Welcome to the 9News.com.au live blog for Friday, April 1, 2022. There are warnings Sydney will be hit with damaging winds today, with gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour already felt overnight. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has pledged to tip an extra $2.5 billion into aged care, in his Budget reply speech. Heavy fighting has raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones overnight amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover.
– Dangerous winds to wreak havoc across Sydney as NSW flood clean-up begins
– Labor leader Anthony Albanese pledges $2.5 billion to fix aged care system 'in crisis'
– Heavy fighting rages near Kyiv as Russia appears to regroup
– Woman's body found after swept away in flood waters
Thank you for following our breaking news live blog today.
Making headlines today:
The pilot and a passenger killed in a tragic helicopter crash in regional Victoria yesterday have been identified, and their families have given emotional statements.
Sydney has been lashed by damaging winds that brought down trees and even tore the roof from a home.
The clean-up in the NSW Northern Rivers has begun as floodwaters begin to recede. Some flood warnings in the region remain in place.
The body of an aged care nurse was found in the Lismore floodwaters after she went missing late on Tuesday.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has criticised the Federal Budget and called for registered nurses to be at every aged care facility.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Bushmaster armoured vehicles will be sent to Ukraine following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's request during his address to Australian Parliament last night.
Our breaking news live blog will return next Monday, April 4.
In the meantime, you can stay up to date with all the latest news on 9news.com.au and nine.com.au.
Transport for NSW has revealed an issue which has seen some toll road customers incorrectly charged.
It is an issue with licence plate numbers linked to E-Toll accounts, meaning "customers have been incorrectly charged for unpaid trips when they were not the owner of the vehicle following the sale and transfer of vehicle ownership".
More than 78,000 customers have been affected.
It comes after 45,000 E-Toll users were wrongfully charged double in March.
Transport for NSW Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins has apologised for the errors and said the company is prioritising putting money back into customers' bank accounts.
"Transport for NSW apologises unreservedly once again to all our customers affected by these unacceptable errors. We continue to do everything we can to minimise any further customer impacts," Mr Collins said.
The issue is caused by the rollout of a new tolling account management system, Transport for NSW said.
Four people have been charged following an unauthorised climate action protest in Sydney's south.
A group had gathered at the Princes Highway in Sylvania at about 8am and blocked traffic.
One man could be seen holding a hose and wearing a Hawaiian shirt while the others sat holding signs.
Police arrested two men, aged 34 and 65, and two women, aged 40 and 67.
They were taken to Sutherland Police Station where they were charged.
All four were granted strict conditional bail, which police said they failed to meet, and will appear at Parramatta Bail Court tomorrow.
Queensland Police are urging road users to stay safe this Easter holiday period with road-related deaths and injuries expected to climb.
Police have shared footage of several drivers travelling recklessly on roads, endangering themselves and others.
Last year, six people died on Queensland roads over the Easter long weekend.
FULL STORY HERE.
Two more residents in NSW have been infected with Japanese encephalitis (JE), health authorities have confirmed.
A total of 10 NSW residents have now been infected with JE, with the latest two confirmed cases in the Riverina region, NSW Health said on Friday.
The ninth case is a young man from the Carrathool Shire whose infection onset was in January while the tenth case is a man aged in his 70s from the Lockhart Shire whose infection onset was in late February.
NSW Health urged people to stay vigilant and take precautions against mosquito bites, especially in the Northern Rivers Region where flooding has prompted an increase in local mosquito populations.
The virus is spread by mosquitoes and can infect animals and humans but cannot be transmitted between humans.
A nursing assistant has been charged after allegedly assaulting four elderly residents at a Sydney aged care home.
This week it was reported to NSW Police that two residents, aged 92 and 87, had been assaulted at a facility in Epping, in the city's north-west, earlier this month.
FULL STORY HERE.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has touted his experience in putting budgets together in a speech in Sydney today.
But the budget speech quickly turned into an attack on Anthony Albanese.
"If you can't manage the economy, you can't manage the finances, then you can make any promises you like on health. You can make any promises you like on education," he said.
"But you might as well have written it on tissue paper."
Mr Morrison accused Mr Albanese of not being authentic, citing his actions from before he entered parliament.
"(Albanese) would go to Labor conferences and rail against the Hawke-Keating government," he said.
"Now he has the gall and says he'd be a prime minister like Hawke. And more amazing, he thinks he'll be a prime minister like John Howard.
"Give me a break. You can't be prime minister if you're pretending to be someone else."
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