Australia news live: BoM warns of life-threatening flash floods in Queensland and severe storms in north-east Victoria
Already affected areas could see life-threatening flooding, BoM says
A representative from the Bureau of Meteorology is also providing an update on the weather situation in north Queensland. He said the severe weather warning extends from Ayr through to Tully, and these areas could see “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.
That includes already impacted towns such as Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham.
Daily rainfall totals of up to 250mm are forecast across the region, with some areas seeing higher isolated falls.
He said severe thunderstorm activity was also forecast today, stretching along the Flinders Highway communities as far west as Mount Isa.
Given that our catchments are already saturated, additional rainfall over the weekend is very likely to see renewed rises and, particularly for some of those areas where we have already seen significant impacts, we may see major flood warnings again.
Key events
More than 100 firefighters tackling industrial blaze in western Sydney
Crews have been working throughout the day to extinguish an industrial fire near Blacktown in Sydney’s west.
Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters were called to a steel manufacturing premises in Rooty Hill before 6am. A 100m-long heavy-duty rubber conveyor belt system was ablaze and had collapsed into a concrete pit.
The fire remains contained within the industrial complex.
More than 100 firefighters and 26 fire trucks are actively working to extinguish the fire, FRNSW said, as well as monitoring the smoke plume and managing potential hazards associated with on-site chemicals.
The site’s infrastructure is effectively capturing all firefighting water runoff, preventing any environmental contamination and FRNSW is collaborating with the NSW EPA to ensure ongoing environmental safety.
Given the fire’s deep-seated nature and the complexities of the industrial environment, extinguishment efforts are expected to be prolonged.
Firefighters are rotating shifts and paramedics are on-site monitoring their health and safety, FRNSW said. There are no reported injuries and the broader community remains unaffected.
Best state at addressing housing crisis revealed as South Australia
The Housing Industry Association has scored all the states and territories for the effectiveness of their housing policy announcements over the past two years, and determined that South Australia is leading the way to helping the country achieve its supply targets.
As AAP reports, the Malinauskas government has implemented “an advantageous blend of planning innovation, skills investment and housing affordability policies”, positioning the state as best-placed to meet its share of the national 1.2m new homes target over five years.
South Australia has made strides to accelerate land releases and development approvals, revamped its planning system including using artificial intelligence to automate simple approvals, removed stamp duty for first home buyers and increased investment in training for construction trades.
The state was handed a nine out of 10 on the HIA’s scoreboard, followed closely by Western Australia on eight. Although Matt King, a HIA senior economist. said:
Despite these steps forward, neither South Australia nor Western Australia are on track to build the number of homes required to meet their contribution to deliver on the government’s 1.2m homes target.
At the other end of the scale, the ACT was the most disappointing jurisdiction, scoring a four out of 10.
Severe storms forecast for north-east Victoria
In more weather news, the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting severe storms in north-east of Victoria, with the potential for damaging winds, heavy rainfall and large hail:
⛈️TODAY’s Thunderstorm FORECAST (Fri 7 Feb ):
🔴 Severe storms likely: NE #Vic
Hazards: damaging winds, heavy rainfall and large hail🟡Severe storms possible: central and eastern #Vic
🟢Non-severe storms possible: extending to the Mallee
Warnings: https://t.co/Ildo3KSAXK pic.twitter.com/P9Mus8sAqc
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) February 7, 2025
Whitsunday airport cancels all fights amid wild weather
The Whitsunday coast airport has cancelled all fights today, amid the heavy rain and wild weather. It shared an update on social media:
Due to the high potential for road closures to the Whitsunday coast airport and further heavy rain forecast, all flights today … have been cancelled. If you were scheduled to travel, please contact your airline directly.
Peak body welcomes funding for Northern Territory
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative body, the Coalition of Peaks, has welcomed the government’s $843m investment in the Northern Territory as a “significant milestone” in Closing the Gap efforts.
You can read more details on this earlier in the blog, here. The prime minister also acknowledged earlier today that Closing the Gap numbers “simply aren’t up to scratch.”
Pat Turner, lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, said the investment “recognises the expertise and leadership of Aboriginal organisations and communities in driving lasting change for their communities.”
This is the first time an agreement of this nature has been negotiated directly with Aboriginal people, in alignment with the Closing the Gap priority reforms. It is a critical acknowledgment that solutions must be led by our communities if we are to see real and lasting improvements.
