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Australia live news: fire threatens town in Adelaide Hills; ‘We’ve got the balance right,’ says Albanese on climate policy changes | Australia news

Firefighters battle out-of-control bushfire in the Adelaide Hills

Firefighters are continuing to battle an out-of-control bushfire in the Adelaide Hills, near the town of Montacute.

The Country Fire Service has just issued a new update. It says 59 fire trucks and nine aircraft, including water bombers, are now responding to the blaze.

The CFS, supported by SA Police, SA Metropolitan Fire Service and Dept of Environment and Water are responding to a scrub fire in the Black Hill Conservation Park off Gorge Road, Montacute.

The fire is burning freely in steep inaccessible terrain within the Black Hill Conservation Park.

There is currently a warning message issued for this fire. Refer to the CFS website for the most up to date warning information.

Approximately 59 fire trucks supported by 9 aircraft including fire bombers and observation aircraft are working to contain the fire within the conservation park.

Gorge Road remains closed to the public between the intersections of Kirkevue Road and Corkscrew Road.

Corkscrew Road is closed between Gorge Road and Montacute Road.

For updates visit the CFS website or phone the Information Hotline on 1800 362 361.

Images and vision of the fire show it is throwing up a significant amount of smoke, which some Adelaide residents are saying can be seen from metropolitan Adelaide.

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Child found dead after being reported missing in Northern Territory community

The ABC reports that a young child has been found dead after being reported missing in a remote part of the Northern Territory.

NT police said the child was reported missing on Friday afternoon in the east Arnhem Land region. The child was found dead later in the afternoon near their home, but no cause of death has been released, the ABC reports.

Police are not naming the community involved and would release no further information.

“Investigations are ongoing and a report will be prepared for the coroner,” police told the ABC.

Lawyers reject suggestions of bogus claims being made amid huge asylum backlog

Leading human rights lawyers have rubbished suggestions people are seizing on huge backlogs of asylum applications to lodge bogus claims for protection.

The Refugee Council of Australia, in its submission to a government migration review, said the backlogs facilitated spurious applications for protection from people who could reside in the country for years because of protracted processes.

But Hannah Dickinson, the principal solicitor of the Human Rights Law Program at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the argument was a red herring. Dickinson told AAP:

The Department of Home Affairs has always had mechanisms for dealing with unmeritorious claims, including prioritising them for faster decisions.

I don’t think any question of unmeritorious claims is really relevant to the backlog.

There is no evidence to suggest any kind of large-scale intentional unmeritorious claims being made. We have application processes for visas because we require people to meet criteria.

– AAP

Adelaide Hills fire reportedly grew from five to 20 hectares in 10 minutes

The Adelaide Advertiser is reporting that the fire in the Adelaide Hills, which is threatening the town of Montacute, grew from five hectares to 20 hectares in 10 minutes.

The latest update from the CFS says the fire is burning freely in steep inaccessible terrain within the Black Hill conservation park and has spread to 30 hectares.

Smoke is said to be visible from metropolitan Adelaide.

The CFS says it has deployed 15 firetrucks supported by 8 aircraft, including firebombers and observational aircraft.

Gorge Road has been closed to the public.

A fire at Montacute has CFS in attendance, being supported by firefighters from the Department of Environment and Water. Lots of smoke visible from metro Adelaide. Follow advice and and warnings from https://t.co/r9BJ6duVWz

— Joe Szakacs MP (@joe_szakacs) January 14, 2023

Flood warnings in place as Queensland’s north coast is battered by rain

Queensland’s north coast is being battered by heavy rain as a monsoon trough brings severe thunderstorms and heavy falls to the region.

An alert for potentially life-threatening flash flooding is in place, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning six-hour rainfall totals between 100 and 180mm are likely along a 630km stretch of coast between Cardwell and Carmila.

Isolated 24-hour totals of more than 300mm are also possible on Saturday and into Sunday, the bureau said.

Flood watch notifications are in place for Mackay, Proserpine, Charters Towers, Bowen, Townsville, Moranbah, Collinsville, Ingham and Ayr.

Several major roads – including the Bruce Highway near Mackay – are also partially closed on Saturday due to flooding.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services urged residents to keep up to date with warnings and alerts and not to attempt to drive through flood waters.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, echoed the caution on Saturday morning.

“Follow the advice of the authorities,” he said to reporters. “Don’t risk driving through flood waters if they’re present. Make sure that you stay safe because that’s the most important thing.”

A police 4WD with an officer inside was swept off the Pump Creek causeway, near Almaden in far north Queensland, on Friday afternoon.

The officer managed to get out of the vehicle as it was swept into Pump Creek and swam a short distance to the creek bank. He was not injured.

– AAP

South Australian fire burning in Black Hill conservation park

The South Australian Country Fire Service has just issued an update on the fire threatening the small town of Montacute. The CFS says the fire is burning in “steep inaccessible terrain within the Black Hill Conservation Park”.

Here’s the full update:

The CFS, supported by SAPOL and SAMFS is responding to a scrub fire at Gorge Road, Montacute.

The fire is burning freely in steep inaccessible terrain within the Black Hill Conservation Park.

There is currently a Warning Message issued for this fire. Refer to the CFS website for the most up to date warning information.

Approximately 15 firetrucks supported by 8 aircraft including firebombers and observational aircraft are working to contain the fire within the conservation park with additional trucks being responded to the scene.

