What we learned, Tuesday 15 November
Guardian Australia’s political editor Katharine Murphy is in Bali following Anthony Albanese at the G20 summit, and will file a despatch from the prime minister’s meeting with China’s president Xi Jinping. That will be live on our website shortly.
With that, we’ll wrap up our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the day’s main news developments:
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has raised the cases of two Australian citizens detained in China, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and concerns over Taiwan during a 32-minute meeting with China’s president Xi Jinping, as he became the first Australian leader to hold talks with Xi since 2016.
The New South Wales town of Forbes faced record flooding on Tuesday, as the community of Eugowra reeled from the “inland tsunami” that inundated the town on Monday and resulted in more than one in five residents requiring an emergency rescue.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic will be given a visa by the Australian government, allowing him to compete in the 2023 Australian Open.
The Reserve Bank has stoked expectations it is prepared to pause in lifting its key interest rate, while also flagging it will curb the telegraphing of future moves.
Covid hospitalisations have increased by 11% in the past week, the federal health minister Mark Butler said, as he announced new vaccines have been approved to boost supply.
Two genetic experts have told the inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Folbigg that a “bad variant”, or rare genetic mutation, likely led to the deaths of her two daughters.
Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has succeeded in shaking up the board of Australia’s biggest electricity producer, with all four of his proposed directors winning support from shareholders at AGL Energy’s annual general meeting.
Have a great evening. We’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Updated
Eugowra residents recall moment flood hit NSW town leaving ‘total carnage’
The first warning came through on Sunday.
Heavy rainfall – for the second time in a fortnight – was lashing central west New South Wales, from Mudgee in the north to Albury in the south.
The Belubula River at Canowindra was flooding at a level not seen in more than 70 years. Flooding was expected to be worst at the nearby township of Eugowra early on Monday morning.
When the rain came it came down hard. The mayor of Orange, Jason Hamling, was at home on Sunday night when it started “teeming down”. “It came rolling through and the country was already saturated,” he said.
Then, the Wyangala Dam spilled, releasing torrents of water into the nearby Lachlan River. Hamling watched footage that showed the moment a tidal wave came rushing at the rate of 230,000 megalitres a day.
Read more from Caitlin Cassidy and Cait Kelly:
Updated
