Category: Australia

The Greens will retain a strong influence in the Senate after increasing their primary vote and looking set to hold all six seats they had up for re-election.

ABC election expert Antony Green has predicted the minor party will win all six Senate seats, meaning the Greens would have nine senators, including three whose terms are ongoing.With 10 per cent of the votes tallied, the Greens looked set to collect 10.6 per cent of the primary vote, a slight increase of 0.4 per cent on the 2016 result.

After calling the seat of Melbourne for incumbent MP Adam Bandt, all eyes were on the traditionally blue ribbon seats of Higgins and Kooyong, where the party was aiming to pick up a second lower house seat, but neither looked likely.

The Greens’ Higgins candidate, Jason Ball, was not looking strong enough to steal the seat from Liberal candidate Katie Allen, with only about 23 per cent of first preference votes after 15 per cent of the vote had been counted.

At his election night party in Melbourne on Saturday night, Mr Ball told a raucous crowd the mood in the electorate had been “one for change”.

“There were a lot of people who told me they had voted for the Liberal Party their entire lives and today they voted for the Greens,” he said.

“And they voted for the Greens because they care about the future for their children and grandchildren, and they’re worried about climate change.”

Late on Saturday night, he said: “The Greens are very much still in this race and we are unlikely to know the result for a few days.”

Senator Di Natale said three-way contests like the one in Higgins were “always difficult”.

“We had this in Prahran, where it looked like we were behind in the state election and we managed to get over Labor and win that seat. That contest is still a very live one … The big unknown is the massive pre-poll numbers.”

“Our Senate vote looks like it is holding up well,” Senator di Natale said, adding that the final result was “difficult to predict” and would not be known for “a few weeks”.

“I’m hopeful that we will hold our team. We were written off before this election campaign but we have run strong campaigns across the country, put climate change front and centre and hopefully that’s reflected when we see the Senate numbers over the next couple of weeks.”

Despite a tough fight in the lower house seat of Macnamara, formerly known as Melbourne Ports, the Greens were not expected to pick up the seat held by retiring Labor MP Michael Danby, with his successor Josh Burns likely to win based on early counting.

Senator Di Natale said the Greens had been buoyed by a renewed focus on climate change in this election, with the Stop Adani convoy galvanising support.

“I certainly think it helped,” he said.

“It shone a spotlight on the issue of coal and climate change and, unfortunately, neither of the major parties is even prepared to talk about the role that coal plays in driving up climate change.” By Dana McCauley &with Goya Dmytryshchak

A powerful swing to the Coalition in key parts of a divided nation has put Prime Minister Scott Morrison within sight of holding on to power after conflicting results in the north and south of the country produced a cliffhanger federal election.

Labor leader Bill Shorten had been favoured in exit polls and made significant gains in some seats in NSW and Victoria, while independent candidate Zali Steggall defeated former prime minister Tony Abbott in Warringah. But his bid to become Australia’s 31st Prime Minister – through a platform of tax, wages and climate policy reform – was in deep trouble with his party suffering damaging defeats in key electorates the party needed to claim power.

Scott Morrison’s presidential-style campaign focussing on income tax cuts and risks to the economy under Labor led the Coalition to significant gains in Queensland and Tasmania and has given him a realistic chance of a shock outright victory or minority government.With so many gains for the Coalition and so few for Labor, Mr Shorten’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister receded as election night went on.The Coalition, which has trailed Labor in the polls throughout its turbulent time in government, went in to the campaign with 74 seats and added to that tally across Queensland, where it defeated Labor in Longman and Herbert. The Coalition also wrested the Tasmanian seat of Braddon from Labor and appeared likely to claim the neighbouring electorate of Bass as well.

The Coalition and Labor teams were anxiously waiting on results from Western Australia to be sure of the outcome. The Coalition’s gains left Labor clutching to the hope of negotiating with crossbench MPs to hold government in a hung Parliament.

With the electorate enduring more than a decade of unprecedented parliamentary bloodletting – Australia has had seven Prime Ministers in 11 years – many neutral observers were hoping for a period of political stability.

