What we learned, 18 January 2026
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
A Sydney woman has died after a tree branch fell on her car during major storms across the city that led to more than 1400 calls for help to emergency services.
New South Wales will introduce jail time for those who leave dogs trapped in their cars in a major new reform.
Labor has urged “unity” from the Coalition to pass its controversial hate speech bill.
The letter the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, sent the Adelaide festival board raising concerns about the inclusion of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has been made public.
The peak Jewish body has called on both major parties to pass anti-vilification laws.
Police have blocked a Deaths in Custody protest march in Sydney as part of a rally to mark 10 years since the death of Dunghutti man David Dungay Jr.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
International report to hover over domestic economy
Unemployment data will give fresh insight to Australia’s economy, as a major financial institutions releases information on the state of play globally.
The health of Australia’s economy is set to be given a global reality check, as the domestic unemployment rate comes under the spotlight.
The International Monetary Fund will release the latest round of its World Economic Outlook Update on Monday, which contains forecasts for major economies and a state of play for global finances.
The body’s previous report released in October forecast global growth slowing to 3.2% in 2025 and further downwards to 3.1% in 2026.
Advanced economies were also projected to grow by just 1.5%.
The release of the report follows global uncertainty in financial markets, amid US intervention in Venezuela and tensions in Iran.
While the focus will be global on Monday, Thursday will see the economic forecasts move closer to home with the release of unemployment data for the last month of 2025.
November’s job figures saw the unemployment rate remain steady at 4.3%, staying at the rate for five of the past six months.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed unemployed numbers fell during the month by 2000 people, while the number of workers in jobs dropped by 21,000.
Investors on Wall Street, meanwhile, seem nonplussed by Donald Trump’s proposed cap on credit card interest, or indications that he is yet to settle on a successor to the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell.
– AAP
Updated
Police will be ‘reasonable’ about Invasion Day marches, assistant commissioner says
New South Wales police have said they will be “reasonable” if limits on protest are extended to include Invasion Day marches as community tensions ease.
Police can issue move-on orders to marching protesters under a fortnightly declaration up for renewal by the state’s police commissioner on Tuesday. An extension could limit rights of demonstrators on 26 January and organisers have said they will march regardless, a warning repeated at a rally today in Sydney.
The assistant commissioner, Peter McKenna, when asked how he expected events on 26 January to play out, told reporters:
The commissioner will make his mind up about that on Tuesday. I can’t pre-empt that. All I’ll say is that we’re very pragmatic and reasonable. We [are] already negotiating and speaking with organisers, for Invasion Day. So whichever way that lands, we’ll make sure that the community is kept safe.
McKenna acknowledged thousands of Australians could attend Invasion Day rallies and make police operations more difficult, especially if crowds wanted conflict with police rather than cooperation. He suggested the need for restrictions on protests was growing less urgent:
We’ve got an obligation to enforce the laws. They’re only a temporary law, just remember that. There will be times when these laws no longer apply … It is about social cohesion and lowering community tensions and I think every day that goes forward, we’re starting to see that get back to more of normality and that’s a good thing.
Updated
Man injured after multiple shots fired into home
A man has been seriously injured after he was shot during a public place shooting in Sydney’ west overnight.
Emergency services were called to a home at about 11.35pm on Saturday night after reports of a shooting in a public place.
When officers arrived they were told unknown persons had fired multiple gunshots into a home, hitting one resident before leaving the scene.
The resident – a 46-year-old man – was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for a gunshot injury before being taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Police have established a crime scene with Riverstone detectives investigating the incident.
Updated
Arrests would have followed aborted march, police say
Police have warned protesters in Sydney they could have been arrested after testing the limits of new powers restricting public assemblies.
New South Wales police assistant commissioner, Peter McKenna, said the 200-strong crowd was collectively ordered to move on as they began to march from Hyde Park. Had the crowd kept moving, there could “absolutely” have been arrests, McKenna said.
The crowd instead dispersed with no arrests after rally organisers instead asked the attenders to turn, warning police could take action. Speaking an hour afterwards, McKenna told reporters:
There was a line in the sand there today … We told the organisers that we were there to enforce the law and that meant there was not going to be a mobile public assembly …
Whether it was a stunt for the media, whether it was to show public resistance, you know, the protesters today did try and move forward. But they always were going to do what we wanted them to do once they made that declaration to listen to the police, which is good.
