Australia races to evacuate stranded as bushfires take a breather

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY  - Australian officials used a respite on Monday from fierce wildfires that have killed 24 people across the country's southeast to race to reopen blocked roads and evacuate people who have been trapped for days.

A second day of light rain and cool winds brought some relief from heatwave-fueled blazes that ripped through two states over the weekend, but officials warned the hazardous weather conditions were expected to return later in the week.

"There is no room for complacency," New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Monday morning. Two people remained missing as around 130 fires continued to burn in the state, though not at a high-alert level.

Authorities redoubled their efforts on Monday to provide supplies and repatriate thousands of people who have been trapped by fire lines in coastal towns for several days.

"This morning it is all about recovery, making sure people who have been displaced have somewhere safe (to go) and it is making sure we have resources to build up the presence on the ground to clean up the roads, clean up where the rubble exists," Berejiklian said.

Dean Linton, a resident of Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, used the break from an immediate threat to his town to visit his wife and four children who had evacuated to Sydney. He also used the 870 kilometer round trip to pick up a fire-fighting pump and generator to help him protect the family home.

"There's a lot of fuel in that national park; it would only take one lightning strike," Linton told Reuters.

The bushfire season started earlier than normal this year following a three-year drought that has left much of the country's bushland tinder-dry and vulnerable to fires. More than 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of land have been destroyed.

Following are highlights of what is happening across Australia:

* There were no emergency warnings in fire-ravaged states on Monday following the weather change. Victoria state had 25 "watch and act" alerts and South Australia had one "watch and act" alert. In NSW, all fires were back at the "advice" level, the lowest alert level, NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

* Fire officials said the light rain that has brought some relief also posed challenges for back-burning efforts to reduce fuel for future fires and bring existing fires under control.

* In Batemans Bay on the New South Wales south coast, power was expected to remain out for several more days. Further south in Bermagui, food and fuel were running out, Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.

* Military helicopters were due to evacuate more people, including the elderly and young children, from Mallacoota on Monday. More than a thousand people were evacuated from the Victoria state town by two naval ships on Friday.

* Insurers have received 5,850 bushfire-related claims in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland since the Insurance Council declared a bushfire catastrophe on Nov 8.

* Bushfire losses are estimated at A$375 million ($260 million) since November, with a further A$56 million in insured property losses in September and October, the Insurance Council said. Figures do not include properties lost over the past 24 to 36 hours in areas such as the NSW Southern Highlands and south coast.

* Accommodation provider Aspen Group said on Monday it expects a A$500,000 hit to both revenue and net operating income from the bushfires.

* Canberra was running short of masks with the nation's capital blanketed in smoke, ACT emergency services said. The National Gallery of Australia said it was closed to protect visitors and art works. The government department responsible for coordinating Australia’s response to disasters and emergency management also closed its doors due to poor air quality.

* Army personnel plan to begin digging graves to bury more than one hundred thousand sheep and cattle killed in the bushfires.

* Actor Russell Crowe skipped Hollywood’s Golden Globes ceremony, where he won an award for playing former Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes in the TV series “The Loudest Voice in the Room.” Presenter Jennifer Aniston said Crowe stayed in Australia to protect his family from the bushfires and read remarks he had prepared where he said the fires were "climate change based."

* Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to face criticism of his handling of the crisis. "Poor political judgment is one thing. Competency is another thing altogether. This is the political danger zone Scott Morrison wants to avoid in his handling of the bushfire crisis," Rupert Murdoch's The Australian, a supporter of the government, said in an article by the newspaper's national affairs editor on Monday.

* State officials have thanked people for donations of clothes and food, but said that cash was more useful.

* 41 US firefighters are in Victoria with a further 70 from Canada and the United States expected to join on Jan. 8, the Victoria Country Fire Authority said on Twitter.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Australian bushfires ease on cooler weather, death toll rises

SYDNEY -- A weather change eased fire threats in southeastern Australia on Sunday after a horror day of blazes that killed one man and injured four firefighters, though authorities said risks remained with a number of fires burning at emergency levels.