Ben Doherty
Crown prosecutor says Kristian White failed to express genuine contrition and remorse
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC has told Kristian White’s sentencing hearing that the since-dismissed police officer had failed to express genuine contrition and remorse for his crime, most obviously demonstrated by White’s appeal against his dismissal from the police force.
He obviously does not accept that he is guilty of manslaughter in a proper sense. His position seems to be that he was justified in doing what he did, that he shouldn’t be punished for what he did.
Man charged for allegedly targeting politicians with death threats and antisemitic comments
A Victorian man has been charged with allegedly making death threats and antisemitic comments to members of the commonwealth and Victorian parliaments.
The Reservoir man, 33, was yesterday charged with four counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill.
Both charges carry a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a joint statement from the Australian federal police and Victorian police said. The man was granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear before Melbourne magistrates court on 8 April.
The AFP will allege he used social media and email to contact a NSW-based commonwealth MP between 16 and 18 January, making death threats and antisemitic comments. Victoria police will allege the man also used social media to contact a Victorian-based state MP last month.
Special Operation Avalite and Victoria police executed a search warrant at the man’s home yesterday and seized several electronic devices. AFP counter-terrorism and special investigations command assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt said:
Anyone engaging in this type of deplorable behaviour will be investigated, located and brought before the court. Parliamentarians and members of our community should not have to endure vile threats based on their race, religion, or ethnicity.
Nutt said the community could expect “further charges” through Special Operation Avalite – established to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians.
Ben Doherty
Crown prosecutor rejects assertion Nowland’s manslaughter was ‘at lower end’ of those offences
In his sentencing submissions, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC rejected assertions from Kristian White’s lawyers that Clare Nowland’s manslaughter was “at the lower end” of those offences.
This was a serious criminal offence. It’s a conviction for manslaughter and the death of a person is, on any level, a serious offence.
The offender’s case that there was an imminent threat … was plainly rejected by the jury. None of the responders there were in any danger.
Justice Ian Harrison has been an active interlocutor in the early stages of sentencing submissions from the crown. The judge posited the situation with Nowland in the early hours of 17 May 2023 could have been resolved very differently.
If everyone had sat down and waited for Mrs Nowland to come out, or, on another view, offered her a cup of tea and a bun, things might have been significantly different … apply a bit of common sense and patience, and we’d have all been happily on our way.
Ben Doherty
Kristian White sentencing hearing continues
Clare Nowland’s granddaughter Kim Lloyd directed her victim impact statement directly at Kristian White, who sat in the dock across the courtroom with his head bowed.
She told White his reckless decision to fire his Taser at her grandmother were “inexcusable, unimaginable and unforgivable”.
The immediate repulsion I have for you has not dissipated, and I don’t believe it ever will. Your actions were disgracefully unfair and unjust.
Youth bail crackdown to be extended for three years in NSW
Children in New South Wales accused of repeated serious burglaries or car thefts are increasingly being locked up before trial, AAP has reported.
The bail overhaul, aimed at curbing youth crime in regional areas but opposed by youth advocates and legal groups, was set to expire in April. Labor has revealed it wants to extend the tougher regime until 2028.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
Under our bail laws, alleged offenders are more than twice as likely to be denied bail. The bail laws need to be retained – and that’s exactly what we are doing.
Bureau of Meteorology update on weather in Queensland
Angus Hines from the Bureau of Meteorology was just on the ABC talking about the wild weather up in Queensland:
When are conditions expected to ease? Not for some time across north-east Queensland, unfortunately, with a fresh burst of heavy rainfall from tonight through Saturday, through Sunday, and continuing to be wet into the start of next week.
In our slightly longer range forecast, we could see an overall shift in weather pattern sometime through the middle of next week, which might bring some drier conditions.
Escaped NSW prisoner arrested in the ACT
A man who escaped a correctional facility on the New South Wales south coast last week has been arrested in the ACT.
NSW police were alerted that the 44-year-old man went missing from South Nowra last Wednesday morning.
About 4.30am today, officers attended an apartment block in Braddon, responding to reports a man was “acting suspiciously in the underground car park”.
The 44-year-old was arrested in the stairwell and taken to the ACT watchhouse where he remains, pending extradition to NSW, police said.
