Received

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 83

Residents in outback NSW are rainfall weary as dams overflow and wet weather continues, as a severe system brings a widespread risk of flooding, thunderstorms and hail.

Locals in the small cotton and wool town of Warren have been dealing with consistent rain since December, owner of the Macquarie Caravan Park Carolyn Monkley told AAP.

The park's campground flooded on Wednesday. Floodwaters also cut roadways into the town, stranding a team of hospital staff at the park.

"It hasn't been hammering with rain, but we have had such a lot of rain consistently, basically since Christmas, that it just doesn't have a chance to dry out," she said.

"Rainfall here is totally different to rainfall on the coast. A couple of inches out here makes it very very, very soggy."

The Macquarie River reached major flood levels at Warren on Wednesday, as nearby Burrendong Dam, which is above full capacity, continued to release flows into the river.

The deluge comes close to harvest season with farmers already facing a number of setbacks, as they prepare to work through a third consecutive La Nina season.

NSW Farmers Business, Economics and Trade Committee chair John Lowe said the severe weather threatened to destroy remaining crops, and there was already extensive flood damage on rural NSW properties and roads.

"Once the skies clear and the floodwaters recede, we're going to need an enormous, concerted effort to get our infrastructure up to scratch," he said.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrotter said residents needed to prepare for a "difficult week" and "difficult summer", as the severe weather moves across the state, soaking already-saturated catchments.

"Our rivers and dams are full, that creates a significant risk of flooding that creates a risk to people's lives and properties," he said.

Communities in western and southwestern parts of the state, including many already impacted by floods, are in the path of the current rain band, Assistant SES commissioner Sean Kearns said.

"What we're going to see is significant amounts of rain, sometimes the monthly rainfall in just a couple of days, if not more," he told ABC TV on Wednesday.

He urged drivers to take heed of conditions, especially people out for school holidays on unfamiliar roads.

Louise Roberts, who works in the Dubbo Visitors Information Centre, told AAP a number of major highways were closed in central NSW, with drivers anxious about how to get through.

The centre itself, on the Macquarie River, was at risk of becoming isolated by rising waters and may close this week.

Severe weather warnings are in place from southern Queensland, large parts of inland NSW through to northern Victoria, with a risk of flash flooding, renewed riverine flooding, severe thunderstorms producing large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall on Wednesday.

The warning area extends over inland NSW from Tibooburra in the northeast to Wilcannia in the central west, through to Parkes and Dubbo in central NSW and north to the Queensland border.

Widespread moderate to major flooding is likely across inland NSW, as rain leads to renewed river rises, with flood warnings already in place for more than a dozen inland rivers.

Rainfall totals of up to 15 to 30mm are expected with localised falls of up to 100mm possible, with inland towns including Deniliquin, Griffith, Hay, Cobar, Bourke and Brewarrina on alert for possible flooding.

Hazardous surf and swells are expected on the Macquarie, Hunter, Sydney and Illawarra coasts on Wednesday, with strong and dangerous coastal winds developing on Thursday.

Much of NSW will experience showers and isolated thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon, with severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, possible hail and damaging winds for the state's southwest.

Flood warnings are current across inland catchments including the Namoi, Macquarie, Bogan, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Murray, Edward, Culgoa, Birrie, Bokhara, Warrego, Paroo, Barwon, Darling, Macintyre and Snowy rivers.

A flood watch has also been issued for coastal catchments including the Hunter, Hawkesbury and Colo rivers, and Wollombi Brook, with rises expected from Thursday to Friday.

© AAP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 92

Internet search habits of Australians over two decades reveal they can't get enough COVID-19 news, rain predictions and Tomahawk steak cooking instructions.

Google has released some remarkable search engine trends since it entered the Australian market 20 years ago.

Australians have googled 'Covid news' more than any other news topic in the last 20 years, closely followed by 'Trump news'.

In January 2020, searches for 'bushfires' and 'air quality' reached record, all time highs.

Overall, 'bushfire' and 'flood' dominated natural disaster searches in the last two decades.

This year's rainfall across the east coast resulted in the second highest spike in interest for floods in Google history - after the 2011 Queensland floods.

And with another year of La Nina bringing summer rain, more people searched 'when will the rain stop' in March 2022 than ever before.

'Time travel' was the most googled type of travel, followed by 'international travel' and 'student travel'.

Australia was also the most charitable country, with the most searches for op shops in the world.

© AAP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 90

Bruce Lehrmann has been accused of trying to kiss Brittany Higgins weeks before allegedly raping her inside a minister's office at Parliament House.

A jury has heard Ms Higgins "politely rebuffed" his advance and the pair never spoke about the moment again.

The allegation came during day two of Lehrmann's trial in the ACT Supreme Court. He has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.

In a police interview from May 2021, Ms Higgins said Lehrmann "made a pass" at her while the pair were waiting for their respective rides home.

"I rebuffed the kiss, mostly out of shock because I wasn't anticipating it," she told the court on Wednesday.

Ms Higgins alleged the incident happened after a staff dinner at The Kingston Hotel, a restaurant near parliament, but said she didn't think too much about it.

She told police during her career in parliament other people had made similar passes at her.

The jury also heard Ms Higgins thought the rape accusation would not be believed because of the workplace disparity between herself and Lehrmann.

The pair worked as Liberal Party staffers - she in an admin role and Lehrmann as an adviser - in the office of former minister Linda Reynolds.

On the night of the alleged incident in March 2019, the pair had been out drinking with colleagues and returned to Parliament House on the way home in the early hours of the morning.

Lehrmann had told Ms Higgins he needed to pick up some documents from the office.

She alleges after the two of them entered Senator Reynolds' office she fell asleep on a couch and woke up to Lehrmann having sex with her.

Recounting the alleged rape, Ms Higgins said she felt "trapped, not human" as Lehrmann hovered over her, grunting and making noise.

She started crying and told him to stop but he continued.

When she returned to work, Ms Higgins told police she feared she would be fired because she and Lehrmann had been in the office after hours which had been flagged as a security breach.

"I knew what had happened to me was wrong, I knew I hadn't consented," she said.

Ms Higgins told police when she identified the incident as a sexual assault to her former chief of staff, "the gears shifted".

"It became less about me and more political in a sense," she said.

Ms Higgins told police she didn't think anyone would believe her and figured Lehrmann's words carried more weight than hers because of his more senior role.

"He was in the office on Monday ... He didn't seem ashamed (or) upset," she said.

"It just didn't feel like something he wanted to address."

In another interview with police, Ms Higgins said she was aware of the implications the allegations could have on the Liberal Party "the whole way through".

"I was so scared coming forward."

She became emotional as she admitted in hindsight she had made it harder for herself to verify her story because she was scared it would leak and damage the party.

The jury was also played CCTV footage of the bar Lehrmann and Ms Higgins were drinking at with colleagues on the night of the alleged rape.

Over the course of 4.5 hours Ms Higgins is seen to have 11 drinks.

She described herself to police "as drunk as she'd ever been" and admitted her recollection of the night was patchy.

The trial continues on Thursday.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14

© AAP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 85

The surprise slowdown in the pace of rate rises risks dragging out the rate hiking cycle and forcing the central bank to go even higher than expected to dampen demand.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's 0.25 percentage point lift is the sixth consecutive rate hike and brings the cash rate to 2.6 per cent.

The unexpected shift to a slower pace of tightening has prompted some economists to revise their forecasts for the cash rate peak.

ANZ economists are expecting the cash rate to peak 25bp higher than the 3.35 per cent previously forecast to 3.6 per cent in May next year.

The bank's economists see the RBA's decision to downgrade to 25bps will extend the rate hiking cycle and potentially force the bank to raise the cash rate even higher than expected.

"The slower pace of rate hikes increases the risk that rates need to go higher than previously expected, as demand remains too strong and sentiment is initially boosted by the RBA's moderation," ANZ economist David Plank said.

NAB economists said the factors driving goods and construction inflation were starting to fade, setting the scene for inflation to peak at 7.5 per cent in quarter four and then moderating fairly quickly in 2023.

"Over the past nine months there has been a clear pull-back in shipping costs, supply backlogs are being worked through, while some indicators point to an emerging slowdown in global goods demand," NAB economist Taylor Nugent said.

In the absence of any surprises causing inflation to surge again in the near term, NAB economists expect the cash rate to peak at 3.1 per cent.

The big four banks have wasted no time passing on the 25 basis point interest rate hike, with Westpac the first of the big four to announce lifted rates for home loan and savings customers from October 18.

The Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and the ANZ also confirmed on Tuesday they were lifting their rates by the same amount on October 14.

RateCity research director Sally Tindall said not all banks had hiked rates on their savings accounts, however, but was hoping to see announcements in the coming days.

"Savers have turned from a liability for the banks into a sought-after commodity," Ms Tindall said.

"That's because deposits are becoming an increasingly attractive source of funding for home loans - great news for savers who could see further rises in the months to come," she said.

For mortgage holders, the six rate rises will blow their repayments out by hundreds of dollars.

Compare the Market data shows monthly repayments will increase by $725 on the average $500,000 loan with 30 years left to go.

Rising interest rates and soaring inflation is eroding consumer confidence in the lead-up to the festive season, with Compare the Market analysis showing 40 per cent of people plan to spend less this Christmas than in previous years.

Minister for financial services Stephen Jones said the Albanese government was delivering a budget under "very difficult circumstances" and was concerned about the impact of high inflation on household budgets.

"We know that the independent Reserve Bank has got a strategy to bring those down, and that's what's behind the interest rate rises," he said.

"But as a government, we've got to focus on ensuring we don't make the situation worse and we have a strategy for the near term."

© AAP 2022