Australia news live: Canavan says ‘too much talk of diversity’ in address to Canberra anti-immigration rally – as it happened
- +Albanese pays tribute to Peter Morris, former Hawke minister
- +Victorian premier defends appointment of Labor members to board seats
The Nationals party leader, Matt Canavan, says the country has spent too much time talking about diversity and not enough on unifying, addressing attenders at the anti-immigration rally outside Parliament House.
The Nationals party leader, Matt Canavan, says the country has spent too much time talking about diversity and not enough on unifying, addressing attenders at the anti-immigration rally outside Parliament House.
Despite having previously condemned Pauline Hanson for her comments against Muslim Australians, Canavan preceded the One Nation leader on stage, and said Australia needed “better standards” on migration.
It’s a similar line to one used by his colleague, the Liberal leader, Angus Taylor – that migration standards have been “too low”.
double quotation markWe’ve just had a little bit too much talk of diversity. We’re all different … And that’s great, but we now just talk all about that and we don’t talk enough about unifying, about [how] we’re one nation.
We’re going to check who’s coming. This country’s going to have better standards, and we’re going to bring the numbers down. And yes, if you don’t share our values, you’re getting deported.
Earlier this morning, Taylor wouldn’t criticise Hanson’s stance on migration and said there were “some things we might agree on”.
Thanks for staying with our live coverage of the day’s news today. Nick Visser will be back tomorrow morning to keep you updated.
Here were Sunday’s top stories:
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor said the Coalition will preference One Nation in the Farrer byelection to stop “teal policies”.
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, addressed an anti-immigration rally in Canberra, saying net zero is socialism and Australia has “too much talk of diversity”.
The women and children who have left a Syrian detention camp have not bought plane tickets to Australia, Guardian Australia has been told.
A Brisbane rock band, Regurgitator, has led singing of ‘like a river to the sea’ to protest Queensland’s contentious hate speech laws.
The health minister, Mark Butler, has threatened the Queensland government, warning its agreement to his NDIS reforms are “part of the deal” for hospital funding.
And Victorian motorists will get a rebate on their vehicle registration, in the latest pre-election sweetener handed down by Labor’s Jacinta Allan.
A 28-year-old man has been rescued after swimming for hours and being stranded overnight on a solo trip to an island off the Western Australian coast.
Police said they understood the man went on a solo boating and camping trip on 16 April at Picard Island, off the coast of Port Samson in the Pilbara.
He reached the island in a 3.3 metre inflatable dinghy at 5pm and checked in with his family at 9pm, telling them he planned to return to the mainland, police said.
But while snorkelling off his boat, about five kilometres from Picard Island, his boat broke anchor, leaving him stranded. He spent “several hours” in the water attempting to swim to a different nearby island, before returning to Picard Island, police said.
At 10am the next day, his family told police they were worried and hadn’t heard from him, prompting a multi‐agency search and rescue operation, assisted by volunteers and private and commercial boats.
That afternoon, police spotters on a charter flight saw the man signalling for assistance in knee‐deep water in a remote part of Picard Island. They directed a nearby commercial fishing vessel to his location and he was recovered and taken to the Point Samson boat ramp. St John WA paramedics treated him for severe dehydration but found he was not injured.
Albanese pays tribute to Peter Morris, former Hawke minister
The prime minister has paid tribute to Peter Morris, a former minister in the Hawke government, who has died aged 93.
Morris represented the seat of Shortland, in the NSW Hunter region, for more than 25 years between 1972 and 1998, and was a minister for transport under Bob Hawke.
Anthony Albanese says Morris’s work was “always shaped by Labor values and his deeply humane instincts”.
double quotation markWhen I was transport minister Peter was a source of sound and constructive advice ... He was one [of] those people who gave our movement heart. In the process, he helped make the Hunter - and Australia - better.
Washington DC mistakenly raises Australian, not UK, flags for King Charles’s visit
Washington DC’s district officials mistakenly placed several Australian flags instead of British flags near the White House ahead of King Charles’s US visit, Reuters reports.
The error was quickly corrected, a District of Columbia Department of Transportation official said on Friday.
Charles is also the head of state of Australia, but the role is largely ceremonial.
Fifteen Australian flags were briefly included among more than 230 flags put on display to welcome the British king when he arrives in the US capital on Monday. They were later replaced with the British flag, the official said.
Charles’s state visit, to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence from British rule, is widely seen as the most high-profile trip of his reign so far. He will meet the US president, Donald Trump, and address a joint meeting of Congress.
The trip will aim to shore up the two allies’ “special relationship,” which has sunk to its lowest point in 70 years amid strains over the war in Iran.
Less than 1% of Queensland police Glock pistols have multiple-shot defect, minister says
The Queensland police minister, Dan Purdie, says testing of standard-issue police Glock pistols has identified “less than 1%” have a firing fault that prompted a recall. The Glock pistols remain in use, despite the discovery of a fault that could cause some weapons to fire multiple shots.
A malfunction was discovered during routine testing of the weapon that could result in multiple shots being fired when the firearm is discharged, forcing police to retest all service-issued Glock handguns. Purdie told reporters on Sunday that police had tested almost 8,000 of the 15,000 total weapons and discovered the fault in fewer than 1%.
Government to receive audit of scandal-plagued Corporate Travel Management in June
The Australian government expects to receive an audit of Corporate Travel Management (CTM) in June after the ASX-listed company overcharged its UK clients.
CTM this week said it would repay its customers up to £128m ($242m) after uncovering evidence of overcharging since 2019.
The company told shareholders it owed more in refunds than it had available cash, with $115m in cash and $75m in undrawn debt as of the end of March.
CTM agreed to an Australian audit last year to allay fears it could have overcharged Australian customers as well.
The Department of Finance today confirmed Axiom, an assurance and advisory firm, began auditing CTM in January and is due to report in June.
Victorian premier defends appointment of Labor members to board seats
