The standoff between two men and police on Gold Coast continues
On the Gold Coast, a standoff between two men and police continues this morning more than 14 hours after it began.
An exclusion zone remains in place in the suburb of Nerang following the issuing of an emergency declaration yesterday evening.
At 8.30 am local time, Queensland police acting superintendent Chris Ahearn will provide an update on the ongoing situation.
The exclusion zone encompasses Riverpark Drive, McLaren Road, Kopwhai Place, and Inverness Street.
Public members have been advised to avoid the area, and those within the exclusion zone have been asked to remain indoors until further notice.
Updated at 18.28 EDT
Negotiations continuing with men in Gold Coast siege, police say
Queensland police have been providing an update on the Gold Coast siege.
Chris Ahearn, the regional crime coordinator for the south-east region, said negotiations had continued with two people overnight, who was in police pursuit about a return to prison warrant.
Shortly after 3 pm yesterday, an emergency was declared … in Nerang. As a result of police attending a residence in that location and attempting to engage with two people at that location who police wanted about some return-to-prison warrants, a standoff subsequently ensued; a siege went on overnight at that location with restrictions in the area and specialists police on-site… negotiations with these occupants of this residence have been underway overnight.
We’d ask that members of the public avoid that area … and we ask that any residents within that exclusion zone remain indoors until we resolve this situation.
Police are certainly still on the scene there, and negotiations are continuing. We are acutely aware of the impact on the local community in that area with a situation like this unfolding, but we intend to resolve it as soon as possible.
“We intend to resolve this as soon as we can” – QLD police on Nerang siege @TheTodayShow
— Jess Millward (@JessMillward9) June 8, 2022
Updated at 18.52 EDT
Paul Karp
Anthony Albanese confirms he will live at the Lodge in Canberra
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has done a round of FM interviews, mainly talking about how he has hit the ground running, including attending the Quad meeting within hours of being sworn in and his recent trip to Indonesia.
On KIIS FM, Albanese confirmed he would primarily live at the Lodge in Canberra but stay at Kirribilli House when he is in Sydney. He knocked back Kyle’s suggestion he put Kirribilli on Airbnb in the meantime because the AFP probably wouldn’t like that.
Albanese spoke about the Chinese fighter jet intercepting Australia’s surveillance flight in the South China Sea. He explained Australia had to stand up for its interests in making a formal complaint about the dangerous incident because Australia was in international airspace.
Jackie O claimed that a KIIS producer kept interjecting during Albanese’s victory speech, but the prime minister said it “added a bit of color,” and he didn’t mind.
On WSFM, Albanese spoke about his bamboo bike ride with Joko Widodo.
He said:
The bamboo bike is probably in customs somewhere; we brought it back on the plane. It was a nice warm gesture from the [Indonesian] president to go on a bike ride where we had our one on one discussion before we sat down … For him, it was of great significance; it symbolized both of our humble beginnings, given the positions we now hold.
Albanese said Australia’s ambassador had checked if he could ride a bike, and he said yes because his family didn’t have a car growing up, and he only learned to drive in his mid-20s.
Albanese:
It was good fun, although we went slow initially, and I said to the president, ‘can we maybe speed up a bit?’ It’s really hard to ride a bike at 1km/h.
Updated at 18.48 EDT
OECD Economics forecasts Australia’s growth will slow in 2023
Australia is one of the few countries to avoid a downgrade.
Updated at 18.41 EDT
Gold Coast standoff involves man subject to a return-to-prison warrant, police say
Here’s the latest on the Queensland siege from AAP.
Queensland police are negotiating with two men holed up in a Gold Coast home for over 16 hours.
It is unclear if the pair are armed, but parts of Nerang bounded by Riverpark Drive, McLaren Road, Kowhai Place, and Inverness Street are locked down on Thursday morning.
Paramedics standby at the scene, and the nearby St Brigid’s primary school will remain shut.
The siege began when police arrived in the area to arrest one of the men, who they say is subject to a return-to-prison warrant for allegedly breaching bail conditions.
The man is believed to be a high-risk violent offender and is connected to two shootings on the Gold Coast recently.
In one of those incidents, a gun was fired at a family’s car as they drove home from dinner in nearby Coolangatta on Saturday night. The bullet shattered the car’s window millimeters from directly hitting a 55-year-old man in the front passenger seat.
He was treated for an abrasion to his neck, while his wife and son were not physically harmed.
In the early hours of Monday morning, multiple shots were fired from a car near the Arundel police beat. No one was injured in the drive-by attack, but the bullets hit the building and a police car parked outside.
Police are expected to speak about the siege later this morning.
