NSW deputy premier says ‘there will be no moratorium on coal in the Upper Hunter or anywhere else in the state’
The New South Wales deputy premier, John Barilaro, has rejected Malcolm Turnbull’s call for a moratorium on new coalmines in the state and demanded the former prime minister “set aside his war on the Coalition”.
Turnbull said on Wednesday he believed coalmine proposals and approvals in the state’s upper Hunter Valley were “out of control”.
Continue reading...State reports four new local cases; Nationals MP Anne Webster lodges complaint over alleged sexual harassment in parliament. Follow the latest updates
• Queensland Covid hotspots
• Queensland authorities contradict earlier advice about Covid case hosting ‘party’
• Coalition women call for MP drug and alcohol testing in response to sexual misconduct crisis
The Victorian state government won’t release a three-page email chain in which a decision to put Melbourne under a coronavirus curfew was made, reports Karen Sweeney from AAP.
Victorian opposition MP David Davis requested all documents relating to the curfew to be released under Freedom of Information.
These are the documents that relate directly to the decision to put Melbourne under a curfew and the reality, in our view, is there is little reason the documents should not be in the public domain.
We have one document - it is three pages of an email chain containing legal advice.
It is a single document - it may just be a single decision has to be made by the tribunal...
It’s just hard to see why this has been strung out for so long.
It’s worth considering how soon this lockdown is coming after the end of jobkeeper and how close it is cutting it to the start of the federal government’s half-priced plane ticket program.
Jobkeeper ended on Sunday, and the tourism sector support program is slated to start on 1 April.
Continue reading...Linda Reynolds has been taken to hospital and Covid restrictions to be eased in South Australia and NSW. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Adam Bandt also says he has had it confirmed by Simon Birmingham that the staffer alleged to have raped Brittany Higgins was listed on the attorney-general’s lobbyist register
We got another piece of the information today and that shows is that the individual in question has actually been a lobbyist and the Attorney General lobbyist register which raises questions about how it is that someone who has been sacked from a position in the Government for what the Government says was a security breach but we suspect something more, and that is allowed to start operating as a lobbyist and all the privileges that gives.
We now need to know whether or not as a lobbyist this alleged rapist has been coming back and having meetings with ministers, ministerial staff, departmental officials because not only would they be incredibly inappropriate but it was staff in a situation they may be having to meet with someone that the Government knows has serious questions about them, is now an alleged rapist, coming back into the building and potentially having meetings.
Adam Bandt is also asked about a doctor being able to administer the Pfizer vaccine, without receiving the required training (the government had to correct the record, after originally being advised that the doctor had received the necessary training)
I guess I want to know why and how this situation could happen. It is concerning. I am a supporter of people getting vaccines. I got mine earlier this week as a show of my support.
I was asked by health authorities to do that and I said I would happily do it because I think it is important and I think the vaccination program and the role it needs to occur in a way that people have confidence in and I am very concerned about anything that could undermine confidence in the rollout and that is my main concern.
Continue reading...Phase 1a of the vaccine program starts today; questions about the government’s response to Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations dominate parliament. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Melbourne doctors under review for promoting discredited Covid treatment
• Australia’s first Covid vaccinations rollout out
• Follow the global liveblog
It’s another for the ‘always look at the bright side’ file.
From AAP:
The Morrison government has released the findings of an investigation that the environment minister, Sussan Ley, ordered into her own department over the export of rare and endangered Australian parrots to Germany.
The investigation was prompted by a 2018 investigation by Guardian Australia’s Lisa Cox and Berlin bureau chief Philip Oltermann.
Federal minister says regional Australia is ‘not just about farmers’ and party must represent diverse views
Victorian Nationals MP, Darren Chester, has warned his party to listen to its diverse heartland and be “part of the solution” when it comes to practical environmentalism and emissions reductions rather than “sideline ourselves from big debates”.
The federal veterans’ affairs minister used an interview on Sky News on Thursday to push back at National party colleagues who declared they would cross the floor if the prime minister, Scott Morrison, tried to legislate a mid-century net zero commitment.
Continue reading...Deputy PM says he’s focusing on now, not 2050, as Coalition’s climate skirmishes go on
The Coalition is facing an increasingly testy party room as it struggles to land on a climate policy, with the Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, declaring he is “not worried about what might happen in 30 years’ time”.
The deputy prime minister said excluding agriculture from Australia’s attempts to reach net zero emissions by 2050 may be one option.
Continue reading...Split emerges within Coalition as Nationals call for tariffs and subsidies while Liberals are keen to stick with free trade regime
A split has emerged within the Australian government, with members of the junior Coalition partner pushing protectionist policies as a way of “fighting fire with fire” in the trade war with China.
National party MPs have called on the government to consider imposing tariffs and expanding subsidies to protect domestic manufacturers, but Liberal backbenchers told Guardian Australia on Tuesday it would be against the national interest to abandon free and open trade.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s cabinet has agreed to a proposal for a trans-Tasman travel bubble; storms forecast to continue in parts of south-east Queensland and northern NSW. Follow the latest updates
If you were hoping to grab some of the Victorian government’s vouchers for travelling into regional Victoria for a holiday, you have missed out on the second round, AAP reports 30,000 vouchers sold in 31 minutes.
An extra 30,000 Regional Travel Voucher Scheme vouchers, worth $200 apiece, were snapped up within 31 minutes of becoming available from midday on Monday via a new-look state government webpage.
AAP reports the extreme weather in northern NSW and southeast Queensland will continue to intensify overnight.
Sites in NSW’s Northern Rivers District had about 400mm of rain in just a few days, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding told reporters on Monday.
Continue reading...Prime minister calls on China to apologise and seeks removal of tweet; Victoria revamps hotel quarantine program under single agency with private security banned. Follow all the latest
Twitter hasn’t taken the Tweet down, as demanded by Scott Morrison, but it has censored it.
The image defaults to hidden with the message:
Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, &call for holding them accountable. pic.twitter.com/GYOaucoL5D
And yet, no one is responsible. Governance in Australia is so, so broken
I don’t support wording of Labor’s motion but someone needs to resign over the #robotdebt fiasco. How is it that only female Ministers like Ley and McKenzie resign? Where is the Westminster Ministerial responsibly? #qt #auspol pic.twitter.com/lfAClWfphp
Continue reading...Opposition leader supports NSW premier’s call to change words to Australia’s national anthem to be more inclusive of First Nations. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
The ABC has more on the complaint Rachelle Miller has lodged against Michaelia Cash, whose office she worked in once her relationship with Alan Tudge ended. Cash has rejected the claims.
From the ABC report:
After the May 2018 budget, when many ministers travel the country to sell the political message, Ms Miller was told she would not be travelling with the minister because Senator Cash did not think her attendance necessary.
“I felt like I had been set up to fail, there was no way that I could manage it from the Canberra office,” Ms Miller’s complaint reads.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is having a sale on its very in-demand (I’m sure) State of Origin merchandise.
It’s Pauline Hanson vs Mark Latham in the PHON SOOO and I don’t know much, but I do know this - if you walk into someone’s house and they have one of these products, walk back out.
Continue reading...Labor claims dinner at Club Taree raised $18,000 from four donors and gave them access to premier
Gladys Berejiklian has said she cannot remember whether she attended an “intimate fundraising dinner” at Club Taree in May 2018, where Labor claims illegal property donations were made.
Labor used question time in New South Wales parliament on Wednesday to ask about the event and donations made to the campaign of the mid-north coast MP Stephen Bromhead, the member for Myall Lakes, in 2018.
Continue reading...Labour’s historic win delivered Ardern a second term while voters punished politicians who embraced populism
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Labour prime minister who was returned to power for a second term with a commanding majority, has often been hailed internationally as a foil to global surges in right-wing movements and the rise of strongmen such as Donald Trump and Brazil’s leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
But the historic victory of Ardern’s centre-left party on polling day – its best result in five decades, winning 64 of parliament’s 120 seats – was not the only measure by which New Zealand bucked global trends in its vote. The public also rejected some political hopefuls’ rallying cries to populism, conspiracy theories and scepticism about Covid-19.
Continue reading...After securing a historic election victory, the New Zealand prime minister was asked about the world leaders who sent her congratulations. 'I have had a few lovely messages. Scott Morrison ... I've had the prime minister of Denmark, Pedro Sánchez from Spain. Of course, Boris Johnson reached out as well.' When asked about whether Donald Trump had been in touch, she replied: ' I don't tend to have those direct communications with the president of the United States'
Continue reading...New Zealand overwhelmingly embraced Jacinda Ardern’s Labour, leaving Judith Collins’ party in the wilderness
Judith Collins had a spring in her step and a high-beam smile when she appeared for reporters the day after a New Zealand election that delivered a landslide victory to her opponent, Jacinda Ardern of Labour – the country’s most popular leader of modern times.
“I’m feeling really good,” she said. “Woke up today, the sun was shining.”
Continue reading...Prime minister says she will be ready to form a government in two to three weeks as New Zealanders enjoy return to normal life
Jacinda Ardern has held out the possibility of forming a coalition government despite securing a historic election victory that will enable her Labour party to govern alone.
New Zealanders expressed relief on Sunday at her re-election, after a campaign that felt long and wearying for many. Ardern’s party won the highest percentage of the vote in more than five decades, claiming 64 seats in parliament, with her handling of the Covid-19 crisis regarded as decisive in her win.
Continue reading...With its most resounding victory since 1946, the weight of expectation on Labour has never been greater
The Jacinda Ardern-led New Zealand Labour party has swept to its largest election night victory since 1946, winning 49.1% of the party vote and 64 seats in parliament. While the outcome is, in effect, a little-change election in the sense that the next government will still be led by Ardern, Labour’s victory is one for the history books. Not since the introduction of New Zealand’s Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system, has the Labour party had a mandate to govern alone.
For Labour’s former coalition partner, New Zealand First, the result was a disaster. It appears minor-party voters were no longer attracted to New Zealand First’s promises to be a handbrake on change, preferring instead to give their vote to ACT and the Greens, two parties with strong ideas about how to deal with the issues that are confronting New Zealand in the immediate future: rising house prices, income and social inequality, climate change, and the post-Covid economic recovery.
Continue reading...Melbourne’s stage four restrictions ease as Victoria records three deaths and five new Covid cases and NSW reports zero. Follow live
A man who had been deported to New Zealand, and who was in isolation at a government-run quarantine hotel, is under investigation by the police after he tied bed sheets together to escape the facility from a fourth floor window.
All travellers returning to the country – only New Zealanders and their families, plus others with special exemptions are allowed to pass through its borders – must spend two weeks in mandatory isolation, during which they are tested twice for Covid-19.
I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Naaman Zhou for the rest of the afternoon shift.
There have been quite a few messages today – I am slowly working my way through them – but if you have anything else to say, or I missed you, you can contact me here and here.
Continue reading...Port Macquarie MP’s move comes after Nationals MP John Barilaro threatened to implode the Coalition if concessions were not made over koala policy
The New South Wales Nationals MP Leslie Williams has quit the party as the fallout from the koala policy saga rolls on.
In a statement, the Port Macquarie MP revealed she has applied to join the NSW division of the Liberal party.
Continue reading...NSW premier implores John Barilaro to stick to agreement after he refused to rule out further threats to dismantle the Coalition
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has made it clear she will not tolerate any further public posturing by the Nationals over koala habitat protections or new threats by the junior partner to leave the Coalition.
Berejiklian on Thursday also implored her Liberal colleagues to move on and refocus on their jobs following last week’s near split in the government, brought on by the Nationals leader, John Barilaro, threatening to move to the crossbenches with his MPs.
Continue reading...NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian gave Nationals leader John Barilaro ultimatum after stoush over future of koala population. Follow live
We will get additional details, like test numbers, very soon
#COVID19VicData for 11 September, 2020.
Yesterday there were 43 new cases reported. Sadly, 9 lives were lost and our thoughts are with those affected. More information will be available later today. pic.twitter.com/Y5dxX1ixEK
It is just one week short of a year since this photo was taken – which was the last time Gladys Berejiklian’s colleagues tested her leadership over legislation. When the Ched debate happened, Tanya Davies, Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato had announced they were calling a spill motion over the state’s abortion laws.
Berejiklian stared them down as well. There was no spill motion. But what there was, was a debate over whether she was carrying Saladas (as reported in the Tele) or Cheds for breakfast.
big day in NSW politics and you know what that means - the Cheds are back pic.twitter.com/rjdUatDGgV
Continue reading...