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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Stephanie Convery and Matilda Boseley

Morrison says Qld premier ‘consulted’ on emergency; Rio Tinto ditching Russia; 21 Covid deaths – As it happened

New South Wales Queensland Australia Scott Morrison Russia United States Ukraine Guy Debelle Labor ADF
ADF personnel clean up flood damage in Milton, Brisbane
ADF personnel clean up flood damage in Milton, Brisbane, on Thursday. The premier has said it’s too late for the PM to declare a national emergency due to floods in Queensland because the disaster situation has already ended, AAP reports.
 Photograph: Jono Searle/Getty Images

What we learned, Thursday 10 March

That’s where we’ll say goodbye for this evening. Here are just some of the things we learned today:

  • Prime minister Scott Morrison said he will be discussing the national emergency declaration with the governor general in the next 24 hours as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk rejects the move, saying it’s too late for that now that the floodwaters have receded.
  • The PM also announced his plan to enact the “biggest increase” to ADF personnel numbers in peacetime in Australian history, increasing them by around 18,500 to 80,000.
  • Opposition leader Anthony Albanese gave a speech to the Lowy Institute, in which he argued that Australia’s inaction on climate crisis was undermining Australia’s status in the Pacific.
  • The body of cricket great Shane Warne was loaded onto a repatriation flight to Australia from Thailand, where he died almost a week ago, aged 52. A state funeral will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30 March.
  • The Australian mining giant Rio Tinto says it is “terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business”, throwing question marks over the future of its joint venture with Russia’s Rusal in Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL).
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor Guy Debelle has announced he will resign from his post next week to take up a job as chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries, a renewable energy company owned by mining giant Fortescue Metals Group, in June.
  • A spike in cases in Covid-19 NSW is concerning authorities as a more transmissible version of the Omicron variant emerges.
  • And South Australia announced it is scrapping density restrictions and reducing Covid-19 isolation requirements, as the country recorded at least 21 deaths from the virus.

Thanks for following along today. See you again bright and early tomorrow!

Updated

NT records 326 new cases of Covid-19 with 33 people in hospital

Two people are in intensive care with the virus. No deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours.

Airbnb has announced plans to provide free short-term accommodation for flood-affected residents in the Northern Rivers, as pressure mounts on the company to switch its model and offer long-term rentals at market prices for homeless people.

Before the floods, the area was already suffering a housing crisis, with 2,300 homes needed to take the heat out of the market and create what would be considered a healthy vacancy rate. Now it will be felt acutely, with early calculations showing more than 2,195 houses have been rendered uninhabitable because of the floods.

More than 6,260 Airbnbs are operating in the area, according to the open source data tool Inside Airbnb. Of those, 4,006 (64%) had a high availability rate, meaning they were available to tourists most of the year and unlikely to be an owner-occupier renting out their home occasionally.

It is not clear how many of the listed properties were damaged by the floods and neither Airbnb or its competitor, Stayz, has provided those statistics.

The housing situation in the area is dire. The two evacuation centres are full and with nowhere else to go, houses are cramped, with up to three families living in the same property.

There has been pressure from local residents, advocates and some politicians for companies like Airbnb and Stayz to open their doors and offer families long term rentals. Airbnb said it was working to provide free accommodation on a temporary basis, but was yet to release the details.

Read the full story:

South Australia to scrap density limits and reduce Covid-19 isolation requirements

South Australia will remove a raft of Covid-19 restrictions despite a recent surge in new infections but amid a gradual decline in hospitalisations, AAP reports.

From Saturday, SA will scrap all density limits in hospitality and other venues along with removing capacity caps on household gatherings.

Singing and dancing will be allowed in all settings while most people who contract coronavirus will only be required to isolate for seven days, down from 10.

People with serious underlying health conditions may be required to isolate for longer, but will be guided by health officials.

Mask mandates for indoor venues remain in place but will be reviewed next week.

The changes came as SA Health reported another 2590 Covid-19 cases along with four more deaths with the virus.

Thursday’s tally was the fourth consecutive day of rising infection numbers, after 2560 were reported on Wednesday, 2098 on Tuesday and 1577 on Monday.

Police commissioner Grant Stevens said fluctuations in case numbers were always expected:

The critical indicator for us is the number of people being hospitalised on a daily basis and that has reduced substantially and remains low and consistent.

That tells us that while people may be contracting Covid-19 they are not becoming terribly sick with the virus, requiring that intensive medical support. That gives us the confidence to make these changes.

But despite the easing of restrictions the commissioner urged people to continue to be cautious.

We just need to remind people that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. People are still getting sick from Covid-19. We still have a personal responsibility to make sure we do the right thing to keep ourselves safe, the people we care about safe and vulnerable members of our community safe.

SA Health said the deaths on Thursday were those of a man in his 50s, a man in his 80s, a woman in her 50s, and a woman in her 70s.

They took the SA toll since the start of the pandemic to 219.

There are 91 people in hospital, including 11 in intensive care, with two on ventilation.

There are 21,514 active cases across the state.

Updated

This little graphic from defence minister Peter Dutton is quite something...

In-person visits in Victorian prisons will resume on 12 March, having been restricted as part of Covid control measures. At 6 March, there were 14 total active Covid-19 cases in Victorian correctional facilities according to Corrections Victoria.

Updated

Scott Morrison has just been speaking in Gympie, Queensland, about the proposed national emergency declaration and the floods themselves:

On a few other matters I can confirm I spoke to the premier of Queensland this afternoon as I said I would today. We ran through a whole range of issues from the Olympics, infrastructure, to issues around the flood response, and we both agree there has been a tremendously cooperative spirit between the Queensland government [and] local governments across Queensland that have been affected ...

We talked about the state of emergency declaration. I consulted her on that today and I’ll be having a meeting with the governor general when I return to Canberra tonight. I’ll see him tomorrow. We’ll be able to [advance] those issues having undertaken the necessary consultations with the premiers of Queensland and of New South Wales.

That’s a very carefully worded statement, and you’ll remember NSW was also included in that proposed emergency declaration. Earlier today, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk rejected Morrison’s intent to declare the emergency, saying it was too late:

The time for that national emergency [declaration] was probably a week ago. So we’ve actually gone past that. The flood waters have gone down, they’ve subsided.

Has she changed her mind? Is Morrison being coy? Who can say?

Updated

China should encourage Russia to end invasion, Marise Payne tells ambassador

Foreign Minister Marise Payne has told China’s new ambassador to Australia that Beijing should use its influence to encourage Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, AAP reports.

Senator Payne met with Xiao Qian in Sydney on Wednesday, with an Australian government readout saying the foreign minister “set out frankly Australia’s position on a range of issues”.

Those issues included the importance of “appropriate ministerial and other high level dialogue and engagement, stability in the Indo-Pacific, free and open trade, human rights and the welfare of Australians detained in China”.

The readout states:

Australia remains committed to a constructive relationship with China in which we can pursue areas of cooperation while remaining consistent with our own national sovereign interests and focussed on stability.

The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, on Thursday used a major foreign policy speech to the Lowy Institute to outline how Australia should approach a more aggressive China:

Our approach to the China relationship will be determined by our interests and values: a commitment to international law, rules-based trade, and respect for human rights, and bolstered by our regional partnerships and alliances.

Albanese said Beijing had failed in its obligations as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council by facilitating relief for Russia from international sanctions through trade.

The growing assertiveness of Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has been on display through the takeover of Hong Kong, repression of human rights in China and the militarisation of the South China Sea, Albanese said.

More broadly speaking, Australia still faces threats such as foreign interference, espionage, terrorism, organised crime, and cyber-attacks ... These vulnerabilities are often exploited by autocratic countries seeking to increase their power.

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, said authoritarian expansionism required an increase in Australia’s military capabilities across space, cyber, naval warfare and autonomous vehicles to boost deterrence.

Updated

The end of last year saw a nice jump in the number of hours being worked, but the latest labour account figures released on Wednesday by the bureau of statistics reveal that there are now more people working multiple jobs than ever before.

Since the dark days of the pandemic in the middle of 2020, it is fair to say the economy has recovered well – and better than most economists expected.

