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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani (now) and Matilda Boseley and Cait Kelly (earlier)

Morrison condemns Moscow’s ‘brutal’ attack on neighbour – as it happened

Ukraine Russia Scott Morrison Queensland China New South Wales Probuild Clive Palmer Victoria Moscow
Executive council meeting
Prime minister Scott Morrison attends an executive council meeting at Admiralty House in Sydney on Thursday to sign off on sanctions imposed on Russia. Photograph: Adam Taylor/PRIME MINISTER OFFICE AUSTRALIA/AFP/Getty Images

The day that was: Thursday 24 February

That is where we will leave the blog for today. Thanks for following along.

Here’s some of what you might have missed today:

  • Prime minister Scott Morrison announced new sanctions on Russia, affecting 25 people, including military personnel and four entities involved in the sale of weapons.
  • The PM earlier said the Russian ambassador had not yet been asked to leave. The PM also said Australia wasn’t considering providing “lethal military assistance” to Ukraine.
  • Labor offered bipartisan support again, saying Australia must stand with allies to hold Russia to account.
  • Queensland battened down amid fears heavy rainfall will reintensify and continue to pummel the south-east.
  • Some 1,200 Victoria police officers and protective service officers have been working without proper authorisation for up to eight years due to a bungle.
  • Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer was taken to a Queensland hospital.
  • Qantas posted a $1.28bn pre-tax loss in its half-year financial results, as the airline blamed lockdowns in the second half of last year and the Omicron variant for hitting travel confidence at the end of 2020.
  • Major construction company Probuild went into administration, putting at risk hundreds of jobs and also a series of major projects.
  • NSW recorded 8,271 new Covid cases and 12 deaths; Victoria recorded 6,715 new cases and 16 deaths; Queensland recorded 6,094 new cases and 37 deaths; the ACT reported 661 new cases; WA reported 610 new cases; SA reported 1,735 new cases and three deaths; the NT reported 757 new cases and three deaths; and Tasmania reported 853 new cases.

Thanks for reading.

Updated

Restrictions are being eased in South Australia, where dancing and bigger sporting events will be allowed again.

The South Australian police commissioner and state emergency coordinator, Grant Stevens, announced the easing of the restrictions earlier today, which include:

  • Hospitality venues with stand-up drinking will be allowed to host 50% capacity, with seated venues allowed to move to 75%.
  • Venues with combined seating and standing can have up to 50% capacity.
  • Private functions at hospitality venues can have 50% capacity of up to 150 people and stand-up drinking, singing and dancing will be allowed.
  • Fully seated private functions can have 75% capacity.
  • Capacity restrictions on seated outdoor events will be lifted.

All the new rules will come into effect at 12:01am on Saturday.

Stevens said that despite the rising case numbers, the state’s hospitalisation rates meant they could adjust the restrictions:

This does mean if we were to see a significant increase in cases that did put excessive pressure on the health system, we may have to reintroduce restrictions to keep on top of that.

Updated

In a statement following his brief press conference, PM Scott Morrison says Australia is committed to seeing Russia pay a “high price” for its invasion of Ukraine.

In a joint statement with the foreign minister, Marise Payne, the PM shared comments he didn’t air in the presser, claiming Russian president Vladimir Putin had “fabricated a feeble pretext on which to invade.”

“Russia’s disinformation and propaganda has convinced no one,” Morrison and Payne said.

“We call on Russia to cease its illegal and unprovoked actions, and to stop violating Ukraine’s independence. Russia must reverse its breach of international law and of the UN Charter, and withdraw its military from Ukraine.”

“The Australian government will continue working with our partners to keep Australians safe and defend our values and principles.”

The statement confirmed Australia’s next round of sanctions would put financial penalties on an extra 25 people and four entities “who have been responsible for the unprovoked and unacceptable aggression”. Four more Russian financial institutions will be sanctioned, meaning Australians will be restricted from investing in those bodies.

The PM did not immediately detail a list of which individuals or entities those sanctions would apply to. Guardian Australia understands a more detailed list may be released publicly in coming days, once Australian assets of those entities are frozen or cut off.

Updated

And with that, the PM ends a relatively short presser, mainly condemning the attacks and announcing new sanctions.

Is the PM worried that China will use global instability to launch any action in the Indo-Pacific?

I think it’s important to separate these issues, and I want to make that point, in particular, to Australians. What I would be asking – as I have consistently, and I would welcome this being supported, both here in this country and elsewhere – it’s important that all countries denounce what is occurring in Russia and Ukraine. It is important that all countries do that.

This is an unprovoked, unwarranted, illegal invasion of Ukraine. And the best way to ensure that these acts are condemned is to enjoin the actions of countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, and impose these sanctions to ensure that there is a penalty and there is a cost.

Updated

Asked if discussions have happened with the Russian Ambassador:

Even in moments of terrible conflicts such as this, it is important to maintain channels of communication. That has been the conventional way these things have been dealt with in the past.

It’s appropriate for him to have been brought in to speak to the secretary of Dfat, and that has taken place, and that dialogue will continue there.

But you can be in no doubt about the very stern messages that have been sent to the ambassador on behalf of the Australian government.

Updated

First question has been about whether or not Australian military support has been requested:

The latter is not something the Australian government has been requested, working with our military partners in the region. We work closely with Nato and their member states. What we are doing is working with them in other ways, which I cannot go into a lot of detail about.

Sanctions of the order that I have outlined matter. They do have an impact on those individuals, particularly when they’re done in concert with other countries like those I have mentioned. That’s why I think it’s important that all countries engage in these sanctions against these individuals. It sends a very clear message.

Updated

The PM confirms there have been “no evidence of state-sanctioned cyberattacks”:

In briefings received this afternoon, we have still no evidence of any state-sanctioned cyberattacks on Australian assets here, but I thank the corporate community for the preparations that they’ve been undertaking and working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre to prepare themselves.

I want to assure you that Australia stands ready to support internationally coordinated action to respond to any price or supply shocks in energy markets.

The PM says there must be a cost for “reprehensible violence”:

We must ensure there is a cost for this violent, unacceptable, and egregious behaviour. There must be a cost. As I said today, we’ve firmly believed that, because of the actions of Russia over many months to prepare for this, that it was unlikely that they would change course.

But there always must be a cost for such reprehensible violence and the way this is being done in Ukraine as we speak. The government is also engaging with our partners and businesses to make sure we’re mitigating risks to critical supply chains, and we will continue to work closely with Australian business to manage those risks.

The PM continues, announcing new sanctions to an additional 25 people, including military personnel and four entities involved in the sale of weapons:

Yesterday, I announced travel bans on eight members of Russia’s Security Council. They will come into effect at midnight this evening. This council bears responsibility for the current phase of the invasion, including President Putin’s declaration regarding Donetsk and Luhansk.

I’ve also announced financial sanctions which mean Australian individuals and entities cannot do business with five Russian banks. This was in addition to restrictions on Australians investing in the State Development Bank. We are now progressing in the second phase of those financial sanctions.

The acting minister of financial affairs, senator Birmingham, has completed the process of applying sanctions to an additional 25 persons. This includes army commanders, deputy defence ministers and Russian mercenaries who have been responsible for the unprovoked and unacceptable regression, and four entities involved in the development and sale of military technology and weapons.

We are now moving to place restrictions on Australians investing in a further four financial institutions. There will be further waves of sanctions as we identify those responsible for these egregious acts, including – as I discussed this afternoon with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – moving on around over 300 members of the Russian parliament.

