From 45m ago
Australia not among nations named in Red Sea task force
The US defense secretary has announced a new multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni militants forced major shipping companies to reroute, stoking fears of sustained disruptions to global trade.
Lloyd Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the US navy’s headquarters in the Middle East, said Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain would be involved in the Red Sea security operation.
The Australian government has not yet formally ruled out sending a ship to the Red Sea but News Corp reports that the federal government will make an announcement today.
The multinational group, widely dubbed in media reports a “taskforce”, will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.
The Houthi militant group, which controls vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, has since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea – attacks it says respond to Israel’s devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
– Associated Press
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Thunderstorms that have doused a major bushfire in north-west NSW have been a mixed blessing, bringing much-needed rain but also making for erratic fire behaviour, Australian Associated Press reports.
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While some residents welcomed the change, others faced a renewed emergency warning and were told to shelter as the oncoming fire approached.
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The emergency warning was issued about 6.30pm yesterday, at which point the out-of-control Duck Creek Pilliga forest blaze was burning about 17km south of Narrabri and 21km west of Boggabri.
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The warning was downgraded soon after to a watch and act as heavy rain fell across the region.
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The Rural Fire Service said:
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Thunderstorms have moved across the fireground, initially causing some erratic fire behaviour and lightning strikes. Rain is now falling across parts of the fireground.
\n
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Shane Allan, whose parents own Bohena pet motel on the Newell Highway south of Narrabri, said the family had evacuated the animals and was preparing to fight any fires that broke out on the property.
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Allan said the rains had come as a major relief as trees along the property boundary began to ignite.
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It was just starting to bust through our border coming past our fence, and then the storm hit. Mother nature came to our rescue. You couldn’t have planned it any better. I think we’re all going to have a cold beer now and throw a steak on the stove.
\n
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As of 10.22pm on Tuesday night, the fire was still classified as out of control but the alert level remains at watch and act.
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Good morning, folks. Stephanie Convery picking up your live news coverage this morning – thanks to my colleague Martin Farrer for getting us up to speed so far!
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The US defense secretary has announced a new multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni militants forced major shipping companies to reroute, stoking fears of sustained disruptions to global trade.
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Lloyd Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the US navy’s headquarters in the Middle East, said Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain would be involved in the Red Sea security operation.
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The Australian government has not yet formally ruled out sending a ship to the Red Sea but News Corp reports that the federal government will make an announcement today.
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The multinational group, widely dubbed in media reports a “taskforce”, will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.
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The Houthi militant group, which controls vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, has since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea – attacks it says respond to Israel’s devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
– Associated Press
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Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you our top overnight and breaking news stories before handing over to my colleague Stephanie Convery.
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Our top story looks at concerns about the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef as ex-Cyclone Jasper crossed the Coral Sea, whipping up eight-metre high waves as it went. Its slow-moving progress exposed as much as 20% of the reef to waves high enough to break apart corals, according to modelling by scientists, who are also worried that flood waters that drained out into the reef’s lagoon waters could damage corals and seagrass meadows close to shore.
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Anthony Albanese has said Australia is not trying to “hold back a changing world or isolate ourselves from it” as it pursues the Aukus pact while also rebuilding the country’s standing in the Pacific. Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night, the prime minister claimed “significant progress in the Pacific” since he came to power and that his much-criticised Pacific diplomacy was part of a broader effort to ensure “a strategic balance that can adapt to a changing region”.
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Previously classified documents released today show that US officials monitored pro-Julian Assange protests in Australia for “anti-US sentiment”, warned of “increasing sympathy, particularly on the left” for the WikiLeaks founder in his home country and criticised local media’s “sensationalist” reporting of the explosive 2010 cable leaks. Documents released via freedom of information laws in the US give new insight into how the WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000 embassy cables in late 2010 led to an irritable response as the US authorities sought to contain the fallout in Australia and other countries.
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A bushfire in north-west New South Wales that has sent smoke drifting over Sydney has eased after rain in the Pilliga forest region. The Rural Fire Service said:
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Thunderstorms have moved across the fireground, initially causing some erratic fire behaviour and lightning strikes. Rain is now falling across parts of the fireground.
\n
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More coming up.
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Key events
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Queensland Premier Steven Miles has been speaking on the radio this morning, also about the floods.
He’s asked about the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast – the prime minister Anthony Albanese, emergency minister Murray Watt, Miles and emergency services have been defending the BoM as there’s been a bit of criticism of the agency, with some suggesting they didn’t give sufficient warning for the floods.
Miles says:
No science can be perfect. I’m sure they will do an assessment of their predictions. But we certainly were warning that flooding was likely in the wake of the cyclone. It came very, very quickly and very, very suddenly, and it also flooded a lot of homes that wouldn’t normally flood. So even though there were alerts for flood warnings in certain locations, if you haven’t been flooded before you don’t think those alerts apply to you. And that’s that’s what happened in some of these areas.
Wujal Wujal evacuation continues
Assistant commissioner of Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Kevin Walsh is speaking about the floods on ABC TV.
He says the services will be rotating crew to relieve the local emergency services:
We are sending in almost 60 SES volunteers and also some additional fire and rescue swift-water technicians and they’ll be on the ground today and they’ll be assisting with our continuing operations.
The evacuation of the community of Wujal Wujal is still under way:
You would have seen the ADF assist being the Queensland police service in that evacuation. So that will continue today. And there are still other pockets apart from Wujal Wujal that we will be assisting with relocating them to safety. So there’s a lot of isolated communities up in the cape but we will continue to assist police and Australian defence force.
