Australia news live: disaster assistance announced for NSW bushfire victims after up to 16 homes destroyed

New South Wales premier said hot and windy conditions allowed the fire front to jump a 1km body of water. Follow the day’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNew South Wales is expected to experience “quite a difficult” fire season going into summer, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.Albanese is speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers on Sunday morning after visiting the Emergency Management Australia headquarters an hour ago.Houses lost yesterday, fortunately no loss life, that is always the priority. But fires burning as well as in the upper Hunter. There’s been some issues in Tasmania. And in Western Australia, around the Kimberley region as well. And the Pilbara.So, this summer of course, like all summers that would appear in recent times, is going to be a difficult one. But New South Wales in particular has a range of pre-conditions if you like for being quite a difficult one.That wind is now from the south so that could potentially move the fire to the north ,which has its own issues.We are very thankful that they heeded the warnings and got out of the area. There is an exclusion zone still in place and we are asking people to remain clear of that area so firefighters can continue to work uninterrupted. Continue reading...