Latest news with #MinnsLabor
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
News live: NSW to make legal move on privatised hospital; Israel boasts ‘close collaboration' with Australia
Update: Date: 2025-06-19T20:27:55.000Z Title: NSW government moves to end partnership deal over Northern Beaches hospital Content: The Minns Labor government is arming itself with new powers to terminate the public-private partnership (PPP) with bankrupt Northern Beaches hospital operator Healthscope in the event that it cannot reach an agreement. The government announced today it would introduce amendments to a private member's bill brought forward by the member for Wakehurst, Michael Regan, next week so it could – if required – terminate the Northern Beaches PPP contract. This follows the appointment of receivers to the parent entities of Healthscope, which the NSW government considers a default under the contract. Healthscope has argued that the termination would be ' voluntary' and would attract compensation as set out on the contract. The government said this would run to hundreds of millions of dollars. 'This is not a decision we take lightly,' the NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said. But we are now in a position where the Liberals' privatisation mess means Healthscope's receivers are negotiating the future of the Northern Beaches hospital. While an agreed exit from this failed PPP contract remains my preference, I must ensure the government has the right to step in and protect the Northern Beaches community from this dragging on. Update: Date: 2025-06-19T20:27:02.000Z Title: Welcome Content: Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will be in the hot seat. Israel's deputy foreign minister told the ABC's 7.30 last night that her country had 'a very close collaboration' with Australian security agencies. However, when pressed on the question she did not elaborate on whether that included sharing intelligence about Iran's nuclear program. More coming up. The Minns Labor government is arming itself with new powers to terminate the public-private partnership (PPP) with bankrupt Northern Beaches hospital operator Healthscope in the event that it cannot reach an agreement. More coming up on that too.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
NSW Labor's anti-protest laws protecting places of worship have ‘chilling effect' on democracy, court told
Anti-protest legislation introduced by the New South Wales government in a bid to curb antisemitism is so 'vague' that protesters won't know if they've broken the law, a court has been told during a constitutional challenge. A barrister for the Palestine Action Group made the argument before the NSW supreme court on Thursday when challenging the Minns Labor government's controversial laws giving police broad powers to restrict protests. The laws make it an offence to hinder someone from entering or leaving a place of worship and restrict protests near places of worship. The laws were part of a suite of reforms passed in February after a wave of antisemitic attacks over the summer, which included a caravan being found laden with explosives on the outskirts of Sydney. Two weeks after the legislation was passed, the Australian federal police revealed the caravan and antisemitic attacks were a 'con job' by organised crime to divert police resources and influence prosecutions. Josh Lees filed the challenge on behalf of the Palestine Action Group in the wake of the revelations. The group argues the law is invalid because it 'impermissibly burdens the implied [commonwealth] constitutional freedom of communication on government or political matters'. Craig Lenehan SC, acting for the plaintiff, told the court on Thursday that the 'vagueness' of the legislation's wording meant it had a 'chilling effect' – because neither protesters nor police officers could determine the reach of the powers. 'People who would wish to make these communications are placed in an insidious position where they are potentially exposed to prosecution in a highly indeterminate way,' Lenehan told the court. The law does not apply to protests that have been approved by police via a form 1 application – which can take several days to process. Where protests haven't been approved, the court was told the laws expanded police powers to issue a move-on order for 'obstruction' that is 'in or near' places of worship. The court heard other laws governing protests recognised that, by their very nature and size, rallies could obstruct people and, therefore, move-on powers were restricted to when an obstruction caused a safety risk. 'Here … the Act refers to obstructing,' Felicity Graham, another lawyer for the plaintiff, told the court. 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 The court was told that the police would also have discretion over what 'in or near' meant, given it was not defined in the legislation. That could expand police powers at a number of major protest sites in Sydney, including Town Hall and Hyde Park. 'There's a stark contrast between the word 'near' and the terms 'occurring at or outside',' said Graham. 'Near is a broad and elastic term.' Graham said the defendant was arguing that police powers only extended to 'circumstances where a worshiper is so affected by obstruction, harassment, intimidation or fear'. But she told the court that this 'should be rejected as it doesn't emerge from the text, context or purpose of the legislation'. Graham told the court that the 'catalyst' for the laws – a protest outside Sydney's Great Synagogue in December 2024 – 'was not a religious event'. '[It] was a political event being held at the Synagogue, a Technion event … at which an Israel Defense Forces member was speaking,' she told the court. Graham referred to comments made by one of NSW Labor's own MPs, Stephen Lawrence, during a debate over the bill in parliament, where he said the synagogue protest being the catalyst showed the 'clear intention of the bill' was not what the government claimed. The hearing continues.
