Labor makes climate disaster preparation an election battleground

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has pledged to revamp the $4.7 billion Emergency Response Fund and spend $200 million a year on disaster prevention and resilience while attacking the Morrison Government for failing to protect Australians from extreme weather.

The announcement comes as the NT braces for the impact of Cyclone Tiffany and fires continue to rage in Western Australia’s southwest, where a home has been damaged and residents have been forced to flee.

And climate change has heated the world’s oceans more than ever. Last year saw the hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history, the sixth consecutive year that this record has been broken.

Labor pledges to boost Australia’s disaster readiness with revamp of $4.7bn emergency response fund

A Labor government will revamp the $4.7bn emergency response fund to commit up to $200m a year to disaster prevention and resilience, as leader Anthony Albanese sharpens his attack on the Morrison government for failing to plan.

Eagle Bay bushfire: One home damaged, dozens evacuated as bushfire rages in South West

One home has been damaged and more than 60 people have fled to an evacuation centre as a massive bushfire continues to burn in WA’s South West.

Santos was ‘cavalier’ over Beetaloo Basin fracking expansion, court told

Santos has been accused of failing Indigenous groups and treating one of the country’s biggest landholders with a “cavalier attitude” as it faces court action over a proposed expansion of its fracking operations in the Beetaloo Basin.

Hottest ocean temperatures in history recorded last year

The world’s oceans have been set to simmer, and the heat is being cranked up. Last year saw the hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history, the sixth consecutive year that this record has been broken, according to new research.

‘These are sacred places’: farmers say they will work with traditional owners after NSW land saved from coalmine

Farmers have committed to work with traditional owners after land in New South Wales’ Liverpool Plains previously acquired for a Chinese state-owned coalmine has been bought back by local farming families.