Recessions are horrendous things that generally destroy work for many years even once the economy is back growing. The Covid recession, however, was different because it was a largely government-decided recession – people and business had to stop work and had to stop moving across borders to prevent the spread of Covid, and that was why we had a recession.

But while the job recovery has been better than expected, when we look at what type of work has grown, we see some big concerns.

Read the whole story here:

Scott Morrison is “looking at” extending eligibility for extra payments to more flood victims on the New South Wales north coast, in response to anger over the decision to leave some of the hardest-hit disaster areas out.

The prime minister made the comments in Brisbane where he was planning to declare an emergency two weeks after major floods that killed 13 people and damaged thousand of homes and businesses in the south-east.

But the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, rejected the offer, saying it’s too late.

The federal government is also facing a backlash over its decision to extend by two weeks a $1,000 Australian government disaster recovery payment for people in the Lismore, Richmond and Clarence Valley local government areas, but not nearby Byron, Ballina and Tweed local government areas.

The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has denied the decision was because Byron, Ballina and Tweed LGAs are not represented by a Coalition member.

Read more about the issue here:

Petrol! It’s expensive! And it’s only going to get more so ...

Here’s our piece from earlier this week looking at the cost of fuel that Peter refers to in his tweet above:

Updated

High-profile victims of online trolling, including Erin Molan and Nyadol Nyuon, have said an “anti-trolling” bill that overhauls defamation law for online comments will be “almost impossible” to uptake and not “useful” to most people in Australia due to the cost and effort involved.

The bill will make the owners of social media pages and groups not liable for user comments on those groups or pages, and would shift the liability burden to social media platforms if they do not attempt to facilitate the unmasking of anonymous commenters for someone seeking to bring defamation proceedings.

The majority of those who have made submissions about the bill have said the bill is incorrectly titled, because it does not target trolling. However, the media personality Erin Molan, the former Broncos NRL coach Anthony Seibold, and the prominent African Australian lawyer and chair of Harmony Alliance, Nyadol Nyuon, were called before the inquiry to give evidence about the trolling they had endured online.

Read more about what they had to say here:

Fire and Rescue NSW are reporting that a construction worker has been crushed under a heavy load at a construction site in Blacktown, Sydney.

Unesco to visit Great Barrier Reef as coral bleaching risk rises

A United Nations monitoring trip to the Great Barrier Reef will land in Queensland later this month just as forecasts suggest the risk of widespread coral bleaching will be at its highest.

Unesco has confirmed two scientists will carry out the mission, requested by the Morrison government, lasting for 10 days from 21 March.

Forecasting from the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) shows the visit could coincide with the reef being at risk of widespread bleaching.

Environment groups told the Guardian while they were not aware of any details of the itinerary, it was vital the scientists were allowed to see any bleaching for themselves.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority reported late last week that “low to moderate bleaching” had already been reported in many areas.

The reef authority said significant heat stress had accumulated in some parts of the far north of the reef, as well as between Townsville and Rockhampton:

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting sea surface temperatures to remain above average throughout most of the marine park in the coming weeks.

Read more here:

Ukraine's top diplomat: 'I am not in the position to be diplomatically polite'

The head of Ukraine’s embassy in Australia has said he cannot remain “diplomatically polite” while his parents are sheltering in Kyiv, and has called on the Morrison government to expel the Russian ambassador.

Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, the chargé d’affaires at the embassy, issued the plea as he spoke about how his parents, aged in their 70s, had rebuffed suggestions to flee Ukraine’s capital and were now asking for recipes to make Molotov cocktails.

He told the National Press Club in Canberra today:

They’re making sandwiches [for] our military and they spend the nights in bomb shelters.

As my father told me, two nights in a bomb shelter is enough to completely change any pro-Russian sentiment that you have in your heart.

Shalkivskyi also described a message he had received from his mother, aged 73, after she looked out from the balcony on the seventh floor of her apartment building in northern Kyiv.

I was worried about her and asking, ‘well, maybe you should go’. But she texted me, ‘I went to the balcony, I think it’s a good position. Can you send me a recipe of Molotov cocktail?’

Ukrainians cross a destroyed bridge as they flee from the frontline town of Irpin near Kyiv.
Ukrainians cross a destroyed bridge as they flee from the frontline town of Irpin near Kyiv. Photograph: Mikhail Palinchak/EPA

The Australian government has ratcheted up sanctions against Russian political, military and business figures over the invasion of Ukraine, but has stopped short of expelling Russian diplomats from the country, saying it wants to keep open lines of communication at this stage.

Shalkivskyi said given his line of work he usually stuck with “diplomatic narratives” and he understood the Australian government’s position about retaining lines of dialogue.

But he said countries needed to “use all means that we have in our disposal in order to fight back”:

Again, I am not in the position to be diplomatically polite. Having my parents in bomb shelters, it makes you kind of more decisive. So yes, I will appreciate any kind of push from the Australian government that is possible in order to deliver the messages from Australian side.

Updated

WA records 4,535 new Covid-19 cases with three people in ICU

Western Australia has records 4,535 new Covid-19 cases and no deaths. There are 80 people in hospital with the virus in WA, three of them in ICU.

Updated

The Bureau of Meteorology has just updated its flood watch (#65) for the Hawkesbury-Nepean River that fringes Sydney’s north and west, and as you may have sussed out by now is floodprone.

Here’s what the river’s flow looks like at Windsor:

According to the BoM:

Rainfall has eased since Wednesday morning and major flood peaks above the March 2021 event have been observed at North Richmond, Windsor and downstream. River levels at Windsor peaked ... with flood levels nearly 1m above those experienced in March 2021. The peak observed at Windsor is the highest since the March 1978 flood event.

The main flood peak in the Hawkesbury is now downstream of Wisemans Ferry, the bureau said.

River levels at North Richmond are expected to remain above major levels for the remainder of the week.

Warragamba Dam, which has been spilling into the river, was still releasing at the rate of 82 gigalitres a day earlier on Thursday. Inflows are now less than outflows.

Across the city’s dams, they remain almost 100%, with most of them spilling, WaterNews says.

SA records four Covid-19 deaths and 2,590 new cases

South Australia has recorded 2,590 new Covid-19 infections and sadly four deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are 91 people with the virus in hospital in SA, 11 of them in ICU.

Updated

Tasmania records 1,167 new Covid-19 cases

Tasmania has recorded 1,167 new Covid-19 cases and no new deaths. There are 16 people with Covid in the state’s hospitals with five patients in ICU.

Updated

National Covid summary

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 21 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 821
  • In hospital: 37 (with 2 people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 4
  • Cases: 16,288
  • In hospital: 991 (with 39 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 326
  • In hospital: 33 (with 2 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 5
  • Cases: 4,571
  • In hospital: 252 (with 17 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 4
  • Cases: 2,590
  • In hospital: 91 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1,167
  • In hospital: 16 (with 5 people in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 8
  • Cases: 7,779
  • In hospital: 188 (with 32 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 4,535
  • In hospital: 80 (with 3 people in ICU)

Updated

Queensland records five Covid-19 deaths and 4,571 new cases

Queensland has recorded 4,571 new Covid infections and five deaths. There were 252 people in hospital with the virus, including 17 in ICU

Updated

As per an earlier post on insurance, the cost of the flood catastrophe continues to rise, with the Insurance Council of Australia saying the estimated claims bill has risen to $1.77bn.

Of that about $1.1bn is for claims made in Queensland and about $663m in NSW. All up, there are just over 118,000 claims.

As expected, NSW is seeing the faster rise in claims, up 18% in a day compared to a 5% rise in the northern state. The floods and storms hit Queensland first before heading south.

In a bit of a warning, the ICA adds:

As the clean-up moves into its second week in Brisbane and the Northern Rivers and gets underway in Western Sydney, insurers are cautioning that global materials shortages and local labour constraints will have an impact on the rebuild and recovery timeframe.

Those Covid-induced shortages, particularly after the Omicron strain hit, look like getting worse for many.

