Australia news LIVE: Hanson returns to Senate; Energy chief says crisis boosts case for renewables; Russia sanctions 121 Australians; National cabinet meets - Sydney Morning Herald

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Wrapping up today’s headlines

By Angus Thomson

That’s it for today’s live coverage, thanks for your company.

Here’s a quick recap of the main headlines:

Thanks for following along. Our live coverage will resume on Monday. Until then, have a great weekend.

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Measles case identified on NSW-Victoria border

Health officials are urging anyone who spent time in the Albury area over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend to monitor for symptoms after a person visited the border area while unknowingly infectious with measles.

The new case, a Melbourne resident in their 30s who acquired the infection while travelling abroad, visited the Culcairn Ampol service station between 12-12.35pm and the Astor Hotel in Albury between 12.30-3pm.

NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said anyone unvaccinated for the disease who visited these locations on the same day and time should get advice from their local public health unit.

“While this is the first measles case to visit NSW for two years, it shows just how important it is for everyone to make sure they have had two measles shots,” Dr McAnulty said.

Symptoms can take almost three weeks to appear and can include fever, cough, runny nose, sore red eyes and a red spotty rash that typically starts on the head and spreads to the rest of the body.

Gina Rinehart, sanctioned by Putin, calls on Australia to boost defences

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has responded to news she has been sanctioned by Russia by issuing what amounts to a call to arms, saying “we urgently need millions of smart mines in our thousands of kilometres of otherwise indefensible oceans, and capable missiles, war drones, and more”.

One of 121 people in Australia who have just been indefinitely banned from Russia by the Kremlin’s foreign ministry, Rinehart has released a statement calling for Australia to build up its defences.

Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart.Credit:Matt Krumins

“Much as I have very nice Russian friends and enjoyed very much my two visits to St Petersburg, and would love to revisit, I would not wish to do so if not welcomed, or if I have concerns for my safety. If speaking out in the manner above means I can never visit Russia again in my lifetime, so be it,” she said.

Late on Thursday (AEST), Russia’s Foreign Ministry posted an eclectic list of sanctioned Australians, including media executives, mining bosses, academics, defence officials and journalists, including the editors of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Outgoing Liberal senator says ‘justice is served’

By Rachel Clun

Outgoing Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has fired a parting shot at her soon-to-be-former parliamentary colleagues, saying the election result was “as inevitable as it was predictable”.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells lost a pre-election Liberal party ballot to keep a winnable position on the NSW senate ticket. Right after the March budget, she delivered an excoriating speech claiming Scott Morrison was “not fit to be prime minister”.

In Friday’s note, she thanked supporters “wholeheartedly”. But she also said she witnessed little loyalty within the party, and it must now go back to the “basic tenets” of what the Liberal party founded by Sir Robert Menzies stood for.

“There is no doubt that in conjunction with the ‘captain’s picks’, the deliberate orchestration of delays to select candidates coupled with preselection skulduggery contributed to an even worse result in NSW,” she wrote.

“The denial of plebiscites and democratic processes set out in our constitution will hang heavily on the heads of the cabal of so-called ‘factional negotiators’ and their puppets. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but eventually justice is served.”

Fierravanti-Wells entered the senate in 2004, and held several senior positions in opposition including a spokeswoman for ageing and spokeswoman for mental health, and several ministry roles including minister for international development and the pacific from 2016 to 2018.

ASX falls again to cap off worst week in two years

By Lachlan Abbott

The Australian sharemarket has suffered its biggest weekly loss in two years as investors fear a recession and central banks lift interest rates to tackle inflation.

The ASX 200 dropped by a further 1.8 per cent on Friday following steep declines on Wall Street overnight. The ASX decline marked its first six-day slide since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, with this week’s 6.6 per cent drop being its worst since March 2020.

The local sharemarket closed at 6474.8 points, recovering slightly from its steep 2.7 per cent drop in early trade, thanks to a rise in US equity futures.

