Heaviest east coast rain on its way, with BoM forecasting more than 150mm in some places, including Sydney
Petra Stock
The “wettest period” for New South Wales and southern Queensland is expected between now and Friday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Miriam Bradbury, senior meteorologist at the BoM, says persistent rainfall is expected to accumulate over the coming days, and could reach totals of between 60 and 120mm, with some places recieving in excess of 150mm.
Some of those higher accumulations include places like Sydney [and] all the way up to around the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Rain on already saturated ground is expected to lead to riverine flooding.
A major flood warning has already been issued for the Namoi River with a moderate flood warning for the Peel River.
The BoM has issued widespread flood watches across NSW, including parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Nepean and North West Slopes.
Key events
Penry Buckley
Disruption to international flights as WA ground workers set to go on strike
Hundreds of workers will go on strike at Perth Airport tomorrow after rejecting a pay offer, potentially creating chaos for passengers on long-haul flights from the busy international terminal.
Ground and passenger service workers employed by the Dubai National Air Travel Agency (dnata) at the airport have voted overwhelmingly to take protected industrial action between 5.30pm tomorrow until 10.00 am on Friday AWST, after rejecting a pay increase of 4% in 2025, 3.5% in 2026, 3% in 2027 and 2.5% or CPI for 2028.
It comes after a federal court decision on Monday saw Qantas fined a record $90m for illegally firing 1,820 baggage handlers and other ground staff in 2020, with Justice Michael Lee ordering $50m of the penalty to go to the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
TWU Western Australia assistant secretary Shane O’Brien said Perth ground workers were among the lowest paid in the country:
Outside of Western Australia, all ground staff are covered by an agreement that’s … between eight and 20% more currently than the workers in Perth doing the same job.
A spokesperson for Perth Airport said it was aware of the action but did not know what the impact on flights would be at this stage. The TWU expects flights with carriers including Emirates, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines – as well as some freight services – will be affected.
In a statement, a spokesperson for dnata said the increases in its offer aligned with market conditions and were designed to “ease cost-of-living pressures”, but said it would continue to engage with the TWU “in good faith to reach a mutually acceptable agreement”.
Luca Ittimani
NSW toll reform not expected to cut operator revenue, Transurban reassures investors
Tollway giant Transurban has reassured investors it still expects to earn billions of dollars in revenue even if New South Wales reforms cut tolls for commuters.
The NSW government is pushing for lower toll costs, setting up a new government agency to run tollways and offering reimbursement for weekly costs over $60 until the end of this year.
It’s yet to announce more substantive mooted reform. Asked about the changes’ scope and effect on revenue, Transurban chief executive, Michelle Jablko, said:
It’s not just about price; there’s a network efficiency impact of any change and so all of that’s been taken into account.
The government’s been very clear … that they respect the value of contracts, that they respect revenue.
Sydney’s commuters should expect toll road reforms to be revealed before the end of the year, Jablko said.
It’ll be up to the government to choose when they make an announcement … I expect they’ll have something more to say over the coming months.
Catie McLeod
Australians still spending on lottery tickets, despite fall in size of top prizes
Australians have continued buying lottery tickets despite a tough economic climate and “below average” jackpot outcomes, the head of the Lottery Corporation has told investors.
The Lottery Corp, which was created after a demerger with gambling giant Tabcorp, reported revenue of $3.75bn in the 2024-2025 financial year, down 6.2% from the previous year.
According to its FY24-25 financial results, released today, the Lottery Corp earned $365.5m in net profit, down 11.7% from $414m recorded the year before.
In a presentation to investors, the Lottery Corp’s CEO and managing director, Sue van der Merwe, said the company’s executives were confident about its future success.
Van der Merwe said the company’s businesses, which include Australia’s lottery and Keno brands, performed well.
She said there was still “healthy underlying participation” in its core games, despite a 13% reduction in top prize offerings in its two jackpot games, and economic pressures that she acknowledged meant some consumers were more careful about how they spent their money.
Investors appear to have been reassured – the Lottery Corp’s share price on the ASX had risen 7.84% to $5.70 as of 1.39pm today.
Heaviest east coast rain on its way, with BoM forecasting more than 150mm in some places, including Sydney
Petra Stock
The “wettest period” for New South Wales and southern Queensland is expected between now and Friday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Miriam Bradbury, senior meteorologist at the BoM, says persistent rainfall is expected to accumulate over the coming days, and could reach totals of between 60 and 120mm, with some places recieving in excess of 150mm.
Some of those higher accumulations include places like Sydney [and] all the way up to around the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Rain on already saturated ground is expected to lead to riverine flooding.
A major flood warning has already been issued for the Namoi River with a moderate flood warning for the Peel River.
The BoM has issued widespread flood watches across NSW, including parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Nepean and North West Slopes.
Sarah Basford Canales
Judgment in Brittany Higgins defamation case brought by ex Liberal senator due in WA supreme court, next week
Western Australia’s supreme court is expected to deliver its judgment next week on the defamation trial against Brittany Higgins brought by her ex-boss, former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.