Updated

Indigenous teenager shot at by NT police remains in critical condition

An Indigenous teenager remains in a critical condition after allegedly being shot at by a police officer six times during an incident in the Northern Territory city of Palmerston on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old male underwent surgery following the incident and remained in a critical condition in a Darwin hospital on Thursday afternoon.

Assistant commissioner Michael White said police investigations had now ruled out a possible link to an alleged domestic violence incident that was attended by officers in the area earlier on Tuesday morning.

NT police are continuing their investigation.

Updated

Facebook seeks high court appeal on judgment in Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook is seeking a high court appeal of the full federal court decision that found the company collects personal information in Australia, as part of the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The Office of the Australian Information Commission (OAIC) is suing the company now known as Meta for breaching the privacy of more than 300,000 Australian users in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The full federal court ruled last month that Facebook’s argument that it could not be in breach of Australian privact law because the company does not carry out business or collect or hold personal information in Australia is “divorced from reality”.

Information commissioner Angelene Falk revealed in a parliament hearing on the government’s proposed changes to defamation law covering social media that Facebook had now sought leave to appeal the ruling in the high court.

The comment was made in regards to proposed requirements under the mistitled “anti-trolling” bill that would require platforms to collect the personal information of its Australian users for the purposes of handing over that information in the event of a defamation case against an Australian user.

Falk has said, if the bill is passed, the OAIC would be empowered under the privacy act to ensure that the data is collected appropriately and not used for other purposes, but questioned whether it was proportionate to collect such information.

Facebook is seeking a high court appeal over a decision that found the company did carry out business and collect personal information in Australia.
Facebook is seeking a high court appeal over a decision that found the company did carry out business and collect personal information in Australia. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

More from that announcement from Dominic Perrottet:

We’re also providing pod dwellings in the interim while others may be rebuilding. Mobile motorhomes will start coming up from 13 March.

We’re looking at medium- to long-term options and through the Department of Community and Justice have purchased community recreation camps in the Northern Rivers which has capacity for 270 people ... that is under way.

This [plan] is multi-layered given extensive issues we’re facing. This will cater up to 25,000 people. There’s a substantial task in front of us that as I said, where there are gaps, we will address them ... We believe this is the support that will help people get through and if there are things we miss, we will address them as soon as we can.

We want people out of the evacuation centres. We want people who have gone through trauma to be able to get accommodation and we have doubled the amounts that have been available in the past because we do know with the lack of rental accommodation, we would expect through Airbnb as well, that there will obviously be a higher cost associated with that.

The financial support will provide assistance to get people into housing and into homes as quickly as possible.

Updated

NSW premier announces $551m in housing support for flood victims

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet spoke in Lismore over the last hour or so. He said housing for those displaced by the floods is the NSW government’s first priority, and has announced $551m in housing support for flood victims.

Perrottet said the package was half funded by the federal government and includes rental support for those who need it. Here’s some of what he said:

Today we are announcing a package that will support approximately 25,000 households in relation to housing support. It’s a $551 million package in terms of housing. I want to thank the commonwealth government for providing 50-50 funding support for this.

The package today includes 16 weeks of rental support for those people who need it. We know we have many people still in evacuation centres and as I said we have many people in temporary accommodation. That will provide the payments for single-person households of $6,000. And for larger families over $18,000 and financial support.

Being out on the ground yesterday and I want to thank (Labor MP for Lismore) Janelle Saffin for the advice she provided. We rewrote the submission last night to ensure that given the lack of housing options available that those who access the support can also do so in other states. So obviously being border communities here that housing will be available for Queenslanders and that was previously not the case. We made that change late last night.

Lismore resident Ken Bridge stands on a pile of his flood-damaged furniture outside his home. The NSW premier has announced a $551m housing package to support people displaced by floods.
Lismore resident Ken Bridge stands on a pile of his flood-damaged furniture outside his home. The NSW premier has announced a $551m housing package to support people displaced by floods. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AP

Updated

Some reaction from economics types to the news about deputy governor Guy Debelle exiting the Reserve Bank of Australia for Fortescue:

RBA deputy governor will step down to take job at Fortescue

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor Guy Debelle will resign from the post next week to take up a corporate sector role, AAP reports.

Debelle will step down on 16 March before becoming chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries in June.

Fortescue Future Industries is a renewable energy company owned by mining giant Fortescue Metals Group.

Debelle has worked at the RBA for 25 years, often speaking about the opportunities for business to address climate change.

Debelle was due to end his term in September 2026.

In a statement on Thursday, Debelle said:

This new position gives me the opportunity to make a significant contribution in this area. The bank is a great institution which serves Australia well, including most recently through the policy response to COVID which has helped the country come through the crisis in a strong position.

Fortescue chair and founder Andrew Forrest said bringing in someone of Debelle’s economic credibility goes to the heart of his company’s vision:

Not only are we committed to arresting climate change, we are also committed to creating economic growth, increasing jobs and growing our business profitability.

RBA governor Philip Lowe thanked his deputy for his outstanding service to the central bank:

He has made major contributions to monetary policy, to financial market operations and to the management of the bank.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Debelle’s replacement will be announced in due course.

He also thanked Debelle for his outstanding contribution to the RBA over nearly three decades, including the past six as deputy governor.

Dr Debelle has provided strong economic leadership and helped steer the RBA board’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guy Debelle will resign as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia to join Fortescue Future Industries.
Guy Debelle will resign as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia to join Fortescue Future Industries. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said he had worked with Debelle in previous roles and seen first hand his commitment to the economic national interest and dedication to his responsibilities.

Chalmers said:

On multiple occasions he’s been asked to help shepherd our economy through tumultuous times and he’s done that professionally and with great skill.

He said the vacancy created by Debelle’s departure represents an important opportunity for renewal, and to promote more women into the most senior ranks in particular.

Chalmers:

Federal Labor expects to be properly consulted on this appointment, especially given the proximity to the election.

We have the utmost respect for the Reserve Bank, the governor and his team, and we seek to play a constructive role in the personnel decisions taken following Dr Debelle’s departure.

Updated

Albanese has been asked about submarines and specifically, AUKUS.

Interviewer:

Several Labor MPs have questioned whether the government can overcome the formidable technical regulatory and legal challenges posed by the nuclear subs plan. Are you committed if you are in to press ahead with the project no matter what, for example, if the 18 month review reveals profound difficulties posed by ... industry limitations in Australia or an astronomical price tag well above even the current estimates, will Labor simply press ahead or are you willing to contemplate other options?

Albanese:

We are committed to the project. We committed to the project based upon the advice that we received ... The advice was clear and we took that clear advice and we made a very clear, sober decision. And I think that was an example of the maturity of the Australian Labor party.

Undoubtedly, there will be some challenges and we are aware of them are not the least of which is the capability gap which is there that I spoke about today. That’s why, again, we would, if we are successful in government, look at more immediate issues.

Updated

Rio Tinto will cut all ties with Russian businesses

The Australian mining giant Rio Tinto says it is ditching Russia.

In a one-line statement, a spokesperson for the company said:

Rio Tinto is in the process of terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business.

It was not immediately clear what this means for Rio’s joint venture with Russia’s Rusal in Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL).

Rio owns 80% of QAL while Rusal, which is controlled by oligarch Oleg Deripaska and is one of the world’s biggest aluminum companies, owns the remaining 20%.

Deripaska is not subject to any Australian sanctions but was sanctioned by the US in 2018 over issues including the 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Rio is reviewing the QAL joint venture.

Rio shares fell 7.7% by about 1.20pm.

Engineering group Worley also said it was pulling out of Russia, telling the ASX it had begun withdrawing services there and would not write any new business in the country.

Updated

Anthony Albanese is now “in conversation” – essentially taking a bunch of dorothy dixers – at the Lowy, including being asked which former prime minister he most admires from a foreign policy perspective (Kevin Rudd was his first answer, followed by a string of others).

He’s also been asked about his approach to the United States.

Albanese:

America, still, is the global leader of democracies. One of the things about the United States is, with all its faults, which all democracies have ... There is an opportunity as well with the Biden administration, in terms of their views of the world. Pretty similar to Australian Labor’s vision for the world now in terms of taking action on climate change. That is something that is important in itself but it also has a real foreign policy connection to it.

