One-in-100-year disaster labels misleading: BOM chief
The weather bureau has warned against people describing natural disasters as “one-in-100-year events”, saying the term was misleading, AAP reports.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s chief executive Andrew Johnson told a Senate inquiry into Australia’s disaster resilience that while the phrase was often used to convey the severity of incidents like floods, it led to a false sense of security.
Could this country please stop referring to weather events as one-in-100, one-in 1000, one-in-10,000? It confuses the community, it’s very, very poorly understood.
These are complex, statistical engineering constructs that mislead the community … they’re often used as a shorthand way of trying to communicate risk.
They are technically very difficult for the average citizen to understand.
He indicated unprecedented levels of natural disasters had made the job more difficult, with new relationships between the ocean, atmosphere, land and ice, causing the baseline to change.
Our numerical weather prediction systems training … is adapting to those new realities. We are seeing things happen that, certainly since Federation, in the modern experience, we haven’t seen in this country.
While the bureau was looking to upgrade its gauges and detection methods to be more accurate, Dr Johnson indicated replacing the entire network would take a long time.
To do all the gauges, the literally hundreds and hundreds of gauges that need to be done, we sort of have to average two new ones every week for 10 years, it’s a huge effort.
Key events
Penny Wong pays tribute to ‘loyal friend and colleague’ Linda White
Leader of the government in the Senate, Penny Wong, has paid tribute to the late Victorian senator Linda White.
Wong said she always valued the “wise counsel” of White, her “loyal friend and colleague”.
She was respected for her courage, her intellect and her wit.
In spite of all she achieved, Linda had so much more to contribute.
My thoughts today are especially with Linda’s family, her staff, and all of her comrades at the Australian Services Union.
Wong flagged that the Senate will schedule a condolence motion for a future sitting day “to ensure Linda’s contribution can be appropriately recognised by her colleagues across the chamber.”
It is with the deepest sadness that Labor senators mourn the death of our colleague and friend Senator Linda White.
I always valued Linda’s wise counsel. She was a loyal friend and colleague.
She was respected for her courage, her intellect and her wit. pic.twitter.com/np4Y61ZRa1
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) March 1, 2024
‘We have to get better as a nation’: BOM chief
More from the Senate inquiry into Australia’s disaster resistance:
Bureau of Meteorology CEO, Andrew Johnson, said while the organisation had to walk a fine line with the levels of warnings to the public before natural disasters, the number of severe weather events would only increase.
We have to get better as a nation. Everybody’s involved in this situation, because it’s not going to decrease, the risks and uncertainties are increasing in a changing climate.
We know that floods are going to happen more often, they’re going to be large, we can do everything we can to provide as much advanced warning as possible.
Following severe flooding and storms in northern Australia, Dr Johnson said the bureau was undergoing “a lot of soul searching” on how the risk of weather events could be better communicated to the public.
– AAP
One-in-100-year disaster labels misleading: BOM chief
The weather bureau has warned against people describing natural disasters as “one-in-100-year events”, saying the term was misleading, AAP reports.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s chief executive Andrew Johnson told a Senate inquiry into Australia’s disaster resilience that while the phrase was often used to convey the severity of incidents like floods, it led to a false sense of security.
Could this country please stop referring to weather events as one-in-100, one-in 1000, one-in-10,000? It confuses the community, it’s very, very poorly understood.
These are complex, statistical engineering constructs that mislead the community … they’re often used as a shorthand way of trying to communicate risk.
They are technically very difficult for the average citizen to understand.
He indicated unprecedented levels of natural disasters had made the job more difficult, with new relationships between the ocean, atmosphere, land and ice, causing the baseline to change.
Our numerical weather prediction systems training … is adapting to those new realities. We are seeing things happen that, certainly since Federation, in the modern experience, we haven’t seen in this country.
While the bureau was looking to upgrade its gauges and detection methods to be more accurate, Dr Johnson indicated replacing the entire network would take a long time.
To do all the gauges, the literally hundreds and hundreds of gauges that need to be done, we sort of have to average two new ones every week for 10 years, it’s a huge effort.
NSW police announce ‘operation Mardi Gras 2024’ ahead of tomorrow night’s parade
In a statement, police said the “high visibility operation” will involve general duties officers assisted by specialist units. Assistant commissioner Anthony Cooke said:
Police have been working closely with parade organisers and the LGBTIQA+ community to ensure a safe environment for all those participating in and supporting the event.
We are urging those supporting the event to plan your night ahead of time; know how you are getting into the city, what you’re doing at the parade and how you’re getting home.
