Australia news live: Crisafulli makes first speech as premier-elect; trucks deliver food aid to western NSW after power outages

Andrew Messenger

Greens MP says they may still retain Queensland seats despite election woes

Greens MP Michael Berkman did a press conference a short while ago after the party’s reverse at the Queensland state election.

The party had talked up their chances before election day, but looked likely to lose both seats on election night.

Berkman was the first Green to take a lower house seat in the state’s parliament. His seat of Maiwar is now considered likely to be held by the party.

At this stage South Brisbane is a very real possibility still, I don’t know why it’s been written off, because there are a lot of postal votes and a lot of absentees to be counted, so there’s a very real chance that Labor could be pushed into third with those postals counted, in which case Amy would be easily re elected.

Berkman said Labor leader Steven Miles had adopted a number of Green policies to hold off the party in the inner city, including 50 cent fares and free school lunches. He said Labor had held them off by “pouring more resources into keeping us out than they did into challenging the LNP”:

Steven Miles just lost government. He lost government in a contest where, if he’d actually identified the real enemy and gone hard, he could have held on to government, and worked with us to actually get these policies in place.

Instead, he’s chosen a petty fight with the Greens to try and protect the few inner city seats, and he has given the conservatives government.

Elias Visontay

Two whales that were seen in Sydney Harbour on Sunday have begun making their way back out to sea.

A National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson said that the two whales were resting between Middle Head and South Head.

The whales have been reported as healthy, and a mother was feeding her calf.

The whales are currently making their way out to sea.

The spokesperson reminded the public to keep their distance from whales, which is 100m for adults and 300m for calves.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian Labor responds to opposition attacks over housing design standards

In response to Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto’s earlier comments we blogged – in which he said the premier, Jacinta Allan, had failed to introduce better apartment design standards – we’ve just received this from a government spokesperson:

Under the Liberals there were no minimum design standards – which resulted in the Liberals approving poor quality homes with no regard for who lived in them. We fixed this by introducing minimum design standards and providing better access to natural light and outdoor space – ensuring these mistakes never happen again. We’re also reviewing current apartment design standards – to see how we can make them better.

The spokesperson said the Labor government introduced apartment design standards in 2017, then expanded them in 2021. They said they would update the standards again, as recommended by a parliament inquiry, in 2026.

These 2026 updates to the standards will apply statewide, including in the 50 areas near train stations and trams that they announced last week would be earmarked for great development.

Trucks deliver food aid to western NSW after power outages

Benita Kolovos

The New South Wales energy minister, Penny Sharpe, says food trucks are now travelling through the far west delivering food hampers:

They’ve dropped some in Menindee, and they’re on their way to Wilcannia, and there will also be some in Broken Hill. If you had to throw out the contents of your fridge and you need some food, you can do that.

She said all schools will be open tomorrow and recovery assistance points will open from Tuesday and Wednesday. Asked if she was satisfied with the progress, Sharpe conceded there was a “slow start” to work to get the transmission lines back up. She said:

We’re now seeing really great progress. What I saw this morning was very impressive. Workers are really putting everything into this. They’ve got good plans. There’s more people coming on every day.

We almost saw that third tower go up and the plans are in there. There’s seven there. If we get to four today, four out of seven is pretty good, and that means that it’ll be energised as quickly as possible.

Sharpe also issued another request to people in the far west of NSW to reduce power usage in the evening:

Finally, I just ask when it hits 5:30pm tonight – I know people are probably sick of me saying this – if you can reduce your usage, that would be great. If you can turn off the lights in the rooms that you’re not in, turn off non essential appliances, if you can put the air conditioner a bit hotter than you would normally have it. All of that’s helping as all of the generation is coming on board.

On behalf of the government, we are pleased with the progress of both the work that Essential and TransGrid have done in relation to this, there’s been serious progress in the last 48 hours. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re very hopeful that that will continue.

Benita Kolovos

NSW energy minister says two of seven towers needed to reconnect Broken Hill to energy grid are online

In New South Wales, the state’s energy minister, Penny Sharpe, is providing an update on the rolling power outages in Broken Hill, after a storm cut the outback city off from the electricity network more than a week ago.

Sharpe says two transmission towers are now up and running, with hopes for a further two today:

“We were seeing a third one beginning to get put into place. We’re very hopeful for a fourth today, but that’s subject to the wind. It was a bit windy out there today and a lot of dust, but look, they’re ready to go, and that’s working really well.

She says 100 Transgrid staff are on site working 24 shifts. Sharpe said:

For the second night in a row, power remained on to all of the far west region thanks to the network of generators now in place that are supplying Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Wilcannia, Menindee, White Cliffs, Silverton and several other remote communities. All customers of the far west region have power.

There was no need for load shedding during yesterday’s evening peak. And again, thank everyone who is reducing [power use]. Any reduction in usage from 5:30pm onwards is really making a difference in helping us manage through this.

At the moment, the advice is that from Central and from TransGrid, there are no planned outages for the next 48 hours [and] the main backup generator is operational.

Steven Miles officially resigns as premier

Andrew Messenger

Steven Miles has resigned as Queensland premier at a meeting with the governor, Jeannette Young, this morning.

At a press conference at parliament house a few minutes ago, he conceded to LNP leader David Crisafulli.

He said he wants to remain as party leader if chosen by his caucus colleagues.

“The result last night was much better than expected, but clearly nowhere near sufficient for a Labor victory. I’m very proud of the campaign that I ran and the government that have led these last 10 months, but at the end of the day, clearly, Queenslanders for some time, have wanted to see change of government,” Miles said.

“You’ve seen the polls pretty consistently for a long time now, they predicted a very, very bad result. The fact that many MPs have held their seats, it’s a credit to them, but also I’m going to give credit to the campaign that we ran.”

Miles said he had jumped the gun by about an hour last night when he suggested the party might not have a majority and might need to negotiate with the crossbench.

He finished the press conference by announcing he was heading to the pub for a “XXXX off the wood” with supporters, a longstanding tradition.

Benita Kolovos

Pesutto continues criticism over Labor housing announcements

Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, said the state government had 10 years in office to get housing issues “right” but had failed to do so. He said:

We’ve seen a rush of announcements in the last week simply to try to pretend that there’s real action being undertaken and nothing of substance has actually been delivered.

The government hasn’t come clean on what the costs of their policies will actually be, because, remember, they are shifting basic infrastructure costs to renters and home buyers through higher charges.

They’re not indicating that they have any willingness to bring down the costs of construction, whether that’s through tax reform or tackling CFMEU misconduct on major construction sites. And let’s remember large, high-density apartment complexes will be run by the CFMEU.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian opposition says fast-tracked building path has ‘no substance’

Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, has criticised the government’s fast-tracked pathway for well-designed buildings, saying it has “no substance”.

As we brought to you earlier, the planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, announced plans for a “great design fast track” which would grant affordable, well-designed buildings an accelerated pathway through the planning approvals process.

But Pesutto says the government can not be trusted to deliver on quality housing. He told reporters in Melbourne:

The question has to be asked, how can they announce this fast-tracking process when they haven’t even finalised guidelines for better apartment design?

What it says is that the government is more interested in rushing out announcements with no substance. You would think that a responsible and prudent approach would be first to get the design guidelines right, as part of an announcement that will improve timelines for approvals and permits.

We support reductions in timelines – subject to community input for approvals – for building permits and for planning. Of course, that’s a good thing to reduce unnecessary delay.

But to announce that before you’ve actually settled on better apartment designs means that we risk seeing poor-quality stock come into the housing market.

In 2022, a parliamentary inquiry into apartment design recommended the government introduce minimum sizes for apartments, rooms and balconies and specific sunlight requirements to ensure more quality developments.

The government accepted the recommendations, but earlier this year said new apartment design standards will not be introduced until 2026.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian government announces fast-track pathway for ‘well-designed’ buildings

Well-designed apartments and townhouses will be fast-tracked through the planning approval process in Victoria, the state’s planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, has announced.

At a press conference in South Melbourne on Sunday, Kilkenny announced plans for a “great design fast track” which would reward affordable, well-designed buildings by granting them an accelerated pathway through the planning approvals process.

The focus of the state-wide plan will be on townhouse and apartment projects of three to six storeys in height. She says it will provide developers confidence that cost-sensitive projects will not get stuck in “an expensive state of limbo”.

The government is also expanding its state design book of “future homes” – projects that are planned on paper alongside artists’ impressions, but don’t yet exist – by welcoming into its pages high-quality developments that are already complete.

The design book, due to be complete by the end of the year, will also establish best-practice principles and guidance for well-designed apartments and townhouses to guide developers and give communities confidence about the long-term quality of new homes.

The public will also be able to nominate buildings they think meet the good design criteria and deserve to be replicated across the state. Kilkenny:

The community deserves affordable buildings that look great on the outside and feel solid as a rock on the inside. Our plan is for more grand designs but without the grand cost.

We have an incredible opportunity before us to renew our suburbs and streets with well-designed apartments and townhouses that are great for singles, families and downsizers and which add to the architectural fabric of our state.

It is the ninth housing announcement by the Victorian government in eight days focused on helping millennials achieve home ownership. Here’s our weekend read on how the premier, Jacinta Allan, is pining her political hopes on the demographic: