What we learned, Sunday 8 February
And that’s a wrap on today’s blog, folks. Here are the highlights:
The big news story of the day was the Coalition getting back together, with the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, and Nationals leader, David Littleproud, promising they’ll stick together in good times and in bad.
West Australians are bracing for the impact of Tropical Cyclone Mitchell, which has been upgraded to a category three.
Souped-up ebikes will be seized and destroyed under a crackdown in New South Wales.
NSW police and the Palestine Action Group are still working out the details of Monday’s protest against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, and a legal challenge to police powers is in the offing.
GetUp has hired David Sharaz to tackle the “democratic threat” of conservative groups.
And Josh Taylor goes inside the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to find out why the party’s over.
See you back here tomorrow for all the latest from Canberra!
Updated
Coalition compromise deal 'not a bad outcome': Jason Falinski
The ABC has asked former Liberal MP Jason Falinski about the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, watering down her initial plan to keep the rebel Nationals senators out of the shadow ministry for six months (they’ll now be back in March) in order to reunite the Coalition. He says the compromise they reached is “not a bad outcome”:
The important thing is not what has happened but what is going to happen, because I can’t say it enough. I mean, there are people who are really hurting in our community, and we do not have a government in either state or federal levels that is actually responding to that.
He also said he was surprised the deal was done:
To be honest, I thought the obstacles to the Coalition getting back together again were pretty high, and would have been difficult to surmount. So credit where credit’s due. Both Sussan and David have clearly worked very hard with a lot of internal stakeholders to get the band back together.
Updated
