Gareth Ward faces expulsion from NSW parliament on Friday
Anne Davies
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward, the member for Kiama, faces expulsion from state parliament on Friday after the NSW court of appeal lifted an injunction that had stopped the parliament acting.
The government ruled out moving a motion tonight, as urged by the opposition, and is expected to move to expel him tomorrow when the Legislative Assembly sits.
It is expected to be carried unanimously, or near unanimously, with both Labor and the Coalition indicating that they will support it.
The parliament has power to expel a member if it is necessary to maintain the integrity of the parliament and to protect itself.
It can expel a member for “unworthy conduct” that would tend to undermine the parliament’s reputation in the eyes of the public.
But it cannot exercise the power to punish a member. Ward argued that expulsion was punitive because it would trigger a byelection and he would be further punished by losing the opportunity to regain his seat.
Updated at 03.57 EDT
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What we learned today, Thursday 7 August
It’s time to wind down our coverage of what has been a big day of news. Here’s what has been keeping us busy:
Disgraced MP Gareth Ward failed in his bid to seek an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament. The convicted rapist and member for Kiama faces expulsion from parliament on Friday.
Kathleen Folbigg was compensated with an undisclosed sum after she spent two decades behind bars before having her convictions quashed. The sum was later revealed by the NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson, who was heavily involved in pressuring the government to release Folbigg after an independent inquiry, to be $2m.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the Productivity Commission boss, Danielle Wood, were recorded in a hot mic moment criticising the Australian newspaper during an event at Parliament House.
Students in Australia’s major cities gathered to strike for Palestine and demand universities cut ties with weapons companies. The national class walkout kicked off at Sydney’s town hall at midday, with students walking from nearby universities carrying Palestinian flags and banners.
Finally, Labor has cast doubt on the possibility of the Trump administration transferring an Iranian-born man from US immigration detention to Australia, saying it has no knowledge of the case. The US government is threatening to deport Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old recruiter from Maryland, to either Australia or Romania.
Thank you, as ever, for joining us today. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.
Updated at 04.28 EDT
Gareth Ward faces expulsion from NSW parliament on FridayAnne Davies
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward, the member for Kiama, faces expulsion from state parliament on Friday after the NSW court of appeal lifted an injunction that had stopped the parliament acting.
The government ruled out moving a motion tonight, as urged by the opposition, and is expected to move to expel him tomorrow when the Legislative Assembly sits.
It is expected to be carried unanimously, or near unanimously, with both Labor and the Coalition indicating that they will support it.
The parliament has power to expel a member if it is necessary to maintain the integrity of the parliament and to protect itself.
It can expel a member for “unworthy conduct” that would tend to undermine the parliament’s reputation in the eyes of the public.
But it cannot exercise the power to punish a member. Ward argued that expulsion was punitive because it would trigger a byelection and he would be further punished by losing the opportunity to regain his seat.
Updated at 03.57 EDT
Jordyn Beazley
NSW opposition ‘ready to have Gareth Ward expelled’, Liberal leader says
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has responded to Gareth Ward losing his bid to seek an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament.
Speakman said:
The opposition is ready to have Gareth Ward expelled from parliament forthwith.
Updated at 03.48 EDT
Palestinian statehood ‘a blessing to the region’ and recognition should not be used as a threat, former PM says
Ehud Olmert did not go as far as saying Gaza was in a state of starvation but said there was “certainly a danger of starvation if humanitarian supplies will not be provided adequately and comprehensively and effectively”.
Speaking with the ABC, the former Israeli prime minister said:
But the way I look at it is very simple, Israel is the power there. Israeli army controls Gaza. So it’s incumbent upon the state of Israel to make sure that the humanitarian supplies are provided adequately, comprehensively, without interference, in an effective manner, and if it’s not done, this is the responsibility of the Israeli government. There is no question about it.
It is inconceivable, unacceptable and unforgivable if it is not done.
He also said the idea of the establishment of a Palestinian state being a “punishment” to Israel was flawed.
I believe that a solution that will involve the creation of a Palestinian state is a blessing to the region. Is a blessing to us and to the Palestinians, because it may end the historic conflict between us and them.
So why do I need to hear from the prime minister of Australia what I think is a great blessing for the future of the Middle East, that it comes within the framework of a punishment and a threat to the Israeli government, that if you will not behave [yourself], then we will recognise it? I think it’s put in the wrong context.