McKenna suggested police outnumbered the demonstrators, estimating 200 rallied while a “few hundred” police were present or standing by.
Updated
Fourth teenager charged after attempted murder
A fourth teenager has been charged following the alleged attempted murder of another teen in Sydney’s west earlier this month.
On 6 January, emergency services were called to an address in Shalvey after reports a brawl had started in a driveway during a party with 40 people in attendance.
On arrival, police found a 17-year-old boy with multiple stab wounds.
He was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics and taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The teen remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Officers from Public Order and Riot Squad, Operations Support Group, and the Dog Unit assisted with management of crowds who had remained at the location.
Police established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the incident.
As part of investigations, detectives have arrested and charged two 16-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy over their alleged roles in the stabbing. All three teens remain before the courts.
Following further inquiries, detectives arrested a third 16-year-old boy at a home in Lethbridge Park, at about 6.50pm on Saturday. He was charged with attempted murder.
Updated
‘See you on Invasion Day’: protesters pledge to march on 26 January despite potential ban
Protesters have pledged to “break the ban” on protest marches if NSW police powers are extended to 26 January, after facing off with officers.
About 200 gathered in Hyde Park on Sunday and began to march on the footpath until police ordered them to move on, using a new protest-limiting power handed to them by the state government in the wake of the Bondi shooting.
Facing police lines, the crowd chanted “we’ll be back” and “see you on Invasion Day”. Paul Silva, a rally organiser and nephew of David Dungay Jr, who died in custody, told reporters a crowd 100 times bigger was expected on 26 January:
The presence of attendees on that day is going to be influxed and that’s why it’s important that people revoke those laws … We know that we can get 20,000-plus people to have a day of mourning with First Nations people.
The crowd had earlier cheered its loudest when Paddy Gibson, an advocate and researcher, said “we will break the ban”. Gibson pointed to the example of protests in 2020, when rallies against Indigenous deaths in custody won an appeal to be declared lawful, defying politicians’ urges to stay home amid Covid lockdowns.
We’re not enough here to overturn the might of the New South Wales police. By 26 January, comrades, we must be … That’s very loud and clear to any representatives from the government or the police listening. Do not come near 26 January with that ban, or you’ll find out what you found out in June of 2020.
Updated
Filipino migrant worker’s death in NSW referred to federal police
A New South Wales coroner has referred the death of a Filipino migrant worker, who died after jumping from a moving vehicle in 2019, to the Australian federal police to consider further investigations.
NSW deputy state coroner Rebecca Hosking handed down the findings into the death of 21-year-old Jerwin Royupa on Friday. She concluded Royupa, a trainee at a winery, was “exploited” and exposed to “potentially criminal” conduct during his five weeks in Australia.
Royupa died in March 2019 after “voluntarily” jumping or falling from a van driven by his training scheme sponsor, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, the coroner said. In the days before his death, Royupa became “increasingly fearful” of his visa sponsor, Hosking found.
On 14 March 2019, Royupa voluntarily exited the van being driven by his sponsor after the man threatened to take him to the airport or police.
While Royupa lay unconscious on the side of the road, the sponsor failed to immediately call an ambulance, disparaged him to a paramedic and left the scene after being told not to.
Hosking described the training sponsor’s conduct as “deplorable”.
For more on this story, read the full story by Guardian Australia’s Adeshola Ore:
Large industrial fire breaks out in Adelaide’s western suburbs
A large industrial fire has broken out in Adelaide’s western suburbs with motorists advised to take care and avoid the area due to thick, black smoke.
Emergency services are responding to a fire that broke out at the corner of Regency Road and South Road, Croydon Park.
The Regency Park off road for northbound traffic on the North South Motorway is closed for emergency vehicles, and South Road is closed for northbound traffic at Torrens Road, Renown Park.
A Dangerous Area declaration has been issued with people advised to avoid the area if possible to follow the instructions of fire crews at the scene.
Updated
Peak Jewish body implores major parties to pass federal hate speech laws
Jewish community leaders have urged Labor and the Coalition to recommit to passing new federal hate speech laws, days after Labor split its legislation due to a lack of support in parliament.
