Category Archives: Liberal party

Barnaby Joyce’s drought envoy texts to Scott Morrison should be released, information watchdog rules

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It is the second ruling of its type this week after the prime minister’s office also ordered a search for text messages from QAnon supporter Tim Stewart

The prime minister’s office has been ordered to search for text messages from Barnaby Joyce to Scott Morrison reporting on his work as drought envoy, in the second ruling this week on freedom of information battles involving Morrison’s phone.

On Wednesday, the information watchdog ordered the PMO search Morrison’s phone for text messages from his friend – the prominent QAnon supporter Tim Stewart – after the PMO refused a request made by Guardian Australia.

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NSW appeal court to decide fate of federal intervention in Liberal preselection stoush

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Court ruling could unwind Morrison’s ‘captain’s picks’ forcing Liberals to hold rushed votes to select candidates ahead of May election

The federal Liberal party’s ability to appoint candidates for key NSW seats including two ministers and a sitting MP hangs in the balance, with the state’s court of appeal reserving its decision in a long-running preselection dispute.

Sydney businessman Matthew Camenzuli, a member of the Liberal state executive, is seeking to overturn the preselections of the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, in Mitchell, the environment minister, Sussan Ley, in Farrer, and North Sydney MP, Trent Zimmerman.

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Victoria daily news update: hospitality training to fill shortages, Matthew Guy isolates and Covid cases rise

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Both Daniel Andrews and the opposition leader are now in isolation as Covid cases rise across the state

A quick summary of all the Victorian news you need to know on Tuesday 29 March.

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Concetta Fierravanti-Wells dumped from Coalition’s NSW Senate ticket

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Liberals Marise Payne and Jim Molan take first and third spots with the Nationals’ Ross Cadell second

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and Jim Molan have been chosen to fill the first and third spots on the Coalition’s New South Wales Senate ticket for the coming election.

The decision by the Liberals on Saturday means the veteran Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who also contested the preselection, will not get a winnable spot on the ticket.

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With numbers falling, the NSW government needs all the support it can get

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Analysis: Dominic Perrottet looks to the crossbench to help his minority government

It was purely coincidence that on Friday morning two ministers in the New South Wales government appeared at the opening of a new $341m hospital in Concord alongside the Drummoyne MP John Sidoti.

But the timing was fascinating.

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A week of own-goals leaves Victoria’s opposition bruised

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Analysis: the Coalition’s week began with swagger and ended in a whimper after series of stumbles

A week ago, the Victorian opposition was quietly confident.

After struggling to gain any political momentum amid the pandemic, the opposition leader, Matthew Guy’s consistent and disciplined messaging on the triple-zero call response crisis appeared to be cutting through.

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Liberals select right-aligned candidate Simon Kennedy to run in Bennelong

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McKinsey partner who provided advice on jobkeeper replaces John Alexander in Sydney north shore seat

The Liberals have selected Simon Kennedy, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey, for the federal seat of Bennelong on Sydney’s north shore, in a branch plebiscite which again saw the right-aligned candidate trump the moderates’ preferred pick.

Kennedy, who is a relative newcomer to the party, won the ballot against Gisele Kapterian, a former ministerial staffer, 148 votes to 95. He replaces the former tennis star, John Alexander, who is retiring.

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Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance – as it happened

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Rex Patrick to reveal political intentions tomorrow after Nick Xenophon announces run for Senate; Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance; Liberals select candidate for Bennelong; fifth arrest this week over climate crisis protest; Morrison says having Putin at G20 ‘a step too far’; at least 35 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Here’s the latest on that rain to come, which is already hitting Sydney.

Australia is risking its economic security in a future crisis by being too dependent on foreign-flagged commercial ships, a former navy chief, Tim Barrett, has warned.

When push comes to shove, the place where the ship is registered is king. They can tell their ships where to go, what to do and what to carry. We don’t have an ability to do that except for the handful we have left.

To be entirely dependent on others is very concerning.