Mr Abbott said the Coalition would be able to retain government even though he conceded he would lose his seat of Warringah, a safe Liberal electorate for years that came under attack from independent candidate Zali Steggall and her campaign for more action on climate change.

“The good news is that there is every chance the Liberal National Coalition has won this election,” Mr Abbott said.

“This is a really extraordinary result, it is a stupendous result, it is a great result for Scott Morrison and the rest of the Liberal team, and Scott Morrison will quite rightly enter the Liberal pantheon forever.”

The outcomes give the Coalition a narrow majority in the House of Representatives unless it suffers the loss of other seats.

Labor gained the seat of Gilmore on the NSW South Coast and the two Victorian seats of Chisholm and Dunkley.Early in the night, Mr Shorten appeared to be on track to become Australia’s 31st prime minister after an exit poll predicted a swing to Labor, with voters naming health and climate change as key factors in their decisions.

While the Liberal Party appeared likely to regain Wentworth, independent MPs made gains elsewhere with Victorian independent Helen Haines on track to win Indi and succeed former independent MP Cathy McGowan.

Combined with the victory for Ms Steggall, the election appears to leave Parliament with a crossbench that includes Greens MP Adam Bandt, Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie, Queenslander Bob Katter, South Australian Rebekha Sharkie as well as Ms Steggall and Dr Haines.

Mr Wilkie has ruled out doing any deal with a minority government while Mr Katter has backed the Coalition in the past. Others have named climate change policy as a factor in their decisions on whether to support a minority government on votes of confidence and supply.

Labor described its election effort as its largest “field campaign” in history, putting more than 25,000 volunteers into the field to knock on more than one million doors. Labor claimed its supporters made more than one million phone calls to urge Australians to back their party.

Activist group GetUp said it had mobilised more than 9000 volunteers who had worked on the ground, with a wider group of helpers making more than 700,000 phone calls during the campaign.

The ACTU had about 5000 volunteers working during the campaign.

Mr Morrison campaigned at a more hectic pace by flying to Tasmania on Saturday morning to woo voters in the marginal seat of Bass before heading to Sydney for the remainder of the day.

The Coalition adopted the same approach the previous day with a relentless tour through Queensland marginal seats.

Labor volunteers said Mr Hawke’s death had motivated them to campaign harder, although the event also prevented Mr Shorten campaigning in Brisbane electorates such as Forde on Friday, as he had intended.

Mr Shorten acknowledged that he felt a greater responsibility to win because Mr Hawke wanted him to secure the victory.

The Labor Party faces at least a three-way leadership contest in the wake of Saturday night’s election loss with senior frontbenchers Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen to join deputy leader Tanya Plibersek in a ballot to be decided by the party’s members and caucus.

The field could further widen with defence spokesman Richard Marles, finance spokesman Jim Chalmers and environment spokesman Tony Burke also believed to be weighing up their options.

Ms Plibersek, who is also the party’s education spokeswoman, confirmed on Sunday morning she was considering running for the leadership after outlining her thoughts on why Labor was defeated on Saturday.

six years, and that we continue to offer Australians real options,” Ms Plibersek told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“I think the investment in health and education, a real plan to tackle climate change, a real plan to lift wages, these are all absolutely critical to our chances of winning next time and making sure that we’re explaining those policies is critical too.

“We have an obligation as Labor Party people to keep fighting for a fairer Australia, for a strong economy and a fair society.”

Ms Plibersek and Mr Albanese are both from the party’s left while Mr Bowen, the party’s shadow treasurer, comes from the powerful NSW right faction. All are from Sydney.

Some inside the party have questioned whether Mr Bowen is too damaged by his close association with the party’s tax and franking credits policies which the Coalition campaigned against so effectively.

Mr Albanese, who ran against Mr Shorten for the Labor leadership in 2013, will hold a press conference later this afternoon to announce his candidacy.

