Category Archives: New South Wales politics

Housing to be at the centre of NSW budget, with more homes for those in need

Posted on by

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey foreshadows more money for social and affordable housing while lamenting drop in state’s GST share

Housing will be the centrepiece of the New South Wales budget, with money for social and affordable homes, regional development and essential services to support growth across Sydney.

While the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, acknowledged there was no quick fix for the crisis, he said he had been listening to experts who called for more homes to help those most in need and stem the brain drain from the state.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW planning official referred to corruption watchdog Icac over house purchase allegation

Posted on by

Liberal MP Alister Henskens used parliamentary privilege to accuse unnamed bureaucrat of using inside knowledge to purchase property for potential profit

The New South Wales government will refer claims of serious misconduct by a senior planning bureaucrat to the corruption watchdog Icac after concerns were raised by a former Coalition minister speaking under parliamentary privilege.

The Liberal MP for Wahroonga, Alister Henskens, on Thursday evening told parliament he had received “credible evidence” to suggest the planning department official had used insider information for personal gain through the government’s housing plan.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Molly’s death was preventable’: premier says NSW must learn from mistakes after Ticehurst family speaks out

Posted on by

Chris Minns says review of Molly Ticehurst’s interactions with government agencies will be provided to her family and the public

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.

Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Mark Latham refused to pay Alex Greenwich $20,000 to avoid defamation lawsuit over graphic tweet

Posted on by

Former NSW One Nation leader said he would ‘strenuously defend’ explicit tweet describing a sex act that MP claims was defamatory, court documents reveal

Political firebrand Mark Latham did not hand over $20,000 to avoid an independent MP’s lawsuit over an explicit tweet, instead saying he would strenuously defend any defamation claims against him.

Court documents reveal that in a settlement offer made in April 2023, Alex Greenwich said he would not resort to litigation if the then New South Wales One Nation leader paid the money and issued a public apology.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Real concern’ over state of NSW social housing as history of gas leaks at Whalan complex revealed after deadly blast

Posted on by

Investigation under way into cause of explosion at social housing complex in Sydney’s west that left one woman dead

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has indicated there could be more money on the way for social housing stock and repairs in this month’s budget after a woman died when a townhouse with a history of suspected gas leaks in Sydney’s west exploded.

Mhey Yumol Jasmin’s body was found in the rubble on Monday morning after two days of searching at the Whalan social housing complex, where two gas meters were found to be damaged in recent months.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Origin Energy offered to sell Eraring power station to NSW government for $544m

Posted on by

Exclusive: Documents reveal offer was made three years before Origin and government reached deal to keep Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station open

Origin Energy offered to sell its Eraring power station to the New South Wales government for more than half a billion dollars before announcing it would close the plant in August 2025, a document now made public reveals.

The energy company, which last week announced a pact with the government to keep the nation’s biggest coal-fired power station open for at least another two years, had offered to sell back the privatised facility for $544m during negotiations in 2021.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW inquiry urges government to ditch big four firms for ‘in-house’ consultancy by public service

Posted on by

Banning bureaucrats from taking related consulting jobs for six months post-public service among inquiry’s 28 recommendations

The New South Wales government has been urged to set up an “in-house” consulting service and ban bureaucrats from taking on relevant consulting jobs for six months after they leave the public service.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry into the use of private consulting services by government made the recommendations after it found the former Coalition government was too reliant on consultants and paid for work normally designed for the public service when it was in power.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Claims for psychological injury at work surge in NSW at triple the rate of physical harm

Posted on by

Exclusive: SafeWork NSW promises to crack down on big businesses who fail to protect the wellbeing of staff

Claims for psychological injury at work are increasing at a rate far outstripping physical injury claims in New South Wales, prompting a warning from the state’s safety watchdog for businesses to expect compliance checks and prosecution if practices don’t improve.

Physical injury claims rose 11% over the four years to mid-2023, while claims of psychological damage jumped 30% over the same period, according to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (Sira).

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW premier sacks parliamentary secretary over criticism of police response to pro-Palestine protesters

Posted on by

Chris Minns said Labor MP Anthony D’Adam’s comments in a speech to parliament were ‘absolutely reprehensible’

A Labor politician who criticised the actions of New South Wales police officers towards pro-Palestinian protesters has been sacked from his role as parliamentary secretary by the premier, Chris Minns.

Minns took aim at the comments made by the upper house MP Anthony D’Adam, saying that D’Adam had never raised his concerns about the police commissioner, Karen Webb, and officers before making his speech in parliament on Wednesday night.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW to formally apologise for previously criminalising homosexuality

Posted on by

Chris Minns says he hopes move will bring ‘some semblance of closure’ to those convicted

The New South Wales government will formally apologise to people convicted under laws criminalising homosexuality in a move the premier hopes will bring closure to those who have been affected.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, NSW will become the last Australian state to issue an apology after all five others did last decade.

Continue reading...

Sydney council’s ‘ridiculous’ same-sex parents book ban could be overturned as backlash grows

Posted on by

NSW premier condemns western Sydney council’s ban on Holly Duhig’s children’s book as motion to rescind it lodged

The ban on same-sex parenting books at libraries in a western Sydney council area could be rescinded after widespread backlash and a warning from the premier, Chris Minns, that LGBTQ+ people were being used as a “political football”.