In the Pacific, there is no question [climate change] is the number one issue that Pacific nations are concerned about. If you are not seen to be taking that seriously, it undermines your efforts in other areas as well, given that we have a strategic competition occurring in the region.

With China seeking to be more assertive and China seeking to exercise more influence, Australia needs to step up in Parliament with the United States and other like-minded countries. I think there is a real opportunity to strengthen the relationship and that is why, in the commemorative speeches that were given in parliament for the 70th anniversary, that was a big distinction between myself and prime minister Morrison’s speech in that it acknowledged climate as being a central national security issue.

Updated

Palaszczuk rejects Morrison's move to declare national emergency in Queensland

The Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said it’s too late for the prime minister to declare a national emergency due to floods in Queensland because the disaster situation has already ended, AAP reports.

Scott Morrison had been planning to declare an emergency on Thursday, two weeks after the peak of major floods which killed 13 people and damaged thousands of homes and businesses in the southeast.

But Palaszczuk said such a declaration would be pointless now:

The time for that national emergency (declaration) was probably a week ago. So we’ve actually gone past that. The floodwaters have gone down, they’ve subsided.

Palaszczuk added that the prime minister had been very good in offering ADF personnel to help the state government with its recovery efforts.

The premier and prime minister are set to hold talks on the recovery efforts later on Thursday.

Updated

Australia's climate change inaction 'undermines our status' in region, Albanese says

I’m going to take you back to Anthony Albanese’s speech to the Lowy Institute now because he’s just made some comments about Labor’s climate crisis policy:

Our allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, understand that the global climate emergency is a direct threat to global security. Without meaningful action, climate change will create major population displacement. It will drive a surge in refugees and create new grounds for conflict over every scarcer clean water and fertile land. Too many Australians have first-hand knowledge of the brutality of bushfires, drought and flood.

Climate change is here now. I have announced a comprehensive plan on climate change. Fully costed, out there for all to see. As part of this, upon coming to government, I will ask the director general of national intelligence and the secretary of the defence department to undertake a risk assessment of the implications of climate change for national security.

Instead of playing a positive role in the global effort to combat climate change, the truth is that Australia is seen as one of the nations holding action back. This undermines our status and presence in the region. Our bid to host a future conference of the parties of Australia with our Pacific partners would assist our regional standing and credibility as a partner in the Pacific.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

Ukraine’s top diplomat in Australia says Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine after miscalculating that the west was divided and miscalculating how quickly Russian forces could capture the capital, Kyiv.

Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, the chargé d’affaires at the embassy, is addressing the National Press Club in Canberra, two weeks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

This is about a sick idea of a dictator to reconstitute Soviet Union.

He joined with 10 members of Canberra’s Ukrainian community to sing the national anthem at the beginning of the event.

He says:

If you translate our anthem it is actually about struggle. It’s unfortunately our destiny. We are in the middle between west and east.

He says Ukrainians are fiercely fighting and defending the country. He declares:

We are not going to surrender.

Updated

Shane Warne's body has left Thailand for Australia

I’m just going to interrupt Albanese’s speech for a moment to let you know that the body of cricket great Shane Warne is on a repatriation flight to Australia from Thailand, where he died almost a week ago.

Warne, 52, died from a suspected heart attack last week, sparking widespread grief as fans mourned the loss of one of the world’s best-ever cricket players.

The Dassault Falcon 7X left Thailand’s capital Bangkok at 8.25am local time and is destined for Melbourne.

Thai Police said earlier this week autopsy results showed his death was due to natural causes. Following his death on the Thai resort island of Koh Samui on Friday, Warne’s body was taken by ferry to the mainland city of Surat Thani, and then on to Bangkok.

Warne’s family has accepted the government’s offer of a state funeral, to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30 March.

The MCG was the stage of the leg spinner’s famous Ashes hat-trick in 1994 and 700th Test wicket on Boxing Day in 2006, his final series before he retired from international cricket.

Tributes to Warne have been left at a statue of him outside the MCG.
Tributes to Warne have been left at a statue of him outside the MCG. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

Warne’s family issued a statement on Monday night describing the night of his death as the beginning of “a never-ending nightmare”.

His father and mother, Keith and Brigitte said:

Looking to a future without Shane is inconceivable. Hopefully the mountain of happy memories we all have will help us cope with our ongoing grief.


Ticket information for the state funeral is yet to be released, but the Victorian premier said there will no crowd cap at the venue, which can hold up to 100,000 spectators.

Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters at parliament on Thursday:

It’s a fitting venue to say goodbye to someone who created so many indelible memories on that ground. It’s Australia’s greatest sports stadium. He, without a doubt, is one of Australia’s greatest sportspeople, and it’s the best place to say goodbye to him.

We wish we weren’t doing it, of course, he’s gone too soon.

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Albanese lashes government's handling of submarines as 'greatest disaster we have seen'

Now we’re getting into some sledges of the Coalition’s recent record on defence and national security. Albanese:

Our national security interests should transcend the partisan divide. The brave men and women who serve in our defence force, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies deserve that stability and clarity from the government. That extends to how we are equipped and resourced in our military.

A defining a restrictive of this Liberal National party is an enduring focus on announcements but not on the delivery of them. In the 2009 defence white paper the Rudd government outlined the need to change the force structure of the ADF to enhance our nation’s naval capabilities.

Here we are, nearly a decade after the Liberal party was elected, and still no actual progress. Billions of dollars wasted on the French contract after a production line of no less than six defence ministers in this government, and two goes at landing a model, first in Japan and France. We now have no contract for antisubmarine and a looming submarine shaped capability gap.

It leaves the next government with another repair job. Healing the wounds inflicted on the Australian and France relationship. Not forgetting, of course, the earlier damage to the relationship with our other close partner, Japan. The entire episode is the greatest disaster we have seen in this country.

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Albanese says there are three key principles at the heart of Labor’s national security policy:

One, defending Australia’s territorial integrity; two, protecting our nation’s political sovereignty from external pressure; and three, promoting Australia’s economic prosperity and social stability with sustainable growth, secure employment and a unified community.

This means preventing threats to our borders, our people, of infrastructure and, of course, our institutions. Protecting the democratic institutions so central to the expression of our sovereignty, building and maintaining a strong economy, resilient supply chains, and the skills, technology, infrastructure and industries to make more things here in Australia, securing our self-reliance. These are all part of our plan for a better future.

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Albanese continues:

For Labor, national security is above partisan politics and fundamental to our national security is our national resilience. As all of you at Lowy Institute understand, Australia’s national security is bound up in so much more than our defence capability, critical as it is. In the complex, interconnected, rapidly changing strategic environment of the 2020s, national security also means cyber security, and energy security, economic security and, of course, environmental security.

Keeping Australians safe means planning for global [cues], be it conflict, a pandemic, financial collapse or environmental disaster, and investing in the country’s capacity to adapt to crisis, building the resilience and resolved to ensure we can come through challenging times together.

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Albanese says national security 'most solemn responsibility' of government

Albanese started his speech by calling national security “the most solemn responsibility of any government”. He begins by invoking John Curtin in 1942, giving a speech broadcast on American radio. (If you’re interested, that speech can be read or listened to here.)

Albanese:

Eight decades later, [Labor] still looks to John Curtin not just to salute his strength of character or his sacrifice but because Curtin’s famous 1941 declaration that Australia looked to America was deeper than a statement of wartime necessity. It was an assertion of Australia’s right and Australia’s responsibility to act in our own interests to make our own alliances to decide our place in our region for ourselves. And through 80 years of change that principle of sovereignty has remained at the core of labour’s approach to our foreign policy and our defence policy.

Updated

We’ll take you straight to federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese, who is speaking at the Lowy Institute. He’s making an addressed billed as “how a Labor government would deliver national security in a complex world”.

Updated

Good afternoon team. Thank you so much to Matilda Boseley, blogger extraordinaire, for your work this morning.

With that, I shall leave you for the day, but don’t worry Stephanie Convery is here to take over!

Concern about Omicron subvariant in NSW

A spike in Covid-19 cases in NSW is concerning authorities as a more transmissible version of the Omicron variant emerges, Phoebe Loomes from AAP reports.

