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Australian Red Cross has busiest year on record in NSW

AAP is reporting that the Australian Red Cross has had its busiest year on record in New South Wales after multiple flood disasters.

The humanitarian aid and community services charity said its emergency services teams were activated for 262 days in 2022.

It supported 171 NSW evacuation centres and recovery hubs and provided mental health first aid to 29,000 people.

The Red Cross NSW director, Kate Miranda, said staff and volunteers across the state had been supporting people impacted by floods since February.

“Since the start of the Northern Rivers floods on 27th February to when the Moulamein Recovery Assistance Point closed on 20th December, we had just 36 days we were not responding to a disaster,” Miranda said on Friday.

Red Cross emergency services staff and volunteers have supported people in the Northern Rivers, Murray Riverina, Central West, Far West, Central Coast, Hunter, Hawkesbury and Sydney.

In 2022, 25 emergency services staff coordinated with 373 volunteers in the evacuation centres and recovery hubs, providing more than 8,000 voluntary hours of service.

“Our volunteers are continuing to provide outreach support services in Eugowra and the Northern Rivers,” Miranda said in a statement.

The flood events of 2022 came on top of two years of Covid-19 and the 2019/20 summer bushfires.

“Thousands of people have experienced three years of compounding disasters. It’s taking a toll on people’s mental health,” Miranda said.

The NSW emergency services team has 36 paid staff and more than 1,200 volunteers trained in emergency response and psychological first aid.

Acoss CEO says welfare payment increase inadequate

The head of the Australian Council of Social Services has said the proposed 6% increase to welfare payments is “not enough” amid an ongoing cost of living crisis.

The chief executive of Acoss, Cassandra Goldie, told Sky News this morning that while the increase was in line with indexation, it still isn’t enough to keep up with household expenses.

Remember rent has gone up by 18%, food has gone up by 20% and then we have energy bills which have gone up by 20%.

At the moment, the indexation yes is welcomed, but it doesn’t fix the big problem which is the need to increase those base rate payments.

So we’re really facing crushing increases in the essentials for people on very low incomes.

So those income support payments are not enough in our view.

AAP is reporting Australians have spent a record $75bn in the lead-up to Christmas but the spending frenzy didn’t stop there.

The Australian Retailers Association also recorded unprecedented growth on Boxing Day with the $1.2bn spend equating to 15% more than last year.

CEO Paul Zahra said 2022 was the biggest festive season on record.

“It is unprecedented,” Zahra said.

He said the spend was propped up by Australians wanting to reward themselves after a tough year as well as price drops attracting customers struggling with rising costs.

“It is remarkable that in this period of economic turbulence, traders have well and truly smashed it out of the ballpark as consumers revelled in ‘freedom’ spending,” he said. “Australians are seeing shopping as an experience and a reward after such a challenging period.”

Growth was spurred by department stores raking in $150m on Boxing Day, with sales up almost 25% from last year.

The data compiled by Westpac DataX found household goods made up the largest proportion of spending, with $315m dished out on Boxing Day.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services were up 23% and clothing and apparel 20%.

DataX head Jade Clarke said the de-identified analysis of card spend gave important insights into Australians’ habits.

“The data shows that despite a year of increasing living costs, Australian retail sales have remained strong over the holiday period, improving on last year,” she said.

Paul Karp

Dan Tehan also criticised the way Labor is handling the voice to parliament.

He said:

It is incredibly disappointing the way Anthony Albanese is going about this. He’s not consulting, he’s not trying to make it bipartisan, he’s using it to try and divide – and that is the most disappointing thing about the debate …

We don’t know what we’re having a conscience vote on. We’ve seen some details coming out yesterday, it might have 20 people, it might have 24 people … Will the Australian people be given a choice of Indigenous recognition in our constitution without a voice … given the voice has been so divisive.

Tehan accused Albanese of “treating the opposition with contempt”, warning that if “he thinks this is the way to get a referendum through in this country, he’s going about it completely the wrong way”.

Fact check: the Coalition were involved in a joint parliamentary committee on constitutional recognition in 2018, in fact it was co-chaired by their now shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser. Until recently, recognition through a voice to parliament was bipartisan, as the Coalition under Scott Morrison promised to do the same.

All that Labor has done is decide to push on with a referendum on the principle of whether to establish the body, and then leave legislation for its precise design until after the referendum. Is that failing to be bipartisan? Or just not giving the opposition a veto on whether to push on? Tehan says the former; many would argue it’s the latter.

Authorities to crack down on taxi and rideshare rip-offs

The Point to Point Commissioner is expecting a busy New Year’s period, after a “landslide of complaints” to the taxi industry hotline in the lead-up to the holiday period.

Authorities are looking to crack down on rideshare rip-offs, with taxis who refuse to use their meter or demanding fixed prices in their sights.

The 24-hour hotline has received 601 calls in just the 23 days up to 20 December, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Paul Nicolaou, executive director of Business Sydney, told the Telegraph it was down to taxis and rideshares to “not take advantage of revellers”.

Businesses in the hospitality, tourism and retail industries heavily rely on a transport system that is safe, reliable and cost-effective to get Sydneysiders around our city.

If the system fails on delivering this service then people will not come into the city, which in turn will have an adverse knock-on effect on other businesses as a result.

