Australia live news updates: Jacinta Price speaks at CPAC; Optus hack fallout continues

Key events

Josh Butler is in position at the CPAC, and will bring us developments as it goes along.

For something different, I have this for you all:

‘I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong’: Price

Price has bragged that her first speech to parliament ended in Penny Wong fleeing the chamber.

I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong.

She is now on the usual conservative cue cards – transgender Australians, climate change, cancel culture and race relations.

Price is criticising Wong for supporting Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, who had moved a censure motion against Pauline Hanson after she tweeted that Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan” last week.

Price said Wong was acting like she knew more about what Aboriginal Australians needed than their own communities.

I put it to Wong we need to co-design an Asian voice to parliament.

So that policies that affect Asian Australians can be their responsibility and any time I need expert advice on how to better improve Wong’s life, I can consult with the Asian voice.

NT senator Jacinta Price speaks at CPAC

NT senator Jacinta Price has taken the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney.

She has started by paying respect to the proud Australians in the room.

She said she was listening to an unnamed Labor MP’s opening speech in parliament – who was saying Australia was suffering a racial gap.

I thought ‘thank you Lord for strategically placing me after my Labor colleague to deliver my first speech’.

There could be no better contrast.

No better way for me to announce to this woke, sycophantic Labor government that their statements were fashioned from fantasies and lies.

She says she hopes to Coalition will “be able to breathe fire back into the fighting spirit”.

Clocks move forward for daylight saving on Sunday

From AAP:

Most Australians will lose an hour of sleep but gain – in theory – warmer weather, as clocks move forward for daylight saving.

At 2am local time on Sunday, Victoria, NSW, Tasmania, South Australia, and the ACT will fast forward to 3am.

Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving and the sunshine state is the only jurisdiction on the east coast that does not change time.

There have been renewed calls for another vote on daylight saving in Queensland, however, in February state government minister Yvette D’Ath rejected the idea.

At the time she said the issue was not a focus after a suggested referendum by the Brisbane lord mayor.

We have listened to the people Queensland who have previously said they do not want daylight savings.

Daylight saving ends when clocks are turned back one hour on the first Sunday of April.

Three NSW road deaths prompt police to urge caution over long weekend

Three road deaths across NSW, all involving pedestrians, have prompted a call from police for motorists to take care over the long weekend, AAP is reporting.

In the first incident on Friday night, an 80-year-old pedestrian died when he was hit by a car at Claremont Meadows in Sydney.

Within an hour a 32-year-old man was also hit by a car at Penrith and, while treated at the scene by paramedics, could not be revived.

Around the same time, emergency services were called to Murrumbateman on the Barton Highway where a woman was hit by a ute.

The 83-year-old was treated by witnesses but also could not be saved.

Acting assistant commissioner Trent King the three deaths were a very concerning way to start the long weekend.

Long weekends are a time for families and friends to spend together, not be told that their loved one has been killed in an incident on our roads.

Defence minister Richard Marles to visit Honolulu

The deputy PM and minister for defence, Richard Marles, will visit Honolulu, US, from 30 September to 1 October 2022.

During the visit, the deputy prime minister will attend a trilateral defence ministers’ meeting with United States secretary of defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Japanese minister of defense Hamada Yasukazu, to discuss continuing trilateral cooperation and enhancing interoperability.

Marles said:

I look forward to seeing Secretary Austin, and meeting Minister Hamada in Honolulu to further drive our ambitious outcomes for trilateral cooperation.

The current challenging strategic circumstances mean that alignment between our nations has never been stronger, or more important.

Australia and the United States will continue to work bilaterally, and with our regional and global partners, to ensure an inclusive, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

I am committed to evolving the Australia-United States Alliance to respond to the tougher strategic environment.

Moderate faction of NSW Liberals commits to gender parity quotas

From AAP:

The moderate faction of the NSW Liberals has committed to gender parity quotas ahead of the state election, breaking with party rules in a bid to appeal to modern voters.

NSW treasurer Matt Kean says the commitment means at least 50% of candidates selected for vacant seats would be female.

It comes as at least eight seats are up for grabs, with three cabinet ministers and five other MPs bowing out ahead of the March poll.

Mr Kean on Friday said he wanted to see as many Liberal women as possible running in NSW.

“I want to see more talented females coming into parliament and I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that happens,” he said.

We’ve had rain, we’ve had a bit more rain and well – rain on top of that.

And year to date rainfall shows how much of eastern Australia has been wetter than usual. (Western Tasmania and the Top End quite the opposite, while south-west WA also relatively dry.) @BOM_au pic.twitter.com/y8WkmkQdcw

— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 30, 2022

And the big wet goes on, with the coming week’s predicted rainfall likely to cause more inland flooding in saturated regions. (Sydney now only needs about 70mm of rain to post a record wet year – with about three months of 2022 to exceed the 2194mm collected in 1950.) @BOM_au pic.twitter.com/Pc9X6LJo7G

— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 30, 2022

I’ve got a really good read for your Saturday morning here

Ten years (!!) on from the misogyny speech, our political editor Katharine Murphy reflects on how it was framed at the time – and what has been gained since:

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Victorian Greens to launch election platform

The Victorian Greens will on Saturday launch its election platform, proposing the reintroduction of a social housing levy on property developers and a requirement that 30% of homes in large developments are set aside for first-home owners.

Good morning

This is Cait Kelly and I will be with you for the first half of this Saturday. Before we get going, let’s take a look at the big headlines from around the country this morning.

The big story of the day is Russian president Vladimir Putin signing “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has meanwhile announced in a video address in Kyiv that his country is formally applying for fast-track membership of the Nato alliance. Expect a chorus of condemnation of Russia’s actions from Australian politicians throughout the day.

The Conservative Political Action Conference returns to Sydney today, with key speakers including Northern Territory senator Jacinta Price, former prime minister Tony Abbott and former leader of the UK Independence and Brexit parties Nigel Farage speaking today.

Health advocates have warned the decision to scrap mandatory isolation periods for people infected with Covid-19 risks putting more strain on the hospital system if more highly transmissible variants emerge.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced that national cabinet had unanimously decided to scrap the mandatory five-day Covid isolation rule from 14 October, with the exception of those working in health or aged care. Sick leave payments tied to the isolation period will also be phased out.

Millions of Australians are still wondering if they need to replace their passports as fallout continues from the massive Optus data breach. The company on Friday agreed to cover the costs for replacement passports following the company’s massive data breach.

But just how many of the almost 10 million Australians who had their identity data stolen by hackers is unclear, although it was confirmed this week that at least 10,000 parcels of ID were put on the dark web.

Australian federal police assistant commissioner of cyber command Justine Gough admitted on Friday investigators were trying to tally the number of affected Optus customers. The 10,000 people already confirmed as having their data exposed will be prioritised by a new AFP task force, Operation Guardian, established to shore up their security and prevent them from becoming victims of financial fraud.

And with that, let’s get into it.

source: theguardian.com