Two Australians missing following earthquake in Taiwan
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that two Australians are reported missing after the earthquake in Taiwan.
A spokesperson said the Australian Office in Taipei is making “urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm their welfare”.
Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years. It has killed at least nine people and injured hundreds, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides.
18 people remain missing in total.
Key events
Activist appeals fine over Tiananmen protest posters
An activist is appealing a fine for illegal political advertising by displaying placards about the Tiananmen Square massacre, AAP reports.
Drew Pavlou was found guilty in a Brisbane court of failing to obtain consent for a regulated activity and not complying with a direction to cease from an authorised person. He was fined $1000 plus $2000 for the Brisbane City Council’s costs and just under $114 for court costs by magistrate Michael Holohan in October.
Pavlou set up a table and placards near the entrance to the Queen Street Mall and Chinese consulate in Brisbane’s city centre in May 2022 and displayed signs saying “Nothing happened on June 4, 1989, change my mind,” referring to the date when China’s military violently ended a protest, and its government’s efforts to censor discussion of the massacre.
Pavlou was issued an infringement notice after failing to comply with a Brisbane City Council officer’s instructions to “pack up” the placards as they constituted unauthorised advertising in the mall.
The university student had been communicating his view of the Chinese Communist Party via his freedom of expression under Queensland’s Human Rights Act, Pavlou’s lawyer Anthony Morris KC argued.
No conviction was recorded after the court heard it would affect Pavlou’s plans to become a lawyer.
Pavlou said he was appealing the fine as it was unfair that holding a blank sign on Brisbane City Council land was subject to a “massive fine”. He told AAP outside court:
I’m sure that we’ll win … (and) it’ll be a great victory for free speech. The Queensland Human Rights Act which makes very strong protections for freedom of speech, we think that that should protect the act of holding a blank sign.
Pavlou’s appeal against the fine due to be heard today was adjourned until 17 May as material had not been filed.
Train and bus delays in Sydney as extreme weather continues along east coast
Transport for NSW says its rail network is experiencing “widespread delays” as extreme weather continues to hit the east coast.
A spokesperson said delays are affecting the following lines at various locations: T1 North Shore & Western, T2 Inner West & Leppington and T3 Bankstown, T8 Airport & South and T9 Northern.
As of 1pm teams were also on site at Redfern station where a signal infrastructure issue was being fixed.
Sydney Trains is out working in extreme conditions to rectify weather issues as they arise. If access to your station or station car park is affected by flood waters, please do not attempt to enter the station.
Meanwhile, buses are replacing ferry services between Rydalmere and Parramatta due to the Parramatta weir overflowing.
The Transport for NSW spokesperson said there are currently no significant delays for Sydney’s bus network, but passengers were reminded to take care on the roads.
Three men dead after trucks collide head on
Rescue crews continue to clean up the carnage of a truck collision on a remote highway in South Australia that killed both drivers and a passenger, AAP reports.
The two semi-trailers collided head on just before 7am yesterday, 27km west of Yalata on the Eyre Highway in the state’s west.
The driver of one road train, a 77-year-old man from Adelaide’s north, died at the scene, along with a 25-year-old NSW man and a 45-year-old Victorian man in a second truck.
The Eyre Highway, which is the main road route connecting SA to Western Australia, was closed for most of Thursday while major crash investigators examined the scene but was reopened just after 8pm with a speed restriction in place.
Police have advised motorists further delays are expected throughout today, with possible closures of the highway as the remnants of the prime movers and their trailers are recovered from the scene.
The deaths are the 24th, 25th and 26th lives lost on South Australian roads this year.
Firefighters union calling for inquiry after truck failed during rescue
Victorian firefighters were forced to enter a building without water to rescue occupants last night after a firetruck with a history of faults failed, the United Firefighters Union says.
The union is now calling for a public inquiry into the state of Victoria’s firefighting resources.
Firefighters received the call last night and were told “kids are inside” but on arrival, the water pump failed. The union said firefighters entered the building rather than waiting for a back-up truck. One man was rescued and the building fire was controlled, but the union said firefighters are “furious”.
Secretary Peter Marshall said it was “appalling” that firefighters were being forced to risk their lives simply because the state government refuses to invest to replace old, failed trucks and equipment:
The union has previously said this fire season will be a late and severe one with almost 50 homes lost this fire season. Fire Rescue Victoria has for over two years raised the need for replacement appliances, but the minister has ignored the problem.
The union said it has previously identified 60 fire trucks in metropolitan Melbourne that are more than 15 years old and have cracked doors, old engines, and rusted roofs.
Benita Kolovos
War of words between Victorian energy minister and federal counterpart
A war of words has erupted between Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, and her federal counterpart, the resources minister Madeleine King, with the former accusing the latter of “sounding like a Coalition minister” when it comes to the issue of gas supply.
D’Ambrosio took to X/Twitter to hit back at comments King made on ABC Radio this morning about Queensland “doing the heavy lifting in terms of gas supply for the whole of the east coast”. King had said:
I’m not interested in criticising decisions of state governments. They make their choices. What I would say is that Queensland is doing the heavy lifting. But any gas you transport from long distances, like from far north Queensland in Gladstone, all the way down to Melbourne or the industrial estates of Victoria, it costs more money to get hold of that gas because you’ve got to move it through a pipeline. Or if the import terminals end up eventuating, you’ve got to freeze the gas and defrost the gas and transport the gas
King said she expected those costs to be passed on to consumers, and said her government had made reforms to shore up gas supply.
D’Ambrosio wasn’t having it. She wrote on X:
So [King] is more like a Coalition Minister on radio this morning. How about talking the facts: 1. [Queensland] gas is not doing ‘the heavy lifting’ as it remains a nett importer of Vic gas 2. There is no ban on Vic onshore con. gas exploration. And Vic fixed Iona – not you
So @MadeleineMHKing is more like a Coalition Minister on radio this morning. How about talking the facts: 1. Qld gas is not doing ‘the heavy lifting’ as it remains a nett importer of Vic gas 2. There is no ban on Vic onshore con. gas exploration. And Vic fixed Iona – not you
— Lily D’Ambrosio MP (@LilyDAmbrosioMP) April 4, 2024
SES responds to 823 calls for assistance
The deputy commissioner of the NSW State Emergency Service, Deborah Platz, just provided an update on the severe east coast weather to ABC News.
The SES had responded to more than 500 calls for assistance overnight, and that number has now grown to 823:
Predominantly those calls for assistance have been for falling trees, leaking roofs and sandbagging many houses and some aged care and childcare facilities.
Platz said the SES is preparing for more intense rainfall over the next 12-24 hours, particularly around the metropolitan area. With winds up to 90km/h the SES expects trees to be uprooted and potentially some structural damage to buildings.
The SES’s main areas of concern are the Hunter, the Sydney-Illawarra and Central Tablelands. She urged people to stay indoors and avoid driving where possible, particularly in flooded areas.
For us, our state is [divided] into seven zones. Five of those zones currently have active 24/7 incident management command teams operating and we have had over the past 24 hours, 836 volunteers who have been actively out and about helping people in our community.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines has shared this update on the severe east coast weather:
Earlier, Benita Kolovos reported that asbestos had been found at a second park in Melbourne. She now has the full story with all the details here:
Two Australians missing following earthquake in Taiwan
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that two Australians are reported missing after the earthquake in Taiwan.
A spokesperson said the Australian Office in Taipei is making “urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm their welfare”.
Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years. It has killed at least nine people and injured hundreds, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides.
18 people remain missing in total.
Aston Brown
‘Megadroughts’ of more than 20 years will worsen due to global heating, research finds
Australia should prepare for “megadroughts” that last more than 20 years and will worsen due to human-induced global heating, new research has found.
Megadroughts are exceptionally severe periods of below average rainfall that last decades. Climate modelling by the Australian National University, published in the journal of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences last week, found droughts spanning more than two decades have occurred in Australia over the past millennia and recur every 150 to 1,000 years, depending on the modelling used.
The study concluded that megadroughts of 20 years or more were “a natural feature of the Australian hydroclimate”, supporting previous research drawn from ice cores that found a 39-year drought hit eastern Australia about 800 years ago.
But Dr Georgy Falster, who led the research, said that a megadrought has not yet been officially recorded because Australia’s observational rainfall records have only been kept for a relatively short period of about 120 years.
Read the full story here:
