Brad Battin names former leader Matthew Guy in role responsible for ‘transition to government’
Benita Kolovos
Another interesting new role goes to former opposition leader, Matthew Guy, who will be responsible for “transition to government”.
Nationals upper house MP Melina Bath, who was promoted to the shadow cabinet last year, has also got new roles as opposition spokesperson for Aboriginal affairs and public land management.
And unsurprisingly, John Pesutto will not be on the shadow frontbench.
Key events
Experts expect modest home building recovery in 2025
The pace of home building is expected to pick up over the next 12 months though fewer interest rate cuts than thought earlier may moderate the recovery, AAP reports.
The run of lacklustre new housing starts continued in late 2024, with dwelling approvals falling 3.6% in November, to 14,998.
While a muted monthly result, building approvals as tracked by the Australian Bureau of Statistics have been gradually trending higher.
Oxford Economics Australia head of property and building forecasting Timothy Hibbert expected around 170,000 dwellings to be built over the 2024 calendar year, up 4% on 2023. He wrote in a note:
Signs are that we will see further modest improvement in 2025, with attached dwellings providing increased support.
He wasn’t expecting a boom over the next 12 months, with utility connection bottlenecks and trade labour shortages imposing speed limits on the rebound.
We don’t expect a more meaningful double-digit recovery in total approvals until 2026, when mortgage rate cuts aid the release of pent-up housing demand, while traction on the supply policy front will become increasingly evident.
Brad Battin names former leader Matthew Guy in role responsible for ‘transition to government’
Benita Kolovos
Another interesting new role goes to former opposition leader, Matthew Guy, who will be responsible for “transition to government”.
Nationals upper house MP Melina Bath, who was promoted to the shadow cabinet last year, has also got new roles as opposition spokesperson for Aboriginal affairs and public land management.
And unsurprisingly, John Pesutto will not be on the shadow frontbench.
New Victorian shadow cabinet unveiled
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s new opposition leader, Brad Battin, is holding a press conference to unveil his shadow cabinet, with promotions for those loyal to him in his recent leadership coup.
Late last year, Battin rolled the former leader John Pesutto in the wake of his high-profile defamation loss to exiled MP Moira Deeming, and returned her to the party room.
Battin’s supporters received promotions, including Brighton MP James Newbury, who will become the opposition’s shadow treasurer. Another supporter, Evelyn MP Bridget Vallance, will take on Newbury’s former role as manager of opposition business in the lower house while snagging the finance portfolio from Jess Wilson.
Wilson, the member for Kew, unsuccessfully challenged Battin for leader during the spill. Considered one of the party’s strongest performers, she will hang on to her role as opposition spokesperson for education and add industry and economic growth.
The former shadow treasurer and one of Wilson’s key supporters, Sandringham MP Brad Rowswell, will become opposition spokesperson for the environment and take up a new position on “digital transformation and public service innovation”.
Others to do well out of the reshuffle include Bev McArthur, who takes on responsibility for local government and scrutiny of government, and Richard Riordan, who adds planning to his housing responsibilities.
Evan Mulholland will take on major projects, multicultural affairs, arts and creative industries.
Pesutto supporters Georgie Crozier and David Southwick will also remain on the frontbench, with the former to continue in her role as health spokesperson and the latter to take on police, youth justice and corrections, formerly Battin’s responsibilities. Southwick also gets the new shadow portfolio of “youth and future leaders”. Malvern MP Michael O’Brien remains shadow attorney general.
Krishani Dhanji
Dutton’s nuclear strategy means ‘less economic activity’ in Australia, PM says
Anthony Albanese is continuing his tour of key seats in northern Australia, with Labor hoping to win the seat of Leichhardt from the Coalition.
He’s taken aim again at the Coalition’s nuclear strategy, saying it’ll lead to “less economic activity”:
The only costing that has been put out by Peter Dutton is one that relies upon 40% less energy being used in Australia by 2050. It means less economic activity, less manufacturing, less things being built here in Queensland and throughout Australia.
Albanese addressing reporters in Cairns
The prime minister has been speaking to reporters in Cairns, where he has announced $25m to build more homes throughout five regions in the local area.
Anthony Albanese said:
We know this is a major issue in regional Australia and in communities including in some of the more remote areas. Overcrowding in housing can create that social issues as well.
‘Extensive’ inquiry announced after man fatally shot by police in Adelaide
As we flagged earlier, police have shot and killed a 40-year-old man in Adelaide after they said he confronted officers with a knife during a mental health episode.
The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, announced an “extensive” inquiry into the incident, which he said would be led by the force’s detective chief superintendent, Scott Fitzgerald.
Catie McLeod has the full story below:
Consumer confidence starts year with a bang
New year optimism has infected Australian consumers, pushing confidence levels higher. As AAP reports, consumers are particularly upbeat about their personal finances, the weekly survey from ANZ and Roy Morgan has revealed.
A confidence boost at the start of the new year is not unusual, but ANZ economist Madeline Dunk says last week’s result is among the top three since 2023.
Higher interest rates and cost-of-living pain have been weighing on consumer sentiment but the darkest days appear to be over, with the confidence gauge trending higher from the lows of 2023.
We expect the upward momentum to continue through 2025, as tax cuts, rising real wages and, eventually, rate cuts support household disposable incomes.
Inflation is expected to moderate further and real incomes improve, but Australia’s jobs market is expected to weaken a little over the course of 2025 as growth remains fairly fragile.
SEEK senior economist Blair Chapman says the jobs market is still stabilising after the post-Covid-19 pandemic hiring boom.