Paul Karp

Tehan also weighed in on suggestions from trade minister, Don Farrell, that Australia could end its WTO trade dispute cases if China drops its trade bans.

Tehan told Radio National:

Yes we have to continue to pursue them but the easiest way they could be resolved is by the Chinese government ending the sanctions on barley and wine. If they did that, then obviously, those disputes we no longer need to continue to take them – that would be the best thing that could occur, although I see no sign of that at the moment.

I see we’re dangling carrots out in front of the Chinese … accession to CPTPP [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership], which was something we never talked about, I see the new government is talking about it. This is very concerning – that they would offer access to that incredibly important trade arrangement to try and get the Chinese [government] to move.

Tehan said Australia should continue to argue that trade sanctions hurt China which, of course, the Albanese government is already doing. “We shouldn’t be looking at concessions on our end,” he said.

Paul Karp

Dan Tehan calls for release of medical advice on decision not to ask travellers from China to require negative Covid test

The shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, has called on the Albanese government to release medical advice underpinning the decision not to require travellers from China to show a negative Covid test.

Tehan said Australians should be concerned about the spike in cases, and need to be “fully advised of all the risks”.

He told Radio National:

One of the things the previous government did was make sure that it was the health advice that came first, the safety of Australians came first. We have to make sure that is the position the current government is taking, and they need to be very transparent about that: release the medical advice.

The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, has explained the advice hasn’t changed because the variant causing a spike in cases in China has already done the rounds in Australia. Also, the Coalition did not always release medical advice on opposition demand.

Peter Hannam

The flood waters triggering an evacuation Menindee in far western NSW today is just the latest sign of what’s been a very wet year across much of eastern Australia.

The year’s not quite done but we probably can “put down the glasses” as far as the places that were wettest, hottest and coldest, as you can see here:

From now into the new year, though, there’s the potential for some big rainfall totals in parts of the north (and some much smaller one in the south):

And Victoria has recorded 16,568 new cases over the past week and 69 deaths, a significant drop on the week before.

A total of 715 people were hospitalised, with 33 people currently in ICU:

Covid numbers have been released, with New South Wales recording 27,665 new cases in the past week, with 32 deaths recorded in that time. It is a slight drop on case numbers and deaths from the previous week.

A total of 1,712 people are in hospital and 45 people are in the ICU:

Tony Burke’s arts policy built around five ‘pillars’

I wanted to return to arts minister Tony Burke’s planned appearance at the Woodford festival, where he is scheduled to “outline” the government’s new cultural policy.

It’s not meant to be a launch of the policy, mind you, that is set for late January, but earlier this week a press release went out that gave a sense of what direction the policy is heading in.

That included five “pillars” the policy will be built around:

First Nations first: recognising and respecting the crucial place of these stories at the centre of our arts and culture.

A place for every story: reflecting the diversity of our stories and the contribution of all Australians as the creators of culture.

The centrality of the artist: supporting the artist as worker and celebrating their role as the creators of culture.

Strong institutions: providing support across the spectrum of institutions – funded, philanthropic and commercial – which sustain our arts and culture.

Reaching the audience: ensuring our stories reach the people at home and abroad

It is still unclear what Burke will be adding to that in his speech today, but it will be interesting to watch how the discussion unfolds.

Mental Health Australia chair says Labor failing to deliver on mental health

The chair of Mental Health Australia, Matt Berriman, has waded into the debate surrounding the Albanese government’s decision to halve the number of Medicare-funded psychology sessions.

Berriman, speaking to the SMH, said the cuts reflected wider concerns on how the government is approaching mental health, saying action was necessary “yesterday”.

We need added services and action yesterday, not less.

The new government should make mental health a key priority, which has seemed to have been lost since taking power. Where’s Labor’s plan for mental health in this country?

We don’t need more roundtables; we need real reform urgently.

From lived experience, we know complex mental ill health can’t and won’t be solved with just 10 sessions. There’s no cap on GP visits, so why is mental health diminished in its access versus physical health?

Man to face court over Melbourne apartment death

AAP is reporting that a man has been charged over the death of a Chinese woman in an apartment in Melbourne’s CBD.

The 31-year-old’s body was discovered by friends at the flat in La Trobe Street on Tuesday night.

A 22-year-old Huntingdale man was taken into custody in Preston, in the city’s north, by detectives from the homicide cquad.

He has now been charged with one count each of murder, robbery and theft.

It’s believed the man and woman were known to each other.

The man will face Melbourne magistrates court on Friday.

Good morning everyone, Mostafa Rachwani with you this morning from rainy Sydney, and ready to take you through the day’s news.

We begin in New South Wales, where the township of Menindee is expecting major flooding today as the Darling River threatens to swamp homes.

The State Emergency Service has issued an evacuation order for residents ahead of escape routes being cut off. We’ll bring you more as it comes in.

Elsewhere, we are expecting the arts minister, Tony Burke, to speak at the Woodford festival today, where he will be outlining the government’s “ambitious plans to stimulate the arts in Australia”.

The policy comes after the government spent six months consulting with artists and industry leaders, and is set for a formal launch in January.

We are also expecting Covid case numbers today, with some concern that Christmas may have brought a spike in case numbers or deaths, just as numbers have begun plateauing.

There is still much going on, so let’s dive in.