What we learned: Sunday 24 March
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. But before we put it to bed, a recap of what made the headlines:
After returning to politics at the state level, Eric Abetz “categorically” denied eyeing premier Jeremy Rockliff’s leadership as the Liberals struggled to hold power after Saturday’s election.
The federal government announced a new taskforce cracking down on providers for the national disability insurance scheme illegally overcharging participants.
As another 300 individuals joined the New South Wales social housing waitlist in February, there were calls from advocates for the state government to confront an “escalating crisis”.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, said there was “no reason” to think a second Trump administration would renege on Aukus.
The Liberal party selected Amelia Hamer to contest independent candidate Monique Ryan for the seat of Kooyong at the next federal election.
Protesters marched around the country calling for an end to native forest logging.
Rockliff said he had “reached out” to independents and the Jacqui Lambie Network as he attempts to form a minority government.
The Tasmanian Labor leader, Rebecca White, conceded the Liberals should have the first opportunity to try for minority government.
Updated
The Bob Brown Foundation says thousands turned out to the marches across the country today calling for an end to native forest logging.
They took place in eight locations from NSW’s forest towns of Bellingen, Lismore and Bega to Victoria’s Kyneton and to the cities of Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle.
Bob Brown said:
Right now when we need forests the most, federal and state governments are still destroying them.
Native forest logging is destroying critical carbon stocks and razing wildlife habitat to the ground across Australia at a time when leaving forests in the ground will mitigate global heating and protect wildlife from the brink of extinction. Logging in native forests is killing endangered wildlife like the koalas, Greater Gliders, Swift parrots, Gang-gang Cockatoos and owls, quolls and countless other species.
Jenny Weber, the campaigns manager for the foundation said:
Australia is calling on Prime Minister Albanese and his government to end native forest logging. When native forests are saved from destruction, essential ecosystems and wildlife are saved in this time of climate breakdown and extinction crisis. Australia has more than enough plantations to meet its wood needs.
Secure forest protection of Australia’s precious native forest estate will benefit wildlife and the climate. We are ramping up our national campaign and will continue to mobilise the Australian public to take action in support of ending native forest logging with nationwide actions until the logging of wildlife-rich native forests that happens every day is stopped.
Updated
Some more pictures of the NSW premier, Chris Minns, minister for transport, Jo Haylen, and member for Parramatta, Donna Davis, checking out the new Parramatta River-class ferry:
Updated
First ferry in new fleet makes grand entrance
The first of seven new ferries has arrived in Sydney after undertaking a 630 nautical mile journey to cross Bass Strait, with the NSW premier stepping aboard as one of her first passengers, AAP reports.
The Parramatta River-class ferries were designed by Sydney’s Incat Crowthers and the tender was awarded to Richardson Devine marine shipbuilders in Hobart, with construction beginning last July.
The Australian-built vessels will replace RiverCats slated to be retired when they reach the end of their lifespan after 30 years of service.
Named after botanist and D’harawal elder Frances Bodkin, the fleet’s first ferry arrived in Sydney on Sunday after stopping at Flinders Island and Eden during its trip north.
The Frances Bodkin will now be thoroughly cleaned and undergo further sea trials to ensure it is in peak shape before the first passengers hop on board in the next few weeks.
The ferry will predominantly run in calm river conditions on the F3 route, between Parramatta and Circular Quay.
The premier, Chris Minns, and transport minister, Jo Haylen, were on deck to welcome the Frances Bodkin to Sydney.
Updated
Liberal members gathering to select Goldstein candidate
Liberal party members in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs have gathered to preselect a candidate to run in the seat of Goldstein, which they lost to “teal” independent Zoe Daniel at the 2022 federal election.
Former MP Tim Wilson, who held the seat between 2016 and 2022, has put his hand up to run again but he faces competition from Stephanie Hunt, a lawyer and former staffer to ministers Julie Bishop and Marise Payne.
The seat is currently held by Daniel, a former ABC journalist, on a margin of 2.9%. She was one of six ‘teals’ to wrestle formerly blue-ribbon Liberal seats from the party at the 2022 election.
If Wilson is successful, he’ll be the first of the former Liberal MPs to contest the next poll, due by the middle of 2025.
