Key events
As Sarah Basford-Canales flagged earlier, and climate 200 convener Simon Holmes à Court has pointed out on social media, we might still be far off knowing the final result in Bradfield as a recount might be on the cards. Typically, any margin of fewer than 100 votes is fair game to trigger a recount.
Bradfield independent takes 19-vote lead
The Australian Electoral Commission’s website shows Independent Nicolette Boele has pulled ahead of Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian by 19 votes in the electorate of Bradfield. The count continues with 268 votes remaining to be processed.
Amanda Meade
ABC managing director Hugh Marks has appointed Freya Campbell as director of communications ahead of an expected overhaul of the public broadcaster’s operations.
Marks, who began his five-year term in March, said earlier this month he is reviewing whether the ABC needs to “do everything” or could “spend our resources more wisely on doing fewer things better”.
Currently the executive director strategic communications at UNSW Sydney, Campbell will start at the ABC in July and replaces Nick Leys.
Campbell:
I’m excited to join the ABC at a time when trust in media has never been more important. Like so many Australians, I grew up with the ABC’s iconic 7PM News theme signalling the nightly ritual of trusted national and global news beamed into the family lounge room.
My media consumption across platforms has evolved over the years but the ABC has remained my preferred source of entertainment and information.
Interest rate cut would boost economy, Acoss head says
The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) is calling on the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates again tomorrow, to help ease financial pressure for people on low and modest incomes.
Acoss CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said:
With inflation now consistently within the RBA’s target range, further interest rate reductions are clearly needed to avoid further harm to people under severe strain. Raising interest rates has dramatically increased financial stress among people with low and modest incomes. They need more relief – and fast.
Goldie said another rate cut would also deliver a much-needed boost to the economy.
In recent years people have seen their real incomes fall and economic growth has stagnated. In fact, the only thing that has kept us from recession is welcome and much-needed investment in essential publicly funded services like the NDIS, childcare and health.
Low unemployment is an opportunity, not a problem as some economic commentators suggest. There is no sign that reducing unemployment further would risk a fresh outbreak of inflation. The priority must be achieving the government’s agenda of inclusive full employment.
The RBA must cut rates to help ease financial pressure and get incomes growing again.
Luca Ittimani
AI chatbot will be used to analyse NSW housing data
Following from our last post, you may be wondering what the New South Wales government will actually do with its new AI tools.
The government has agreed to give data on development and rentals to the UNSW research collaboration to make it easier to track how fast new homes are being built and how tight the housing market might be.
Researchers can use them to model how different policy decisions would impact aspects of the housing crisis.
One of the new analytical technologies is a map tool with an AI chatbot feature, which allows users to ask simple questions about the housing data and then see that visualised and mapped out around the state – but for now, only members of the research collaboration are allowed to use it.
NSW residents interested in tracking the development applications around their suburb – and there are many, if community Facebook groups are any guide – will have to wait a little longer for their own mapping AI tools.
Benita Kolovos
Fake GoFundMe account ‘launched without consent’, Pesutto says
Victorian Liberal MP, John Pesutto, says it “defies comprehension” that someone would create a GoFundMe account purporting to be him, as the target on another set up by his friends grows to $500,000.
Pesutto’s friends launched the GoFundMe on Friday, just hours after the former opposition leader was ordered by the federal court to pay $2.3m in legal fees following his loss in a defamation case brought by the Liberal MP Moira Deeming.
In a statement on Monday, Pesutto said he had been made aware of a second GoFundMe account “that purports falsely to be from me”. He went on:
This account is fake and has been launched without my knowledge or consent … I am grateful to friends and supporters who have launched a genuine GoFundMe page simply to help raise money so I can pay what I have been ordered to pay and continue serving the people of Hawthorn. Why anyone would try to sabotage these efforts defies comprehension.
Pesutto’s friends’ fundraiser says they are raising money to prevent a “worst-case scenario”, where Pesutto would have to declare bankruptcy.
If this were to occur, he would have to resign from parliament and a byelection in Hawthorn would be called in his seat of Hawthorn.
Their initial target of $70,000 has since grown to $500,000. Almost $120,000 has been raised since Friday.
