We will wrap up today. Good evening from me, Graham Readfearn.
Thanks to Royce Kurmelovs for running the blog earlier today, and to my colleagues Benita Kolovos and Adeshola Ore for their reports from the two main Victorian state election campaign launches.
We’ve also had dispatches from our political editor Katharine Murphy who is following the prime minister at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
Here’s what happened.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese met US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Sunday afternoon.
Albanese spoke to the Chinese premier Li Keqiang through a translator at the East Asia Summit. The conversation lasted about four minutes, but was the first leader level conversation between the two nations since 2019.
In Victoria, Labor and the Coalition both held campaign rallies as the state election campaigns gather pace.
Labor premier Daniel Andrews announced a $207m package for Victoria’s specialist schools.
Victoria’s Opposition leader Matthew Guy said if elected, he would restrict gas produced in the state from being exported interstate or overseas in a bid to reduce household bills.
A band of intense rain and thunderstorms stretching from southern Queensland to Tasmania is moving east across already flooded communities this evening.
A series of tapes, leaked to Guardian Australia by a whistleblower, feature several Queensland police service officers using racist slurs and offensive language while working in the holding cells.
Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell has had surgery today after breaking his leg running in the backyard of a 50th birthday party in Melbourne on Saturday evening.
Stay safe and keep in touch with your local SES and Bureau of Meteorology updates if you’re in the line of those thunderstorms.
Updated
Here’s our story on cricketer Glenn Maxwell breaking his leg at a birthday party in Melbourne yesterday.
