As it happened: Cyclone Alfred throws election date into doubt; PM subtly sledges Dutton’s public service cuts

That’s all for our national blog for the day. To keep across Cyclone Alfred updates you can continue to read our dedicated blog here.

To recap the day’s other news:

• Passengers have recounted the terrifying moment when an armed teen boarded a Jetstar flight at Avalon Airport. 
• Former broadcaster Alan Jones has been hit with a further indecent assault charge, bringing the total number of his alleged victims to 11.
• A weak Pope Francis thanked people for prayers in audio message. Francis’ feeble voice, discernible through his laboured breaths and in his native Spanish, was recorded from the hospital and broadcast to the faithful in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City, who have gathered for the nightly recitation of the rosary prayer.

• Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s chief political adviser Matt Phelan will vacate the role 18 months after being hired in one of the first major shake-ups of her office since coming to power. Phelan replaced Daniel Andrews’ chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliffe, after the former premier stepped down and Allan was elevated to lead the state.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of talks later in the week with US officials. “Next week, on Monday my visit to Saudi Arabia is planned to meet the crown prince,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

• President Donald Trump has postponed 25 per cent tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month amid widespread fears of the impact of a broader trade war.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred will arrive at Queensland’s coastline around 10am local time, according to the new track map provided by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Alfred continues to be predicted to land as a category 1, moving at a speed of 8 km/h.

The cyclone currently sits 125 kilometres south-east of Brisbane and 90 kilometres north-east of Gold Coast.

Bureau of Meteorology Brisbane manager Matthew Collopy said Alfred was expected to cross just north of the CBD tomorrow, after passing over the Moreton Bay islands in the early morning.

“Damaging wind gusts to 120km/h [are] occurring on the coast between Cape Moreton and Cape Byron,” he said in his latest update this afternoon from the state emergency centre at Kedron.

“These damaging winds are still expected to continue through today and then pick up as the system approaches and extend from the south [Queensland] coast and islands towards the mainland.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of talks later in the week with US officials.

“Next week, on Monday my visit to Saudi Arabia is planned to meet the crown prince,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“After that, my team will remain in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners. Ukraine is most interested in peace.”

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he will probably go to Saudi Arabia over the next month and a half.

His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a peace agreement framework to end the three-year war with Russia, and a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.

Reuters

Circling back to our earlier reporting of concerns about the Coalition’s commitment to funding the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), we thought we’d bring you the full quotes from Deputy Nationals Leader Perin Davey on the issue.

In a radio interview early this morning, Davey, who is the opposition spokeswoman for emergency management, would not rule out cutting jobs at NEMA if the Coalition forms government.

A major policy platform led by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is a pledge to cut the number of staff employed under the APS. NEMA was established in 2022 by the Albanese government.

Asked on 4BC radio early this morning whether the agency – which has been handling the federal response to Tropical Cyclone Alfred – would be out of the firing line, Davey refused to confirm.

“We’re still very much going through the process of looking at where the Labor government have added new public servants and where there may be redundancies,” she said.

“I’m not going to pre-empt any of that work [but] the National Emergency Management Agency does incredibly important work.”

Comments from ALP president Wayne Swan this morning about the immediate threat of Tropical Cyclone Alfred possibly subsiding have caused a bit of a stir, with the PM stepping in to contradict the former treasurer.

Swan spoke on Nine’s Today this morning from his home in Brisbane, where he noted the cyclone was heading north, commenting that “maybe the immediate threat to Brisbane is no longer there.”

Asked about the possibility the election could be called on Sunday or Monday, Swan said, “we’ve got to have one in the next couple of months. So it’s not an option not to have one”, before adding that the date would all depend on the cyclone.

Swan continued: “As you’ve seen this morning, it’s turned north now. So it could be a matter of days before we know how it goes. It could strengthen. Although the forecasts this morning are suggesting that it’s weakening. So, we’ve just got to see what the weather does. We’re in the hands of a very unpredictable bunch of circumstances here.”

The PM was asked about Swan’s comments in a press conference in Canberra. He replied that this was a “serious event”.

“What we need to do is hope for the best but prepare for the worst ... This is already having an impact. And the impact with the slowing of Cyclone Alfred in its journey westward to the coast, we should not think that slower means better.”