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Fast-moving, uncontrolled fire growing north of Melbourne
A large, fast-moving and uncontrolled grassfire north of Melbourne is growing and heading towards more towns, AAP reports.
The blaze started at Flowerdale, about 90 minutes from the Victorian capital, on Tuesday afternoon and is burning north towards Yea.
Waterbombing aircraft were used overnight and it is believed no homes have been impacted, but the full extent of damage to fences and sheds is unknown. The fire is more than 700ha in size and burning across steep, inaccessible terrain towards forested areas.
An emergency warning is in place for Flowerdale, meaning it is too late for many residents to leave. However, those located between Dairy Creek Road and Handleys Road and Upper King Parrot Creek Road and Landmark Lane have been told to go before conditions get worse.
Smoke is visible across the areas and an incident control centre has been set up at Alexandra. More than 50 CFA units are fighting the blaze with support from Forest Fire Management.
An image posted to social media by the Wonga Park CFA on Tuesday night showed thick terrain glowing bright orange against the night sky.
A heatwave warning has been issued for Victoria and temperatures are expected to reach more than 30 degrees for the next three days.
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Lisa Cox
Australia faces unprecedented grassfires next summer ‘supercharged’ by global heating
Australia should prepare for grassfires on a scale not experienced before, with new analysis warning spring and summer 2023-24 could see widespread fire risk “supercharged” by the climate crisis.
The report, by the Climate Council and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA), said there is also an increased risk of more grassfires breaking out in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia during the current fire season up to April.
Firefighters have battled multiple grassfires in recent weeks including in regional Queensland and NSW.
Fire authorities have said back-to-back La Niñas in eastern Australia have led to prolific vegetation growth.
Wild storms lash parts of Sydney and the Central Coast
Severe storms and strong winds have lashed Sydney and the NSW Central Coast, causing flash flooding, felling trees and leaving hundreds of homes powerless.
The State Emergency Service received hundreds of calls for help on Tuesday night and several roads are closed due to flooding, fallen trees and hanging wires.
An SES spokesman said 400 volunteers responded to 370 incidents and performed 12 flood rescues, mostly in Sydney’s north and on the Central Coast but also impacting the state’s Central West and Southern Tablelands.
Most of the jobs involved leaking roofs and flash flooding as well as trees that had crashed into homes and across roads.
Several Manly ferry services have been cancelled due to the high swell on Sydney Harbour and passengers are being advised to make alternative travel arrangements.
The SES was also called to help after an internal roof collapsed in a nursing home in Sydney’s inner west.
The deluge hit Orange in the Central Tablelands and Queanbeyan, near Canberra, late on Tuesday afternoon before advancing on Sydney and surrounds in the early evening.
SES co-ordinator duty operations Neil Wiblin says Sydney’s north shore, northern beaches and eastern suburbs copped the worst of the weather. He told ABC radio on Wednesday:
The main type of jobs that we saw were trees and branches down due to the strong winds followed by roofs damaged and leaking and the heavy rain also caused localised flooding in a number of areas as well as road closures.
Some places recorded more than 100mm of rain, with Terry Hills in Sydney’s north getting 121mm.
Ausgrid says power is out in the southern suburbs of Caringbah, Miranda, Sylvania Waters and surrounds but has been restored to properties in Allambie, Allambie Heights, Manly Vale, Killara, Lindfield, Asquith, Eastwood, Hornsby and surrounding suburbs.
– AAP
Here are some of the images from that major grassfire near Flowerdale captured by the Wonga Park Country Fire Association.
My School website down following Naplan update
Caitlin Cassidy
The My School website has buckled under the weight of traffic as parents flock to receive the latest Naplan results.
The website was updated overnight with new profile information on schools and the latest school-level Naplan data. On Wednesday morning, parents were reporting glitches, while the main site read: “The My School website will be back again shortly.”
The CEO of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), David de Carvalho, said the website was an “important resource” for parents to make informed decisions about their children’s schooling.
My School provides data on schooling right across Australia, helping parents, carers, schools and governments to understand the performance of schools.
The overnight updated included 2022 school profile and population data, attendance data Naplan results and 2021 school financial information, including capital expenditure and funding sources and post-school destinations.
It shows a decline in students’ attendance during Semester 1 and Term 3 last year, attributed to the impacts of the Covid-19 Omicron outbreak, high influenza outbreaks and floods.
