Category Archives: New South Wales

Wet weather system could cause flash flooding in Queensland and prolonged rain in Sydney, BoM says

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Heavy rain and thunderstorms pose flood risk for southern Queensland’s already saturated catchments

Heavy rain over large swathes of Queensland this week could spark flash flooding, with the same wet weather system bringing less intense but prolonged showers to Sydney for up to five days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has said western and inland parts of Queensland, as well as the tropical far north, will receive the most rain. Totals could reach 250mm in some areas and pose a prolonged flood risk for areas of the state that are already on flood watch, particularly in the south.

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Endangered tree seedlings planted in secret locations on NSW north coast

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Seeds from nightcap oak trees were collected and propagated after black summer bushfires destroyed or damaged 20% of the population

Seedlings of an endangered tree are being planted in secret locations on the New South Wales north coast in an attempt to save the species after devastating bushfires.

The critically endangered nightcap oak trees date back to the Gondwana supercontinent era and can grow up to 40 metres tall, but are only found in northern NSW.

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Morrison pledges $20m for tourism; Shorten tests positive as 44 Covid deaths recorded – as it happened

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Foreign minister meets Solomon Islands counterpart in Brisbane; poll shows independent Sophie Scamps has real prospect of taking seat from Liberal Jason Falinski; Bill Shorten tests positive for Covid; NSW records 19 Covid deaths; Victoria nine, Queensland five, Tasmania two, NT one, SA two and WA six. This blog is now closed

Coalition and Labor have so far pledged billions for local projects. But not all sides of the electoral fence are reaping the benefits, write Elias Visontay and Nick Evershed.

Last night Marise Payne met with the foreign minister of Solomon Islands, Jeremiah Manele, in Brisbane. The pair discussed the rising tensions between the two countries.

Australia has been consistent and clear in stating our respect for Solomon Islands’ sovereign decision-making, however we have reiterated our deep concerns about the security agreement with China, including the lack of transparency. I again reinforced this in my meeting tonight. We agreed that Australia remains Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice.

I again welcomed Prime Minister Sogavare’s assurance that Solomon Islands will not be used for a foreign military base.

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NSW grants review recommends against making pork-barrelling a criminal offence

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Productivity commissioner releases report following Icac hearings involving former premier Gladys Berejiklian

A review of the New South Wales government’s grants spend has recommended against making pork-barrelling a criminal offence, instead arguing grants administrators should document when ministers and politicians try to influence the grants process.

The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, asked the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the productivity commissioner, Peter Achterstraat, to review grants in the state in November last year, after his predecessor, Gladys Berejiklian, gave evidence to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog that the government “threw money at seats to keep them” and grants were made to help win votes.

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Damning report on NSW regional health a test of Nationals’ power of persuasion

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John Barilaro and Barnaby Joyce were never shy in pleading the case for the regions. Can the party respond just as forcefully now?

Even their fiercest critics would likely concede that John Barilaro and Barnaby Joyce have been vocal and energetic advocates for regional Australia.

As the former deputy premier of New South Wales, Barilaro wore his ability to secure funds for regional parts of the state as a badge of honour, even when done in ways that have exposed him to criticism.

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Independents slam ‘dirty tactic’, reporting fake campaign signs; 30 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Independents report ‘misleading and unauthorised’ campaign signs; Scott Morrison won’t say if he will resign in case of hung parliament; Anthony Albanese backs royal commission into the pandemic; trans rights ‘debate’ ‘hugely regrettable’, Liberal senator says; at least 30 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

How does Andrew Bragg think Dave Sharma and Trent Zimmerman are feeling, given their seats are under threat:

As I say, I don’t agree with the analysis. I think the Liberal party has been a strong party of government because we have been able to represent a whole lot of different people across our country and we are doing that right now through things like strong climate policies, but also a social liberal agenda which protects minority groups such as the LGBTI community which I addressed last night at the Equality Forum.

Well, people are entitled to their opinions. I don’t always agree with everything you say and I don’t always agree with what my colleagues say. We are entitled to have our own views and cross the floor and make our own statements known where it is appropriate.

I mean, I’m not a commentator on these things. People are entitled to their own views. I think I have been very clear we have a strong voice for people in the cities and people should absolutely vote for Dave Sharma and Trent because they’ve done a great job in standing up for their communities.

I don’t agree with Mr Turnbull’s analysis. We have done important work for people who live in the inner cities on things like achieving the net zero 2050 commitment, and also developed economic policies which favour the inner city on things like fintech and cryptocurrency and we have made important commitments, as I spoke about last night to the equality forum, on HIV, listing Prep on the PBS.

The idea we are a party only for the bush or for the bushes is not true, or for the burbs is not true. We govern for all Australians.

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Path to victory: the seats that will decide the 2022 federal election

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Labor needs to gain seven seats to form majority government while the Coalition must offset any losses with gains elsewhere

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are preparing for the final sprint to the 21 May election finish line when Australia will decide who forms government.

