Afternoon. The former NSW state politician Matt Kean has been named as the new chair of the Climate Change Authority.
The Albanese government announced the former New South Wales Liberal treasurer will lead the authority, in a surprise cross-party appointment that follows Kean’s sudden resignation from state politics.
“This is not about ideology. It is about what’s best,” Kean said at a joint press conference with the PM.
Federal Coalition MPs were not so enthused, with Barnaby Joyce accusing Kean of treachery. “He should have joined the Labor party at the start when he left school.” Here’s a quick explainer on Kean and what the Climate Change Authority does.
- Frontline workers priced out of Queensland housing market | Most nurses, police officers, childcare workers and teachers cannot afford to buy or rent a home on their own in south-east Queensland. Brisbane is now the second-most expensive city in Australia to buy a home, according to data released by CoreLogic earlier this month. The median house value in the Queensland capital is $937,479, and $615,429 for a unit.
- Two teens charged over Adelaide shopping centre brawl | Two boys aged 15 and 16 were arrested and charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery over a brawl yesterday that sent the Westfield Marion shopping centre into lockdown.
- Sydney metro line under harbour due to open in August | Driverless trains with speeds of 100km/h will take passengers from North Sydney to the CBD in minutes. The state government says once the project is complete, metro passengers will get from Martin Place to Waterloo in six minutes, from Sydenham to Macquarie University in 33 minutes and from Chatswood to Central in 15 minutes.
- Victorian minister apologises over ‘Aboriginal homelessness’ | Giving evidence at the Yoorrook justice commission, the Victorian housing minister, Harriet Shing, apologised for the dispossession of land and ongoing disadvantage faced by Aboriginal communities. “We created Aboriginal homelessness and then we turned away from it, and for too long, we refused to even acknowledge that its existence and impact was our doing. For that, I am sorry,” Shing said.
- AFL’s drug testing approach not in breach of anti-doping code | An assessment by Sport Integrity Australia concluded there were no breaches of the World Anti-Doping Agency code by AFL players or support personnel according to information it had available, but urged the AFL to improve its practices. The probe followed allegations in parliament from MP Andrew Wilkie in March that AFL clubs were conducting “off-the-books drug-testing” and “resting of players testing positive” to avoid illicit drug tests. Separately, read Jonathan Horn’s column about the AFL’s unfair fixture.
- Physio accused of sexual assault returns to work on ‘gender condition’ | Hany Bebawy was immediately suspended by the Physiotherapy Board of Australia in April after he was charged with two counts of sexual assault. But last week, the Melbourne physiotherapist, who runs three clinics, won a bid to reverse his suspension – provided he does not “have contact with any female patients”.
- Fresh unrest in New Caledonia | Buildings, including a police station and a town hall, were set on fire overnight after seven independence activists were sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention.
