What we learned; Tuesday 27 May
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here are the headlines from today:
A 24-year-old Aboriginal man has died in police custody in Alice Springs after being restrained when police intervened in an altercation at a Coles supermarket.
Western Australia will provide a support scheme for Aboriginal people removed from their families as children under Stolen Generations policies, leaving Queensland the only Australian jurisdiction yet to offer financial redress.
The former Labor minister Ed Husic has called for the government to move beyond words to action over Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza, and said sanctions on Israel are “probably under consideration”.
More than 1,000 artists, writers and performers have signed an open letter to the government, calling on Australia to honour its international obligations over the conflict in Gaza and safeguard the rights of workers who speak out in support of Palestine.
Current and former Liberal party MPs and senators have said the party’s focus on culture wars lost them the election.
The Woodside boss Meg O’Neill has criticised young people for being ideologically against fossil fuels while ordering cheap online consumer goods “without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions”.
The Australian Turf Club has rejected a plan to sell Rosehill racecourse to the NSW government.
The federal government will not offer buybacks to residents affected by the NSW floods, Anthony Albanese has said, saying that decision is a state issue.
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, has announced a new effort called Taskforce Falcon after a spate of gangland violence.
Queensland nurses are set to walk off the job after 96.5% of union members voted to strike this week.
A 32-year-old woman has been charged with murder after the death of a child at a home in a Queensland coastal town.
Adelaide residents have pushed back at Tesla’s bid for a new factory in the city’s south, targeting Elon Musk and the company’s environmental and ethical credentials.
Norway’s Princess Ingrid Alexandra will move to Australia to study at the University of Sydney.
Thanks so much for your company. We’ll be back early tomorrow morning for a big Wednesday of news. See you then.
Updated
Man charged over alleged looting in mid-north coast after flooding
A man has been charged over alleged looting in the flood-affected mid-north coast.
At about 3.45am today, police were called to Mortimer Street in Wingham after concerns about suspicious activity.
Police allegedly saw a man placing items into a hatchback. A police search of the vehicle found tools, paintings, family photos, DVDs, a fish tank, lamp, tyres and other personal items.
The man, 44, was given a roadside drug test and allegedly returned a positive detection for methamphetamine. He has been charged with goods in personal custody being stolen and breach of bail.
Manning/Great Lakes police district crime manager, Det Insp Natalie Antaw, said extra resources had been assigned to prevent offending in the area.
“We encourage the public to report any suspicious behaviour to police as soon as possible so that we can take action,” she said.
“I’d also like to remind people that taking any goods that are not yours, no matter where they are found, is an offence – even if the items have been moved from their original place by flood waters.”
Updated
NT police say senior commissioned officer placed in charge of investigating death in custody
More on the death of a man in Alice Springs: NT police have said that as per their protocol, this is considered a death in custody, and so a senior commissioned officer has been put in charge of the investigation.
The spokesperson said:
We have had detectives involved in the preliminary investigative process and major crime investigators are flying to Alice Springs this afternoon to assist with the evidence collection in relation to this matter.
This matter will be investigated and reported on, on behalf of the coroner and the Northern Territory pathologist is travelling to Alice Springs tomorrow and will conduct an autopsy in relation to the matter.
Updated
Aboriginal man, 24, dies after being restrained by police at Alice Springs supermarket
NT police have been speaking in Alice Springs about the death in custody earlier today.
The man, identified since the incident as a 24-year-old Aboriginal man from Alice Springs, died this afternoon after being restrained by police at a Coles supermarket.
The police spokesperson said:
At 1.10 pm this afternoon, there was a report of an incident that occurred in the Coles supermarket in Alice Springs. The incident involved a person who was placing items down the front of their clothing, who was confronted by security guards.
There was an altercation that occurred as a consequence of that confrontation. One of the security guards was assaulted and there were two police officers who were in plainclothes at the time in the supermarket, who rendered assistance to the security guards.
The male behaved rather aggressively and was placed on to the ground by those police officers. He was later identified as losing consciousness.
Other officers and St John Ambulance arrived and the man was taken to the Alice Springs hospital, but died soon afterwards.
Updated
Larissa Waters: Labor must knock back Woodside North West Gas Shelf extension
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has urged Labor’s Murray Watt to “knock this mega carbon bomb back” rather than approving an extension to Woodside’s North West Gas Shelf.
Despite Labor going to the election emphasising gas as a “transition” fuel, Waters told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that there was enough gas available in Australia already.
Waters said:
It is not, in my view, the role of an environment minister to tick off on the country’s biggest dirty gas project that we have ever seen that would lock us into fossil fuel usage out of 2070.
Waters said the choice was open to the Labor government to go down a different route rather than allow Woodside to extend its operations, saying “the public are really watching this and they want to know that this new government will take climate seriously”.
Waters was derisive about Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill’s comments that young people were hypocritical because they were “ideological” on fossil fuels while “happily ordering from Temu”.
Waters said:
You can’t make something like that up. Here is a very well-paid, wealthy fossil fuel executive trying to claim with a straight face that the climate crisis is the fault of young people shopping online for goods they can afford in a cost-of-living crisis. So I’m afraid I take her comments with a massive grain of salt. You can’t be the head of a massive dirty gas company and point the finger at other people about the climate crisis.
Updated
That’s it for me. Stephanie Convery will be on hand to see you through the evening’s news.
Man dies in police custody in Alice Springs
A man has died in police custody in Alice Springs after being restrained when police intervened in an altercation between the man and a security guard at a Coles supermarket.
In a statement this afternoon, NT police said they received reports of the altercation at 1.10pm local time. Two police officers were in the store at the time of the incident and restrained the man, the statement said. A short time later, the man “stopped breathing and CPR was commenced”.
The man was taken to Alice Springs hospital by St John Ambulance and was pronounced dead just after 2:20pm.
A crime scene was established at the shopping centre, which will remain closed, and the incident is being treated as a death in custody.
The Northern Territory police force major crime section detectives are travelling to Alice Springs to continue the investigation.
Updated
Minns says Rosehill effort has changed conversation about housing in Sydney
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said while he would have “loved” to see the Rosehill proposal pass, he believed it was a “fight worth having”. Minns said:
I think this would’ve been good for racing and good for Sydney. But rather than throw the car in reverse and say we can’t have big bold ideas any more, I think we’ve got to double down on it.
The premier added he believes the effort “did change the conversation about housing in Sydney for the better”.
Updated
Chris Minns says Sydney has ‘missed out’ after Rosehill decision
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says he is disappointed with the result after the Australian Turf Club rejected plans to sell Rosehill racecourse to the state. Minns said:
I think it’s an opportunity that Sydney’s missed out on … This shouldn’t take the wind out of the sails when it comes to bold ideas for housing.
We should be taking more risk when it comes to major housing proposals. We’ve been far too timid for far too long.
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ATC chair Peter McGauran ‘disappointed’ in result, but it’s ‘finished, it’s done’
ATC chair Peter McGauran said the vote was binding and the plan would not move ahead in any way. McGauran said:
It’s finished, it’s done …
I am disappointed that the vote wasn’t successful, but I understand that people opposed it.
He said the deal would have transformed “the entire Sydney racing scene for the next 100 years”. McGauran went on to say the ATC remained a strong and viable club, but said it would be more of a challenge going forward as the group would not have the funding a sale would have brought.
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Australian Turf Club rejects plan to turn Rosehill racecourse into ‘mini-city’ of 25,000 new homes
The Australian Turf Club has just announced that it has rejected a plan to sell Rosehill racecourse to the NSW government, which hoped to buy the site and create a major new housing development in western Sydney.
The plan, championed by the NSW premier, Chris Minns, would have seen the government buy the Rosehill land for $5bn. The government was then meant to sell on the land to developers to build about 25,000 new homes.
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Jacqui Lambie celebrates re-election, says she will ‘fight for Tasmanians for another six years’
Jacqui Lambie is celebrating her victory after she was confirmed to be heading to another term in federal parliament.
After weeks of counting, the Australian Electoral Commission distributed preferences and finalised results for the Senate in Tasmania and the Northern Territory on Tuesday morning. Lambie wrote to thank her supporters later in the day:
I am very grateful that the Tasmanian people have given me the chance to fight for them for another six years. Representing Tasmania and bringing the voices and concerns of the people to Canberra, is what gets me out of bed in the morning!
My focus is on the Tasmanian people, especially those doing it tough. Interest rates are coming down and that’s good, but for many Tasmanian families it will barely touch the sides.
You can read more here:
Updated
NSW flooding recovery efforts bolstered by ADF personnel; more minor flooding possible later today
Allison Flaxman, the acting assistant commissioner of the NSW SES, said 70 members of the ADF have arrived in the mid-north coast of the state and cleanup efforts are well under way. Flaxman said:
As river levels continue to fall, the NSW SES and supporting agencies are working to ensure conditions are safe for residents to return and begin restoration efforts.
Recovery centres will begin opening today in affected areas that will provide residents with recovery advice, essential services and support. You can find details of those services here.
The SES has issued warnings that damaging winds could arrive in the next 24 hours along the east coast of NSW, with minor flooding possible along the Hunter River in Maitland and Singleton later today, as well as on the Peel River in Tamworth.
Updated
Miriam Margolyes, Anthony LaPaglia among more than 1,000 creatives to sign open letter on Gaza
More than 1,000 artists, writers and performers have signed an open letter to the Australian government, calling on Australia to honour its international obligations over the conflict in Gaza and safeguard the rights of those working in the cultural sector who speak out in support of Palestine.
Miriam Margolyes, Anthony LaPaglia and Judy Davis are among the signatories on the letter sent to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, the defence minister, Richard Marles, minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, and the arts minister, Tony Burke.
Khaled Sabsabi, the Lebanese-Australian artist whose commission to the 2026 Venice Biennale was withdrawn earlier this year, and Australian pianist Jayson Gillham, who is suing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after it cancelled a concert because of a pro-Palestine statement he made on stage, have also signed.
The letter says while the signatories acknowledge and mourn the loss of Israeli lives on 7 October 2023, the subsequent actions of the Israeli government, and a recent statement by IDF Gen Itzik Cohen saying there was no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes, was further evidence of “the deliberate and systemic removal of the Palestinian people from Palestine, an act of ethnic cleansing and further evidence of genocide”.
The letter calls for a total arms and energy embargo on Israel, targeted sanctions and travel bans on Israeli government officials and a commitment to executing the arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court against Benjamin Netanyahu.
It also notes that music, art and performance – which have always provided a forum for free speech by raising awareness of injustices, providing tools for dialogue and understanding, and inspiring change – are now under threat.
The letter reads:
To stifle this not only tears at our fabric of humanity but also sets a dangerous precedent of censorship in the arts.
In a sector which is highly reliant on sponsorship, and where there is persistent financial insecurity for artists, threats to remove support or exclude individuals solely for having expressed an opinion has a serious chilling effect on creative freedom.
The Guardian has sought comment from the Australian government.
Updated
Sydney penthouse confiscated by police as proceeds of crime sells for $15m
A confiscated luxury Sydney penthouse has sold for $15m, with police putting the proceeds towards crime prevention and law enforcement programs.
The two-level, three-bedroom property in The Rocks enjoys unobstructed views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, the Australian federal police said.
It had been forfeited and confiscated in 2024 after first being restrained by the county court of Victoria in 2020 amid an AFP-led investigation which followed a separate Australian Border Force-led investigation into large-scale excise fraud involving the importation of alcohol. Four men were charged with various criminal offences.
The AFP-led taskforce identified numerous luxury items and assets suspected of being proceeds of crime including the penthouse.
The federal government appointed a real estate agency to auction the property on 16 April 2025, where it sold for $15m.
The proceeds of the sale will be placed in a special purpose account for confiscated assets, to be distributed into law enforcement measures for the Australian community, the AFP said.
Since July 2019, the AFP’s has restrained more than $1.2bn in criminal assets, including houses, cars, fine art and luxury yachts.
Updated
Workers compensation reform bill would make successful claims for psychological injury ‘virtually impossible’, experts say
Reforms which attempt to put NSW’s workers compensation scheme, icare, on a more sustainable footing by curtailing claims for psychological injury at work, were introduced into NSW parliament today, despite objections from unions and uncertain backing from the opposition and the crossbench.
The bill now includes mechanisms which the government says are aimed at preventing bullying and psychological harm in the workplace and to provide pathways that will allow workers to take action faster.
These include an expedited eight-week claims assessment process for psychological injuries caused by bullying or harassment. There is also $344m pledged for more services to assist workers who face bullying and harassment in the workplace.
The government insists that harm caused by exposure to trauma and PTSD will still be compensable but it says the focus should be on prevention of bullying and sexual harassment, not compensation.
The revised bill will also add “excessive work demands” as a new compensable cause of psychological injury.
But experts have said the proposed limitations on claiming for psychological injury would make it “virtually impossible” for people to lodge successful claims to icare and strip away the rights of employees.
The controversial bill may face a rocky path through parliament. The NSW opposition is still to declare its position – it said it wanted to see the detail of the bill – while crossbench MPs have expressed reservations that the reforms are more about finding savings than protecting workers.
The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, warned the opposition and minor parties that they had a choice between the status quo – an unsustainable scheme- or the proposed changes. He said:
The question now for parliament is: Are these reforms worse than the status quo? And the status quo is failing, and doing nothing is not an option.
With a state budget approaching, Mookhey will be forced to disclose the further expected deterioration in the financial position of icare unless the changes are passed. There are concerns that icare could collapse unless changes are made.
Updated
Thanks for staying with us today. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Nick Visser to take you through the rest of the day’s news.
Queensland police treating Pheobe Bishop disappearance as a ‘suspicious missing person’
Ryan Thompson, detective acting inspector with Queensland police, said officials were still treating the disappearance as a “suspicious missing person”. Thompson said police were speaking to a “a number of persons and they are providing information”.
A reporter asked if police had found any sign of a struggle, but the detective acting inspector said there were “no signs of that at this point in time”.
Read more here:
Updated
Police still appealing for information in search for missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop
Police are still conducting an “extensive” search of Good Night Scrub national park in Queensland as they search for missing teenager Pheobe Bishop. Bishop, 17, has not been seen since she was driven to Bundaberg airport at about 8.30am on 15 May. She never entered the terminal to check in for her flight.
Investigators have been searching the national park this week and have seized several items in the search for Bishop. It’s unclear what those items are or how they are linked to the search, but officials said they were undergoing forensic examination.
Those appeals include any information or footage of a silver or grey Hyundai ix35 gathered between 15 May and 18 May. The vehicle is thought to be the car used to take Bishop to the airport.
Police seized and searched the vehicle after treating it as a crime scene. It has since been released.
Updated
Australian women lagging on use of IUDs due to education ‘failure’, experts say
An exclusive report you may have missed from earlier today: most Australian women don’t know that intrauterine devices are the most effective form of contraception.
Experts say this nationwide “failure in public education” has contributed to low uptake and caused Australia to lag behind other western countries.
The latest Jean Hailes National Women’s Health Survey of 3,537 reproductive age women found more than 80% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 60% of 25-to-44-year-olds want to avoid getting pregnant.
The survey found only 7% of women aged 18 to 24 and 11% of women aged 25 to 44 reported using an IUD.
The CEO of Jean Hailes, Dr Sarah White, said the results show Australia is “far behind” equivalent countries such as the UK, South Korea, France and the US. In Sweden and England rates of use are over 30%. White said:
They’re walking past one of the best options they’ve got because they just don’t know about it.
IUDs are small devices implanted in the uterus. As a form of long-acting reversible contraceptives, they are the most effective way to prevent pregnancy (over 99%).
You can read more here:
Updated
E-scooter charger accident injures two in South Melbourne unit fire
Two people were injured in a South Melbourne apartment fire sparked by unsafe e-scooter charging, a Victorian government agency has warned.
Energy Safe Victoria said it was investigating the incident after one resident was left with significant burns to their feet and legs and another suffered smoke inhalation.
There were at least three e-scooters and e-bikes inside the property, including one connected to an incompatible charger identified as the cause of the fire after firefighters extinguished the 12th-storey blaze in the early morning last Tuesday.
Energy Safe Victoria CEO Leanne Hughson said chargers that didn’t match the lithium-ion batteries in e-rides could overcharge the battery and cause thermal runaway, sparking fires. She said:
While thankfully no one was seriously injured in this incident, it is a timely reminder of just how quickly a house fire can ignite when owners use incompatible battery chargers for their e-rides.
Blazes sparked by lithium batteries saw the New South Wales government move to regulate the devices’ handling and disposal in March.
You can read more about the risk here, as explained by Guardian Australia’s Donna Lu:
Greens demand new regulation of shark control programs
The Greens have drawn a red line in potential negotiations for new Albanese government efforts to reform Australia’s environmental laws, demanding new regulation of shark control programs.
Guardian Australia has reported the forthcoming federal law reforms could hold up Queensland government’s expanded lethal shark control program, which last year killed dozens of whales, dolphins, turtles and rays. You can read more here:
The program has a partial exemption from the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, designed to protect threatened species, and the Greens have demanded this exemption be removed.
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said shark nets and drumlines should be removed from Queensland, not expanded, calling them “weapons of mass destruction to precious marine wildlife”. He said in a statement:
The Greens call on the federal government to reject any exemption sought for this expanded shark cull program, and use its upcoming commitment to reform Australia’s environmental laws to remove existing exemptions to state-controlled lethal shark net programs that risk federally protected species. Make no mistake, the Greens will be putting this on the table in environment law negotiations.
The Queensland government expansion would pump $88m over four years into the state’s shark management plan, which would see shark nets and baited drum lines rolled out at more beaches, as well as the expanded use of non-lethal technology such as drone surveillance.
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Healing Foundation welcomes WA redress scheme for Stolen Generations survivors
The Healing Foundation, a peak body that supports survivors of Stolen Generations survivors and their families have welcomed the WA government’s redress scheme announcement saying the scheme is long overdue after decades of campaigning.
The Healing Foundation’s CEO and Yawuru woman Shannan Dodson said she felt an overwhelming mixture of emotions for WA Stolen Generations survivors and their families. Dodson said in a statement:
Across Western Australia, survivors and descendants have been fighting tirelessly for years for justice and redress.
I pay tribute and honour all the Stolen Generations organisations that have advocated and stood alongside survivors throughout this long journey …
No amount of money will make up for the trauma inflicted on Stolen children, but redress is validation of their experience, and some compensation for the pain they’ve suffered.
WA survivor and co-chair of Bringing Them Home WA, Tony Hansen, said the redress scheme and WA governments must acknowledge its “brutal history”:
And evil policies that ripped the hearts out of children and families, this day will go down in history as a powerful moment of truth-telling.
The Cook government today announced its redress scheme of $85,000 for living survivors of the Stolen Generations in Western Australia in recognition of the trauma and harm that state and federal governments caused through forced child removals from Aboriginal families.
Updated
WA to provide redress scheme for survivors of Stolen Generations
Western Australia will provide a support scheme for Aboriginal people removed from their families as children under Stolen Generations policies, leaving Queensland the only Australian jurisdiction yet to offer financial redress.
The premier, Roger Cook, today opened the financial support scheme, which would make payments of up to $85,000 to be delivered to eligible applicants late this year.
Those who were taken from their families before July 1972 or, if they have passed, family members applying on their behalf, would be eligible.
Announcing the payments, Cook told reporters:
Today, we take small steps towards righting an historic wrong …
These payments acknowledge an injustice. It does not correct what has happened … It’s no doubt that it’s overdue. We want to make sure that we take deliberate steps in righting the wrongs of the path and providing a pathway of healing into the future.
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Invasive species group not happy with calls for bounties for feral pests
The Invasive Species Council, an independent environmental advocacy group, is not happy after the NSW premier, Chris Minns, suggested the state would look into imposing bounties for the hunting of feral pigs, goats and cats earlier today.
The group claimed Minns’ comments have “nothing to do with good feral animal management”, instead pointing to the need for “serious, coordinated programs led by professionals”.
The group’s CEO, Jack Gough, said in a statement:
Bounty hunters might be heroes on the big screen, but in the real world of feral animal control, they’re just a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The CSIRO’s current advice on pest management says bounties rarely work to help bring numbers down.
Read more here:
Updated
Bounties back in vogue to cull feral goats, cats and pigs
The New South Wales premier has thrown his weight behind paying bounty hunters to help reduce feral cats, goats and pigs roaming his state, AAP reports.
Bounty hunters may be unleashed on feral cats and goats for the first time in years as a state government looks to “novel” ways to deal with pests.
Chris Minns said the state has to do better to control feral pest populations. He told Triple M Coffs Coast radio:
It’s about time we start thinking about novel ways of reducing the feral goat, the feral pig, the feral cat population, which has really taken over a lot of parks …
We should be open to bounties and other things, because we’ve got a lot of recreational shooters out there that are actually getting rid of a lot of the pests roaming across our native vegetation. We can be doing far better on it.
The Victorian government offered fox hunters $10 to $14 per scalp in 2022, which saw more than 80,000 of the species wiped out that year.
Nearly $1bn is also being spent on prevention and protection against biosecurity threats in NSW.
Invasive species are the highest impact contributors of extinctions, directly endangering 70% of threatened wildlife and ecosystems in the state.
The premier highlighted the success of brumby culls in the Kosciuszko national park, bringing the population down up to 80%, but his suggestion has attracted criticism – more on that in a minute.
Updated
Fines top $30 million after college misled students
An online diploma college has been slapped with $30 million in fines after using dodgy practices to enrol disadvantaged students in courses they never logged into, AAP reports.
The penalties follow a Federal Court ruling that Captain Cook College attempted to maximise its profits by making false representations to potential students from September 2015.
The college was acquired by parent company, Site Group International Limited, in 2014 before it was closed at the end of 2016.
Site Group and chief operations officer Blake Wills were also found to be aware of, and involved in, the conduct, the court found.
Justice Angus Stewart on Tuesday ordered the trio to pay more than $30 million for its actions.
Wills was ordered to contribute $400,000 for his involvement and was banned from managing corporations for three years.
Legal action was first brought against the college in November 2018 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The watchdog alleged there was clear evidence the college enrolled vulnerable students in courses they were unlikely to complete.
More than 90 per cent of the students did not complete their online course, and about 85 per cent of them never logged into their course, the watchdog said.
Courses included business, project management and human resource management.
More than 6000 affected students accrued more than $50 million in VET FEE-HELP loans, a government program assisting students to pay their tuition fees.
In July 2021, the Federal Court found that the college and Site engaged in a system of unconscionable conduct.
Captain Cook College, Site Group and Mr Wills appealed to the High Court following the ruling, but the findings were upheld in August 2024.
The trio were ordered to pay the watchdog’s legal costs for the court proceedings.
Captain Cook College was established in 1998 as a provider of online VET FEE-HELP diploma courses.
ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle hailed as ‘superhero’ after striking plea deal
Whistleblower Richard Boyle has been hailed a “superhero” after striking a plea deal under which he may avoid jail, AAP reports.
The 49-year-old has admitted to four criminal charges linked to his exposure of unethical debt recovery practices at the Australian Taxation Office.
Boyle appeared in the Adelaide district court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to disclosing protected information to another entity, making a record of protected information, using a listening device to record a private conversation and recording other people’s tax file numbers.
The commonwealth director of public prosecutions withdrew a further 15 charges, while another five charges were dropped in March.
Outside court, Whistleblowers Justice Fund founder Rex Patrick said Boyle had “pleaded guilty to helping all Australians by disclosing poor conduct by the tax office, who were stripping funds from businesses who were in distress”. He said:
He should be wearing a big S on his chest, as a superhero, instead of a conviction …
The message being sent by the government is: if you blow the whistle, we will pursue you to the end.
Boyle, a former ATO debt collection officer, raised concerns internally about debt recovery practices in October 2017, when he grew worried about operations in the tax office.
Believing his complaints had been ignored, he went public on the ABC’s Four Corners about the tactics used against taxpayers who owed the ATO money.
Outside court, Boyle hugged supporters, including his wife, Louise Beaston.
Last year, the SA court of appeal ruled Boyle was not protected by federal whistleblowing laws – because the charges related not to his whistleblowing, but steps Boyle had taken in preparation to blow the whistle internally, including taking photos of documents and recording conversations.
Boyle returns to court for sentencing submissions on 1 August.
Updated
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb cleared of misconduct allegation
The New South Wales police commissioner, Karen Webb, has been cleared of a misconduct allegation by the state watchdog.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission said it received a complaint over an allegation Webb had breached police force policy by sharing the confidential details of a deceased person with broadcaster Ray Hadley of 2GB Radio in April 2024 before their next of kin was notified.
The commission conducted a preliminary investigation and “undertook a range of investigative strategies” and concluded its effort in March 2025, satisfied that there was no misconduct by Webb.
Webb earlier this month announced she would resign after three years in the five-year role and 38 years in the police force. You can read more here:
Updated
Buybacks for flood-hit residents a matter for states, PM says
The federal government will not offer buybacks to residents affected by the New South Wales floods, the prime minister has said, saying that decision is a state issue.
With the number of properties assessed as uninhabitable already at nearly 800 and on the rise, Anthony Albanese said insurance companies should provide swift assistance but did not commit to reforming or underwriting insurance for the area. He told reporters:
We expect insurance companies to do right by their customers, and swiftly process claims. They’ve set up an office here so that they can be dealt with swiftly …
There are longer-term issues that need to be looked at but what we need to do at this point in time is make sure that people’s immediate needs are looked after.
Albanese said the government would offer loans and subsidies to farms and other businesses affected by the floods but declined to guarantee funding for every affected primary producer:
I can guarantee that the government will be doing our best to make sure that people are looked after.
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PM dismisses suggestions ADF flood assistance arrived too late
Albanese has pushed back at suggestions the Australian Defence Force was sent in to aid the flood response too late, pointing to the hundreds of responders on the ground.
Asked about residents’ concerns the ADF was deployed to0 late, the prime minister pointed to air recovery efforts carried out last week. He also praised the work of the veteran-led Disaster Relief Australia and the state emergency service:
The ADF I saw in the main street of Taree there, working on the ground, 70 of them [and] 100 DRA [volunteers]. The ADF personnel have come from Coffs Harbour, Queensland, different parts of New South Wales and nationally as well. They’ve been deployed upon request.
… There’s been 165 personnel deployed from outside NSW SES already and another 74 are due to arrive in coming days. This has been a massive effort from the authorities as well as from the community.
Albanese said the government was yet to receive further requests for ADF support but the military personnel would remain in the area for as long as was necessary.
We will provide what support is necessary … We remain vigilant and we remain engaged.
That second organisation he mentioned, Disaster Relief Australia, is pushing for a new funding deal to secure its future and grow its force, as it positions itself as an alternative to the Australian defence force in the aftermath of major floods, fires and cyclones.
You can read more on that here:
Updated
Disaster recovery payment to be extended to more areas along NSW mid-north coast
Government support payments will be provided to more residents along the flood-affected mid-north coast of New South Wales, Anthony Albanese has said.
He confirmed the disaster recovery payment would be offered to the local government areas of Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Kempsey, Mid-Coast, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie, Hastings and Port Stephens.
That could be accessed from 2pm tomorrow, providing a one-off payment of $1,000 for eligible adults and $400 for eligible children.
The ongoing disaster recovery allowance, providing for up to 13 weeks of income support for people who can’t earn their normal income, would be extended to all 19 affected local govenrment areas, he said.
Albanese said:
There are still massive challenges and we need to understand and certainly the government understands that this is not something that will go away in a matter of days or weeks or even months. This will take some time, the recovery, but Australians are resilient.
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PM says flooding in NSW will have effects on entire country
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has warned the devastation to farms and livelihoods from flooding on the mid-north coast of New South Wales will cost not only locals but the entire country.
Albanese is speaking in Taree, a town hit hard by last week’s flooding, at the local state emergency service operations centre. He says:
Every Australian is affected as well, by the fact that we’ve had a loss of dairy industries that will have an impact right throughout Australia, and right throughout the economic impact here as well.
But the human impact, we must remember first and foremost. The loss of five lives through these devastating floods [and] the extraordinary hardship that people have gone through.
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Woodside boss calls young people ‘ideologues’ for opposition to fossil fuels
The boss of Australian gas giant Woodside, Meg O’Neill, has attacked young people as being ideologically against fossil fuels while ordering cheap online consumer goods “without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions”.
O’Neill was speaking on Tuesday on a panel during the gas industry’s annual conference in Brisbane, when she was asked by moderator and Sky news contributor Chris Uhlmann if people were aware of where their electricity came from. O’Neill said:
Most people hit a switch and expect the lights to come on, and it’s been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly amongst young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, ‘fossil fuel bad, renewables good’, that are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from [online fashion store] Shein and Temu, having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions.
So that human impact and the consumer’s role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.
According to company documents, the sale and burning of Woodside’s gas emitted 74m tonnes of CO2 last year.
Woodside is waiting for new environment minister, Murray Watt, to make a decision later this week on the company’s expansion of its North West Shelf project that wants to extend its gas production for another 40 years to 2070.
The three-day annual conference of industry group Australian Energy Producers, starting today, has already heard from resources minister, Madeleine King, who said the government was working to speed up approvals for projects and increase exploration efforts.
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Research shows heat-related work harms to rise by a quarter by 2050
Extreme temperatures are expected to put more Australian workers at risk and lift business costs, with new research predicting heat-related work harms will rise more than a quarter by 2050.
Global heating will result in rising numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses with a potential cost of $94m a year, Australian researchers estimated.
Academics at Charles Darwin University, the University of Adelaide and Monash University analysed more than 2.3m workplace injury claims across Australia’s capital cities, excluding Canberra, from 2005 to 2018.
Heat and cold were responsible for nearly 40,000 or about one in every 60 avoidable occupational injuries and illnesses, they found, using a measure of sunlight-related heat stress. In 25 years’ time, they expect that proportion will rise above one in 50.
Unsuitable clothing, a lack of air conditioning and hot or cold conditions around physically demanding work were key causes.
Extreme temperatures were one of the most threatening health impacts of climate change and the rise in injuries would have to be mitigated, according to Dr Matthew Borg, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide. He said:
Employers can protect workers by using heat safety measures such as setting work-to-rest ratios based on temperature and job demands, providing plenty of water and access to shade or air-conditioning, monitoring hydration, ensuring proper clothing, creating heat acclimatisation plans for new workers, and reducing heat generated in the workplace.
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Revived Victorian State Electricity Commission to begin supplying renewable power from 1 July
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was up this morning to announce a major milestone for the revived State Electricity Commission, which will start supplying renewable energy to government infrastructure from 1 July.
From the start of the new financial year, all Victorian government operations – including 1,468 public schools, kindergartens and TAFEs, hospitals, police and fire stations, as well as the train and tram network – will be run on 100% renewable electricity run by the SEC.
Major public sites are also included, such as the Melbourne and Olympic Parks precinct, the Melbourne Zoo, the National Gallery of Victoria, parliament, Flinders Street station and even the penguin parade on Phillip Island.
It is the first time in three decades that the SEC will deliver power to Victorians after it was privatised by the Liberal government in the 1990s.
Allan says the signing of supply contracts means the SEC will now account for 5% of Victoria’s total electricity consumption, making it the fifth-largest commercial and industrial electricity retailer in the state.
The power will come from a mix of the SEC’s own renewable energy projects and supply secured through the Victorian Renewable Energy Auction contracts, meaning it draws on wind and solar from sites at Berrybank, Bulgana, Cohuna, Dundonnell and Winton.
Later this year, the SEC plans to offer renewable electricity contracts to commercial and industrial businesses.
All profits, Allan says, will be reinvested into new SEC renewable projects.
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Dust storms in south-east continuing to clear this afternoon, BoM says
The dust storms and haze affecting Australia’s south-east should continue to clear this afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology has said.
Meteorologist Dean Narramore said south-westerly winds would clear out the dust haze affecting Sydney and surrounds in the next few hours:
It’s just lingering on the east coast in the next couple of hours, and then it’s going to be all gone by this afternoon.
The air quality in the city’s west has already started to improve but remains very poor, the state government is warning. You can find more details on the air quality and health warnings for New South Wales here.
Dust also swept through Melbourne, Canberra and surrounding regions early this morning after strong winds kicked up a haze out of drought-affected areas in South Australia and Victoria’s west, Narramore said.
He told Guardian Australia those conditions have since eased but heavy and possibly damaging winds are still set to impact parts of south-west NSW.
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Kamala Harris and husband celebrate visit to Australia on social media
Kamala Harris, the former United States vice-president, and her husband, Doug Emhoff, have celebrated their “great visit” to Australia, after visiting the country this week.
Emhoff posted photos of the pair at Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge and walking through the harbourside Botanic Gardens. He wrote on Instagram:
Such a great visit to Australia. Thanks to all for the warm welcome and friendship.
Harris was visiting Australia for the first time. She was the guest of honour at the 2025 Australian Real Estate Conference on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where she took a swipe at Elon Musk and warned the world to “remember the 1930s”. You can read about that address here:
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Australian police working to extradite alleged fake terror plot mastermind from Turkey
The NSW and federal police are continuing to work to extradite from Turkey the alleged mastermind behind the “fake terrorism” caravan plot.
NSW deputy police commissioner, David Hudson, told reporters a little earlier:
We’re working with the Australian federal police in relation to inquiries in that regard … It’s a current investigation, I can’t really comment any further.
In January, police discovered a caravan packed with explosives in the outer Sydney suburb of Dural, triggering a massive multi agency investigation.
Police alleged in March that the caravan was part of a “fake terrorism plot” orchestrated for personal gain. Police alleged the “con job” was fabricated for personal benefit and that the undisclosed figures were based in Australia and offshore.
Former gym owner and alleged drug dealer Sayit Akca was smuggled out of Australia in 2023 after he was charged the year before with conspiring to import a commercial quantity of illicit drugs and recklessly engaging with the proceeds of crime.
Akca has denied responsibility for the caravan plot – but admits he was involved in having the caravan moved. He told Four Corners earlier this month he was able to divert the caravan – which he says was being moved between an illicit buyer and seller – and informed the AFP about the explosives in an attempt to gain more lenient treatment in the courts.
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Jacqui Lambie among island state's returning senators as Hanson's daughter misses out
Jacqui Lambie will have another term in the parliament, with Tasmania also electing two Labor, two Liberal and one Green to the Senate at the election.
The Australian Electoral Commission “pushed the button” to finalise Senate results in Tasmania this morning. Two Labor senators (Carol Brown and Richard Dowling), two Liberals (Claire Chandler and Richard Colbeck) and one Green (Nick McKim) have also been elected in Tasmania, as well as Lambie.
It means Lee Hanson, daughter of One Nation founder Pauline, has missed out. Lambie, the popular independent senator, was elected in fifth place behind Brown, Chandler, McKim and Dowling, with Colbeck – the former aged care minister – in sixth.
The Australian Electoral Officer for Tasmania, Hannah Brown, said: “As with all aspects of the count, scrutineers appointed by the candidates were able to witness the automated distribution of preferences undertaken today.”
It comes minutes after the Northern Territory was confirmed and a day after South Australia. More Senate results are expected to come later this week in Victoria and the ACT (Wednesday), then Western Australia (Thursday); NSW and Queensland will follow after.
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AEC to confirm NT and Tasmanian Senate seats
The AEC is now getting to confirm more senators after complicated vote-counting is finally finishing up. The two senators for the Northern Territory are now decided, and we’re awaiting confirmation of those from Tasmania any minute.
As expected, no surprises in the Territory. Malarndirri McCarthy, the Labor senator and minister for Indigenous Australians, has been elected at number one; Jacinta Namipijinpa Price, the Country Liberal Party senator, was elected at number two.
Price of course helped spark the Liberal-Nationals divorce recently by deciding to switch to sit in the Liberal party room rather than the Nationals (the Country Liberal party lets its members choose which party to sit with).
We’re awaiting the AEC’s written confirmation of who’s been elected in Tasmania, but we’re hearing Jacqui Lambie has been re-elected down there. More to come shortly.
It comes after South Australia was finalised yesterday. Tomorrow we’re hearing we could expect to get results from Victoria and the ACT, with Western Australia on Thursday, and NSW and Queensland to follow either late this week or early next.
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Dust storm prompts health warning over Sydney haze
Parts of Sydney are facing “extremely poor” air quality as a dust storm sweeps New South Wales, the state government has warned.
Sydney’s north-west and central west including Parramatta are facing the heaviest air pollution, with very poor air quality also observed across Sydney, stretching as far south as Goulburn and as far north as Muswellbrook.
Poor air quality has also spread through the state’s east.
Those sensitive to air pollution should stay indoors and close windows and doors until air quality improves, or travel to places with air conditioning if preferred to their homes, the government said:
There is currently a dust storm sweeping across NSW which is impacting air quality across the state. Please refer to the Air Quality in your area and follow the relevant health advice.
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Adelaide locals resist Tesla factory bid over anti-Elon Musk sentiment
Adelaide residents have pushed back at Tesla’s bid for a new factory in the city’s south, targeting Elon Musk and the company’s environmental and ethical credentials
Of nearly 1,000 submissions sent to the local council, 95% called for the proposal to be struck down, citing “anti-Tesla and anti-Elon Musk sentiment” and “Musk’s influence on global discourse via social media platforms”, as well as the environmental impact and potential loss of green space.
More than half of the 948 community submissions came from outside the council area, but submissions from those in the immediate area of the proposed factory site overwhelmingly opposed the development at 121 against and 11 for.
Dozens of submissions referred to Musk’s interventions in American and European politics and his apparent fascist-style salute earlier this year. One critic, citing Guardian reporting, wrote:
I could not think of a worse developer to sell the land to. Tesla sales have been plummetting [sic] … this is likely to attract protests and negative attention that the neighbourhood does not need or want.
Tesla and South Australian government agencies emphasised the economic benefits to the region in their letters of support, while a handful of residents said the land should be put to productive use and one celebrated Musk’s “visionary approach”.
Staff at the City of Marion officially recommended the council sell the land to Tesla, with the proposal to be discussed at a council meeting tonight.
You can read more about the brand damage Elon Musk has caused to Tesla from the Guardian’s US team here:
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Symes says Victoria’s ballooning debt the result of a lack of federal support
Symes defended Victoria’s ballooning debt, which is forecast to rise from $155.5bn by mid-2025 to $194bn by June 2029, arguing the burden was largely the result of a lack of federal support:
I can sit there and look at why we have the debt we do, and a lot of it is because we invested in productive infrastructure – in road, in rail, in a number of things that the feds could have stepped in and they chose not to. But we as a state government chose not to sit back and do nothing ... Our debt profile would look a lot different if the feds, at the time had contributed, as in a fair way.
She says the current federal Labor government had started to increase its contributions, citing the Sunshine station upgrade and the Melbourne Airport Rail project. But she warned Victoria was still lagging behind and flagged plans to push for additional funding:
We’re still a long way behind in both infrastructure and GST ... we potentially have been ignored because we’ve done so well. It’s like the curse of competency, when you step in and do what’s right, we kind of let them off the hook, in a way. But I think now, given where we are financially, I’ll be reminding them of the fact that you can’t just set and forget.
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Victorian treasurer says no plans to change current work-from-home policy for public servents
Jumping back to the Victorian treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, who is speaking at a Property Council breakfast: Symes is also asked whether the Victorian government would consider changing its work-from-home policy for public servants. She says no, pointing to the federal Coalition’s policy hurting them during the federal election campaign:
I’m not sure if you were watching the federal election results and what happened when a government came out and said that they might change some settings in relation to working from home.
Victoria currently requires public servants to be in the office at least three days a week. Symes says maintaining this flexibility was essential to attracting and retaining staff:
People are searching for quality workplaces, they’re searching for flexibility. We know that if we were to change those settings, not only would it not attract the best and brightest, we would lose some of the people that we need to provide the best services that Victorians rely on. We don’t have any plans to change those settings because of the negative ramifications that would occur.
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Dust storms blanketed parts of South Australia on Monday
A dust storm in the town of Orroroo, South Australia, on Monday blocked out the sky and covered the area in an orange haze.
The BoM said dry conditions and strong winds caused the large dust clouds to form, leading to poor visibility and bad driving conditions that prompted some road closures.
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Symes ‘skeptical’ over Liberal state opposition stance on housing
Symes is asked about the opposition’s policy, to be announced later this morning, to scrap stamp duty for first home buyers spending up to $1m if elected next year. The government, meanwhile, has extended its stamp duty discount announced last year but only on off-the-plan apartments, apartments, units and townhouses.
Symes says she is not across the details of the opposition’s plan but has a “degree of skepticism on announcements from the party that block home building”. She goes on:
If you block home building, there’s not much you can do to ensure that people have a home to buy. Obviously, also when you create a policy that has a financial impact, the obvious question is, what services, what hospitals will suffer as a consequence?
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NSW police launch Taskforce Falcon to target gangland violence
The NSW police minister Yasmin Catley has announced a new effort called Taskforce Falcon after a spate of gangland violence. The effort will bring together 13 separate investigations under one umbrella involving 150 people, including 100 detectives.
Catley said:
The recent violence we have seen on our streets is absolutely horrific. We will not tolerate these lawless thugs, getting out there with their vendettas against each other and putting in danger innocent victims in our community. …
Let me tell you, if you intend to become a part of these organised gangs, you are either going to end up in a small cell for the rest of your life, or dead.
NSW police’s deputy commissioner, David Hudson, pointed to a series of recent shootings allegedly linked to gangland activity, saying when people were being shot in “broad daylight … then we have to take action”.
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Minister defends Victorian relaxation of rules on townhouse planning
Symes also spoke about the government’s plan to relax rules around townhouse construction and subdivision, describing them as the “achievable dream of the modern millennial” that will have a minimum impact on heritage:
Two stories, two bathrooms, two minutes from the shops but not $2m. Of course, there is a place for heritage, and I respect heritage, but I fail to see how a row of townhouses affects heritage value, especially when heritage cited is usually a row of terraces, which in any other country would be called townhouses.
I respect heritage, but the built form of our city and its 3m dwellings can’t just tell us a story of the past. It must write our future. Some old planning professors, the ones who perhaps designed the rules to block your projects, they speak from a position of privilege, not a position of fairness. They say a Carlton terrace for me, but not an Oakleigh townhouse for thee.
Young people see straight through this. They just want a house near [public transport] or work where they can raise a family and get on with their life.
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Victorian treasurer says property planning overhaul about getting ‘young people on the property ladder’
The Victorian treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, is continuing to do the rounds at events after handing down her first state budget last week.
This morning, she spoke at a Property Council breakfast, where she discussed the government’s overhaul of planning announced last year which involves taking over from council control over 50 train and tram stations in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Symes admits the plans to increase density in these “activity zones” has “made a splash”:
The point is not for everyone to agree with it, although the research does suggest that most Victorians do. The point is to get young people on the property ladder so they can live in security and retire with dignity, and to do it in a way that doesn’t cause continued growth pressure for our suburban families.
She says the plan recognises the need to “build in and build up”, particularly in areas where young people are currently locked out:
According to Yimby Melbourne, 92% of the activity centre train stations are in places where the population of children has been in decline. We don’t want a system that turns our suburbs into time capsules. That’s why we’re changing it. Most councils are joining us.
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Tasmanian stadium cost blowout shoots to nearly $1bn
Tasmania’s new stadium has risen in cost to nearly $1bn, the state government has revealed, in estimates published ahead of Thursday’s state budget.
The stadium proposed for Hobart’s Macquarie Point will cost an estimated $945m, well above the initial projected cost of $715m when the project was announced in 2023, according to a report on draft legislation published by the Tasmanian government.
The Australian Football League demanded a new stadium in return for the state being granted a licence for a long sought-after team in the national competition but the development has remained contentious in the two years since.
The AFL is expected to provide $15m in stadium funding but the report it would not be possible to achieve legal certainty of a licence for the Tasmania Devils team without planning and other approvals to construct the stadium.
The state government has already spent an estimated $28m this financial year and will put forward a committed $347m, with the stadium’s development agency to borrow more than $300m more to meet the latest estimated cost. The federal government in 2023 committed to provide $240m toward the development.
For context, you can read Adam Morton’s analysis of the proposal:
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Aboriginal people feel Labor isn’t listening to them after voice defeat, Uluru statement co-author says
One of the architects of the Indigenous voice to parliament says Aboriginal Australians increasingly feel the government is not listening to their views on laws and policy design, warning against closed-shop public consultations in the wake of the referendum defeat.
Megan Davis, a constitutional scholar and signatory to the Uluru statement from the heart, said the re-elected Albanese government was facing growing displays of discontent and needed a new approach to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Davis said Indigenous policy frameworks were failing and engagement with government was subject to growing “exclusivity”. She told Guardian Australia:
They consult only those who have contracts with them, or are enlisted in the Closing the Gap ‘partnership’, so to speak …
Many Aboriginal people are now saying that the no vote has been interpreted as bureaucrats and government no longer needing to listen to community voices on laws and policies.
The comments come at the start of National Reconciliation Week and on the eighth anniversary of the release of Uluru statement, the 2017 request from Indigenous leaders built around the concepts of voice, treaty and truth.
You can read the full story from Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent, Tom McIlroy, here:
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Hundreds of properties deemed uninhabitable after NSW floods
Nearly 800 buildings have been left uninhabitable after flooding devastated the mid-north coast of New South Wales, with the number expected to rise as assessments continue.
The state emergency service has confirmed 794 properties have already been deemed uninhabitable, including homes and business premises.
The SES and other government teams have carried out more than 5,300 damage assessments, a spokesperson said, warning that more buildings were likely be assessed as unliveable. They said in a statement:
Our teams will continue working through damage assessments, washouts and clean-up efforts over the coming days and it is likely the number will rise.
You can read more about how the floods have destroyed livelihoods and property here:
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Woman charged with murder after child found dead
A 32-year-old woman has been charged with murder after the death of a child at a home in a Queensland coastal town, AAP reports.
Police launched a homicide investigation after the child was found unresponsive at the home at Moore Park Beach, north of Bundaberg in Queensland, about 4.45pm on Monday.
