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Australia news LIVE: Russia’s air strikes expand to Ukraine’s west; NSW floods clean-up continues

Broede Carmody, Sherryn Groch and Georgina Mitchell
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

That’s all for now
Australia launches legal action against Russia over MH17
Watch live: Foreign Minister Marise Payne to speak
Pregnant woman, baby die after Russia bombed maternity ward
Today’s COVID cases
This afternoon’s headlines at a glance
PM remains tight-lipped about fuel excise and other possible budget measures
‘Only a matter of time’ before Russia hits NATO country, Zelensky warns
Victoria announces sick pay scheme for some casual workers
NSW records 8911 new cases of COVID-19, one death

That’s all for now

By Georgina Mitchell

Thanks for sticking with us for another day of live updates.

Here are some of the stories we covered:

  • Australia and the Netherlands have launched legal action against Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014
  • The chief executive of drug company Pfizer has flagged that it will be necessary to receive a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, because the protection provided by three doses “doesn’t last very long”
  • A pregnant woman who was pictured being evacuated from a Ukrainian maternity hospital has died and her child was stillborn, doctors have confirmed. The hospital was bombed by Russian forces
  • Australia has recorded 26,063 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths, the lowest death figure since December last year
  • Six people in NSW have been diagnosed with Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne virus which can cause neurological symptoms. Health authorities have urged residents to wear mosquito repellant
  • Prime Minister Scott Morrison has appeared on Sky News, where he flagged an intention to run coal-fired power stations for as long as possible

We’ll be back again tomorrow.

Sydney train users experience huge delays on evening commute

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Train users in Sydney have faced major delays on their evening commute, with some yet to arrive home after experiencing lengthy delays from cancelled trains or being stuck between stations.

Delays hit train lines across the city on Monday afternoon, including the Metro, T1 North Shore line, T2 Inner West and Leppington line, T3 Bankstown line, and T8 Airport and South line.

NSW Police closed North Sydney station for about 15 minutes after rail delays caused peak hour congestion. Tim Barlass

One commuter reported being stuck in a tunnel between Central and Town Hall in the CBD for more than an hour. Another said their usual 30-minute commute was tripled.

As train users navigated their way home, they reported being dumped at stations as trains terminated before the expected destination.

Scott Morrison appears on Sky News to face voters in ‘pub test’

By Georgina Mitchell

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he wants coal-fired power stations to run for as long as possible, as he appeared on Sky News to face a town hall of voters on the NSW Central Coast.

Morrison was applauded by a studio audience when he walked in at about 8.15pm, after a 14-minute monologue by host Paul Murray who criticised opposition leader Anthony Albanese by referring to him as “each-way Albo”.

Scott Morrison appears on Sky News for a voter town hall.Sky News

So far, Morrison has said he sees key issues at the upcoming federal election as being the strength of the economy and defence spending.

He has also pointed out his own unchanging appearance, to counter the perception that Albanese has lost weight and updated his image.

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What Australia will be seeking in legal action against Russia over MH17

By Georgina Mitchell

Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Attorney General Michaelia Cash spoke a short time ago in Sydney, where they announced legal action will be taken against Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014.

All 298 people on board died, including 38 Australians, when the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine.

The MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine in August 2014. Kate Geraghty

Here are some key points from their press conference:

  • Ms Payne said Russia had a “clear role in this horrific incident” but has so far refused to take responsibility. “This case, our case, is firmly based on findings and evidence,” she said.
  • Ms Payne said Russia’s recent “egregious” activity in Ukraine reinforces the need to hold it to account
  • Ms Cash said the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, prevents states from using weapons on civil aircraft. “The downing of flight MH17 was a clear breach of the Chicago Convention, a breach for which Russia bears responsibility,” she said.
  • Ms Cash said “painstaking” investigations have collected evidence that MH17 was shot down by a Buk missile which had been transported from Russia that morning, and was accompanied by a trained Russian military crew. The missile system was then returned to Russia
  • She said Australia will be seeking a declaration in the International Civil Aviation Organisation that the Russian Federation breached an article of the Chicago Convention
  • Australia will also be seeking an order that the parties immediately enter good-faith negotiation to obtain full reparations for the injury caused
  • Finally, Australia will seek for Russia’s voting power in the ICAO assembly to be suspended until the negotiations with Australia and the Netherlands reach a satisfactory outcome
  • Ms Cash said the next step in the legal process will be for ICAO to set out a timeframe, under which Russia will respond to the submissions filed by Australia and the Netherlands. This is expected to occur over the next few months

