The former journalist and first-term MP had Speakman’s endorsement and support across the factions
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Kellie Sloane has become the third woman to lead the NSW Liberal Party after a party room meeting agreed on Friday morning to make her leader of the opposition.
The right’s Alister Henskens, the shadow attorney-general, did not stand.
Continue reading...Sources say shadow treasurer Jess Wilson has received enough support to test leadership of the party a year out from state poll
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A group of Victorian Liberal MPs has told the party leader, Brad Battin, they no longer have confidence in his leadership, paving the way for a vote on whether to replace him.
The intervention on Monday afternoon – delivered almost one year before the state goes to the polls – could trigger a ballot on his position as early as Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...As Liberals join Nationals in abandoning a 2050 emissions target, we unpick some of the opposition’s talking points
Are you trying to make sense of some of the big claims made by Liberal and National party MPs for abandoning their support for Australia reaching net zero emissions by 2050?
We’re here to help.
Continue reading...Sloane, an ex-journalist, is good at delivering lines. But if the state Coalition tears itself apart over net zero, she could be left talking up a fractured opposition
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Compared with their federal colleagues, the New South Wales Coalition has been a relatively collegial conservative political grouping. But no more.
Over the next fortnight, the NSW Liberals could well dump their leader, Mark Speakman, and face the almost impossible task of reconciling divergent positions on net zero emissions with junior coalition partner the Nationals. There is a real prospect that the state opposition could fracture.
Continue reading...Court told new privacy laws shouldn’t apply to Herald Sun stories alleging Victorian MP’s wife, Brittany, was underage at start of relationship
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News Corp stories alleging Sam Groth began dating his wife, Brittany, while she was underage were far from “idle gossip” given the claims were being “weaponised” by rivals of the Victorian Liberal MP, who aspires to become premier, the publisher has told a court.
The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir are being sued in the federal court over a series of articles published in July. Groth is suing for defamation while his wife has launched the first test case of new laws for serious invasions of privacy.
Continue reading...Opposition faultlines have opened up over net zero and immigration, but the data shows there’s more to gain targeting moderate electorates
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Recent moves by prominent Coalition figures Andrew Hastie and Barnaby Joyce have highlighted a major faultline within the Coalition between conservatives who want to scrap net zero and curtail immigration and moderates who believe they need to regain voters in urban seats where there is strong support for action on the climate emergency.
That fault line ominously shook further on Sunday afternoon, with David Littleproud announcing the National party was officially abandoning its commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
Continue reading...Meanwhile PM says he’d like ‘more cooperation’ between China and US on artificial intelligence. Follow updates live
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Watt says Labor doesn’t have a policy to end native forest logging
Asked if he wanted native forest logging to continue (it’s not banned in the legislation, despite the significant negative environmental impact that it has), Watt dodges the question by saying the party doesn’t have a specific policy of ending native forest logging.
What we have said, though, is that we will follow the recommendation from Graeme Samuel to apply national environmental standards to the regional forestry agreements that are used for native forestry, so what that means in practice is that native forestry would need to meet higher environmental standards than are currently required under the legislation. That’s a big step forward in terms of the environmental management of native forestry. But it doesn’t go as far as what the Greens party is seeking in being an all-out ban.
Not in its own right. We haven’t taken the approach of saying that particular projects are altogether banned. Every project will be assessed on its merits whether it be a coal and gas project, whether it be a housing and renewable project, they have all got to demonstrate they’re not having a significant impact on one of the nine matters of national environmental significance under the act.
If a coal or gas development was seeking approval, then it would need to meet the national environmental standards. It would need to avoid and minimise its environmental impacts and offset them to achieve a net gain. So they would be improvements compared to the criteria that apply to a project at the moment. If it was considered to have an unacceptable impact on the environment then it would get knocked back as would a housing development or a renewable project.
We’re not trying to sort of put in particular criteria for particular sectors. What we’re trying to do is put in a balanced package for all sorts of projects, for all industries, that deliver environmental and business gains.
