Australia news live: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Liberals must fight for ‘the forgotten people’ as she launches deputy leadership bid | Australia news
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price nominates for Liberal deputy leadership
Krishani Dhanji
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has formally nominated for Liberal deputy leader, days after leaving the Nationals party room.
Price will run with Angus Taylor, and said in a statement, the decision brings “a great deal of responsibility which I fully accept”.
The Country Liberal party senator from the Northern Territory sparked anger among Nationals for defecting this week, as leader David Littleproud called the decision “disappointing”.
As a CLP senator, she can sit in either the Nationals or Liberal party room, but told 2GB radio earlier this week that there was an “expectation” for her to sit with the Nats.
Price released a statement this morning, and said the Liberals needed to “fight for the forgotten people”.
There is no question that returning to our roots as a party is critical right now. If we want to inspire and empower Australians across our country, we must return to these roots – these basic values – that define who we are as a party.
We must once more remember and fight for the forgotten people, those on whose shoulders Australian society has been built and still depends. These are the mainstream Australians who have a big contribution to make.
The party will vote for its leaders on Tuesday, the same day the new Albanese ministry will be sworn in.
Key events
Jobs and wage data in focus ahead of interest rate call
Upcoming wages and unemployment data may have significant bearing on the Reserve Bank’s closely watched interest rate decision.
Domestic signals have taken somewhat of a back seat since US President Donald Trump’s tariff dump in early April.
But the wage price index and labour force figures, due to be published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, will be closely monitored.
They are the last remaining major data releases that will influence the Reserve Bank board’s decision when it meets to set interest rates on May 19-20.
Expectations of a rate cut have soared since Trump’s tariffs roiled markets.
With global trade set to be impacted, the economic growth outlook for Australia and the rest of the world has tumbled, while cheap goods diverted to the local market could drive domestic inflation down further.
More to come in the next post.
– via Australia Associated Press
More than a tonne of cocaine allegedly found on motorboat off NSW coast
More than a tonne of cocaine has been seized off the east coast of Australia and five men arrested after police raided a suspicious motorboat.
Detectives said they were tipped off about the purchase of a 13-metre-long boat with a large sum of cash in Sydney’s Sutherland shire on 28 April.
Police said they began investigating and intercepted the vessel on Friday as it was travelling towards South West Rocks on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
Officers allegedly found 1,110 blocks of cocaine together weighing more than a tonne on board.
Police estimated this amount of cocaine was worth $623m on the street.
Two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested on board while another three men, aged 28, 29 and 35, were taken into custody on shore after officers stopped two cars allegedly trying to leave the area.
Read the full story here:
‘Really attractive’: subsidies to charge home battery boom
Battery installers are bracing for a busy period as households and businesses jump on Labor’s election promise to discount energy storage.
A signature pledge of the returning Albanese administration was 30% off the upfront price of batteries, targeting cheaper power bills and the transition to clean energy.
Industry figures expect the battery subsidy program will be a priority given the fast-approaching start date of July 1.
Solar and battery installer 1KOMMA5° is confident the scheme will go ahead as promised and is applying the discount already in the expectation incentive costs can be claimed back once the program goes live.
“We foresee, effectively, a mad rush for installation from July 1 and this gives a chance for consumers to get the benefit and beat the rush,” the Sydney-based company’s brand director Andre Scott told AAP.
The catch is batteries purchased through the scheme can only be switched on after the upcoming start date. Scott said there was still a good argument to go early, with customers potentially facing installation backlogs once the floodgates officially opened.
– via Australian Associated Press
Littleproud: ‘I’m proud of my record … but it’s the party room’s decision’
David Littleproud has backed in his record to retain the Nationals leadership, which he has held since May 2022 after challenging former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce in the wake of the Coalition’s election loss.
Littleproud’s pitch on his record includes leading the no campaign on the Indigenous voice to parliament, calling for nuclear energy and pushing for divestment to stop supermarkets from “taking advantage” of farmers. He told Nine’s Today show:
I’m proud of my record. I’m comfortable in my own skin, but it’s the party room’s decision.
Whatever happens, happens, but I’m still committed to the National party and all that we’ve done and all that we will achieve.
Queensland senator Matt Canavan put himself forward for the role on Friday after praising Littleproud’s time as leader, but argued the party needed to bring back its “fighting spirit”.
He said he would scrap the Nationals’ support for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and call for new housing supply and economic development in the regions if chosen as leader.
– via Australian Associated Press
‘This is healthy’: David Littleproud welcomes challenge to Nationals leadership
Nationals leader David Littleproud is backing his record to hold on to the party’s top job as he faces a challenge from a fellow Queenslander.
The minor Coalition party faces a leadership tussle after Queensland senator Matt Canavan threw his hat in the ring.
Littleproud welcomed the challenge, applauding his colleague for having the courage to put up his hand. He told Nine’s Today Show:
We shouldn’t get upset about democracy taking place.
This is healthy for our democracy.
More to come in the next post.
– via Australian Associated Press
Husic confirmed he will remain in the Labor party, though he doesn’t yet know in what role.
He told ABC Insiders earlier his phone call with the prime minister was “very brief”.
From my perspective, I still think I have a contribution to make and I want to do so. Someone once said that success isn’t final, failure isn’t fatal and the courage to continue is what matters. Here I am, a Labor MP quoting Churchill on Insiders. That’s where we’ve got to.
Asked if he is staying in the Labor party, Husic said:
Indeed. Can I say, the party has given me great opportunities. Its faith in me, particularly with my faith, allowed me in part to make and break records, I’ve challenged the status quo and conservativism. It provides hope and aspiration for others. I want to be part of that.
