Australia news live: Erin Patterson’s daughter says her mother was a ‘very good cook’; PM’s department boss quits​on May 9, 2025 at 3:07 am

Greens to decide new leader next Thursday

It’s all happening in politics right now – with Labor, Greens and Liberal members all jostling for cabinet/ shadow cabinet/ and leadership positions at the same time.

Saturday’s election claimed the scalps of two party leaders – Peter Dutton and Adam Bandt, who conceded defeat yesterday.

While it was confirmed this morning that Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor will go head to head next Tuesday to determine who will lead the Liberals, the Greens will be deciding on their new leader a couple of days later on the Thursday.

Acting Greens Leader Nick McKim just announced the date in a statement, and said losing Bandt, on top of Queensland MPs Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates was “a bitter blow”.

Our party room will meet on Thursday to decide our next leader and leadership team. There are a number of incredible people who would make great leaders of our party, and I have absolute confidence that whoever is chosen will lead us strongly and well.

Current deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young are considered to be the top leadership contenders.

US company confirms deal to buy Nine-backed real estate portal Domain

US property conglomerate CoStar has secured a deal to buy Domain, the real estate portal majority owned by media company Nine.

Domain confirmed on the ASX today that the deal, disclosed in February, would go ahead, valuing the property platform at $3bn. This equates to a cash payment of $4.43 per Domain share.

The new owner will be looking to boost the competitiveness of Domain against its dominant rival, the News Corp-backed REA Group, which owns listings platform realestate.com.au.

The Domain board has asked shareholders to support the deal. The transaction still has some hurdles to overcome, and will require approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The decision by Nine to sell the asset represents an immediate cash injection into the media company, but robs it of a strategic asset that added diversity to its publishing and broadcast business.

The Domain chair, Nick Falloon, said:

The Domain board has carefully considered the CoStar proposal and believes it represents compelling value and a high degree of certainty for Domain shareholders through the cash offer and limited conditionality.

Share price movements show that many investors had expected the final offer would be more than $4.43, but recent market volatility had also raised concerns that the deal might collapse.

Turning our focus back to the Erin Patterson trial for a moment.

Erin Patterson’s son ate leftovers of the deadly mushroom meal the next day, describing it as “some of the best meat I’ve ever had”.

In pre-recorded video evidence, Patterson’s son says the meat he and his sister consumed the day after the lunch in July 2023 was “eye fillet” beef. He says his mother heated up the meat that she had cooked a day earlier.

Patterson’s son describes the meat, which he says was served with potatoes and beans:

“It was very soft … some of the best meat I’ve ever had,” he says.

He says the meat was a “block” and did not have anything on it.

Patterson’s son says he saw his mother preparing the meat and asked her if it was leftovers, which she confirmed.

“Sometimes I don’t like leftover meat as much as fresh meat but I really liked this meat,” he says.

Patterson’s son says the meat looked the same as the meat he saw his mother cooking the day of the lunch in a frypan.

He says his mother complained of dizziness and diarrhoea and did not eat any leftovers.

Angus Taylor says the Liberal party must “rebuild its foundations” and “offer Australians more than opposition” in his statement announcing he will run for leadership of the party.

“This is not a decision I’ve taken lightly but it is one I’ve taken with conviction following discussions with many of my colleagues this week,” Taylor said.

Our party is at a crossroads. After the result on Saturday, we owe it to our members, our supporters, and the millions of Australians who believe in our cause to regroup, rebuild, and get back in the fight.

He said “policy isn’t enough,” and that the party “must bring in new talent that reflects modern Australia – especially more women”:

This moment demands experience. It also demands energy, humility and a clear plan for the future.

We must offer Australians something more than opposition. And that means being ready – not just to hold Labor to account but to show that we’re fit to govern again.

We live in the best country in the world but for too many Australians right now, it doesn’t feel that way. They’re doing it tough. They’re uncertain. They want a government that understands them. We must become that alternative.

Erin Paterson’s son gives evidence in murder trial

Back to the Patterson trial.

Erin Patterson’s son has told her trial his father did “lots of things to try and hurt mum.”

The jury is being shown pre-recorded video evidence of Patterson’s son, who cannot be named for legal reasons. In the video, he is being interviewed by a police officer.

Asked about his parent’s relationship prior to the lunch, he says it was “very negative”

“I know dad does a lot of things to try to hurt mum,” he says.

He points to his father’s name not being on the school bills and him wanting to be able to access his children’s activities and reports.

He says for the past year he and his sister had been living at their mother house full time. He says their father, Simon Patterson, had tried to convince him and his sister to “come back.”

“I said I didn’t want to because he never did anything with us over the weekend,” he says.

Patterson’s son says he recalls his mother preparing a salad on the morning of the lunch but did not see any other food.

ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, has called Bendigo for Labor.

What was thought to be a contest between Labor and the Liberals turned into Labor v Nationals. Labor’s Lisa Chesters had a narrow lead over National’s Andrew Lethlean as of Wednesday morning.

The AEC has counted a 2,177 vote margin in Chesters’ favour.

