According to the NSW Rural Fire Service, no injuries have been reported following the 4.8 magnitude earthquake near Muswellbrook.

More than 2,500 ‘felt reports’ have now been recorded with Geoscience Australia.

A social media user in Scone, north of Muswellbrook in New South Wales, said the earthquake earlier today caused their walls to crack:

They wrote:

Well, that was the first time I really felt an earthquake!! The house shook, the walls cracked. Wild! … It was scary, honestly. The sound was crazy.

Muswellbrook woman says ‘whole house shook’ during earthquake

MONKEY provides more details about the New South Wales earthquake, which was felt over an area stretching hundreds of kilometres from south of Sydney to the north coast.

A woman in Muswellbrook, about 20 minutes’ drive from Denman, said there were multiple shocks around midday. She told Sydney radio 2BG:

There were two (and it wasn’t) just any quake, it was a huge quake. The whole house shook, and then about half a minute later it shook again.

I honestly thought it was my new cat knocking things over.

A man who lives more than three hours’ drive away in Cranebrook in Sydney’s west also felt several tremors but said the quake was “not huge”.

Queensland mine ordered to stop all heavy vehicles after fatal accident

Queensland’s mining regulator has ordered the Byerwen coal mine to cease all heavy vehicle operations following yesterday’s fatal accident.

If Andrew Messenger A miner at Byerwen was reported killed when a 200-tonne truck allegedly ran over a light vehicle yesterday afternoon, the mining union said. It was the second fatality at the central Queensland mine in a month.

CEO of the Serious Incident Investigation Unit, Rob Djukicsaid the measure effectively shuts down most operations at the mine:

QCoal has decided to suspend operations at the mine, but we have taken this additional measure to ensure that no heavy vehicle operations can take place until our inspector is satisfied that it is safe to do so.

We have to allow the mine to continue some operations because it would be unsafe if the mine were to suddenly stop operating. We do not rule out further measures, so our inspectors will continue to assess the location in the coming days.

Djukic said it was “disheartening and worrying to see a second fatality in Byerwen in less than a month.”

We want to assure the affected employees, friends and families that we are conducting a thorough investigation and will take appropriate action.

NSW earthquake downgraded to 4.8 on Richter scale

Humpback whale entangled in Sydney harbour now swimming free

Members of the rescue team that freed a humpback whale from Sydney Harbour this morning have just spoken to the media.

According to them, whales normally do not stay in port for long before returning to sea, so the outcome is positive:

We had our seagoing vessels follow that whale, whale even after he was freed, and he safely got out of the heads and headed south. So hopefully he went back to where he was supposed to go in the first place.

Shane DavieNSW Maritime chief executive officer said an exclusion zone was being maintained around the whale while the disentanglement team freed it “with the utmost caution”.

The whale is currently not being tracked with a satellite transmitter and is swimming freely.

It left the harbour last night and we saw it return this morning. So fingers crossed it continues on its way and now that it is untangled, hopefully it will continue south.

Master Builders welcomes external administration of CFMEU

The CEO of Master Builders Australia said he welcomed the government’s decision to appoint an external administrator for all branches of CFMEU’s construction and general division.

The Attorney General Mark Dreyfus announced this earlier today.

CEO of Master Builders Denita Wawn said in a statement that this was “a critical first step in moving the building and construction industry toward meaningful cultural change.”

Master Builders applauds the bipartisanship approach at the federal and state levels to pave the way for the administrator, Mark Irving KCto get started right away.

This culture has existed for decades and has suppressed productivity and increased construction costs, at the expense of communities, taxpayers, jobs and small businesses.

All of us, whether employers, employees or union members, deserve to work in a sector that is legal, safe and free from corruption, coercion, bullying and intimidation.

More than 1,800 earthquake alerts after magnitude 5 quake hits NSW’s Hunter region

According to Geoscience Australia, there have been more than 1,800 ‘felt reports’ from people who felt the earthquake near Denman, NSW, on the east coast.

Reports of felt earthquakes have been made as far south as Canberra and as far north as Armidale. People have also reported feeling the earthquake as far away as Dubbo.

According to the map, the earthquake was felt most strongly in and around Muswellbrook.

Multiple aftershocks after Denman earthquake

The Seismological Research Center has say After the earthquake near Denman (New South Wales) several aftershocks occurred.

The largest aftershock occurred at 12:15 p.m. and had a magnitude of 2.7.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, there is no tsunami threat following the earthquake felt near Denman, New South Wales.