End of the live blog
That is where we will wrap up the live blog for Tuesday. We will be back in the morning with all the latest, and I’ll be back on the live blog in the afternoon.
Here’s some of what you might have missed today:
- Shares in coalminers plummeted on reports China had formalised a ban on Australian coal.
- Actor Craig McLachlan was found not guilty of indecently assaulting and assaulting four women during a run of the Rocky Horror Show in Australia.
- Flash flooding closed roads and isolated small communities in northern NSW, with potentially 1,000 properties affected.
- Underworld figure Tony Mokbel had a cocaine trafficking conviction quashed by the court of appeal, in yet another case impacted by the Nicola Gobbo-Lawyer X scandal.
- South Australian health authorities believe transmission of Covid-19 in a medi-hotel could have occurred due to poor ventilation in the hotel corridors.
- Former Greens leader Bob Brown was arrested for trespassing while attempting to halt logging in the north-east Tasmanian forest.
- There were no reported cases of community transmission of Covid-19 in Australia.
Until tomorrow, stay safe.
Updated
I managed to watch a presentation from NSW Health earlier this month where they revealed just 21% of all people in NSW who had Covid outside of hotel quarantine for returned travellers had the Covidsafe app between May and the end of October this year.
It comes as a Senate committee has called for an independent review into the $5.24m spent on the app.
WA Police minister Michelle Roberts has announced a $1m reward for information about the killing of former Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin on the weekend.
It’s an unprecedented reward for a crime of this nature. But we don’t want somebody who has killed, as they have on this occasion, out there in the community. We want them behind bars. We want them to be apprehended.
There may be the prospect of some immunity from prosecution, providing the person who comes forward isn’t the actual main perpetrator. But they may have somehow had some involvement or some complicity in it. So, that’s certainly something that will be considered by police. This is a crime that cannot go unpunished.
The 51-year-old was killed by an apparent sniper shot while watching a drag racing event at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday evening.
Updated
Fire Rescue Victoria says it got the fire under control around 10 minutes ago.
...FRV crews arrived on scene within four minutes and located a fire on the rooftop and are currently working to extinguish the blaze.
— ABC Melbourne (@abcmelbourne) December 15, 2020
The fire was declared under control at around 5:20pm and has been contained to the rooftop....
There is a fire on the rooftop of an office building on the corner of Queen St and Bourke St in the Melbourne CBD. No one is injured but paramedics are on the scene, according to 7News.
Paramedics on scene but no reports of injuries or anyone on the rooftop at the time. @7NewsMelbourne pic.twitter.com/CIL83pHYh7
— Jayde Vincent (@JaydeVincent) December 15, 2020
Protesters outside the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne, on the expectation the people detained there who were brought to Australia for medical treatment under medevac could be moved to a detention centre as early as today.
Happening now - rally at the Mantra hotel for the men being detained there. There are people in the community willing to give them support and a home. No need to move them to another detention facility. #dontmovethemfreethem pic.twitter.com/OGqse4Ne4L
— Ged Kearney (@gedkearney) December 15, 2020
Australians trusted the public service more in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic compared to before, a new survey reveals.
AAP reports the survey released on Tuesday is an initiative of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and is a bid to better understand the community’s experience with public servants.
The first survey was undertaken in March 2019 and the latest, the fifth of its kind, conducted in June this year. About 2,500 people take part each time.
It found 65% of those surveyed trusted the public service in some way, with nine per cent having strong trust and the same amount (28%) trusting or somewhat trusting the bureaucracy.
In February, 56% of Australians trusted the public service in some way, six per cent strongly.
Head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Philip Gaetjens will give the keynote speech to the public service on Tuesday evening in an annual address.
“The survey tells us what Australians think of their service delivery experience and identifies where the Australian public service can collectively do better,” he said prior to the speech.
Updated
Another severe thunderstorm warning for parts of NSW from BoM.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 15, 2020
for HEAVY RAINFALL for the Northern Tablelands and parts of Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast, Hunter, Central Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains and Central West Slopes and Plains Forecast Districts. Latest warning https://t.co/GLquC3Wh8O pic.twitter.com/xPY88mgxEh
Updated
Police are warning people not to be duped by a scam which cost a Sydney woman $22,000, AAP reports.
The 42-year-old from Sydney’s south-west received a phone call on Monday morning from a woman purporting to work at the Australian Taxation Office, telling her she owed a tax debt and the matter would be referred to police.
A short time later she received a phone call from a man who claimed to be a police officer. His phone number appeared to be that of the local police station.
Following the man’s instructions she withdrew cash and met him in a car park at a Wetherill Park shopping centre where she handed him $22,000.
Police say to be careful of unsolicited phone calls and requests for confidential information, as legitimate businesses don’t request that kind of information on an unexpected phone call.
Updated
⚠️UPDATED #Flood Warning issued for #OraraRiver. Moderate flooding is occurring at #Thora & #Bellinger. Minor flooding is occurring at #Repton. Minor flooding is expected at #Urunga. See https://t.co/bBpQwSODJB for details and updates; follow advice from @NSWSES. #NSWFloods pic.twitter.com/rsQ2mUUqQr
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 15, 2020
Mick Gooda notes that promises made to raise the age of criminal responsibility and to demolish the Don Dale youth detention centre promised in 2017 have not yet been acted on.
“We are still locking 10-year-olds up ... yet we had that commitment on the day ... when the chief minister committed to those two things and when he addressed the big crowd in parliament in the grounds of Parliament House that day.
“Again, it is like our hearts continue to be broken with promises like that.”
Updated
A former commissioner for the royal commission into the protection of children in the Northern Territory, Mick Gooda, has been asked on ABC TV about the footage of a police officer threatening detained Aboriginal teenagers in Alice Springs from 2018, which was released following an ABC FOI request.
Gooda said it was filmed just six months after the commission’s report was released, and he felt for the boys in the video:
“I just felt so bad and I felt for those boys being on the receiving end of that because ...it is not just the threat, but it is the language they use, and when you look at the video there is a lot of other police officers there and you think, jeez, one of them should have intervened and said, ‘That is a bit over the top, mate.’ They should have pulled it up. The abuse goes on and on and on in that video.”
