Insufficient accomodation and government support spark calls for better resourcing and planning in disaster responses
After being evicted from her short-term accommodation to make way for tourists, flood victim Margaret was left with nowhere else to go.
“I would have been homeless, living out of my car with two dogs,” the 79-year-old said.
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Continue reading...Labor told it needs to ‘find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders’, where the Liberal party holds 23 of the state’s 30 seats
Scott Morrison largely had Queensland to thank for his “miracle” 2019 election, with the party now heading into the 2022 poll holding 23 of the 30 seats in the state, all but one with a margin of under 4%.
Many commentators credit the wave of blue to local objections to Bob Brown’s anti-Adani convoy, doubts over Labor’s climate change and tax policies and preference flows from minor parties, namely Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia party.
Labor’s post-2019 election review found the party needed to “find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders” if it is to win the next election and indeed, opposition leader Anthony Albanese has spent significant time in Queensland, including visiting a coalmine.
Continue reading...The parties’ election machines have been humming into gear for weeks. Here’s the who who’s of each operation
All the focus of an election is on the leaders’ planes and travelling parties criss-crossing the nation for press conferences and photo ops, but behind every decision or smallest detail are the nerve centres of the whole operation – the Coalition and Labor campaign headquarters.
As endless column inches in recent weeks were devoted to when Scott Morrison would make the trip to the governor general’s home in Yarralumla, the campaign headquarters (CHQ) for the major parties were quietly humming into gear, with key staff flooding into the central command units at the heart of the election machines.
Continue reading...Prime minister calls federal election for 21 May as two leaders outline pitch to voters
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is imploring voters not to risk a change to an “uncertain” future under the opposition, while the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, says now is the time to seize the opportunity for better times ahead.
After Morrison visited the governor general on Sunday to call a 21 May election, the two leaders began the 41-day election campaign by outlining their pitch to voters.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says federal election about choosing between ‘a government you know and a Labor opposition you don’t’; Anthony Albanese says ‘Australians deserve better’ at campaign launch; at least 13 more deaths from Covid. This blog is now closed
Very glad to report the ABC has a live feed of the PM’s plan taxiing along at Sydney airport. Thoroughly engaging stuff.
The ABC is now reporting the PM has jumped aboard the official prime ministerial jet at Sydney airport, heading to Canberra.
Continue reading...Guardian Australia is tracking Coalition and Labor funding commitments and highlighting pork-barrelling during the election campaign
The Morrison government has promised more than $5.6bn in discretionary grants to projects across the country as part of a massive $28bn pre-election spending spree, with almost half directed to key marginal seats.
A Guardian Australia analysis of major party spending commitments from January to March this year shows Queensland as the biggest beneficiary of commitments from the Coalition and Labor, with the state a key battleground for parties to form government.
Continue reading...Will bullying claims against the PM, and independents demanding climate action, damage conservatives’ chances of holding on to power?
• Scott Morrison: frustrated, frazzled and under siege
• Labor’s lone wolf: Anthony Albanese in the fight of his life
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has called a general election for May, hoping for a second victory against the odds as he faces accusations of lying and bullying from within his own party.
An informal campaign has been under way for weeks, but Morrison pulled the trigger on the election on Sunday, with opinion polls showing his personal popularity plummeting and his party losing ground with voters.
Continue reading...Unlike Queensland and New South Wales, Victoria has no culturally specific family violence refuges
Zara* believes she and her children wouldn’t be alive today were it not for the support she received while at a family violence refuge in New Zealand tailored to her cultural needs.
“The mainstream refuge didn’t understand the seriousness of abuse the ethnic women go through,” Zara said. “I have been told by my own family, community and society to reconcile so many times and every time the abuse worsens.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Former speaker says treasurer Josh Frydenberg should authorise corporate regulator to decide claims under compensation scheme for defective administration
The former speaker Tony Smith has urged Josh Frydenberg to allow the corporate regulator to decide claims against itself, after investors had no one to resolve their bid for compensation over a failed retirement village empire.
Smith, acting in his capacity as chair of a parliamentary committee with oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic), also criticised Treasury’s position that the treasurer could not decide claims against Asic under a government program known as the scheme for compensation for detriment caused by defective administration (CDDA).
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Continue reading...Tony Ikin, a dog breeder, had been travelling to Royal Easter Show when his car was submerged at Cobbity
A UK-born man has died after being caught in flood water on the outskirts of Sydney.
