Residents on high alert with an out of control bushfire in eastern Victoria; Claims the Coalition not responsible for a lack of bipartisanship over the Voice; The Brisbane Lions say their grand final loss will spur them on next year.
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TRANSCRIPT:
- Residents on high alert with an out of control bushfire in eastern Victoria;
- Claims the Coalition not responsible for a lack of bipartisanship over the Voice;
- The Brisbane Lions say their grand final loss will spur them on next year.
Residents in parts of Victoria's southeast are on high alert as out-of-control bushfires rage in unseasonably hot and windy spring conditions.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling three separate fires in the Gippsland region, near Briagolong, Forge Creek and Loch Sport - with authorities especially concerned as campers and holidaymakers have descended on the region for the long weekend.
The conditions are being fuelled by spring heat, which continues to build up across Australia's eastern seaboard ahead of a cool arriving later this week.
In New South Wales, the Rural Fire Service has declared nine total fire bans, from the northern slopes down to the border with the ACT and Victoria, R-F-S Commissioner Rob Rogers warning against complacency.
"Everybody knows that that high temperature, low humidity, strong winds.. they're the danger times and that's what we're going to have today and we're going to have slight respite. But then back to Tuesday, Wednesday, going to have significant conditions again."
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Authorities are urging people to drive safely after a horror weekend on Queensland roads, with five people dying in separate crashes.
They include two men aged in their 30s who died in single-vehicle crash in Bundaberg and another woman who died in a two-car accident in Logan.
The state's Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says the tragedies are a reminder of the importance of being careful behind the wheel.
He says Queensland police are trying to make sure people are doing the right thing.
"I certainly know that the Queensland police service will be out in absolute force over this long weekend at the end of a school holiday period, when all too tragically we know that they are risky periods for incidents on our roads."
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Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has declared a successful Indigenous voice to Parliament referendum would be unprecedented - because there's a lack of bipartisanship on the issue.
Senator McKenzie says the opposition is not responsible for the lack of bipartisanship, despite both the Liberal and National parties supporting the no campaign.
The Senator's told Sky News there's strong support for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians - just not the voice advisory body.
"If this was a referendum about recognising First Australians in the constitution, A, it would bipartisan support and B, I think, 95 per cent of Australians will be voting 'yes'."
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New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been forced into virtual campaigning after testing positive to COVID-19.
Mr Hipkin's campaign team says the Labour leader woke up unwell - forcing him to cancel plans during a critical phase of the campaign, with an election on October 14.
A spokesman says Mr Hipkins will follow recommended health advice and isolate for five days or until he returns a negative test result - taking his commitments online.
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The federal government's new requirements for nursing standards in residential aged care homes has kicked in today.
From the 1st of October, aged care homes have mandatory targets for the length of care provided to each resident, with an obligation to provide an average of 200 care minutes per day - including 40 minutes with a registered nurse.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells says the changes will play a crucial role in determining star ratings for homes from April next year.
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Decarbonisation appears to be not deterring the next generation of oil and gas professionals.
The Wood Group is a long time engineering and construction contractor for oil and gas giants.
Its CEO Ken Gilmartin says that despite the government's focus on achieving net zero, various sectors are still focused on growing the battery minerals supply chain, and developing future products such as green steel.
He says producers are squeezing production out of existing oil and gas, and are looking at reducing the carbon intensity of existing plants, in Australia, Europe and North America.
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The Brisbane Lions say their heartbreaking AFL grand final loss this weekend is only the beginning.
In the club's first decider since 2004, the Lions fell four points short of Collingwood at the MCG in what some commentators have called one of the greatest grand finals of all-time.
But the club has vowed to use the pain of defeat to drive them one step further in 2024.
Despite playing finals for the last five seasons, coach Chris Fagan believes the Lions have only just truly moved into the premiership window.
"There's lots of teams in the history of the game that have lost close grand finals that have gone on to win premierships in the ensuing years... Grand final losses don't have to destroy you. They can make you."
