Australia news live: failed Liberal candidate for Kooyong to make tilt for state seat | Australia news
Hamer to run for Liberals in Victorian state seat Benita Kolovos Amelia Hamer, the Liberals candidate in Kooyong for the May federal election, is set to make a tilt for the state seat of Malvern. Several senior Liberal sources have confirmed Hamer will nominate for the blue-ribbon seat, setting up a preselection battle with Liberal…
Hamer to run for Liberals in Victorian state seat
Benita Kolovos
Amelia Hamer, the Liberals candidate in Kooyong for the May federal election, is set to make a tilt for the state seat of Malvern.
Several senior Liberal sources have confirmed Hamer will nominate for the blue-ribbon seat, setting up a preselection battle with Liberal Women’s Council chair Jacquie Blackwell, who has the support of former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who lost Kooyong at the 2022 election.
Barrister Lana Collaris and Xavier Boffa, executive director of the Samuel Griffith Society and a former adviser to former state Liberal leader John Pesutto, are also expected to run for the seat.
The contest comes after another former state leader, Michael O’Brien, announced he would not recontest the seat at the 2026 state election after two decades in parliament. The electorate, which takes in some of Melbourne’s most wealthy suburbs such as Armadale, Malvern, Kooyong and Toorak, has always been held by the Liberals. At the 2022 state election, O’Brien actually bucked the statewide swing against the party and increased his margin.
Hamer’s backers have noted Hamer – who lost by about 1,500 votes to Monique Ryan in Kooyong in May – secured 58% of the Malvern booth vote.
The Victorian Liberal party executive met on Thursday night and set a 31 October deadline for preselections, after they held them open to allow more candidates to come forward. Here’s our coverage at the time:
Key events
Daisy Dumas
Gigawatt of power a week needed to maintain ‘democratic lead’ on AI
US and its allies – Australia included – are going to have to start generating a gigawatt of energy on a weekly basis to develop the infrastructure needed to maintain a “democratic lead” on AI, while Australia has the potential to develop its own frontier AI, according to an Open AI executive.
Chris Lehane, Open AI’s chief global affairs officer, told an audience at SXSW Sydney this afternoon that “Australia occupies a really unique position” in that it has a very high AI user base, 30,000 developers, 35 tech unicorns, “a tonne of talent”, a fast-growing renewable sector, fibre optics connections with Asia and is a Five Eyes nation.
He continued:
You can see a world where if the Australian government and private sector wanted to create infrastructure here that could stand up a frontier model that’s possible. Now, I think it’s probably very difficult to have one that would be solely Australian – it would probably have to be in partnership with one of the big frontier models.
He added Australia was “one of the few countries in the world that the US government will probably be pretty comfortable working with”:
What we’ve seen around the world is that AI actually ends up being an interesting framework or pathway for countries to work with the US government. It doesn’t have any of the pre-existing sort of narrative or issues that are associated with other aspects of trade.”
Daisy Dumas
More on Open AI’s Chris Lehane:
Open AI’s chief global affairs officer says China and the US are engaged in a “very real competition” to shape the future of global AI, pitting democratic and autocratic values head-to-head.
“We don’t necessarily think about this as a fight as much as it is a competition, but it is a very real competition, and the stakes are pretty significant,” he told an audience at SXSW Sydney this afternoon.
He said US-led frontier AI models will “inherently be built on democratic values”, while those of China will “probably” be built on autocratic values.
He continued:
The infrastructure of the AI age is made up of the following: It’s chips, it’s data, it’s energy and it’s talent, and whichever country is more effective at marshalling those resources to maintain the competitive lead right now – the US does have that lead, it’s not insurmountable – is going to be the country that does determine whether the world is built on democratic AI or autocratic AI.
One of the two will end up being the player that the rest of the world builds on.
When asked whether he was confident that America would remain a democracy, he said:
Democracy, as others have said, tends to be a very messy process – but you know, the US has demonstrated over time that it gets this stuff right.”
Daisy Dumas
Open AI breaks rank on copyright restrictions
Open AI has broken ranks with the Tech Council of Australia over copyright restrictions, saying that it is “going to be in Australia, one way or the other”.
Chris Lehane, Open AI’s chief global affairs officer, said he had witnessed two different directions countries had gone in when it came to copyright restrictions.
One way was to take a US-style fair use approach to copyright, allowing for the development of frontier AI, while the other was to maintain a historic or more restrictive approach to copyright, limiting AI’s scope, he told a SXSW Sydney audience this afternoon.
We will engage in either country – we will find ways to work with those who want to build up big frontier models and have robust ecosystems, or those who just want to have much more narrowly defined AI.
We will work with them under either scenario, regardless of which decision … they make.
Scott Farquhar, the Tech Council chief executive and Atlassian co-founder, has previously said Australian copyright law “hurts a lot of investment of these companies in Australia.”
