Category Archives: New South Wales politics

NSW’s cashless gaming trial has just 32 participants as one in two venues drop out

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Gaming minister insists trial providing ‘a really good picture’, despite low takeup

More than $8bn is funnelled into NSW’s 85,000 poker machines each year, casting doubt on the insight to be gained from a cashless gaming trial involving 32 participants.

The tiny number of players involved in the state’s signature gaming pilot was revealed on Friday, along with news that one in every two venues have tapped out since March.

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NSW drug summit to be co-chaired by former state Liberal leader who denounced pill testing

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Exclusive: Health minister says John Brogden and former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt ‘respected across the aisle’

A former New South Wales Liberal leader who denounced pill testing as a drug reform option has been picked by the Labor government to co-chair its highly anticipated drug summit.

John Brogden AM will lead the summit, which kicks off in regional NSW in November, alongside the former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt.

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Rob Stokes declines role on committee to run NSW Liberals after being named by federal executive

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Former NSW minister Stokes had not been told about committee, its composition or terms of reference ahead of the public announcement, source says

The federal Liberal executive did not tell former New South Wales planning minister Rob Stokes that he would be named as part of a three-person committee it wanted to run the state division for almost a year.

The senior party figure refused the position after the federal team demanded the state executive appoint a temporary committee of three to run the troubled division which failed to nominate candidates for some NSW councils.

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NSW minister admits child protection system will continue using motels hours after suggesting ban

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Kate Washington tells hearing ‘accredited providers’ will continue with hotel and motel placements for children removed from families

The minister in charge of New South Wales’ troubled child protection system has admitted that vulnerable children will continue to be housed in hotels and motels – just hours after suggesting such emergency accommodation would be banned.

The state’s families minister, Kate Washington, told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that “accredited providers” would continue to operate hotel and motel placements for children who had been removed from their families due to abuse or neglect.

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NSW inquiry into death of Indigenous man shot while fleeing custody calls for urgent review of gun laws

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Mother of Dwayne Johnstone urges government ministers to ‘take note’ of coroner’s recommendation ‘so no one else has to go through it’

The death of an unarmed Indigenous man who was shot while fleeing custody has prompted a coroner to recommend an urgent review of laws governing the use of firearms by correctional officers.

Dwayne Johnstone, a 43-year-old Wiradjuri man, was shot dead outside Lismore Base hospital as he ran in leg shackles and handcuffs from a prison van after receiving medical treatment on 15 March 2019.

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NSW Liberal council election debacle descends into accusations of factional warfare

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Broadcaster Ray Hadley challenges ‘cowardly’ conservatives to ‘have a bit of courage for the sake of NSW politics’

The New South Wales Liberals’ failure to nominate in some local council elections has spilled over into accusations of factional warfare, with moderates warning a review should not be used as a pretext to dump the president, Don Harwin, or usher in federal intervention.

Brian Loughnane, the former federal Liberal director and reviewer of the 2022 election defeat, has been called in to examine the nomination failure, for which state director Richard Shields was sacked.

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Former NSW Coalition government was warned recycled soil products posed ‘unacceptable risks’

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Exclusive: Environment watchdog advised in 2021 the material ‘should not be used broadly’, before backing away from proposals to tighten regulations

The New South Wales environment watchdog warned the former Coalition state government that a widely used recycled landscaping product posed “potential unacceptable risks to the environment and the community”.

Guardian Australia revealed in January that the Environment Protection Authority had known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste – known as recovered fines – were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants.

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NSW Liberals accuse electoral commission of breaking rules after council nomination debacle

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Party threatens legal action against NSW electoral commission after requests for deadline extension rejected

The New South Wales Liberal party has accused the state’s electoral commission of breaching regulations and says it will be left with “no other option” than to take legal action if it isn’t given more time to nominate all its council candidates.

But the acting electoral commissioner, Matthew Phillips, on Sunday rejected the party’s second request for an extension. He said he did not consider it a “realistic possibility” that Liberal HQ could have been unaware of the nomination deadline, and added it would “not be appropriate” to change the election process.

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NSW Liberal party demands extension after missing council elections deadline in ‘monumental stuff-up’

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State’s electoral commission receives request from NSW Liberal president after party failed to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates

The New South Wales Liberal party has demanded a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates after the party missed the deadline in a “monumental stuff-up”.

The NSW Liberal party president, Don Harwin, sent a letter to the NSW electoral commission overnight after the party’s head office missed the Wednesday noon deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate all of its candidates for the local government elections on 14 September.

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NSW councillor Nathan Tilbury all smiles after leaving Liberal party days before nomination fiasco

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Independent now has ‘surprise’ backing of Liberal elder statesman and departing Hornsby mayor Philip Ruddock

While many of his former colleagues were furious this week, local councillor Nathan Tilbury has been feeling pretty happy as a former Liberal.

Two days before the party failed to nominate more than 130 candidates for next month’s New South Wales local government elections, Tilbury handed in his resignation.

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‘Mind-boggling’ nomination failure sparks sacking of NSW Liberal party state director Richard Shields

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Administrative bungle leaves party without a senior leader, four weeks out from statewide elections

The New South Wales Liberals director Richard Shields has been sacked after a “mind-boggling” failure to nominate more than 130 candidates for local government elections.

