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Treasurer says changes will benefit ‘middle Australia’ as Anthony Albanese prepares to address press club; storm system forecast to continue to strengthen off Queensland coast. Follow the day’s news live
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines also gave an update on Tropical Cyclone Kirrily.
The weather system was officially declared a cyclone yesterday afternoon, and is expected to reach the Queensland coast near Townsville as a category two cyclone tonight.
The tropical cyclone warning stretches down the coast from Innisfail down to Sarina, that includes Townsville, Bowen and Mackay. All of those places along the coast likely to see a wet and windy day, particularly as we get towards the end of the day today. We have already started to see that wind whip up around the Whitsundays with gusts over 100km/h. That is only going to increase through the day today as [Kirrily] gets closer.
[Later today], that rain will begin as well with the heavy falls and thunderstorms arriving towards the end of the day today and continuing through the night tonight. It is going to get a little rough for some of those coastal areas around Queensland, so everyone in the area should be preparing for what is going to be a fairly significant weather event as it rolls through over the next 24 to 48 hours.
[Today is] going to be an absolute scorcher.
We’ve got this bubble of searing heat across the centre of Australia at the moment. That’s pushed several states up over 47, 48 degrees in the past three or four days, and today is another one – 49 degrees for Birdsville, probably taking the cake for the warmest spot. That’s within about half a degree of the all-time record, just to show how unusual this heat is.
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