Evening News Bulletin 2 September 2024

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Flights cancellations and power outages as strong winds hit the east coast of Australia; a woman hospitalised after being bitten by a tiger at the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold coast; and in sports, Australia's Alexei Popyrin defeated by American Francis Tiafoe at the US Open.


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TRANSCRIPT

Cyclonic-strength winds affecting Australia's east coast has resulted in flight delays and cancellations.

Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra Airports have cancelled dozens of flights due to dangerous winds.

The cancellations included 12 flights due to depart Melbourne for Sydney.

Melbourne Airport has been operating on a single runway, instead of its usual two, for most of the day.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says power outages are also have a substantial impact.

"In terms of power outages, there is currently around 121,000 people across the state who are without power that peaked at 180,000 at 6.30am this morning and we know that severe wind has damaged polls and wires. And that crews are out there on the ground right now as quickly as they can. But also only working in areas where it is safe to do so to restore power as quickly as possible."

In Tasmania, TasNetworks says the ongoing storm activity will delay the restoration of power due to downed power lines or damage to electrical equipment.

During the peak of storm activity last night there were 47,000 without customers across the state - that has now reduced to about 37,000.

Residents have been without power for two days - and they're being warned some might be without power for the next five days as well.

Tasmania SES Executive Director Mick Lowe says safety is the priority for both residents and the workers responding to the outage.

"The damage and destruction that we saw last night was wind-driven primarily broken windows, broken roofs, a lot of downed trees. And there is a lot of debris out there. We do ask everyone to continue to remain safe. We're also monitoring minor and moderate flooding across the state. In particular, the river systems to the north. There are currently 20 warnings that are in place, with one emergency warning to evacuate, which is in the Derwent River - in around the Meadowbank area."

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed criticism from the federal opposition that remarks from federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers on interest rate rises are an attack on the Reserve Bank.

Speaking ahead of the release of economic growth figures for the July quarter due on Wednesday, Mr Chalmers says he expects that data to show economic growth is "soft and subdued".

He says the government's challenge is to assist in bringing down inflation, without further pressuring people "already being hammered by higher interest rates".

Federal opposition spokesperson on finance, Jane Hume accused Mr Chalmers of blaming the RBA instead of himself.

Mr Albanese rejected the criticism, saying there was nothing new or remarkable in the Treasurer's assessment.

"The Treasurer's comments were absolutely nothing new. He has made the comment about the economy slowing for a long period of time. And economists are expecting when the figures are released this week that they will show a modest growth. That is just a fact."

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A woman is recovering in hospital after being mauled by a tiger while working at a Gold Coast theme park.

Queensland authorities say the trained animal handler was bitten by a tiger at Dreamworld, and suffered puncture wounds to her arm and shoulder.

She has been taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.

The acting district director of the Queensland Ambulance Service, Justin Payne, says staff were able to stem the bleeding before paramedics arrived.

"She is one of the experienced and senior handlers there at Dreamworld. And we believe she was well trained, and it's good to see that she was able to be looked after by other support staff there at Dreamworld."

A Dreamworld spokesperson has labelled the incident as "isolated and rare" but says a thorough review will be conducted.

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To tennis, Australia's Alexei Popyrin has been knocked out of the US Open after losing in the fourth set to American Francis Tiafoe.

Tiafoe came away with a 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 win to progress to the quarter-finals where he'll face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

It comes just days after Popyrin stunned the tennis world, taking down defending champion Novak Djokovic.

In the women's, defending champion Coco Gauff has been sent packing after losing to fellow American Emma Navarro 6-3 4-6 6-3, while Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has progressed after defeating Elise Mertens 6-2 6-4.

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