Category Archives: Liberal party

Education system ‘run by Marxists’: Jason Clare takes aim at Liberal senator over comments on teachers

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Hollie Hughes told a Sydney Institute forum parents need to ‘turn the internet off’ as she gave reasons for the party’s election defeat

The education minister has blasted Senator Hollie Hughes for “crazy” comments blaming the Liberals’ low youth vote on “Marxist” teachers.

On Sunday Labor’s Jason Clare responded to the remarks, made by the New South Wales senator at a Sydney Institute federal election postmortem on Tuesday.

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Victoria names new ministers; Penny Wong to travel to south-east Asia – as it happened

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Jacinta Allan appointed Victoria’s new deputy premier; Australia records at least 56 Covid deaths and Penny Wong to travel to Vietnam and Malaysia. This blog is now closed

There have been 21 Covid deaths in NSW. 1,453 people have been hospitalised, and 45 are in intensive care:

US president Joe Biden is calling on Americans to vote for officials who will restore abortion rights. This is how he described the overturning of Roe v Wade earlier:

So extreme that women could be punished for protecting their health.

So extreme that women and girls who are forced to bear their rapist’s child – of the child of consequence.

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Sussan Ley backs Peter Dutton’s decision to oppose emissions legislation but signals future room for change

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Deputy opposition leader criticises government’s 43% reduction target but says Liberal party’s climate position is not fixed

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has backed Peter Dutton’s decision to oppose government legislation to cut emissions by 43% by 2030, but signalled the Coalition’s climate policy could shift before the next federal election.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, the new deputy Liberal leader said it was “sensible” for the opposition not to jettison policies it took to the May election.

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Recruiter told to halt search for New York trade role a day before John Barilaro’s resignation

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Exclusive: Email from head of Investment NSW said New York position would now be handled as an ‘internal matter’

The public servant responsible for handing John Barilaro a plum $500,000-a-year trade job in New York City told the recruitment firm searching for an appropriate candidate that it would be handled as an “internal matter”.

On 3 October, the day before Barilaro announced he would resign from parliament, Amy Brown, the chief executive officer of Investment NSW, told a representative of recruiter NGS Global the job would now be a “ministerial appointment” and that her services were no longer required.

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Public service shake-up continues with four new secretaries for government departments – as it happened

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Dominic Perrottet called on to halt Barilaro appointment pending inquiry; at least 63 Covid deaths recorded nationwide. This blog is now closed

NSW teacher strike ‘about politics, not pay’, Kean says

Matt Kean has hit out at plans by public and Catholic school teachers to strike next Friday after receiving a 3% pay rise offer, well below the rate of inflation.

Our 3% pay increase is far more than the Labor government’s 1.5% pay increase for public servants down in Victoria.

So the same unions complaining about our generous pay rise up here in NSW and protesting aren’t marching in the streets down in Victoria.

A senior woman, a senior public servant with knowledge of financial markets and trade particularly with the United States was offered the job, it was rescinded by the New South Wales government.

We don’t know by whom. And then John Barilaro mysteriously was given it just last week.

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Fake Twitter accounts for new senator suspended – as it happened

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Twitter suspends two fake accounts pretending to be Fatima Payman; nation records at least 59 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Victoria is reporting a spike in Covid related deaths, after 28 people lost their lives overnight:

Rally outside NSW parliament to protest government’s wages policy

We are losing skilled teachers, nurses, cleaners – and we’re going to have more pressure in NSW for services to be provided that we can’t retain.

It’s not much to ask and the government needs to act.

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‘Fault all round’: Peter Dutton aims to deflect blame for Australia’s energy crisis

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Liberal leader says Coalition made ‘huge investments’ in renewables when in power and blames states for locking up gas reserves

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has sought to deflect blame for the national energy crisis, saying there is “fault all round”, while blaming states for locking up gas reserves.

