"Just sit down." The moment a climate change protester interrupted Q&A, & more in News in 5.

–With AAP.

1. “Just sit down.” The moment a climate change protester interrupted Q&A.

A climate change protester disrupted ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, when he interrupted a planned question and confronted the panel.

Early in the show, host Tony Jones called on audience member Ryan Small to ask a question of the panel, but as he stood another man, wearing a t-shirt with the logo of climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion, shot up and started speaking.

“Thanks Tony for coming across to Western Australia, we really appreciate you coming over here,” the man said, to groans from the audience.

“Okay, that is not Ryan. You’re not here asking a question, you’ve just jumped up interrupting the questioner, so please, if you wouldn’t mind, just sit down.”

The man could be heard yelling about the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and “religious freedom” before being drowned out.

“There’s no microphone on you, so no-one can hear you. It’s pointless,” Jones said.

The man kept going, this time yelling about “fire chiefs” and “climate change” before Jones again told him no one could hear him.

“It is pointless. It’s pointless. We can’t hear you. There’s no microphone,” he said.

Security came to escort the man out and he yelled “Let me go” and “You’re hurting me” as he was led out.

Jones then attempted to get back to normal programming, asking audience member Small to continue with his question.

As Small asked his question, about the cost of housing and negative equity, the man could be heard shouting in the background.

Jones congratulated Small on delivering his question under difficult circumstances.

The man later identified himself as Dr Colin Hughes on Twitter.

@QandA Here us the question I submitted but was not allowed to ask #Ifnotnowwhen ? @DoctorsXr @XRebellionWA #QandA pic.twitter.com/dAQZUwj3Jp

— Colin Hughes (@drcwhos) November 18, 2019

He shared a video of the question he submitted but was not approved to ask:

“If not now, when will the Australian politicians in both state and federal, join over 400 other local governments, state governments and national governments to declare a climate emergency?”

Extinction Rebellion is a global protest movement that’s “core strategy is mass disruption of city centres through nonviolent civil disobedience” to push governments to take action on climate change.

2. Three people have been shot dead outside a Wal-Mart near where Australian Chris Lane was killed six years ago.

The rural Oklahoma city rocked by the drive-by shooting of Australian baseball player Chris Lane six years ago is in mourning again after three people were shot dead in a dramatic incident outside a Wal-Mart.

Duncan authorities confirmed the shooting took place on Monday in the Wal-Mart car park.

One woman and two men died.

Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford said one of the people killed was believed to be the shooter who was armed with a semi-automatic handgun.

“Two were in a car, one’s out beside the car,” Chief Ford told the Duncan Banner newspaper.

At least two victims are dead after, police say, a gunman opened fire Monday outside a Walmart in Duncan, Oklahoma, before reportedly turning the gun on himself. https://t.co/R2JEvKq6WJ

— CNN (@CNN) November 18, 2019

“We have a pistol there, laying out beside one.

“We have multiple gunshots to the windshield.”

Duncan local and Army veteran Aaron Helton said he was in the car park and heard nine shots and saw a man holding a handgun.

Mr Helton said another man, possibly a member of the public attempting to diffuse the situation, approached and put a pistol to the gunman’s head and told him to stop.

The gunman is believed to have then turned the gun on himself.

Local schools went into lockdown and the close-knit community that still struggles to come to terms with why three teenagers would randomly select Mr Lane, shoot him in the back and leave him to die on the side of a residential street.

Mr Lane’s murder took place just a short drive from the Wal-Mart.

At the time the community and local enforcement were shocked by Mr Lane’s death, with violent crime in the city rare.

In 2013 a then 16-year-old Chancey Luna and 15-year-old friend James Edwards were in a car driven by 17-year-old Michael Jones.

They randomly spotted Lane, a 22-year-old from Melbourne who had a scholarship to study and play baseball at Oklahoma’s East Central University, jogging along a street.

Lane had never met the teenagers.

They drove up behind Lane and Luna fired a .22 revolver out of the car window into Lane’s back.

The trio sped away and left Lane to die in the gutter.

Luna was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first degree murder.

Jones was sentenced to life, but could be eligible for release after 38 years.

Edwards entered a guilty plea to an accessory to murder charge and had 10 years of his 25-year sentence suspended.

“Duncan once again suffers from gun violence,” Oklahoma representative Forrest Bennett tweeted after Monday’s Wal-Mart shooting.

“As we learn more about the motivation of the shooter, looking for ways to prevent this from happening again.”

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3. Sydneysiders have woken up to a thick smoke haze blanketing the city as NSW continues to battle bushfires.

Sydney has woken up to a thick blanket of smoke over the city as NSW heads into the first of two “tough days” this week with temperatures likely to rise to the 40s and little-to-no rainfall forecast.

Most of NSW’s east coast is under severe or very high fire danger ratings, with more than 50 fires burning across the state of which 28 remain uncontained.

All are at “advice” level and more than 1300 firefighters are on the ground.

Six lives and 530 homes have been lost since NSW bushfire season hit some weeks ago, with more than 420 homes destroyed in the past fortnight alone.

