Category Archives: New South Wales politics

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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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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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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Anger over delay to end of no-grounds evictions in NSW as renters face ‘perfect storm’

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Premier Chris Minns says government is still ‘grappling’ with issue that has already been outlawed in most states

The New South Wales government has been accused of failing renters by delaying legislation to end no-grounds evictions as demand for legal aid spikes across Sydney.

Despite both major parties pledging to abolish no-grounds evictions in the 2023 election, the government is yet to introduce legislation to implement the much-anticipated reforms.

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NSW premier hosing down greyhound racing ban before inquiry a ‘mockery’, Animal Justice MP says

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Emma Hurst blasts ‘absurd turn of events’ and calls for public reassurance after damning allegations dog deaths are higher than thought

The greyhound racing industry in New South Wales will face a government inquiry but not a ban after the resignation of the industry body’s chief executive and the release of a scathing report alleging welfare issues for the dogs.

The chief executive of Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW), Robert Macaulay, resigned after the report’s release on Tuesday in a decision his board described as “an amicable one, and one he felt was best for the industry at this time”.

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NSW Coalition at risk of collapse after Nationals leader backs Wes Fang in spat with Liberals

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Dugald Saunders took issue with Liberal leader Mark Speakman who sacked Fang from the shadow ministry over comments about a Wagga Wagga trip

The sacking of a Nationals MP from the New South Wales shadow ministry after he accused the Liberals of “pretending” to care about the Riverina has threatened the state’s longstanding Coalition.

The NSW Liberal party room will meet on Tuesday to discuss the rupture, which is the greatest threat to the Coalition since the then deputy premier John Barilaro threatened to walk away from the agreement over the koala wars in 2020.

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NSW government accused by critics of using ‘fatally compromised’ emissions report

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Climate campaigners and scientists disturbed over claims about global warming found in document obtained through Gipa laws

The New South Wales government is facing criticism over a review of how to cut emissions from coalmines that claims the goal of limiting global heating to well below 2C will not be met – a position at odds with the state’s laws and policies.

Climate campaigners and scientists said the claim in the report, prepared for the planning department, is inconsistent with state legislation that commits to pursuing efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5C.

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RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

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Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

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Matt Kean, a sometimes lone Coalition voice on climate threat, announces shock retirement

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NSW Liberal MP rules out running for federal parliament as he exits state politics after 13 years

New South Wales Liberal MP Matt Kean has announced his resignation from politics after 13 years in state parliament.

Kean made the surprise announcement in a snap press conference at NSW parliament on Tuesday, hours after the Minns Labor government handed down its second budget.

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NSW budget 2024: the biggest winners and losers

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From bulk billing GPs and frontline workers to renters and the environment, here’s who won and lost in the Minns government’s state budget

The New South Wales government has unveiled a bold plan to ease costs for GP clinics in order to nudge doctors into bulk billing more patients, as part of a suite of budget measures it hopes will deliver cost-of-living relief to citizens.

However, in announcing a $3.6bn deficit, the Minns government’s budget of “must-haves not nice-to-haves” leaves a raft of key societal issues without new funding or a clear path to improvement.

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From social housing to $1.5m for a studio: minister hits out at ‘dud deal’ sale of Sydney’s Sirius building

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Exclusive: Rose Jackson says losing public housing in expensive central suburbs leaves society worse off, and this week’s state budget will address issue

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment.

The last of the 76 apartments in the redeveloped complex in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge are on the market after the building was sold to a developer by the former Coalition state government for $150m in 2019.

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