In a wide-ranging interview on the ABC on Sunday, the former defence minister also rejected suggestions he had relied on classified information to claim Australia could access two new Virginia-class submarines from the US by 2030, and held back support for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

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Australia news live updates: Albanese extends Covid funding as nation records 51 deaths from virus; energy supply will meet weekend demand, Aemo says

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NSW premier says health funding ‘a great start’ after national cabinet meeting; electricity reserves improve across National Energy Market; ASX plunges to lowest level since November 2020; nation records 51 Covid deaths. Follow live

The PM is making the rounds this morning, appearing on Sunrise and repeating his line that almost a decade of “delay and denial” under the former Coalition government led to the current energy crisis (I feel like this will be a recurring theme today.)

People want an end to the nonsense that’s gone on for the last decade.

You can’t fix 10 years of inaction in just 10 days but we are taking immediate action through Aemo to make sure that the lights stay on. At the same time, we’re making sure that we create the investment environment to make sure we get it right.

The gas is actually the property of the people of the state, whichever state that is, and there should have always been enough for the state and the country in question. It just seems to me to be very strange that there’s no gas for local people yet.

Coal-fired power generation is very old technology and very difficult for coal plants to cope with renewables coming onto the grid, basically, new renewables every minute

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Craig Kelly staffer Frank Zumbo told alleged victim he was ‘very affectionate’ due to Italian heritage, court hears

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Zumbo, who has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges including sexual touching, insisted on driving woman to work so Liberal ‘spies’ wouldn’t see her catch bus

Former federal MP Craig Kelly’s office manager gave gift card vouchers to a young female employee and asked her to kiss him on the lips to repay the gesture, a Sydney court has heard.

Francesco “Frank” Zumbo, 55, is facing 20 charges, including sexual touching and indecent assault, linked to accusations by five women between 2014 and 2020. The third alleged victim gave evidence on Friday at Downing Centre local court.

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Matt Kean accused of ‘treachery’ by NSW Liberal colleague David Elliott over messages to journalist

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Transport minister says he is ‘disgusted’ with treasurer over messages that allegedly asked reporter to question PM about Katherine Deves

The New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, has accused his Liberal colleague Matt Kean of “treachery” during the federal election, after the treasurer was accused of telling a journalist to grill Scott Morrison over the controversial preselection of the anti-trans activist Katherine Deves.

Elliott on Monday told Sydney radio station 2GB he was “disgusted” with Kean over a report in the Australian that suggested the treasurer had asked a journalist to push both Morrison and the NSW roads minister Natalie Ward on comments made by Deves in the lead-up to the May poll.

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Treasury sounds warning over NSW credit rating ahead of big spending budget

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While Moodys have forecast a stable outlook, spending measures spark warning over triple A rating

Treasury officials have warned the New South Wales government its triple A credit rating could be at risk as it prepares to hand down its final budget before the state election next year.

The Guardian understands that in the lead-up to the next budget on 21 June, Treasury told the government that a series of big spending announcements coupled with pressure on the state’s finances could lead to a downgrade in its prized triple A credit rating.

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The challenge for the Victorians party, born from lockdown anger

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New party hopes to win up to 10 seats in November’s state election, but political insiders and observers have doubts

A new party born out of frustration with Covid lockdowns and a dislike for the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is eyeing as many as 10 seats at the upcoming state election, though political insiders have cast doubt on their chances.

The Victorians party was launched a year out from the 26 November state election and has since received sustained media coverage, helping it to attract about 5,000 members.

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Labor says Dutton ‘desperate’ to distract from defence failures – as it happened

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Nadesalingam family arrive back home to Biloela; New Zealand ‘heartened’ by Albanese government’s climate stance; Australia records at least 40 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Jacinda Ardern will be raising Australia’s controversial deportation policy in today’s meeting. Asked if she has knowledge of whether the government is prepared to “water it down a little bit”, she replies:

Just to be clear, the issue we have is not with deportation. We deport as well. If a New Zealander comes to Australia and commits a crime, send them home ... but when someone comes here and essentially, hasn’t even really had any connection with New Zealand at all ... have all their connections in Australia and are essentially Australian, sending them back to New Zealand, that’s where we’ve had the grievance.

I’ve heard the prime minister prior to winning the election speak to his acknowledgement that that is the part of the policy that we’ve taken issue with. Even that acknowledgement says to me he’s hearing us, he knows it’s a problem.