Property losses from Saturday's wildfires across eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales were estimated in the hundreds, but authorities said mass evacuations by residents of at-risk areas appear to have prevented major loss of life.

Nearly 150 fires were still burning in New South Wales, and dozens more were burning in Victoria on Sunday morning.

A southerly change that came through on Saturday night has brought cooler temperatures, after they topped 40 C in many areas on Saturday, and there was even the prospect of some light rain in coastal areas in coming days.

"It will be a reprieve of sorts, it will be a psychological reprieve for many, but it's certainly not going to be the sort of relief we're looking for in terms of getting under control all these fires or putting these fires out," NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

The death of a 47-year-old man who was defending a friend's rural property in NSW took the national toll this fire season to 24.

The weather change brought with it strong winds that whipped up fires and kept them burning overnight. In the Southern Highlands region south of Sydney, a new fire was burning out of control after the winds helped drive an existing blaze to jump the Shoalhaven and Kangaroo rivers.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the focus would be on recovery and helping those who were displaced and had lost their homes, as well as containing fires still burning. She said these were unprecedented circumstances.

"We can't pretend that this is something we have experienced before. It's not," she said, pointing to the concurrence of major fires, and threats to towns previously considered safe.

"The weather activity we're seeing, the extent and spread of the fires, the speed at which they're going, the way in which they are attacking communities who have never ever seen fire before is unprecedented. We have to accept that."

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Australian Prime Minister jeered by angry bushfire victims

MELBOURNE - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced enraged hecklers and an angry firefighter in a town ravaged by bushfires, piling pressure on the leader amid an unprecedented crisis that has killed at least 18 people.

A firefighter refused to shake Morrison's hand when he visited the town of Cobargo in New South Wales state on Thursday.

Video footage showed Morrison tried to grab the man's hand, who then got up and walked away, sparking an apology from the prime minister. A local fire official explained that the man had lost his house while defending others' homes.

Another man blasted Morrison for watching fireworks over Sydney Harbor from his official waterfront mansion, Kirribilli House, while fires raged further south on New Year's Eve.

"You won't be getting any votes down here, buddy. You're an idiot," the man shouted.

"I don't see Kirribilli burning after the fireworks," he screamed.

Morrison said on Friday he didn't take the attacks personally.

"I understand the hurt, the anger and the frustration," he said in an interview on 3AW radio.

"Whether they're angry with me or they're angry about their situation, all I know is that they're hurting and it's my job to be there to try and offer some comfort and support," he said.

Morrison had walked away from a Cobargo woman who urged him to provide more funding to the town and state firefighters.

"This is not fair. We're totally forgotten about down here. Every single time this area has a flood or a fire, we get nothing," another woman shouted as Morrison drove away.

Even a state politician from his own Liberal party whose seat is in the region took a swipe at the prime minister.

"To be honest, the locals probably gave him the welcome he probably deserved," said New South Wales transport minister Andrew Constance.

The prime minister, who won a surprise election victory last May, ended 2019 on a sour note with fires raging across 5 states while he took off on a family holiday to Hawaii. Facing criticism, he cut the holiday short and apologized for making a mistake.

He urged locals and holidaymakers, who on Thursday were forced to evacuate fire ravaged areas, to be patient, but he is facing criticism for not doing enough to fight the underlying causes of the bushfires or combating the crisis.

"The challenge now is the scale of what we're seeing across several states now. Those resources are being stretched," he said on local radio.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fears grow about Sydney after Australia fires merge into giant blaze

SYDNEY - Bushfires fanned by winds combined into a single giant blaze north of Sydney late on Friday, blanketing Australia's biggest city in hazardous smoke, causing weekend sports games to be cancelled and prompting calls for outdoor workers to stay home.

Wildfire has killed at least four people and destroyed more than 680 homes across eastern Australia since the start of November, months earlier than the usual summer bushfire season, with the authorities blaming an extended drought, strong wind and suspected arson.

Smoke and flying ash has lingered over Sydney for most of the past week, turning the daytime sky orange, obscuring visibility and prompting commuters to wear breathing masks. Satellite images spread on social media showed the smoke spreading across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away.