Grant Marcus, a Queensland police chief inspector, on Monday told reporters at the scene that the woman was assisting detectives with their inquiries:
We’re trying now to process this whole scene to determine what on earth has happened here this evening … This is a really tragic evening.
Investigators quickly set up a crime scene and said there was no ongoing threat to the community. The woman is due to appear in the Bundaberg magistrates court on Tuesday, May 27.
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Parents of toddler Joe Massa call for state government to take over Healthscope-run private hospital
The parents of a toddler who died after attending an emergency department at a Healthscope-run hospital have called for the state government to take control and cheered the private health operator’s collapse.
Healthscope, backed by global investment firm Brookfield, fell into receivership after accruing $1.6bn in debt and defaulting on various lease payments.
Eloise and Danny Massa, parents of Joe Massa, who died after presenting at the Northern Beaches hospital in Sydney a month before his second birthday, said they were glad to see the private operator go under. Eloise told Channel Nine:
We are pleased that Brookfield is now finally out of the way. It can stop trying to profit from caring off our sick and injured in Australia. Brookfield has a lot of answers to provide us, including its company directors.
The hospital could only run effectively if it returned to public ownership, Danny Massa said:
Private equity shouldn’t be involved in running critical health infrastructure in Australia Their modus operandi is to fatten up the bottom line and to sell the business for a profit. ... [It] needs to change and that will only occur when the Northern Beaches hospital returns to public hands.
The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, confirmed this morning the government still hoped to take control of the hospital and renegotiate Healthscope’s contract.
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Rishworth says MPs will also be subject to super tax for those with over $3m in the end, despite deferrals
An Albanese government minister has claimed most Australians expect those with large superannuation balances would have to pay extra tax, after reports some government officials would be permitted to put off their payments.
Asked whether it was fair that some politicians, including the prime minister, will be able to defer their payments under Labor’s proposal to reduce super tax concessions, the employment minister, Amanda Rishworth, said everyone with balances over $3m would still have to pay in the end. She told Channel Nine:
I get super as a federal politician just like other commonwealth public servants, and I’ll be subject to the same tax if my balance ever reaches over $3m. So past federal and future federal MPs will be subject to this tax.
Rishworth avoided taking a stance on whether it was fair the deferral would only be accessed by some veteran public officials, thanks to the structure of their defined benefit pensions, but said it was reasonable for those with bigger balances to pay more. She said:
I would suggest that those 99.5% of people that don’t have a balance over $3m, probably assume that you would get have to pay a little bit more tax for it.
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Damaging gusts expected along flood-battered NSW coast
It’s set to be a windy day around the country, the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast.
Strong to possibly damaging gusts are expected along New South Wales’ mid-north coast and Hunter, in areas battered by floods last week, as well as along the state’s south coast and mountain ranges.
Damaging winds are still expected about the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, after wild weather across the state yesterday.
Gentler but still strong winds are expected in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and south-east Queensland, as well as northern Tasmania.
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NSW health minister says Healthscope public-private hospital ‘not a model that works’
The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, has said Healthscope’s private hospital model should never have been established, after the medical operator fell into receivership on Monday.
Park said the indebted private healthcare provider, operator of 37 hospitals including Sydney’s embattled Northern Beaches hospital, did not work as a model. He told the ABC :
This is not a model of healthcare that we should be doing in New South Wales. This is not a model that works, because the public health system is designed to deliver those acute public health services. … This model shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
The NSW government was still hoping to take back the Northern Beaches hospital, which has faced criticism amid concerns over patient care, Park said:
We need to make sure that services are delivered effectively, but also, most importantly, safely … and will continue that during what we hope to really transition [the hospital] back in to the public fold.
You can read more about the business’s collapse here:
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Queensland nurses to strike over enterprise bargaining negotiations
Queensland nurses are set to walk off the job after 96.5% of union members voted to strike this week.
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union has been locked in negotiations with the state government for a new enterprise bargaining agreement for months. Sticking points include the wage offer, but also over what the union says are moves to eliminate clauses guaranteeing parental leave arrangements, flexible working arrangements, and consultation rights – among others.
The state government threatened to strip nurses and midwives of eight weeks’ backpay if they took part in the ballot for protected industrial action.
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union secretary, Sarah Beaman, said almost all members who voted in the ballot voted yes:
This overwhelming yes vote for protective industrial action in the face of threats and the removal of rights highlights the collective strength of public nurses and midwives state-wide.
The union said it will meet with Queensland health this week to continue negotiations.
It’s the first enterprise agreement negotiated by the new Liberal National party government since it won power last October. The matter is being seen by many as setting a precedent for public sector relations broadly – the last LNP government, under then premier Campbell Newman, sacked thousands of nurses and other public servants.
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Norwegian princess to study at University of Sydney
Norway’s princess Ingrid Alexandra will move to Australia to study at the University of Sydney, the Norwegian royal house has announced.
The 21-year-old is second in line to Norway’s throne after her father, the crown prince and heir apparent. She will live in a student residence at the university’s inner-Sydney campus, studying a three-year Bachelor of Arts focusing on international relations and political economy.
Ingrid Alexander, who is the niece of high-profile Norwegian princess Märtha Louise, is excited for the move, the royal house said in a statement:
Her Royal Highness looks forward to dedicating herself to her studies in the years to come.
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Ed Husic calls for government to move beyond words on Israel
Former Labor minister Ed Husic has called for the government to move beyond words to action, and said sanctions on Israel are “probably under consideration”.
After Anthony Albanese on Monday said Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza was “an outrage”, Husic said the prime minister’s comments were important but the government should do “whatever we can”. He told ABC Radio National:
We’ve got to the threshold where there’s an expectation we move beyond words … We should be speaking up, but beyond speaking up, I think it’s important that we act, and I certainly think it’s vital our government joins with others to be able to do that.
Husic repeated his calls for the government to call in Israel’s ambassador to Australia and emphasise expectations Israel cease limits on the provision of aid. He also speculated the government may also be drafting a list of targeted sanctions after the United Kingdom, France and Canada threatened to act against Israel over its military action in Gaza.:
The third area I think we should be actively considering, and I suspect it’s probably under consideration, is drawing up a list of targeted sanctions where we can join with others … we should be ready to move when others move as well, to be able to exert maximum international pressure to stop this blockade and to help people in Gaza.
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Rural aid CEO warns it will be ‘weeks or months’ before food production in flooded NSW can return to full production
It will be months or more before farmers in the flooded mid-north coast of New South Wales will return to full operations, the Rural Aid chief executive has warned.
John Warlters said people working across agriculture had been badly hit by the floods and it would take more than just weeks to see oyster farmers, livestock owners and dairy farms get back on their feet. He told the ABC:
Getting dairy backs and productive is important. Getting them back to pre-flood is not about days and weeks. This is months and longer to really see these enterprises back where they want to be.
Warlters also warned droughts were hitting primary producers just as hard across South Australia, Western Australia and western Victoria:
Floods come along and they’re devastating but they capture attention and we respond to that. Drought is different but the pain those people are experiencing is just as great as on the mid-north Coast and other places. …
The key thing is they need the short-term help but they really need to be able to hear from our industry and government and leaders that support will be ongoing. It shouldn’t just run out when the headlines fade, but be there for the long time.
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Emergency services minister will ‘work with’ Disaster Relief Australia as alternative to ADF
The government will “work with” the veteran-led organisation on the frontline of disaster recovery on funding bids, the emergency services minister, Kristy McBain, has said.
Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) is pushing for a new funding deal as it positions itself as an alternative to the Australian Defence Force in the aftermath of major floods, fires and cyclones.
McBain refused to confirm whether DRA would be given a new injection of funds to secure its future and grow a 10,000-strong volunteer arm. Speaking to ABC News from Port Macquarie, she said:
We’ll continue to work with them on what that looks like but we see Disaster Relief Australia as having a big part in the clean-up in disasters going forward.
