Nationals MP Andrew Gee quits party following decision on voice
Nationals MP Andrew Gee has announced his resignation from the party and will sit in federal parliament as an independent.
Gee, who represents the NSW seat of Calare, said he was leaving the junior coalition party following its decision to oppose the Indigenous voice to parliament.
He said in a statement:
I can’t reconcile the fact that every Australian will get a free vote on the vitally important issue of the Voice, yet National Party MPs are expected to fall into line behind a party position that I fundamentally disagree with, and vote accordingly in parliament.
While I respect the views of my colleagues, this just isn’t right. I didn’t bring on the debate within the Nationals over the Voice or the press conference that followed.
Gee said recent flooding in NSW which brought devastation to rural areas had also “brought home” the importance of speaking up.
Now more than ever the communities of our region need their MP in their corner advocating for that support, no matter the political stripe of the state or federal government.
While I accept that in politics compromises have to be made, there comes a point where not speaking out freely can compromise the interests of those we represent.
– from AAP
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So yesterday we found out the weed responsible for the hallucination-inducing spinach was thornapple. If you want to know more about the variety of nightshade that ended up in the supermarket spinach, David Caldicott, a senior lecturer in toxicology at the Australian National University has provided a history:
Sydney fish market opens for 36-hour marathon
The Sydney Fish Market will be trading non-stop for 36 hours, starting at 5am this morning until 5pm tomorrow.
More than 100,000 customers are expected to walk through the market’s doors with more than 350 tonnes of seafood expected to be sold, AAP reports.
The Sydney Fish Market chief executive, Greg Dyer, said:
The marathon is a signature event on the Sydney Fish Market calendar, celebrating Australia’s collective love of seafood.
Prawns are set to be making a comeback after a challenging year full of supply chain issues and heavy rainfall.
Australians typically tuck into about 22,000 tonnes of prawns during the festive period – which works out to be around 40 per cent of annual prawn consumption, according to the Marine Stewardship Council, a non-profit that sets a global standard for sustainable fishing.
The industry group surveyed more than 1,000 Australians in a poll released this week asking them about their feasting plans and 55% said prawns would top the menu as the most essential ingredient for Christmas lunches.
Wong condemns Taliban’s banning of women from universities
Australia has strongly condemned the Taliban’s banning of women from universities, in a statement released yesterday by the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.
She said it was another measure which would see women erased from public life.
The country’s future relies on women and girls’ access to education.
We stand with the women of Afghanistan.
Australia strongly condemns the Taliban’s banning of women from universities, another measure to erase women from public life.
The country’s future relies on women and girls’ access to education.
We stand with the women of Afghanistan.— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) December 22, 2022
Six-year-old dies in NSW-Victorian border crash
A six-year-old boy has died and a four-year-old boy has been seriously injured in a crash along the southern NSW border with Victoria.
The younger boy was flown to Melbourne Children’s hospital while the 31-year-old driver was taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.
Emergency services were called to Moulamein in NSW’s Murray River region about midday on Thursday after reports a car had rolled.
They found a ute with significant damage. The six-year-old boy died at the scene.
Police are investigating.
– from AAP
Liberal review finds ‘Hole in your Budget’ was a banger
The Liberal party’s review of the federal election loss didn’t have a lot of good things to say about the 2022 result, which was deemed “not comparable to any previous one in Australian political history”, warning that “it poses a significant and unique challenge to the party”.
However, my colleague Paul Karp notes one bright side the review found was that they absolutely nailed it with Hole in your Budget.
Cyclone in the Top End likely to weaken through the morning, but heavy rainfall to continue
Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, has told ABC News that cyclone Ellie is likely to be downgraded back to a tropical low later this morning.
It is still a category one system even though it has moved over the land. But it is expected to weaken and will likely be downgraded down to a tropical low later this morning.
It is, of course, still bringing heavy rainfall, winds up to 100km/h and very large waves as well. There is also a severe weather warnings which extends all the way back up to the Top End.
How says heavy rainfall will continue over the next few days as the tropical low moves inland.
Certainly for residents across the western Top End, it is a fairly remote part of the country but really advising people to keep an eye on those forecasts and warnings. We’re expecting heavy rain to continue clearly for parts around the Darwin area as well.
Heading into the Christmas weekend, ex tropical cyclone Ellie will continue its southward track through the Gregory district and bring heavy rainfall of likely 100km/h. That can cause dirt roads and secondary roads to get washed away, so reminding holiday-makers and communities to plan for possible isolation of communities as well.
But over the Christmas weekend towards Saturday and Sunday, we’ll see heavy rain push even further south as far south as Alice Springs down towards Uluru as well.
But into early next week that’s when we start to see a little bit of uncertainty develop. We could see heavy rain push into Western Australia with again rainfall totals above 100mm towards the middle of next week. So certainly heavy rainfall across northern Australia as we head into this active monsoon season.
Victoria records 100 Covid deaths and 671 people in hospital
There were 24,238 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and 28 people are in intensive care.
The case numbers have only dipped about 400 below last week’s 24,652 cases. The 100 deaths recorded are higher than last week’s 84 but deaths are usually a lagging indicator behind cases.
This week we reported 24,238 new cases with a daily average hospital occupancy of 671 and 28 patients in ICU.
100 deaths were reported in the past 7 days.
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives. pic.twitter.com/DBWWSToTAu
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) December 22, 2022
NSW records 34 Covid deaths and 1,618 people in hospital
There were 38,610 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and 34 people are in intensive care.
Cases are down on the previous two weeks which were above 40,000 and now hovering just above where they were at the beginning of December.
The 34 deaths recorded are less than half those of the 74 recorded last week.
Kerry Chant says NSW has passed Covid virus peak ahead of Christmas
NSW has passed its latest Covid-19 peak just in time for Christmas, while Australian scientists have developed an innovative nasal vaccine for the virus.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said in a video statement:
This week, as predicted, key indicators show the number of cases in NSW are stable or declining which suggests we have passed the peak of the Covid-19 wave.
However the transmission remains high in the community.
There were 38,769 people diagnosed with Covid-19 across the state this week, a decrease of 5.2% since the previous week.
Seventy five deaths were also reported, 15 of them of patients who hadn’t received three vaccine doses and two of people aged under 65.
While Australia’s largest state may be over the worst, in Tasmania the virus is wreaking havoc.
The state’s north-west health service region has escalated its Covid-19 management plan to level two, affecting several hospitals and health centres.
This follows a recommendation based on levels of virus-positive inpatients and Covid-related staff absences, and general demand for services.
– from AAP
Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Yamagami Shingo, is a big fan of the Indian Pacific Railway which goes between Perth, Adelaide and Sydney.
Wonderful tweet but I also think Japan could offer a lot more to Australia in terms of railways than the other way around https://t.co/dJBsYKX7ZS
— Patrick Keneally (@patrickkeneally) December 22, 2022
But as my colleague Elias Visontay’s recent articles on train travel in Australia point out, the mode of transport in this country is still far away from the speeds bullet trains achieve in Shingo’s homeland.
Morning Mail: ‘morale issues’ among elite troops, festive heatwave forecast, ‘historic’ Scottish gender law
Want to know how Putin reacted to Zelenskiy’s trip to Washington yesterday? What about what other countries are doing to make gender self-identification easier and less intrusive?
Martin Farrer’s excellent Morning Mail is the best place to get up to speed on all the headlines here in Australia and overseas. Have a read:
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