AAP filed this interesting story from Tasmania.

The newly appointed Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, will become the state’s first Liberal minister for climate change.

Gutwein, who this week ascended to the top job after Will Hodgman resigned, announced on Friday he would create and take on the portfolio.

“We need to accept that the weather patterns we are seeing are less predictable, more volatile,” he said. “It important as a state that we continue with our very strong work.”

Powered predominantly by pumped hydro and wind turbines, Tasmania is aiming be self-sufficient in renewable-energy by 2022.

“In terms of the nation looking at Tasmania, I hope that they do acknowledge we are world-leading in terms of emissions,” Gutwein said. “I think we do have a leadership role to play in terms of our position on this matter.”

Gutwein flagged climate change action as a “key priority” of his government and said he would closely examine fuel reduction and mechanical clearing practises as part of the portfolio.

Tasmania previously had a minister for climate change under the Labor-Greens minority government, prior to the Liberals’ election in 2014.

Schools have been given resources to support students, teachers and families who may be “experiencing distress” as a result of fires burning in their local area.

The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience and Emerging Minds: National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health are providing support to teachers ahead of the beginning of the new school year next week.

Advice includes focusing on establishing and maintaining normal classroom routines and providing “structured opportunities” to talk about the fires. Teachers are also warned to “anticipate situations which may trigger distress, such as hot and windy weather, fog or smoke”.

The Victorian government announced $13.45m in funding to support bushfire-affected schools.

More than 6,400 livestock killed in Victorian bushfires

Agriculture Victoria’s count of the number of animals killed in the Victorian fires has reached 6,422, the Weekly Times reports. Most of the losses were in the north-east, mainly in the upper Murray, where 5,440 animals – including 3,292 beef cattle and 1,735 sheep – were killed.

East Gippsland lost 928 livestock, including 311 beef cattle and 515 sheep.

Other losses include 116 dairy cows, 154 goats and 127 beehives.

The north-east also lost 926ha of crops, 33,781ha of pasture and 19,539 tonnes of hay and silage. East Gippsland lost 14,831ha of pasture and 1,911 tonnes of hay and silage.

This is Luke Henriques-Gomes, taking over from Calla Walhquist. Thanks for all your work, Calla.

What seems like the entire population of the south coast town of Cobargo showed up to farewell Robert and Patrick Salway, the father and son who died protecting their property from fire on New Year’s Eve.

The Cobargo cemetery was covered in a fresh layer of smoke after fires again loomed on the edge of this already devastated town yesterday, and the funeral was delayed to allow people stuck at road blocks time to arrive.

But most of the town seemed to be here. The road into town was lined with traffic and hundreds of mourners packed into the small cemetery to farewell the two men.

Patrick Salway’s wife Renee read out her wedding vows at the funeral and said her husband had “filled our life with adventure, true love, happiness and so so many memories”.

“Today you take with you my heart and my soul,” she said. “I truly never learned what the words ‘I miss you’ meant until I reached for your hand and it was not there. We will always be the best of friends and you will always be my beautiful husband.”

Both men were remembered as true farm boys with an insatiable work ethic and strong dedication to their families and community.

Robert Salway would have celebrated 50 years as a member of the Cobargo show society this year.

Tony Allen, a former Nationals candidate and a close friend of the Salway family, described him as a “natural cattleman” with a “firm handshake, a ready smile and, in the Australian vernacular, will always be remembered as our mate”.

Coulson Aviation has released a statement about the three US aerial firefighters killed in the Snowy Mountains crash.

Captain Ian McBeth, 45, from Great Falls in Montana, was a “highly qualified and respected C-130 pilot with many years fighting fire, both in the military and with Coulson Aviation”, the company said in a statement.

He served with the Wyoming Air National Guard and was a member of the Montana Air National Guard. He was a qualified instructor and evaluator pilot and spent his entire career flying C-130s.

McBeth is survived by his wife Bowdie, three children Abigail, Calvin and Ella, parents William and Anneliese and three siblings.

First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 43, from Buckeye, Arizona, served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years, including as a C-130 pilot. He reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring and working for Coulson Aviation.

Hudson is survived by his wife Noreen.

Flight Engineer Rick A DeMorgan Jr, 44, from Navarre, Florida, served as a flight engineer on the C-130 in the US Air Force for 18 years. He had more than 4,000 hours as a flight engineer, including 2,000 in a combat environment.

DeMorgan is survived by his children Lucas and Logan, parents Rick Sr and Linda, and his sister Virginia.

International support for the Australian bushfires is not limited to firefighters. Soldiers from Fiji are in East Gippsland and preparing to help the Australian Defence Force support bushfire-affected communities around Orbost.

Tourism campaign for Victoria’s fire-affected regions

The Victorian government is trying to encourage tourists to return to fire-affected areas in East Gippsland and the alpine region with a new campaign through Visit Victoria.

The slogan for the campaign is “a short visit goes a long way”.

The Princes Highway remains closed east of Orbost due to the bushfires, although some stretches are open to residents.

But tourism minister Martin Pakula, who visited the Gippsland Lakes region yesterday, said towns such as Lakes Entrance, Metung and Paynesville, as well as high country areas like Bright, Beechworth, Rutherglen and Mansfield, were open for visitors.

The most practical thing that ordinary Victorians can do right now to help these regions is to travel there and spend money there.

It will not only create amazing memories for families and kids, it will also provide vital support to our bushfire-affected communities as they recover and rebuild.

Pakula said the Andrews government would give Destination Gippsland and Tourism North East $200,000 each to pay a staff member to work directly with fire-affected tourism operators and develop campaigns to encourage visitors to return.

Cricket Australia and the Victorian Trades Hall Council are also going to hold away days in fire-affected areas, and 115 other businesses and government agencies have pledged to do the same. More on that pledge here.

Unions NSW has again reminded workers in NSW that it is illegal to be forced to work when the air quality is at hazardous levels.

Here’s the statement from Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey:

When the air quality is hazardous it is not safe to work outdoors for extended periods. You have a right to stop work if it is unsafe. It is illegal for your employer to force you to work in hazardous air.

The air quality crisis has been ongoing since mid-November. This means workers, particularly those who work outside, have had ongoing exposure, which could have an impact on their health.

Those with existing conditions such as asthma, emphysema and heart problems are particularly vulnerable.

Morey says the NSW government should lead the way for other businesses by restricting outdoor work by its employees to essential services and emergency work.

It has also called for workplace health and safety standards to be updated “to reflect our changing climate.”

New regulations informed by the advice of occupational health and safety authorities, lung health experts, business, and union representatives are needed urgently.

Photographer Mike Bowers was at the Potato Point fire on the NSW south coast yesterday. He spotted this fire truck from the Horsley Park volunteer RFS brigade, painted in memory of their fellow volunteer Geoffrey Keaton, who died fighting fires south-west of Sydney in December.

The Horsley Park RFS crew were helping to defend homes at Potato Point.

The fire that flared near Canberra airport yesterday and threatened homes near the Molongo River is currently burning at an advice level.

The 379ha fire is behind containment lines, but smoke from the fire — particularly from a recycling centre on Underwood Street, Beard, which caught alight yesterday and began emitting dangerous smoke — remains a hazard.

Oaks Estate Road remains closed between Pialligo Avenue and Railway Street.

Australian and US firefighters working on the East Gippsland fires held a minute’s silence for the three aerial firefighters killed yesterday.

The funeral of father and son Robert and Patrick Salway, who died trying to protect their farm in the south coast town of Cobargo, is being held today but because of damage from yesterday’s fires a lot of mourners can’t get through.

I’m at a road block on the Princes Highway bear Tuross Head – about 70km north of Cobargo – where there’s a long queue of mourners who are desperately trying to find out when the road will reopen. Family members are being let through.

The funeral is being held at the cemetery and people in the town were expecting hundreds – not thousands – from the surrounding districts to attend.

Extreme fire conditions are forecast for the Gascoyne Coast in Western Australia today. That’s a thin strip of land starting just north Kalbarri and running up to the Exmouth Gulf.

The central coast, around Geraldton, has severe fire danger, and the fire danger of the surrounding area is very high.

Smoke, dust, and muddy rain in Sydney

The air quality in Sydney and parts of New South Wales is hazardous today.

It is being caused by a mixture of dust and smoke – more dust than smoke, according to the Air Quality Index.

It appears to be similar to the dust whipped up in dust storms in western Victoria and NSW, which saw it rain mud in Melbourne yesterday. There are already reports of muddy rain in Sydney.

PM10 particle levels are at hazardous levels across most of Sydney and parts of the Illawarra, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands – they are the larger particles, like dust.

PM2.5 levels, which measures bushfire smoke, are hazardous in parts of the Illawarra, very poor in southwest Sydney, the Illawarra, and Chullora, and merely poor elsewhere.

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons addressed a US firefighting contingent in Sydney a few minutes ago. This particular group is about to head home.

Fitzsimmons said they had his “heartfelt appreciation”. The group were originally destined for Queensland but redirected to NSW when the fire threat up north eased.

He said they bought skills and experience to NSW, provided a reprieve for local crews, and bolstered the number of people in incident management teams and specialist areas.

Said Fitzsimmons:

Looking at the faces around the room, I know that in my various travels to different incident management teams in different locations with the minister, with [fire and rescue NSW commissioner Paul Baxter], and with the premier, I’ve seen a number of you in the IMTs, and you’ve been wonderfully integrated, seamlessly integrated into operations, and have made a discernible difference in the firefighting effort that we have been enduring this year.

NSW Police issued a statement this morning on the fatal air tanker crash in the Snowy Mountains. Police are working with investigators from the Air Transport Safety Bureau.

The names of the three men killed, all experienced US aerial firefighters in their 40s, who worked for US aerial firefighting company Coulson Aviation, have not yet been released.

This is what police said:

About 1.15pm (Thursday 23 January 2020), emergency services were called to Peak View, about 50km north-east of Cooma, after contact was lost with an aircraft conducting fire-control operations in the area.

A short time later the wreckage of a Large Air Tanker aircraft was located on private property on Peak View Road.

Officers from Monaro Police District worked with Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Rural Fire Service and Australian Defence Force personnel at the crash site.

Three men, aged 42, 43 and 45, are believed to have been on board at the time of the crash; however, they are yet to be formally identified.

Police are liaising with US authorities to ensure all next of kin have been notified of the men’s deaths.

Detectives from the NSW Police Force will be assisting ATSB investigators, who are expected to take over control of the site once it has been deemed safe by Fire and Rescue NSW’s HAZMAT.

They will conduct investigations into the circumstances surrounding the crash, while police will prepare a report the Coroner.

The crash brings the number of firefighting personnel, including contractors and volunteers, killed so far this fire season to 11.

Some more details on that tanker rollover in the Southern Tablelands. The ABC reports that the water tanker rolled near the Clyde Mountain fire at Eurobodalla near Batemans Bay.

The ABC said the six volunteer firefighters were taken to hospital with “serious injuries”.

Let’s take a look at the national bushfire picture this morning.

There are currently no fires burning at emergency warning or watch and act level in New South Wales. As of midnight, there were 73 bush and grass fires burning around the state, 30 of which were not yet contained.

Fire danger ratings have eased across th