Key events
What we learned, Sunday 3 May
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
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Northern Territory police charged Jefferson Lewis with murder over the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. Lewis is expected to make an appearance in Darwin local court this week.
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In New South Wales, police arrested a 32-year old man following an incident at a home in Sydney’s south-west in which three people – believed to be his parents and sibling – died.
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Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said the state “can’t afford” a Liberal-One Nation government, in comments following the Liberal party’s win in the Nepean byelection.
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One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the private plane gifted to Pauline Hanson’s party by Gina Rinehart’s company “won’t really worry” voters.
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Assistant treasurer Daniel Mulino said the federal government won’t rule out extending fuel excise cuts, but any extension would be decided after the budget.
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And Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is expected to arrive in Australia tonight, in her first official visit since taking office. She will meet with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in Canberra tomorrow for the Australia–Japan Annual Leaders’ Meeting.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Extra $1.8bn pledged to maintain urgent care clinics
Medicare urgent care clinics are set to become a permanent fixture of Australia’s health system, with the federal government pledging an additional $1.8bn over five years from 2025-26 to keep them running.
There are currently 135 urgent care clinics that offer walk-in and bulk-billed urgent care, seven days a week, for a range of non-life threatening issues, such as cuts or infections.
The announcement also includes $525.6m each year from 2030-31.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said:
These clinics are good for wallets, good for health, and are taking pressure off local emergency departments.
Paddle-out organisers call on government to condemn interception of Global Sumud Flotilla
Dozens of people have paddled and sailed across Sydney and Newcastle harbours on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the Australians who were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Six Australians were part of the flotilla attempting to transport aid to Gaza, when it was intercepted by Israeli Defence Forces. They were detained, but have since been released.
Organisers of the “paddle-out” called on the federal government to publicly condemn Israel’s actions, and to support efforts to deliver lifesaving aid to Gaza.
Joanne Jaworowski and Peter Schofield, parents of one of the Australians detained, addressed the crowd in Newcastle.
Jaworowski said they were greatly relieved to hear from their son, who contacted them on a borrowed phone:
What we really want to know is why our government hasn’t publicly condemned the kidnapping our son and the detaining of him illegally on international waters.
Alice Springs rioting ‘will not be tolerated or accepted’, police commissioner says
The Northern Territory police have released footage of riotous behaviour that occurred in Alice Springs on Thursday night.
The NT police commissioner, Martin Dole, asked the community to respect the judicial process and the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby as they continued to process their deep grief and sorrow.
Dole said the footage showed criminal behaviour, which was not people processing grief or trying to practise traditional law.
It’s abhorrent, it’s disgusting, and it will not be tolerated or accepted by the Northern Territory police – and it should not be accepted by the community.
Five people have been arrested and remained in custody, according to police. Further offenders have been identified, and multiple arrests are expected to be made in coming days.
Police allege tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage was caused.
Victorian Liberal leader refuses to rule out One Nation preference deal in November
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, has again refused to say whether the Liberals will do a deal with One Nation at the November state election, after the minor party commanded a quarter of votes at the Nepean byelection.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, earlier this morning said the result proved the Liberal party “can’t govern without One Nation” and would need to “rely on preference deals”.
When asked about Allan’s comments, Wilson said:
I’m not interested what the premier has to say about the seat of Nepean, she didn’t even field a candidate.
Pressed on whether the party would do a preference deal with One Nation, Wilson said she’s “not interested in discussions about preferences” and that the “only way to change the government” in November was a vote for the Liberals and Nationals. She went on:
Preferences happen at every election. It’s how our system works … and preferences will be decided, as they always are, by the party much closer to the election, but we won’t be making any decisions about preferences when we do not have a sense of who the candidates are, what the policies are, or who the leaders are of some parties, that would not be the appropriate course. And we will make decisions about preferences, as we always do, much closer to the election.
