Tag Archives: oceania

Four states staring down the barrel of another floods crisis

Four states are in the firing line of another floods crisis as a dangerous weather system threatens to spill, isolating communities yet again.

In the last 24 hours, two men have been confirmed dead in floodwaters in Victoria and New South Wales. It comes after a 71-year-old man's body was found in floodwater in Victoria on Saturday.

More than half of Queensland is under a thunderstorm warning with the Bureau of Meteorology saying damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain is possible for eastern inland Queensland, stretching to the coast from Bowen to Shoalwater Bay.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1582641023255285760

Residents are advised to keep across the Bureau's warnings as the system bears down. NSW can be viewed here, Victoria here, and Queensland here. 

Emerald, a town in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, recorded 145 mm of rainfall yesterday, marking their wettest October day on record.

A woman had to be rescued from the Mackenzie River, near the township, after her vehicle was submerged in floodwaters.

She was reportedly clinging to her ute for 90 minutes but is now recovering.

"The system is absolutely massive and it is starting to track towards the coastline," 9News reporter Mia Glover said.

"Tomorrow we'll likely to see the worst of the storms here in the south-east and over the weekend.

"Seqwater is pretty concerned about this system, so much so it started to release water from Wivenhoe Dam."

A thunderstorm warning is also in effect for a broad swathe of central western NSW, with hail and damaging winds possible there.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1582603888624115712

The wet weather is being fuelled by a slow-moving low that's drawn on "vast amount of tropical moisture" after sitting over the countries centre, Weatherzone said.

The weather service has branding the system "highly unusual".

"Parts of outback South Australia which are usually extremely dry have received record October rainfall," it said.

"A cut-off low passing over SA caused persistent rain and thunderstorms during the last 24-36 hours, with falls even exceeding some of last week's readings in flood-affected parts of Victoria."

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A slow-moving low has dropped record rainfall over South Australia's outback.

In Woomera 74.4 mm fell in just 24 hours, making it the wettest October day on record. The October monthly average in the outback community is just 15.3 mm

Record flooding is also unfolding across Victoria, with some rivers in the state's north currently experiencing their biggest flood event in decades.

As of 6am there are 49 flood warnings in effect across Victoria. Evacuation orders are current for Barmah, Barmah East, lower Moira, Echuca and Echuca Village.

READ MORE: Border communities prepare for 'once in a lifetime' flood event

Flooded streets and homes are seen during the floods in Shepparton, Victoria on October 18, 2022.Bodi Fitzsimmons kayaking down the street during the floods in Shepparton, Victoria.

Residents in the Victorian town of Echuca are divided with the hopes of the town resting on a makeshift levee that's split the community in two.

"It is such an anxious wait for these residents. This is a creeping flood," Today reporter Izabella Staskowski said.

"They can see it coming up to their homes, some residents tell me they have seen the Murray River coming up for days and at this point they just want it to hit.

"That's how anxious they are at this moment."

The Murray River is now at major flood level and is still rising. It's expected to peak at 95 metres tomorrow.

Satellite imagery reveals the extent of flooding along the Goulburn River as it inundated Shepparton.

READ MORE: How you can help those impacted by Victoria's floods

Satellite images showing the Goulburn River at Shepparton reveals how much the river spilled over the past two weeks. This image was taken October 2, 2022. This is where the mighty Goulburn sits more than two weeks later. Residents are facing a nervous wait as more record rain bears down, threatening to isolate thousands of homes.

Aerial vision has captured the extent of Murray River flooding occurring at Moama, in southern NSW.

"On Sunday night, the Goulburn River reached a peak height of 12.06 metres at Shepparton, well above its major flood level of 11.0 metres and around the same height as the 1974 flood peak of 12.09 metres," Weatherzone said.

"Bendigo's 117 mm of rain during the 48 hours ending at 9am on Friday, October 14, was its highest two-day total on record, with data available back to 1863."

NSW border communities are also frantically sandbagging and building levels as the river threatens to spill.

NSW SES has issued 66 flood warnings across the state.

Of these, eight are at emergency level.

Woman on the run after police officer pinned against tree on Gold Coast

A woman is on the run after a police officer was injured in a car chase south of Brisbane.

Officers were called to the Gem Hotel in Alberton on the Gold Coast yesterday after reports of a stolen car.

A chase ensued after police arrived, with one officer pinned to a tree after the car was cornered.

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A 38-year-old man was arrested inside the Gem.

A 36-year-old man was arrested after the car was corralled, but a woman fled the scene.