"The massive #NSW fires are in some cases just too big to put out at the moment," wrote the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a post on its official Twitter account.

Sydney is the capital city in New South Wales state.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) said in a tweet that "a number of fires in the Hawkesbury, Hunter and Central Coast areas have now joined." The tweet included a map showing 10 separate fires connecting about 50 kilometers north of metropolitan Sydney.

The total area burnt by those fires was around 335,000 hectares, or 830,000 acres, the RFS added.

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said authorities were particularly concerned the fires may spread east.

"They have the potential or are expected to spread further east, which unfortunately is getting into more populated areas, villages, communities, isolated rural areas, and other farming practices and businesses throughout the region," Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney.

About 500 homes in coastal communities around 350 kilometers south of Sydney had lost electricity to fire and repair workers were unable to start restoring power until the area was declared safe, energy provider Endeavour Energy said in a tweet. "Affected customers should consider alternative accommodation until their power is back."

Sporting body Cricket NSW urged clubs to consider cancelling weekend games due to poor air quality.

"We appreciate this may mean some finals are not played and players may be disappointed, however, the welfare of our cricket communities is our number one priority," Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germo said in a statement.

Australia's worst bushfires on record destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria state in February 2009, killing 173 people and injuring 414 more. 

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Online fundraiser for bushfire-hit koalas tops Aus$1 million

SYDNEY, Australia—An online fundraiser for koalas injured in devastating bushfires topped Aus$1 million ($680,000) on Thursday, making it Australia's biggest campaign on the GoFundMe platform this year.

Deadly bushfires have ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia, and wildlife carers estimate the blazes have killed hundreds of koalas this month in New South Wales state alone.

A crowdfunding page set up by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital to provide automatic water drinking stations for wild koalas soared past Aus$1 million, with donations from more than 20,000 people from countries including the United States, France and England.

The wildlife charity's "Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires" drive, which had an initial goal of just Aus$25,000, got more donations than any other campaign in Australia this year, GoFundMe said, and is the second-biggest since the platform launched Down Under in 2016.

It is one of 700 bushfire-related fundraisers launched on the platform in the past 10 days, which to date have raised a combined total of Aus$2 million.

The next-biggest has raised Aus$60,000 to support firefighters and people impacted by the blazes, which have killed 6 people, razed hundreds of homes and scorched about 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land since October.

The koala hospital, some 4 hours north of Sydney, has rescued 31 koalas from the scorched bush in recent weeks, and said it had been "overwhelmed by the kindness, good wishes and support from the Australian and international community."

It plans to use the excess funds to deliver koala drinking stations to other parts of the state, purchase a water-carrying vehicle to replenish the stations, and to establish a koala breeding program.

With more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of land scorched in the state, the fires have also destroyed large tracts of the tree-dwelling marsupial's habitat.

A so-called "Koala Ark" would be built for recovering koalas, the hospital said, hoping they will eventually breed and be returned to the wild.

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Bushfires conditions worsen in east and west Australia

MELBOURNE -- Rising temperatures, lightning strikes and gusty winds further raised fire danger on both coasts of Australia on Sunday as the country already battles more than 120 bushfires and firefighters work day and night trying to contain them.

Western Australia declared catastrophic fire ratings for four of the state regions as temperatures were set to rise well above 40°Celsius on Sunday.

Although the regions are thinly populated, the highest warning means that any fires that start are likely to be so devastating that even the most prepared properties may not survive it.

Australia's bushfires are a common and deadly threat but the early outbreak this year in the southern spring has already claimed several lives and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Queensland authorities issued emergency warnings for part of the state, where nearly 70 fires were burning early on Sunday.

"Today is another day for severe and extreme fire danger," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said on Twitter. "Please, remain vigilant."

In New South Wales, where 303 homes have been lost in the past week and which saw its first-ever catastrophic fire rating issued for Sydney on Tuesday, there were 56 fires burning across the state with nearly half yet to be contained, NSW Rural Fire Services said.