Continue reading...Australia’s new privacy laws to be tested as Victorian Liberal MP and wife Brittany Groth sue over Herald Sun articles
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A News Corp journalist had “not one piece of information” to suggest the deputy Victorian Liberal leader, Sam Groth, began a relationship with his wife when she was underage, the MP’s lawyers have told a court.
In what a federal court judge described as a “test case” for Australia’s new privacy laws, Groth and his wife, Brittany, are suing the Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and the Herald Sun’s editor, Sam Weir, over a series of articles published in July.
Continue reading...Nationals leader says maverick MP still ‘has a contribution to make between now and when he retires’
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The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has urged Barnaby Joyce stay in the party after the maverick MP announced his intention to quit and consider “all options” – prompting speculation of a possible defection to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
The former deputy prime minister announced on Saturday he would not stand for his New South Wales seat of New England at the next election. He cited an irreparably broken relationship with the Nationals’ leadership, but would see out the rest of the parliamentary term.
Continue reading...Peter Briggs says relying on overseas construction is ‘folly’; industrial relations commission to rule this morning on government’s stoush with doctors. Follow the latest news live
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The former head of Australia’s submarine squadron has urged Australia against outsourcing boat construction overseas, as bureaucrats express confidence the US won’t scuttle Aukus, Australian Associated Press reports.
A parliamentary inquiry yesterday ran the rule over the Geelong treaty, a 50-year Aukus cooperation agreement between Australia and the UK signed in July.
There is no minimum protection in the treaty for a guaranteed work share for genuine Australian industry.
The Collins project has established a viable submarine supply chain within Australia.
Continue reading...Follow the latest updates live
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Parents need boost to lift flagging vaccination rate
Parents need practical strategies such as easier access to appointments and bulk-billing to help reverse a concerning decline in childhood vaccination rates, research has found.
The top barriers were mostly around ability to get appointments easily, being able to prioritise their child’s vaccination over all of the other things that they have to get done, the cost of getting their child vaccinated.
We now know that that will be on the 20th of October. The point here is that they had spoken a number of times by phone. The relationship is conducted at many, many levels. It is going well.
We’ve got the lowest tariff rate. Aukus is happening at a pace. And so we’re really confident … about the progress of our relationship with the US.
Continue reading...US president berates Australia and others for recognising Palestine, but agrees to Albanese meeting in October. Follow today’s news live
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Albanese to make case for US capital to flow to Australian economy
Anthony Albanese and Australia’s ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, are preparing to attend a major investment event in New York in the next few hours.
American capital and Australian manufacturing are a natural fit. And if we move now, we can make them an unbeatable combination. We can put our investment partnership at the centre of a defining global opportunity.
The world’s shift to clean energy represents the biggest change since the industrial revolution. We are looking at ever-increasing global demand for clean energy and the technology that generates and stores it.
Continue reading...Strip away the pinball machines and photo booth props at Cpac, and the scale of Ley’s challenge in simply keeping the Coalition alive, let alone making it competitive again, becomes clear
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Aside from one crude caricature distributed in the crowd, Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s name was almost entirely absent from the rightwing Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane.
But stripping away the sideshow attractions – Pauline Hanson’s pinball machine, George Christensen’s photo booth props – the thread running through the two-day event was the challenge Ley has to simply hold her party together amid a volatile fracturing of the conservative landscape, let alone for the Coalition to be competitive again.
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Low tariffs not dependent on sit-down meeting with Trump, Bowen says
On the potential for a meeting between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump, Bowen has poured cold water on whether any charm offensive by the Australian PM might have turned the US from its present course.
There are plenty of world leaders who have met with Donald Trump who haven’t had good outcomes, who have got very high tariffs. Who have come over, had meetings, left optimistic and then they’ve got high tariffs. The way Anthony Albanese has managed the relationship, we have the world’s lowest tariff on Australia.
