Bushfires, cyclones, and floods

BURNING ISSUE

Residents of Ocean Farms Estate north of Perth have been issued an evacuation order as the Red Gully bushfire flares up again. The ABC reports that the blaze had temporarily been downgraded on Saturday but then intensified on Monday, and has now burned through more than 9000 hectares of land.

The news comes as the former-tropical cyclone Imogen continues to deluge northern Queensland, where communities face potential “intense” falls, flash flooding and “damaging to destructive winds”, while AAP reports that parts of Victoria and eastern New South Wales are also recovering from heavy rain and flooding.

PS: According to The Guardian, Labor’s climate spokesman Mark Butler has slammed the Morrison government’s decision to maintain Tony Abbott’s 2030 emissions pledge as falling “in line with more than 3C of warming”, a contrast with improved submissions from countries such as Chile, Norway, the UK as well as the EU.

STATE COVID-19 WATCH: EXPOSURE SITES GROW

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, several regional NSW communities have been added to the list of exposure sites after a man with COVID-19 travelled from Broken Hill to Orange via Nyngan before learning he was at risk after visiting the Berala BWS on Christmas Eve.

Elsewhere, ABC reports the Victorian government has ordered its public health team to review the timeline for sending public servants back to work after three new (quarantining) cases were identified and the state’s exposure list grew to include the Sikh temple in Keysborough and the cafe at IKEA Springvale. The Age notes the state will now allow residents holidaying in Queensland to drive home directly through NSW, although they have been warned to stop “only when necessary” and keep a record.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has revealed three returned travellers have recovered after testing positive to the UK’s new COVID-19 variant, as the UK enters its third national lockdown, and governments such as Vietnam’s begin banning travellers from countries with the new strains.

PS: The Andrews government has also called on other states and territories to similarly mandate testing for quarantining airline staff, while The West Australian ($) reports WA is not mandating weekly testing for overseas transport workers.

SHOT AND CHASER

Health Minister Greg Hunt has told The Daily Telegraph ($) the government plans to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech in early March, a few weeks earlier than its original plan.

The new schedule follows pressure from Labor and other groups to begin deliveries as soon as the Therapeutic Goods Administration approves the drug, with The New Daily reporting Anthony Albanese saying “It makes no sense for the TGA to have recommended, as it is likely to do, in January, the approval of the Pfizer vaccine, but then for the rollout to not occur until March”.

US SENATE IN THE BALANCE

Finally, as you can see on The Guardian’s live blog, voting has begun in Georgia’s two crucial run-off elections, both of which the Democrats would have to win to take control of the Senate.

Polls close today at 11am AEST, although as Crikey explained yesterday results are expected to be tight and legal challenges are likely.