And Julie Fragar’s portrait of artist Justene Williams has brought home the 2025 Archibald prize. Read the full story here:

Jude Rae’s ‘Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal’ has won the Wynne prize for “best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours”.

Gene A’Hern’s ‘Sky Painting’ has won the Sulman prize, which recognises the “best subject painting, genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist”.

Archibald prize 2025 – who is about to win?

We’re just minutes away from learning the winner of this year’s Archibald prize – here is a reminder of the finalists (in pictures):

Anthony Albanese has announced the head of his department has quit, a week after Labor’s election victory.

Department of the prime minister and cabinet secretary Glyn Davis will leave his role – the notional head of the federal public service – on 16 June.

“I thank Prof Davis for his outstanding contribution as secretary,” Albanese said.

One of the key priorities of our government’s first term was rebuilding the capacity of the Australian public service.

This included rebuilding the confidence of people who worked in the APS, making sure they understood that the government valued their ideas, respected their hard work and recognised their vital role in our democracy.

Davis is a former Melbourne University vice-chancellor and chief executive of the Ramsay Foundation.

Albanese paid tribute to his work during Labor’s first term in government.

To his enduring credit, he leaves a great national institution in far better shape than he found it, to the benefit of all Australians.

I want to offer my personal thanks for his friendship, advice and support over the past three years. I’m sure he will continue to make a significant contribution to public life.

Prof Davis goes with my gratitude, respect and very best wishes to him, Margaret and his family.”

The PM said he will announce a new secretary for the department at an appropriate time.

During an address to the Labor caucus, Albanese said parliament would return in late July.

‘Fall from grace’: ex-spinner spared jail for coke deal

An ex-Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill will serve a community sentence after being convicted over a cocaine deal which led to his violent kidnapping.

He supplied drugs for the deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law in April 2021, a jury found in March.

The 54-year-old knew the cocaine was worth $330,000 but he was oblivious to the fact that a one-kilogram brick had changed hands.

Jurors found him not guilty of taking part in a large commercial drug supply but found him guilty of the lesser charge of supplying an indictable quantity of coke.

MacGill appeared at Downing Centre District Court on Friday where a statement from former Test captain Steve Waugh backed his former colleague.

He was sentenced to an intensive corrections order of one year and 10 months. MacGill must complete 495 hours of community service work and undergo drug testing as part of the order, in lieu of a prison term.

Judge Nicole Noman found the ex-leg-spinner played an indispensable role setting up the cocaine deal.

“His role was essential to bring the parties together and for the transaction to occur,” she said.

The lucrative cocaine deal put MacGill on the path to his violent kidnapping after his drug dealer stole two bricks of cocaine in a drug ripoff. The kidnapping then spurred adverse media reports against him.

“The offender’s colossal lapse of judgment has been causative of a very public fall from grace,” the judge said.

– Australian Associated Press

Albanese’s phone rings mid-speech: ‘to the viewers at home, stop ringing!’

It seems Anthony Albanese forgot to mute his phone. The prime minister’s caucus address was interrupted twice by his own phone ringing – “to the viewers at home, stop ringing!” he quipped.

Albanese ended his address with a call to his Labor MPs:

My final ask is that over the next three years we remain with a laser-like focus on them …

On the people who voted for us and the people who did not as well, the people we want to see … lifted up and given an opportunity. The people who need healthcare, the people who need our better and fairer schools funding agreement … The people who need access to free Tafe. The people who need the NDIS to function properly and to fully participate in our society and contribute. The people in multicultural Australia who need to be respected and recognised – and there has been some, you know, a rise in division in our society. We are the inclusive party. The party for all, the party who recognises as well that until we can look at people’s postcode and not say that means something, then our task is not done. Until we close the gap between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians, our work is not done.

It is a practical task that we have. I am so confident that we are able to do so.

In praise of Canberra

Anthony Albanese dunks on the opposition’s “juvenile anti-Canberra rhetoric” while welcoming his Labor caucus to the nation’s capital:

You will enjoy living in this great city, Australia’s largest city. It matters and the … frankly juvenile anti-Canberra rhetoric that we saw from the Coalition really hurt them during this campaign. It really did.

PM praises diversity of Labor MPs

Anthony Albanese celebrates the diversity in the caucus room, and is met by applause when noting the proportion of women present:

I look around this room and say a representative group, a majority [are] women, we are still counting, but at least 57% women.

He continues:

I also see people of … different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different experiences, different faiths. I see a diverse group of people that are truly representative of our nation. That’s what our parliament should be. Because we seek to represent the entire nation.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese is addressing caucus, welcoming new Labor MPs to Canberra and urging that “we seek power in order to deliver for the people”:

What a room! For those of you who are new, welcome … This is where decisions are made that make a difference to the country. You need to be in government to make a difference and I have spoken in this room now for three years, but for three years in the other room as well. As the leader of the Labor party, it is an incredible honour for me … As Australia’s 31st prime minister, that is an incredible honour.

We don’t seek power for its own sake. Not to decide who is in what part of the building. We seek power in order to deliver for the people who need Labor to be in government. And to develop a better nation. That is our objective, each and every day.