Gorge Road has been closed to the public.

For updates visit the CFS website (www.cfs.sa.gov.au) or phone the Information Hotline on 1800 362 361.

Here are some views of the fire threatening the small town of Montacute in the Adelaide Hills, which according to the 2016 census has a population of about 300 people.

A reporter for the Adelaide Advertiser tweets the fire is burning in the Black Hill conservation park.

Chris Minns doubts Perrottet’s Nazi costume admission will affect NSW election

The NSW opposition leader, Chris Minns, doubts Premier Dominic Perrottet’s admissions he wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday will affect the upcoming state election.

AAP reports that Minns said this morning that Perrottet had made a mistake and had apologised to the Jewish community.

Minns said:

It’s not up to me to absolve him or accept his apology on behalf of the state.

Obviously those people from the Jewish community, returned service men and women, that were victims of the Nazi war machine. They’re responsible for accepting his apology, not me.

You’re asking me whether it will affect the NSW election campaign. My sense is that it won’t.

Earlier this morning, Anthony Albanese said Perrottet’s admission was “a matter for him” and it would be up to others to “make judgments based upon the premier’s explanation”.

Fire threatens town in Adelaide Hills

People in and around Montacute in the Adelaide Hills have been warned to take shelter now as an out of control bushfire threatens the small town.

A warning about the scrub fire has been issued for people in Gorge Road, Main Ridge Track and Montacute, near Athelstone in the Mount Lofty Ranges. The warning from the South Australian Country Fire Service reads:

You are now in danger. Take shelter now in a solid building. Do not leave or enter this area in a vehicle or on foot. It is too late to leave as the roads will not be safe.

Conditions are dangerous and firefighters are now unable to prevent the fire spreading. Shelter before the fire arrives as heat can kill you well before the flames reach you.

The MONTACUTE fire is uncontrolled. This scrub fire is burning in a South Easterly direction towards Montacute Rd, Montacute. Conditions are continually changing.

Flooding closes Bruce Highway in far north Queensland

Heavy rain in north Queensland has cut the Bruce Highway in both directions around Mackay. The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting heavy rain and flooding in the state’s far north.

Teen Socceroo sensation Garang Kuol debuts for Scottish team

Socceroos teenage sensation Garang Kuol made his debut overnight for Edinburgh-based Scottish Premiership team Heart of Midlothian.

Kuol, 18, came on the field as a substitute in the 76th minute in Hearts’ home game against St Mirren, which ended 1-0 for Kuol’s new team.

Kuol was loaned to Hearts earlier this week by his parent club, the English Premier League’s Newcastle United.

Robbie Nelson, the Hearts manager, had a few words about the 18-year-old’s debut.

Garang is just a young kid coming in and we thought giving him 15, 20 minutes just to build him in. But you can see already his speed of movement and decision-making is top level.

Thunderstorm warning as north Queensland prepares for flooding

The fears of flooding in far north Queensland have been heightened with a severe weather warning for parts of the north.

Storm forecast 14 Jan: Severe thunderstorms with heavy to intense rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are possible about parts of Northern, central #QLD today. A separate severe weather warning is current between Cardwell and Carmila. Stay up to date: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9o pic.twitter.com/DPwLLrwmRL

— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 14, 2023

The Bureau of Meteorology has said this morning areas between Cardwell and Carmila could see flash flooding with heavy rainfall expected.

Later today, the bureau says intense falls are possible north of Bowen that could see up to 250mm fall in a six-hour period. Those intense falls could spread south on Sunday.

Dutton’s approach to Indigenous voice is ‘straight from John Howard’s playbook’

Political reporter Paul Karp has some insights into the opposition leader Peter Dutton’s tactics on the issue of an Indigenous voice to parliament.

The real political dynamite, says Karp, is Dutton’s line that a body could be enacted when parliament resumes. The tactics are straight out of the John Howard playbook.

‘We’ve got the balance right,’ says Albanese on climate policy changes

Anthony Albanese speaks at a press conference in Townsville this morning. Photograph: Scott Radford-Chisholm/AAP

More from the prime minister’s press conference in Townsville earlier this hour, where he was asked about changes to a mechanism to lower greenhouse gas emissions from major emitters.

There have been some strong criticisms the government’s changes will allow big emitters to rely too much on buying offsets, rather than forcing genuine decarbonisation at their facilities.

Anthony Albanese said:

We’ve got the balance right. And I’d say to those people in the parliament that they should listen to what industry are saying, listen to what economists are saying as well.

What you need to do is to provide a pathway for lowering emissions. That’s what our program of Powering Australia is doing. That’s what our Rewiring the Nation program is doing. That’s what our hydrogen hubs are doing as well. Not disrupting the system so that it loses support because you have disruption and industry not being able to reduce their emissions over the shortest time possible.

We want to work with industry to do that. We’ve got the balance right, which is why both the Coalition and the minor parties should support our program when it goes to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

My colleague Adam Morton has looked this morning at what needs to happen with the Labor government’s climate policies to make them a success.



https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/jan/14/australia-live-news-vatican-mass-george-pell-nsw-premier-dominic-perrottet-battles-internal-enemies Australia live news: fire threatens town in Adelaide Hills; ‘We’ve got the balance right,’ says Albanese on climate policy changes | Australia news

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