source : the age
Friday, May 29 saw the Federal Liberal Council conference kick off in Melbourne, with a familiar face being elected unopposed to the top job in the establishment.
Here’s what else happened across the day:
- The Liberal Party appointed former prime minister Tony Abbott as its federal president. In accepting the role, Abbott said the party had to lead a “people’s revolt” and position itself as the “patriot party”.
- Andrew Yates, the Australian head of KPMG, resigned. It followed the big-four accounting firm becoming embroiled in data mishandling allegations by a whistleblower, forcing the firm to apologise to clients including the federal government.
- The US and Iran reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire in the war by 60 days, but President Donald Trump has yet to approve it, according to sources familiar with the matter.
- Friends and family farewelled ABC Sydney radio host, author and musician James Valentine at a public memorial in Sydney today. Valentine died last month aged 64, after a two-year battle with cancer.
- In Brisbane, police arrested five people as they cleared a protest camp from the city park where the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics will be built. A coalition of environmentalists and Indigenous activists had been warned by the Queensland state government they would be removed if they did not vacate the park, which will be closed off for five years from next week.
- And in Victoria, mushroom triple-murderer Erin Patterson’s bid to overturn her convictions has been scheduled for August.
Incoming Tennis Australia chief executive Andrew Abdo refused to commit to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Craig Tiley, in also becoming the Australian Open tournament director.
Abdo, who spent the past six years as the NRL’s CEO, will continue his rugby league duties until July 15 – with the expectation he will lock in a new broadcast deal for the competition before departing – and is due to officially start with TA on August 3.
He confirmed at his introductory media conference at Melbourne Park on Friday that he would relocate from Sydney for his new job.
This masthead asked Abdo if he would be the Open’s next tournament director, but he said only that he was hired as CEO and would oversee all aspects of the sport, from grassroots to talent development and pathways, as well as delivering major events.
Artificial intelligence hubs are expanding so rapidly they could consume almost one-third of a state’s electricity by 2040, in addition to straining water supplies.
But Australia could address their potential environmental risks by introducing a data centre regulator, a committee has heard, and enforcing strict requirements for renewable energy generation.
Electricity, climate and business groups issued the advice at the NSW government’s data centre inquiry on Friday, which also heard Australia still had an opportunity to prevent the bad outcomes seen in some US states.
The government launched its inquiry in January to investigate whether NSW is prepared to handle the environmental and economic demands of data centres that have boomed following the rise of AI tools.
A crossbench MP says it will be “very, very hard” for her to support the government’s proposed tax changes in their current form, after Treasurer Jim Chalmers introduced them to parliament this week.
Speaking on 2GB Radio Sydney, Sydney-based teal Nicolette Boele said she generally supported the tax system changing, but took issue with the degree of change and the government’s approach to consulting on the change.
“I’ve got two kids in their early twenties, I really would love them to be able to move out of home and maybe even buy a place, but that’s not going to happen on the current trajectory unless we do get tax reform,” she said.
Airlines have been blasted for unresolved customer complaints and inadequate compensation, despite claims that their performance is improving.
Western Australian Labor senator Glenn Sterle used a Senate inquiry to tell Qantas and Virgin officials that travellers were left in the dark about flight cancellations.
“Trust me, gang, you’re not loved out there,” he said on Friday.
“You say things are getting better, things are improving. Well, they might be for the Glenn Sterles sitting in the Chairman’s or the Velocity [lounges], but for the poor bugger out there with the screaming kids, they ain’t (sic).
Additions of renewable energy, lower use of fossil fuels and accelerating adoption of electric vehicles cut Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by about 2 per cent, helping to ease concerns the nation – one of the world’s top per-capita polluters – will miss climate targets.
Annual emissions in the year to December fell to 458.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, with reductions spurred by lower rates of pollution from electricity generation, curbs on natural gas venting and a cleaner transportation sector, Australia’s government said on Friday in a quarterly report.
Record wind and large-scale solar generation, along with a surge in battery uptake, has helped make Australia’s main electricity grid the cleanest on record.
Electricity emissions were about 26 per cent lower than 2005 levels and nearly 4 per cent below the previous year, according to the report.
The decline in annual emissions is “further proof that what’s better for the planet is better for your pocket – more of the cheapest form of new energy, more storage to back it up, and lower emissions as a result,” Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in the statement.
Reuters
After Tony Abbott was elected to enthusiastic applause – and leapt on stage to address the room – former foreign minister Alexander Downer was formally elected federal Liberal deputy president.
Downer said the party had to be willing to fight the “battle of ideas” with the progressive left by becoming “media tarts”.
“We have to keep selling these messages, day in and day out. We have to use that old-fashioned expression, become media tarts.”
As expected, Tony Abbott has been elected the new president of the Federal Liberal Council of Australia.
Abbott was appointed unopposed to the role on Friday afternoon at the start of the two-day federal council meeting in Melbourne.
“I owe the Liberal Party big time, and that’s why I regard it as my duty to serve the party at this time of existential crisis,” Abbott said in his acceptance speech.
“Now I have to say, as the last successful federal leader of the opposition, I do believe that I have the ability to help Angus Taylor to be the next successful federal leader of the opposition.”
Police and council officers have moved in on First Nations protesters who are camping in Victoria Park – in Brisbane’s inner north – in opposition to the planned Olympic stadium, with at least three arrests so far.
The officers were met with non-violent but vocal opposition and, after a tense 30-minute stand-off, reinforcements arrived.
Police descended on the Goori Camp Embassy site near the centre of the park last hour, after organiser Derek Oram jnr approached officers stationed in the park.
“We’ve started to unpack, you can’t move us – sacred fire,” Oram jnr called over to officers before he approached them.
Local Greens councillor Seal Chong Wah said the state government’s recent legislation to override 15 laws for Olympic delivery did not remove the significant cultural heritage of the Victoria Park site.
“It’s highly significant to the Aboriginal people, and it’s a disgrace that people are here doing this in Reconciliation Week, not far from National Sorry Day. It’s highly offensive,” she said.
The leader of a Thai volunteer group helping to extract seven people trapped in a cave in Laos said on Thursday that more oxygen tanks would be needed to complete the rescue mission.
The seven Lao nationals entered the cave in the central Laos province of Xaisomboun last week to look for gold, but a landslide triggered by heavy rain blocked their exit, according to a local volunteer group and the state-run Lao Phattha News.
At least five have been found alive so far, but none of them has yet been rescued from the chambers of the cave.
“We need to borrow as many oxygen tanks as possible and want to set up an oxygen refilling station in front of the cave,” Kengkard Bongkawong wrote on social media.
Amazon could be on the hook for a hefty fine over allegations that the retail giant sold children’s backpacks that fell foul of safety warning requirements.
Australia’s consumer watchdog on Friday launched Federal Court proceedings against Amazon over the toddler backpacks that included a detachable light-up unicorn plush toy containing button batteries.
Required button-battery warning labels were missing from the product or the plastic outer packaging, the ACCC alleges.
The watchdog claims the backpacks were in the possession or control of Amazon in its Australian fulfilment centres between June 22 and November 1, 2022.