"Crews overnight undertook backburning behind properties due to forecast elevated fire dangers today," the fire services said on Twitter.

"This important work will continue as conditions allow throughout the day."

Back burns are fires deliberately lit to clear dry undergrowth to protect properties and keep the fire from spreading.

Conditions are expected to further worsen for most of Australia's east coast as of Tuesday as temperatures are set to rise amid continued dry conditions.

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2 dead, at least 100 homes lost in Australia bushfires

SYDNEY -- At least two people have died and 100 homes have been destroyed as an unprecedented number of bushfires tore through eastern Australia Saturday.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian also said seven people were unaccounted for, as firefighters tried to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes that have raged in the state since Friday.

"I'm sorry to say that number can increase during the day," she said of the death toll, adding that despite some respite Saturday, next week's weather forecast "could mean we're not through the worst of it."

Emergency services said they had found the remains of one person in a car and another woman died despite medics struggling for several hours to save her.

"At this stage, it appears at least 100 homes have been destroyed in yesterday's bush fires," the fire service said in an update early Saturday.

More than 30 people have been injured, most of them firefighters.

Almost 100 blazes pockmarked the New South Wales and Queensland countryside -- although just five of them remained highly dangerous.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the large number of fires was "incredibly concerning." He urged residents to "stay safe" and "listen to emergency services."

"I'm getting regular updates and we stand ready to offer any assistance needed," he tweeted.

Firefighters had warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they deployed 1,200 firefighters and 70 aircraft across a roughly 1,000-kilometer stretch of the seaboard.

Bushfires are common in Australia and a vast corps of firefighters had already been tackling sporadic blazes for months in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere summer.

But this is a dramatic start to what scientists predict will be a tough fire season ahead -- with climate change and unfavourable weather cycles helping create a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

While conditions eased markedly in some areas and the forecast was downgraded from "extreme" to "high" or "very high" Saturday, a total fire ban remained in place in many areas and further high winds were predicted.

'We can't get to everyone' 

Firefighters had described the conditions Friday as "difficult" and "dangerous". 

"Unfortunately, many people have called for help but due to the size and speed of the fires we couldn't get to everyone, even by road or helicopter," New South Wales firefighters said.

In some areas, residents were stuck and told to simply "seek shelter as it is too late to leave."

Local radio stopped normal programming and provided instructions about how to try to survive fires if trapped at home or in a vehicle.

Across the central coast smoke could be seen billowing high into the sky and residents took to social media to post photos and videos of smoke-laden tangerine skies and flames engulfing stories-tall eucalypts within sight of their homes.

Authorities said some of the fires were creating their own weather conditions -- pyrocumulus clouds that enveloped entire towns.

Meanwhile, high winds flung embers and burnt debris far ahead of the fires' front lines, depositing the dangerous detritus on the balconies and front yards of unsuspecting residents.

Despite easing conditions, a prolonged drought and low humidity levels will continue to make circumstances combustible. 

Earlier this month some of the same fires cloaked Sydney in hazardous smoke for days, giving the city a higher concentration of particles per million than cities like Bangkok, Jakarta or Hong Kong. 

Swathes of Australia have gone months without adequate rainfall, forcing farmers to truck in water at exorbitant cost, sell off livestock or leave their land to lay fallow.

On Wednesday, Morrison's climate-skeptic government announced a package of low-cost loans worth around A$1 billion (US$690 million), designed to help drought-stricken farmers struggling with the latest "big dry."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

2 dead, at least 100 homes lost in Australia bushfires

SYDNEY, Australia – At least two people have died and 100 homes have been destroyed as an unprecedented number of bushfires tore through eastern Australia Saturday.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian also said seven people were unaccounted for, as firefighters tried to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes that have raged in the state since Friday.

"I'm sorry to say that number can increase during the day," she said of the death toll, adding that despite some respite Saturday, next week's weather forecast "could mean we're not through the worst of it."

Emergency services said they had found the remains of one person in a car and another woman died despite medics struggling for several hours to save her.

"At this stage, it appears at least 100 homes have been destroyed in yesterday's bush fires," the fire service said in an update early Saturday.

