Missing ballots found at election worker's home
The Australian Election Commission has confirmed 1,866 ballots from the NSW seat of Barton were found at the home of a temporary worker.
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ABC News
38 minutes ago
- ABC News
ABC to discontinue Q+A after panel show's 18 years on air
The ABC will discontinue its weekly panel show Q+A after 18 years, the public broadcaster has announced. The show, hosted by Patricia Karvelas since 2023, will not return after its hiatus, which started last month. The ABC's news director, Justin Stevens, said Q+A had made a huge contribution to the national public discussion. "We're very proud of Q+A's great achievements over the years. The team has done a terrific job, including a strong performance during the federal election campaign," he said. "Discontinuing the program at this point is no reflection on anyone on the show. "We always need to keep innovating and renewing and, in the two decades since Q+A began, the world has changed. "It's time to rethink how audiences want to interact and to evolve how we can engage with the public to include as many Australians as possible in national conversations. "We'll be working on how we can continue to foster engagement of this nature in an innovative way." Karvelas will continue hosting Afternoon Briefing and the popular Politics Now podcast along with writing her column for the ABC News website. "Patricia also recently reported for Four Corners, and we've now asked her to do more for Four Corners as time permits," Stevens said. The Q+A proposal would result in some redundancies, Stevens told ABC staff in an email. The ABC also announced it would invest in producing more news documentaries, with a new position of executive producer, documentaries and specials to be advertised soon. It will also make the Your Say project — launched during the recent federal election — a permanent initiative to drive audience engagement in communities around the country. "Your Say ensures we have a strong framework for putting the public's views, concerns and questions at the heart of our journalism, complementing our daily commissioning and reporting," Stevens said. "We're keen to see what else we can do with this." Launched by founding executive producer Peter McEvoy and host Tony Jones in 2008, Q+A was an agenda-setting program that pushed politicians beyond their standard talking points. Then-prime minister Kevin Rudd appeared solo on the first episode, before the second episode introduced the regular format of five panellists, including politicians from across the spectrum and others in public life. What made it stand out from other panel shows was the role of the audience, who led the questioning in the studio or via video and social media. McEvoy said in 2019 that the audience was the show's biggest challenge and its strength. "An ordinary panel program just has to wrangle four or five guests," he said. "Q&A has to manage 300, 400 — up to a thousand audience participants — recruiting, registering, checking identities, keeping them informed, generating and choosing questions." With the audience asking the questions, the conversation could go in unexpected directions, giving a platform to people who were not being heard in other areas of public life. But not every question took the conversation forward, earning Jones's signature line, "I'll take that as a comment". When Jones left the show in 2019, Hamish Macdonald joined as host for 18 months, before resigning. He was replaced by rotating hosts David Speers, Virginia Trioli and Stan Grant, before Grant took the role on solo. Grant resigned from the program in May 2023 after sustained racist abuse and trolling, saying on his last show: "To those who have abused me and my family, I would just say — if your aim was to hurt me, well, you've succeeded." Stevens paid tribute to the many people who had worked on screen and behind the camera over the show's 18-year run. "I want to call out current executive producer Eliza Harvey and presenter Patricia Karvelas. They are hugely talented journalists who have done an outstanding job with Q+A in recent years," he said. "Many extremely talented and dedicated people have worked on Q+A, as presenters and behind the scenes. "I extend our sincerest thanks to them all, and to everyone who has contributed as audience members and panellists." Karvelas said she had immensely enjoyed being part of the program. "Spending time with the audience members who came to Q+A late on a Monday night has been the best part of this job," she said. "They have always been the reason for this show and I'm forever grateful to them for coming on national TV and having the courage to ask questions of powerful people." The news comes in the same week Channel Ten has axed its long-running nightly panel show The Project, after almost 16 years and 4,500 episodes. The show's hosts, Waleed Aly, Hamish McDonald and Sarah Harris, will leave Channel Ten after the final episode airs on Friday, June 27. The network announced a new national "news, current affairs and insights" show that will air for an hour from Sunday to Friday.
