Liberals hit back at election review ‘whitewash’ that attempts to blame incumbents for losing seats

Former Liberal MP says problem was party ran a presidential campaign around ‘one of most unpopular leaders in Australian history’

Liberals have hit back at their party’s election review, calling it a “whitewash” designed to shift blame on to defeated MPs in order to downplay the unpopularity of Scott Morrison.

Despite the review acknowledging that the choice between Morrison and Anthony Albanese was “the most influential driver of voting intention”, critics have taken aim at a controversial finding that “some (not all) local members did not maximise the advantages of incumbency”.

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Australia news live: charges laid against operators of REDcycle soft plastic recycling scheme

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Wieambilla siege victim Alan Dare to be awarded police bravery medal

An innocent man killed during a violent encounter at a rural Queensland property will be awarded the Queensland Police Bravery Medal.

Well, I think matters about Scott Morrison’s future are best addressed to him.

The review did sign that Scott was personally unpopular and they’ve been very, very effectively demonised in an intense, aggressive and continuing campaign by the Labor party and by the broader green left campaigning apparatus.

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Australia’s lobster industry hopeful China will drop trade sanctions

Exporters optimistic as Penny Wong raises trade with her Chinese counterpart but many are also wary of being ‘burned again’ by volatile diplomatic relations

Australia’s lobster industry is cautiously optimistic that China could soon remove trade restrictions, but exporters are wary of being “burned again” by sanctions and volatile diplomatic relations.

Many businesses have been paying close attention to foreign affairs minister Penny Wong’s trip to China this week – the first by an Australian minister in three years – where she discussed “trade blockages” with her counterparts.

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Australia news live: flood peaks expected in parts of SA, private hospital nurses to strike in NSW for first time in decades

South Australian SES revises dates for expected peak flows with Renmark and Berri expected to peak today; nurses at two major private hospitals in Sydney to walk off the job at 1pm

Private hospitals nurses to walk off the job for first time in decades

Staying in NSW, nurses at two major private Sydney hospitals will walk off the job later today.

The Australian market regulator and the cap price that people pay for electricity will make their announcement in February about what bills people will pay for next year. And we expect that the move will feed directly through to that and see downward pressure of up to $243 on electricity bills of what it was previously going to be.

How much of a philosophical jump was it for you as a Liberal, to intervene in the market in this way and cap the prices?

Well, it wasn’t a jump at all to stand by people following the illegal war in Ukraine, which is pushing up electricity bills. The government is there to protect the people – not the other way around.

And that’s exactly what we did. We looked at a range of measures to support people to deal with these high electricity prices. And this is the one that the commonwealth government asked us to do and, obviously, our No 1 priority is standing by the people of New South Wales using our balance sheet to support families and businesses. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

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‘Dangerous and deluded’: advocates and MPs criticise sporting codes for pushback on gambling reform

Leading campaigner Tim Costello ‘laughed out loud in disbelief’ at peak body claim existing restrictions ‘had the balance right’

Gambling reform advocates and those harmed by online betting say it is “dangerous and deluded” for Australia’s biggest sporting codes to oppose greater regulation.

Support for tougher restrictions is growing, with Allegra Spender, a federal independent MP, the latest politician to voice concerns about young people being exposed to gambling via advertising.

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High court may hear ‘bizarre’ immigration case involving Alex Hawke, a former marine and a steering wheel photo

Exclusive: Albanese government flags it will seek leave to appeal in high court

A “bizarre” immigration case that featured a photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel could be on its way to the high court.

The photograph contributed to a finding that the then immigration minister, Alex Hawke, rushed a visa cancellation decision.

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Wong says ‘the ice thaws, but slowly’ ahead of talks – as it happened

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Long delays on M7 at Prestons in Sydney

Traffic is banked up on the M7 in Sydney. Chanel 7 is reporting that a truck crash has caused the long delays.

They’re sharing their emotions and their grief because they believe this should never have happened.

It’s really important for us to have that public support. It inspires us to continue to do our job.

They’ve also lost two colleagues … so they are hurting incredibly.

A lot of work to be done to assist them as we move into the future because the pain will never go away.

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Kevin Rudd will be ‘well received in Washington’ as Australia’s ambassador to the US, experts say

Former PM praised as ‘the best China analyst by far’ by leading US national security council figure

Experts have predicted Kevin Rudd will be “well received by Washington and highly active in policy circles” as Australia’s ambassador to the US, though the nomination has triggered criticism from some Coalition MPs.

Andrew Wallace, a Liberal party MP said the appointment could go down in history as “a foreign policy disaster for Australia with its most important ally” if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, as Rudd called him “the most destructive president in history”.

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Greens push for federal ‘right to protest’ law after NSW jailing of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco

Senator David Shoebridge hopes to ‘rebalance the scales of justice’ after states crack down on activists

A series of harsh state-based laws cracking down on climate activists could be overridden by a federal “right to protest” bill being pushed by the Greens.

After the jailing of climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco in New South Wales this month, the party says the commonwealth has the power to overturn the series of state laws passed in recent years that experts say curtailed the right to protest in Australia.

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Union fury over Labor decision to split aged care pay rises – as it happened

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Crossbench say Australia needs to ‘get cracking’ on Cop15 commitments

More reactions are coming in after the close of the biodiversity Cop15 – which leading scientists have called “vastly more important” than the Cop27 climate meeting, because it decides the “fate of the living world”.

