The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says Dfat officials are ready to provide consular assistance to Australians in Nepal, after the devastating flooding in the country.
A local tourism official said they believed 34 Australians were missing in the area, among hundreds of foreign nationals. Australian officials were not confirming numbers at this stage, and were working to check on the welfare of people they know were in the affected region.
In a statement this morning Albanese urged Australians to listen to Nepalese authorities and said the government was aware of “a number” of people in the area.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the significant flooding in Nepal and Tibet, China,” he said.
Australians in the affected area should follow the advice of local authorities. We are aware of a number of Australians in the area and Australian officials are urgently working to confirm their welfare. We are liaising with local authorities as well as tour operators.
We stand ready to provide consular assistance.
The PM said Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
'This system is going to break': Ken Henry says GST deal benefiting WA is ‘stupid’
The former Treasury secretary Ken Henry says the GST deal benefiting Western Australia is “stupid” and undermines the “integrity of the system of horizontal fiscal equalisation”.
Henry spoke to RN Breakfast this morning amid an ongoing stoush after the Productivity Commission said in an interim report the Morrison-era GST deal was a mistake that should be reversed. Western Australia has responded with fury, and Anthony Albanese said this week there would be no changes to the agreement while he is in power.
Henry, however, said he agreed the GST carve-out was hurting the nation, telling RN:
If a state, the wealthiest state in the nation, can come to Canberra with a begging bowl and get the rest of the country to put money into that begging bowl being held by the wealthiest people in the country, if that’s how this system is going to work, then this system is going to fail. And one day this system is going to break.
Without a high-integrity system of fiscal equalisation, the Australian federation is going to face some pretty serious challenges.
Home buyers have more power but new listings down as owners hold fire
Australia’s spring property season is shaping up to be unusually sluggish, as sellers retreat from a weak market and unsold homes pile up, AAP reports.
New property listings in the four weeks leading up to August 23 were 8.2% below the five-year average, property analytics firm Cotality data shows.
Advertised stock levels remain elevated overall, suggesting homeowners are holding back from adding to an already crowded market.
Sydney is leading the downturn, where new listings were 14% below the five-year average in the four-week period. Similar pullbacks were recorded in all capitals except Adelaide.
‘Reluctant’ approval for Tasmanian datacentre sets marker for national battle
The day before Anthony Albanese secured agreement with states and territories to develop national datacentre standards, a small council in Tasmania was grappling with the existing regulations in the face of strong community opposition to a new AI factory planned for its town.
The George Town council voted 6-1 to approve the plans of Australian developer Firmus to build a 288 megawatt (MW) datacentre at Long Reach, north of Launceston, but said it did so reluctantly.
The AI factory is planned on the former Gunns Pulp Mill site near the Tamar River, and has faced strong opposition from locals. A petition calling to stop the centre going ahead had nearly 6,000 signatures. More than 300 people wrote submissions on the application to the council.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says Dfat officials are ready to provide consular assistance to Australians in Nepal, after the devastating flooding in the country.
A local tourism official said they believed 34 Australians were missing in the area, among hundreds of foreign nationals. Australian officials were not confirming numbers at this stage, and were working to check on the welfare of people they know were in the affected region.
In a statement this morning Albanese urged Australians to listen to Nepalese authorities and said the government was aware of “a number” of people in the area.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the significant flooding in Nepal and Tibet, China,” he said.
Australians in the affected area should follow the advice of local authorities. We are aware of a number of Australians in the area and Australian officials are urgently working to confirm their welfare. We are liaising with local authorities as well as tour operators.
We stand ready to provide consular assistance.
The PM said Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
Plibersek says government still determining how many Australians in Nepal floods
Tanya Plibersek, the minister for social services, said the federal government is very concerned about the flooding in Nepal.
She said the government was still trying to determine how many Australians are in the area and how many have been affected. Plibersek told RN Breakfast everyone in the region should follow the advice of local officials.
The images are very disturbing indeed. We do know that there are Australians in the area. We don’t know exactly how many.
A flood-damaged section of a highway in Nuwakot in central Nepal after the glacial collapse. Photograph: Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Macquarie Group dealt a further blow to KMPG when the bank said it would reverse a decision to use the embattled consultancy as its auditor and instead will retain the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In a statement to the ASX stock market yesterday, Macquarie said its decision followed scrutiny of KPMG Australia’s audit process as exposed by the recent parliamentary hearings in the leaking of client data.
