Two people dead and a dozen injured after multi-car crash in NSW – as it happened

Two people have died and about a dozen others are being treated for injuries after a multi-vehicle crash in the New South Wales[1] Central Tablelands, according to NSW police.

About 12.50pm today, emergency services responded to reports of a five-vehicle crash along the Great Western Highway, Wallerawang, about 15km north of Lithgow.

Two people have been confirmed dead. About a dozen others are being treated by NSW paramedics for various injuries.

Emergency services are on the scene of the crash. Officers from Chifley police district have established a crime scene and are awaiting the arrival of specialist police.

The Great Western Highway is closed in both directions and is expected to remain a crime scene for a considerable amount of time.

Motorists are urged to avoid the area.

Local shares are dipping this morning in the final day of trading of 2023, pulling back from the brink of a new all-time high.

At noon AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 31.7 points, or 0.42%, to 7,582.6, while the broader All Ordinaries was 30.6 points lower, or 0.39%, to 7,821.8.

For the year the ASX200 was on track to finish up 7.8%, after losing 5.5% in 2022.

For the month, the index was on track for a 7.0% gain, its best monthly performance since a 10% rise in November 2020.

It was also up 7.6% for the quarter, its best quarter in a year. And it was set to close up 1.1% for the week, its fifth straight week of gains.

Every sector was lower except telecommunications, which was basically flat.

Mining was the biggest loser, down 0.6%, with goldminers among the worst performers even as the price of the yellow metal hovered near an all-time high, at £US2,070 (£3,025) an ounce.

Newmont was down 2.3%, Northern Star had dipped 1.7% and Gold Road Resources was 2.5% lower.

Elsewhere in the sector, BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue were all down 0.5%.

The Big Four banks were mostly slightly in the red, with Westpac down 0.4%, ANZ down 0.3%, CBA down 0.2% and NAB flat.

The Australian dollar was buying 68.41 US cents, from 68.45 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.

- AAP

Prize money at next month's Australian Open has been significantly boosted with the world's best players sharing a record pool of £86.5m and the singles winners receiving more than £3m each.

Tournament organisers announced on Friday prize money at Melbourne[2] Park had been increased by 13% - £10m - for 2024.

The biggest boost goes to players who bow out in qualifying and in the early rounds of singles and doubles.

Players will collect £31,250 - up from £26,000 - just to make the first round of qualifiers while first-round losers in the main draw will net 13% more than this year, earning £120,000.

Semi-finalists will net £990,000, losing finalists £1.725m and the singles champions will receive £3.15m each - an increase of £175,000.

Prize money has more than doubled from the £40m back in 2015.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said:

We've upped prize money for every round at the Australian Open with the major increases in qualifying and the early rounds of singles and doubles.

We want to ensure Australia remains the launch-pad for the global tennis season and the players and their teams have everything they need to help them perform at their best and continue to enjoy the Happy Slam.

- AAP

A teenage boy killed in a shark attack[3] off the coast of South Australia has been remembered as a talented and dearly loved member of the surfing community.

The 15-year-old, identified by friends and a family member as Khai Cowley, was mauled by a suspected great white while surfing off the remote Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula west of Adelaide about 1.30pm on Thursday.

Emergency services rushed to the popular surfing spot in Innes national park but were unable to save the boy, who was from Maslin Beach in Adelaide's south, police said.

Surfing SA paid tribute to the talented surfer on Thursday night:

We are devastated to learn that a young, talented and dearly loved member of our surfing community was the surfer involved in the attack at Ethel Beach, and are absolutely shattered to hear that the incident was fatal.

Our utmost deepest sympathies are with his family.

Read the full story from AAP here:

South Australian shark attack: tributes flow for 'talented and dearly loved' teenage surfer

SRL is much more than a transport project.

It will transform Melbourne[14] into a 'city of centres' - supporting vibrant precincts outside the central business district that will provide more high quality jobs, greater housing options, and green and open space in attractive, well-connected neighbourhoods.

After the release of draft vision papers[15] this month, it's becoming clearer how the project will reshape the first six areas along the SRL East line: Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.

