Teal MP says net zero debate signalling ‘death knell of the Liberal party’
Teal independent MP Sophie Scamps said the Coalition’s position on net zero policies signals the “death knell” of the Liberal party as Sussan Ley appears poised to dump emissions targets.
Scamps appears on the Today Show this morning, where she was asked about apparent wins yesterday in Canberra by conservatives looking to dump the net zero targets.
Scamps said:
I think it signals the death knell of the Liberal party. They’ve been led around by the nose by the likes of Barnaby Joyce and Gina Rinehart for way too long.
We have been facing climate change, which is the issue of our era, and the Liberal party and the Nats have failed to act now for 25 years. Not only have they failed to act, but they’ve also failed to lead and they’ve obstructed action on this.
We know that the cheapest form of electricity is renewable energy. We would like to be way further ahead, but unfortunately, we had a Coalition that blocked action for many decades and that’s why people are moving away from the Liberal party in droves.
Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Senior Liberals meet to decide fate of net zero target
Liberal members of the shadow ministry are meeting this morning to decide the fate of the party’s commitment to a net zero emissions target.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, is expected to agree to dump the climate goal after the majority of MPs supported abandoning it during an almost five-hour party-room meeting in Canberra on Wednesday.
Senior Liberals including Angus Taylor, Ted O’Brien, Michaelia Cash, James Paterson, Alex Hawke, Jonno Duniam and James McGrath all argued in favour of ditching the 2050 target during the marathon meeting, putting enormous pressure on Ley as she fights to retain authority over the party room.
The shadow ministers are expected to retain a commitment to the Paris Agreement, which could be enough to prevent an exodus of moderate Liberals who have threiatened to quit if the party walks away from all of its climate commitment.
On Wednesday, the party-room backed a set of “principles” to underpin the party’s climate and energy agenda, which included backing coal, gas and nuclear and opposing most of Labor’s emissions reduction policies, including changes to the safeguard mechanism to curb pollution at major industrial sites.
After Thursday’s meeting, three Liberals and three Nationals will be tasked with thrashing out a joint Coalition position, which will be put to the joint party room on Sunday.
Victoria signs first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners
The state of Victoria has officially signed the first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, signed the document this morning alongside the co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Rueben Berg, and Natalie Hutchins, the minister for treaty.
The document establishes the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent representative body to advise the state government. The assembly will be able to make representations, provide advice and question ministers.
Ministers and departments will also be required to consult the assembly on laws and policies related to first peoples.
Fortune teller arrested for alleged role in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme
Two women, including one claiming to be a feng shui master and fortune teller, have been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in a multimillion-dollar fraud and money-laundering operation in Sydney.
NSW police said the arrests are part of a growing investigation into a scheme to purchase luxury “ghost cars” that did not exist using allegedly stolen personal information to apply for false loans.
The two women, 53 and 25, were arrested yesterday in Sydney’s Dover Heights.
Police said the older woman “allegedly exploited vulnerable clients within the Vietnamese community by persuading them to take out financial loans – while taking a share herself – based on her prediction that there was a ‘billionaire’ in their future”.
The alleged fraud is estimated to total nearly $70m.
The older woman was charged with 39 offences, including 19 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. She was refused bail and will appear in court today. The younger woman was charged with multiple counts, but was granted conditional bail to appear in court in January.
Seventeen other people have been arrested as part of the broader investigation, Strike Force Myddleton, and remain before the courts. The NSW Crime Commission has now frozen $75m in assets linked to the alleged syndicate.
Catie McLeod
Real estate agents face $110,000 fine for underquoting under new laws in NSW
Real estate agents in New South Wales could be fined $110,000 or more if caught underquoting properties under proposed new laws intended to stamp out misleading price estimates and increase transparency for buyers.
The Minns Labor government has started consultation with the property sector as it prepares to draft legislation to enact tougher underquoting laws, which it expects to introduce to parliament next year.
Underquoting is a tactic used by some agents who advertise a property for less than the estimated selling price or the owner’s asking price in order to lure buyers and drum up competition.
It is against federal consumer law to underquote, and most states, including NSW, have additional regulations to further discourage the practice.
