Australia news live: David McBride appeal begins; Trump-Zelenskyy confrontation ‘colourful’ but ‘substance’ of meeting matters more, Coleman says

Ocean rower caught in cyclone Alfred safely rescued

Queensland premier says it will be matter for football codes on whether this week’s games go ahead

Let’s circle back to Queensland premier David Crisafulli, who also spoke with ABC News Breakfast about Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

He said the warning area was a heavily populated area and one that doesn’t usually experience cyclones:

It has happened before, though, and I know this part of the state might be not as prone to these kinds of events, but they are resilient and they’ve proven with the way that they’ve handled flooding in recent years, how well-prepared it can be.

As we flagged earlier, the tropical cyclone is expected to cross anywhere from Bundaberg in Queensland and northern NSW on Thursday as a category two system, bringing up to 600mm of rain a day.

Asked when he would make a call about whether or not a number of football games scheduled for this week would go ahead, Crisafulli said it would be a matter for the codes, and he had begun conversations with them.

I spoke with the Lions CEO yesterday. They’re looking at what that might mean for them. You know, it’s early days, they have a little bit of time to make that decision. But, look, we will give them the information as honestly and as openly and as timely as we have it, and then they’ll make that call.

Coleman asked about prospect of Australian troops in Ukraine, Five Eyes intelligence sharing

Asked if Australia should have boots on the ground in Ukraine to help with a security guarantee, David Coleman said Australia’s support was best provided through “defence, material and humanitarian aid and other forms of support”.

There isn’t a request for Australia to provide support beyond that, and I would think that the form of support that we’ve provided to date will continue to be the right form of support.

He was also asked if Australia should reconsider its intelligence sharing with Five Eyes partners, given its support of Ukraine and the US’s move to “essentially [align] itself with the views and demands of Russia on this issue”.

But Coleman said: “Absolutely not.”

The Five Eyes intelligence partnership is extremely important to Australia and has helped to underpin our security for a very long period of time.

He cautioned against “jumping to conclusions based on a press conference” and again stated that “what matters here is the substance”.

‘Premature’ to speculate on US involvement in Ukraine’s future as negotiations ongoing, Coleman says

Asked if he regards the United States as a reliable ally, David Coleman said it is “our most important ally” and “has been for many decades and will continue to be”.

That’s, of course, been underpinned by Anzus for about 70 years, and now by Aukus, which takes our relationship to the next level. So absolutely, I think the US, of course, is our most significant ally and will continue to be.

How does the US saying it won’t provide further weapon support to Ukraine show its reliability? The shadow minister said it was “premature to ascribe a particular outcome to negotiations that are ongoing”.

The United States has provided enormous support to Ukraine and has provided some of its most advanced weapons systems to Ukraine – without which Ukraine would not have been able to do such a tremendous job as it has in fighting back against Russia.

We have to focus on the actual outcome, not on the steps along the way, so to speak. And I think that we obviously want to see the US involved in that outcome, we want to see the US with a strong role in the future of Ukraine – but it’s premature to speculate on that, as further negotiations continue.

Trump-Zelenskyy presser ‘colourful’ but what matters is ‘substance’ of meeting, Coleman says

Butler on government pledge to fund 50 more urgent care clinincs

Mark Butler was also asked about the government’s commitment to fund 50 more urgent care clinics, and whether these will actually take the pressure off hospitals, and said:

We know from the 87 already operating, they are working in two really important ways.

This was by “giving patients access to high-quality urgent care in their own community when they need it, seven days a week, [at] extended hours and completely free of charge”. But also by relieving pressure on the hospital from non-urgent presentations, which “account for about half of all emergency department presentations”.

Getting into the nitty-gritty of the policy while speaking on ABC RN, Butler was also asked if he was confident the clinics are in the places of greatest need, rather than greatest political need? He responded: “Absolutely.”

These are subject to an evaluation that I promised at the last election, that is ongoing and will deliver a report to government in 2026. I’m very confident about these locations, the ones that are operating already are delivering an incredible service.

And on the Today Show, Butler said the government would be rolling the clinics out “over the course of the next financial year if we’re elected”.

Butler backs Ukraine and says Australia providing ‘whatever assistance we can’

The health minister, Mark Butler, has been making the rounds on breakfast television this morning.

Asked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and whether Australia would play any role with European nations in putting forward a ceasefire proposal to the US, he told ABC News Breakfast:

Australia, right through this awful war and the more than three years since Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion, has been working very closely with allies in Europe and working directly with the government in Ukraine to ensure that whatever assistance we can provide to the Ukrainian people, we are providing it.

We’ve provided an enormous amount by comparison to other countries not in the European region. And the prime minister said again yesterday we are forthrightly alongside the Ukrainian people’s very courageous resistance against this awful invasion.

Queensland premier says authorities doing ‘everything we can’ to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Alfred

The Queensland premier David Crisafulli has spoken with the Today Show amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred (see our earlier post). He said it had intensified overnight, with the warning area a “heavily populated area”.

I think it’s just important that we let Queenslanders know that we’re doing everything we can to prepare … We’re doing things like pre-positioning generators on some of those island communities, we’re talking with the telco providers to make sure that there’s bandwidth there … But we need individuals to do the same, and we need people to take precautions around your home.

Sarah Scully, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, provided an update on the tropical cyclone to ABC News Breakfast earlier.

At this stage, our most likely track or scenario is for a coastal crossing somewhere between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast overnight Thursday into Friday morning as either a category one or a category two system.

She said that regardless of the category at the time of crossing, “there’s going to be big impacts”.

There’s the potential for 300-400mm each day with the passage of the system, and even into the weekend – but we can’t rule out daily rainfall totals of 600mm.

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