‘Death and destruction': Labor at sea on marine crisis
A climate change-fuelled algal bloom has killed tens of thousands of fish, stingrays, sharks and other sea life in South Australian waters in recent months – many of which have begun to wash up on Adelaide's metropolitan beaches.
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ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Tasmanian Liberals face challenge implementing policies with new crossbench
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff says his minority government remains "committed to working across the parliament", as it plans to make inroads on budget repair, a new state-owned insurance agency, and allowing pets in rentals early in the new term. The state's net debt, which is projected to reach $13 billion by 2027-28, was one of the key reasons the state went to the polls. The budget outlook was a key policy platform for Labor and most members of the crossbench. "It'll be a lot of work," Mr Rockliff said on Wednesday. Within the first week, the government intends to consult with Treasury and government agencies, ahead of the November budget. Mr Rockliff said using the original 2025 budget as a baseline, the party would "work across the political divide" to bring it into shape. Independent MP Peter George said the party needed to show transparency and accountability. "The big problem is going to be whether the Liberal government is prepared to share the information that's necessary for making decisions, and whether it's also prepared to take the responsibility for the state of the budget that we've got now," he said. "I don't have a lot of faith in this Liberal administration. "It takes a long, long time to build trust, confidence and faith, and it can be very easily destroyed. "We need to do this very slowly." Within the first 100 days, the government wants to introduce legislation to advance state-owned insurance agency, TasInsure, planning to have it set up in 2026. The plan was slammed by the opposition, prominent economist Saul Eslake, and the Insurance Council of Australia during the campaign, but heralded as game-changing by the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Also a priority is amending the Residential Tenancy Act, to give tenants more secure right to keep pets in rentals — a promise the Liberals took to the 2024 election. Labor campaigned this time around with TassieDoc, pledging to deliver five fully bulk-billed clinics across the state. The Liberals quickly matched it, but did not follow on when Labor bumped the number up to 10. Now, the government plans to run an expression of interest for four new bulk-billed clinics within the first 100 days, "based on evidence of need". The Liberals have also promised to release updated costings on the leasing arrangement for Spirit of Tasmania IV, which was docked in Scotland from late 2024 and is due to reach Tasmanian waters this week. Without a majority in parliament, the Liberals have made a number of policy concessions to win over crossbenchers, including phasing out greyhound racing, abandoning a plan to release more native forest for logging and, most recently, a pause on salmon farming expansions while an independent review of the industry takes place. And the Liberals will need to continue appeasing the crossbench if they want to stay in power for a full four years. "There's no time for hubris. There's no need or want for hubris," Mr Rockliff said. But they remain at an impasse when it comes to Hobart's proposed Macquarie Point stadium. Independent MP Kristie Johnston said she did not expect the premier to abandon the project, but "the reality is we are in a power-sharing parliament now". The Project of State Significance (PoSS) process for assessing the project continued throughout the election campaign, and the premier said regardless of whether the PoSS or enabling legislation came before the parliament, everyone in the chamber would have their vote. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers member Carlo di Falco, one of the most conservative crossbenchers, told ABC Mornings he planned to push back on the concessions made that he did not agree with, such as the greyhound racing ban. He said he was "blindsided" by the move. "I'm not going to give Jeremy a free ride, and I've got a better chance of getting a better outcome for my constituents being inside the tent rather than outside, so every time Jeremy gets comfortable in his sleeping bag, I'm going to be kicking it," he said. On Wednesday, Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Felix Ellis announced a $20 million bridging loan to Liberty Bell Bay owner GFG Alliance to ensure the "bright future" of hundreds of Tasmanians. "It will provide a shipment of ore so that workers on site can get on with what they do best and produce manganese through the smelter," he said. Australian Workers Union president Robert Flanagan welcomed the support, but remained disappointed by the salmon review. "What we want to see is a government that supports job opportunities in Tasmania, and we think that [with] the crossbench the government has to work with [it] will be very difficult to achieve that outcome," he said.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
For Victoria, Allan's bounce back is anything but healthy
The old gag about Melbourne's weather is that if you don't like it, just wait five minutes. The same might be said about the Allan government and opinion polls. The latest Resolve Political Monitor survey shows that in a reverse of Newton's law of gravity, the collapse of popular support for Victorian Labor at the end of last year is matched only by the startling recovery of the past six months. A primary vote of just 22 per cent is now 32 per cent and rising. A looming electoral cataclysm has been replaced by the likelihood of a fourth consecutive win. The volatility in voter sentiment is extraordinary but then, so is the situation in Victoria, where a Labor administration which, by any conventional measure or norm, has governed beyond its natural lifespan, yet remains the only viable choice before electors to run the state. This is not healthy. I recently interviewed Melbourne Law School associate professor William Partlett, a fellow at the Centre for Public Integrity. He sees Victorian Labor as an example of a cartel party, a concept the late Irish political scientist Peter Mair coined to describe how political parties co-opt the resources of the state to create electoral monopolies. In Victoria, it is seen in the blurring of boundaries between the Labor Party, the public service and an expanding public sector that embeds a not-so-virtuous cycle of self-sustaining incumbency. It is the passage of electoral funding laws, with the support of a gormless Liberal Party, that bake in an advantage for sitting MPs against challengers and established parties against new entrants. It is constraint of the state's anti-corruption agency with a jurisdiction so narrow it rarely holds public hearings and must be convinced of the commission of a crime before it launches an investigation.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
ICAC's big day out: Former mayor charged over misleading evidence
Say what you like about the Independent Commission Against Corruption – it works too quickly/too slowly, it's too secretive/too public, it's a kangaroo court/a bastion of our democracy – the one thing you can't accuse our state's top corruption warriors of is lying low. On Wednesday, the ICAC played a central role in Sydney's news cycle. The commission's big day in the spotlight started early: just after 7am, Eddie Obeid – the corrupt former Labor MP who was brought down after an extensive ICAC investigation found him guilty of misconduct in public office – plodded out of jail. Hours after he walked free, another ICAC victim was heading inside: Daryl Maguire, that bad boy regional MP whose relationship with former premier Gladys Berejiklian was revealed when the commission played tapped phone calls between the pair, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for misleading a corruption inquiry. He was swiftly released on bail. But the agency's sting doesn't stop there: CBD now brings you news that Bill Saravinovski, the former mayor of Bayside Council in Sydney's south, has been hit with three charges of giving misleading evidence to the commission. The ICAC quietly uploaded a document to its website late last week that provides some detail on Operation Aspen: it investigated allegations Saravinovski and others 'inappropriately or partially shared or disclosed confidential information to property developers' and that he supported an unsolicited development proposal from a property developer. It was decided, according to the document, to refer the matter to the Office of Local Government. A court found him guilty of misconduct after he berated council staff over the development of a car park where he failed to correctly declare a conflict of interest. While that occurred, the Director of Public Prosecutions was considering a request from the agency about whether there was sufficient evidence to charge him with three offences for giving misleading information during the investigation. Last week the DPP acted, laying three charges that are yet to be tested in court – he'll visit the Downing Centre late next month.