Updated at 18.38 EDT
Spirit of cooperation among energy ministers, Chris Bowen says
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, has been doing the rounds this morning. He also appeared on the Today Show and Sunrise following the first cabinet meeting with state and territory ministers to discuss rising energy prices.
He told Today ministers took “steps forward” yesterday, some with quick implementation times and some longer-term plans.
Australians understand that you don’t undo nine years of policy chaos in one meeting. Still, Labor, Liberal, and Green energy ministers from across the country collaborated very cooperatively with me in a two-hour session.
We’ll be quick to implement … giving Aemo, the energy market operator, the power to buy gas and store it so it can help us through the current crisis into the more immediate future. But we also agreed on plans it will take longer to work through, like an integrated national agreement, to have all the investments needed for the transition to renewables across the board.
Look, there was a real spirit of cooperation. I think Australians around the country appreciate honesty. There’s no easy answer. I can honestly say state and territory ministers are working well with the new government.
“Thanks, minister,” the interview concluded, “he sounds cold, doesn’t he?”
Updated at 18.28 EDT
Bill Shorten has weighed in on the lettuce shortage
… and associated bad puns
If you missed this 2016 incident in which Shorten famously asked a shopper what her favorite kind of lettuce was in a truly bizarre supermarket stunt, you’re in for a treat:
Updated at 18.22 EDT
The standoff between two men and police on Gold Coast continues
On the Gold Coast, a standoff between two men and police continues this morning more than 14 hours after it began.
An exclusion zone remains in place in the suburb of Nerang following the issuing of an emergency declaration yesterday evening.
At 8.30 am local time, Queensland police acting superintendent Chris Ahearn will provide an update on the ongoing situation.
The exclusion zone encompasses Riverpark Drive, McLaren Road, Kopwhai Place, and Inverness Street.
Public members have been advised to avoid the area, and those within the exclusion zone have been asked to remain indoors until further notice.
Updated at 18.28 EDT
Peter Hannam
The capacity mechanism is a priority to bring on renewables, energy ministers say
The first meeting of energy ministers yesterday evening indicated there would be a new intensity in federal-state-territory coordination.
As we detailed here, there are 11 agreements, although they will mostly take time to have some effect:
Of note from the communique of the meeting was an indication that any plan to build the extra capacity of dispatchable electricity is not intended to keep gas and coal in the system.
“Energy ministers agreed to advance the work on a capacity mechanism as a priority to bring on renewables and storage to support stability for the national energy market.”
Still, the design will be critical, and this “capacity mechanism” will be a fault line for the energy debate, possibly for years.
In the meantime, it’s the case of another day and another power price spike, with the highest spot prices this morning in New South Wales. There was another brief “lack of reserve” notice in NSW since canceled, indicating that the market remains tight.
And if you would like a tour of the energy landscape, listen in to this Full Story podcast:
Updated at 18.11 EDT
Allegra Spender says gas companies need to help with energy prices
Independent MP Allegra Spender appeared on the Today Show this morning.
Asked what she wanted to see to address the energy crisis, with people “freezing in their homes,” she replied:
In a country of Australia … we have the energy in this country, and, tragically, people are in that situation. I think the government can do more, and we’re looking at a crisis in fossil fuel prices – you’re seeing gas prices and coal prices worldwide spiking because of the war in Ukraine.
We produce gas and coal; we export that hugely; we need to ensure that Australian consumers are protected from international price increases driven by global circumstances …
Exactly what the government should be doing is working with the gas companies and saying, ‘guys, you know people – Australians, families, and businesses expect to be able to access affordable energy, you’re making great profits, you’re not paying a lot of corporate tax on the east coast, and you’re making great profits because of this spike in prices, you need to come to the party and make sure that Australian consumers and businesses are protected’.
Updated at 18.07 EDT
Bowen welcomes work on reopening coal-fired plants
Bowen also sidestepped confirmations of whether more coal-fired plants would be fired to open up energy capacity.
Will more coal-fired plants be fired back up?
“Matt Kean, in particular, is working on that in NSW.. particularly in NSW that is an issue, and he has indicated he’ll continue to work on that, and I welcome that.”
– @Bowenchris, Minister for Energy
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) June 8, 2022
Updated at 17.59 EDT
The government will decide if coal and gas are included – Bowen
The energy security board will draft its paper in the coming days.
But Bowen says the ultimate decision regarding whether its recommendations are accepted will be up to the government.
If the energy security board says coal and gas still have to be included, do you have to accept that?
“No, that will be a decision for the minister. We’ll work it through; I want to see the expert paper..”
– @Bowenchris, Energy Minister
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) June 8, 2022
Updated at 17.52 EDT
Gas will play a role in the renewable energy transition – Bowen
Bowen is asked whether gas will play a role in Australia’s transition to renewable energy. He says he’s said “consistently” that gas plays a role.