Updated

The PM has continued, saying the the minister for immigration and multicultural affairs has met with Ukrainian community leaders, and has urged Australians in Ukraine to leave:

Earlier today, the minister for immigration and multicultural affairs met with community leaders from the Ukrainian community in Australia – some 18 of them – to hear from them directly, to answer questions about the arrangements Australia is putting in place.

And I thank them for working closely with the government, and I thank them for their leadership in the community.

As I said this morning also, I want to send a particular message to Australians of Russian descent. I know that they will also be feeling terrible about these events.

Whether they’re of Ukrainian descent or Russian descent, we’re all Australians, and we thank them for their contribution to Australia, and we stand together with them as Australians.

My message to those Australians who continue to be in Ukraine is to – where safe to do so – leave.

Updated

PM condemns "outrageous" Russian acts

The PM has begun by condemning the “brutal Russian invasion” of Ukraine, and has called on the Russian government to withdraw.

I’ll call it what it is – the Russian government launched a brutal invasion, unprovoked, on Ukraine, and should be condemned for doing so – and Australia does.

Together with the international community, we are banding together in strong terms to condemn these outrageous acts in the strongest possible terms.

The footage that is emerging of missile strikes, air-raid sirens, and reports of hundreds of casualties dash yet unconfirmed are, sadly, not surprising given the events we’ve been witnessing for some time now, and have been warning about.

But, even as these events continue to take place, we do call on the Russian government to withdraw and return Ukraine to a peaceful situation.

Updated

PM addresses media on Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The Prime Minister has stepped up to give a press conference on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison is due to address reporters in Sydney in around 20 minutes (around 5:30pm AEDT).

We are expecting that he will detail the Australian government’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

NT reports three deaths, 757 new cases

The Northern Territory has reported 757 new cases overnight, and are sadly reporting the deaths of three people.

There have now been 19 Covid related deaths in the Territory since the beginning of the pandemic.

There are currently 108 people in hospital with the virus, with 23 requiring oxygen.

The Australian share market has closed down 3% for the day, with the ASX 200 benchmark index ending at 6900.6 points. That’s the lowest close this month.

Bourses across the region are posting similar falls of 2-3%, with Singapore’s 2.9% decline so far the largest intraday slide since mid-May.

The Australian dollar was a bit stronger than earlier in the day, though, trading recently at 71.9 US cents.

The Russian rouble is more akin to rubble today, dropping 5.8% to a record low 86.12 per US dollar, Reuters reported.

The New Zealand minister for foreign affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, has echoed sentiments across the globe in condemning the “unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russia on Ukraine.”

Updated

Millionaire businessman Neville Power must wait to learn whether he will be jailed for breaching Western Australia’s strict Covid quarantine laws after his sentencing was delayed, according to AAP.

Power, 63, and his son Nicholas Power, 36, admitted failing to self-quarantine upon returning from Queensland on a private helicopter in October 2021, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment.

The incident came 18 months after Neville Power was appointed to head up prime minister Scott Morrison’s now-disbanded national Covid-19 coordination commission.

The Powers had been due to be sentenced on Thursday in Perth magistrates court.

But the court was told Nicholas Power was unable to attend, prompting magistrate Elizabeth Woods to adjourn the sentencing for both men.

Their lawyer Sam Vandongen SC did not provide a reason for Nicholas Power’s absence.

Neville Power, who attended Thursday’s hearing, declined to comment outside court.

A police prosecutor earlier this month said the pair’s actions had put West Australians at “unacceptable risk” and a term of imprisonment was appropriate.

But Vandongen urged the magistrate to instead impose substantial fines on the pair.

He also flagged they would apply for spent convictions which would allow Neville Power, the former chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group, to continue in his board roles.

Power this week stepped down from his role as Perth airport chairman and has been granted a leave of absence from board roles with Strike Energy and disability services provider APM. He also recently resigned as chair of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Federation.

Vandongen cited a psychological report which said Power had suffered stress-induced “cognitive distortions” which had clouded his judgment.

The court heard Power and his son had flown separately to Queensland in September last year spending a week mustering cattle at the family’s Bushy Park station near Mt Isa.

They flew back to WA together on a private helicopter, staying overnight in Exmouth in WA’s north - where they were captured on CCTV footage moving freely around a resort while not wearing face masks - before arriving at Jandakot airport on 9 October.

Travellers from Queensland were required at the time to isolate for 14 days upon arrival in WA under the state’s controlled border regime. They also had to complete G2G pass declarations advising of their recent movements.

But the pair did not make G2G applications and failed to isolate. They each pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to comply with a direction under WA’s Emergency Management Act.

Woods on Thursday adjourned the sentencing to 23 March.

Updated

Public buildings to be lit in Ukrainian flag colours in Melbourne

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has announced that buildings in Melbourne’s CBD will be lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in a show of support to the people of Ukraine.

In a statement, Andrews said “this will be a distressing time for Victorian Ukrainian and Russian communities.”

The overt act of aggression by the Russian Federation will cause harm and untold suffering to thousands, if not millions, of people.

Lighting up public buildings in blue and yellow is just one small thing we can do to show our support as a government and state.

Whatever happens today, or in the days to come, we stand ready to support these communities.

Updated

Australia must stand with allies to hold Russia to account, Labor says

Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine “marks a grave moment for humanity”, the federal opposition has said.

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, and the shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said in a statement:

All Australians stand with the people of Ukraine, and are united in condemnation of Russia’s shameful act of aggression.

This attack is wholly unprovoked and without justification. Russia alone is the aggressor, and Russia alone bears responsibility for the bloodshed and suffering that will follow.

As US President Biden has said, the world is ready to respond with unity, clarity, and conviction.

Australia must stand united with our allies, in holding Russia to account.

This is not just an attack on Ukraine, it is also a contemptuous attack on one of the core principles of the post-World War II order, which is that all UN members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people, and all Australians of Ukrainian heritage.

Updated

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reports of targeted attacks beyond the renegade areas in the benighted nation’s east has prompted investors to become more risk averse everywhere.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 share index extended falls through much of Thursday and was recently more than 3% down for the day.

Brent crude oil futures popped above the $US100 a barrel mark for the first time since 2014, rising more than 3% for the day, according to Bloomberg.

Investors have been buying up government bonds as they hunt for havens. Another one is gold, and prices of that commodity are near to eight-month highs in US dollar terms.

Ukraine, as you may recall, is a big wheat producer (except for those periods known as the Holodomor when the Soviet Union treated Ukrainian farmers abysmally) and one effect of the invasion has been to send food prices higher.

Wheat prices are at their highest since 2012, Bloomberg says.

The Aussie dollar, which was worth 72.5 US cents a day ago, slumped to 71.75 cents on Thursday.

The Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, who has a Ukranian background, has given an emotional statement in Parliament on the situation in Ukraine, saying he has family in Kharkiv.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said it was a situation that “saddens all of us.”

Our thoughts and prayers are with them today. It will be a very very anxious time.

Updated

So I just want to go back to the WA Covid update, where premier Mark McGowan has urged people not to panic over the growing number of daily cases announced.

WA of course went months maintaining Covid zero, but has seen cases rise exponentially in the past week or so, and today was the second consecutive day to see case numbers above 600.

McGowan said cases will continue to rise, and will at one point hit 1,000 a day:

It’s clear that cases are rising in the community. The mathematics are clear, we are not far away from recording 1,000 new cases a day.