Updated
Labor on track to claim former premier Steven Marshall’s seat in Dunstan byelection
Meanwhile in South Australia, Labor is poised to take the seat of Dunstan from the Liberals after a byelection was triggered by former premier Steven Marshall’s resignation.
The state government’s electoral website states the candidate currently leading in the count is Labor’s Cressida O’Hanlon.
Although Liberal candidate Anna Finizio currently has a higher first preference percentage (40%) compared to O’Hanlon (32.3%), in the two-candidate preferred result O’Hanlon is leading with 53.8% compared to Finizio’s 46.2%. Both parties have lost ground to the Greens.
The Advertiser is reporting it is the first time an SA government has taken a seat from an opposition at a byelection in 116 years. The newspaper also writes:
Senior Labor figures said the party was on track to claim victory in the seat, but it was “too soon to do so publicly”.
There are still about a quarter of the votes left to be counted because, under the South Australian electoral system, pre-poll and postal votes are not counted until next week.
Updated
Over $6m worth of illicit tobacco products seized by Queensland health officials
Queensland health laws targeting illegal tobacco and vaping products have netted almost five million illicit cigarettes since their introduction last year, AAP reports.
Greater enforcement powers for health authorities have also resulted in the seizure of more than 42,000 vapes and 2.1 tonnes of loose tobacco.
The Queensland health minister, Shannon Fentiman, says the more than $6.6m worth of contraband is in addition to the results of multi-agency operations, also involving her department.
Separately, Queensland police and other agencies have confiscated over 10 million illicit cigarettes, 106,000 vapes and four tonnes of loose tobacco worth more than $20.3m over the past 12 months.
Fentiman today said the “decision to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to illicit tobacco is paying off.”
Often those behind the importation and sales of these products are part of well-organised criminal gangs and only with a combined effort between state and federal authorities will we continue to make a difference.
Health authorities issued almost 500 infringement notices to retailers supplying illicit products since changes to smoking laws, compared to 174 issued between 2019 and 2022.
The results coincide with Queensland Health seizing more than 1670 bongs and 375 pipes in 2023-24.
Read the latest on the tobacco industry’s lobbying attempts from our medical editor Melissa Davey:
Updated
Tasmanian Labor leader concedes Liberals should have first opportunity to try for minority government
Despite an earlier report suggesting she would declare Labor had lost the Tasmanian election, the party’s leader, Rebecca White, has offered a more nuanced position at a media conference in Richmond, outside Hobart.
She said it was clear that the Liberal party had won the most seats at the election and should be given the first opportunity to form a government.
I think this result demonstrates that it’s very hard for Labor to win government and Jeremy Rockliff will be given the first opportunity under conventions to test his numbers and seek support from the parliament.
Ultimately it will be up to him to make it work.
White did not explicitly rule out Labor forming a government if the Liberals failed to win support, but made clear that was unlikely.
Asked if the Labor leadership had been declared vacant, she said:
I am currently the leader and I’m doing the job that I’m elected to do.
Updated
Update on that last post about the Tasmanian election – Adam Morton, our reporter on the ground at Rebecca White’s press conference, says the story may be more nuanced than what the ABC first reported. Stand by and we’ll bring you the latest.
Updated
Tasmanian Labor concedes election - ABC reports
The ABC is reporting that Tasmanian Labor has declared it has lost the state election and will not attempt to form a minority government. The national broadcaster says:
Party sources have told the ABC that the decision was made at a state administrative committee meeting today.
The decision also makes the party leader position, which has been held by Rebecca White, vacant.
We are expecting White to be standing up to make the announcement shortly.
Updated
Foreign visitor charged with importing more than 20kg of methamphetamine in carry-on luggage
A foreign visitor has been charged for allegedly importing more than 20kg of methamphetamine hidden in wine bottles and herbal tea in his carry-on luggage.
The 27 year old man was questioned by Australian Border Force officers at Sydney International Airport after he arrived on a flight from Thailand on Tuesday.
The federal police arrested the man, who was later charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. The man appeared in court on Wednesday where he was refused bail and will re-appear in court in May.
AFP Sydney Airport Police Commander Morgen Blunden said the AFP and its partners were committed to stamping out criminality in the airport environment, including by transnational drug syndicates.
No matter how elaborate or creative the attempts are, the AFP and our partners are working tirelessly to prevent airports being used as part of the criminal supply chain.
