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The latest on the floods in Victoria and NSW

Victorians saw several flood peaks across the state over the weekend as Echuca residents were forced to evacuate as rivers rose.

A weather system is expected to dump up to 30mm of rain on parts of the state’s north and west on Monday before beginning to clear on Tuesday.

The Murray River surpassed the 1993 flood level of 94.77 metres above sea level at Echuca on Saturday and was forecast to peak around 95m on Sunday evening into Monday.

Engineers have checked the Victorian-NSW border town’s three-kilometre temporary dirt levee and it remains structurally sound.

Premier Daniel Andrews has pleaded with residents in Echuca and Kerang to heed evacuation advice.

Kevin Dunque with his dog Grizz in Echuca, where the Murray River is expected to peak on Monday.Credit:Jason South

“Please give that very careful thought. We don’t issue those warnings lightly,” he said.

In NSW, two weather systems are causing pain for residents in already flooded areas as more people prepare for evacuation.

Lismore residents in the state’s Northern Rivers region were told to prepare to evacuate on Sunday night, with a weather system on the NSW-Queensland border expected to dump up to 200mm of rain in parts.

A second system was travelling across the border from South Australia, bringing more rain to already saturated parts of NSW.

There are more than 120 emergency warnings in place, including 20 evacuation orders.

Authorities are pleading with people not to drive through floodwaters with a frustrated Premier Dominic Perrottet saying they are tying up resources and risking lives.

NSW’s SES had performed 34 rescues in 24 hours as of Sunday afternoon, on top of hundreds of calls for help.

AAP

Economic growth to slow as warnings mount over size of budget deficit

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal a full percentage point downgrade in Australia’s economic outlook in Tuesday’s federal budget with warnings he needs to cut spending much more aggressively to make the nation’s finances sustainable.

Chalmers will release forecasts showing GDP growth in 2023-24 at 1.5 per cent, a full percentage point down on what was expected in the March budget, after a downwardly revised 3.25 per cent growth rate this financial year, a quarter percentage point lower than predicted.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, photographed between pre-budget TV interviews on Sunday.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

A combination of the Reserve Bank’s aggressive increase in interest rates and global economic turbulence is behind the bleaker outlook for growth, which would be accompanied by higher-than-expected inflation over the next two years.

Chalmers, who on Tuesday will deliver the first budget by a Labor treasurer since 2013, said the economic outlook around the world was deteriorating.

Read more about Australia’s growth outlook here.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning, and thanks for your company.

It’s Monday, October 24. I’m Caroline Schelle and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

• Property prices could fall as much as 20 per cent by the end of 2024, hitting consumers and wiping hundreds of billions of dollars worth of wealth from households
• Controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has charged families extraordinary amounts of money for ultimately futile operations that have catastrophically injured patients
• Unemployment in NSW has fallen to a historic low of 3.3 per cent for three of the past four months
• $600m for disaster relief services after ‘back-to-back’ climate emergencies, as residents in Echuca on the NSW-Victoria border wait for the Murray to peak
• Chinese President Xi Jinping has expanded his power and will serve for a third term, due to end in 2027
• Salman Rushdie’s agent said the author lost sight in one eye as he recovers from an on-stage attack from a man
• Rishi Sunak announced his candidacy to be the UK’s next prime minister, after former PM Liz Truss lasted 44 days in the top job

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