Gooda says the incident is “just outrageous, over the top, and just shows a total lack of leadership on the commissioner’s part”, and criticised the commissioner’s comments urging sympathy for the officer involved:
They wear guns on their hips and they are allowed to shoot people, therefore we should hold police to a higher standard of accountability. To just say he is having a bad day and using that as an excuse for those threats that he perpetrated on those young people, is just over the top.
Updated
Here’s the latest on the weather situation in northern NSW and southern Queensland from AAP:
Residents of northern NSW remain on high alert with some towns around Murwillumbah ordered to evacuate while flood warnings remain in place across several regions.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the rain may have eased but the flood warnings have not.
Between 400 and 500ml has been recorded in the northern rivers and on the mid-north coast in recent days.
Meteorologist Agata Imielska said: “That’s about half a metre of rainfall in the space of about four days.”
An evacuation order from the State Emergency Service remains in place from Condong to Tumbulgum and surrounds, with an evacuation warning still current around the Tweed River at South Murwillumbah.
The SES said the region has been deemed “a high danger area” and about 1,000 properties are affected.
The evacuation order comes after the Tweed River burst its banks near Tumbulgum causing minor to moderate flooding.
There are also flood warnings in place for the Richmond River at Kyogle, the Wilsons River near Lismore, the Hastings River at Wauchope and the Nambucca River at Bowraville, while major flooding is possible at Bellingen, Thora and Urunga.
The BOM flood operations manager, Justin Robinson, said a flood warning was also in place for Kempsey where there was a possibility of moderate flooding on Wednesday.
“There is still an evolving flood situation,” he said.
Meanwhile the low-pressure system off the coast of south-east Queensland has brought massive rainfall and gale-force winds.
On the Gold Coast the weather system also caused massive coastal erosion, with the surf club at Currumbin becoming an island.
Updated
First international students back on campus in NT
The first international students to return to Australia since the pandemic hit are back on campus in the Northern Territory, AAP reports.
About 60 students from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia landed in Darwin on 30 November.
They’ve now finished two weeks’ mandatory quarantine and on Tuesday started studying at Charles Darwin University.
The pilot program is expected to boost the NT economy and help planning for the re-entry of international students to other states.
The students undertook pre-departure health screening before quarantining at the Howard Springs facility near Darwin.
Vice chancellor Prof Simon Maddocks said CDU had supported the students while they were isolating.
“CDU organised a comprehensive support program for students during their quarantine period, including care packages, daily phone calls, exercise classes, and English language workshops,” he said.
The group is a mix of new and previously enrolled students returning to Darwin to continue their education. They are enrolled in a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and Vet programs including law, nursing, IT, teaching, accounting and engineering.
Updated
Some photos from the protest where former Greens leader Bob Brown was arrested, from Tasmania’s Greens leader Cassy O’Connor.
Bob Brown arrives at Swansea police station after being arrested, with 16 year old Harriet, for bodily defending Swift parrot forests in the eastern tiers. #politas pic.twitter.com/fP3a6NRJ3G
— Cassy O'Connor 🍀 (@CassyOConnorMP) December 15, 2020
South Australia’s chief health officer Nicola Spurrier has provided some more details on the review of the CCTV footage at the Pepper’s Waymouth hotel where the outbreak occurred.
She says ventilation in the hotel corridors was not good, and that was possibly how the security guard caught Covid from a returned traveller:
What we have seen is that one of the security guards, that was one of the cases, was situated outside the room of what we think is our index case which was the traveller.
Of course, when you are a guest at the hotel or a traveller, there are times when you have to open the door to pick up food, or to get linen, or drop the tray, and so during those times of course it is possible for droplet and aerosol to come out of that room. If the ventilation in the passageway is not optimal, then it is possible for those droplets to concentrate, and we had a security guard sitting there for a relatively long period of time, and that was when you one of the cases is one of the security guards.
A Nepalese couple upstairs from this case may have also caught the virus from handling items or touching a door touched by someone else infected, Spurrier said, but she admitted they might never know what led to the transmission. Improvements will be made to medi-hotels to address these possible transmission methods.
Updated
Bob Brown arrested for trespassing
Former Greens leader Bob Brown has been arrested for trespassing while attempting to halt logging in the north-east Tasmanian forest, AAP reports.
The 75-year-old former senator is seen being taken into custody on Tuesday morning in the Eastern Tiers forest in a video released by the Bob Brown Foundation.
“I’ve just been arrested for trespassing on my own public land as a Tasmanian and as an Australian,” Brown says in the video.
He was later granted police bail.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson and Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor were moved on after being given a police direction, and three other people remained locked on to logging machinery, the foundation said.
Tasmania police confirmed they had arrested and charged three people after a protest in the Lake Leake area.
Two women, aged 57 and 49, were also charged with trespass and bailed.
The forest is home to the critically endangered swift parrot, fewer than 300 of which could remain in Australia, according to a recent study.
Updated
Severe Weather Update: Minor to Moderate #flooding NE #NSW & SE #Qld. Video current at at 12:00 pm AEST Tuesday 15 December 2020.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 15, 2020
Latest forecasts: https://t.co/boJ4ZE1k72 pic.twitter.com/9K5t7Mx54c
Scott Morrison could be one of the first to travel to New Zealand under the new bubble arrangement if the next trans-Tasman leaders meeting set to be held in New Zealand goes ahead in early 2021, AAP reports.
A spokesman for NZ’s PM, Jacinda Ardern, said the bubble timeline was unrelated to the prime ministerial visit but if it was ready in time “that would be a bonus”.
Australia and New Zealand first gave in-principle agreement to a shared non-quarantine travel arrangement in May, with both countries suffering outbreaks since.
The delay in establishing the bubble is New Zealand’s responsibility.
On Tuesday its Covid minister, Chris Hipkins, said reopening would require extra work from officials and Cabinet approval, and was therefore impossible until late January at the earliest.
“I was at Auckland airport this morning going over with them their plans to separate the airport into two areas ... for people who are coming from non-safe zone countries and the safe side,” he said.
