Liberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says
Sarah Basford Canales
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, will tie the Liberal’s future to adopting a strong housing policy, sounding the alarm at a centre-right event this afternoon.
Bragg, one of the party’s leading moderates, will use the address at the Centre of Independent Studies event in Sydney to warn that depopulation in former Liberal inner-city strongholds will cost the party even more votes in future elections.
In a broad speech on housing policy ideas – yet to be officially adopted by the opposition – Bragg will suggest upzoning (rezoning areas for taller buildings) and gentle density (increasing density in single-detached neighbourhoods) could increase housing supply and construction productivity in the short-term.
The shadow housing minister will say:
Put simply, we need more buildings. It doesn’t matter what they are. We need to build like mad. We need to think outside the box – every back yard could potentially host a new house or granny flat if the owner wanted it.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Complaint argues CBD designation in breach of human rights charter
The challenge over the Melbourne CBD “designated area” will argue the six-month designation over such a large area is invalid because it is not “necessary” to address the risk of weapons offences and that it is a breach of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, including people’s rights to peaceful assembly and privacy, as well as freedom of expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
It also argues that police powers in designated areas – requiring people to remove face coverings and ordering them to move on if they refuse – are unconstitutional because they interfere with the protected freedom of political communication, which includes the right to peaceful assembly.
Tarneen Onus Browne says they are bringing the case because they are worried about the impact of the designated area on human rights and safety in the CBD – including during the Invasion Day rally. They said:
These new police powers will supercharge the harassment and targeting of our community on this important day, and deter First Nations people and allies from showing up and exercising their right to protest. Every year we tell people to wear facemasks at Invasion Day to protect all of us from spreadable illnesses like Covid-19, especially disabled people and our Elders. Empowering police to order protesters to remove their facemasks endangers us all.
Zable – whose retired versions of his Greendozer costume are on display in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney – says it is both performance art and a political statement. Recently, he’s been told to remove it in the CBD:
I go to many protests in the Melbourne CBD, which is the heart of protest in the city. I have already been told to remove my mask in designated areas. I’m worried that police will now have more powers to use more violence against me, as well as other people who wear masks for all sorts of reasons, including vulnerable people.
Melbourne CBD ‘designated area’ decision to be challenged in federal court
Benita Kolovos
Two Victorians have filed a legal and constitutional challenge against a police decision to declare Melbourne’s CBD and its surrounds a “designated area” for six months, allowing for warrantless pat-down searches.
Tarneen Onus Browne and Benny Zable will hold a press conference this morning to announce the challenge, which they want heard by the federal court before an Invasion Day rally planned for 26 January.
Onus Browne is a Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Meriam community organiser involved in the annual Naarm Invasion Day rally in Melbourne’s CBD, while Zable is an 80-year-old performance artist, who has worn his “Greedozer” costume – complete with a gas mask – to hundreds of environmental and anti-war actions protests.
Their lawyer Sarah Schwartz from the Human Rights Law Centre says:
We’re proud to represent Tarneen and Benny to challenge this decision by the assistant commissioner of Victoria police to hand police extraordinary powers to stop and search anyone in the city for the next six months, for no reason, and order people to leave the designated area if they refuse a request to remove their face mask.
This is about pushing back against ever-expanding police powers in Victoria which make all of us less safe in our own city. The powers provided to Victoria police within designated areas are extraordinary and ripe for abuses of power.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Albanese and Ley respond to tragic firefighter death
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has issued a statement after the death of a firefighter who was battling a blaze at Bulahdelah on the NSW mid-north coast.
Albanese said:
My heart goes out to the loved ones and colleagues of the firefighter who has tragically lost their life in the Bulahdelah bushfire. All Australians are thinking of you in your time of grief.
This terrible news is a sombre reminder of the dangers that our emergency services personnel face to keep our homes and communities safe – and the extraordinary courage that their job demands. We honour that bravery, every day.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has also responded to the “devastating news” via a post to X.
All Australians are with the firefighter’s family, friends and the team who worked beside him. Our emergency services put themselves in harm’s way to keep Australians safe. Today we mourn this terrible loss.
19 homes lost in Tasmania bushfires, 16 in NSW blazes
There are 60 bushfires burning across NSW this morning and 11 in Tasmania, with many spurred by hot, dry, windy conditions just a few days into summer.
The NSW Rural Fire Service said last night at least 16 homes have been destroyed and nine others damaged during a devastating blaze in Koolewong on the Central Coast north of Sydney.
In Tasmania’s Dolphin Sands, 33 homes have sustained damage in a bushfire, 19 of which have been completely destroyed. Officials have warned that increasing winds and debris pose ongoing safety risks to the area.
NSW national parks service confirms firefighter killed by tree at Bulahdelah
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) just released a statement after the premier confirmed a firefighter died overnight battling a blaze.
Alex Graham, the deputy secretary of the NPWS, said in a statement:
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is very saddened to confirm the death of one of our firefighters overnight.
At approximately 11pm Sunday the firefighter was struck by a tree while working on a bushfire at Bulahdelah on the state’s Mid North Coast.
Fellow firefighters provided first aid until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene.
Our thoughts are with the firefighter’s family during this difficult time.
‘It’s a very, very sad day’
Jihad Dib, the NSW emergency services minister, said the firefighter who died was working with the national parks and wildlife firefighting team on the mid-north coast.
It’s just a reminder of the dangers that firefighters face. And these are people who put themselves in harm’s way to protect community. And this particular person has made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a very, very sad day for all of us.
Sarah Basford Canales
Bragg to say it’s ‘not a good thing’ homes are ‘largely unaffordable’
Andrew Bragg’s housing speech this afternoon will urge the Liberals to seriously consider policies that will seriously address housing affordability for younger people.
Referencing former prime minister John Howard’s quote on rising house prices being a good thing in 2003, Bragg will acknowledge the cost of buying a first home is now “too high” in Australia.
Bragg will say:
It is not a good thing that first homes in this country are largely unaffordable. Try telling a 30 year old who has been working and saving for 10 years that it’s good that house prices continue to rise faster than their salary. Housing cannot be a zero sum game. It cannot be treated wholly as an investment opportunity. Australia is a home owning democracy. If people don’t own homes, our system falls apart.
The shadow housing minister will say the $5bn pledge under former opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to develop greenfield sites was a good start but not nearly enough.
Bragg will address cutting migration as an option in reducing housing demand but that it will not “singularly fix the housing crisis”:
We also have to make sure that migration policies are driving people into the country who can actually build homes. We are short 80,000 tradies. Last year, we only received 4,000 on visas.
More than a dozen homes lost in bushfires on NSW Central Coast
Chris Minns said more than a dozen houses were lost on the Central Coast of NSW, but the situation could have been much worse.
I’m very grateful that people listen to police and firefighters, particularly on the Central Coast, because the situation could have been far, far worse.
We lost more than a dozen houses, but no lives were lost on the Central Coast, and I think that’s because of the hard work and dedication of firefighters, but also the fact that members of the community were prepared, listened to emergency services, and got out when they were told to.
Firefighter dies in NSW during bushfires
New South Wales premier Chris Minns has said a member of the national parks firefighting team has died on firegrounds in the state.
Minns said a man was likely killed by a tree, “obviously a terrible reminder of how difficult and dangerous this work is and how the people who put their lives on the line to protect lives and property do an incredible job for us in this state”.
“It’s a deeply distressing turn of events, and a sad day for New South Wales this morning,” Minns told ABC News Breakfast.
There are about 700 firefighters across NSW working today to contain the blazes, including nine that remain uncontained.
Minns said it was “quite a foreboding beginning to the beginning of the bushfire season”.
Report finds many Australians with psychosocial disabilities falling through support gap
Sarah Basford Canales
More than 130,000 Australians with psychosocial disabilities are slipping through a support gap, receiving neither NDIS or health system care, a new report by the Grattan Institute has found.
The report, released Sunday night, said the NDIS provided nearly $6bn to support about 66,000 people with psychosocial disabilities last year but more than 130,000 received nothing from either the disability insurance scheme or mental health system.
The institute’s disability program director, Sam Bennett, said a new national program should be established outside the NDIS but using existing contributions to fix the gap without adding to the scheme’s funding pressures.
Bennett said:
Rebalancing the system so there are stronger recovery-oriented supports available inside and outside the NDIS would transform the lives of Australians with psychosocial disability and make better use of existing funds.
Liberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says
Sarah Basford Canales
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, will tie the Liberal’s future to adopting a strong housing policy, sounding the alarm at a centre-right event this afternoon.
Bragg, one of the party’s leading moderates, will use the address at the Centre of Independent Studies event in Sydney to warn that depopulation in former Liberal inner-city strongholds will cost the party even more votes in future elections.
In a broad speech on housing policy ideas – yet to be officially adopted by the opposition – Bragg will suggest upzoning (rezoning areas for taller buildings) and gentle density (increasing density in single-detached neighbourhoods) could increase housing supply and construction productivity in the short-term.
The shadow housing minister will say:
Put simply, we need more buildings. It doesn’t matter what they are. We need to build like mad. We need to think outside the box – every back yard could potentially host a new house or granny flat if the owner wanted it.
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to jumpstart the day’s blog. Here’s what’s on deck:
Andrew Bragg, the shadow housing minister, will use a speech later today to tie the future of the Liberal party to a strong housing policy. He will suggest upzoning and gentle density could increase housing supply and construction productivity in an address at the Centre of Independent Studies.
Dozens of homes have been destroyed across New South Wales and Tasmania amid a spate of bushfires, spurred by hot, dry, windy conditions this weekend. 60 fires are still burning across NSW and 11 in Tasmania.
Stick with us.
