Central NSW town faces its second inundation in as many weeks as survivors from other areas recount dramatic rescues; PM to fly to Bangkok for next leg of summit marathon. Follow the day’s news live
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Australian news. My colleague Natasha May will be here shortly to guide you through the day but in the meantime here are some of the key stories making news this morning:
Anthony Albanese spent his last day at the G20 summit in Bali in a series of meetings with the leaders of the UK, France and India, with security and trade uppermost in his mind. Our political editor Katharine Murphy filed late last night on how the prime minister was particularly focused on trying to explore ways of boosting Australia’s defence capability before the new nuclear submarines come on stream in the 2030s. Here’s her story from Bali before she heads with the PM to Bangkok for the Apec meeting, the last leg of his summit marathon.
The Lachlan River is due to peak at a record-equalling 10.8 metres in Forbes this morning amid the threat that the town will suffer a second major flood in the same number of weeks. We will be watching the situation as it unfolds this morning. We also have a dramatic new dispatch about how a woman, her newborn baby, husband and dogs were forced to take refuge on the top of their water tank as flood waters suddenly inundated their property in nearby Tichborne.
Our main exclusive story this morning is that the superintendent in charge of the Queensland police First Nations unit is under investigation for alleged racism and bullying, Guardian Australia has confirmed. Superintendent Kerry Johnson has been accused of racism by a person of colour who worked in the unit, including allegations he blocked her promotion and that he was disrespectful to community members at a funeral in the Indigenous community of Cherbourg.
Also coming up today is a federal government announcement to cap in-home aged-care fees after concerns some providers are “gouging” clients with charges of up to 60%. My colleague Josh Butler has the exclusive story here.