This is to be expected, it’s not a cause for panic, but it’s a reminder we have to take Omicron seriously.

If we all stick together and do the right thing, we will be in the best possible position.

Updated

One of Australia’s biggest building firms has been plunged into administration as unions seek assurances that workers will be looked after, AAP reports.

Probuild confirmed on Thursday its South African parent company, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Ltd, had placed the building company into administration.

“We are caught up in a set of circumstances not of our making,” a Probuild spokesperson said. “We are working closely with the administrator on a number of plans to protect our clients, subcontractors and employees.”

Probuild said it was pursuing “several options” to raise the capital necessary for it to continue as an Australian building company.

Deloitte has been appointed as administrator. Sal Algeri, of Deloitte, said the company’s immediate focus would be on assessing Probuild’s financial situation and working to stabilise businesses and projects “where possible”.

“We will assess options to preserve value, and engage closely with creditor groups and other stakeholders across the spectrum, including clients, employees, unions, suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors,” he said.

Two other businesses under WBHO Australia – Monaco Hickey and WBHO Infrastructure – have also been placed into administration.

Probuild is a major design, construction and project management group operating in most states, including NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. It employs more than 1,000 people as well as contract trade workers to build offices, residential buildings, and shopping centres and other key infrastructure.

Probuild is currently managing at least a dozen major projects across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and WA.

The construction union is trying to establish the company’s situation and the likely impact on workers.

The construction industry has faced shortages of key materials and increased costs during the pandemic, compounded by a lack of skilled workers.

In 2020, another major builder, Grocon, went into administration after a legal stoush with government agency Infrastructure NSW over its Central Barangaroo project in Sydney, which torpedoed its balance sheet.

Updated

The Queensland government has bought Australia’s northernmost cattle station, Bramwell Station in Cape York, and will return the land to First Nations people for conservation.

The purchase of Bramwell Station and Richardson Station will add 131,900ha to Queensland’s protected areas estate. It is the largest conservation acquisition by the state in more than a decade.

“This is one of the most significant purchases in Queensland history – linking close to one million hectares of protected land in a picturesque part of our state,” the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said.

Conserving and returning this land to Traditional Owners will create jobs and opportunities for local workers in the future.

The state environment minister, Meaghan Scanlon, said the Cape York Tenure Resolution Program, which returns areas of the Cape to traditional owners, would now negotiate which sections of the land would be designated as national park - to be co-managed by Indigenous people - and which sections would become Aboriginal freehold land.

Conservation groups welcomed the announcement.

Andrew Picone, a spokesperson for Our Living Outback, said the property occupied a critical place in the Cape York landscape.

“Today’s acquisition for future divestment back to Traditional Owners has been long-awaited,” Picone said.

The new area supports 25 ecosystems that are already underrepresented in our protected area network, two of which – lowland tropical rainforest and open woodland plains – are threatened.

Updated

Asked if he could confirm reports Clive Palmer had been taken to hospital, the businessman’s long-time media spokesman Andrew Crook says Palmer is “just being tested”.

Clive Palmer’s address to the National Press Club was cancelled on Tuesday with the venue stating:

The NPC has just been informed that Clive Palmer has been directed not to travel due [to] him exhibiting Covid-like symptoms ...

All ticket holders will be contacted to be refunded.

The mining magnate and one-time federal MP told an anti-vaccine mandate rally in November: “I’m not vaccinated and I don’t intend to be vaccinated.”

Palmer was due to give a speech at the press club on the UAP’s strategy for the upcoming federal election.

Clive Palmer taken to hospital

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer has been taken to a Queensland hospital.

Guardian Australia confirmed Palmer has been taken from his Gold Coast home to the Pindara Private Hospital by ambulance.

A scheduled speech by Palmer at the National Press Club in Canberra was cancelled earlier this week due to the United Australia Party figurehead developing Covid-like symptoms.

Palmer has previously told a New South Wales court he is not vaccinated. Palmer has been one of Australia’s leading campaigners against Covid restrictions and vaccine mandates.

Updated

National Covid-19 update

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 42 deaths from Covid 19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 661
  • In hospital: 41 (with three people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 12
  • Cases: 8,271
  • In hospital: 1,211 (with 59 people in ICU)

NT

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 757
  • In hospital: 108 (with 7 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: eight
  • Cases: 6,094
  • In hospital: 334

South Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 1,735
  • In hospital: 142 (with 13 people in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 16
  • Cases: 6,715
  • In hospital: 322 (with 43 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 610 local (and seven travel-related cases)

Updated

ACT reports 661 new cases

The Australian Capital Territory has reported 661 new cases, as the cluster from the ANU O-Week continue to grow.

41 people are in hospital with the virus, and three in intensive care, but thankfully none need ventilation.

Updated

Let’s meet each other halfway: China’s ambassador

China’s new ambassador to Australia has offered an olive branch in the intense diplomatic dispute between the two countries, saying they should “meet each other halfway”.

Xiao Qian, who landed in Australia last month after years of increasing tensions, said the healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations served the fundamental interests of both sides.

China has always attached great importance to the China-Australia relationship, and China is willing to actively develop friendship and cooperation with Australia.

The comments come just days after the Morrison government accused China of a dangerous “act of intimidation” over a warship’s shining of a laser at a Royal Australian Air Force surveillance plane north of Australia last week, and after China’s national defence ministry in turn accused the Australian defence force of “spiteful and provocative actions”. Both major political parties in Australia view the differences in the relationship with China as largely structural.

In a speech today, Xiao said given this year marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, there was an opportunity to ease tensions:

China is willing to work with Australia to meet each other halfway.

Xiao did not specify any tangible actions the Chinese government may be willing to take to get that relationship back on track – but has clearly signalled he wants to talk. He said the two governments should “jointly make efforts” to push the relationship back on “the right track”.

Xiao was speaking at an event at the Chinese embassy in Canberra to present the family of the late New South Wales police force officer Kelly Foster with a medal honouring the bravery of the senior constable. Foster died trying to save Chinese student Jennifer Qi in a whirlpool in the Blue Mountains in January last year.

Xiao said Foster had displayed warmth and love “that transcends race, culture and nationality”.

China and Australia are far away from each other geographically, by thousands of miles, yet great love knows no national boundaries nor distance … Millions and millions of people in China could feel the warmth, kindness and friendship of the Australian people.

Updated

WA records 610 new cases

Western Australia has recorded 610 new locally acquired cases, and seven travel-related cases.

The collapse into administration of Probuild (see earlier post), it turns out, has a China angle.

Just over a year ago, treasurer Josh Frydenberg intervened to say he would block a planned takeover of the local unit of the South African-owned WBHO builder, citing national security grounds, the AFR reported at the time.

The suitor China State Construction Engineering Corp (who, as the name implies, is state-owned) had been offering to pay $300m for the troubled operations. WBHO cited that rejection as one of the reasons for pulling the pin on the Australian operations:

“During 2020, the Company entered into negotiations with a third party to sell the Probuild business, this transaction was progressed to agreed terms by December 2020 but approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board was not obtained.

“Following on from this, WBHO implemented its strategy to downsize the business, and considered other sales options which proved fruitless due to concerns potential acquirers had as to the impact of the regulatory approach to Covid.”

As the AFR reported in January 2021, Probuild’s executive chairman Simon Gray, who was also a part owner of the Australian unit, wasn’t happy with the decision. (He “slammed” it, apparently.)