In a statement issued after an emergency meeting late on Thursday night, the party’s state president, Don Harwin, said its executive had unanimously decided to terminate Shields’ employment over the fiasco.

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‘Shocked and gutted’: NSW Liberal councillors mull legal action against own party over administrative disaster

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Fallout continues over Liberal party’s failure to lodge paperwork to nominate 136 candidates in upcoming council local government elections

Disappointed New South Wales Liberal councillors are not ruling out taking legal action against the party, and others are demanding their money back after an administrative disaster that will prevent them from running in upcoming elections.

Councillors said they were “shocked” to learn through the media that the Liberal party had missed the noon Wednesday deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate 136 candidates for the 14 September local government elections.

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New figures show NSW children are being ‘criminalised for their disadvantage’, advocate says

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More than half the 10- to 13-year-olds who faced court had been a victim of violence and about a third had accessed homelessness services, report finds

Children aged 10 to 13 facing criminal penalties in New South Wales are “overwhelmingly” from disadvantaged backgrounds and disproportionately Indigenous, according to a new report.

It comes amid debate over the minimum age of criminal responsibility, after the Victorian government reneged on a commitment to raise the age from 12 to 14. In NSW, children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and incarcerated.

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NSW moves to outlaw asking tenants to pay for their own background checks on renter ‘blacklists’

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Minns government announces reforms to end practice of rental property platforms soliciting payments from applicants

Rental property application platforms would be prohibited from asking prospective tenants in New South Wales to pay for their own background checks under proposed new laws.

The Minns Labor government on Tuesday announced it would introduce the legislation after feedback from renters who said they were often told that paying these “optional charges” would increase their chance of securing a home.

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NSW Labor rejects conference motion to repeal anti-protest and youth bail laws – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Turning to US politics, Greber says:

It’s a massive shift. You can see it in the way the Democrats feel the momentum.

One of my old sources, I used to be a correspondent in DC, one of my old sources it was as if a month ago the doctor walked in and said, “I’m sorry the test results are terrible, you got three months to live.”

They don’t have many options other than hitting people with mortgages to reduce demand in the economy, which by the way has been driven by an awful lot of federal and state government spending.

The RBA needs to get on top of this and unfortunately people who have mortgages will be the ones who are hit hardest.

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Labor seeks to avoid controversy over Palestine at NSW conference amid grassroots pressure

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Delegates expect event to pass only what insiders consider the ‘bare minimum’ on recognition motions

Senior Labor figures are attempting to prevent an outbreak of discontent at this weekend’s New South Wales state conference, with delegates expecting the event to pass only what insiders consider the “bare minimum” on recognition motions.

Despite strong pushes from Labor branches and grassroots members for a strong statement on the recognition of Palestine and sanctions on the Israeli government, sources say the party is focused on avoiding a show of disunity.

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NSW Greens office targeted with Islamophobic and white supremacist graffiti

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Police say they are searching for a male who allegedly vandalised the inner-west Sydney office in what is the latest political graffiti attack

Police are investigating after the New South Wales Greens’ office was graffitied with Islamophobic and white supremacist messages.

The graffiti, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning at the office in inner west Sydney, called an Islamic prophet a white supremacist.

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CrowdStrike has ‘issued a fix’ to Windows outage – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Follow the latest developments on the global Microsoft outage live blog

Shorten says last CFMEU Labor donation was over two years ago

Earlier on the Today Show, the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, was asked about the CFMEU and said that the last donation received by the Labor party from them was more than two years ago.

We’ve said that we’re suspending all donations from the CFMEU. In fact, we’ve suspended the CFMEU from the Labor party … The last donations were over two years ago. We’ve taken the action to stop any financial relations with the CFMEU.

I want to make clear there is zero tolerance for anyone who tried to subvert the demerit and penalty system. This taskforce will help ensure the penalties apply to all road users.

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Minns calls for NSW Labor to suspend CFMEU affiliation and stop donations after corruption allegations

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Premier says he has written to NSW Labor general secretary requesting immediate suspension of party’s affiliation to CFMEU’s construction and general division

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has asked for the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union’s (CFMEU) affiliation with the state Labor party to be immediately suspended and donations and fees to be stopped after further allegations against its leadership.

The Labor leader lashed the union early on Wednesday morning after Nine newspapers published a video allegedly capturing the NSW union boss Darren Greenfield being passed a $5000 cash bundle in a suspected kickback deal.

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NSW government says state’s biodiversity ‘in crisis’ as it pledges first steps to reverse decline

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Government will also overhaul state laws after Guardian Australia uncovered serious problems with biodiversity offsets scheme

The New South Wales government says the state’s biodiversity is in crisis and must be put on a path to recovery to reverse the decline of beloved species and ecosystems.

The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, has released the government’s “first steps” in responding to a major review of the state’s nature laws, saying: “We cannot ignore the truth: biodiversity in NSW is in crisis.”

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Introducing legislation next year to enshrine a new state nature strategy with conservation and restoration targets;

Amending laws this year to reform the state’s offsets scheme;

Developing maps that identify current and future areas of high biodiversity value to give “clear guidance” on where environmental impacts should be avoided;

Reviewing other pieces of legislation that affect biodiversity to improve outcomes for the environment.

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