Thieves broke in to the office in Auckland on Sunday night or Monday morning
The National party’s headquarters have been burgled, its deputy leader, Paula Bennett, has revealed, with three laptops stolen in the “serious” incident overnight.
The break-in occurred on Sunday night or Monday morning at the party’s Auckland office, Bennett told local media, and the burglar had triggered the office’s alarm system.
Continue reading...Seat became hotly contested once the then National MP quit after allegations of improper conduct on a work trip
The Morrison government awarded a $500,000 sports grant in the rural Victorian seat of Mallee a year and a half after it was first rejected – when the seat became hotly contested due to the resignation of Nationals MP Andrew Broad.
The Northern Grampians shire council applied for the grant in September 2018 and was rejected in the first round of the controversial community sport infrastructure grant program, only to see the $500,000 Lord Nelson Park project in St Arnaud approved in April 2019, just weeks out from the election.
Continue reading...Labor’s Ros Kelly was forced to quit over a sports grant scandal but Nationals deputy says she is going nowhere. So what’s the difference?
In 1994, at the height of an eerily familiar sports rorts scandal, John Howard stood up in parliament and fired a question at besieged Labor sports minister Ros Kelly.
Does the minister agree that, whatever debate there may be concerning the principle of ministerial responsibility, the practice has almost invariably been that a minister resigns when his or her continued presence is causing damage and embarrassment to that government?
Continue reading...Drought is not the only threat to the river system: the plan to save it is in doubt as states spar over the best way forward
The millennium drought led to the realisation Australia’s major river system would die unless there was united action to save it; the latest drought is threatening to undo the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
The basin states – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia – as well as the federal government, are due to meet on Tuesday in Brisbane amid threats from the NSW Nationals that it will walk away from the plan unless major changes are made.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison announces cut in number of government departments as part of public service overhaul. All the day’s political news, live
Labor is moving a motion saying the government’s attempts to push the union-busting bill through without debate was “anti-democratic”.
Better still is this bit of the motion:
This is a prime ministerial tantrum, with the prime minister of Australia behaving like a juvenile schoolyard bully just because he didn’t get his way last week.
We’re now moving through the votes for the government’s union-busting bill.
A side note - this is the 100th division to take place in the House for this sitting fortnight.
Continue reading...Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live
And here is another indication of where question time is headed:
Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.
But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.
This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W
A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.
That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.
David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.
Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.
Continue reading...Deputy leader says he does not regret linking the government’s climate change policy to the bushfires
The Greens MP Adam Bandt has defended his party colleague labelling politicians from the major parties “arsonists” while bushfires swept through swathes of New South Wales and Queensland last week.
Bandt noted that the Greens senator Jordon Steele-John was among the generation of young people “terrified” about the impact of climate change, and said the point of the remarks was to highlight Australia’s inaction on reducing fossil fuel emissions.
Continue reading...Catastrophic fire conditions in New South Wales ease, but dozens of Australian bushfires remain burning. In Queensland, 60 fires are burning, with strong winds and temperatures in mid-30s forecast to make for hazardous conditions on Australia’s east coast
• Factcheck: are greens really stopping bushfire hazard reduction?
• Open thread: tell us how you’re affected by the fires
• Sydney suburb in the pink after surviving bushfire emergency
• If you are in a bushfire affected area stay tuned to your local emergency broadcaster. Full alerts can be found here for NSW and here for Queensland
Residents of Pechey (near Hampton) have been told to leave now, and head towards the New England highway.
“There is a bushfire in Pechey and Hampton and conditions are getting worse,” QFES says. “A fast moving fire is travelling from Grapetree Road towards Deeth Road, Sewell Road, Parker Road, Bush Road and Misty Mountain Road. It is currently impacting Parker Road and Sewell Road. The fire could have on the significant impact on the community.”
LEAVE NOW: Pechey (near Hampton) bushfire as at 1pm Wed 13 Nov: https://t.co/ZLMRe45vEu
Images of Walkers Point, which is also at “leave now”.
Residents at Walkers Point, south of Bundaberg, are being told to evacuate to Woodgate with firefighters battling a large bushfire @abcnews pic.twitter.com/pffLy1elsV
Continue reading...Exclusive: email from government directs attendees at conference on climate adaptation to stay quiet on bushfire-climate link
As bushfire conditions were declared “catastrophic” on Tuesday, New South Wales bureaucrats attending a conference on adaption to climate change were directed not discuss the link between climate change and bushfires.
Bureaucrats from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment were sent an email soon after the AdaptNSW 2019 Forum began, causing consternation among some attendees who saw it as tantamount to gagging them.
Continue reading...There is a transcript of his conversation with US attorney, but officials say they do not intend to share it with estimates. All the day’s events, live
Mark Butler to Angus Taylor:
“I refer to the minister’s previous answer – where did the minister get the forged document?”
I absolutely reject the premise of the question and the bizarre assertions being peddled by those opposite.
Mark Butler to Angus Taylor:
My question is to the minister of emissions reduction. Section 253 of the New South Wales crimes act creates a serious offence for making a false document to influence the exercise of a public duty. I refer to his provision of a forged City of Sydney document in the Daily Telegraph in an attempt to influence the Lord Mayor of Sydney in exercise of her public duty. Will he administer to this house that this forgery was not made by him or his office?
Yes.
Continue reading...NSW Nationals, Coalition MP Paul Fletcher, LNP MP Julian Simmonds and independent MP Bob Katter urge cut to number of pre-poll voting weeks
The New South Wales Nationals and the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, have joined growing calls for the length of pre-poll voting before federal elections to be shortened.
In a submission to the inquiry examining the 2019 election, Fletcher warned the record number of Australians voting in pre-poll was eroding the “integrity and quality” of the electoral process.
Continue reading...Some Liberals are concerned about the power to break up big companies being extended economy-wide
The Morrison government’s backbench economics committee has signed off on the long telegraphed “big stick” package but MPs, already uncomfortable about the proposal, have expressed reservations about how it might be amended in the Senate.
The package, which contains a power to break up big energy companies if they engage in price gouging, will go to the Coalition party room for approval on Tuesday.
Continue reading...David Littleproud’s comments to parliament entirely at odds with earlier statement to Guardian Australia
Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, now says he accepts the science on manmade climate change, and “[I] always have”.
Littleproud’s comments to the House of Representatives on Thursday were entirely at odds with a written statement he made to Guardian Australia on Tuesday. In response to questions, Littleproud said: “I don’t know if climate change is man-made.”
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister of Australia Michael McCormack says people in the climate threatened Pacific islands will ‘continue to survive because many of their workers come here and pick our fruit’.
Continue reading...Rebekha Sharkie says if the government is successful in repealing the legislation it will cause ‘needless harm’
On the ensuring integrity bill, Rex Patrick says there are political elements to the bill it can’t support:
The aim was to deal with misconduct and there is no question that has been in the union movement.
I have seen the fairly significant sheet of judicial rulings against some of the unions and in some instances we have some very conservative, considered judicial officers stating things like this union is simply using the fines, treating the fines as the cost of business.
Rex Patrick is speaking to Patricia Karvelas on Afternoon Briefing and says while Centre Alliance supports the intent of the temporary exclusion order bill, it will abstain from voting for it, because it can’t support it in its current form.
Labor will be passing it, although it has raised its own concerns.
Continue reading...Keith Pitt and James McGrath behind move, saying ‘we have to be able to investigate all options’
A group of Queensland Liberal National party MPs reportedly want parliament to consider the feasibility of nuclear power in Australia.
The energy source is banned as a source of power but several Coalition MPs will put forward a motion in the Senate to create a committee to investigate using nuclear power in the energy mix.
Continue reading...Labor facing factional battle between Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen
The former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce is positioning himself for a return to cabinet following the Coalition’s shock election win, as Scott Morrison prepares to unveil his new-look frontbench as early as next week.
The jockeying within the Coalition comes as Labor’s leadership contest crystallises, with a factional battle looming between the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, and leftwinger Anthony Albanese.
Continue reading...Several candidates quit ahead of election after deluge of offensive behaviour exposed
In a whirlwind 48 hours, the Australian election has lost a host of its most controversial candidates.
From homophobic comments about sitting MPs to secret strip-club footage, to Facebook posts about naked centaurs, a deluge of racist, sexist and bizarre behaviour has claimed the careers of four candidates in only two days.
Continue reading...Michael McCormack raises eyebrows saying his party is ‘aligned with One Nation’ more than Labor or Greens
The Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, has unveiled a new statutory authority for water infrastructure in an effort to contain a bush boilover at the election – and has declared his party is happy to enter preference deals with One Nation because their policies align.
McCormack used a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday to unveil a new Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility-style body for dams, with the new body charged with using “the best available science” to examine how large-scale water diversion projects could be established to deliver reliable and cost-effective water to farmers and regional communities.
Continue reading...Can Cathy McGowan’s anointed successor keep Indi independent or will the Coalition strike back?
With the retirement of Cathy McGowan, the rural Victorian seat of Indi is once more back in play and the group of campaigners who unseated Sophie Mirabella in 2013 are now fighting to keep the seat in independent hands.
Orange spray-painted chairs adorn the verandahs outside homes across the electorate – a symbol of the battle.
Continue reading...