What we learned: Friday, 18 August
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the night. Have a lovely evening, we’ll be back first thing tomorrow.
Here were the major developments of the day:
The NSW Greens are calling on cross-party support for a parliamentary inquiry into NSW police following the violent arrest of an 18-year-old Aboriginal man with a disability in Taree this week.
The Afghan ambassador to Australia has called for more global efforts to help his people living under the Taliban regime, through aid, scholarships and refugee visas.
The father of one of the victims of the fatal Hunter Valley bus crash plans to lead a class action lawsuit over the horrific tragedy, as he fights for industry reform.
Three men have been charged for their alleged involvement in the importation and possession of about 560kg of cocaine in Western Australia.
Australian Border Force has released a statement confirming it seized 52 vials of suspected hazardous substances when it raided a suburban Sydney home on Thursday.
And, still in NSW, the Minns Labor government will split up one of its mega departments, creating separate departments for planning and the environment, with the changes to come into effect from next January.
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SA Greens senator rails against ‘nuclear industry in our state’
Greens senator Barbara Pocock has come out swinging at Labor following fiery debate at the national conference over the Aukus submarine plan.
South Australians are encouraged to think that this a jobs solution for our state. It is not. We can get many more jobs out of employment in all kinds of services – health, education, industry, clean and green agriculture – than we will ever get from a nuclear industry in our state.
So we say no to the Aukus proposal.
Today the Labor Party managed to quell dissent within its own ranks against the untenable AUKUS deal. This policy will take Australia from a staunchly non-nuclear nation to a nuclear nation at the beck and call of the American military. Let's invest that money in our people. pic.twitter.com/JtlPPXn902
— Barbara Pocock (@BarbaraPocock) August 18, 2023
Late on Friday morning, the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, and the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, moved a 32-paragraph statement that argued spending $368bn on nuclear submarines would enhance Australia’s national security.
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