Australia news live: all of Victoria warned to expect ‘upper end of extreme’ fire danger on Friday; PM attends funeral of Bondi victim Peter Meagher

Emergency warnings are in place for areas in north-east and central Victoria. Follow today’s news liveAustralia’s most severe heatwave in six years descends on south-eastern states with Melbourne to hit 42CGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMinister says many in flood-hit areas in Queensland ‘in shock’ after lossesKristy McBain, the federal minister for emergency management, said it would take some time to determinate the full impact of widespread flooding in parts of Queensland, noting for many primary producers, it will be the second time they’ve suffered losses after similar flooding in 2019.You know, there are some significant losses, and I think the big concern is that we still don’t know the total number of losses because, at this stage, we’ve still got water flowing. And with the forecast looking like there’ll be further rain, those numbers could increase.So it’s quite precarious here. And obviously, speaking to a number of those producers, they’re quite in shock, I think. And they thought 2019 was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime event where there were a number of losses. And unfortunately, for a number of them, it looks like there’ll be similar losses or more. So that’s quite concerning. Continue reading...