Key events
What we learned, Friday 20 September
We’re wrapping up the blog for today. Here’s what made the news:
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Former Liberal prime minister John Howard has taken aim at Donald Trump, describing him as “not compatible with democracy”.
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Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has announced her former upper house colleague Rex Patrick will lead the minor party’s ticket in South Australia in the upcoming federal election.
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Mortgage holders may have to wait longer for an interest rate reprieve, after stronger than expected jobs figures.
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The federal government announced a boost to rent assistance.
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Victoria’s housing crisis has worsened on nearly every key indicator one year since the state government’s housing statement, which set to tackle affordability by building 800,000 new homes and increasing renters’ rights.
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The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, has described the Greens as “formidable and destructive” after a week of fighting between the two parties over housing legislation that stalled in the Senate.
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There is free train travel in Sydney this weekend in a bid to avoid industrial action.
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The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association said members will strike for 24 hours next week, as pay negotiations continue with the state government.
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Jewish students are being singled out, spat on, removing identifiable symbols and “fearing for their safety”, a Senate inquiry has heard.
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese has arrived in Philadelphia, US, ahead of the Quad leaders meeting.
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Graham Arnold will depart immediately as head coach of the Socceroos.
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The Minns government’s legislation was also developed in response to an independent review of the state’s environmental laws by former top public servant Dr Ken Henry.
While conservation groups are expected to call for the reforms to be even stronger, the inquiry has also heard from developer and industry lobby groups opposed to the reforms.
Earlier in today’s hearing, the policy director of the NSW Minerals Council, Claire Doherty, claimed that development wasn’t the biggest contributor to biodiversity loss. She said:
Development is a very small proportion of the impacts on nature in NSW.
Whether the BOS [Biodiversity Offsets Scheme] is the very highest priority in terms of making changes, I would question that.
Catie McLeod
‘Loopholes’ need fixing in NSW’s environment laws that allow developers to ‘offset’ habitat clearing, ecological association says
The vice-president of the New South Wales Ecological Consultants Association, Rebecca Hogan, says the state government’s proposed biodiversity offset reforms should be amended to fix a range of “loopholes”.
A parliamentary inquiry is examining the Minns Labor government’s legislation that would strengthen the state’s environmental laws that allow developers to “offset” habitat clearing.
At a hearing this afternoon, Hogan said:
We’re in support of most of the reforms proposed, but are deeply concerned by the lack of definition around phrases and terms used.
The industry needs clear direction and interpretation guidelines. There are loopholes all over the place.
Biodiversity offsetting usually involves conserving and restoring bushland to compensate for clearing of ecosystems in another area for development.
The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, promised to reform the system after an earlier inquiry found there was too much flexibility for threatened habitat to be “traded away for cash” when offsets should be a genuine last resort.
[Continued in next post]
Private companies could be banned from running NSW elections
Private companies could be banned from running elections in NSW after reports of three-hour waits to vote at recent council polls, AAP reports.
The state’s premier, Chris Minns, floated the ban on Friday, suggesting he would introduce changes that outlawed the practice as long delays could disfranchise voters and potentially threaten democratic principles.
Two councils – Liverpool and Fairfield – used private companies at local elections on Saturday, while the NSW Electoral Commission ran the remaining polls.
Minns, who claimed the significant delays were only experienced at polling stations run by private contractors, said it “wasn’t good enough”.
It has to be as convenient as possible for a voter to walk into a booth, cast their vote, be part of democracy and get on with their Saturday.
It’s not acceptable to have a three-hour wait just to cast your vote for a local council election and, I think, a lot of people would have thrown their arms up in frustration and left if they weren’t going to get a fine.
But Fairfield council staff disputed the premier’s stance and said voters experienced no delays.
Using a private provider was as simple as comparing the options and picking the one with the best value for taxpayers, a spokesperson told AAP.
Firefighters battle industrial fire in Sydney’s south-west
Fire and Rescue NSW are battling a large fire at a commercial complex on Kaleski Street in Moorebank in Sydney’s south-west.
More than 100 firefighters and 26 trucks are either on the scene or en route.
Fire and Rescue NSW said:
On arrival, crews were confronted with large volumes of smoke coming from the property and immediately set about tackling the blaze with multiple lines of hose.
Two aerial platforms are also being used to douse the flames from above.
Residents in surrounding buildings have been evacuated and there is a large amount of smoke in the vicinity.
Nearby residents are being urged to stay inside, close windows and doors and avoid the area.
Operations are ongoing.
Victorian drivers spared on-the-spot traffic fines as police beef up industrial action before AFL grand final
Victoria’s treasurer has urged police to think about the consequence of their actions as officers beef up industrial action ahead of the AFL grand final, AAP reports.
Tim Pallas accused the police union of taking action against the community as a consequence of their own failure to vote for a previous pay offer.
He said:
I would urge police to think a bit sympathetically about the consequence of the actions.
The police association knows full well they reached an agreement in principle with the government, they failed to be able to deliver that agreement through a vote of their membership.
It seems a little perverse that they’re taking action against the community and the community’s interest as a consequence of their own failure.
Pallas flagged the state would seek Fair Work Commission intervention to reconcile differences in the bargaining.