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard appeared at a budget estimates hearing on Thursday as the state recorded 16,288 new cases of the virus, an increase of more than 3,000 on the previous day:

It is concerning us greatly, that we are seeing an increase in daily cases.

There has been an increase in Omicron’s BA2 subvariant that preliminarily data from the University of NSW suggests is more transmissible. The subvariant was first detected in Australia in December.

We could be looking at cases more than double what we’re currently getting.

Hazzard is also concerned people have become complacent about getting a booster shot, with just 56.3% of people having had three vaccine doses:

While the community may have gone to sleep on the virus, the virus has not gone to sleep on the community ... The virus can still wreak havoc if we don’t go out there and go and get our boosters fast.”

NSW’s acting chief health officer Marianne Gale said the technical term for the Omicron BA2 subvariant is a “sublineage” and the dominant form of that in NSW had been BA1:

What we are seeing … is a trend to an increasing rise in the BA2 sublineage. Experience has shown us overseas that BA2 can quite quickly overtake BA1 to become the dominant sublineage.

The sublineage was more transmissible, she said, but there was no evidence it was more or less severe.

NSW’s acting chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale.
NSW’s acting chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Covid putting pressure on health resources in flood-hit communities

There are concerns about health resources in the flood-ravaged communities in northern NSW. One of the six evacuation centres in northern NSW could be converted into a Covid-19 isolation facility to deal with cases of the virus there.

Evacuated flood victims in northern NSW who have tested positive are being housed at Casino district hospital, the hearing was told.

NSW Health’s acting deputy secretary for patient experience and state health services disaster response Wayne Jones said the government was considering turning the evacuation centre at Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre into a Covid isolation centre for flood victims.

Hazzard said the government was trying to ensure virus-positive people arriving at evacuation centres would able to be cared for in a safe location.

Gale said cases had been reported at evacuation centres but there had been no outbreaks.

NSW Health reported the deaths of two women and two men with Covid in the 24 hours to 4pm on Wednesday. One person was in their 60s, one in their 70s and two were in their 80s.

There are 991 Covid patients in hospital, 39 in intensive care and 14 are ventilated.

Nearly 80% children aged 12 to 15 have had two doses of vaccine and 48.1% of five- to 11-year-olds have had one jab.

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Thousands of victims of the floods in New South Wales and Queensland will be unable to claim on their insurance due to exclusions in policy fine print, the Financial Rights Legal Centre says.

What is covered by insurance policies varies wildly between insurers because definitions of events including flood, rainwater runoff and wind damage are not standard, the group said in a new report.

Drew MacRae, a policy officer at FRLC, said:

There are going to be a lot of people who think they’re covered.

But many will find they are not because the fine print excludes particular types of damage, MacRae said.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Residents from more evacuated areas are now able to “safely return”:

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Annastacia Palaszczuk:

In relation to agriculture in the Lockyer, it’s valued at more than $398m. Fifty-four responses from the Lockyer Valley farmers, eight have had catastrophic impacts, 22 major, 16 moderate, and two with minor livestock. So, and of course, there’s been impacts as well in this area in relation to local sporting community organisations as well.

Updated

Palaszczuk:

We already have 169 producers who reported a loss of fencing, 117 properties reported loss of equipment, 53% reported suffering a major or catastrophic impact. Producers working with the Department of Agriculture, they are entitled to assistance. That’s joint commonwealth-state, grants up to $75,000 for a primary producer, and low interest loans are also available.

As of Tuesday, 344 applications were assistance have been received: 28 from primary producers, 316 from small businesses. The Brisbane markets is up and running ...

Here in the Lockyer Valley as well, we’ve had 1,343 applications for assistance: $233,000 has been paid out. One hundred and seventy-eight damage assessments have been completed in the Lockyer Valley, 169 houses and nine commercial properties. One hundred and two properties were flooded, 98 residential, four commercial and 43 houses are considered to have moderate damage. So, that’s also good news.

Updated

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking now and says there were 180,000 people whose power was affected by the floods across the state:

I was advised by the energy minister out of the 180,000 people impacted during the event, Energex completed the network restoration.

In relation to our community recovery grants, we’ve now made payments totalling $7.72m and of course, people can still contact that community recovery hotline if they need any further assistance. That number is 1800 173 149.

We still have six state schools impacted. I’ve also advised the insurance bill now for claims that have been submitted totals more than $1bn.

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US warns Russia may use biological weapons in Ukraine

The US has warned that Russia could soon use biological weapons in Ukraine, rejecting Moscow’s claims that the US supports a bioweapons program there.

US state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement:

The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine.

We have also seen PRC officials echo these conspiracy theories. This Russian disinformation is total nonsense and not the first time Russia has invented such false claims against another country. Also, these claims have been debunked conclusively and repeatedly over many years.

As we have said all along, Russia is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine.

Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very crimes that Russia itself is perpetrating. These tactics are an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attacks on Ukraine. We fully expect Russia to continue to double down on these sorts of claims with further unfounded allegations.

A reminder that you can follow all the updates on the unfolding Ukraine situation on our dedicated live blog below:

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Labor’s show minister for defence Brendan O’Connor and shadow minister or veterans affairs and defence personnel Shayne Neumann have issued a joint statement in response to the government’s massive military funding announcement, accusing the Coalition of using the ADF as a blatant election ploy:

Having sat on a decision taken last year to boost ADF numbers, the Morrison-Joyce Government has waited until the eve of an election to make yet another announcement that won’t take effect for 18 years.

Of course federal Labor agrees with increasing our ADF, but what we see from the Morrison-Joyce Government today should have come earlier and not to, it seems, distract from the growing criticism of their inadequate flood response.

We have concerns about this Government’s track record when it comes to recruitment and retention of our ADF.

They only met 90 per cent of permanent force recruitment targets in 2020-21 and have failed to meet 2016 Defence White Paper targets every year since 2015-16.

Last Budget figures show the Morrison-Joyce Government expects to recruit just eight extra Navy personnel this year and cut 105 APS jobs – how can we believe they will start recruiting over 1300 new people a year for the next two decades?

There is no plan to ramp up recruitment past the next election to the numbers required, with the Government simply re-announcing 200 ADF recruits a year between 2020 and 2024 – something already in the Force Structure Plan.

It is also telling that despite the increased pressure on the ADF to respond to disasters fuelled by climate change, there is no detail on how to fix the pressures this puts on existing recruitment, retention and training for our troops in their primary areas of expertise ...

Once in a bipartisan way, supporting the need for recruitment, but yet again the Government has offered no briefing only weeks out from an election.

Updated

A flood watch and act has been issued for Victoria:

Updated

ACT records 821 new Covid infections

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As the flood waters rose in Lismore, hundreds of locals went out in their boats to rescue those whose homes had suddenly been swallowed. The community flotilla dwarfed the crews filled by volunteers for the State Emergency Service, who at one point were ordered to pull back because the situation had become too dangerous.

The Australian defence force arrived later, rescuing 113 people. The speed of the response was widely criticised by locals, sparking calls for a specialised arm of the ADF which is trained and resourced to respond to natural disasters.

The royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements, which examined the ADF in response to the 2019-20 bushfires, said the ADF should “not be seen as a first responder for natural disasters, nor relied on as such”.

But experts have said that while there are cultural, practical and constitutional issues with making the army a frontline first responder to domestic disasters, it is the only organisation which now has the funding to do the work required.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Here is the full defence announcement:

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People forced to evacuate their homes in McGraths Hill and Mulgrave in NSW can now “return with caution”, the state emergency service has annouced.

Queensland flood costs ‘well into the billions’

Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles told RN Breakfast today that “we’re well into the billions” in flood costs.

The Insurance Council of Australia too yesterday put its claims bill at $1.62bn ... and that’s just the insured losses, and those claims are going to coming in for a few weeks yet.

Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, has provided some data to give this disaster some perspective:

Ernst Rauch, chief climate scientist at Munich Re, told us:

The losses from flooding in Australia, both economic and insured losses, do show significant changes which actually started around the year 2008.

