What we learned today – Thursday 8 May
And with that, we’ll close the blog for today. Thanks for reading our coverage and I hope you have a great evening wherever you are. Here were today’s major developments:
Firebrand Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defected to the Liberals in a move that could have major implications in the race to replace Peter Dutton as Coalition leader. Price – who can choose to sit with either Coalition partner as a Country Liberal – had previously sat in the Nationals party room.
Two men were convicted of murdering Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy who died in hospital 10 days after he was “deliberately struck to the head” in Perth on 13 October 2022.
Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial continued. Today, the court heard Patterson’s daughter told police she ate leftovers of the deadly mushroom lunch with her mother and brother for dinner the next day.
The inquest into the fatal mass stabbing at the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre also went on. Today it heard evidence that security guards have been so heavily traumatised by Joel Cauchi’s attack many have been unable to return to work.
In political news, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, conceded defeat in his electorate of Melbourne, saying he “fell just short” of holding the seat. He claimed his constituents’ “hate” for Dutton was a factor in the swing away from the Greens and towards Labor. Bandt’s colleague Samantha Ratnam also conceded the neighbouring seat of Wills to Labor.
Guardian Australia confirmed that the industry and science minister, Ed Husic, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, will be dumped from federal cabinet.
Elsewhere, at a fiery annual general meeting, Woodside Energy withstood a rebuke by shareholders of its climate plans by garnering sufficient support to retain its chosen board members and approve executive pay plans.
Updated
Continued from earlier post:
Detetive Snr Sgt Steve Cleal said Michelle and the rest of the family, as well as Cassius’s friends, “should never have gone through this tragedy” and said he was proud of how they had handled themselves during the 13-week supreme court trial.
He went on:
I’m also very proud of the kids that gave evidence in this trial.
They had five of the most experienced defense barristers in the state going at them and and they, I just want to say, I’m proud of you, and you did very well.
I hope the verdicts handed down today can in some way provide some kind of healing towards the family as they go through this terrible and tragic process.
I just want to say while I have this opportunity that Cassius was completely innocent of all the events that led up to this terrible tragedy … the incidents that unfolded that terrible day, this was not his fault.
Cleal said the perpetrators had been charged after a “complex” investigation that involved a “mammoth” effort by multiple teams.
Updated
