South Lismore residents told to evacuate before 9pm tonight
Northern Rivers NSW SES have issued an emergency warning for South Lismore residents to evacuate before 9pm tonight due to flooding from Cyclone Alfred.
The evacuation notice applies to South Lismore, a suburb in the Lismore region, and surrounds, including all properties along Kyogle Road between Casino Street and Leycester Road, low-lying areas near Ostrom Street, parts to the north of Hollingsworth Creek, the industrial area, all properties around Casino and Union streets, and the airport.
“You must evacuate before [9pm] because forecasted heavy rainfall will close evacuation routes,” the warning says.
If you remain in the area, you may become trapped without power, water, and other essential services. It may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you, and buildings may not be able to withstand the impact of flood water.
Rainfall associated with Tropical Cyclone Alfred may cause rapid river rises and extensive flooding, the warning continued.
Heavy and locally intense rainfall is forecast from Thursday into the weekend over Northern NSW. Flash flooding is possible. High tides and large waves are expected to increase the flood risk and impacts in low lying coastal areas.
An evacuation centre has been erected at Southern Cross University on Military Road, East Lismore.
Key events
Lismore residents warned ‘do not underestimate this storm’
NSW SES acting Chief Superintendent Stuart Fisher says an incoming storm brought by Cyclone Alfred will hit in a “three-pronged attack”, and more locations may be ordered to evacuate tomorrow.
Fisher is speaking live from Lismore:
The weather is deteriorating rapidly for us. Whilst it may look like the rivers aren’t flooding, there is high concern that they will start to flood overnight and continue tomorrow. We do expect a number of other areas to be under evacuation orders tomorrow and going forward over the next couple of days.
Our main concern at the moment is when that wind comes through, the wind will bring down the power lines and bring down the trees, which may stop emergency services getting to you when that flooding occurs. So again, we’ve taken that decision to leave or ask you to leave early.
Do not underestimate this storm. The prediction is that it will hit us and the three pronged attack … The coastal erosion, followed by those strong winds, will bring down the power lines and trees, and then, of course, the torrential rain that will come over the next day or two or three … four or five.
‘I want you safe’: Lismore MP pleads with community to evacuate as cyclone approaches
Janelle Saffin, MP for Lismore, tells her constituents that while she understands it is difficult to leave behind homes, “if you get an evacuation order, please do it, because I want you safe”. She is speaking from a live press conference as Cyclone Alfred nears:
Your family wants you safe. Your neighbours want you safe. We all do. I know it’s hard. You can take your pets, so don’t worry, you can take your pets to your family and friends or the evacuation centre, and just make sure that you do it in daylight, because it’s much easier. That’s why it’s before 9pm. I know it’ll get a little bit dark, but we just want you to be safe.
Chris Minns urges Lismore residents to evacuate or risk becoming trapped
NSW premier Chris Minns is updating the media on evacuation orders in Lismore. He is with the minister for emergency services, Jihad Dib, member for Lismore Janelle Saffin, and the SES acting chief superintendent.
Minns listed the locations told to evacuate before 9pm, and warned that people who stayed could become trapped:
Those communities, if they remain in the area, they become trapped. They may be without power, water and other essential services for [an] extended period of time. We’re forecasting very heavy rain, and in the event of that very heavy rain, evacuation routes may be closed.
If you’re able to leave and stay with family and friends over the next period of time before nine o’clock, we urge you to do so, and if you don’t have a safe place to go, the SES … have established evacuation centres across the Northern Rivers.
Evacuation warnings in 11 northern NSW areas
NSW SES has emergency warnings for 11 locations to evacuate before 9pm tonight. They are:
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Tweed catchment: Uki, Fingal Heads and Tumbulgum
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Lismore catchment: North Lismore, South Lismore, Lismore CBD and East Lismore
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Brunswick catchment: Billinudgel
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Richmond catchment: Low lying parts of Kyogle and Coraki, Bungawalbin
Meanwhile, 248 public schools across New South Wale’s north coast will be closed again on Friday “to safeguard students and staff as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches,” the NSW Department of Education said.
South Lismore residents told to evacuate before 9pm tonight
Northern Rivers NSW SES have issued an emergency warning for South Lismore residents to evacuate before 9pm tonight due to flooding from Cyclone Alfred.
The evacuation notice applies to South Lismore, a suburb in the Lismore region, and surrounds, including all properties along Kyogle Road between Casino Street and Leycester Road, low-lying areas near Ostrom Street, parts to the north of Hollingsworth Creek, the industrial area, all properties around Casino and Union streets, and the airport.
