Australian news and politics live: Fourth person dies as 50,000 await help in NSW flood catastrophe

Former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has invoked a Scott Morrison-esque warning for David Littleproud, when asked if the Nationals leader had his full support.

Mr McCormack said the future of Mr Littleproud’s leadership “will be up to the party room”.

Asked if the leader has his full support in the future, Mr McCormack said: “I’m ambitious for him” - the same infamous words Mr Morrison said beside Malcolm Turnbull two days before he replaced him as PM.

“He’s been messy, he’s been really messy and for people on the outside looking in, they just wonder what the hell is going on,” Mr McCormack said of Mr Ltitleproud on Friday.

Mr McCormack also confirmed he spoke with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley about trying to reunite the coalition.

“Sussan and I are very close and we speak together very regularly. The Nationals walked away from the Liberals, and Sussan was the newly anointed Liberal leader, it’s important that I did talk to her to try and get things patched up,” he told ABC Radio.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, now Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, says the Government is monitoring “developments” after US President Donald Trump banned Harvard University from having international students, including Australians.

“We are monitoring closely developments at Harvard University in relation to the administration’s statement this afternoon on the future enrolment of international students,” he said in a statement on X.

“I know this will be distressing for Harvard’s many Australian students.

“The Embassy is working with the United States Government to obtain the details of this decision so that Australian students can receive appropriate advice.

“We also intend to engage the administration more broadly on the impact of this decision for Australian students and their families, both at Harvard and at other campuses across the United States.

“Should any Australians require urgent consular assistance, please contact the Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (in Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas).”

Read the full story.

Nationals MP Darren Chester has confirmed he was involved in talks with the Liberal Party about renewing the Coalition agreement.

The Gippsland MP, along with former party leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, were among a group of Nationals MPs privately advocating to bring the Coalition back together after David Littleproud walked away from negotiations on Tuesday.

Mr Chester joked, “who would have thought you see the days (of) those three working together?”, but confirmed he had been involved.

“I had conversations with some Liberal colleagues who I have known for a long time and respect, and pointed out to them that the issue around cabinet solidarity was not something that, I think, should have been a non-negotiable point,” he told ABC News.

“The principles around cabinet solidarity and shadow cabinet solidarity are well understood. If you can’t agree with a position taken by the cabinet or shadow cabinet, you stand down.”

Senior Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan says a “lot of progress has been made” in trying to reunite the two coalition parties.

Mr Tehan, poised to be a senior frontbencher, would not be drawn on Mr Turnbull’s “stupid” comments, saying the Liberal Party had a clear focus.

“A lot of people will have a lot of things to say about the process. — They always do. But what I want to focus on is making sure that we come together and we get the outcome that is in the best interests of this nation,” he said.

He also expressed “deep concerns” that Labor’s large majority in the lower house and a weakened opposition would create an “arrogance out of the prime minister”.

Labor is on track to hold 94 seats when Parliament resumes in late July.

“We all have deep concerns that we’re going to see an arrogance out of the prime minister, given the size of the election result,” Mr Tehan told ABC Radio on Friday morning.

“We’re going to see them tend to want to do more than they told the Australian people that they were going to do – what we’re going to see is bad government.”

“We have a big job on behalf of the Australian people in making sure that we hold the Albanese Labor government to account.

“They now have a large majority, and we need a proper functioning opposition that can work on behalf of the Australian people to make sure that they govern in the national interest and not in their pure political interests.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has weighed in on the messy separation of the coalition, accusing the Nationals of holding a gun to the Liberal Party’s head in a “stupid” move.

About 48 hours after he announced the Nationals would be walking away from the Liberal Party for the first time in almost 40 years, leader David Littleproud and Sussan Ley on Thursday reopened talks.

Appearing on an ABC podcast, Mr Turnbull lambasted the Nationals for trying to hold the Liberals to ransom.

“This holding a gun to the Liberal Party’s head, which is what the Nats are doing, is really, really unwise, stupid politically,” he said.

“This is just so bad politically for them, so unwise.”

Some Liberals call it a threatening letter. Others see it as thinly disguised hate mail. The Nationals say it is simply a letter of concern.

But Bridget McKenzie’s terse note to Liberal Senate leader Michaelia Cash eight days before the Nationals blew up the Coalition is now seen as something of a smoking gun.

It explodes David Littleproud’s constant assertions that this was all about principle.

It now appears it was also personal.

It started with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s defection to the Liberals and escalated quickly from there.

Littleproud orchestrated a game of chicken with Sussan Ley. He presented her with a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum on policy he knew would place her in an invidious position with her party room.

And it seems it has worked.

The Liberals have blinked.

Read Mark Riley’s full column here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is en route to the mid-north coast, where he will meet with NSW Premier Chris Minns and tour the flood zone later today via helicopter.

He described the flood conditions as “pretty horrific”.

He says disaster recovery allowances will be open from Monday, which provide up to 13 weeks of fortnightly payments to people who can’t work or will lose income in the wake of the disaster.

He said that critical government agencies will have pop ups to help people.

Mr Albanese praised emergency response teams as “heroes” but called on people in the flood zone to use “common sense” and not drive into waters.

“If it’s flooded, forget it. Do not drive through floodwaters,” he told Triple M Newcastle.

“Listen to the advice. Make sure you log on to the relevant sites and keep informed if you’re in these communities, because we just don’t want to see any further tragedies.”

A fourth person has been found dead in NSW’s flood catastrophe.

The man, believed to be in his 70s, was discovered in a car north west of Coffs Harbour this morning.

Police say a passing motorist spotted the vehicle about 4.30am. It had run off Orara Way at Nana Glen, 30kms from Coffs Harbour.

“Officers from Coffs-Clarence Police Area Command and SES members attended the scene and found the body of a man inside. He appeared to be the only occupant,” a police statement read.

Assistant Commissioner Dave Waddell appeared on 2GB on Friday morning to confirm the grim news.

“It appears the man has run off the road in what locals are saying is the worst flooding ever in the region,” Asst. Comm. Waddell said.

SES boss Dallas Burnes has told Sunrise that there will various methods employed as resupply begins to become a priority.

“There will be a mix of methodologies depending on where and how they’re isolated,” Supt. Burnes said.

“Some of those properties may only be able to be reached by aviation. Others, we may be able to use boats to get to where their roads are cut.

“We’ll put plans in place to meet the home owners at the driveway location that’s now their boat ramp, so to speak.

“It really varies on property type and where it is. In other villages we may use a cache-type system where we take food or basic supplies to a central location and the people in the flood island can meet us there and get milk, bread, whatever they’ve requested.”

SES Superintendent Dallas Burnes has joined Sunrise to provide a bleak update after another night of horrific weather in NSW.

“Another busy night for our crews and it will be a busy day ahead for the 2,200 volunteers we’ve got on the ground in the area of operations on the Mid North Coast, “ Supt. Burnes told Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington on Friday.

“177 flood rescues in the last 24 hours and we’re still focusing on conducting those rescues and helping those people as they need help, but a real focus over the next day will be starting to resupply those who are isolated.

“We’ve currently got 50,000 people isolated, with most of those in the Taree area, due to the M1 being cut.

“But there’s also many outlying villages and people on farms who are isolated at the moment and we need to make sure they get their staples and we’ve got a resupply plan to start doing that.”