Already affected areas could see life-threatening flooding, BoM says
A representative from the Bureau of Meteorology is also providing an update on the weather situation in north Queensland. He said the severe weather warning extends from Ayr through to Tully, and these areas could see “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.
That includes already impacted towns such as Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham.
Daily rainfall totals of up to 250mm are forecast across the region, with some areas seeing higher isolated falls.
He said severe thunderstorm activity was also forecast today, stretching along the Flinders Highway communities as far west as Mount Isa.
Given that our catchments are already saturated, additional rainfall over the weekend is very likely to see renewed rises and, particularly for some of those areas where we have already seen significant impacts, we may see major flood warnings again.
Crisafulli provides update on weather situation in north Queensland
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, is providing an update on the weather situation in north Queensland.
Speaking to reporters in Townsville, he said the weather system remains active and “intense” with a severe weather warning in place (as we reported earlier).
We are asking people to stay connected, please listen to advice … To the people of north Queensland, thank you for your resilience. This weekend will further test that resilience and that spirit, but if anyone has proven their metal over the years it is people of this region.
He said the state government had “restocked and resupplied” and are “ready for what Mother Nature can throw at us this weekend”. An operations centre in the Mackay district has been established, and seven flood boats deployed, he said.
A further four have been deployed to the Whitsundays, with swift water rescue teams in place in both places.
Residents have been tested and there is more of the test to go but we are asking people to stay safe and above all look out for your neighbours.
Kyle Sandilands reveals he has second aneurysm
The radio host Kyle Sandilands says doctors have found a second aneurysm in his chest, and that surgery for the one in his brain would be more complicated than first expected.
This comes after he revealed on Monday he would undergo “immediate” brain surgery after being diagnosed with the brain aneurysm. He has continued hosting The Kyle & Jackie O Show alongside Jackie Henderson this week.
Speaking on the radio this morning, Sandilands provided an update on his condition and said he left the doctors with “more questions than when I went in”.
Remember how they were going to thread it through a vein and stick a little coil in there? Well, mine’s the wrong shape for a coil … so they have to drill a hole through my skull the size of a drinking glass, pull that bit of skull out and go into the brain.
He said doctors found a second aneurysm in his chest, which would require a separate surgery, as well as “very bad calcium build up in the heart, [with a] 25% chance of having a heart attack in the next five years”. This would also require surgery, he said.
Ben Doherty
Clare Nowland’s son says repercussions of mother’s death will ‘echo through our family for generations to come’
At the Kristian White sentencing hearing, Dennis Nowland – Clare Nowland’s fourth child – said his life has been “on hold” since his mother’s death, and that he has been unable to properly grieve because of the criminal justice proceedings and intense media interest.
He said he struggled to comprehend how a police officer – charged with serving and protecting the community – could “fail so catastrophically” to uphold his responsibilities. He told the court:
This is a wound I will never fully heal from but I have to learn to live with. The repercussions will echo through our family for generations to come.
White, the since-dismissed police officer convicted of Nowland’s manslaughter, is sitting alone in the dock.
PM says Dutton should say where public spending will be cut
Asked about Peter Dutton’s intention to cut public spending, Anthony Albanese told reporters in Alice Springs it’s “not good enough” for him to wait until after the election to reveal where these cuts will be.
As we reported yesterday, the opposition leader provided little information on his plans to get the “economy back on track” through slashing government jobs and other “wasteful spending”.
The prime minister said:
[Dutton] said that they’ll tell you what [the cuts] are after the election. I don’t think that’s good enough. I think you’re entitled to ask where the cuts will be – and that’s before he has to find an additional $600bn of funding, of cuts, in order to pay for his nuclear fantasy.
After one more question, the press conference wrapped up.
Ben Doherty
Clare Nowland’s eldest son tells court of trauma of losing his mother
Circling back to the Kristian White sentencing hearing: Michael Nowland, the eldest son of Clare Nowland, has told the New South Wales supreme court of the trauma of losing his mother. He said fell into a state of shock at the “inhumane act” perpetrated on his mother.
This was unfathomable. Who in their right mind would do this to a frail 95-year-old lady?
To this day I am traumatised by this gutless, coward act. This continues to cause me sleepless nights and anger, blaming myself as to how I could have negated this act and protected my mother.
Michael Nowland described his mother as “the most caring person in the world”, who was not allowed to die with dignity.
The Nowland family want justice and fairness.