Husic on factional mechanics: ‘We saw it at its worst this week’
Ed Husic says factional mechanics were seen “at its worst this week”. The former industry and science minister, who has been dropped from cabinet, told the ABC’s Insiders:
I’m not going to sit here with false modesty. Of course, when you hear [the prime minister] rattle off names of the number of people that would be retained or retaining ministerial spots, I’m sure I wasn’t the only minister wanting to be in that list.
Again, if he had exercised that authority, I don’t think anyone would have quibbled … I think the factional grubbiness, there are better ways. Factional mechanics do help manage merit and moderate ambition, and that is when they work well. We’ve seen it at its best previously. We saw it at its worst this week.
Asked if Husic called prime minister Anthony Albanese, the former minister said:
No, I didn’t. We did speak yesterday. He rang me yesterday. We’re catching up Monday. I look forward to that being a constructive discussion that talks about the role that I can keep playing and being able to speak up on the things I think are important and that I care about and represent people in the community.
Ed Husic labels Richard Marles a ‘factional assassin’
Husic says deputy prime minister Richard Marles wielded “a factional club to reshape the ministry”. The former minister for industry and science is speaking on ABC Insiders.
Husic was asked: “Why do you think you were dropped?” He said:
Factions play a really important role in managing merit, moderating ambition and providing an orderly transition for renewal. That’s very important.
The difficult issue here is that we’ve had bare faced ambition and a deputy prime minister wield a factional club to reshape the ministry. I think people, when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.
Husic says Gaza a ‘factor’ in being dropped from cabinet
The former industry and science minister Ed Husic says speaking up on Gaza was a “factor” in his being dumped from the prime minister’s cabinet.
He is appearing on the ABC’s Insiders this morning:
You can’t celebrate diversity and then expect to sit in the corner silent. You need to speak up, when you bring the different views to either a cabinet table or a caucus. I certainly took the view you need to speak up for the communities that you care about. I certainly tried to help us navigate … difficult issues, such as Gaza, post the horrors of October 7. I don’t think I could ever stay silent in the face of innocent civilians slaughtered, tens of thousands starved out of Gaza. So I tried to find the way to be able to speak to the cabinet table and speak elsewhere, to be able to make sure that their voices are heard.
And importantly, if I can end on this point. There are a lot of people that are seeing things on the TV screens, seeing the horrors, turning to their political representatives, and they’re not asking for the lines of the day, they’re asking for a statement of values, what you believe in, what you will stand up for, and I think that is an important obligation to fulfil.
I think I fulfilled my role not just as a cabinet minister but as a caucus member. You should have the ability to speak up on the issues that you believe in. You should have the ability to question. It builds a stronger, not a weaker, party, to do so.
When asked, “Do you think this has cost you?”, Husic responds:
I think it’s been a factor in there. Would I do things differently? I don’t think so.
Husic conceded last year that many Muslim and Arab Australians did not feel listened to by the Albanese government over Israel’s war in Gaza, describing his public interventions as necessary so that people believed “that their concerns have somewhere to go to be vented and aired”.
Read more about Husic and Mark Dreyfus being dropped in Tom McIlroy’s report here:
Lisa Cox
NSW forestry agency should be shut down for repeatedly breaking law, critics argue
A former magistrate and one of Australia’s most experienced scientists have launched an extraordinary attack on the New South Wales government’s logging agency, describing it as effectively a “criminal organisation” that should be shut down after a string of court convictions.
Prof David Heilpern, a NSW magistrate between 1998 and 2020 and now the dean of law at Southern Cross University, said the state’s Forestry Corporation should be “disbanded” as it was was no longer fit for purpose.
The corporation has been convicted of more than a dozen environmental offences, including a judgment in the land and environment court last year that found the agency was likely to reoffend and had poor prospects of rehabilitation.
Read the full story:
Can conservative women still call the Liberal party home?
One of the key considerations for the new Liberal leadership will be how the party reacts to the deep political currents that led to its massive loss in the election.
We’ve had a look at one of those trends: the party’s “women issue”:
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price nominates for Liberal deputy leadership
Krishani Dhanji
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has formally nominated for Liberal deputy leader, days after leaving the Nationals party room.
Price will run with Angus Taylor, and said in a statement, the decision brings “a great deal of responsibility which I fully accept”.
The Country Liberal party senator from the Northern Territory sparked anger among Nationals for defecting this week, as leader David Littleproud called the decision “disappointing”.
As a CLP senator, she can sit in either the Nationals or Liberal party room, but told 2GB radio earlier this week that there was an “expectation” for her to sit with the Nats.
Price released a statement this morning, and said the Liberals needed to “fight for the forgotten people”.
There is no question that returning to our roots as a party is critical right now. If we want to inspire and empower Australians across our country, we must return to these roots – these basic values – that define who we are as a party.
We must once more remember and fight for the forgotten people, those on whose shoulders Australian society has been built and still depends. These are the mainstream Australians who have a big contribution to make.
The party will vote for its leaders on Tuesday, the same day the new Albanese ministry will be sworn in.
We’ll get to the politics in a second, but it’s worth noting a heartwarming social media post that Price put online overnight.
Her Instagram post, accompanied by a family photo, read:
Thanks to my grandmother and mother for teaching me resilience, determination and demonstrating what it means to have self belief. Happy Mothers Day all the wonderful mothers ♥️
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Welcome
Good morning, and happy Mother’s Day!
We’re launching our live blog today with the news that Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has confirmed she will run for the deputy leadership of the Liberal party, days after defecting from the Nationals party room.
