What we learned, Thursday 19 September
As the Senate-only sitting week winds down, so too does the live blog for today. Here’s what made the news:
Australia joined 42 other countries in abstaining in a vote at the United Nations overnight on a resolution demanding that Israel “brings to an end without delay to its unlawful presence” in the occupied Palestinian territories, and should do so within 12 months.
There was applause across the UN general assembly chamber when the motion demanding Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories was passed by 124 votes to 14 with 43 abstentions.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says Australia should have voted against the motion with the United States.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has responded to criticism of the government not seeking to ban gambling advertising by saying that ads are not the problem, gambling is.
The Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, described the PM’s comments as “dead wrong” and “weak” and called for the PM to “be better and not so crap”.
Forty years of unsolved murders in New South Wales will be reviewed and evidence that could be investigated with new technological advances will be forensically tested as part of the state government’s response to a landmark gay hate crimes inquiry.
Young Australians are significantly more worried about their financial future after the Covid pandemic than they used to be, a report from youth-oriented non-profits Orygen and Mission Australia suggests.
Australia’s unemployment rate in August came in at 4.2%, unchanged from July, and in line with forecasts.
Australia’s population has grown to 27.1m.
We’ll be back with the news live blog on Friday. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
NSW government announces free weekend train travel in bid to avoid strikes
Trains will be free this weekend in New South Wales in a government effort to avoid industrial action that would have cancelled extra services getting fans to footy finals.
But the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) could still follow through with its threat to disrupt works on the T3 track’s conversion into a metro service by stopping work along the entire train line.
Earlier this evening transport minister, Jo Haylen, announced that rail travel would be free this weekend. She said:
We’re going to open the gates and deliver free travel for passengers this weekend so tens of thousands of families across our city can get to the footy.
We’re also making train travel free this weekend to give the works to convert the T3 line to metro a chance to go ahead.
We’re hoping that the RTBU will come back to the table and lift bans to get Sydney moving this finals weekend and build the infrastructure we need.
RTBU members had refused to work outside normal rosters unless the government cut train fares to 50c or lower, threatening to disrupt services during the Bledisloe Cup and NRL and AFL finals on Friday and Saturday.
But the RTBU NSW secretary, Toby Warnes, said earlier today that the union had inserted a clause in the paperwork to lodge its industrial action that meant its members would legally have to return to work if the government offered cheaper fares.
The RTBU and the government are still locked in disagreement over a new pay deal for train staff and safety concerns about the metro conversion of the T3 line between Sydenham and Bankstown in western Sydney.
The union said its metro concerns were separate from pay bargaining and could be resolved by carrying out a safety audit before the line opened and employing supervisor staff on each new train and station.
Updated