Results matter, David. Of course, the prime minister has made it clear he’s very happy to meet, but results matter. And this prime minister and this foreign minister and this government have delivered pretty good results when it comes to the bilateral relationship.
It’s not my place to announce these things, David. I’m a humble cabinet minister.
Of course a meeting with the president is always a good thing. But I’ll tell you what’s even more important is results. I’d much rather Anthony Albanese get a great result for our economy with the world’s lowest tariff without a meeting, than to have a meeting and get the opposite result, which is what many other world leaders have found themselves in that situation.
Well, we obviously have set Australia’s foreign policy based on our interests and our values. And while everyone is entitled to their views, we will determine Australian foreign policy, not anyone else. And we’ve determined a couple of things – that the time is right, in concert, as you said, with like-minded states.
We have been waiting 80 years for a two-state solution, and that we now see recognising Palestine as a step towards a two-state solution, not the result of negotiations.
Continue reading...Former PM, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and conference chair Warren Mundine among right faction heavyweights urging conservative voters to unite
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Tony Abbott has urged conservatives to give the Liberals “one last chance” and apologised for the party’s 2025 election drubbing, joining a host of high-profile Coalition figures at a major political conference in imploring voters not to abandon the opposition for right-wing minor parties.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, recently dumped from the shadow frontbench, exhorted the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in Brisbane to stick with the Liberal party, and encouraged her parliamentary colleagues to dump a net zero climate target, to cheers from attendees.
Continue reading...Several MPs say the activist group’s advertising push is becoming a problem for the party because ‘you cannot win from the margins’
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Several Liberal MPs have raised concerns an anti-immigration campaign by the activist group Advance is hurting the party’s brand and alienating migrant communities.
Analysis of Advance’s Meta advertising since May’s federal election shows it has promoted 44 anti-immigration ads, with more than 1.5m impressions.
Continue reading...Kellie Sloane has ruled out moving a spill and James Griffin isn’t eager. Alister Henskens is thought to lack the numbers. So, for now, the leader might be safe
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Byelections are usually a referendum on the government. But Saturday’s Kiama byelection – and the poor performance of the New South Wales Liberals – has deepened angst within the opposition party regarding Mark Speakman’s leadership.
In Kiama, Labor increased its primary vote – a feat in itself in a byelection – and looks set to achieve an impressive swing on a two-party-preferred basis. Labor’s Katelin McInerney is on track for a thumping 60% to 40% 2PP victory over the Liberal candidate Serena Copley.
Anne Davies is Guardian Australia’s NSW state correspondent
Continue reading...Philip Davis pleads for rival groups to ‘kiss and make up’ after divisive campaign to replace him
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Victorian Liberals shape up for ‘nastiest, most toxic’ state council in years
The president of the Victorian Liberals, Philip Davis, has warned his party to unite ahead of the 2026 election or “we will be in a crisis”, after he survived a leadership challenge.
Davis defeated his immediate predecessor, Greg Mirabella, in a vote at the Victorian Liberal party’s state council at Moonee Valley racecourse on Saturday by 493 votes to 397.
Continue reading...State party’s deep divisions on show as sexist messages force resignation of director days before annual meeting
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Timing is everything in politics. It’s a principle worth recalling when nine-month-old messages are made public just two days before the Victorian Liberals’ annual state council meeting.
The messages, taken from a WhatsApp group involving a small handful of party headquarters staff, are undeniably sexist and inappropriate. In them, Victorian Liberal party director Stuart Smith mocked the party’s women’s council, saying it could only make decisions at a meeting “after two men told them they had to”, and joked that upper house MP Bev McArthur had dementia.
Continue reading...Stuart Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for WhatsApp messages contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat
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The director of the Victorian Liberals, Stuart Smith, has resigned after leaked messages were published in which he ridiculed the party’s women’s council and upper house MP Bev McArthur.
Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for the WhatsApp messages, contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat, which were published by the Australian on Wednesday night.
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