More than 30 people have been injured, most of them firefighters.

Almost 100 blazes pockmarked the New South Wales and Queensland countryside -- although just five of them remained highly dangerous.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the large number of fires was "incredibly concerning." He urged residents to "stay safe" and "listen to emergency services."

"I'm getting regular updates and we stand ready to offer any assistance needed," he tweeted.

Firefighters had warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they deployed 1,200 firefighters and 70 aircraft across a roughly 1,000-kilometer stretch of the seaboard.

Bushfires are common in Australia and a vast corps of firefighters had already been tackling sporadic blazes for months in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere summer.

But this is a dramatic start to what scientists predict will be a tough fire season ahead -- with climate change and unfavorable weather cycles helping create a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

While conditions eased markedly in some areas and the forecast was downgraded from "extreme" to "high" or "very high" Saturday, a total fire ban remained in place in many areas and further high winds were predicted.

'WE CAN'T GET TO EVERYONE'

Firefighters had described the conditions Friday as "difficult" and "dangerous."

"Unfortunately, many people have called for help but due to the size and speed of the fires we couldn't get to everyone, even by road or helicopter," New South Wales firefighters said.

In some areas, residents were stuck and told to simply "seek shelter as it is too late to leave."

Local radio stopped normal programming and provided instructions about how to try to survive fires if trapped at home or in a vehicle.

Across the central coast smoke could be seen billowing high into the sky and residents took to social media to post photos and videos of smoke-laden tangerine skies and flames engulfing stories-tall eucalypts within sight of their homes.

Authorities said some of the fires were creating their own weather conditions -- pyrocumulus clouds that enveloped entire towns.

Meanwhile, high winds flung embers and burnt debris far ahead of the fires' front lines, depositing the dangerous detritus on the balconies and front yards of unsuspecting residents.

Despite easing conditions, a prolonged drought and low humidity levels will continue to make circumstances combustible.

Earlier this month some of the same fires cloaked Sydney in hazardous smoke for days, giving the city a higher concentration of particles per million than cities like Bangkok, Jakarta or Hong Kong.

Swathes of Australia have gone months without adequate rainfall, forcing farmers to truck in water at exorbitant cost, sell off livestock or leave their land to lay fallow.

On Wednesday, Morrison's climate-skeptic government announced a package of low-cost loans worth around 1 billion Australian dollars (US$690 million), designed to help drought-stricken farmers struggling with the latest "big dry."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sydney's water supply falling at fastest rate on record due to drought

SYDNEY- Australia's biggest city Sydney is running down its water supply at the fastest rate on record with dams expected to fall below half maximum capacity due to the worst drought on record, the government said on Friday.

Warragamba Dam, the city's main water supply, was sitting at 51.4 percent capacity, down 17.8 percent in a year and little more than half its level just two years earlier. The amount of water flowing into the dam was just 10 percent of what it was a year ago, according to the New South Wales (NSW) state regulator WaterNSW.

The total water level in Sydney's 11 dams was 50.1 percent, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions in recent months.

"We have never seen this kind of inflows," said NSW Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey.

"Catchments that have been historically reliable ... are now facing a critical shortage of water," she added.

At the current rate of decline, discounting rainfall, Sydney dams would only have enough water reserves for another two years, according to figures provided by WaterNSW.

Pavey said "major (inland) cities... run the risk of running out of freshwater in the next 12 months." "That is the stark reality for our regional communities," she added.

Sydney has resorted to water-saving methods in recent months including enforced water restrictions, which limit the amount of water people are allowed to use outdoors.

In March, Sydney's desalination plant started working at full capacity to process seawater, with the aim to lift the city's water reserves to 70 percent. The state government said this week it plans to expand the plant.

In April, researcher Kantar Public surveyed 1,000 Sydney residents and found that despite the dry conditions and declining water supply, 47 percent of people did not realize there was a drought. 

soure: news.abs-cbn.com

2 children killed after car crashes in to Australian classroom

SYDNEY - Two eight-year-old boys were killed and another three children badly hurt after a car crashed into a classroom in Sydney on Tuesday, Australian police said.