Sydney Morning Herald
03-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘How do they sleep at night?' Allan and Minns governments, experts demand Albanese fix GST
The Minns Labor government and its treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, have been pushing for an overhauled distribution model that would give states GST corresponding to their population. 'NSW will continue to argue for a fairer carve up of GST on a per capita basis,' a government spokeswoman told this masthead. 'That would include support for the smaller jurisdictions as required. This would help eliminate the wild fluctuations which hinder states from being able to properly budget for future GST contributions.' Queensland's Coalition Treasurer David Janetzki warned Labor against 'locking in a Western Australia sweetheart deal for political reasons' and SA Labor Treasurer Stephen Mulligan argued the GST model gave WA 'an unfair financial advantage'. Albanese and his ministers will spend two days in Perth this week and hold a cabinet meeting in a state that has received lots of attention from this government. Labor last week approved an extension of the North-West Shelf gas project off the state's coast, watered down a petroleum rent tax last term, and backed off on legislating a new environment protection agency last year, partly due to concerns from the mining state. Loading Independent economists Saul Eslake and Chris Richardson want Labor to seize the moment to scrap the WA deal. The cost blowout is the largest in the federal budget and only comparable with the NDIS, according to Eslake, who has been a frequent critic of the WA arrangement. Eslake said Albanese's big win meant he did not require a group of seats in any one state to remain in power. 'This government didn't introduce the worst public policy decision of the 21st century. But they extended it, and they defended it. And if they are serious, then they have a chance to end it,' Eslake said. 'Given that Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers profess to believe in equality and in sound financial management, how can they sleep at night knowing they are giving the richest state in the country $8 billion more than it needs while simultaneously saying they can't afford to increase the JobSeeker allowance?' In 2016, under pressure from the politically influential WA government, Morrison came up with a plan under which no state's GST share could fall below 75 cents for every dollar of the tax raised within its jurisdiction. This was designed to offset WA's frustration that it had fallen to a much lower share than 75 per cent because the GST formula punished WA for its ability to raise billions in mining royalties. The top-up was initially forecast to cost $2.3 billion over four years, but, combined with another policy to make sure no other states were worse off, the total package of changes combined to push the expected cost of Morrison's original plans to $60 billion by the end of the decade. WA's GST share was expected to lift due to a forecast fall in iron ore prices and royalties, but that did not occur, baking in the costs to taxpayers across Australia. Unlike other states struggling to manage budgets, WA is projected to bank cumulative surpluses worth about $20 billion over the eight years to 2026-27. Richardson said the only way the WA deal would end was if the Coalition agreed not to turn the issue into a political issue to gain votes in the state. He said Chalmers must give the Productivity Commission an appropriately expansive terms of reference for its review of the GST next year, which he said would inevitably find that the WA deal was the equivalent of the country 'smoking 100 notes'.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Rosehill saga another depressing chapter in Sydney's sorry housing story
If today's vote on the proposal to sell Rosehill Racecourse and replace it with 25,000 new dwellings and a metro station goes down in flames, the whole saga will serve as a textbook case study in why Sydney has little hope of ever coming to grips with the housing affordability crisis. Because for all the egos, personalities and politics involved, the debate over Rosehill's future comes down to a dynamic playing out across Sydney: the battle between an obvious need to boost housing stock and the stubborn opposition to any form of urban development. The Herald has been a strong supporter of the proposal to use Rosehill for housing. It is, as we have said many times before, a no-brainer. NSW has a target of building 75,000 new homes a year for the next five years under the National Housing Accord but is so far nowhere close to meeting that goal. The total number of houses and units approved in NSW in the 12 months to November 2024 was 42,109. We need to pick up the pace, and business as usual clearly won't cut it. The 60-hectare Rosehill site won't solve this problem alone, but it could make a big dint. It is in the geographic heart of Sydney. It is criminally underutilised. The new Metro West rail line will run underneath it and an additional station would allow new residents to travel to the CBD in less than 20 minutes. The sale proceeds would also allow racing authorities to invest heavily in upgraded and new facilities elsewhere. The Minns Labor government, which would buy the