Under leadership rules introduced by former prime minister Kevin Rudd leadership contenders must win support of both party members and the Labor party room.

The process took about five weeks in 2013. Mr Albanese won the rank-and-file membership vote but Mr Shorten won the caucus vote and, when the two were combined, he was the victor.With The Age

Two men arrested over the shooting of an ex-detective in Point Cook have been released, pending further inquiries.

Sid Morgan, a former NSW police officer, was shot in the face on Spraypoint Drive around 11pm Thursday night.Mr Morgan remained in the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Sunday morning in a critical condition.On Thursday, police began a manhunt for the offenders, who allegedly fled the scene.On Saturday, police arrested a 29-year-old Point Cook man in the country town of Nagambie, more than 150 kilometres north of the crime scene. They also arrested a 30-year-old man in Point Cook on Saturday morning.However, both men have since been released pending further inquiries and the investigation into the shooting continues.Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is likely to wait another week before firing the starter’s gun on the election campaign, giving MPs more time to gauge community reaction to the federal budget and sharpen their political strategy.

While Mr Morrison could still move to call the election this Sunday, sources say next weekend has firmed as the preferred timing, opening up May 18 as the probable polling day, with May 25 a wildcard option that has been actively considered.

The Prime Minister has been fielding a range of opinions about the timing, with some Coalition figures favouring an earlier date while others have advised that later is better.

Speculation was initially rife that the campaign would kick off this weekend, with a five-week race to a May 11 election.

But one consideration has been the Good Friday and Anzac Day public holidays, falling in the middle of the campaign on April 19 and April 25 respectively.

Depending on the timing of writs being issued by the Governor-General, the public holidays could interfere with important administrative timelines.

Election day must also be at least 33 days after the writs are issued.

Holding the election on May 25 would involve extra resources for the Australian Electoral Commission, enabling it to finish the laborious Senate vote count in time for the expiry of the upper house at the end of June.

Delaying the start of the campaign by another week would give MPs a chance to spend more time in their electorates, getting feedback on the government’s centrepiece budget measures before campaigning begins in earnest.

It also gives the Coalition extra time to communicate key policies with taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns and make major decisions before government enters the caretaker period, triggered when Parliament is dissolved.

“The timing of the election is the prime minister’s decision and [his] decision alone and it will be made in due course. An election will be soon upon us but the contest will be very clear,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Saturday.

“What is very clear from Bill Shorten’s budget-in-reply speech is there’s nothing in his plans for small business, there’s nothing except higher taxes in his plans for retirees. There is no serious tax reform agenda and the Labor Party only believes in higher taxes,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Mr Shorten said he wasn’t interested in game-playing around the election date.

“We’re ready whenever he decides to call the election, on a Sunday this week or Sunday next week. We can’t waste anymore time of the nation. For six years, this government has not taken the nation forward,” he said.

“Cuts to schools and hospitals, working people in this country going backwards, energy prices out of control, not enough done in health. So whenever the current fellow calls the election, we’re ready. We’re ready because we have been united for six years. We’re ready because we have a talented team. And we’re ready because we have got a fair go plan for Australia.”

Australian home prices fell a further 0.7 per cent last month and are now down nearly 7 per cent from their peak, as the downturn extends beyond Sydney and Melbourne.

The latest February figures from CoreLogic show Darwin and Perth are once again leading the monthly declines in prices, slumping 1.7 and 1.5 per cent respectively.Sydney and Melbourne have still suffered the worst fall over the past year, down 10.4 and 9.1 per cent respectively.

Even the Brisbane market, which did not experience the same steep run-up in prices as the other two big capitals on the east coast, has seen prices fall over the month, quarter and past year, although the declines are modest.Hobart was the only capital city to post an increase in prices last month, with a 0.8 per cent rise showing that its property boom has not completely run out of steam, although its 7.2 per cent annual increase is slower than its recent peak growth rate.

Prices in Canberra and Adelaide have been relatively flat over the past few months, and only modestly higher over the past year.

CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless says price falls are now extending well beyond the previously booming Sydney and Melbourne markets.

