on storage drives found at Erin Patterson’s home, court hears
A digital forensics expert has told Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial that police searched for the terms “death cap” and “death cap mushrooms” on storage drives in a computer seized from her house a week after the lethal lunch.
Another search history from the computer shows a URL for the iNaturalist website.
The title of the webpage includes the words “Deathcap from Melbourne”, the court hears.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Shamen Fox-Henry, from Victoria police’s cybercrime unit, is giving evidence in the trial.
Officers seized a personal computer with three storage devices from Patterson’s home on 5 August 2023, the court heard. Fox-Henry conducted an extraction of data from the computer.
A report he compiled after the data extraction was shown to the court.
Under an artefact labelled “past and search queries” was the term “iNaturalist” on the search engine Bing.
Prosecutor Jane Warren asked Fox-Henry to explain what the record meant.
“The search term iNaturalist was conducted via Bing,” Fox-Henry said.
The search term is dated 28 May 2022, more than a year before the lethal lunch.
The jury has previously heard that reports of suspected death cap mushrooms were posted to the citizen science website iNaturalist in the months before the lunch.
Updated at 04.01 EDT
NSW SES says Kempsey CBD, Smithtown and Gladstone residents must evacuate now
The New South Wales State Emergency Service has warned residents in areas facing evacuations to leave immediately, as flood waters rise along the state’s mid-north coast.
The SES commissioner, Michael Wassing, said residents in the Kempsey CBD, Smithtown and Gladstone needed to evacuate particularly urgently.
Wassing said the south Taree and Glenthorne areas were the most high-priority for flood rescues. SES warnings are in place from Gosford to Ballina and inland toward Tamworth and Armidale. You can see the full list of alerts here.
Speaking to the media, Kempsey said the SES had carried out 289 flood rescues since midnight but warned night rescues had become incredibly difficult. He told residents in affected areas:
If you live … in an area and have received an emergency warning to evacuate and it is safe to do so, I need you to do that now. I cannot guarantee that you will be immediately rescued if you ask for that rescue later in the evening, when conditions may not be safe for our crews …
We cannot guarantee an immediate flood rescue for you unless you evacuate now.
More than 48,000 people remained isolated by flooding while the SES has seen 1,000 incidents and 355 rescues in the past 24 hours, mainly in the Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne areas, Wassing said.
Updated at 03.39 EDT
Sydney train services still not running on time, services reduced on all lines
Sydney Trains has continued to warn the city’s commuters to allow extra travel time and delay non-essential travel this afternoon as the network recovers from an outage.
Commuters faced wet weather and train delays today, as Sydney Trains struggled to recover from damage to the network. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP
Trains services are still not running to timetable and trip planning in official apps may not be available, the agency has said on X. Limited shuttle trains are running along affected train lines, while buses are running between Campbelltown and Macarthur.
The New South Wales government earlier today warned services would be reduced on all lines. The Sydney Metro was unaffected by the outage but was still overcrowded on Wednesday morning, with rail users looking for other ways to get to work.
The delays began yesterday afternoon when a high-voltage wire collapsed on top of a train, triggering a network-wide power outage.
You can read about what caused the delays here, from Elias Visontay:
Updated at 03.28 EDT
Heavy rainfall creates one-in-500 years flood on NSW mid-north coast
Heavy rainfall has driven one in 500-year flooding along one river and overflowing waterways along the New South Wales mid-north coast.
The Manning River at Taree has broken its previous record flood level of 1929 after overflowing at a rate seen only once every 500 years on average, according to Andrew Gissing, chief executive at Natural Hazards Research Australia. Gissing said:
It is too early to know the extent that climate change has contributed to the extreme rainfalls. We do know that under a warmer climate that our atmosphere holds more water and that heavy rain events are more likely.
Read the latest on the NSW floods here:
Updated at 03.13 EDT
Greens leader Larissa Waters wants Australia to threaten Israel with sanctions
Greens leader Larissa Waters has called for Australia to join international partners in threatening action against Israel over its renewed military offensive in Gaza and aid restrictions.
The leader of the Greens, Larissa Waters, says Australia should join other countries who have threatened Israel with sanctions after its renewed military action in Gaza. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Waters welcomed foreign minister Penny Wong’s call for resumed aid access but said the government should go further. She told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
Why is Australia not amongst the ranks of the UK, Canada and France, who are actually saying not just ‘please can you let the aid through,’ but also saying ‘if you don’t, and if you continue this military offensive and start a fresh one, then we will put sanctions on you’?
Australia has not joined a separate statement signed by Canada, the UK and France on Tuesday warning Israel that its military campaign in Gaza would prompt “further action” from the three countries, including targeted sanctions.
Waters said the government should match international leaders’ language while repeating past criticism of claimed Australian exports of weapons components to Israel, which is contested.
The government so far has not said they will intervene, and they should. That’s the bare minimum. Stop that arms trade and make sure that we are actually sanctioning the Netanyahu government, and standing alongside those other strong international voices, saying “starvation and genocide, it’s got to stop”.
Updated at 03.05 EDT
Penny Wong condemns ‘abhorrent’ comments made by Netanyahu government members about Gaza
Penny Wong has condemned “abhorrent and outrageous” comments made by Netanyahu government members in recent days, saying the Israeli government “cannot allow the suffering” in Gaza to continue.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, is ‘horrified’ by the latest UN reports about Gaza. Photograph: Keana Naughton/AAP
Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, made the comments in a post on X:
Australia joins international partners in calling on Israel to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza.
Horrifying UN reports overnight about the further risks to babies and children in Gaza underline our call. The Israeli Government cannot allow the suffering to continue.
Australia has committed more than $100m in humanitarian assistance to support civilians in Gaza and Lebanon – too much of which Israel has prevented from reaching vulnerable people.
Our humanitarian partners have confirmed that they stand ready to provide immediate and lifesaving assistance to the people of Gaza.
We condemn the abhorrent and outrageous comments made by members of the Netanyahu Government about these people in crisis.
We have consistently opposed the expansion of military operations by Israel in Gaza, just as we have been clear that forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza would breach international law.
The statement released by Australia and 23 other countries calls on Israel to enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to do their work unimpeded and save lives in Gaza.
Australia continues to work with our partners to press for a ceasefire, the return of hostages, and the protection of civilians.
Australia has coordinated with partners to condemn and sanction Israeli extremists for their violence against Palestinians. We have also joined partners in condemning and sanctioning Hamas, Hizballah and others for their terrorism.
You can read the full story on Wong’s comments here:
Updated at 02.55 EDT
Nationals’ Darren Chester says Coalition should get back together ‘sooner rather than later’
Nationals MP Darren Chester has called for Coalition elders to join negotiations between the Liberal and National parties, saying the parties should get back together “soon rather than later”.
Chester is among the Nationals politicians interested in the two parties returning to a coalition, after his party leader conceded earlier today the Nationals party room had been divided on the decision to split. He told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
If we go to the next sitting of parliament being two divided party rooms, we are giving a free pass to the prime minister …
Given both leaders have indicated they had respectful conversations and both doors are still open to further conversation, well, I would suggest, let’s have these conversations sooner rather than later. The longer this goes on, I think, it becomes harder to reconcile the differences.
The Nationals member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, says the split in the Coalition has given Anthony Albanese ‘a free pass’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Chester, the representative in the Victorian seat of Gippsland, said the “unprecedented” scale of the Coalition’s electoral defeat meant the parties should seek counsel from experienced senior members.
Obviously, John Howard made very clear what he thinks and there are equally senior people in the National party who would be in a position to help with negotiations.
So, perhaps drawing in those elder statesmen and women and putting them in the room together, kicking stuff out and getting on with the job of coming up with an agreement may be the way forward.
Updated at 03.07 EDT
James Paterson: international community should pressure Hamas to release hostages
Liberal senator James Paterson has said the international community should keep pressure on Hamas after world leaders condemned Israel’s renewed military offensive and blockade on humanitarian aid in Gaza.
France and Canada attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate and threatened a “concrete” response if Israel’s campaign continues, as has Britain, which also suspended trade negotiations over a new free trade deal.
Paterson, asked on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing about that condemnation, said equal pressure should be put on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Absolutely there should be a free flow of aid to the people of Gaza. We do not want to see innocent civilians in Gaza punished for the actions of Hamas. But it is also important we remember the reason Israel finds itself in this predicament, and that is, that it still has citizens that are held captive by Hamas in Gaza …
The international community should put at least as much pressure on Hamas to release the hostages as it should on Israel to uphold those humanitarian obligations.
Updated at 02.38 EDT
Liberals’ James Paterson: Coalition could be restored ‘well before’ next election
Liberal frontbencher James Paterson says he thinks the party will “likely” reach an agreement with the Nationals, singling out support for nuclear energy as a point of common ground.
The Nationals cut ties with the Liberals over the latter’s refusal to immediately re-commit to support for nuclear power, a $20bn regional future fund, break-up powers for supermarkets and reliable phone and internet access in the bush.
Paterson said that should be easily overcome and it was “highly likely” the policy gap could be closed. Liberals think those issues are important, he said.
The policies, I think, should be resolvable. There are issues that the Nationals identified many Liberals think are important too … particularly on something like nuclear power, which many of us in the Liberal party have been on the public record arguing for, for close to a decade, if not more.
So I think [those] issues are negotiable, and if the National party are true to their word that it is only that, then it should offer a pathway to restoring the Coalition well before the next election.
Updated at 03.08 EDT