What we learned; Tuesday 16 May
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
Police had a “bizarre approach” to the Bruce Lehrmann case, and Brittany Higgins’s allegation of rape would have been ignored had it not allegedly taken place in parliament house, a lawyer has told the inquiry into Lehrmann’s trial.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton called the Nazis on the steps of Victoria’s parliament house “scumbags” and “sick individuals.”
An international group has scored Australia’s latest UN climate pledge a “zero” because it fails to recognise the health risks and benefits of its approach to reach its greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Queensland police say a teenager is in serious condition after being stabbed on school grounds in Kamerunga, a suburb of Cairns.
A retail worker in Melbourne’s CBD has been stabbed and is seriously injured after they confronted two people allegedly attempting to steal a bag, Victoria police said.
Transport union leaders gave the NSW premier, Chris Minns, a standing ovation as he pledged to amend the state’s decades-old workplace laws to include ride-share and food delivery drivers.
The disability royal commission has found that Anglicare failed to properly investigate allegations that a woman, known by the pseudonym of Niky, was sexually assaulted at one of its respite centres in southern Queensland.
Billionaire businessman James Packer has given $7m to UNSW for mental health research and the establishment of a chair in his name on mood disorders.
Human trafficking support services will get a $24m boost as the government works to crack down on modern slavery.
Updated
New South Wales needs to rapidly double the number of apartments being built every year, according to the state’s building commissioner, David Chandler.
He said the state was currently building 14,000 to 15,000 apartments annually but that number needed to reach 30,000, and he would need to ensure they were built to a high standard if the public was to regain trust in new builds.
He said:
We’ve got to double. My job is to make sure that those projects that are completed are in fact completed to a level that the public can be confident in.
Asked if he agreed with the goal, the premier, Chris Minns, said he was not yet ready to commit to such a figure.
He said:
We’re working up our growth targets in the metropolitan city area. We’re not ready to release them now. But I did make a promise in the election campaign that I thought it needed to be rebalanced, particularly along public transport routes.
Updated
