Key events
There are still four major fires active. Longwood, The Wonnangatta and Dargo fires in Gippsland, and the Carlisle River fire in the Otways.
On the last two, he said:
Both of those fires really won’t be safe until we see decent rain, and there is no forecast rain in the near future. But both of those fires have remained in containment lines in recent days and we’re hoping come, early next week those fires may be deemed, in fact contained.
Emergency Services Commissioner Tim Wiebusch is up now and he has good news – cool change is on the way for a lot of the state.
We’re now entering into our sixth day of what is an eight day extreme to severe intensity heatwave here in Victoria. For our communities in the north of the state, they are still under those conditions that are in the 40s during the day and in the mid 20s overnight.
The good news is there is relief on the way. The Bureau is forecasting that the cool change that will come through the southern parts of the state late on Saturday will reach the north of our state during Sunday morning.
The Premier thanked the volunteers and first responders who have helped fight the fires.
It’s an opportunity for me to also thank Victorians who have been both supporting fire affected communities donated to the Bushfire Appeal Fund, but also taken and listened to the advice.
That is continues to be incredibly important to keep monitoring conditions, keep tuned to the Vic emergency app if you are told to leave and a given a message from our emergency services, please do so.
Premier Jacinta Allan is speaking now:
We’re here to announce another package of support for fire-affected communities.
Allan said the “significant component of this funding is for the clean-up effort”, but it would also include mental health support and temporary accommodation.
Like the Prime Minister has mentioned, I too want to call out the funding of $500,000 for the Harcourt Cooperative Cooperative Cool Store.
It’s been we’ve heard really clearly how important it is to the local community, both in terms of business support, in getting some certainty around the rebuild for this important asset in the local community.
But also it’s a big and powerful symbol of the start of the rebuild. The Harcourt Cooperative Cool Store is a much loved building and landmark building in Harcourt, as it is part of the economic activity in the local community.
The PM says the total support package for the Victorian fire is now $329 million, split between the Commonwealth and the Victorian Government.
We’ve already committed up to $171 million under the joint Commonwealth Disaster Funding arrangements, and today we’re expanding our partnership with Victoria to provide an additional $158 million, co-funded with Victoria.
This includes funding for clean-up programs and emergency recovery support programs to support businesses and local governments.
The PM is speaking in Melbourne. He said communities across the country are “facing extreme and dangerous conditions”.
I’ve often said, though, at the worst of times, we’re seeing once again the best of the Australian character and it’s been good to be here at the centre to say thank you to the workers who are really protecting their fellow Victorians and fellow Australians.
We are seeing right across regional Victoria neighbours helping neighbours and people stepping up for people that they may never have met and might never meet in the future as well.
We have more on the suspected double murder-suicide in Perth here:
Nick Visser
That’s all from me. Cait Kelly will handle things from here as we finish off the week. Take care.
St John Ambulance WA said it sent five crews to the house this morning just before 8.30am on priority one conditions, which reflect potentially life-threatening calls.
Two crews remain on scene.
Police investigating suspected double murder-suicide in Perth after four people found dead
Two adults and two children have been found dead in the Perth suburb of Mosman Park this morning in a suspected double murder-suicide, police say.
Emergency services received a call from a concerned party at about 8.15am who had arrived at the home on Mott Close. Responders found the bodies of two adults, a man aged 50 and a woman aged 49, and two children aged 14 and 16 – a family unit.
Police said it didn’t appear to be a “violent” incident, saying no weapon was used. The family did not have any reported family violence matters with police.
Police added that both children had “significant health challenges” and had engaged with care services.
A note was left at the premises but police were not able to reveal the letter’s contents. They said the letter was the main reason they were treating it as a murder-suicide.
Police said it was a confronting situation, noting:
The officers are understandably in shock after being confronted with such an incident like this. It’s not often that our officers come across such a tragic event with this many persons deceased. That’s why we employ a health and welfare and our police chaplain to attend the scene as soon as possible, speak to the officers, wrap our arms around them and make sure they are OK.
Jane Hume says opposition not at its best after ‘dummy spit’ from former Coalition partners
The Liberal senator Jane Hume says the Coalition was not doing a good enough job presenting a “credible alternative” to the current government amid an ongoing spat with the Nationals that saw the partnership shatter this month.
Hume spoke to Channel 7’s Sunrise this morning, where she said the Liberal opposition was at its “very best when we are unified”. When asked if that meant the opposition was now at its very worse – amid speculation that a squad of male Liberals are vying to replace Sussan Ley – Hume said:
The Liberal opposition is at its very best when we are unified, when we’re focused on the job at hand … presenting a credible alternative to make sure that at the next election Australians can see that the Liberal Party is the choice that represents their dreams, their hopes and their aspirations.
We are not doing that right now, quite clearly, starting with a dummy spit from our Coalition partners, or former Coalition partners, in the Nationals. And right now we need to be focusing on the job at hand. Parliament returns next week. The economy is tanking. Inflation’s going up. The growth is stalling. Productivity is going backwards and living is going backwards and living standards are going backwards. This is what we should be talking about every single day, not ourselves.
The health minister, Mark Butler, was also on the program, where he said the Liberals would do well to “listen to Jane Hume”:
She’s been talking all week about the need for unity on that side because Australians know if you can’t manage your own party there’s no way you can challenge for the privilege of managing the country.
Australian and European officials moving fast to seal elusive free trade deal
Australian and European officials are scrambling to bridge the gap for an elusive free trade agreement as diplomatic heavyweights prepare a meeting to seal the deal, AAP reports.
Plans are being drawn up for the trade minister, Don Farrell, to meet with his European counterpart Maroš Šefčovič, likely in Europe, before European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen travels to Australia at the end of February or start of March.
The EU president’s visit could be viewed as a good omen after she travelled to India to sign a free trade agreement in mid-January, sealing a long-awaited deal between Europe and the world’s most populous state.
Farrell was scheduled to meet with Šefčovič last Friday before the meeting was postponed. The final hurdles include quotas for the amount of beef and sheep Australian exporters can ship into Europe, with Canberra pushing for more than what’s been offered.
Geographic indicators – when Australian producers use names of foods that come from specific regions, such as prosecco and feta – have also been a sticking point as Europe aims to protect the naming rights of products.
If beef and sheep quotas are sorted, the final negotiations over naming rights would then need to be finalised, but negotiators are confident of compromises here to get the agreement over the line.