Gray noted that Probuild was less exposed to significant work, like tunnels and airports, than John Holland, which was bought by the China Communications Construction Company for $1bn in 2015, the paper said.

It does make you wonder whether John Holland might take on a Port of Darwin flavour (leased to a Chinese company for 99 years), with questions raised about whether nefarious China string-pulling, etc, might be a risk. Perhaps Australian voters could ask for some consistency.

Both Gray and Frydenberg have been approached for comment.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting South African shareholders weren’t very impressed by the Probuild fiasco, sending WBHO’s shares down a tidy 27% yesterday, according to Bloomberg.

Updated

Good afternoon everyone, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day, and a quick thanks to the ever brilliant Matilda Boseley for her work this morning.

With that, I shall leave you for today, but never fear the fantastic Mostafa Rachwani is here to take you through the afternoon!

Vegetarians have a 14% lower chance of developing cancer than carnivores, according to a large-scale study that links meat-eating to a heightened risk of the disease.

A team of researchers from Oxford University analysed data on more than 470,000 Britons and found that pescatarians had a 10% reduced risk. Compared with people who eat meat regularly – defined as more than five times a week – those who consumed small amounts had a 2% lower risk of developing cancer, the study found.

“In this large British cohort, being a low meat-eater, fish-eater or vegetarian was associated with a lower risk of all cancer sites when compared to regular meat-eaters,” the analysis found.

You can ready the full report below:

Updated

Victoria’s health department has issued a slight correction to this morning’s Covid numbers.

They wrote there were 43 active cases are currently in ICU. However, there are actually 43 cases in ICU, “both active and cleared”.

Anthony Albanese has targeted the Morrison government on rising petrol prices at his doorstop at the Gold Coast.

Albanese said that “fuel prices have gone through the roof”, in part because half the country’s refineries had “shut down” under this government. He also chipped Angus Taylor for locating some of Australia’s fuel reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.

Albanese also noted that Australia’s dependency on fuel would be less if we had a greater takeup of electric vehicles, but Scott Morrison said that EVs would “end the weekend”.

Earlier, Morrison played down the prospect of cutting fuel excise to tackle rising petrol prices, noting that supply interruptions and price rises are expected to be temporary.
Some such as independent senator Rex Patrick have called to cut excise, but Labor hasn’t gone there.

Updated

The prospect of sanctions is hurting the Russian part-owner of one of Australia’s largest alumina refineries, Queensland Alumina Limited, while the refinery’s majority owner, Rio Tinto, has warned of a looming “disruption” to its aluminium business.

QAL, which operates a refinery in Gladstone, is 20% owned by the Russian aluminium giant Rusal, which has previously been hit by US sanctions in 2018, implemented in response to the country’s “malign activity around the globe”.

Rusal’s share price has taken a battering as tensions in Ukraine escalate, falling up to 22% in Hong Kong, the biggest fall since April 2018, according to Bloomberg.

QAL would not comment when approached by Guardian Australia about whether it feared further sanctions, or what impact they might have on the company.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Updated

Queensland supreme court judge Helen Bowskill has been appointed as the new chief justice, Marty Silk from AAP reports.

The senior judge administrator will take over the state’s top legal job from Justice Catherine Holmes, who is retiring.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says Justice Bowskill, who has been a supreme and district court judge, is the right person to lead the court.

She also paid tribute to Justice Holmes, who was Queensland’s first female chief justice.

The baton that passes to Judge Bowskill has been wielded most admirably by her predecessor ...

Chief Justice Catherine Holmes is widely acknowledged as one of the finest legal minds our state has produced.

Mr Speaker, one day it will go unremarked that both Justices Holmes and Bowskill are women.

Sadly we are not quite there, but we are close.

It is a source of pride to me that all three branches of public administration in this state are led by women.

Bowskill will take over as chief justice on 19 March.

Updated

In order to cope with the crushing weight of the news nowadays, I sometimes like to photoshop luscious locks of hair onto politicians. Please enjoy this new and improved Anthony Albanese photo shoot.

Australia is relaxing face mask rules – but when, and where, should you keep wearing them?

Find out in this piece from Hassan Vally and Catherine Bennett below:

Things don’t seem to be easing up all too quickly in south-east Queensland, with the potential for flash flooding still strong.

Updated

Major construction company Probuild goes into administration

Probuild, one of Australia’s largest construction companies, has gone into administration, putting at risk hundreds of jobs and also a series of major projects from CSL’s new headquarters and a big one for Victoria police.

In a statement this morning, Deloitte said 18 related companies within the WBHO Australia group had been placed into voluntary administration, effective 10pm AEDT on Wednesday.

“WBHOA has been a major contributor to the construction sector and the broader economy, including as a direct and indirect employer,” Sal Algeri, leader of Deloitte’s (optimistically named) Turnaround and Restructuring unit, said:

The Covid-19 pandemic has created challenging trading conditions for many businesses, and for WBHOA, which has also been impacted by certain loss-making projects ...

Our immediate focus will be to undertake an urgent assessment of the entities’ financial positions and work with key stakeholders to stabilise the business and projects where possible.

Deloitte said the company directly employs approximately 750 people and has annual revenues of more than $1.4bn.

Reporting has focused on several big projects that went awry, including one in Queen St, Brisbane that left a $45m loss, according to the Australian.

The South African-based owners, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, told the Johannesburg stock exchange yesterday that it was “discontinuing financial assistance”.

In a statement, it said:

The Australian construction environment has also become increasingly competitive and contractual, in our view, the potential risk on large mega-building projects outweighs the current margins available.

The statement went on to blame Australia’s pandemic response for its woes:

The Australian government’s hard-line approach of managing Covid-19 through a combination of border restrictions, snap lockdowns and mandatory work-from-home regulations for many sectors, has had a considerable impact on property markets as well as other industries such as the leisure industry.

The impact of lockdown restrictions on the retail, hotel and leisure and commercial office sectors of building markets have created high levels of business uncertainty in Australia and have significantly reduced demand and delayed the award of new projects in these key sectors of the construction industry.

Fair to say that Probuild’s transition to Antibuild hasn’t helped the local stock market, with shares off about 2% so far today.

Qantas, which reported a $1.3bn half-yearly loss, is pacing those falls. Of course, those Russia/Ukraine tensions are likely to be the main source of the dim mood.

Updated

Queensland has recorded another eight Covid-19 related deaths and 6,094 cases as hospital admissions continue to drop, reports AAP.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, expressed her “deepest sympathy” for the families of those who have died, four of whom were in aged care.

Hospital numbers in the state continue to drop, down to 334 on Thursday from 379, and Palaszczuk said cases in school-aged children are also trending down.

Just under 63.6% of eligible Queenslanders have received their third booster shot, but the first dose vaccine rate for kids aged between five and 11 is still under 50%.

The figure currently sits at 42.28% as the state counts down to mask mandate lifting in just over a week.

Palaszczuk is encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated before 4 March when restrictions are scheduled to relax.

Updated

The Morrison government has awarded over half a million dollars in funding for the installation of fibre-to-the-premises NBN to a single business in the electorate of the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, despite the government having previously argued against taxpayer-funded fibre upgrades.

Fruit and vegetable grower Costa Group, which on Tuesday reported a 2021 yearly net profit after tax of $64m, is listed in documents provided to Senate estimates as the sole beneficiary of a planned upgrade from satellite NBN services to a full fibre-to-the-premises service. The upgrade is for the company’s tomato glasshouse facility in Guyra, in the New England electorate, as part of the federal government’s regional connectivity program.

