NSW environment watchdog to require big polluters to show how they will hit net zero and then nudge them to improve

The state’s EPA is unveiling what it calls Australia’s ‘most comprehensive plan’ to cut carbon emissions

New South Wales’s environmental watchdog has released what it calls Australia’s “most comprehensive plan” to regulate carbon emissions, requiring firms to show how they will hit net zero by 2050 and nudging them to improve resilience in a warming world.

The Climate Change Policy and Action Plan 2023-26, released on Friday by the Environment Protection Authority, will identify what progress is already under way by companies now covered by pollution licences and encourage them to improve.

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‘Undermine our road safety’: promised rewards for ‘safe’ NSW drivers criticised by experts

Labor and the Coalition promise to ease penalties for ‘low-level’ offences if they win the state election

Election promises by the New South Wales government and the Labor opposition to reward “safe” drivers have been met with scepticism by industry experts, with one accusing both sides of buying votes and failing to advance road safety.

The Coalition on Wednesday promised that drivers with a three-year clean driving record would be able to avoid fines for low-level offending, including low-range speeding, disobeying some signs and driving in a bus lane, if re-elected.

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NSW treasurer refuses to say if $1,000 a day pokies spending cap is too high as he ridicules Labor policy

Key independent MP calls for a $100 daily limit as Coalition comes under pressure to release details of its cashless gaming card

The New South Wales treasurer, Matt Kean, has refused to say whether he believes a $1,000 a day spending limit on poker machines is too high, as the Coalition government faces increasing pressure to release details of its highly anticipated cashless gaming card.

The powerful crossbench MP Alex Greenwich has urged the Coalition to follow its colleagues in Tasmania by setting a $100 daily limit on pokies, saying a cap was “crucial” for cashless gaming to work at reducing gambling addiction in the state.

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NSW Labor’s moves on poker machine reform renew pressure on Dominic Perrottet, experts say

Call for detail on proposed cashless gaming scheme as questions raised about opposition’s pledge

Labor’s pledge to ban political donations from pubs and clubs in New South Wales while also introducing a 500-machine trial of cashless pokies has heaped pressure back on the Coalition government to announce details of its plan to overhaul gambling in the state.

Despite anti-gambling advocates and crossbench MPs arguing a new suite of policies announced by Labor on Monday does not go far enough, they have also called for the state’s premier, Dominic Perrottet, to follow suit.

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Bushfire in Adelaide Hills; PM says ‘we’ve got the balance right’ on climate policy changes – as it happened

Firefighters prepared for a long night battling an out-of-control blaze near Montacute in the Adelaide Hills. This blog is now closed

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has responded to the admission of the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, that he wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.

At a press conference just finished in Townsville, Albanese said had been in PNG but had seen the statements from the NSW premier.

I have observed his statements. That’s a matter for him, and then for others who’ll make judgments based upon the premier’s explanation.

These banknotes were sent to our Majura Forensic Facility to undergo specialist fingerprint development in a purpose built machine.

This is an extremely powerful and sensitive process where precious metals such as gold can actually enhance the fingerprints of individuals that have touched the exhibits, such as banknotes.

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Knives out: a raucous party, a Nazi uniform and a Liberal Party mystery

While questions remain after Dominic Perrottet’s Nazi uniform admission, the internal anger at the premier is real and multifaceted

It’s the biggest mystery in New South Wales politics: who was behind the rumours of a damaging photograph of Dominic Perrottet that began circulating in the weeks before he revealed that he wore a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party?

When it comes to uncovering the culprit, one Liberal party source said: “It’s a bit like that movie Knives Out – there are about 20 people who it could’ve been and they all had a motive.”

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Why now? Inside Dominic Perrottet’s plea for voters’ forgiveness over his Nazi outfit

Analysis: Someone in the NSW premier’s own corner seems determined that he should pay for his 21st birthday mistake

In his maiden speech to parliament 11 years ago, the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, shared an anecdote from his childhood, in which he explained his “love of politics” began from a young age.

In the speech, Perrottet said that from the age of 10 he and his siblings were “required to present an article on current affairs to the family” at the dinner table.

