What we learned today, Wednesday 19 July
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the day’s main stories:
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says he will not apologise for cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as the state opposition calls for the auditor general to investigate.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, rules out a debate on the voice with her opposition counterpart.
More details on the Tasering of nursing home resident Clare Nowland have been released, with prosecutors calling the incident “grossly disproportionate”.
Six people have been injured in a multi-vehicle crash that involved a truck carrying a US Abrams tank near Rockhampton.
Concerns are raised about PwC “spamming” the public service in unsolicited bids for government work.
The mysterious space object found on a Western Australia beach is “most likely” a rocket motor casing, the Australian Space Agency says.
We will see you back here for more news tomorrow morning.
Updated
Andrews defends shock decision to cancel Commonwealth Games
Daniel Andrews says moving the 2026 Commonwealth Games to Melbourne was “probably the cheapest” alternative option but the cost still would have exceeded $4bn, as he defended the shock decision to cancel the event instead.
The Victorian opposition says it has now written to the state’s auditor general to examine how much the decision to end the contract to host the event will cost taxpayers. It also wants the watchdog to scrutinise how costs soared beyond the original estimate of $2.6bn last year, to between $6bn and $7bn that the Victorian government used to justify cancelling the event, which was to be held across five regional sites.
More on that story here:
Updated
