Cyclone Narelle bears down on far north Queensland

0:00ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music, and more. Good morning. Welcome to AM. It's Friday the 20th of March. I'm Melissa Clark, coming to you from Gadigalland in Sydney. Communities in far North Queensland are hunkering down this morning as tropical cyclone Narell bears down on them. The Category 4 system is expected to hit the coast around 500 kilometres north of Cairns. And then it's likely to keep moving west and hit the Northern Territory. Experts say record temperatures in the Coral Sea are fueling the cyclone, which is shaping up as one of the most powerful in that area in 100 years. Kimberley Price reports. Port Stuart is usually a peaceful seaside town, but right now it's empty and right in the predicted firing line of tropical cyclone Narell. Mary Withers has lived there for more than 30 years. Yeah, I looked around and there was just like, yeah, that's my whole life, you know, everything.

1:00You see, you think, oh, I didn't get paperwork or I didn't get this or I didn't get that, you know, and yes, I kind of did get a little emotional last night, but you've got to be realistic about these things, you're safe. Port Stuart has a population of 20 and it was evacuated yesterday. The residents, including Mary Withers, were taken inland to the town of Cohen. She's staying there with friends. Oh, I think the main thing is that she'd just get yourselves out, you know, and I just got my husband's ashes and my feet close and I come. Cohen is also in the path of tropical cyclone Narell. Sarah Watkins runs the local grocery and general store. We've done a couple of home deliveries as well for people that might not have vehicles or couldn't get out. I think everyone stopped up as much as they can. The community has really come together since we got the warning. We've had, you know, the Cohen Regional Aboriginal Corporation and Kalan, all the guys on the ground there have been going house to house, helping people cleanery out of their

2:04gardens, making sure that it's safe for people to be in their homes. She isn't taking any chances, deciding not to stay in her home, which she says is made of tin. She spent the night in a brick school room. The annual properties are absolutely built to last and a lot of them are cyclone-rated or have been upgraded. Yeah, there are some buildings that are of concern and our property as well. That's a bit of a concern for me. There are a few places that I expect to take a bit of a beating. Dr Andrew Watkins is a climate scientist at Monash University and is on the Climate Council. He says tropical cyclone Narell has been developing in the Coral Sea, where water temperatures have reached record highs. In fact, the temperatures are around 29.5 degrees at the moment for the whole basin. So, yes, the cyclone is passing over those warm temperatures that give it the extra fuel and the extra moisture that can cause it to be really intense. While the number of tropical cyclones per year is decreasing, Andrew Watkins says warmer

3:07oceans are increasing their ferocity. Getting more intense in terms of rainfall, getting more intense in terms of wind speeds, but unfortunately also getting more intense in terms of coastal damage on communities. Tropical cyclone Narell is expected to cross the Gulf of Carpentaria and make landfall on the eastern northern territory coast over the weekend. There are some people who are really scared because it might come our way, but we're not sure. Marjoba lives in Nukka in southeast Arnhemland, where tropical cyclone Narell is predicted to cross, and some residents have already evacuated. It comes after the town was recently cut off by floods. The supply we're getting on the plane, by freight, by small chadas and all that. We're in a good position, but we're just hanging in on our supply in our big shop. He says authorities are helping locals prepare for the worst. Local emergency, meaning also that we are in a good condition, but we're talking really a lot.

4:12Emergency services and defence personnel have been deployed into the areas likely to need help in both the northern territory and Queensland. Kimberley Price and Adam Steven with that report. The Pentagon is seeking an additional $200 billion US dollars to continue its war in Iran. The request requires congressional approval and comes despite President Donald Trump saying the war could end soon. The US is also considering removing sanctions from Iranian oil stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices. Our North America correspondent, Kamen Gok, is in Washington. Kamen, what's been the response to the Pentagon's request for $200 billion? Yeah, we're hearing from congressmen and women on the capital. Some shock and surprise at how much money could be requested. And some Democrats have already signaled at this stage that they're not willing to support it. President Donald Trump says the Pentagon needs this money for a lot of reasons beyond just Iran.

5:13He says it's a volatile world out there. He says the cash injections necessary all the while, though, saying that the war could end pretty soon. $200 billion is quite a lot of money and that's USD. He told reporters that he's not putting ground troops anywhere, but then stressed if he were to do so, he wouldn't be telling the media. And we're seeing just the economic impacts of this war spread throughout the world. And today, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said the US is considering removing sanctions from Iranian oil on stranded tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices. And the president did say he'd do whatever is necessary to keep prices down. But it's pretty stark contrast to bombing and attacking Iran while also considering lifting sanctions on some of its oil. And it really highlights this divide at the moment between the military successes, but also the economic hardship and diplomatic challenges that lie ahead. And it comes as the conflict really has entered a new phase

6:14with the recent Israeli strike on the South Paz gas field. And then we've seen Iran's retaliation to that. But it seems that Donald Trump has tried to distance the US a little from it. Take me through what he's talked about. Yeah, he really has. He's said that he was not aware of these strikes. And he's spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu since, you know, these strikes infuriated Washington's Gulf allies. They rattled the markets and it's seen as a major escalation that could risk throwing the world into a deeper global energy crisis. Now, Donald Trump says he wasn't aware. But in the same breath, there are some reports from unnamed Israeli officials that the US helped coordinate the gas field attacks. Here is what President Trump said when he spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu. Did I tell them don't do that? And he's more do that. We didn't discuss. You know, we do. We're independent, but get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion, he'll do something. And if I don't like it. And so we're not doing that.

