Australia news live: Ed Husic hits back at at Dutton over ‘Muslim candidates from Western Sydney’ comments
Maybe try showing some leadership and bring people together rather than tear them apart ... it's been done before.
Husic, the member for the western Sydney seat of Chifley, was responding to Dutton's comments yesterday about defecting Labor senator Fatima Payman. Dutton claimed Labor would fall into minority government in the next term of Parliament, and would govern with an alliance that "will include the Greens, it'll include the Green-Teals, it'll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney, it will be a disaster." "If you think the Albanese Government is bad now, wait for it to be a minority government with the Greens, the Green-Teals and Muslim independents," Dutton claimed. Share Updated at 24.45 EDT Key eventsDutton says 'Australia can learn' from new UK PM's nuclear stancePeter Dutton has congratulated Keir Starmer on being elected as British prime minister, and claimed Australia can learn from his policy on nuclear power. Dutton released a statement on Friday afternoon stating "our bilateral relationship is a strong partnership untarnished by the passing of time, undiminished by distance, and unsullied by changes in government". Dutton said:In these precarious times, there is no more important endeavour for our two nations than injecting speed and resolve into our defence objectives and partnership under the AUKUS agreement.
I take this opportunity to commend Sir Keir Starmer and the UK Labour Party for their goals to make Britain 'a clean energy superpower' and to achieve 'energy independence'.
The new British Government's plan includes building new nuclear power stations and small modular reactors to help the UK 'achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.' There is much Australia can learn from the British experience."
Dutton also thanked the British Conservative Party for its "unwavering commitment" to the bilateral relationship over its more than 14 years of government. Share Updated at 01.39 EDT Council may face prosecution as Gold Coast sewage spill revealed to be worse than first thought Already described as Queensland's biggest sewage spill, an independent report now reveals the Gold Coast leak was worse than first reported. A number of factors led to a burst sewage pipe spilling about 450 megalitres of effluent into the Albert River, south of Brisbane, the report said. The figure is 100 megalitres more than what was first reported when the state government launched its own investigation into the leak. About five megalitres a day spilled from the Gold Coast city council sewerage system into the river from 11 January to 8 April. Corrosion caused the pipe leak, while the Gold Coast council's reliance on the public and another local government to detect spills contributed to why it took so long to identify, the report said. "The extent of the spill was confirmed on April 12 with a total calculated spill volume of approximately 450 ML," the independent report commissioned by the Gold Coast council said. The council may face prosecution after the state government announced it would also investigate the "catastrophic failure" back in April. "We haven't seen a spill of this magnitude in Queensland to my knowledge," the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation said at the time. The state government probe is ongoing. Local prawn farms had been forced to stop their operations while the leak was contained and anyone who caught seafood in the river was urged not to consume it. More than a month after the spill was first reported, the Gold Coast council reopened the river for commercial and recreational fishing. – Share Updated at 01.24 EDT Emily Wind Many thanks for joining me on the blog, Elias Visontay will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and enjoy your weekend. Share Ed Husic hits back at Dutton over 'Muslim candidates from Western Sydney' comments Josh Butler Cabinet minister Ed Husic has also taken a swipe at Peter Dutton's claims about "Muslim candidates from western Sydney" at the next election, pointing out there are already "two of us who serve as ministers". One of those, of course, is Husic himself, the minister for industry and science. The other is Anne Aly, the minister for early childhood and youth. "Um, Pete? Newsflash. There's not only been a Muslim candidate from western Sydney for more than a decade now, there's also two of us who serve as minister ..." Husic wrote in a post on Instagram.Maybe try showing some leadership and bring people together rather than tear them apart ... it's been done before.
Husic, the member for the western Sydney seat of Chifley, was responding to Dutton's comments yesterday about defecting Labor senator Fatima Payman. Dutton claimed Labor would fall into minority government in the next term of Parliament, and would govern with an alliance that "will include the Greens, it'll include the Green-Teals, it'll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney, it will be a disaster." "If you think the Albanese Government is bad now, wait for it to be a minority government with the Greens, the Green-Teals and Muslim independents," Dutton claimed. Share Updated at 24.45 EDT Albanese congratulates new UK Labour prime ministerAnthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in a post to X. Albanese wrote:Congratulations to my friend and new UK Prime Minister [Keir Starmer] on his resounding election victory – I look forward to working constructively with the incoming [UK Labour] Government.