News.com.au
41 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Malcolm Turnbull's warning for the world as Donald Trump solidifies power in the US
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has thrown the gloves down again, boldly warning the world that Donald Trump risks sending America into a new era of authoritarianism. Speaking on ABC News on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Turnbull cautioned Australia and its allies to prepare for a more volatile international order, urging democratic nations to become less dependent on an increasingly unpredictable United States under the billionaire commander-in-chief. Mr Turnbull expanded on a recent essay he published in Foreign Affairs, arguing that 'those countries that share the values for which the United States once stood, but currently does not, should band together to preserve what worked best in the order Trump is intent on burying.' Following Mr Trump's inauguration, Mr Turnbull has spent much of 2025 calling for strategic independence among Western democracies and a renewed commitment to multilateralism, free trade and stability. He said Mr Trump's 'erratic' leadership has undermined trust in America's role as a global stabiliser. He also touched on the escalating situation in Los Angeles, where federal authorities have deployed marines in response to anti-ICE protests and arrests of undocumented immigrants. 'You can understand Governor Newsom feeling that Trump is trying to provoke a greater crisis there,' Mr Turnbull said. 'These are dangerous times in America … There are many people in America now – serious people – who are concerned that America is slipping into a realm of authoritarianism … almost of tyranny. And that should be very concerning for us.' On the flip side, Mr Trump feels emboldened by his election win, which he views as a 'mandate' to enact policies he believes will strengthen the US from within. Everything from cutting foreign aid to damaging relationships with long-held partners is on the table for the Republican, who Mr Turnbull believes will flip-flop on just about any deal when he sees fit. 'We should honour [commitments] on trade and in particular should be working to expand our free trade relations with other countries that do share our values of free trade, which Mr Trump does not,' Mr Turnbull continued. He praised renewed efforts to revive the Australia–European Community free trade agreement and Emmanuel Macron's push to associate France with the CPTPP. 'In other words, expanding relationships – and a similar approach should be done in defence.' On the rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Mr Turnbull identified Taiwan as the most likely flashpoint. China has made no secret of its ambitions to usurp the tiny island nation sitting off its shores, which global powers, including Australia, have committed to defend. 'It is the most likely flashpoint. I hope it doesn't ever come to [it]. It has been an uneasy status quo… but defending Taiwan is very difficult,' he said. 'Xi Jinping… if he is seeking to take over Taiwan, he would want to do so without fighting.' Turnbull then stressed the difficulty the US would face defending Taiwan. 'Taiwan is very close to China… a long way from the United States. This is going to be a very difficult place for the United States to defend in the current environment,' he said. Mr Turnbull has now urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to be wary of negotiating with Trump at the upcoming G7 meeting. As we've seen in recent months, global leaders tend to be treated like misbehaving children by the current US President. 'One of the problems with Trump… is you go along and seek to strike a deal with him – how do you know he will abide by it? He does not regard his word as his bond,' Mr Turnbull continued. Turnbull also dismissed the idea that Australia should sacrifice its Critical Minerals Office access in negotiations. 'Hopefully, we're not going to give them to him,' he said, pointing out that rare earths aren't rare, but that China currently dominates their processing. 'China has greater leverage,' he said. 'If the Americans are prepared to make the investment to process rare earths, that would be a fantastic development… a win-win.' On defence spending, Mr Turnbull said he supports a strategic increase but cautioned against simply buying more US equipment. 'That very likely is simply going to be making us more dependent… when America is less dependable and less reliable.' 'We should be focusing on the capabilities we need,' he added. 'Measure the effort by what we actually get for our money – not by how much we spend.'
