Australia news live: Sydney Harbour shark attack victim ‘stable’ in hospital; fresh floods after intense rain in Queensland | Australia news

Probe underway after man’s body pulled from water

An investigation is underway after a body was pulled from the water in the Tasmanian capital, AAP reports.

The body of the man was recovered at around 10pm on Monday near Franklin Wharf in Hobart.

Tasmania Police said in a statement:

An investigation is underway into the circumstances prior to the man entering the water.

Sticking with the weather in Queensland, and two emergency alerts were issued early this morning for the Lockyer Valley council area.

An emergency alert was issued at 4.40am (local time) for Forest Hill, warning that flooding may occur and water levels may rise rapidly.

Residents in low lying areas are encouraged to enact their emergency plan.

Another emergency alert was issued for Laidley at the same time, advising people in low-lying areas to enact their emergency plans because of potential flooding.

The Laidley state high school’s evacuation centre is open for those seeking safe shelter, the alert said.

Queensland crews conduct 13 flood rescues overnight

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service conducted 13 rescue jobs overnight as parts of the state’s south-east were lashed with rain and flooding.

A spokesperson said 13 swift-water rescue jobs were completed overnight. Majority of these were in the Moreton Bay region, where people were trapped in their homes with rising flood waters.

Rescue jobs were also completed in Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs.

Meanwhile, the SES received 28 requests for assistance in the Moreton Bay area in the past 24 hours.

No one should have to ‘ring around’ to find a bulk-billing GP, Greens MP says

The Greens MP Stephen Bates says “no one should have to ring around for hours” to find a bulk-billing GP, after the health minister Mark Butler encouraged people to do so.

As Josh Butler reported, the health minister yesterday encouraged Australians to “ring around” doctors in their area and “vote with your feet” to find GPs offering bulk billing. This comes as concerns continue over whether enough is being done to stop medical clinics winding back subsidised visits.

Bates claimed that only around 5% of GPs in his electorate bulk bill new patients. He wrote on X:

Stop treating healthcare as a market place and telling people to ‘vote with their feet.’

No one should have to ring around for hours trying to find affordable healthcare. It should be free at the point of use.

Broad tax reform should be an issue at next election, Chaney and Daniel say

Zoe Daniel agreed that we need to have a broader conversation around Australia’s tax system and the economy.

I think broad-based tax reform, big structural changes, that is the kind of thing that you would take to an election and quite frankly, given where we are in the electoral cycle, we wouldn’t be able to get it done in time anyway.

It is the kind of structural policy shift that the government could build, to take to the election. It will have to happen eventually. It is inevitable. So the government at some point is going to have to be brave and step into this conversation, which is affecting all different parts of our society and economy in different ways … it has to be everything on the table.

Kate Chaney agreed with the sentiment and said because it is “politically unpalatable to talk about tax … nothing ever changes”.

I completely agree that it should be an election issue at the next election.

Chaney argued the government needs courage, but also the opposition – so that if they don’t like a proposal or reform “they come up with an alternative and give people a choice”.

But that will actually depend on having that conversation with the community about why change is needed, and building some momentum behind it, and building an appetite so that we can see that the necessary changes, rather than focusing on what it all means for me, if one little bit of the tax system is changes.

‘We need to put down our weapons’ when it comes to economy, Kate Chaney says

Kate Chaney argued that both sides of politics need to “put down our weapons” and engage in a broader conversation about the country’s economy:

We have a situation where we have an ageing population, over reliance income tax … inadequate revenue for our natural resources and compared to other countries, lower consumption tax and smaller base, we have a structural deficit. We can’t pay for the things that we think we deserve, and we need to have a broad conversation … over the next 20 years about how we’re going to pay for this.

Both sides are willing to talk about tax cuts, but no one’s worried about where the money’s actually going to come from.

In the 80s we managed to have some significant economic reform, and a big part of that was that the Liberal party didn’t just block it for the sake of it, willing to talk about what actually was good for the country and how we’re going to get there. We need to put down our weapons and have a similar discussion now about what our economy looks like over the next 20 years.

Zoe Daniel on tax changes: ‘There is strong support in the community for this shift’

The independent MPs Kate Chaney and Zoe Daniel are speaking to ABC RN and are asked for their thoughts on the stage-three tax cut changes.

First up, Chaney said that “on balance” she does support them:

The reality is we are just frozen on tax reform. And we can’t actually say you can never change your mind ever on anything. When circumstances change, we also need to be able to change policy.

Daniel said she was still finalising her position and speaking to her electorate of Goldstein for their thoughts:

I’ll wait to see the actual legislation but at this point, there is strong support in the community for this shift … I’ve had a lot of people contacting me who earn more than that [$180,000] threshold saying, look, it would be great to have that money, but other people need it more.

Sydney harbour shark attack victim stable in hospital

Some train delays in Sydney this morning

For those commuting into the Sydney CBD for work this morning, expect delays along some key routes.

Sydney Trains said that services on the T3 Bankstown Line, T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line and South Coast had been suspended in both directions after an emergency incident at St Peters earlier this morning.

Trains are now running again between Sydenham and Redfern, according to the latest update.

Sydney Trains said:

Passengers should continue to allow plenty of extra travel time as some services continue to experience delays.

Passengers should also listen to announcements and check information displays for service updates.

Sydney councillor ‘extremely concerned’ about shark attack in Elizabeth Bay

Sydney councillor Linda Scott says she is “extremely concerned” about the shark attack in Sydney harbour last night.

Last night, a woman in her late 20s was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay. Paramedics were called about 7.45pm to help the woman, who managed to swim to a jetty following the attack. You can read all the details below:

Scott urged people to “please, stay out of the harbour until further notice”, writing on X:

Thank you to the bystanders who stood in to bravely help, and to [St Vincent’s Hospital] for their care for the victim.

Good morning

Emily Wind

More on the floods in Australia’s north

“The Boulia road through to Alice Springs has currently got three metres of water over the crossings,” Winton Mayor Gavin Baskett told AAP.

“Some of the crossings are at the highest (flood levels) some graziers have ever seen them.”

Winton’s local disaster management group has been activated with some properties bunkering down for a long, isolated period in flood waters.

“They are all graziers out there, lucky it isn’t tourist season,” Mr Baskett said.

The Bureau of Meteorology said ex-tropical cyclone Kirrilly was expected to linger between Mount Isa and Longreach for the next few days.

Flood warnings are current for large parts of central Queensland as well as the south-east.

Flood watches have also been issued for parts of western Queensland as well as much of central and southeast of the state plus NSW’s northeast.

The bureau said forecast rainfall in those areas could lead to flash or riverine flooding in the next 48 hours.

“In the worst case it could lead to inundation of homes, properties, businesses and agricultural land,” the bureau warned.

Flood warnings in Queensland as rain and storms continue

Turnbull tells ABC about Abbott’s reaction to being ousted

Josh Butler

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