NEW SOUTH WALES – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Berejiklian under pressure as former lover admits to cash for visas

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Original article by Josh Butler
The New Daily – Page: Online : 15-Oct-20

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is under growing pressure following the latest revelations at an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry. Disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has told the inquiry that he had used his office in Parliament House for private business dealings. This included receiving large cash payments as part of a ‘cash for visas’ scheme that was operated by G8way International. Maguire was not questioned about his relationship with Berejiklian on his first day of evidence; Berejiklian has reiterated that she had no knowledge of his business dealings.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Leaders’ spat a risk to our national unity

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Original article by Craig Johnstone, Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 5 : 22-May-20

Professor AJ Brown of Griffith University says a war of words between state leaders over restrictions on interstate travel may undermine the national cabinet’s spirit of co-operation during the coronavirus pandemic. The professor of public policy and law says it is "surprising and a little disappointing" that New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is calling for state borders to be reopened for economic reasons. NSW has criticised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for signalling that her state’s borders may remain closed until September.

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GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

NSW will follow ‘experts’, not Morrison: Premier

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 16-Jan-20

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has reiterated that the state will undertake its own review of the bushfire season. However, she adds that it will be open to participating in the federal government’s proposed royal commission. Berejiklian has also stressed that the state’s policy on hazard reduction burns is based on advice from experts rather than politicians. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suggested that a federal inquiry could look at issues such as state governments’ preparedness for the bushfire season, including hazard reduction burns.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED FIREFIGHTERS’ UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Lockouts to go but NSW festival laws fail

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: Online : 27-Sep-19

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has slammed Labor, Greens and crossbench MPs after they moved to disallow regulations governing the safety of music festivals in NSW. The Upper House move comes as a cross-parliamentary committee is expected to recommend on 30 September that lockout laws and late-night drink restrictions in Sydney’s CBD be repealed, but that restrictions in Kings Cross remain in place. Berejiklian claims the actions of the NSW Upper House MPs have put "thousands of lives at risk".

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Rebel Liberals call spill against NSW Premier

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Sep-19

Three Liberal MPs will launch a ’empty chair’ spill motion against New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on 17 September over abortion legislation. The legislation has passed the NSW Lower House on a conscience vote, despite most Liberal MPs voting against it. The three MPs – Lower House member Tanya Davies and Upper House members Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato – have stated they are launching their motion against Berejiklian because of the unwillingness of her and her government to agree to proposed amendments to the legislation that would be put to the Upper House.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

We’re in a terrible state: NSW Labor leader

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Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 30-Aug-19

New South Wales Labor leader Jodi McKay says Kaila Murnain will not return to her role as the party’s general secretary following her suspension on 28 August. McKay adds that she cannot understand how the scandal over a $100,000 cash donation to NSW Labor was allowed to ‘fester’ for so long. She also says Labor is unlikely to win office in the state until it regains the trust of voters. Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese has declined to comment on the donations scandal in NSW.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION

NSW Labor suspends party’s HQ boss

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Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Aug-19

Labor’s New South Wales branch has suspended its general secretary, Kaila Murnain, as the scandal over political donations from a Chinese property developer deepens. Murnain appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on 28 August, where she admitted that she had been aware of the illegal donation in September 2016 but had remained silent about it on the advice of Labor’s lawyer Ian Robertson. Labor’s NSW parliamentary leader Jodi McKay says she immediately took action to have Murnain suspended.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION

Developer says tower cracks years old

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Original article by Brad Norington, Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 7 : 27-Jun-19

Aland Developments MD Andrew Hrsto has rejected suggestions that construction work on his company’s Peak Towers project caused the cracks in the structure of the adjacent Mascot Towers. Hrsto says an engineering report on buildings near the Peak Towers project showed that structural defects were found in the Mascot Towers building several years before work on his company’s project commenced. John Barilaro, the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, recently claimed that the problems at Mascot Towers were caused by construction work at adjacent building sites.

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ALAND DEVELOPMENTS, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Santos CEO comes out firing on Narrabri

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 27-Feb-19

New South Wales Opposition Leader Michael Daley says Labor will block Santos’s proposed Narrabri coal seam gas project if it wins the state election on 23 March. He has warned that the $3bn project presents an "unacceptable risk" to water resources, farming and indigenous communities. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher has stressed that protecting the environment and water resources is a priority for the oil and gas group. He adds that failure to develop the state’s gas resources will result in higher gas and electricity prices, as well as the loss of manufacturing jobs and investment in the state.

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SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Design and building flaws behind fiasco

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 6 : 16-Jan-19

The New South Wales Government has released an independent experts’ report on the cause of cracked concrete panels on the Opal Tower in Sydney. The interim report found a number of design and construction problems with the residential tower, although it concluded that the building is structurally sound. The reports’ authors noted that while the cracks were primarily the result of design and construction issues, the problem was exacerbated as residents began moving into the building.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE, ICON CO PTY LTD, WSP GROUP