Melbourne downpour delivers half of October’s average rainfall in one hour
AAP reports some suburbs received 30 millimetres of rain in as little as 20 minutes on Friday.
As of 4.30pm, authorities were concerned about two dams in Craigieburn in the city’s north, with fears a large private dam could collapse and affect local roads.
There were also moderate flood warnings for the Murray River downstream of the Hume Dam in the state’s north and the Loddon River at Laanecoorie, near Bendigo.
Authorities are bracing for major flooding on Saturday along the Avoca River at Charleton, north-west of Bendigo.
The Friday deluge followed a night of wild weather, with the SES receiving more than 600 calls for help in 24 hours.
The Avoca and Maryborough areas in regional Victoria received 50 to 65mm in an hour, which is roughly one month’s worth of rain.
Areas around Frankston, Bayside, Woodend and the Maryborough district were also hard-hit.
NT bans use of ‘inhumane and dangerous’ spithoods on youths in police custody
From AAP:
The announcement on Friday has divided opinion while bringing the NT into line with other Australian jurisdictions.
NT minister for police Kate Worden said the hoods would continue to be used on adults in watchhouses when required and police would adopt a safer version of the device.
The NT Council of Social Services said it was a step in the right direction but the change needed to be legislated for children and adults.
“It is an inhumane and dangerous practice,” chief executive Deborah Di Natale said.
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory agreed the ban needed to be legislated and said it should be extended to cover people in custody and detention.
“There is no place for the use of spithoods in a modern justice and corrections system, full stop,” chief executive John Paterson said.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said the ban would lead to more police being spat on while on duty.
“It is a dark day for our police and another win for the lobby groups and criminals,” she said.
Walkley Foundation appoints counsel to advise on award for Andrew Laming story
The Walkley Foundation has appointed William Houghton KC to provide independent legal advice about the status of the 2021 Walkley award for TV news which was awarded to Channel Nine journalists Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell.
The story, about the former MP Andrew Laming, has been the subject of legal action by the ex-Liberal/National politician, who has reached a confidential settlement in a defamation case he brought against Nine over a broadcast in March last year.
Nine Entertainment agreed to pay Laming an undisclosed amount and apologise for the story on Nine News Queensland which falsely accused him of taking an “upskirting” photograph of a woman while she was on her knees stacking a bar fridge.
“The Walkley Foundation considers that there are particular circumstances to be considered in respect of this award and subsequent litigation concerning one of the reports. Interested parties in relation to this particular award have been invited to provide materials in respect of whether the award should be revoked, annulled or there should be some other outcome,” it said in a statement on Friday.
Money from fuel subsidies could be used to install more than 72,000 electric vehicle charging stations, Climate Council says
From AAP:
With the federal budget two weeks away, the Climate Council is calling on the Albanese government to replace $11.6 billion spent on fossil fuel subsidies with “structural” environmentally friendly investments that could lower costs for households.
In a report released on Friday, the Climate Council says the government could use money from fuel subsidies to install more than 72,000 electric vehicle charging stations – one for every 12 kilometres of road – or install solar panels to power 1.5 million low-income households.
Climate Council advocacy head Dr Jennifer Rayner said the organisation based its figures on fossil fuel subsidies paid in the 2021-2022 financial year and five projects it considered “better bets”.
In addition to solar panels and EV charging stations, Dr Rayner said the funds could be used to replace all diesel buses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, create 138 renewable energy storage facilities similar to Victoria’s Big Battery in Geelong, or fund another 15 pumped hydro projects to shore up the energy grid.
Dr Rayner said each of the projects was environmentally friendly and some would offer cost savings to households under financial pressure.
“If we’re giving solar panels to lower-income families, that’s going to help with their bills and reduce the cost of living,” she said.
“This is an opportunity to make big structural changes.”
Richard Marles: Australia’s focus is on delivering ‘current contribution’ of military supplies to Ukraine
The Albanese government says it is considering further ways to support to Ukraine “over the long term” but its current focus is on delivering the military supplies it has already promised.
Guardian Australia understands an announcement about another round of defence support is not imminent.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the Lowy Institute last night he was “very grateful” that Australia was preparing “a significant package” that would include “not only small arms but some heavy weapons as well”.
When asked today about the issue, a spokesperson for the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said:
Whilst Ukraine is a long way from Australia, we are committed to protecting the rules-based order. At the moment the Australian government is committed to delivering on its current contribution to Ukraine, including 60 Bushmasters and 28 M113AS4s Armoured Vehicles. Work across government is continuing to look at how Australia can best provide support to Ukraine over the long term.
It is understood the majority of the promised Bushmasters have arrived in Ukraine, but officials are not revealing the exact numbers for operational security reasons and some of them have not reached the country yet. Deliveries of the other armoured vehicles are also ongoing.
The opposition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, said lives depended on the assistance arriving quickly:
Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a bloody and brutal reminder of the threats to peace and prosperity posed by desperate authoritarian regimes like Russia ... In government, we responded quickly and strongly to Ukraine’s requests for assistance – Mr Marles has for some time foreshadowed additional assistance for Ukraine, what is holding up this assistance?
This government and Mr Marles must confirm today what this assistance will look like and when it will be delivered – lives depend on it.
Melbourne downpour delivers half of October’s average rainfall in one hour
AAP reports some suburbs received 30 millimetres of rain in as little as 20 minutes on Friday.
As of 4.30pm, authorities were concerned about two dams in Craigieburn in the city’s north, with fears a large private dam could collapse and affect local roads.