Transport for NSW coordinator general, Howard Collins, said with major road closures in place from 3pm for the parade, public transport is the best way to get into the city for the festivities.
There will be hundreds of additional trains, buses and light rail services running, including more late-night services, to get you into the city and back home again.
NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Brian White added that paramedics will be attending Mardi Gras and the community should not hesitate to reach out if they need medical assistance, and to always call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency.
Chris Minns defends response to war in Gaza: ‘I’m worried about the loss of life’
After a week of being criticised and having his invitations rejected, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, has come out swinging in defence of his response to the war in Gaza.
The premier’s annual iftar dinner, held during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, was cancelled yesterday after peak Muslim bodies said they would not attend over the premier’s response to the violence in Gaza.
Minns has previously criticised pro-Palestine rallies and their cost to police, and decided to light the sails of the Opera House in support of Israel last October.
This month, he criticised Labor MPs for making comments about Gaza, saying they should run for federal politics if they want to express strong views on international affairs.
But at a presser today, Minns insisted he had previously spoken about the loss of Palestinian life in Gaza:
Firstly, obviously, we’re not going to go ahead with the dinner if the attendees don’t want to come or won’t be coming.
But that’s not because the government doesn’t care or isn’t interested or isn’t prepared to invest when it comes to that community.
I’ve repeatedly spoken about the loss of life, particularly innocent civilian loss of life amongst the Palestinian community in the Middle East. I’ve said that over and over again, and I’m happy to repeat it here today.
Like the community, I’m worried about the loss of life there.
But my responsibilities [are] about safety and peace in New South Wales.
Four children arrested in Victoria in relation to investigation into tobacco dispute
The Viper taskforce and the Eastern and Southern Metro Regional crime squads have today announced the arrests of two 16-year-olds, a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old, after warrants were executed simultaneously at 7am.
Investigators will interview the four children in relation to an aggravated burglary in Wonga Park, as well as two arson attacks at a Mill Park restaurant and a tobacconist in Ballarat last week.
Detective inspector Graham Banks from Taskforce Lunar said:
We’re hopeful that today’s arrests will provide us with further avenues of enquiry in these investigations.
Here are some photos from Fire and Rescue NSW of the sinkhole in Rockdale, south Sydney, which multiple agencies are responding to:
More on Rockdale partial building collapse
A Fire and Rescue NSW spokesperson has provided more information about the partial building collapse at Rockdale. Speaking to the media, he said:
We have established an exclusion zone around the building. We are confident that it is contained within that exclusion zone.
The building is approximately 200m long and it’s a small section that has been impacted.
In an unrelated section approximately 10 people working here were evacuated, but the building of concern, there was no one working in that office this morning when we arrived.
Jonathan Barrett
Location tracking app plots path to profit
Family tracking app Life360 has edged closer to profitability after growing its active user numbers to 61.4m, which includes a growing cohort of Australians.
The app, which uses GPS to track and share driving speeds and location details, is marketed as a way to keep family members safe, but has also raised privacy concerns over potential misuse.
It now has 1.9m active monthly users in Australia, up from 1.4m a year ago. Its largest customer base is in the US, where it is headquartered.
The San Francisco-based company, which is listed on the ASX, recorded a $US28.2m net loss for calendar 2023, a significant improvement on the $US91.6m loss recorded the previous year.
Its revenue increased by one-third to US$305m during 2023.
Shares in Life360 surged more than 30% after the calendar year results were released. It’s not unusual for tech companies to run at a loss while they try to build market share.
The company also has hardware-tracking devices that users can attach to items like their keys, pet collars or bicycles.
Some US tech companies choose to list outside of the US so that they can more easily stand out to investors, rather than getting lost in the thousands of companies included on the Nasdaq.
Clover Moore on tomorrow night’s Mardi Gras: ‘I know the community is hurting’
Luca Ittimani
Sydney’s Mardi Gras organisers have acknowledged the grief and pain felt by the city’s queer community ahead of tomorrow’s parade following the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
At a press conference this morning, Mardi Gras co-chair Brandon Bear said Mardi Gras has “always been a lot of things to a lot of people” and there have been situations in the past “where we have come together to celebrate but also come together to mourn, to create change”.
For some people this will be a more sombre event, for some people they might choose to sit this one out.
Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, acknowledged the grief and tensions in the LGBTQ+ community:
I know the community is hurting, and I sincerely hope tomorrow night provides a safe environment to come together, to grieve together, to support each other’s resilience and to celebrate the power and the joy of Mardi Gras and its achievements over 46 years.
