‘Blue

The Thomson River at Longreach is now at 6.12 metres and is rising slowly, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

It is likely to peak close to 6.5 metres, with a major flood warning in place.

The peak will most likely occur this afternoon or this evening, though continued small rises are possible overnight into early tomorrow.

Due to the slow swelling of the river, residents will experience a “blue-sky flood”, with sunny weather and tops of 31C.

Keep up to date with latest flood warnings via theBOM’s website.

That’s where we’ll leave you this Sunday.

Here’s a snapshot from today:
Home affairs minister,Tony Burke, confirmedthree more members of the Iranian women’s football squad have left Australia.

The decision means just three squad memberswill remain in Australiaon specially granted protection visas.

Households can expect significant additional cost-of-living pressures because of the war in the Middle East, withJim Chalmersconfirming that the government expects inflation to risebeyond 4.5% in Australia.

The NSW governmentwill introduce new laws this weekto force property sellers to publish a price guide on all advertising, and impose a fivefold increase to fines for underquoting real estate agents.

Denmark’sKing FrederikandQueen Maryhave ended thefirst leg of their Australian visitwith a sunrise trek to a famous Uluru watering hole.

The Queensland premier,David Crisafulli,has defended his government’s decision to ignore recommendations that the state’s new theatrenamed after the Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Crisafullidefendednew laws banningthe “from the river to the sea” protest slogan.

The Liberal party announcedAlbury councillorRaissa Butkowskias its candidate for the upcoming Farrer byelection.

Albury city councillorRaissa Butkowskihas won Liberal preselection for the Farrer byelection.

Butkowski won a ballot of Sunday against former Sussan Ley stafferLachlan McIntyreand will fight One Nation’sDavid Farley, teal independentMichelle Milthropeand the Nationals’Brad Robertsonin the 9 May byelection.

Butkowski is a lawyer with experience representing community interests and disadvantaged people.

She is an Albury local.

Ley sparked the byelection by resigning after losing the Liberal leadership toAngus Taylor.

The byelection is a key test for Taylor and One Nation.

Taylor will visit the electorate this week to campaign with Butkowski.

Body found after helicopter crash in northern NSW
NSW police have confirmed that a body has been located following a helicopter crash in the state’s north-west.

Wreckage was spotted by search crews just before 2pm on Saturday in dense bushland north of Drake, a small township near Tenterfield in northern NSW.

NSW police confirmed that a body, believed to be that of the 77-year-old pilot, was located at the site at 1pm today.

The discovery follows a multi-day search for a helicopter that vanished on Friday.

The aircraft had departed the Gold Coast at 9am on Friday and was bound for Mudgee, in the NSW central tablelands, failed to arrive as scheduled.

A recovery operation is under way involving PolAir and Police Rescue.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has taken the lead in investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Missing Burnett Heads man found
Queensland policehave confirmed that a 51-year-old man, who sparked a major search after disappearing from a houseboat, has been found safe.

The man was located just after 9am today at a property in Sharon, a rural locality in the Bundaberg region.

He has been transported to Bundaberg hospital for assessment.

He was reported missing from a houseboat on the coast of Burnett Heads around 1am on Friday.

A significant multi-agency operation involving emergency services and local volunteers lasted two days.

Katherine schools to reopen on Monday
All government schools in Katherine will reopen tomorrow, after being closed due to flooding.

MacFarlane Primary School, Casuarina Street Primary School and Katherine High School, which have operated as evacuation shelters during the emergency, will all be open on Monday, according to a NT government statement.

Katherine High School will operate in hybrid mode, serving as both high school and evacuation centre.

Victoria to bring in new powers to shut down illicit tobacco shops
The Victorian government will introduce legislation aimed at dismantling the state’s illicit tobacco trade.

Under the proposed laws, regulatorTobacco Licensing Victoriawill be given power to close stores caught selling illegal tobacco.

The new rules would grant inspectors the power to destroy seized illegal tobacco before trial.

Landlords would also be allowed to evict businesses selling illegal tobacco and could be penalised if they are privy to the trade operating in their premises.

The minister for casino, gaming and liquor regulation,Enver Erdogan, said the laws would be introduced this year:
double quotation markIllegal tobacco is not a victimless crime.

Illicit tobacco fuels organised crime, and we’re shutting down the operators who think they can get away with it.

Anyone caught selling illicit tobacco will face serious consequences.

Iran’s attacks ‘almost unhinged’, UAE minister says
Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries are “almost unhinged”, UAE minister for international cooperation Reem Al Hashimy has told ABC news.

Iran has fired more than 1,800 missiles and drones at the Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran in the conflict, upending its aura of tranquillity despite its air defence intercepting a vast majority of the projectiles.

Al Hashimycalled it “unprecedented”.

double quotation markWe’ve borne the brunt of most of the missiles and drone attacks, and it’s really quite surprising for us that Iran has taken such an irrational path to fight the Gulf states and act in this quite unlawful, quite unacceptable manner.”
On Wednesday an 18-year-old woman was charged under the new laws for wearing a shirt reading “from the river to the sea”.

An organiser was charged for allegedly speaking the same phrase.

Asked what harm the arrests prevented, the Queensland premier,DavidCrisafulli, said:
double quotation markThe laws have been implemented, and police will police them in a fair way.

