Australia news live: Echuca braces for flood peak; severe storm warning for parts of NSW | Australia news
North-west NSW facing severe storms and flash flooding
I wanted to begin with the flood situation in NSW, where communities in the north-west are currently facing severe storms and flash flooding.
Earlier, chief superintendent of the New South Wales SES, Ken Murphy, was on the ABC and said areas around Moree have already faced rainfall totals in excess of 100mm:
We currently do have some issues in Moree, the north-west of the state, regarding some severe storms that impacted there overnight and early this morning. Rainfall totals in excess of 100mm have caused a lot of flash flooding in those areas there, they have caused us to do some evacuations and have done a number of flood rescues in those areas.
Given the weather events over this weekend and the continuing forecast for storms in those areas and broadly across the state then [we] will be strategically moving our resources around to address those issues.
What we do ask is communities heed our warnings and if they are asked to evacuate, please evacuate immediately. And make sure that you take some time today to ensure that you have an evacuation plan.
Key events
Filters BETA
Langton went on to say she did not think it was appropriate that Thorpe remains the Green’s spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians, adding Thorpe had shown a “significant lack of judgement” and that the Greens should largely ditch their current set of policies:
I think the portfolio should be taken away from her.
I have to draw the conclusion she does not have the judgement to handle the Indigenous affairs portfolio which anyone must surely understand consists of a range of extremely complex matters such as Closing the Gap, the referendum on the Voice and so many other issues.
I would like the Greens to totally ditch their present set of policies which look like they were written on the back of a bar tab and seem to amount to about $7m for reparations. There are no policies as such. The resistance to the Voice that the Greens have shown, taking Senator Thorpe’s lead, has been a nonsense and destructive.
Langton was also asked if the Greens were displaying a “particular form of racism” by keeping Thorpe in her position as Indigenous affairs spokeswoman:
They have chosen a person with apparently no common sense or an inability to understand the rules and a willingness to break the rules. I despair that because people like Adam Bandt must surely be thinking or perhaps trying to give the impression that all Aboriginal people are like Senator Thorpe and that’s simply not the case.
Adam Bandt’s decision to strip Thorpe of deputy senate leadership doesn’t go far enough: Indigenous leader
Indigenous leader Marcia Langton was just on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, and was asked extensively her thoughts on Lidia Thorpe and her undisclosed relationship with a former bikie boss.
Langton was first asked if Greens leader Adam Bandt had gone far enough by stripping Thorpe of her deputy senate leadership, to which Langton gave a frank answer:
No. This is, I would have thought, an extremely embarrassing thing for him as the leader of the Greens.
It must be embarrassing to all of the members of the parliamentary committee on law enforcement, to other parliamentarians and constituents like myself who live in the state of Victoria and are represented by her in the Senate, in as much as she is a senator.
Pressure to undo stage-three tax cuts doesn’t have best interest of the Albanese government at heart: Turnbull
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull has told the Tax Summit that any potential tax reform would be political suicide.
Turnbull gave wide-ranging answers on the topic, saying the Labor party had “boxed itself in” by pursuing a small-target strategy, and that any push for tax reform would face a “fevered” debate amid pressure from the media.
Turnbull added that he believed pressure to undo the stage-three tax cuts didn’t have the best interest of the Albanese government at heart:
The problem Albanese has is that he’s been elected to office in large part on the issue of integrity and morals. They won a narrow majority and a lot of it hinged around Morrison’s, and by extension, his government’s perceived untrustworthiness – telling lies, gaslighting, that sort of stuff.
So those people on the left who are encouraging Albanese to break his election promise to not undo the stage-three tax cuts don’t have his best interests at heart … in politics, your friends can get you in as much trouble as your enemies.
Turnbull went on to describe how and why it is so difficult to have a conversation on tax reform, adding a barbed criticism of how his treasurer (and successor) dealt with the media:
It should be possible but historically, it has proved [difficult] … Governments should be able to consider options but they get pressured [by the media] to rule things in or out.
One of the problems I used to have with Scott Morrison when he was treasurer was that Scott used to front-run things in the media, ideas for tax changes, economic changes … this was more briefing than leaking … I’m happy to accept he genuinely thought this was a way of, you know, floating ideas and flying kites. [But] it was catastrophic for us. Because if you float something you have to provide an answer – are you going to do it or not going to do it? You get into a terrible tangle.
David Pocock calls for more transparency amid ‘troubling’ Thorpe revelations
Independent senator David Pocock has called for greater transparency from MPs, after it emerged Greens senator Lidia Thorpe had been in an undisclosed relationship with a former bikie boss.
Pocock was speaking at the Transport, Aviation and Transport Summit earlier today, and said the revelation was “troubling”:
Not declaring things is an issue.
I’ve been shocked at just how little you actually have to declare as a politician.
I don’t have to declare who I’m giving lobbying passes to, I don’t have to declare any of my spouse’s interests.
I don’t see the downside of having more transparency when it comes to these sorts of things.
I guess the really troubling thing with senator Thorpe is not disclosing that, when you are on that sort of committee.
It’s such a privilege to be in there and represent your state or territory or your electorate. And with that privilege comes responsibilities.
I see that she has apologised … but I think it’s something that I would like to see the standard sort of raised in the parliament and MPs and senators taking responsibility when it comes to that.
Adam Morton
States agree to work with Labor to protect Australia’s landmass and marine areas
State and territory environment ministers have agreed to work with the Albanese government to achieve its target of protecting 30% of Australia’s landmass and marine areas by 2030.
The agreement was included in a communique released after the first meeting of environment ministers since Labor won the May federal election. It will raise questions about what qualifies as a protected area. Scientists have estimated about 22% of Australian land is currently protected, leaving an area more than double the size of Victoria still to be conserved.
The joint communique noted the federal government’s plan to establish a “national nature repair market” – previously described as a biodiversity market – and said governments from across the country would work together to “make nature positive investments easier”.
It also said they would work with the private sector to achieve a circular economy by 2030, a process that would “design out waste and pollution”.
The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, declared the “environment is back” under Labor.
There’s always more to do – but we’re getting on with it as fast as we can.
North-west NSW facing severe storms and flash flooding
I wanted to begin with the flood situation in NSW, where communities in the north-west are currently facing severe storms and flash flooding.
Earlier, chief superintendent of the New South Wales SES, Ken Murphy, was on the ABC and said areas around Moree have already faced rainfall totals in excess of 100mm:
We currently do have some issues in Moree, the north-west of the state, regarding some severe storms that impacted there overnight and early this morning. Rainfall totals in excess of 100mm have caused a lot of flash flooding in those areas there, they have caused us to do some evacuations and have done a number of flood rescues in those areas.
Given the weather events over this weekend and the continuing forecast for storms in those areas and broadly across the state then [we] will be strategically moving our resources around to address those issues.
What we do ask is communities heed our warnings and if they are asked to evacuate, please evacuate immediately. And make sure that you take some time today to ensure that you have an evacuation plan.
Good afternoon, and as always a quick thanks to Natasha May for her stellar job this morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you this afternoon to take you through the day’s news.
Natasha May
It’s time for me to say goodbye and hand you over to the wonderful Mostafa Rachwani. Have a good weekend!
Cait Kelly
‘We are just all holding our breath’: Echuca bracing for flood waters to peak
Across the road, locals trickle into Echuca Camping. They’re buying bottles of Bushman’s – a mosquito repellent.
Des, whose run the store for 30 years said most of the locals were “not too worried”.
Anna Wright has also kept her cafe Johnny & Lyle’s open – they are keeping the town caffeinated and well-fed. Wright said:
It’s been eerie.
The town has been on edge for the last few days we’re all just holding our breath waiting to see what happens.
It’s tricky, the goalposts keep getting moved.
In the last week, Wright has received $7,000 worth of donations to hand out free coffee to the ambos, paramedics, SES and locals who are helping out.
We’re a bit higher than the port of Echuca, so we thought we’ll stick it out.
We’ll just wait till the last minute. We’ve likened ourselves to the violinists on the Titanic, we’ll just do one more song and then we’ll go down together.
We are just all holding our breath.
Cait Kelly
Flood update from Echuca
On the main road of Echuca, Brett Thomas has fired up the barbie. With his brother Mark and wife Anna, they are feeding the town – yesterday they had 200 people for lunch.
And last night probably about 50-60 people. We just thought anyone driving past can wheel in and have some, we’ll do it for the next couple of days.
The three of them run the Monkee & Co cafe on High Street. Like most of the buildings near the river, there’s a metre-high wall of sandbags in front of it – ready for flood the peak early next week.
Out the back, another wall protects the line of buildings from the Campaspe River, already ballooning from the recent rains.
They started sandbagging last Saturday, he said – but no one really knew what they were doing.
There was no direction at the start. The SES had nothing to do with it, it was just word of mouth and locals helping out.
I would have thought SES would have a plan, get your heights, get a route you’re going to do it.
We placed them wrong, so then the army came through and taught a couple of the boys how to do it. We had to pull it down and do it back up.
Along the main road, most of the shops are shut – their owners are either out sand-bagging or helping with the clean-up in Rochester.
Where I am standing in Echuca was meant to be underwater today. Instead, it’s hot and dry. Brett Thomas has fired up the barbie to keep the locals fed.
The peak is not expected to hit until early next week. pic.twitter.com/MagSCuCHUJ— Cait Kelly (@cait__kelly) October 21, 2022
Albanese’s press conference has finished. Back on the flood situation in Victoria, Guardian Australia has sent a second Cait to Echuca, with Cait Kelly relieving Caitlin Cassidy, who along with Guardian photographer Mike Bowers, have been bringing you really amazing stories from different flood affected communities all week.
Echuca’s flood peak has been pushed back and is now not expected until Tuesday. Cait Kelly has been speaking to locals about what the situation is like on the ground.
Budget needs to work with, not against, monetary policy: Albanese
Albanese also spoke about the upcoming budget, saying that fiscal policy will work with monetary policy:
We understand that people are under cost-of-living pressures … We have also seen the impact of the floods will have an impact on the cost of groceries, of fruit and vegetables and products, and today as well, I do want to say that my heart goes out to those communities who are facing flood events still.
With regard to inflation, what we know is that in terms of monetary policy, we have seen the most consistent tightening of monetary policy by central banks around the world in many decades. What you need to do is have fiscal policy – that is the budget – that works with monetary policy. Otherwise they are working against each other, you end up with sending the wrong message to central banks about what action you are taking.
We will have targeting cost-of-living support in areas that don’t feed into inflation, and that is why yesterday’s announcement about the National Broadband Network upgrade of $2.4bn dollars that we made in Albany yesterday … cheaper medicines aimed at providing that cost-of-living relief, that is what our cheaper childcare policy will do for families as well.
All of the measures are aimed at boosting productivity, boosting the economy so providing support for people while not adding any inflationary pressure.
Speaking of Liz Truss, my very funny colleague and predecessor as news blogger, Matilda Boseley has this quick video explainer if you’re struggling to keep up with all political turmoil in the UK…
Albanese not personally concerned about his own data as a Medibank customer being leaked
Reporter:
Just on Medibank, you have said you are a Medibank customer yourself. Are you personally concerned about this?
Albanese:
I am not terribly concerned about anything that I do being made public given the nature of the media in Australia, frankly. So I am not concerned about myself, personally.