Summary
Thanks for following along today’s liveblog. Here is a wrap of the main headlines:
A Senate inquiry held its first round of hearings in Brisbane today, looking at whether cannabis should be legalised in Australia.
No more sites were identified to be containing asbestos-contaminated mulch in NSW in the past day.
The government is continuing to advocate behind the scenes to bring Julian Assange back to Australia, Tanya Plibersek said.
It was announced that the Woolworths chief executive, Brad Banducci, will retire in September, with Amanda Bardwell taking over as managing director and group CEO.
At mid-afternoon, Woolworths shares dropped by 7.2% to a nearly year-and-a-half low of $33.27, on pace for their biggest fall since a 7.7% loss on 14 December 2021.
Police said a man has been placed under arrest in hospital overnight, following the discovery of three bodies in Sydney’s north-west yesterday.
Qantas announced the former Telstra chairman John Mullen will become its new chair (and workers seemed hopeful he could change things).
Australian wages rose by 0.9% in the three months to December, down from the record-breaking 1.3% quarterly growth through to September.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, accused the opposition of wanting to “whip up anger and fear in the Australian community because they think there’s votes in it for them”. (This was after the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, told Sky News that he was concerned about Australia issuing thousands of visas to Palestinian residents in the wake of the Gaza war – saying, “I don’t know how we can be doing adequate checks on the ground of those people”, among other things.)
And our prime minister, Anthony Albanese, declared himself a “Swiftie”, announcing he will be in attendance at the Taylor Swift concert in Sydney on Friday night. (Plibersek, on the other hand, announced her sadness at not being able to get her hands on a ticket.)
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'I would subject myself' to random breath testing in parliament, Perin Davey says
The Nationals deputy leader, Perin Davey, has said she would subject herself to random breath testing in parliament if it were to be implemented after being criticised for appearing to be under the influence during a Senate estimates hearing.
The Coalition frontbencher admitted to having two wines before the incident but insists she was not inebriated. Davey explained on Tuesday she had ongoing speech challenges due to a medical incident years earlier, which causes her to slur her words.
Davey again insisted she was not drunk at the late-night estimates hearing on Sky News’ The Kenny Report on Wednesday evening.
I still maintain that I do not believe I was drunk and I will stand by that. I still maintain that I was able and capable to do my job, which I did.
Asked whether she was in a condition to legally drive a car, Davey said she wasn’t sure.
I wouldn’t know, I mean, we don’t have random breath testing in parliament. If we did, I would subject myself to it.
It is the second time this month a member of the Nationals has been in the spotlight for appearing to be under the influence of alcohol.
Earlier this month, the shadow veterans affairs minister, Barnaby Joyce, was filmed lying down on a Canberra pavement while uttering profanities into his phone. Joyce admitted it was a “big mistake” but said the incident occurred after he had mixed alcohol and prescription drugs.
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