Liberal luminaries tasked to review party's election disaster
The federal Liberal Party has appointed 'eminent Australians' Nick Minchin and Pru Goward to review its disastrous 2025 election performance and Nick Greiner to administer the NSW party.
The party luminaries were appointed at a federal executive meeting on Tuesday that endorsed a new committee to run the NSW division, to be headed by Greiner, the former premier and party president.
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Sydney Morning Herald
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- Sydney Morning Herald
‘We had to beat the drones': Fear and stress for Australians caught in Israel-Iran conflict
Melbourne barrister Leon Zwier had only been in Tel Aviv a few days when sirens in the city blared to life. It was 3am on Friday, and a new front in Israel's long-simmering conflict with Iran had begun. Within hours of Israel's attack on Iran, word came that Iran had sent back a retaliatory wave of drones. Suddenly, Zwier found himself leaping into a car for an early morning dash down the highway to Jerusalem where he was due to attend a conference. 'We had to beat the drones there so we'd be off the highways when they hit,' said Zwier. But en route, they learnt that 'the army had got the timings wrong' and the drones were even closer than they had thought. 'This wasn't the usual attacks from Iran's proxies like the Houthis. This was Iran, the big one.' Fortunately, 'the Israeli Air Force shot those drones down', Zwier said. The economic conference he was attending was held in the basement of a hotel, so it went ahead as planned even as missiles continued to rain down overhead. 'The first event was actually about stress management!' Loading More than 1200 Australians are trying to get out of Israel and Iran as conflict escalates between the two nations – and flights remain grounded in both. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there were 650 Australians and their dependants who have asked the government to help them get out of Iran and 600 people in Israel. 'We are making plans to assist Australians where it is safe to do so,' Wong told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon. 'But at the moment, the airspace continues to be closed, and the reason for that is the risk to civilian aircraft of a strike.' One Melbourne mother on holiday in Iran when the fighting broke out is now stranded there, cut off from her young children, according to Kambiz Razmara, who is helping co-ordinate support for the Iranian diaspora at Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
‘We had to beat the drones': Fear and stress for Australians caught in Israel-Iran conflict
Melbourne barrister Leon Zwier had only been in Tel Aviv a few days when sirens in the city blared to life. It was 3am on Friday, and a new front in Israel's long-simmering conflict with Iran had begun. Within hours of Israel's attack on Iran, word came that Iran had sent back a retaliatory wave of drones. Suddenly, Zwier found himself leaping into a car for an early morning dash down the highway to Jerusalem where he was due to attend a conference. 'We had to beat the drones there so we'd be off the highways when they hit,' said Zwier. But en route, they learnt that 'the army had got the timings wrong' and the drones were even closer than they had thought. 'This wasn't the usual attacks from Iran's proxies like the Houthis. This was Iran, the big one.' Fortunately, 'the Israeli Air Force shot those drones down', Zwier said. The economic conference he was attending was held in the basement of a hotel, so it went ahead as planned even as missiles continued to rain down overhead. 'The first event was actually about stress management!' Loading More than 1200 Australians are trying to get out of Israel and Iran as conflict escalates between the two nations – and flights remain grounded in both. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there were 650 Australians and their dependants who have asked the government to help them get out of Iran and 600 people in Israel. 'We are making plans to assist Australians where it is safe to do so,' Wong told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon. 'But at the moment, the airspace continues to be closed, and the reason for that is the risk to civilian aircraft of a strike.' One Melbourne mother on holiday in Iran when the fighting broke out is now stranded there, cut off from her young children, according to Kambiz Razmara, who is helping co-ordinate support for the Iranian diaspora at Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria.
Courier-Mail
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Victoria's rising debt the constant in an uncertain world says Jeff Kennett
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News. Last week I wrote here about the sea of debt that is engulfing Australia, and particularly Victoria. Someone close to me on reading the column said, 'Here you go again, banging on about debt'. Of course I took on board her comments. However, many Australians under 40 seem to think government debt is just that – the government's debt, not theirs. As you drive around the state, as you suffer damage or worse to your car because it has hit one of thousands of potholes, as CFA equipment reaches museum status, as mental health services are reduced and so the list goes on, it is for one reason only. Debt in Victoria is grossly, indecently too high. The government is paying $28m a day in interest on its debt – more than $1m every hour. Some of that money could have fixed our roads, provided new CFA trucks and maintained our mental health services. Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes are the new architects of Victoria's debt time bomb. Picture: David Crosling As the world seems to become more conflicted, causing so much pain and uncertainty, we Australians can be forever grateful that we live so far away from the rest of the world. That does not mean that we should be complacent. For tariffs, wars and the impact on the price of petrol, even perhaps its availability – not to mention the increase in energy prices from July 1, even the reliability of supply – could dramatically affect the comfort in which we live. If you wanted to travel overseas, where would you go? Fewer countries now provide a risk-free environment. As much as I would like to think that the leaders of the world would somehow meet to take the heat out of the international situation, it is unlikely to happen. Here in Australia, particularly at a federal level, I would like to think there will be a much more heightened bipartisanship, to ensure we as a country can get through the next couple of years. The speed of change is happening all around us. Australia is too small a population to not be affected by the international challenges. We have heard much about the AUKUS treaty recently, but what is Plan B if energy prices become unaffordable to households and industry, or our access to petroleum is severely restricted by availability or price? I can only suggest we prepare for the unexpected. If we do, we are better off. If my fears are not realised, we are still better off. Originally published as Jeff Kennett: In increasingly uncertain world, you can always relay on Victoria's debt
