Nadesalingam family in new home
A friend of the Nadesalingam family, Angela Fredericks, is being interviewed on ABC’s Weekend Breakfast.
Fredericks says it was an incredible night to welcome the family to their new home in Biloela:
I arrived at the house with the family to show them their new home. It’s got this beautiful backyard, and the girls started running. That was the most special moment for me. These girls, for four years, have been stuck in cages, so for them to have grass in their backyard and run free was so overwhelming.
She says today will be Biloela’s Flourish festival, the multicultural celebration of diversity, where Nades, Priya, Kopika, and Tharni are the guests of honor. Tomorrow will mark Tharni’s fifth birthday in a park.
She’s so excited and can’t wait to see all her friends and be running around and playing games… It will be a ping birthday. You can see I have pink on at Tharnicaa’s request today. It’s a pink weekend.
Fredericks called on the government to let the family stay permanently.
We need to end the uncertainty for this family. It’s been over ten years. Enough is enough. They belong here. We want them here. It’s time. Let’s make this permanent.
Updated at 18.32 EDT
Former Liberal MP for North Sydney Trent Zimmerman has written an opinion piece today on life after losing his seat.
Zimmerman says:
Some have warned me that losing an election is like a grieving process. There is a bit of that. Certainly, some friends and residents talk to you like you are among the dearly departed. Others on the streets cast their eyes away to avoid such a conversation.
The hardest part has been the farewells for my electorate staff, who cease their employment shortly after the election. They have lived and breathed the campaign and my work as an MP and feel the election outcome as much as I have, so it is difficult for them.
Staying on the cold side for a few days yet! It’s well into next week before temperatures start to recover toward average for the time of year. So some more early frosts to come! Sunday morning image below. pic.twitter.com/G342K0I6Gm
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) June 10, 2022
Prime minister Anthony Albanese will hold a press conference in Sydney at 10.15 am
There are reports in French media that Australia has settled with the French company Naval Group over the former government’s cancellation of the submarines contract. We have not confirmed, but we shall see if that’s what the press conference is about.
Updated at 19.37 EDT
Victoria reports 23 Covid-19 deaths, 6,224 new cases
Victoria has recorded 23 Covid-19 deaths overnight, with 6,224 new patients reported.
There are 454 people in the hospital, including 27 in intensive care and four in ventilated.
Boost for Sydney-Hunter rail upgrade plan.
A major business lobby group has backed reported plans for a $1bn overhaul of rail services between Sydney and the Hunter that would pave the way for faster train services, AAP reports.
NSW will work with the federal government on the upgrade, with $500 million to be set aside on June 21’s state budget.
In the run-up to May’s federal election, Labor pledged $500 million of commonwealth funds to a scheme to link Sydney and Newcastle, saying if it won government, it would prioritize a link that could eventually cut travel time between the state’s two most populous cities from two-and-a-half hours to 45 minutes.
The NSW plan, focused initially on the Sydney-Central Coast link, will improve the Tuggerah-Wyong connection and include new electrified tracks, rail bridges over the Wyong River, and station upgrades.
Work is set to begin in 2025.
The revamp will reportedly make it possible for express passenger services to overtake freight services and all-stop passenger trains, speeding up travel times.
On Saturday, the committee for Sydney chief executive Gabriel Metcalf welcomed the move towards upgrading the link, saying an NSW government commitment meant state and federal governments were “now working together to deliver on fast rail”.
“Getting on a trip from Gosford to the city in 25 minutes and Newcastle in under an hour will be a game-changer for commuters, students, and many others,” Metcalf said.
“It will reshape the geography of our city.
“As we emerge from two-and-a-half years of disruption and lockdown, this project will inspire people about Sydney’s future and kickstart our economic recovery.”
Updated at 19.40 EDT
NSW reports 22 Covid-19 deaths, 6,254 cases
New South Wales has reported 22 Covid-19 deaths overnight, with 6,254 new cases recorded. There are 1,219 people in the hospital, including 41 in intensive care.
COVID-19 update – Saturda,y June 1,1 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4 pm yesterday:
– 96.5% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – 95% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/hXvOhObcHt
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 10, 2022
Dangerous conditions along the NSW coast
Surf Life Saving NSW has warned hazardous weather conditions, strong winds, and large southerly swells make it dangerous along the coast – particularly for rock fishers.
Surf Life Saving NSW Director of Lifesaving Joel Wiseman said:
People should consider staying out of the water. This time of year is statistically a very dangerous period for rock fishing accidents and tragedies. Rock anglers are at risk and should avoid coastal rock platforms exposed to the ocean.
Only a handful of beaches are patrolled at this time of year by council lifeguards, and these beaches will likely be closed due to the conditions.
Updated at 19.12 EDT
Mehreen Faruqi says being made Greens deputy leader is an honor
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi says it is the honor of her life to be elected to the role, pledging to take a stand on discrimination, AAP reports.
The NSW senator who migrated from Pakistan in 1992 will be the first Muslim Australian in the senior leadership of a large political party.
“In a diverse society, it is appropriate and, frankly, necessary that our parties and their leadership reflect our highly multicultural country,” Faruqi said after the first post-election party room meeting in Melbourne.
The party room re-elected Melbourne MP Adam Bandt to the leadership at Friday’s meeting ahead of this weekend’s national conference in the Victorian capital.
Faruqi – who came to Australia with her husband, one-year-old son, and two suitcases – said she would use her position to “continue to speak up against racism, Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination in our society”.
“This is something I have never shied away from, and a fight I will take up until everyone in our community is treated with respect and dignity,” she said.
The senator noted the Greens and its grassroots movement had an immense task ahead of it.
“To ensure the new parliament takes decisive, meaningful action on the many complex problems facing our country and our world: not least, the climate crisis and the inequality crisis,” she said.
Before the election, the Greens had co-deputy leaders in senators Larissa Waters and Nick McKim.
Updated at 18.32 EDT
Nadesalingam family in new home
A friend of the Nadesalingam family, Angela Fredericks, is being interviewed on ABC’s Weekend Breakfast.
Fredericks says it was an incredible night to welcome the family to their new home in Biloela:
I arrived at the house with the family to show them their new home. It’s got this beautiful backyard, and the girls started running. That was the most special moment for me. These girls, for four years, have been stuck in cages, so for them to have grass in their backyard and run free was so overwhelming.
She says today will be Biloela’s Flourish festival, the multicultural celebration of diversity, where Nades, Priya, Kopika, and Tharni are the guests of honor. Tomorrow will mark Tharni’s fifth birthday in a park.
She’s so excited and can’t wait to see all her friends and be running around and playing games… It will be a ping birthday. You can see I have pink on at Tharnicaa’s request today. It’s a pink weekend.
Fredericks called on the government to let the family stay permanently.
We need to end the uncertainty for this family. It’s been over ten years. Enough is enough. They belong here. We want them here. It’s time. Let’s make this permanent.
Updated at 18.32 EDT
Christopher Knaus
Aged care Covid warning
Ministers Mark Butler and Anika Wells have told aged care providers to act “wurgently and speed up their fourth-dose Covid vaccinations as the sector grapples with almost 700 outbreaks and a growing death toll.
The aged care ministers have also warned providers with low vaccination rates they would be required to explain themselves and show how they would turn around sluggish booster rates.
Updated at 18.18 EDT
Good morning, and welcome to the live blog for Saturday, June 11. I’m Josh Taylor, and I will brI ing you all the news this morning.
The defense minister and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore where US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe met overnight for an hour but still disagreed on the matter of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Marles will not be meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
There were emotional scenes in the regional Queensland town of Biloela yesterday with the Nadesalingam family reunited with the city after four years in immigration detention and legal uncertainty.
We expect to see more of the family today, with events planned in the town to mark their return.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, held meetings on Friday in what Ardern said was a reset of the relationship due to the election of the new Labor government.
Ardern reiterated NZ’s long-standing opposition to deporting New Zealand citizens on character grounds when they have lived most of their lives in Australia. Still, Albanese would not say whether there would be a policy change.
The Greens held their first party meeting after the election, and Senator Mehreen Faruqi was appointed deputy leader of the Australian Greens, replacing Senator Nick McKim and Senator Larissa Waters.
And as the long weekend gets underway in parts of Australia, we might see more chaos at the airports again, after massive queues at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Friday, due to ongoing staffing issues.