ACARA was approached for comment.
McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership shortlist announced
The shortlist for the 2022 McKinnon prize in political leadership has been announced this morning, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, amongst the contenders.
The minister for Indigenous affairs, Linda Burney, has also been nominated as she leads the nation towards the referendum on the voice to parliament later this year.
The Liberal MP for Bass, Bridget Archer, is also on the list. That follows her decision to exercise her right to cross the floor on an integrity commission and her views on religious discrimination.
The nominees can come from local, state and territory or federal level as they long as they have more than five years in elected office. The federal foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is also nominated, as is the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, and independent Alex Greenwich.
There is also a separate prize for the McKinnon emerging political leader of the year, for which the Teal independents have been given a collective nomination. Independents Helen Haines and David Pocock have also been individually nominated.
The prize recognises leaders with fewer than five years in elected office. Councillor Anthony Tran of the Maribyrnong city council has been nominated, as have Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart, the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ assembly of Victoria in a joint nomination.
Danielle Wood, the chair of the shortlisting committee and CEO of the Grattan Institute, said good political leadership should be recognised amid ongoing policy challenges facing the nation.
While you might not agree with the politics or policies of everyone on the shortlist, what is very clear is each political leader showed qualities of great leadership the McKinnon Prize aims to represent.
The shortlist has displayed integrity, vision, and collaboration, and within their areas of influence have demonstrated courage to change our country for the better. This is worth celebrating.
Fast-moving, uncontrolled fire growing north of Melbourne
A large, fast-moving and uncontrolled grassfire north of Melbourne is growing and heading towards more towns, AAP reports.
The blaze started at Flowerdale, about 90 minutes from the Victorian capital, on Tuesday afternoon and is burning north towards Yea.
Waterbombing aircraft were used overnight and it is believed no homes have been impacted, but the full extent of damage to fences and sheds is unknown. The fire is more than 700ha in size and burning across steep, inaccessible terrain towards forested areas.
An emergency warning is in place for Flowerdale, meaning it is too late for many residents to leave. However, those located between Dairy Creek Road and Handleys Road and Upper King Parrot Creek Road and Landmark Lane have been told to go before conditions get worse.
Smoke is visible across the areas and an incident control centre has been set up at Alexandra. More than 50 CFA units are fighting the blaze with support from Forest Fire Management.
An image posted to social media by the Wonga Park CFA on Tuesday night showed thick terrain glowing bright orange against the night sky.
A heatwave warning has been issued for Victoria and temperatures are expected to reach more than 30 degrees for the next three days.
Heatwave warning for south-west Victoria
The Victorian health department is warning residents in the south-west of the state to take extra precautions to stay hydrated and cool in the midst of a heatwave.
Government ‘clearly are’ thinking about superannuation concessions cap, Jones says
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has also spoken with ABC News this morning. He’s asked to defend the Jim Chalmer’s (the treasurer’s) announcements about super, given Labor said there would be no changes to super before the election.
Yes, we will not be making a major overhaul of the superannuation system, but we also specifically said that we would legislate a purpose of superannuation. We also specifically said that we’d undertake a review of the way superannuation funds were being managed. We also specifically said that we wanted to form partnerships with superannuation industries to ensure that we can find ways to invest in the national interest.
Jones is following Chalmers’ language leaving the door open to changing superannuation tax concessions, saying “we need to have a debate about it.”
If we all agree that the purpose of superannuation is to provide retirement income in retirement, it beggars belief you could have $100m in a superannuation account attracting very generous tax concessions that aren’t available outside the taxation system and that’s about retirement income.
Clearly it’s not. It’s about tax management, it’s about estate planning, but not about retirement income. That’s an obvious place to look at.
Asked about a cap of $5m on super or, as the Grattan Institute is calling for, a cap of $2m, Jones says a final view hasn’t been formed but “I’m not going to say we’re not thinking about it, clearly we are.”
What we’re thinking about is what is a reasonable amount of money which is consistent with that objective of having … tax-assisted savings for retirement income.
This is not about … the government saying to people can’t save more than $5m, $10m, $100m for their retirement. That’s not what we’re saying. We’re saying what is a reasonable contribution that the Australian taxpayer, through the budget, should be making to assisting people save for retirement incomes?
To put that in context … the average superannuation fund balance at retirement is around about $150,000. That’s a long, long way from $100m.