Here's what we know so far:

Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop is a multibillion-dollar vision for a 'city of centres' - but how long will it take?

Imagine what would have happened to the demand levels had this same weather pattern hit us late in January or early February 2024 with industry and commercial industrial energy users back at work!?

He added that the state would "surely" break the all-time demand record of 10,119 megawatts if such heatwaves return then.

Drivers in Brisbane bore the brunt of record petrol prices this year with the Queensland[32] capital the nation's most expensive city to put fuel in the tank.

Regular unleaded cost on average 193.4 cents a litre, an NRMA analysis of 2023 petrol prices across the nation revealed.

It was a different story for Perth, which had the lowest average for regular unleaded at 183.9 cents a litre, cementing the city's place as cheapest or second cheapest capital since 2017.

Adelaide, which has one of the strongest concentrations of independent service stations in the country, recorded the second cheapest price for the year at 186 cents a litre.

Sydney's average of 190.7 cents a litre made the harbour city the fourth cheapest capital, despite being the nation's largest market.

Record petrol prices and a continuation of highly volatile movements in global oil prices in 2023 contributed significantly to the nation's inflation crisis and rising interest rates.

In September petrol prices reached the highest on record in Australia.

- AAP

(More to come on this one ... )

Tasmanian yacht Alive is in the box seat to take out Sydney to Hobart yacht race's overall honours, with skipper Duncan Hine confident the 66-footer has a winning time on the board.

Hine and his crew finished the 628-nautical-mile blue water classic yesterday afternoon as clubhouse leaders on handicap time.

Alive is no stranger to success, having claimed the overall win in 2018 and fourth spot in 2019. Hine said:

It's a waiting game.

We're looking good, though. I believe we could do it again, but the reality may be different. Now we wait with bated breath to see if anyone can beat our time.

Alive was one of just six yachts to have crossed the River Derwent finish line by last night, with more than 80 still at sea.

- AAP

This is Rafqa Touma, and here are the headlines that rolled in overnight.

As the new year approaches, heatwave conditions will spread[33] across northern Australia, while the east coast can expect more thunderstorms and showers.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts rain will probably have cleared for midnight firework celebrations in major cities, with Brisbane set to be the wettest.

Tents and caravans were swept away during 30-minute deluge that inundated Buchan campsite, with holidaymakers describing the terrifying moment[34] a wall of water inundated the popular camping site in regional Victoria on Boxing Day, leaving two people dead[35] and millions of dollars' worth of damage.

A teenage boy died after a shark attack near Ethel Beach[36] in South Australia and a kayaker has died[37] in waters off Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

I'll be rolling the blog through the day - if you see anything you don't want us to miss, send it my way on X, formerly Twitter, at @At_Raf[38].

New Year's Eve could be a wet one for parts of eastern Australia, with more severe weather forecast for the weekend.

(Meanwhile, northern Australia can expect fierce heatwave conditions - more to come on that.)

The Bureau of Meteorology says widespread showers and possibly thunderstorms are to return to NSW and Queensland[39] from today.

North-east NSW will bear the brunt of the rain in the state, with isolated and possibly severe thunderstorms into Sunday. Scattered showers are forecast for the remainder of the coast, with the chance of storms.

Severe thunderstorms return to parts of eastern Australia from this weekend, including on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings, particularly heading into the final weekend of 2023. pic.twitter.com/WxR06TxKn6[40]

-- Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 28, 2023[41]

Queensland is also expected to be hit by wet weather, with isolated showers and thunderstorms forecast across much of the state tomorrow, apart from the far south-west.

Senior meteorologist Sarah Scully says:

Severe thunderstorms are possible ... between St Lawrence and Redcliffe, although activity will not be as widespread compared to previous days.

Isolated gusty thunderstorms are also possible over western South Australia[42], alongside showers and storms for eastern South Australia and northern Victoria.

There is a risk of severe thunderstorms around Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Hunter region.

- AAP

References

1. ^ New South Wales (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^ Melbourne (www.theguardian.com)
3. ^ teenage boy killed in a shark attack (www.theguardian.com)
4. ^ South Australian shark attack: tributes flow for 'talented and dearly loved' teenage surfer