Moore defended a decision by festival organisers to allow NSW police officers to march in the parade in plain clothes after initially disinviting the force earlier this week:
We’ve come a long way and we don’t want to go back and I think it was a great thing that the police came to the parade and I think they should stay there.
20 people evacuated following partial building collapse in Sydney’s Rockdale
Around 20 people were evacuated from a building in Rockdale, in Sydney’s south, after a building partially collapsed early this morning.
Fire and Rescue NSW said a section of the ground has subsided, causing a large two-level office block in an industrial park to sag in the middle and appear unstable.
20 firefighters and six trucks responded to the incident on West Botany Street around 6.30am. A multi-agency operation is now under way at the site, FRNSW said in a statement.
Firefighters are using laser monitoring equipment to detect any further movement in the affected building. FRNSW experts are working with “colleagues across government and industry” to assess the extent of the collapse and establish the cause.
Engineers are also determining a plan on how to shore up the building.
An exclusion zone is currently in place and the community is urged to avoid the area; however, at this stage, all roads and public footpaths in the area remain open.
ROCKDALE | Fire and Rescue NSW responds to partial building collapse – VIDEO. Specialist Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crews are at the scene of a partial building collapse at Rockdale, in Sydney’s south.
20 firefighters, including Urban Search a… https://t.co/RiAXVELiXq
— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) March 1, 2024
Paramedics say triple zero outage caused ‘complete chaos’
Here’s more on the triple zero outage, via AAP:
Paramedics described the incident as “complete chaos”, Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said.
We’ve had issues with incorrect routing of calls from Telstra to the wrong control room, particularly in cross border areas.
He claimed crews were dispatched to cases without knowing the details of the emergencies.
Hill said one particularly distressing case involved a person who rang triple zero to report someone having a cardiac arrest, who later received a call back after the patient had died.
It wasn’t a successful resuscitation effort, the patient passed away.
About an hour after that, after the crew had originally arrived and had been there working on the patient, they received a phone call saying do you still need an ambulance?
Hill said it was upsetting for everyone involved.
Quite distressing for the call taker, because what they were tasked with doing was calling up a lot of the cases where they think there may have been a delay to see if they still needed an ambulance.
Nationwide triple zero outage caused by Telstra issue
Australians facing emergencies weren’t able to speak to trained triple zero call-takers for more than an hour, due to an issue at Telstra, AAP reports.
The telco receives all triple zero calls, however it was unable to then transfer them on to emergency services on Friday for an unknown reason. The company said in a statement:
An issue early this morning affected calls and associated data being transferred to emergency service operators. It was fixed within 90 minutes.
Our team of call takers switched to our backup process, which meant the details of callers were sent manually to emergency services to be called back.
The telco said it is investigating the cause of the problem and closely monitoring the system. The issue occurred between 3.30am-4.45am today, according to Triple Zero Victoria.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland said reports of Australians unable to reach emergency services were deeply concerning. A spokesperson for the minister said:
The federal government has urgently sought information from Telstra as Emergency Call Person to understand the full extent and impact of the outage.
Communication Workers Union representative Sue Riley said Telstra’s call takers captured as much information as they could before emailing information to emergency services.
Body found in Lake Macquarie unit in NSW after fire
A body has been found in a Lake Macquarie unit after a fire broke out yesterday.
Around 4.10am on Thursday, emergency services responded to reports of a fire at a unit block on Railway Street in Teralba.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews worked to extinguish the blaze, but the unit sustained significant damage.
A body, which is yet to be formally identified, was located during an initial search of the unit overnight.
Officers from the Lake Macquarie police district and the state crime command’s arson unit have commenced inquiries into the incident and the cause of the fire, which are ongoing.
Tanya Plibersek on death of senator Linda White: ‘a very sad day for our Labor family’
Tributes are continuing to flow following the death of Victorian Labor senator Linda White overnight.
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek said it is a “very sad day for our Labor family”.
Above all else, Linda White was a proud unionist. She was a champion for fairness and justice. And she was a brilliant Labor woman. Thinking of her family, friends and all who loved her. She will be deeply missed by us all.
It’s a very sad day for our Labor family.
Above all else, Linda White was a proud unionist. She was a champion for fairness and justice. And she was a brilliant Labor woman.
Thinking of her family, friends and all who loved her. She will be deeply missed by us all. pic.twitter.com/25FGhXyGIl
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) February 29, 2024
President of the Senate, Sue Lines, said she is devastated at the loss of her “dear friend”.
We have lost a woman of integrity, intellect, humour & loyalty. Our friendship spanned 30 years. RIP Linda. Sending much love to Linda’s family & friends.
