‘We need to prepare’: climate scientists warn of El Niño summer – as it happened

The Bureau of Meteorology has declared an El Niño weather pattern is under way. El Niños tend to result in hotter than average temperatures and a higher bushfire risk. Photograph: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

9.18am BST

What we learned today, Tuesday 19 September

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines from today:

• Hearing into government’s decision to reject Qatar Airways routes begins

• Government to spend $1.5bn on upgrade for maritime. surveillance aircraft

• NSW to post $7.8bn deficit before string of surpluses

• Twenty-one NSW public schools non-operational due to fire risk

• Extreme fire risk forecast across Sydney and the Greater Hunter tomorrow

• Man charged after ANU stabbing

• Bega mayor: anxiety around bushfire threat ‘extreme’ only years after black summer fires

• Queensland emergency services issues prepare to leave notice for Julago and Nome

• Bean bag rounds fired by NSW police at 47-year-old Newcastle women killed her

• Victoria to spend public housing money on Carlton towers

• Qatar Airways inquiry begins

• RBA mulled rate rise before last decision, minutes show

• NSW to spend $2.2bn on housing and infrastructure in budget

• ‘Catastrophic’ fire danger warning issued for NSW far south coast

• Sydney hits 34.4C, nearing September record

• Victorian man accused of stealing $800,000 in online scams

• Former Pacific Islands leaders call for yes vote on Indigenous voice

• BoM set to declare El Niño event under way

• Fourth person injured in ANU campus attack, vice-chancellor says

• Bureau of Meteorology declares El Niño under way

• Qantas aggressive to deal with, Sydney airport chief says

• ‘We need to prepare’: climate scientists weigh in on El Niño summer

Thank you so much for spending part of your day with us. We will be back first thing Wednesday morning.

Updated at 9.42am BST

9.09am BST

A review of the navy’s surface fleet is due to be handed to the government by the end of next week – but the defence minister, Richard Marles, has hinted decisions won’t be made until early next year.

Earlier this year, the Albanese government ordered a review, opening the door to potential changes to the number of Hunter class frigates and offshore patrol vessels to be bought by Australia.

In a discussion at the Submarine Institute of Australia’s conference in Adelaide today, Marles confirmed that the government expected to receive that assessment by the end of next week:

And obviously, we’ve been talking with the surface fleet review team, so that’s not going to be a surprise to us, we have a sense of what’s coming. And in that sense, when we announced it coming out of the [defence strategic review], we said it would be a relatively short, sharp review and it has been that. And we’re very thankful to the review team and the work they’ve done.

What now? Obviously, it’s the government’s response to that. Our intention is to provide our response to that, meaning the decisions which come from that, in the first part of the first couple of months of next year.

We’ll try and get this out the door as quickly as we can, but that’s essentially the timeframe that we’re working on. And in the process of providing that government response, we’ll obviously – I mean, a lot of the review exists in the classified domain which people will understand, but we will provide as much of the review as we can at that time.

Translation: the findings will probably be kept under wraps until early next year when the government announces what it is actually going to do in response to the report.

Updated at 9.14am BST