There were also moderate flood warnings for the Murray River downstream of the Hume Dam in the state’s north and the Loddon River at Laanecoorie, near Bendigo.
Authorities are bracing for major flooding on Saturday along the Avoca River at Charleton, north-west of Bendigo.
The Friday deluge followed a night of wild weather, with the SES receiving more than 600 calls for help in 24 hours.
The Avoca and Maryborough areas in regional Victoria received 50 to 65mm in an hour, which is roughly one month’s worth of rain.
Areas around Frankston, Bayside, Woodend and the Maryborough district were also hard-hit.
Radio announcer Kyle Sandilands and radio network ARN have apologised for comments made by the presenter on his leading FM breakfast program, which included the slur “spazzes”.
“ARN does not endorse or condone the comments made by Kyle Sandilands, nor the language that was used or the context with which it was spoken during a segment broadcast on Thursday 29th September,” the network said on Friday.
Campers at the Bathurst 1000 are bracing for muddy, stormy and potentially dangerous conditions as a large rain band crosses central and eastern NSW, AAP has reported.
A trough and cold front moved across the state on Friday, bringing further widespread rain to the eastern half of NSW, including the western slopes and ranges, central NSW and the south coast.
The weather bureau has placed many eastern catchments on flood watch, including Hunter and the Greater Sydney regions, as it waits to see exactly where the most intense rainfall occurs.
“Behind the rain band, there is a lot of convection which means we’re getting some really decent thunderstorms,” a bureau spokesperson told AAP on Friday.
Up to 100mm of rain could fall at motorsport mecca Mount Panorama over the weekend, potentially leading to flooding along the Macquarie River in Bathurst.
Peter Miniter (left) and Ken Reynolds at the first practice session of the 2022 Bathurst 1000 on Friday. Attendees are bracing for wet and stormy conditions at the annual event. Photograph: Murray Mccloskey/AAP
A NT court has fined a man $32,000 after he backed his truck into dozens of trees in a sacred site as part of road works in remote Arnhem Land.
On September 10, 2020, William Hayes was working near Mount Catt as part of his company Hayes Enterprises (NT) Pty Ltd when he drove a front-end loader onto Aboriginal Land Trust land and knocked down more than 60 trees inside a sacred ceremonial site.
Hayes pleaded guilty to conducting the works without approval under the NT Aboriginal Sacred Sites legislation.
“The immense suffering and harm done here could have been avoided. Pastoralists need to listen, and to work with custodians to protect these cultural places of national significance.”
Senior custodian Kenny Murray said in the statement by AAPA that he welcomed the conviction but the damage is irreparable.
The site is a culturally sacred ceremonial ground for the Gunapipi peoples and holds special meaning for many people connected across Arnhem Land.
“The damage that has been done to our trees, it is like physical harm to our family because the spirits of our elders are in those trees,” Murray said.
Cannon-Brookes gets his place in the sun with new chairmanship
Peter Hannam
Not sated by his tilt at AGL (see earlier post), Mike Cannon-Brookes has added another renewable-energy feather to his hat (or is it baseball cap?).
Already a “cornerstone” investor in Sun Cable, the company planning to build giant solar farms in the desert to power Darwin and Singapore (and possibly Indonesia) via a giant cable, MCB has now taken on the role of a director and inaugural chair.
“Mike is a visionary leader whose demonstrated passion and commitment for the energy transition strongly aligns with Sun Cable’s mission,” said David Griffin, founder and CEO of Sun Cable.
MCB is similarly upbeat as you might expect, referring to the main PowerLink project as “world-scale infrastructure”.
“It will unlock incredible value for all countries involved, work to decarbonise three major economies and transform how giga-scale solar energy gets built,” he said.
Another showdown looms between AGL and Cannon-Brookes
Peter Hannam
Just over a week after AGL announced it was bowing to demands from investors by bringing forward the closure date of its coal-fired power station in Victoria, another battle is brewing with the company’s biggest shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Since the board has five members now (surprisingly few for a firm so big), accepting MCB’s Fab Four potentially would have given him control. One of the current five, Miles George, is seen as particularly renewables friendly for this past role as head of Infigen Energy, a windfarm operator.
Anyway, AGL has rejected that three of the proposed members, telling shareholders today it would only recommend Mark Twidell, a solar veteran whose roles have included a stint with Tesla, for the board. Adding all four “would not add to the overall effectiveness of the board”, it said.
Since the board can only have a maximum of ten members, taking on all of MCB’s picks could also limit AGL’s ability to lure talent with “priority skills”, AGL said. Those overlooked are Kerry Schott, the industry veteran who until recently chaired the Energy Security Board, as well as John Pollaers and Christine Holman.
Not surprisingly, Grok isn’t impressed and plans to engage “directly” with AGL’s 150,000 shareholders in the lead up to its 15 November Annual General Meeting “to explain the merits of looking to fresh faces to provide a broader mix of skills and experience - as well as additional capabilities to undertake the monumental amount of work required by the board”.
“It makes no sense to us – or a growing list of shareholders – that the board is rejecting highly qualified, independent directors who are committed to helping them make AGL the leading green gentailer in the world,” Grok said.
Somewhat ominously, Grok said the rejection was “yet another poor decision that doesn’t seem to be rooted in logical business decisions and certainly ignores the threats and opportunities facing AGL”, adding to previous comments that it had “reservations” about the appointment of Patricia McKenzie as AGL’s chair.
AGL’s share price, meanwhile, was down almost 3% for the day in late trading compared with a 0.5% decline in the benchmark ASX200 index.
Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has amassed an 11.3% stake in Australia’s largest electricity generator, AGL. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
