Australia news live: Labor commits extra $204m to Great Barrier Reef; eastern states brace for more rain | Australia news

Already inundated Victorian towns prepare for more rain

Victorian towns along the Murray River are expected to experience the worst of expected flooding from Sunday, AAP reports.

Water could rise to 94.8 metres above sea level in the next 48 hours, similar to levels experienced in 1993 floods, and could rise to 95m by Tuesday.

Rain and isolated thunderstorms could deliver up to 30mm of rain for already drenched parts of northern Victoria on Friday.

Tim Wiebusch from the State Emergency Service said already flooded towns downstream of Lake Eppalock, like Rochester, could face a new threat if forecasted thunderstorms set in over the weekend.

It is now too late to leave the smaller towns of Barmah and Lower Moira along the Murray River.

Residents in Echuca who have not already evacuated have been told to limit water usage, which includes showers and washing machines, to reduce the amount of water sent to sewers while flood levels are high.

Locals there have spent days building a two-kilometre makeshift flood levee through the town to protect thousands of homes and businesses. However, the sandbag wall may not be enough to stop the predicted floodwaters, according to Wiebusch.

Up to 50 properties in Kerang in the state’s north could be inundated when the floods peak today. Residents there have been told it is too late to leave after a bridge connecting the town to a major highway was closed on Wednesday night.

Rochester and Murchison residents have been told it’s not safe to return.

Two hundred hospital staff and 20 pharmacists will also be sent to Victoria’s flood-ravaged regions for the next three months to help the worst-affected public health units.

Federal political reporter for AAP Andrew Brown says there have been four Australian PMs who’ve held the role for a shorter tenure than Liz Truss.

Arnott’s classic assorted pack discontinued

Now for some news that will bite offices around Australia, Arnott’s has discontinued its classic assorted pack.

The biscuit manufacturer has confirmed:

Due to ongoing low sales and limited shelf space in supermarkets, the difficult decision was made to stop production of this product.

2GB Radio listener Peter told the station that the classic assorted pack has been replaced with a smaller package that has much less variety at a higher price.

In 2019 Guardian Australia undertook a rigorous experiment regarding Arnott’s classic assorted:

Plibersek hopes new UK PM will be ambitious on climate change

Following Liz Truss’ resignation, there’s speculation Boris Johnson could be putting his hat in the ring again (there are reports he’s flying back early from a holiday to do so).

When Boris Johnson was prime minister, he was a strong advocate for a global effort to reduce carbon emissions. ABC Radio asks Plibersek if it would be a good thing for the environment if he were return to the leadership?

The thing to say about climate change ambition is the UK conservatives for a long time were well ahead of their Australian counterparts. It was disappointing when Liz Truss was elected, she signalled a bit of a change in that position.

I hope that whoever the new leader might be would return to that high ambition on climate action.

I think it’s very clear, both in the UK and here in Australia that there’s very strong support for taking real action to protect our natural environment from the effects of climate change.

Potential conflicts must be declared: Plibersek on Lidia Thorpe

Plibersek is asked about the revelation that emerged yesterday that Lidia Thorpe was in an undisclosed relationship with an ex-bikie boss while on a law enforcement committee. Thorpe has resigned as deputy leader in the Senate but retains her portfolio and position as a senator.

Plibersek said:

I think if you’ve got a conflict – a potential conflict – you need to declare that. It also seems that the leader of the Greens was notified about this conflict and it’s not clear what action was taken in response to that. I think that’s really the next set of questions that should be asked.

Plibersek is asked if this is something that the Greens should resolve internally or if she believes there is a role for the privileges committee or other elements of the parliament. She responds:

I think they need to be very clear about what steps were taken to deal with any potential conflicts. I think it is in the public interest to know that. The mechanism for making that clear, I don’t have a view about.

Including climate in the budget helps tell the whole economic story: Plibersek

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, yesterday said that the cost of climate change will be accounted for in the budget this year for the first time.

Tanya Plibersek is asked how does the government count that cost? Will the destruction of our natural habitats be part of that accounting?

If you look at an indicator – a straight indicator like GDP – it doesn’t tell the whole story of what’s happening in the economy.

After bushfires when there’s a massive amount of reconstruction work going on. You measure economic activity increasing, you know, unemployment might go down because people are engaged in rebuilding. But nobody says a bushfire is good. The human misery, the natural destruction, obviously, that’s terrible.

So looking at more sophisticated measures, what’s happening nationally, so you can look at things like air quality, for example, what’s happening with threatened species that tells a more sophisticated or more sophisticated story of what’s happening in our economy.

Australia needs ‘strong credible pathway’ to net zero: Plibersek

ABC Radio asks Tanya Plibersek about the biggest threat to the reef which is, of course, climate change.

The Greens have indicated they will move to stop the government pushing forward with new coal and gas. Does Plibersek believe there needs to be a climate trigger?

I think that’s why we need a strong and legislated target to get to net zero emissions and a credible pathway to get there. Net zero emissions doesn’t mean that there’ll be no sector of the economy that pollutes again, it means that we have to compensate.

So if the transport sector still has carbon emissions, we need to make sure that we’re reducing emissions in other areas that we’re investing in carbon sinks, like trees, like mangroves, like seagrass meadows, but also have in many cases and additional environmental benefits.

I think you’ll always have extremes at either end of this argument. What we have to do as a nation is have a strong credible pathway to zero net emissions and work to get in a way that also benefits nature wherever we can.

Plibersek is asked to explain a little bit more about the funding. Labor pledged a similar amount before the election, so is this new money?

This is additional because it’s in our first budget, so it’s delivering on the promise we made.

And how does it relate to the $1bn for the Great Barrier Reef announced earlier in the year by the coalition government?

We agreed with that billion dollars of spending and we’re saying that’s not quite enough.

We need to spend $1.2bn over coming years and it’ll mean things like a new research centre in Gladstone, employing scientists to do really critical work on coastal ecosystems.

That means more investment in large scale restoration projects like reseeding seagrass meadows that animals are used to to breed and seed.

It means making sure that we’re getting our vessels – I’m launching a new reef vessel today as well, we’ve got two more in the works – those vessels get to the outer reaches of the reef and that we’ve got really good coverage being able to get our scientists and our workers out there who are doing reef restoration projects.

But also making sure that we’re staying up to date, making sure that the fisheries management is enforced, for example. So it’s it’s a very big extensive project to protect and restore the Great Barrier Reef.

‘These measures can start to turn around the health of the reef’: Plibersek

Tanya Plibersek has spoken to ABC Radio about what the government’s commitment of $1.2bn for the Great Barrier Reef will deliver.

Plibersek says the funding will not only protect the reef itself but also the river systems and animals that are part of the wider ecosystem, including a personal favourite of this blogger – the dugong.

Well, it means that we can do important projects like stabilising riverbanks, replanting mangroves, reed beds and seagrass meadows to improve the water quality that’s coming from the land into the reef.

It means that we can work with traditional owners who are controlling crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.

That means we can work with commercial fishers to stop them, getting bycatch in their nets like do gongs and turtles.

It means that we can work on better research. We’re able now to rebrand coral to control spawning so that we can replant coral in the areas where it’s been degraded. So there’s a lot of exciting science going on, on the reef as well.

She says there is a “bit of breathing space” to turn the health of the reef around because of cooler weather in recent years.

Together we hope to these measures can start to turn around the health of the reef, it is a still a beautiful natural wonder of the world. We’ve got a little bit of a breathing space in the last couple of years. We’ve seen some of those corals come back because we’ve had cooler weather and we need to build on that to protect and restore.

Government outlines $1.2bn plan to protect Great Barrier Reef

Next tranche of Ukrainian support will come after Bushmasters’ delivery: Marles

You’ll remember the government announced it was considering an offer to train Ukrainian troops earlier this month, but no announcements have been forthcoming.

ABC Radio asks Marles about what is happening with that support.

I’m not going to make the announcement now … We will make the announcement very soon. But I think the point I want to make about this is that the previous commitments that we’ve made in relation to Ukraine, we are still in the process of of delivering and that’s as was expected and intended when those announcements were made.

Getting the Bushmasters over to Ukraine involves a scheduled delivery. There’s a logistical task here and it was always understood that up it would take some time to get all those Bushmasters over there. And that is still happening.

So in that sense, the the next tranche of support that we provide to Ukraine will come into place when all of that has been delivered. We will make that announcement very soon. We see that it is critically important.

Marles ‘very concerned’ by reports China hired former western pilots to train military

Patricia Karvelas:

You’ve announced an investigation into allegations China hired former Western air force pilots to train its military. Is there any evidence Australians have been involved?

Richard Marles:

We’re very concerned by the reports, which is why I’ve asked for the department to come back to me as quickly as possible with a report about whether this is an issue which presents a material danger to Australia or not.

The point I would make really quickly to people who have helped me say read these reports is that Australians who work for the government in any capacity – but that very much includes the the military, that would include someone flying a fighter jet – who come into possession of the nation’s secrets have an obligation to maintain those secrets beyond their employment with, their engagement with the Commonwealth. That’s an enduring obligation and to reveal any of those secrets is a crime.

We’ve obviously read reports and they’re very concerning reports in the media… and we want to understand whether this is this is a real issue and obviously if there is an issue out there, we will deal with us.

‘There’s a lot of catch up’ on Pacific relationship, defence minister says

ABC Radio asks Richard Marles about the $900m the government has committed to the Pacific over the next four years, which represents 70% more than the $525m increase that Labor promised during the election campaign.

The investment comes amid intensifying competition with China for influence. RN Breakfast host, Patricia Karvelas, asks Marles if there’s a proviso in the agreement that countries like Kiribati (who didn’t attend the recent Pacific Island Forum) not engage with Beijing.

Marles:

We understand that countries in the Pacific have choices. What we need to be focusing on is Australia’s place and our engagement with the Pacific on our own terms and making sure that we are present, that we are there providing support, and that our focus and intent is on the development of the countries of the Pacific and that very much includes Kiribati.

But what we’ve seen over the last decade is a former Australian government which was not doing the work and that’s, that’s part of the issue here. There’s a lot of catch up that we need to do but we are intent on doing it. And we are here in a very present way and that it very much includes Kiribati.

UK political upheaval won’t affect Aukus: Marles

Morning! Natasha May on deck with you.

The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, has spoken with ABC Radio this morning from Fiji.

He’s responded to the big news this morning out of the UK that Liz Truss will resign after only 45 days in office. Marles says the UK government continues to function despite the political upheaval.

He said that the changes in leadership don’t affect Australia’s relationship with Britain, including on the important issues like the Aukus agreement.

Millennials v boomers: what does census data reveal?

Millennials have long known that they have been shortchanged economically in the lottery of life. They may be better educated than previous generations, but that hasn’t helped them gain economic security.

Now, after sifting through data released by the ABS, Amy Remeikis can finally settle some old debates between the generations. Here’s her fascinating story:

Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister

Lidia Thorpe’s decision to stand down as the Greens’ deputy leader in the Senate is not the only political resignation making headlines this morning. Liz Truss’s departure as British prime minister after only 45 days in office will lead many of the news bulletins this morning but we have got comprehensive coverage over at our sister UK blog here.

There’s also this story about the front page of the Economist comparing Britain to Italy.

Good morning