Jonno Duniam to quit politics before next election
Tom McIlroy
Liberal frontbencher Jonathon Duniam says he will quit politics before the next election.
The announcement on Sunday is a blow for the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, as the Coalition faces persistently poor polling and a challenge from One Nation.
The shadow home affairs minister says he will quit the Senate at the end of the year, saying in a statement:
This was an extremely difficult decision to make – albeit that it is one I have been considering for quite some time.
I have spent the past 25 years in politics, the last 10 of those as a Senator for Tasmania – and I have given everything to these responsibilities, often at the expense of family.
Twenty-five years is a long time in any vocation and, when you take your role seriously, it always comes first. It is time I reversed my priorities and I can’t do that if I am to stay in politics.
Obviously, I acknowledge that I am leaving at a difficult time for the Federal Coalition.
But I am confident that my friends across both the Liberal Party and the National Party are firmly on the right path.
No two people in the Coalition are more equipped to lead us (and Australia) back to success than Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan; they are both outstanding leaders and have a love for our country that is unrivalled.
Key events
Changing tack, Butler brushes off the suggestion that One Nation’s “fire the liar” campaign has been damaging:
Oh, look, I think these campaigns come and they go. We’ve all run them, all political parties…
The broader question here, I think, is how we manage the fact that the community is really hurting.
The Senate will deliver its report from the NDIS inquiry on Tuesday. Butler doesn’t directly answer a question about whether or not he is willing to make any significant changes to the legislation the government has put forward.
He says:
Look, the direction of travel I think is an important one for us to follow through. This largely reflects reviews and insights that we’ve gathered over the last three years since the independent review was done of the NDIS in 2023 and endorsed by all governments at national Cabinet later that year.
I’m utterly convinced this is the right plan for the NDIS… I’m not saying there won’t be any change. We heard ideas from the crossbench in the debate in the House of Representatives. I’ve very much heard that people want greater reassurance about what won’t change because of the reforms we’re putting in place.
I’m not saying we’re not looking at things constructively. I’m looking forward to the report being delivered as I’ve said while the hearings have been under way. But the direction of travel, the need to make big changes that secure this incredibly important social program for the future I’m convinced is the right direction of travel.
One of the matters that came up in the senate inquiry was about the plan to cut funding for community and social participation, with the disability discrimination commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, among those raising concerns, saying it would leave people with disability severely isolated and vulnerable to abuse.
Mark Butler claimed the cuts are necessary to retain support for core funding – by which he presumably means things like, say, support workers for personal care. This is a bit of a confusing way of framing this because “core supports” under the NDIS can include assistance with social and community participation.
Butler said those cuts are necessary to curtail the growth of the scheme:
We have to constrain that growth. Without reforms it would grow to $20 billion by the end of the decade and that’s simply not a sustainable position.
It’s also allowed us, as I said, to protect the core supports people rely upon for that safety that was part of your introduction.
Butler says NDIS after changes will ‘still be Australia’s biggest social program outside aged pension’
Mark Butler, health minister and minister for the national disability insurance scheme, has been speaking to ABC’s Insiders this morning about the changes to the NDIS.
People with disability and their advocates have told a Senate inquiry into the changes that people will die as a consequence of those changes; Butler claims they won’t. He told Insiders:
The NDIS is probably the most significant social reform this country has made since Medicare in the 80s. It’s transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians for the better and I completely understand why they’re desperately concerned to hang on to that reform. I’m desperately concerned to do that as well.
But the truth is the NDIS has got way off track. It’s grown far too big. It costs too much. And it’s become a honey pot for shonks and rorters and that’s why I’ve laid out this comprehensive plan, much of which reflects discussions that have been ongoing since the NDIS review was delivered three years ago now to secure its future for people like those who are giving evidence to the Senate inquiry.
I want to reassure them this will still be the biggest social program Australia has outside the aged pension.
Giggle for Girls founder seeks to appeal against court ruling
Lisa Cox
The founder of a women-only social media app found by the federal court to have discriminated against a transgender woman is seeking to appeal against the decision in the high court.
Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd, founded by Sall Grover, filed an application on Friday for special leave to appeal against the federal court’s decision in Australia’s highest court.
Last month the full federal court upheld a decision that found the app and Grover unlawfully discriminated against Roxanne Tickle after the transgender woman was denied access to the platform.
Justices Melissa Perry, Wendy Abraham and Geoffrey Kennett affirmed an August 2024 finding that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity, and also sided with Tickle’s cross appeal, claiming she experienced two instances of direct discrimination by the Giggle for Girls app and Grover.
According to a Giggle crowdfunding website, Grover’s team has been collecting donations for a possible High Court appeal. The site states the special leave application was filed on Friday.
The high court will consider whether it will hear the appeal.
We’re expecting the health minister Mark Butler to speak to ABC’s Insiders shortly. We’ll bring you the highlights soon.
Kelly Burke
The federal government’s national lung cancer screening program has concluded its first 12 months, with data showing almost 100,000 high-risk Australians accessed the free service and more than 230 primary lung cancers detected.
Lung cancer remains Australia’s leading cause of cancer death, claiming about 9,000 lives annually, and late diagnosis remains the biggest hurdle in treating the disease.
Health minister Mark Butler said screening can detect up to 70% of lung cancers, and when caught early, more than 65% of cases can be successfully treated.
The program targets Australians aged 50 to 70 with a history of smoking, using low-dose CT scans available in every state and territory. In remote regions, a partnership with Heart of Australia has so far delivered 519 mobile scans via specialised trucks across north Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with additional services to be rolled out across the remaining states over the next 10 months.
First Nations participants made up more than 5% of those screened, an uptake credited to a structural partnership with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO).
NACCHO chief executive Dr Dawn Casey PSM said the strong numbers were no accident, proving that national health initiatives succeed when they are co-designed with the community-controlled sector to ensure cultural safety.
Tom McIlroy
Further to the previous post, Jonno Duniam said he had discussed his plans with Taylor in recent weeks.
Representing Tasmania, the best state in the Commonwealth, has been a blessing and the honour of a lifetime – one that will be hard to match. While I know there will be some who will be disappointed that I am leaving, I am very grateful to the Liberal Party membership in Tasmania for granting me the privilege of being a Senator and for all the support that they have provided to me.
Now is the right time for my party to choose new Senate team members who will carry forward the fight for Tasmania and for the values in which the Liberal Party believes.
I leave Federal politics proud and grateful but exhausted. I wish our current Senators, and our new Senate team as a whole, nothing but the best as they strive hard to deliver for our state.
Jonno Duniam to quit politics before next election
Tom McIlroy
Liberal frontbencher Jonathon Duniam says he will quit politics before the next election.
The announcement on Sunday is a blow for the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, as the Coalition faces persistently poor polling and a challenge from One Nation.
The shadow home affairs minister says he will quit the Senate at the end of the year, saying in a statement:
This was an extremely difficult decision to make – albeit that it is one I have been considering for quite some time.
I have spent the past 25 years in politics, the last 10 of those as a Senator for Tasmania – and I have given everything to these responsibilities, often at the expense of family.
Twenty-five years is a long time in any vocation and, when you take your role seriously, it always comes first. It is time I reversed my priorities and I can’t do that if I am to stay in politics.
Obviously, I acknowledge that I am leaving at a difficult time for the Federal Coalition.
But I am confident that my friends across both the Liberal Party and the National Party are firmly on the right path.
No two people in the Coalition are more equipped to lead us (and Australia) back to success than Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan; they are both outstanding leaders and have a love for our country that is unrivalled.
Father and daughter found dead in Sydney river
Kelly Burke
The body of a seven-year-old girl has been recovered from Sydney’s Parramatta River after her father was also found dead earlier on Saturday, with an investigation into their deaths to continue.
Emergency services were called to Bayview Park in Concord just before 11:45am on Saturday after a passerby on another vessel spotted a man’s body in the water near a small, drifting boat. Officers from the Burwood Police Area Command boarded another boat to reach the scene, where they pulled the man from the water and commenced CPR. He could not be revived.
Police believe the deceased man is a father in his 40s from the Westmead area who had hired the vessel earlier in the day. Upon investigating the boat, police discovered that his seven-year-old daughter was missing from the vessel. Specialist police divers recovered her body hours later.
Superintendent Christine McDonald, Commander of the Burwood Police Area Command, described the situation as an “absolute tragedy”.
McDonald said a friend of the family had called authorities at 12:30pm to request a welfare check on the father and daughter, unaware that police had already located the man’s body about 45 minutes earlier.
The child’s distraught mother was assisting investigators with their inquiries.
A crime scene has been established and forensic officers were examining the hired vessel. The man and girl have yet to be formally identified but police said the family was from Westmead, in Sydney’s west.
McDonald said police would “leave no stone unturned” as they investigate on behalf of the coroner whether the incident was a tragic accident or intentional:
There are several lines of inquiry currently under way. But can I say from the outset, this is an absolute tragedy for the family and the community on every level. We will leave no stone unturned.
Police are urgently appealing to anyone who was in the vicinity of Bayview Park, Concord, or on the water near the Parramatta River and Hen and Chicken Bay on Saturday morning to come forward. Waterfront residents are also being asked to check any home CCTV footage. Anyone with information is urged to immediately contact Burwood Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
– With AAP
Good morning
Welcome to Guardian Australia’s live news blog. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be bringing you all the live news this Sunday.
First up this morning, the body of a seven-year-old girl has been recovered from the Parramatta River, near Concord in Sydney’s inner west, by police divers after her father’s body was found hours earlier. We’ll bring you more on that tragic story shortly.
The federal government’s national lung cancer screening program has concluded its first 12 months, with data showing almost 100,000 high-risk Australians accessed the free service and more than 230 primary lung cancers detected.
And the opposition home affairs spokesperson, Jonno Duniam, has announced his intention to retire from politics.
More on all these stories to come. Grab a coffee and let’s get Sunday started.
About the Author