7:15And President Trump has certainly had a busy schedule. He met with the Japanese Prime Minister today. One of the US allies he was critical of last week over his request for support to help secure the state of Hormuz. How did that meeting go? Well, after attacking allies and saying they're not doing enough, they're not enthused enough to help. The president says that he's seen a change of tune from some countries. There was a joint statement put out overnight from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands. And then interestingly, Japan, knowing that the Japanese were visiting Washington today. And it said that the country's expressed their readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait. Now, Donald Trump sort of gave his backhanded complement saying that they're acting nicer now, but it's too late. He was seated alongside Japan's Prime Minister, Sanei Takaiichi, who he's got a good relationship with. And he said that Japan was really stepping up to the plate unlike NATO and he praised Japan.

8:15But then when a reporter asked why he didn't warn allies like Japan about the US's plans to attack Iran, he said he wanted to keep the element of surprise and made this joke. One thing you don't want to signal too much, when we go in, we went in very hard. And we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? OK, why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? The US President Donald Trump there and before him, our correspondent in Washington came and gawk. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the conflict, saying Israel and the US's attacks on Iran have significantly weakened the regime. Correspondent Bridget Rollison is in Jerusalem. Bridget, what did Benjamin Netanyahu say about the strikes on key fuel reserves in Iran? Well, this is the first time we've actually heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first press conference, is held since the start of the war. And we're now three weeks into this conflict.

9:17So this is quite unusual. We've been waiting for him to speak to the media given in the 12-day war last June. We saw him a lot more. He'd been down at last sites and given a lot more press conferences. So this is the only time we've really seen him in the last three weeks before that was when he actually gave a video message. So the Prime Minister started by saying that he was alive. He was addressing viral online rumors that claimed he died and that every appearance that he'd made since had been AI. In terms of the fuel strikes, the overwhelming narrative today has really been around whether the US helped coordinate Israel's gas-field attack in Iran. So the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified in his press conference that Israel acted alone in that attack. And that came after the President, US President Donald Trump claimed that the US knew nothing about Israel striking Iran's South Paz gas facility, which is the world's largest natural gas field. And that has then led to multiple retaliation attacks

10:18by Iran on Qatar's gas facilities in the Gulf region, which has been a huge escalation in this war. So the US President Donald Trump said that he reprimanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for these strikes since that press conference we heard that Israeli officials telling the Reuters news service that that attack was coordinated with Israel. So the US and Israel did coordinate that attack, which is directly going against what Benjamin Netanyahu said. And so there's really been a lot of mixed messaging between the two countries showing that they're not really in lockstep. The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett said today that the Allies have different objectives and the US is winning the war on its own terms. Bridget Rollison in Jerusalem there. Voters in South Australia will decide tomorrow whether to give Peter Malinowski's Labor government another term in office. The election campaign has focused on cost of living pressures,

11:19health policy and economic opportunities. But the rise in support for one nation has made electoral calculations more complicated. Ashton Hurn is the leader of the Liberal Party. Ashton Hurn, thanks for joining A.M. this morning. Good morning, a pleasure to be with you. Now, what are you expecting the outcome to be after voters cast their ballots tomorrow? Well, there's no doubt it's going to be a challenging time for the Liberal Party. But I'll keep fighting until the close of polls at 6 p.m. tomorrow. But it's been a great election campaign from the Liberal Party's perspective. We've just been focused on just getting back to those bread and butter issues. I think part of the reason why people are flirting with the idea of voting one nation tomorrow is because for too long, people haven't been focused on getting those basic things right. And by that, I'm talking about affordability. I'm talking about getting your foot into the housing market and on fixing our health system. Now, the Liberal Party and the Labor Party yesterday, we released some really comprehensive

12:20costings documents to support our policies. But we just haven't seen the same from any other minor parties to date. What would be a good outcome for the party? Liberal's currently have 13 seats. How many would you need to hang on to to consider it a successful campaign? Well, we're going to keep fighting until 6 p.m. tomorrow. You know, it's not over until it's over. And throughout the campaign, people have put that question to me. But I'm not interested in kind of forecasting what the fallout is after the election. I'm just, I'm focused on speaking to as many voters as I possibly can between now and the close of polls to make sure that they know what our positive plan is to just get back to those basics. A key part of this has, of course, been housing policy and the frustrations that has added for many South Australians worried about their ability or the ability of their children to get into the market. There are competing policies on cutting stamp duty from Labor and the Liberal. So you want an exemption for young people buying established homes, Labor's proposing cutting stamp duty

