Tropical cyclone threat renewed off Queensland
A flood emergency is not over yet, AAP reports, with more significant wet weather forecast for northern Australia and the possibility of a tropical cyclone.
North Queensland is preparing for a new wave of monsoonal rains to hit the flood-ravaged region in the coming days.
Ingham has been one of the worst hit with floodwaters cutting power, disrupting telecommunications and affecting food supply. Power was finally restored and a temporary crossing built on a damaged bridge for emergency services to transport much needed supplies late yesterday.
But the sodden town is again on alert with Bowen also at risk of more flooding from further rainfall, premier David Crisafulli warned.
The double whammy is that you have conditions where everything is so waterlogged, it’s got nowhere to go. So if you have heavy rainfall in a short period of time, there is the real risk of flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a severe weather warning was likely to be issued today for heavy rainfall that might lead to “life-threatening” flash flooding.
The flood risk has been increased due to catchments that have been saturated by heavy rainfall over the past week.
A tropical low is expected to develop in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast on Saturday and the bureau warned it had a low chance of becoming a cyclone. However, it was expected to move east from the mainland over the weekend.
Rainfall totals until Sunday could reach up to 300mm for the north.
Key events
More on the tropical low forecast off Queensland coast
Circling back to earlier news that a tropical low is expected to develop in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast on Saturday:
The Bureau of Meteorology says the tropical low may form in the Coral Sea at the weekend before moving east, away from the Queensland coast.
It said an active monsoon trough might persist across north Queensland during the week.
The risk of the tropical low developing into a tropical cyclone increases to “low” on Sunday, moving eastward once it forms, away from the Queensland coast.
It is likely to move to the east of the Australian region on Monday or Tuesday.
The week that was in politics
Parliament resumed this week for the first time in 2025 – and it was certainly back with a bang. Here’s a recap of some of the key moments from the past few days, in case you missed it:
For more, you can have a listen to today’s Full Story podcast – looking at why politicians often find it so hard to pass the pub test:
Tropical cyclone threat renewed off Queensland
A flood emergency is not over yet, AAP reports, with more significant wet weather forecast for northern Australia and the possibility of a tropical cyclone.
North Queensland is preparing for a new wave of monsoonal rains to hit the flood-ravaged region in the coming days.
Ingham has been one of the worst hit with floodwaters cutting power, disrupting telecommunications and affecting food supply. Power was finally restored and a temporary crossing built on a damaged bridge for emergency services to transport much needed supplies late yesterday.
But the sodden town is again on alert with Bowen also at risk of more flooding from further rainfall, premier David Crisafulli warned.
The double whammy is that you have conditions where everything is so waterlogged, it’s got nowhere to go. So if you have heavy rainfall in a short period of time, there is the real risk of flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a severe weather warning was likely to be issued today for heavy rainfall that might lead to “life-threatening” flash flooding.
The flood risk has been increased due to catchments that have been saturated by heavy rainfall over the past week.
A tropical low is expected to develop in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast on Saturday and the bureau warned it had a low chance of becoming a cyclone. However, it was expected to move east from the mainland over the weekend.
Rainfall totals until Sunday could reach up to 300mm for the north.
Walker rejects notion there was legislative urgency for mandatory minimum sentences
Asked if there was a legislative urgency for the government to impose mandatory minimum sentences, Bret Walker SC said no – and that the urgency is to investigate the alleged offences “under laws that already exist”.
There’s an urgency in the proper prosecution of them. There’s certainly an urgency, in the event that any sentences appear to be unduly lenient, to have them reviewed by the pre-existing and perfectly robust processes for a review and appeal.
But there’s no urgency in putting in laws to create offences which really are just doubling up, in the classic Australian way, for laws we already have … in our law books.
Walker said an unintended consequence was that the laws appeared to be “singling out particular aspects of social dysfunction for particular attention”. He pointed to 9/11 and said that “the notion of terrorism was very heavily emphasised in many statute books around the world, including ours” in the aftermath.
I’m not at all sure, however, that any of that was warranted to the degree it occurred, bearing in mind [the] death of human beings … that is at the bottom of all the really important crimes that we deal within our statutes, and the idea of singling out some as being somehow worse is, I think, really dangerous.
A moment’s thought about sexual offences being inspired by really vicious misogyny, a moment’s thought about the the nature of murders inspired by homophobia, for example. All of that rather suggests that we don’t need special laws for lesser outcomes …
He said laws existed as an “aspect” of social cohesion but can’t “compel people to be pleasant” or civil.
Barrister says government should have resisted mandatory minimum sentences from ‘legal and social’ perspective
Barrister Bret Walker SC spoke with ABC RN just earlier about the government’s hate crimes legislation – which adds mandatory minimum sentences for some terrorism offences and the display of hate symbols.
The legislation passed the Senate yesterday afternoon, introducing mandatory minimum sentences of six years for terror offences, three years for financing terrorism and one year for displaying hate symbols.
