What we learned today, Saturday 7 May
That is where we will leave the live blog for Saturday. Here’s what made the news today:
- The foreign minister, Marise Payne, met with her Solomon Islands counterpart in Brisbane for the first time since Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with China.
- The prime minister, Scott Morrison, was in Perth announcing a $20m tourism package for wineries, breweries and distilleries.
- The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, was in Launceston to announce $26m in funding for local manufacturing jobs in Tasmania as Labor focuses on supply chain resilience.
- The Labor shadow minister Bill Shorten tested positive for Covid-19.
- There were 44 Covid deaths recorded across the country and 42,421 new cases.
We will be back again tomorrow for day 28 of the federal election. Until then, stay safe.
Updated
Here is NSW Labor’s response to the grants review report via AAP:
Labor pounced on what it deemed is the government’s “culture of pork-barrelling” saying the review “confirms the grants process in NSW is broken”.
“This is ... an opportunity for Dominic Perrottet to end the historic culture of pork-barrelling in the Liberal-National government,” leader Chris Minns said on Saturday.
“His failure to act in light of this report would be a betrayal of the taxpayers who trust the government to fairly distribute government funds.”
Labor has called for an overhaul of the grants process, proposing a bill that would impose new reporting requirements on ministers and agencies as well as confer new powers on the auditor-general to follow the money.
You can read our full story below.