Advertising on the jobs marketplace was weaker towards the end of 2024 compared with earlier in the year, he says, reflecting normalising labour demand easing from a very high base. But hiring in the care economy, including jobs in health care and childcare, is unlikely to slow down.
Mornington Peninsula locals fired up over beach cabana hack
Continuing from our last post, the Mornington Peninsula Leader has reported that people living on the Mornington Peninsula are fired up online about the beach cabana hack.
A beach cabana is similar to a tent, but has four posts. The media outlet published a photo showing at least four cabanas placed closely together, but there were no beachgoers enjoying the shade under them.
One person reportedly wrote that they were “not a fan of this marking your territory then leaving”, while another suggested “enjoying the facilities” until the owners returned.
Albanese wades into beach cabanas debate
Krishani Dhanji
Who doesn’t sometimes wish for a bit of shade on the beach on a sweltering day?
Well, there’s been some controversy on social media with photos showing some beach goers using portable cabanas to reserve prime spots on the sand.
Anthony Albanese has weighed in, saying it’s “not on” and goes against our egalitarian spirit.
He told the Today show this morning:
One of the great things about Australia, unlike some parts of the world, [where] you go and you’ve got to pay to go to the beach, here, everyone owns the beach …
That’s a breach of that principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours.
Krishani Dhanji
Police continue search for man missing in Kosciuszko
As mentioned a little earlier, police are still hopeful of finding 23-year-old Hadi Nazari who has been missing in the park since Boxing Day.
More than 300 people are part of the large-scale search. A camera and its case, a campfire and a lighter were found on Sunday.
Rafqa Touma has the full story here:
Man dies in hospital after suspicious house fire
An 83-year-old man who was critically injured in a suspicious house fire in Queensland has died in hospital.
Queensland police said the man, injured during the fire at Gulliver on Boxing Day, died from his injuries in Townsville hospital yesterday. Investigations are continuing into the fire.
A 53-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in the Royal Brisbane hospital.
Andrew Spliet said officers would continue the search, and someone would review all the search areas that have taken place so far and “look at what has been undertaken with a fresh set of eyes”.
[The search area] continually gets reviewed, depending on what we find.
Officers hopeful Nazari could be found alive given access to water
Supt Andrew Spliet said officers remain “very hopeful” Hadi Nazari is still alive and “we will continue the search until we’re comfortable that we have done everything that we possibly can”.
We are still hopeful, we are still detecting items of interest that belong to him and that is a real credit and shows how thorough the search has been that we are locating those very small items in such a large dense bushland …
Given what we have been told by the experts who look after the survivability report for us, we are still hopeful. He has access to water, that is the reasons why we are still out here and actively engaged.
On the camera that was found, Spliet said there were photos on there but he would not disclose details out of respect for the family.
They do not believe he has any other camera gear with him.
Police working to determine how long ago missing hiker Hadi Nazari lit campfire
Taking questions, Andrew Spliet said the campfire was found two days ago and officers are working to determine how long ago it was lit, to provide a timeline for when Hadi Nazari was in the area.
The find reveals that Nazari appears to be moving around, Spliet said.
From the search area where the campfire was located and the camera case, it was some distance away from where the poles and the rubbish were located earlier on … It is a fairly large area, so we are pretty confident he has covered a bit of ground.
We are searching a lot of the waterways and so forth because it is very important if you are out in these conditions, in this area, that you have access to water. We are focusing on that as well as where the items have been located.
Police provide update on search for missing hiker in KNP
NSW police officers are providing an update on the search for Hadi Nazari, 23, who is missing in Kosciuszko national park and was last seen on Boxing Day.
Supt Andrew Spliet said up to 300 people have been conducting field searches in dense terrain, with “a lot of thick bushland and growth”.
He said on NYE officers found some rubbish and a hiker pole believed to be Nazari’s, and on Sunday, they found a camp fire area, a lighter and camera case which has been confirmed to belong to him.
That area is an increased focus with the search now and we have search teams out in the field at the moment conducting searches still of the search area. We will continue with the search until we are confident that we have covered every area that we possibly can. During this time we have been keeping the family updated on the search, and they are out assisting as well with some of the searchers.
Warning issued for mosquito bites in NSW amid Japanese encephalitis detections
Holidaymakers and residents in NSW are being urged to stay vigilant about mosquito bites this summer, after recent detections of Japanese encephalitis and Murray Valley encephalitis virus.
NSW Health’s executive director of health protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty said JE had been found in mosquitoes in the Moree area, as part of its surveillance program.
MVE was also detected in sentinel chicken flocks in Cowra and West Wyalong in samples collected in December 2024. McAnulty said:
JE virus was previously detected in mosquitoes in December 2024 in the Griffith area, and in feral pigs in the Narromine Shire local government area …
These detections indicate the risk for mosquito-borne virus transmission is widespread, particularly in the 55 NSW local government areas that are at higher risk of JE in the inland regions.
Here is an explainer on JE from 2022, during a previous spike in cases:
Man extradited to NSW after alleged bungled ambush led to chase and shots fired at police car
A man who has been extradited from Queensland to NSW will face court today, after an alleged bungled shooting resulted in a high-speed chase through south-west Sydney.
Mostafa Rachwani had the full story on this last Tuesday:
A 20-year-old man was arrested by the AFP at Brisbane Airport on Friday and taken to Brisbane Watchhouse. He appeared at the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday, where Campbelltown detectives were granted his extradition to NSW.
He was escorted to Mascot Police Station where an outstanding warrant was executed, and he was charged with 13 offences. He was refused bail to appear before Downing Centre Local Court today.