MPs will return to Canberra this week for a special two-day sitting to debate gun laws and new powers for the federal government to crackdown on hate groups. But controversial anti hate speech and vilification laws have been paused, due to opposition from the Coalition and the Greens.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Peter Wertheim, said on Sunday new protections were badly needed. He implored the major parties to find common ground.
We are disappointed there will not be a serious vilification offence and very concerned at the message this will send that deliberate promotion of racial hatred is not considered serious enough to be criminalised.
Over the last two years amid record levels of antisemitism we have seen synagogues, kindergartens, cars and homes being firebombed culminating in the murder of 15 innocent people in an antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach.
How much worse do things need to get before we as a nation finally have the courage to tackle the deliberate promotion of antisemitic hatred that is the heart of the problem.
We exhort the major parties to work together to get legislation passed now that will advance us further down the road towards having effective laws against the deliberate promotion of racial hatred.
Updated
Police block protesters against Aboriginal deaths in custody from marching on footpaths
Police have blocked the path of protesters marching against Aboriginal deaths in custody at Hyde Park in Sydney, sparking a standoff.
A rally marking 10 years since the death in prison of Dunghutti man David Dungay Jr grew heated when organiser Paul Silva invited attenders to walk with him on footpaths and without jaywalking. He said:
Our route to go through the city that way unfortunately was declined under the NSW protest laws … please join me while we try to march to the Domain.
The police superintendent at the scene then approached Silva, asking him to disperse the crowd, saying “today is not the day” to march. State Greens MP Sue Higginson approached and asked that Silva be given permission to walk, to which the superintendent appeared to agree “but not with the people behind him”.
Dozens of police, including a contingent on horseback, assembled at Hyde Park’s exits and blocked the path as Silva began walking, followed by the hundreds of attenders. The superintendent said “please turn, ask everyone to turn”. Silva asked the crowd to leave:
I don’t want anyone being brutalised and unfortunately these laws will allow that. Please, just please disperse … I do not want anyone ending up the next statistic.
The crowd stayed standing for five minutes, chanting and verbally abusing police, as officers entered the crowd and told them to leave. About 10 minutes later, the crowd dispersed.
Updated
David Dungay Jr’s nephew condemns expansion of police powers
David Dungay Jr’s nephew, Paul Silva, has condemned the expansion of police powers against protesters as an effort to criminalise scrutiny of police brutality.
Speaking before the protest against Aboriginal deaths in custody, Silva told reporters:
The extension of the process has … affected this movement. And that makes the question, is it because they don’t want to scrutinise, the high rate of deaths custody in 2025 [and] across the Christmas period, or they don’t want to scrutinise police brutalisation …
People see it as defying laws. I don’t see it as defying laws. I see that as a First Nations person standing for our existence, for what’s right.
Paddy Gibson, a researcher, said the new laws, which give police greater power to issue move-on orders to protesters, could unfairly target Indigenous Australians, who have been far more likely to be subjected to those orders.
Gibson, at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology, said:
Move on powers are part of the racist system of policing that exists in New South Wales that we are protesting about … There’s a record number of Aboriginal people ever incarcerated and ever killed in custody here, in New South Wales. And now they are giving police more powers …
The police don’t have to disperse us today. We could march on the road, we wouldn’t be committing any offence. The offence comes when they use their discretion and they issue a move-on order.
So we have said to the police: ‘Do not issue those move on orders. Do not use your discretionary powers that we know you’re using in a racist way.’
Updated
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah was invited to participate in the Adelaide Writer’s Week program by the festival’s artist director, Louise Adler.
Adler, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, is a respected figure within Australian publishing and a prominent, progressive Jewish voice. She publicly resigned over the intervention after writing an opinion piece published by the Guardian.
Though the letter written by Malinauskas acknowledges that “Adelaide Festival is independent from the government” and the premier is prevented under law from issuing a ministerial direction about its programming, Malinauskas stressed that the South Australian government “fundamentally opposes the inclusion” of the Palestinian author in the 2026 program.
I am surprised at the decision by Adelaide Writer’s Week to give a platform to this author and deeply concerned that the Board is not prepared to remove her appearance from the program, particularly in light of the current circumstances, the national mood and the need for social cohesion following the Bondi terror attack.
A copy of the letter was shared with the Adelaide Advertiser where it was published in full.
Dr Abdel-Fattah has previously threatened defamation action against the South Australian premier over his public comments.