“We’re also talking to the airlines. They have their fleets grounded and they have to bring the capability back up.
“We’ve also still been working through those final details, so that when we do open up we can tell people what would happen in the event of an outbreak, whether in New Zealand or Australia.”
Updated
And with that, my time on today’s blog comes to and end and I leave you with the ever capable Josh Taylor to keep you on top of the rest of the day’s news.
Updated
South Australia’s chief health officer Nicola Spurrier has said poor ventilation at the quarantine hotel may have led to the Adelaide outbreak that led to the state going into lockdown last month.
Spurrier said a review of CCTV vision from the Peppers Waymouth hotel had found no “significant breaches” of infection control.
She said the infection came from a security guard who was in the corridor on the floor where a returned traveller from the UK was staying – and that staff had followed protocols.
Updated
In some good news, Sydney Seaplanes has successfully completed a demonstration of a flight between Sydney and Canberra, landing on Lake Burley Griffin, and our Mike Bowers was there to capture the moment.
The company has applied to open up the route to consumers, hoping to fly three return flights a day between Rose Bay and Lake Burley Griffin.
They’re still working with the relevant authorities on opening the route up, but hope to have it up and running in the second half of 2021.
Updated
First it was toilet paper, now lobsters. Woolworths is introducing limits on its half-priced lobsters after shoppers rushed to snap up the crustaceans at only $20 a pop.
7 News is reporting Woolworths has sold more WA rock lobsters in the first four days of the half-price promotion than it did during the whole of last year’s Christmas season.
“Since introducing our WA rock lobsters across Australia last week, we’ve seen incredible customer demand,” the supermarket said, confirming there was now a limit of four per customer.
Best to snap them up before they’re gone. And if you’re wondering what to do with your new, cheap lobsters, we also have you covered:
Updated
Australia's payroll jobs rise in past fortnight
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has said Australia’s economic recovery has continued, with payroll jobs again rising in the past fortnight.
AAP has the story:
Employment continues to improve across the nation with more than three-quarters of jobs lost during the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic restored.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said payroll jobs rose by a further 0.4% across the fortnight to 28 November.
“More than three-quarters of payroll jobs lost to mid-April had been regained by the end of November, however they remained 2% lower than mid-March,” the bureau’s Bjorn Jarvis said.
The figures are a prelude to the official labour force figures due on Thursday.
Economists expect a less spectacular 40,000 increase in the number of people employed during November, after the surprising 178,800 surge in October.
That is expected to keep the unemployment rate at 7%, still shy of the 22-year high of 7.5% seen in June.
Meanwhile, consumer confidence has struck new highs for 2020, which should have retailers rubbing their hands in anticipation of a strong Christmas shopping season.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index rose 1.7% in the past week to 111.2 points, with most of the survey’s sub-indices now back or even higher than their pre-pandemic levels.
The “confidence in future economic conditions” index is at an 18-month high.
A separate analysis by Deloitte Access Economics says the retail industry has weathered the pandemic remarkably well, and the Christmas period is looking more positive for retailers than expected.
In its retail forecasts report, it notes the December quarter will be the first with limited Covid restrictions since the second wave hit Victoria.
Updated
The secretary of NSW Department of Education has said 31 government schools on the north coast have been shut due to flooding.
Communities are still getting hit hard up the NSW North Coast. We now have 31 Government schools not operational because of flood waters and access issues.
— Mark Scott (@mscott) December 15, 2020
The SES has issued evacuation orders for Condong, Tumbulgum and surrounding areas. The evacuation centre is at Wollumbin high school.
Major flood warning just issued for Bellinger River. From the @BOM_NSW : “Floodwaters are moving toward Bellingen, arriving this afternoon.”
— Jake Lapham (@JakeLapham) December 15, 2020
This is the river right now (there is a bridge under there), rain torrential. @abcnews pic.twitter.com/6yZTRhKC4W
Updated
An enormous whale carcass has washed up on a Surf Coast beach. Authorities urge caution, saying the carcass could attract sharks:
Incredible photos of a massive whale carcass on a Surf Coast beach have emerged as authorities issue a shark warning for nearby beaches.
— Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) December 15, 2020
Read more: https://t.co/NPh3hDAV9t pic.twitter.com/FGXZAxc3Bf
Updated
Beaches across the east coast, particularly in northern NSW and southern Queensland, are being battered by strong winds and heavy rain, causing large chunks of the shore line to wash away.
“A year ago, Australians were fighting bushfires, now slabs of our eastern coastline are falling into the ocean,” said Gavan McFadzean, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s climate program manager. “Australians are experiencing climate change right now.”
McFadzean had warned the coming wet summer could bring further coastal erosion.
“The world’s top scientists warn melting sea ice and glaciers will raise sea levels by 30–60cm by 2100, even if global warming is capped at two degrees. That means a lot more of the coastal damage we’re witnessing right now.”
The tip of Bribie Island is barely holding on after another morning of rough surf and king tides. Vegetation has held a lot of the land in place, but water is still rushing through to Pumicestone Passage. Report on 7NEWS at 6pm. https://t.co/T9Yp0jMX9G #qldweather #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/80rBH7AMSn
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) December 15, 2020
It comes as the tip of Bribie Island is barely holding on – only vegetation keeping it connected to the mainland – and as Byron Bay’s pristine beaches are battered by the storms.
Updated
New variant of Covid-19 in England
The World Health Organization is investigating a new Covid-19 variant in England.
The WHO announced the nre variant had emerged in the UK, but said there is no evidence the strain behaves differently to the existing types of the virus.
“We are aware of this genetic variant reported in 1,000 individuals in England,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told a news briefing in Geneva. “Authorities are looking at its significance. We have seen many variants, this virus evolves and changes over time.”
Updated
The ACT has reported no new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, keeping the territory’s total at 117. There are also no active cases in the ACT.
114 people have recovered from the virus there, and there have been three deaths.
There were also minor changes announced to the ACT’s stage 4 restrictions, with businesses and venues now able to have one person per two square metres of usable space.
