Australia news live: NSW coast braced for low; Greens welcome investigation into Hannah Thomas incident
NSW coast braced for low
In a weather warning issued at 11pm on Monday night, the Bureau of Meteorology said a vigorous coastal low was developing offshore to bring damaging, locally destructive winds and possible heavy rainfall over central and northern NSW from Tuesday.
At 4.10am on Tuesday it repeated warnings of storm force winds for the Macquarie coast and Hunter coast, a gales warning for Sydney enclosed waters, Sydney coast, Illawarra coast and Batemans coast. There was also a warning of strong winds for the Byron coast, Coffs coast and Eden coast.
Read our explainer to find out what is in store:
Key events
Petra Stock
A note on terminology for the severe weather system affecting New South Wales today.
The Bureau of Meteorology has classified the system as a “vigorous coastal low”, and not an “east coast low”, nor a “bomb cyclone” as some have reported.
Meteorologist Helen Reid said the current weather system was more mobile than an east coast low.
While the current low-pressure system had some similarities to an east coast low, there were some important differences in physical characteristics, duration and moisture.
Regardless of the name, authorities were still preparing for dangerous weather conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday, with hundreds of emergency services personnel, helicopters and specialist vehicles on stand-by, even though the system had not yet met the criteria for an “east coast low”, as predicted.
You can read more on that here:
Nest eggs on the boil as super guarantee cracks open
Workers will receive a boost to retirement contributions as a long-awaited lift to the superannuation guarantee kicks in, but further increases are unlikely any time soon.
The rate of super employers are required to pay employees increased from 11.5% of their wages to 12% on Tuesday, along with a raft of other changes to payments and prices to mark the dawn of the new financial year.
It’s the culmination of a decades-long process to increase the super guarantee from 3% when it was introduced in 1992 and follows a six-year delay in the rollout to 12% under the previous coalition government.
The Labor Party’s national platform still lists an aspiration for the party to “set out a pathway” to increase the guarantee to 15%, but voices in the Labor movement have recently cooled on the idea.
Sally McManus, secretary of peak union body the ACTU, said getting to 12% was an “amazing achievement”, but the union movement was not pushing for more. She told AAP:
There’s a question about whether or not we’ve actually reached the point of a dignified retirement at 12%. Obviously, we’ll keep assessing that.
Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, who legislated the increase of the super guarantee from 9$ to 12% and now chairs industry super fund Cbus, doesn’t want further rises.
The scheme provides “adequate retirement savings for most workers” at 12 per cent, Swan argued in an op-ed in the Australian Financial Review at the weekend.
– Australian Associated Press
Sydney airport warns NSW low may affect flights
Sydney airport urges passengers to check the status of their flights amid severe wet weather forecast in NSW.
A Sydney airport spokesperson said:
Sydney Airport is closely monitoring the forecasts of severe weather for NSW. There may be impacts to flight schedules, and we recommend passengers check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.
Gas market review will ‘drive efficiencies in the system’, King says
The resources minister, Madeleine King, says a review into gas market regulations will drive efficiencies into the system.
She is speaking on ABC RN after the federal government announced a review into gas market regulations in a bid to strengthen domestic supply and the nation’s exports yesterday.
Asked when gas is expected to be diverted to the domestic market, King didn’t give a timeframe:
Our existing policy has made sure that that gas is available. So that’s that combination of existing policies brings in that extra 600 petajoules. So indeed, that work is already happening.
What we’re trying to do and will endeavour to do, and the industry is very supportive of, is to make that more coherent, and how we can make sure we learn from the whole system, reduce duplication in some of the regulation, some of the reporting factors, simply how we can make it work better for consumers, for industrial users, and for the Gas industry itself. And that drives efficiencies in the system, which we expect will help with pricing.
But it’s really important that the Australian people know, but also the gas industry know, that the Australian government is willing to act when things aren’t working out, as we did with the gas code of conduct and the price cap in 2022.
NSW projects extra $100m revenue from toll roads in 2028-29
An extra $100m is expected to be made on tolls in NSW in 2028–29, with two new motorways scheduled to open.
Toll revenue is projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.
Two new tolled motorways – the Western Harbour Tunnel and M6 Stage 1 – are on track to open in 2028.
“This will double the number of toll roads in the network that are not privately owned – essential to rebuilding competition and wrestle back some control and ownership for the people of NSW,” the transport minister, John Graham, said in a statement.
We were honest with the public from day one: the toll situation would get worse before it got better. That’s the reality of the infrastructure pipeline locked in by our predecessors.
And now, the most recent NSW Budget reflects that – with toll revenue projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.
That jump is simply the start of toll collection on those two new roads … No new decisions have been made to increase tolls or implement two-way tolling, and forecasts will be updated as real-world data comes in.
Funding boost for legal support in effect from today
Sarah Basford Canales
Legal assistance and frontline support services will get a funding boost from today with the National Access to Justice Partnerships coming into effect.
The $3.9bn program will fund five years of legal and support services for women and children escaping family violence, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to support Closing the Gap targets and those who cannot avoid their own legal representation.
The Albanese government has committed to providing continuing funding beyond the five-year period.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, thanked frontline workers for providing the services to those most in need.
“Access to justice can make an immense difference to the lives of individuals and communities, ensuring people are treated fairly in the legal system and giving a voice to those who might otherwise not have one.”
The decision was first announced in September 2024 following a national cabinet focused on the “national crisis” of family and gender-based violence.
The Mundy review, released in May 2024, recommended increased investment to reverse the “neglect of Australia’s legal assistance sector”. The review had heard from Women’s Legal Services Australia, which said it turned away 1,018 attempts to receive assistance during a 5-day period” meaning an estimated 52,000 people, “many of whom are experiencing domestic, family, and sexual violence”, were turned away each year.