The five-week trial, which began in Perth in August 2024, heard from more than 20 witnesses brought by Reynolds’ legal team as part of her case against Higgins over three social media posts she alleges damaged her reputation.
The case is one of a number of legal battles to stem from Higgins’ decision to publicly allege in 2021 she had been raped in Reynolds’ office by a colleague, Bruce Lehrmann.
Lehrmann has always vehemently denied the allegation and he pleaded not guilty at the criminal trial, which was aborted due to juror misconduct. A second trial did not proceed because of prosecutors’ concern about Higgins’ mental health.
As part of his failed defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, a federal court in April found that, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Higgins. His appeal is now before the courts.
In the WA case, the court heard a number of claims from Reynolds, including that Higgins and her now husband, David Sharaz, had schemed to “ambush” the former senator by concocting a “fairytale” of “political cover-up” to damage her.
Higgins did not appear as a witness but her lawyer argued the then-young Liberal staffer felt professionally and personally isolated after the alleged incident in Parliament House and stayed quiet about it in the lead up to the 2019 federal election out of fear of losing her job.
The judgment will be delivered next Wednesday, at 10am AWST at Perth’s David Malcolm Justice Centre.
Patrick Commins
Sally McManus: don’t assume everything will be better with AI
Sally McManus, the ACTU’s secretary, says she will be pushing for a worker-centric approach to regulating artificial intelligence, in this afternoon’s roundtable session.
Speaking on the sidelines on day two of the parliament house summit, McManus says she expected to feel a “bit lonely on AI this arvo” when it came to warning of the risks of the technology.
The final roundtable session today is on “AI and innovation”. Here’s what McManus told the ABC:
We shouldn’t just say automatically we are all going to be better off because of AI; we’ve got to make sure we are.
The union boss says she isn’t advocating for “over-regulating” AI, but says there is a “doomer” view of the technology that comes with the fear of a “Trump-billionaire, let-it-rip” approach to regulating the technology.
It may boost productivity, it may also just boost profits. So we shouldn’t just say automatically we are all going to be better off because of AI – we’ve got to make sure we are.
That’s why you need governments.
Nick Visser
Thanks for sticking with me through a busy Wednesday. Henry Belot will take the reins from here and guide you through the afternoon.
Judge erred in finding Lehrmann was reckless about consent during rape, court told
Court has resumed in Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against the federal court decision that he was not defamed by Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.
Sue Chrysanthou SC, for Wilkinson, is speaking about a notice of contention, which is also being raised during the appeal. This relates to the fact that she argues that Justice Lee erred in how he characterised Lehrmann’s rape of Brittany Higgins.
Chrysanthou said Lee should have found that Lehrmann was not just reckless about Higgins’ lack of consent, but knew she was not consenting. “Intentional rape”, she said, was proven: Lehrmann knew about the lack of consent, as opposed to being reckless about consent.
Lee made several comments in his judgment, Chrysanthou said, which underlined this.
She said Lee described Lehrmann as “a person so bent on gratification”, and said he was “not caring”. Lee also accepted Higgins was “like a log” and used what Chrysanthou said was “an old-fashioned term, unfortunate perhaps in this context” that Lehrmann “went ahead willy-nilly” with the rape.
The hearing continues.
Luca Ittimani
Rising east coast traffic increases Transurban toll revenue
Traffic is on the rise across the east coast, driving up revenue for toll road giant Transurban.
Sydney experienced the biggest increase in average daily trips on the company’s tollways , up 2.7% over the year to June, while Melbourne saw 1.2% increase and Brisbane 1.5%.
Sydney had a bigger increase in weekday traffic, while Melbourne and Brisbane’s increase was weighted towards weekends. Higher working from home and lower office occupancy could be playing a role, according to Transurban’s chief executive, Michelle Jablko:
That’s evidence of evolving work and lifestyle habits, so there has been a shift in travel patterns as a result of that.
Unlike the other two east coast capitals, most of Brisbane’s increase was from large vehicle traffic, up 4.1%, which Jablko attributed to Queensland’s economic growth.
Congestion is set to ease in Melbourne’s west with the opening of the West Gate bridge but has grown in Sydney’s north west as populations increase near the M7 and M2 roads, the company says.
Higher toll prices boosted Transurban’s proportional revenue by between 4% and 5% for each city.
Combined with a 20% jump in revenue from its North American operations, Transurban’s proportional revenue rose to $3.7bn. However, its profits halved to $178m, as financing and operating expenses rose.
Tory Shepherd
Just to recap some of today’s blooming algae happenings
As well as the national testing centre mentioned earlier, there will also be $4m in grants for local governments to help their communities, a bit over $4m for scientific research support, monitoring and data collection, on top of $28m previously announced joint funding.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese also faced down some local outrage over whether the bloom should be declared a national disaster. There’ll be a new stream of funding available through the Regional Investment Corporation for those affected by the bloom, which is different to bushfires and floods, Albanese said:
We will create a new stream, a significant ecological event program in order to ensure that longer term support is put in place. It is very clear that slow onset events like marine heatwaves and algal blooms will continue to impact our natural environment, communities and businesses.
