The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Back to school for new senators
Australia’s newly-elected senators are in Canberra to learn the ropes before their first day at work.
The 14 Senators-elect will attend Senate school at Parliament House today.
They’ll get a three-day induction covering everything from setting up their offices to Senate procedures, before they return to Canberra next week to start their new jobs.
The Turnbull Government has 30 seats in the new Senate and will need nine extra votes to pass laws and motions. The Coalition will now have 11 crossbenchers to contend with, compared with eight in the previous parliament.
Hinch backs fed govt on CFA changes
Meanwhile, new crossbench senator Derryn Hinch will support the federal government’s plans to shield volunteer firefighters from the influence of unions.
The Turnbull government will introduce changes to the Fair Work Act when parliament resumes next week, in response to a long-running state pay dispute involving CFA volunteers in Victoria.
Hinch told ABC TV this morning he was pleased the government would try and “thwart” unions and the Victorian Labor government.
Unused parking costs WA govt $500k a month
The West Australian government’s massive damages claim against builder John Holland for the unfinished Perth Children’s Hospital has increased after it was revealed a private contractor is getting $500,000 a month in taxpayer funds for an unused car park.
Delays in the construction project triggered a contract clause from July 1 requiring the government to pay the Capella Parking consortium – which has built a $120 million-plus multi-storey car park at the site – $500,000 a month.
WA Health Minister John Day says the government will demand John Holland pay back an amount expected to reach at least $2.5 million. That’s on top of the tens of millions of dollars in damages the government will already claim due to faulty fixtures and delays of more than a year in the new hospital’s completion.
No costings out yet ahead of NT election
Five days out from the Northern Territory election, Territorians won’t get a proper look at the line-by-line costings of both major parties’ promises until a couple of days before they head to the polls.
On Monday the CLP government announced it had sent its figures to treasury, as has Labor. But Labor won’t release those costings before Thursday, two days out from the election. The CLP is still at least a day away from getting back the full figures, the chief minster Adam Giles says.
The Territory heads to the polls on Saturday, where polls have suggested the CLP government faces an electoral wipeout, and may be reduced to as little as four seats.
Public appeal in Qld mum murder case
NSW Police are seeking help to find the car in which suspected murder victim Sabrina Bremer is thought to have been travelling before she died.
Detectives are appealing to the public to help locate the white 2002 Toyota sedan with the Queensland registration 282VGN. The car was last seen in the Logan area, south of Brisbane, on the night of August 15.
Ms Bremer, 34, was captured on CCTV leaving Logan Central Police Station earlier that day. Her burning body was found three days later by a dirt road at Dulgiugan, southwest of Tweed Heads, in far north NSW.
Tributes flow for Vic death in Cambodia
Friends and family of a Victorian woman who drowned while on holiday in Cambodia have paid tribute to the “beautiful person” with a “heart of gold”.
Kristy Blackney drowned while holidaying alone, reportedly in a flash flood, near Kampot on Sunday.
The 24-year-old who grew up in Inverloch had left Perth for Bangkok on July 26 for an extended holiday in South East Asia.
Friends have set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money to bring her body back to Australia and has already raised more than $21,000.
