Nuclear power a ‘cul-de-sac’ and ‘distraction’: Albanese
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has rubbished calls from the Coalition to start a conversation on use of nuclear power.
Albanese told 2SM Radio:
Gee whiz … we’ve had conversations since the 1950s, I think, about this. The truth is it just doesn’t stack up. There’s no market. There’s no one going to invest in something that is the most expensive (form of energy) and will take an incredibly long period of time.
There have been reviews every time the Coalition gets elected. They have a review and it doesn’t lead anywhere. It’s a cul-de-sac … which is a distraction from what we need to do with our energy grid.
The former government had 22 different policy announcements on energy and didn’t land a single one and now they’re talking about small modular reactors. Well, where are they operating? What is the commercial aspect to it? And when (opposition energy spokesperson) Ted O’Brien fronts up and does a press conference an investor who is prepared to invest billions of dollars in it, then he can be taken seriously or even when he comes up with a costing of his own policy, then that would be handy as well.
Key events
Melbourne teens arrested for alleged dangerous dirt biking
Three teenagers have been arrested after alleged dangerous dirt bike riding in Truganina, Melbourne two months ago.
Following an extensive investigation, officers executed five search warrants yesterday and the three boys, all aged 15, were arrested and subsequently charged with a range of traffic offences.
The trio were bailed to appear before a children’s court at a later date.
The arrests follow a separate incident in Trugania in July, where 15 people allegedly rode dangerously in front of a police vehicle.
Westgate police division inspector Jennifer Horgan said:
Westgate Highway Patrol is relentless in tracking down those who think they can endanger our roads and get away with it.
I’m urging parents to have a conversation with their children around the safe use of bikes as riding them on our streets and through parks illegally is not OK.
You might think it’s harmless fun but one day it could end in tragedy.
Sydney areas already hitting 30C
It’s not even 10am yet, but some places across Sydney have already cracked 30C.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Penrith reached 31.2C at 9.30am.
Around the same time, Richmond hit 30.6C and Badgerys Creek recorded 30.4C.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on temperatures as the day progresses.
Tamsin Rose
Minns warns of ‘terrible summer’ ahead
Speaking to the media this morning, NSW premier Chris Minns warned it could be a “terrible summer”.
He said hazard reduction was running behind due to weather conditions over the winter periods:
We haven’t had perfect conditions for hazard reduction.
The fire services are working hard to meet the minimum that they can do between now and the really difficult period before summer.
We’re all going to have to be vigilant during the summer period because it could be a terrible summer.
A spokesperson from the NSW RFS said there are currently 63 fires across the state, with 11 not yet contained, just before 9.30am.
As the spokesperson noted, these figures are likely to fluctuate quite regularly as conditions change throughout the day. We will keep you posted on any major updates.
Voice forum in Sydney’s east attracts 200 plus people
Tuesday night’s voice forum, hosted by the independent member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, attracted more than 200 people to the Diamond Bay Bowls Club in Sydney’s east.
Spender urged the yes-inclined crowd to support the voice as a “reasonable and modest” proposal to establish an advisory body that would benefit Indigenous Australians.
Julian Leeser, the Liberal member for Berowra on the other side of Sydney, also urged a yes vote. A self-described “constitutional conservative”, Leeser said he was “usually a person on the no case for changes to constitution”, but argued the voice proposal was a “very safe proposal” that had been brought forward by – and enjoyed the overwhelming support of – Indigenous Australians.
Leeser’s support for the voice led him to resign as shadow minister for Indigenous affairs when the federal parliamentary Liberal party chose to oppose it.
Gamilaroi man Geoffrey Winters, a former Liberal candidate in the seat of Sydney, urged Australia – “a country of good heart and great soul” – to vote yes, arguing the voice would have a profound benefit for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Former Liberal Party director dismisses ‘straw men and the scarecrows’ of the no campaign
Tony Nutt, the former federal director of the Liberal Party and chief of staff to John Howard, has reiterated his support for voice, a position at odds with the party and the former leader he served for a decade.
“It’s just, it’s practical, and it’s constitutionally safe,” he told a Liberal-dominated Wentworth for the voice forum in Sydney’s east on Tuesday.
Discursive on the formation of Australia’s constitution, government bureaucracy, and the voice’s potential composition and operation (to be decided by parliament) Nutt dismissed – diplomatically – some of the ‘no’ arguments being made against the proposal.
It (the voice) is practical: when you actually strip away the straw men and the scarecrows … you do wonder at some of the arguments and some of the positions put by others.
Nutt’s position is in opposition to that of his erstwhile boss, former prime minister Howard, who has promoted a no vote, and urged opponents to “maintain the rage” against the proposal.
Benita Kolovos
New apartment developments announced ahead of Victoria’s housing statement
The Victorian government is set to release their plan to fix the state’s housing crisis today, but while we wait, the minister for planning, Sonya Kilkenny, has announced she’s approved five new apartment developments.
Guardian Australia understands her office is working through a backlog of approvals and is hoping councils will follow suit.
This includes the rezoning of the former Kingswood Golf Course in Dingley Village, which will result in the construction of about 800 new homes.
The former University of Melbourne site in Hawthorn will also be rezoned, to allow for the construction of about 300 new homes, which will include a 10% affordable housing component and new publicly accessible open space.
In Preston, homes will be converted to apartments at 30 St Georges Road, 32-36 Oakover Road and 47 and 49 Showers St Preston. It is expected this will lead to the creation of 480 new homes along with new public open space, retail premises and a shopping centre.
In Kensington, a planning permit has been approved for 477 homes under a build-to-rent model, while another has been approved in Geelong, to turn a home on 15 York Street into a block of 37 new homes.
Guardian Australia understands the government’s housing statement to be announced today will be accompanied by new design standards that will require apartments to be bigger, with better energy use and more natural light.
Here’s our preview of what we expected to see in the statement:
RFS latest figures: 68 fires burning in NSW
Tamsin Rose
There are currently 68 fires burning across NSW, according to the RFS as of 9am, with 17 of these not yet contained.
More than 600 personnel are working to contain the fires.
Speaking in Bexley this morning, NSW premier Chris Minns said:
It’s September and we’re already experiencing four days in a row of temperatures above 30 degrees with high winds. We are concerned about summer.
He urged people to make fire plans and prepare.
As of 9am, there are 68 fires burning across NSW, with 17 not yet contained. Over 600 personnel are working to contain these fires. Greater Sydney and Greater Hunter will experience extreme fire danger today. There is a TOBAN for Sydney, the Hunter and Upper Central West Plains. pic.twitter.com/bqwwFxvwNM
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) September 19, 2023
Bushfire near Tassie tourist town remains uncontrolled
AAP has the latest on the Friendly Beaches bushfire near Tasmanian tourist town Coles Bay, reporting that firefighters are still battling to bring the blaze under control.
The wildfire near Coles Bay Road was at watch-and-act level on Wednesday morning, with a warning urging people in the area to seek shelter in place.
Tasmania Fire Service acting regional chief Greg Butters said everyone in the area had been accounted for and the extent of damage was being determined.
He told ABC Radio that 3mm of rain had dampened fuel loads around the fire, which has burned about 600 hectares.
There were reports of about 100 people sleeping in their cars at Coles Bay overnight as a result of the bushfire.
More than 700 properties at Coles Bay were without power on Wednesday morning due to fallen powerlines.
Paul Karp
Albanese calls referendum a ‘modest request’ that ‘should not be controversial’
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has been asked about his election night victory speech, and whether he would commit to the Uluru statement from the heart at the beginning of that speech if he had his time again.
Albanese told 2SM radio, “Yes”.
Because when are we going to get this done? It’s been 122 years… there’s provisions in the constitution to allow New Zealand to be the seventh state of Australia, but there’s no acknowledgment of the first peoples of Australia.
Now, every other country in the world has done it, this should not be controversial. This is a very modest request.
He spoke about Olympic champion athlete Cathy Freeman joining the yes campaign (you can read more about that here), and said she joins the “overwhelming majority of Indigenous Australians wanting to be recognised in our nation’s founding document”.
Albanese also said he wasn’t the only political leader to say there would be a referendum in his term:
That was the Coalition’s position as well before the last election, before 2019, before 2016.
Go back all the way to 2007, John Howard committed to it, within 18 months of his election that there was going to be a referendum for constitutional recognition … I’ve been determined to restore faith in politics by doing what we said we would do and this is an opportunity to move the country forward. And there’s nothing to fear from this proposal.
Elias Visontay
Ex-toll boss to take reins of Sydney airport
The former CEO of tolling giant Transurban, Scott Charlton, will take charge of Sydney Airport when its current chief, Geoff Culbert, steps down later this year.
On Wednesday morning, Sydney Airport revealed Charlton, who has also worked at Lend Lease before his career at Transurban, as Culbert’s successor. He will commence as CEO on 1 December, when Culbert finishes up.
Charlton said:
Sydney Airport is, in my view, the gateway to Australia, the economic heart of NSW and an iconic global infrastructure asset. I am excited and privileged to be given the opportunity.
It’s been a busy week for Sydney Airport, with Culbert appearing before a senate committee on Tuesday where he criticised Qantas as well as laws that dictate the airport’s capacity. You can read more here:
Paul Karp
PM to visit Newcastle rail service, promising to build more trains in Australia
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will travel to Newcastle today with the member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon, to visit Varley Rail Maintenance.
Albanese told 2SM Radio one of the key election commitments he made was for more things to be manufactured in Australia:
And we know a few years ago, you might recall, a Liberal premier of NSW saying, ‘oh Australia and NSW aren’t good at building trains, that’s why we have to purchase them’.
Well, the trains and the ferries have been purchased from overseas … can’t go through tunnels, can’t go under bridges. There’s been problems with all of them. And when we make things here in Australia, we can be the world’s best.
Albanese said that’s why he committed to a national rail manufacturing plan, and the national reconstruction fund – to make more things in Australia around transport, renewables, medical science, value adding agriculture and defence capability.
And of course, the Hunter has been a great centre for industry and manufacturing and I want to see more of that.
Paul Karp
Government to launch review of Pfas contaminated land usage
Prime minister Anthony Albanese revealed that the government will launch a review of the use of land contaminated by Pfas chemicals used in firefighting foam on defence land.
Albanese told 2SM this issue was “put in the too hard basket by the former government” but “we need to deal with this”:
Pfas has had an impact and what this independent review will do is look at future land use and how it can be productive.
Albanese said if you have land that can’t be used for agriculture or the sources it had been used for previously as a result of Pfas, the “responsible” thing to do is look at how it can be used in a productive way.
Mr (Peter) Varghese, who will look at this, is doing that.
It’ll report back so that we can really have a win-win and it may well be that some of the projects, for example, that will come out of the defence strategic review provide an opportunity there.
But we know it’s had a particular impact around the Williamtown airport there … I was there for the expansion announcement just a little while ago during a previous visit.
This is a sensible mature response and Matt Thistlethwaite, the assistant minister for defence, will be on-site this morning in a short period of time I understand with Meryl Swanson to make this announcement.
Wong and energy minister attend UN general assembly in New York
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong is leading Australia’s delegation to the United Nations general assembly in New York this week, alongside climate change and energy minister Jenny McAllister.
She has shared these photos on social media from the delegation:
So many of the challenges we face demand truly global solutions, and the @unitednations is the only body where the whole world comes together.
Australia is working with other countries to help the UN more become more fit for purpose and ready for the challenges of our time. pic.twitter.com/rSdUiKW67w
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) September 19, 2023
My colleague Daniel Hurst has been following her actions and brought us the latest earlier this morning here on the blog.
In case you missed it – Australia is set to join with 31 countries to argue a top UN court should hear Ukraine’s case against Russia (details here), and the Australian and German foreign ministers discussed the war during a meeting overnight (details here).
Nuclear power a ‘cul-de-sac’ and ‘distraction’: Albanese
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has rubbished calls from the Coalition to start a conversation on use of nuclear power.
Albanese told 2SM Radio:
Gee whiz … we’ve had conversations since the 1950s, I think, about this. The truth is it just doesn’t stack up. There’s no market. There’s no one going to invest in something that is the most expensive (form of energy) and will take an incredibly long period of time.
There have been reviews every time the Coalition gets elected. They have a review and it doesn’t lead anywhere. It’s a cul-de-sac … which is a distraction from what we need to do with our energy grid.
The former government had 22 different policy announcements on energy and didn’t land a single one and now they’re talking about small modular reactors. Well, where are they operating? What is the commercial aspect to it? And when (opposition energy spokesperson) Ted O’Brien fronts up and does a press conference an investor who is prepared to invest billions of dollars in it, then he can be taken seriously or even when he comes up with a costing of his own policy, then that would be handy as well.
School in North Turramurra closes over bushfire risk
Only one NSW school is non-operational today due to the bushfire risk.
Gibberagong environmental education centre in North Turramurra is non-operational today, according to the Department of Education website.
The school is located at Bobbin Head within the Ku-ring-gai Chase national park.
As explained in our previous post, this is one of the Sydney national parks that is closed today due to dangerous fire conditions.