What we learned; Tuesday 18 November
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:
Sussan Ley declared she will “absolutely” lead the Liberal party to the next election while conceding the Australian public “mark us down” when descending into infighting.
Australia faces a permanent contest to maintain security and prosperity in the Asia Pacific, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said.
Seventeen out of 24 children’s toys purchased from major online retailers as part of a consumer shopping test by Choice failed Australia’s mandatory button battery standards, putting kids at risk of serious harm.
25 schools in the ACT remained closed today, while nine Tasmanian Catholic schools also shut amid ongoing concern over children’s play sand products that may contain asbestos.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson had a busy day - on Radio National Breakfast, she said the Liberal party’s decision to dump its net zero targets do not go far enough. Later, her 1997 book, which predicts Australia will be run by a lesbian part-cyborg ‘Australasia’ leader in 2050 was raised in federal court.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said a $60 toll cap for Sydney’s roads will be extended beyond its expiry date at the end of this year and the government is considering two-way tolling on the Harbour Bridge to fund the cap permanently.
First-term MP Jess Wilson became the first woman to lead the Victorian Liberal party after defeating Brad Battin in a leadership challenge on Tuesday morning.
A South African man whose visa was cancelled after attending a neo-Nazi rally in Sydney was taken into immigration detention in the early hours of this morning, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said.
Coloured sand products, which have been contaminated with asbestos and used widely in Australian schools, were not required to undergo any testing for the hazardous material before they were imported, border officials have confirmed.
Australia’s national scientific agency the CSIRO is expected to cut up to 350 more research roles from next year as it frantically looks for savings and new sources of funding to plug budgetary shortfalls.
And the Australian share market plunged almost 2%, wiping $60bn of value from the market, leaving investors almost nowhere to hide.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Updated
Turkey accuses Australia of stalling on joint hosting arrangement for Cop31
The Turkish government has accused Australia of stalling on a previously agreed compromise deal in the stand off over who hosts the Cop31 climate conference next year.
A report in the English language Turkiye Today quotes the country’s deputy climate minister, Fatma Varank, saying an agreement was reached on a joint hosting arrangement for the world’s premier climate summit, but Australia “stepped back and stalled the process”.
An Australian government source said no agreement had been reached.
Ministers and officials held meetings on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York in September and the country’s leaders later corresponded. Both sides have proposed compromises without success.
Australia has had the backing of the majority of the mostly western European countries that have responsibility to nominate next year’s host, in part because it is proposing a “Pacific Cop” in partnership with vulnerable island nations. But the decision must be made by consensus.
If that cannot be reached this week, the event is expected to default to Germany, the home of the UN climate headquarters.
Varank’s comments that Turkey was the only country involved that was prepared to compromise precede expected talks between the country’s climate ministers, Chris Bowen and Murat Kutum, at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil.
Bowen earlier told reporters Australia “obviously” respected Turkey’s bid, “but we also point out we have the most support”.
“We’re fighting hard, we don’t know how we’ll go, but we’re in it to win,” he said.
Updated
