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.
Continue reading...Woman, 21, dies after police called to a home unit in Crebert Street, Mayfield
A woman is dead and a man that police say was her former partner is in custody, following an alleged domestic violence-related stabbing in Newcastle.
Local commander Superintendent Wayne Humphrey said a three-year-old child also found at the scene was covered in blood but physically unharmed.
Continue reading...State governments leave schools to decide on response as Covid outbreaks lead to widespread teacher shortages
Major staffing shortages have forced schools in New South Wales and Victoria back into remote learning as the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 sees Covid cases rise.
NSW recorded 23,702 new Covid cases on Friday and seven deaths, with rates of infections in the state highest among those aged 10-19 years old. Victoria recorded 9,244 new cases and nine deaths.
Continue reading...Wollumbin track reopening delayed after floods, while hikers asked to reconsider climb out of respect for Indigenous sacred place
The fate of one of northern New South Wales’s most popular walking tracks remains uncertain after authorities chose to delay a controversial decision regarding its future for the fourth time.
Situated near the flood-hit town of Murwillumbah, Wollumbin national park previously attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year, and its summit is renowned as the first place in Australia to catch the sunrise.
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Continue reading...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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Continue reading...Jacqui Lambie says she did not regret supporting repeal of medevac laws; PM announces $58m funding for endometriosis care and treatment, and $81m for Medicare-supported genetic testing; new sanctions on Belarusian president and Russian propagandists; Peter Dutton says Australia has ‘fantastic’ relationship with Solomon Islands; nation records 26 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news live
And Victoria has reported 9,244 new cases and nine deaths overnight:
NSW has reported 23, 702 new Covid cases overnight and seven deaths:
Continue reading...Inquiry hears building approval submission for a private gaming room failed to mention a window allowing junket operator to receive cash from players
A senior casino manager has admitted “knowingly misleading” the New South Wales gaming regulator about how gambling junkets operated inside a private high-roller wagering room at The Star Sydney.
Graeme Stevens, group compliance manager at Star Entertainment Group, resumed evidence on Friday at a royal commission-style inquiry into whether the gaming giant’s Sydney casino should keep its licence.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...NSW government seeks to suspend Gareth Ward; Craig Foster lashes treatment of asylum seekers in National Press Club address; new research suggests long-lasting Covid immune response from vaccine-induced T-cells; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded; Atagi expected to green light fourth booster shots for some Australians. Follow all the day’s news live
David Koch:
Have you spoken to the “mean girls” – Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong – in the last week or so since Kimberly Kitching’s death about the allegations of bullying?
I think that term is really unfortunate.
She used it, it is not just us.
There is a lot of people speaking on other people’s behalf at the moment. I think that in politics, there are a range of people who are involved in party politics who play it pretty hard. One of those was Kimberly Kitching. She was somebody who engaged in politics and was passionate about her belief and from time to time that could produce some conflict. But it needs to be done in a way that is respectful, in a way that is understanding, and attempts to reach consensus.
It is rather bizarre ... I am always available and indeed I lobby regularly to be on the Sunrise program. I am always happy to discuss things with the media, but I won’t be taking lectures from a prime minister who visited Lismore and had strict streets shut off so victims of floods could not get near him.
Continue reading...Motion thanking community should not be ‘political’ and reference to climate change was ‘piss poor’, councillor says
The Lismore council was gripped by in-fighting on Tuesday night over whether it should make references to “climate change” following the flood disaster and an eleventh-hour decision to pause its work on flood mitigation, despite warnings the “optics” of doing so were “not good”.
The disaster-ravaged town is still in the early stages of recovering from an unprecedented 14.37-metre flood, which wiped out thousands of homes and businesses and brought Lismore to its knees.
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Continue reading...Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial she was ‘simultaneously in love and afraid of him’
A woman who had an affair with Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court she was confronted by a stranger who showed her photos of her having sex with Roberts-Smith in a hotel room, and threatened to make them public if she didn’t confess the affair to the veteran’s wife.
The woman, anonymised before the court as Person 17, gave evidence about the torrid end of her affair with Roberts-Smith to the federal court Wednesday morning, saying she was “scared” he would “seek payback”.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral held in Melbourne; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as new SA premier; Morrison and Palaszczuk announce infrastructure funding package; Lismore flood victims to dump debris at protest; at least six Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news
For almost four years Suzanna Sheed has started each parliamentary sitting week by moving the same motion.
The independent MP for Shepparton, a rural electorate of almost 50,000 people in northern Victoria, asks for a non-government business program to be reinstated in the state’s lower house.
They’re having a real impact on people right now, so we’ve been conscious of that. But what we do as a government is we don’t have knee-jerk reactions, we think through carefully how we can best provide the sort of support that we believe the federal government can deliver.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Multiple families who evacuated during the NSW floods left with no choice but to move back home in recent days
Residents in Lismore have been left with no choice but to move back into their houses that have been deemed uninhabitable, with some sleeping on swags in mouldy rooms without electricity, as they are unable to find safe accommodation three weeks after floods devastated the town.
In South Lismore – a low-lying part of the town that bore the brunt of historic flooding this year and an area well known for attracting residents seeking affordable housing – Guardian Australia spoke with multiple residents who had evacuated town following the floods but had returned to their homes in recent days.
Continue reading...Treasurer says he’s conscious premiums too high for many people in disaster-prone areas, but says more work needed on a proposal to extend reinsurance scheme
Josh Frydenberg has flagged he is “open” to further market interventions making insurance more affordable, but says more preparatory work will need to be done before the Morrison government would extend its $10bn cyclone reinsurance pool in northern Australia to cover more natural disasters.
In an interview with Guardian Australia ahead of the budget on 29 March, the treasurer said he was conscious that a changing climate rendered insurance problematic in some parts of Australia.
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Continue reading...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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Continue reading...Inquest into death of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker to start in September; call for inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women; advice for asthma sufferers during flood clean-up; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the telly now (hope he’s saving some juicy bits for his speech later). He’s talking about this idea of returning to some sort of pre-Covid fiscal world. He says:
As you know, we recalibrated our budget strategy when the pandemic first hit and we needed to do that to ensure there was sufficient economic support with programs like jobkeeper, the cash flow boosts, the $750 payments to pensioners, carer, and those on income support. That helped stabilise the economy by opening up the purse strings. Now that the recovery is well underway and the unemployment rate is down to a 14-year low of 4%, it is time to move to the next phase of the budget strategy and that means stabilising debt and then reducing debt as a proportion of the overall economy, and ending those crisis-level, emergency economic support programs.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Linen and water sources have not been organised for the homes, leaving locals waiting in evacuation centres
Motor homes intended for Lismore residents whose houses were inundated in this month’s floods are lying empty because linen and water sources have not been organised, while housing “pods” promised by the New South Wales government are yet to materialise.
The measures were announced as part of a temporary housing package last week, but three weeks on from the flood, thousands of locals are still living in evacuation centres due to the lacklustre speed of official support.
Continue reading...