News live: Defence says no Australians involved in US military aircraft crash off Northern Territory (2023)

One person aboard the downed US military aircraft has been transported by CareFlight to Royal Darwin Hospital in a critical condition, and two more in a stable condition.

They are continuing to respond to the crash.

More to come …

A United States military aircraft believed to be carrying 23 personnel has crashed off the Northern Territory coast during a training exercise.

Emergency services were called to respond to the incident involving a Boeing MV-22B Osprey aircraft on Melville Island shortly before 10am local time on Sunday.

NT Police have confirmed they are responding to the crash. A Careflight aircraft has also been deployed.

No fatalities have been reported and Australian personnel are not believed to be involved.

The Department of Defence said the incident occurred during Exercise Predator’s Run 2023.

Initial reports suggest the incident involves United States defence personnel and that Australian Defence Force members were not involved.

At this critical early stage, our focus is on the incident response and ensuring the safety of those involved.

About 150 US marines are stationed in Darwin and taking part in military drills alongside personnel from Australia and the Philippines.

NT Health has been contacted for comment.

- AAP

Queensland’s deputy premier has poured cold water on speculation of a leadership challenge against Annastacia Palaszczuk after controversial youth justice law changes and poor opinion polling.

After the Queensland premier jetted to Europe for a two-week holiday, Palaszczuk’s deputy Steven Miles thrust his support behind her amid reports of dissension in Labor’s ranks.

Miles has been floated as a potential premier in waiting but insisted Palaszczuk was safe, declaring she would lead the government to the next election.

The acting premier said on Sunday she was doing a fantastic job and the leadership speculation did not align with his conversations with Labor colleagues.

I understand they’ll always be chatter, they’ll always be rumours and gossip.

What I know is a great strength of our government has been our stability and our unity, and the leadership that Annastacia has provided and I intend to continue that unity and stability.

Miles wouldn’t be drawn on the optics of the premier taking leave after the state government this week introduced a raft of new laws allowing children to be held in police watch houses.

“I don’t think a lot of people take too much notice of that,” he said.

– AAP

A Sydney man has died in a house fire believed to have been caused by a lithium battery.

The 54-year-old man was eating downstairs with two women on Saturday night when the fire broke out. He attempted to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher.

When firefighters arrived, the man was found unconscious on the bathroom floor upstairs with soot around his mouth and nose.

Firefighters performed CPR on the man until paramedics arrived, but his injuries were too severe and he did not survive.

The incident has highlighted a growing concern about the rate of lithium battery fires.

New South Wales Fire and Rescue Supt Andrew Shurety said he couldn’t put a specific number to how often fire crews were being called to lithium battery fires, but said it was a “marked increase” with “a number of fires including the fatal one last night”.

I’ve been a firefighter for over 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. In my personal opinion we’re going to be overwhelmed by it, which will be quite shocking to the community, unless we start taking precautions.

Lithium battery fires are caused by a chemical reaction inside the battery that produces a really intense flame that’s difficult to extinguish but also produces toxic gases that are worse than a normal fire would produce.

Shurety said that like other fire risks, people should take precautions about how and when they charge lithium batteries, including avoiding overcharging them, avoiding flammable locations like a bed and using reputable brands.

We see fires start from cheap brands that come in as import without warranties.

New South Wales Fire and Rescue has published detailed information on its website outlining precautions that can be taken.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard has delivered the report of the royal commission into early childhood development which has outlined how a fundamental overhaul of early childhood learning in South Australia will work.

The report contains 43 recommendations for change, including more comprehensive child development checks for the first 1,000 days of life, better support for parents and improved access of children care.

Gillard said the report seeks to give children “the foundations for a better life” and recommends the state government maximise the number of children “are at or exceeding developmental benchmarks when they start school”.

Getting there will require a new approach which is universal but not uniform. And by that, I mean every child will benefit [and those who] need it the most will get additional assistance – high-quality, irrespective of a family’s postcode or the nature of the service that they choose.

And nation-leading, with South Australia investing in research so our early childhood development and care sector is always at the forefront and South Australia leading by becoming the first state in the nation to offer up to 30 hours a week of preschool for children who need the assistance the most at age three and age four.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference for the launch of the report, the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said its findings would help “change the lives of many young South Australians for many decades to come”.

Typically, in Australia and in recent years, we have seen royal commissions being used to look at what has gone wrong, what has gone wrong with a rearview mirror lens, looking over it and picking through the entrails of whatever public policy disaster has existed before it.

This royal commission has been very different in nature. This royal commission has at the heart to be the objective to get things right at the beginning, at the beginning of this significant public policy development but, most importantly, at the beginning of a young person’s life

Jim Chalmers also says the government is acting on issues of concern to young people.

We’re acting on climate change, we are acting on housing supply and housing affordability, there are legislated tax cuts coming into the system next year – the middle of next year. So really across all of those fronts that Ken [Henry] was right to point to, frankly, they are some of the challenges that younger people do face in particular over the course of the next 40 years or so and we take those challenges seriously, and that’s why we’re acting on them.

