Parts of Victoria are expecting heavy rainfall and damaging winds today as a cold front moves across the state from the west.
Showers and thunderstorms have been developing in the western parts of the state this morning, before transitioning to a rain band with embedded thunderstorms this afternoon.
The rain band is associated with a cold front that is making its way across the state, extending from roughly Mildura down to the Otways during the afternoon and before crossing Melbourne later this afternoon and evening.
Heavy rainfall is expected, as well as damaging wind gusts over central Victoria, including the Ballarat area, this evening and the eastern ranges overnight before the cold front.
Some flash-flooding is expected with the heavy falls but no Riverine flooding.
Stephanie Miles, meteorologist at the BoM, said Easter travellers should be careful on the roads:
On the roads just be careful with reduced visibility in the heavy rainfall, and the roads will be mostly slippery as well, as we have haven’t had all that much rainfall over the last month or so.
And that’s where we’ll leave you this Easter Monday. Here’s a wrap of the headlines from today:
The federal Labor government is “sceptical” about breaking up supermarket giants amid warnings proposed powers could push up food prices and harm job security for workers.
Assistant minister Matt Thistlethwaite has claimed the federal government needs the emergency deportation powers it failed to ram through the Senate last week, because some visitors to Australia have been “milking the system”.
Assistant competition minister Andrew Leigh has said Meta’s plan to start removing traditional media outlets’ news feeds from Facebook and Instagram as of this month is “simply unconscionable”.
Heavy rainfall and damaging winds have hit parts of Victoria today as a cold front moves across the state from the west.
The murder-accused suspended Gold Coast city councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden has been unsuccessful in his bid for re-election.
The chief minister of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler, has defended the youth curfew in Alice Springs saying “the town is so much quieter” and has been questioned over whether it would be extended.
A new taskforce has been set up to decide what to do with 1.8m hectares of forest in Victoria now that native timber harvesting has come to an end.
Passengers who were on board a flight from Sydney to Auckland that plunged suddenly last month, injuring dozens, have reportedly been offered thousands in ex gratia payments by airline LATAM.
People in western Sydney are being advised to look out for measles symptoms, after NSW Health were notified of a woman with the illness in the area.
Thanks so much for your company. We’ll be back tomorrow bringing you all the news of the day. Until then, look after yourselves.
More than 100mm of rain forecast for parts of south-east
As we noted earlier, Victoria had its driest March in nearly 40 years last month, while Melbourne faced its driest March on record, with only 2.8mm of rain.
Now parts of Australia’s south-east will be hit with more than 100mm of rain this week alone, after a relatively dry month which delivered rainfall levels at just a third of the region’s March average.
As noted, storms are expected to sweep through Tasmania and Victoria tonight and inundate the east coast over the week. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting 30-to-70mm of rainfall for central Victoria overnight.
Sydney is forecast to receive up to 70mm of rain on Friday, after getting only 52.4mm over last month, less than half its March average.
But while March left the south-east parched, Australia’s north was hit with more than double its average rainfall over the month.
Tropical cyclones and the monsoon season drenched the region with 182mm instead of the typical 88mm.
Suspended Gold Coast councillor accused of murder unsuccessful in re-election bid
The murder-accused suspended Gold Coast city councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden has been unsuccessful in his bid for re-election. Bayldon-Lumsden maintains his innocence in relation to those allegations.
Guardian Australia has been told by scrutineers that he was ruled out in the final vote count for division 7 which was between Bayldon-Lumsden, Jenna Schroeder and Joe Wilkinson.
As of 3.30pm on Monday, Bayldon-Lumsden had received 6,102 votes, trailing behind Schroeder (6,573) and Wilkinson (6,856). This means the final contest is now between Schroeder and Wilkinson.
The former disability worker is accused of murdering his stepfather, 58-year-old Robert Malcolm Lumsden, at the family’s Arundel home on 23 August.
Bayldon-Lumsden has been suspended on a $160,000 salary since September.
There were fears that if he was re-elected he could be suspended again while a murder trial takes place, leaving his division without a vote on the council.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, has defended the government’s decision to charter two jets from Canberra for a clean energy announcement in the Hunter region of New South Wales, blaming local airport limitations and a lack of commercial flights.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, Bowen and the industry minister, Ed Husic, travelled to Muswellbrook for the announcement of $1bn for the Sunshot program to support Australian-made solar panels last Thursday. Albanese called it “one of the most significant that will be made during our term”.
Bowen called scrutiny of the travel a “fair question”, after receiving criticism from two Liberal shadow ministers, but said the decision had been taken by the Royal Australian Air Force, which operates the planes.
He said the air force recommended that the most efficient way of getting the prime minister and the two cabinet ministers to the Liddell power station was to fly to Scone airport:
The runway at Scone wasn’t strong enough to take the large jet, so the air force recommended and took the decision for two small jets.
The prime minister always travels with the Royal Australian Air Force. All prime ministers have for living memory, certainly as long as I’ve been involved. That’s for security reasons and quite appropriate.
Victorian project aims to tackle ‘invisible’ problem of commercial food packaging
If you’re looking at the remnants of your Easter chocolate boxes and wondering what to do with all your cardboard, spare a thought for Victorian farmers and wholesalers hosting a pilot project to reduce single-use cardboard waste.
The Victoria Unboxed project aims to reduce the numbers of cardboard produce boxes in small farms, hospitality venues and wholesale warehouses, utilising about 1,000 reusable plastic crates to store and transport fresh fruit and vegetables.
Led by Sustainable Victoria and food charity Sustain, the scheme could help cut costs by reducing single-use cardboard waste in our food systems.