Guardian Australia’s Dan Jervis-Bardy has revealed DRA has written to the government seeking a four-year, $87.5m funding plan to grow its numbers to 10,000, up from more than 5,500. You can read more about that here:
McBain was speaking after visiting areas of the New South Wales mid-north coast, which is still recovering from severe flooding last week that killed five and left 50,000 isolated for days.
The priority was to provide direct support to the community immediately, after months of rain had “taken its toll” on the area, McBain said. She committed to listening to community concerns including over evacuation notices and unprepared infrastructure in coming weeks:
We’ll get a picture of the overall cost and overall damage across this region as the [State Emergency Service] completes those assessments. … It’s really important, I think, that we keep our eyes on the task at hand at this point in time and that’s assisting people with clean-up and that those direct supports that they’re going to need now …
But after any disaster, there’s going to be some lessons learned and it’s really important, I think, to hear directly from lived experience on those lessons so we’ll search those out in the coming days, weeks and months.
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Good morning! Thank you Martin Farrer for kicking off our live updates for today. I’ll take you through the rest of the day.
Police crackdown to stop looting in flood-hit NSW
Police are pouring resources into Australia’s flood-ravaged towns to prevent a breakdown in law and order after two men were arrested for alleged looting, Australian Associated Press reports.
NSW police deputy commissioner, Peter Thurtell, said extra officers were on the beat in NSW’s mid-north coast and Hunter regions after the men, both aged 20, were arrested for allegedly stealing property amid flood clean up.
“If we find anyone taking advantage of this community we’ll throw the book at them,” Thurtell said in a statement yesterday.
“The impact of this weather event has been unimaginable and to think they now have to be concerned about hanging on to whatever property they have left is a disgrace.
“Stealing from people vulnerable during hard times like these is un-Australian.”
For more on the flood recovery we have the latest:
Coalition policies ‘buried’ by ‘campaign headquarters’, Liberal senators say
Andrew Hastie has blamed the poor handling of policy issues for the Liberal debacle.
Since the election, Liberal party candidates have placed a certain proportion of blame for the Coalition’s loss on certain mysterious failures from campaign headquarters that saw their policies disappear into a black hole.
This narrative arose again on Four Corners last night, with MP Andrew Hastie, and senators Sarah Henderson and Jonathon Duniam all suggesting that something was going wrong from that quarter.
Hastie, who had previously spoken about the lack of defence policy, said “there was a level of frustration” with the increasing delays to the policy, which “hasn’t been explained yet”.
Henderson said she was “very proud of the education policy that we delivered” but it was “buried” and “we only had the opportunity to announce a few measures”. Asked who buried it, she said:
I don’t know. It was done by campaign headquarters the Thursday night before the election. My media release was withdrawn and a lot of incredible hard work by my team and many others right across the Coalition, unfortunately, didn’t see the light of day. There were too many policies that were left on the cutting-room floor, and I think that was a really big problem, not just in education, despite the very good work of many shadow ministers – too many taxation policies that were not pushed forward, housing policy delivered on the run, a defence policy looking like an afterthought.
Meanwhile, Duniam suggested someone, though it’s not clear exactly who, should perhaps consider falling on their sword:
Something went off the rails, and I think it was centred in campaign headquarters. We were, frankly, in a very competitive position … and that completely evaporated to the point where we are at an historic low as an opposition. And I think there are some people who might want to consider their futures as a result of that.
Culture war cost us seats, senior Liberals tell Four Corners
Current and former Liberal party MPs and senators have said the party’s focus on culture war has seen their inner-city constituencies abandon them and contributed to their election loss in what one called “fairy floss politics”.
Speaking to ABC’s Four Corners on Monday night, former NSW Liberal president Jason Falinski, former senator George Brandis and NSW senator Maria Kovacic criticised their party’s focus on small, hard-right constituencies and culture wars.
The party alienated women, especially those who wanted to work from home, offended public servants, multicultural communities, people in the inner cities, students and “other minority groups as well”, Brandis said:
It was almost as if we were running out of new people to offend.
People who felt the party needed to lean harder into the culture wars were “nuts”, Brandis said:
The people you have to persuade are the people who didn’t vote for you last time but are open to persuasion. And those people live in the centre ground of Australian politics. And if you spend your time drinking your own political bathwater and only living in an echo chamber of far-rightwing opinion, you’re never going to get them.
Falinski said that “fairy floss politics” – that is, “high-calorie, low-nutrition politics” such as copying Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, concept – was “not healthy for us”.
Kovacic said:
I don’t think that everyday Australians are particularly interested in culture wars. People have abandoned us in the cities because our messaging doesn’t resonate with them, and they haven’t gone to the right. They voted for Labor and the teals because what we’re selling them isn’t aligned with them.
Coalition wanted to erase Aboriginal people from national memory: Dodson
Pat Dodson has also decried what he called the “new assimilation” policies pushed by the Coalition during the election campaign, saying it is another way of trying to erase Aboriginal people from national memory.
Speaking to 7.30 on Monday night, Dodson said:
If you looked at what they were talking about in the opposition at the last election, getting rid of land councils, revising a whole range of symbolism, throw out the welcome to country, get rid of the flags, rescind the ambassador. Anything that indicates the presence of Aboriginal people would have gone. That’s what the new assimilation’s about, is completing the obliteration of Aboriginal people from the landscape.
Cultural heritage is another very important aspect of that. The more you smash and destroy the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people, the greater it is to say that there is a substantive argument to say that they had a substantive presence here, because there’s no evidence – you’ve blown it up.
Labor should return to ‘treaty-making process’, Pat Dodson says
Yaruwu elder and former Labor senator Pat Dodson has urged the Albanese government to “go back to the treaty-making process” in order to continue the project of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, arguing the “resounding victory” of Labor at the election gave them a new opportunity.
Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night, Dodson said he was “very confident” Albanese could lead that process, but it would require going back to the Uluru statement from the heart.
Dodson said:
That doesn’t mean they have to go down the constitutional path for a voice. But it does mean that they’ve got to honour the two aspects of the Makarrata commission. That wasn’t voted on by the people. That wasn’t part of the provision that we voted on, to vote down. So they have to go back to the treaty-making process and the truth-telling process. And they can do that, because it doesn’t require constitutional referendum. That can be done by way of legislation.
Truth-telling needed to be a two-way street, Dodson said, and it needed to result in a “national narrative” that was not simply “Captain Cook came here and no one was here”.
Dodson continued:
I think that the government’s come back with a resounding victory. The horror that they anticipated [of electoral defeat] passed by. They’ve now got the confidence of the Australian people. The Australian people want to see unity. They don’t want to see hatred. And they want to live with a national sense of Australian pride.
The time has come. We can’t keep kicking it down the road, and even the prime minister was saying during the referendum – if not now, when? So, OK, the referendum went up and it went down. That doesn’t mean that that is the end of reconciliation. Reconciliation is about the substantive issues.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Luca Ittimani with the main action.
Current and former Liberal party MPs and senators have said the party’s focus on culture war and a failure to properly develop and present policies cost the party the election. Speaking on Four Corner last night, former NSW Liberal president Jason Falinski said “high-calorie, low-nutrition politics” – so-called “fairy floss politics” – had proved costly. More details coming up.
We have an exclusive story this morning from the veteran-led organisation on the frontline of disaster recovery calling for federal government support to help establish a 10,000-strong volunteer army. It comes as police are pouring resources into flood-ravaged towns in NSW to prevent a breakdown in law and order after two men were arrested for alleged looting. More coming up.
In another exclusive, one of the architects of the Indigenous voice to parliament, Megan Davis, who says Aboriginal Australians increasingly feel the government is not listening to their views on laws and policy design, warns against closed-shop public consultations in the wake of the referendum defeat.