Asked if the government should have resisted these changes, amid a push from the Coalition, Walker said “of course they should have”, from a legal and social perspective.
The questions of politics, I’m afraid, don’t always align with those of principle.
He said a mandatory minimum sentence “sends a message about a particular class of case, and sometimes, therefore, about a particular class of accused person or victim person, that they stand apart from the usual run”.
The whole point about a mandatory minimum is that it requires a sentence to be imposed from time to time that would be more harsh than the merits of the case would deserve. There is no other reason for the minimum to be mandatory. It is the parliament telling the courts, even though everything else about the case would combine to produce a particular result, I insist you must impose a sentence which is more harsh.
Now that is obviously a complete reversal of the usual approach we take to the usual run of crime, where we don’t have mandatory minimums for obvious reasons. Every offence is individual to the particular offender.
Israel welcomes move on hate-crime sentences
Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs has welcomed the Australian government’s move to impose mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes.
In a post to X, the foreign ministry wrote:
We welcome Australia’s decision to pass legislation against hate crimes in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism. No Jew in Australia – or anywhere in the world – should have to live in fear.
O’Neil questioned over Dutton’s ‘big thinker’ remark on Trump
Clare O’Neil was asked about Peter Dutton’s description of Donald Trump as a “big thinker” amid his plans to take over Gaza – how would she describe him?
The housing minister responded that she wasn’t going to “get into making descriptions of president Trump today” – similar to Anthony Albanese’s repeated statement he would not give a daily “running commentary” on all of the president’s remarks.
O’Neil continued that she was “respectful of [Trump’s] position as president of a very important partner and friend of Australia”.
What I would say about the foreign policy aspects of this is very simple – we’re the Australian government and we make Australia’s foreign policy. We have a really clear approach to the issue in the Middle East and that is we support a two-state solution. We’ll keep pursuing that through international forums.
Is it a good thing for the opposition leader to praise the president in this space? O’Neil said she would leave Dutton’s “actions and approaches to him”.
There’s a lot more work to do and all of it is at risk if Peter Dutton is elected prime minister. That’s going to be our big focus over the coming months.
O’Neil makes housing announcements in lead-up to election
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is in Parramatta today and will travel to Bennelong later, announcing 28 new social and affordable homes
She said the housing crisis had been “a generation in the making” and that the government was “announcing new funding [and] turning sods on new projects, or opening new homes” across the country.
She was asked about $800m in funding for remote Northern Territory communities (as we flagged just earlier) and whether this would help to close the gap. O’Neil said it “absolutely” would.
Funding is incredibly important here. I know all of our Australians at home who are watching are really deeply concerned about those devastating differences we see between health outcomes, even important things like infant mortality.
All of the indicators that we use to determine equality of life are very different between our First Nations communities, particularly in remote areas.
Swan accuses Dutton of ‘playing politics’ with Trump Gaza plan
ALP national president Wayne Swan says Peter Dutton is “playing politics” amid US president Donald Trump’s move to displace almost 2 million Palestinians and take over Gaza.
Speaking about the move on the Today Show, Swan said this was not a “remarkable idea”, as suggested by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
I think our prime minister has been quite sober and rational about this, but it is not a reasonable idea, and it’s not shrewd as described by Peter Dutton.
Swan argued Dutton “just can’t resist playing party politics” and said the “last time the Liberals did this, Scott Morrison blew up our relationship with China”.
So I think the prime minister has done the right thing. And Peter Dutton is out there playing politics.
Independent MP Dai Le, also on the program, said she viewed Trump’s comments as “a big thought bubble” and that it seemed he uses big announcements on stage as a way of “negotiating with or talking about solutions”.
But the issue, I think, here that we’re missing is that Gaza has completely been destroyed … It’s devastating to see those kind of images. So there needs to be a rebuild. There needs to be a place that people can come back to in a safe haven for them to call home.
Two charged in Sydney for allegedly displaying swastika flag
Two men have been arrested and charged for allegedly displaying a flag with a swastika in Sydney’s Kings Cross.
Police were called to a hotel on Liverpool Street on Thursday afternoon following reports a man was displaying the flag.
A short time later, the 51-year-old and another man, aged 44, were arrested nearby and taken to Kings Cross police station.
The flag and several electronic devices were seized.
Both men were charged with knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public without excuse. They were refused bail to appear before Downing Centre local court later today.
– with AAP
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. Many thanks to Martin for kicking things off this morning – I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
You can get in touch with any story tips, questions or feedback via email: [email protected]. Let’s go.
Protesters to fight Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza
As an international outcry rings out over Donald Trump’s proposed US push into Gaza, Australia’s Palestinian community will again take to the streets to show its fury.
As AAP reports, Palestinian supporters say the president’s proposal amounts to ethnic cleansing and criticised opposition leader Peter Dutton for “legitimising” the plan.
