Australia news live: thousands to gather at Invasion Day events across the country amid heatwave warnings
Key events
Keith Urban honoured at Country Music Awards of Australia
Keith Urban fronts a throng of photographers and jokes, “it’s like running for office”, AAP reports.
It’s been a presidential-esque welcome back to the Tamworth Country Music Festival for Urban, albeit a brief one.
The global superstar returned to Australia’s country music capital, the place where his career began, to be inducted into the Roll of Renown at the Golden Guitar awards on Saturday night.The roll honours artists who have made a significant contribution to country music and includes stars like Slim Dusty, Anne Kirkpatrick and Kasey Chambers.
Urban remembered lining up at the Roll of Renown as a boy when Dusty was inducted. At age 11, he asked Australia’s father of country music to sign the sheet music for hit song Lights On The Hill.
It was such a great moment for me… And to think that maybe over a decade later I’d get to sing that song with him, (it’s) part of the Tamworth surreal experiences that happened to me all my life.
Urban also thanked his wife Nicole Kidman, who could not make the trip to Tamworth due to filming commitments in Nashville and Germany, and their daughters Sunday and Faith.
Caitlin Cassidy
Greens pitch new tax on commercial landlords
The Greens have proposed to tax commercial landlords who are keeping their premises empty in a bid to breathe new life into struggling Melbourne shopping strips.
The pitch comes ahead of next month’s Prahran by-election in Melbourne’s inner south, prompted by the exist of Greens MP Sam Hibbins. The electorate is home to the once-bustling Chapel Street which is struggling to fill vacant shopfronts.
Labor has opted against fronting a candidate in the race, while ex Labor MP Tony Lupton is running as an independent.
Greens candidate for Prahran,Angelica Di Camillo, told reporters on Saturday you only had to walk down Chapel street to see “how dead” a lot of the shops are.
The policy would introduce a 2% commercial vacancy tax for premises that have been kept empty for more than six consecutive months of the year, designed to incentivise landlords to lower rents.
Di Camillo:
We’ve been working to push this and having discussions around it (with the state government. Empty shops means less local jobs, it hurts the local economy and our vibrant neighbourhood.
Good morning!
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to mark Invasion Day, or Survival Day, today with marches, rallies and gatherings for ceremonies and festivals across the country. You can read here a guide on the marches happening in each state and territory, and we’ll be bringing you updates from our reporters at some of those marches.
Meanwhile, heatwave warnings have been issued for much of Queensland, northern NSW, parts of South Australia, central Western Australia and southern parts of the Northern Territory. In Western Australia, a string of bushfires have spread, which has seen homes lost and residents in many areas warned it is too late to evacuate.
Flag-raising ceremonies for Australia Day will also see about 20,600 people take the oath of citizenship. Today is also the first day in the role as Australian of the Year for former AFL player and coach Neale Daniher, given the honour for his work advocating for a cure for motor neurone disease since his diagnosis more than a decade ago.
The Australian Open Mens’ Final will also take place this evening, after the Women’s Final last night has seen Madison Keys upset number one seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Let’s get into it!