Mining stocks were the hardest hit, falling by 2.8 per cent while the interest rate-sensitive tech sector dropped by 2.4 per cent.

Queensland attorney-general vows ‘consequences’ for Star if found unfit to run casino

By Matt Dennien

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman says there will be consequences should gambling giant The Star be found unfit to hold its two-state casino licences. It’s the clearest signal yet for the reason behind a push to toughen penalties against the sector.

The state moved last month to introduce fines of up to $50 million for operators found in breach of regulations – beyond the lease and licence-based sanctions available – but avoided by other states that have found competitor Crown unfit.

The Star Gold Coast casino in Broadbeach, Queensland.

Fentiman was pressed on the issue after fresh questions were raised by this masthead about the company’s efforts to court blacklisted gamblers from other states and a lack of police action to issues banning notices of their own.

She described the reports as “incredibly concerning” and said details aired by a NSW inquiry into Star’s suitability to hold a licence in that state was a key reason her government was launching a similar review.

Terms of reference are expected to be made public next week, but it remains unclear if public hearing — a major feature of the NSW probe and similar inquiries into Crown in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney — will be held.

Separate investigations by Queensland police, regulators and national anti-money laundering agency AUSTRAC are ongoing.

Asked about potential penalties for adverse findings, Fentiman pointed to moves in Victoria where a special manager is overseeing Crown operations to give the company two years to “get their house in order”, rather than set off the broader impacts of a licence revocation.

“We will wait and see what this independent review brings back, but if they’re deemed not to be suitable there will be consequences,” Fentiman said.

Barilaro New York bound

By Tom Rabe

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has been appointed as the senior trade commissioner to the Americas less than a year after quitting politics.

NSW Enterprise, Investment and Trade Minister Stuart Ayres announced the appointment on Friday afternoon, with Barilaro expected to relocate to New York in coming months.

“John Barilaro’s specialised experience, first as a NSW business owner and then as trade and industry minister overseeing the NSW Trade Statement and the blueprint for expanding international trade and investment opportunities, make him well qualified for this posting,” Ayres said.

John Barilaro announcing his resignation in October 2021.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Barilaro was this month awarded more than $700,000 after suing Google over two YouTube videos published in 2020.

Former national chief executive of the Australia China Business Council Helen Sawczak has been appointed Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to Greater China, and is expected to be based in Shanghai.

Queensland Senate results confirmed

The results for Queensland’s six Senate seats have been confirmed.

One Nation’s Pauline Hanson has been re-elected, alongside Labor’s Murray Watt and Anthony Chisholm and the LNP’s James McGrath and Matt Canavan.

Liberal Amanda Stoker was defeated, making way for the Greens’ Penny Allman-Payne.

Full results below:

Wong announces extra vaccines for Solomon Islands

Australia will deliver up to 200,000 paediatric COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Solomon Islands, foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has announced.

Wong is in Honiara visiting Solomon Islands officials in Australia’s first diplomatic visit since the Pacific country signed a security pact with China.

The doses will be for children aged 5-11 years and will add to some 510,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses already donated by Australia to the Solomon Islands.

Wong said in a statement: “Australia is standing with Solomon Islands to ensure children can be vaccinated against COVID-19, protecting them and their communities from serious illness and minimising disruption to learning caused by the pandemic.”

Albanese to speak at Biden climate summit tonight

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will lay out Australia’s climate plans in a speech to a forum organised by US President Joe Biden from Friday night.

The federal government signed off on a new commitment on Thursday to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent to below 2004 levels by 2030.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Joe Biden the Quad leaders’ summit in Tokyo last month.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Speaking at a separate forum in Sydney today, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the government would seek to use Australia’s solar and wind resources in order to become a clean energy export superpower.

“Australia is under new management and Australia is open for business in the new global economy,” he said.

With AAP

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2022-06-17 08:20:25Z
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