Trump suggested the US should take over, own and redevelop the destroyed Gaza Strip while Palestinians are relocated elsewhere.
At Sydney Town Hall later today, the Palestine Action Group will protest against the president’s declaration, along with the “persecution, slander and silence” from Australia’s politicians and media. They wrote on Facebook:
Trump has just announced the tearing up of the ceasefire deal, and a continuation of the slaughter … we have said all along Israel’s real goal in Gaza was always genocide and the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland.
The despicable Australian political and media establishment are refusing to call Trump’s statements what they really are; calls for genocide.
Yesterday, Dutton described the president as a “big thinker and a deal maker”, before later clarifying he still supported a two-state solution.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the comments “legitimised” Trump’s plan and treated Gaza like a bargaining chip.
International law experts have suggested a US takeover of Gaza would not be legal as the use of force is prohibited.
Starmer says he wants to build fleet of nuclear power stations of same design touted by Dutton
Staying in the UK and with Peter Dutton, prime minister Keir Starmer made an announcement yesterday that he wants to build a new fleet of nuclear power stations of the same design touted by the Liberal leader.
Britain already has nuclear power stations and is in the process of building an extremely expensive new one at Hinckley Point in Somerset. But this time around, Starmer wants to build small modular reactors which will provide a base power load for the country’s push to develop its AI industry.
Here’s the full story from our UK team:
And you can read an explainer on SMRs here.
Dutton coy on what public servant jobs he will slash if he wins election
Peter Dutton, of course, says he wants to cut the size of the federal government and has promised to slash civil service jobs in what appears to be an attempt to live up to the Howard dictum.
Making a rare media appearance in Canberra yesterday, Dutton said he “plans to get the “economy back on track” through slashing government jobs and other “wasteful spending”.
However, he was careful not to give any actual details of the plan and which jobs he would cut, as many critics were only too happy to point out.
Read more from Sarah Basford Canales and Josh Butler:
John Howard says ‘arrogant attitude’ cost Liberals in 2022
Martin Farrer
As his latest successor as Liberal party leader plots his strategy to win power this year, the former prime minister John Howard has advised Peter Dutton and other centre-right politicians to make sure they can deliver on the key promise of less tax and less government.
Writing in the UK Daily Telegraph, Howard ruminates on the difficulty faced by parties to attract support from young people in the face of a challenge from the populist right, and the challenge of finding new members in an age where people have stopped “being joiners”.
He says the the challenge is to scoop up increasing numbers of floating voters while not alienating the base. But he says a trap lies in wait, because taking conservative voters for granted cost the Coalition power last time out:
It’s a huge mistake for a centre-right party to assume that a disgruntled conservative has “nowhere else to go”. That arrogant attitude cost the Liberal party in Australia dear in the 2022 election. In the UK they now have Reform to go to.
The way to do it, Howard says, is to “stand for less government, either in the form of state ownership or excessive regulation, and lower taxation”, along with stronger defence.
These are the invariable default definitions trotted out. Yet the reality often falls short, and that creates a credibility deficit. The voting public will no longer accept the excuse that taxes would be higher under leftwing governments as a substitute for actual tax relief under conservative ones.
Central to the success of future centre-right governments will be their capacity to actually deliver on tax and smaller government – and not just talk.
You can find his whole piece here – although it is behind a paywall.
PM to announce $843m remote services funding
Dan Jervis-Bardy
A six-year, $843m agreement to deliver services in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory has been inked by the commonwealth and territory governments.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will make the announcement in Alice Springs on Friday morning alongside the NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro.
The funding will ensure continuity for essential services, including policing, women’s safety, education and alcohol harm reduction as well as hearing and dental programs.
The commonwealth will fund the entire $843m, which will shore up 570 jobs, including more than 278 for First Nations workers.
The prime minister said:
Australians want to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Australians believe in the fair go. The task before us is to build a future in which all Australians have access to the same opportunities.
My government remains determined to seek better results for Indigenous Australians and help close the gap.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Emily Wind with the main action.
It has been a busy week in the federal parliament, where the government introduced legislation mandating prison sentences for hate crimes.
In Sydney today, a pro-Palestine rally is planned outside Town Hall to protest against Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US could seize control of Gaza. Organisers have criticised Peter Dutton for “legitimising” the idea, so things could get lively. More on that later.
John Howard says the Coalition lost power in 2022 because they took for granted that conservative-minded people would vote for them. Writing for the UK’s Telegraph in a tribute to Margaret Thatcher becoming Tory leader 50 years ago, Howard has issued a challenge to Dutton and centre-right politicians around the world that they must focus on delivering on the key aims of lower taxes and smaller government.
And Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination claim against the ABC, which was due to finish hearing evidence today, is running at least a day behind schedule and will not conclude this week – but we’ll be following along in court, with a separate blog later.
More coming up.