“You must evacuate before [9pm] because forecasted heavy rainfall will close evacuation routes,” the warning says.
If you remain in the area, you may become trapped without power, water, and other essential services. It may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you, and buildings may not be able to withstand the impact of flood water.
Rainfall associated with Tropical Cyclone Alfred may cause rapid river rises and extensive flooding, the warning continued.
Heavy and locally intense rainfall is forecast from Thursday into the weekend over Northern NSW. Flash flooding is possible. High tides and large waves are expected to increase the flood risk and impacts in low lying coastal areas.
An evacuation centre has been erected at Southern Cross University on Military Road, East Lismore.
Cait Kelly
Automated Centrelink debt collection erodes public trust, says Economic Justice Australia
While we are on income apportionment, the peak organisation for community legal centres, Economic Justice Australia, has called for the government to waive all current debts calculated via the controversial method. It also wants the government to implement a six-year debt recovery limitation, as the Robodebt Royal Commission recommended, and increase funding for specialist social security legal services.
CEO Kate Allingham said in a statement:
The fact we’re here again is shocking. The legality of a Government measure that determines people’s social security is being called into question, which should be a huge scandal by any metric – but it is coming off the back of Robodebt, of countless ‘IT glitches’, of any number of issues with Government systems that have been proven to be insufficient at best and, in some cases, outright illegal.
It is impossible for the public to have any trust in the Government if, not only are systems put in place to protect people found to be deficient, but they continue to be used for years unlawfully without any apparent checks and balances.
These are not simple mistakes someone made at their job. Centrelink debts can significantly reduce people’s already meagre payment. The fact an unlawful system has been allowed to continue unchecked for decades underpins what was found in the Robodebt Royal Commission, which is that the Government needs to adequately fund social security legal services that assist people in navigating these issues. Millions of people have already been affected by successive Governments’ proven inability to do so themselves.
Cait Kelly
Services Australia defends controversial debt recovery method at federal court
The income apportionment case is in the federal court today. This could potentially have huge implications for hundreds and thousands of jobseekers – and billions of dollars of debt.
Income apportionment was the complex system used by Services Australia when it could not determine whether payslips, used to calculate welfare debts, aligned with the fortnightly income reporting periods, such as when a payslip did not show hours or days worked.
In August last year, a tribunal found Matthew Chaplin, who had been on youth allowance, had had his debt in 2014 incorrectly calculated.
Here, academic and welfare expert Chris Rudge explains the case:
Chaplin argues that the alleged debt should be a nullity (zero) at least until the secretary’s strong evidence gathering powers are exercised to collect more evidence to prove the existence of a debt.
Chaplin’s argument is based on the mechanics of the debt calculator rules, which put very specific guard rails around when income is aid to be earned, derived or received. Chaplin argues that these guardrails are being too casually followed by the secretary, resulting in significant errors.
[He] also says that the secretary has vey strong evidence gathering powers that they did not use in this case. They say the department should not be able to simply use interpretation of the law to raise a debt and choose not to seek more evidence. By contrast, the secretary/commonwealth says that the social security system is designed to reduce entitlements in a cost effective manner and that, therefore, the secretary is permitted to draw inferences of fact about when a debt exists.
The commonwealth argues that those powers were exercised appropriately and that the guardrails put in place are all facilitative of the secretary’s broad debt recovery functions and should not impede the secretary’s work of debt recovery.
Photo: ‘Catching air’
Photographer Amber J Cowley captured the moment a surfer flipped over a huge wave caused by the approaching Cyclone Alfred – “Catching air,” Cowley put it – while ripping at The Bluff at Alexandra Headland on the Sunshine Coast yesterday.
Here is the photo:
Benita Kolovos
Victorian anti-vilification legislation stalls
The Victorian government’s anti-vilification legislation won’t be voted on at parliament this week, with Labor yet to reach an agreement with the crossbench to secure enough support for it to pass.
The justice legislation amendment (anti-vilification and social cohesion) bill, if passed, will expand Victoria’s existing legal protections against vilification, which currently only cover race and religion, to cover disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.
It would also make serious vilification – such as incitement of hatred or physical threats – offences punishable by up to five years’ jail.
But the Coalition opposition said they would not support the bill in its current form, meaning the government is trying to negotiate with the crossbench to get it over the line.
While the Greens say the negotiations are going well, they are yet to form a position on the bill. Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell said she was hopeful for an outcome soon:
I’ve made it clear that I support new anti-vilification laws and it’s really important that we get this legislation passed. There are a range of communities that aren’t protected now that would be under the new attributes. My office has been consulting with stakeholders and community legal centres, and if the government accepts some sensible amendments, hopefully we will see an outcome soon.
