Australia news live: ABC declares Monique Ryan winner in Kooyong; Labor to retain Bean and Liberals keep Bradfield | Australia news

Caitlin Cassidy

La Trobe unveils strategy to increase regional enrolments

La Trobe university has unveiled a five-year strategy to drastically increase regional student participation in a bid to narrow the participation gap with metropolitan students.

The strategy aims to grow enrolments in on-campus, hybrid and online courses by four times the growth rate of the domestic student population in regional Victoria by 2030.

La Trobe’s chancellor, John Brumby AO, said fewer than 20% of regional, rural and remote Australians attended university, but the federal government commissioned Universities Accord estimates that 55% of Australian jobs could require a university degree by 2050.

[La Trobe’s] bold targets … will contribute to reducing the gap between metropolitan and regional higher education participation and boosting the skilled workforce in areas of greatest need such as health and education.

Increasing higher education participation in under-represented communities was a key focus of the accord, which recommended a $10bn infrastructure fund to expand study hubs in regional, rural and remote areas.

Tim Wilson mulls tilt at Liberal party leadership

Dan Jervis-Bardy

Tim Wilson is mulling a tilt at the Liberal leadership ahead of Tuesday’s party room meeting to select Peter Dutton’s replacement.

Sources close to Wilson confirmed the incoming Goldstein MP was considering vying with the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, and the deputy leader, Sussan Ley, for the top job, although a final decision was yet to be made.

As reported earlier, the former Liberal MP Jason Falinksi made the case for Wilson in an interview on ABC RN Breakfast this morning.

I think that Tim is a fighter, and I think that our supporters, any supporters of any political party after the loss that we’ve just had, want someone who’s going to fight, who’s actually going to stand there and say I believe in these things and I will fight for these things.

Liberal sources familiar with Wilson’s thinking rated the chances of the 45-year-old ultimately putting his hand up at roughly “35-45%”.

One factor weighing against a leadership tilt was timing, the sources said.

Colleagues who might be prepared to back Wilson in 18 months’ time believed it was too early for the one-time assistant energy minister to vault into the leadership.

However, sources said the low level of enthusiasm for either Taylor or Ley could attract undecided MPs to Wilson.

Taylor is running on a joint ticket with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, fresh from her defection from Nationals to the Liberals, while Ted O’Brien will reportedly put his hand for the deputy’s position under Ley.

The party room meeting is scheduled for 10am on Tuesday.

The ABC’s Antony Green is now projecting that Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown will hold on to the Brisbane seat of Ryan. He said a provisional three-candidate preferred count conducted by the AEC has made clear that Labor will not catch up.

The result means Watson-Brown will be the only member of the Greens in the House of Representatives.

Benita Kolovos

Jacinta Allan on ‘really difficult drought conditions’ in some parts of Victoria

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked this morning about the drought in regional parts of the state. She says in September the government announced a $13.5m drought support package for farmers.

So far, 1,569 grants have been provided to primary producers to fund farm water systems, stock containment areas and grain and fodder but she did not rule out doing more.

Allan said:

I have been speaking regularly with the agriculture minister, Ros Spence, who is working with other colleagues to support farmers and primary producers but also to those rural communities that rely on our rural industries, because we are seeing some really difficult drought conditions that we haven’t seen in some parts of the state since the millennium drought some years ago now.

We provided a package of support for drought affected farmers in that south-western part of our state. In September of last year, around $13m was allocated, and minister Spence has been meeting and talking with both representatives of the farming industry and primary producers themselves, because we recognise that despite that support … there is more to do here, because we haven’t seen rain pretty much since the start of year.

The ABC has called the seats of Bean, Bradfield and Kooyong, where close races have been playing out since election night.

Labor MP David Smith leads by fewer than 200 votes for Bean, and ABC election analyst Antony Green says that will be enough for him to retain the seat. That will give Labor a total of 93 seats in the House of Representatives.

The ABC also projects that independent MP Monique Ryan will retain the electorate of Kooyong, in Melbourne. Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer received similar levels of support to former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in 2022, but Ryan is about 700 votes ahead.

The Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian will win the Sydney seat of Bradfield, taking over from outgoing MP Paul Fletcher. Independent Nicolette Boele initially seemed on track to win it off the Liberals, but Kapterian currently has a lead of about 200 votes, and there are only 1,000 left to count.

Benita Kolovos

More on Metro Tunnel funding

Victoria’s transport infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, says the $727m for Metro Tunnel will also include introducing “turn up and go” services for the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines. It will mean commuters on those lines will be able to hop on a train every couple of minutes during peak hours.

Williams says the extra services – across both the lines that travel through the tunnel and the others announced today – will be introduced in phases.

The extra services that are in this package today are staggered over a period of time, some slightly before the opening of Metro Tunnel, some from day one of Metro Tunnel, some after the Metro Tunnel [opens] so we try to sequence changes to our timetables in a sensible way so that we’re not compromising the reliability of our network.

Williams says the entire network’s timetable will be altered to account for the new tunnel:

[It impacts all] the modes that intersect with it. So it’s buses, it’s trains, it’s trams, it’s our entire network. It’s a very, very complicated endeavour, and one that [is] well under way at the moment, and I look forward to being able to share more with you about that very soon.

Erin Patterson trial update

You might notice the absence of posts about the Erin Patterson trial today. That’s because it is a jury-free day, which the judge decided last week would be in the interests of efficiency.

On Thursday, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury:

I’ve just been having a discussion with counsel about the way the case is progressing and the way that we can save some time, and we can best achieve that by not sitting on Monday.

There are things happening behind the scenes to try and condense the material that will be presented to you, and if Monday is devoted to that rather than you sitting here in court listening to some evidence, I expect the case will conclude earlier.

We’re expecting the jury to be back hearing evidence again on Tuesday.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian premier announces train funding of almost $5bn

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is announcing almost $5bn in funding in next week’s budget will be spent to “switch on” the Metro Tunnel, run more train services and kick off works on Melbourne airport rail.

She’s making the announcement at Sunshine station, flanked by her deputy premier, Ben Carroll, transport infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, and seven Labor MPs representing the other northern and western suburbs.

Some $4bn will be spent on the station’s redevelopment, which she says is stage one of a train line to Melbourne airport. Allan says:

Sunshine station is such an important gateway for the airport, for the western suburbs, for the city and for the regional trains as well, and this will transform Sunshine station into a transport super hub for suburban and country and airport rail trains. It also paves the way, because it untangles the network, for future works to be able to deliver more services for the western suburbs.

Allan says $727m will be spent to “operationalise” the Metro Tunnel, which is set to open later this year.

And $98.7m will be spent on running more frequent services on several metropolitan and regional train lines:

• Werribee line will get two additional trains per hour in the morning and afternoons

• Sandringham line will get two extra trains per hour in peak periods

• Craigieburn and Upfield lines will see an increase in services during shoulder peak and off-peak periods, with trains running at least every 20 minutes including late at night and on weekends

• Bendigo lines will get longer trains running on more weekend services

• Seymour line will get an additional service in the morning and afternoon peaks

• Gippsland line will get additional weekday interpeak services on the Traralgon line following the completion of upgrades later this year

Labor’s Tanya Plibersek has avoided comment about her ministerial desires or expectations, offering little other than general remarks when pressed this morning on the issue of the forthcoming cabinet announcement from Anthony Albanese.

Plibersek, who previously held the environment portfolio, told Sunrise this morning that cabinet decisions were “completely a matter for the prime minister” and that she was just “very grateful” to be on the front bench, and to have won the election, and to get to do “a good job for the government and for the people of Australia” again … and, well, you get the idea.

Tony Abbott throws support behind Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for Liberal leadership

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has come out in support of Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s ticket for the Liberal leadership, saying they will deliver a “strong, clear and principled” alternative to the Labor government.

Posting on X, Abbott said the party “owes Australia a much stronger performance at the next election and that has to start now.”

He continued:

We need to be a strong, clear and principled alternative to a government that we know, on its record so far, will be damaging the economy, dividing our society, and neglecting our on going security.

I’m confident that the leadership team of Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has the conviction and courage to make a real contest of the next election.

It has the fight and drive to hold the government to account for its mistakes and to offer the Australian people change for the better.

New Albanese cabinet to be announced later today

As noted earlier, we’re expecting Anthony Albanese to announce the line-up of his new cabinet today, but it is going to come a little later than expected.

We were anticipating a 9am announcement but the latest indication is that it will come mid-late morning, and may even be early afternoon. As always, though, we’ll update you as soon as we know more.

Drought conditions worsen in SA and Victoria

The last meaningful rain at Truro, on the eastern side of the Barossa Ranges in South Australia, was recorded in November 2022, and the tally for the first four months of this year is a paltry 33.5mm.

It’s a similar story across South Australia and Victoria, where farmers are braced for drought conditions to worsen.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest climate outlook warns below-average rainfall is likely from May to July in those regions, while day and nighttime temperatures are expected to be warmer than average across most of Australia.

That’s not good news for sheep, cattle and dairy producers in regions which have experienced their driest 14-month period on record.

