Category Archives: Australian Capital Territory

Dutton says he was not aware of Morrison’s secret ministries – as it happened

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Ed Husic pushes for ‘brain regain’

Industry minister Ed Husic will this week host a series of five roundtable meetings with science and technology leaders in the lead-up to the federal government’s jobs summit, in a bid to kickstart what he called “brain regain” – attracting Australia’s bright minds working overseas to return home, to combat the so-called “brain drain”.

These discussions will also include ways to increase the representation of women and people of diverse backgrounds in skilled occupations. One of my priorities is on “brain regain” – encouraging Australian researchers and innovators to return home. I am interested to hear ideas on how this can be best achieved.

I can’t emphasise strongly enough that this is the start of engagement with these industry sectors. After the jobs and skills summit I will continue the work with industry leaders to ensure we apply practical solutions to accelerate Australia’s pathway to high-skilled, high-value economy.

He’s applied for a job and that’s coming with a significant degree of scrutiny, as it should do. That’s part of the territory if you’re going to put yourself forward for those roles.

If he felt the need to protect the environment from offshore drilling for gas off Sydney’s northern beaches and he felt he needed to swear himself in as minister, that’s something I support.

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David Pocock to use Senate balance of power to push for waiving of ACT’s public housing debt

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Independent calls for $100m debt to be wiped as part of negotiations over Labor’s $10bn housing policy, which also faces Greens resistance

The new independent senator David Pocock will use his balance of power position in the Senate to push for the ACT government’s $100m public housing debt to be waived as part of negotiations over Labor’s new housing policy.

Legislation for the government’s new $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund also faces resistance from the Greens, with the party’s housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather saying the proposal is not “good enough” to secure support in the Senate.

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Government ‘recognises concern’ over monkeypox with 44 cases recorded – as it happened

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Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke

Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.

If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.

When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.

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Unseasonal deluge to bring wet and windy end to Australia’s east coast winter dry spell

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New South Wales and Queensland set for coastal showers with wet weather to last into mid-next week

The winter dry spell is set to end this week with the east coast of Australia set to receive a deluge leading up to the weekend, while record-breaking rainfall is expected for parts of northern Australia.

A cold front moving towards the east coast will bring coastal showers and wet weather to most of the New South Wales and Queensland coast.

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Severe weather warnings for NSW and Victoria as blizzards move in to alpine areas, while SA is lashed by rain

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Residents urged to avoid travel as cold front brings frigid temperatures, rain and damaging winds to several states

Blizzard conditions are on their way for large parts of New South Wales and Victoria’s alpine areas as a “vigorous” cold front brings cold showers, strong winds and frigid temperatures, while South Australia has been hit by torrential rain.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe weather warnings for damaging wind gusts and blizzard conditions for southern NSW and across much of Victoria, with peaks gusts of up to 130km/h likely over Alpine areas.

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Trial for man accused of raping Brittany Higgins delayed after defendant’s lawyer unable to appear

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Delay of up to three weeks possible for trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty to assaulting Higgins in Parliament House in 2019

The trial of the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins may be delayed by up to three weeks after his barrister pulled out days before the case was due to be heard.

Bruce Lehrmann, who is charged with sexual intercourse without consent, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting Higgins at Parliament House in Canberra in 2019.

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Pacific nations ‘very positive’ on re-engagement, PM says – as it happened

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Bushmaster reportedly destroyed in fighting in Ukraine; nation records 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Finance minister Katy Gallagher is speaking now to ABC Insiders host David Speers. She says Labor faces “a very serious set of economic and budget challenges, and we don’t want to pretend it is anything but that”.

Q: Are you saying that the figures that were produced showing deficits totalling $224bn over the next four years – were they accurate or not?

Well, they are certainly the numbers that the finance department and the Treasury signed off on in the election campaign, but I think the point we are making is that there is a range of spending that we are having a look at in the budget and there is also clearly some huge budget pressures coming.

I guess in those areas – health, aged care, the NDIS, defence, national security – where there are all of them growing faster than GDP and going to play significant pressure on the budget going forward …

I haven’t had many moments to reflect, I’ve got to say ... it’s been a busy time. But I do understand the great responsibility that I have – I’m humbled by it. It says a lot about our great country that the son of a single mum, who was an invalid pensioner living in council housing, can rise to lead the country as prime minister and I’ll never take it for granted. I’ll honour it every day and I’ll do my best. That’s not to say I’ll be perfect, because none of us are, but I’ll try to keep it real on the way through and continue to keep my feet on the ground, because I think that is really important as well.

Australians are generous people and I think that they’ll give us a go. I get the sense out there that they want us to succeed. And I had people who didn’t vote for us as well, who said to me, we really want you to succeed for the sake of the country. So we’ll do our best.

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Plibersek says election ‘a test of leadership, not memory’ after Albanese mistake – As it happened

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The PM campaigned in Gilmore in NSW, while Labor leader is in Bass in Tasmania; Tanya Plibersek defends Anthony Albanese after opposition leader addresses his rates stumble; phone voting available for people in isolation on election day; NSW reports three Covid deaths and Victoria one. This blog is now closed

Scott Morrison just appeared on ABC breakfast TV, where he was asked about his relationship with the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance.

Q: Andrew Constance said that you got the welcome that you deserved [in the region after the bushfires]. Emotions are still running deep in the bushfire-affected communities. Are you concerned about that being repeated today?

With Andrew Constance being part of my team and choosing to be part of that team, I think that that addresses it. Andrew and I spoke not long after the terrible experiences that particularly he and others and so many went through, and we worked the issue. We ensured that we addressed thing like small business payment and we got the money on the grouped and supported people in the areas that the federal government were responsible for. And I really thank Andrew for the way that we came together and really started to work together to address those issues. He’s a fine advocate for this part of Australia on the south coast of New South Wales.

He’s demonstrated that time again. And the fact that he wants to be part of my team and is running here as our Liberal candidate in Gilmore, I think that that addresses those issues fairly, squarely, that we’ve actually addressed the short comings that he was outlining at the time and we’ve gone forward with a strong plan to ensure that we’re providing that support. Not just in relation to the fires, but in relation to other natural disasters. And we’ve seen so many of those over the last three years.

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Australia live news updates: Scott Morrison says he ‘understands’ Canberra antivax protesters; NSW records 32 Covid deaths and Vic 19; Perrottet tested in byelections

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Pauline Hanson mobbed by Canberra protesters as Lifeline book fair forced to cancel

From AAP:

Queensland’s health chief is “personally reluctant” to repeal a venue vaccine mandate before the end of winter and says it could in fact be the very last pandemic restriction ditched.

The state’s Omicron outbreak peaked on January 25 with 928 patients in hospital and 71 in intensive care, well below a predicted 3000-7000 general admissions and an ICU intake of several hundred.

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Scott Morrison says he ‘understands’ Canberra antivax protesters amid skirmishes with police

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Prime minister says Australia ‘a free country’ and blames states for Covid vaccine mandates

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says he understands the concerns of anti-vaccination mandate protesters, with thousands of people again marching in Canberra.

The protesters marched on Parliament House on Saturday, chanting and waving flags, and shutting down streets around the capital. About 100 people leapt barricades and faced off against police, who were also monitoring the crowd with drones and helicopters.

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Victoria reports 41 Covid deaths, Qld 21 and NSW 18; anti-vaxxers protest in Canberra – as it happened

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Firefighters in Western Australia battle two emergency-level bushfires. This blog is now closed

NSW case numbers are in, and there have been 8,389 new Covid-19 cases detected over night from PCR and rapid antigen tests.

Sadly, 18 more lives have been lost overnight.

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Australia Covid news live update: NSW records 11,201 cases, Victoria 3,767; states consider shorter isolation time; Qld to change border testing requirements

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NSW records three Covid-19 deaths as cases spiral; Queensland to allow rapid antigen test to cross border; chief health officers are reportedly considering cutting isolation periods to match the US and UK. Follow all the latest updates

NSW cases have jumped again, significantly this time, recording 11,201 cases today. Its the highest ever tally recorded by a state in a single day, and the first time a state has recorded over 10,000 cases in a day.

Sadly, three people have lost their lives overnight.

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Australia’s Covid vaccine challenges have been ‘overcome’, Scott Morrison says

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PM’s assertion comes as national death toll since pandemic began surpasses 1,000 and states seek more Pfizer amid Delta outbreak

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared the government has “overcome” the challenges of the national vaccine program, despite the states crying out for more mRNA vaccine supplies to curb the Delta outbreak tearing through NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

The prime minister’s assertion came as the country marked the grim milestone of the first Indigenous death from a Covid-19 case, in western NSW, and as the national death toll surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic began in early 2020.

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Australia Covid live news update: NSW confirms record 390 cases and two deaths; ACT reports two new cases, Victoria 15, Qld seven

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Two new Covid cases in ACT; NSW records 390 cases, two deaths; Queensland records seven cases, Victoria records 15 new cases; son of Sydney man who travelled to Byron Bay also charged. Follow all the day’s news

Barr has acknowledged the long waiting times at testing sites throughout the state, and has asked people who have been contacted by ACT Health as close or casual contacts to come forward as priority for testing:

We will be expanding testing capacity, hours of operations and the number of people at each existing testing centre can manage in a day but yesterday was our all-time record number of tests. We expect today will be even busier and we have stood additional testing capacity.

So please, if you do not have symptoms and you are not an identified close contact, you do not need to be tested today. Please, stay-at-home. There will be an opportunity to be tested in the days ahead but the priority right now is to test those people who ACT health have contacted.

The ACT has recorded two new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to six. It has identified 1,862 close contacts and that number will grow.

There are more casual contacts. There were more than 2,000 tests yesterday and results have been received on about 1,330 of them.

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ACT to enter lockdown after Canberra records first locally acquired Covid case in more than a year

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Health authorities yet to identify the source of the new case, who spent several days in the community while infectious

The Australian Capital Territory will go into lockdown after recording a locally acquired Covid-19 case for the first time in more than a year.

The chief minister, Andrew Barr, announced a seven-day lockdown from 5pm Thursday after a man in his 20s tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday morning.

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One in six Australian public servants sexually harassed in workplace, survey finds

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Exclusive: Survey of Australian public sector found two-thirds of incidents went unreported due to fears they would not be impartially investigated

Almost one in six public servants have experienced sexual harassment but only one-third of incidents were reported, according to a new union survey.

The results of a survey of 3,280 workers by the Community and Public Sector Union, released on Friday, will add pressure to the Morrison government to do more to combat workplace harassment.

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South Australia and NSW record new Covid-19 cases as Victoria passes elimination benchmark

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Two new South Australian coronavirus cases, both in quarantine, bring Parafield cluster to 33 people

A casual contact of a Covid-19 case is among two people newly diagnosed with coronavirus in South Australia, while New South Wales has announced eight new cases, all in hotel quarantine.

Meanwhile, the ACT has recorded one new case in a returned traveller and Victoria has surpassed the benchmark for eliminating coronavirus, recording a 29th straight day without a single new infection.

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Australia weather: cold front brings springtime snow and damaging winds to south-east

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Temperatures plummet as snowfall reported in parts of NSW, Victoria and the ACT

Springtime snow has fallen in parts of south-eastern Australia and a severe weather warning is in place as a cold front moves across New South Wales.

Damaging winds hit Sydney on Friday night, with winds of 115km/h recorded at Camden in the city’s south-west, while gusts reached 106km/h in the city.

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Australia’s landlords and tenants: what support is available in the coronavirus crisis?

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With a six-month eviction moratorium agreed nationally, we look at what else is on offer from states and territories

Although the national cabinet has agreed to a six-month moratorium on evictions, it has abandoned attempts to achieve a nationally consistent approach to financial support for residential landlords and tenants through the Covid-19 crisis.

Since Scott Morrison announced residential tenancies would be a matter for the states and territories on 7 April, many have offered land tax cuts in a bid to incentivise rent reductions.

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Are schools open or closed for term 2 amid coronavirus in Australia? State-by-state guide

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Many parents have been left confused about whether students can or should return to school after the Easter holidays

The position of the federal and state governments on whether to send children to school in term two while coronavirus social distancing rules are in force have many parents confused.

Throughout March the Morrison government opposed school closures on the basis of medical advice, but the issue was forced by Victoria bringing forward its school holidays, and other states and territories introducing pupil-free days to prepare for online learning.

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