What we learned: Friday 5 April
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of what we learned today:
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that two Australians are reported missing after the earthquake in Taiwan.
Major flooding could threaten parts of Sydney with drivers warned to avoid non-essential travel as a deadly storm brings intense rainfall along the eastern seaboard.
The Albanese government has released its national energy performance strategy to drive a high-energy performance economy, help consumers take control of their energy use and save on bills.
Extra police from South Australia have been called to Alice Springs to help manage the ongoing youth curfew, due to end on Wednesday.
The New South Wales shadow health minister, Matt Kean, has resigned from the Coalition for Conservation over its stance on nuclear energy.
A New South Wales police operation that resulted in a man being shot dead by the force while suffering psychosis was significantly “flawed”, an inquest has found.
The findings from an IDF investigation into the killing of seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, in an Israeli airstrike, will be made public on Saturday, according to Col Peter Lerner from the Israel Defense Forces.
The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.
Asbestos has been located at a second park in Melbourne’s Hosken Reserve in Coburg North.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has signalled that next month’s budget is likely to contain cuts to some programs within his portfolio
Mona Foma, the Tasmanian summer festival run by the Museum of Old and New Art, has become the latest casualty of the Australian festival circuit, with Mona head David Walsh announcing on Friday that the festival “ends here”.
Updated
East coast weather: flood warnings for Queensland and NSW as BoM forecasts heavy rainfall
Heavy rainfall will drench parts of Queensland and New South Wales this weekend, with motorists urged to stay off roads.
Laura Boekel, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said a trough is affecting Queensland and New South Wales, producing a significant amount of rainfall across the two states.
“The atmosphere has a lot of moisture in it at the moment and the result of that is we’re seeing these storms producing quite a lot of rainfall,” she said.
Major flooding was affecting parts of Sydney on Friday afternoon, with drivers warned to avoid non-essential travel.
A severe weather warning is in place along the NSW coast from Morisset, south of Newcastle in the Hunter, to Bega on the South Coast and extending west to the Central and Southern Tablelands past Oberon and Goulburn.
More weather news here:
Updated
