AEC proposes abolition of federal seat of North Sydney
Amy Remeikis
The Australian Electoral Commission has proposed to abolish the federation seat of North Sydney in an electoral shake up for Australia’s oldest state which will have far reaching consequences for the major parties.
The AEC’s draft proposal recommends abolishing North Sydney, the electorate currently held by the independent MP Kylea Tink, and spreading electors across the surrounding seats, including Bradfield, which potentially could give a boost to the independent Nicolette Boelle’s campaign against the sitting Liberal MP Paul Fletcher.
The redistribution committee proposes changing the boundaries of 39 existing electoral divisions, which could create upheaval for the major parties fighting off challenges with slim margins. If adopted, it would mean more than 12% of existing enrolled voters would find themselves in a different electorate.
There is also a proposal to jointly honour Sir Joseph Cook, a former Australian prime minister, as well as Captain James Cook in the existing electorate of Cook.
The changes remain a recommendation with a final determination not set down until October. The AEC will accept submissions on its draft proposal ahead of making its final decision.
Key events
A man has died and a woman is seriously injured after a fire engulfed a unit complex in Brisbane.
Emergency services rushed o the fire in Albion at around 4pm yesterday, after multiple calls were made by neighbours.
Queensland Police confirmed a man aged in his 60s died at the scene, with an autopsy still due to be conducted to confirm his identity.
They said they were investigating the the circumstances of the fire, and are appealing to anyone with information to come forward.
Investigations into this matter are ongoing.
Former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller granted parole
The former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller has been granted parole.
Miller, who was arrested in 2021, was serving a total sentence of five years and six months in jail on drug charges, including supplying a prohibited drug in large commercial quantities and participating in a criminal group.
The NSW State Parole Authority denied him parole last January, as he remained an unsentenced offender on outstanding charges.
The charges were finalised in the district court last month, allowing Miller to apply to
the authority for reconsideration of parole, under the provisions of Manifest Injustice.
And in a decision made by chair Geoffrey Bellew SC, the parole board approved his conditional release.
Community Corrections advised the authority that Miller had been assessed as having a low-medium risk of reoffending and recommended his release to supervised parole.
“Mr Miller has a long history of substance abuse and appears to display some insight
into this problematic behaviour,” they said.
AEC proposes abolition of federal seat of North Sydney
Amy Remeikis
The Australian Electoral Commission has proposed to abolish the federation seat of North Sydney in an electoral shake up for Australia’s oldest state which will have far reaching consequences for the major parties.
The AEC’s draft proposal recommends abolishing North Sydney, the electorate currently held by the independent MP Kylea Tink, and spreading electors across the surrounding seats, including Bradfield, which potentially could give a boost to the independent Nicolette Boelle’s campaign against the sitting Liberal MP Paul Fletcher.
The redistribution committee proposes changing the boundaries of 39 existing electoral divisions, which could create upheaval for the major parties fighting off challenges with slim margins. If adopted, it would mean more than 12% of existing enrolled voters would find themselves in a different electorate.
There is also a proposal to jointly honour Sir Joseph Cook, a former Australian prime minister, as well as Captain James Cook in the existing electorate of Cook.
The changes remain a recommendation with a final determination not set down until October. The AEC will accept submissions on its draft proposal ahead of making its final decision.
Home prices in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide surge
Home prices in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are growing much faster than in cities such as Melbourne and Hobart and the latest data indicates those trends could stick around for some time yet.
Home values nationally have risen by more than 35% since the Covid pandemic kicked off in 2020 but growth has not been spread evenly, according to real estate data company CoreLogic.
Price growth across hotspots Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide has vastly outpaced gains posted in other urban centres, including Hobart, Melbourne, Canberra, Darwin and Sydney.
At one end of the spectrum, Perth has posted a 62.6% increase in property values in that time, compared to an 11.2 per cent bump in Melbourne.
