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Write about: Australia news live: PM says Liberals will ‘despair’ at Ley’s premature exit; Sydney ebike rider in critical condition after crash while allegedly fleeing police | Australia news

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Liberals will ‘despair’ that Ley was booted so soon, Albanese says

There is a question from reporters about the ructions in the Liberal party and Coalition. The prime minister responds with a mix of pity and schadenfreude.

I think people in the Liberal party will despair that Sussan Ley, elected as leader of the Liberal party just months ago, wasn’t even given the opportunity to give one budget reply speech. It’s up to the Liberal party, of course, to defend their own internal processes.

Albanese lays a few blows on the Coalition over its lack of women and apparent resistance to proper representation within the party.

We continue to make sure that we’re a government that represents all Australians. I think when you look at the Liberal party and the National party, they seek to talk about themselves and represent each other. We want to represent all Australians.

Key events

Sydney ebike rider in critical condition after crash while allegedly fleeing police

A 39-year-old man is in critical condition after he allegedly attempted to ride away from police attempting to stop him for riding without a helmet.

Police in Sydney’s west had attempted to stop the rider after noticing him riding without a helmet on Saturday night at about 11pm.

The rider continued to ride away from police before hitting a pole.

A 39-year-old man was treated at the scene for serious injuries before being taken to Liverpool hospital in a critical condition.

A crime scene was established and a critical incident has been declared.

The investigation will be subject of an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

Auction activity climbs

Auction activity has climbed this weekend with 2,061 auctions to be held.

This is growth on the 1,584 held last week and an increase on the 1,907 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.

Based on results collected so far, Cotality’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 70.7% across the country, which is lower than the 73.7% preliminary rate recorded last week but above the 66.1% actual rate on final numbers and the 63.8% at the same time last year.

Across the capital cities:

Sydney: 608 of 781 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.1%.
Melbourne: 623 of 868 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6%.
Brisbane: 117 0f 156 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.9%.
Adelaide: 76 of 128 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 78.9%.
Canberra: 79 of 95 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62%.
Tasmania: One auction held.
Perth: Twelve of 20 auctions held.

Fire at Perth marina

Four boats have been destroyed in a fire at Hillarys boat harbour in Perth’s northern suburbs, the second time the marina has recorded a fire in just over four months.

Firefighters responded to reports of a fire in the harbour at 10.35pm on Saturday.

The fire began on a single boat before spreading to nearby vessels.

It took firefighters until 2am to extinguish the blaze.

The cause is unknown.

New Zealand court mulls appeal by Christchurch gunman

The New Zealand court of appeal has finished hearing an appeal from the Christchurch mosque gunman, in proceedings that were quiet and tightly controlled.

In a near-empty courthouse, in front of almost no one, a three-judge panel heard an appeal by Australian Brenton Tarrant as he sought to convince the court to disregard his previous guilty pleas.

Tarrant, a self-described white supremacist, previously pleaded guilty to murdering 51 Muslims at two Christchurch mosques in 2019 in the country’s deadliest mass shooting. He is serving life in prison without a chance of parole but the case will return to court for a full trial if he is allowed to revoke his guilty pleas.

The 35-year-old told the court this week he did not want to plead guilty and had made the “irrational” admissions during a “nervous breakdown” induced by his solitary and austere prison conditions. But crown lawyers opposing his appeal bid said in their response Friday there was no evidence for the claims that he was seriously mentally ill.

Crown lawyer Madeleine Laracy urged the appeal judges on Friday to thwart the prospect of the matter returning to court in a lengthy public trial, which would happen if the Australian’s bid to recant his guilt was successful.

Almost nobody was permitted to view the gunman’s evidence and the appeal bid unfolded in front of nine reporters, nine lawyers, a few court staff and an empty public gallery.

The judges’ decision will be released later. New Zealand’s appeals court delivers 90% of its judgments within three months of a hearing’s end, according to the court’s website.

If his bid to revoke his guilty pleas is unsuccessful, Tarrant’s case will return to the appeals court for a later hearing where he will seek a review of his life sentence.

For more on this story, read the full report by the Guardian Australia:

It’s snowing medals as Jakara Anthony secures record gold haul for Australia

Thanks to Jakara Anthony’s gold, Australia has already exceeded its previous best Olympic Winter medal haul with the Milan-Cortina Games only half over.

Surpassing previous Olympic medal hauls by Australian teams with the Milan-Cortina Games only at the halfway mark, the team chef de mission, Alisa Camplin, has hailed the performance as “mind-blowing”.

Anthony overtook snowboarder Scotty James as the country’s most decorated Winter Olympian when she clinched the first-ever dual moguls gold medal on Saturday.

It was a courageous performance after the Beijing champion was unable to defend her title in the individual event three days earlier after a slip-up in the medal round.

Anthony’s medal brought the tally to four with a week still to go – her gold adding to those won by her moguls teammate Cooper Woods and snowboard cross racer Josie Baff as the well as the silver annexed by five-time Olympian James in the halfpipe.

Australia had won four medals in Beijing, but only one gold.

There are more medal chances to come with Woods and Matt Graham leading the charge in the men’s dual moguls on Sunday, while Bree Walker is ranked world No.2 in the monobob and teenage free-skier Indra Brown has won a World Cup in the halfpipe.

– AAP

Jakara Anthony celebrates after winning her second gold medal for the freestyle skiing women’s dual moguls at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Electric car sales may stall if tax policy changes gear

Australia’s biggest electric vehicle incentive is under review as traditional carmakers and the EV industry warn change could lead to a crash.

At launch, the Electric Car Discount was expected to help about 5,000 Australians get behind the wheel of a quiet, low-emissions, battery-powered vehicle.

The policy, introduced in 2022, removed the fringe benefits tax from some electric cars, potentially cutting thousands of dollars from their price.

But rather than helping a few thousand motorists, the policy has been embraced by more than 105,000 people, tripling the adoption rate of electric cars and fuelling a secondhand market.

Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Its runaway success may be its undoing, however, with Treasury forecasts blowing out to a cost of $1.35bn a year and a statutory review into whether the policy is efficient and still required.

Automotive experts say maintaining the discount will give Australia some chance of meeting its 2035 environmental targets, and removing or reducing it could stall progress in the transport market as overseas examples have shown.

– AAP

Extra public holiday locks in Anzac Day long weekend for NSW

An extra public holiday has been handed to people in New South Wales to compensate for Anzac Day falling on a weekend for the next two years.

The premier, Chris Minns, has announced NSW will have an extra public holiday in 2026 and 2027, when Anzac Day falls on a Saturday and Sunday.

Unlike New Year’s Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, previously there were no additional public holidays declared in NSW when Anzac Day fell on a weekend.

Adding a public holiday in these circumstances won’t diminish the tradition, Minns said in a statement on Sunday.

If anything, it is a reminder of its importance and another reason for people to get up, attend a local service and ensure the spirit of remembrance continues to be passed on to the next generation.

Meanwhile, the governments of Victoria and Queensland have said they would not follow NSW’s lead in adding an additional public holiday.

Nacc circulates draft findings to robodebt victims

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) has circulated draft findings to the six people who were referred to it by the royal commission into robodebt.

A spokesperson for Gordon Legal has said this indicates that Nacc’s investigation is nearly complete.

Gordon Legal led the legal fight for robobebt victims in both the initial and the appeal class actions. In total, the class actions have resulted in more than $2.4bn of financial redress for the benefit of group members.

Partner Andrew Grech said:

Whatever happens with these very important investigations, it is essential that public servants understand that they can be held accountable for their conduct.

Whilst money can never fully compensate the victims of Robodebt for what they have been through, compensation is an important part of the process of accountability. Regrettably, there are recent signs that public servants have not learned the lessons of Robodebt, making the need for accountability even more acute.

He said that while this will be welcome news to the hundreds of thousands of robodebt victims, their immediate focus is on the upcoming deadline to register for inclusion in the class action settlement compensation scheme.

It is critical that anyone impacted by Robodebt understands that they must register if they want to participate in Australia’s largest class action settlement.

RBA offers more rates call insight before jobs data

Critical unemployment figures will give Australia’s central bank a clearer picture on whether it will deliver a second interest rate hike in as many months.

The Reserve Bank will shine new light on why it decided to hike interest rates, while fresh data should offer insight into whether a further increase is on the cards.

Minutes from the central bank’s last meeting in early February, where it unanimously decided to kick up interest rates 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent, will be made public on Tuesday.

Governor Michelle Bullock has fronted press conferences and two federal parliamentary hearings on the rate call, the minutes are expected to reveal the factors that led to the decision.

Bullock has previously said a resurgence in inflation forced the bank’s hand, with the speed of consumer spending and business investment catching the RBA’s board off guard.

Looking ahead, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will help fill in more of the picture for the central bank for future rate calls.

Wednesday will reveal wage data for the final quarter of 2025.

Thursday will see all-important labour force figures for January released.

– AAP

‘No doubt’ Aukus submarine program will go ahead, Albanese says

There is no doubt the Aukus defence agreement under which Australia is expected to operate nuclear submarines will persist, the PM says.

Albanese says he has personally sat down with Donald Trump “in person” along with other members of the US administration to have “a number of discussions”.

This is in the interests of the United States, in the interests of the UK and in the interests of Australia. And that is why this is a project that is progressing in accordance with not just the principles, but the plan of action, which we are rolling out.

The PM says his government has delivered the “substance and the detail” of the Aukus agreement.

Albanese mentions Angus Taylor, which invites a question about noises the Coalition are making about its plans to target the government on immigration.

Albanese:

Angus must have been beside himself when he was a minister in the government because he had, in the figures that were released in 2019 in the Myefo plan, that by 2030 there would have been 754,000 more people here under the Liberals and Nationals than what we are projecting.

The prime minister then adds that his government has “cut migration by 40% in a year”.

Q&A

What is Aukus pillar one?

Show

Pillar one of the Australia-UK-US (Aukus) agreement involves Australia being given the technology to command its own fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. There are two stages:

• First, Australia will buy between three and five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US, the first of these in 2032. But before any boat can be sold to Australia, the US commander-in-chief – the president of the day – must certify that the US relinquishing a submarine will not diminish its navy’s undersea capability. The US submarine fleet now has only three-quarters of the submarines it needs (49 boats of a force-level goal of 66). And there are significant concerns the US cannot build enough submarines for its own needs, let alone any for Australia.

• Second, by the “late 2030s”, according to the “optimal pathway” outlined in Australia’s submarine industry strategy, the UK will launch the first specifically designed and built Aukus submarine for Britain’s Royal Navy.

The first Australian-built Aukus submarine, for the Royal Australian Navy, will be in the water “in the early 2040s”. Australia will build up to eight Aukus boats, with the final vessels launched in the 2060s.

Each of Australia’s nuclear submarines is forecast to have a working life of about three decades. Australia will be responsible for securing and storing the nuclear waste from its submarines – including high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel (a weapons proliferation risk) – for thousands of years.

Aukus is forecast to cost Australia up to A$368bn to the mid-2050s.

Photograph: Colin Murty/AFP

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Liberals will ‘despair’ that Ley was booted so soon, Albanese says

There is a question from reporters about the ructions in the Liberal party and Coalition. The prime minister responds with a mix of pity and schadenfreude.

I think people in the Liberal party will despair that Sussan Ley, elected as leader of the Liberal party just months ago, wasn’t even given the opportunity to give one budget reply speech. It’s up to the Liberal party, of course, to defend their own internal processes.

Albanese lays a few blows on the Coalition over its lack of women and apparent resistance to proper representation within the party.

We continue to make sure that we’re a government that represents all Australians. I think when you look at the Liberal party and the National party, they seek to talk about themselves and represent each other. We want to represent all Australians.

Key events

Sydney ebike rider in critical condition after crash while allegedly fleeing police

A 39-year-old man is in critical condition after he allegedly attempted to ride away from police attempting to stop him for riding without a helmet.

Police in Sydney’s west had attempted to stop the rider after noticing him riding without a helmet on Saturday night at about 11pm.

The rider continued to ride away from police before hitting a pole.

A 39-year-old man was treated at the scene for serious injuries before being taken to Liverpool hospital in a critical condition.

A crime scene was established and a critical incident has been declared.

The investigation will be subject of an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

Auction activity climbs

Auction activity has climbed this weekend with 2,061 auctions to be held.

This is growth on the 1,584 held last week and an increase on the 1,907 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.

Across the capital cities:

Sydney: 608 of 781 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.1%.
Melbourne: 623 of 868 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6%.
Brisbane: 117 0f 156 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.9%.
Adelaide: 76 of 128 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 78.9%.
Canberra: 79 of 95 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62%.
Tasmania: One auction held.
Perth: Twelve of 20 auctions held.