Some say the former head of the Christian Democrats may have ‘mellowed’ over time – but the 88-year-old says he hasn’t changed his views
One of the final acts in the long, divisive career of the Rev Fred Nile may have been thwarted by an administrative error.
In the New South Wales upper house last week, Nile had been due to begin the debate on a bill he co-authored with the progressive MP Alex Greenwich to reform the protection of Indigenous culture and heritage.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Statement of acknowledgment’ fails to recognise Indigenous, culturally diverse or LGBTQIA+ perspectives, say critics
A “statement of acknowledgment” of widespread cultural problems within the New South Wales parliament currently fails to recognise the experiences of Indigenous, culturally diverse and LGBTQIA+ staffers, with one calling it “a cop out”.
A draft form of the acknowledgment, made in response to workplace issues identified by the damning Broderick report, has been circulated ahead of the final to version being delivered in parliament on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Further changes to new legislation requiring social workers to prove they have made ‘active efforts’ to keep families together will be considered in a year
The minister responsible for child services in New South Wales says she wants to do more to address the “over representation” of Aboriginal children removed from their families, acknowledging the community’s frustration at the slow pace of reform.
On Thursday, the government passed a new bill that requires social workers to prove they have made “active efforts” to keep families together before courts can approve the removal of children from their parents.
Continue reading...Retiring planning minister Rob Stokes says poker machine gambling has turned clubs into ‘brutal, unwelcoming junk spaces’ and ‘enslaved’ people
A significantly expanded voluntary trial of cashless gambling cards is firming as the most likely response to a scathing New South Wales Crime Commission report, which found only a mandatory scheme would be effective in combating money laundering in the state’s pubs and clubs.
As pressure mounts on the government to tackle gambling reform in the lead-up to the March election, a senior government minister, Rob Stokes, upped the ante with a blistering speech on Wednesday night, saying the state’s clubs have been “distorted and disfigured” by their reliance on poker machine revenue. He called for a ban on “gambling advertising that programs young people to a lifetime of addiction”.
Continue reading...State opposition leader Chris Minns also pushes for tighter rules around evicting tenants without reasonable grounds
Almost a million renters in New South Wales would be able to transfer their bond from one property to the next and couldn’t be kicked out of their homes without reasonable grounds given, under a plan proposed by state Labor.
The pledge ahead of the 2023 election comes amid soaring rents in Sydney and rising accommodation costs in regional areas, with NSW’s median rent increasing from $386 to $420 a week between 2016 and 2021.
Continue reading...Single-use plastic straws, cutlery and cotton buds will be among items banned from Tuesday
Single-use plastic straws and other items will be banned in New South Wales on Tuesday. The decision follows similar action to ban single-use plastic bags earlier this year.
We take a look at what this means for customers and businesses, and how it will be enforced.
Continue reading...If residents choose not to move their home or if it is not possible, they will be sold or stripped for materials
In the nine months since floods gutted Harper Dalton’s South Lismore home, he has been waiting for two things: a land buyback and the ability to pick up the redwood home and move it to higher ground.
On Friday it emerged that northern rivers residents eligible for buybacks under a new joint federal and state $800m housing scheme will be allowed to do just that.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Lobby group links technology to identification of people barred from venues for disorderly behaviour
People kicked out of New South Wales pubs for being too drunk could be tracked via facial recognition technology if new laws introduced to parliament last week are not changed, with the powerful gambling lobby refusing to rule out expanding the use of the controversial tool.
A week after ClubsNSW announced it would roll out facial recognition technology to pubs and clubs across the state as a harm minimisation tool that could “only be used to enforce self exclusion” by gamblers, it now concedes its use will be more widespread.
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Continue reading...Review finds measure is needed to break ‘link between organised crime and gaming machines’
New South Wales should introduce a cashless gambling card to address the billions of dollars in “dirty” money being gambled in pubs and clubs in the state every year, the state’s crime commission has found.
On Wednesday a joint law enforcement agency inquiry into money laundering in NSW issued a damning final report that found “large sums” of the proceeds of crime are gambled by criminals in pubs and clubs across the state, “rewarding and perpetuating crime in the community”.
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Continue reading...Possible challengers from within the party are emerging in Holsworthy and Camden ahead of March election
The New South Wales government faces the possibility of losing two sitting Liberal MPs in bitter preselection contests as it deals with an ever-growing list of senior ministers departing at the next election.
Melanie Gibbons and Peter Sidgreaves, the MPs for Holsworthy and Camden, are each facing potential challengers from within the Liberal party ahead of the March poll, and could be set to join the growing list of government MPs heading for the exit doors.
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Continue reading...71-year-old member for Wakehurst on Sydney’s northern beaches says it’s time for a ‘new beginning’
Long-serving New South Wales Liberal MP and Covid-era health minister Brad Hazzard has announced he will retire from politics at the state election, saying it is time for a “new beginning”.
The 71-year-old is best known for his role in trying to manage the Covid-19 crisis, fronting the media frequently to inform about the virus and urge adherence to recommended health measures.
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Continue reading...Clubs NSW says the scheme will be used to combat problem gambling, but experts warn of a lack of safeguards and regulation
The rollout of facial recognition technology in all New South Wales pubs and clubs shows how business is forging ahead collecting biometric information before the law has had a chance to catch up, experts warn.
The NSW government this week introduced new laws allowing the use of facial recognition throughout pubs and clubs, despite not yet developing rules to guide the rollout.
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Continue reading...Tu Le says she supports ‘rank-and-file’ vote but doesn’t control decisions made by party bosses
The candidate controversially overlooked by Labor for Kristina Keneally in Fowler at the last federal election has denied being involved in a “stitch up” for a state seat in western Sydney, saying she “doesn’t control” what head office decides.
The Guardian understands senior Labor figures have been testing local support for Tu Le, the Vietnamese-Australian lawyer who was controversially pushed aside to allow Keneally to run in Fowler in May, to run in either Cabramatta or Fairfield at the New South Wales election in March.
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Continue reading...Former prime minister disappointed by states’ decisions to not allow full access to UN subcommittee on prevention of torture
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the New South Wales and Queensland governments to “think carefully about the international company they are keeping” by blocking or limiting United Nations inspectors’ access to detention facilities.
Turnbull said he was disappointed by the government decisions to not allow full access to the team, who are in the country this week as part of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, ratified when he was in office in 2017.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Whistleblower says pressure to meet deadlines has led to a culture of trying to avoid delay at all costs, including those caused by safety concerns
A 30-tonne railway trailer transporting equipment on the Sydney Metro project ran uncontrolled for more than 1.5km through the half-built tunnel between Marrickville and Waterloo in July, Guardian Australia can reveal.
The only reason workers weren’t killed, according to those on site, was because it happened on a Saturday at noon, when they were on their break.
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Continue reading...Lorraine Finlay says state government’s decision means Australia is ‘failing to live up to the promises it made to the world’
Australia’s human rights commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, has questioned why the New South Wales government was blocking officials from the United Nations inspecting its jails if it was confident about meeting minimum standards.
She said the NSW move could jeopardise promises made by Australia as part of the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (Opcat) that was ratified by the federal government under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017.
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Continue reading...High ownership of multiple residences among state MPs has prompted accusations they are ‘blind’ to the escalating rental crisis
More than half of MPs in the New South Wales lower house own multiple residential properties, prompting concerns the state’s politicians are “blind” to record increases in rental prices.
Amid a fresh push for reform to the rental market, an analysis of MP disclosure records show landlords are disproportionately represented on Macquarie Street.
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Continue reading...Former NSW deputy premier’s lawyer pleads not guilty on his client’s behalf over altercation with freelance cameraman
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro will contest charges he assaulted a news camera operator and damaged equipment, a court has been told.
Barilaro, 50, was not required to appear at Manly Local Court on Wednesday when his lawyer entered pleas of not guilty on the former Nationals leader’s behalf.
Continue reading...Department of Education figures show permanent vacancies were far higher than reported in June 2021
The number of permanent teacher vacancies in New South Wales surged past 2,000 in July, with some schools looking for more than a dozen new staff amid an ongoing stoush between the union and the government over pay and conditions.
Department of Education figures from July, which were contained in a briefing to the state’s education minister, Sarah Mitchell, and seen by Guardian Australia, revealed two schools had up to 14 full-time-equivalent roles vacant.
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Continue reading...Queensland police say officers had been called to Edmonstone Street in South Brisbane around 3pm. This blog is now closed
Treasurer says surging electricity costs will make inflation ‘hang around longer’
We brought you the grim news on the blog yesterday that the head of Alinta energy has predicated a 35% increase to retail electricity bills next year, as energy providers juggle phasing out fossil fuels alongside investment in renewables.
I think one of the reasons this inflation will hang around longer than we want it to is because there are expectations around these electricity price rises being more problematic for longer.
You’ve said the government would put the economy above politics, can you really say that’s what you doing if you leave the stage-three tax cuts in place as they are?
I can say that, and I think what people will see in the budget in two weeks’ time is some difficult decisions in difficult times.
Our job is to make sure that our budgets are perfectly calibrated to the economic conditions as we confront them.
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