Key events
What we learned: Wednesday, 14 May
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Here are the major developments from today:
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New South Wales women will have easier access to abortion pills after both houses passed a bill allowing nurse practitioners and registered midwives to prescribe the medication.
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Wages picked up a little stronger than expected at the start of 2025 to continue clawing back the purchasing power households lost from three years of high inflation.
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Anthony Albanese said Australia has “no more important relationship than the one we have with Indonesia” before setting off for Jakarta.
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Australia’s ageing coal power stations broke down 128 times during the hotter months of 2024-25, according to a report from Reliability Watch.
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The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has confirmed one container of ballot papers for the NSW seat of Barton was temporarily misplaced during the count, with a transport officer found to have possession of the container.
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Macquarie Bank’s stockbroker arm is being sued by the corporate regulator, which alleges it misled the share market operator for 14 years by failing to properly report at least 73m sales, and potentially as many as 1.5bn.
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And the co-founder and chief executive of Cheek Media, Hannah Ferguson, announced her intention to run for the Senate at the next federal election as an independent candidate while addressing the National Press Club.
Thanks for reading along – we’ll be back first thing tomorrow.
Natasha May
Nurses and Midwives’ Association expresses support for abortion bill
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association have expressed their support for the abortion reform bill, which has allowed nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe medical abortions.
Acting general secretary, Michael Whaites, said:
We see this as an important change that will improve access to care. More broadly, nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives have the necessary qualifications, clinical experience, training, and lawful authority to safely prescribe and make referrals and are an under-utilised resource.
This legislative change will bring NSW in line with most other states and territories, ensure the nursing and midwifery workforce is working to full scope of practice and remove barriers disadvantaging women in rural and remote areas.
Natasha May
NSW Greens celebrate after abortion access bill passes both houses
The Greens have welcomed their party’s second ever bill to pass both houses of the NSW parliament, and received support across the political spectrum, with a conscience vote for members of the Labor, Liberal and National parties.
The Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025, introduced to the legislative council by the Greens’ health spokesperson, Dr Amanda Cohn, will expand access to abortion in NSW by enabling nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe abortion medication, as well as requiring additional public reporting of information about abortion access.
Cohn said:
The Greens are incredibly proud to have put abortion access on the political agenda and driven this needed change for women’s rights and reproductive rights in NSW.
Abortion is health care and that has been re-affirmed by the parliament today. Equitable access to reproductive health care in rural NSW won’t be fixed by this bill alone. The government must fund abortion services in public hospitals, as the premier promised last year.
The Greens’ spokesperson for women, Jenny Leong, who introduced the bill to the legislative assembly, said it continued the long Greens tradition of being “unapologetically pro-choice”.
Nationals senator accuses Labor of not having ‘turned the corner on gender equality’
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has lashed out at Labor over having no “people of power who can also wear a dress” in a fiery exchange with Labor senator Marielle Smith.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, McKenzie said Sussan Ley was an “incredibly experienced, professional politician” who would be a “great opposition leader”.
This is the first time the Liberal party have had a female leader, I think we need to applaud them for that. Julie Bishop couldn’t get there. And we want to make sure that this is a successful leadership heading into the next election.
She later interrupted Smith as the Labor senator was praising her party’s quotas and strong female representation, saying:
I look forward to the Labor party power brokers being called “faceless women”, that’s when we know the power within the Labor party … is actually sitting with women … That’s when I know the Labor party will have actually turned the corner on gender equality, when the people who hold the power can also wear a dress.
Smith said her comments were “extremely offensive”, to which McKenzie replied: “Name one power broker who is a woman” and continued:
Tanya Plibersek should be leading your party. What happened to Tanya?
We don’t have quotas in the National party and I don’t think we ever will. What the Liberal party does with getting more women involved is up to them. The reality is our Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, is a female, Anne Ruston is also on the leadership team, Sussan Ley, et cetera, myself, and others.
(Plibersek was deputy Labor leader between 2013 and 2019.)
Woman charged with attempted murder after Queensland stabbing
In Queensland, a 49-year-old woman has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a man repeatedly and contravening a domestic violence order.
At about 3pm yesterday, police allege the woman stabbed the man, who was known to her, a number of times with a knife at a home in the Brisbane suburb of Banyo.
Attending police applied first aid to the man and apprehended the woman upon arrival at the scene. He sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to hospital for treatment.
The 49-year-old Banyo woman has been charged with one count each of attempt to murder (domestic violence offence), contravention of a domestic violence order and obstruct a police officer.
She has been denied police bail and is expected to appear in Brisbane magistrates court today.
PM says Australia has ‘no more important relationship’ than with Indonesia
Albanese goes on to discuss his trip to Indonesia – which is his “first port of call” after being re-elected.
It’s important in our own interests but also in the interests of the region that we have a strong relationship with Indonesia. That’s why when elected prime minister the first country I had a bilateral trip with was Indonesia. And this time in my second term once again I’m returning to Indonesia as the first port of call. Because there’s no more important relationship than the one we have with Indonesia.
Asked about Russia’s play for an airbase in Indonesia, which drew extensive concern from Peter Dutton over the election campaign, Albanese said Indonesia had made their position “very clear”.
Indonesia is a sovereign nation, but they made it very clear that the position that Mr Dutton spoke about just wasn’t the case. And the verballing of the Indonesian president is not a good idea by anyone in a senior position in Australia.
The Australian can continue to report on something that isn’t happening if you wish. But the truth is, it’s not happening. And everyone senior in the Indonesian government said it wasn’t happening and I find it just a bit strange I continue to be asked about something that’s not happening.
