Australia news live: Littleproud says ‘I don’t care’ if Coalition split costs him Nationals leadership; ‘very strong cold front’ to move across NSW | Flooding

For those affected by the mid north coast floods, the government says food, accommodation, and connections with social services are available at evacuation centres.

People who have lost their prescriptions or prescription medicines, or can’t access their GP, the government says can visit their local community pharmacy for a replacement for most medicines.

Minister for Housing Rose Jackson said:

The priority right now is that flood impacted people have access to food and shelter. Both can be found at our evacuation centres in addition to connections to social services where required. They will also continue to be available at Recovery Assistance Points.

The NSW Government is committed to supporting people across the state when disasters hit, we work closely with emergency services and community leaders to understand what locals need and provide help to those impacted.

NSW floods: more roads to reopen and assistance grants to commence

The NSW government say it has a range of immediate support measures in place for flood-hit communities across the state, ensuring they can access food and shelter, medicine and animal welfare support.

The M1 has now reopened, with one lane in each direction. The government says after safety assessments more roads will begin to reopen, supporting resupply to communities and returning home.

Recovery assistance points and the first phase of the commonwealth and state government grants will open shortly, with more information due soon.

Minister for recovery Janelle Saffin said:

We’re working to roll out the support that people need through Evacuation Centres now and Recovery Centres as they open. This is about making sure that people get a helping hand in these challenging times.

One of the most important steps in early recovery is the initial clean up. That’s why the government is rolling out a plan to manage waste. Public Works, the EPA, and local Councils are working together to collect flood waste from homes and businesses.

Top female football coaches earn Matildas opportunity

Central Coast’s championship-winning mentor Emily Husband is one of three female coaches drafted into the Matildas’ coaching staff for upcoming games as Football Australia (FA) attempts to accelerate their development, AAP reports.

Husband, Western United A-League Women coach Kat Smith and Melbourne City veteran/goalkeeping coach Melissa Barbieri will be interim coach Tom Sermanni’s assistants for upcoming games against Argentina.

Husband, Smith, Barbieri and Catherine Cannuli, who is working with the Young Matildas, are part of a ‘Team of Coaches’ program intended to provide a pipeline for highly-rated coaches to reach football’s top levels.

There are currently no female head coaches within FA’s national teams.

General manager of women’s national teams Briana Harvey said:

Each of these coaches brings a unique perspective and deep experience from their leadership roles in the A-League Women, and their inclusion reflects our commitment to both strengthening our national team environment and supporting the ongoing development of Australian female coaching talent.

Providing professional development opportunities for women in high-performance settings is a vital part of building a more equitable and successful football system.

The NSW government says it doesn’t expect tomorrow’s fare-free day to make up for commuters’ headaches last week when an overhead wire failure delivered knock-on delays , but it wants people to know it expects better of the system.

Transport minister John Graham said:

We don’t expect a fare-free day to make up for last week’s inconvenience and we acknowledge that it strained the patience of an entire city.

More than a million people will benefit from free travel on the trains and metro on Monday. We want them to know the NSW Government also expects better of the system, and we are working to improve reliability and maintenance.

We have heard loud and clear the frustration of the commuting public.

A short and sharp independent review into maintenance, punctuality and customer communications will assist in understanding how we can do better as we continue to invest record amounts in maintenance and reliability.

On Monday, travel will be free on all Sydney trains, Airport Link and Sydney Metro services on the Opal network but will not extend to buses, ferries and light rail, which will charge fares as normal. Free travel will not apply to regional train services and coach ticketing, including TrainLink services.

David Littleproud says he doesn’t care if he loses his job over the messy Coalition split. The Nationals leader told Sky News this morning:

I’d rather go to [the party room] standing for something and if I have to lose my job for it, I don’t care.

This was a principled decision that the men and women of my party room made.

I’m proud of them … [proud of] the fact that we got we got an outcome in two or three days because of principles over politics.

– via AAP

Woodhouse said the windy conditions could make temperatures feel up to 10C colder than the actual temperature:

With those really strong winds, we are going to see a high degree of wind chill, so during the day, even though temperature might be saying it’s about 15 to 20 degrees, it’s going to feel more like 10 degrees. So very cold, very windy conditions, and at the moment, we are seeing that shift from from the rain and the flood situation that we’ve been experiencing over the last week to very windy conditions.

