Labor to keep Latham portrait with note condemning his behaviour
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Perth Now
22 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Fresh blow looms for rapist MP
A motion to expel freshly convicted sex offender MP Gareth Ward is expected to be moved in NSW parliament on Tuesday. The Legislative Assembly is expected to consider the Labor government's motion to remove Ward as parliament returns, which if successful, would mark the first expulsion from the NSW Lower House since 1917. NewsWire understands the motion will be moved on Tuesday and debated in Parliament on Wednesday. In July, Ward was found guilty of three counts of assault with act of indecency against an 18-year-old man at Meroo Meadow in 2013 and intercourse without consent against a 24-year-old man in Potts Point in 2015. Since his arrest in 2022, Ward has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to all charges. He was suspended from and left the Liberal Party in 2022 after being charged, but successfully recontested the seat of Kiama as an independent and was re-elected in 2023. He was taken into custody on remand last week and is due to be sentenced on September 19. Disgraced Kiama MP Gareth Ward said he plans to appeal his conviction. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers Credit: News Corp Australia On Friday, he confirmed plans to appeal the verdict, saying he was 'absolutely shattered' by the outcome. 'I am absolutely shattered with the result of the trial and have taken the opportunity over the last few days to spend time with those I love following the verdict,' Ward said in a statement. 'I am taking advice about next steps, but I can confirm that I have provided instructions to my legal team to prepare an appeal at the earliest opportunity.' There is no means of automatic expulsion unless a sitting member is sentenced to more than 12 months in prison, meaning Parliament must vote to expel him or he must resign. Despite widespread calls for his resignation, including from Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, Ward has made no move to step down. NSW Premier Chris Minns has called for Ward to resign. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Minns said it was 'completely ridiculous' for a convicted offender to remain in parliament. 'It is completely ridiculous to be in a situation where someone has been not accused, not charged, but convicted of incredibly serious offences and stay as a member of parliament,' Mr Minns said on Monday. 'I haven't spoken to all of my colleagues, and I haven't spoken to the crossbench or the opposition about it, but it would seem ridiculous that he would continue as a member of parliament.' Opposition leader Mark Speakman said they will support the motion. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Speakman said the fact Ward is now in custody made the case for his removal even stronger. 'If he won't resign, parliament has to take every available legal step to remove him,' he said. Labor is expected to move the motion on Tuesday under Standing Order 254, which allows parliament to expel a member for conduct deemed 'unworthy' of the house. Mr Minns confirmed the parliament had the power to remove Ward but noted it was important that the Legislative Assembly's decision 'is not punitive'. 'The punitive measure is up to the NSW court. It's not up to parliament,' he said. 'They'll make the decision about what punishment is applied, not us.' The motion is expected to pass comfortably with support from both major parties. Ward's discharge from parliament would trigger a by-election in the seat of Kiama.
Sky News AU
22 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Energy expert claims Labor's net zero pursuit creating 'a big mess', wind and solar causing power prices to 'spike'
Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Zoe Hilton has claimed the Albanese government's pursuit of net zero was creating a "big mess", warning wind and solar were causing power prices to "spike continuously". Since winning the federal election, Labor has doubled down on its ambitious plan to ensure 82 per cent of the nation's energy comes from renewables by 2030. The push toward net zero has prompted warnings over rising electricity prices and the risk of compromising Australia's long-term energy security. It has also sparked heated debate over costs, with Ms Hilton highlighting the government's push to encourage home battery installation as she argued subsidies were being provided "hand over fist". "They're expecting consumers to buy these batteries, install them, and then hand the keys back over to the grid," she told Sky News Australia. "Consumers don't want to do that because batteries are very expensive and anyone buying a battery does it because really they want their own autonomy. "That means that the government has to hand out even more subsidies and so, of course, we've seen a pretty big uptick in battery uptake purely because the government is giving people money hand over fist for this." Ms Hilton claimed that rather than focusing on how net zero could or should be achieved, the government needed to simply ensure Australians had access to the cheapest and most reliable source of energy available. Despite this, she noted the release of a new Productivity Commission report into the energy transition did little to discuss how power prices could be quickly and effectively reduced. "The way I would describe the Productivity Commission's report is: 'How can we take taxpayers' money, put it in a hole, and set it on fire more productively?'," the energy analyst said. "That's essentially what they're saying, because they're trying to get these uneconomic projects rammed through even faster. They barely talk about how do we make energy cheaper. "At the end of the day, they barely talk how do lower electricity prices, which is what actually will drive productivity in our country, because electricity being cheap is what modern society relies on. "They just have no idea that wind and solar are the very things that are causing electricity prices to spike continuously." In its report, the Commission argued overlap and gaps in existing emissions reductions policies, as well as the broken approvals process for renewables projects were key factors in slowing the energy transition and contributing to higher costs. According to Ms Hilton, though, the issue remained that agencies continued to focus on the wrong problem, claiming continuing to attempt achieving net zero would simply result in a "big mess."
