Australia news live: Labor’s $5m support package for Nepal floods falls far too short, Greens say | Australia news
Australians missing increases to 39
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has confirmed the number of Australians missing in the devastating Nepal floods has increased overnight from 35 to 39.
In a statement, Wong said the government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support in response to the catastrophic floods along the Nepal-China border, including through a $5 million assistance package for affected communities.”
We understand at least 39 Australians are among those reported missing. Australian officials are working urgently to confirm their welfare and provide assistance to those affected.
She said the government would send an initial team of three humanitarian response specialists “within the next 48 hours’” to help Australian staff already on the ground.
The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery.
Key events
Penry Buckley
One Nation announces investment banker as NSW leader ahead of state election
One Nation has named investment banker Mike Newman as its NSW leader and first lower house candidate ahead of the March 2027 state election.
Pauline Hanson will announce Newman, a former trade bureaucrat in Asia and the son of former ABC chairman, Maurice Newman, as the party’s state leader and candidate for Cessnock in the Hunter region at a press conference at 10am in Singleton today. It has previously announced former federal One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds as its first upper house candidate.
In an interview with News24 broadcast today, confirming his candidacy, Newman said the party’s NSW policy platform included reducing payroll tax by half, cutting it completely in regional areas, freezing the number of public servants and bringing in “private sector style KPIs [key performance indicators] into the public service, especially amongst the senior executives”.
“If you say you’re going to build 20,000 homes, if you don’t build 20,000 homes, you don’t get paid,” he said.
Asked if the party would struggle to reach migrant communities, Newman, who worked in Japan for 25 years, including three years as Investment NSW’s senior trade and investment commissioner in Tokyo, said:
Not really. Look, I mean, my wife’s Japanese, so if I thought for even a fleeting second that [One Nation] were racist – all my business partners are Indians who are absolutely patriotic Aussies, I don’t really see that
Asked what the party’s plan was to foster social cohesion, Newman said: “We’re going to get rid of wokery, right?”
Clayton Barr, the current member for Cessnock, held by Labor for 38 years, won the two-party preferred vote in 2023 against One Nation by a margin of 23.4%, after the Nationals disendorsed their candidate. One Nation is polling at 25% in NSW, according to The Sydney Morning Herald Resolve poll in July, ahead of the Coalition at 23%, with Labor in front at 29%.
Greens say Australia needs to ‘step up and really commit’ to aiding rebuilding in Nepal
David Shoebridge, the Greens’ spokesperson on foreign affairs, told RN Breakfast earlier the Australian commitment of $5m for affected communities in Nepal “won’t come close to touching the sides” of the calamity.
Shoebridge said the Greens were devastated by the sheer disaster in the region, calling it a genuine global tragedy. He went on to RN:
I think Australia needs to step up and really commit to helping rebuild. This is a country with minimal spare resources. Life is tough in Nepal at most times, but I don’t think $5 million comes close to meeting the scale. …
We also have an obligation to do what we can to meet our targets for carbon and to keep coal and gas in the ground. These things are connected, as much as we don’t want them to be. These things are connected, and unless we address that, these kinds of disasters will continue to happen at a more rapid scale.
Petra Stock
A new energy scheme gives Australians three hours of free power a day – but there could be an expensive catch
A government energy deal that promised three free hours of power to houses without solar panels carries higher charges that make it an expensive option for many households, observers say.
Solar Sharer was switched on in July, with customers in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia able to opt in to the plan, which includes three free hours of electricity in the middle of day.
However Gavin Gilchrist, a project manager at Inner West Community Energy, said in his part of Sydney, the supply and peak use charges on Solar Sharer were “much, much higher”, and in some cases nearly double the rate of other market offers.
Read more here:
Coalition fully supports government’s support for Nepali flood response
Ted O’Brien, the shadow minister for foreign affairs, said the Coalition fully supports the government’s support of Nepal after the massive flooding in which 39 Australians are missing.
O’Brien spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying he supported the level of assistance given so far:
The government does have the opposition’s support and I believe it is responding in the right way. Of course, this is an absolute tragedy. And first and foremost, on behalf of the Coalition, I just want to express my absolute devastation and to send a message of love and thoughts to all Australians of Nepalese or Tibetan heritage and any Australians who still have family members and loved ones missing.
The government is in the driver’s seat. Of course, this is a very difficult set of circumstances and information is coming in very quickly … No doubt there will be further information as time goes on. But the commitment already provided through various agencies, the Coalition supports.