Christopher Knaus
US embassy kept tabs on pro-Assange protests
US officials monitored pro-Assange protests in Australia for “anti-US sentiment”, warned of “increasing sympathy, particularly on the left” for the WikiLeaks founder in his home country and derided local media’s “sensationalist” reporting of the explosive 2010 cable leaks, previously classified records show.
Documents released by the US state department via freedom of information laws give new insight into how the US embassy in Canberra and its security team reacted to WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000 embassy cables in late 2010.
They show the embassy’s regional security office monitoring and reporting on pro-WikiLeaks rallies held across Australian capital cities, feeding information to Washington via the embassy.
Read the full story here:
Heavy rain falls over NSW fireground
Thunderstorms that have doused a major bushfire in north-west NSW have been a mixed blessing, bringing much-needed rain but also making for erratic fire behaviour, Australian Associated Press reports.
While some residents welcomed the change, others faced a renewed emergency warning and were told to shelter as the oncoming fire approached.
The emergency warning was issued about 6.30pm yesterday, at which point the out-of-control Duck Creek Pilliga forest blaze was burning about 17km south of Narrabri and 21km west of Boggabri.
The warning was downgraded soon after to a watch and act as heavy rain fell across the region.
The Rural Fire Service said:
Thunderstorms have moved across the fireground, initially causing some erratic fire behaviour and lightning strikes. Rain is now falling across parts of the fireground.
Shane Allan, whose parents own Bohena pet motel on the Newell Highway south of Narrabri, said the family had evacuated the animals and was preparing to fight any fires that broke out on the property.
Allan said the rains had come as a major relief as trees along the property boundary began to ignite.
It was just starting to bust through our border coming past our fence, and then the storm hit. Mother nature came to our rescue. You couldn’t have planned it any better. I think we’re all going to have a cold beer now and throw a steak on the stove.
As of 10.22pm on Tuesday night, the fire was still classified as out of control but the alert level remains at watch and act.
Good morning
Good morning, folks. Stephanie Convery picking up your live news coverage this morning – thanks to my colleague Martin Farrer for getting us up to speed so far!
Australia not among nations named in Red Sea task force
The US defense secretary has announced a new multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni militants forced major shipping companies to reroute, stoking fears of sustained disruptions to global trade.
Lloyd Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the US navy’s headquarters in the Middle East, said Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain would be involved in the Red Sea security operation.
The Australian government has not yet formally ruled out sending a ship to the Red Sea but News Corp reports that the federal government will make an announcement today.
The multinational group, widely dubbed in media reports a “taskforce”, will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.
The Houthi militant group, which controls vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, has since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea – attacks it says respond to Israel’s devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
– Associated Press
Martin Farrer
Albanese urged to ‘honour work’ of late MP
The Alliance for Gambling Reform has written to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, urging him to “honour the work” of his late colleague Peta Murphy and ban gambling advertising.
The letter, signed by alliance’s chief advocate Peter Costello and its chief executive, Carol Bennett, said banning ads would “create a legacy that not only acknowledges her hard work and dedication” while also reducing gambling harm.
Murphy, 50, died from breast cancer this month. Before her death, she led a parliamentary inquiry that made a bipartisan recommendation to ban all gambling ads after a three-year adjustment period to protect vulnerable Australians.
Costello and Bennett said Murphy had worked tirelessly – even in the last days of her life – to “expose the harm experienced by the community from online gambling”:
Your government now has the opportunity to implement the recommendations of this report including introducing a reasoned and responsible ban on gambling advertising, phased in over three years.
The government received these recommendations in June this year. There has been ample time to review them.It is now time to resist the pressure of big gambling and other vested interests and adopt the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry.
This is an opportunity to honour the work of Peta, to create a legacy that not only acknowledges her hard work and dedication but also one that will greatly reduce gambling harm.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you our top overnight and breaking news stories before handing over to my colleague Stephanie Convery.
Our top story looks at concerns about the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef as ex-Cyclone Jasper crossed the Coral Sea, whipping up eight-metre high waves as it went. Its slow-moving progress exposed as much as 20% of the reef to waves high enough to break apart corals, according to modelling by scientists, who are also worried that flood waters that drained out into the reef’s lagoon waters could damage corals and seagrass meadows close to shore.
Anthony Albanese has said Australia is not trying to “hold back a changing world or isolate ourselves from it” as it pursues the Aukus pact while also rebuilding the country’s standing in the Pacific. Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night, the prime minister claimed “significant progress in the Pacific” since he came to power and that his much-criticised Pacific diplomacy was part of a broader effort to ensure “a strategic balance that can adapt to a changing region”.
Previously classified documents released today show that US officials monitored pro-Julian Assange protests in Australia for “anti-US sentiment”, warned of “increasing sympathy, particularly on the left” for the WikiLeaks founder in his home country and criticised local media’s “sensationalist” reporting of the explosive 2010 cable leaks. Documents released via freedom of information laws in the US give new insight into how the WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000 embassy cables in late 2010 led to an irritable response as the US authorities sought to contain the fallout in Australia and other countries.
A bushfire in north-west New South Wales that has sent smoke drifting over Sydney has eased after rain in the Pilliga forest region. The Rural Fire Service said:
Thunderstorms have moved across the fireground, initially causing some erratic fire behaviour and lightning strikes. Rain is now falling across parts of the fireground.
More coming up.