site from the Australian Turf Club under the proposed deal, has staked huge political capital on fixing the housing crisis and is therefore heavily incentivised to make the new suburb materialise – and quickly. So how has a no-brainer idea become so contentious, let alone at risk of being knocked back today? Blame rests with all sides. For its part, the ATC's pro-sale leadership fumbled making their case from the outset by failing to provide basic information about how the sale would occur, how the money would be spent and what the replacement facilities would look like. They have allowed a debate over a piece of land to become a de facto referendum on the polarising figures running the industry in NSW, and have used dubious campaign tactics to rally support for a 'yes' vote. The incompetence has been staggering. The Minns government has also strangely done little to make the case for change. On the other side, an influential group of wealthy trainers and breeders have co-ordinated the 'no' case. While the Save Rosehill coalition have successfully poked many holes in the ATC's shambolic campaign, they have had little to say about what should happen to the racing industry should the status quo prevail, have been driven by longstanding animosity towards the state racing industry's polarising leadership and have shown scant regard for the plight of Sydneysiders who can't afford a home. Rosehill's transformation from an under-utilised site into a new suburb could signify a major shift in the corrosive contest between progress and self-interest. Sadly, it looks like the latter will win the day when the votes of Australian Turf Club members are tallied. Once again, Sydney's younger generations are being disadvantaged by the decisions of those who already have a nice home (or homes) and have no interest in compromise or sacrifice.
The Age
26-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Rosehill saga another depressing chapter in Sydney's sorry housing story
If today's vote on the proposal to sell Rosehill Racecourse and replace it with 25,000 new dwellings and a metro station goes down in flames, the whole saga will serve as a textbook case study in why Sydney has little hope of ever coming to grips with the housing affordability crisis. Because for all the egos, personalities and politics involved, the debate over Rosehill's future comes down to a dynamic playing out across Sydney: the battle between an obvious need to boost housing stock and the stubborn opposition to any form of urban development. The Herald has been a strong supporter of the proposal to use Rosehill for housing. It is, as we have said many times before, a no-brainer. NSW has a target of building 75,000 new homes a year for the next five years under the National Housing Accord but is so far nowhere close to meeting that goal. The total number of houses and units approved in NSW in the 12 months to November 2024 was 42,109. We need to pick up the pace, and business as usual clearly won't cut it. The 60-hectare Rosehill site won't solve this problem alone, but it could make a big dint. It is in the geographic heart of Sydney. It is criminally underutilised. The new Metro West rail line will run underneath it and an additional station would allow new residents to travel to the CBD in less than 20 minutes. The sale proceeds would also allow racing authorities to invest heavily in upgraded and new facilities elsewhere. The Minns Labor government, which would buy the site from the Australian Turf Club under the proposed deal, has staked huge political capital on fixing the housing crisis and is therefore heavily incentivised to make the new suburb materialise – and quickly. So how has a no-brainer idea become so contentious, let alone at risk of being knocked back today? Blame rests with all sides. For its part, the ATC's pro-sale leadership fumbled making their case from the outset by failing to provide basic information about how the sale would occur, how the money would be spent and what the replacement facilities would look like. They have allowed a debate over a piece of land to become a de facto referendum on the polarising figures running the industry in NSW, and have used dubious campaign tactics to rally support for a 'yes' vote. The incompetence has been staggering. The Minns government has also strangely done little to make the case for change. On the other side, an influential group of wealthy trainers and breeders have co-ordinated the 'no' case. While the Save Rosehill coalition have successfully poked many holes in the ATC's shambolic campaign, they have had little to say about what should happen to the racing industry should the status quo prevail, have been driven by longstanding animosity towards the state racing industry's polarising leadership and have shown scant regard for the plight of Sydneysiders who can't afford a home. Rosehill's transformation from an under-utilised site into a new suburb could signify a major shift in the corrosive contest between progress and self-interest. Sadly, it looks like the latter will win the day when the votes of Australian Turf Club members are tallied. Once again, Sydney's younger generations are being disadvantaged by the decisions of those who already have a nice home (or homes) and have no interest in compromise or sacrifice.