Share Updated at 24.35 EDT NSW preschool teachers call for pay rise up to 25% Preschool teachers are demanding more money to attract and retain staff amid subsidies aimed at boosting enrolment, reports.Independent Education Union has applied to the Fair Work Commission to lift pay by up to 25% for staff at more than 100 community-based NSW preschools. Staff shortages in education were even worse in the early learning sector, the preschool teacher Janene Rox told reporters outside the commission today.Paediatric doctors are not paid any less because they are supporting the youngest in our community, so why is it different for our teachers?
Early-career schoolteachers annually earn almost $15,000 more than colleagues in preschools, while experienced teachers can earn almost $32,000 more, the union's secretary, Carol Matthews, said. Lifting wages in the highly feminised preschool sector could also narrow the gender pay gap, while assisting parents juggling carer responsibilities, she said. The education and early learning minister, Prue Car, said the NSW government was not directly involved in negotiations, but supported the process and would monitor the union's application. Share Updated at 23.59 EDT Climate group behind Parliament House protest to hold weekend rallyRising Tide, the group behind the climate protest at Parliament House yesterday , says it will be holding a people's climate assembly in Sydney tomorrow afternoon. In a statement, the group says the former Socceroo and human rights activist Craig Foster will speak at the assembly in Surry Hills, urging the federal government to "show a red card" to fossil fuel companies. The group has also flagged that on Sunday a group of kayaks are set to paddle across Sydney Harbour and deliver a message to the PM at Kirribilli House – a scroll with "thousands" of signatures of people pledging "resistance to end coal exports from Newcastle by 2030". The Newcastle law student and Splash organiser Zach Schofield says:If the government won't take on the fossil fuel industry, we will ... The People's Climate Assembly is a great way for all of us to come together and realise we're not alone, there are many of us who feel the same way and are prepared to take action for a better future.
Share Updated at 23.56 EDT Person rescued from long drop toilet in regional Victoria Every Australian child's worst nightmare has come true for one person, who was rescued after becoming stuck in a long drop toilet in regional Victoria. The Country Fire Authority assisted Ambulance Victoria with the incident at about 2.13am today, after reports a person was stuck in a drop toilet on McSweens Road in Indigo Valley. Crews worked to "remove structure around the person" and safely extricate them, before handing them over to paramedics. The incident wrapped up just before 3am, a CFA spokesperson said. Share Updated at 23.01 EDT Second case of bird flu in ACT detected in back yard chickens A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu, reports AAP. ACT authorities on Friday confirmed a group of chickens kept at the home had tested positive to the virus, the territory's second site to be affected. The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra's north detected the virus last week. Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in NSW have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading. The ACT environment minister, Rebecca Vassarotti, praised the home's residents for preventing further spread of the virus to the broader bird population. Vassarotti said:While disappointing to have a second case, it is not unexpected. Like jurisdictions across the country this is unfortunately the reality of such a highly transmittable virus.
Avian influenza is very easily transmitted by moving sick birds from property to property, as well as from contaminated boots, equipment and vehicles if proper biosecurity measures aren't in place.
