Australia live news updates: man dies in Victoria floods; Shepparton told to evacuate; Bougainville president accuses Marles of ‘veiled threats’ | Australia news

Kevin Anderson takes up his sheers for regional rescue helicopter

Our Guardian Rural network regular Tom Plevey is at Westpac Rescue Helicopter’s shearing competition fundraisers where NSW water minister Kevin Anderson is getting in on the action.

Greens senator calls for six months paid parental leave to take immediate effect

‘We will spend what needs to be spent,’ says Daniel Andrews, vowing to fix roads

More images of emerging of the state of the roads in Victoria.

We mentioned this on the blog earlier (but amid a flurry of other updates from that press conference on the Victorian floods), premier Dan Andrews said urgent repair are works under way as 344 roads are closed in Victoria and that the government wouldn’t let cost stand in the way.

We currently have 344 roads that are closed. That number changes hourly. Major roads are assessed twice per day.

There is a number of urgent repair works that have already started. A number of contractors on our big build who we have reached out to, to provide us with temporary support to do some significant repair work. That work has already started.

We have to get assessments completed first, see water subside and then get in and do urgent repairs.

We may have to go back and redo that work at a later point but on major arterials and key roads for local communities, getting them open is the priority.

Expense will not be an issue. We will spend what needs to be spent in order to make sure communities can be joined up, connected as quickly as possible.

Flood waters ravage Victorian highway

Channel 7 journalist Paul Dowsley has shared a video showing the shape of the McIvor Highway outside Bendigo after the Campaspe River burst its banks.

As the camera pans, what begins as a crack in the road ultimately reveals a huge stretch of the highway where the tar has been completely wiped away, leaving several metres of exposed brown dirt.

And you thought the potholes in your area were bad …

Trio hurt in NSW alleged road rage attack

Three men have been seriously injured in an alleged road rage attack on NSW’s mid north coast, AAP reports.

They were struck by a four-wheel drive at Port Macquarie about 9pm on Friday.

Police allege the vehicle veered off the road, struck the trio as they were walking along a footpath, and kept driving.

The men aged 18, 45 and 50 were taken to a local hospital in serious but stable condition.

The 18-year-old was later airlifted to John Hunter hospital in Newcastle.

A 31-year-old was arrested at 2am on Saturday morning after attending a local police station.

He was charged with a string of offences including three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving.

The man was refused bail to appear in court on Saturday afternoon.

Evacuation orders for Goulburn River and Echuca

Breaking down the taboo of pregnancy loss

AAP has also told Jodie Matthews’ story on International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day today:

It was a Saturday morning in spring five years ago when a worried Jodie Matthews realised her baby had stopped moving inside her.

When she went to hospital that day, she was told her full-term baby boy had his umbilical cord wrapped five times around his neck.

She was devastated to learn he no longer had a heartbeat, while it was harder still going through labour knowing there would be no first cry.

But it wasn’t until she was walking back to her apartment a few days later, after a funeral for her baby Hamish, that Matthews felt the full force of her loss. She tells AAP:

We spent four days in the hospital saying goodbye and then came home to our apartment and it was just silent.

Whether you go through loss at the beginning of the pregnancy or the end, you’ve already planned that child’s life out in your head. We had all his clothes washed and his nursery ready.

Hamish would have been starting school next year. Milestones like that – as well as birthdays and anniversaries – are often difficult to cope with, Matthews says.

But she doesn’t want her first child to be forgotten and she likes to spend time talking about him, particularly with his sister and brother, three-year-old Lucy and one-year-old Jack.

Matthews, who lives on the NSW Central Coast, says:

There are always going to be days and times when things are harder than others, but I would rather talk about him and have his memory in our family. I’d rather not pretend it never happened.

It’s such a hidden, silent pain that people go through. It’s good to talk about and raise awareness, because the more we talk about it, the more it reduces the shame and stigma around pregnancy loss.

Clinical psychologist Chris Barnes, who works with expectant and new parent support charity Gidget Foundation Australia, says most people don’t expect there to be serious complications with a pregnancy. Barnes says grief is a personal journey, but having people around who will listen and are trusted is key.

There is a wide array of feelings – anger, sadness, guilt, emptiness, often people feel like their bodies have failed them – a lot of things can happen.

The overarching thing for me is that it’s not about letting go of that pregnancy or baby, it’s about finding an enduring connection as you go through life and keeping that connection.

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Landmarks in Canberra to be lit up to remember babies lost during pregnancy

Six babies are stillborn each day in Australia. Stillbirth is a term used for the loss of a pregnancy after 20 weeks, but there are also one in five Australian women who will miscarry before 20 weeks, according to statistics.

Miscarriage is the most common pregnancy complication. However, research from the Gidget Foundation Australia found the most common challenge for those who experience a miscarriage is feeling alone in their grief.

The research also showed people commonly felt others dismissed or minimised their loss.

International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day today highlights the frequency and impact of miscarriage, stillbirth and infant death.

ACT health says that landmarks across the nation’s capital will be lit up for the occasion.

-with AAP

Major expansion of NSW recycling scheme

Hundreds of millions more bottles could be recycled each year under a planned expansion of the NSW container refund scheme, AAP reports.

Glass wine and spirit bottles, and larger containers, are due to be added to the state’s Return and Earn program, which pays 10c for every eligible bottle, can or carton deposited at drop-off sites.

Environment Minister James Griffin today said public consultation was open for the planned expansion, which could lead to another 400 million eligible bottles being recycled every year.

The scheme expansion would boost recycling rates, reduce landfill, and supercharge our push towards a circular economy in NSW.

Eligible items are currently limited to smaller containers like soft drink cans and beer bottles, as well as some cartons.

The planned expansion would also include larger containers for drinks like flavoured milk, fruit juice and cordials.

Industry and environmental groups welcomed the changes, calling on other states to introduce a harmonised national program.

Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association chief executive Gayle Sloan said putting more material in the successful NSW scheme meant a higher chance of resource recovery. She said:

As an industry we want to turn beverage containers back into beverage containers and these product stewardship schemes are the best chance of doing this.

Since the NSW container recycling scheme was introduced in 2017, more than eight billion containers have been returned for around $800m in refunds.

Griffin said the scheme started as a litter-reduction tool and it had helped cut drink container waste by more than 50 per cent.