Donald Trump ‘keen’ for a meeting with Anthony Albanese, says Penny Wong
Sarah Basford Canales
The foreign affairs minister told Sky News on Thursday Australia was “very flexible” about when such a meeting between the leaders would occur but said US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, indicated the Trump administration was “keen” to reschedule it.
The prime minister has said, you know, we’re obviously very flexible about those arrangements. The president is a very, very busy man. But I was pleased that Secretary Rubio made clear that, you know, obviously, that they’re keen for a meeting – they want to reschedule it. It was disappointing, as he said, that they had to reschedule because the president had to return [to the US] as a consequence of what was occurring in the Middle East.
The comments follow days of speculation about when Albanese would lock in a meeting and whether it would occur in the White House. On Tuesday, Albanese suggested there would be many opportunities at the end of the year during summit season.
Key events
Nine flights have been cancelled today between Brisbane and Sydney due to weather conditions in New South Wales, Brisbane Airport has confirmed.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said wind gusts of up to 81 km/h were recorded at Brisbane Airport yesterday evening – the strongest for the month of July since records began 26 years ago.
The BoM has a gale wind warning in place for the Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast and Illawarra Coast, while a hazardous surf warning is also in place for New South Wales.
A severe weather warning also remains active for Lord Howe Island as the complex low pressure system moves eastward through the Tasman Sea.
The BoM said damaging surf with waves above five metres were expected in the surf zone until this evening.
These conditions may produce localised damage and coastal erosion, particularly about northwest facing beaches. Beach conditions in these areas could be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas.
Rafqa Touma
Handing over the blog now to Caitlin Cassidy.
Lisa Cox
More on fire ants nest detected at Tweed Heads
The agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said the quick response highlighted the success of work to educate communities in northern parts of the state about the threat posed by fire ants.
But the Invasive Species Council’s advocacy manager, Reece Pianta, said the detection of a nest at Tweed Heads was concerning and should be a “wake-up call for governments about the ongoing gaps in the national eradication program” and more investment was needed in suppression of fire ants and community education inside the biosecurity zone:
We have been warning governments for 18 months that, without urgent action to ramp up funding for suppression and community outreach in Queensland, it is only a matter of time before fire ants are discovered in Tweed Heads.
He said the council had confidence in the NSW government’s response to the latest detection but held concerns it was another instance of the invasive pest making its way over the border from Queensland in carrier materials.
Lisa Cox
Fire ants nest detected at Tweed Heads
A fire ants nest has been detected at a property at Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales, prompting the Invasive Species Council to warn about “ongoing gaps in the national eradication program”.
The NSW government said a biosecurity team responded to a report late Tuesday and treated and destroyed the nest on Wednesday morning.
The agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said the nest was an immature nest, which means it is a non-reproductive nest, and staff had surveyed the immediate 500 metres surrounding the nest to check for any further fire ant activity.
A genetic analysis has commenced of the specimen of fire ant to try to determine the source.
Moriarty said:
The NSW Government is committed to proactive early detection surveillance, focusing on high-risk areas and employing advanced tracking and modelling techniques.
More to come in the next post.
Driver appeals sentence over deadly wedding bus crash
A wedding bus driver impaired by an opioid during a horror crash that killed 10 people has appealed against his 32-year jail sentence.
Brett Button, 60, had been driving too fast and engaged in risk-taking behaviour before the deadly crash, which also injured 25 people, in the NSW Hunter Valley region in June 2023. He was sentenced in September to a maximum jail term of 32 years with a non-parole period of 24 years.
At the time, NSW District court Judge Roy Ellis said he was unaware of any other case that had such a devastating impact on so many people.
Button has filed a challenge to his sentence which was briefly heard in the NSW court of criminal appeal today. A hearing has been scheduled for 3 October.
Prosecutors expect voluminous evidence to be tendered, including victim impact statements from the families of those who died or were injured in the crash. The court will consider a psychological report for Button and several references attesting to his good character.
The bus driver will not be appealing against his conviction.
He pleaded guilty in the District court to 10 charges of dangerous driving causing death, nine counts of driving causing grievous bodily harm and 16 counts of causing bodily harm by wanton driving.
– Australian Associated Press
Nick Evershed
Destructive winds and heavy rainfall hit large swathes of the New South Wales coastline this week due to a vigorous coastal low offshore.
Here you can see the extent of the rainfall over the week as well as the areas affected by flooding in maps:
Petra Stock
Severe NSW weather beings to ease, but 32 warnings remain in place
Emergency warnings remained in place across New South Wales, as the heavy rain started to ease, but authorities remained on watch due to the ongoing risk of wild winds, flooding and damaging surf.
The NSW State Emergency Service said 32 warnings were still in place, including 4 emergency warnings due to coastal erosion in Wamberal and North Entrance.
The NSW SES Deputy Commissioner, Debbie Platz, said volunteers and emergency workers had responded to more than 4,000 incidents due to the complex low-pressure system this week.
We are seeing a lot of debris on our roads, and there are still trees down around some roads that have caused some closures. So what we’re asking people to do now is to be very careful, to plan where you’re driving to and make sure that it is accessible and to drive slowly to the road conditions to avoid having any impacts with other vehicles
As we near the conclusion of this event, can you please take some time to go and check on your neighbors and make sure that they are all safe
The highest number of incidents were in Sydney, the south coast and Illawarra area, and the mid north coast and Hunter.