Asked whether young people may just have to accept that home ownership is now beyond them with economic conditions as they are, the treasurer said people shouldn’t be “defeatist” as the government has a “hell of a reform program”.

One of the reasons why we’re pouring billions of dollars into more housing supply, one of the reasons why we’re working so closely with the states and territories, one of the reasons why we’re working with them to deliver this help to buy scheme that I spoke to you about at our national conference not that long ago – this is all about building more homes, it’s all about making it easier and cheaper – whether it’s renters or housing affordability if people want to get into the housing market.

Chalmers was also asked about the NDIS and suggested the federal government may consult with the states to rebalance funding for the NDIS. The treasurer said a “stunning” conclusion of the intergenerational report was that, left unaddressed, the federal government was assuming an increasingly greater share of the scheme’s funding.

So the NDIS costs tens of billions of dollars, the commonwealth’s share of that goes up over time, and so much of our effort, Bill Shorten’s, but the cabinet more broadly, is how do we make sure we get maximum value for money for a scheme, which is very important, which we value, which is here to stay, but which has costs growing.

The treasurer did, however, ruled out means-testing the NDIS.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia’s exposure to China is a significant concern for its economy over the long haul, particularly if it continues to splutter.

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday about the launch of the intergenerational report, Chalmers said he had “pretty substantial concerns”.

It is concerning to see the weakness, the softness in recent weeks and months in the Chinese economy, because it has obvious implications for us, here in Australia. In China, they’re dealing with slowing growth, they’ve got deflation, there are concerns in their property sector, and to some extent in their banking sector, their exports have slowed as well.

The treasurer said the two biggest challenges ahead were the Chinese “growth outlook” but also “the lag impact of all those interest rate rises in the system”.

With inflation information to be released on Wednesday, Chalmers said the “overall direction of travel is pretty clear”.

Our economy is weakening as a consequence of what’s happening in the world and what’s happened with interest rates, at the same time as inflation is moderating.

However, the treasurer said any slowdown in China will not cause a recession in Australia.

Our expectation is that the Australian economy continues to grow, but slowly.

Young people are feeling abandoned by the tax system, by the housing system, and I think the tax system has to play a part in addressing that.

The charity manager Nicole Werner has claimed victory in the Victorian seat of Warrandyte, retaining the north-east Melbourne stronghold for the Liberal party.

Werner was on track to secure more than 60% of the primary vote on Saturday night and was headed towards a two-party preferred vote of 69.8% ahead of Greens candidate Tomas Lightbody (30.2%).

The former youth pastor secured preselection after failing to reclaim the nearby seat of Box Hill for the Liberals in November when Labor was returned to government for another four years.

The contest has widely been read as a test of Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto’s leadership after the party has been roiled by internal disputes over the last nine months – though Pesutto has rejected this interpretation.

Speaking to supporters on Saturday night, he said the result means “there will be an earthquake going off inside the Labor party”.

The people of Warrandyte have been the voice of all Victorians tonight.

They have said loudly ‘enough is enough’.

– AAP

The AFL legend Michael Long will today take his first steps on a walk to Canberra to drum up support for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

In a recreation of his 2004 Long Walk, the football great and son of two stolen generations members will trek hundreds of kilometres in the lead-up to the referendum.

Long, who played in two premierships and won a Norm Smith medal across 190 games for Essendon, begins his 19-day journey at Melbourne Town Hall at midday.

He is encouraging all Australians to walk to with him, whether it is for an hour, a day and or the whole way.

Long will stop in a number of regional communities to discuss the referendum including Broadford, Nagambie, Shepparton, Benalla, Beechworth, Albury, Gerogery, The Rock, Wagga Wagga, Gundagai, Jugiong and Yass.

The route stretches almost 800km and passes through Shepparton, Albury and Wagga Wagga, with Long scheduled to arrive at Parliament House in Canberra on 14 September.

Nearly 20 years ago, Long set off for the nation’s capital to speak with the then prime minister, John Howard, after attending another Aboriginal funeral and the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.

Long said in a statement:

Today, as we prepare to vote in the referendum, we are still asking the same questions.

After Long completed 325km of the planned 650km journey in about nine days, Howard called for an end to the walk and agreed to meet.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will reveal when the Indigenous voice referendum will be held in Adelaide on Wednesday, with 14 October expected to be the date.

– AAP

And welcome to another Sunday Guardian live blog.

Bill Shorten will this morning appear at a press conference alongside Michael Long and Uncle Paul Briggs to mark the 20th anniversary of the Long Walk to Canberra. In 2004, Michael Long set out from his home in Melbourne to walk to Canberra. His objective was to challenge the then prime minister, John Howard, over the treatment of Indigenous Australians.

The Victorian Liberal party is on track to comfortably retain the seat of Warrandyte in north-east Melbourne in a byelection that had been read as a test of opposition leader John Pesutto’s leadership. Charity manager Nicole Werner claimed victory on Saturday with 60% of the primary vote.

I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day.

With that, let’s get started ...