There’s been ideology on both sides of this debate; we’ve had the previous government say there is a gas-fired recovery, that is a fraud … we need gas to stabilize while we are building the [renewable] storage and transmission … we don’t have that infrastructure at the moment.
One of the benefits of gas is gas-fired power stations, unlike coal-fired ones, can be turned on and off very quickly … that’s why gas will play a role.
Updated at 17.49 EDT
Energy retailers support capacity mechanism, Bowen says
Bowen is asked whether the retailers accept the government’s agreements to a capacity mechanism that ensures power plants are available to generate electricity when needed.
He says he’s done “little else” and then talked to retailers in the past week.
I’ve been in constant contact with the retailers … I’ve done little else, and there is support for the capacity mechanism … we’ll work for a sensible outcome; perhaps not everyone will be happy with the result, but there’s the recognition that we need something like this.
This is primarily a coal-fired power crisis … obviously, there are a lot of issues here, but at its core, this has been led by outages in coal stations.
A key agreement is the so-called ‘capacity mechanism’ – how much capacity and what would be the trigger?
“It’s an important safety net, spare capacity in the system that can be turned on.. we want that to encourage new investments in renewable storage.”
– @Bowenchris
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) June 8, 2022
Updated at 17.50 EDT
Chris Bowen says Aemo’s new powers will have the quickest effect on energy prices.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, is appearing on Radio National. Asked if the 11-point plan agreed to by ministers yesterday would have any meaningful short-term effect on energy prices, he replied:
It is a big step forward, some of the steps will apply very quickly, and others are an agreement to work in the medium term.
There was a real spirit of cooperation around the room … we all agreed we were in this task together.
Bowen said new powers given to energy regulator Aemo would be the quickest to take effect, while further investments in renewables would also be crucial to provide extra capacity.
Updated at 17.45 EDT
11-year-old boy missing in Sydney’s north-west
AAP reports that fears are held for an 11-year-old boy who’s gone missing in Sydney’s north-west after temperatures plummeted to four degrees overnight.
Christopher Wilson got off a school bus on Annangrove Road, Annangrove, at about 3 pm on Wednesday to go home but failed to arrive, New South Wales police said.
He wore his school uniform – a blue T-shirt with maroon and white trim, grey shorts, and red and black shoes.
Can you help police locate missing 11yo Christopher Wilson? Missing Annangrove. Last seen wearing a school uniform, consisting of a blue t-shirt with maroon and white trim and grey shorts, and red and black shoes. Call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000https://t.co/MtJKBfCLhJ pic.twitter.com/eZsvieiXir
— NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) June 8, 2022
He was spotted walking along Annangrove Road towards Rouse Hill at about 4.45 pm, wearing a black and white jacket and carrying a black backpack.
A search of the area overnight by local police, PolAir, Police Rescue, and 15 members of the SES was unsuccessful and will resume on Thursday morning.
Police are concerned for Christopher’s welfare due to his age and because temperatures dropped to just four degrees overnight.
He is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance, about 120cm tall, of slim build, with short brown hair and brown eyes.
Updated at 18.04 EDT
The new European ambassador to Australia announced
The EU special envoy for the Indo-Pacific, Gabriele Visentin, has been announced as the next European ambassador in Australia.
🚨 @GVisentinEU (current Pacific envoy) has just been announced as the next European Ambassador to Australia.
This signals a step up in Europe’s engagement with Australia as concerns around China’s influence persist. https://t.co/UhFqA9060h
— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) June 8, 2022
Updated at 17.39 EDT
Australian federal and state governments have reached 11 agreements, including prioritizing a move to renewable energy following the first meeting of energy ministers to address rising prices hitting the nation.
They include setting up a new gas storage reserve, planning to build up spare electricity capacity, and developing a national transition plan to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has been instructed to procure and store gas supplies while regulators will be given more power to ensure sector transparency.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the crisis meeting was constructive, with “steps forward” taken but “no easy fixes” to lowering energy prices.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is poised to hold a cabinet meeting Today, considering how best to respond to the cost-Australians’ cost-of-living crisis. Four banks have passed on the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate hike to mortgage holders.
And the federal government has confirmed a transition in employment services will continue next month as planned.
Workforce Australia will replace the active job network for jobseeker recipients, while an “onerous” points-based system will also be rolled out for recipients to maintain their payments.
There’s much to get to, so let’s get cracking.
Caitlin Cassidy here with you this morning, resisting urges to turn on my heater. You can email me at [email protected], or I’m on Twitter at @caitecassidy.