Updated
As flood warnings are issued for northern NSW and as storms lash the northern rivers, some images have come through showing what residents are facing today:
FLOODED | Mount St Patrick Primary School in Murwillumbah is under, and the Showgrounds are still completely submerged @nbnnews pic.twitter.com/oTNxUzi6tF
— Georgia Schefe (@GeorgiaSchefe) December 15, 2020
With heavy rain continuing to fall in Northern NSW, motorists travelling on Waterfall Way, Dorrigo, have been left to find an alternate route as Newell Falls overflows onto the road.
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) December 15, 2020
There are flood evacuation warnings further North: https://t.co/3pIfxekCAz#NSWstorms #9News pic.twitter.com/5UphyUoGSZ
This is how you order coffee at Chinderah’s Cubby Bakehouse .. the Tweed River has broken its banks and is rising. @sunriseon7 @7NewsSydney @7NewsBrisbane pic.twitter.com/4nIadQW1gJ
— Bianca Stone (@Bianca_Stone) December 14, 2020
Flooding is impacting Tumbulgum in Northern New South Wales. The Tweed River is expected to peak around 2.3 metres - just below the major flood level @10NewsFirstSyd @10NewsFirstQLD pic.twitter.com/NxnH9QN8Ji
— Johnpaul Gonzo (@JohnpaulGonzo) December 14, 2020
Tweed River is rising by the minute.. it’s alee ready over the road and we’re yet to reach high tide. @sunriseon7 pic.twitter.com/1Yw3cs5ZUM
— Bianca Stone (@Bianca_Stone) December 14, 2020
Updated
The Reserve Bank’s minutes of its December meeting are out. The 20-second summary: although the recovery is going better than expected, economic supports should stay in place.
It said:”Turning to the domestic economy, members noted that the recovery had established reasonable momentum, aided by the lifting of restrictions in Victoria. Expectations for GDP growth in the September and December quarters had been upgraded over the preceding month, and employment had also recovered faster than anticipated. At the same time, members noted that there continued to be a significant amount of spare capacity in the labour market and the economy more generally. The recovery was still expected to be uneven and protracted, with inflation remaining low. Substantial policy support would therefore be required for a considerable period.”
On the labour market, it noted employment had “grown strongly” in October despite tapering of jobkeeper wage subsidies, and the participation rate has also increased.
There were a few words of warning:
“Despite these positive developments, members noted that the unemployment rate had ticked up in recent months and that broader measures of labour underutilisation remained high. Hours worked were around 4% lower than before the pandemic, and many employed workers were still on reduced or zero hours. The recovery in employment and average hours worked for full-time workers had been much more subdued compared with those working part time. Members agreed that, on the whole, there was still a significant amount of spare capacity in the labour market and that this would remain a key policy challenge for some time.
“A further indication of spare capacity in the labour market was low wages growth. Members noted that growth in the wage price index slowed to 0.1% in the September quarter to be just 1.4% in year-ended terms. This was the slowest wages growth in the two-decade history of the series.”
Updated
The ACCC is suing the company behind Michel’s Patisserie, Brumby’s Bakery, Donut King and Gloria Jean’s Coffee for allegedly ripping off its franchisees.
The ACCC is seeking fines and “adverse publicity orders” against the Retail Food Group (RFG), which is accused of engaging in unconscionable conduct and making false or misleading representations.
The ACCC will argue that RFG broke the law when it sold or licensed 42 loss-making stores to franchisees between 2015 and 2019.
“The prospective franchisees simply had no way of knowing the true financial performance of the stores, and we allege that Retail Food Group took advantage of this when selling or licensing the stores,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.
In documents issued to new franchisees, RFG claimed it could not estimate earnings for particular franchises.
RFG is also accused of misappropriating funds. Franchises had to pay marketing and advertising fees but the money was diverted to “personnel costs” for executives and employees who were not in marketing roles, according to the ACCC.
In regards to the marketing fund of Michel’s Patisserie, $22m was shifted towards other purposes.
Updated
There have been no new cases reported from South Australia today, with the state reporting no active cases and no patients in hospital.
South Australian COVID-19 update 15/12/20. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsG7zGQ or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/vibCCyhHY5
— SA Health (@SAHealth) December 15, 2020
Cedar Meats did not breach workplace safety laws
Cedar Meats, the site of a major Covid cluster in Victoria, has been found not in breach of workplace safety laws, WorkSafe Victoria has said.
An investigation was launched in May after 88 cases originated at the meatworks during Victoria’s first wave.
Worksafe Victoria CEO Colin Radford told the Victorian parliament’s Covid committee that the investigation had concluded, with no breaches found.
“That investigation has concluded, and we have not found evidence of any breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” Radford said.
Guardian Australia reported in May that part of the investigation included whether workers were provided appropriate personal protective equipment, as well as checks on measures to ensure workers maintained physical distancing wherever possible and had access to hygiene products, such as hand sanitiser.
Cedar Meats workers were not given the option to stay home from work until Wednesday 29 April. Masks were provided to workers who stayed on only after four cases were identified and the plant was ordered to close.
Radford said there were still 24 investigations still under way into workplaces including aged care, retail and the hotel quarantine program.
Updated
The SES says up to 1,000 properties between Condong and Tumbulgum are in a “high danger area” as the region is ordered to evacuate.
The Tweed River has burst its banks near Tumbulgum and some flooding is reported. Flash-flooding has closed roads and isolated small communities already.
The SES says electricity, phones, internet, water and sewerage could be interrupted, and people in those areas need to closely monitor the weather and road closures.
Energy provider Essential Energy says more than 700 homes from Kempsey to the Queensland border are without power and crews are working to restore services, although flooding is restricting access to 120 homes.
“If you remain in the area after this time, you may become trapped and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you,” the SES warned.
Updated
Still with Scott Morrison, in Tasmania, being asked about China and the coal ban and the escalating diplomatic and trade war.
Q: When will you speak to the Chinese president man-to-man?
(Yes, that happened.)
Morrison doesn’t look that sure about man-to-man: “Whether it is man-to-man, we will have a direct conversation with each other at some point.” e says.