Read more here:
Teal MP says net zero debate signalling ‘death knell of the Liberal party’
Teal independent MP Sophie Scamps said the Coalition’s position on net zero policies signals the “death knell” of the Liberal party as Sussan Ley appears poised to dump emissions targets.
Scamps appears on the Today Show this morning, where she was asked about apparent wins yesterday in Canberra by conservatives looking to dump the net zero targets.
Scamps said:
I think it signals the death knell of the Liberal party. They’ve been led around by the nose by the likes of Barnaby Joyce and Gina Rinehart for way too long.
We have been facing climate change, which is the issue of our era, and the Liberal party and the Nats have failed to act now for 25 years. Not only have they failed to act, but they’ve also failed to lead and they’ve obstructed action on this.
We know that the cheapest form of electricity is renewable energy. We would like to be way further ahead, but unfortunately, we had a Coalition that blocked action for many decades and that’s why people are moving away from the Liberal party in droves.
Wong says Coalition wars over climate change ‘fused in their minds’
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said this morning the Coalition “still haven’t learned” in its fight over net zero policies.
Wong spoke to ABC News this morning, saying the opposition was seeing the same infighting over climate change as it has for the past 15 years. She said:
What we see the Coalition is the same conflict, the same climate chaos, the same leadership wars which has defined them on this issue for, you know, what is it, 15 more years. What is the consequence? Well, we’ve seen it. The consequence is higher energy prices …
What we need is policy certainty. That’s what the Albanese government is giving. The Coalition still haven’t learned – the climate wars and leadership contests have become fused in their minds for almost 15 years and it all continues.
Liberal senator says those seeking to drop net zero commitments for political win are ‘wrong’
Andrew McLachlan, a Liberal senator from South Australia, said Coalition colleagues who believe scrapping net zero commitments will help them politically are “wrong”.
McLachlan spoke to RN Breakfast this morning after members of the opposition met in Canberra to discuss their stance on net zero. Sussan Ley is poised to dump the target after the meeting after senior MPs advocated for doing so.
McLachlan said he is a “big supporter” of Ley, but said those seeking to abandon net zero pledges would fly against momentum in business and the opinions of the broader community. He told RN Breakfast:
I’ve been in the Liberal party a long time. There’s been good days and bad days. You pick yourself up, you move forward, and you fight for your values. I’m passionate about the natural world. I think, as a person of a conservative disposition, I owe it to advocate for it. …
I wouldn’t be advocating for net zero if I didn’t think it was important. I do so because I have a strong commitment to emissions reductions, but I also think it’s exceptionally good politics, but that’s my secondary factor. …
I’m a financial services executive before I came to parliament. I lived every day under targets. I don’t know why there’s a fear of targets.
Measles alert issued for north Brisbane
Queensland Health issued an alert after a confirmed case of measles spent time in two hospitals last Saturday, warning members of the public to be on alert for signs and symptoms of the virus.
The confirmed case spent several hours at Brisbane Northside Emergency at St Vincent’s private hospital in Chermside between 8am and 12pm on Saturday 8 November. They also spent time at North West private hospital in Everton Park between 12pm and 1pm that day.
The health department said “members of the public who visited the above areas on the specified dates and times may have been exposed to the disease and need to be alert for symptoms for up to three weeks from the exposure date”:
Measles is a highly infectious virus that is spread by coughing and sneezing or through direct contact with secretions from the nose or mouth. Symptoms usually start 7-10 days after contact with an infected person but can sometimes take as long as three weeks.
The measles virus is also airborne and can spread via aerosols which can survive for up to two hours in the air after an infected person leaves a room.
Early symptoms include fever, lethargy, runny nose, moist cough and sore red eyes, followed a few days later by a blotchy, red rash that often starts on the face before spreading to the body.
Adeshola Ore
Victoria government to lengthen family violence orders and change stalking laws
Victoria will reform stalking laws to create better clarity about the offence, under proposed laws to be introduced by the state government on Thursday.
The Allan government will also introduce legislation to create a two-year minimum term for all family violence intervention orders to reduce the number of times victim-survivors need to go to court.
