The second debate of the campaign produced more sparks than the first, with the Labor leader branding the PM ‘a classic space invader’
Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten have clashed over their tax and climate policies in the second debate of the election campaign.
In a wide-ranging discussion between the two leaders in Brisbane on Friday night, undecided voters put questions to the leaders ranging from support for veterans to climate change.
Continue reading...Jessica Whelan, the Liberal candidate for Lyons, says comments posted under her name not made by her and were doctored
The major parties are standing by the two latest candidates in hot water for offensive social media posts attributed to them after a flurry of resignations overshadowed the third week of campaigning.
Speaking in Tasmania on Thursday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he would stand by the Liberal candidate for the seat of Lyons, Jessica Whelan, who has denied making derogatory online comments about Muslims.
Continue reading...Minister grilled about Lyons candidate Jessica Whelan, who claims her Facebook page was doctored. Meanwhile, the climate policy debate heats up. Follow all the updates, live
Pre-poll is happening in droves.
About 375,000 people have cast a pre-poll vote after three days of early voting, running at approx 125,000 votes per day so far. This compares to a total of 225,000 votes at the same stage of the 2016 federal election. #ausvotes #auspol
Asked about preference deals, and whether the Coalition, being a coalition, had to accept blowback for their partner’s choices, David Littleproud had this to say:
I hardly see it’s disingenuous where we have a democracy, where the Australian people decide. They walk into the ballot box, not me, and they get to determine where they put each number on that ballot paper. And that’s the way it should be. This is merely a way that parties have come to an agreement around where they believe they should go, the least worst possibility, if you don’t want to vote for us. But the reality is, it is and always will be the gift of the Australian people. And it’s something we should always fiercely protect.”
Related: At the mercy of minors: Labor and LNP wrestle for hyper-marginal Herbert
Continue reading...Several candidates quit ahead of election after deluge of offensive behaviour exposed
In a whirlwind 48 hours, the Australian election has lost a host of its most controversial candidates.
From homophobic comments about sitting MPs to secret strip-club footage, to Facebook posts about naked centaurs, a deluge of racist, sexist and bizarre behaviour has claimed the careers of four candidates in only two days.
Continue reading...Opposition leader stresses Labor unity as Victorian Libs dump candidate over anti-Islam comments. All the day’s events, live
Not politics, but because we all need some light relief from time to time – Chris Kenny has quit twitter for about the third time.
It really, really is just the day for it.
The Sydney Morning Herald has a breaking story on another Victorian Liberal candidate facing the sack – this time for comments he made about his would-be party room colleague Tim Wilson because he had the temerity to be born gay.
The candidate’s comments came in response to a post by another commentator, Michael Taouk, who said he was not in the Liberal party, calling for the “Liberal grassroots” to “remove preselection from that notorious homosexual Tim Wilson”.
Mr Taouk wrote: “No true Christian can fight on the same side of that man.”
Continue reading...Australian-born player convicted over attack that was part of sexual conquest ‘game’
A cricketer who raped a woman he found dozing in his teammate’s bedroom has been jailed for five years, with his victim calling it an evil and heinous attack that has left her suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
Alex Hepburn carried out the rape in a dark bedroom during the first night of a sexual conquest “game” described as pathetic, sexist and foul by the sentencing judge.
Continue reading...Jury in trial of Minneapolis police officer took less than one day to reach their verdict over the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond
The former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of third-degree murder for the shooting death of the Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who approached his squad car minutes after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.
Mohamed Noor was convicted of third-degree murder as well as manslaughter for the July 2017 death Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the US and Australia. He wasn’t convicted of the most serious charge of intentional second-degree murder.
Continue reading...Michael McCormack raises eyebrows saying his party is ‘aligned with One Nation’ more than Labor or Greens
The Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, has unveiled a new statutory authority for water infrastructure in an effort to contain a bush boilover at the election – and has declared his party is happy to enter preference deals with One Nation because their policies align.
McCormack used a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday to unveil a new Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility-style body for dams, with the new body charged with using “the best available science” to examine how large-scale water diversion projects could be established to deliver reliable and cost-effective water to farmers and regional communities.
Continue reading...Pauline Hanson calls Senate candidate’s behaviour in leaked al-Jazeera footage broadcast on Nine’s A Current Affair ‘unacceptable’
The One Nation Australian senate candidate Steve Dickson has resigned after footage emerged of him groping dancers and making disparaging comments about a woman in a Washington DC strip club.
Dickson said he was “deeply remorseful for my disrespectful comments towards women” and his wife was standing by him. “I found the footage difficult to watch as my words and actions under intoxication and in that environment, are not a true reflection of myself,” he said in a statement.
Continue reading...Did you listen to Barnaby Joyce’s laboured interview – or Turnbull turning up on a reality TV show? Test your knowledge here
According to Captain GetUp – the confusing, supposedly-satirical parody of GetUp, founded by rightwing group Advance Australia – who is Captain GetUp’s biological father?
Richard Di Natale
Adam Bandt
Bill Shorten
Kevin Rudd
What did a voter in Strathfield say to Scott Morrison when he greeted her with “Ni hao” on the first weekend of the campaign?
“Goodbye!”
“Sorry, I don't understand what you mean."
“And a Ni Hao to you too mate”
“I’m Korean”
What is Scott Morrison doing in this picture?
Cheering at a Cronulla Sharks supporters event
Singing in church
Singing the national anthem
Announcing the date of the election
How many times did Barnaby Joyce say "Labor" in his 30 minute interview on water buybacks with Patricia Karvelas?
22
47
65
80
What is between Scott Morrison’s teeth in this picture?
Spinach
A bit of meat pie
A fly
Raw onion skin
What is Jenny Morrison reacting to in this picture?
The full audio of Barnaby Joyce’s Patricia Karvelas interview
Scott Morrison describing his tips for maintaining a healthy marriage
A candidate describing Labor's franking credits policy
A voter who just told her he wants an electric car
Which newspaper columnist was photographed in a Tony Abbott campaign shirt, and uploaded to Abbot's own Instagram and Twitter, on the first weekend of the campaign?
Andrew Bolt
Piers Akerman
Peter Fitzsimons (with matching bandana)
Gerard Henderson
Sydney barrister Bridie Nolan made news when she gave a 300 word statement to the Daily Telegraph criticising Warringah candidate Zali Steggal – who is the former wife of Nolan’s husband. On her website, what did Nolan describe herself as?
"Ruthlessly accomplished"
“Lethally competent”
“Devastatingly experienced”
“Extremely experienced and incredibly devastating”
What baffling question did Bill Shorten ask of an adult man in an Adelaide shopping centre during week 2?
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Hope you’re having an OK school holidays”
“What was your ATAR?”
“Do you like Bluey?”
Just before the close of nominations on 23 April, the prospective Nationals candidate for the seat of Whitlam had to withdraw because he was a British dual citizen. What was his incredibly British-sounding name?
Stephen Walker-Jones
John Buckingham-Peters
James Harker-Mortlock
David Mountbatten-Maguire
What Channel 10 reality TV show did former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull turn up on – for some reason – in week 2 of the campaign?
Bondi Rescue
Bachelor in Paradise
Gogglebox
I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
The day the election was called, Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley posted a baffling homemade video where she:
Wore a large sombrero, then waved it in the air saying “Adios amigo!”
Put a banana on her head and said “The Liberal government has to split!”
Started playing a small snare drum, saying Tasmanians were going to "drum the Liberals out of town."
Rode past the camera on a skateboard and said "Cowabunga!
In week 3, John Howard took to the streets to campaign for Liberal candidate Fiona Martin in the seat of Reid. When asked, he admitted he hadn't met her before, but had "heard" good things. What positive thing did he say?
“I heard that she won every vote in the pre-selection in her local branch."
“I heard that every business owner on this street loves her and knows her name."
“I heard that she attended Santa Sabina school in Strathfield, which I know quite well."
“I heard that she was a captain of the Strathfield Strikers, a local football club."
13 and above.
12 and above.
11 and above.
10 and above.
9 and above.
8 and above.
7 and above.
6 and above.
4 and above.
3 and above.
2 and above.
1 and above.
5 and above.
0 and above.
Continue reading...Roderick Deakin-White, 37, was arrested and charged with Melbourne woman’s alleged murder
A Melbourne woman who was found dead in her London flat on Friday was allegedly murdered by her partner.
Amy Parsons, 35, was found dead in a flat in Crowder Street, Whitechapel, at 1.30pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison also defends deal as Coalition attacks Labor’s childcare plan as ‘communist’. All the day’s events, live
Both campaigns are now in debate prep mode, so we are going to power down for the moment.
But it’s just a break, not goodbye. We’ll be back just before 7pm eastern time to bring you the blow-by-blow of the first leaders’ debate.
On what he would do in terms of climate policies (given his history on the subject with the Gillard government):
It was Tony Windsor and I who forced the changes. Both sides have the ability to get on with embedding climate change into the processes of government. At the time we did have world-leading legislation.
I concede we lost control of the politics and that Tony Abbott, as the alternate prime minister, came in on a wave of, you know, that carbon tax message, which even his chief of staff, you know, after the event, has admitted was more about the politics than anything to do with policy.
Continue reading...Health district responsible for hospital that employs Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee says it takes ‘professional misconduct’ seriously
The health district responsible for the hospital which employs an emergency doctor who said “some women deserve to be raped” has ordered the doctor be stood down while they investigate.
Earlier in April Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee was suspended by the Tasmanian health practitioners tribunal for six weeks after he admitted to posting a series of sexist and racist remarks online. While Lee previously worked in Tasmania, in 2018 he began work at Box Hill hospital in Victoria as an emergency doctor, and the suspension bars him from working anywhere in Australia.
Continue reading...Submissions to Australian Electoral Commission by a some United Australia party candidates fail to provide birth details of parents or grandparents
At least 19 United Australia party candidates have submitted incomplete or inconsistent information to the Australian Electoral Commission, failing to provide evidence they are eligible to run for parliament.
The candidates for Clive Palmer’s party have asserted they are not dual citizens disqualified by section 44 of the constitution, but have mostly failed to provide birth details of their parents or grandparents, even in cases where candidates admit parents or grandparents were born overseas.
Continue reading...Emergency crews search park where man’s body discovered on Friday
A search continues in the Melbourne park where the eighth man to be shot dead in as many weeks in the city was found.
State Emergency Service volunteers and police returned to Fawkner Park at South Yarra on Sunday following the murder of a 41-year-old Carnegie man, whose body was discovered by two members of the public on Friday night.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says Labor and the Greens present far bigger threat to the economy and jobs than the United Australia party
Bill Shorten has criticised the Liberal party deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer’s United Australia party.
Speaking in Hobart on Saturday where he announced that a future Labor government would invest $120m into Tasmanian tourism projects, the opposition leader did not deny that Labor officials had held discussions with Palmer over the course of the campaign, but said they would not risk preference swaps with the potential kingmaker in Queensland.
Continue reading...Cameco did not have to show if WA mine would lead to extinction of tiny fauna before its approval on 10 April
A multinational uranium miner persuaded the federal government to drop a requirement forcing it to show that a mine in outback Western Australia would not make any species extinct before it could go ahead.
Canadian-based Cameco argued in November 2017 the condition proposed by the government for the Yeelirrie uranium mine, in goldfields north of Kalgoorlie, would be too difficult to meet.
Continue reading...Group gathers on steps of Victorian parliament to ‘bear witness’ to Angkok’s life
Mourners held a silent vigil on Friday night for Natalina Angok, the young African-Australian woman found dead in Melbourne’s Chinatown on Wednesday.
A small group gathered on the steps of the Victorian parliament on Spring Street for about an hour on Friday evening, vowing to “gather to bear witness to Natalina Angok’s life”.
Continue reading...Former WA premier Colin Barnett cites businessman’s ‘appalling’ record while Shorten rebuffs the Greens on climate policy. Follow the day’s news live
Mikey Slezak, of the ABC (oh how we miss him), has a story overnight regarding the last minute sign off by the Morrison government on a controversial uranium mine one day before calling the federal election.
Then there was a sneaky “public announcement” by the environment department when it uploaded the approval document the day before Anzac Day.
I want to find out what on earth has happened. The minister made no comment, no announcement beforehand. It looks like it might have been rushed. We don’t know....The reason I can’t tell you I’m on this side or the other side, we need to know what on earth she has done and what her reasons for it and the minister has gone missing.
Tony Burke was also asked about Labor’s very specific, siloed commission of inquiry that only looks a the one water buyback conducted under Barnaby Joyce as minister from Eastern Australia Agriculture.
What we have announced is there is a specific transaction from Barnaby Joyce that is different to anything that Simon Birmingham, David Littleproud, Bob Baldwin, different to anything that any other minister has engaged with. And anything else … can be dealt with properly by the Australian national National Audit Office. This one, there was no tender. There [are] arguments about conflict of interest. And it has links all the way back to the Cayman Islands, where there is complete secrecy about who is involved. Everything else you don’t need coercive powers.
In terms of making sure that we’ve got probity, we will establish a national integrity commission and there will be an ongoing watchdog on probity. In terms of the purchases by Penny that you referred to, they went fully through the National Audit Office, a report in 2011 [and were] given a complete bill of health. If I was arguing that things should apply to every other member of the government who has been involved, then the government’s characterisation would be fair. The point is no other purchase is like this.
Continue reading...‘Absurd’ that US and its closest allies are not leading players in technology, former PM says
Malcolm Turnbull has revealed that he encouraged Donald Trump to “take the lead” and develop 5G networks in cooperation with allies, including Australia, to hold out “ferocious competition” from China and to safeguard networks against cyber-attacks.
In a speech in New York overnight, the former prime minister said that in response to concerns China was stealing a technological march he had urged the US president to “ensure that we had at least one viable and secure 5G vendor from the United States and/or its Five Eyes partners”.
Continue reading...