Read Adler’s resignation letter on Guardian Australia:
Updated
SA premier’s letter calling for Randa Abdel-Fattah to be dropped from writers’ festival released
A copy of the three-page letter sent by the South Australian, premier, Peter Malinauskas to the Adelaide writers’ week board regarding the inclusion of Palestinian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 program has been published in full.
In the letter signed by Malinauskas and dated 2 January 2026, the premier says he did not believe Dr Abdel-Fattah’s inclusion was “in the public interest, in light of the Bondi terror attack”, citing comments reported in news media attributed to the writer to suggest that “her appearance runs contrary to current community expectations of unity, healing and inclusion”.
The premier cited “several public statements and actions that have been widely construed as antisemitic” to support his view, saying her participation was “likely to provoke disunity”.
I am of the view that the statements and actions attributed to Dr Abdel-Fattah go beyond reasonable public debate, being antisemitic and hateful at worst and deeply offensive and insulting at best.
It added that “behaviour and speech that is insulting, racist in any form, promotes religious discrimination or hate speech is never acceptable”.
My government condemns and rejects all racist or antisemitic behaviour, remarks or sentiment, including the above remarks and actions attributed to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.
The letter claimed that the Adelaide festival board had concerns about the inclusion of Abdel-Fattah before the Bondi attacks, and pointed to the resignation of Tony Berg, a businessman and a governor on the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in October over his concerns about the program.
Updated
Heavy police presence at rally to commemorate death of David Dungay Jr
Protesters have been met with a heavy police presence as they rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park to mark 10 years since David Dungay Jr was laid to rest.
The Dunghutti man died in custody at one of New South Wales’ toughest prisons in December 2015. Today’s rally, co-organised by Dungay’s nephew, Paul Silva, is demanding a new inquiry into Aboriginal deaths in custody, which reached their highest level in 45 years in 2024-25.
NSW adopted laws under which police can demand protesters move on if they begin marching. At least 100 police officers and 10 police vehicles have surrounded Sunday’s rally, matching the number of protesters present.
Among those in attendance are NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson and Josh Lees, the Palestine Action Group organiser.
Updated
Banning hate groups more complicated than anticipated, Burke says
Banning groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir for engaging in antisemitic hate speech is unlikely to work as many of those involved are Australian citizens, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has said.
The concession comes as the government has moved to ban specific hate groups, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network, under controversial hate-speech legislation.
Burke previously said that the move would push these groups to the fringes and force them “underground” where they would struggle to recruit even if their views remain unchanged.
Burke told The Daily Telegraph:
Pushing them to the fringes doesn’t eliminate the fact that there are hateful views from individuals, and when those individuals are on visas, I’ve been cancelling them and kicking them out, but for most of these people, they’re Australian citizens.
The minister’s office confirmed 20-year-old Ukrainian national and neo-Nazi Yan Zakharin, who is facing charges over his involvement in an attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne last August, had his visa cancelled on Christmas Eve.
Zakharin is being held in immigration detention, and was allegedly one of 15 members of the National Socialist Network who attacked the First Nations camp.
In response to questions about the incident, Burke said:
Our government has zero tolerance for bigotry and hate. If you don’t like Australia you can leave.
Updated
Man arrested over pipe bombs found in suburban parkland
A man accused of making pipe bombs has been arrested after almost a dozen explosives were found strewn along footpaths in the nation’s capital.
The 41-year-old has been accused of stealing and purchasing items needed to create the bombs from a store in Belconnen, in Canberra’s northwest.
Police searched his house in the same suburb on Saturday where they allegedly found items used to assemble pipe bombs.
The man was arrested at a unit at Gungahlin, in the city’s north, late last night and will appear in ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
He has been charged with unauthorised manufacture of a prohibited dangerous substance, possessing a prohibited weapon, and theft.
As of Thursday, at least 11 pipe bombs had been found along a one-kilometre stretch of footpath near Lake Ginninderra, a popular parkland area for runners and dog walkers.
Some of the explosives appeared to have gone off before being found, while others were discovered intact.
Police do not believe anyone was hurt when the explosives detonated.
- AAP
Labor does not ‘share the concerns of the Greens’ on hate speech laws: Gallagher
Speaking at Parliament House in Canberra, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says she has spoken with the Coalition and the Greens Senate managers ahead of this week’s special sittings.