“Every market in Australia is losing steam,” he told ABC News.

“I think that’s a real indicator that lending conditions are throwing quite a dampening blanket over the market entirely.”

Aside from tougher home lending standards, Mr Lawless said there were a few other factors continuing to weigh on the property market in many areas.

“We’ve seen a lot of new supply coming into the market from newly constructed housing, especially in the high-rise apartment sector, we’ve seen a real slowdown in foreign buying activity and, of course, we’re also still seeing affordability challenges in markets like Sydney and Melbourne, despite the fact that values have come down in Sydney now by 13 per cent and in Melbourne by nearly 10 per cent since the peak,” he added.

However, while the supply of units is surging in Sydney and Melbourne, the bigger price falls were for houses — down 11.5 per cent in both cities over the past year compared to a 7.8 and 3.7 per cent fall in apartment prices, respectively.

That is in contrast to Brisbane, Perth and Darwin, where apartment price falls were much steeper than house price declines.

CoreLogic’s figures show Brisbane apartment prices fell 0.9 per cent, versus a 0.4 per cent decline for houses, it was 7.7 per cent versus 6.7 per cent in Perth, while unit prices slumped 14.4 per cent in Darwin over the past year, versus a 0.2 per cent rise in house prices.

While there is a lot of new property for sale, Mr Lawless said owners of existing dwellings were becoming increasingly reluctant to sell into a falling market.

“We’re seeing vendors, understandably, are quite reluctant to be putting their property into the market when selling conditions are quite challenging,” he said.

“Compared to last year, the number of new listings being added to the market is down by nearly 20 per cent across the capital cities.

“But, because properties are taking longer to sell and we’ve seen buyer numbers fall by around 15 per cent or so over the past year it means total inventory levels out there are now very high.

However, Mr Lawless said it would likely take further prices falls to equal out the balance between properties for sale and buyers for them so that prices stabilise.

“Probably somewhere in 2020 we’ll start to see the market levelling out,” he said.

“There’s a lot of moving parts here, and if we do see interest rates coming down, for example, which seems more likely now than it was a few months ago, we might see a little bit of extra stimulus come into the market.

“But the big question there is, even if interest rates do come down, how much will we see the lenders passing those rate cuts on and how much effect will it have on the market?”abcnews

On Thursday 21 February, Amity College held its annual HSC and ATAR Awards Ceremony to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the graduating class of 2018 in last year’s HSC. In 2018, one in every two Amity College graduates have got an ATAR score of 80+ and, one in every four Amity College graduates got 90+ ATAR scores. 

Attended by the 2018 Graduates, their families and friends, the current Year 12 students, teachers and principals, as well as local and state politicians the awards ceremony saw generous prizes awarded to students who helped maintain a well-established tradition of academic excellence at the College.

Constituting around half the graduating cohort, students who attained an ATAR of 80.00 or over were awarded crystal trophies, gift cards and smart tablet devices.

The ceremony began with an address by the Amity College Executive Principal, Mr Deniz Erdogan, who talked about a series of new goals and opportunities following the HSC and that overcoming each struggle serves to strengthen and prepare one for the next.

He likened the graduates to dandelion seeds that have stuck and grown together; the wind will now blow in different directions but they will become their own dandelions regardless of the climate. The Dean of School of Law from the University of Wollongong, Professor Colin Picker delivered the keynote address giving his advice and explaining to set out on a journey with big aspirations and to take big steps full of courage towards achieving this.

The ceremony concluded with the exciting announcements of the Boys High School Dux, Zain Khan (ATAR 96.60), and Girls High School Dux, Aleyna Akdemir (ATAR 99.45), who each delivered their dux addresses.Amongst the award presenters were Members of Parliament Ms Melanie Gibbons and Mr Paul Lynch who also expressed their gratitude to the school and congratulated the tremendous success of the students.