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NSW Liberal MP criticised after speaking at anti-vaccination rally

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Tanya Davies says her government needs to end vaccine mandates, sparking criticism from Labor

The New South Wales Liberal MP Tanya Davies has hit out at her government over its Covid vaccination mandates for the public sector, claiming she has been working with the premier, Dominic Perrottet, to end them and get people back into jobs.

Speaking at an anti-vaccination rally outside parliament on Tuesday, the former minister said she was “dismayed” when her government introduced the measure and called for a return to “freedom”.

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SA hospitals under ‘extraordinary strain’; Perrottet asks MP to resign after charges – as it happened

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NSW MP Gareth Ward denies historic sexual abuse allegations; South Australian hospital system ‘under extraordinary strain’ new premier says, as at least 23 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Anthony Albanese proposes award in late Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching’s honour. This blog is now closed

Peter Malinauskas has promised to keep his shirt on from now on, after a photo of his muscled torso made quite a stir in the world of Australian politics.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:

During the campaign, you were photographed shirtless in swimming shorts, and it caused a bit of a stir. I have to ask you ... the Australian’s Greg Sheridan said jokingly on [ABC] Insiders that you’re “far too good looking”. Which I thought was quite a statement. What have you made of the reaction to that picture?

Do you have any idea how much grief I’ve copped around the place as a result of that?

Have they told you just to buff to be premier?

They’ve piled it on, let me tell you. I haven’t stopped copping it, and I deserve every bit of it.

We were announcing a big investment at our major aquatics centre here in South Australia and a whole bunch of us jumped in for a swim in our boardies with our kids there. And, yeah, it got a bit more attention than I anticipated, fair to say.

So you’re going to keep your shirt on from now on?

Damn straight!

I think we’re about to see a federal election where a cost of living is a front and centre issue. And I think Australians get the price of petrol, but they can’t control the price of groceries.

The way we address cost of living as a nation is to start having an incomes policy focus on how we improve working in small businesses to improve the productivity of their labour, so they can earn a higher income. And that’s why education, training and skills is so important.

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Urban congestion funding for Coalition and marginal seats far outstrips safe Labor seats, report finds

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At last election, just one of 71 Coalition promises worth $100m or more based on approved business case, says Grattan Institute

The government’s controversial urban congestion fund is pumping tens of millions of dollars more into marginal and safe Coalition seats than strong Labor electorates, a new report has found.

The Grattan Institute on Sunday released a damning report examining the way successive governments have used transport spending promises to further their political interests.

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South Australia election: Labor win should have Morrison government ‘trembling’, ALP says

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Scott Morrison dismissed state and federal comparisons, saying ‘Anthony Albanese is not Peter Malinauskas’

The South Australian election result should have Scott Morrison’s Coalition “trembling” ahead of the federal poll, Labor says, after Peter Malinauskas became the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent government since the start of the pandemic.

The outgoing premier, Steven Marshall, announced on Sunday he would step down as Liberal leader after the landslide loss to Labor, saying he “takes full responsibility for the result” and accepts “the will of the people”.

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Against the foil of the Morrison government, Dominic Perrottet’s flood response has been pragmatic

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The NSW government knows the more it is held up against the Coalition in Canberra, the better it looks despite its own shortcomings

It’s hard to imagine many inside the New South Wales government were particularly upset with veteran Nationals backbencher Geoff Provest when he aimed both barrels at the prime minister over his response to the state’s flood disaster this week.

Hardly the state government’s most prominent attack dog, Provest did not miss in his assessment of Scott Morrison after his north coast electorate of Tweed was inexplicably excluded from extra disaster funding announced by the prime minister last week.

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Australian Human Rights Commission to slash staff after budget cuts and surge in workload

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Agency says one in three jobs will be lost and warns current funding is insufficient for it to perform its statutory function

One in three jobs will be slashed at the Australian Human Rights Commission as a record number of complaints and low base funding take their toll.

The human rights agency has issued a blunt warning that its current funding “does not provide us with the resources required to perform our statutory functions”.

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Fresh court challenge filed in Liberal party’s NSW preselection stoush

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Infighting over preselecting candidates for the federal election previously led to a special committee briefly taking over the NSW branch

The Liberal party’s infighting over preselecting federal candidates is heading back to the supreme court after a member of the NSW state executive began fresh legal action on Tuesday, challenging the federal party’s intervention to save two ministers and a sitting MP.