Digging into the drivers behind the “multi-speed” housing market, the CoreLogic head of research, Eliza Owen, said there were a number of factors at play.
The fastest-growing markets were generally starting from a low price base, with cities such as Perth and Adelaide “still playing catch up” to other capitals when looking back over the past decade, Owen wrote in the report.
Some cities had managed to build more homes than others, which had helped keep a lid on price growth in places such as Melbourne.
Owen said there a stronger take-up of the first-home buyer grant for new homes and the HomeBuilder scheme in Victoria, as well as a property investment boom in the mid-to-late 2010s was responsible for an influx of inner-city apartments.
– via AAP
Daniel Hurst
Australia unlikely to follow G7 on Ukraine aid deal
The Australian government does not appear likely to follow the lead of the G7, after the grouping of large western economies reached a deal that will mobilise an extra $US50bn of aid to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets.
Under the G7 provisional agreement, a loan will be provided to Ukraine to fund its military and reconstruction needs. The interest on the large loan is to be funded not by Ukraine but from the profits derived from the frozen Russian state assets.
Australian government sources who did not want to be identified said Australia’s domestic legal sanctions framework did not allow Australia to seize or apply for forfeiture of frozen assets or the profits of these assets. They said seizing such assets within Australia “would raise complex issues under constitutional law”.
The sources also said Australia did not have the same volume of frozen Russian assets compared with a number of other countries, with current estimates pointing to less than $AU100m of frozen assets held in Australia. Most frozen accounts are not earning interest.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia’s goal was to empower Ukraine to end the war on its terms:
We will continue to provide targeted assistance to Ukraine and impose costs on Russia for as long as it takes.
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, said the government should “stop finding excuses to not support Ukraine and wholeheartedly commit to doing all that Australia possibly can”. He said the Coalition would provide support “if Australia’s laws need changing to better target Russian assets or make more effective sanctions on Russia”.
Teenager charged with attempted murder over alleged stabbing of Sydney bishop
Catie McLeod
Prosecutors will argue that a teenage boy intended to murder a bishop in Sydney’s south-west when he allegedly stabbed him during a sermon in an act of terrorism earlier this year.
The 16-year-old is accused of travelling 90 minutes from his home to attack the Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 53, during a livestreamed sermon at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on 15 April.
During a brief hearing at the Parramatta children’s court on Friday, a barrister for the commonwealth director of public prosecutions told the court that the boy had been charged with two additional offences.
Court documents show the boy was charged on 31 May with causing wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent to murder over the alleged stabbing of Emmanuel, and wounding a second man with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The teen allegedly stabbed Father Issac Royel, 39, when he tried to intervene, according to police. The priest and the bishop recovered after undergoing surgery.
Amber alert issued for missing baby in Brisbane
An amber alert has been issued by Queensland police for a missing four-week-old baby boy in Brisbane.
Police say the Fortitude Valley boy is unaccounted and may be at “significant risk”.
Police spoke to a woman about the baby yesterday but the child was last sighted on Sunday 10 June.
The 37-year-old woman is believed to be travelling in the Brisbane city area on foot.
Albanese encourages children to play sport amid social media debate
Finally, the PM is asked about social media age verification, and he says it is important the government “get it right.”
Albanese spruiked a government-funded trial of age-verification technology that reportedly aims to enable greater restrictions on children’s access to damaging material online.
Young people need to be kept smart and safe online. What we need to make sure is young people, because they are smart, with VPNs and various methods as well, we need to make sure that any measures designed to keep people safe are effective and that’s why you have a trial.
I think every parent who is on the sideline this weekend of junior sport, or picking up kids after school, will be talking about how they get their young ones off the devices and kept safe and one way they can do that is by engaging in activity like junior sport.
That is one of the things we want to do to create healthy kids. Healthy kids not just in terms of their physical health but their mental health is so important as well. That is my government’s objective. That is why we are having this trial going forward to make sure that any measures, which are undertaken, are effective.