It’s been a bugbear for us for a long time so I would like to see movement on it.

We talked about music on occasion but I’m not sure I would’ve picked necessarily the right music if I think I was given that task.

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PM says prospect of Chinese naval base in Cambodia ‘concerning’ – as it happened

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Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says

Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.

Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.

There is no simple magic fix to this.

The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.

That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.

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PM calls Putin’s actions ‘abhorrent’ after confirming he’ll attend G20 – as it happened

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Prime minister speaks in Jakarta after sharing bike ride with Indonesian president; Richard Marles says finding successor to Collins-class submarines is ‘No 1’ defence priority; Australia records at least 19 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed.

Similarly, on the Indigenous voice to parliament, Dutton said the Coalition is “very open to the discussion and what the government has to say”.

In principle, do we support anything that’s going to improve the situation of Indigenous Australians? Absolutely.

In Ted O’Brien we have someone with an exceptional background, a very considered person, a great communicator. And he did a report ... when he was on the backbench in the last parliament on nuclear energy. He had a particular focus on the latest generation, the small modular nuclear generation which can power up to 100,000 houses. So I’m not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear. If we want to have a legitimate emissions reduction, if we want to lower emissions reduction, that’s exactly the path president Macron has embarked on in France, it’s what prime minister Johnson is talking about in the United Kingdom ... I don’t think we should be afraid to talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices. That’s something we can consider in time. I don’t think we should rule things out simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them.

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Peter Dutton sidelines Scott Morrison allies in shadow cabinet as Nationals take six spots

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Angus Taylor becomes shadow treasurer, but Alex Hawke gets no position in a shadow cabinet with 10 women

Allies of Scott Morrison have been dumped from the shadow cabinet and senior conservatives promoted in a reshuffle stamping Peter Dutton’s mark on the Liberal party.

Dutton and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, announced the shadow ministry in Brisbane on Sunday, revealing it will include 10 women, with six Nationals in cabinet.

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Disgruntled NSW Liberals lay blame for federal election rout

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After preselection chaos, party is pointing fingers at the state executive, Alex Hawke, Scott Morrison – and Covid restrictions

A wave of recriminations is sweeping through the NSW Liberal party over the division’s performance and the delays in preselecting candidates for NSW federal seats that resulted in most being chosen only weeks before last month’s federal election.

Blame is being levelled at the unwieldy, faction-riven state executive, at the former prime minister Scott Morrison and his “captain’s picks”, and at his delegate on the state executive, Alex Hawke, who had been widely blamed for holding up preselections by failing to make himself available for months to vet candidates.

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PM says ministry has more women than any other in history – as it happened

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Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes resigns; at least 56 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Quotas ‘might be’ something for Liberals to consider, Sussan Ley says

Deputy leader of the Liberal party Sussan Ley followed David Littleproud.

It doesn’t need to be legislated, however those policy discussions will happen through our party room and our shadow cabinet ... Demonstrating you’re serious about climate change doesn’t just include a conversation about targets.

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Labor secures majority government despite record non-major party vote and crossbench

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Melbourne seat of Macnamara called for ALP guaranteeing it at least 76 seats in the House of Representatives

Labor under Anthony Albanese will govern in majority with at least 76 seats in the House of Representatives despite a record non-major party vote and crossbench.

The ABC’s election analyst Antony Green on Monday night called the south Melbourne seat of Macnamara for Labor, with the returning MP, Josh Burns, guaranteeing an ALP majority in the 151-member lower house.

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Australia news live updates: Pacific countries reject China’s proposed security deal; vote counting continues with Labor one seat from majority

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China confirms Pacific-wide deal with 10 nations shelved; David Littleproud elected new National party leader with Peter Dutton to lead Liberals; seats of Gilmore, Deakin and Macnamara remain in the balance; Covid booster eligibility expanded as nation records 10 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments

Anthony Albanese has wasted no time attending the theatre as prime minister.

He’s also been taking the C1 plated car for a spin through Sydney’s inner west.

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