The police officer, a 32-year-old constable, has been released from hospital after suffering minor injuries.

Duchess of Sussex responds to criticism over controversial interview

The Duchess of Sussex has responded to the backlash she received for critical comments about the royal family, partially blaming her "open" and "trusting" nature.

In a wide-ranging Variety cover story published on Tuesday, Meghan touched on the death of the Queen and her legacy, the #MeToo movement and her relationship with the entertainment industry.

The actor and non-working royal declared she could survive the criticism thrown her way after saying she and Prince Harry were "happy" to leave Britain and had been "upsetting the dynamic" of the royal hierarchy "just by existing".

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Deborah James Meghan Markle

Those comments were made in an August cover story for New York Magazine's The Cut, which was criticised by some as snarky or self-serving.

"The story was intended to support Archetypes and focus on our projects," Meghan said.

"I've had some time to reflect on it. Part of me is just really trusting, really open — that's how I move in the world. 

"I have to remember that I don't ever want to become so jaded that that piece of me goes away. 

"So despite any of those things? Onward. I can survive it."

The interview's publication was pushed because of the death of the Queen and Meghan reportedly worried any of her comments on the subject would be a "distraction".

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Fab Four

But she took time to praise the monarch as a "shining example" of female leadership, whom she was deeply grateful to have known.

"There's been such an outpouring of love and support," Meghan said. 

"I'm really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time. 

"What's so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts."

Meghan was keen to stress the importance of people seeing her as a real person and avoiding dehumanising people, revealing her hardest podcast interview was with Paris Hilton because the reality star provoked her "envy and judgement".

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Having spoken in her recent podcast episode about the daily "suck it in" comments that eventually prompted her to quit US TV game show Deal or no Deal, Meghan spoke to Variety about the #MeToo movement.

"We didn't have a name for it at that time. There were just certain things that were accepted," she said.

"If there was any discomfort, you just dealt with it. It forced a lot of women to live with this idea of staying silent, not being disruptive, not giving voice to the things that might create concern or discomfort."

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Markle also revealed she wouldn't be returning to acting but would be supportive if her children, Archie, 3; and Lilibet, 1; wanted to go into the entertainment industry.

"I'm done. I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not," she said.

Father dies after waiting for paramedics in Victoria

Katrina Christou watched for 70 minutes as the love of her life died.

Hospital staff worked Daniel Vasiljevic's chest, performing CPR, but could not save the new father from a fatal heart attack.

"My favourite person has been stolen from me. My daughter's father – gone," Christou said.

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"That's our whole future ripped away, because of negligence."

Vasiljevic, also known as Danny, knew he was in trouble whilst picking up groceries on the night of September 23.

The 36-year-old called his wife, complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath, before dialling triple zero.

It took his wife 11 minutes to drive to and find her husband at the Arena Shopping Centre car park in Officer, in Melbourne's south-east.

Vasiljevic was passing out, their 10-month-old daughter Ariana was alone in the back seat, and paramedics hadn't arrived.

READ MORE: Second flood-related death in five days as Victoria's flood emergency continues

In a split second, Christou had made her decision, she was going to drive her husband to hospital herself.

"I didn't think twice about taking him to the hospital," she told 9News Melbourne.

"I could see how quickly he was deteriorating. No one was on the phone with him. No one called him back to check in.

"There was nothing put in place for the safety of my child in the back of the car with him and if I had come a little bit later, he would have been unconscious and she would have been in the car by herself."

Christou said it wasn't until they arrived at the hospital that he really deteriorated.

"I would like to hope that if someone was there earlier, we would be in a different predicament right now," she said.

Paramedics arrived 22 minutes after Vasiljevic dialled triple-zero.

READ MORE: How you can help those impacted by Victoria's floods

Victoria's ambulance crisis continues

Code one emergencies in Victoria are supposed to have an ambulance arrive within 15 minutes.

Ambulance Victoria's Anthony Carlyon said on that night they were "particularly busy".

"We do accept at this point in time it looks like our arrival in the vicinity of 22 minutes."

The deaths of 33 Victorians were linked to delays in the state's triple-zero service by the state's Inspector General of Emergency Management in September, since December 2020.

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Premier Daniel Andrews insists those outcomes are improving.

"We are seeing improvements. We are seeing better performance," he said.

"There are 2200 more paramedics on the road today than when we came to office."

Ambulance Victoria says it is now investigating, as is the state's triple zero call taker (ESTA), which had its computer system collapse at 7:40 last night.

Attorney General Jaclyn Symes says ambulance calls were prioritised as dispatchers switched to a manual system.

