Scruby was backed by Climate 200 in the fight for the northern beaches seat
A Climate 200-backed independent is on track to secure a comfortable victory in the latest contest between the Liberal party and teal candidates.
The Liberals were defending three heartland seats in northern Sydney byelections on Saturday, and were on track to easily hold two of those as votes were counted on Saturday night.
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Continue reading...ABC election pundit Antony Green calls win for Labor-Greens coalition on Saturday night
Australia’s “for ever government” has lived up to its name, with Labor retaining power to extend its record reign in the ACT beyond a quarter of a century.
The ACT Labor leader, Andrew Barr, already the longest-serving political leader in the country, fended off a negative swing and an independent surge to win his third election as chief minister.
Continue reading...Elizabeth Lee gave one-fingered salute to reporter after leaders’ debate with chief minister Andrew Barr
The ACT Liberal leader, Elizabeth Lee, has apologised for raising her middle finger at a journalist after a heated news conference days out from the territory election, explaining it as a “moment of frustration” on the campaign trail.
The moment, captured by cameras at the news conference as the opposition leader walked off, was branded “extraordinary” by the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles.
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Queensland leaders to lock horns again in election debate
After their deputies traded blows, the Queensland premier and opposition leader are set to face off again ahead of the state election, AAP reports.
Continue reading...Some in the party were concerned the Moira Deeming defamation trial had aired too much dirty laundry – but new polling suggests voters are focused elsewhere
There may have been only one person on Spring Street revelling in the latest polling data: John Pesutto.
Just days ago, the leader of the Victorian Liberal party was bracing for a potential leadership challenge. But the figures published in the Herald Sun on Thursday paint a hopeful picture for him and the Coalition, which has overtaken Labor and is in an election-winning position for the first time in seven years.
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Continue reading...Defamation trial told of message from Sky News host to John Pesutto’s chief of staff while helping to set up office
Sky News host Peta Credlin warned against expelling Moira Deeming from the Victorian Liberal party room in a text message to John Pesutto’s chief of staff, whose office she was then helping to set up, a court has heard.
Deeming, now an independent MP after her expulsion, is suing the Victorian opposition leader for allegedly falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at the Let Women Speak rally held on 18 March 2023, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Pesutto has rejected the allegation.
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National weather forecasts
Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:
Continue reading...Opposition leader John Pesutto cross-examined in federal court case brought against him by ousted Liberal MP
Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, says he was “surprised” his deputy had secretly recorded a meeting held between the Liberal party’s leadership team and MP Moira Deeming a day after she spoke at a Melbourne rally in 2023, the federal court has heard.
Pesutto began giving evidence in the defamation trial brought against him in the federal court on Tuesday afternoon.
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Australia’s ‘sex report card’ released
The latest Australian Study of Health and Relationships was revealed at a conference in Sydney this week held by the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Rent assistance went up by $25 and … average rents have gone up by more than $100. What might look like a big percentage increase is, frankly, fuck all, and that’s one of the reasons that this is so upsetting.
When CRA is indexed, the amount of rent that you have to pay before you get any rent assistance increases. So the proportion of your rent, where you qualify for it, reduces if you aren’t receiving the maximum payment.
Continue reading...Trial shown messages between MP and Sky News host discussing defamation action against Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto
Moira Deeming viewed the Sky News host Peta Credlin as a Liberal party “mentor” when the pair liaised after the MP was ousted by the Victorian party last year, the federal court has heard.
Deeming is suing the Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, for allegedly falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she helped organise and spoke at the “Let Women Speak” rally on 18 March 2023 which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. She was expelled from the party less than two months later after initially being suspended in the days after the rally.
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Continue reading...Saul Eslake report finds plan would cause Australian property prices to rise at a faster rate
The Coalition’s plan to allow first home buyers access to their superannuation would heavily favour older and wealthier people, with the median couple aged 25 to 34 likely to be able to withdraw only $18,000.
That is the conclusion of Saul Eslake, the principal of Corinna Economic Advisory, in a report commissioned by the Super Members Council which points to “six decades of evidence” that policies to boost housing demand “result in more expensive housing to the benefit of those who already own housing”, rather than boosting ownership.
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Continue reading...Expelled Liberal MP testifies in high-stakes defamation case against Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto
Ousted Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming agreed her views on transgender and gender-diverse people were “controversial” within the party, as she began giving evidence in a high-stakes defamation battle.