When asked whether Australia could lose investment in AI development and datacentres if it didn’t loosen its copyright laws to fair use, Lehane said:
No … We are going to be in Australia, one way or the other.
Ministers have ‘strong appetite’ for environment laws overhaul: Watt
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has provided an update on his virtual meeting this morning with his state and territory counterparts.
He said:
It’s clear from the dozens of stakeholder meetings I’ve had, and the feedback from State and Territory Ministers today, that the current laws are outdated, and aren’t working for the environment, business or the community.
There was a strong appetite from all jurisdictions for a system that reduces duplication between federal, state and territory processes, sets clear expectations of project proponents and makes decisions in a timely manner.
Ministers acknowledged that these reforms are essential to achieve national, state and territory priorities like building more homes, delivering more renewable energy and producing critical minerals.”
You can read our analysis about the meeting and the proposed laws here:
‘Giant hail’ warning issued for NSW mid-north coast
The bureau of meteorology has warned that “very dangerous thunderstorms with giant hail” have developed over the NSW mid north coast.
In its 3.15pm update, the bureau also warned that large possibly giant hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rainfall could hit the state’s central tablelands, hunter, north west slopes and plans, central west slopes and planes, and upper western forecast districts.
A map of the warning area shows it takes in Dubbo, Mudgee, Parkes, Orange, Kempsey and Taree, and other surrounding towns.
The next update is due at 6.15pm.
‘Serious concerns’ for Tasmanian hiker as heavy snow hits search
Rescue crews hold “serious concerns” for a bushwalker who has been missing for almost a week in waist-deep snow and icy conditions.
Tasmanian man Daryl Fong had set out on a day hike in the Mt Field national park area, about 60km north-west of Hobart, on Saturday morning.
The last known contact was about 3am on Sunday when he texted a friend, advising that he had been delayed and intended to seek shelter and camp in the park overnight.
The 30-year-old’s friend contacted the police on Monday, concerned about Fong’s welfare, leading to search crews deploying later that day.
Search crews are also continuing to look for 76-year-old Peter Willoughby, who went missing in Hollybank forest reserve in north-east Tasmania on 5 October.
– Australian Associated Press
Parents armed with get-ready guides ahead of social ban
The federal communications minister, Anika Wells, and the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, spoke to media earlier after addressing state and territory education ministers about the social media ban for under-16s, which comes into effect in December.
As AAP reports, a host of resources have been launched for parents and teachers ahead of the social media age ban, including how to deal with cyberbullying or deepfake image-based abuse.
Delivered via the eSafety website, the resources include guides for kids on what the ban means for them, how they can download their archives from apps and where they can seek mental health support.
Wells said:
This law is happening, it’s happening on the 10 December and it will change lives. We want children and parents to have peace of mind and we want young people, young Australians to have three more years to learn who they are, before platforms assume who they are.
From 10 December, companies must take reasonable steps to find underage users and stop under-16s accessing the social platforms, as well as provide an accessible complaints process for users. Tech giants face fines up to $50m if they do not comply.
About 1.5 million accounts will be deactivated across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube and X. Inman Grant said more social media platforms would be revealed in coming weeks.
– Australian Associated Press
Benita Kolovos
Allan says closure of Victoria cohealth GP clinics a result of former government’s neglect
Returning to the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan was also asked about the closure of three cohealth GP clinics in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington in December.
She blamed the “pressure” on the primary care system across the country:
This comes as a result we’ve seen, we saw the best part of a decade of neglect from the former Liberal National federal government, who are responsible for the primary care sector, for the GP sector.
[The former federal government] just simply didn’t fund it, didn’t support it, didn’t keep up with the growth and the demand for people wanting to reach out and seek support from their GP.
She says the Victoria government established urgent care centres, which have since been adopted by the federal Labor government:
We’ve also established initiatives like the Victorian virtual emergency department, we’ve established the rollout of people being able to get more care at the chemist instead of going to the GP.
But [it] is absolutely clear, as a result of this decision by cohealth that there is more that needs to be done, which is why our health minister has been in contact with the federal health minister.
Here’s more on cohealth’s closure from our medical editor, Melissa Davey:
SA police complete latest phase of search for missing four-year-old
Tory Shepherd
Tomorrow, it will be three weeks since four-year-old Gus Lamont went missing from his family’s homestead in outback South Australia.
SA police have confirmed that the latest stage of the search has wound up today with no evidence of the toddler found.
Gus’s grandmother had seen him playing on a mound of dirt at 5pm on Saturday, 27 September at their home near Yunta, which is about 300km away from Adelaide in the state’s mid-north. Half an hour later, when she went to call him in, he was gone.
After an initial, intense week’s search, police scaled back the operation. But on Tuesday they announced a new and expanded search zone, based on advice from survivability experts and others.
It is now a recovery operation.
