TRANSCRIPT
- Melbourne factory fire to take days to extinguish.
- Israel's military urges all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and head south.
- Australian Alex de Minaur pulls out of Wimbledon with a hip injury.
Firefighters have worked through the night battling a blaze at a chemical factory that sent toxic smoke billowing over Melbourne.
The fire was sparked by a large explosion at the Derrimut factory in the city's west on Wednesday morning.
Chemical drums were sent flying into the air at the height of the blaze, making the emergency response more dangerous for firefighters.
No one was injured and it was declared under control in about four hours, but the fire is expected to burn for days.
Fire Rescue Victoria firefighter Michelle Carling says the size of the site means the fire, the most significant in the city for several years, could take days to extinguish.
"It's a large factory, it's probably a 100 by a 100 metres so in deep into that factory we've got embers burning, fire burning, and until we can get close enough, even with our aerial appliances that are on sight, we have specialist haz-mat people on sight. We can't get in close enough to cool this fire down, it will have to be pulled apart, it will have to be gone through and make sure everything is out completely."
—
The Israeli military is urging all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and head south.
The evacuation orders (issued Wednesday) indicate Israel is continuing to press its fresh offensive across the north, south and centre of the embattled territory that has killed dozens of people over the past 48 hours.
Israeli Government spokesman David Mencer says Israel has no interest in harming civilians.
“We want to get civilians out of harm's way. We're trying to get to the terrorists where the terrorists attack from or where they have set up base. As I mentioned to you earlier, 24 of their battalions, most of them have been smashed. But the pieces of those shattered battalions are popping up in different parts of Gaza. But we are going after them. It's our mission to destroy this organisation. And.. but we want to get civilians out of harm's way."
—
A 72-hour curfew in Alice Springs is expected to end this morning with police and government yet to make a decision on whether to extend it.
Police say there have been no arrests since the lockdown began, which was put in place to prevent crime.
The curfew prohibits young people and adults fom entering the central areas of Alice Springs between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
—
The federal government has defended its cost of living measures after it was revealed Australia has experienced one of the largest drops in real wages in the world.
Figures from the OECD* show while real wages grew in 2024, the cumulative percentage change just before the pandemic is -4.8 per cent in Australia.
Australia is among 16 of 35 countries to have real wages below that of four years ago behind Finland, New Zealand, Italy, Czechia and Sweden.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor says the results show the federal government's failure to deal with inflation.
"For working families, we've seen prices have increased by 17 per cent since Labor came to power, so it's no surprise that real wages have gone so sharply backwards since Labor came to power."
But Energy Minister Chris Bowen has defended the Albanese government.
"We want Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. That's why we've introduced tax cuts on the 1st of July, and that's why we've worked so hard through Tony Burke to ensure wages growth. When we came to office, wages were going backwards at 3.4 per cent - they're now going forward."
*(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
—
World leaders have arrived in Washington for the 75th NATO summit.
The meeting of NATO member states in the United States is expected to focus on support for Ukraine.
Arriving in Washington, British Prime Minister Kier Starmer has reaffirmed his incoming government's support for Ukraine.
"This NATO summit is an opportunity for allies to stand together to strengthen their resolve—particularly in light of that appalling attack (Kyiv children's hospital missile strike)—against Russian aggression. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to affirm and reaffirm Labour's strong support, unshakeable support for NATO. We're a founding member. It's now the 75th anniversary, but this is an opportunity to send that message in relation to Russian aggression, wherever. But that attack last week was appalling."
—
In tennis,
Australian hopeful Alex de Minaur has pulled out of Wimbledon with a hip injury just hours before he was due to play Novak Djokovic in his first quarter-final at the All England Club.
The Number 9 seed suffered his injury on the winning point of his last-16 match against Arthur Fils, a result which set him up for his first final-eight appearance against the great seven-time champion.
His withdrawal has left Djokovic to face Taylor Fritz or Lorenzo Musetti for a berth in the final.