I am devastated to hear of the loss of my dear friend, comrade & Senate
Colleague Senator Linda White. We have lost a woman of integrity, intellect, humour & loyalty.Our friendship spanned 30 years. RIP Linda. Sending much love to Linda’s family & friends ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/xNUJtPkios
— Senator Sue Lines (@linessue) March 1, 2024
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And assistant minister to the PM, Patrick Gorman, said White was an “incredible servant and leader within the Labor party”.
I first got to know her through her union leadership and the ALP national executive. Then had the privilege of working with her in parliament. We will miss her greatly.
Australia’s humanitarian organisations respond to reports more than a hundred Palestinians killed overnight in Gaza
The incident reportedly happened when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire.
Sally Thomas, the humanitarian emergencies lead at Caritas Australia, said:
However events unfolded on Thursday morning, what is clear is that lifesaving humanitarian aid is no longer being safely and effectively delivered into Gaza, and that a mass starvation event is imminent … These innocent civilians need and deserve political action that precipitates a ceasefire as it is the only way to stabilise Gaza enough to deliver lifesaving aid, preventing tens of thousands more deaths.
Meanwhile Jason Lee, the country director for Save the Children Australia, said there must be an “immediate, impartial investigation” into what happened:
Children and families have been forced to take desperate measures to survive. Now, while waiting to get what they can to keep their families alive, people are killed and injured – with nowhere to go for effective medical treatment as health facilities have been decimated after nearly five months of bombardment. We need a definitive ceasefire immediately.
ACTU’s Sally McManus: ‘Linda White was a fierce advocate for working people, dedicated and incredibly hard working’
Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has paid tribute to the late Victorian senator Linda White.
McManus worked with White at the Australian Services Union for decades. She wrote on X:
[White] was a fierce advocate for working people, dedicated & incredibly hard working. Aviation workers benefitted enormously from her leadership as well as winning equal pay for community workers. Rest in peace.
Vale Linda White. I fought alongside Linda for decades at @ASUnion She was a fierce advocate for working people, dedicated & incredibly hard working. Aviation workers benefitted enormously from her leadership as well as winning equal pay for community workers. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/VxnAX2yzvB
— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) February 29, 2024
Bill Shorten to Peter Dutton: ‘politicians should not play prosecutor’
Earlier this morning, opposition leader Peter Dutton and government services minister Bill Shorten went head-to-head over whether an ex-politician who Asio says aided foreign spies should be named.
You can read all the details on this from Daniel Hurst below:
Speaking on the Today show, Dutton continued to argue the person should be named. Shorten went on to accuse him of “playing in the traffic” over this issue:
On one hand, [Dutton] says [Asio head] Mike Burgess should name the politician, but on the other hand, he won’t do it himself. I will stick with how Mike Burgess wants to handle the matter …
Shorten also argued that Dutton has a “Pavlovian response” and “wants to immediately go to the blame issue”.
[Yesterday] he basically used the parliament to prosecute some individual detainee who had been released by the high court, and he accused him all manner of things. But the problem is they got the wrong guy. So, I think just periodically, politicians should not play prosecutor. Let’s sit back, let the experts pursue what they want to do.
Dutton responded by saying Shorten has passed judgement on Albanese in the past and shouldn’t be “throwing stones from your glass house”. Shorten then accused Dutton of having “more deflections than Wonder Woman”.
So, I guess it’s another standard day in Australian politics.
Coalition’s Simon Birmingham on Linda White: ‘the Senate has lost a determined and passionate sitting senator far too soon’
The opposition has also paid tribute to Linda White, following news that she has died overnight.
Leader of the opposition in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, said the Coalition extends its sympathy to the family and friends of White, as well as her staff and colleagues across the union movement and Labor party.
He noted that during her first speech, White promised that no one in the Senate would be left wondering what she thought: “that people will always know where she stands and know that she is not afraid of saying what’s on her mind”.
Senator White lived up to that promise, Linda was never one to take a backwards step and was a determined advocate for her beliefs. She campaigned across a wide range of areas reflecting her deep life-long commitment to social justice, especially for women …
The Senate has lost a determined and passionate sitting senator far too soon. A senator who clearly had much more to contribute, but who will be remembered with respect by those who had the privilege to serve with her.
Liberal MP for Menzies Keith Wolahan expressed his deepest sympathies to White’s family and colleagues in a post to X:
We worked very closely together on the final form of the NACC. I found her to be principled, fair, and hard working – a patriot of her party and our democracy. She made a difference and will be missed.