Albanese speaks to media in Perth
The prime minister just fronted the media in Perth ahead of his trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. Standing behind him were elected Labor MPs in Western Australia.
Anthony Albanese said he visited WA 33 times as PM in his first term, and was “starting to click over to 34 now as we go forward”.
WA is so important. It’s an engine room of our national economy. It’s a growing state.
The PM said he just met with the state’s premier, Roger Cook, where they discussed their “joint vision” of a future made in Australia, with WA “front and centre”.
When you look at the transformation of the clean energy economy, WA is a driver of it … the capacity they have for resources, for value adding, it’s going to continue to drive the national economy.
I said when I came here … that I wasn’t just about holding the seats we won in 2022, I was about building on them. And build on them we have … our members right across the board campaigned so strongly and I thank them for it … We have for the last two elections run very specific WA campaigns as separate from the national campaign, recognising that there are particular interests here.
Abortion provider welcomes ‘historic moment for NSW’ after bill passes
Natasha May
Independent abortion and contraception provider MSI Australia has welcomed the “historic moment” expanding health practitioners who can prescribe medical abortions.
MSI’s medical director, Philip Goldstone, said in a statement:
This an historic moment for NSW, expanding choice and improving access.
We support legislative change that broadens access by enabling nurses and midwives to provide medical abortion safely and that aligns with the changes made by the TGA.
The provision of medical abortion by nurses and midwives expands choice for women, making abortion care more accessible. It is particularly important for women in rural and regional areas, where there is still stigma surrounding abortion care and a limited number of doctors that provide it.
We continually advocate for better access to abortion care, and have agreements in the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia to work alongside government to provide abortion care where there is inadequate public provision. Unfortunately, no such arrangements exist in NSW where public abortion provision is poorly funded or non-existent.
NSW passes bill to allow easier access to abortion pills
Natasha May
New South Wales women will have easier access to abortion pills after both houses passed a bill allowing nurse practitioners and registered midwives to prescribe the medication.
The new legislation on medical abortions brings NSW in line with other Australian states which have passed similar laws. A medical abortion involves taking prescribed abortion pills up to nine weeks’ gestation, while a surgical abortion is a procedure undertaken in a clinical setting.
The vote on Greens health spokesperson Dr Amanda Cohn’s abortion amendment bill was carried in the lower house with 65 in favour and 20 opposed.
The bill already passed the upper house on Thursday last week. However, it will have to return to the upper house in a few weeks’ time to be officially passed into law due to a typographical error in the bill from the upper house.
Read more here:
Liberal-National coalition has ‘very positive future’, Ruston says
Ruston was also asked about the Coalition’s energy policy going forward, and whether the Liberals’ partnership with the Nationals was still serving the party.
She said the Coalition over the years had been able to work together while “understanding and respecting” differences in some policy positions.
We come together and we work together in what we think is in the best interests of the people we represent … I think there’s a very positive future and there will be a future of the Coalition going forward.
On the Coalition’s commitment to net zero by 2050, Ruston said the most “critical issue” to solve for the government was energy bills.
There’s a very, very serious issue that is right before us now, and that’s affordable reliable power.
Anne Ruston says Ley leadership a ‘wonderful opportunity’ for Liberal party
Still on Ley, Liberal senator Anne Ruston says her leadership is a “wonderful opportunity” for her party to “move forward and rebuild”.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Ruston – a backer of Ley – described her as an “extremely capable politician” with a extensive experience in parliament and the “real world”.
At the same time, Ruston said she was realistic about how “devastating” the election results were for the Liberals.
We all need to take a very analytical look at what happened on the election and the lead-up to the election. You only learn and are able to make change, positive change, to move forward, by reflecting on what went wrong.
Pointed to whether it was time to act on quotas to improve female representation in the party, Ruston said “we need to look at everything” – whether it be “women voters” or other communities – but cautioned “you should pick the best person for the job”.
I have never been a great supporter of quotas. I do believe that you have to take affirmative action to make sure you’ve got representation … I want to make it one of my roles going forward, to make sure we’re supporting young women, so they’re joining our party. I want to support all young people because they’re the future of the party.
Will Sussan Ley fix the Liberal party’s “woman problem”?
Sussan Ley says her appointment sends a positive signal to Australian women. But does the party really believe its “woman” problem can be fixed so easily? Former Liberal MP for Chisholm, Julia Banks, who later became an independent, is not so sure.
Writing for Guardian Australia, she recalls Scott Morrison addressing the Liberal party room in 2018 with an “evangelical Trumpian fervour” after taking down Malcom Turnbull to become leader.
He pointed to the framed photographs of previous Liberal leaders and prime ministers and said, in what I’m sure he thought was a Churchillian tone: “One day there will be a woman there.” The room was glum with silence, pierced only by [Julie] Bishop’s quiet quip. In which century?
Read the piece here:
Two arrested after homemade shotgun found in Melbourne car
In Victoria, two 22-year-olds have been arrested after a homemade shotgun was discovered in a car.
Detectives undertook a search warrant early this morning at a home in the Melbourne suburb of Pakenham. As part of the investigation, they searched a woman’s car outside the address, where they discovered a slam gun (a homemade shotgun) and four cartridges of shotgun ammunition.
The woman, 22, and a 22-year-old male, both from Pakenham, were arrested and interviewed by investigators.
This afternoon, they were charged with two counts of possess handgun and two counts of possess ammunition.
They were bailed to appear at Dandenong magistrates court on 25 August.