Australia launches legal action against Russia over MH17

By David Crowe

Australia has launched legal action against Russia over the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine eight years ago in a sharp escalation that confronts the Russian state, rather than individual perpetrators, with the deaths of 298 victims.

The move joins Australia and the Netherlands in formal proceedings against the Russian Federation in the International Civil Aviation Organisation after years of slow progress in the trial of four individuals who have been charged over the crash but have refused to attend court in The Hague.

A piece of plane debris at one of the sites where the front section of Malaysian flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine.Kate Geraghty

Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed on the legal action in a call with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte on Monday in the belief there was “overwhelming evidence” to prove the Russian Federation was responsible under international law for the downing of the aircraft.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government facing global sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, the Australian and Dutch governments decided to take legal action directly against the Russian Federation to maximise pressure on the country, including on its struggling civil aviation sector.

Watch live: Foreign Minister Marise Payne to speak

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Foreign Minister Marise Payne is expected to speak at 6.30pm.

The media conference comes after the government announced fresh sanctions against 33 Russian oligarchs, prominent businesspeople and their immediate families.

Watch live here:

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Pregnant woman, baby die after Russia bombed maternity ward

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A pregnant woman and her baby have died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth.

Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher circled the world, epitomising the horror of an attack on humanity’s most innocent.

In video and photos taken on Wednesday, the woman was seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city of Mariupol, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had just happened.

The pregnant woman is stretchered from a maternity hospital in Mariupol.AP

It was among the most brutal moments so far in Russia’s now 19-day-old war on Ukraine.

Today’s COVID cases

By Georgina Mitchell

Australia recorded 26,063 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to the cutoff period last night, according to figures released by each state today.

There are currently 271,064 active cases across the nation, with 1,735 in hospital and 110 people in intensive care. There were four deaths – the lowest figure since Boxing Day in 2021, when there were two deaths nationally.

NSW recorded the most cases (8911), followed by Victoria (5499), Western Australia (4037), Queensland (3797), South Australia (2099), Tasmania (923), the ACT (599) and the Northern Territory (198).

A rise in cases is predicted for early April, with modelling predicting a new, more transmissible strain of the Omicron variant will become dominant by the end of the month.

Sixth NSW resident diagnosed with Japanese encephalitis

By Amelia McGuire

A man from the NSW Riverina region is being treated in hospital for Japanese encephalitis, making him the sixth case of the illness in the state.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, NSW Health said the man in his 60s, from Balranald near the Victorian border, is being treated in a Victorian hospital.

Japanese encephalitis is carried by mosquitoes.Nick Moir

Several others are undergoing further testing for the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and can infect animals and humans. It cannot be transmitted between humans and cannot be caught by eating pork or other pig products.

The Australian government has committed to purchasing 130,000 doses of a vaccine to protect against the illness as the outbreak continues to spread, killing two so far – one man in Victoria and one in NSW.

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Fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses ‘necessary’: Pfizer chief executive

By Cassandra Morgan

Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla says people will need a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine given protection offered from third doses “doesn’t last very long”.

Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation program, Dr Bourla said: “Right now, the way that we have seen, it is necessary, a fourth booster right now.

Felix, aged 5, receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at Leichhardt in January.Louise Kennerley

“The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough – actually quite good for hospitalisations and deaths. It’s not that good against infections, but doesn’t last very long.

“But we are just submitting those data [on fourth doses] to the [Food and Drug Administration] and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.”

Dr Bourla said Pfizer needed to be well-coordinated with US regulators the Food and Drug Administration, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the wider industry, so “that we are all providing to the American people and to the world a cohesive picture rather than confusion” on whether four doses were necessary.

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