NSW begins H5 bird flu vaccination program for vulnerable species
NSW has begun a vaccination program for vulnerable species of birds to protect them against H5 bird flu.
The state said a mixture of populations in captivity and wild populations will be vaccinated, including little penguins in Manly and on Barunguba Montague Island. Taronga Conservation Society has also given Carnaby’s black cockatoos and red-tailed black cockatoos the initial dose of the two-dose vaccine course.
Other wildlife facilities will also join the vaccination program to ensure as many species as possible can be covered.
The vaccine requires two doses, administered three to four weeks apart. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
While no government can stop the virus from spreading, vaccination programs like this one rolling out at Taronga Zoo are part of our efforts to help protect some of Australia’s most beloved native birds.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take over the blog. Let’s get to it.
Four additional missing Australians were travelling separately to tours: Wong
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the four additional Australians confirmed missing overnight in the devastating Nepal floods were travelling separately to the tours.
Fifteen Australians on the Himalayan Glacier Adventure were reported missing, while Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travels said one of their customers was Australian.
“We understand an additional four Australians who are unaccounted for were travelling separately to these tours,” she told ABC’s Radio National.
Wong said a further increase in the number of Australians missing was an “unfortunate possibility”.
“I know this is an extremely distressing time for those who have loved ones unaccounted for and we are thinking of them,” she said.
Wong said there were a total of 43 consular cases.
VAD now law Australia-wide
Voluntary assisted dying laws have been passed in the Northern Territory after debate over a gag clause barring doctors from raising end-of-life options with patients, Australian Associated Press reports.
The rights of the terminally ill bill passed on a conscience vote in the NT parliament late last night, with the gag intact.
The territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to make voluntary euthanasia legal in 1995, but the laws were overturned in 1997 by the federal government under John Howard.
All six states and the ACT have since passed their own laws allowing it.
The federal veto was only lifted in 2022, restoring the NT’s right to make its own assisted dying laws.
The NT bill requires that only people predicted by doctors to have 12 months or less to live would have access to assisted dying.
In the NT parliament yesterday government backbencher Tanzil Rahman spoke against the gag clause that would bar healthcare professionals from initiating conversations about end-of-life options with patients.
Elderly patients could be bedridden and dying in an aged-care home in a one-clinic town and it would not be compassionate to prevent them talking to a doctor about end-of-life options, he told parliament on Thursday.
“If the facility says no, that’s it,” Rahman said.
“This cannot be a bill for the rights of the terminally ill if we restrict conversations in these premises.”
The opposition leader, Selena Uibo, also argued against residents of aged care institutions being denied information, saying they must be allowed to make informed choices about end-of-life options.
Nepalese community grieves after flooding disaster
The small Himalayan town Keshav Kadel migrated from was not the first to be hit by the floods ravaging his native Nepal, Australian Associated Press reports.
Sitting in the Chitwan district, it is further along the Trishuli River than those more directly in the firing line, such as Gorkha and Rasuwa.
The distance afforded residents more time to flee to higher ground, but it has not been spared the dead.
“What’s happening in my town is that bodies are now flowing in the river,” he told AAP.
“They have slid all the way down and people are pulling bodies from the river.”
At least 360 people have died and hundreds more remain unaccounted for, including 39 Australians, since they began on Wednesday.
Kadel was among members of Nepalese community who gathered yesterday at the Australian Nepalese Multicultural Centre at Diggers Rest north-west of Melbourne, which he serves as vice president.
Families gathered for prayers and held a minute’s silence for those lost to the floods, laying candles beside a hand-crafted display of dyed rice reading “pray for Nepal”.
The diaspora was “united in grief, hope and prayer,” secretary of the centre Sudhir Shakya told the event.
“Behind every number is a person – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a relative, a friend, and someone deeply loved,” he said.
Australians missing increases to 39
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has confirmed the number of Australians missing in the devastating Nepal floods has increased overnight from 35 to 39.
In a statement, Wong said the government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support in response to the catastrophic floods along the Nepal-China border, including through a $5 million assistance package for affected communities.”
We understand at least 39 Australians are among those reported missing. Australian officials are working urgently to confirm their welfare and provide assistance to those affected.
She said the government would send an initial team of three humanitarian response specialists “within the next 48 hours’” to help Australian staff already on the ground.
The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has confirmed the number of Australians missing in the devastating Nepal floods has increased overnight from 35 to 39.
Voluntary assisted dying laws have been passed in the Northern Territory jurisdiction after debate over a gag clause barring doctors from raising end-of-life options with patients.