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Rewire the rollout – go underground to win energy standoff
Transgrid transmission lines running over rural properties. Picture: Ash Smith You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. The re-election of the Labor government has reconfirmed the transition to renewable energy and the 82 per cent target by 2030. But an integral component of that transition – the rollout of high-voltage transmission lines – is not going well. Of the 10,000km to be completed by 2050, only a few hundred kilometres have been finished; community opposition has intensified and the regulatory approval process that Chris Bowen called not fit for purpose in 2022 has yet to be reformed. Every transmission project is years late and way over budget. EnergyConnect has blown out six times from the initial estimate ($700m to $4.1bn); HumeLink by five times ($1bn to $4.9bn); Marinus Link by three times ($3bn for two cables to $4.8bn for one cable); and CopperString by eight times ($1.8bn to $13.9bn). Every year or so the estimated cost of every project has increased and the scheduled completion date delayed. Undoubtedly there will be further cost increases and delays. Such eye-watering blowouts are partly explained by worldwide commodity price escalations, but the primary reason is woefully underestimated costs with impossible deadlines. Transmission companies have an inherent incentive to submit lowball estimates, because once a project is approved by the Australian Energy Regulator, it is never unapproved. The perverse outcome is transmission companies are rewarded with a regulated return based on whatever the final cost of the project turns out to be. So the higher the cost, the higher the return for shareholders, usually foreign investors. The AER has not held transmission companies accountable for their underestimates and flawed cost-benefit justifications and has passed on the extra billions of dollars to electricity consumers. They have yet to see the impacts on their bills, but transmission tariffs are set to multiply manyfold in the coming years. Another aspect of the rollout that is not going well is the ham-fisted dealings of transmission companies with local communities and landowners, creating widespread resistance as well as delays and costs. The groundswell opposition to 'hosting' overhead lines is becoming more strident. There is no enthusiasm for massive 500-kilovolt transmission lines, with 75m towers, 26 suspended wires, a 70-100m-wide easement, and access tracks blighting the landscape across hundreds of kilometres. Lecturing communities on the common good is just insulting. Transmission companies have failed to foster a social licence for their projects. What should be done? Three suggestions. First, hold transmission companies to account for their estimates by requiring them to contribute to cost increases above the initial AER-approved budget. This will encourage genuine estimates in the first place. Second, look at ways to scale back the extent and frenetic schedule of the transmission rollout to mitigate costs for consumers and social and environmental impacts. In particular, focus on locating renewable energy generation as close as possible to capital city load centres, not hundreds of kilometres away, and thereby reduce the need for new transmission. Install more rooftop solar (residential and business) together with more wind (onshore and offshore) close to load centres, supplemented by battery firming. The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project. Also, make use of spare capacity on transmission (and distribution) networks and upgrade where possible on existing easements, augmented with batteries for fault response and storage of above-capacity energy flows. Third, take a broader approach to the regulatory approval process rather than just selecting the project with the cheapest capital cost. A broader approach would bring in technologies other than just high-voltage alternating current overhead lines, particularly high-voltage direct current underground cables. Astoundingly, minimal land-based HVDC transmission is proposed in the rollout, in contrast to overseas, where long-distance underground cables are commonplace and in some situations are mandated. In 2002, Australia led the world with the longest HVDC underground cable, Murraylink, which is still in operation. Australia now lags well behind other nations. The stock excuse for rejecting HVDC is that it is too expensive. Yes, it can be dearer to install than HVAC, typically one-and-a-half to three times. But the capital cost gap narrows and can reverse when the broader long-term benefits of underground HVDC are considered, together with the possibility of taking a shorter route or using existing easements and other infrastructure corridors. For example, the Syncline Community HVDC Cable Project proposes running for 100km in the median strip of the Calder Highway in Victoria. Gaining social licence is so much easier and quicker (and cheaper). There are negligible costs for arbitration or compulsory acquisition, lower costs for easements, compensation and vegetation maintenance, and no loss of property values. As one farmer said when told of a proposed overhead line through his property: 'Go underground and I will dig the trench.' Importantly, underground HVDC has far fewer environmental impacts and much lower biodiversity offset costs ($500m for HumeLink). Underground HVDC is more reliable because it is unaffected by above-ground disturbances, such as lightning strikes, severe weather, bushfires, or accidental contact. There are fewer electrical losses (a significant saving over the life of the cable) and no corona buzz, or electric fields, or electrical interference. There is no risk of bushfire ignition and no access restrictions for firefighting. HVDC can provide system strength services in lieu of synchronous condensers that are needed for an HVAC-only network, costing billions. While underground HVDC will not be appropriate in every situation, there will be many instances where it is the better option after the broader long-term benefits are taken into account. For example, by only considering capital cost comparisons, the NSW and federal governments allowed Snowy 2.0 to bulldoze a 140m-wide easement through 9km of pristine subalpine bush in Kosciuszko National Park and Bago State Forest for two side-by-side double-circuit overhead lines. Surely this should have been an irrefutable instance for undergrounding, especially because it would have been in keeping with the rest of the project. These will be the first transmission lines to be constructed in an NSW national park for half a century. As with overseas developments, consideration also needs to be given to the merits of establishing an HVDC backbone across the eastern states before an overhead HVAC-only network is entrenched. Australia has embarked on the biggest extension of the overhead electricity transmission network to serve for the rest of the 21st century, but clearly it is not going well and changes are needed. We need to prioritise renewable generation closer to load centres, upgrading existing transmission lines, making transmission companies accountable for project estimates, instituting a broader regulatory consideration of all costs and benefits, and genuinely considering the advantages of underground cables. Ted Woodley is a former managing director of PowerNet, Gas Net, EnergyAustralia and China Light & Power Systems
