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Ten thousand without power and 20 flood rescues in Victoria
The Victorian emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, says parts of Victoria have seen rainfall as high as 166mm in the past 36 hours, and wind speeds up to 160km/h.
He says there are currently 70 warnings in place across Victoria, and around 10,000 people are currently without power.
A total of 40 schools and early childhood centres have closed, and over 80 bus routes have been shut down across the state.
So far there have been about 20 rescues, and Crisp has urged people to avoid the roads if they can.
He says from 5pm this afternoon onwards, there will be “significant rainfall” across the metropolitan area, and there will be the potential for flash flooding.
The weather system will move east tomorrow, but Crisp has warned that this will not be the only weather event, and there could be another weather event later next week.
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Lisa Cox
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced the government will lower the full supply level of Wivenhoe dam due to threat of more flooding.
With a third La Nińa under way, the premier said the government had decided to lower the dam’s water level temporarily to 80% of its capacity.
Palaszczuk said:
With parts of Queensland already saturated, the threat of floods is here and it is real.
“In light of forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology and expert advice, the decision has been made to lower the level of Wivenhoe Dam.
This will increase the temporary flood storage space in Wivenhoe Dam to allow additional flood waters to be stored if required.
The state’s water minister, Glenn Butcher, said the decision was not reached lightly and followed advice from Seqwater, the Department of Environment and Science, and the Department of Regional Development Manufacturing and Water.
He said over the next two weeks Seqwater would drain about 116,000 megalitres of water.
This provides additional flood mitigation benefits provided by the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams system, manages the ongoing safety of both dams, and balances South East Queensland’s water security.
The assistant defence minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, has told a cyber security conference in Melbourne that defence networks are attacked or probed for vulnerability “every single day, in almost every single way.”
He said:
The digital arms trade is booming and cyberspace is the new battle domain.
As much as every fighter jet, frigate or tank, our communication networks are critical to Australia’s Defence.
What is at stake is Australia’s national security.
Defence’s IT footprint consists of over 1,000 networks, 10,000 servers, over 100,000 end points, and 30,000 mobile devices, he said.
The network handles over 16,000 terabytes of data, across ships, submarines, aircraft and army.
He said:
A single vulnerability in a Defence system can put our men and women in uniform at risk, and result in an unacceptable threat to our nation and our national interest.
The government’s 2022 Defence Information and Communications Technology Strategy and the Defence Cyber Security Strategy recognises the importance of cyber security, he said.
Melbourne’s worst rainfall to come between 5pm and 7pm tonight
The Bureau of Meterology says the worst rainfall across Melbourne will be between 5pm and 7pm tonight, which could result in flash flooding.
There will be isolated showers across the state tomorrow, with more settled weather towards the start of next week, with the potential for rain mid to late next week.
The State Emergency Service has received more than 1,600 requests for assistance, with 300 of those related to trees down and the rest related to flash flooding and requests for sandbagging.
There have been 23 flood rescues from people attempting to drive through flood water.
Ten thousand without power and 20 flood rescues in Victoria
The Victorian emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, says parts of Victoria have seen rainfall as high as 166mm in the past 36 hours, and wind speeds up to 160km/h.
He says there are currently 70 warnings in place across Victoria, and around 10,000 people are currently without power.
A total of 40 schools and early childhood centres have closed, and over 80 bus routes have been shut down across the state.
So far there have been about 20 rescues, and Crisp has urged people to avoid the roads if they can.
He says from 5pm this afternoon onwards, there will be “significant rainfall” across the metropolitan area, and there will be the potential for flash flooding.
The weather system will move east tomorrow, but Crisp has warned that this will not be the only weather event, and there could be another weather event later next week.
Natasha May
With that cow business cleared up, I leave you in the excellent hands of Josh Taylor.
Who knew “attacks on cows” and “a tax on cows” were homonyms?
We brought you the news on the blog a little while ago that the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had weighed in on the methane debate saying “the talk of attacks on cows now is a complete and utter outrage”.
Apparently, what Dutton might have actually said was “a tax on cows”.
To be fair, the first interpretation was more in line with his Coalition colleague, Barnaby Joyce, who said in 2021 the only way to reduce methane by 30% by 2030 would be “to go grab a rifle (and) go out and start shooting your cattle”.
I’ve listened back to the audio. The official LOTO transcript of Dutton on Hadley says “attacks on cows”. I can’t tell from the audio whether Dutton says “a tax on cows” or “attacks on cows”.
An udder mystery.
For the record, neither in contemplation #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 13, 2022
Queensland Labor MP tables restaurant menus during speech on fish bill
My colleague, Guardian Australia Queensland reporter Eden Gillespie, noticed some unusual documents were today uploaded to the Queensland government’s tabled papers section.
The member for Stretton, James Martin, had submitted a variety of menus from restaurants in his electorate including Hand Made Noodle, Phat Pantry, Ho Lin Wah Restaurant and 9 Seafood Restaurant.
Not sure what’s going on here but the Member for Stretton appears to have submitted a bunch of menus in the Qld government’s tabled papers section… pic.twitter.com/DoTzqI7KEu
— Eden Gillespie (@edengillespie) October 12, 2022
Why?
Seafood legislation apparently. Queensland parliament is debating a bill put forward by the Katter party and LNP which would require restaurants to update their menus with the location from which they purchased fish.
Martin gave a speech last night outlining the negative impact the new rules would have on restaurants, particularly the multicultural restaurants in his electorates because they often have very large menus.
Martin told parliament last night:
The key problem that I can see with this bill is that it is written with a particular kind of restaurant in mind – a fine-dining establishment where the chef writes a new menu every day based on local produce; a menu that would only be on one A4 piece of paper with entree, main and dessert.
… However, if members come to my electorate in Stretton, they will see restaurants that are a bit different to this … I am very lucky to represent one of the most multicultural areas in Queensland. One of the great benefits of this is the fantastic food available at the many Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Malaysian restaurants and more.
… A key point of difference – and the key reason this bill will not work – is the menus. The menus in my local area are epics; they are more like magazines or books and they are quite expensive to produce. It is a considerable cost to the small business owner to produce these menus, and they are pretty spectacular. Restaurants pride themselves on having massive menus with chefs who are capable of whipping up hundreds of different dishes in a flash. Most of these dishes contain delicious Australian seafood as well as some imported items, and many contain multiple different types of seafood. Seafood laksa, seafood fried rice or Singapore noodles, just to name a few, have many different types of seafood in them, and these change based on supply and what is available. Ultimately, it would be impossible, expensive and unworkable for restaurant owners in my local area to alter their massive menus every day based on supply.
For the benefit of the house, I have brought some of these menus along and I would like to table them. These are a sample from restaurants that are within walking distance of my office, and I am happy to say that I have dined at all of them many times.
Northern Territory triple murderer sentenced to life in jail
A gunman who murdered three people and killed another during a drug-fuelled shooting spree across Darwin will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of release, AAP reports.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann pleaded guilty mid-trial in November to intentionally killing Hassan Baydoun, 33, Michael Sisois, 57, and Rob Courtney, 52, and the manslaughter of 75-year-old Nigel Hellings, on 4 June 2019.
The 48-year-old was sentenced in the Northern Territory supreme court on Thursday to three life sentences for the three murders and 15 years for manslaughter, with Justice John Burns refusing to set a parole date.
Hoffmann was also sentenced for six other charges, including three counts of recklessly endangering life, drug possession and one of threatening to kill.
Hoffmann was high on methamphetamine when he shot the four men dead while hunting a man named Alex Deligiannis, who he believed had stolen his ex-girlfriend Kelly Collins.
Defence minister looks forward to more visits to PNG
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, met with Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, in Port Moresby earlier today.
Marles has said the meeting brings the defence relationship between the two countries even closer, and also reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to PNG’s economic growth.
Marles has shared some images of that meeting:
It was a pleasure to meet Prime Minister Marape and share Australia’s commitment to support 🇵🇬’s success & economic growth.
I’ve been coming to PNG for years now- making many, many friends.
This is my 20th visit and I’m looking forward to many more. pic.twitter.com/wHmIA04djS
— Richard Marles (@RichardMarlesMP) October 13, 2022
‘The talk of a tax on cows now is a complete and utter outrage’: Dutton
More news on the methane front.
As mentioned on the blog earlier, the federal agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said the government was considering signing on to the US president Joe Biden’s global methane pledge. The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, isn’t keen on the idea, claiming the pledge which looks to curb cows’ methane production (bovine burps, essentially) would be “the death of the Australian BBQ”.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has now weighed in.
Peter Dutton to Ray Hadley: “The talk of attacks on cows now is a complete and utter outrage”.#auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 13, 2022
I’ve listened back to the audio. The official LOTO transcript of Dutton on Hadley says “attacks on cows”. I can’t tell from the audio whether Dutton says “a tax on cows” or “attacks on cows”.
An udder mystery.
For the record, neither in contemplation #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 13, 2022
Emergency warning issued for Goulburn River in Victoria
Those around Lake Eildon to Seymour are being told to move to higher ground.
EMERGENCY WARNING – RIVERINE FLOOD – MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND for Goulburn River Lake Eildon to Seymour
More details https://t.co/RP7QseKkhB
Goulburn River Lake Eildon to Seymour could be impacted anytime from Thursday afternoon. Act now to protect yourself & move to higher ground. pic.twitter.com/k9YaeYxlt0— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) October 13, 2022
Rail workers vote to shut down Opal readers in Sydney
Members of the NSW Rail Tram and Bus Union this week voted whether to take further action closing down Opal readers at Sydney stations, as part of their prolonged industrial dispute with the state government.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that rail workers voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of the action.
Matt O’Sullivan writes:
The Rail Tram and Bus Union has yet to decide when it will inform the government of plans by its members to deactivate Opal readers. It is required to give three days’ notice of the planned industrial action, which will make the entire Sydney rail network free for commuters.
RTBU state secretary Alex Claassens said it was likely that it would notify the government next week, but that would ultimately be a decision of delegates.
Claassens told the paper:
“We think the government will challenge it … and take us to the Federal Court.
“The earliest that we could notify is sometime next week.”
Central bank blames ‘technical error’ for payment transfer outage
We brought you the news a little earlier about Australian banks being hit with payment transfer outages.
My colleague Josh Taylor has the full story:
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