BREAKING NEWS Greens candidate who wanted to deter Aussies from buying larger vehicles fails to win seat in parliament
Labor's Peter Khalil has retained the seat of Wills with 52.11 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote, narrowly defeating Greens contender Samantha Ratnam, who received 47.89 per cent.
The final margin was 3,931 votes.
Ms Ratman famously called for the government to increase registration fees and parking for larger vehicles like American-style pick-up trucks when she was a councillor for Melbourne 's City of Merri-bek.
'It's an undeniable fact that super-sized vehicles are dangerous. They have blind spots up to four metres in front of the vehicle,' Ms Ratnam said in 2024
'Large utes have a role in regional areas, but these luxury vehicles - that often cost upwards of $100,000 - have significantly higher emissions, and are more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists than regular passenger cars.
'If we want to lower our transport emissions and reduce road fatalities, we need to see less of these monster cars on our streets.
'Our roads were simply not designed for these trucks - we need to deter people from purchasing these vehicles.'
Meanwhile there has been more bad news for Greens leader Adam Bandt.
Polling expert Dr Kevin Bonham has said Mr Bandt's political career is over.
'Melbourne: ALP gain from Green,' he said on Tuesday night
'Seat has been moved to expected win status (for Labor).'
He said that he avoids 'calling' seats but added: 'I project Bandt at 47.6 in the live count which is not recoverable'.
Labor's Sarah Witty is currently leading in the race for the seat of Melbourne by an estimated 4,043 votes with a swing of 9.2 per cent, as of Tuesday night.
Bandt needs around a third of preferences to retain his seat but the AEC's official preference counts reveal flows of under 26 per cent.
Daily Mail Australia's Political Editor Peter van Onselen says Bandt is a goner, short of a miracle turnaround.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Liberal and Labor leaders court crossbench after snap Tasmanian election delivers another hung parliament
Tasmania's premier and opposition leader have both reached out to independent MPs in the hope of forming government, after the Labor party lost ground in an early election it brought on. Saturday's snap poll, 16 months after the last election, returned another hung parliament with the Liberals so far securing 14 seats and Labor nine, as counting continued. Both parties will be short of the 18 seats required for majority, with the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, declaring victory on election night and saying he would try to form a minority government. Rockliff on Sunday told reporters he'd reached out to potential crossbench collaborators. 'My view is that the crossbench, in the cold, hard light of day, will recognise the party – being the Liberal party – with the most number of seats are able to, of course, form a cabinet,' the premier said. 'What Tasmanians clearly voted for yesterday was an end to the political games. They expect a parliament to work together and they expect the parliament to last four years.' Labor under Dean Winter suffered a 3% swing against it to the Liberals. It was Labor's worst vote in Tasmania in more than a century with the party securing 26% of the vote with three-quarters of the ballots counted. However, Winter hasn't ruled out trying to form government if the Liberals are unable to get a left-leaning independent crossbench onside. 'I've spoken to a number of members of the crossbench and offered Labor will try and work differently and collaboratively,' the opposition leader said. 'I won't go into the details of any of the conversations but we'll treat people with respect. I think that's what the crossbench is looking for and it's also what Tasmanians are looking for.' Winter reiterated on Sunday that he would not 'do a deal' with the Greens. Labor would need support from the minor party, which holds five seats, to govern. Winter said he would not compromise on Labor policy, including support for a $945m stadium which is opposed by the Greens and three crossbench independents. One of those independents, a re-elected Kristie Johnston, said she wouldn't enter into a formal deal for confidence and supply with either major party and would provide support on merit. 'They need to negotiate and respect the views of parliament,' she said. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion It could take weeks for the final outcome in four remaining undecided seats, meaning a formal minority agreement might take even longer. Rockliff would need to work with independents to govern, including two, Johnston and the re-elected Craig Garland, who voted for June's no-confidence motion against him. The June vote, which triggered the election, lashed ballooning debt under the Liberals and a bungled Bass Strait ferry delivery. The state Greens leader, Rosalie Woodruff, kept the door ajar for a Labor alliance, calling on Winter to 'have a conversation'. A drawn-out post-election scenario would delay the parliamentary approval process for the new stadium, a condition of Tasmania's AFL licence. The project is supported by the Liberals and Labor but opposed by the Greens, Garland, Johnston and the third elected independent Peter George. The new parliament will be very similar to the previous one that included 14 Liberals, 10 Labor MPS, five Greens, five independents and one Jacqui Lambie Network member.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Brits blitz the first Test'
Australia may have lost the first Test at Suncorp Stadium but economically the Lions had a big positive impact in Brisbane, according to Code Sports."The Lions turned Suncorp into their own crimson castle with a robust performance but all the action was at the nearby Paddington Hotel where bar takings were three times as much as the first State of Origin match, proving again there's nothing quite as thirsty as a Lions fan on tour."