Despite the latest calamity, Australia remains an attractive market for the world’s largest reinsurer. But Munich Re and other firms are wary that the cost of insurance for floods and bushfires is going one way.

If losses increase, of course premiums need to be adjusted if this is possible.

Affordability would be key. One day a turning point could be reached where households and businesses find it cheaper to move or spend money to make a building more resilient rather than pay for insurance.

Insurers rely on a diversity of geography and perils. If people ditch insurance and shrink the premium pool, prompting insurers to charge more for cover, a downward spiral for the industry “is a likely scenario”, Rauch said.

Intervening, as the Morrison government has with its $10bn reinsurance pool for northern Australia, aids property owners and consumers in the short term but is “a quick fix”. (Various politicians have lately called for the pool to be extended to northern NSW and elsewhere.)

Subsidies always come with pros and con. Yes, it’s a relief to the home owners but the risk is that it sort of masks the actual increased risks.

People and property owners do not really understand that they are living now in a region … which is exposed to higher probabilities of flooding, wildfires and other perils than in the past.

The long term is really about improving resilience and hardening the infrastructure.

For all its perils, Australia has a damage profile not unlike Germany’s, given its economic size and risks. By contrast, hurricane-exposed Florida in the US faces more expensive risk premiums by “a factor of five or 10 higher”, Rauch said.

Updated

Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has made another statement on the situation in Ukraine:

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Reporter:

You understand the frustration of people out there who might be listening to this press conference and all they have heard – going to the pandemic as well, governments blaming each other about who’s responsibility is what?

Scott Morrison:

I think that’s a dialogue that has been focused on by others, but the truth is, you raised the pandemic: we have worked very closely together in the pandemic.

We have the strongest economy in the advanced world. We have had higher jobs growth and higher economic growth than any of the G7 countries over the last two years.

We got one of the highest rates of vaccination anywhere in the world and we got one of the lowest death rates from Covid in the country – in the world.

So I would say that that’s a trifecta of achievement for all governments across this country.

And so while some may want to focus on the odd disagreements, the actual results as they say, if you look at the scoreboard, the scoreboard says we have saved 40,000 lives together.

The scoreboard says that we got 250,000 more jobs than we did before the pandemic. The scoreboard says that we have one of the highest vaccination rates – it’s around 95% double-dose vaccination of the population aged over 16.

That says that the cooperation actually does take place and there was more focus on the cooperation that’s occurring,

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Scott Morrison says flood mitigation works are 'primarily a state responsibility'

When asked about lacklustre flood mitigation efforts across Australia before this flooding event, the PM says this is “primarily a state responsibility”:

The flood mitigation works in Australia are a primarily a state responsibility. So you may well ask the same question – why isn’t the Queensland government funding those? We have been seeking to get a whole range of dams built in Queensland for the last eight years and we have had an enormous amount of frustration to get dams built in this state.

We have offered billions and billions for dams here in Queensland and we would love to get on and build those dams. I know the deputy prime minister is even more keen to go and build those dams. Our focus, as I said yesterday, there has been frustration in the necessary mitigation and other works in the northern rivers of New South Wales.

Those decisions at a local level have been frustrated for a generation and I gave our commitment yesterday that we would be committing heavily to putting those works in place because we now have a mayor in Lismore who’s prepared to get on and do that and I think that’s fantastic. I gave him that support yesterday and the New South Wales premier, I know, will be doing the same.

So we work with all governments around the country, but the primary responsibility for these issues rests with the Queensland government.

Updated

Some news from Victoria:

Peter Dutton says that the Queensland premier has a “very strange position” when it comes to potentially docking the nuclear-powered submarines in Brisbane.

I think the first point to make is if you say that you are supportive of the Aukus agreement and you say you’re supportive and you’re in lock-step with the Morrison government when it comes to the acquisition of the at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, then it’s passing strange you don’t support having a port to dock these submarines.

I mean, they don’t just lurk out in the bay and not come into shore at some point. So when you got Kevin Rudd and you got Kristina Keneally and others out there that are trying to undermine what we’re trying to do on the submarine program, I think it needs to be called out.

The premier here in Queensland has a very strange position compared to, say, the premier of New South Wales. The premier of New South Wales on the same available information is committing to what he sees as an opportunity for New South Wales – thousands of jobs.

Updated

The prime minister has been asked about the process of deciding where the nuclear-powered submarines Australia has ordered will be based when they eventually arrive.

Scott Morrison:

The process has already begun. And there are three locations we’re looking at for the east coast base for submarines. They are here in Brisbane – the Port of Brisbane, I think it’s fair to say, as opposed to under the Story Bridge, that’s absolutely not what is contemplated – in the Hunter and Illawarra.

I have noticed, to be fair, there have been a number of Labor voices which haven’t been supportive of this initiative. The same has been true down in the Illawarra and the shadow minister for home affairs, Senator Keneally, has not been supportive of this. So I’m not quite sure where this view comes about that there’s some sort of equivalence between the government and the Labor party when it comes to defence.

Their record doesn’t demonstrate it, and everyone on our most recent announcement, they ummed and ahhed and equivocate and they wrestle with themselves. Our position is instinctive. We need an east-coast base for the submarines to transplant to our nuclear-propelled submarine capability.

You need to operate as prime minister Hawke understood off both coasts. We get that and we move into it instinctively and deliberately and decisively. Because, you know, commitment to defence isn’t just about the dollars you invest and the support you provide, it’s the instincts you have. Plenty of people can support what we have done in Aukus but only this government would have initiated it.

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Reporter:

A lot of people are saying the threat from China is now. The 80,000 troop build-up won’t happen until 2040. Is that too little too late?

Morrison:

You must have missed the point I was making before. We have increased investment in our defence forces by $55bn.

Updated

OK, and now we are somehow talking about “stopping the boats” again?

Peter Dutton:

Today the supplement of 18,500 extra will talk to the capacity that we need in the future and it will build on the incredible skillset that we have at the moment. So I’m really proud to be part of a government, prime minister, I have to say, that has turned around the fortunes of the Australian defence force.

The reality is, to be very, very frank about it – that Labor lost control of our borders and if you can’t protect your borders and if you can’t stare down people smugglers, how on earth can you pretend that you’re the same as this government not only can you deal with making sure that we continue to stop the people smugglers but can stop adversaries and those that would seek to do harm to our country in the coming decades?

So we have made conscious decisions not just today, but since we were elected to put more money into our men and women, more money into the investment in the Australian defence force, and this is our latest downpayment, our latest investment back into the ADF to recognise the incredible effort that they provide and they are providing now right across Queensland and New South Wales and the flood-affected areas and I want to say thank you very much for the work that they do.

OUCH! I think I just strained a muscle from that second-hand stretch.

Updated

Dutton says Russia and China's ambition extend beyond Ukraine and Taiwan

Defence minister Peter Dutton is saying the quiet part out loud at this press conference, directly stating that he believes Russia and China have expansion on their minds.

When you look at what’s happening in Europe at the moment, people who believe that President Putin’s only ambition is for the Ukraine don’t understand the history that our military leaders understand.

If people think that the ambitions within the Indo-Pacific are restricted just to Taiwan and there won’t be knock-on impacts, if we don’t provide a deterrent effect and work closely with our colleagues and with our allies, then they don’t understand the lessons of history.

And so it is going to be necessary to supplement particularly in space, in cyber, in our naval assets, our underwater capability, our autonomous vehicles both on the land and under the sea, because that provides a deterrence and makes us a more credible partner with the United Kingdom and with the United States and with Nato, with Japan, with India and many other partners in the south-west Pacific, and if we are to rely on them, they need to rely on us.

Minister for defence Peter Dutton.
Minister for defence Peter Dutton. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

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Scott Morrison:

To give you some perspective, when we came to government, defence force spending was a share of our economy was 1.57%.

It was the lowest level since the second world war. If we had kept defence force spending at the same rate as what the Labor party left us, there would be $55bn less spent in our defence forces today.

Just ponder that for a minute! And this year alone, there would be $10bn less being spent on our defence forces this year. Now, when you think about it, with a – a defence force annual budget of just over $40bn, it would be a quarter less than it is today if we stuck with what Labor thought was the commitment to defence that was necessary in peacetime.

That’s not a false gap. That’s a real gap. That’s a yawning gap. That’s a chasm when it comes to the difference between what our government believes in when it comes to support our defence forces.

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Australia to boost defence force numbers by 18,500, Scott Morrison says

Scott Morrison has announced his plan to enact the “biggest increase” to ADF personal numbers in peacetime in Australian history.

(Take a sip of coffee for every time the prime minister purposefully avoids saying the word “China” while talking about this military announcement.)

I’m joined here today by the minister for defence is to make a significant announcement which means the biggest increase in the size of our defence forces in peacetime in Australian history.

This is a significant vote of confidence in our defence forces, but it’s a significant recognition by our government which has always been clear-eyed about the threats and the environment that we face as a country, as a liberal democracy in the Indo-Pacific.

Today, I’m announcing that we will boost our defence forces by some 18,500, which will take our defence forces to 80,000 in number.

This will cost some $38bn out to 2040. And this is a significant investment in our future force. We have an outstanding defence force and that is recognised, I believe, not just by Australians here, but I know it is recognised by allies and partners around the world.

The reason we have been able to secure incredible agreements with the United States and United Kingdom, in particular, in Aukus, is because they know what our defence forces can do and they know what our government is investing to ensure they’re more and more capable.

We don’t leave our tasks of defence to others. We don’t leave it to them. We take it up ourselves and that means we’re a contributor and with this investment, we’re going to make sure that the Australian defence forces are a big contributor for generations to come as more and more people take up those careers in our defence forces.

Updated

Morrison:

Right now in across the defence forces, there are some 5,000 – this will be achieved by the end of today – 5,748 defence force personnel deployed across navy, army and RAAF. That’s 1,289 here in Queensland, 4,459 in New South Wales which includes 2,918 specifically in northern New South Wales.

And so that is an extraordinary deployment of force as they have been able to be staged and moving into those positions and doing an incredible job in all of those places, particularly if you indulge me for the sake of those who are listening in from New South Wales, particularly in the northern rivers, we are continuing aviation support, relief task, reckon for future engineering works, heavy plant operations in Lismore, food loading at the food distribution points where that’s been tasked, aerial route recognisance is under way, continuing to assist with helicopter operations out of Southern Cross University, that’s for food distribution, particularly now and ensuring supply chains.

There’s an ADF presence in Casino now. There’s eye surveillance on flood-damaged regions and 500 personnel camp construction is commencing in the vicinity of Lismore as we speak.

Australian defence force personnel assist with the flood clean-up in Lismore
Australian defence force personnel assist with the flood clean-up in Lismore, northern NSW, yesterday. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AAP

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Morrison:

As I announced yesterday, down in the northern rivers where the flood is not just a flood event, this is a natural disaster, catastrophe, beyond anything they have ever seen at any time in any flood in history in that part of the world, and those three local government areas in particular and we’re looking at other impacted areas in those districts to see how we might extend some of that support.

I spoke to the mayor of Ballina yesterday, last night, about those issues and just like in any natural disaster, like we have seen here in Queensland, you define a couple of LGAs early on, the most impacted and, as the damage assessments come in, you will add others to that list when you go through the proper process.

That’s what is still occurring and even now we are continuing to provide support here in south-east Queensland as well. Here in Queensland, specifically, $170m has been put in the pockets of Queenslanders to support them as they go through this very difficult flood event here.

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For more information about this defence announcement, you can check out Daniel Hurst’s story below:

Updated

PM says he intends to declare national emergency in Queensland

Scott Morrison has confirmed his intention to declare a national emergency tomorrow after meeting Annastacia Palaszczuk today:

I’ll be speaking with the premier after this press conference, and we’ll be speaking about a number of issues.

Of course, the flood issues being very significant in those and moving to the state of emergency declaration which I spoke to the New South Wales premier about yesterday, I’ll speak to the Queensland premier about that today and hopefully that will enable us to press forward with that tomorrow when I see the governor general in Canberra.

Updated

Scott Morrison is speaking now from the Gallipoli Barracks to announce a two-decade-long expansion of ADF troop numbers. But first he is addressing the flood situation:

I want to thank all the local members of parliament here from right across the aisle – state and federal, who have done a great job, I think in supporting their communities here in south-east Queensland over the course of this very difficult past two weeks as the weather bomb, as it was described by the premier, fell on this city and on to Gympie and Maryborough and of course the state I have only just witnessed yesterday down there in the northern rivers which is a terribly, terribly difficult scene as it’s been very difficult here in Queensland.

Can I thank you, Peter [Dutton], for your great leadership in your role as minister for defence and to all of the senior commanders who have been involved in leading the defence effort here in responding to not just this natural disaster, but over the last three and a half years, time after time, whether it’s been flood, whether it’s been drought, whether it’s been cyclones, the pandemic, supporting people in aged care facilities, responding to any number of difficult natural disasters and other situations, we have called on our defence forces time and time and time again and they have never failed us and they never will and I want to salute them for the tremendous service that they have offered.

Scott Morrison receives a briefing on flood damage while visiting Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane
Scott Morrison receives a briefing on flood damage
while visiting Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane. Photograph: Darren England/EPA

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Grace Tame claims person in January phone call threatened support for her foundation

At an Adelaide writers’ week session on Wednesday afternoon, former Australian of the Year Grace Tame discussed the establishment of the Grace Tame Foundation, and shared new information about a “threatening” phone call she received this year:

I received a threatening phone call, and it wasn’t an empty threat. I didn’t share this at the National Press Club, but do you know what the threat was, from that person who phoned me? [It] was that they wouldn’t support the foundation if I said something about the prime minister.

Speaking alongside author Jess Hill and outgoing writers’ week director Jo Dyer, Tame described how the experience of confronting her abuser has given her courage over the past year:

I did something I never thought that I would do – this is what I remember whenever I think that I can’t do something like “frown at the prime minister”.

I actually stood up to him four days before I reported him to police. I’d been submissive, he’d never seen my true rage towards him. But as he sat in his office chair, I pointed a finger at him … I told him exactly what I thought of him for the first time.

My fear of upsetting the apple cart died that day – and it sure as hell died, publicly, standing next to Scott Morrison.

The panel closed to a standing ovation from the packed crowd.

Grace Tame
Grace Tame. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

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Woman killed and two people injured in Queensland house fire

Three young children have escaped unhurt from a suspicious house fire south of Brisbane which killed a woman and left a man with critical burns and another woman with suspected airway burns, reports AAP.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire which broke out at a home in New Beith, near Logan, just before 3am on Thursday.

Paramedics arrived to find five people outside the home as firefighters tried to put out the blaze. Ambulance operations supervisor Simon McInnes said:

We have arrived to find that a house was pretty well engulfed in flames.

The three children – aged two, three and five – were not injured.

A 33-year-old man who lived at the home suffered critical burns to most of his body and was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital at Herston.

Paramedics also took the woman, 30, to hospital with suspected airway burns.

The children were taken to the Queensland Children’s hospital at South Brisbane as a precaution.

Police later found the body of a 31-year-old woman – who didn’t live at the home but knew the residents – inside the burnt-out building. The force said:

Preliminary investigations by police suggest the fire is suspicious. A crime scene has been declared and investigations into this matter are now under way.

Updated

Oooft! Not exactly the pristine blue waters that you would want to take a dip in.

NSW records four Covid deaths and 16,288 new infections

Victoria records eight Covid deaths and 7,779 new infections

Wondering why there was a lot of flooding around Sydney over the past week?

Meanwhile, out west, Perth is looking at another couple of scorching days, but after the summer the WA capital just had, residents would be getting a bit used to it (provided they have air conditioning – which most wildlife does not):

Updated

On a debris-lined street, not far from Lismore’s centre, Kym Strow and her wife, Sarah Jones, are staying well away from the Scott Morrison circus. Strow says:

We don’t need someone picking up our hand to shake it.

Instead, the pair are walking through their ruined home. They move slowly, still digesting.

In spots, the floors are dangerous to walk on. The warped timber threatens to give way underfoot. Paint is peeling off the walls.