NBN Co will switch the business over at a cost of $520,018, with the company needing to install fibre along the New England Highway to connect Costa’s facility.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Queensland records eight Covid deaths and 6,094 new infections

Queensland recorded eight Covid deaths and 6,094 new infections overnight.

There are now 334 Covid-positive cases in the state’s public hospital system.

Updated

The code brown in Victoria might be over, but it seems a very different kind of code brown in NSW has begun.

There has been a 97% increase in gastro outbreaks in NSW childcare centres in February compared to normal levels.

NSW Health is now urging parents to keep their kids at home if they have any gastro symptoms.

Executive director of health protection, Dr Richard Broome, says there have been 156 outbreaks of gastroenteritis so far this month.

Almost 1,000 children and more than 210 staff members have been affected to date, a 97% increase above the number normally reported for the month of February.

NSW Health has notified the directors of NSW early childhood education services to an increase in viral gastroenteritis outbreaks, and since then there have been further notifications of gastroenteritis outbreaks across the sector.

NSW Health say the symptoms of viral gastroenteritis include “nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches”.

They can take up to three days to develop and usually last between one or two days, and sometimes longer.

Updated

From AAP:

The South Australian government has promised a $500m expansion across the state’s health system if returned at the March state election.

The commitment includes funds for new capital workers to expand a series of major hospitals.

“There is no doubt the Covid-19 pandemic has presented challenges to our health system but here in South Australia we have stood up better than anywhere else in the nation,” the premier, Steven Marshall, said.

“Our management of the pandemic has kept our state safe and now we have a strong plan to boost our health system to ensure South Australians can continue to get the care they need, when and where they need it.”

But the opposition said the government’s announcement was a vague plan to spend millions on unspecified work in response to Labor’s recent health commitments including funds for 300 more hospital beds, 300 more nurses and 100 more doctors.

Updated

South-east Queensland is bracing for another day of heavy rainfall as a slow-moving storm system threatens to bring 300 millimetres of rain in just six hours.

It comes amid the search for a missing motorbike rider, feared to have been swept away in the flood at Gympie on Wednesday.

PM says Australia not considering ‘lethal military assistance’ for Ukraine

Morrison says Australia isn’t considering providing “lethal military assistance” to Ukraine.

Reporter:

Prime minister, the Ukraine Council for New South Wales said Australia should provide lethal military assistance to Kyiv. At what point would something like that be considered?

Morrison:

That’s not under contemplation by Australia, never has been, never been requested. The support we provide in relation to that type of assistance is done a long way away from Ukraine. It doesn’t involve the deployment of those types of forces. It never would be in that contexts.

Updated

The prime minister has been asked how much he expects petrol prices to go up as a result of the Russian situation. (Russia is one of the globe’s major natural gas producers.)

Our advice from the International Energy Agency is we do expect there to be a short-term – they say a temporary – impact on world oil prices. I think that is to be accepted with the uncertainty and instability that can follow an event of this magnitude but there is nothing to suggest that at the moment that would necessarily be a prolonged event. That could change.

Oil prices go up and down and for many other reasons. Those events are pretty much completely outside of the control of the Australian government in terms of what happens to world oil prices, but we are working with other partners about what collective action that we can take in relation to oil prices and mitigating the shocks that can occur. That’s on the issue of oil prices.

I would note that our gas security mechanism and the memorandum that we have for the required supply of gas into the Australian domestic market, has proved highly effective ... in keeping gas prices in Australia under control, to the tune of up to about 75% lower than they might have otherwise been as a result of what we’re seeing in Europe.

What does that mean? That means electricity prices are lower. What does that mean? It means ... those businesses which could otherwise be completely overwhelmed by such a surge in gas prices and put them at great risk, have been able to continue their operations and remain highly competitive. And so we are monitoring the impacts on energy prices and working with the IEA and minister [Angus] Taylor will have a bit more to say about that later today.

Updated

Morrison has been asked about the lacklustre response to the Ukrainian situation from India (a historical ally of Russia). The prime minister has had to work a careful line here when responding given how integral the Indian-Australian population is to Australia.

Reporter:

Unlike other countries, India has said they’re remaining neutral, there will be no sanctions. They’re a Quad partner of ours. Are you concerned the Indians may – through lack of action – be aiding, abetting or encouraging, in your words, Vladimir Putin?

Morrison:

I wouldn’t refer to them in the same context I made remarks about China. China voted with Russia in the National Security Council of the UN. India did not do that.

The debate that China and Russia voted to prevent proceeded and was not obstructed by India. All countries have different levels of engagement with Russia ... and so I’m respectful of that, but my position is very clear - I think it is important for like-minded countries to take the strongest possible action, because one day it’s a country like Russia threatening the border and seeking to invade Ukraine, and the next it could be countries in our own region seeking to do the same thing.

My response and Australia’s response will always be principled and consistent.

Updated

Reporter:

What would those further sanctions potentially look like, if we were to go to the next stage?

Morrison:

If I was in a position to be announcing what they were, I’d be doing that. I tend not to telegraph what our next actions are, but I can assure you that we have all options on the table when it comes to our diplomatic and other economic sanctions.

Updated

Morrison says the sanctions against Russia will have a minimal impact on Australian businesses as we do not have a huge amount of direct trade with the country.

Firstly, our trade with Russia is quite minor compared with many other countries. In making the decisions yesterday, the Treasury secretary attended that meeting and gave us advice we could impose these sanctions with minimal impact on Australian businesses but it is important under the autonomous sanctions legislation there is a period of time for businesses to make adjustments to their arrangements as appropriate.

We are not overly concerned when it comes to the direct impact of sanctions. Why? Sanctions are intended to impact those they’re directed towards, not towards those imposing them. That’s the point of sanctions and how they’re conducted.

The most potent form of those sanctions are the targeted ones to the individuals that is now possible because of the stronger laws my government passed to enable us to do just that.

I’ve seen the commentary that has come from others who don’t sit in national security committees of Cabinet and don’t have the benefit of the intelligence and advice and information and the staged responses the government is engaged in.

They’re at liberty to make their contributions and comments but I would simply say that Australia will continue to take a very careful, strategic and staged response to this crisis. We have plenty left in the tank when it comes to further actions we would take if and when the violence is escalated by Russia. We will continue, I think, to follow a very disciplined path on this, not reactive.

Updated

Scott Morrison:

On the issue of cyber security, there has been a pattern of cyber-attacks against Ukraine and that continues now.

Malicious cyber activity could impact Australian organisations through unintended interruption or unmaintained cyber activities. We are not aware of any current or specific threats against Australian organisations, but are adopting an enhanced cybersecurity posture, and we have been for sometime now, and increased monitoring of threats will help reduce threats to Australian organisations.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre recommends that organisations urgently adopt an enhanced cyber security posture. This should include reviewing and enhancing mitigation and measures.

Login and detection systems should be fully updated and apply additional monitoring that their networks. Organisations should assess their preparedness to respond to any cyber security issues.

Updated

The prime minister has once again dismissed the statement made by the Russian embassy in Australia which suggested Australia has turned a blind eye to aggression in the Donbas region from the Ukrainian side.

I also want to make a few comments about the statements made by the Russian ambassador. The Russian ambassador was called in to speak to the secretary of Foreign Affairs.

The suggestion that somehow Russian soldiers crossing the border and entering Ukraine [are peacekeeping] is deeply offensive to anyone who has pulled on a uniform as a peacekeeper across the world, which so many countries in the Pacific have as well.