A sports utility vehicle smashed through the wooden wall of the school in Sydney's west, where 24 primary-age children were in class with their teacher, police said in a statement.

Five children were rushed to hospital, including the two deceased boys. Three girls, two aged eight and another aged nine, were in a serious or stable condition in hospital. Another 16 children and their teacher were treated for minor injuries.

Local TV images showed the car punched through the wall and stopped completely inside the classroom, which is adorned with children's drawings and pictures.

"Obviously it was a scene of carnage," New South Wales state Ambulance Superintendent Stephanie Radnidge told reporters outside the school.

New South Wales Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said police were "not looking at this as an intentional act, it is a crash investigation."

Police said the driver was a 52-year-old woman who was not hurt but was taken to hospital for blood and urine tests as part of the crash investigation.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Shark attacks 65-year-old surfer in Australia

SYDNEY - A veteran surfer escaped with foot and arm injuries after a great white shark rammed his board and dragged him underwater off Australia's east coast on Thursday.

The 65-year-old managed to swim ashore and raise the alarm, before being airlifted to hospital in a stable condition.

"The surfer received puncture wounds to his foot and his arm," New South Wales state police said of the incident at Seven Mile Beach near Forster, 300 kilometers (180 miles) north of Sydney.

The state's department of primary industries, which attended the scene, tweeted that "specialists have confirmed the shark involved in an incident off Booti Booti National Park this morning was a white shark".

The Newcastle Herald reported it measured up to 3.5 meters (11 feet), with pictures showing a large chunk bitten off the man's board, which split in half.

Westpac rescue helicopter crewman Graham Nickerson said the surfer told him he was with friends when the shark hit him from underneath.

"Apparently the shark came up under his board, snapped his board in two and then dragged him under by the leg rope," Nickerson told reporters.

"He's quite happy... considering what he's been through, but he's got pretty severe lacerations to his lower limbs, but he's in a stable condition."

The beach has been closed until further notice.

The attack is the latest off the New South Wales coast in recent months, with a surfer sustaining cuts to his leg just weeks ago while in the water near popular tourist spot Byron Bay.

Experts say shark attacks are increasing as water sports become more popular and bait fish move closer to shore, but fatalities remain rare.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Australian schoolgirl faces charge of financing IS

SYDNEY, Australia - A 16-year-old schoolgirl was set to be charged Tuesday with raising money to support the Islamic State group, Australian police said, warning of a "trend of teenage children" involved in such activities.

The girl and a 20-year-old man were arrested in the western Sydney suburb of Guildford in the morning and were due to be charged during the day, New South Wales state police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said.

"We will be alleging that they were involved in obtaining money to send offshore to assist the Islamic State in its activities," Burn told reporters in Sydney.

"The 16-year-old girl is not somebody who is well-known to us, however it is disturbing that we are continuing to see a trend of teenage children involved in activities that they should really not be involved in at all."

The pair were to face one charge each of getting funds to, from or for a terrorist organisation. The maximum penalty on conviction is 25 years in prison.

Burn would not say how much they allegedly collected, but added that a "number of people in this country" were raising money to finance terrorism and then send it offshore.

Federal Police Deputy Commissioner for national security, Michael Phelan, said the alleged fundraising was not linked to any plot of an attack in Australia and there was no immediate threat to the community.

Canberra has been increasingly concerned about home-grown extremism and raised the terror threat alert level to high in September 2014.

Authorities have conducted a series of counter-terrorism raids in several cities, while the government has passed new national security laws.

Since September 2014, 14 people have been charged under Appleby, a rolling operation investigating people suspected of being involved in domestic acts of terrorism, Australians fighting in Syria and Iraq and the funding of terrorist organisations, Phelan said.

Burn said police were working to identify "all those things that might have been involved in her getting to this position".

In December, five people including a 15-year-old boy were charged in Sydney over a terror plot targeting a government building.

And in October a civilian police employee was shot dead by a boy, also 15, outside police headquarters in western Sydney. The teenager was killed in an exchange of gunfire.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com