Deeming is suing the state Liberal leader, John Pesutto, for allegedly falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at the March 2023 “Let Women Speak” rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. She was expelled from the party less than two months later after initially being suspended.
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Continue reading...ALP faces a variety of results in what premier Chris Minns calls a ‘massive wake-up call for the major parties’, and Liverpool mayor returns amid corruption inquiry
The counting of votes has resumed to determine the makeup of New South Wales’s 128 councils for the next four years.
The main story of the local government elections was the Liberal party’s disastrous failure to lodge the paperwork to nominate more than a third of its candidates.
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Albanese says it’s a ‘good thing’ Trump is safe after apparent assassination attempt
Anthony Albanese has responded to news about an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Everyone wants the democratic process to be peaceful and to be orderly. This incident in the United States is of concern, again. It is good that President Trump has said that he is safe and that the incident, the details of which are still coming out, so it’s not quite clear all of those details but what is clear is that President Trump is safe. That is a good thing.
The first round of Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver 4,220 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,267 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.
In just the first round of these programs, the Albanese Government is directly supporting more social and affordable housing than the Liberals and Nationals did in their entire nine years in office.
Housing Australia has recommended contract negotiations for 185 projects, with construction on almost 40 per cent of the 13,742 dwellings forecast to get underway this financial year.
Round one of the programs’ funding will unlock $9.2 billion of investment in social and affordable housing across Commonwealth, State and Territory government, and the private and community housing sectors.
Julie Collins describes avian flu situation as ‘dynamic’ as she highlights concerns about the impact to wildlife and agriculture
Census to include questions on gender and sexuality
Speers finishes up by asking Chalmers about the ongoing census questions palaver.
We have listened to the community. We worked very closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. LGBTIQ+ Australians matter. They have been heard and they will count in the 2026 census.
Really the message that we want to ensure that Australians hear from us today is that we understand the feedback that we got, we listened to that, we took it very seriously, we listened very genuinely.
We said we would find the best way to do this and I believe that we have and we will and the ABS will continue to refine the actual wording of the questions now that this additional topic has been add.
We want to make sure that we are maximising this really important economic relationship with our key trading partner. It’s a relationship which is full of complexity, but also full of opportunity and I want to help the government maximise that opportunity for the Australian people, workers, businesses, employers, investors.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Health minister says John Brogden and former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt ‘respected across the aisle’
A former New South Wales Liberal leader who denounced pill testing as a drug reform option has been picked by the Labor government to co-chair its highly anticipated drug summit.
John Brogden AM will lead the summit, which kicks off in regional NSW in November, alongside the former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt.
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Continue reading...The five-week trial is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett delivers his last remarks
Western Australia’s supreme court is on Wednesday due to hear the last arguments in the defamation trial brought by the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds against Brittany Higgins, before the judge begins his deliberations.
The five-week trial, which began at the start of August, is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, delivers his final remarks.
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Continue reading...Former NSW minister Stokes had not been told about committee, its composition or terms of reference ahead of the public announcement, source says
The federal Liberal executive did not tell former New South Wales planning minister Rob Stokes that he would be named as part of a three-person committee it wanted to run the state division for almost a year.
The senior party figure refused the position after the federal team demanded the state executive appoint a temporary committee of three to run the troubled division which failed to nominate candidates for some NSW councils.
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Continue reading...Lawyer for Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial Credlin was told ‘completely rework wherever you see fit’
The Sky News columnist and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ statement given to media in 2021, after her rape allegations were made public, a court has been told.
In closing arguments to Western Australia’s supreme court, where Linda Reynolds is suing Higgins for defamation, Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett on Tuesday said Higgins had a “visceral hatred” towards her former employer and exaggerated how long she had to wait for counselling support following her rape allegations to “suit” her narrative.
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Continue reading...Moderate senator says the idea of new developments in established suburbs does not sit well with some Liberals
New South Wales Liberal frontbench senator Andrew Bragg has accused some of his party colleagues of “playing footsies with nimbys” for blocking real estate developments in Sydney’s suburbs that he says would help ease the housing crisis.”
The shadow assistant minister for home ownership told Guardian Australia that some Liberals were encouraging a not-in-my-back yard attitude to expanding housing stock in some metropolitan areas and obstructing measures that could help increase supply.
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