Gabrielle Woodhouse, from the Bureau of Meteorology, says the weather is in a “transition phase” across NSW, going between the rain and flood conditions of the last week to very windy conditions brought on by a very strong cold front:

We’re in a bit of a transition phase in terms of the weather and flood situation across New South Wales.

We are still seeing some catchments in flood warning at the moment for minor to moderate flooding, that includes at Long Jetty and at Boulder and up at Coutts Crossing.

But what we’re going to see going into the next couple of days is a very strong cold front move across New South Wales, and that’s going to bring very windy conditions to most areas.

So what we’re expecting is the severe weather warning that is current for the alpine area of New South Wales. That warning area is going to expand to include parts of south west New South Wales, as well as parts of the snowy mountains and the ACT for winds increasing on Monday.

The Warragamba Dam is spilling but the SES is not expecting the community to be affected. SES commissioner Mike Wassing said:

We have seen the spilling of the Warragamba Dam, and saying that I’m very comfortable the fact that with some of that spilling, our current intelligence and reporting indicates that there might be some minor inconvenience in terms of low lying areas, but fundamentally, we were not expecting or predicting any impact on communities below the dam associated with that spilling and with the current weather forecast.

The SES are now holding a press conference in Sydney about the flooding situation on the NSW mid north coast.

There have been a total 7,412 incidents during the floods, including 328 in the last 24 hours to 5am.

That includes 16 flood rescues in the last 24 hours.

NSW SES commissioner Mike Wassing said:

Most of those are rescuing people out of flood waters that they’ve driven into. I get why people want to get back on the road and get back into the communities where they can but again, my message is, do not go through flood waters. It is too easy for me to get stuck in those flood waters, and our resources are focused in other areas, and I don’t want my people or anything multi-services having to put their lives at risk for people just driving the flood waters. So I want to see zero flood rescues tomorrow is my aim, and I need people to and the community members to help me in achieving that aim.

Wassing said there are still 44 people in evacuation centres who will continue to receive support even as “most of that flash flooding is decreased.”

Hogan also backed Littleproud, saying he should “absolutely” should remain leader.

Asked about whether someone like Michael McCormack returning as leader would be a good idea, he said:

I think this is a hypothetical that is not on the cards.

… David Littleproud [has] very strong support in the national party room. And I would say even more support after the process he followed, how transparent he was.

On the topic of what was and wasn’t put the Nationals party room, Hogan says the request for the Coalition junior partner to be able to breach cabinet solidarity was not brought up with the party room because “it wasn’t a non negotiable”.

Speers:

What about his demand to end shadow cabinet solidarity – that didn’t go to the party room did it?

Hogan:

No, because it wasn’t a non-negotiable. So David brought that up in one of his conversations with Sussan. She said that would be unacceptable. David said fine, that’s not a non-negotiable.

‘People are grateful and thankful that we’re standing up for these regional policies’

Hogan says despite the criticisms of the National’s decision this week, the feedback from the communities they represent is overwhelmingly positive:

I can tell you the feedback into my office from my community. I know a lot of my colleagues have said this, is very different from the commentary in the cities about what we’ve done this week. People are grateful and thankful that we’re standing up for these regional policies we have. They’re important to people’s daily lives.

Deputy Nationals leader backs net zero

Speers asks Hogan outright:

What is the Nationals position now on net zero?

Hogan:

The Nationals support net zero 2050.

Hogan said that policy was settled seven years ago and “that’s not up for review or being changed.”

Littleproud had party room’s approval ‘to do all of this’, Hogan says

Nationals leader David Littleproud staunchly defended the “principled” decision to cut ties with the Liberals over its refusal to immediately re-commit to positions on nuclear power, a $20bn regional future fund, powers to break up supermarkets, and reliable phone and internet access in the bush.

Speers asks Hogan about reports the party room didn’t know about the four policy demands until after Littleproud had raised them Sussan Ley.

Hogan insists:

He got the [party] room’s approval to do all of this.