The ABF Travel East Commander, Rosemaree Cracknell, said this was an example of attempting to smuggle illicit drugs under the guise of legitimate food and alcohol products.
Updated
WA police call for information on suspicious Nanga Brook fire
Western Australian police are appealing for information about a fire they are treating as suspicious.
Officers are investigating the cause of a bushfire in Nanga Brook located within Lane Poole Reserve, Waroona.
The bushfire was reported shortly after midday yesterday and spread quickly fanned by strong winds, burning approximately 1784 hectares of bushland so far.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services are currently on the scene and managing the fire.
Police say the cause of the fire is being treated as suspicious and are urging anyone with any information relating to this fire, or who saw any suspicious persons, vehicles or activity in the area, to contact Crime Stoppers via their website or by calling 1800 333 000.
Anyone with CCTV, mobile phone or dash-cam vision of the above fire area taken between 11am and 1pm, can upload the vision direct to police investigators via this link.
Rewards of up to $25,000 are available for information that leads to the identification and conviction of an arsonist, police say.
Updated
Tasmanians have given Liberals ‘a bit of a kick’: Rockliff
Rockliff is justifying his mandate to form government but vows to “do better as a government” after the “kick” from the Tasmanian people:
We have likely 15 seats to Labor’s 10, we’ve won the most seats and indeed the most votes, and so the Tasmanian people have not voted to change the government, they’ve given us a clear message, of which I have heard and they want more from our government. We will do better as a government and I have heard that message very clearly.
… They have given us a bit of a kick and I accept that.
Updated
‘There will be no deals with the Greens’, Rockliff says
Rockliff vows that he will not be doing a deal with the Greens. He also said that the opposition leader Rebecca White cannot form a government without going back on her word not to do a deal with the Greens:
What is very clear is the Tasmanian people in not wanting to change the government have also given the Liberal party a mandate to form a new government. And a new government we will form. And respect the will of the voters and work with crossbenchers to deliver that certainty and stability.
It’s very clear that the only way Ms White could possibly form a government is to go back on Ms White’s word and do a deal with the Greens and then some. That will bring a coalition of chaos to the Tasmanian Parliament and that is not what Ms White promised to do and it’s not what Tasmanians need.
I have made my position very clear … I said there will be no deals with the Greens. I will not be trading ministries and the 2030 strong plan for Tasmania’s future is not up for negotiation.
Updated
Rockliff says he has ‘reached out’ to independents and Jacqui Lambie Network
Jeremy Rockliff says he has already reached out to independents and the Jacqui Lambie Network after the Liberals did not secure a majority and will need support to govern:
I have already reached out to potential independents and indeed the [Jacqui] Lambie party as well. I look forward to those ongoing discussions to ensure – and I am confident the new people that are elected to the Tasmanian parliament will want that certainty and stability that Tasmanians of course clearly deserve.
Updated
Tasmanians ‘have not voted to change the government’, Jeremy Rockliff says
The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, is speaking in Hobart after the state voted for a hung parliament. He says he respects the “message” the voters sent in the swing towards minor parties and independents.
He starts off:
It was a big day yesterday, a big night last night and today is another day.
Rockliff congratulated each person that stood in the election and welcomed the likely four new members of the Liberal party:
As I said, last night the message was pretty clear. We have listened to that. Tasmanian people have spoken and I respect the message we heard last night.
But … in the results last night, the Tasmanian people have not voted to change the government.
What we have heard is that Tasmanians clearly want a focus on issues that when it comes to cost of living, health and housing. What I do believe is the people also voted for certainty and stability.
Updated
Marches across the country to ban native forest logging
Protesters around the country today are calling for an end to native forest logging.
Crowds have gathered in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide, as well as regional centres of Newcastle, Bega, Kyneton, Lismore and Bellingen, participating in the “March in March for Forests” organised by the Bob Brown Foundation.
It follows last weekend’s march of 3,000 people in nipaluna/Hobart.
In Sydney tree-costumed demonstrators are dancing to live music in front of town hall before they make their way to Hyde Park:
March in March for forests. Sydney Town Hall pic.twitter.com/dpOahYOEYA
— 💛🐨 Suzie Gold 💛🐨 (@GoldSuzie) March 24, 2024
The speakers include ecologist Mark Graham, the NSW Greens’ Sue Higginson and fire ecology specialist Dr Phil Zylstra.
