Health News at Your Fingertips

Peter Hannam

What is driving the 70% chance of a third La Niña in three years?

As noted in an earlier post, the Bureau of Meteorology has lifted its Pacific climate driver monitor to “alert” levels for another La Niña. Conditions now and forecast place the chance of a third La Niña in as many years as a 70% chance.

There are a couple of things of note from the fortnightly update of climate drivers from BoM … one related to what’s going on in the Indian Ocean.

Negative IODs, or Indian Ocean dipoles, typically mean more moisture than usual streaming across the continent in the form of north-west cloud bands, lifting rainfall in late winter and through spring in south-eastern Australia.

The Pacific, meanwhile, typically is more influential for eastern Australia from spring into summer, and another La Niña (or even a near-La Niña) would elevate the chance of above-average rainfall.

Given the full dams and saturated catchments, above-average rainfall likely means more flooding, hence the warnings from the Queensland government this week.

Authorities made similar warnings last year ahead of the second La Niña, but whether that made sufficient difference (in NSW at least) will likely be known when the NSW floods inquiry report is released.

One other note from the BoM update today. The Southern Annual Mode, the other influence (from the Southern Ocean) on Australia’s climate is forecast to be in its positive phase for the next month or so. (Forecasting is limited.)

As BoM says: “A positive SAM has a drying influence for parts of south-west and south-east Australia at this time of year, but increases the likelihood of rainfall in eastern NSW, far eastern Victoria, and parts of southern Queensland.”

Guess that means western Victoria and western Tasmania will stay relatively dry, for the next few weeks at least.

Scott Morrison’s decision to block gas exploration project under scrutiny

Another element to the fallout from Scott Morrison taking on a series of ministerial portfolios in secret surrounds the rejection of a gas exploration project off the coast of NSW.

Asset Energy was behind that project, and its executive director, David Breeze, refused to comment to the ABC on the matter, saying it was before the courts, but said he believed the decision was made “contrary to administrative law”.

I’m not really in a position to comment on the case format itself because of that matter. I know that Mr Albanese has made similar commentary, but essentially, we believe that the way in which the decision was made was contrary to administrative law.

So, the bias that we are alleging is consistent with the administrative law precedent in this type of case, where the person who was a decision-maker has to, in fact, follow certain process – and beyond that, I can’t comment.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 73 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

NSW

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Gillian Helfgott, astrologer and wife of pianist David Helfgott, dies aged 90

The family of Gillian Helfgott, wife of Shine pianist David Helfgott, have announced she has died after a short illness.

The 90-year-old astrologer, who was also the mother of filmmakers Sue and Scott Murray, was described as an “incandescent force in diverse areas of life” by her family:

A renowned astrologer, she met David in Perth in 1983 and dedicated the rest of her life to seeing his triumphant return to the concert stage after years in obscurity and incarceration in a mental institution.

The Oscar-winning film Shine and Gillian’s New York Times best-selling autobiography, Love You to Bits and Pieces: Life with David Helfgott, brought their story to the world.

Gillian lived with David in idyllic countryside outside Bellingen, NSW, where she was an irrepressible force, helping the annual Camp Creative festival find local and international success, while also proudly supporting and promoting the 80-strong Bellingen Youth Orchestra.

A vivacious, social and passionate woman, Gillian will be long remembered and treasured.

Morrison’s resignation from parliament would be ‘appropriate’, Karen Andrews says

Andrews reiterated her calls for Morrison to resign, telling the ABC’s Andrew Probyn that the former PM’s actions “reflect incredibly badly” on the former government:

I’ve made my views clear that based on what we know so far and the fact that there was available secrecy, then it would be appropriate in my view for Scott Morrison to resign and to leave parliament.

I think this reflects incredibly badly on the government of the time and that’s unfortunate given that most, if not all, cabinet ministers were completely unaware that this action was being taken.

And I think it has diminished Scott Morrison as prime minister and it has diminished the cabinet.

Karen Andrews says her role in election day boat arrival announcement extended to issuing of ‘apolitical statement’

Andrews was next asked about the boat arrival announced on election day, and if that is now a more complicated issue knowing Scott Morrison held the home affairs portfolio as well.

Andrews says she had no role in the “politicisation” of the arrival, adding her role was only that a statement was requested:

Well, there were clearly two parts to what happened on election day. One was the issuing of an apolitical statement to say that a boat had been intercepted.

The second part of what happened as a result of that was the politicisation of that boat interception.

So I had no involvement in the second part of that, in the terms of the politicisation, my role was in the request for an issue of statement that was to be very factually based, just to say that a boat had been intercepted.

Former home affairs minister says ‘there were certainly no discussions with me’ about Morrison’s appointments

Former home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, appears incensed that she was sharing her portfolio with the former PM, and said his actions were “unacceptable”.