Woodside gas project decision government’s first test on climate, Greens leader says
Greens leader Larissa Waters says the upcoming North West shelf decision will be the new environment minister’s first test on climate.
The environment minister Murray Watt earlier this morning confirmed he intends to stick to the current deadline of May 31 in handing down his decision on Woodside’s gas extension in WA’s north, after a six-year assessment process involving state and federal authorities.
Ahead of visiting WA today, Watt told ABC Radio:
I have had some preliminary briefings from my department about this last week. I’ll be expecting some more formal briefings in the next few days, so that I’ve got plenty of time to work through them and make that decision.
Waters made a statement on social media platform Blue Sky shortly after midday:
The North West shelf decision will be the Gov’s first test on climate: will they approve the dirty gas carbon bomb of Woodside’s Burrup Hub extension? You can’t protect the climate or nature by approving a project that would use 91% of the government’s net zero 2050 carbon budget.
The climate and environment crises are the defining issue of our time.
… The Greens are ready to work constructively with Labor in this parliament. Minister Watt will need to decide whether to work with the Greens to stop new coal and gas, or cosy up to the LNP and polluters to undermine the transition to clean, cheap, job-creating renewable energy.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Federal climate change boss quits
The boss of the federal climate change department, David Fredericks, is the latest senior public servant to call it quits after the election.
Fredericks announced his retirement as secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and from the commonwealth public service on Monday morning.
In a message posted to the department’s website, the veteran bureaucrat said it was “time for me to move to another phase of my life”, including spending more time with his children.
Retiring now also gives my successor the opportunity to engage with our ministers and lead the department as early as possible in the new term of the Albanese government.
Fredericks was tapped to lead the department after it was established when Labor returned to power in 2022.
Before that, Fredericks was Scott Morrison’s industry department secretary during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The departure comes less than a fortnight after Glyn Davis announced his decision to resign as Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet secretary, effective 16 June.
Stephanie Convery
Sydney school locked down after reports man threatened staff
St Andrews Cathedral school in Sydney’s CBD was placed under lockdown by police this morning after reports a man had threatened staff.
Police said in a statement this afternoon that officers attended the school at about 9.45am after reports the man had returned to the campus.
Police searched the building, on the corner of Druitt and Kent Streets, with the assistance of specialist resources.
The man could not be located despite an extensive search of the grounds, police said, so the lockdown was lifted and the operation concluded.
An investigation is now under way and police are making inquiries to locate the man.
The school became the focus of media attention in 2023 after teacher Lilie James was killed by Paul Thijssen in the school’s sports centre where they both worked.
Luca Ittimani
RBA rate cut could offer fix to housing shortages, Minns says
New South Wales premier Chris Minns has pointed to interest rate cuts as a potential fix for housing shortages while shying away from cutting taxes on developers or homebuyers in his upcoming state budget.
The Reserve Bank is expected to cut its key interest rate tomorrow, lowering borrowing costs, with another two cuts expected by the end of the year. Minns said that would help speed up housing supply growth:
Hopefully in the coming months, interest rates decline, access to finance and capital become cheaper, you will see people commit to finance and the capital they need for new housing.
Most local councils in Sydney are behind on their construction targets, recent data has indicated, with advocacy group Urban Taskforce claiming the Sydney region is already falling short by more than a third.
While high costs of building roads and utilities contribute to construction delays, Minns shied away from industry calls to cut developer taxes that cover infrastructure costs, though he didn’t rule out such a measure, saying: “The door will never be shut.”
The premier ruled out moving away from stamp duty paid on buying homes and replacing it with a land tax, speaking a month ahead of handing down the NSW budget, and a day before the Victorian government hands down its own.
Stamp or transfer duties are imposed on purchases of new homes, which some economists say drives up prices and stops people from moving to homes that better suit their needs. Victoria will tomorrow extend the tax break on the duty given to off-the-plan homebuyers and NSW already gives first-time buyers a break, but Minns said he wouldn’t scrap the tax and bring in a smaller annual land tax:
[Homeowners] have already paid an enormous amount to the NSW government in stamp duty, [so] if I turned around and said, “Thank you for that, we’ll use that, we appreciate it, now we want you to pay an annual land tax,” well, I think people would be absolutely furious.