The prime minister thinks there will be some opportunities for that over the course of 2021: “I hope it happens sooner than that, but there is no barrier to that occurring on the Australian side.”
Updated
The prime minister is in Tasmania unveiling a new energy agreement with Tasmania.
Naturally journalists are asking Scott Morrison about China and the reports about coal. Morrison says the government is seeking clarification from Beijing but if there’s a ban in place “that would obviously be in breach of WTO rules” and “obviously in breach of our own free trade agreement – so we would hope that is certainly not the case”.
He says Australia has other export markets for coal.
Asked whether the government has messed up the relationship with Beijing he says he thinks not. Australia has been right to stand up for liberal democratic values and for sovereignty. Control over foreign investment, critical infrastructure and communications were not things countries should cede.
Morrison says Australia was also right to want to understand the causes of the Covid-19 pandemic with the World Health Organization. (That’s not quite how this last point went down but let’s keep rolling.) He says people who accuse him of creating a hash of the Australia-China relationship “might want to nominate which one of Australia’s national sovereign interests ... the government should have traded away”.
Updated
Shares in coalminers plunge on China ban reports
Shares in coalminers plunged this morning on reports that China has formalised a ban on Australian coal.
About 11.15am, Whitehaven Coal was down 8.36% and Yancoal was down 10.44%.
Big miner BHP, which makes most of its money from iron ore but owns coalmines, was down 2.27%.
Its rival Rio Tinto, which does not mine any coal, dropped just 0.97%.
Updated
NSW has recorded no new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, but five new cases were reported in overseas travellers.
WATCH: Dr Jeremy McAnulty provides a #COVID19 update for Tuesday 15 December 2020. pic.twitter.com/R6tAVLIXng
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 15, 2020
In the video above, Dr Jeremy McAnulty noted that testing numbers had dropped slightly, to 5,333, compared with 6,173 in the previous 24 hours.
NSW Health has encouraged people to continue getting tested and to not be complacent in the face of low case numbers.
Updated
Craig McLachlan found not guilty
Actor Craig McLachlan has been found not guilty of indecently assaulting and assaulting four women during a run of the Rocky Horror Show in Australia.
Melbourne magistrate Belinda Wallington threw out all 13 charges.
The Gold Logie winner pleaded not guilty to the seven charges of indecent assault and six of common assault in relation to four women while working on the Melbourne leg of a 2014 stage show.
He was alleged to have touched one woman near her genitals during a live show while he was hidden from the audience but she could be seen, as well as that he forced his tongue into another woman’s mouth during an unscripted kiss, and that he twice kissed another co-star when backstage.
He was also accused of running his hand up the leg of a fourth woman while she was performing.
He maintained his innocence during a contested hearing that began last year.
He completely denied some of the incidents happened, and for those he didn’t contest, he said they were completely consensual or in the spirit of the show. He was apparently given licence to improvise during the show.
The actor has begun defamation action against the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC and one of the women over news reports last year that alleged he engaged in sexual misconduct, harassment and indecent assault during the production.
Updated
Evacuations at Condong, Tumbulgum and surrounds
NSW SES has issued evacuation orders at Condong, Tumbulgum and surrounding areas.
FLOOD EVACUATION ORDER - NSW SES is directing people within Condong, Tumbulgum and surrounding areas to evacuate the high danger area via the Tweed valley Way.
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) December 14, 2020
Evacuation Centre is at Wollumjbin High School.
Continue reading https://t.co/BCnxAe6tsR pic.twitter.com/6DWtNUAO5k
Floodwaters have begun to close local low-lying roads and the Tweed Valley Way to the north of Tumbulgum.
The SES expects floodwaters to begin inundating the area and has told people that if they remain they may be trapped.
Updated
Just a little more on the Mokbel case: Victoria’s court of appeal quashed the drug convictions even though he had already served the time on those particular charges.
Mokbel remains behind bars on other drug charges though.
Rowena Orr, lawyer for the commonwealth, said the director would not pursue a retrial.
“The director has already determined in this matter to not conduct a retrial,” she said. “Given that the applicant has served his sentence, the director has made that determination.”
The convictions were set aside due to the involvement of gangland barrister and police informer Nicola Gobbo, famously known as Lawyer X.
Between September 2005 and March 2006 Gobbo was representing Mokbel in court and acting as a police informant.
Mokbel famously fled to Greece while standing trial as the financier behind the importing operation, and was convicted in his absence in March 2006. He was eventually captured at a coffee shop and extradited to Australia.
Updated
The Bureau of Meteorology has updated its flood warning for New South Wales, with warnings now issued for Thora and Bellingen.
⚠️Updated moderate #Flood Warning issued for #Thora and #Bellingen. Moderate flooding is occurring at #Thora. Floodwaters are moving toward #Bellingen, expected to arrive this afternoon. See https://t.co/jwNlsRHUql for details and updates; follow advice from @NSWSES. #NSWFloods pic.twitter.com/EkKNiUJZyX
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 14, 2020
Bowraville is near its flooding peak, and Macksville is still expecting its peak later this morning.
⚠️ #Flood Warning updated for #Nambucca River. #Browerville is currently near its peak with minor flooding. #Macksville is expected to peak later this morning. See https://t.co/2h8mIaHbCy for details and updates; follow advice from @NSWSES. #NSWFloods pic.twitter.com/clj5I27Imz
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 14, 2020
Updated
The finance and outgoing trade minister, Simon Birmingham, has addressed reports from Chinese state media that confirm China is imposing import restrictions on Australian coal.
He tends “not to believe everything ... in Chinese state-owned media but we have seen a pattern of disruption in relation to Australian coal” – so there seems no reason not to believe the report.
Birmingham made the case that as well as being discriminatory against Australia, the restrictions will harm China:
“These actions don’t just have impacts in relation to Australia as trade, but ultimately they have flow-on impacts in terms of China shifting from using Australian coal to coal from other producers around the world. That is of detriment in a range of different ways to Chinese production.
Australian coal is around 1.5 times more efficient in terms of energy production than most other competitor nations, including Chinese domestic coal. That means that to get the same level of energy generation, China will end up having to use more coal from other sources and generate more emissions from those sources, which will do anything but help China [to] meet some of the commitments it has made to the world around missions reduction as well.”