Macquarie said it was concerned about KPMG’s “capacity to deliver the audit”, given that “several key members of the proposed KPMG Australia audit team have departed”, and “a culture that transparently discloses issues”.
Dfat aware of a ‘number’ of Australians in Nepal flood zone
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) says it is aware of a “number” of Australians in the area affected by the flooding on the Nepal-Tibet border, saying officials stand ready to provide consular assistance.
A Dfat spokesperson said:
We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the significant flooding in Nepal and Tibet, China.
Australians in the affected area should follow the advice of local authorities.
We are aware of a number of Australians in the area and Australian officials are urgently working to confirm their welfare. We are liaising with local authorities as well as tour operators.
A flooded road and damaged buildings in Nepal. Photograph: Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Australia’s ambassador to Nepal ‘deeply saddened’ by flood disaster
Australia’s ambassador to Nepal, Simon Ernst, says he is “deeply saddened” by the disaster in Nepal.
A joint statement issued by the embassies of Australia, Finland, France, Norway, Switzerland the the UK in Nepal, posted on social media some hours ago by Ernst, says:
We are deeply saddened by the devastating flooding in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and surrounding areas.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by this disaster. We express our solidarity with the people of Nepal during this difficult time.
We encourage all those in affected areas to follow the guidance of local authorities and official safety advisories as the situation continues to evolve.
Hundreds of people are unaccounted for after the flooding disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Penny Wong says officials 'urgently' working to confirm Australians reported missing in Nepal flood
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the government is urgently trying to confirm the welfare of Australians in Nepal, after reports dozens of Australian tourists were among those missing in flash floods.
In a statement issued this morning, Wong said:
The loss of life and destruction caused by flash flooding in Nepal and China is devastating. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those killed or missing and all affected by this disaster.
DFAT officials are urgently working to confirm the welfare of Australians in the area.
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters
Malinauskas defends national cabinet carveouts for AI data centres
Ima Caldwell
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has defended national cabinet’s decision to drop strict mandates requiring new AI data centres to be powered entirely by renewable energy.
After a meeting of national cabinet, prime minister Anthony Albanese flagged exemptions for jurisdictions including Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday evening, Malinauskas denied the PM had been rolled by state leaders, adding there was a “genuine desire” to manage the national rollout together.
“It’s pretty clear... to any objective observer that the way we’re going to see these datacentres roll out in an Australian context will be powered by renewables, because that is where the generation can come from,” he told host Sarah Ferguson.
That’s where the very large scale of energy is able to be procured at relatively quick speed... we can get renewables online sooner rather than later...
What you saw today was a nationally consistent position, that gas will have a role to play when it comes to the firming of renewables, which has always been South Australia’s view.
Malinauskas noted that different state energy profiles, such as Queensland’s state-owned generation, meant a federal mandate was unnecessary. However, he said all jurisdictions agreed that operators must construct new generation capacity.
We cannot have datacentres connecting to the grid without bringing their own new generation. Water is also clearly a consideration, but, frankly, energy is the main game. And that is accepted by all states and territories.
Dozens of Australian tourists believed missing in flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border
Dozens of Australian tourists are reportedly missing in the deadly flash floods that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border.
According to the Nepal Tourist Board, as reported by Agence France-Presse, at least 291 foreigners were among the missing, including one Australian who was travelling with Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travel.
However those numbers were quickly updated.
The Press Association reported:
The Nepal Tourist Board said the number of missing people had risen from 384 to 403, with 33 UK citizens among 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for.
According to the tourist board, 203 of the missing are male and 200 female.
Also among the missing were 47 people from the US, 34from Australia, and 24 from Canada.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
An estimated 34 Australians are believed missing amid devastating flash floods in Nepal. We will bring you more on this soon.
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has defended national cabinet’s decision to drop strict mandates requiring new AI datacentres to be powered entirely by renewable energy. More coming up.
Macquarie Group has dealt a further blow to KMPG when the bank said it would reverse a decision to use the embattled consultancy as its auditor and instead will retain the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers. More details shortly.