Ms Akdemir, also the College’s overall top achiever, addressed the new Year 12 cohort in her speech explaining the background behind her success, planned hard work. Mr Khan likened the HSC to an IKEA flat pack and that they had the tools and instructions to build as they wish but that they must choose and persevere to construct it.

The Year 12 students in the audience listened attentively with one student noting that it was motivating to see such highly-driven students reflect on their experience and that their words of advice were very much appreciated.Established in 1996, Amity College is a leading independent and non-denominational school in Sydney’s south-west which provides K-12 education.

 

The Morrison government is bracing for a new round of cabinet resignations ahead of the May election, with focus shifting to the future of the Coalition’s two most senior defence figures.

 

Defence Industry Minister Steve Ciobo is preparing to announce his retirement as soon as Friday, potentially bringing the total number of departing government frontbenchers to four. Many are also sceptical of Defence Minister Christopher Pyne’s repeated declaration that he “intends” to recontest the election, pointing to Julie Bishop’s use of the same language for months prior to her decision last week to retire from politics.

Mr Pyne, who has been in Parliament for 26 years, is one of the Liberal Party’s leading moderate figures and is a close supporter of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Asked at a press conference on Friday whether it was possible he could not recontest the May poll, Mr Pyne responded: “I have dismissed this question for weeks, so it doesn’t seem to matter what I say in response to the question, the speculation seems to continue.

“I’m not going to add any more to what I’ve said about this before. I don’t think there’s any point in adding to the speculation.”

Mr Pyne holds his Adelaide electorate of Sturt on a margin of 5.4 per cent. Internal party polling was given to the media last month showing the Liberal Party was on track to easily retain the seat, despite national polls showing a swing against the Coalition.

The chief of staff to South Australian Premier Steven Marshall, James Steven, is considered an option to eventually replace Mr Pyne in Sturt.

Asked about his future at the Avalon Airshow on Friday, Mr Pyne told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that he hadanswered those questions before.

“You’ve soured the mood,” he said.

Mr Ciobo, who is the junior minister to Mr Pyne in the wider defence portfolio, holds his Gold Coast seat of Moncrief on a very strong 14.6 per cent margin.

Mr Pyne and Mr Ciobo are entitled to parliamentary pensions because they were elected prior to when the scheme closed to new entrants in 2004. Preliminary calculation shows Mr Pyne would be entitled to an annual pension of about $220,500 a year. If he took half of it as a lump sum, that would be around $1.1 million.

Mr Ciobo’s annual pension would be about $187,900, with the option of a lump sum payment of $939,400.

Mr Ciobo ran for deputy leader in the August leadership spill but picked up only 20 votes to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s 46. Mr Ciobo voted for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to be leader.

Asked to provide a statement on the record of his intention to recontest, a spokesman for Mr Ciobo said the minister is “the preselected member for Moncrieff”.

Jobs and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer, Human Services Minister Michael Keenan and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion have all announced their departures from politics at the election. The ministers will stay in their portfolios until the election is called.

Former small business minister Craig Laundy, who left the frontbench after Mr Turnbull was rolled last year, is also expected to shortly announce he will not recontest his marginal Sydney seat of Reid.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously played down the impact of cabinet retirements amid Labor claims they are a sign of no confidence in the Coalition’s election chances.

“These are deeply personal decisions made by members, Mr Morrison said in January. “How about we give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re actually doing it for the reasons they’re saying?”theage

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated the Government is open to helping terrorists’ children if they are stranded in war zones in the Middle East.

The fall of the so-called Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq has seen thousands of women and children flee to refugee camps in the region.

The children of notorious Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf are among them.

Their grandmother has flown to Syria to secure their release and Mr Morrison said Australia is working with aid agencies to try to get that done.

“Where there are children, and mainly that’s where our focus is, I’d say exclusively that’s where our focus is,” he said.

“Then we are working with the Red Cross so that where they’re in a position for people to get to a place where they might be in a position to return to Australia then we will cooperate with that process.”

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Sydney-based grandmother Karen Nettleton has told the ABC the eldest child of Sharrouf, Zaynab, is eight months’ pregnant with her third child at the age of 17.

