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Australia live news update: Victoria and NSW won’t close border over Omicron Covid variant; Qld flood warning; Albanese speaks at campaign rally
Australia live news update: Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet press conference; Victoria and NSW won’t close border over Omicron Covid variant
(32 minutes later)
Follow live updates
Follow live updates
Morrison wraps it up fairly quickly. Standby and I’ll unpack all that a little more in a tic.
Morrison also repeats his desire for “governments to get out of people’s lives”.
Morrison is asked about the Labor party’s announcement today about an investment in skills training. He segues into talking about how Labor will make promises they may not keep, like the carbon tax. He also is asked whether it’s the start of the election campaign, given he has done two events today, and mentions someone else politicking in the “inner city”.
Morrison is taking questions. He says partnerships with state governments will be very important when it comes to vaccinating 5-to 11-year-olds, given many of those children will attend schools. It is a tacit suggestion (as the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said earlier) that school-based vaccination programs could be how the rollout for this age group occurs.
Perrottet says the “constructive relationship” between the state and federal government over the past couple of years demonstrates they will also be able to work together to overcome the flood damage.
He went to his first Bathurst today (with Morrison), and says he was thrilled that the high vaccination rate had allowed the event to happen.
Morrison says the rural economy has to fire, so he hopes locals can recover quickly. He says:
He says 2021 is in the rear-vision mirror, and his government is like the “drivers at Bathurst” looking through the front windscreen to a future after the pandemic.
Morrison is talking about his two previous visits to the central west, which were because of the drought and bushfires, and now it’s floods. He and Perrottet are joined by the local member and former Nationals leader Michael McCormack.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, and NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, are speaking to the media in Forbes, where they have visited flood damaged areas.
I’m finishing up for today, so I will once again hand over the blog to Nino Bucci!
The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be no flight interruptions caused by the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia.
The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be no flight interruptions caused by the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia.
The eruption of Mt Semeru, which has killed at least 13 people, could have also caused havoc with the aviation industry.
The eruption of Mt Semeru, which has killed at least 13 people, could have also caused havoc with the aviation industry.
But meteorologist Sarah Scully said that unless it erupted again, it was not expected volcanic ash would cause any flights to be suspended.
But meteorologist Sarah Scully said that unless it erupted again, it was not expected volcanic ash would cause any flights to be suspended.
She said:
She said:
The Age’s state political reporter, Sumeyya Ilanbey, is reporting that the Victorian Liberal party state conference has passed a motion calling for the party to adopt a program to train, retain and mentor women.
The Age’s state political reporter, Sumeyya Ilanbey, is reporting that the Victorian Liberal party state conference has passed a motion calling for the party to adopt a program to train, retain and mentor women.
This comes after state conference voted down a motion opposing any kind of gender or other diversity quotas.
This comes after state conference voted down a motion opposing any kind of gender or other diversity quotas.
Clover Moore has released a video celebrating her all but certain reelection to a fifth term as Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Clover Moore has released a video celebrating her all but certain reelection to a fifth term as Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has weighed in on Sky News host Peta Credlin’s apology to the South Sudanese community over incorrect reports she made last year.
Police investigating a fatal stabbing outside a Perth nightclub have charged two men over a second attack which happened shortly before, AAP reports.
As the major parties move into campaign mode, Amy Remeikis broke down which electorates may decide the next election.
Read the full article here:
Labor has ruled out governing with the Greens should neither major party receive a clear majority at the next election, AAP reports:
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese believes his party’s climate change policy is a practical example of how Labor can bring Australians together after next year’s election.
In what was described as Labor’s unofficial campaign launch, Albanese delivered a speech to the party faithful in Sydney on Sunday under the banner “A better future”.
“We can put the climate wars behind us,” he promised.
Just hours earlier, deputy Labor leader Richard Marles ruled out doing a deal with the Greens to form government should the upcoming election fail to produce a clear majority for either of the big parties.
Prime minister Scott Morrison dragged up the possibility of a Labor-Greens coalition after the opposition released its long-awaited climate change policy last week...
“This is Scott Morrison lying again,” Marles told the Sky News Sunday Agenda program.
“We are seeking government in our own right. We are not going to enter into a coalition with the Greens. We have been making that clear from day one.”
A sweet story from New South Wales: locals gathered this afternoon at Kings Cross in Sydney today at a rally to save the Metro-Minerva theatre.
But, as some attendees pointed out, in true Kings Cross fashion it was less like a rally and more like a show.
Clover Moore told the Guardian that climate action would be a big focus for her fifth term in office, with the goal of hitting net zero emissions in Sydney city by 2035.
She said that more work would also be done to make Sydney more bike-friendly.
“The pop-up Covid bike lanes were about connecting up the bike networks that we have been building since 2008, and we are now working to make those permanent,” she said.
“In this term we also want to link up the network in the City of Sydney with surrounding suburbs”, Moore said, adding that she would like to see a regional bike network too.
Asked whether this would be her last term as mayor, Moore laughed, explaining that “I am always asked that question at election, and I always say I will think about that at the time”.
Hello everyone, it’s Justine here back on the blog. Thanks again to the brilliant Nino Bucci for bringing us all the news over the last few hours.
As we reported earlier, Clover Moore looks set to secure an unprecedented fifth term as lord mayor of the City of Sydney.
Moore told the Guardian this afternoon that she is “very excited about the result and grateful for the support we have had from the community”.
While Moore had secured around 43% of the vote as of Saturday night, this is down from 58% in the 2016 election.
But Moore said she “doesn’t accept” that there was a significant swing against her.
Moore also noted that the iVote remote votes have not yet been counted, and “a lot of our supporters did an iVote”.
She said she thought the outcome so far is a “resounding success” given the difficulties surrounding this election, including the fact that it was postponed twice due to Covid-19 and that the iVote platform was down for a number of hours on voting day.
And here’s Justine Landis-Hanley back to take care of you for a bit. Happy Sunday!
AAP report that Queensland authorities are warning of flash flooding in already inundated parts of the state, with storms and hail predicted.
Heavy rainfall, hail and strong winds are forecast for Sunday in southern parts of the state that have already been flooded, QFES commissioner Greg Leach told reporters on Sunday.
Authorities have conducted seven swift water rescues, including saving a stranded motorist in Cecil Plains, while the State Emergency Service has responded to 27 calls for help in the last 24 hours.
The Macintyre River reached 10.43 metres at Goondiwindi in the state’s south-west on Saturday before starting to recede overnight, and was at about 10.27 metres Sunday morning.
It’s the biggest flood in a decade for the town, but has not reached the 2011 flood peak of 10.64 metres.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andy Barnes said the Macintyre River would remain above the major flood level throughout Sunday and Monday.
Emergency services are now turning their attention to the towns of Cecil Plains, Surat, Condamine and Talwood, with the Goondiwindi mayor warning some properties downstream of the town could be cut off for a month.
Mayor Lawrence Springborg said residents downstream of Goondiwindi towards Mungindi, will likely be isolated for a month.
Our friends over at AAP report that the ACT has confirmed a second case of the Omicron variant, a close contact of the previous reported individual.
ACT Health reported six new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing its total active caseload to 110.
Of these, six are in hospital, two of which are in intensive care. ACT Health said:
