Category Archives: New South Wales politics

NSW health system failing rural and regional residents, report finds

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Issues include understaffing, poor access to services and discrimination towards First Nations people seeking medical help

People in rural New South Wales have “significantly poorer health outcomes” due to a system that is “failing” them, according to a scathing report handed to the state government on Thursday.

The report included 44 recommendations to fix the healthcare system in rural, regional and remote areas which it found was “in crisis”.

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Teachers to strike despite plea from NSW government to delay industrial action

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NSW public school teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months on Wednesday

Teachers in New South Wales will go ahead with a planned strike on Wednesday despite an 11th-hour plea from the government for the union to delay action until after the June budget.

Teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months, amid long-running concerns over wages and conditions. It is the latest in a series of strikes in the state’s public service, with train drivers, nurses and paramedics recently taking such industrial action.

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AMA welcomes proposed $460m mental health facility in Sydney despite questions over staffing

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New centre in city’s west will bridge ‘really big’ gap between public and private care and must have ongoing funding, medical association says

Plans for a $460m integrated mental health facility in Sydney’s west have been welcomed as a step in the right direction in addressing the “enormous” need for better and fairer care across the state.

But the Australian Medical Association New South Wales head, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the “million-dollar question” was how the complex at Westmead would be staffed, amid ongoing issues of doctor and nurse furloughing and burnout.

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Independent MP drops threat to withdraw supply to Perrottet’s minority government

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Sydney MP Alex Greenwich says he will continue work with NSW government after meeting with premier and transgender advocates

Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich has dropped a threat to withdraw supply from the New South Wales government, which is dependent on the crossbench for support.

Greenwich had threatened to leave the minority government out in the cold as a public debate over transgender people’s participation in sport dragged on.

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NSW MP Alex Greenwich threatens to withdraw supply from Perrottet government over ‘attacks’ on trans kids

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Sydney independent says he can’t have a ‘cooperative relationship’ with the NSW minority government if the premier continues comments

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, will meet with an independent MP who has threatened to withdraw supply and confidence from the minority government, following comments about the participation of transgender kids in sport.

The Sydney MP, Alex Greenwich – one of a handful of lower house crossbenchers the Coalition relies on to govern – said he could not have a “cooperative relationship” with the government if the premier continued to make “attacks” on the LGBTQ+ community.

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NSW Nationals candidate tells congregation of her aim to ‘bring God’s kingdom’ to politics

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Kimberly Hone previously posted on social media that ‘one way to avoid domestic violence is to marry well’

The National party’s candidate for the marginal northern New South Wales seat of Richmond told worshippers at a Pentecostal church that her “ultimate goal” in politics was to “bring God’s kingdom to the political arena”.

The comments by the endorsed Nationals candidate, Kimberly Hone, have emerged alongside a series of old social media posts described by her opponents as “repulsive”, and include a post from 2017 that says “one way to avoid domestic violence is to marry well” with a broken Facebook link.

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Epidemiologists split over easing of Covid restrictions in NSW and Victoria

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While business groups celebrate change to isolation rules, some experts remain cautious

The easing of Covid restrictions in Victoria and New South Wales has been welcomed by industry groups, despite concerns from some epidemiologists that it sends the wrong message at a time daily infections remain high.

From Friday, people in both states who live with Covid-19 cases or are deemed close contacts will no longer have to quarantine for seven days, provided they have no symptoms.

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NSW accused of politicising history scheme as Labor seats miss out on first round of blue plaques

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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.

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More than $3bn of social housing sold by NSW government since Coalition took power

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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.

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PM tight-lipped on election call – as it happened

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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.

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NSW principal’s Harvard scholarship paused due to school investigation

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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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Uninsured flood victims can receive up to $20,000 payment under NSW scheme

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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.

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NSW protest bill leaves Labor wedged between a roadblock and a hard place

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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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Labor helps pass NSW bill targeting road-blocking protesters despite union opposition

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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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Ukraine president addresses parliament; Putin a ‘war criminal’, PM says – as it happened

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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.

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Greens launch filibuster attempt to stop NSW bill targeting road-blocking protesters

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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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Bid to reform NSW’s out-of-home-care system in peril after suspension of MP Gareth Ward

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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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Property developers fight NSW bid to make houses more energy-efficient and climate-resilient

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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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Sydneysiders avoiding CBD after Covid ‘reset’ on working habits

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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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With numbers falling, the NSW government needs all the support it can get

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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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