‘It’s none of his business’: Albanese on Setka and the AFL
Next the PM is asked about John Setka’s issue with the AFL and its umpiring boss, with Albanese dismissing the question:
It is none of his business what occurs with the AFL, that is a matter for the AFL.
It is a matter for the AFL. John Setka is someone who, whose behaviour led me to expel him from the Labor party.
Asked why he won’t “rebuke” Setka by one of the journalists there, the PM says he has:
I think I just did in case you weren’t noticing, as I did yesterday and the day before.
Anthony Albanese holds press conference
Anthony Albanese has stepped up for a press conference and is first asked about directing the health minister, Mark Butler, to pause negotiations on health funding while NDIS reforms catch up.
Last week the government paused negotiations on health funding for states until further work was done on parallel disability reforms.
When asked to explain what “catching up” meant, here is what the PM had to say:
We want to make sure with state and territory governments that we move forward on the reform program. We need to continue to strengthen Medicare. That is my government’s objective and we need as well to continue to ensure that the NDIS is sustainable going forward so people with disabilities get the support and help that they need.
That is what we are doing through the national cabinet process and … I am sure that we will get this done.
AFL chief Andrew Dillon rejects CFMEU push to sack umpire boss
The AFL’s chief executive, Andrew Dillon, has backed umpire boss Steve McBurney, who has come under fire from the CFMEU’s Victorian leader John Setka for his alleged “anti-worker” position as a former commissioner of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Dillon was on 3AW this morning and said McBurney was doing an “incredible job” and had a “massive impact” on the AFL.
He started in his role only quite recently – he’s had a massive impact – and he’s been really good for the AFL and really good for the umpires. So he’ll be staying at the AFL.
What I’m hoping is that any intended action or foreshadowed action [from the union] doesn’t end up impacting on our spectators and our fans.
‘The pressure on NSW hospitals right now is like we’ve never seen before’: Ryan Park
The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, says it is “absolutely critical” the federal government provides state health systems with additional funding.
Speaking on ABC Radio National, Park said the pressure on NSW hospitals was unprecedented:
It is absolutely critical. The pressure on NSW hospitals right now is like we’ve never seen before.
In the last quarter, we had over 800,000 people come to our emergency departments. We are seeing big increases in not only the number presenting but also the severity of the illnesses they’re presenting with.
That is as a result of a reduction in GPs in the community and challenges with primary care and that means when they come to an ED they’re sicker and it often means they come to the ED as their last time of resort because there’s nowhere else for them to access care.
That puts an enormous amount of challenge on an emergency department.
Park said NSW needed a “good deal” on health funding and that an agreement for more funding made before Christmas was not being fulfilled:
This deal with the commonwealth is worth billions of dollars a year to us and at the moment the commonwealth is sitting at about 38% in terms of the funding that they provide to hospitals from a NSW perspective.
At the national cabinet before Christmas, there was an agreement to get to 42.5% over five years, and then to get to 45% over 10 years.
We’re not even close to getting to that and now we’re aware that we’ve essentially been told that these discussions have to pause and wait, I simply can’t have that occur. We need to get a good deal for NSW now.
Gallagher says government working on new code of conduct for consultants
I just wanted to return to Katy Gallagher’s appearance on ABC Radio National earlier, because the finance minister said the government was working on releasing a new code of conduct for consultancy companies that would set out their responsibilities when contracted to work for the public service.
Gallagher stopped short of committing to the recommendations of a Senate committee report that investigated the behaviour of consultancy groups, adding that the sector had already taken a financial hit.
She added that PwC, the firm at the centre of a scandal in which it misused confidential government tax information for commercial gain, had already suffered reputational and financial damage over the incident:
Their work with the commonwealth, in terms of ongoing work … contracts that existed, is much diminished.
I think there has been financial consequences but also significant reputational damage – and not just to PwC – but to the broader consultancy sector.
There are a range of inquiries under way. This report was one of them and the government will look at that.
