Australia news LIVE: Religious sect given voter data, carbon neutral energy bills on trial
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7.07am
This isn't Ley's first hospital pass
The making of Sussan Ley as a federal cabinet minister came a decade ago when she was given a classic hospital pass, writes David Crowe.
Ley was made the minister for health just seven months after Tony Abbott and his government unveiled a deeply unpopular federal budget in May 2014, with $80 billion in cuts to hospitals and schools.
The health minister, Peter Dutton, was shifted out of the portfolio in record time and Ley was brought in to change policy and limit the political damage. It was a thankless task. The Coalition never recovered from that divisive budget, but Ley worked hard to neutralise the problems. After a leadership coup brought Malcolm Turnbull to power, the Coalition narrowly won the 2016 election.
Ley is now dealing with an even uglier hospital pass. She is replacing Dutton, once again, but this time on a near-hopeless political mission. She is being asked to rebuild the Liberal Party, demolish the Labor Party and win the next election. It looks impossible.
7.07am
'Carbon neutral' energy bills on trial
By Bianca Hall
More than 400,000 Australians who signed up to power company EnergyAustralia's Go Neutral scheme were assured they were supporting a worthy cause. 'You're doing good things for the environment', the glossy brochure said.
Under the scheme, which EnergyAustralia has since taken the 'commercial decision' to close, the company would offset the carbon emissions produced by customers' domestic gas and electricity use. In the process, they could bank some goodwill.
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The Federal Court on Wednesday will be asked to test whether the energy giant's promotion of 'carbon-neutral' products amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct; a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
Under one scenario, EnergyAustralia told customers, it would buy carbon credits from a geothermal development in Indonesia and use those credits to offset customers' domestic energy use in Australia.
Under another scenario, planned grass burns in Arnhem Land would be considered to 'offset' any potential emissions generated from large bushfires that could theoretically break out in the Top End if the planned burns had not taken place.
Read the full report here.
7.07am
Religious sect given access to voter data by Libs
By Max Maddison and Paul Sakkal
The federal Liberal Party handed over sensitive voter information to the Exclusive Brethren as part of a mammoth phone campaign in which members of the secretive Christian religious sect made nearly a million calls on behalf of the Coalition in the run-up to the federal election.
Multiple sources in the NSW Liberal Party confirmed the keys to the communication software Feedback – which logs every electorate office's engagement with constituents, resulting in a cache of sensitive voter information including contact details – were handed to members of the Brethren.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential party matters, Liberal sources said one of Peter Dutton's senior advisers was the 'point person' for co-ordinating the Brethren's involvement within the party's campaign.
Discouraged from voting as part of their religious beliefs, hundreds of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) members turned out at dozens of pre-poll booths campaigning for the Coalition.
This included Gareth Hales, the wealthy son of the church's founder Bruce, who was photographed at an Eastwood pre-polling site wearing the campaign shirt of Liberal Bennelong candidate Scott Yung two days before the election.
7.07am
What you need to know
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of today's national news stories. I'm Ben Cubby, and I'll be with you for the morning.
It's Wednesday, May 14.
Here's what's making news.
Secretive religious sect Exclusive Brethren made nearly a million calls supporting the Liberals in the federal election and were given access to sensitive voter data.
EnergyAustralia is accused of misleading around 400,000 customers over 'carbon-neutral' bills, with a Federal Court case underway today.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has promised to be an inclusive leader who seeks to heal divisions in Liberal ranks after her narrow win in the party's leadership ballot.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese heads to Indonesia for trade talks today, before travelling to the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
Scores of accounts of abuse and unreasonable discipline against babies and toddlers in NSW childcare centres have been revealed in documents obtained by a Greens MP.
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