She was taken to Syria by her terrorist father and married off when she was 13 years old.

There are fears her health is failing amid the squalid conditions of a refugee camp in the country’s north.

But he said, provided the children passed “normal assessments”, the Government was open to assisting their return to Australia.

“There are issues relating to people’s citizenship that has to be confirmed, and you’d expect that,” he said.

“But where those issues are able to be addressed, we would follow the normal processes for issuing of travel documents after all those other matters have been addressed.

“But I am not going to put one Australian life at risk for that.

“In the case of [Australian] children, who are the innocent victims of those who took them into this atrocious place … we will do what I think Australians would expect us to do on their behalf.”

There are tens of thousands of children caught in a desert wasteland where food, shelter and medical care are all in short supply.

They are the children who, along with surviving parents, make up the remnants of the caliphate, now packed into the sprawling al-Hawl camp.

As the last of them struggled out of the final IS stronghold of Baghouz, it was clear there were some Australians in the group.

The camps are controlled by the Kurds, who are backed by the US-led military coalition and have registered the Australian families along with everyone else.

There are reports of sporadic violence in the camps, but aid organisations and journalists are working there.

Hundreds of families have been repatriated to countries like Russia and Turkey.

The French Government recently flew five orphaned children home and has said it would accept another 130 French children.

US President Donald Trump has urged countries to take back their nationals rather than have them released in Syria to cause more trouble in the future.

The Americans have taken some fighters back already, but a few American women and children are reportedly still in the camps.

In contrast, Danish MPs are expected to pass legislation stripping away the citizenship rights of children born overseas whose Danish parents supported IS. abc.net

Sydney commuters have been told to expect thunderstorms and heavy rain during the afternoon and evening today, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning the rapidly evolving weather could cause flash flooding.

The heaviest showers and storms are expected during the commute home and into the evening across the eastern fringe of the city.

At 3:30pm, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Sydney and the Wollondilly and Wingecarribee areas, with heavy rainfall and large hailstones expected.

It said thunderstorms had been detected south-west of Sydney and were moving east.

They were forecast to affect Picton Camden, Cobbity and Oran Park by mid-afternoon.

So far Bankstown in the city’s south-west has recorded the heaviest falls, with 17 millimetres falling between 9:00am and 3:00pm.

Up to 60mm — almost half the city’s average rainfall for the month of March — is expected throughout the eastern Sydney basin today alone.

The NSW State Emergency Service said it had received 60 call-outs this afternoon across Sydney and Goulburn.

Most were to help those affected by flash flooding, as well as trees that had fallen across roads.

Loftus and Menai are among the suburbs most affected.

BOM’s Rosemary Barr said it was a rapidly evolving system with the potential for flash flooding.

“We could definitely see for isolated regions … flash flooding, and that’s something we’re concerned about, particularly with heavier thunderstorms coming across,” she said.

BOM is predicting showers will increase later this afternoon.

“These showers will deliver varying amounts [of rainfall] but we could see pretty heavy falls and particularly at isolated locations,” Ms Barr said.

“Currently our rainfall range on our forecast is sitting between around 20mm and 60mm, but those totals can vary very dramatically.

Sydney is forecast to receive between 15mm and 45mm on Friday, with a chance of a thunderstorm in the morning and afternoon.

On Saturday and Sunday there is a chance of showers, with up to 6mm of rain.

Although Sydney city only received 8mm yesterday, outer parts of the city — particularly the northern beaches region — received up to 50mm.

Observatory Hill, near The Rocks, recorded 111mm over the whole day, while Chatswood followed with 107mm.

The March average rainfall at Observatory Hill is 130.8mm, while the highest-ever total rainfall recorded was 521.4mm in 1942.

The lowest was 8.4mm in 1964.

In late November, Sydney was pummelled with a deluge that saw more than 90mm fall in 90 minutes, in what BOM described as a “one-in-100-year event”.

The weather system caused mass damage, with homes across the city flooded from flash flooding.with abcnews