Most of the damage was due to trees and power lines falling on vehicles and houses, as well as 12 flood rescues.
Shots allegedly fired at Concord home overnight
Investigations are under way after shots were allegedly fired at a home and a car was found burnt out in Sydney’s inner west.
Police were called to Davidson Avenue in Concord about 1.10am Thursday morning after reports of shots fired at a house, NSW police said in a statement. Damage to the front of the home “consistent with a projectile” was found.
There was no one home at the time of the incident and there were no reports of injuries, the statement said.
Emergency services were called to Stuart Street, Burwood, with reports of a car fire a short time later. Fire and Rescue NSW officers extinguished the fire but the vehicle was destroyed.
“The fire is being treated as suspicious and initial inquiries have led police to believe the two incidents may be linked,” the statement said.
Detectives are also investigating whether the house involved was the intended target of the shooting.
Donald Trump ‘keen’ for a meeting with Anthony Albanese, says Penny Wong
Sarah Basford Canales
The foreign affairs minister told Sky News on Thursday Australia was “very flexible” about when such a meeting between the leaders would occur but said US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, indicated the Trump administration was “keen” to reschedule it.
The prime minister has said, you know, we’re obviously very flexible about those arrangements. The president is a very, very busy man. But I was pleased that Secretary Rubio made clear that, you know, obviously, that they’re keen for a meeting – they want to reschedule it. It was disappointing, as he said, that they had to reschedule because the president had to return [to the US] as a consequence of what was occurring in the Middle East.
The comments follow days of speculation about when Albanese would lock in a meeting and whether it would occur in the White House. On Tuesday, Albanese suggested there would be many opportunities at the end of the year during summit season.
Qantas customers find out if their data exposed
Qantas customers are finding out if their personal information was exposed in a cyber-attack, as they are warned to be on high alert for scams.
The airline revealed a cyber incident on a third-party platform used by the airline’s contact centre that exposed the details of six million customers. Names, phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses are among the data believed to be exposed.
But Qantas reassured customers’ financial information, passport numbers, credit card details and frequent flyer Pin codes were not accessed.
In an email late last night, Qantas began informing the frequent flyer customers who were affected:
I’m writing to inform you that we believe your personal information was accessed during the cyber incident we recently experienced.
Customers have been urged to stay on high alert in the coming months because they may experience targeted phishing scams.
Qantas warned to remain alert for “unusual communications” claiming to be Qantas or emails asking for personal information or passwords.
“Remember, Qantas will never contact you requesting passwords, booking reference details or sensitive login information,” it said.
– Australian Associated Press
1,400 incident reports to NSW SES within last 24 hours
There have been 12 flood rescues during this weather event, the NSW SES deputy commissioner, Debbie Platz, says. She is giving a live update:
We have had more than 2,000 NSW SES volunteers and our emergency partners working extremely hard all week. During this time they have responded to over 4,000 incidents. In the last 24 hours alone, 1,400 incidents have been reported to us … power lines falling on vehicles and houses.
During this event we have seen 12 flood rescue activations, and this is where we have seen people driving vehicles and finding themselves in flooded water. Again, it is a timely reminder, it is extremely dangerous on our roads, [we are] particularly asking people not to drive through, play or walk in any flooded areas. We are also seeing a lot of debris on our roads and there are still trees down around some roads that have been caused some closures.
Some NSW emergency warnings downgraded as water begins to recede
The SES and the Bureau of Meteorology are giving an update on the vigorous coastal low.
The NSW SES deputy commissioner, Debbie Platz, says “in some areas where the water is receding, emergency warnings have been downgraded”.
She does not anticipate there will be any significant flooding farther downstream of the Warragamba Dam after it commenced spilling last night.
“We work closely with WaterNSW and the Bureau of Meteorology and we will continue to monitor this spill,” she said.
Creative Australia chair apologises to Sabsabi ‘for the hurt and pain’
The acting chair of Creative Australia, Wesley Enoch, has apologised to Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino, after the arts body rescinded their contract to represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale in February saying it wanted to avoid a “divisive debate”.
Speaking on ABC RN earlier this morning, Enoch said “sometimes there is a mischaracterisation of the art”:
I’m an Aboriginal theatre-maker. I know sometimes I talk racism to make sure that I can deconstruct it and say to an audience, this is not right. And I think that all artists have powerful kinds of engagements with the storytelling of the nation.
This work is not about terrorism. It is not about the glorification of terrorism in that way … Those who mischaracterise the work aren’t being honest to the intention of the work or the practice that this artist has, who is an incredibly peace-loving artist in the way that they construct their images.
Enoch went to say: “To Khaled and Michael – I’ve done it in person, but to say it here very publicly, I want to apologise to them for the hurt and pain they’ve gone through in this process.
Though we will be stronger as a sector because of it, I know it’s come at a personal cost, not just to them, but also to a whole range of people in the arts sector. And I feel that we, as Creative Australia, need to help the whole sector learn some of these lessons going forward.
After an independent external review of the decision, Creative Australia reinstated the pair last night.
Luca Ittimani
Australia’s big four banks not making it easy for customers to get bonus interest despite watchdog’s calls
Australia’s big banks have not implemented several recommendations designed to help customers qualify for bonus interest rates on savings products, more than 18 months after the regulatory advice was issued.
Two in three customers of bonus accounts miss out on the headline interest rate and instead receive a far smaller base rate, an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry found in late 2023.
Read the full story:
