Australia news live: temperatures in parts of Victoria will approach ‘all-time maximum records’ on Tuesday, BoM says

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Alistair Drayton from the State Emergency Service has also provided an update on the flash flooding in Wye River last week, saying there was a “successful” three-hour operation today to retrieve 12 vehicles from the ocean using helicopters.

He says it’s the first time helicopters have been used for this sort of retrieval work:

The challenges of the environment we needed to be mindful of the environment and this was determined as being the best way to actually do that removal, by using helicopters and thereby not requiring heavy machinery on beaches or closing the Great Ocean Road any longer than we actually needed to.

Drayton says authorities were unable to retrieve a caravan from the water:

The caravan is not in a good way. In fact, it’s broken up .. when I last had a report that we’re still looking to recover [it], they have been covering bits and pieces, and we’ll continue to do as much as we can.

Authorities expecting ‘volatile’ fire behaviour despite winds not as strong as previous heatwave

Heffernan says while the weather will be very hot over the next few days, the winds will not reach the speeds the state saw on 9 January:

Whilst we’re not currently forecasting or predicting catastrophic conditions, we are well and truly into extreme conditions across multiple days across this heatwave event, starting on the Saturday in the west and south-west and possibly even Melbourne and surrounds. We will be declaring total fire bans throughout the course of this heatwave event, and we are asking community to stay up to date.

He stressed this further:

Even though the winds might not be as strong as what we saw two weeks ago, by the sheer heat and the topography of the landscape which some of these fires are burning currently … will spread rather rapidly and even under extreme conditions we can see quite volatile fire behaviour.

That’s all from me. Cait Kelly will take things from here. Take care.

Still seven major active fires across Victoria

Wiebusch says there continues to be seven major active fires across Victoria, including three that are not yet under control:

Walwa on the NSW border that has burned through 110,000 hectares

Wonnangatta Complex (Dargo), 52,000 hectares in really steep and difficult and challenging terrain

Mallacoota

Referring to the Mallacoota fire, Forest Fire Management’s chief fire officer, Chris Hardman, says:

We all know that the Mallacoota community went through a lot in 2020 they have been living with this fire for a number of days, and that fire continues to be active. It’s not threatening community members or anything at the moment, but certainly got good numbers of firefighters in there doing everything they can to contain that fire and hold it over the next few days. But again, circumstances can change with this hot weather coming ahead for firefighters in that part of the world.

CFA chief officer, Jason Heffernan, says last night, the Longwood fire – the biggest blaze to begin earlier this month covering 144,00 hectares – was contained. Of the 434 homes destroyed in blazzes across the state, 320 are located in this region.

He says:

Containment lines have been well established. and fire crews are now actively patrolling and monitoring to ensure that the fire stays within the planned containment line … It does not mean the fire is out, so within the next couple of days of heat wave conditions, particularly those very hot days, we are expecting to see internal fire and pockets of maybe unburned fuel reignite or flare up. Firefighters and fire authorities will be on hand to deal with those as they occur. So again, we are asking communities in and around the Longwood fire to maintain vigilance over the next couple of days by having the Vic Emergency app … having a battery powered radio tuned to your emergency broadcaster to ensure that if anything does occur over the next couple of days, that you’re up to date with the latest information.

Parts of Victoria to approach ‘all-time maximum record’ temperatures on Tuesday, BoM says

Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, Tim Wiebusch, is holding a press conference in Melbourne ahead of forecast hot and gusty conditions.

He says this weekend will see a return of fire danger and a severe to extreme heatwave across many parts of the state:

We’re obviously heading into a long weekend. We know that many people will be wanting to enjoy the great outdoors and we absolutely want people to enjoy the great parts of Victoria, but you need to be aware of the risks.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Kevin Parkyn says a “dome of heat is expected to sit over Victoria” and will persist “well into next week”. He says:

It all really starts on Saturday, when hot, dry, continental northwesterly winds result in increasing fire danger across the state. Looks like we’ll be seeing severe, extreme fire danger in the south-west, in the Wimmera and potentially even in central parts of the state as well. We’re forecasting 43C for Mildura, 41C for Hamilton, 40C in both Port Fairy and Melbourne, places like Bendigo are expected to get to 38C, a much more moderate 29C down on the coast, near Lakes Entrance.

Parkyn says winds will start to increase about the eastern ranges on Sunday, which “might exacerbate some of the fire behaviour where we currently have fires in the landscape”. Monday is also forecast to be hot but with lighter winds before picking up again on Tuesday:

Many centres are probably going to approach their all time maximum records. This is quite a significant day. On Tuesday, at this stage, we’re looking at 41C in Melbourne, many of the outer suburbs will reach 43 to 44C.

While Melbourne will see a cool change on Wednesday, he says the 40C-plus temperatures will continue in the north with little rainfall forecast for two weeks.

‘Stones of remembrance’ laid outside Bondi Pavilion

A handful of people have gathered for the day of mourning outside the Bondi Pavilion, where a few fresh wreaths of flowers have been laid.

There is a basket filled with “stones of remembrance”, and a sign that invites people to take a stone and add a drawing or message to “honour those we remember”. It follows the Jewish tradition of laying a stone at a grave.

Beneath the wreaths of flowers are piles of these stones with messages written in colourful messages, like “love”, “sorry”, and “rest in peace beautiful souls”.

A chaplain watching on said people had been coming and going all day from the memorial, some to lay stones, others to simply watch on and pay their respects.

Vibeke and Jan, who are from Denmark and are on holiday in Sydney, came to the memorial to lay a stone while touring through Bondi.

“The whole world knows about what happened,” Jan said.

Vibeke wrote “love” on her stone, and Jan wrote “hope”.

Markets say 60% chance of rate hike in February

The Reserve Bank will pull the trigger and hike rates at its next meeting on 3 February, UBS economists say, after this morning’s bumper job figures revealed a surprise drop in the unemployment rate to 4.1% in December.

Financial markets have also lifted their predicted likelihood of a February rate hike, to a 60% chance, from 30% before the latest jobs report.

George Tharenou, the investment bank’s top economist, said it would now take an unexpectedly weak inflation number next Wednesday to stay the central bank board’s hand at its first meeting of the year.

“For the RBA, the labour market still likely needs to ease, to reduce pressure on inflation, to have confidence to achieve its CPI target,” Tharenou said.

At the moment, it’s going the wrong way.

UBS had previously predicted a hike in May or June.

Elsewhere, experts were recalibrating the likelihood of rate hikes, but stuck to their forecasts.

RBC Capital Markets’ interest rate strategist, Robert Thompson, was gobsmacked by the strength of the December employment figures.

“We retain our base case call that the RBA will not hike rates this year, but freely admit to feeling increasingly nervous about this call,” Thompson said.

Today’s data adds further risk that the RBA will be forced into a fresh hiking cycle.

Chalmers says Canadian PM’s ‘stunning’ denunciation of Trump is being widely discussed in Australian government

Jim Chalmers has described the Canadian prime minister’s passionate denunciation of Donald Trump’s assault on the global rules-based order as a “stunning speech” that was being “widely shared and discussed” inside the government.

At this week’s annual gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mark Carney said “we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition”.

“I thought it was very impactful, very thoughtful; certainly widely shared and discussed in our government,” Chalmers told ABC radio, adding:

So for Australia, and no doubt for Canada, the point that Prime Minister Carney was making is that our interests are best served by cooperation and by managing our differences within international law and international institutions.

Read more here:

Cars washed out to sea on Great Ocean Road during flash flooding recovered by helicopter

Victoria’s State Emergency Service worked with specialist crews on Thursday morning during a vehicle recovery operation along the Great Ocean Road after last week’s flash flooding. Black Hawk helicopters were used to safely remove 14 cars and caravans from flood-impacted coastal areas.

Take a look:

Chalmers says Coalition ‘a smoking ruin’, and that’s the ‘kindest thing you can say’

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking again after the release of the latest jobs numbers. He was asked about the ongoing turmoil in the Coalition, building on his criticisms of the opposition earlier this morning.

Chalmers said:

I think the kindest thing you can say about the Coalition is that it is a smoking ruin.

I think they are paying a price for putting internal politics before public safety this week in the parliament in what I think is … a shameful preference for internal politics. That’s over doing the right thing by public safety and national security. That’s what we have seen.

That is why the Coalition is disintegrating.

‘What a disgrace’: Victoria premier lambastes vandalism of Melbourne monuments

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, released a short statement on the vandalism of the First Pioneer and Separation monuments in Flagstaff Gardens this morning. She said:

What a disgrace. Even on a day about love and unity, these people can’t help but introduce hate and destruction.

Victoria Police will investigate and I’m asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

The groups who continue to commit these crimes must face the full force of the law.

Read more here:

s senator says ‘a little bit of alone time’ always good, but optimistic about Coalition reunion

s senator Susan McDonald, a frontbencher who resigned from the shadow cabinet on Wednesday, plunging the Coalition into crisis, just spoke to ABC News about the hubbub.

McDonald maintained that the s were concerned about the brisk pace of the hate speech legislation, saying the party wasn’t provided “comfort” around the bill’s provisions before it was time to vote on the measure.

She said:

There was no need to have it passed so quickly. Recalling parliament is not a free pass to pass bad legislation, which is what this is.

McDonald said there was an option yesterday for Sussan Ley to not accept the resignations of her and her colleagues, but she chose not to do so.

The party had already made it clear that it was one in, all in. If our resignations were taken up, that the entire party frontbench would go. And that’s exactly what happened.

She added that a “little bit of alone time” is “always a good thing”.

We will both be considering who we are, why we came to parliament, who we represent. What is in the national interest for all Australians. And I am very optimistic that we will reform the Coalition as soon as possible, because I agree, we are stronger together.

Young girl among the missing in New Zealand after landslide hits campsite

Emergency services in New Zealand are searching for several people, including a child, believed missing after a landslide hit a campsite during storms that have caused widespread damage across the North Island.

The country’s emergency minister, Mark Mitchell, told RNZ that parts of the east coast looked like “a war zone”. Helicopters have been deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding and local states of emergency declared in five regions across Northland and the East Cape due to days of record-breaking torrential rain.

The landslide struck on Thursday morning at a campground in the tourist hotspot of Mount Maunganui on the east coast. Mitchell confirmed that a young girl was among those unaccounted for.

“It’s a fluid and sensitive issue at the moment,” he said. “Everyone is working as hard as they can to get the best possible resolution possible, but in no doubt at all it is a very difficult and challenging situation.”

Read more here: