Australia news live: fire danger warnings in Queensland as crews battle Moreton Island blaze
Welcome
Good morning.
Multiple fire danger warnings are in place across Queenslandwith residents in parts of the Bundaberg region and Moreton Island told to prepare to leave, as bushfires rage across the state.
The fire on Moreton Island broke out in dense national park on Saturday morning, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers, while the Queensland Fire Service warned last night that fires in Nearum and Takilberan “could get worse quickly”.
We’ll also bring you more on the shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park that left several cars damaged and one person hospitalised with a gunshot wound, as that story develops.
I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you until early this afternoon. Let’s get stuck in.
Key events
Images of apparent damage from shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park
Guardian reporter Penry Buckley has been down in Croydon Park this morning at the scene of the alleged shooting last night, and has taken some snaps of the damage.
Inside the new State Library station
Earlier, we brought you the news of the final station in the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, State Library station, being completed. Here’s a peek at what it looks like.
‘I heard a bang-bang-bang on the left side of the car,’ Sydney shooting eyewitness says
A taxi driver, who was an eyewitness to the shooting in Croydon Park, has described his experience to the ABC:
I was just happened to be driving by, and as I was driving by, I just heard a bang-bang-bang on the left side of the car, the taxi. And then I looked next to me, and I saw a couple of holes through the window right next to – on the passenger side. And I didn’t realise there was actually a hole on the roof as well. And I smelled the gunpowder, but I assumed because it was [NRL] Grand Final night, [it was] somebody throwing firecrackers or something.
Police say Sydney shooting ‘incredibly concerning’ but they do not suspect terrorism
The shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park overnight was “incredibly concerning” and it was lucky more people weren’t hurt, the acting assistant commissioner for New South Wales Police, Trent King, has said.
A 60-year-old man allegedly used a longarm rifle to fire “at least 50” bullets from a residence above a shop on Sunday night. In addition to the man in his 50s who had been taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remained in a serious condition, King said up to 16 other people had received minor injuries “from glass shattering and other shrapnel as a result of the shots being fired”.
King told ABC RN:
It’s unprecedented for Sydney to have something like this, with such a large number of shots fired. And we’re very fortunate that we didn’t have more damage and certainly more injuries or indeed fatalities.
Police who initially attended the incident were also allegedly fired upon, King said, and a large tactical response including highway patrol, the air wing and dog unit were called in, set up a perimeter and “initiated tactical response to the active shooting”.
King said:
Just like [for] the community, it would have been terrifying [for the police]. What I can say is that those initial police were fired upon. We have damaged police vehicles, and we’re very fortunate that no police have been injured.
There was no understanding as yet about what prompted the incident, but police did not suspect terrorism, King said.
The 60-year-old man, he is undergoing medical treatment in hospital. Once that treatment is resolved, we will have him in custody and then we’ll speak further with him. But certainly there’s nothing in relation to history, in relation to any relation to gang or other associations that would indicate why this has occurred.
Final Melbourne Metro Tunnel station completed
Benita kolovos
State Library station – the final of five stations to make up Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel – has been completed, marking the end of construction on the long awaited project.
After the premier, Jacinta Allanand infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williamson Sunday announced the completion of Town Hall station, they will today visit State Library station to confirm it is also complete. Anzac, Arden and Parkville stations were handed over to Metro trains in April.
State Library station is the deepest and most complex to be built under Melbourne’s CBD, as the tunnel needed to travel underneath the existing City Loop. It sits 36m below ground, and will have a 42m-long escalator, which is 12m longer than the escalators at Parliament station, which until now was the longest in Melbourne.
The station’s main entrance at La Trobe and Swanston Street features 12m-high columns topped with massive, 70-tonne, 18m beams, reflecting the classical architecture of the nearby State Library Victoria. A second entrance opens on to Franklin Street, right outside RMIT.
It also includes an underground underpass that will allow commuters to transfer between State Library and Melbourne Central, without tapping on or off. The $13.48bn Metro Tunnel will connect the Sunbury line in the west to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new underground city stations, forming a single 97km train line.
Now in its third term, the Labor government is pinning its hopes on the tunnel delivering political capital before the November 2026 state election. It will now be under pressure to announce the date it will open to commuters – so far they have only said it will open by the end of the year.
In a statement, Allan said the announcement marked “ one small step for a commuter and one giant leap for Victoria”. She continued:
The end of major construction means the start of a new era for Melbourne, where you can get to uni, work and retail faster and easier.
Hastie did ‘the honourable thing’ by moving to backbench, Paterson says
Andrew Hastie has done “the right thing and the honourable thing” by stepping down from the Liberal party’s frontbench given his disagreement on immigration policy, Liberal senator James Paterson has said.
Paterson, speaking to ABC RN this morning, defended Hastie against criticism that was reportedly levelled against him by Peter Dutton in a submission to the party’s election review.
Paterson, while he hadn’t seen that submission, said:
I don’t agree with the characterisation of Andrew’s contribution. He was a key voice in our national security and defence team, which was one of the strongest areas that we put forward during the last term … We have to accept collective responsibility for our election loss. We all contributed to that, and Peter Dutton has taken public responsibility for that, as have I.
Paterson continued:
What I would say is: if there are any current members of the parliamentary party or their staff who are playing games with an important process like this for internal positioning or advancement, then I think that will end very badly … We have to have a review that can look at the last election result holistically and in a way that has confidence and trust in the party, and that when it is handed down, we can implement the recommendations. And get on with our business. Leaks from a process like that undermine trust in that process.
Welcome
Good morning.
Multiple fire danger warnings are in place across Queenslandwith residents in parts of the Bundaberg region and Moreton Island told to prepare to leave, as bushfires rage across the state.
The fire on Moreton Island broke out in dense national park on Saturday morning, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers, while the Queensland Fire Service warned last night that fires in Nearum and Takilberan “could get worse quickly”.
We’ll also bring you more on the shooting in Sydney’s Croydon Park that left several cars damaged and one person hospitalised with a gunshot wound, as that story develops.
I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you until early this afternoon. Let’s get stuck in.