Josh Butler
Barnaby Joyce blames ‘pressure of a campaign’ for Farrer candidate contradicting party’s immigration stance
Barnaby Joyce has blamed “the pressure of a campaign” for One Nation’s Farrer candidate contradicting party policy on immigration and appearing to endorse Labor’s current intake.
The One Nation MP also claimed voters won’t worry about Gina Rinehart’s million-dollar donation of a private plane to Pauline Hanson’s party, claiming journalists were more interested than ordinary people in the lucrative gift from Rinehart’s company.
Appearing on Sky News on Sunday, Joyce said he expected his party’s candidate, David Farley, would prevail in next Saturday’s byelection, despite a stumble this week where the would-be MP said Australia’s net overseas migration of 306,000 last year was “probably not” too many.
One Nation’s stated party policy is a cap of 130,000 migrants a year.
Benita Kolovos
Dip in Nepean Liberal primary vote due to ‘very fragmented electorate’, Wilson says
Asked about the dip in the primary vote, Anthony Marsh called it a “weird contest” because Labor “didn’t even bother to show up”. (Labor has a long-held principle of not contesting byelections in seats it doesn’t hold.) He went on:
We know people are frustrated, but the win shows that also they see that there is a viable alternative going to November.
Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, added:
I don’t think there’s any denying the fact that we have a very fragmented electorate, and we’re seeing people look beyond major parties and thinking … ‘Where am I going to vote in this election?’
She said during her time at polling booths, voters told her they were “sick and tired of politicians spinning”:
I will take that lesson. I will listen to the voters and I’ll be upfront with them. I’m not pretending that it’s going to be easy to fix all the challenges facing Victoria in this state.
Victorian Liberals have ‘lessons to learn’ from Nepean byelection despite predicted win, opposition leader says
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, held a press conference on the front steps of parliament earlier this afternoon alongside the party’s successful candidate for the byelection in Nepean, Anthony Marsh.
The Victorian Electoral Commission isn’t counting votes today but as of Saturday night, the Liberals had recorded 38.5% of the primary vote – a drop of 9.6% – though Marsh will be comfortably elected on preferences. The seat has been held by the Liberal party for all but four of the last 40 years, though they faced competition at this poll from One Nation and the community independent, Tracee Hutchison, who polled 24.7% and 21.3% respectively.
Wilson told reporters she was proud to have Marsh on her team but that they would heed the lessons from the result:
I’ve worked with Anthony very closely over the past few weeks, and he is truly a decent person who cares about his community, and I know when he’s sworn in to the parliament here, he will fight every single day for the people of Nepean.
We know that we have lessons to learn from last night’s result. We know we have more to do every day between now and the election to earn the trust of Victorians, and that is my commitment to them.
Marsh said it was a “great honour” to serve the people of Nepean in state parliament, after three stints as mayor of the Mornington Peninsula:
Those who voted for me and those that didn’t, I’ll serve everyone. You’ll see that I’ll be on the ground fighting for you each and every day between now and 28 November to show you that we are part of the team that can form government and give Victoria a fresh start.
Queensland to make public land available for oil refinery and storage
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, announced the state government would unlock public land near ports to make it available for oil refining and storage proposals.
The government has invited expressions of interest for fuel infrastructure at a number of government-owned sites and ports, including Brisbane, Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone, Abbot Point and Bundaberg.
Crisafulli said:
We must restore our ability to drill, refine and store fuel right here in Queensland, so we are never again left at the mercy of global supply chains.
Heavy rain warning for parts of Victoria and NSW
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain in elevated parts of eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales, as a cold front crossed the two states on Sunday.
Heavy rain with the potential for flash flooding was forecast for the eastern Victorian ranges and alpine areas of the Snowy Mountains and south-west slopes and plains districts from Sunday evening.
Damaging winds and severe thunderstorms were possible.
Benita Kolovos
The Liberals stared down One Nation in Nepean – but they shouldn’t be popping champagne just yet
You’d be forgiven for thinking Jess Wilson had just won the Victorian election, judging by the Liberal party’s reaction to its byelection victory in Nepean on Saturday night.
At the Verve Bar at Rye hotel, Wilson initially walked in ahead of the party’s candidate, Anthony Marsh, before pausing and doubling back so they could enter together to raucous applause.
Moments later, the deputy Liberal leader, David Southwick, introduced Wilson to the crowd as the “next premier of Victoria” and declaring the result proof that “the people of Nepean have said yes for Jess”.
Guardian Australia’s Benita Kolovos analyses the results of the byelection here:
Nepean result shows ‘Liberals can’t govern without One Nation’, Allan says
Benita Kolovos
When asked about the Nepean byelection and whether she was concerned about One Nation attracting almost 25% of the first-preference votes, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said:
At the outset, can I congratulate Anthony Marsh for retaining a safe Liberal seat … What the results from Nepean yesterday tell Victorians very clearly is that the Liberal party can’t govern without One Nation. They’re going to rely on preference deals to have the support of One Nation.
Allan said Victorians “can’t afford” a Liberal-One Nation government, and said they were “on a unity ticket of cuts” – lines she will no doubt repeat as we get closer to the November state election.
They can’t afford it for a couple of reasons. One, it brings division … The extreme Liberal party … they ran out of town their own deputy leader. It’s why the byelection was on in the first place.
We know because whether it’s the Liberal leader or the leader of One Nation, they’re both saying the same thing to the Victorian community – we’re going to cut into the services that matter to you, extra health services, at a time when we’ve got a growing waiting list for kids to get access to surgery [and] to specialist appointments.
Victorians can look to our Labor government and see that we’re investing in those things.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian budget to include $130m to fund treatment for sick children
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, held a press conference earlier this morning to announce that $130m from Tuesday’s state budget will fund fast-tracked treatment for sick children.
Speaking at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne, she said more than $50m will fund 4,000 additional planned surgeries for children, with $16m for 45,000 extra specialist appointments for kids and young people. About $8m will go to a pilot of a “Specialist Advice Now” system, which will allow GPs to get specialist advice for patients without needing a referral, while $33.3m be committed to expanding a digital patient data platform.
Allan said:
There is a lot that I will be proud of as Labor premier in next Tuesday’s budget, but I have to say this tops the list – making sure we continue to invest in good-quality public healthcare for kids and families is so important to me. It’s important to me as premier [and] it’s personal to me as a parent, as a mum who has spent a lot of time here over the years.
Police arrest 32-year-old after three people found dead in Sydney’s south-west
NSW police have arrested a 32-year old man following an incident at a home in Sydney’s south-west in which three people died.
Emergency services were called to a home in Rosemeadow, just after 1:30am Sunday, following reports of an assault, according to NSW police.
A woman in her 60s and a man in his 20s were found dead at the scene. A man in his 60s, found with critical injuries, was treated by paramedics at the scene, but later died in hospital. They are believed to be the parents and brother of the man in custody.
Superintendent Grant Healey, commander at Campbelltown city police area command, said it appeared those involved were all family members.
A third son, who was also injured during the incident, was taken to Liverpool hospital where he was treated and released.
Police suspect there could be more than one type of weapon involved, based on the injuries. No firearms were involved.
Police were “confronted with a very bloody scene”, Healey said.
Blunt force trauma is always horrendous for people to confront, and any edge weapon attack is always horrendous to confront.
The information we have at the moment, the family weren’t known to us. This is a very tragic incident and there was no way for us to predict this type of thing was going to occur.
Luca Ittimani
Sydney is awash with shared ebikes. Is Australia finally falling in love with Lime?
Shared ebikes are enjoying a rapid boom in popularity in Australia in the wake of the fuel price spike, as cities learn to adapt to schemes such as Lime.
Lime, the largest operator, has outlasted competitors to gain a foothold across cities on the east coast as it seeks government help to grow.