Avalon airport incident: man attempted to board flight with firearm, police say
Elias Visontay
More on that reported security incident at Avalon airport.
Victoria police have confirmed they were called to the airport outside Melbourne at 2.50pm after reports a man with a firearm attempted to board a commercial flight.
The man was detained before getting on the plane.
The man is in custody and no injuries have been reported.
Twelve councils ready to begin cleanup, reconstruction authority says
Jake Ellwood from the Queensland reconstruction authority says 12 councils have been activated in preparation for cleanup after Cyclone Alfred crosses. He talked through the recovery process a short while ago:
In terms of recovery … first is the cleanup. It is vital because families and individuals, they cannot move on until things are cleaned up. We saw wonderful efforts by the SES and the Queensland Fire Department to get that cleanup done so well in the north, and again it will happen and we know we have already activated 12 councils from the Fraser Coast to the Gold Coast to make sure that we are ready for that cleanup.
We then undertake damage assessments to fully understand the damage of how many homes have moderate, severe or minor damage so that we can support community through the recovery process.
Then there is the emergency work to make sure that roads and other things that have been damaged are functional and safe to use so that communities can move on and then we get into the deeper reconstruction.
Of course, as always, we make sure we emerge from these stronger than we went in.
Firefighters from across Queensland redeployed to south-east
The Queensland fire service commissioner, Stephen Smith, said additional personnel from across the state have been deployed in the south-east in preparation for the crossing of Cyclone Alfred.
He said 23 hubs with specialist firefighter and swift-water rescue teams have been established “to provide immediate response and capacity across those impacted communities”.
We have hundreds of RFS Queensland and Fire and Rescue staff and volunteers ready to respond when it is safe to do so to support that recovery. So they are in place and ready to respond as and when conditions are needed.
The acting police commissioner, Shane Chelepy, warned residents in affected areas to prepare for the storm surge, flash flooding and riverine flooding as Cyclone Alfred nears the coast. He spoke live a short while ago.
This is significant rainfall that won’t only cause flash flooding in … the most impacted areas, but prolonged riverine flooding, and it’s important we are now preparing for this potential rainfall.
Our riverines, our creeks are very wet and will respond very quickly to intense rainfall as it falls. The emergency services are prepared. They are prepositioned and they are able to respond, but it is now important that communities understand their risk and start to put plans in place not only for the cyclone approaching, the winds, the storm surge, but also for flash flooding and riverine flooding over the next few days, should they be impacted by these events.
Chelepy urges residents to begin lifting furniture from low-lying areas in houses to higher ground, putting valuables such as passports, driver licences and credit cards in a waterproof container, and making sure residents have a plan in place to leave if required.
He also urges people do not drive through floodwaters:
This risky behaviour puts yourself, your family, but also our emergency service workers at severe risk when we have to come and rescue you.
Up to 800mm of rain possible across coming days, BoM says
Heavy rainfall is pushing across the Gold Coast and stretching up through the Scenic Rim, along the Bay Islands and into Brisbane, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy said a short while ago.
Daily rainfall totals of 300 to 400mm are expected to stretch through Friday and into Saturday. “This could mean the event totals up to 800mm,” Collopy said.
“This heavy to intense rainfall is expected to produce both flash and riverine flooding,” he said.
Flood watches are current for minor to major flooding across the Mary River, the creeks and rivers of the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, the upper and lower Brisbane River catchments, as well as the Logan, Albert, Condamine and Macintyre rivers.
Waves of 12.3m recorded off Gold Coast
Back to Cyclone Alfred, and authorities are addressing the media live in Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy warned of damaging winds in exposed coastal locations a short while ago.
The outer Moreton Bay area has received gusts above 90km/h – “which is the damaging wind threshold that we use,” Collopy said. He says gusts up to 150km/h are expected late on Friday through Saturday:
Those winds are expected to continue, increasing as we move through today, and then continue increasing through Friday as well. Potential for destructive winds, so those gusts up to 150km/h, are expected on those exposed coastal locations as tropical cyclone Alfred approaches and crosses those bay islands late on Friday and through Saturday.
Large swells and powerful waves have also been observed along the Queensland coast for several days, Collopy said:
We are seeing inundation and extreme wave heights. We recorded waves of 12.3m off the Gold Coast, so those extreme waves are causing hazards to the coastal areas.
TC Alfred is also expected to produce a significant storm surge around the southern side of the system. This means as the system crosses, sea levels may be [50cm] to 1m above the normal highest tide.
At some exposed locations around the Gold Coast and southern Redlands, it was possible to see storm surges up to 1.5m, Collopy said.
