Australia news live: Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff ‘disappointed’ after parliament passes vote of no confidence; man killed by Sydney tram | Australia news

Natasha May

Collins has also provided more practical details about the state of transport arrangements in central Sydney in the interim:

There is no [light rail] service, obviously, between Circular Quay and Moore Park. We are working now pretty hard to reinstate the service between Central Station and Circular Quay.

We have a few buses travelling on the L2 and L3 route to just make sure that we can hoover up, particularly those schoolchildren and others who are trying to get home.

Natasha May

Police found the man in his 40s trapped under the carriage. They performed an operation where they lifted the carriage up to “extricate” the male on to the platform, Lessing said.

Emergency services then provided medical care, but unfortunately the man was pronounced dead, he said.

Howard Collins, the coordinator general for Transport for NSW, said the rail regulator would work with the operator to review the incident.

They will establish that and work with the operator as to whether there are any recommendations, or is this a case of really unfortunate misadventure, but we are very clear that we can’t comment on that, and the operator can’t comment, as we work with a regulator who’s still on site.

Natasha May

Man dies after being hit by Sydney tram while crossing between two carriages

Turning to New South Wales, police say the man who died after being hit by a light rail carriage in Sydney this afternoon was attempting to cross over the light rail between two carriages.

Insp Anderson Lessing, from the Surry Hills police area command, has just spoken at a press conference providing details of the incident:

Initial inquiries show the male was attempting to cross over the light rail between two carriages. At that time, the light rail commenced this journey, trapping the male underneath the light rail.

Lessing said the initial CCTV review showed the man had been waiting on the platform and then stepped off to try to cross the tram line.

His next of kin had not yet been notified, and he had not been identified formally at this stage, Lessing said.

Meanwhile, Tasmania’s opposition leader, Dean Winter, told the media he couldn’t “stand by” while the state’s budget deteriorated.

Tasmanian Labor needs to stand up. Stand up for Tasmanians who want good healthcare and an education system that supports the young people of Tasmania. Who want a government focused on supporting them.

I want to bridge the gap between Tasmania and the mainland. I want to make sure that this is a state that has the best education facilities possible. I want this to be a state where you can get the healthcare you need anywhere you live. That is not what we have.

The governor of Tasmania is currently overseas, so Rockliff will be driving to Government House to meet with the lieutenant governor.

If there is another election, it will be the state’s fourth in just seven years.

Rockliff confirms he will advise the governor of the vote in the house and the context of it. If the opposition cannot form a majority, Tasmania will head to a snap early election.

He also issues a clear warning to the leader of the opposition:

You might get rid of me, mate. But I’ll tell you what. They’re coming for you as well. Because you will always be known as a wrecker.

I saw the honourable member’s statement today where he would not do a deal with the Greens. Well, what’s this all about? You refuse to do a deal and take the treasury benches when you probably could have … but we had the courage with just 14 members of a 35-seat of the house of assembly to give it a crack.

If an election does take place, he says it will be one “Tasmanians don’t want, and Tasmania cannot afford”.

This has been a selfish grab for power, which we will fight and we will do our darndest to win.

Rockliff then takes aim at Labor, accusing the opposition leader of “recklessness”.

What I find most disappointing is the personalisation of the vote, if you like. And I’ll be damned if the Labor party is going to choose the leader of the Liberal party that I love.

At the end of the day, this was just a grievance debate, which we could have had any other day.

He also turns to the AFL, and debate over the new Tasmanian team and controversial stadium in Hobart.

The large majority of this discussion, particularly from the Greens side of the parliament, talked about the stadium and the AFL and AFL team. And I’ve been advised by all the hardheads in my party not to go down that track. Why? Because it’s bad for votes. Well, I’ve always said stuff votes. I said it when I moved for the 35-house seat of parliament, and I’ll say it for the stadium for as long as I damn well live. Because I believe in it. And I have a right to believe in it.

Rockliff says he is “so disappointed, if not brokenhearted”, by the decision. He says it “wasn’t easy” to work in minority but he knew it was the “right thing to do”, and still does.

What we have in this parliament … is an eclectic mix of people from all backgrounds, which is how parliament should be … I wanted it to work. I believed in it, and I actually still do.

I still do, because of the results that we’ve had over the course of the last 14 months, where everyone in the parliament has got something through that they feel passionate about and believed in.

Rockliff acknowledges it hasn’t been a “100% Liberal minority government success”, but its agenda has been furthered because of “negotiations between each other”.

And this hasn’t been 100% Liberal minority government success. We’ve got most of our agenda through simply because of our negotiations between each other. And that’s why I’m so disappointed. If not brokenhearted, frankly … not everything’s gone to plan, name a parliament in the state of Australia where everything goes to plan. And it’s been difficult.

Taking you to the Tasmanian parliament now, the premier has the call.

He acknowledges and respects the vote of the house, while calling it a “sad day”.

I have respected every single vote that has taken place in this house in my 23 years. And I thank you, Speaker, for your very eloquent reasoning. And our friendship. That goes back to the early 1990s.

There is an interjection of: “We might not want to point out what pub that was in, premier.”

I was Liberal and I always respected your Labor values and that of your family, which will always be Labor values. And you respected mine and we’ve been foes in this place, but always friends outside of it. In my personal opinion, this is a very sad day for Tasmania.

And I want to thank honourable members for their contributions and within those contributions, even those that have voted for this motion, I thank you for at least acknowledging some of my contributions in this place. It’s a sad day as well, because I put a lot on the line for this parliament.

Tasmania passes vote of no confidence in premier Jeremy Rockliff

Adam Morton

The Tasmanian parliament’s lower house has passed a vote of no confidence in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff.

The motion – moved by the opposition leader, Dean Winter – was supported by Labor, the Greens and three other crossbenchers. The speaker, Labor’s Michelle O’Byrne, gave a casting vote to pass the motion 18-17.

Rockliff has retained the support of the Liberal party. He said earlier he planned to ask the acting governor, Christopher Shanahan, to call a fresh election just 15 months after the state last went to the polls.

Australia Post to arm posties with citronella spray to ward off dog attacks

Man’s best friend has a common enemy but their employer has a new plan to help cut down on the scores of attacks every week.

Australia Post will arm posties with citronella spray to ward off dog attacks after more than 1,150 dog-related incidents since November.

The water-based citronella spray has been introduced as a defence measure to protect posties, after repeated appeals for dog owners to secure them during deliveries failed to quell attacks.

The spray temporarily distracts the dogs and allows posties to move to safety.

“Dog-related hazards” – about 35,000 of them – are also flagged in the devices carried by posties.

Queensland led the nation in recent post-related dog incidents, with 388, slightly more than the 329 that took place in NSW, according to Australia Post data.

Australian Associated Press

Josh Butler

Climate group chief predicts more Coalition seats will fall after Boele victory

Climate 200’s executive director has praised the independent candidate Nicolette Boele for prevailing in Bradfield, and said the fundraising vehicle had already “started thinking about 2028” and the next federal election.

Byron Fay, in an email to supporters this afternoon, said the Coalition couldn’t form government without the seats won by teal independents, and predicted more seats would keep falling.

Fay called Boele’s close win – a margin of 26 votes – a “hard-won victory”, which he said proved “every single volunteer, every cent, and every conversation matters for independent campaigns”. Fay wrote:

[Boele is] a bona fide expert on decarbonisation and energy transition and she’s going to be a brilliant addition to the crossbench. I’m so excited to see what she brings to the conversation.

It’s easy to think of a seat like Bradfield as just a number in parliament, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s clear now that the seats won by independents are an ideological firewall. The Liberal Party cannot form government without them, and if they continue to tear themselves apart over net zero and climate policy in general, they will continue to lose seats like Bradfield to extraordinary community independents like Nic.

Fay told supporters to “savour the win”, adding that Boele had put in a lot of work over the whole period since she came up short in Bradfield in 2022.

“We’ve started thinking about 2028 and our first strategy briefings are kicking off next week,” Fay wrote, inviting supporters to get involved.

Cait Kelly

Study finds family violence program focused on perpetrators effectively reducing rates of abuse

A perpetrator-focused family violence program being run out of Melbourne is effectively reducing the rates of abuse, an RMIT study has found.

The Alexis Family Violence Response Model is an integrated program with Victoria police and the Salvation Army targeted at hard-to-reach victim-survivors and perpetrators through a coordinated police and social services response.

A report on the program has found 78% of victim-survivor participants saw a reduction in family violence in their lives. Further to this, there was an 80% drop of perpetrators considered “serious risk” after the program’s intervention.

The CEO of No to Violence, Phil Ripper, says:

We need the Government to take men’s violence seriously and put domestic, family and sexual violence at the centre of their leadership.

We all want to live in safe and happy families and communities. Violence and abuse are preventable. We need the government to commit to radically reshaping responses to stop family violence at its source and address this national emergency.