TRANSCRIPT
- Wet weather is expected to continue over eastern parts of Australia
- Ireland's main opposition party Sinn Fein tops the exit polls
- Sheffield United move to the top of the Championship table after their win over Sunderland.
The eastern parts of Australia will continue to face heavy rainfall today, as humid, tropical air brings rain, cloud and embedded thunderstorms.
Bureau of Meteorology's Angus Hines says there are severe thunderstorm warnings in place for Townsville and the central coast of Queensland, following 200 millimetres of rain in southern Townsville in the past 24 hours.
Further south, there are large severe thunderstorm warnings across the central and northern tablelands of New South Wales, crossing the border into the far south of Queensland, which could lead to flash flooding.
Mr Hines tells Channel Nine there are also warnings in place for heavy rain across northern and eastern Tasmania.
"It would be great to kick off summer with bright sunny weather, but that's not really on the cards for tomorrow. It's another day of reasonably wet conditions across at least the eastern half of the country. Don't get me wrong, there will be plenty of sun for central and western areas, although perhaps through the afternoon we'll see that cloud brand, cloud band break apart a little bit and maybe we'll get some glimpses of sunshine."
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As Ireland heads to the polls, an exit poll shows the main opposition party Sinn Fein looks on course to narrowly win the most votes at the general election, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it.
The exit poll put the left wing Sinn Fein on 21.1%, the centre-right Fine Gael of Prime Minister Simon Harris on 21.0% and like-minded coalition partner Fianna Fail on 19.5%.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail pledged ahead of the election to seek to form a coalition without Sinn Fein , just as they did after the 2020 general election when Sinn Fein also narrowly won the popular vote.
Nurse Ashley Murphy says cost of living is front of mind as she cast her ballot.
"Well, I just think it's been the two main parties like going back and forth for a long time and, obviously, there's a lot of issues with homelessness, cost of living and other problems in the country. So, by maybe bringing in more left wing parties or different parties that haven't been involved might change the dynamic a little bit."
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The federal government says it's directly engaging with faith and ethnic leaders to address the high levels of domestic and family violence migrant and refugee women are confronting.
The government has introduced domestic violence leave and increased support services, and Minister Katy Gallagher says mentoring faith leaders is a key part of ensuring migrant and refugee women access support within their community.
But the Federal Minister is defending the decision to put aside policy on the future of gambling advertising, despite research highlighting links between harmful gambling and violence in the home.
Minister Katy Gallagher told SBS the issue centres around gender inequity, and insists her government has taken measures to reduce gambling harms.
"Of course there are things that exacerbate gender-based violence, there are circumstances. We're looking across those systemic issues along with equality for women, they all have a role to play in combating gender-based violence."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government will consult with the Opposition on who will govern the Reserve Bank of Australia, as Labor announced a raft of reforms relating to the RBA.
On the last sitting day of Parliament, the government managed to pass reforms that would allow them to split the RBA board into two - a governance board in charge of running the bank and a specialist monetary policy board dedicated to setting interest rates.
The new structure commences after the RBA's two-day board meeting on interest rates starting on February 17, before the next federal election, which is expected to be called in the next six months.
Treasurer Chalmers says the government will thoroughly consider who is appointed to the new board.
"We will consult with the opposition in good faith as we're obligated to do, to make sure that the people that we appoint to the new governance board and the new monetary policy board are first class and first rate. That has been our intention all along. The timing of the passage of the Reserve bank reforms was not in our hands. If it were up to us, we would've passed it a long time ago."
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And in soccer,
Sheffield United have edged a 1-0 win over promotion rivals Sunderland to move to the top of the Championship table following a late goal from substitute Tom Davies.
Both teams had a player sent off in the closing stages of the first half, with Sunderland's Chris Mepham followed by United and Socceroos defender Harry Souttar.
With just under 15 minutes remaining, both teams made a double substitution.
After Sydie Peck put an effort over, he was involved in the only goal of the game in the 83rd minute, with the ball falling to Davies on the right-hand side of the area and the midfielder's low shot beating Patterson's despairing dive.