The body of the 68-year-old was found in his van on Friday morning at Cobbity about 43 miles south-west of Sydney’s central business district, New South Wales police said in a statement.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison takes credit for saving 40,000 lives from Covid in social media video; prime minister expected to call federal election this weekend; hundreds of NSW residents still under evacuation orders; NSW records 10 Covid deaths; seven Covid deaths in Victoria; Queensland reports two virus deaths; police officer and driver killed in Victoria crash. This blog is now closed
In the space of an hour on Thursday night, two Queensland Liberal National stalwarts made announcements that shook the party from the right, and then the left.
First, George Christensen announced he had formally left the LNP – ending a political farce that has seen the retiring federal MP for Dawson slide deeper into far-rightwing anti-government conspiracy, all the while remaining a member of the government.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese says Labor the underdog and prime minister treating the election as a ‘game’
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has taken the credit for saving the lives of 40,000 Australians from Covid-19 in a social media pitch for re-election.
Morrison on Saturday released an atmospheric video titled “Scott Morrison: Why I love Australia”, attempting to cast himself as a safe pair of hands in uncertain times. He is expected to call the federal election on on Sunday.
Continue reading...Qantas apologises to family who missed international trip because of domestic flight delays
Long queues at Sydney airport’s domestic terminals have continued for a third day, with some passengers missing international connections, as the airport warns delays resulting from a surge in travellers and a shortfall in security staff could continue for weeks.
Chaotic scenes were reported in the departure halls as early as 4.30am on Saturday, with some frustrated travellers, many of whom heeded the pleas of airport chiefs to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flight was due to take off, claiming only one security line was operating.
Continue reading...Houston, who resigned as global senior pastor last month, attacks church he founded in online post
The founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston, has accused the megachurch of “losing its soul” and says his wife has been made redundant by the church’s board “through no choice of her own”.
Houston resigned last month from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” with two women.
Continue reading...Exclusive: whistleblower says code of Schools Ministry Group, Australia’s second biggest provider, could discriminate against workers
Australia’s second biggest schools chaplaincy provider imposes a code that discriminates against staff based on relationship status and sexual conduct, a whistleblower has alleged.
Caragh Larsen, a former Schools Ministry Group chaplain at two Adelaide public primary schools, said the code banning “cohabitation” and “sexually intrusive” behaviour left unmarried and LGBTQ+ staff vulnerable.
Continue reading...Emily van Egmond and Sam Kerr struck in added time to lift the Matildas to a 2-1 friendly win over trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in Townsville.
The Matildas were heading for their first loss to the Football Ferns since 1994 on Friday night, trailing 1-0 at the end of the regulation 90 minutes despite dominating the contest.
Continue reading...PM expected to visit governor general this weekend to trigger mid-May election after court refused to hear appeal against ‘captain’s picks’
The high court has cleared the decks for Scott Morrison to call the federal election by refusing to hear a last-ditch appeal against the prime minister’s contentious captain’s picks in key New South Wales seats.
The court on Friday refused businessman Matthew Camenzuli’s application for special leave to appeal against the NSW court of appeal’s decision upholding the controversial preselections. Chief justice Susan Kiefel said the appeal had “insufficient prospects of success”.
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Continue reading...Judge describes Michael Rollinson’s conduct as a ‘breathtaking and flagrant disregard’ for the court’s authority
A New South Wales barrister who continued to work as a lawyer despite not having a practising certificate – including in a case before the high court – has been sentenced to a suspended jail term.
Michael Rollinson pleaded guilty to three counts of contempt in the NSW supreme court last month. In orders released by the court on Friday, NSW supreme court Justice Robert Beech-Jones described his conduct as “breathtaking”.
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Continue reading...Prices of copper and nickel, used to make silver coins, have soared due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Soaring metal prices mean it will cost more than the face value of the coins to make five cent, 10 cent and 20 cent pieces, according to new research.
Prices of the two key metals in Australia’s silver coins, nickel and copper, have skyrocketed this year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the price of nickel spiking 250% on the London Metals Exchange last month to more than US$100,000 a tonne.
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Continue reading...Mining giant funded latest excavation at Yirra, which yielded stone tools, charcoal and bone showing habitation during the last ice age
An Aboriginal sacred place located 65 metres from a land bridge used by Rio Tinto to haul iron ore is at least 50,000 years old, with new research finding evidence of occupation during the height of the last ice age.
The mining giant, which funded the latest excavation, has promised to ensure the site “is preserved for future generations”.
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