Sydney is waking up to a thick layer of smoke choking the city after bushfire fumes were blown from the North of the city overnight. #9News pic.twitter.com/z5EJf9Puwj

— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) November 18, 2019

“More than 1300 firefighters continue work on these fires tonight, ahead of forecast hot, dry and windy conditions tomorrow,” the agency said.

Winds dragged smoke from a huge fire at Gospers Mountain north-west of the Sydney over the city on Tuesday morning and the haze likely to dissipate until a southerly change in the afternoon.

The air quality rating is poor and people with asthma or other breathing issues are being warned to stay indoors, avoid outdoor exercise and seek medical advice as needed.

Meanwhile, Tuesday and Thursday will be “tough days” for NSW, Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers has warned.

Parts of the state under severe fire danger on Tuesday include Greater Sydney, Greater Hunter, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Southern Ranges and Central Ranges fire regions.

These regions, along with the Northern Slopes and North Western regions, are also under a total fire ban.

Much of the rest of eastern NSW and the ACT is under very high fire danger.

Some 1.6 million hectares of land have been lost so far – more than the entire 1993/1994 bushfire season.

Firefighters were on Monday battling a firefront of some 6,000 kilometres, the equivalent distance of a return Sydney-Perth trip.

Mr Rogers said firefighters were “singularly focused” on preventing further loss of life and property and warned people to stay alert.

“Even though it’s not a catastrophic danger (this week) it’s still going to be bad fire days,” he said.

He urged anyone who had not yet been affected by bushfires to “please use this as a wake-up call”, warning them to take steps including cleaning out gutters and having a fire safety plan in place.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian asked everyone to “maintain their vigilance”.

Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said the biggest risk in the coming days would be firefighters becoming fatigued.

A DC10 air tanker had been drafted in from North America to help drop up to 38,000 litres of water and retardant on blazes and efforts will be bolstered by help from New Zealand firefighters, he said.

4. The Paris agreement is high on the agenda for Australia’s new ambassador for the environment.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, @MarisePayne, has announced the appointment of Mr Jamie Isbister as Australia’s next Ambassador for the Environment. Key priorities will be to strengthen international frameworks & cooperation on global implementation of the Paris Agreement #auspol pic.twitter.com/D48VJztxlC

— Political Alert (@political_alert) November 18, 2019

Career diplomat Jamie Isbister has taken the reins as Australia’s ambassador for the environment, with the Paris agreement and improving the Pacific’s climate resilience high on the agenda.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced the appointment on Monday while thanking Patrick Suckling, who left the role after about three years.

Mr Isbister will play a pivotal role for Australia at December’s United Nations climate talks in Spain, where countries hope to finalise rules of the Paris agreement emissions reduction goals.

“(He) will also lead ongoing efforts to integrate climate change and sustainability into Australia’s official development assistance, including to improve climate and disaster resilience in the Pacific and to enhance climate-related private sector investment in the Pacific and Southeast Asia,” Senator Payne said.

Mr Isbister has worked for DFAT at Australia’s High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as in the non-government organisations division focusing on humanitarian aid.

His predecessor Mr Suckling drew the ire of anti-coal protesters at the UN’s 2018 climate conference in Poland, where he joined a US event on the sidelines to promote fossil fuels.

He was the only non-US member on the panel and promoted coal, gas, carbon capture and storage at the event.

5. Jacinda Ardern remains quiet on whether Behrouz Boochani can stay in New Zealand.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is not biting on whether her country may offer asylum to Behrouz Boochani.https://t.co/MGMRhfsgIN

— SBS News (@SBSNews) November 18, 2019

Behrouz Boochani’s arrival in New Zealand won’t prompt Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to engage with Australia or intervene in her own country’s un-politicised immigration system.

Boochani, a celebrated author and refugee, arrived in New Zealand late last week after spending six years detained in Papua New Guinea.

The Kurdish-Iranian writer was swept up in Australia’s offshore processing system when he arrived on Christmas Island by boat in 2013.

He landed in Auckland after accepting an invitation to speak at a writers festival, Word Christchurch, which allowed him to arrive with a one-month visitor’s visa.

It remains to be seen whether he will seek asylum to stay.

Boochani has reportedly received approval to move to the United States as part of a deal brokered in 2018 by the Australian government but has expressed dismay at the speed of that transfer.

Ardern, who on Monday addressed the issue for the first time, said she wouldn’t be drawn on the “totally hypothetical” situation that would see Boochani take a longer stay in New Zealand.

“He has travel documents and he’s had the ability to apply and legally be here in New Zealand for the purposes of speaking at a conference,” she said.

“When it comes to asylum claims in New Zealand, those matters are dealt with totally independently of politicians.”

Boochani is an outspoken critic of Australia’s immigration system and “broken politics”, likening the government to a dictatorship.

There are sensitivities around his arrival in New Zealand but Ardern said she wouldn’t be engaging with the Australian government.

“An application was made for an individual who carries travel documents, who was resident in PNG and who is recognised to be a refugee to come and speak at a conference in New Zealand,” she said.

“That visa has been approved. I see no need for me to engage personally with Australia on that matter.”

Ardern did rebuke her immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, who knew that Boochani was headed to New Zealand but didn’t inform her.

“It is still a matter that ultimately would not have changed or as a result of me knowing,” she said.

“But yes, I would have preferred to have head a heads-up.”