13:20for older people buying new houses or apartments. How does your policy help with housing supply given it relates to established homes? Well, we're doing both. So right now in South Australia, if you're a first home buyer, you can access some relief through stamp duty. If you're building a new home, we're wanting to extend that to existing homes. If you're buying a property up to the value of $1 million. But also just to get the property market moving, we too are incentivising down sizes. So people, empty nesters, who might be looking to move to something a little bit more manageable, we're focused on that as well, giving a $15,000 concession. And that's really just about getting the housing market moving again and also removing some of those barriers that we do know exist. Now, probably the number one difference between our policy suites and the Labor Party's suite is that at the centre of ours is choice. We want South Australians to be able to choose where they live. If they want to stay in established suburbs, where they might have grandchildren

14:22or they might be working, whatever it might be, we want people to choose where they live. And the current Labor government's focus is all about getting them into newer suburbs, which, of course, takes time and does didally squat really to improve the housing market in the short term. When it comes to the longer term future of the Liberals, there's a lot of questions about what values the Liberal Party stands for. During this campaign, you've had to have one of your candidates, a custom woodhouse with draw from the contest because of some of his remarks about same-sex marriage and feminism and Islam. He still works for the Liberal Party, though. Can you give me an understanding of, does that mean that those views that he holds, that mean he wasn't continuing as a candidate? Are they still welcome in the broad church of Liberal values? Well, Castan has a contract. I'm not aware of any employer across South Australia, really, that would be able to, you know, sack someone effectively because of their religious views. I think that's against the law.

15:22But at the end of the day, this is something that the media were focusing on for a few days, but he's no longer a candidate. And I'm just focused on what the team can do to present our policies to the people of South Australia. The Liberal Party is a broad church. I came out really strongly and said, I don't support those views at all. In fact, I've got some pretty strong views to the contrary, but he's no longer a candidate. But when it comes to his employment contract with the Liberal Party, I'm not sure that it would hold up in the court of law at all to get rid of someone for their religious views. Ashton Hurn, thank you very much for speaking to me on A.M. this morning. Our pleasure, thanks for your time. I'm sure you know what a granny smith apple is. And a pink lady and a golden delicious. But have you ever heard of a type of an apple called a rhymer? It's a variety of cooking apple thought to have been extinct for decades, but a few trees have been rediscovered, scattered around the globe,

16:22including some at a rural property in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands. Brooke Chandler reports. Rudy Stashow thought he knew everything there is to know about rhymer apples. The features of this rhymer, and this is a real good example, is the ribs, the indented eye, the short stalk, and the wonderful crispness. How crisp is this apple? Look at that. He grew up on a family run orchard at Major's Creek, about 300 kilometers southwest of Sydney, while the rest of the world thought rhymers were extinct. I've known these trees all my life. That's, that was quite surprising. Bradwood cider maker and friend Gary Sully thought he recognized the rare rhymer trees when he visited the property in 2008. This is a pretty old tree here, no? Fifteen years later, he asked a charity near his Welsh home town called the Marcher Apple Network to help verify the identity of the apples

17:25on Rudy's family farm, as it was already working to recover lost or rare fruit species. So I jumped out of my chair, so delighted. That's charity group member Dr. Ainsley Rice. He said rhymer trees were thought to have died out prior to 1995, when his group began finding the odd tree. Six in Wales, one in India and another in the US. Last time we found one was 2005. So he wanted to test our rhymers against his rhymers. Gary collected DNA to prove Australia could be the fourth country in the world that remained home to rhymer trees. So he cut some leaves, store them in tea leaf bags, top them with silica gel and ship them off. Late last year, the positive result came back. The Major's Creek property was and is home to rare rhymer apples. I think of all the varieties that we have accredited. It was the one that was far and away the most clear cut involved

18:25the largest number of people and occurred over the longest period of time. I did get a little bit of mouse norm, which I don't normally get, but these memories started to flood back. And I did say to the scientists, you can actually form a love affair with these apples because they're so beautiful. But the original trees planted by Rudy's father aren't fairing well as the trunks are rotting. So Gary has been propagating dozens of rhymer seedlings now standing tall and strong in his own backyard. Now by getting these old varieties back, you're giving plant breeders an extra arrow to their quiver because they can now use all these different apples to breed varieties that were resistant to climate change or disease. Cidermaker Gary Sully ending that report by Brooke Chandler. And that's AM for today. Thanks for your company. I'm Melissa Clark. Hi, it's Sam Hawley here, host of the ABC New Use Daily podcast.

19:27Are the petrol stations ripping us off? Are they cashing in on the Iran war? And if they are, is there anything that can stop them? Today, David Byrne, Professor of Economics at Melbourne Uni, on how the fuel companies justify the rapid price rises and what motorists can do to counter them. Look for the ABC New Use Daily podcast on ABC Listen.