More than 1 million chickens and ducks have been culled due to the outbreaks. The spread of bird flu has prompted major supermarkets in NSW, Victoria and the ACT to introduce limits of two cartons of eggs per customer. Fast-food chain McDonald's has also been forced to shorten its breakfast hours due to egg supply issues. You can read Guardian Australia's explainer on the egg shortage here: Share Updated at 23.15 EDT Community festivals could help rescue live music scene, inquiry hears Funding community music festivals with a proven track record would help rescue Australia's live music scene, an inquiry has been told. "Every musician in Australia starts from a grassroots level," even John Butler and Daniel Champagne, the Cobargo folk festival director, Zena Armstrong, told the parliamentary hearing in Canberra. It is examining Australia's live music industry as it contends with soaring costs, last-minute ticket sales and extreme weather events. Queensland's Caloundra music festival recently became the latest in a string of cancellations that includes big events such as Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo and Falls festival. The Cobargo folk festival, which is held in the NSW town in February, attracts about 7,000 people, but competes in a crowded market. "We can't compete against the fly-in fly-out festivals," Armstrong explained. "They take our volunteers, they take our audiences, they take our dollars, and we love them, but it's challenge for us." Organisers of some of Australia's longest-running music events, including Tamworth country music festival and Port Fairy folk festival are also fronting the hearing on Friday. – AAP Share Updated at 22.22 EDT BoM warns damaging wind gusts expected in Flinders Ranges tomorrow The Bureau of Meteorology says damaging wind gusts are expected to develop from early tomorrow morning around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Peak gusts of about 90km/h are likely to develop over parts of the ranges and its immediate western slopes from early Saturday morning, the BoM says. Damaging wind gusts are forecast to ease below warning thresholds by Saturday afternoon. Locations which may be affected include Hawker, Melrose, Parachilna . Share Updated at 22.10 EDT Government plans expansion of marine park for Heard and McDonald Islands Adam Morton The Australian government plans to substantially expand a Southern Ocean marine park that includes the remote subantarctic Heard and McDonald Islands, adding more than 300,000 sq km to the protected area. Heard and McDonald Islands are 1,700km north of Antarctica, world heritage listed and home to penguins, seals, whales and albatross. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, says the proposal to quadruple the size of the marine park would increase Australia's marine protected areas to more than half the country's ocean territory. She says it would help protect endangered seabirds and seals but still allow "the continuation of the sustainable fishing industry".This is a unique and extraordinary part of our planet, we have to do everything we can to protect it.
Conservation groups have welcomed the expansion, but say the plan does not go far enough. The national oceans manager for Pew Charitable Trusts, Fiona Maxwell, says:The plan does not adequately protect key conservation features, such as undersea canyons, seamounts and the Williams Ridge, which have important seafloor habitats and support feeding grounds for wildlife such as Antarctic fur seals, elephant seals, penguins, albatross and fish.
Public consultation on the expansion is open until 5 September. Share Updated at 22.14 EDT 'Grubby politics': Pocock calls out Payman 'smear' The independent senator David Pocock has called out the politicking around Senator Fatima Payman's citizenship after she quit the Labor party, reports. "Senior Labor figures" quoted in The Australian raised concerns about Payman's Afghan citizenship. She declared her citizenship before the election and was supported by Labor as a candidate, and has declared she made representations to renounce but could not go further because of the Taliban government. Pocock, who himself had to deal with dual citizenship issues before running, told AAP:Raising questions about her eligibility under section 44 by people from the same party who took responsibility for ensuring the eligibility of her candidacy and now are too cowardly to put their name to the allegations is such grubby politics.
I hope people will see this backgrounding and smear campaign for what it is.
Share Updated at 21.49 EDT Cait KellyTyrrell urges Labor to reform 'broken' employment provider system The independent senator for Tasmania Tammy Tyrrell has weighed in on the government's response to the review into employment providers, which was released yesterday. (We had more details earlier in the blog here .) Tyrrell says:The committee report on employment services last year had 75 recommendations. The government's response is 23 pages long. There's a lot of words and not a lot of substance.
I worked in employment services for 15 years. You were made to see people as dollar figures instead of human beings. The system is broken. We need to put people back at the heart of employment services.
The committee recommended that Labor immediately fund a pilot program of Tassie's Regional Jobs Hub program. It's doing amazing things connecting jobseekers with businesses in their local communities. All Minister Burke has to do is sign the money over and he's failed to do that. If Labor is committed to reforming this broken system, they need to fund this Tassie program immediately.
Share Updated at 21.52 EDT Young people feel robbed of their youth, new report finds Young people feel like they are missing out on being young, according to a new report from the Monash Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice. According to data collected for the 2022 Australian Youth Barometer , 45% of Australians aged 18-24 often feel like they are missing out on being young because of cost-of-living pressures and balancing work with study. Young people identified challenges around four key areas – finances, work, education and long-term planning. Some key findings of the report included: The report's co-author Prof Lucas Walsh said the report highlights how young people must be at the centre of this discussion about how they can be better supported:Young people, locked up during the pandemic, navigating a hostile employment environment and upended studies, have told us they have missed out on being young. They've been denied key life-experiences during a critical period of development in their lives.