Sustain’s executive director, Nick Rose, said the “invisible” issue of commercial food packaging is a big problem he hopes the project can address:
Australians are throwing away close to 2 million tonnes of food packaging every year; that would fill up the Melbourne Cricket Ground over nine times. That’s really at the consumer end of food packaging.
Food packaging is really important, the challenge is how do we make it more sustainable? How do we redesign the systems and the supply chain relationships that use this packaging, directing it towards reuse and recyclable material? That’s our ‘why’.
Olympic finalist Peter Bol has finished a soggy second in the 1000m invitational handicap race as severe thunderstorms played havoc with the program on finals day at the Stawell Gift carnival, AAP reports.
Heavy rain started falling at Central Park, in the Victorian town of Stawell, minutes after Stawell Gift favourite Endale Mekonnen clocked the fastest semi-final time of 12.23 seconds in the feature 120m event on Monday.
Organisers chose to push ahead with the 1,000m invitational handicap, with Bol charging home from the scratch mark to finish a close second behind Riley Bryce.
Bol, who came fourth in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics, said:
Crazy weather but what a great event. I haven’t raced in rain like that since I was a kid. Congrats to Riley. I just left a little too much to do off the last bend. I felt I had a chance to catch him, but he was just a bit strong.
Passengers on LATAM flight that injured dozens reportedly offered ex gratia payments
Passengers who were on board a flight from Sydney to Auckland that plunged suddenly last month, injuring dozens, have reportedly been offered thousands in ex gratia payments by airline LATAM.
Ambulances outside Auckland international airport after the injuries. Photograph: Dean Purcell/AP
However, Carter – who is representing some of the affected passengers in action against the airline – urged others not to sign anything without legal advice and not to agree to any conditions when accepting the payment, noting that an ex gratia payment now could prejudice other rights they may have to compensation down the track.
Investigations into the cause of the incident have centred on cockpit seats, amid reports a flight attendant serving a meal hit a switch on the pilot’s seat, pushing the pilot into the controls.
Second-warmest March on record for Australia’s minimum temperatures
With March wrapping up, we’re starting to get a few temperature readings in for Australia from the Bureau of Meteorology to add to the rainfall charts (see earlier post).
With a lot of rain over the outback, it wasn’t surprising that daytime temperatures last month were somewhat moderated, as you can see here.
As for temperatures, Australia was relatively cool most of the western half but relatively warm in the southeast. pic.twitter.com/Y9lLxqJG4V
However, the same cannot be said for overnight temperatures, which were above average for most of Australia in March.
And for minumum temperatures, it was above average in March for most of the country. For parts of Queensland near where the Great Barrier Reef is bleaching there was record warmth. (Source: @bom_au) pic.twitter.com/QpR0Aoqf41
In fact, only one March – in 2016 – was warmer than this year’s March for minimums.
By minumum temperatures, it was actually Australia's second hottest March on record. Temps were 1.79C above the 1961-90 average, matching 2019's March, and shy only of the 2.09C anomaly recorded in March 2016. (Via @bom_au) pic.twitter.com/dSax5CzRE8
And since the climate doesn’t switch on or off, it’s not surprising the coming months are expected to be above average. This chart’s for maximums but a similar tale could be told for minimum temperature outlooks.
And maximum temperatures are also likely to be warmer than average for April-June. (With the background warming from climate change, that should surprise (almost) nobody.) pic.twitter.com/AoiKcyJBtR
With the background climate heating (about 1.5C so far over the last century for Australia), the surprise would be if temperature outlooks did not favour above average conditions for most months.
Victoria announces “Great Outdoors Taskforce” to manage 1.8m hectares of forest
A new taskforce has been set up to decide what to do with 1.8m hectares of forest in Victoria now that native timber harvesting has come to an end.
The Victorian government ended commercial harvesting of native timber on 1 January, with the state agency VicForest to wind down on 30 June.
It is now turning its mind to what to do with the land, with the environment minister, Steve Dimopoulos, on Monday announcing the establishment of the “Great Outdoors Taskforce”.
He said the taskforce would consult with communities and stakeholders to explore “all options for future uses and care of the forest are heard and explored”.
The Victorian government ended commercial harvesting of native timber on 1 January, with the state agency VicForest to wind down on 30 June. Photograph: Rachel Mounsey/The Guardian
This will include investigating which areas of the land present opportunities for recreation and tourism such as camping, hunting, hiking, trail-bike riding and four-wheel driving and areas that need to be protected to safeguard threatened species. Others could also qualify for protection as national parks or be placed under Traditional Owner management.
Dimopoulos said the work would be undertaken over the next 12 months and consultation details released in the coming weeks:
The end of native timber harvesting presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to design new ways of caring for our forests while giving Victorians more opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. This taskforce will play a critical role listening to Victorians about how best to manage our forests – each member brings specialised knowledge to the panel ensuring thorough consideration of all options during consultation.
Members include:
– Karen Cain, former chief executive of the Latrobe Valley Authority
– Mellissa Wood, chair of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
– Graham Dear, chair of the Victorian Fisheries Authority
– Terry Robinson, chief executive of Destination Gippsland.
The taskforce would also include Traditional Owner representation, Dimopoulos said.
Eva Lawler questioned over whether Alice Springs youth curfew will be extended
Asked whether the Alice Springs youth curfew would be extended, the chief minister of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler,said:
We have … about nine … days until that decision needs to be made. It will be made in plenty of time to give people on the ground opportunities first of all to have a say, but also for any of the services to know what is happening.
We have had the Easter break, it is at this stage [we] are continuing to implement and consolidate, and then we will turn to look at what we need to do for the future.
The Northern Territory chief minister, Eva Lawler. Photograph: Neve Brissenden/AAP