Deputy Nationals leader asked about Coalition split

Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan is speaking with ABC Insiders after his party’s momentous announcement that they would be breaking away from the Coalition agreement, only to come back admitting there is still room for the two parties to kiss and make up.

Before the announcement, Hogan twice told Sky News all Coalition policies were up for review.

David Speers asks Hogan about the shift, with the break coming because the Nationals had four key policy areas they demanded not be changed, including nuclear. Hogan responds:

The party room had our very firm position on nuclear. We discussed nuclear, we reviewed it in the sense that the policy that we took to the election could be could be relaxed, if you like. But there was a view in the room which I respect, that we have a nuclear facility at Lucas Heights already, but we are saying that we’re going to have nuclear submarines in this country over the next decade or so. And so at least, if the moratorium on nuclear was the least we should, we should do, and I was exceptionally happy with that.

A woman has died after being shot by police in South Melbourne on Saturday evening.

Victoria police said officers were called after reports that a male had a machete at about 5pm:

Police located a male and whilst he was being arrested, a vehicle was [allegedly] driven at a police officer, striking them.

The officer shot at the offending vehicle, striking a female driver and her male passenger.

The 34-year-old female has died at the scene, while the 26-year-old male has been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The male senior constable has been taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening-injuries.

Homicide Squad detectives will now investigate the matter with oversight from professional standards command, as is standard procedure for a fatal police shooting.

As of 7pm last night these New South Wales mid-north coast towns remained isolated: Croki, Moto, South West Rocks, Hat Head, Crescent Head, Louth Park, Gillieston, Duckenfield, Millers Forest, Woodberry Swamp, Lambs Valley, Anambah, Hinton and Osterley.

NSW SES say they will be prioritising resupply in those locations and expect access to be restored as water recedes.

Premier Chris Minns in his op-ed said:

As we look forward, it’s important that everyone is across the process of emergency response and recovery from here. Our first priority, of course, is to save people in imminent risk of death. The next priority is to supply food and shelter. The last priority is the cleanup effort.

I understand that there will be some frustrations if your possessions have been swept away, or your business has been smashed. You want to start the recovery as quickly as possible. But we’ve got to make sure the third priority doesn’t jump in front of the first one.

As flood waters recede, we can move into the cleanup phase.

Minns pens op-ed on NSW floods: ‘These are tough communities … but they are in pain’

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has penned an op-ed reflecting on the people of the mid-north coast and the Hunter “as they deal with the floods that have smashed their communities this week”:

These are tough communities … But they are in pain right now, as they count the costs of the damage, while mourning those who have died in terrible circumstances.

These deaths are a shocking tragedy, but it’s important to know that this disaster could have been on a much larger scale. If it wasn’t for the bravery and professionalism of our emergency workers and volunteers, we may have been mourning hundreds of deaths this week.

We have seen an incredible logistical effort, working in exceptionally difficult circumstances. In the coming days and weeks, we will hear more stories of people being plucked out of impossible, desperate situations. We will learn of volunteers putting themselves in harm’s way to rescue complete strangers.

Natasha May here, bringing you Sunday’s news.

New South Wales continues to deal with the devastation from floods on the mid-north coast where over 30,000 people remain isolated as waters start to recede slowly.

About 200 additional emergency service partners from Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT have been deployed to support the NSW SES.

The state government is also using helicopters to provide isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock. There have been 43 helicopter aerial drops and nearly 131 emergency fodder drops by other means since midday on Saturday.

The NSW premier is urging those affected to be patient as they await clean-up assistance. Chris Minns says the priority remains saving people still at risk, although he understands the frustrations “if your possessions have been swept away, or your business has been smashed”.

Meanwhile, commuters in Sydney will enjoy fare-free travel on trains tomorrow as the NSW government attempts to make up for headaches last week when an overhead wire failure delivered knock-on delays from Tuesday evening through to Wednesday.

On Monday, travel will be free on all Sydney trains, Airport Link, and Sydney Metro services on the Opal network but will not extend to buses, ferries and light rail, which will charge fares as normal. Free travel will not apply to regional train services and coach ticketing, including TrainLink services.

Let’s get into it!