We’re not going to see this as some sort of game in an ongoing negotiation process.
The verbal blast followed 15,000 officers voting to escalate efforts for better pay and working hours, including refusing to hand out on-the-spot traffic fines to drivers from Friday morning.
Manhunt under way after inmate escapes Sydney’s Silverwater prison
An inmate has escaped custody at Sydney’s maximum security Silverwater prison, say NSW police.
Gary Glover, 44, was last seen on Jamieson Street, Silverwater, in the city’s south-west, about 1.30pm today. He is described as 170cm tall, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander in appearance and having a large build, brown eyes, black hair and a tattoo of a flag on the left side of his neck.
He was last seen wearing a green shirt and pants, black boots and a yellow hi-visibility vest.
Police are appealing for information and urged the public not to approach the man but instead call triple zero (000) immediately.
Caitlin Cassidy
University antisemitism inquiry risks marginalising ‘other communities who face daily discrimination’, new Muslim group says
A judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campuses risks marginalising Muslim and Palestinian university students concurrently facing a rise in discrimination, Muslim Voices Matter has warned.
A spokesperson for the group Ghaith Krayem told a committee holding a Senate inquiry into the bill that the body fully supported efforts to combat antisemitism “when it genuinely exists”, but questioned the necessity of the legislation.
Muslim Votes Matter is one of the new organisations seeking to mobilise Australian Muslims at the next federal election, describing itself as “the largest, and among the fastest growing, minority groups in Australia”.
Krayem:
What evidence exists to suggest antisemitic incidents at Australian universities are significantly more prevalent or severe than other forms of discrimination such as anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian racism? We’re not saying it doesn’t exist or it hasn’t increased, we’re asking the community to separate out activism against Israel and its application of Zionism from genuine antisemitism.
Kraymen questioned why the bill didn’t concurrently address a parallel rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiments on campuses. He said conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism could have a “chilling effect” on campuses and undermine free speech.
By introducing legislation that addresses only one form of racism, we risk further marginalising other communities who face daily discrimination.
Meet Coles Jetson: Robotic online grocery shopping has arrived
Coles has launched an automated warehouse for grocery delivery in Victoria.
The supermarket chain said the Truganina site was more than 87,000 square metres – four times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground – and, when fully operational, would hold 3m units of stock and be able to process more than 10,000 customer orders a day when running at capacity.
Coles said a centralised hub would contain a fleet of more than 700 bots able to fill a customer order containing 50 items in five minutes, using AI air traffic control to guide the bots around a 3D grid. However, Coles staff would pack and deliver the items.
A second site in Wetherill Park, New South Wales, will open next month.
The Coles chief executive, Leah Weckert, said it was the first of its kind in the country:
This transition from a local, store-based fulfillment model to a central, world-class facility will enable us to better serve the greater Melbourne region, home to more than five million people.
Amazon has similar facilities and is planning to launch more automated delivery centres in Australia soon.
Josh Butler
ABS told Labor excluding gender identity questions posed risk to census
The Albanese government was warned that excluding questions on sexual orientation and gender identity from the census could increase feelings of exclusion in the LGBTQ+ community and even risk the success of the data collection exercise, newly released documents reveal.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics raised concerns in ministerial submissions about strong public criticism to scrapping the proposed questions, potential “damage” to relationships with LGBTQ+ expert groups advising on the census and limitations in the quality of data the census collects.
Read more:
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Josh Taylor will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.
Overheated market could burn first-time homebuyers, expert says
One expert says pushing people to enter the “overheated” housing market is a bad idea, AAP reports, with new data finding first-time buyers want to buy property as soon as possible.
A survey from insurance company Helia found 71% of Australians agree “now is a good time” to buy a property, despite cost-of-living stresses and persistent inflation at 3.8%.
Of the 3002 respondents, 1965 were first-timers and most (87%) agreed with the statement they were “feeling a growing sense of urgency to buy [their] first property as prices keep going up”.
Prof Emma Baker, director of the Australian Centre for Housing Research, warned that focusing on home-buying was not in the nation’s best interest.
Should we be encouraging people into an overheated market? No. It’s not fair on them and bringing forward demand in a tight market only contributes to greater unaffordability.
She said young householders seeking to become owners “clearly face more barriers than their parents did”.
House prices have risen consistently for 50 years, moving from three times to around 10 times average income … Many young people will be lifetime renters. Over the last couple of Censuses, Australia has begun to shift … to a nation of home purchasers and renters.
Baker suggested more discussion should focus on how to make rental markets more appealing “rather than obsessing about how to bring more people into home ownership”.
Prepare to leave warning issued for rural Queensland town amid fast-moving fire
A ‘prepare to leave’ bushfire warning has been issued for Rosenthal Heights, near Warwick, 130km south-west of Brisbane.
The Queensland fire department says a fast-moving fire is burning on the corner of Ford and Kingsleigh roads, travelling towards Inverleigh and Ranger roads.
Conditions could get worse quickly. Firefighters are working to contain the fire. You should not expect a firefighter at your door.
The warning said some properties were at risk and the fire was likely to hit the community in the coming hours. Roads, power, water and mobile phone services may be affected as the fire approaches.