SA police said in a statement that it remains a priority to return Gus to his family, and they will continue investigating his disappearance and considering future searches. The statement said:
Police had been hopeful the extensive ground searches would uncover any evidence of Gus, but this has not been the case.
The fact Gus is a small child, the terrain is extremely rugged, harsh and subject to changing weather conditions has made the searching difficult and more challenging for those involved. Each of these factors may have contributed to the lack of evidence discovered.
Gus’s family have cooperated fully and are being supported by a victim contact officer, the statement said.
Jordyn Beazley
NSW parliament’s legal showdown over 120-year-old law set for December
The New South Wales parliament will face a legal showdown on 9 December over its ability to compel witnesses to give evidence to parliamentary committees and punish those who refuse.
The premier’s chief of staff, James Cullen, is taking legal action against the parliament in the state’s court of appeal to avoid fronting an inquiry examining the leaking of confidential minutes from a report into the proposed sale of Rosehill racecourse to media.
The minutes recorded discussions of a parliamentary committee, whose report had not yet been released, and so were privileged. Cullen was summoned by the privileges committee to appear last Wednesday as part of an investigation into the leak, but did not attend.
On Friday, the matter was heard for directions for the Justice Julie Ward in the court of appeal. She set the hearing date for 9 December.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier asked about alleged CBD stabbing attack
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was also asked about the stabbing as she attended the opening of a new building at Bendigo Special Development School in her local electorate.
She described the alleged attack as an “act of shocking, brazen violence”:
“It’s sickening, and my thoughts and support go to the victim and her wider family, who are also supporting her [in] what is no doubt, an incredibly difficult and traumatic time. And I restate that no one who commits such a brazen violent act on our streets should be on our streets. It was sickening. And I want to thank Victoria police for moving swiftly.”
Asked whether she was aware of the incident prior to the footage being made public on Thursday, Allan said:
In terms of the identification of victims and their perpetrator – they are very serious matters, and we would not want to see anything occur that would obstruct justice being done in the matter of this sickening, violent offending.
Benita Kolovos
Battin raises questions about delay in releasing footage of allegedly random Melbourne knife attack
Brad Battin also criticised the police for not releasing the footage of the attack for two weeks and makes some fairly serious, speculative claims.
He says:
This is a pretty violent incident that’s happened in the middle of a main street in the middle of the CBD. The Victorian community deserves to know. They should have known, and it’d be very interesting to see if the Victoria police informed the minister or the premier, and then were asked to not put that media out. I think that would be the most disappointing aspect, if they’re trying to cover up part of their crime crisis in the state.
I can’t say they have or haven’t, but it’d be very interesting to see what the Victoria police do inform the police minister of and what the police minister makes a decision on what to do.
The premier has been contacted for comment.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria opposition leader Battin: latest alleged knife attack proof government’s machete ban not working
The Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin, says an allegedly random knife attack in Melbourne’s CBD is proof the government’s machete ban “isn’t working”.
Footage of the alleged attack, which occurred near the intersection of Little Bourke and Spencer streets on the morning of 2 October, was made public on Thursday and drew immediate condemnation from the premier, Jacinta Allan, who described it as “absolutely sickening”.
A woman has been charged with intentionally causing injury and committing an indictable offence while on bail. She faced court on 3 October and was remanded in custody.
Speaking from the scene of the alleged attack today, Battin reiterated his plans to introduce Jack’s Law and “break bail, face jail” rule if elected in 2026:
The Victorian government have failed when it comes to knife crime, and their only answer is a machete ban that isn’t working. The Victorian Liberals and Nationals know the only way to take knives off the street is to give the police the powers and the resources. That’s why we would bring in Jack’s Law.
The law, introduced in Queensland in 2023 after the stabbing death of Jack Beasley in 2019, would give police the power to use metal detectors on people anywhere in the state where knife crime is viewed as a risk.
Asked whether such a law would prevent a random attack from occurring, he said it would “make a big difference”:
These would make a big difference, because the police would be going around and searching people to ensure that we don’t have knives on the street. Will it stop every bit of crime? Probably not, but what it will do is send a clear message that Victoria Police are going to take knives off those that are the most serious offenders here in the state.
Sculpture by the Sea organisers say sculptures are engineered to withstand storms
The organisers of Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea say its outdoors sculptures are built to withstand coastal weather conditions, as severe storms forecast for northern and central parts of the New South Wales approach on the day of the exhibition’s launch.
As AAP reports, the outdoor art show has unveiled another showcase today amid a sea of challenges, including a last-minute funding shortfall and questions about safety, as it fights its lead installer in the Fair Work Commission.
Asked by Guardian Australia if organisers are worried about the severe storms forecast for NSW later today, a spokesperson says:
“Sculptures are engineered for the conditions that are to be expected on the coastal route.”
Promoted as the largest free outdoor sculpture exhibition in the world, the annual Sydney event is expected to attract about 450,000 people over its three-week run.
– with Australian Associated Press