Andrews was on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, and said one minister at least should have been made aware of the appointments:

The issue really is that he swore himself into these portfolios, there seems to be no discussion with any cabinet ministers but I may well be surprised to find that there were some discussions. There were certainly no discussions with me, and that is where I think that the secrecy surrounding the swearing in of Scott Morrison to those portfolios is unacceptable.

I think any minister who had someone else sworn into their portfolio … should have been consulted about that, at the very least advised prior to it happening; but in the case of home affairs, I did not know it was even being contemplated, let alone that it had happened.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has rejected calls for Scott Morrison to resign, but conceded that the former PM’s secret portfolios should not have happened at all.

Joyce told the Australian:

I don’t think he should resign, there was nothing illegal done.

Should it have happened in the form it did? No. Should it have happened at all? Probably not, in part. Does it carry much weight at the supermarket checkout? Comes distant last to the price of groceries.

Adeshola Ore

New election rules to allow Victorians in Covid isolation to vote over the phone in November

Victorians who have tested positive to Covid will be able to vote over the phone in the November election.

The Andrews government has revealed new electoral regulations will allow Victorians in isolation to participate on polling day. The changes will also extend electronic-assisted voting to Victorians impacted by other emergency situations – if a determination is made by the state’s electoral commissioner.

At the federal election in May, phone-in voting was expanded to accommodate people in isolation with Covid.

Victoria’s government services minister, Danny Pearson, said the changes would ensure Victorians with Covid could comply with public health restrictions and vote.

As always, Victorian voters will also have the option of voting at any voting centre in the state on election day, voting before election day at any early voting centre, or applying to vote by post.

Sarah Martin

Former finance minister also unaware that Morrison secretly held portfolio

The former finance minister, Simon Birmingham, was also unaware that Morrison held the finance portfolio at the same time as he did, after he took over from Mathias Cormann in late 2020.

Birmingham declined to comment on Morrison’s decision to take responsibility for his portfolio along with four others, which he held from March 2020 until the May election this year.

“As finance minister, I exclusively exercised all powers and responsibilities vested in me with no interference or engagement from anyone else,” Birmingham told Guardian Australia.

“I am not casting judgment or otherwise on his decision.”

Nationals leader: Morrison’s explanation is ‘fulsome’ and matter should now ‘end’

The leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, says Australians should “accept” Scott Morrison’s explanations for his secret ministerial portfolios.

Littleproud told the Australian that Morrison’s Facebook post that supposedly explained his reasoning was “fulsome and wholesome” and that the matter should now “end.”

While it’s hard to understand how an explanation for taking on ministerial roles in secret is “wholesome”, tellingly, Littleproud also said the Facebook post should lead to people respecting Morrison’s “legacy”:

That’s where the matter should end.

I appreciate colleagues were disappointed but I think Mr Morrison’s given a full explanation and I think we should accept that. There’s a process the government’s started and I respect that.

What we asked the former prime minister to do was give an explanation. Reading through that explanation, while he acknowledges he didn’t get it necessarily right, he acted with the right intent.

The fact he’s been able to clarify his actions in what were extraordinary times, it was important for clarification to respect those instructions and his legacy. He should be respected for it.

BOM issues La Niña alert

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an alert, making it a 70% chance of a La Niña being declared later this year. If it eventuates, that would make it the third summer in a year that, Australia would be facing the weather event.

It would be the first time on record that three consecutive La Niña events would coincide with back-to-back negative Indian Ocean Dipoles:

Mostafa Rachwani

Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day, and a quick thanks to Natasha May for expertly guiding us through a hectic morning.

Natasha May

I am signing off and handing over to the wonderful Mostafa Rachwani who will be with you for the rest of the day!

McCormack defends Morrison

The former Nationals leader and current member for Riverina, Michael McCormack, has just spoken with Sky News, defending former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to five ministries.

McCormack said the decisions were made in the best interest of keeping Australians alive during the pandemic.

Scott Morrison made the right decision at the right time to keep Australians alive.

McCormack says the uproar comes as a PR exercise for the upcoming book titled Plagued, which is written by political reporters from the Australian.

The Australian first reported Morrison swore himself in as health and finance minister during the early stages of the pandemic, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, today revealed that it was five additional ministries in total – Treasury, home affairs, health, finance and resources.

Sky News presses McCormack on the criticisms that have come from constitutional experts but McCormack has suggested another constitutional expert could provide a different opinion.

Martin Pakula is one of the senior Victorian Labor government ministers set to resign ahead of the November state election, but networking platform LinkedIn (or at least its job-seeking algorithm) has other ideas about where his career could head.

Pakula, the former minister for tourism, sport and major events in the Andrew’s’ government, took to social media to jokingly share a screenshot of LinkedIn’s suggestion he work for the newly elected United Australia Party senator, Ralph Babet.

The position as “electorate officer B” is currently open and LinkedIn has told Pakula it is a “top pick” for him.

The election of the former real estate agent as a Victorian senator was the sole fruit of billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer’s party finally claiming a federal seat after spending an estimated $180m in the past two elections.