News live: Tropical Cyclone Narelle bears down on WA towns; Trump takes another swipe at ‘not great’ Australia | Australia news
Narelle puts pressure on coastal towns in Western Australia
A number of isolated coastal towns are in the line of fire as a powerful tropical cyclone heads towards Australia’s west coast, the Australian Associated Press reports.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which was yesterday upgraded to a severe category 4 system with winds of up to 250 km/h over Western Australia, is on track to cross the coast between Carnarvon and Kalbarri late Friday as an impaired category 3 system.
It was sailing parallel to the coast around Exmouth overnight, the Bureau of Meteorology said. in questionand will affect Coral Bay and Denham before crossing the coast in the Shark Bay area.
Kalbarri State Emergency Service deputy Steve Duncan said the town was as prepared as possible for Narelle’s arrival in the early hours of Saturday.
“The majority of the town was here for (2021’s Cyclone Seroja),” he said.
“That’s one benefit of past events; people are more aware.”
Seroja destroyed the coastal town of about 1,500 people after crossing the coast as a category three system.
“People are still pretty nervous,” Duncan said.
“It was quite a traumatic event for the town, so people are very wary of any potential hurricane impact in the area, which is quite understandable.”
Read our report here:
important events
Malcolm Turnbull laments Aukus’ ‘tragedy’ and calls for ‘self-resilience, independence’
former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull He was giving the government a hard time on ABC News Breakfast this morning over Aukus, but appeared to agree with the government that it was probably best to let Trump’s latest comments “get passed to the keeper” and that it was wise not to engage in a “verbal argument with Donald Trump.”
In Aukus, Turnbull lamented – not for the first time – the nature of the submarine deal:
The tragedy of Aukus is that it makes us much more dependent on the United States at a time when the United States is much less reliable…
The tragedy of Aukus, and frankly much of our national security policy since the Morrison government, has been the constant sacrifice of our sovereignty in the name of security, but in reality we will lose both. That’s why we need to be able to stand on our own feet.
If there is one message that emerges from these events right now, it is the current events; It is sovereignty, self-resistance, sovereignty, self-resistance, independence, patriotism. We must get up from our knees.
There was a power outage in Sydney after the storm that hit overnight
Power outages continue across Sydney this morning after severe storms hit the city and surrounding areas overnight.
It was reported that more than 10,000 facilities were affected by a power outage following the storm, hail and storm up to 80 km in the city last night.
As of 8am this morning, Ausgrid reported that 3,789 utilities were affected by unplanned outages, while 670 Endeavor energy customers were affected.
Storms batter parts of Victoria and NSW with damaging winds and rain
Storms battered parts of Victoria and New South Wales overnight and continued into this morning in some areas; The wind speed exceeded 100 km/h and heavy rain continued.
The Victoria State Emergency Service has received more than 190 requests for assistance across the state, including 97 for fallen trees and 46 for building damage. The demands spread to the state’s busiest units; It was in Moorabbin with 14 requests and Heidelberg with 10 requests.
There were power outages across Victoria this morning, affecting approximately 3,400 customers in the east of the state according to Ausnet and 390 in the west according to Citipower.
Severe weather warnings remain in place for areas in north-east Victoria; Heavy rains and damaging winds are hitting east Gippsland, with rainfalls of 60 to 80 mm and flash flooding expected in higher elevations today.
We’ll be bringing you updates from NSW shortly.
Watt says government will ‘focus on Australia’s national interests’
Minister of Environment, Murray Watt, He just appeared on ABC’s RN and was also asked about Trump’s criticism of Australia.
Watt maintained much the same line as Marles:
As we have said many times, we will not provide comprehensive commentary on President Trump’s various statements. What we will do is focus on Australia’s national interests.
It has been very widely reported that we have provided the support requested from us, which is defense support for the UAE. I heard you say that the UAE ambassador will be on the program shortly and that he can tell you more about the support we are providing to defend the UAE against attacks from Iran.
This is the request we received. This is the request we accept. And I’m not aware of any other requests being made to Australia.
Marles won’t make ‘tentative comments’ on what Trump said
Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, He spoke to ABC News this morning after the US president Donald Trump‘s comments that Australia is “not great” overnight.
Marles said Australia had not rejected any requests from the White House and declined to comment directly on the president’s statements.
He said:
We look at requests from countries around the world, including the USA, and of course we respond within the framework of our national interests…
The last thing I would do is make a running commentary on what the president has said.. The only thing we can do is to respond to this situation, to respond to the demands coming from us, but to do this by centering our national interests. That’s what we do.
Controversial radio host Kyle Sandilands is expected to appear in court for the first time today in a showdown over a $100 million contract, Australia’s Associated Press reports.
The top-rated host is suing his former employer ARN in federal court in Sydney, claiming his termination of his contract with the company was invalid because there was no serious act of misconduct.
It also claims the termination breached Australian Consumer Law.
ARN, the parent company of KIIS FM, which previously broadcast Sandilands’ program for more than a decade, said on Monday it disputed the allegations and would defend them.
Stephanie Convery
Thanks so much for getting us out of here this morning, Martin! I Stephanie Convery and I will be with you from now until the afternoon.
‘I was a little surprised they said no’
This isn’t the first time Donald Trump He made the following comment: a week ago he was asked by an Australian journalist what he wanted from Australia in the Iran conflict and he said: “Well, they need to be involved and I’m a little surprised they said no, because we always tell them yes”.
In response, the defense minister said: Richard MarlesStating that Australia was not asked to send military support to the Strait of Hormuz, the Prime Minister said that Australia had already sent an aircraft, defense missiles and support personnel to the United Arab Emirates.
‘Australia wasn’t great’ after US strikes Iran, Trump says
At a press conference at the White House today, the US president dealt another blow to NATO, the UK and Australia for not being more involved in his war against Iran.
We covered NATO’s comments here:
But there was also some mention of Australia late in the press conference, in response to a question about his phone calls with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump said:
[Starmer] He did something shocking: he didn’t want to help us.
And maybe that country in particular is, you know, the longest bond, the longest ally.
Australia wasn’t very good either. I was a little surprised by Australia.
I wouldn’t say anyone is great except for five countries in the Middle East. We never had much support.
Narelle puts pressure on coastal towns in Western Australia
A number of isolated coastal towns are in the line of fire as a powerful tropical cyclone heads towards Australia’s west coast, the Australian Associated Press reports.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which was yesterday upgraded to a severe category 4 system with winds of up to 250 km/h over Western Australia, is on track to cross the coast between Carnarvon and Kalbarri late Friday as an impaired category 3 system.
It was sailing parallel to the coast around Exmouth overnight, the Bureau of Meteorology said. in questionand will affect Coral Bay and Denham before crossing the coast in the Shark Bay area.
Kalbarri State Emergency Service deputy Steve Duncan said the town was as prepared as possible for Narelle’s arrival in the early hours of Saturday.
“The majority of the town was here for (2021’s Cyclone Seroja),” he said.
“That’s one benefit of past events; people are more aware.”
Seroja destroyed the coastal town of about 1,500 people after crossing the coast as a category three system.
“People are still pretty nervous,” Duncan said.
“It was quite a traumatic event for the town, so people are very wary of any potential hurricane impact in the area, which is quite understandable.”
Read our report here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I Martin Farrer with the best night stories and then Stephanie Convery It will get you through the day.
Western Australia’s isolated coastal towns were in the line of fire as Tropical Cyclone Narelle continued to gain strength overnight parallel to the coast before making landfall expected today.
Controversial radio host Kyle Sandilands He is expected to make his first court appearance today in a $100 million contract showdown. We will share details as they become available.