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Face age and ID checks? Using the internet in Australia is about to fundamentally change
As the old adage goes, 'On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog'. But in Australia it might soon be the case that everything from search engines and social media sites, to app stores and AI chatbots will have to know your age. The Albanese government trumpeted the passage of its legislation banning under 16s from social media – which will come into effect in December – but new industry codes developed by the tech sector and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant under the Online Safety Act will probably have much larger ramifications for how Australians access the internet. Measures to be deployed by online services could include looking at your account history, or using facial age assurance and bank card checks. Identity checks using IDs such as drivers licences to keep children under 16 off social media will also apply to logged-in accounts for search engines from December, under an industry code that came into force at the end of June. The code will require search engines to have age assurance measures for all accounts, and where an account holder is determined to be aged under 18, the search engine would be required to switch on safe search features to filter out content such as pornography from search results. Six more draft codes being considered by the eSafety commissioner would bring similar age assurance measures to a wide range of services Australians use every day, including app stores, AI chatbots and messaging apps. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Any service that hosts or facilitates access to content such as pornography, self-harm material, simulated gaming, or very violent material unsuitable for children will need to ensure children are not able to access that content. In her National Press Club speech last month, Inman Grant flagged that the codes were needed to keep children safe at every level of the online world. 'It's critical to ensure the layered safety approach which also places responsibility and accountability at critical chokepoints in the tech stack, including the app stores and at the device level, the physical gateways to the internet where kids sign-up and first declare their ages,' she said. The eSafety commissioner announced the intention of the codes during the development process and when they were submitted, but recent media reporting has drawn renewed attention to these aspects of the codes. Some people will welcome the changes. News this week that Elon Musk's AI Grok now includes a pornographic chat while still being labelled suitable for ages 12+ on the Apple app store prompted child safety groups to call for Apple to review the app's rating and implement child protection measures in the app store. Apple and Google are already developing age checks at the device level that can also be used by apps to check the age of their users. Founder of tech analysis company PivotNine, Justin Warren, says the codes would 'implement sweeping changes to the regulation of communication between people in Australia'. 'It looks like a massive over-reaction after years of policy inaction to curtail the power of a handful of large foreign technology companies,' he says. 'That it hands even more power and control over Australians' online lives to those same foreign tech companies is darkly hilarious.' One of the industry bodies that worked with the eSafety commissioner to develop the codes, Digi, rejected the notion they would reduce anonymity online, and said the codes targeted specific platforms hosting or providing access to specific kinds of content. 'The codes introduce targeted and proportionate safeguards concerning access to pornography and material rated as unsuitable for minors under 18, such as very violent materials or those advocating or [giving instructions for] suicide, eating disorders or self-harm,' Digi's director of digital policy Dr Jenny Duxbury says. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'These codes introduce safeguards for specific use cases, not a blanket requirement for identity verification across the internet.' Duxbury says companies may use inference measures – such as account history or device usage patterns – to estimate a user's age, which would mean most users may not have to go through an assurance process. 'Some services may choose to adopt inference methods because they can be effective and less intrusive.' However, those that do may be caught by surprise when it comes into effect, says Electronic Frontiers Australia chair John Pane. 'While most Australians seem to be aware about the discussion about social media, the average punter is blissfully unaware about what's happening with search engines, and particularly if they go to seek access to adult content or other content that is captured by one of the safety codes, and then having to authenticate that they're over the age of 18 in order to access that content, the people will not be happy, rightly so.' Companies that don't comply with the codes will face a fine similar to that of the social media ban – up to $49.5m for a breach. Other measures such as eSafety requesting sites be delisted from search results are also an option for non-compliance. Pane says it would be better if the federal government made changes to the privacy act and introduced AI regulation that would require businesses to do risk assessment and ban certain AI activities deemed an unacceptable risk. He says a duty of care for the platforms for all users accessing digital services should be legislated. 'We believe this approach, through the legislature, is far more preferable than using regulatory fiat through a regulatory agency,' he said. Warren is sceptical the age assurance technology will work, highlighting that the search engine code was brought in before the outcome of the age assurance technology trial, due to government this month. 'Eventually, the theory will come into contact with practise.' After recent media reporting about the codes, the eSafety commissioner's office this week defended including age assurance requirements for searches. 'Search engines are one of the main gateways available to children for much of the harmful material they may encounter, so the code for this sector is an opportunity to provide very important safeguards,' the office said.