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It took almost six hours for their computer program to come back online.

But according to the Opposition's Brad Battin, for "13 hours the system was down from its full capacity".

That's little comfort to a mother-of-one who lost the love of her life, in the midst of planning a second child.

"He'll be spoken about every day," Christou said.

"He has to be, he was such a good person. And this shouldn't have happened to him.

"Is the care actually there in my eyes? Still no. This happened nearly four weeks ago, I've only just heard from them now."

Christou is waiting on the coroner to investigate.

Group threatens to sell Medibank customer data after 'cyber incident'

The group allegedly responsible for Medibank's "cyber incident" has threatened to sell customer data unless the insurance company pays a ransom.

Medibank said it received messages from a group wishing to negotiate with the provider "regarding their alleged removal of customer data".

"This is a new development and Medibank understands this news will cause concerns for customers and the protection of their data remains our priority," Medibank said in a statement.

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Medibank is being sued by the ACCC.

"Medibank is working urgently to establish if the claim is true, although based on our ongoing forensic investigation we are treating the matter seriously at this time."

Medibank remains operational and said no ransomware attacks have happened yet.

Today the health insurer halted trading on the Australian Stock Exchange as a result of the threat.

"Medibank has entered into a trading halt, to ensure that it meets its continuous disclosure obligations. The trading halt will continue until further notice," Medibank said.

Medibank shares last traded at $3.50.

It is the second time in a week the provider has been forced to stop trading.

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Generic image of Medibank, Bourke Street, Docklands.

The insurer added it is working with cyber security firms and the Australian Cyber Security Centre to get to the bottom of the cyber incident.

"I apologise and understand this latest distressing update will concern our customers," CEO David Koczkar said.

"We have always said that we will prioritise responding to this matter as transparently as possible.

"Our team has been working around the clock since we first discovered the unusual activity on our systems, and we will not stop doing that now.

"We will continue to take decisive action to protect Medibank customers, our people and other stakeholders."

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https://twitter.com/_rockrit/status/1582610550110179328

Medibank announced last week it had been hit by a "cyber incident" but reassured customers their personal data remained safe.

No such reassurance was provided by the health insurer to customers today.

The incident comes just weeks after the major Optus hack which exposed at least 2.1 million personal identification numbers.

Trial of prison officer accused of fatally shooting inmate begins

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains images of a person who is deceased.

A prison officer is on trial for the murder of a shackled inmate shot 11 seconds into an attempted escape.

Officer A, as he's known publicly for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Dwayne Johnstone outside Lismore Base Hospital on March 15, 2019.

Johnstone, 43, was being escorted out of the hospital when he shoved another correctional services officer and ran across the road towards a closed doctors' surgery, a Sydney jury was told.

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Dwayne Johnstone was allegedly shot when he rain from Lismore Base Hospital in 2019.

Albeit with his wrists and ankles restrained, the solid, 170-centimetre-tall man moved "at some pace", the jury was told.

As the shoved colleague gave chase, Officer A drew his work-issued revolver, used words to the effect of "Corrections Officer – stop or I'll shoot" and fired three times at Johnstone.

The last round struck Johnstone in the back.

"All this is happening in 11 seconds," crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC told the NSW Supreme Court in his opening address on Wednesday.

The jury is expected to view footage of the incident, captured on the hospital's CCTV system, and of Officer A's police interview the next day.

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Dwayne Johnstone was allegedly shot when he rain from Lismore Base Hospital in 2019.

In that interview, McKay said the officer admitted aiming his shots at the centre of mass of Johnstone's body.

If the jury accepts that admission, it would make up one element of the offence of murder, McKay said.

The Crown also needs to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Officer A intended to cause really serious injury, or had a "full realisation that death was a probable consequence" of shooting at Johnstone.

A third element requires the jury to be satisfied the action was without lawful cause or excuse, under the regulations determining when corrections officers could use their weapons.

"The Crown has to prove beyond reasonable doubt the accused did not believe it was necessary, or if was necessary, that belief was not based on reasonable grounds," McKay said.

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A prison officer is on trial for the murder of a shackled inmate shot 11 seconds into an attempted escape.

The shooting occurred in light rain and relative darkness and as Johnstone ran up a ramp to the closed doctors' surgery.

"(Johnstone was) posing no risk to any person at the time he was shot," McKay said he expected the evidence to show.

Johnstone had been arrested the day before and charged by Lismore for alleged assault and possession of a Taser. He was taken to hospital after facing court and being remanded in custody.

The trial continues.