Summary
Thank you for joining us on the live blog today. Here is a wrap up, in case you missed any key headlines:
Tropical Cyclone Alfred has executed a dramatic right turn this evening, and is now “heading towards the Queensland coast”, the premier said.
Waves of up to 10m were recorded off parts of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and the Queensland premier David Crisafulli has been stressing the importance of communities to prepare for this. He said there was “still an element of the population that hasn’t yet fully understood the magnitude of this system”.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese announced that NSW has secured a deal with the commonwealth to fully fund public schools by 2034 with a $4.8bn injection by the commonwealth, which would support about 770,000 public school students and more than 2000 schools.
Albanese said Australia is “open to consideration” of Ukraine peacekeeping proposals.
Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, reaffirmed the fundamental bedrock of the US alliance remains unchanged despite a tumultuous foreign policy week in the White House.
The University of Melbourne banned indoor protests following last year’s pro-Palestine encampment that extended to the occupation of a department building for more than a week.
And the Western Australian premier Roger Cook labelled the United States vice-president JD Vance a “knob”.
That’s all for today. See you back for tomorrow live blog in the morning.
Rower attempting record-breaking feat rescued
A Lithuanian rower was rescued off the Queensland coast earlier today after he was caught in tropical cyclone Alfred’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.
Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.
HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne Royal Australian Navy landing ship, rescued Mockus on Monday morning and was returning to Sydney.
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