The Age
22 minutes ago
- The Age
Divisive debate has no place in Australia, Tony Burke says
A day after tens of thousands of people marched in support of Gaza across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and in the Melbourne CBD, Burke countered claims from pro-Palestine activists that Labor had been weak on the Netanyahu government. 'We've taken sanctions against two members of their cabinet, so it's no light touch,' Burke said of the June decision to sanction far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. 'That's a big deal. When I knocked back [a visa application from former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked ], the huge thing was that this is a former minister. We've since then taken sanctions against current ministers.' Burke spoke to this masthead on Friday in his office at Parliament House, the same office occupied by Peter Dutton when he was home affairs minister. Unlike previous governments, Burke said that Labor wanted people to feel safe but without compromising security. 'The Coalition approach on this portfolio is they want people to be safe and feel afraid. The Labor approach is you want people to be safe and feel safe,' Burke said. 'Language that's been used right back to Tony Abbott and before, had a direct impact on Muslims being abused in the street. Scott Morrison's language had a direct impact on the Chinese community.' In 2017, Dutton become the first minister in charge of the Home Affairs mega-department that takes in police, immigration and spy agencies. It was split up by Labor last term due to concerns about handing power to one minister and worries about maintaining proper checks on intelligence agencies. Mark Dreyfus, the former attorney-general and barrister, was a key voice inside Labor arguing against Dutton's super-sized portfolio. In Labor's first term, Dreyfus was handed ASIO and the Australian Federal Police. But after the election, Dreyfus was unceremoniously pushed out of the cabinet and Burke's department was turned back into the all-encompassing portfolio. Dreyfus was contacted for comment. Burke, the member for Watson in western Sydney, is one of the prime minister's most trusted strategists on the right of the party and is considered a rival to Treasurer Jim Chalmers to one day lead Labor. Loading Speaking about his expanded portfolio, Burke said the security environment described by ASIO chief Mike Burgess, characterised by online-fuelled grievances mixing rapidly to create lone-wolf actors, had strengthened the case for a central point of accountability for security inside the government. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously cited the Dural caravan incident, about which he was not briefed for days after the discovery of what turned out to be a planted bomb in a caravan, as justification for returning security agencies to the Home Affairs department. 'Pace is much more of an issue' in the modern era of radicalisation, Burke said, and by streamlining the department, 'you get much quicker access to a full range of risks, well before they start to be confirmed'. Burke said the attempted hijacking at Avalon airport in Victoria in March was an example. 'The simplest example that really struck me was Avalon,' he said. 'The pace between someone coming into our orbit and action is truncated from what used to be months or years to, you know, potentially days.' In the Avalon case, a teenager was detained by flight attendants after he allegedly boarded a Jetstar flight armed with a shotgun. The identities of foreigners the 17-year-old may have spoken to before the incident have been suppressed by the Children's Court of Victoria.