Four Labor councillors on Cumberland city council have lodged a rescission motion to overturn the ban, which they expect will be debated at the next council meeting on 15 May. The vote is expected to be tight.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Children in danger as NSW child protection reaches crisis point, striking caseworkers say

Posted on by

Public-sector workers call for pay rise, 500 additional staff and the de-privatising of out-of-home care

New South Wales child protection workers have warned that some of the state’s most vulnerable children are being neglected or put at risk of being removed from their families because resourcing problems in the sector have reached crisis point.

More than 2,000 public-sector child protection workers across the state plan to strike for part of the day on Wednesday as they call on the government to give them a pay rise, hire 500 additional staff and de-privatise out-of-home care.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW government’s debt collection agency broke law using automated bank withdrawals

Posted on by

Ombudsman report finds Revenue NSW engaged in ‘maladministration’ by taking money directly out of millions of bank accounts

The New South Wales government’s debt collection agency broke the law when it used an automated system to withdraw money from millions of bank accounts to claw back unpaid fines, a scathing report has found.

The NSW ombudsman Paul Miller’s report, released on Tuesday, found Revenue NSW’s use of AI to generate garnishee orders broke the law from its introduction in 2016 until 2019, and that it was “wrong” until March 2022.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

More than 90% of marine animals caught in NSW shark nets over summer were non-target species

Posted on by

Exclusive: New documents reveal NSW government division over controversial program as data reveals death toll

More than 90% of marine animals caught in shark nets off New South Wales beaches over the summer were non-target species, with new documents revealing division within the government over the controversial program.

More than half of the 208 non-target species – such as turtles, dolphins and smaller sharks – that were caught in the nets over the past eight months were killed, data obtained by conservationists show.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Drop in GST revenue will cost NSW ‘more than Covid’, treasurer says

Posted on by

Daniel Mookhey says ‘absurd’ carve-up of GST allocations means the state will ‘almost certainly’ lose its coveted AAA credit rating

New South Wales will “almost certainly” lose its remaining top-notch debt rating after an “absurd” carve-up of GST revenue stripped more from state revenue than Covid-19, the state’s treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said.

The assessment comes about a month after the Commonwealth Grants Commission revealed how it would allocate GST money. NSW complained it would lose $1.65bn even as its population swelled and other states, such as Victoria, got extra funds.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW Liberal party expels state MP Taylor Martin over ‘undignified’ breakup texts

Posted on by

Upper house member had been suspended from the party room after allegedly sending messages with ‘heated words’ to former girlfriend

The New South Wales Liberal party has expelled state MP Taylor Martin as a result of an investigation into text messages he sent to a woman with whom he was in a relationship.

Martin, who has been a member of the NSW upper house since 2017, has sat outside the Liberal party room since July last year after the party launched the investigation.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Marles says Labor ‘utterly committed’ to Brereton response but can’t say when work will be completed

Posted on by

Follow today’s news live

Unemployment ‘might take up a little bit’ when new numbers released later this week

Q: Given the economic conditions we’re seeing, what should households with mortgages expect?

[Inflation] won’t necessarily continue to come off in a perfectly straight line, but [it] is a fraction of what it was a couple of years ago when we came to office. That’s a good thing.

So we’ve got a whole bunch of things going for us in Australia, but enough to concern us as well about the global conditions about the way that people are still under considerable cost of living pressure.

The way that I would describe it to your listeners is we’ve got inflation lingering in parts of the world, we’ve got growth slowing in China and elsewhere, we’ve got tensions rising in the Middle East and the war in Europe. We’ve got supply chains which are straining and we’ve got a global economy which is fragmenting and transforming and so all of these factors are really important to us as we finalise the government’s third budget.

These are going to be these global conditions are going to be a really big influence on our budget, so the trip to DC which will be a pretty quick and make the most of it but it’s a good opportunity to take the temperature of the global economy.

Continue reading...

Bridget Archer leads criticism after Peter Dutton compares pro-Palestine protest to Port Arthur massacre

Posted on by

Tasmanian Liberal MP labels comments ‘wholly inappropriate’ after PM says he was ‘taken aback’ by opposition leader’s speech

Peter Dutton has drawn widespread criticism, including from one of his own MPs, for comparing the 1996 mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur to a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House.

The Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer labelled Dutton’s comments “incredibly disrespectful” and “wholly inappropriate”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Rozelle interchange: hundreds of residents vent frustration over traffic chaos as inquiry begins

Posted on by

Survey reveals locals’ disappointment with NSW transport agency’s response after bungled opening of $3.9bn junction

Hundreds of Sydney residents have vented their frustration about the traffic chaos caused by the Rozelle interchange in a survey released on the first day of an inquiry into the $3.9bn junction.

The majority of the 1,034 people who participated in the survey said the interchange had negatively affected them since it opened last November, with many voicing their disappointment at the New South Wales transport agency’s response.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW to review child protection screening algorithm over concerns about racial bias

Posted on by

Families minister says system is ‘not delivering the outcomes we want to see’ as almost 50% of children in care in NSW are Aboriginal

The New South Wales government will review a child protection tool that disproportionately affects Aboriginal children – and that has not been updated in the state for more than a decade.

The controversial system known as “structured decision making” (SDM) has been in use since 2010 to screen for at-risk children.

Continue reading...