Australia live news updates: Qantas passengers stranded in Azerbaijan; South Australian floods expected to peak above 1931 levels | Australia news

Lack of staff creating problems for mothers in Queensland

Pregnant women in regional Queensland are not receiving adequate care due to chronic maternity workforce shortages, the Australian Medical Association says.

Three of the four obstetricians at Rockhampton hospital have resigned while the Gladstone and Biloela maternity units have been on bypass for months, AMA Queensland president, Dr Maria Boulton, said.

She is calling on Queensland Health to improve working conditions for staff so they have an incentive to stay instead of leaving.

Our regional hospitals are facing intense workforce pressure.

Staff have stepped up and are doing the best they can, with some doing the work of three people. This is not sustainable. This is not safe.

Boulton said staff have been shuffled around to plug gaps, which has led to hospitals being short-staffed.

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are human. They need to have breaks. They get tired. They get sick.

Queensland Health should also lift its ban on employees working in other public hospitals on their days off, Boulton said.

“We’ll get there”: Queensland health looking for specialists to cover shortfall

Queensland minister for agriculture Mark Furner says Queensland Health is currently working to find maternity specialists after reports about a lack of maternity health specialists in Central Queensland Health.

There have been reports that a lack of obstetricians has meant women were teaching themselves how to give birth in the event they were forced to divert from one service to another due to a lack of available specialists and could not reach medical care in time.

Furner told reporters on Saturday that Queensland Health had hired four new obstetricians with a search underway nationally and internationally for staff, saying “we’ll get there”.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re in health or any other capacity, it’s always difficult, particularly in this period, finding staff.

Even in my portfolio of agriculture, we’re struggling to finding staff to fill the requirements on farms, the same applies to health. That is why health is advertising and looking for specialists both nationally and internationally as well.

Rabuka officially sworn is Fijian PM

Sitiveni Rabuka has officially been voted in as Fiji’s new prime minister, ending the rule of Frank Bainimarama after 16 years.

The Fijian parliament voted Rabuka in on Christmas Eve after days of political turmoil with the previous FijiFirst government refusing to concede and the army called in to help police maintain law and order.

He won the ballot 28 votes to 27 against Bainimarama.

Rabuka obtained the numbers to rule in a tripartite coalition headed by his centre-right People’s Alliance party.

The more liberal democratic National Federation Party added its five seats to the tally while the kingmaking, Indigenous-focused Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) sided with the coalition after days of deliberations.

FijiFirst commands 26 seats and People’s Alliance 21 in the 55-member parliament.

– AAP

Strong winds expected ahead of Sydney to Hobart

Supermaxis in the Sydney to Hobart will have favourable northerlies for most of their journey, but the fleet has been warned about the likelihood of strong winds later in the race.

A fleet of 109 yachts will set sail from Sydney Harbour from 1pm local time on Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday forecast predominantly nor’easter winds becoming fresh to strong on Tuesday and Wednesday.

That will assist the four supermaxis, with the line honours winner likely to finish on Wednesday morning, potentially close to a race-record time.

Conditions are set to be more varied and challenging for the rest of the fleet later.

A cold front is expected to bring a south-westerly change on Wednesday with winds tending southerly by Thursday morning.

Strong wind warnings are likely from late Tuesday with a potential gale wind warning on Wednesday.

Winds will tend from east to north easterly from Thursday as a ridge of high pressure develops.

– AAP

A minor earthquake was recorded near Benalla overnight.

Meanwhile ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie is creating stormy conditions across northern Australia this weekend, with weather warnings in place across the NT.

East coast expects to swelter through heatwave over Christmas

East coast Australians thinking about donning the ugly Christmas jumpers may want to think again as warm temperatures hit the capitals across the country.

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra are all expecting temperatures from the high 20s to low 30s on Christmas Day.

Across the country Adelaide, Perth and Hobart are also forecast to have sunny skies and maximum temperatures from the high 20s to low 30s.

In the Top End, Darwin is expecting a storm and a maximum of 32C.

Christmas Day’s warmer weather marks the start of a low-intensity heat wave that is expected to sit across the south of the continent, including Tasmania, until Wednesday.

It will also mean a continuation of the hot weather Western Australia has seen in December, sparking several bushfires.

The Bureau of Meteorology has already issued a heatwave warning for WA, with high temperatures gripping parts of the state from the north to the south.

Back east, temperatures are expected to peak at about 36C in Melbourne and 40C in Adelaide on Tuesday; with 28C forecast for Sydney and 32C in Canberra on Monday; and 32C for Hobart on Wednesday.

Despite the warmer spell, flood warnings across NSW and Victoria remain as South Australia braces for the floodwater to flow down the Murray River.

Christmas Day forecasts:

• Melbourne, 30C, sunny

• Sydney, 28C, partly cloudy and chance of thunderstorms

• Darwin, 32C, storms

• Canberra, 31C, sunny

• Hobart, 26C, sunny

• Adelaide, 32C, sunny

• Perth, 30C, sunny

• Brisbane, 28C, partly cloudy and a high chance of showers

– AAP

SA premier says government is ‘preparing for the worst’

Malinauskas says the state government is “hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”

As of this morning, there have been 1,479 inquires at emergency relief centres, with two already open in Berri and Mannam with a third centre to open on 5 January at Murray Bridge.

He says 234 personal hardship grants have already been issued, along with 46 accomodation grants. Some of the 25,000 overnight emergency accomodations beds are starting to be used.

And that remains in train but we have got a lot of capacity there that we’ve got for the worst-case scenario.

Though the flood will be higher than the 1931 flood peak it will not rise higher than the 1956 flood peak.

I hope that, at some point in the next month, we can sit back and look on this moment and say, “Jeez, the government was overprepared in some areas”. That would be a criticism that I would welcome. But there’s still a long way to go yet. So, we’ve still got some weeks of difficulties ahead of us.

SA premier says 3,620 homes without power as of 4am

Malinauskas says the state is well-prepared to deal with the unfolding situation.

He says there are 25,000 overnight bed stays for emergency relief, 5,000 people have been doorknocked to make sure they understand what is taking place, $50m in flood relief is ready to support those affected and three emergency relief centres are ready to go.

Malinauskas says there are 3,620 homes without power as of 4am and six out of 11 crossings along the River Murray closed. It is anticipated eight of 11 crossings will close over the next week

In terms of the actual timing of the peak, now that we have a degree of confidence that the peak will arrive in Renmark in the next 48-72 hours, we can predict with a degree of confidence that the peak will reach Mannam around about 7-10 January.

The closer the event comes, the more confidence we have around the data, but we also are very mindful of the fact that it is variable. The river operates in different ways. In fact, this flood in itself will change the way the River Murray operates in the state of South Australia. So, changing conditions mean variable forecasts, but we are getting ever-increasing levels of confidence, and that allows people to plan accordingly, but most importantly it provides an opportunity for our emergency services to be in the appropriate state at the appropriate time in the right location.

South Australian floods to peak at levels above 1931 flood level, premier says

SA premier to give update on flood situation