Australia politics live: $707m boost for Indigenous work programs; Greens MP in car crash | Australia news

Cait Kelly

Fresh analysis by Homelessness NSW shows the number of people receiving assistance at specialist homelessness services rising across 58 of NSW’s 128 local government areas in 2023.

The analysis of newly released Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures shows the Inner West, Canterbury-Bankstown, Penrith, Sydney and Wollongong local government areas recorded the largest increases.

While the longest median wait times for people on the general social housing waitlist are currently in Northern NSW, at more than five years, the Illawarra, Sydney, Blue Mountains and Hunter.

Homelessness NSW CEO Dom Rowe:

Plummeting housing affordability is affecting people right across the state.

Right now, one out of every two people seeking help for homelessness in NSW do not receive it because underfunded services are full.

It is heartbreaking that women and their children fleeing domestic violence have to choose between staying in a dangerous home or sleeping in a tent or a car because they can’t get the help they need.

NSW must increase funding for specialist homelessness services, as Queensland has just done with a 20 per cent boost.

We must also urgently build more social and affordable homes. Right now just one in 20 homes are social housing but we need this to be at least one in 10 by 2050 to slash the 57,000-strong, decade-long waitlist and end NSW’s homelessness crisis.

A very big thank you to Martin for starting us off today.

Amy Remeikis is with you now, and I’ll take you through the rest of the day.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

The ongoing war in the Middle East and allegations an Australian was fighting for a designated terrorist organisation have not heightened the risk of terrorism at home, Australian Associated Press reports.

The national terrorism threat remained probable, with intelligence agency ASIO concerned about spontaneous violence, the chief spy said.

“No, there’s no reason you should be concerned,” ASIO head Mike Burgess told a Senate hearing last night when asked about an increased risk at home.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson pressed Burgess on whether he could confirm an Australian man claimed by Hezbollah was fighting for the designated terrorist organisation.

But Burgess questioned what the risk to Australia would be without confirming whether Ali Bazzi was part of the organisation.

“I’ll talk to generics: if there is an Australian overseas fighting for an organisation that the Australian government considers a terrorist organisation, that is a potential concern,” he said.

“But it really depends on where they direct the energy of their ideology and what they believe.

“If that’s not against Australia … that’s not a direct threat to Australia or Australians.”

Florence the tunnelling machine back in action for Snowy

Adam Morton

Florence the tunnelling machine is back, boring for Australia. The massive piece of equipment being used to clear a path underneath the Kosciuszko national park to build the Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro development had been stuck since hitting unexpectedly soft ground near Tantangara in December 2022.

Senate estimates heard on Monday that it was finally freed from where it was trapped about 70 metres underground late last year, and that the machine nicknamed Florence has since cleared 241m of earth.

It has about 15km to go. Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes said it was expected to move about 15m a day on average.

We’re mindful that some of the ground conditions ahead of Florence will be challenging, and we are continuing to closely examine options to de-risk this work.

The delays have contributed to the expected finishing date for the project, which was announced by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, being pushed back to the end of the decade.

The expected cost has blown out from $2bn seven years ago to $12bn. Once finished, it is promised to provide 2 gigawatts of capacity and about 350,000 megawatt hours of large-scale storage to the national electricity market.

While critics have questioned the project on a range of grounds, Barnes told the environment estimates committee the project made economic sense.

He said options were being considered to accelerate the work, and that Snowy would rehabilitate a large sinkhole that has opened up in the national park.

Government to spend $707m on jobs programs in central Australia

Josh Butler

The federal government has revealed plans to invest $707m into reforming jobs programs in central Australia as it gears up for today’s statement on Closing the Gap.

The statement on Indigenous life outcomes will be tabled in parliament today. It is expected to again show disappointing results on key indicators. One statistic briefed out in advance by Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney’s office was that a target to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in employment, education or training “is not on track”.

The government will today confirm a new remote jobs program, hoped to create 3,000 jobs over the next three years, as a replacement for the scrapped community development program.

“The new program is designed to help build the remote workforce and reduce the reliance on the fly-in-fly-out workforce,” Burney’s office said in a statement.

“It will be implemented in partnership with First Nations people, build skills and experience, and deliver services that communities want. The new remote jobs program will be about remote communities deciding what will make the biggest difference locally, not a one-size-fits-all program that takes the same approach across the country.”

The statement says the government will work with Aboriginal organisations, including the Coalition of Peaks, to design the program.

“For too long, people in remote communities have missed out on economic opportunities and have been stuck in cycles of poverty,” Burney said.

“People in remote communities should have access to the benefits and dignity of work – for themselves, their families and the next generation. This is about putting communities in the driver’s seat to create local jobs and businesses. Rates of unemployment in remote communities are unacceptable and this is the first step in turning that around.”

The government will be under pressure to outline its plans to reform the Closing The Gap program, after a scathing Productivity Commission report last week warned the program was on the brink of failure because governments nationwide were not taking the problem seriously enough.

The report accused the federal government of “weak” action on key areas, not fulfilling its promises and a “disregard” for the suggestions of Indigenous communities. It says efforts to eliminate institutional racism in areas such as justice and health have “received little effort”.

Greens state MP Dr Amy MacMahon was in critical condition after a collision at a busy Brisbane intersection. AAP reports.

The crash occurred about 6.30pm on Monday when MacMahon’s Toyota Prius was struck by a Hyundai i30 at the intersection of Baines Street and Main Street in Kangaroo Point.

Emergency responders transported 37-year-old MacMahon to Princess Alexandra Hospital, where she remained in serious condition.

Max Chandler-Mather, a federal MP from the Greens, confirmed MacMahon is conscious and while her injuries are severe, they were not life-threatening.

Photos from the Courier Mail show MacMahon’s car severely damaged.

The occupants of the i30 were also hospitalised but were reported to be stable.

A third vehicle was also involved, sustaining minor damage.

Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’m going to round up the best of the morning stories before Amy Remeikis guides you through the main events of the day.

The Albanese government’s tax changes appear to be going down well with voters, our latest Essential poll shows today, but there’s no sign of similar popular support for taking on negative gearing. A majority of voters told our latest Guardian Essential poll that they backed handing more benefit to low- and middle-income earners at the expense of wealthier people. But support for modest limits on negative gearing concessions has slipped in the past month, along with any proposal to reduce the ability of wealthy families to avoid inheritance tax.

In an action-packed final part of the ABC documentary about the Coalition’s nine years in power, Scott Morrison admitted “regrets” over his secret ministries plan but dismissed concerns about his infamous Hawaii holiday as a problem of “clunky” communications. He declared the Aukus defence pact to be his crowning achievement, despite France’s forthright reaction. Former colleagues remembered a “lack of humility” and a “women problem” in his government.

Today sees the release of the latest Closing the Gap report: in anticipation, the government has announced a boost to Indigenous work programs. Read more on that in a few minutes.

The application by Shane Drumgold, the ACT’s former director of public prosecutions, for a judicial review into the inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann case will be heard at the territory’s supreme court today. Drumgold argues that some of the findings against him were unreasonable, he was denied a fair hearing and the inquiry broke the law through the unauthorised disclosure of material.

And Queensland state MP for the Greens Amy MacMahon has been seriously injured in a car accident in Brisbane: more on that soon.