Asked about reports the Chinese government had issued a “please explain” on the elevated iron ore price, Birmingham said he was “not aware of any particular businesses that have faced that” because “the reports in that regard relate to industry bodies or associations in China, expressing their concern about the prices”.
Birmingham said the iron ore price was a function of market forces, and merely responded to lower supply and spikes in demand.
Updated
Queensland records no new local cases of Covid
Queensland has recorded no new local cases of Covid-19, but has one new case acquired overseas.
It brings total cases in Queensland to 1,228, including six deaths.
Tuesday, 15 December – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 14, 2020
• 0 locally acquired cases, 1 new case acquired overseas
• 19 active cases
• 1,228 total confirmed cases
• 1,398,254 tests
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,204 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/5uv7EdfVcZ
Updated
Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel has cocaine trafficking conviction quashed
Underworld figure Tony Mokbel has had a cocaine trafficking conviction quashed by the court of appeal, according to multiple reports, in yet another case impacted by the Nicola Gobbo-Lawyer X scandal.
#Breaking: Drug baron Tony Mokbel has had a conviction for cocaine trafficking quashed by the Court of Appeal over the #LawyerX legal scandal. CDPP said they would not pursue a re-trial. The COA will reserve their decision whether to order re-trial or acquittal @theheraldsun
— Genevieve Alison (@GenevieveAlison) December 14, 2020
Updated
Jill Hennessy, the Victorian attorney general, had a very funny slip-up while responding to a question about the reforms of the court system caused by Covid-19.
She was trying to speak about “video kiosks” which Legal Aid Victoria had been using at regional and rural locations to speak to clients.
But she accidentally said “video chaos” – a slip we can surely all appreciate because it’s been (a) quite a year and (b) most of us have spent stupid amounts of time in video meetings.
You perhaps have a favourite 2020 video meeting story. This is undoubtedly mine.
Updated
Victoria’s attorney general Jill Hennessy has confirmed the government is still trying to find a special investigator to examine whether crimes were committed by current or former police officers and the gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo.
The royal commission into police informants made the recommendation last month to appoint the investigator.
Hennessy said the government was making sure they appointed a suitably qualified person, and hoped to do so soon.
“We want it done as soon as possible, if I can give you and the committee that assurance,” she said.
Updated
Dr Tom Murray, a research fellow at Griffith University, has spoken to the ABC about his work investigating erosion at Byron Bay.
Murray says that a large “sand slug” has built up at a section known as the pass over the past six to 12 months. That meant that Byron’s Main beach was not getting the sand it usually did to protect it from storms coming from the east.
That made erosion particularly bad during the past few days.
“We only started recently looking into the Byron coast [so] I couldn’t comment on worst case, but locals are saying it is the worst in a generation at Main beach.
“When we get a big storm from the east there is no sand buffer to protect against storm erosion. But ... over the next few months it will fill in and the beach will come back.
“When we live on the coast we live in a highly dynamic environment and we do have to be ready to see these images and experience these events.”
Murray reckons the beach will correct naturally when the sand moves from the slug to the beach, but said climate change was affecting wave patterns that could have a longer-term impact.
Updated
1,000 properties at risk from flash floods in northern NSW
Flash flooding has closed roads and isolated small communities in northern NSW, with potentially 1,000 properties affected, as that region and south-east Queensland brace for another day of wild weather, AAP reports.
The State Emergency Service has issued a flood evacuation warning for south Murwillumbah, Tumbulgum and surrounding areas after the the Bureau of Meteorology predicted flooding for the Tweed River.
Heavy rain continued overnight in the Tweed catchment and will continue.
The SES says electricity, phones, internet, water and sewerage could be interrupted, and people need to closely monitor the weather and road closures.
Residents should be prepared to evacuate when instructed to do so.
A flood evacuation order would be issued by the NSW SES if and when evacuations are required.
It warns once floodwater begins inundating the area, roads may be cut, trapping anyone who stays behind.
“If you remain in the area after this time, you may become trapped and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you,” the SES warned.
Major flooding is expected at Tumbulgum around midday. A high tide and moderate flooding is forecast at Murwillumbah and Chinderah during Tuesday morning.
Further rises are possible if the rain intensifies again in the next few hours.
Minor flooding is occurring along the Nambucca River at Bowraville, with moderate flooding expected on Tuesday morning.
Minor flooding is possible at Macksville later on Tuesday morning.
NSW SES assistant commissioner Nicole Hogan said there had been more than 1,000 calls for help in the past few days.
“There are no evacuations taking place at the moment,” she told ABC TV. “It is a warning for the community so that they can prepare to evacuate should the situation arise.
“There was significant rainfall within the Tweed area last night. We’ve also had significant weather in Coffs Harbour and Lismore.”
A low-pressure system off the coast of south-east Queensland has brought massive rainfall and gale-force winds which combined with king tides to wash away much of Byron Bay’s Main beach on Monday.
On the Gold Coast the weather system has caused massive erosion, with the surf club at Currumbin becoming an island.
A team of 300 SES workers from across the state were sent to support the northern NSW teams, as well as resources from Fire and Rescue, NSW RFS and NSW police.
“They’ll be out there working with the community, giving them information. If required, flood rescue. And in other instances, perhaps looking at tarping roofs, storm damage requests,” Hogan said.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Mark Roche said his crews had received about 1,400 requests for help, mainly for leaking roofs, tarping and downed trees.
The wind and heavy rain was expected to ease, but he urged people to remain vigilant, stay out of floodwaters, drive with caution and turn back if they see a road or a bridge that’s flooded.
“As we say, if it’s flooded, forget it,” he told ABC TV.
Updated
The final Guardian Essential poll of the year found most of us reckon we’re the victim in this trade war with China, by the way.
Updated
Simon Birmingham 'deeply troubled' by China moving away from Australian coal
Trade minister Simon Birmingham has spoken to the ABC about China moving away from Australian coal imports.
“We see these reports and obviously, again, are deeply troubled by them,” Birmingham said.
