Multiple media outlets call Bradfield for teal independent Nicolette Boele
Multiple media outlets have declared Nicolette Boele the winner of the NSW seat of Bradfield after a recount, defeating Liberal challenger Gisele Kapterian.
The ABC declared Boele the winner, saying even though the margin is just 27 votes, only a “very small number” of ballot papers are awaiting final adjudication. AAP has also called Bradfield for Boele, as have the Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News.
Key events
Tory Shepherd
Final resting place of James Cook’s Endeavour confirmed by National Maritime Museum
More than two-and-a-half centuries after Capt James Cook arrived in Australia on the HM Bark Endeavour, the Australian National Maritime Museum has published its final report on the ship’s resting place.
The museum published a preliminary report in 2022 that a wreck in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island was the Lord Sandwich, which was previously known as the Endeavour. The museum was confident of its identification but there was some transatlantic pushback and the museum continued its research for three more years.
On Wednesday, the museum’s director, Daryl Karp, said it stood by its 2022 conclusions – the culmination of 25 years of research.
Read more about that process here:
Police release CCTV footage after man’s body found in bin near Hobart
Tasmania police have released CCTV images of two women seen near an industrial-sized bin where a man’s body was found by a garbage contractor on Monday, AAP reports.
The body of Luke Jon Telega, 45, was discovered by a garbage contractor about 9am on Monday, behind a hairdresser and Salvation Army store in Bellerive, Hobart. Telega was last seen alive at 10pm on Saturday, but police said there was a significant gap in the timeline leading up to the discovery of his body.
Police have identified two people of interest, including a woman seen on CCTV standing outside a shopfront in the area at 7.50pm on Sunday. She may have spoken with someone on the street at the time and was seen driving what is believed to be a light-coloured Toyota Prado. Police have identified another woman, who was seen on the footage at 8.05pm on Sunday. She was driving a red SUV.
Tom McIlroy
More from Chalmers on the tobacco excise: not ‘convinced’ cut would end illegal sales
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said earlier Labor won’t cut or freeze tobacco excise, despite calls from the New South Wales premier for action from the federal government.
Chris Minns says the huge surge in illegal tobacco sales across his state shows the federal excise is pushing smokers to illegal options, and driving down revenue for the federal government.
Other states are dealing with crime related to illegal tobacco sales and some health experts believe recent increases in the excise levels are not driving down smoking rates in Australia.
I’m not convinced that cutting the excise on cigarettes would mean that that would be the end of illegal activity.
He also confirmed a freeze was not under consideration.
Man in custody in ongoing investigation into missing teen Pheobe Bishop
Queensland police say a man, 34, is in custody as part of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of missing teen Pheobe Bishop.
Police said the man is assisting with enquires. No charges have been laid or allegations made against him.
Bishop has been missing since 15 May. She was last seen near Bundaberg airport, where she was meant to board a flight to Western Australia. Officials say she never made it inside the airport.
Greg Jericho breaks down Labor’s super tax plan
The Albanese government wants to reduce the tax breaks for those with more than $3m in superannuation. And while sections of the media are highly critical of the changes, others say the proposal does little to address intergenerational inequality in the tax system.
Columnist Greg Jericho speaks to Reged Ahmad about why the media debate over a smaller tax break for Australia’s wealthiest 0.5% is divorced from reality.
Natasha May
Health minister also throws water on Minns’ call to lower tobacco tax
The health minister has quashed the NSW premier Chris Minns’ suggestion the federal government consider lowering the tobacco excise because it may be contributing to the rise of illegal tobacco across the country.
Mark Butler said:
I want to be very clear, since the increase in tobacco excise started a little more than a decade ago, 1 million fewer Australians are smoking. That is having a profound impact, not just on their health most importantly, but also on the health system itself.
It’s quite clear from evidence all around the world that in the toolbox of tobacco control, lifting the price of cigarettes is the most effective tool.
Government data at the end of last year showed that as a result of smoking rates declining, obesity last year overtook tobacco smoking as the leading risk factor contributing to disease in 2024.
Butler said:
I also make the point that a number of other countries, most countries that have lower-priced cigarettes than Australia, also have burgeoning illicit or black-market cigarette markets. This is just the nature of organised crime around the world. They recognise illicit cigarettes as a low-risk, high-reward way in which to make money, to bankroll all of their other criminal activities.
… We can’t raise the white flag on big tobacco and organised crime.
Wait is on for official AEC verdict as multiple media outlets declare Nicolette Boele winner in Bradfield
Krishani Dhanji
Nicolette Boele is close to being declared the winner for Bradfield, 27 votes ahead of Liberal Gisele Kapterian according to the latest updated count by the Australian Electoral Commission.
But we’ll have to wait a couple more hours before the AEC formally makes the call, as their state manager for NSW reviews a few final challenged ballot papers. But those few remaining ballots to be confirmed are unlikely to change the result.
Multiple outlets have declared the count for Boele.
It’s been one of the tightest seat contests in history, and the candidates were tied at one point while the counts were taking place.
Chalmers defends super tax changes, will make system ‘fairer’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said earlier that Labor had spent years open to comment on the proposed changes to taxes on large superannuation balances north of $3m, but no one had come forward with a better plan. He said during a press conference:
We said to people, if there is a better, fairer way of making this calculation, tell us about it. …
We provided years of opportunities for people to suggest different ways of liability and nobody has come up with one.
Anne Davies
More from Chris Minns on the tobacco excise
NSW will raise cutting the tobacco excise to deter illegal tobacco sales at the next health ministers’ meeting later this month, the premier, Chris Minns, said on Kiis FM this morning. He said:
Look, it’s probably not a popular thing for a premier to say, because there’s been a tax on cigarettes and excise on cigarettes for decades, and I understand that. But they’ve been radically increased since 2019 so a packet in 2020 had a $16 tax on it. Today it’s $28.
Minns said that the high taxes were causing ordinary citizens, who would never usually break the law, to buy illegal tobacco:
They wouldn’t break the law in a million years, but they’re being dragged into a black market where they go to the store, they can either buy a $17 or $20 packet of illegal cigarettes or a $60 packet of cigarettes.
He also said that tobacco shops, often associated with organised crime, were driving out legitimate businesses like bread shops from shopping strips because of the higher rent they could afford to pay.
I mean, every tax and every tax change starts with an idea. Every single one of them, someone’s saying, “Look, I don’t think this is working. We need to change and so we might as well get the ball rolling here.”
Multiple media outlets call Bradfield for teal independent Nicolette Boele
Multiple media outlets have declared Nicolette Boele the winner of the NSW seat of Bradfield after a recount, defeating Liberal challenger Gisele Kapterian.
The ABC declared Boele the winner, saying even though the margin is just 27 votes, only a “very small number” of ballot papers are awaiting final adjudication. AAP has also called Bradfield for Boele, as have the Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News.
Chalmers says government won’t cut tobacco taxes despite call from Chris Minns
Chalmers was asked about a recent call from the NSW premier, Chris Minns, to lower the tobacco excise in an attempt to undercut the sale of illegal cigarettes and other products. Chalmers said he wouldn’t move to make cigarettes “cheaper for people”:
We’ve seen tax revenue for cigarettes come down for two reasons … fewer people smoking, the bad reason is we know that we’ve got a challenge when it comes to illegal tobacco. …
I respectfully disagree with Chris. … I don’t think the answer here is to make cigarettes cheaper for people.