Share Updated at 22.06 EDT Caitlin CassidyGreens condemn 'despicable' new restrictions on university protests The Greens have taken aim at the University of Sydney over new restrictions on campus protests, announced yesterday, which require 72 hours of notice to be provided to management for any planned demonstration and approval to use megaphones and attach banners to university buildings. Camping is also banned, while breaches could lead to the removal of staff or students from campus. It follows the dissolution of the university's pro-Palestine encampment , which was the longest running in Australia. The Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said students and staff should not need permission to exercise their right to protest.What we are seeing here is a despicable attempt by neoliberal, corporate university management to stifle student activism and shut down political expression.
Staunch campus activism has changed the world. University campuses should always be political spaces where students and staff are encouraged to speak out on issues of social, racial and environmental justice.
In an email to staff, the vice-chancellor of the university, Mark Scott, said it was important to have the "right settings in place to support healthy debate and freedom of expression while providing a safe, welcoming and lively campus for all members of our community", acknowledging the camp's presence had "challenged" the campus in many ways. Share Updated at 21.12 EDT Sarah Basford Canales Continuing from our last post: The AFP's deputy commissioner, Krissy Barrett, said the climate protesters had not been arrested but were part of the "ongoing investigations" into incidents at Parliament House on Thursday. Barrett said the AFP were aware of other protesters in the building beyond those who made it to the roof and who glued themselves to the foyer's marble columns.In total, we were aware of up to 30 protesters who were in the vicinity, either inside or outside [on Thursday] who were removed ... part of our ongoing investigation will be to talk to others, review footage, those sorts of things, to see if there are other offences that we can charge and prosecute.
Barrett added preliminary inquiries suggest the roof protesters scaled a $125m security fence installed in 2018 to keep protesters and security threats out. Barrett said:The information we have available to us is that they breached the fence that sits on the grass either side of the house and was able to get over that fence. It did trigger an alarm and therefore, we were obviously aware, but they were up on the roof.
Share Updated at 21.08 EDT Parliament House protesters used 'premeditated', 'diversionary tactics', AFP chief says Sarah Basford Canales It is hard to believe there was a significant protest at Parliament House among all the other political news yesterday. While the press gallery was focused on the resignation of the Western Australian senator Fatima Payman from the Labor party, the Australian federal police (AFP) were again appearing before senators for a spillover estimates hearing. Essentially, that happens when senators feel they have a lot more questions and topics than can be slotted into a neat timeslot during the estimates week schedule. It was particularly useful timing as earlier on Thursday two protests occurred within the building simultaneously. Around 10am, a group of climate protesters glued their hands to marble columns in the building's foyer. Shortly after, while the climate protesters were being dealt with, another group of protesters scaled a security fence to reach a sealed-off roof section of Parliament House's facade. There, they unfurled banners protesting the Labor government's approach to the war in Gaza and remained there for some time during the morning. The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told the estimates hearing the protesters had used "premeditated", "diversionary tactics" to the initial response.We did also have some false phone calls of other protests happening at nearby areas that did not occur. So ... not only was there diversionary efforts at Parliament House, but there was on diverting AFP resources to other areas. So this was quite what I would call a criminal act. Hence the four arrests and the charges.
Share Updated at 21.04 EDT Benita KolovosVictorian minister gives enthusiastic endorsement of new train platform Victoria's acting premier, Ben Carroll, and the transport infrastructure minister, Danny Pearson, are holding a press conference to mark trains resuming on the Lilydale line after level crossing removal works. Speaking from the new platform at Croydon station, which is set to open later this month, Pearson gives it a very, very enthusiastic endorsement. He says:It's million dollar views, baby. You're looking over the Dandenongs, it is just stunning, right? Like seriously, I could see me on a Friday night having a barbecue up here, looking over the views, right? Like it's just an absolute knockout being delivered by this government ... it is epic. It is just so fantastic. It will be a complete game changer for the community ... It's cool. It's awesome. It's great.
He goes on to describe the Metro Tunnel, which the government says will open in 2025, as a modern equivalent to the Ancient Roman aqueduct. Asked by a journo why he is so excited this morning, Pearson says: "It's just caffeine. Just lots of caffeine in the morning today." Share Updated at 20.46 EDT