Already in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Lime entered Canberra in April. Australia is now home to almost 25,000 shared ebikes, four times more than it had in late 2024, of which 18,000 are believed to be Lime-operated.
Lime has reported higher usage in each city as Australians look for ways to mitigate higher fuel prices following the US-Israel war on Iran.
Paddle-out in Sydney and Newcastle to show solidarity with Global Sumud Flotilla
A “paddle-out” is under way in Sydney and Newcastle this morning, in a show of solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli Defence Forces while attempting to transport aid to Gaza.
Six Australians were among the group held hostage, but have now been released.
Alexa Stuart, a community organiser with Rising Tide, said those participating in the event were “concerned and outraged” about what she described as the Australian government’s silence on the issue.
That’s why we’re paddling out today, to show our solidarity with the Australians, and to call on the government to immediately condemn the actions of Israel and to cut ties with Israel.
In Sydney, dozens of kayaks and boats have now left Milson’s Park in Kirribilli and are making their way to the Sydney Opera House.
Lisa Cox
‘We don’t hear the frogs’: NSW government repeatedly delayed water to wetlands
The New South Wales government has routinely delayed environmental flows to critical wetlands in the state’s north-west in favour of farming, despite admitting it could harm the breeding cycles of frogs and endangered birds and damage local ecosystems.
Two weeks ago, scientists had to scramble to rescue turtles after WaterNSW abruptly cut water flows to the internationally significant Gwydir region near Moree, after a complaint from a landowner.
Now, a local grazier has released emails that reveal the state’s environment and water department delayed the start of flows to parts of the region from spring until early summer to prioritise harvesting of winter cereal crops.
Barnaby Joyce says gift of plane to One Nation by Gina Rinehart’s company ‘won’t really worry’ voters
Josh Butler
Barnaby Joyce also downplayed a million-dollar donation of a private plane to One Nation by one of Gina Rinehart’s companies, claiming “it won’t really worry” voters.
“I think that worries people in the fourth estate more than it worries people on the ground,” Joyce told Sky News.
As Guardian Australia reported this week, Rinehart gifted Pauline Hanson a new private plane, worth more than $1.5m, to use in the lead-up to the next federal election, while a group of her close associates donated another $2m to One Nation.
A spokesperson for Hancock Prospecting confirmed on Wednesday that the aircraft had been gifted to One Nation through one of Rinehart’s companies, not from Rinehart personally.
Joyce waved away the prospect of the expensive donation harming One Nation’s electoral prospects.
If you’re so uninspiring that you can’t get big donors, then that says a lot about the political philosophy that you’re standing behind, that it’s really sort of a vacuous beige soup, rather than something that’s actually worth believing in.
Joyce pointed out that the Labor government and the Greens had “big backers” including the union movement and prominent businesspeople.
I don’t believe in what they believe, but obviously they have a philosophy that attracts support. Now we attract support too, from people on the conservative side of politics and successful business people on the conservative side of politics because they believe that they can clearly identify our conservative values. They might not agree with all of them, but they agree with enough.
Josh Butler
Barnaby Joyce open to running again for New England lower house seat
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has held open the door to running for his lower house seat of New England at the next election, but says his “Plan A” is still to run for the Senate.
Joyce, the former Nationals MP, said he was planning to switch houses at the next election when he joined Pauline Hanson’s party last year. But on Sky News this morning, he said he might stick with his current electoral situation if One Nation – as current polling suggests they will – manages to win a couple of new seats in the House of Representatives.
What I would say is, if it looks like we’re going to get a large, a reasonable number, of House of Representative seats, of course the party which I’m a part of will no doubt make the request that I stand for New England.
Because we have to have some oversight and some process to make sure we look like a professional, diligent outfit in the House of Representatives, because otherwise they’re just going have a range of people who’ve never been there before, and it’s not their fault. It’s just that’s a tenuous approach. If that is not the case, then we continue with Plan A, which is to stand for the Senate.