What we learned: Thursday, 26 May
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if we’ll be any closer to finding out if Labor will clinch those 76 seats to form majority government tonight, but here’s where it stands.
- Labor have secured 75 seats after retaining the seat of Lyons, while the Greens are still fighting to secure at least three seats in the lower house.
- Liberal Celia Hammond has conceded the seat of Curtin to independent Kate Chaney, and Liberal Julian Simmonds has conceded the seat of Ryan to Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown.
- The Liberal party will examine where it all went wrong with a review headed by Senator Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane, a former federal director of the party.
- Tim Wilson told the National Energy Efficiency Conference in an address he was feeling “great” after losing his seat of Goldstein and didn’t blame climate for the loss.
- Penny Wong spoke today in Fiji on a number of topics including climate, China and foreign interference. She said the government would “end the climate wars” and work to make the Pacific family “even stronger”.
- Over in the Liberal camp, Peter Dutton has confirmed he will run for the Liberal party leadership, which will be unopposed. He has also received an apology from Tanya Plibersek for comparing him to Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort.
- Former PM Scott Morrison says he will support whoever becomes party leader and is “happy to be a dad again”.
- And there have been 71 Covid deaths nationwide, including 30 deaths in NSW and 19 in Queensland and Victoria.
Updated
Federal parliament is at the centre of another sexual assault allegation, AAP reports.
The Department of Parliamentary Services today confirmed it’s investigating a matter reported in March.
Police have confirmed they received a report of a man indecently assaulting his female colleague in December. The people involved were employed at parliament house at the time, but are not politicians or political staff.
A report about the incident involving “building support staff” was received in March, an ACT Police spokesman said:
“Specialist investigators from the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Team have spoken to the complainant and they have advised they do not wish to proceed with an investigation. Support services have been offered to the complainant and if [she] wishes to proceed – the matter can be re-opened at any time.”
A department spokesperson said an investigation into the allegation is under way, separate of any action that might be taken by police:
“This issue is ongoing and for matters of privacy no further comment will be made. Allegations of sexual assault reported to [the department] are referred to police as a matter of course.
The spokesperson said the department “is committed to the safety of all building occupants”.
Police described the report as one of “indecent assault” and not sexual assault.
Updated