Flood victim buybacks begin in Northern Rivers
The first buyback offers have been made to flood victims in the Northern Rivers under the joint federal-NSW program.
The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) will make buyback offers to the first 250 residents whose homes are in the region’s highest flood risk areas by the end of April.
First voluntary home buyback offers have now been made to flood victims in the Northern Rivers, under the joint Federal-NSW program. An important step towards long-term resilience. https://t.co/eCzvp0FJPQ
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) February 21, 2023
The corporations chief executive, David Witherdin, said all residents registered with the Resilient Homes program would be contacted about their eligibility to receive a buyback or funding support for house raising or home retrofitting by mid-2023.
Witherdin said:
I know for many people, receiving a buyback offer will be life changing and the next step on their recovery journey. I want to assure everyone there is no pressure to decide and people can take as long or as little time as they need to consider their offer and their options.
I cannot overstate the scale, complexity and importance of the Resilient Homes Program and want everyone to know we are committed to working with and listening to the community, ensuring homeowners have the information they need and providing access to independent support and advisory services.
There is also a separate Northern Rivers program to provide financial assistance of up to $100,000 for house raising or up to $50,000 for retrofitting so flood risk can be reduced by better building standards, which is expected to commence from mid-2023 onwards.
Clare: Australians’ chances in life should not depend on circumstances of their birth
The education minister, Jason Clare, is speaking to ABC Radio following the release of the discussion paper from the Universities’ Accord Panel which my colleague Caitlin Cassidy has been covering earlier on the blog this morning.
Clare says the data tells us the university system is only set to become more important in the decades to come and these discussion papers are the first big review of the Australian higher education system since Julia Gillard commissioned Denise Bradley’s report.
Clare says while some targets have been met, Australia has failed more disadvantaged students from poor backgrounds:
We certainly hit that target that Denise set forth: 40% of young people in their 20s and 30s have a university degree, but she also set equity targets … about the proportion of young people from poor backgrounds that go to university, and we failed on that front.
We did make those targets that almost 50% of young people have a university degree today, but only 20% of [them are] Aussies from poor families. Only 20% of Australians [are] from the regions, only 7% of Australians from an indigenous background.
Now I’m not naive. You can’t fix all of this at the university gate. You can do some real things here, but it’s got to go back further into the system, and even further back than that into our early education system. So this is one of three big pieces of work this year: the most comprehensive review of early education here in Australia’s history. Next month, the changes that we need to make the school to make sure that we’re targeting funding to help children who are falling behind. And then this review here.
I don’t want us to be a country where your chances in life depend on who your parents are or where you live, or the colour of your skin. The awful truth is, that’s where we are today.
Caitlin Cassidy
Jason Clare speaks on hopes for education reform and bipartisanship
The minister for education, Jason Clare, will use an address to Universities Australia (UA) to pay homage to the musical Hamilton while marking the release of the Universities Accord Panel’s first discussion paper.
Speaking at a dinner this evening as part of the UA conference, Clare will tell vice-chancellors in attendance that 2023 is a “year for ideas” and “long-lasting change”.
In this room are the brains and ideas that can help reshape and reimagine higher education. Set it up for the next decade and beyond. This is a year for ideas. To test them and weigh them. To work together to imagine something different. And if we can do that, then next year the hard work of implementing them begins.
My six-year-old is currently obsessed with two things. Soccer and the musical Hamilton. It has been on high rotation in the last few months. There is a line in one of the songs that talks about “planting seeds in a garden you never get to see”.
Writing this speech that line kept repeating in my head. Planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. That’s what real, long-lasting reform is. It grows with time. That sort of reform though, only happens, and only endures, if it is planted in good soil and if it’s tended to by bipartisanship. That’s my hope for this year. That we forge a genuine accord. A blueprint for real and long-lasting change. That we make the most of this moment.
Amy Remeikis
Chalmers on foreign espionage: we ‘can’t let things slide’ on our national interests
What does Jim Chalmers think about Asio boss Mike Burgess saying he had been “directly pressured” to ease up on on espionage operations by business leaders (and others) in his annual threat assessment speech?