Updated at 03.58 EDT
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward to face expulsion motion from NSW parliament after losing injunction bidJordyn Beazley
Disgraced MP Gareth Ward has failed in his bid to seek an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament.
Ward faced an urgent hearing before the court of appeal on Thursday against the leader of the Legislative Assembly, Ron Hoenig.
It came after he commenced the proceedings to seek an injunction on Monday night via his lawyers from Silverwater jail, where he has been remanded pending sentencing in September.
Ward was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men in 2013 and 2015. He is appealing against his convictions, which include three counts of indecent assault and one for sexual intercourse without consent.
During the hearing, Ward’s lawyer, Peter King, said Ward’s convictions cannot alone be considered the “unworthy conduct” needed as grounds to expel him from parliament.
Craig Lenehan SC, who appeared on behalf of Hoenig, disputed this.
He told the court:
“It’s obviously open to a legislative body to form a view that a member convicted by a jury of a serious sex offence should be expelled.
Updated at 03.26 EDT
Former Israel PM says most Israelis not in favour of Netanyahu government’s Gaza stance
Ehud Olmert says Israel is in crisis – and that the majority of its population does not accept its government’s policy on Gaza.
The former Israeli prime minister spoke with the ABC a short time ago. He said he hoped “Israel is not a pariah state”:
Israel is in a crisis, and the policy of the government is unacceptable to, I believe, the majority of Israelis. It’s not expressed yet in the policy of the government, because the government still enjoys the majority of the last elections, but it will definitely be expressed when the next elections will take place, hopefully soon.
So this is one thing I think needs to be emphasised: the majority of Israelis are not in favour of what the prime minister is doing, and we think that the present idea of conquering all of Gaza is something which is not going to do any good, not to the Israeli hostages, and not to the prospect of ending the war, and definitely not of refraining from killing unnecessarily … Palestinians, which will become victims almost inevitably, of this military operation.
Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The GuardianShare
Updated at 03.39 EDT
Search continues for missing light plane and occupants off Tasmania
The search for a light plane and its two occupants, who have been missing since Saturday afternoon, will continue on Friday.
Tasmania police’s Insp Craig Fox said PolAir would be deployed for sweeps along the northern Tasmanian coastline, based on Australian Maritime Safety Authority drift data, police said in a statement. Police vessel Cape Wickham will also be deployed for search duties.
This afternoon, Fox said:
On Thursday, the police helicopter conducted sweeps of the Furneaux Island group including Flinders Island, Cape Barren Island and Chappell Island, plus other smaller islands.
Unfortunately, there was no sight of the plane or any other factors, such as debris, which may indicate its potential location.
Gregory Vaughan, 72, and his partner, Kim Worner, 66, from Deloraine, took off in a green two-seater Bristell S-LSA from George Town airport about 12.45pm on Saturday. They did not arrive at their destination in central NSW as scheduled, and family members raised the alarm on Saturday evening, police said.
Kim Worner, 66, and Gregory Vaughan, 72, were in a light sport aircraft that took off from George Town airport about 12.45pm on Saturday. Photograph: Tasmania Police
Police said there is no evidence to suggest the circumstances of the missing plane are suspicious.
Anyone with information that could assist the search is urged to contact Tasmania police.
Updated at 03.14 EDT
Kate Lyons
Higginson: Folbigg compensation amount an ‘absolute slap in the face’
Sue Higginson, Greens MP and spokesperson for justice, has labelled the $2m ex gratia payment to Kathleen Folbigg, who spent 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her children, before being pardoned in 2023, “an absolute slap in the face and a failure of the New South Wales premier to uphold the principles of fairness and justice in NSW”.
She said a more appropriate compensation figure would have been 10 times the amount Folbigg has been offered by the state government.
She said:
Wrongful conviction is probably one of the most heinous things that the state can perpetrate on a person. The state of NSW did this to Kathleen Folbigg, a woman who had lost her own children. It’s hard to reconcile a greater crime against a woman, and that’s what happened here in this state.
It got it wrong, and it was on Chris Minns and Michael Daly, as the NSW premier and the NSW attorney general, to right this wrong. And they have failed.
Higginson said that ex gratia payments “are referred to as payments of grace in good faith. This offer is disgraceful and it’s been made in bad faith.”
She said a more appropriate compensation figure would have been something in the order of $23m to $26m, based on the fact that Lindy Chamberlain received a payment of $1.3m for having served three years in prison.
Higginson said it was within Minns’ power to correct the wrong and urged him to meet with Folbigg and address the issue.
She also called for an inquiry into the ex gratia payment system, saying there was a lack of transparency about how decisions were reached on the dollar amount people received:
We know that people can make an application for an ex gratia payment, and then things go into a kind of a Tardis, a closed door, a back room. It’s time to open this system. There needs to be more accountability, more realism, some more economic rationalism in this system, because what we’ve seen today is a perverse outcome.
Updated at 03.01 EDT
Folbigg’s lawyer calls $2m compensation ‘a moral affront’
Kathleen Folbigg’s lawyer says her client’s ex-gratia compensation offer of $2m is “profoundly unfair and unjust”.
Rhanee Rego said in a statement this afternoon that the “sum offered is a moral affront – woefully inadequate and ethically indefensible”.
She said:
The system has failed Kathleen Folbigg once again.
Kathleen lost her four children; she lost 20 of the best years of her life; and she continues to feel the lasting effects of this ongoing trauma.
The payment does not reflect the extent of the pain and suffering Kathleen has endured. This should be about the system recognising the significance of what it did to her.
An inquiry is urgently needed to understand how the government decided on this figure.
When Lindy Chamberlain was exonerated, she received $1.3m for three years in prison.
Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, yet for her wrongful imprisonment she has been offered $2 million.
Kathleen Folbigg’s fight should be over. After being failed at her conviction and abused in prison, she is now being treated with contempt by the very system that should be making amends.
Updated at 02.46 EDT
Kathleen Folbigg compensation of $2m ‘insulting’, Greens MP saysJordyn Beazley
More on Kathleen Folbigg’s compensation.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson, who was heavily involved in pressuring the government to release Folbigg after the independent inquiry, has revealed the New South Wales government compensated her just $2m.
Higginson said the amount was “insulting”. In a statement, she said:
$2m barely covers what Kathleen could have earned on a full-time salary over 20 years.
Kathleen has not only lost 20 years of wages, she has lost her four children, her home and her employability. She has racked up legal costs fighting her wrongful conviction, she has lost her superannuation, and she has been the victim of one of the worst injustices in this state’s history – wrongful imprisonment.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAPShare
Updated at 02.45 EDT
Greens’ Barbara Pocock ‘deeply disappointed’ by Labor decision to lift ban on PwC
Henry Belot
The finance department has rejected a last-minute bid from three senators who urged it not to lift a ban on PwC Australia competing for new work with the federal government.
Last month, Guardian Australia revealed the finance department had recommended the end of a long-term ban triggered by a scandal involving the misuse of confidential Treasury information.
Former PwC Australia partners no longer working at the firm remain under investigation by the Australian federal police.
Finance’s report and recommendations were due to go public on 25 July until the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, requested the views of three senators who led parliamentary inquiries into the tax leaks scandal were taken into consideration.
The three senators wrote to the department late last month urging it not to lift the ban, which was introduced in April 2024, while the tax leaks scandal was being investigated by federal police.
Earlier today, the finance department wrote to Greens senator Barbara Pocock, Liberal senator Richard Colbeck, and Labor senator Deborah O’Neill to inform them that while their views were respected, the ban would be lifted:
Finance considers that it would not be appropriate to delay a decision on its assessment of the ethical soundness of PwC Australia.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
PwC Australia cannot bid for consultancy work until 2028 due to a non-compete clause with consultancy firm Scyne, which bought PwC’s government consultancy wing for just $1 at the height of the scandal. But the firm can bid for other work including audit services.
Pocock said she was “deeply disappointed in the government for making this decision”:
The government decision to let PwC back into the contracting consulting fold is an insult to the Senators and MPs who worked on two parliamentary inquiries examining what went wrong at PwC.
We made a raft of recommendations which have yet to be enacted, while the government renews its contracting relationship with this disgraced entity.
Updated at 03.05 EDT
Chaney says proposal for GST review is about ‘tough conversations’
Kate Chaney says her proposal to review GST is about having “tough conversations” and not simply talking about tax cuts.
The independent MP has just told ABC that as a “big part of our tax picture”, GST needs to be reviewed. “We’ve had no tax reform really in 20 years. And it’s a good tax. It’s efficient, it’s transparent, it’s simple,” she said.
She said her plan meant “people who consume more, and who spend more, end up paying more tax” and ensured lower income earners were not penalised:
We need leaders who are actually going to have the tough conversations, not only talk about tax cuts.
At the moment, talking about any changes to the GST is just taboo. And we’re never going to have serious reform if we can’t even start the conversation.
Updated at 02.33 EDT