They’re not peacekeepers. They’re invaders. That’s how we see it and we’ll call it out. If they don’t like it, that’s tough. There is no justification for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and any attempt to create some pretext for it is offensive.

Updated

Morrison says he hopes Australia’s sanction against Russia will deter an invasion of Ukraine but doesn’t expect it will.

Now, I note that many have said, ‘do you think that this will lead to Russia pulling back?’ I would hope so, but I don’t expect so. The reason we’re doing this is there must be a price for the unprovoked, unlawful, unwarranted, unjustified attacks and threats and intimidation that has been imposed by Russia on Ukraine.

This cannot be a consequence-free action by Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime. It should send a message to any other regime out in the world that if you go down this path, if you seek to coerce and bully others, then the world should stand together in targeting those who are directly at the centre of these activities, and this is incredibly important. There must be consequences for violent coercive and bullying behaviour.

Updated

Morrison:

This is important under legislation because that gives the opportunities for businesses that have had legitimate operations and business interests in Russia and in the affected territories of Ukraine to be able to make changes to their arrangements.

So these are significant sanctions, but we obviously have to give Australian companies and individuals the time to go and make changes to their arrangements in an orderly way.

We are working very closely, especially with the United States and the United Kingdom, on our list, and our list is longer than the eight that I’ve just mentioned and we will be working closely to develop the case that will enable us to take further actions against others.

We won’t hesitate when we’re in possession of that information to take that extra step. We’ve already had a wider package of sanctions on persons and entities in reserve.

Updated

Scott Morrison confirms the governor-general has signed off on a new tranche of sanctions targeting prominent individuals in Russia.

I’ve just returned from a meeting of the Executive Council with the governor general where my government has signed the amendment to the sanctions regulations which creates the framework to target sanctions against individuals and I stress individuals who are in a situation where they are able to support a regime and act in the interests of Russia to the ends that they are supporting the measures that we’re seeing in the Ukraine.

This is important legislation. It is targeted legislation. It adds a whole new tool to our toolkit when it comes to dealing with this illegal, unlawful behaviour. It is a tool that we’re implementing in partnership with our allies and like-minded countries particularly the United States and the United Kingdom.

This will be the first tranche of measures that we expect to take. We are taking actions against eight members of Russia’s Security Council, a series of banks and financial institutions that I indicated yesterday and extending existing sanctions on the transport, energy and telecommunications and oil and gas and mineral sectors to Donetsk and Luhansk.

This is getting us the scope to cover people and entities of strategic and economic significance to Russia. So that gives us a broad remit in order to take targeted action.

So, the sanctions we’re putting in place aren’t just what you would have seen in the past against a nation more broadly. This goes direct to those individuals who are at the heart of this bullying and aggressive behaviour. It targets their financial interests. It prevents them from travelling. It stops them from moving money around. It stops them from coming and having holidays in countries such as Australia or going shopping in Harrods or doing the things of that nature and trying to live their lives as if they have nothing to do with the violence and bullying and intimidation that they are supporting from the Russian regime.

The sanctions will become law tomorrow and they will take effect at the end of March.

Updated

Ukrainians in Australia can have their visas extended by six months: PM

Morrison:

I spoke to Ukraine’s prime minister last night. He was extraordinarily grateful for the position that Australia has taken and reached out to say thank you.

He was very appreciative of the work that we’re doing to support the Ukraine community here in Australia. And just to remind everyone, if you’re in Australia, a Ukrainian citizen and your visa runs out by 30 January, we will extend it by a further six months. We’ve taken all the visa applications of Ukrainian citizens and put them at the top of the pile and I’ve asked them to be resolved as quickly as possible so those Ukrainian citizens might come to Australia.

So we’re working to deal with many of the humanitarian issues that may evolve from this. And we’re working with Poland and other countries who will end up, probably, taking large numbers of displaced persons. We’ve dealt with this before with Kosovars who had temporary accommodation in Australia.

We’re taking those measures but we’re also sending a message to any bully, any thug anywhere, that you can’t use threats of violence to get countries to bend to your will.

Updated

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking now. Let’s have a listen in.

Updated

And the softball campaign interviews continue!

Victorian parliament having a normal one this morning.

A reminder that we are waiting for the prime minister to step up for a media conference in about ten minutes or so.

Victoria records 16 Covid deaths and 6,715 new infections

NSW records 12 Covid deaths and 8,271 new infections

Updated

Qantas posts $1.3bn loss

Qantas has posted a $1.28bn pre-tax loss in its half-year financial results, as the airline blames lockdowns in the second half of last year and the Omicron variant for hitting travel confidence at the end of 2020.

Qantas group – which includes budget carrier Jetstar– also posted a $622m statutory loss before tax – its fourth consecutive half-yearly loss. However, it managed to further reduce its net debt to $5.5bn, down from $5.9bn at the end of June. Revenue losses since the start of the pandemic grew to more than $22bn.

In announcing the result on Thursday, Qantas indicated it would also offer 1,000 shares in the company to approximately 20,000 employees, as part of its staff “recovery and retention plan”.

Domestic lockdowns in the second half of last year, the impact of the Omicron variant, and “continued international restrictions” meant the airline was operating at just 18% of its pre-Covid levels during the last six months of the year. Western Australia’s unexpected delayed border reopening was also blamed.

Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, said that while there had been “a sharp rebound in travel demand” from October to December, the uncertainty of the Omicron wave carried over into January.

Joyce said surveys of frequent flyer members showed an intent to travel rising in the fourth quarter, and that the airline had seen “a sharp uptick in international ticket sales in the past few weeks:

We’re very conscious of the support and patience shown by customers and shareholders as we all wait for travel conditions to stabilise. In the meantime, we’ve done a lot of work to put this company in the best possible position to deliver.

Employees across the Qantas Group have lived through enormous challenge and uncertainty over the past two years. Many have been stood down for extended periods of time and we’ve asked them to accept a wage freeze to help our company get through an unprecedented crisis that many other airlines didn’t survive.

Updated

When Jannine Scott first joined her daughter Bethany on the national disability insurance scheme, it was “life-changing”.

The scheme funded in-home support workers for Scott, who has a spinal cord condition, and paid for a power wheelchair and other assistive technology:

I am sitting in my wheelchair at the moment and, without that piece of equipment, I would have been housebound much, much sooner. But the effort it takes to engage with this part of the government now is becoming wildly unreasonable.

Like a growing number of people who are complaining about what the federal opposition claims are “stealth” cuts to the NDIS, Scott said her NDIS experience took a dark turn.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Bungle means 1,200 Victoria police officers need to be sworn in again

Some 1,200 Victoria police officers and protective service officers have been working without proper authorisation for up to eight years.

Chief commissioner Shane Patton and police minister Lisa Neville are holding a press conference to explain the “administrative error”, which they say they became aware of on Tuesday.

In the past, deputy commissioners were able to appoint acting assistant commissioners, who were able to swear in new police officers.

But when the Victoria Police Act 2013 came into effect in mid-2014, a delegation from the chief commissioner was required to allow deputy commissioners to appoint assistant commissioners:

So what that means that on a number of occasions since 2014 to around September last year, acting assistant commissioners commissioners on occasions have sworn in police officers and protective services officers, without having the valid powers to do so.

Some 1,076 police officers, 157 PSOs and 29 police custody officers will need to be sworn in again.

