What we learned today, Tuesday 10 May
And that was Tuesday, which was (for some reason) the reason acting education minister Stuart Robert absolutely could not debate Labor’s education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek. It’s too late, he said. It’s Tuesday. Tomorrow’s Wednesday. It’s too late. In less befuddling news:
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese says a Labor government would support a 5.1% wage increase.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison has made false claims about gender confirmation surgery while supporting Warringah candidate Katherine Deves, who backtracked on an initial apology.
- Labor’s Michael Gunner, the Northern Territory’s chief minister, has quit.
- Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce will send his preferences One Nation’s way. They’ve changed, he says.
- The elusive Alan Tudge, the non-active education minister, says he’s willing to return to the front bench.
- Defence minister Peter Dutton has been given six reports from the oversight panel on the Brereton reforms, but hasn’t discussed them in parliament.
It’ll be another big day tomorrow. Amy Remeikis will see you safely through it, then I’ll be back in the afternoon and into the evening for the third (and final!) leaders’ debate.
Updated
Retired Sydney nanny Adriana Rivas faces extradition to Chile on charges of kidnapping
From AAP:
Retired Sydney nanny, Adriana Rivas, faces extradition to Chile where she is wanted on kidnapping charges dating back to Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in the 1970s, after a court closed her final appeal option.
Rivas had appealed to the High Court after three Federal Court judges in November unanimously rejected her appeal against extradition to her homeland.
But the High Court issued a certificate on Monday saying her appeal application was deemed to have been abandoned because of unspecified procedural failings by her lawyer.
Rivas has waged a three-year battle against extradition on charges that she kidnapped seven people in 1976 and 1977, including Communist Party leader, Victor Diaz, and party member Reinalda Pereira, who was five months’ pregnant.
Rivas was an assistant to Manuel Contreras, the head of the Dina secret police during Pinochet’s dictatorship.
Rivas denies ever meeting the alleged victims, who have never been found. Rivas’ lawyers have argued she was not a Dina agent and her work was mundane.
The extradition must be approved by Australia’s attorney general with a decision likely to be made after the 21 May election.
Updated
