None of 17 markers on buildings where historical figures lived or worked, or where major events occurred, are in Labor-held seats
The New South Wales government has been accused of politicising history after announcing the first 17 successful public applications for the state’s new blue plaque scheme.
The $5m program – announced last June – has been modelled on a similar scheme in use across the UK for more than a century to remember notable people and places.
Continue reading...Data also reveals the government has fallen well behind its own targets for new dwellings
The New South Wales government has sold off $3bn worth of social housing during its decade in power, while failing to meet its own targets for new properties.
New figures released through parliament this week show that since it was first elected in 2011, the Coalition has sold off 4,205 social housing properties across the state.
Continue reading...Matthew Camenzuli expelled from Liberal party after seeking leave to appeal preselections ruling in high court; Scott Morrison says he has been ‘upfront with Australian people’ about running full term; Albanese calls Berejiklian a ‘straight talker’ after second round of leaked texts; at least 23 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
New text messages from former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian have emerged, building on former leaks and labelling Scott Morrison “obsessed with petty political pointscoring.”
News.com.au has reported it has received a second screenshot of text messages between Berejiklian and a mystery cabinet minister, in which she says she is “so, so disappointed,” in Morrison:
Thx. I’m just so so disappointed. Lives are at stake today and he is just obsessed with petty political pointscoring. So disappointed and gutted.
We’ve seen unprecedented collaboration with both the local government and state government, with support being delivered in record time … we were able to get $3bn of recovery support out, in just over the first three weeks – that’s a record number of people supported.
The PM has written to Premier Perrottet to say we’re very happy to share in costs of that program ... but the PM has made clear that it’s for the one-in-500-year flood event.
Continue reading...Education department probes complaints about Katoomba high school’s response to claims of harassment among students
The principal of a Blue Mountains high school has had a prestigious Harvard scholarship put on hold while her school is investigated by the New South Wales Department of Education.
The internal departmental investigation comes on top of two court cases involving staff or students at the school.
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Continue reading...Money can be used for repairs to gas and electricity services, rebuilding, and purchase of white goods
Uninsured residents in flood-affected areas of New South Wales can apply for new cash payments, as recovery efforts continue after the state’s second major flooding event in a month.
The premier, Dominic Perrottet, announced the grants of up to $20,000 in Lismore on Monday, his first day back from parental leave.
Continue reading...Sydney media’s reactionary momentum machine can help explain crackdown on climate activists
On Wednesday night, as the New South Wales parliament debated a bill that makes blocking roads in the state a jail-worthy offence, the independent MP for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, asked, rhetorically, what had prompted the government’s urgency to pass the legislation.
The bill had been introduced into the parliament late on Wednesday afternoon, with the Coalition providing a one-page brief and no forewarning to the crossbench.
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Continue reading...New law, which brings in fines of up to $22,000 and up to two years in jail, passes on extra sitting day of parliament
The New South Wales Labor party has helped pass a bill that could see protesters who block roads, ports or rail in the state spend up to two years in jail, despite outrage from unions and environmental groups.
After being forced to call an extra sitting day, thanks to the Greens mounting a filibuster attempt, the government was able to pass the bill into law with Labor’s backing on Friday, just two days after it first introduced the legislation into parliament.
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Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Australian contribution to become more critical as Scott Morrison pledges extra $25m in military assistance to Ukraine; Sydney rainfall tops record set in 1956; flood and hazardous surf warnings across NSW; nation records 32 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Parliament has passed legislation that can stop deadly mitochondrial disease in babies, using a partial DNA donation. It passed in the Senate scramble last night. Here’s the background:
Communities in the northern rivers region of NSW are going to get some reprieve from the rain today as the east coast low drifts away from the coast.
Party plans to move dozens of amendments to bill that introduces new penalties for protests
The Greens are mounting a last-ditch effort to stop the New South Wales government passing a controversial bill which would see protesters who block major roads, ports or train stations face up to two years in prison, by moving dozens of amendments in a late-night sitting session.
The filibuster attempt comes after the government sought to force the hastily drafted bill through both houses of parliament in less than 48 hours.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Supporters concerned they lack numbers needed to pass bill after Kiama MP’s suspension
The suspension of Kiama MP Gareth Ward from the New South Wales parliament has jeopardised a bill based on a landmark inquiry that found the removal of Aboriginal children from their families was escalating “at an alarming rate” in the state.
The Family Is Culture bill would for the first time require magistrates to “presume” an inherent harm in removing Aboriginal children from their families, in what advocates have hailed as a landmark reform to NSW’s scandal-plagued out-of-home-care system.
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Continue reading...Environmentalists call changes ‘everything you could ever dream about’ but industry says they ‘undermine the economics of delivering housing’
Property developers in New South Wales are fighting against the introduction of a wide-ranging planning policy aimed at ensuring houses are more energy-efficient and climate-resilient, which one environment group described as “everything you could ever dream about”.
Public comment closed last month on the draft Design and Place state environmental planning policy, hailed late last year by the then planning minister Rob Stokes as “NSW’s first comprehensive design policy”. It would offer “an important opportunity to reshape the look and feel of the places we live in”.
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Continue reading...Average weekday trips into city on public transport still down 55% compared with pre-pandemic levels
Public transport use continues to lag across Sydney and trips to city offices and entertainment venues remain low, with average daily weekday trips still down 55% on pre-pandemic levels.
Trips rose just 1% between February and March, despite the indoor mask mandate – which had been attributed as a leading cause of the sluggish return to offices – dropping more than a month ago.
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Continue reading...Analysis: Dominic Perrottet looks to the crossbench to help his minority government
It was purely coincidence that on Friday morning two ministers in the New South Wales government appeared at the opening of a new $341m hospital in Concord alongside the Drummoyne MP John Sidoti.
But the timing was fascinating.
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Continue reading...Tanya Davies says her government needs to end vaccine mandates, sparking criticism from Labor
The New South Wales Liberal MP Tanya Davies has hit out at her government over its Covid vaccination mandates for the public sector, claiming she has been working with the premier, Dominic Perrottet, to end them and get people back into jobs.
Speaking at an anti-vaccination rally outside parliament on Tuesday, the former minister said she was “dismayed” when her government introduced the measure and called for a return to “freedom”.
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Continue reading...The NSW government knows the more it is held up against the Coalition in Canberra, the better it looks despite its own shortcomings
It’s hard to imagine many inside the New South Wales government were particularly upset with veteran Nationals backbencher Geoff Provest when he aimed both barrels at the prime minister over his response to the state’s flood disaster this week.
Hardly the state government’s most prominent attack dog, Provest did not miss in his assessment of Scott Morrison after his north coast electorate of Tweed was inexplicably excluded from extra disaster funding announced by the prime minister last week.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Linen and water sources have not been organised for the homes, leaving locals waiting in evacuation centres
Motor homes intended for Lismore residents whose houses were inundated in this month’s floods are lying empty because linen and water sources have not been organised, while housing “pods” promised by the New South Wales government are yet to materialise.
The measures were announced as part of a temporary housing package last week, but three weeks on from the flood, thousands of locals are still living in evacuation centres due to the lacklustre speed of official support.
Continue reading...Epidemiologists say calls by business to relax mask rules as case numbers escalate is ‘down the rabbit hole thinking’
Victorian business leaders pushing to scrap mask mandates for hospitality and retail workers are “clearly not following the trend” in rising cases, according to epidemiologists who say now is not the time to relax rules.
The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday rejected a push from the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Retailers Association and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who told the Herald Sun they wanted national consistency on mask mandates and warned workers could leave the sectors for other jobs.
Continue reading...Proposals included a ban on transgender school students from confidentially coming out and restrictions on sports and toilets
The New South Wales government has confirmed it will not support One Nation MP Mark Latham’s controversial bill to ban discussion of gender diversity in classrooms, saying it could cause “targeted discrimination” against trans students.
First put forward in 2020, Latham’s “Parental Rights” bill sought to prohibit teachers from discussing “the ideology of gender fluidity to children in schools” and prevent schools from supporting transgender students without parental consent.
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Continue reading...Infighting over preselecting candidates for the federal election previously led to a special committee briefly taking over the NSW branch
The Liberal party’s infighting over preselecting federal candidates is heading back to the supreme court after a member of the NSW state executive began fresh legal action on Tuesday, challenging the federal party’s intervention to save two ministers and a sitting MP.
A member of the NSW state executive, Matthew Camenzuli, has filed in the NSW supreme court a challenge to the endorsement of the sitting MPs, which was achieved last week by a brief takeover of the troubled NSW branch by a special committee appointed by the federal party.
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Continue reading...RTBU secretary says union will take industrial action if government does not provide free fares ‘as a way of saying sorry’
The long-running dispute between the New South Wales rail union and the state government again threatens to shut down Sydney’s train network, as the transport minister David Elliott accused workers of “industrial bastardy” for the second time in three weeks over planned industrial action.
On Tuesday the secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Alex Claassens, threatened to use industrial action to force the government to offer free fares to commuters, as it continues to ramp up its long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
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