And I think the fact that you can have something like that where people are able to express their views and they can do so, I think, shows that the laws can work.

A journalist then put to him that people weren’t able to express their views without being arrested.

He said:
double quotation markPeople are able to express their passion about Palestine, about the freedom of that – there’s two things and they’re directly around the eradication of a race of people.

Earlier in the press conference a journalist put it to the premier that the organiser’s speech did not “menace, harass or offend”, as required under the act.

He was asked what training police had been given about the laws.

He said:
double quotation markGovernments make laws and police implement them, and I have faith in police implementing laws in a calm and measured way.

The Greens have called on the RBA to hold interest rates steady this Tuesday, urging treasurerJim Chalmersto intervene is another hike is delivered.

The Greens leader,Larissa Waters, said inflation was being driven by an “illegal war that Labor is supporting”:
double quotation markIf the RBA decides to lift rates on Tuesday, the Treasurer must overrule the decision.

Greens senatorNick McKimsaid Chalmers can use section 11 powers of the Reserve Bank Act to overrule the central bank if it chooses to hike rates:
double quotation markHigher mortgages and higher rents will only punish people who had nothing to do with causing this inflation and have no power to fix it …
If the government is serious about easing pressure on households, it should stop supporting this war instead of forcing Australians to pay the price for it.

The Queensland premier,David Crisafulli,has defended his government’s decision to ignore recommendations that the state’s new theatre be named afterOodgeroo Noonuccal.

Instead it was called the Glasshouse theatre.

Crisafulli said the name would “make a remarkable ability to market it”:
double quotation markThe name is fitting of what that facility is.

It’s clearly able to be marketed across the globe.

In years to come, when people say the Glasshouse theatre, they will know where it is, what it looks like and its key attributes.

There couldn’t be a more appropriate name, which is why Queenslanders backed it.

Guardian Australia exclusively revealed that the arts minister,John-Paul Langbroek,signed off on the change months before holding a vote on the name.

The vote didn’t include Oodgeroo’s name as an option.

But the premier said the government was considering naming something else after the Indigenous poet from Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island:
double quotation markRegarding honouring that individual, we should find ways to do that; she’s significant and we should.

You can follow the Guardian’s live blog covering the Middle East crisis here:
How is the disruption in Iran’s strait of Hormuz affecting Australia?

The Middle East conflict is causing huge disruptions to energy supplies, with knock-on effects reaching far beyond petrol prices.

Guardian Australia’sCatie McLeodandJonathan Barretthave explained five ways the“largest supply disruption in history”in global oil markets is affecting Australia.

From the cost of crucial imported goods to the purchasing decisions made by consumers, read the explainer here:
Deadly South Australian algal bloom is still spreading one year on
The largest and most destructive algal bloom in Australia’s history is persistingalong parts of the South Australian coastline, a year on from when it was detected.

From a distance, it can be hard to grasp just how unusual and devastating the crisis has been.

Most harmful blooms only last a few weeks.

This one has been unrelenting.

SinceMarch last year, it has affected 20,000 sq km of coast – an area twice the size of greater Sydney – and ranks among the worst for marine mass mortality globally, killing millions of sea creatures – from tiny shellfish to top predators like white sharks.

Denmark’sKing FrederikandQueen Maryhave ended the first leg of their Australian visit with a sunrise trek to a famous Uluru watering hole,AAP reports.

The royal couple woke before dawn on Sunday to walk to the Muṯitjulu waterhole in Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa national park with traditional owners.

The culturally significant site is one of the few permanent water sources around the sandstone monolith and a regular attraction for visiting dignitaries.

Read more about the royal visit here:
Listen: Paul Daley on Australia’s appeasement of Trump and his war on Iran
As Australia risks becoming entangled in Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Iran, Guardian Australia columnistPaul Daleyquestions whether appeasing the White House at all costs indulges a US-Australia relationship that no longer exists.

Listen to the latest episode ofFull Story’s Sunday read series for more:
Authorities say little can be done to salvage flooded homes along the Top End’s swollen Daly River,AAP reports.

Everyone in the affected area,including the community of Daly River, has been safely evacuated north to Darwin but their homes are inundated.

The Northern Territory chief minister,Lia Finocchiaro,told reporters yesterday:
double quotation markThere is not a building in Daly River that is not under water, many of which are under water to the roof.

We have to let that river go down before we can take any further steps.

Guardian Australiahighlighted the scale of northern Australia’s record-breaking floods revealed in data and maps.

F1 cancels Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix
Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix because of the war in the Middle East.

The races were due to take place on 12 April in Bahrain and 19 April in Saudi Arabia but the sport was approaching the point at which adecision on cancellationneeded to be made to prevent more freight being sent to Bahrain.

The sport’s governing body, the FIA, and F1 conceded it had been left with no choice but to cancel the races for the safety of everyone involved.

King FrederikandQueen Maryof Denmark have kicked off their first trip to Australia since taking the throne, AAP reports.

The six-day state tour, which includes visits to Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, aims to deepen trade ties between Queen Mary’s adopted and home countries.

The royal couple exchanged handshakes with Aṉangu traditional owners at Uluru Kata Tjuṯa Cultural Centre after touching down late yesterday.

The normally arid desert region was a sea of green after weeks of heavy rain soaked the outback tourist site, sending waterfalls cascading down the rock.