A member of the NSW state executive, Matthew Camenzuli, has filed in the NSW supreme court a challenge to the endorsement of the sitting MPs, which was achieved last week by a brief takeover of the troubled NSW branch by a special committee appointed by the federal party.

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Labor demands Christian Porter resign before election after changes to ‘blind trust’ disclosure rules

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Porter had previously stepped down as minister after refusing to identify contributors to a trust that paid his legal fees in a defamation case

A rule change requiring federal politicians to list contributors to crowdfunding campaigns and financial trusts has reignited Labor’s call for Christian Porter to resign over his so-called “blind trust”.

But Porter has dismissed the latest Labor attack as “ridiculous”, arguing the changes are not retrospective.

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‘I’ve always been on the blue spectrum’: Dave Sharma denies mimicking independent rival’s colour scheme

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Climate 200-backed challenger says ‘copying our campaign colours is a great start … now he needs to copy our policies’

Wentworth MP Dave Sharma has denied he is trying to distance himself from the Liberal party following accusations his campaign material mimics the teal colour scheme of the independent candidate Allegra Spender.

Locals in the Sydney eastern suburbs electorate have taken to Twitter to point out the striking similarities between flyers distributed by Sharma and Spender.

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Australia news live updates: Palaszczuk says too late for emergency declaration in Qld; Rio Tinto ditching Russia; 21 Covid deaths

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Palaszczuk rejects Morrison’s move to declare national emergency in Queensland, where flood costs are ‘well into the billions’; Rio Tinto will terminate all contracts with Russian businesses; nation records at least 21 Covid deaths amid concerns over Omicron subvariant. Follow all the updates live

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being questioned about his promises to keep the cost of living down as he chats to ABC News Breakfast:

Well, we have been making policies that have been driving down the cost of living, for example, around electricity prices which are down by 8% in the last two years.

They doubled under our political opponents, but what I was referring to last night is the international events in the Ukraine have seen a spike in oil prices, and that is flowing through with some people paying more than $2 a litre.

This high and increasing burden of skin cancer emphasises the need for continued investment in skin cancer education and prevention.

We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to do it so that one day Australia is no longer considered the skin cancer capital of the world.

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NSW Liberals again fail to resolve preselection deadlock making federal intervention likely

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Latest proposal on process to decide candidates ahead of May federal election scuttled by four votes against

The NSW Liberal party has again failed to resolve its preselection woes, virtually guaranteeing that the federal party will need to step in to finalise candidates for the looming election in May.

A proposal to hold branch votes in the electorates of Hughes, Parramatta and Eden-Monaro, where more than one person is running, and to endorse candidates in two other seats, largely failed, after the state executive rejected rule changes to fast track the process.

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Australia news live update: Lismore flood level breaks 1954 record as Perrottet warns worse to come in NSW; Queensland death toll rises to eight

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NSW premier says ‘unprecedented’ floods expected to get worse; Lismore residents call for help on social media as flood level hits record high; Australia lists Russia as ‘do not travel’ zone; Frydenberg discusses financial support for Ukraine ahead of Scott Morrison’s call with president; at least 12 Covid-related deaths recorded. Follow the latest updates live

Josh Frydenberg was asked if he believed the Russian president Vladimir Putin could turn the invasion into Ukraine nuclear.

He says it’s no secret that Putin may have ambitions beyond simply controlling Ukraine.

No one wants to see an escalation ... but these are the dangers of the times and the insanity of what Putin has done ... I’m worried there could be an escalation beyond the borders ...

I’m worried that there could be an escalation beyond the borders and no doubt. That’s what other European nations or neighbouring countries are concerned about ...

Just to get a sense of when will we find out the amount of money we’re committing to this issue ... we’re working the details through you will find out probably today.

I mean, we’re going to start with an initial payment. It will be in the millions, and it’s not going to be the same sort of quantum that United States or the United Kingdom would provide but you know, where we can ...

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