What we learned today, Thursday 15 May
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks so much for joining us. Here were today’s major developments:
Larissa Waters has been unanimously endorsed by the Greens as the new leader of the party. Fronting the media, she called for “politics with heart” and said the party wanted to work with Labor to “get shit done”.
Australia’s unemployment rate stayed at 4.1% in April after the economy recorded a bumper month of jobs growth.
The Liberal candidate Tim Wilson urged his scrutineers in Goldstein to “knock out informal votes being counted” for the independent Zoe Daniel, warning her team has done so “with extreme precision” as the contest tightened this week.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) has released images of those allegedly responsible for last year’s Adass Israel Synagogue arson attack in Melbourne, while also reiterating its suspicion it was “politically-motivated”.
A man has been hospitalised after being bitten by a shark at Port Noarlunga, South Australia.
And the AFL great Robert Walls, who won multiple premierships as a player and coach, has died aged 74.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe says she would not rejoin Greens ‘even if my daughter became leader’
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe also appeared on ABC Afternoon Briefing after the appointment of Larissa Waters as the new leader of the Greens.
Last term, Thorpe quit the party in opposition to its position on the voice to parliament. She said there was no chance she would return:
Even if my daughter became the leader of the Greens, I would not join the Greens. Absolutely not … I love being an independent. I get to decide what is best based on the Blak Sovereign Movement guiding me and sometimes that does not sit well with the Greens so I left with good reasons and good luck to them.
Thorpe was also asked about widespread criticism in the last parliament for heckling King Charles, and being suspended from the Senate.
Do you think you would do things differently in this parliament?
She replied, “no, I think I will continue to bring down the colony”.
I think I will continue to tell the truth, which justifiably hurts these politicians and the racists in this country. So I will continue to be the activist that I am and I will continue to fight for justice for my people.
Updated
