Sussan Ley says there’s ‘nothing wrong with being an assertive woman’
The federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has also taken aim at former Liberal party president Alan Stockdale’s comments during a recent meeting of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council. Ley said in a statement:
There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal party.
The Liberal party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.
Key events
City of Perth suspends e-scooter hire schemes after man dies
The City of Perth will suspend e-scooter hire schemes from today, following the death of a father hit by one in recent days.
Police have charged a 24-year-old e-scooter rider with allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol when she hit Perth father Thanh Phan on Saturday night in the city’s CBD.
The 51-year-old father was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for swelling on the brain, but later died.
On Thursday morning, the City of Perth deputy lord mayor, Bruce Reynolds, said:
A tragic event occurred at the weekend and our thoughts are with the deceased man’s family at this very sad time.
In response to the fatality, the City of Perth has suspended the hiring of e-scooters from 12pm today.
Patrick Commins
Pocock says companies ‘taking the piss’ after reform to petroleum resource rent tax
Independent senator David Pocock and teal MP Zali Steggall say Labor’s 2023 reforms to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) did not go far enough and that major gas exporters are still not paying their fair share.
The PRRT is anticipated to generate $4bn less than when it was tweaked two years ago to ensure the east-coast LNG giants paid some measure of the tax.
Pocock told the ABC that the PRRT needed to be revisited as companies were “taking the piss”, and that the government had chosen the weakest of a range of reform options, backed by the Greens.
Steggall also called for a beefed-up resource rent tax, and accused Labor of being swayed by oil and gas vested interests.
The comments come after experts told Guardian Australia that the PRRT was allowing foreign companies to profit from Australia’s mineral wealth while delivering “almost nothing” to the national purse.
Chris Richardson said “it is fair to say that how we tax gas in Australia is a massive fail”.
The PRRT is levied at the rate of 40% on taxable profits, but has failed to operate as intended thanks to overly generous rules allowing gas companies to claim previous years of capital expenditure against those taxable profits.
Experts also say the taxable profits are based on an undervaluation of the underlying resource.
Sarah Hanson-Young says it would be ‘honourable’ for Dorinda Cox to resign
Josh Butler
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has criticised former colleague Dorinda Cox for switching to the Labor party, saying “the honourable thing” would be to resign if a senator didn’t feel they could continue with the party for which they were elected.
Cox was elected to the Senate for a six-year term in 2022, but this week said her values were more aligned with Labor and will now sit with the government.
Senators are allowed to switch parties once elected and continue for the rest of their term: such situations have occurred regularly in recent years, and each time it is accompanied by a discussion about whether that person should be forced to resign instead.
The most recent notable example was former Labor senator Fatima Payman, who received a chorus of strong criticism from Labor politicians and luminaries when she quit to sit on the crossbench as well as calls for her to return her seat to Labor.
Hanson-Young, speaking at Parliament House today, said:
It’s not fair to the voters and indeed any of the parties involved that if somebody is elected as one party and then jumps ship later on.
I do think the honourable thing is to resign from the parliament. But, you know, that’s not the rules and we’re left where we are.
Hanson-Young referred to Payman’s situation, claiming there was “a bit of hypocrisy, of course, about how Labor has responded to this”.
It wasn’t OK to jump ship for Fatima Payman, but apparently when it’s people coming to them, it’s all OK.
Adam Morton
More on the no-confidence motion
Winter said Rockliff had lost the confidence of parliament after last week’s budget, including over a plan to sell publicly owned assets. He reaffirmed Labor’s commitment that it “will not do a deal with or form government with the Greens”.
The no-confidence motion, moved yesterday, is still being debated.
Several speakers have suggested Winter expected Rockliff to resign or be pushed out, and for the weakened Liberals to elect another leader if the motion was successful. But the Liberals have backed the premier.
The Liberals have been governing with just 14 seats in the 35-seat parliament. Labor has 10, the Greens five, the Jacqui Lambie Network one and there are five independents.
Watch some of Rockliff’s recent remarks below:
Adam Morton
Tasmanian opposition leader says Labor won’t form government with Greens, ‘ready to go’ to early election
The Tasmanian Labor leader, Dean Winter, who kicked off chaos in the state parliament on Tuesday by proposing a vote of no-confidence on the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has declared his party will not form a government with the Greens and is ready for an early election.
As we reported earlier, Rockliff fronted the media before the start of parliament and said he would advise the acting governor to call an early election if the vote – as is widely expected – is passed today, and if Labor did not form government with the Greens.
Rockliff said an early election, just 15 months after Tasmanians last voted, would be “on Mr Winter’s head”.
In a statement, Winter responded that if this happened Rockliff would be “the only person forcing Tasmania to an early election”.
If he is granted an election, Labor is ready to go because we strongly believe Tasmania needs change.
PM again says bullying allegations against Dorinda Cox have been ‘dealt with’
Albanese was asked about allegations of bullying made by senator Lidia Thorpe against former Greens senator Dorinda Cox, who shockingly defected to Labor earlier this week. The prime minister reiterated that he believes those allegations had been handled. Thorpe, however, recently said the process had been “far from satisfactory”.
Albanese said this morning:
I have answered those questions, but they were dealt with. There is an independent process for those things to be dealt with. It is not surprising that the Greens political party will put forward some opposition to what has occurred, but Senator Cox has made a decision, and she has decided that the way that she will advance her values is through a party of government.
Nine newspapers first reported last October about the complaints, and at the time Cox apologised for “the distress this may have caused” while saying there was “significant missing context”.
Read more about Thorpe’s allegations here:
Henry Belot
Head of one of the largest Australian gambling companies resigns
The chief executive of one of Australia’s largest gambling companies, Entain, has resigned and will leave the company at the start of July.
Dean Shannon, who runs the Ladbrokes and Neds brands in Australia, briefed staff on his departure on Thursday morning.
Shannon has not publicly commented on the reason for his departure but sources at the briefing, not authorised to speak publicly, said he told staff his departure would give the company clear air after a damaging few months.
The nation’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, recently commenced federal court proceedings against the company alleging serious and systemic violations of anti-money laundering rules between 2018 and 2024.
Austrac alleged Entain Australia accepted $152m in bets from 17 high-risk customers who had “suspected criminal profiles and associations” despite being aware they may have been laundering money.
Entain Australia is yet to file its response to Austrac’s statement of claim but has acknowledged the allegations and said the company is taking them “extremely seriously”. In late March, Shannon said the company was strengthening its anti-money laundering compliance arrangements.
Albanese goes after Stockdale’s comments about ‘assertive women’
The prime minister just addressed former Liberal party president Alan Stockdale’s comments, saying the party needed to have “a good look at themselves and their structures”. He said a press conference:
The statements by Mr Stockdale to the Liberal Women’s Group, of all people to make those statements to, that somehow you might need to actually have discrimination in favour of men because women were too assertive in the Liberal party, has been met with derision by members of the Liberal party. …
I think that the Liberal party need to have a good look at themselves and their structures and it will be interesting to watch what goes on with this restructuring of the New South Wales branch
An update on the Pheobe Bishop disappearance: police release housemate without charge
A man has been released without charge after police spent hours questioning him over the “suspicious” disappearance of a 17-year-old girl, AAP reports.
James Wood, 34, was taken into custody on Wednesday and released several hours later without charge, police said in an update on Thursday.
Pheobe Bishop was last seen near Bundaberg airport about 8.30am on 15 May after booking a trip to Western Australia to see her boyfriend. CCTV footage showed Pheobe never arrived at the airport terminal.
You can read more here:
Lisa Cox
Environment minister says it’s time to ‘get reforms done’ years after review of country’s nature laws
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has met with the chair of the review of Australia’s environment laws, Graeme Samuel.
In a post on his LinkedIn page, Watt wrote that five years had passed since the former competition watchdog chief delivered his report which found widespread failure in Australia’s system of environmental protections, but “it’s now time to get the reforms done”.
The Albanese government failed to deliver necessary reforms in its first term and killed off a potential deal with the Greens and crossbench to establish a national environment protection agency.
Australia has more than 30,000 ‘mid-tier millionaires’, report finds
Global consultancy firm Capgemini’s annual global wealth report shows the value of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Australia remained above the US$1tn level, recording an increase of 3.3% to US$1.087tn.
Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2025 also shows that there was a 2.6% increase in the number of HNWIs around the world, compared with an increase of 0.5% to 334,800 individuals in Australia.
Of this Australian total, there were 30,240 individuals with known as “mid-tier millionaires” with wealth between US$5m to US$30m, and 2,450 with more than US$30m.
Now in its 29th edition, the report noted that the defining trend is the unprecedented transfer of wealth.
In Australia, by 2030, 22% of HNWIs will receive an inheritance, rising to 69% in 2035 and 80% by 2040, the report said.
Sussan Ley says there’s ‘nothing wrong with being an assertive woman’
The federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has also taken aim at former Liberal party president Alan Stockdale’s comments during a recent meeting of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council. Ley said in a statement:
There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal party.
The Liberal party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.
If an election is called, it would be Tasmania’s fourth state election in 7 years.
Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff says he will move to call election if no-confidence motion passes
The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, says he will move to call an election if a motion of no-confidence tabled by the Labor opposition leader, Dean Winter, passes later today. Rockliff said during a press conference:
This will be advice that I will provide to the governor that an election is needed unless Mr Winter forms government with the Greens. This will be an election that Tasmanians don’t want, and Tasmania cannot afford.
Be that on Mr Winters’ head. This has been a selfish grab for power of which Tasmanians will look upon very poorly.
Bridget McKenzie responds: ‘Read the room’
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie had a terse reply to Stockdale’s remarks this morning, telling Nine’s Today:
Honestly, Alan, read the room. I hope women are assertive as they represent their communities, they fight for the future of their countries.
It was a shocking comment. I think it’s time for Alan to head back to the Melbourne club, have a stiff whisky and chat with the old boys about what went wrong.
Former Liberal party president sparks ire after saying party women are ‘so assertive now’
Senior female political leaders have condemned remarks made by a Liberal party elder about the assertiveness of women in the organisation, AAP reports.
Former federal president Alan Stockdale, 80, reportedly said women had become “so assertive” the party might need to consider support for men.
“The women in this party are so assertive now that we may needs some special rules for men to get them preselected,” he told a meeting of the NSW Liberal Womens’ Council, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday.
Stockdale later told the Telegraph he made “a lighthearted but poorly chosen remark”.
Hundreds attend vigil for man who died in police custody in Alice Springs last month
Hundreds of people attended a candle-lit vigil in Darwin last night in support of a desert community which has lost a second young man in a death-in-custody incident, AAP reports.
24-year-old Kumanjayi White died on 27 May shortly after he was forcibly restrained by two plainclothes police officers in a supermarket in Alice Springs.
At Wednesday’s vigil a large banner stating “We stand with Yuendumu” was displayed in front of Darwin parliament’s entrance while another banner laid on the ground read “Justice for White”.
Natasha May
More Australians can’t afford specialist fees. Experts say it’s ‘not in the spirit of Medicare’
The cost of an initial dermatology appointment is now up to nearly $300 on average, new data shows. It reflects a broader problem: Medicare rebates are not keeping up with the pace specialist fees are rising.
Online healthcare directory Cleanbill, which has tracked bulk-billing rates among GPs, is expanding to provide data on out-of-pocket costs to see other health professionals, starting with dermatology.
The report, released on Thursday, found the Medicare rebate in March 2017 for an initial appointment with a dermatologist was $72.75, while the out-of-pocket cost was $148.73.
By March 2025, the rebate had risen by $11.40, to $84.15, while the average out-of-pocket costs, at $210.18, were $61.45 more expensive.
Read more from here:
Chalmers: Australia ‘won’t be immune’ from Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs
Earlier this morning, the treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke about the impact US president Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium would have on Australia. He had this to say on RN Breakfast:
We’ve made it really clear we don’t want to see an escalation of tariffs. They are an act of economic self-harm. They are very damaging to the global economy. And we won’t be immune from that, even though we’re better-placed and better-prepared than most countries to deal with it.
Chalmers said the tariffs would have an impact on Australian steel manufacturers, but called those businesses “among the best in the world”.
We’re confident that they can find good markets, good, reliable markets for wonderful Australian steel and aluminium.