Labor can sniff victory, but the Liberals are not giving up, hoping the final fortnight may yet see the undecided voters stick with the devil they know.

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Federal election 2022 live updates: O’Connor says PM ‘doesn’t get soft power’ as Dutton defends Solomons response

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Defence debate kicks off at National Press Club; Labor accuses Coalition of ‘cynical and stupid’ lack of attention to Indonesia relationship; ‘significantly poorer health outcomes’ for people living outside cities, NSW health inquiry finds; Anthony Albanese bungles NDIS question; Scott Morrison says he doesn’t have a ‘magic pen’ for wages; NSW records 21 Covid deaths, Victoria records 14, Queensland records 11. Follow all the day’s news live

In that exchange, Stuart Robert said he had been acting as the education minister for a year. But Alan Tudge didn’t announce he was stepping down until 2 December last year.

Perhaps the last five months have just felt like a year for Robert.

I’m the acting education minister, and have been for almost 12 months. So I’ve got full authority in terms of running the education portfolio, as well as skills and workplace and the other things that I do.

I suggest in his electorate. I don’t know where he is. I tend not to keep track of my colleagues’ whereabouts.

I’m not across those issues so, unfortunately, I can’t give you any degree of answer. They’re issues that are dealt with by the Department of Finance, very much at arm’s length from anyone. Certainly arm’s length from me. My responsibility as required by the prime minister as the acting education minister and the acting minister for youth, is to use all of those resourcing and requirement and continue to act in the best interests of the people of Australia, which I’ve been doing with my state and territory colleagues. That’s why just before the election, of course, we signed off on the national curriculum, which was a landmark piece of work that we did together as education ministers right across the country.

Again, Lisa, I’m just not across those issues in any detail at all.

I’m still not across what the details are. I’m not across what the legalities are.

Again, I’m not going to comment on things that I’m just not across. I don’t think that the Australian people expect the acting education minister to wade into every issue, especially issues that I’m simply not briefed on. My brief is to ensure that we can get the best possible curriculum and the best possible teacher education quality out of our universities, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

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NSW health system failing rural and regional residents, report finds

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Issues include understaffing, poor access to services and discrimination towards First Nations people seeking medical help

People in rural New South Wales have “significantly poorer health outcomes” due to a system that is “failing” them, according to a scathing report handed to the state government on Thursday.

The report included 44 recommendations to fix the healthcare system in rural, regional and remote areas which it found was “in crisis”.

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Taika Waititi portrait wins packing room prize at 2022 Archibalds

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New Zealand-born artist Claus Stangl wins prize decided by gallery staff with painting of Academy Award-winning director

New Zealand-born Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl has taken out one of Australia’s top art honours with his portrait of Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi.

On Thursday, Stangl was announced as the winner of the packing room prize, a sub-category of the Archibald prize, Australia’s leading prize for portraiture.

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Ruston dismisses suggestion Liberal party has ‘lost its way’; Hunter candidates square off – as it happened

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Jim Chalmers accuses Josh Frydenberg of lying about tax as treasurer and shadow treasurer pressed on NDIS in debate; Coalition ‘oblivious’ to pressures facing working families, Albanese says; border force won’t confirm reports of asylum seekers moved to Christmas Island; at least 56 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

In a move designed to hold on to what is known as the “grey vote”, the government has announced a two-year freeze on deeming rates, in response to the interest rate rise.

That means pensioners with cash deposits which will increase with the rate rise (interest rates on bank accounts go up too) won’t have to worry about hitting the cap of how much they can earn before their pension is impacted.

We have always said where there are good ideas we will support them. We sought to be constructive during the pandemic and did support many of the measures and, you know, looking at this decision today, we have said, yes, this is a good idea and we will.

He already has, we went to a religious service at a local synagogue and no doubt he has many competing requests on his ...

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Emails reveal One Nation’s last-minute scramble to find candidates

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When Rob Sinclair tried to nominate for One Nation in his local electorate they pleaded for him to run in other states

One Nation was still scrambling to find people to run for this month’s federal election just hours before the close of nominations, telling one prospective candidate to leave the electorate he was running in “blank” on his form while the party desperately tried to fill seats.

The Guardian can also reveal that several of the candidates chosen to run for the party live in other states from the seat they’re standing in, including a husband and wife couple selected to run in separate seats in New South Wales and Victoria.

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Teachers to strike despite plea from NSW government to delay industrial action

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NSW public school teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months on Wednesday

Teachers in New South Wales will go ahead with a planned strike on Wednesday despite an 11th-hour plea from the government for the union to delay action until after the June budget.

Teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months, amid long-running concerns over wages and conditions. It is the latest in a series of strikes in the state’s public service, with train drivers, nurses and paramedics recently taking such industrial action.