Labor has done a deal with the Greens to pass legislation establishing a gun buyback scheme and creating a legal framework to officially designated hate groups operating in the community.
But Labor is keeping the pressure on the Coalition, who look set to oppose the bill drafted in the wake of the 14 December terror attack at Bondi.
Gallagher said she did not share concerns put forward by the Greens on freedom of political expression and protest, including by pro-Palestinian activists in Australia. The minor party said last week it couldn’t support Labor’s plans, forcing the government to split its legislation.
We don’t share the concerns of the Greens on that one, and we’ve made that clear to them in the last week.
The elements of the bill that exist without the racial vilification still have very strong purpose around combating antisemitism, and that is why many of these groups, including neo-Nazis, have foreshadowed they are going disband, once they saw this exposure draft bill.
That shows you how serious these laws are. Those elements are just as important.
Updated
Labor urges ‘unity’ from Ley after hate speech backdown
Labor has urged the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, to follow through on her commitments after the Bondi terror attack and support legislation dealing with guns and hate groups in parliament this week.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, agreed to split his controversial bill in order to win support from the Greens on Saturday, putting aside hate speech provisions designed to protect Jewish Australians from antisemitic hate and vilification.
But Labor is demanding the Coalition support the remaining elements of the legislation, creating tougher laws around gun ownership and banning extremist groups through new legal designation.
Labor’s Senate manager, Katy Gallagher, said on Sunday that Ley needs to follow through when the legislation is debated on Tuesday.
“This is a day where she needs to unite her party and put Australians first. That is what we need from the opposition,” Gallagher said.
The PM has been clear about this from the get go, that we need to get something from the opposition. We haven’t had anything to date, and we need to make sure that the parliament does deal with this legislation in a way that ensures Australians are safer.
Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see the parliament working together, and that’s the approach we’re taking to the sitting.
Updated
Venus Williams says she has ‘nothing to prove’ in Australian Open return
The Australian Open starts on Sunday with two-time finalist Venus Williams breaking new ground as the tournament’s oldest female singles player when she returns after five years away.
Williams, a seven-time grand slam winner, has not played at Melbourne Park since her tearful second-round exit in 2021.
Granted a wildcard, the 45-year-old will become the oldest player ever to compete in the women’s singles draw when she faces Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in the first round at John Cain Arena on Sunday.
A possible all-American clash with third seed Coco Gauff looms in the second round.
“This is the greatest place on earth to play,” Williams said.
I have had amazing memories here. I love challenges, so I’m up for the challenge.
Williams made her first appearance at Melbourne Park as a 17-year-old in 1998, reaching the quarter-finals in her fourth major tournament after a remarkable run to the US Open final the previous year.
– AAP
Updated
Family court judge criticised over ‘brazen’ family violence comments
Legal experts have criticised the handling of abuse cases in family court, after a woman and alleged survivor of domestic abuse alleged a judge suggested she be taken to a park to “fight it out” with her former partner.
The woman, who agreed to speak to AAP anonymously as legal proceedings remain ongoing, filed a complaint against the judge after the comments were made public on social media.
Swinburne University senior law lecturer Rachael Burgin said the comments were inappropriate given the circumstances of the case.
The judge has evidence before them of family violence, which by definition is a pattern of violence, control and abuse of power, and yet has opted to collude with the alleged perpetrator, emboldening this person to continue his offences.
The fact that these attitudes permeate the justice system does not surprise me but it is shocking how brazen (these comments) are.”
Dr Burgin specialises in criminal justice and criminology as well as legal responses to rape, sexual assault and gendered violence.
A complaint has been filed over the comments and the judge is no longer overseeing hearings related to the matter.
– AAP
Updated
Jail time for leaving dogs in cars under new NSW animal welfare laws
New South Wales will crack down on people who leave their dogs in cars and use painful collars in proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Owners who leave dogs in hot cars or use painful prong collars on their pets could face jail time under proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Under the proposals, offenders in NSW could be fined a maximum of $44,000 and sentenced to a year in prison in line with other animal cruelty offences.
The changes would bring the state more into line with laws in Western Australia and South Australia.
The NSW changes would also remove barriers for animal welfare inspectors to offer pain relief, allow authorised personnel to euthanise animals in emergencies, and make it an offence to posses illegal glue traps – which can ensnare native animals and cause slow protracted deaths.
The proposals are expected to be introduced to state parliament in the first half of 2026 after discussions with key stakeholders.
“Leaving dogs in locked cars on hot days is not acceptable, and neither is the use of collars with prongs that spike into the necks of puppies and dogs,” the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said.
The reforms will also crack down on animal fighting, by addressing potential loopholes and supporting police to address links to organised crime.
– AAP
Updated
The road to Trish’s Queensland farm was blown up for a coalmine – now flood waters have left her ‘stuck in a hole’
Cattlewoman Trish Goodwin should be celebrating.
Last Friday, her parched property off the Capricorn Highway near the tiny town of Bluff in the central highlands of Queensland received “very good soaking rain” – nearly 200mm would fall in a few days.
It was proper wet season rain. And we needed it. We needed it badly.
Instead, Goodwin finds herself “stuck in a hole”, stranded and alone in the humble tin and timber home in which she was raised, carefully rationing her instant coffee and milk – worried her health could give out again, that she should need an ambulance.
For if the 62-year-old does require urgent medical attention, she says, paramedics would need a helicopter to pick her up.
Goodwin attributes her predicament to a coalmine mothballed for the second time in late 2023, whose current owner, Bowen Coking Coal, went into receivership in July. Because between Goodwin and the highway, where a crushed blue metal road once ran through pastured land and timber, there is now a blasted and gaping hole in the earth: an open cut mine called Bluff.
For more on this story, read the full report from Guardian Australia’s Joe Hinchliffe:
Updated
More than 1,400 calls to emergency services amid NSW storms, authorities say
The NSW State Emergency Service has received more than 1,400 calls for help and 20 requests for flood rescues after Sydney was lashed with torrential rain.
SES assistant commissioner Sonya Alston, speaking to ABC News, says the main areas affected by flash flooding and storm-related incidents are the Illawarra, Sydney and Hunter areas.
We did have an evacuation at Narrabeen overnight due to the rapid rising waters there and the localised heavy rainfall, so that continues around that. Those particular areas with the weather also moving up north, we’ll see around north-eastern New South Wales experiencing some of that heavy winds, heavy rain and large wind gusts.
Residents of the area are advised to monitor the BoM app and the Hazards Near Me app as there are warnings in place. They are also warned not to enter flood waters.
Alston says similar conditions are expected throughout Saturday and into early next week as the storm system heads north.
We’re hoping to see a little bit of relief for the Illawarra area today. But still in that Sydney northern area. So again urging everyone to keep safe, keep inside if you can.
Updated
One dead after tree branch falls on car in Illawarra region
A woman died during the storms on Saturday afternoon when a tree branch fell on her car on Macquarie Pass, south of Wollongong.
NSW police said:
The woman was a driver in the vehicle when the incident happened.
A man in the front seat passenger suffered minor injuries, and two passengers in the rear seats were not physically harmed.
Updated
Evacuation order on Sydney’s northern beaches as Australia’s east coast smashed by stormy weather
Australia’s east coast is being smashed by summer storms as residents are told to evacuate.
An emergency warning was in place for Sydney’s northern beaches on Sunday morning, with residents at Narrabeen Lagoon and surrounds told to leave.
More than a dozen people have been rescued across Sydney, with cars submerged and homes flooded.
At Great Mackerel beach, in the northern beaches, a landslide damaged numerous homes with at least one woman injured.
The storm system also claimed the life of a woman on Saturday after a tree branch fell on her car and State Emergency Service crews received more than 800 calls for help after heavy rain lashed New South Wales.
Senior meteorologist Edward Townsend-Medlock said more heavy rainfall was expected from Sydney’s northern suburbs through to the Hunter coast on Sunday morning.
Within that concentrated area is where you could get some of those more severe thunderstorm cells that we saw, for example, on the Central Coast.
For more on this story, read our full report:
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Powerful storms have lashed Sydney, with some residents of the northern beaches told to evacuate. More than a dozen people have been rescued across the city, as a landslide injured a woman and damaged multiple homes.
A woman was killed in the storms on Saturday when a tree branch fell her car at Macquarie Pass and a man in the front passenger seat suffered minor injuries. The New South Wales SES recorded more than 800 calls for help.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