We need to get cracking on implementation to deliver on commitments.

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Liberal party review of election loss finds 50% of candidates and new MPs should be women

Review recommends setting a target for greater female representation but not a binding quota

The Liberal party should set a target for 50% of candidates and new MPs to be women, according to a review of the Coalition’s 2022 election loss.

Guardian Australia has confirmed the review, which is being finalised this week, will not recommend a binding quota despite highlighting the need to boost female representation as central to modernising the party.

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Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd appointed ambassador to the US

Anthony Albanese told reporters the appointment would be seen within the US as a significant one

Anthony Albanese has appointed the former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd as the next Australian ambassador to the United States.

The prime minister made the announcement in Canberra on Tuesday, confirming months of speculation that Rudd was a frontrunner for Australia’s key diplomatic post in Washington DC.

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Taxpayers face potential $10m payout bill as administrative appeals tribunal scrapped

Full-time members of the AAT not reappointed to a position in a new body will be eligible for compensation under existing contracts

Taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $10m in payouts to members of the administrative appeals tribunal as the Albanese government moves to scrap the existing body.

On Friday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announced the tribunal will be abolished and replaced by a new merits-review body because it had been “irreversibly damaged” by political appointments.

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Sydney-Melbourne rail upgrades could be ‘transformative’, Coalition says

Bridget McKenzie backs immediate improvements to interstate track as an alternative to long-term high-speed plans

Upgrades to the Sydney-Melbourne railway that slash the journey from 11 hours to six within a few years could be “transformative” for regional Australia, says the federal opposition. It is urging the Albanese government not to let ambitions for a decades-long high-speed rail project get in the way of more immediate upgrades.

The Coalition’s transport spokesperson, Bridget McKenzie, told Guardian Australia she believed sections of the existing track “have significant but eminently fixable impediments to a faster route” – including a key stretch between Goulburn and Junee in New South Wales – and heralded the economic and emissions benefits an upgraded track could bring.

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Australia seeks direct resolution of trade dispute with China before WTO ruling

As Penny Wong heads to Beijing for the first such visit in four years, trade minister says he is confident economic issues can be resolved

The international trade umpire is set to rule within months on Australia’s complaints against China’s trade sanctions, setting up a deadline for the diplomatic thaw to produce a breakthrough.

As Australia and China prepare to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations on Wednesday, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said he was prepared to meet the Chinese commerce minister at any time and place to seek a resolution.

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Wong urged to raise human rights concerns on Beijing trip – as it happened

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It’s officially a week before Christmas, which means the forecasters at the Bureau of Meteorology are fairly confident they can tell us what whether we can set up for an al fresco Christmas lunch or not.

For some parts of the country, there is a chance of showers:

Particularly in the south, we can get some volatile weather but all the patterns really starting to change as we move into later part of this week.

So we’ll see a weather system move through southern parts of the country, Thursday and Friday. Then a big high-pressure system behind it will quickly move into the Tasman Sea and then kind of sit there over the Christmas weekend into early the following week and normally that drives a lot of warm weather across much of southern parts of the country and our guidance is showing a similar pattern with that as well.

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Labor’s delay on public schools funding deal a ‘betrayal’ of disadvantaged students, advocates say

Australia’s education minister Jason Clare says government still committed to schools getting 100% ‘fair funding’

The Albanese government has been accused of betraying public schools after delaying a new funding agreement by one year.

On Friday, the council of education ministers decided to extend the deal until December 2024, meaning governments will not have to increase public school funding beyond existing commitments until 2025.

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Penny Wong to travel to China this week for 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations

Trip by Australia’s foreign affairs minister comes as tensions ease between two trading partners

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will fly to China this week to mark a key diplomatic milestone in the latest sign of easing tensions between the two countries.

Wong is due to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday and will attend Wednesday’s events marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and China.

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Victoria police to prosecute pitch invaders; more contaminated spinach cases in Queensland – as it happened

Sport governing body says ‘such behaviour has no place in Australian football’. This blog is now closed

‘We will look at the facts’

James Johnson is asked whether Melbourne Victory has any outstanding sanctions for past incidents. He says he is not aware of any but past events may be considered as an “aggravating factor” as an investigation into the incident unfolds:

There is no other suspended disciplinary action that I’m aware of, but what I will say is that we will be working through that today. We have already started working on the show cause process as of late last night, and we will be moving forward as quickly and swiftly as possible to finalise it, because it is important we get ahead of this issue as a sport.

What I can say is that we will look at the facts, we’ll look at it objectively and we will take a decision that we believe is in the overall best interest of the game but I prefer not to comment on the specifics of the outcome because we have to go through that process first.

What happened during the game last night and what happens with the result;

A “show cause letter” to Melbourne Victory;

An attempt to identify individuals involved in the pitch invasion.

This is an element that … infiltrates our game and tries to ruin it for the people who love us was in. We’ll be looking to weed out those people from the sport.

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Flood warnings issued for Murray River in South Australia – as it happened

The SA SES has told residents in low-lying areas along the river to prepare to evacuate. This blog is now closed

Woolworths salads recalled in NSW, ACT, Queensland and Victoria

A food recall notice has been issued for two salads sold at Woolworth stores across New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland and Victoria.

Food products containing unsafe plant material may cause illness if consumed. ​

Consumers should not eat this product and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.​

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