Patton:

We’ve gone through quite a complex scenario and seeing anyone who’s rostered on today on any of the shifts today starting from six or seven this morning, and we’re prioritising those. They will be sworn in and that swearing in should be occurring anytime around now and throughout the rest of the day ... Those officers won’t be allowed to perform any duties or do anything further, other than maybe do a bit of correspondence for an hour or two at the most before they actually get sworn in ... We hope to scoop up most of them the next couple of days.

Neville says the government will introduce legislation to state parliament next week to retrospectively ensure all decisions that have been made prior to these to the re-swearings have validity going forward.

Patton:

I expect there’ll be no one going ramifications for any of the police officers involved in this matter. Once the legislative provisions have been remediated, and they’ve been acting in good faith. They’ve been performing their duties in the belief that they had the requisite powers and as a result of that we will continue to indemnify those officers in accordance with government policy for indemnities.

Updated

Let’s duck over to Scott Morrison’s Today Show interview (which, due to the magic of pre-recorded radio interviews) aired at the same time as his chat with ABC AM:

Host Karl Stefanovic:

Let’s be brutally honest. Europe has hit Russia with the equivalent of a wet lettuce leaf, and has the US under Joe Biden completely lots its swagger?

Morrison:

Well, look, I’m not going to lecture Europe. They’re the ones that are closer to this, any more than I’d welcome Europe lecturing Australia about our security interests in this part of the world and the decisions that we make about our security interests …

Were they to have troops deployed in Ukraine, it would have been their people, their soldiers, and, you know, they’re obviously decisions they have to take about what’s in their best interests.

The United States, as a Nato partner, joined in that. But from our point of view, we have to second a very clear message that people who treat international borders and international law like this needs to be singled out, isolated and called out, and that’s what I’ve been seeking to do.

It’s not enough just to say, “Well, we’d like them to step back,” and, “We’d like them to step back,” and, “We’d like them to not pursue this.” We have to denounce specifically that they have no just cause here, Russia.

There is no provocation from Ukraine. There is no legitimate interest Russia is pursuing there.

Updated

Scott Morrison! Could you please just do one interview at a time! It would make it so much easier to blog!

Updated

Russian ambassador has not yet been asked to leave Australia, PM says

Scott Morrison was asked if he had told the Russian ambassador to “pack his bags” when he was called in to speak to the government yesterday.

No. And we are taking just one step at a time.

And we announced the sanctions that we are putting in now and this morning I’ll be meeting with the governor general to confirm those arrangements on the regulatory changes under the Autonomous Sanctions Act. And that will enable us to begin targeting specific individuals in relation to the sanctions we’ve announced and that this will be just the start.

As yet we haven’t seen the full-scale invasion take place in Ukraine and let’s hope that that still is averted. But Russia is at peak readiness for such a full-scale invasion. That’s our advice and so that means that things are imminent. They need to be under no doubt that any suggestion there’s some pretext for what they’re doing any suggestion that they have some legitimate claim here that has to be completely denounced. This is unprovoked, unwarranted.

This is a sheer act of bullying, threats, intimidation and aggression against the neighbour and Ukraine should be called out as such.

Updated

Scott Morrison has told ABC radio that he is “used to bullies”, dismissing the Russian embassy to Australia’s statement released last night:

They’ll spread all sorts of misinformation. We’ve seen all this before. I completely reject that.

I mean, these points that were made by the Russian ambassador when they were called in yesterday, and informed of the position Australia was taking, I think, is very firm very clear. And in speaking to Ukraine’s prime minister last night, it’s greatly appreciated by a country that has been threatened by an autocratic bully on its own borders.

Updated

The Australian government will implement a raft of sanctions against Russia, insisting there “must be consequences” for Moscow’s military actions along its border with Ukraine and recognition of separatist-controlled regions in the east of the country.

Scott Morrison unveiled the “first tranche” of sanctions yesterday, bringing Australia in line with the US, UK and European allies’ initial responses to President Vladimir Putin’s actions in relation to Ukraine.

Australia’s sanctions would target specific Russian individuals, corporations and industries in the hope of pressuring the Russian government to stop “behaving like thugs and bullies”, Morrison said.

Here’s what we know about Australia’s new sanctions on Russia, what they’re designed to do, and what their impact might be:

Updated

Energy minister Angus Taylor has been asked on ABC radio if the Coalition government will fast track energy grid upgrades to integrate more renewables:

We’re doing it now … we’ve made some very significant decisions working directly and indirectly with the private sector … we saw it ahead of time.

Updated

Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop has supported comments made by the current and former chiefs of Asio that the national security agency shouldn’t be used as “a partisan political football” in the lead-up to the federal election.

The comments came after extraordinary scenes in federal parliament last week, when the prime minister, Scott Morrison, called a senior Labor frontbencher a “Manchurian candidate”, implying that he was a puppet being used by an enemy power – in this case China.

Australia’s domestic spy chief, Mike Burgess, hit back, saying weaponising national security was “not helpful to us” and that Asio was “not here to be politicised, it should not be”.

Burgess’s comments were then echoed by former spy chief Dennis Richardson, who said the Morrison government was serving China’s interests by politicising national security and by “seeking to create the perception of a difference [between the major parties] when none in practice exists”.

Bishop, who served as minister for foreign affairs under Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, and was deputy leader of the Liberal party for 11 years, supported the comments of Burgess and Richardson on ABC TV’s 7.30 on Wednesday night, saying:

My concern is that foreign policy and national security should always be as far as possible bipartisan and that we need long-term consistency, particularly national security, so that our security and defence and intelligence agencies can do their work.

Now, of course, there can be debates and I know that the government is focusing on Labor’s track record on defence spending. They are legitimate questions and no doubt the opposition’s commitments to defence spending will be an issue in the next election.

But I would be heeding the words of the Asio director because, if he says it’s not helpful for the agencies, for national security to be used as a partisan political football, then that’s not in Australia’s national interest either and that should be an approach taken by all parliamentarians.

Updated

The Australian government should consider building up to six conventional submarines to bridge the gap before the nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus plans are ready, a new report says.

Under the trumpeted Aukus partnership, the US and the UK have promised to help Australia acquire eight nuclear-propelled submarines, but Scott Morrison has indicated the first of these might not be in the water until about 2040. The government plans to extend the life of Australia’s ageing Collins class submarines in the meantime.

The Australian Shipbuilding Federation of Unions warns in a report published today that the Royal Australian Navy faces a potentially dangerous “capability gap”. The federation – funded by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, Australian Workers Union, Electrical Trades Union and Professionals Australia – says the transition to a force of eight nuclear-powered submarines will take two to three decades:

Despite extending the life of the Collins-class submarines by 10 years, they are projected to be withdrawn from service at 24-month intervals from 2038. From a strategic and operational standpoint, the RAN could be left with no submarines capable of being deployed, leaving our armed forces with a significant capability gap. This conflicts with Australia’s increasingly high strategic threat and would undermine national security.

The report calls on the government to take immediate action to build at least four, and as many as six, conventional submarines in Australia to ensure there is no capability gap and to save “thousands of highly skilled jobs”. The proposed design is not detailed in the report, but options could include building an “evolved” version of the existing Collins class submarine. Given Australia’s history of long lead times on major defence projects, the report suggests what could be politely described as a highly ambitious timeframe:

The order of up to six conventional submarines will take one to two years to complete detailed planning and achieve government approval before contracts can be awarded. Within two years of the contract being signed, manufacture of the submarines should start, which would be in 2026.

Updated

Following Australia’s strong rhetoric condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the Russian embassy in Australia has put out a scathing statement, accusing the federal government of “encouraging the xenophobic bullies based in Kyiv” and turning a blind eye to Ukraine’s actions in the east:

In the wake of the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) by the Russian Federation, Ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be presented with a strong protest. At the same time, the Australian government announced a new package of unilateral sanctions.

In this respect, the following should be noticed. Contrary to what the Prime Minister of Australia asserted today, Australia does not always stand up to the bullies.

Canberra has been totally indifferent to the discrimination of the Russian speakers by the radical nationalistic regime in Ukraine and to the plight of civilians in Donbass living for years under blockade and constant shelling from the Ukrainian military. Recently discovered evidence show that people often couldn’t even properly bury the dead.

In alignment with its key partners, Canberra has played its part in supporting and encouraging the xenophobic bullies based in Kyiv.

Updated

Angus Taylor:

There’s no question that this is putting supply pressure on the world and people are feeling it on the pump ...

We’ll continue to do everything we can to take those pressures away wherever possible.

Updated

Oil prices have skyrocketed after Russia ordered troops into eastern Ukraine, surging towards US$100 with the potential to go even higher if things keep escalating.

Federal energy minister Angus Taylor is discussing this issue with ABC radio and has been asked if Australia would consider sanctions on oil as part of its response to Russia:

We have to make sure our sanctions have the right, targeted impact … we have to make sure we are able to contain prices at the bowser as best we can …

We’ll continue to put pressure on Moscow … it’s not acceptable to have thugs and bullies in the global community.

Updated

David Koch:

Ukraine is not in our backyard. China is. It has always had eyes on Taiwan. Do you think they are watching this closely and the world’s reaction to Russia as they have Taiwan in the back of their mind?

Scott Morrison:

I believe China is of course watching this very carefully and that is why I have been at pains to say that China needs to take as strong as a position as other countries in denouncing what Russia is doing.

We need to be clear, there is no pretext, there is no provocation, there is no just cause that Russia is seeking to pursue, I have seen the statements made by the Russian ambassador in Australia and I completely reject them.

Cyber attacks are occurring again in Ukraine and we know that Russian troops are there and already moving, and we cannot have it stand that there is somehow justification for this, and I welcome the fact that China has so far said that tensions should be de-escalated but they need to go further and announce threats of violence and any suggestion that there is any provocation for this. Bullying, where ever it is occurring and particularly in our own region, is something that I and my government have stood up against.

Koch:

So we are saying that China should not even think about Taiwan?

Morrison:

We have always said so and it is important that they seek to play to a much larger global role, with the responsibilities that go with that, to denounce bullying and threats of violence against other countries for the purpose of seeking to control them. That is what coercion is! For we cannot do much in terms of sanctions because we don’t have really big trade ties with Russia, unlike Europe.

Updated

Sunrise host David Koch has asked the prime minister to explain why Australians should care about what’s happening in Ukraine:

Most Australians could not find Ukraine on a map. It is not in our backyard, why do we need to take a tougher stance?

Scott Morrison:

This is about the sovereignty of countries, we have got a very large country in Russia which is bullying and threatening its neighbour and telling them the decisions that they have to make ...

This is not how the world should work. This is not how the rule of law and international law can work. Ukraine itself is not a member of Nato but, even so, when you have a country that is bullying and seeking to use force and threats of violence to get its own way against another country, that is not something that Australia could ever support.

Updated

'The invasion has effectively already begun,' Scott Morrison says of Ukraine

Prime minister Scott Morrison has told Sunrise that the “invasion has effectively already begun”, condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Morrison says he spoke with the Ukrainian prime minister last night:

He is appreciative of his support from around the world and the reason he wanted to speak to us was to thank us ready for our strong stance. And we will work with him and neighbouring countries, particularly Poland, where we have people right now providing consular support into Ukraine.

We have got some 38,000 Australians here in Australia who will be very concerned about the situation in the Ukraine, with Ukrainian heritage, about 1,400 Australians in Ukraine itself.

The situation remains at the most extreme level and the invasion has effectively already begun. We completely reject the claims that Russia has made in relation to Ukraine and the territories that they have come and occupied and the world has to continue to stand strong on this and the Ukrainian prime minister was very appreciative of the strong stand, particularly Australia had taken on a range of sanctions.

Updated

South-east Queensland battens down as more heavy rainfall expected

Queensland is battening down amid fears heavy rainfall will reintensify and continue to pummel the south-east, reports AAP’s Robyn Wuth.

Intense rainfall from a slow-moving system has battered the region, triggering wild flash flooding that has claimed at least one life.

The body of a 63-year-old woman was found submerged in a vehicle after it was swept into raging storm waters west of Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast yesterday morning.

Grave fears were also held for a 54-year-old man whose motorcycle was found near Gympie as rescuers combed waterways for the missing rider.

The deluge from the slow-moving weather system yesterday dumped record rainfall, with more than 400mm falling in some areas in hours. After weeks of drenching summer rain, catchments could not cope with the downpour.

Queenslanders have been warned the south-east is still in the line of fire, with predictions that up to a month of rain could fall today.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said:

This has the potential to be a significant rainfall event for south-east Queensland ...Since many catchments are now saturated, there is an increased risk of dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding over the coming days.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a general flood warning for south-east Queensland, with fears the system will reform and reintensify.

Queensland Rail says it’s likely the Sunshine Coast line won’t return to normal for several days. Replacement busses will be in place and passengers are being asked to allow for up to an hour of extra travel time.

The south-east coast and the Wide Bay-Burnett region bore the brunt yesterday with Burnett, Burrum and Cherwell, Mary, Noosa, Pine, Caboolture, Brisbane, Logan and Albert, Condamine rivers beyond capacity, as well as rivers and creeks on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

Seqwater said emergency flood releases from the Somerset and North Pine dams were possible in the next 48 hours. The Leslie Harrison, Lake Macdonald (Six Mile Creek), Poona, Ewen Maddock, Cooloolabin dams are already spilling.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning, everyone, it’s Matilda Boseley here with you. There is plenty to get through so let’s start in Prague where foreign affairs minister Marise Payne has spoken out against Russia overnight.

She told Czech reporters that it was an “obscene perversion” for President Vladimir Putin to speak of Russian soldiers acting as “peacekeepers” in Ukraine:

Any suggestions that there is a legitimate basis for Russia’s actions are pure propaganda and disinformation ...

The assertion by President Putin of Russian soldiers acting as peacekeepers is indeed an obscene perversion of the noble and vital role that generations of peacekeepers have played across the world.

Payne added that Australia would not hesitate to impose more sanctions if Russia escalated tensions.

This comes after Russia recognised the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories. Overnight Ukraine declared a state of emergency and told its citizens in Russia to leave while Russia began evacuating its embassy in the capital of Kyiv in the latest signs that a full-scale Russian invasion could be imminent.

Heading back to Australian shores, from today six- to 11-year-olds are eligible for the Moderna vaccine after experts signed off on the expansion of the immunisation program.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has recommended the vaccine after approval last week by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Jabs will be available to children from Thursday, with the approval broadening the previous recommendation which was for children aged 12 and up. Each vaccine will be half the adult dose and children will need two doses spaced eight weeks apart.

A second dose can be given as early as four weeks from the first in certain circumstances, including if a child is immunocompromised.

With that, why don’t we jump right into the day? It’s going to be a big one.

Updated

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