“They, if true, would indicate discriminatory trade practices being deployed by Chinese authorities and we would urge them to rule that out swiftly and demonstrate that they are continuing to operate in a manner consistent with the type of market principles they committed to as part of their membership of the World Trade Organization and through their free trade agreement.”
Updated
I can recommend a look at the latest in Guardian Australia’s dreams interrupted series.
No doubt some of you would have made the connection between this nutty weather and climate change and wondered how that’s all going. Not well.
Updated
If you’re hankering for some politics, Victoria’s attorney-general Jill Hennessy is currently appearing before the public accounts and estimates committee.
She is being asked about funding for Ibac, the Lawyer X scandal, and various other issues.
Victoria records no new Covid cases
No new cases anywhere in Victoria, including in those pesky quarantine hotels (which are apparently not so pesky anymore and will not cause us any more problems).
Yesterday there were 0 new local cases, 0 new cases acquired overseas and 0 deaths reported. 7 active cases remain in quarantine. 8,296 test results were received - thanks, #EveryTestHelps to #StaySafeStayOpen. https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco pic.twitter.com/pKNWFH77Mc
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) December 14, 2020
That is a frankly wild 46 days without a locally acquired case.
Updated
There’s no storms in Victoria, but there was an enormous demand for ambulance services last night.
UPDATE
— Ambulance Victoria (@AmbulanceVic) December 14, 2020
Ambulance Victoria is experiencing an extremely high demand for ambulances in the metropolitan region.
All Code 1 (the most urgent and critically unwell) patients are being seen in a timely manner.
(1 of 3)
General secretary of the Victorian ambulance union Danny O’Brien told Melbourne radio station 3AW that a code red emergency was called, a rare event that has only occurred a handful of times, such as during the thunderstorm asthma event in 2016.
He said at the busiest point there were more than 100 callouts deemed as requiring an ambulance, but not a single ambulance available.
It’s unclear what caused the spike of demand, but Hill reckoned it may have just been a “flow-on” effect of people not attending to their health properly during the pandemic. Melbourne was also pretty hot yesterday, with temperatures in the low 30s.
Last night was “unprecedented in that it’s not tied to anything other than an unusual surge in workload”, Hill said.
Updated
'The bushfire season last year taught us to expect the unexpected,' Gladys Berejiklian says
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has just spoken to the media, providing an update on the weather situation (and confirming she has booked in some leave for January).
“We’ve already had evacuations in place in South Murwillumbah. We don’t want anybody to suffer injury or worse. We know that the storm conditions haven’t eased and they’re continuing, and I’ll have better advice in a couple of hours.
“But the advice to date is that the conditions will ease by today. But in the meantime, we expect parts of the north coast and mid-north coast to continue to get lashed.
“I know for many people, they’re used to flooding conditions. But the bushfire season last year taught us to expect the unexpected. What we saw last year was catastrophic conditions that we’d never been seen before.”
Berejiklian said government weather experts had predicted an increase in extreme weather events, but she was hoping these events wouldn’t continue throughout summer.
She said there would no doubt be an impact on tourism operators, who had already copped months without bookings because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but she believed communities would “bounce back”.
“We’ve actually seen regional tourism pick up in the second-half of this year, and certainly tourism operators have had more of a spread out season.
“So hopefully any impact that’s sustained by the operators won’t be so devastating. But, of course, we can’t make that assessment until the storms pass and we work out what the damage is.”
Updated
Byron Bay restaurant owner says he's 'dodged a bullet'
Ben Kirkwell believes he’s “dodged a bullet” after his Byron Bay restaurant narrowly avoided being washed into the Pacific Ocean, AAP reports.
His family and the Fink family co-own the salubrious Beach Byron Bay restaurant, which came close to going under as a mountainous swell smashed into the dunes under it in the early hours of Monday morning.
Kirkwell says a six-layer wall of sandbags installed in November held out, but the easterly swell direction had also helped spare the building in the northern NSW town.
“The waves were whitecapping across the bay and smashing into Belongil and Main Beach and we had big surf crashing over the sandbags at the foot of our restaurant,” he told AAP.
Kirkwell said the sandbags withstood a full stress test, and without them the waves would have gouged out the sand beneath his restaurant and the caravan park next door and washed them away.
“At the end of day we are looking like we might have dodged a bullet so we’re very lucky in that,” he said.
Despite the dramatic moments, he said it had been businesses as usual at the restaurant on Monday.
Kirkwell said they had a particularly brisk morning trade selling coffee to journalists before later offering a full lunch service to 100 diners.
“They were all sitting enjoying their wine and fresh seafood, really oblivious to what was going on,” he said.
Clarke Beach and Main Beach have lost so much sand that they’re covered with water at high tide.
There’s a near sheer drop from the dune beach access paths to the sand with locals saying about four metres of dune and vegetation were washed away during the king tide.
Local man Neil Holland and his wife Erica took a stroll along Clarkes Beach (also known as Main Beach) at low tide to inspect the damage on Monday afternoon.
He said the restaurant was lucky, but more sandbags were needed and the rest of the dune system should be reinforced.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do, because we need to stop it [now],” Holland, who has lived in Byron for 47 years, told AAP.
“Because [otherwise)] where do they stop it? When it cuts Lawson Street? It really can’t be left to keep going.”
Holland said the erosion was also exposing rock reefs under the sand, making the beach treacherous for swimmers and surfers, especially tourists and visitors who weren’t aware of the danger.
He said he was certain the weather causing the erosions is being caused by manmade climate change.
“It is absolutely, this has been ongoing now for years. It just seems to be exponential, it’s been accelerating,” Holland said.
Kirkwell does not believe the scale of erosion was caused by manmade climate change alone, but a combination of factors.
He said it was an east coast low-pressure system, longshore drift, king tides and easterly swells combining at the same time.
“They say this is a once-in-100-years storm, this is a once-in-a-generation type erosion event, so look it could happen, maybe not in my lifetime, but it could happen again,” Kirkwell said.
“Who knows, 2020 has been a hell of a year, we could get cyclones or anything still coming in so you never know what’s around the corner.
Updated
Protestors maintained a vigil outside the Mantra Hotel last night, according to organisers, as a fight against the detention and deportation of refugees enters a critical phase.
The 192 men being held in the hotel could be transported to another detention facility as early as today.
More on this story here:
The US has just recorded its 300,000th Covid-19 death (incidentally, on the same day the Electoral College formalises the election results). There’s more on that quite horrifying number here and below:
NSW watchdog delivers strip-search report
The NSW law enforcement watchdog will deliver its findings into strip searching by NSW police today, AAP reports.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission announced the investigation into the use by police officers of their powers to conduct strip searches in 2018 after it received specific complaints and anecdotal information from community organisations.
We have covered this issue extensively at Guardian Australia, including most recently in these pieces from last month.
Commissioner Lea Drake suggested last week that the report will include a new policy about strip-searching developed with NSW Police.
Drake was appearing before an upper house inquiry investigating First Nations over-representation in prisons and deaths in custody.
The commission has published several reports already in the life of the inquiry, which has looked at individual strip-search incidents as well as how police monitor potential misconduct.
Police who strip-searched children had not been properly trained and did not understand the law on what they were doing, reports released in May found.
The commission found that a 16-year-old girl was searched unlawfully at Byron Bay’s Splendour in the Grass music festival in 2018.
Police ordered her to strip completely naked in a tent that could not completely close, after a sniffer dog sat next to her as she entered the festival.
The male officer who first saw the girl had spent five minutes training on the topic in the past 14 years, the commission found.
In a report from July the commission made adverse findings against police officers involved in three of four searches of young people.
The inquiry has focused particularly on the treatment of young people, and also looked at the treatment of females.
The inquiry confirmed that Aboriginal youths and adults were disproportionately involved in strip-searching operations, Drake said last week.
The strip-searching inquiry was one of the earliest major moves by the independent agency, which was created in 2017.
Updated
Here’s more on the China-Australia coal brouhaha:
The Covid-19 vaccine will solve everything, right? Not exactly.
No free ride for Australian coal into China
Australia’s role as a major coal supplier to China looks set to end with a shifting of import restrictions, according to AAP.
The Asian superpower will throw open its doors to other coal suppliers including Mongolia, Indonesia and Russia, but not Australia, China’s state media outlet the Global Times reported.
The move follows a meeting of China’s National Development and Reform Commission and will allow coal imports without clearance restrictions for those other countries, but not Australia, the report said.
It’s the latest crackdown by China on Australian goods, which has so far hit consumables including beef, wine, barley and seafood, plus timber.
Australian exporters heavily reliant on China have been brought to their knees by deteriorating trade ties.
China is Australia’s most valuable export partner and in recent years has taken the majority of coal leaving Aussie shores, in an industry worth more than $10bn a year.
There are suspicions the trade tensions have grown from China’s grievance list spanning Australia’s foreign investment rules, banning Huawei from the 5G network and the push for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.
Updated
We will know more about this as the tide recedes, but this is our latest story on erosion at Byron Bay.
Happy Tuesday, who is up for some news?
NSW and Queensland endure wild weather
NSW and Queensland are facing another day of damaging waves, winds and rainfall, with warnings of further flooding, possible evacuations and coastal erosion, AAP reports.
A low-pressure system off the coast of south-east Queensland has brought massive rainfall and gale-force winds, which combined with a seasonal high tide to wash away much of Byron Bay’s main beach on Monday.
A severe weather warning has been issued for the NSW northern rivers and mid north coast.
Heavy rain has continued overnight in the Tweed catchment and will continue.
The State Emergency Service has now issued a flood evacuation warning for south Murwillumbah, Tumbulgum and Tweed Valley Way and surrounding areas after the the Bureau of Meteorology predicted possible flooding for the Tweed River.
A Byron Bay lifesaver (my dad!) says the beach has dropped about 2 metres. “Those are old wooden piers. They were last exposed about 30 years ago and the tops were cut off. Thinking that we would never see them again”. pic.twitter.com/seuhEsmJeh
— Stuart Khan (@stukhan) December 14, 2020
Major flooding is expected at Tumbulgum around midday, with the high tide and moderate flooding forecast at Murwillumbah and Chinderah on Tuesday morning.
Further rises are possible if the rain intensifies again in the next few hours.
Minor flooding is occurring along the Nambucca River at Bowraville, with moderate flooding expected on Tuesday morning.
Minor flooding is possible at Macksville later on Tuesday morning.
The SES says electricity, phones, internet, water and sewerage could be interrupted, and people in those areas need to closely monitor the weather and road closures.
It says residents should monitor the rapidly changing situation and be prepared to evacuate when instructed to do so.
A flood evacuation order would be issued by the NSW SES if and when evacuations are required.
It warns once floodwater begins inundating the area, roads may be cut, trapping anyone who stays behind.
“If you remain in the area after this time, you may become trapped and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you,” the SES warned in a statement on Tuesday.
NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan said there had been more than 1,000 calls for help in the past few days.
“There are no evacuations taking place at the moment. It is a warning for the community so that they can prepare to evacuate should the situation arise,” she told ABC TV.
“There was significant rainfall within the Tweed area last night. We’ve also had significant weather in Coffs Harbour and Lismore.
Conditions are expected to ease later on in the morning but there is the possibility of thunderstorms.
A team of 300 SES workers from across the state had been sent to support the northern NSW teams, as well as resources from Fire & Rescue, NSW RFS and NSW Police to support of the operation.
“They’ll be out there working with the community, giving them information. If required, flood rescue. And in other instances, perhaps looking at tarping roofs, storm damage requests,” Hogan said.
South-east Queensland received a reprieve on Monday afternoon after earlier experiencing tropical cyclone-like conditions. The damaging winds and heavy rainfall eased up by evening, but surf and tide conditions are still dangerous.
The damage to storm-lashed beaches could be lasting, with Surf Life Saving NSW warning the giant waves could create new, permanent rips at beaches previously considered to be safe.
Sites in NSW’s Northern Rivers District had about 400mm of rain in just a few days, and some locations near the Queensland-NSW border were inundated with 180mm of rain on Sunday.
Updated