The stalking reform involves creating better clarity over what constitutes a stalking offence under state legislation. It was a key recommendation from a 2022 report commissioned after the murder of Melbourne woman Celeste Manno in 2020.
Last year Luay Sako pleaded guilty to murdering his former colleague after stalking her.
As part of a suite of reforms to strengthen family violence orders, courts will extend the length of these to align with a perpetrator’s prison sentence if they are behind bars. An additional 12 months will be added after the perpetrator is released from prison to help reduce the heightened family violence risk at this time.
Good morning, and happy Thursday – Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s see what the day has in store.
100 community groups call on parliament to reject nature law reforms
Lisa Cox
More than 100 community groups have called on the federal parliament to reject the Albanese government’s legislation to reform Australia’s nature laws.
In a letter, which was expected to be handed to the environment minister Murray Watt last night, 130 organisations said the proposed changes to national laws would take environmental protection and community rights and interests backwards:
We are dismayed that the Albanese government has put forward national environment law reform that experts tell us will take us backwards – backwards on protecting environments, backwards on integrity, and backwards on community rights and interests.
The signatories include more than 60 regional conservation councils and environment groups and 19 national organisations such as 350.org Australia, Friends of the Earth Australia and Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action.
The groups are concerned about several aspects of the bills, including a new streamlined assessment process that reduces community consultation and fast-tracks approvals, a proposal to hand approval powers under national laws to state and territory governments, and a new “pay to destroy” environmental offsets scheme.
Georgina Woods, head of research and investigations at the Lock the Gate Alliance, said the reforms took “a hatchet to already inadequate environmental protections and the public’s right to participate in decisions that affect us all”:
Kirsty Howey from the Environment Centre NT said the government had promised laws that would protect nature but instead “they’re fast-tracking destruction” and the legislation locked out regional communities on the frontlines of the biodiversity and climate crises:
This is a message from the heart and soul of the environment movement. Grassroots groups across the country say no to Labor’s nature law betrayal.
Liberals to unveil their energy policy
Krishani Dhanji
Following a “constructive” meeting of the Liberal party yesterday (Dan Tehan’s words) that went for nearly five hours, the party will today reveal its energy policy with the likelihood that it will be dumping the net zero by 2050 target.
The shadow energy minister, who has been charged with creating the policy, spent last night writing up a submission which he’ll present to the shadow ministry at 9am this morning.
At a press conference last night, Tehan gave little away, and said we’d all know the policy – which he and leader Sussan Ley will announce – by midday today.
That policy will reflect two foundational principles and eight guiding principles that were handed out following yesterday’s marathon meeting.
The two foundational principles are to create a stable energy grid with affordable power, and reduce emissions in a responsible way that ensures Australia “does its fair share” – in that order.
The eight guiding principles include: putting affordable energy first, technology neutrality, a commitment to Paris (but with no legislated mandates or interim targets), social licence requirements for electricity infrastructure and scrapping carbon taxes, tariffs and mandates such as the national vehicle emissions standards.
Aurora lights up night sky
Stargazers were given a rare treat last night when the southern lights were visible across wide parts of the Australian night sky.
A severe solar storm had paved the way for the spectacular display of aurora australis, particularly in Victoria and as far north as the Blue Mountains where they were seen over the Three Sisters near Katoomba.
The lights were also seen in New Zealand.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, setting the scene for the day, and then it will be Nick Visser to guide you though the day.
We’re expecting to hear Sussan Ley announce whether or not the Liberal party is going to keep its net zero commitment or follow the Nationals in ditching the policy. After yesterday’s marathon five-hour party room meeting, the shadow cabinet will hear the verdict from Dan Tehan at 9am and then we expect to hear from the leader in public by midday. More coming up.
Stargazers were given a rare treat last night when the southern lights were visible across wide parts of the Australian night sky. We have some pictures coming up.
More than 100 community groups have written an open letter to all federal MPs and senators urging them to reject the Albanese government’s legislation to reform Australia’s nature laws. The letter, signed by groups such as Lock the Gate Alliance and Friends of the Earth, says the reforms “take us backwards”. More details shortly.