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New federal court rules over access to documents branded ‘utterly disgraceful’ – as it happened

Court moves to protect respondents from early reporting of allegations but media union criticises decision. This blog is now closed

Chalmers finds it ‘hard to believe’ someone at 21 wouldn’t know Nazi fancy dress was unacceptable

Hamish McDonald asks Chalmers about the news on Perrottet’s decision to wear a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party.

My view about this is that we want the state of New South Wales and we want Australia to be more inclusive and more tolerant. And when something like this comes out, that’s obviously a challenge for that. People in New South Wales will have an opportunity to express their view in March on a more inclusive and more tolerant state of New South Wales in the same way that people had that opportunity nationally in May.

Do you think that it’s possible that someone didn’t know [it was offensive] was even at the age of 21?

I find that hard to believe. I think it’s a particularly hurtful thing to have done, particularly for people who remember the war; obviously the Jewish community and others will be deeply hurt by, deeply offended by that, and for good reason, and I think the ultimate judge of this will be the people of New South Wales.

The lost economic activity doesn’t really begin to capture the full human cost [to the] community and the full cost to infrastructure and assets and communities more broadly.

We’ve put that number out there, really just as a reminder that even though we are largely focused on the human cost of these natural disasters, there is a cost to the economy as well and the cost to the budget.

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News live updates: Albanese flags Australian interest in Papua New Guinea hydro and hydrogen; NSW and Victoria rule out Pell state funeral

Victorian premier says there will not be a state service for cardinal, out of respect for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Follow live

Visa processing problems in spotlight

Pat Conroy acknowledged ongoing visa processing issues and said the government was “hopeful that we can get a resolution on that issue”:

People in Papua New Guinea are also very keen on our Pacific engagement visa, which is about creating 3,000 permanent migration spots each year into Australia … and there’s also lots of interest in Papua New Guineans working, studying in Australia as well.

His message around democracies is that [it is] incumbent upon politicians in both countries [to] defend democracy and we defend democracy by demonstrating it’s the best system to deliver actual benefits for the people that we govern. So that’s about investing in stronger health outcomes, lifting stronger economic outcomes.

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Competing NSW housing policies could put ‘inflationary’ pressure on prices, economists warn

Experts say Labor’s stamp duty exemptions and Coalition’s land tax policy will likely benefit sellers most

The much-vaunted housing relief packages proposed by Labor and the Coalition in New South Wales are both “much ado about nothing”, experts say, warning they are likely to put upward pressure on prices as Sydney’s over-heated property market begins to cool.

Labor fired the starter’s gun on state election season on Monday, putting a plan to increase stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers facing cost-of-living pressures in western Sydney at the centre of its bid to win government after a decade in opposition.

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NSW Labor counters Perrottet’s land tax with vow to scrap stamp duty for some first home buyers

Properties worth up to $800,000 will incur no tax and a concession rate will apply to those up to $1m if opposition wins election, Chris Minns says

New South Wales Labor has pledged to eliminate stamp duty for first home buyers purchasing properties worth up to $800,000 if it wins the March state election, in a bid to counter the Perrottet government’s recent tax reforms.

Labor’s proposal, announced on Monday, would also apply a concession rate to homebuyers paying between $800,000 and $1m for their first property.

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NSW government to ‘review’ proposal to make judges consider needs of children when carers seek bail

Bipartisan recommendation that would bring Australia in line with UN standards and is backed by advocates ‘noted’, but not supported

The New South Wales government says it will “review” a bipartisan recommendation to force judges to consider whether refusing bail to a parent accused of a crime would harm their children.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry last year called for the attorney general to change the law and “mandate” judges and magistrates to consider “parenting and caregiving responsibilities” when making bail decisions.

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NSW minister questions cashless poker machine proposal backed by Dominic Perrottet

David Elliott says Nationals MPs also ‘sceptical’ and warns against ‘demonising one sort of gambling’

Dominic Perrottet is facing pushback from within his own ministerial ranks over his support for a cashless gambling card on poker machines in New South Wales after his transport minister, David Elliott, questioned whether the policy would work.

While admitting Nationals colleagues were “very sceptical” about the proposal, Elliott said he had cautioned the premier against “demonising one sort of gambling” in poker machines.

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State premiers united in pushing for Medicare overhaul, Dominic Perrottet says

NSW leader says counterparts will back moves to fix national health system, after raising issues with access to bulk-billing GPs

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, believes all state and territory leaders will be united in pressuring the federal government to overhaul Medicare and healthcare services through national cabinet.

Dominic Perrottet and his Victorian counterpart, Daniel Andrews, came out in agreement this week on calling for better integration between primary care and public health systems across the country.

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NSW forests could become net carbon emitters in coming decades, report finds

Declining soil organic carbon could undermine state’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050

Forests in New South Wales could become net carbon emitters in coming decades, undermining state government efforts to reach net zero emissions, according to a report by one of its own agencies.

The Natural Resources Commission has warned the Perrottet government the carbon benefits the state’s forests provide are degrading and will continue to degrade without “major intervention”.

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Secret report urges high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle but NSW government refuses to release it

Report, which also recommends linking Sydney to Wollongong and ranks Canberra route as a lower priority, cost taxpayers $390,000

A secret review of high-speed rail options for New South Wales is understood to prioritise lines to Newcastle and Wollongong at speeds of up to 250km/h, but ranks the much-vaunted Sydney to Canberra route as a lower priority.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on the findings today but said it had not seen the report.

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Australia news live: flood peaks expected in parts of SA, private hospital nurses to strike in NSW for first time in decades

South Australian SES revises dates for expected peak flows with Renmark and Berri expected to peak today; nurses at two major private hospitals in Sydney to walk off the job at 1pm

Private hospitals nurses to walk off the job for first time in decades

Staying in NSW, nurses at two major private Sydney hospitals will walk off the job later today.

The Australian market regulator and the cap price that people pay for electricity will make their announcement in February about what bills people will pay for next year. And we expect that the move will feed directly through to that and see downward pressure of up to $243 on electricity bills of what it was previously going to be.

How much of a philosophical jump was it for you as a Liberal, to intervene in the market in this way and cap the prices?

Well, it wasn’t a jump at all to stand by people following the illegal war in Ukraine, which is pushing up electricity bills. The government is there to protect the people – not the other way around.

And that’s exactly what we did. We looked at a range of measures to support people to deal with these high electricity prices. And this is the one that the commonwealth government asked us to do and, obviously, our No 1 priority is standing by the people of New South Wales using our balance sheet to support families and businesses. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

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Labor candidate calls for minister’s sacking during NSW inquiry into council’s actions

Canterbury Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour tells committee he’s had a ‘target on my back’ since the pandemic

A New South Wales Labor candidate has accused a parliamentary committee of wasting taxpayers’ money by investigating him for impropriety and called for a government minister to be sacked.

The Canterbury Bankstown mayor, Khal Asfour, has been called as a witness by the upper house committee, which is looking into allegations of impropriety at Canterbury Bankstown council.

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Victoria police to prosecute pitch invaders; more contaminated spinach cases in Queensland – as it happened

Sport governing body says ‘such behaviour has no place in Australian football’. This blog is now closed

‘We will look at the facts’

James Johnson is asked whether Melbourne Victory has any outstanding sanctions for past incidents. He says he is not aware of any but past events may be considered as an “aggravating factor” as an investigation into the incident unfolds:

There is no other suspended disciplinary action that I’m aware of, but what I will say is that we will be working through that today. We have already started working on the show cause process as of late last night, and we will be moving forward as quickly and swiftly as possible to finalise it, because it is important we get ahead of this issue as a sport.

What I can say is that we will look at the facts, we’ll look at it objectively and we will take a decision that we believe is in the overall best interest of the game but I prefer not to comment on the specifics of the outcome because we have to go through that process first.

What happened during the game last night and what happens with the result;

A “show cause letter” to Melbourne Victory;

An attempt to identify individuals involved in the pitch invasion.

This is an element that … infiltrates our game and tries to ruin it for the people who love us was in. We’ll be looking to weed out those people from the sport.

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NSW moves to raise taxes on casino poker machines amid push for gambling reform

Government proposal comes after clubs lobby criticised the lower rate imposed on casino operators

Poker machine earnings at New South Wales casinos will be taxed at the same rate as those in clubs and pubs under proposed changes by the state government, amid growing a push for broader gambling reforms.

If in place by next July, the proposed tax-rate changes could inject an extra $364m into the state’s coffers over three years, according to government modelling.

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