What we learned; Tuesday 19 November
Thanks for reading. Here are the main stories of the day:
Sydney train network to grind to a halt amid pay dispute;
Australia mistakenly added to list of countries signed up to US-UK civil nuclear deal, British government says;
Coalition set to help Labor pass a controversial migration bill allowing Australia to pay third countries to accept unlawful non-citizens, subject to a one-week inquiry;
Former radio host Alan Jones charged with two further offences against a ninth alleged victim, meaning he now faces 26 charges including indecent assault and sexual touching;
A police officer who tasered an elderly woman offered “malleable” explanations about what happened in the lead-up to the deadly incident and spurred him to act, a jury has heard;
Australian dual national Gordon Ng is among 45 pro-democracy activists sentenced to prison by a Hong Kong court for conspiracy to commit subversion, in the city’s biggest national security case since the law was introduced in 2020; and
Two Melbourne teenagers fighting for life after feared methanol poisoning in Laos.
We will see you back here again for more news tomorrow.
Updated
NSW opposition criticises government over Sydney rail strike
The New South Wales opposition has criticised the Minns Labor government after news that Sydney’s train network will grind to a halt for four days due to rail worker strikes.
The NSW government and the state branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus union have been locked in a dispute for months, but it escalated on Tuesday when the transport minister, Jo Haylen, announced no train services would run from Thursday until Sunday.
The rail union has been increasing work bans, with threats to strike if 24-hour services were not available four days a week. But transport officials said running services around the clock from Thursday to Sunday was not sustainable.
Mark Speakman, the NSW opposition leader, said strikes across different public sector workforces were happening weekly under Labor, and that premier Chris Minns and Haylen had let “chaos reign”.
“The Minns Labor Government’s failure to control their union mates will leave commuters stranded and the city in chaos, yet again,” Speakman said.
The four day stoppage of all trains in the network – which is used by more than one million people on a typical day – coincides with the A-League Unite Round football event. The three day series secured by the NSW government sees every A-League team from across the country travel to Sydney where 12 matches will be played across two stadiums, with the train outage set to affect the games.
Extra bus and other services will be rolled out, but the train shutdown would strain the capacity of replacement transport options.
Updated
