Morning everyone. It’s Matilda Boseley here, coming to you today from the wonderful city of Sydney. That’s right, I’m in the Sydney office! But here’s the thing, I don’t know how to make the coffee machine here work, so if the blog seems a little slower this morning, you know why.
OK, there is a lot to get through so why don’t we jump right in.
The mask mandate in NSW has been dramatically scaled back this morning, with Victoria to follow at midnight tonight, only required in limited indoor situations, such as on public transport, taxis, and in airports and hospitals and, in NSW, at indoor music festivals with more than 1,000 people.
In Victoria, some groups of workers will also have to keep wearing masks, including hospitality and retail workers, people who work in primary schools and early childhood centres, and justice and correctional facility staff.
Queensland is set to join its eastern state colleagues in relaxing mask mandates next Friday 4 March.
Speaking of Queensland, there has also been some tragic news, two people now killed in floods caused by a weather system that has been drenching the state and is set to keep pouring down today.
A 54-year-old man was killed when trying to ride a motorbike through rising water at Gympie and a 63-year-old woman’s body was found in a submerged car on the Sunshine Coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology say more heavy rainfall and potentially “life-threatening flash flooding” are set to peak today in the state’s southeast and possibly extend into northern NSW.
BOM’s Brooke Pagel told AAP that up to 300mm of rain may inundate the region where the trough crosses the east coast.
Judging by satellite images the system is likely to impact the coast by Friday morning.
We don’t know the exact location, whether it is Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast or down towards the NSW border.
But because it is so slow moving, intense rainfalls are likely to be wherever it makes landfall so there is the risk of flooding as well.
Now, I will also be bringing you all the Australian reactions to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but you can also follow along more closely on the Guardian’s live blog dedicated to covering the crisis. You can find that below:
With that, why don’t we jump right into the day?