The director of the Australia Institute’s climate and energy program, Polly Hemming, criticised how the continued logging of forests contradicts the government’s pledge there will be no new extinctions.
The Australian Government promised there would be no new extinctions in Australia & has signed international pledges to end deforestation and biodiversity loss by 2030. So why are our forests still being decimated?
— Polly Hemming (@pollyjhemming) March 23, 2024
🌳March for forests tomorrow!🌳https://t.co/iMke89fvYW #auspol pic.twitter.com/A4xn49o1hd
At the end of last year, the Howard-era coalition frontbencher Robert Hill and prominent Labor figure Peter Garrett were among several former environment ministers who signed on to a campaign to ban native forest logging across Australia.
My colleague Lisa Cox wrote this week about the “profound tragedy” of the continued logging of koala habitat:
Updated
Dutton praises ‘outstanding’ candidates for Kooyong and Gilmore
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says Amelia Hamer is part of the party’s “outstanding candidates” who will contest the next election.
Hamer has nominated cost-of-living pressures and helping people become homeowners as key issues she hopes to address.
She studied at Oxford university before working in banking, venture capital and technology. She said in a statement:
I am putting my hand up for Kooyong to fight to ensure future generations can access the same opportunities that past generations have had.
Dutton said:
Amelia Hamer has a breadth of experience and will be a champion for the people of Kooyong.
Amelia Hamer has a breadth of experience and will be a champion for the people of Kooyong.
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) March 23, 2024
Similarly, Andrew Constance continues his many years of service to the people of NSW, now as our candidate for Gilmore.
- with AAP
Updated
Amelia Hamer picked by Liberals to take on Monique Ryan in Kooyong
The Liberal party has selected Amelia Hamer to contest independent candidate Monique Ryan for the seat of Kooyong at the next federal election.
Hamer is 31 year old, an executive at a fintech company and the grand-niece of former Victorian premier Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer.
The prized seat in Melbourne’s inner east was held by the Liberal Party from 1945 to 2022, until then treasurer Josh Frydenberg lost the seat to Ryan at the last election on a margin of less than 3%.
Some 300 party faithful took part in the vote on Saturday to choose the next Liberal candidate at Hawthorn town hall, with Hamer reportedly winning the vote by a significant majority.
Congratulations Amelia Hamer on winning today’s Liberal Party Preselection for Kooyong.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) March 23, 2024
Looking forward to supporting you and the Party in the campaign ahead. pic.twitter.com/6VKSPPg3vq
Frydenberg posted to X, formerly Twitter:
Congratulations Amelia Hamer on winning today’s Liberal Party Preselection for Kooyong. Looking forward to supporting you and the Party in the campaign ahead.
- with AAP
Updated
Driver saved by police from submerged car
A woman has been saved from her sinking car after crashing it into a lagoon shortly after midnight on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Just after 12.30am police were called when a car left Pittwater Road before crashing through bushes and coming to rest into Dee Why Lagoon. The officers arrived to find a 60-year-old woman was still inside the partially submerged vehicle.
Probationary Constable Kiesha McJannet managed to free the woman from the car, which was quickly taking on water and became fully submerged shortly after the woman was freed.
Northern Beaches Police Area Command Duty Officer, Acting Insp Adrian De Visser, praised the efforts of McJannet, whose actions prevented the woman from drowning:
Probationary Constable McJannet has only been in the New South Wales Police Force since June 2023 – her selfless actions of entering the water and saving a woman from a precarious position is deserving of praise.
The woman was taken to Northern Beaches hospital for observation.
The vehicle remains submerged in water and salvage crews will attempt to retrieve the vehicle from the lagoon later today.
Updated
Bushfire threatens lives and homes south of Perth
An out-of-control bushfire is threatening lives and homes south of Perth, AAP reports.
An emergency warning was issued for an area west of Nanga Townsite, south of Dwellingup in the Shire of Murray and Shire of Waroona, after “extreme unseasonal conditions” on Saturday.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said in an alert this morning:
The fire is still spreading with strong winds in difficult to access steep and hilly terrain.
The fire ground is experiencing fresh and gusty winds this morning, decreasing into the evening.
People in the area should remain vigilant in case the fire behaviour escalates again.
Residents are being advised to leave for a safer place if the way is clear and if not, to be ready to shelter in their homes.
DFES said the fire, which started in state forest west of Nanga, had burned through 1650 hectares.
Authorities said the bushfire was unpredictable and moving fast in a westerly direction.
Updated
Marles faces a last question in light of the government drafting amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act. Asked about whether religious schools should be allowed to hire and fire a teacher based on whether they’re gay, the defence minister responds:
People should not be discriminated against in their employment on the basis of their sexual identity, that is really clear.
Marles said the legislation will not be made public while the government is still negotiating it with the opposition.
We don’t want to walk down a path of division in this country.
Updated
Marles ‘not concerned’ about Keating meeting with Chinese foreign minister
Marles says the government is not concerned about the Chinese foreign minister meeting with vocal Aukus critic, former prime minister Paul Keating, this week.
Marles said the meeting that mattered to the Australian government was the one Wang Yi held this week with Penny Wong.
We’re not really concerned about the meeting with Paul Keating. Because Paul Keating doesn’t speak for the Australian government …
The meeting that mattered was with our foreign minister.
Updated
Aukus budget ‘still where we expected it to be’ despite additional $4.6bn UK nuclear production funding, Marles says
Marles is also denying the costs of Aukus have blown out, after the government this week said it will seek to prop up the pact by sending $4.6bn to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line.
Marles said:
The budget is still where we expected it to be in terms of Aukus. We’ve heard the opposition try to muddy this up. I mean, they can say what they say, but it doesn’t matter how much they talk about money, it doesn’t distract from the facts. And the facts are, money has been provided, and an increase in money has been provided to the defence budget.
He said delays and overruns in shipbuilding was not a worry because the stretched industrial base in the US and UK was “factored in”:
We knew that the industrial base, both in the UK and the US, was stretched, which is why we made the decision last year to make a contribution to the industrial bases of both countries in order to allow them to do what they needed to do to enable Australia to acquire this capability, in the case of the UK, to have nuclear reactors built in an appropriate time frame.
Updated
'No reason' to think second Trump administration would renege on Aukus, Marles says
Marles says there is “no reason” to think a second Trump administration would renege on Aukus.
In terms of Aukus, with a Trump presidency, we’ve got no reason to have any sense that it will be anything other than supportive because, again, when you look at what occurred in Congress last year, with historic votes in respect of both pillars of Aukus, there was unanimous support, really, across the United States. Democrats and Republicans alike, and within the Republicans, those who support Donald Trump as well, so we have a sense of confidence of support across the spectrum for Aukus. It makes strategic sense for the United States.
In response to how the government is preparing for all eventualities in the US election, including talking to Trump’s inner circle, Marles said “we are doing everything you would expect us to be doing at this time.”
Updated
Richard Marles confident Kevin Rudd will ‘work across the political spectrum’ under potential second Trump presidency
The defence minister, Richard Marles, says he is confident Kevin Rudd will be able to “work across the political spectrum” in the US – no matter whether Donald Trump is elected US president.
It comes after Trump this week took a swipe at the former Australian prime minister, calling him “nasty” and claiming he “won’t be there long” as Australian ambassador to the United States.
In response to the question of whether the government factored in a second Trump presidency when appointing Rudd as ambassador to the US given he was a strong critic of Trump, Marles told ABC Insiders:
I think we have a sense of confidence that no matter what the result is in November, the relationship between our two countries will be strong.
Obviously, the relationship has experienced a Trump presidency before, and the relationship went through that period of time well.
We do have a sense of confidence of being able to work across the political spectrum and we had a sense of confidence that Kevin would be able to do that and he has. His effort in the lead-up to the Congress vote last year, it was fantastic, and again, across the political spectrum.
Updated
New taskforce to crack down on ‘small minority of swindlers’ overcharging NDIS participants, Shorten says
The federal government is cracking down on providers for the national disability insurance scheme illegally overcharging participants.
A new taskforce will be chaired by the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, together with the NDIS quality and safeguards commission and the national disability insurance agency. It will investigate misleading conduct, unfair contract terms and anti-competitive agreements that might affect participants.
NDIS participants, their carers, guardians, and nominees will receive a letter explaining their rights and how to fight back against the NDIS “wedding tax” (where prices are increased just because someone is on the NDIS), the government said.
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, said:
Charging you more just because you are simply an NDIS participant is wrong and it is a breach of federal law. We have upgraded the NDIS rules to make it clear overcharging is prohibited and we have further legal changes coming to more strongly prohibit and punish such practices.
Participants and the disability sector have known about this problem for years. We finally have the legal powers to fix it with this taskforce and changes to the NDIS Code of Conduct. I know most service providers are doing the right thing, but there is a small minority of swindlers who are giving everyone a bad name.
Rob White from Alliance 20, a group of Australia’s largest services providers, said the action was “another positive move towards strengthening the NDIS”.
We are committed to working together with the Government and partner Agencies to eliminate all rip-offs and safeguard the Scheme.
Read more on this story from when the taskforce was first announced:
Updated
Eric Abetz 'categorically' denies Tasmanian Liberal leadership ambitions
After returning to politics at the state level, Eric Abetz has “categorically” denied he is eyeing premier Jeremy Rockliff’s leadership as the Liberals struggle to hold power after Saturday’s election.
On ABC TV’s Tasmanian election coverage, Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim accused the former minister in the Howard and Abbott federal governments of eyeing the state’s top job:
The biggest agent of instability in the next parliament is going to be you because it’s well known that you want Jeremy Rockliff’s job and you are sharpening the knife as we sit here tonight to slip it in between his shoulder blades as soon as you possibly can with Michael Ferguson alongside you.
Abetz dismissed the charge as “silly commentary” before McKim accused him of not denying it.
Abetz:
If you wouldn’t have interjected, I would have categorically and utterly denied it.
My only reason for seeking a seat was one – there’s a vacancy in Franklin, I believe that from two seats, the Liberals can go up to three seats.
And the reason I got into federal politics, why I’m seeking to get into state politics is summed up in one word: service. I want to serve the people. And that is what motivates me.
And I think my track record to over that time shows that I’ve always been a team player, irrespective of what cards I might be dealt from time to time.
Asked about whether he would have ambition to be leader if Rockliff stumbles in the next couple weeks given what he has had to say about minority government, Abetz said:
We don’t call him J-Rock for nothing. Not only does he rock, his leadership is absolutely rock solid. Amongst the 35 candidates with whom I’ve spoken, there has not been any talk about leadership whatsoever.
Updated
Calls for NSW government to tackle 'escalating' social housing crisis
Another 300 individuals joined the New South Wales social housing waitlist in February, including 100 people moving onto the priority list, prompting calls from advocates for the state government to confront an “escalating crisis”.
NSW has the largest social housing register in the country with 57,904 families and individuals waiting for help.
Mark Degotardi, the chief executive of Community Housing Industry Association NSW, said 10 individuals and families joined the social housing waitlist “every single day”.
At that rate, the state government needs to build more than 3600 social homes a year just to keep up with the increase in people needing help.
These are everyday people who are struggling to keep a roof over their head as rents continue to rise and vacancy rates plummet.
They include older people on the brink of homelessness and women and children attempting to escape domestic violence. They cannot afford to wait.
Degotardi said his organisation was seeking an urgent commitment from the state government in the next budget for “significant long-term funding for social and affordable housing in NSW”.
The treasurer can confront the housing crisis head on in this year’s budget. By investing $2bn per year for the next five years, we can build 25,000 social and affordable homes and begin to make a dent in the housing crisis.
That’s a modest investment compared to the $72.3bn committed by the state government to transport infrastructure projects over the next four years.
Updated
Good morning!
Tasmania appears set for a hung parliament and the Liberal government will have to negotiate with minor parties and independents who surged in popularity, sharing nearly 34% of the vote when counting closed on Saturday.
One of the successful Liberal candidates in the southernmost state’s election was Eric Abetz, a former minister in the Howard and Abbott federal governments who lost his Senate seat in 2022.
With questions around premier Jeremy Rockliff’s leadership due to the unconvincing result, Abetz “categorically” denied on ABC TV’s election coverage that he plans to seize the leadership after Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim accused him of eyeing the top job.
In New South Wales, another 300 individuals have joined the state’s social housing waitlist prompting calls from advocates for the state government to confront an “escalating crisis”.
Meanwhile in Canberra a new taskforce to crack down on unfair price hikes for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants is also operational as of today.
We will also hear from the defence minister, Richard Marles, who’ll be on ABC Insiders shortly.
Let’s get going!
Updated
