Health News at Your Fingertips

Lismore residents are in “disbelief” amid warnings of major flooding in coming days, just four weeks after unprecedented floods devastated the town.

Evacuation warnings were issued for low-lying parts of north and south Lismore this afternoon, with residents urged to ready themselves to leave their homes if an evacuation order is issued.

State Emergency Services New South Wales has said a fleet of more than a dozen aircraft are standing by for rescue operations, as torrential rain is predicted to fall across the northern rivers region.

Meanwhile, flood-weary residents are exhausted.

Lismore councillor Adam Guise told AAP:

Everyone is a bit shell-shocked, they’re in disbelief, they’re exhausted … and others are frantically trying to prepare the best they can.

It’s all a bit uncertain and people are pretty devastated and scared facing the prospects of another major flood.”

Liberal MP Andrew Laming has backflipped in a court action over social media posts published in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election after seeking legal advice, reports AAP.

The Australian Electoral Commission has taken Laming to the federal court accusing him of contravening commonwealth requirements by publishing material under a “Redland Hospital: Let’s fight for fair funding” Facebook page without adequately disclosing his political links.

The court earlier this month heard that Laming had agreed to a statement of facts while not legally represented.

But in a case management hearing on Monday, Laming’s barrister Douglas Wilson said the MP wanted to withdraw some admissions, while others were to remain as agreed.

Wilson said one witness – an expert in how Facebook operates – may be called to give evidence at a hearing or would produce an affidavit.

“There is no contest on the facts, it is simply a liability issue,” he said.

The hearing to decide on liability is set to be held on 16 June.

“In general form what the parties are proposing is that the respondent file a response to the concise statement and that there be an opportunity to file a reply to that and that the respondent intends to file some evidence,” the Australian government solicitor, Steven Forrest, said.

Justice Darryl Rangiah asked the lawyers to try to resolve any objections before the hearing. “Not knowing enough about the matter, it doesn’t seem from what the parties have said to be a particularly complex matter at least factually,” he said.

The federal court proceedings come after Guardian Australia revealed in April 2021 that the Queensland MP was operating 35 Facebook groups – with at least one for each suburb in his electorate.

Evacuation warnings have been issued for low-lying parts of north and south Lismore, amid the risk of flash flooding.

Residents in the following parts of Lismore have been told they should now prepare to leave, in the event an evacuation order is issued.

The areas in south Lismore are:

• The area bordered by Casino Street, Bruxner Highway, Caniaba Street and the Lismore Airport.
• Norco Lane, River Road, Elliott Road, Foleys Road, Taylor Street, Wardell Street and Riverview Park.
• The northern end of Caniaba Street, Meadow Drive, Charlton Avenue and Scott Place

In north Lismore, evacuation warnings have been issued for:

• Winterton Parade
• Pitt Lane
• Pitt Street
• Wotherspoon Street

Lismore city council, in a Facebook post, said:

Low lying properties may experience impacts due to flash flooding and/or riverine flooding. Storm and flood impacts may interrupt essential services such as electricity, phones, internet, water and sewerage.

People in these areas need to closely monitor weather and road closures and make informed decisions early based on individual circumstances. Residents should monitor the situation and be prepared to evacuate when instructed to do so.

A Flood Evacuation Order will be issued by the NSW SES if and when evacuations are required.”

A woman with cerebral palsy has told a royal commission she was raped, and treated “like a dog” by a paid personal carer who she says beat her after she returned a positive pregnancy test, AAP reports.

The woman, known by the pseudonym Chloe, said the man who began caring for her in 2016, threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the abuse. Chloe, who uses a wheelchair, said the man beat her from “head to foot” and kicked her in the belly “over and over again”, killing the unborn child and almost killing her.

“He had his bad face for me and his good face for everyone else,” she said in a statement read by Counsel Assisting the Disability Royal Commission, Kate Eastman SC, at hearings on Monday in Hobart.

Chloe’s statement said:

He treated me like a dog. There were so many rapes and physical assaults it was awful.

I tried to fight back by scratching him, so he would cut my nails.

I can’t trust anyone any more. It’s been about six years of hell. I’m scared to be in my own house.”

The commission was told the man was charged with multiple counts of rape, grievous bodily harm, torture and assault and was found not guilty at trial.

The royal commission, which will this week hear from survivors of abuse, has been told almost half of all women with a disability will experience physical violence during their lives. According to the figures, 48% will experience physical violence – higher than the rate for women without disability, at 27%.

Late last year, health minister Greg Hunt announced his intention to retire at the upcoming federal election.

It appears Hunt’s plans for his new life post-politics are taking shape. Hunt spoke to 2GB’s Ray Hadley this morning about some of his hopes.

Well, I’m going to be a dad. Look, I might do a little bit of Pilates and get a discrete tattoo still to be determined by the family.”

What tattoo will he get?

The State Emergency Services in Queensland have already performed nine rescues from flood waters in the south east of the state.

The SES has also received 80 calls for assistance in Queensland, with the bulk of calls for help centred on Toowoomba.

One man in Queensland has so far died from the flooding. Another man is missing.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of moderate to major flooding as the weather system moves south into New South Wales.

The Bom’s Dean Narramore said widespread flooding could occur across an area spanning the Northern Rivers down into the mid-north coast of NSW.

However Narramore said it is harder to pinpoint exactly where expected intense rainfalls will occur.

Authorities are warning that the situation in the northern rivers could escalate quickly, and are pleading with locals not to enter or drive through flood waters.

You can read more about the weather here:

A man who scaled a crane at Sydney’s Port of Botany as part of protest action to disrupt the port’s activity has been sentenced to four months in prison.

Max Curmi, a 26-year-old climate change protestor who scaled the 60m crane last Friday as part of Blockade Australia’s activities, said he plans to appeal the four month sentence handed down by a magistrate at Waverley local court on Monday.

Blockade Australia said that Curmi’s actions shut down one of the terminals in Port Botany and prevented the loading of the ship he was suspended above.

Last week, five Blockade Australia activists were arrested as the New South Wales government announced it would ramp up its response to the group’s activities. Two of the protesters who were arrested were German nationals, and they have since had their visas cancelled.

Jarrah Kershaw, Blockade Australia spokesperson, said:

The scale of repression used by the state is not a shock, the legal system is just another tool that the Australian system uses to maintain the status quo. That status quo being the destruction of eco and social systems in order to benefit the elite who have been making money off of this destruction for centuries.”

Coda has just won best picture award, and you can read more about it over on our Oscars live blog:

Star Entertainment Group used “artifice” in a scheme enabling a controversial Chinese debit card to be used by high rollers in its Sydney casino, a royal commission-style inquiry into the gaming venue has been told, AAP reports.

The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority inquiry is investigating whether The Star Sydney has been infiltrated by criminal activity, and if its casino licence should be stripped following highly critical media reports.

The inquiry has so far heard damning testimony about practices at The Star, prompting the resignation on Monday of the company’s chief executive, Matt Bekier.

At the inquiry, Star NSW regulatory manager David Aloi resumed giving evidence, admitting that he knew the use of debit cards issued by China Union Pay to purchase gambling chips at the casino was in breach of “scheme rules” prohibiting that use.

Around $900m was transacted on the so-called CUP cards until terminals inside Star Entertainment casinos were disabled in 2020.

The inquiry was told that after internal casino rules were altered it was Aloi’s job in 2013 to find a “suitable merchant code category” for EFTPOS terminals at the casino that were not prohibited by CUP, so its debit cards could be used.

Instead of merchant code 7995, which referred to the purchase of gaming chips, code 7011 was used as it referred to “hotels, motels and resorts”, it was told.

And on that note! I’ve got to get to the airport and to Canberra for budget shenanigans. I’ll leave you in the more-than-capable hands of Elias Visontay. That’s me out, until tomorrow …

We interrupt this Australian news service to bring you the latest on the Oscars …

If you haven’t heard, Will Smith apparently stormed the stage and hit host Chris Rock because Rock had said something about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

We’ve got a live blog on the go, check it out … then come back here!

Anne Davies is here to talk you through the latest on the NSW preselection power struggle:

Western Australia has recorded 7,288 Covid cases. There are 210 people in hospital and nine in intensive care.

Just in from AAP:

Priest Gerald Ridsdale has faced court over the alleged sexual abuse of two young boys in the early 1980s.

The 87-year-old was charged last month with 24 child sexual abuse offences.

He faced Warrnambool magistrates court by videolink from prison on Monday.

Court documents allege Ridsdale sexually abused two boys in Mortlake, in western Victoria, in the early 1980s.

He’s facing 10 charges of committing an indecent act with a child, three charges of committing acts of gross indecency and 11 charges of sexual penetration of a child between the ages of 10 and 16.

Police have prepared a brief of evidence against him.

Ridsdale is due to face court again on 17 June.