(You can catch up on that speech here, with Daniel Hurst)
I think that is concerning. You know, we’re very lucky to have someone of the caliber of Mike Burgess who provides these threat assessments every year for the last few years. And I think it’s a really important way of explaining to people that the complexities and the challenges and the changing security environment that our agencies like Asio confront, and what Mike has said, and the view that we share and minister Clare O’Neill and others have been talking about … is that foreign interference and espionage is a big threat to our national security and Asio works around the clock to try and protect Australians from it. It’s deliberately designed to undermine our democracy and our values.
And it shouldn’t be tolerated by the government or its agencies and it’s not tolerated. And I think the point that Mike was making about that specific issue he raised is that we can’t let these things slide when our national interests are at stake. That’s Asio’s view, it’s Mike Burgess view and it’s the government’s view as well.
Lorena Allam
Religious leaders urge MPs to support voice
A coalition of national religious groups has written to all federal parliamentarians urging them to “cooperate across political divides” in support of the upcoming voice referendum.
The alliance of nine national organisations, representing diverse Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish communities, has thrown its collective weight behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The joint letter was sent on Wednesday morning as part of the campaign’s “week of action”. It urges parliamentarians to find ways to “collaborate constructively across political divides to achieve the modest constitutional recognition First Nations people seek: a constitutionally guaranteed voice in their own affairs.”
The letter says:
We draw upon our diverse traditions, beliefs and cultures to unite in support of this just cause.
We respectfully ask our political representatives to do the same.
We call on our fellow Australians to consider the voice proposal on its merits, and for whatever information is needed to inform the community to be supplied promptly.
Future generations of Australians will not forgive us if we fail to grasp the historical moment, and ‘advance Australia’ further along the path of justice.
Whatever our disagreements, let us work together to resolve them. The voice referendum deserves cross-party cooperation.
If we work together across political divides, the referendum will succeed, and we will have put Australia on both a moral and practical path to reconciliation.
The letter is signed by Catholic and Anglican bishops, as well as the National Imams Council, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry as the National Sikh and Hindu councils.
Amy Remeikis
Treasurer: we should be able to have a national conversation about pressures on the budget
Jim Chalmers then moves on to responsibilities in the budget. There are a lot of things to pay for and not a lot of wriggle room, which is why there are these “conversations” about where money can be found.
You know, I suspect what we’ll get a lot of interest [in] today for example is the fair work commission decision on aged care wages. Now we’ll have to find room for that in the budget.
“You have to find room to strengthen Medicare and you have to find room to fund our national security,” … One of the things I’ve tried to do since I’ve been treasurer is not to try and kind of pretend away some of the pressures on the budget. And this is one of them. What we’re talking about today is one of them, here’s no point ignoring that fact. And we should be able to have a national conversation about it.
Anthony Albanese is giving a speech at the National Press Club today where he will also be talking about defence spending. Which is another thing Chalmers will have to find money for (although there always seems to be money for defence).
Chalmers:
Well, this will be one of the things that we will have to make room for in the budget and cost up for the budget. I think the prime minister’s got an opportunity to give a really important speech today … about our partnerships. It’s about our sovereign capability. It’s about this big industrial economic opportunity we have in defense industries as well.
But it’s broader than that. And one of the reasons why I’d encourage your listeners to tune in when Anthony is at the National Press Club later today as he’s talking about national security … he’s talking about security in a much broader sense as well, including economic security in uncertain times. You know, we’ve got a lot of challenges not just to our national security, but to our economic security as well.
I think one of the defining features of his government is trying to introduce an element of security and stability and reliability, and that’s what his speech is about.
Amy Remeikis
Chalmers on removing tax concessions for high-balance super holders
So what about capping tax concessions for people who have super balances into the millions?
Jim Chalmers again says it’s something that needs to be looked at, but he is not putting a deadline on when he’s looking at it.
RN Breakfast’s host, Patricia Karvelas, mentions the Grattan Institute proposal of removing tax concessions for people with super balances above $3m. Does Chalmers think that is achievable?
Well, it depends on your definition of achievable obviously, I’m aware of those Grattan Institute proposals. They’ve been engaged in the national debate about superannuation for some time. And if you think about that example that you gave, I’ve got a slightly different one … the average balance in super is about $150,000 I think, but for less than 1% of people in the system, they’ve got balances higher than $3m.
The average amongst that group is $5.8m and they have access to a whole bunch of tax concessions, and I think the point that Gratton has made repeatedly over a period of time and others and the point that we’re making is we’ve got to work out where we get the most value for money when it comes to some of these tax concessions.
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