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Election 2022 live updates: RBA chief warns interest rates could hit 2.5% as Labor seizes on ‘cost of living crisis’

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Scott Morrison defends economic ‘shield’ after RBA lifts cash rate target from historic low; Philip Lowe says more interest rate rises to come; Jim Chalmers says central bank decision ‘a very serious development’; nation records 41 Covid deaths. Follow the latest updates live

Scott Morrison doesn’t get sick of the “silly” photo ops [silly photo opportunities being how the question was framed], he tells Melbourne radio’s Neil Mitchell, because he “doesn’t see them that way”.

He then gives a hero-gram to tradies.

I don’t fit in those ways, what I see is [being] out and about and doing what Australians do every day.

... What I enjoy doing is standing there with an apprentice who shows me what they’re learning, and then I’d have a go at it.

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Temperatures to drop in eastern Australia as ‘polar cold’ sweeps north

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Cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of NSW midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday

Average temperatures are set to drop by 5-6C in some parts of Australia’s eastern states this week as “polar cold” sweeps north from Tasmania and up to Queensland.

The cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of New South Wales midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday. It will then move to south-east Queensland and north-east NSW by early next week, resulting in a 3-4C drop below-average temperature in this region.

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ABC misses out on final leaders’ debate; key independents back call for robodebt inquiry – as it happened

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Channel Seven to host final debate of election campaign; crossbenchers back call for royal commission into robodebt scandal; Scott Morrison focuses on cost of living concerns; Anthony Albanese marches for May Day in Brisbane; Sally McManus would support wage increase for public sector workers; 13 Covid deaths recorded across the nation. This blog is now closed

Labor is still on the campaign sell for its first homeowner policy.

Jason Clare faced questions ranging from, “Is this too small to have an impact?” to, “Won’t it drive up house prices?”

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AMA welcomes proposed $460m mental health facility in Sydney despite questions over staffing

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New centre in city’s west will bridge ‘really big’ gap between public and private care and must have ongoing funding, medical association says

Plans for a $460m integrated mental health facility in Sydney’s west have been welcomed as a step in the right direction in addressing the “enormous” need for better and fairer care across the state.

But the Australian Medical Association New South Wales head, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the “million-dollar question” was how the complex at Westmead would be staffed, amid ongoing issues of doctor and nurse furloughing and burnout.

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Albanese rallies against ‘fear and division’ at Labor campaign launch – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese and senior Labor members speak at ALP campaign launch in Perth; Scott Morrison speaks at Sydney rally; Coalition outlines e-safety plan; Greens announce LGBTQ+ equality plan; Victoria reports seven Covid deaths; NSW reports five; South Australia reports two. This blog is now closed

Simon Birmingham is pushed on what the Coalition will actually do on the cost of living but there isn’t a clear answer. See this exchange with Insiders host David Speers:

Q: So essentially to get wages going is to keep doing what you’ve been doing for the last nine years?

David, our plan is a comprehensive economic plan and in contrast to the Labor party. We have outlined clearly plans for … that jobs growth. Jobs growth fuelled by lower taxes and tax relief for Australians that continue to be implemented in terms of lower income taxes, support for more businesses.

David, it is a plan that we’ve outlined in quite a lot of detail, compared to ...

If you look at this year’s budget, small business, a particular focus in relation to investment in technology …

The approach we’ve taken is to fix a particular problem in the housing market and that was the fact that you had to save, of course, for your deposit, takes months and months, years and years, to get that 20% deposit to avoid having to pay mortgage insurance, that was meaning that people were having to pay rent at the same time as saving.

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Coalition pledges to cut medication costs; 53 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Prime minister announces a $10 cut to PBS scripts from next year in an attempt to tackle cost-of-living pressure, while Labor vows to hold a royal commission into the robodebt scandal. This blog is now closed

Now some questions on China’s security deal with the Solomon Islands.

Morrison, asked about the timing of the announcement, says:

We’re very aware of the influence that the Chinese government seeks to have in this country. We, in fact, introduced laws to prevent it. So any suggestion that the Chinese government doesn’t seek to interfere in Australia – well, we didn’t put that legislation in for no reason. We put it in there to ensure that Australian security could be safeguarded from foreign influence in our own country.

The Chinese government would say that, wouldn’t they?

There are temporary measures that we put on the budget, longer term measures in the mid-year statement. It is a fairly common way that we do budgets …

This is a longer term measure and it will start next calendar year. So the reason that we’re talking about it now, normally we would make an announcement like that later in the year.

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New Murray-Darling Basin Authority boss fails to mention environment in all-staff memo

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Staff raise concerns after incoming chief executive Andrew McConville emphasises agricultural outcomes in introductory letter

The new chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Andrew McConville, has caused consternation after sending an all-staff memo outlining his approach to the job which failed to mention the regulator’s environmental role.

A former chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Producers & Exporters Association (APPEA), McConville was appointed to the top job at the MDBA by the Morrison government just days before the federal election was called.

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