Category Archives: Liberal party

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

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

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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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NSW Liberals expel senior members, refer themselves to election watchdog after branch-stacking inquiry

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‘Elaborate and complex’ operation allegedly included more than 100 members and involved people being signed up and given fake email addresses

The New South Wales branch of the Liberal party has referred itself to the state’s election watchdog and is expelling about a half a dozen senior party members following an internal investigation into an allegedly “elaborate and complex” branch-stacking system.

The alleged branch-stacking operation is understood to have included more than 100 members, and involved people being signed up to the party and given fake email addresses in a process that may have been used to influence key votes on policy and preselections.

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MPs’ Pacific islands tour to show bipartisan support – As it happened

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Senior politicians from both major parties to travel to Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau this week. This blog is now closed

The Bureau of Meteorology expects scattered showers expected over South Australia.

Meanwhile the heatwave that has settled across northern Australia is expected to ease.

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Labor MPs believe Daniel Andrews has been given a mandate for bold change. What will he do with it?

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The Victorian Labor and Liberal parties face challenges over the next four years after a decisive election result

Despite predictions of a late swing to the Coalition and the possibility of minority government, Labor not only emphatically won the Victorian state election – it has outdone its 2018 “Danslide” result by one lower house seat.

The size of the victory, as well as the likelihood of a largely progressive crossbench in the upper house, provides Daniel Andrews with a mandate to tackle important reform. This includes scrapping group voting tickets and overhauling the criminal justice and child protection systems, which are being examined at public hearings by the nation’s first truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

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Australia news live: national cabinet to discuss energy fix; Victorian Labor poised to surpass 2018 ‘Danslide’

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Reducing bills will be main focus of virtual gathering of the prime minister, premiers and chief ministers. Follow all the day’s news

Ears to the ground as national cabinet meeting approaches

The rumour mill is running hot ahead of national cabinet. Here’s some of what people have been saying.

During an interview with Patricia Karvelas this morning, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said:

Well, I’ve confirmed that certainly people will see a reduction in their bills … The reduction will happen not in a handout, but when they get their bill. It’ll be baked into the bill.

The NSW government is leading the push for a rebate, which is believed to have in-principle backing of the Albanese government. The rebate in NSW could be worth as much as $280 for households.

The temporary rebate would be in addition to existing energy rebates already offered in NSW and Queensland for low-income households and are designed to cover the six to 12-month gap until price rises are projected to flatten under coal and gas price caps.

The future is renewable. Let’s be very blunt. Coal-fired power stations are going to close. That’s a statement of fact. We need to replace them. The transition to renewables has been too slow, and too disorderly.

The task here is to ensure that new energy comes on not after coal-fired power leaves, because that’s too late, but before.

What this is, is the safety net under this transition to ensure we have reliable energy.

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Stuart Robert told lobbyist not to donate to Angus Taylor fundraising group as ‘it will be declared and it will hurt you’

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Exclusive: Private emails from 2018 show Robert advised Synergy 360 boss not to join supporter network for Liberal colleague

The federal Liberal MP Stuart Robert told a lobbyist and potential donor not to donate to colleague Angus Taylor’s fundraising group as it would need to be declared and “it will hurt you”, emails obtained by Guardian Australia reveal.

Robert was sent an email from his friend David Milo, the chief executive of lobby group Synergy 360, inquiring about an invitation he had received to join the Hume Forum, “the official supporters’ network of federal minister and member for Hume, Angus Taylor”.

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2 October 2018: the ECE tender opened – three companies including Infosys were shortlisted.

29 May 2019: the member for Fadden was appointed minister for human services and the NDIS.

26 June 2019: leaked emails reveal the minister met Infosys and his good friend Milo, a paid consultant to Infosys, in Sydney.

2 July 2019: final valuation was submitted – negotiations on value and period of contract continued for another four months.

8 November 2019: Infosys was awarded the first of four contracts valued at $18m.

19 November 2019: the minister met Infosys.

30 December 2019: the minister met his friend Milo on the Gold Coast, which triggered an email from Milo saying “minister gave insights on progress of Infosys and future opportunities”.

1 February 2020: the minister was guest speaker at an Infosys conference at Melbourne Park on the afternoon of the Australian Open tennis finals.

1 July 2020: Infosys was awarded a further $142m contract.

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Bid to make key robodebt documents public blocked – as it happened

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Fans frustrated at last-minute World Cup arrangements

As fans and supporters made their way out of the Darling Harbour viewing site for the Socceroos’ round of 16 loss to Argentina, many expressed their frustration at the hastily organised event.

Lots of us got locked outside. It would have been good if they let some more people in. There were so many up there on stairs, it could’ve been more dangerous if they jumped around too much.

Six thousand people for a major sporting event is just not good enough. It looks like triple that number have turned up. It feels like they underestimated the number of people who would turn up today.

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PM urges climate ‘wake up’ amid floods; man mauled to death by dogs – as it happened

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights extradition from Britain to US, where he is wanted on criminal charges. This blog is now closed

We now have more details from NSW authorities about the four-vehicle crash on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge shortly before midnight last night, which killed two people.

NSW police have named the two victims as a 25-year-old female from the local area and a 38-year-old man from Sydney’s south-west. A police representative has been speaking to reporters:

At about 11:45 last night, there was a minor collision on the Anzac Bridge involving two vehicles. A 25-year-old female and a 38-year-old male were exchanging details or doing what you need to do after you’ve had a minor collision.

At that point, there’s been another two vehicles that have become involved in that stationary collision. One was a taxi and the second was a Commodore. Tragically, the way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars has impacted with the two pedestrians who were out on the road exchanging details and unfortunately those two people have been killed.

The last 12 hours have seen an absolute tragic number of road trauma incidents in NSW. Six people have lost their lives. Six families are grieving the loss of family members.

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Australia news live: interest rates tipped to rise next week; airport strike planned for next Friday called off

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Speaking on a panel of central bankers on Friday, Philip Lowe said it was possible to execute a soft landing for the economy. Follow live

Rishworth defends superannuation stance

There are still calls on the government to add superannuation payments to paid parental leave. Rishworth is asked if it’s something the government is committed to looking at in this term of parliament:

We’ve set up the women’s economic equality taskforce to look at a range of issues. Along with our childcare changes and our paid parental leave, we have really put women’s economic participation front and centre of this government, as a priority.

I think this is disingenuous by the opposition leader, there is plenty of detail of what a model would look like.

His party is clearly divided. He needs to be a leader when it comes to this.

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Lower house to return on Friday – as it happened

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The government services minister Bill Shorten was on ABC radio RN Breakfast when he learned the Medibank hackers had released all the customer information on the dark web.

Josh Taylor has reported on that here.

Our democracy is precious, our federal government is crucial to the success of the nation, and I know, as you do, that trust in our parliament, in our commonwealth, in politicians, has been falling dramatically. That’s a real problem and I really hope this begins to restore the trust.

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Voters will reject Liberals if they don’t have enough female candidates, Matt Kean says

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NSW treasurer savaged his party’s preselection processes and warned that the community expects more diversity in its parliaments

The New South Wales treasurer, Matt Kean, has savaged his own party’s preselection processes and membership, warning the Liberals risk losing voters at the March election if they fail to put up enough female candidates.

Kean, the party’s deputy leader, said he had been “devastated” that the state’s most senior Liberal woman, Natalie Ward, was not preselected in the ultra-safe seat of Davidson and had been beaten by a former staffer, despite having the premier’s support.

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Labor adds extra week of Senate estimates – as it happened

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Milton Dick also makes these recommendations for things he believes may improve the parliament:

Offensive words or reflections on Members Standing Orders 88 to 90, for example, provide that Members should not use offensive words or cast adverse reflections on Members, but they do not refer specifically to language or behaviour that is sexist or otherwise exclusionary or discriminatory. Revisions to these Standing Orders, so that they explicitly include that this type of conduct is highly disorderly, would be advantageous to the Chair in ruling on such matters.

Education and procedural support

Sanctions against disorder Under Standing Order 94{a), the Speaker may direct a Member to leave the Chamber for one hour if the Member’s conduct is considered disorderly. At times, this direction to leave can be advantageous to a Member or be worn as a ‘badge of honour’.

If a Member’s conduct is grossly disorderly, the Speaker can choose to name the Member in accordance with Standing Order 94{b), but in practice this option is not often used and not used for ordinary offences. It would assist the Speaker to have additional options to sanction a Member for disorderly conduct. For example, choices for increased penalties of time, and/or the introduction of cascading penalties of time for continued disorder, would be a disincentive to Members to be ejected.

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Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

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The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

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Australia politics live: Dodson ‘taken aback’ by Nationals’ call on Indigenous voice but doesn’t see it as a setback

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Follow the day’s news live

Coalition is alienating young voters, PM says

Over on ABC radio Melbourne, Anthony Albanese has been asked what he thinks about the Victorian election and the lessons for the Liberal party.

One of the things that we’re seeing, I believe is an alienation from younger voters from the Coalition.

When you have a position where you have senior members of the Coalition [who] can’t say that climate change is real in spite of the floods and bushfires and all of the evidence of the heating of the planet that we’re seeing, let alone any time something is put up to take action on climate change. They dismiss it.

[It] depends where you work. There will be some businesses, for example, which refuse to bargain with their staff where they used to and their staff where they used to and the better-off-overall test became too complex. Getting rid of the red tape we got there will bring some of the businesses back to the table straight away.

Also, any businesses that are concerned, like ... that actually don’t want to be involved in multi-employer bargaining, the simple fix for them is for them to negotiate with their staff now.

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Climate concern the main reason voters swung to independents at federal election, study finds

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Nearly half of voters who switched to an independent candidate at 2022 election did so because of climate fears, researchers say

Concern about the climate crisis was the No 1 issue that prompted Australians to switch their vote to an independent candidate at this year’s federal election, according to in-depth social research.

It was the No 2 issue that led to people to swing to Labor, behind concern about the cost of living – including affordable housing.

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Federal Liberals say Coalition must lure back women after Victoria state election rout

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Party also argues Victorian campaign finance reforms favoured Andrews government as Anthony Albanese calls out media ‘scare campaign’

The Coalition must improve its offering to female voters and oppose electoral laws that entrench incumbent Labor governments, federal Liberals have suggested following their disappointing Victorian election defeat.

But Anthony Albanese argued on Sunday the election also has lessons for the media, citing adverse commentary about Victorian premier Daniel Andrews as part of a “scare campaign” that had fallen flat.

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Victoria’s Liberals need to define who they are before deciding who can lead them back from oblivion

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With a primary vote sitting on 29.7% – its lowest result since 1952 – it’s clear the party’s problems run deep

Victoria’s Liberals might be searching for a new leader but it’s clear from Saturday’s emphatic election loss that the party needs more than a new face to become electorally competitive in the state once more.

On Sunday the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, announced he would step down after leading his party to a second crushing defeat, with this loss arguably worse than the 2018 “Danslide”.Despite Liberal party headquarters reporting in the latter stages of the campaign that it had “narrowed the gap” on Labor, at the time of writing, the Liberals were on track to win 16 seats – a net loss of one.

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Victorian Liberal party left shellshocked after another heavy election defeat

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Opposition leader Matthew Guy concedes the Coalition has ‘a lot of work to do’ after losing six of past seven elections

The Victorian opposition, leader Matthew Guy, has conceded the Coalition has “a lot of work to do” after the party lost its third successive election to Labor’s Daniel Andrews.

While Labor’s primary vote fell about 5.6% statewide, the Coalition failed to capitalise on it, with the Liberal party in particular going backwards and recording a primary vote below 30%.

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