But a five-year ban of one company is something … that we would have to justify, I would think.
Two-year-old boy bitten by dingo on K’gari
Andrew Messenger
Queensland government rangers are hunting for an untagged female wongari (dingo) after the animal bit a two-year-old boy on K’gari yesterday.
The incident occurred in the carpark at Lake McKenzie. Queensland parks and wildlife service were advised at about 2.45pm.
A family was about to leave the area when the father saw a wongari near the right-hand side of their car.
He told his family to get in the car through its left hand side. The animal walked to the other side of the road before running to the front of the vehicle.
It bit the two-year-old on the right thigh before the father chased it away. The child was left with two puncture wounds.
They drove to Eurong to report the incident to rangers before heading to a nearby resort for further medical treatment.
The state government is pouring millions into safety on the island, which is also known as Fraser Island, after a string of attacks.
Katy Gallagher on social media: ‘When you ban something it doesn’t mean people’s interest wanes’
Sticking with the issue of age verification for social media, Labor’s Katy Gallagher has waded into the discussion, saying she was concerned that content viewed by young men could be having a detrimental impact on their attitudes towards women.
The finance minister was on ABC Radio National this morning to discuss the issue, which she said a complex one without an easy solution:
It’s really concerning because it has consequential impacts through the generations really as we’re trying to address violence against women and children in this country.
It’s not easy and I’m not going to pretend it is, but it’s another front that we have to confront and respond to.
These things are really hard. When you ban something it doesn’t mean people’s interest wanes or that children all of a sudden are not going to have access to that information.
Sussan Ley says it is ‘disgusting’ how social media companies profit from accounts of children
Sussan Ley says the Coalition will look to compel social media companies to introduce age verification for children under the age of 16, if the opposition wins the next election.
The deputy opposition leader, appearing on Channel 7’s Sunrise, backed Peter Dutton who yesterday said he’d take the policy to the election. Ley said:
That was strong, decisive leadership we saw from Peter Dutton yesterday on an issue that is personal to him – protecting kids when he was a policeman, protecting kids online and protecting kids when he was home affairs minister and passing laws to do that.
The last thing we want to hear is the Labor party start to say it is all too hard. We have to push through this.
The tech companies, when asked to do this, under a legal framework, will find a way … I don’t think they are saying they can’t do it. I think it’s saying they’re reluctant to do it. What they’re doing is actually profiting off the social media accounts of our kids. That is disgusting.
Pro-Palestine ‘protest parade’ to descend on offices of three Labor MPs in Melbourne
Darebin For Palestine, the community organising group behind pro-Palestinian protests targeting Labor MPs in Victoria, says it will defy the PM’s directions and continue to apply pressure.
In a statement this morning, the group said they intend to target the offices of three local MPs on Saturday as part of a mass demonstration that they’re calling a “protest parade”.
The three MPs are the state member for Preston, Nathan Lambert, the federal member for Cooper, Ged Kearney, and the state member for Northcote, Kat Theophanous.
The group expects the protest to take “several hours”, marching from Lambert’s office in Preston to Theophanous’s office in Northcote.
Jess Gordon, one of the rally organisers, said some constituents were “furious” with Labor for their position on Israel’s war on Gaza.
They are fed up with state and federal Labor’s shameless ongoing military and economic support of the Israeli apartheid state and denial of what is clearly a textbook case of genocide.
Six more people arrested and charged over riot outside Wakeley church
Five men and a teenager have been arrested and charged with rioting offences as part of the investigation into the riot outside a church in Sydney’s south-west in April.
It brings the total number of people charged with offences related to the incident to 29, a result of Strike Force Dribs, which was established to look at the Wakeley incident.
A 41-year-old man, a 31-year-old man, a 29-year-old man, two 20-year-old men and a 17-year-old boy were all arrested and charged with rioting offences, including destroying/damaging property during public disorder and throwing a missile at a police officer at public disorder.
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