Read more about how rural communities are trying to cope with worsening drought conditions here:

Pat Conroy expected to retain defence industry and Pacific portfolios

Krishani Dhanji

NSW MP Pat Conroy is expected to remain in his portfolio of defence industry and minister for the Pacific in the cabinet, when Anthony Albanese unveils his new ministry within the next hour.

Conroy also held the portfolio for international development in the last government, but that will be carved out and given to another minister. It’s understood Conroy will occupy a more senior position in the cabinet.

Speculation has been rife over the past week on who will get what, with some of the government’s most senior members to retain their portfolios – including Wong, Marles and treasurer Jim Chalmers – while others are facing new responsibilities.

Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus – who were ousted from the cabinet last week – will need to have their cabinet positions filled, and that means two new ministers will likely enter the cabinet.

Dave Sharma urges Liberals not to ‘break apart into warring camps’ over leadership

Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor are both “honest about the scale of the challenge” faced by the Liberal party, Liberal MP Dave Sharma has said.

Sharma told Sunrise this morning it was “important to make a collegiate approach” and for the party not to “break apart into warring camps”.

Of the rumoured Tim Wilson leadership tilt, Sharma said:

I haven’t heard from him.

He had, however, read the Falinski article in the Australian Financial Review.

Canavan: ‘no credible evidence that droughts or floods are getting worse’

Matt Canavan has claimed he has “always” accepted the link between carbon dioxide emissions and temperature rises but appeared to doubt that natural disasters are getting worse as a consequence of climate crisis.

He told the ABC:

There’s just not credible evidence that droughts or floods are getting worse in this country … is that the science? What is the science then? Is it the IPCC reports? That’s what’s in their report.

Following that, there was what I can only describe as a very confused passage of discussion in which he appeared to suggest that it was an issue of terminology rather than science, and that heatwaves were getting worse but not other kinds of environmental crisis … except sea temperatures:

I don’t know what happened. It’s about 10 years ago. It seemed like global warming wasn’t really working. So it changed to climate change, and started talking about floods and cyclones and these things. And when you actually read the signs, there’s very little evidence that most of those natural disasters are getting any worse. Heatwaves is different.

Well, the temperature is rising, as noted about that. It’s happening in the oceans as well. But the question is calibrating our response to what the risks are.

The problem with natural disasters, Canavan claimed, is that they are “an infrequent event”, and therefore the statistics are not robust. The problem ultimately, he said, is that a “binding net zero target” subjugates all other industries to the environment.

Matt Canavan hopes to be an “agent of change” for Nationals, he has told media this morning, ahead of the party’s leadership ballot today.

Canavan told the ABC he decided to take a shot at the leadership on Wednesday last week. He said:

I think we need a shake-up. I think the party deserves a choice, think the people of Australia deserve a choice. I don’t think we gave them enough of a real choice at the last election. So I’m standing to try and be an agent of change, if you like … you can’t ask other people to do something you’re not prepared to do yourself. So I put my hand up.

Canavan said he has been arguing for some time that Australia is “losing our income, losing our wealth, losing our jobs, losing our industries, losing our … laidback culture”.

He would not withdraw if he didn’t have the numbers, he said, but would “give it a crack”.

Since Liberal Tim Wilson claimed back the seat of Goldstein from independent Zoe Daniel this election, there have been rumours bubbling that he has also been considering a surprise tilt at the party leadership.

Former Liberal MP Jason Falinski has been out and about today making the case that he ought to. Writing in the AFR yesterday, Falinksi said the party needed someone who would not “[flinch] in the face of vibe-led hatred” and would “[take on] holy shibboleths with facts, logic and reason”.

Wilson, he believes, is the man to do this. Speaking to ABC RN this morning, Falinski said:

I think that Tim is a fighter, and I think that our supporters, any supporters of any political party after the loss that we’ve just had, want someone who’s going to fight, who’s actually going to stand there and say I believe in these things and I will fight for these things.

I think Tim embodies those characteristics, more so than anyone else in the parliamentary party. But it’s not really a paean to Tim Wilson. It’s about whoever the next leader is has to embody that fighting spirit, if we’re going to get ahead.

Good morning.

It’s a new week in news and politics, with a new cabinet for the Albanese government and a new leader for the Nationals both on the cards for today.

The Nationals are gathering in Canberra today for a party room leadership vote as leader David Littleproud faces a challenge from Matt Canavan.

We’re also expecting Anthony Albanese to announce his new cabinet today, ready for swearing in tomorrow, after factional jostling last week post-election win.

Stick with us, as we’ll bring you the details on all these issues and much more as the day goes on.