Everything they owned is in a pile out on the street. But it’s not just their home.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Patricia Karvelas:

[Lismore] might be the worst but that doesn’t mean the other areas are not badly affected.

Barnaby Joyce:

And we accept that. And that’s why that’s the role of the NRAA [National Recovery and Resilience Agency] and it’s also a role in the states.

And as I said before, they have the lead on this. They make the call that they want further support, and then the role of the federal government ... is to support.

Karvelas:

So just to get the facts on this, the state didn’t want support for the Richmond electorate?

Joyce:

The states will go through a process of assessment. [I’m not] saying they don’t want it. It’s a case of saying, “Well, where in the hierarchy of where is the epicentre of effect is [are they].”

Updated

Barnaby Joyce responds to accusations flood response unfairly ignored Labor electorates

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is speaking to ABC radio now, defending against accusations that flood-affected Labor electorates, including Richmond which contains the town of Ballina, have been unfairly ignored in the flood response.

Host Patricia Karvelas:

Tweed, Byron and Ballina. Will you grant them the extra support?

Joyce:

I don’t make that decision. The NRAA [National Recovery and Resilience Agency] makes that decision. They make a recommendation to us.

Karvelas:

You’re the deputy prime minister. You’ve heard the concerns from the community. So do you go back to that agency and say “Can you relook at this?” and do you do that urgently.

Joyce:

They’re looking at it. That’s happening now.

Karvelas:

When was that? When can you give me some explanation?

Joyce:

I’ll be talking to the minister this morning. I’ve been talking to Bridget McKenzie, obviously, this morning and getting rundown that they have, they’re having a predominantly review of that process.

Barnaby Joyce
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Host Lisa Millar:

I know, but your government has promised to keep costs down. They have been rising. Now we’ve got this situation where people are saying cut the fuel excise to make a difference here. Is that something you would consider?

Josh Frydenberg:

Well, I’m not going to get into the rule in/rule out game just a few weeks out from the budget.

I have seen a lot of speculation in that respect. As you know, fuel excise is the equivalent of 34 cents in a litre.

That money goes towards transport infrastructure and that is important in all our cities and all our regional towns and the government has $110bn infrastructure pipeline over the decades, so that money directly comes from fuel excise which goes back into regional roads, into major urban transport projects.

Updated

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being questioned about his promises to keep the cost of living down as he chats to ABC News Breakfast:

Well, we have been making policies that have been driving down the cost of living, for example, around electricity prices which are down by 8% in the last two years.

They doubled under our political opponents, but what I was referring to last night is the international events in the Ukraine have seen a spike in oil prices, and that is flowing through with some people paying more than $2 a litre.

Now, it is the expectation that oil prices will remain elevated for some time as those tensions remain across Europe, but it is a reflection of the more dangerous and uncertain geopolitical environment we find ourselves in.

Josh Frydenberg
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

More than two-thirds of Australians will develop skin cancer

More than two-thirds of Australians will develop common skin cancers, leading to 500 deaths every year, making the country the “skin cancer capital of the world”, Farid Farid from AAP reports.

A paper published on Thursday in the journal Public Health Research & Practice found that 69% of Australians will have at least one excision for a keratinocyte cancer in their lifetime.

That’s an increase of up to 6% a year over the past three decades, mostly affecting older age groups. The researchers said:

This high and increasing burden of skin cancer emphasises the need for continued investment in skin cancer education and prevention.

The Cancer Council estimates that 2,000 Australians die from skin cancer every year, with the nation having one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

Keratinocyte cancers, also known as non-melanoma skin cancers, are the most common cancers in Australia. They are comprised of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

BCCs grow slowly in the lower levels of the skin’s epidermis and make up at least two thirds of all skin cancers, while one third of skin cancers are SCCs, that grow rapidly in the upper layer of the epidermis.

Medicare records show there were more than 1m treatments for BCCs and SCCs in 2018, according to the Cancer Council.

The paper’s authors called for measures to address the growing problem, including national media campaigns, protecting children and workers from the harms of overexposure to sunlight and access to more shade in public spaces.

Unlike melanomas, data on keratinocyte cancers is not recorded in state and territory cancer registries, except in Tasmania. The researchers recommend a national registry to monitor trends.

The journal’s guest editors urged authorities to do more to combat the nation’s high incidence of skin cancer:

We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to do it so that one day Australia is no longer considered the skin cancer capital of the world.

You can read more about the research here:

Updated

Federal member for Richmond Justine Elliot has criticised the prime minister and deputy prime minister for visiting primarily Coalition electorates while touring the flood plains.

She is speaking on ABC radio now:

Patricia Karvelas:

We’re going to hear from the deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce later ... he’s already rejected this idea that emergency support is favouring his own seats, the National seats over areas like yours. Do you accept that reassurance?

He says the reason that they’re getting this extra support is actually they’re the worst-hit areas.

Elliot:

Well, we’ve been really badly hit as well; what I would say to the deputy prime minister, or even the prime minister: come here, they haven’t been here.

The deputy prime minister I understand was at the Gold Coast airport yesterday. That is two minutes from the border. He was up there making an announcement but couldn’t come down and see what was happening.

The prime minister was in Lismore. That’s just a short drive into Ballina and into the electorate of Richmond. I say to them: come here and see on the ground what’s happening and why we need that.

Yes, I do think they are politicising, as they always do. But I also think it is just the absolute chaotic approach to things and their incompetence and lack of planning.

Mother and son Jenny and Aden Pett check their house during the low tide in Ballina
Mother and son Jenny and Aden Pett check their house in Ballina in northern NSW on 3 March after flooding in the area destroyed thousands of properties. Photograph: The Guardian

Updated

People in NSW are for the most part waking up to a dry morning and, if the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast is correct, the rest of the day will stay that way.

Carlene York, head of the State Emergency Service, told ABC’s RN Breakfast there are still 38 evacuation orders out this morning, covering 9,000 people. There are a further 24 evacuation warnings, putting about 20,000 on alert.

“We’re very active across the whole east coast,” York said, from the Queensland border down to the Victorian one.

The Hawkesbury-Nepean RiveR to Sydney’s north and west remains at major flood levels in a range of places but is mostly falling this morning, including at North Richmond.

Warragamba Dam, Sydney’s main reservoir, has almost stopped spilling into the Hawkesbury-Nepean flood plain. The city’s dam network was 99.9% full as of Wednesday, with most dams spilling.

Fortunately, the next eight days look like being a lot more benign rain-wise – unless you live in far north Queensland.

Still, all that rain may cool off the waters of the Great Barrier Reef a bit, easing the risk of another mass coral bleaching, which is itself an atrocity given that we’re in a La Niña phase when the atmosphere is supposed to be on the cool side.

Mind you, the longer-term forecast is for a wetter-than-average next few months for eastern Australia – parts of which are having their wettest start to any year.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning, everyone, Matilda Boseley here, ready to bring you all the day’s news.

The big thing on the agenda today is that Scott Morrison is planning to make a formal request for a national emergency with the Queensland premier after devastating floods ravaged south-eastern parts of the state and northern areas of NSW.

The prime minister will travel to Brisbane this morning after spending yesterday visiting flood-ravaged Lismore and speaking with NSW premier Dominic Perrottet, as the clean-up of massive flooding continues.

Seventeen Queensland local government areas have been declared disasters zones, but interestingly Morrison needs the request of the two premiers to get approval from the governor general to declare a national emergency on Friday.

Here is what Morrison had to say:

I’ve had that positive discussion with the NSW premier and will be meeting with the Queensland premier tomorrow when in Brisbane.

This emergency declaration will give the federal government the power to deploy money and resources faster and will span Queensland and NSW.

Morrison says this will mean that the local government areas of Richmond Valley, Lismore and Clarence Valley will be able to access another $2,000 payment for adults and $800 for children as part of the disaster recovery payment scheme.

While people in northern NSW aren’t able to work, are still clearing out their homes and businesses, the extra two lots of $1,000 payments we’re rolling out to eligible families and individuals will give them some certainty as they start to rebuild their lives.

We will bring you all the updates on this as it unfurls this morning, but for now, why don’t we jump right into the day?

Updated

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