City of Sydney could tear up contracts with suppliers targeted by boycott Israel campaign

Mayor Clover Moore says procurement and investment should be examined to potentially ‘put additional pressure towards a ceasefire’ in Gaza

The City of Sydney will consider tearing up contracts with suppliers targeted by the boycott Israel campaign, in a move the lord mayor, Clover Moore, hopes could “put additional pressure towards a ceasefire and an end to the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.

On Monday night, Moore backed a Greens motion for the council to prepare a report on the council’s investment policy regarding “companies involved in, or profiting from, any human rights violations including the illegal occupation of the settlements in Palestinian territories and the supply of weapons”.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Julian Assange leaves Belmarsh prison after plea deal and will return to Australia, WikiLeaks says

WikiLeaks X account has tweeted that ‘Julian Assange is free’. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘It’s just a lazy delay’

Bill Shorten says a further delay of the Senate vote on the NDIS bill won’t actually lead to any changes:

There’s no good reason on God’s green earth to have another eight weeks of review, which isn’t actually eight weeks.

There won’t be a whole lot of new submissions come in, there won’t be some brand new arguments not considered.

I’m horrified after 12 months of reviewing the NDIS and then another six months of discussing the review including [in] the last three a Senate committee having public hearings calling for submissions.

The opposition has used words never ever said before by them.

Continue reading...

Coldest start to winter in decades in some areas with polar air mass predicted across Australia next week

Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Missing teen Amber Haigh was ‘removed from the equation’ after giving birth, court told

Husband and wife plead not guilty before prosecution lays out case in NSW murder trial after 2002 disappearance

A couple from country New South Wales used the intellectually disabled teenager Amber Michelle Haigh as a “surrogate mother” so they could have another baby, before they killed her, a court has heard.

Robert and Anne Geeves, now of Harden, face one count each of murder over the suspected killing of Haigh, who disappeared without trace in June of 2002. On the opening day of the trial, the court heard how the couple had deliberately tried to “plant the seed” Haigh was suicidal, and they had set out to have her “removed from the equation”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Tributes for victim of fatal alleged road rage incident in Sydney as man charged

NSW police allege ‘words were said’ before Rhyce Harding, 27, was killed in an alleged hit-and-run at Blackett

A man has been charged over an alleged road rage incident that police allege saw another man dragged 100 metres down a street before dying at the scene.

Rhyce Harding, 27, was allegedly hit by a white ute after getting out of his car in Sydney’s west, police said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

Continue reading...

‘Woke mumbo jumbo’: Sydney barrister says he will lobby King of Tonga in fight against Newington College coed shift

Exclusive: Dallas Morgan sends impassioned email to old boys updating them on ‘embarrassing saga’ and telling them to ‘never give up’

A Sydney barrister and Newington College old boy leading the fight against the private school’s coed shift has sent an impassioned email to alumni, detailing his plans to fly to Tonga this week to lobby King Tupou VI on the issue.

In his email, Dallas Morgan also lamented that “transgender midgets” could have their fees subsidised and said he hoped the king – whose father is also a fellow former student of the school – would oppose the coed transition.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

Follow the day’s news

Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

Continue reading...

Charlise Mutten trial: Justin Stein found guilty of murdering partner’s nine-year-old daughter

Jury finds 33-year-old drugged and fatally shot Mutten in the Blue Mountains in January 2022

Justin Stein has been found guilty of the murder of his then-partner’s nine-year-old daughter Charlise Mutten.

Charlise’s body was found dumped by the Colo River, north-west of Sydney, four days after she was reported missing, with gunshot wounds to her head and lower back.

Continue reading...

RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

Continue reading...

Matt Kean, a sometimes lone Coalition voice on climate threat, announces shock retirement

NSW Liberal MP rules out running for federal parliament as he exits state politics after 13 years

New South Wales Liberal MP Matt Kean has announced his resignation from politics after 13 years in state parliament.

Kean made the surprise announcement in a snap press conference at NSW parliament on Tuesday, hours after the Minns Labor government handed down its second budget.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW budget 2024: the biggest winners and losers

From bulk billing GPs and frontline workers to renters and the environment, here’s who won and lost in the Minns government’s state budget

The New South Wales government has unveiled a bold plan to ease costs for GP clinics in order to nudge doctors into bulk billing more patients, as part of a suite of budget measures it hopes will deliver cost-of-living relief to citizens.

However, in announcing a $3.6bn deficit, the Minns government’s budget of “must-haves not nice-to-haves” leaves a raft of key societal issues without new funding or a clear path to improvement.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election

Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support

Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.

After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

From social housing to $1.5m for a studio: minister hits out at ‘dud deal’ sale of Sydney’s Sirius building

Exclusive: Rose Jackson says losing public housing in expensive central suburbs leaves society worse off, and this week’s state budget will address issue

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment.

The last of the 76 apartments in the redeveloped complex in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge are on the market after the building was sold to a developer by the former Coalition state government for $150m in 2019.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Minns ‘really sorry’ final Vivid drone show cancelled with 20 minutes notice; Malinauskas welcomes ‘exciting’ panda news

The current pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, will return to China this year. Follow the day’s news headlines

Labor ‘continuing to consult’ on Makarrata commission, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

Treaty process is undergoing at the various states and that’s appropriate. With regard to Makarrata, we’re continuing to consult on those issues. said.

Indigenous leaders, of course, were very disappointed by the referendum result. I’ll attend Garma once again this year and sit down with people and talk about a way forward.

Continue reading...

Man charged over alleged murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes after family appeal for information

‘Fun-loving’ former competitive surfer was well-known on NSW’s northern beaches

Police have charged a man with the murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes, days after his family appealed for information about the death of the “fun-loving” northern beaches identity.

Haymes, 59, a former competitive surfer affectionately known as “Creature”, was found with critical head injuries on 27 February, outside a unit complex on Pittwater Road at Manly.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Housing to be at the centre of NSW budget, with more homes for those in need

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey foreshadows more money for social and affordable housing while lamenting drop in state’s GST share

Housing will be the centrepiece of the New South Wales budget, with money for social and affordable homes, regional development and essential services to support growth across Sydney.

While the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, acknowledged there was no quick fix for the crisis, he said he had been listening to experts who called for more homes to help those most in need and stem the brain drain from the state.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Offshore windfarm zone off Illawarra coast given green light in bid to ‘power Australia’s clean energy future’

Zone will be 20km off the coast and exclude areas significant for little penguin and for southern right whale migration

The federal government has given the green light to an offshore windfarm zone south of Sydney, making it Australia’s fourth such zone to be declared.

Announcing the project in the Illawarra on Saturday, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the move would bring thousands of new jobs and help “power Australia’s clean energy future”.

Continue reading...

Dozens of Sydney’s asbestos-contaminated sites not cleaned up six months after first discovery

EPA refuses to name untreated sites but says all schools and hospitals have been cleaned as it continues criminal investigation into contamination

Dozens of contaminated sites in Sydney are yet to be cleaned up six months after asbestos was first discovered in mulch at a public park, as the New South Wales treasurer urges the environment regulator to “throw the book” at polluters.

The Environment Protection Authority is refusing to name the sites that are yet to be remediated as it continues its criminal investigation into the source of asbestos contamination in recycled garden mulch that was used widely across greater Sydney.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...