Read more about this issue here:
More on NSW stormy conditions
The Bureau of Meteorology’s hazard preparedness manager, Steve Bernasconi, said the system would be at its most intense on Wednesday and produce destructive winds and coastal erosion to large stretches of coast.
Damaging winds were expected in Sydney, the Hunter Valley and Illawarra regions.
Hazardous surf was expected along the coast, the bureau cautioned.
The heaviest rain was expected over the state’s central coast, with totals of up to 200mm possible, although a “subtle shift” in conditions could move those falls to Sydney or the mid-north coast.
Coastal communities were being urged to prepare before the impact of the storm by tying down loose items and moving cars away from trees.
“As we move into Thursday, rain will ease, the winds and the surf may still remain a hazard, and on Friday conditions are expected to improve,” Bernasconi said.
– Australian Associated Press
Flood threat returns as wild storm bears down on NSW
Hundreds of emergency services personnel, helicopters and specialist vehicles are on stand-by as a wild storm tracks towards regions still recovering from deadly floods.
Millions of residents are in the path of a severe low pressure system intensifying off NSW’s north coast.
The “rapidly deepening complex” system – also known as a “cyclogenesis” – was forecast to strengthen on Tuesday, prompting heavy rain, strong winds and hazardous surf, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
It said peak impact would be on Wednesday from Coffs Harbour south to Bega, and included the risk of flash flooding at Wallis Lake near Taree, one of the towns hard hit by floods in May that killed five people and damaged thousands of properties.
The State Emergency Service has about 400 personnel ready to be deployed.
BoM meteorologist Angus Hines said the system met the definition of a “cyclogenesis”, the formation of a low pressure area.
“It’s likely that this system will bring significant weather to these coastal fringe areas,” NSW SES deputy commissioner Debbie Platz said.
We do expect that as a result of that we will have flash flooding, as opposed to riverine flooding, that is not to discount riverine flooding.
– Australian Associated Press
More on the forecast in the next post.
Rafqa Touma
Thank you Martin Farrer for getting the blog rolling this morning. I’ll be keeping you posted with the day’s news updates from here – let’s get going.
Aboriginal prison inmate died of possible insect bite, NSW police say
Caitlin Cassidy
An insect bite is being investigated as the possible cause of the death of a Sydney prison inmate at the weekend, NSW police have confirmed.
At around 10pm on Friday, officers were informed of the death of the 41-year-old Aboriginal inmate, who was being treated at Westmead hospital after being transferred from Parklea prison for treatment earlier in the day.
NSW police said an insect bite was a line of inquiry, but the manner and cause of death would be ultimately determined by the coroner. His death was not being treated as suspicious.
Following his death, a group of inmates held a peaceful protest at Parklea prison on Saturday morning.
A spokesperson for Management & Training Corp (MTC), which runs the prison, extended sympathies to the man’s family and friends and the Aboriginal community and said they were working with Corrective Services NSW and police to investigate the death.
The spokesperson said there were no injuries during Saturday’s protest, and nothing was damaged:
After a period of negotiation, the majority of inmates were voluntarily secured in their cells. A small number of inmate representatives then spoke with centre management. At about 12.30pm, inmates were released from their cells, and normal routine recommenced.
NSW coast braced for low
In a weather warning issued at 11pm on Monday night, the Bureau of Meteorology said a vigorous coastal low was developing offshore to bring damaging, locally destructive winds and possible heavy rainfall over central and northern NSW from Tuesday.
At 4.10am on Tuesday it repeated warnings of storm force winds for the Macquarie coast and Hunter coast, a gales warning for Sydney enclosed waters, Sydney coast, Illawarra coast and Batemans coast. There was also a warning of strong winds for the Byron coast, Coffs coast and Eden coast.
Read our explainer to find out what is in store:
Greens welcome critical incident investigation into injury of pro-Palestine protester
Catie McLeod
The NSW Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, has welcomed the declaration of a critical incident investigation after a woman was injured at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney.
Hannah Thomas, who ran against the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in the Sydney seat of Grayndler at the federal election, was arrested at the protest attended by about 60 people in Belmore on Friday morning before she was taken to hospital.
Thomas – who has said she could lose sight in her right eye after the arrest – was charged with resisting police.
Police yesterday announced they had declared a critical incident, meaning the force will undertake an investigation into the conduct of the officers who were involved.
Critical incident investigations are triggered when a death or serious injury has occurred during a person’s interaction with NSW police.
In a statement last night, Higginson said she welcomed the police move, adding:
This must be recognised as the minimum requirement … This cannot just be left as police investigating police.
It concerns me deeply that the police in announcing the critical incident have referred to the protest at Belmore “unauthorised”.
It’s important to remember people do not need authorisation to hold a protest. To do so would mean we really do live in a police state.
Thomas has also criticised the Minns government’s “draconian anti-protest laws”, which give police broad powers to issue move on orders outside places of worship whether or not the protest is directed at the place of worship.
Minns and the police have denied that the laws were used in this instance.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Rafqa Touma will be taking over.
It looks like a busy morning for emergency services down the New South Wales coast with high winds and rain forecast to sweep in during the morning. The Bureau of Meteorology said last night “a vigorous coastal low was developing offshore to bring damaging, locally destructive winds and possible heavy rainfall”. More coming up.
And the NSW Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, has welcomed the declaration of a critical incident investigation after the Greens’ former candidate for Grayndler, Hannah Thomas, was injured at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney. More coming up.
