Australia news and politics live: Sussan Ley praises Coalition net-zero talks as ‘positive and productive’

Former NSW families minister Gareth Ward has been sentenced to at least three years and nine months in prison for raping a political staffer and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old man, both victims he met through his position of authority.

The 44-year-old former Kiama MP was convicted in July of indecently assaulting the teenager three times at his Shoalhaven home in 2013, and of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old staffer at his Potts Point apartment two years later.

The 44-year-old’s acts were “deliberate and predatory,” Judge Kara Shead said during sentencing at Parramatta District Court in western Sydney on Friday.

“The offender knew that the victim was suffering discomfort and pain yet continued with the sexual intercourse until he achieved sexual satisfaction,” she told the court.

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Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has refused to say if the Coalition will finalise its energy and net zero policies before Christmas but has described the latest party room discussions as “very productive and positive”.

In Canberra, backbench Liberal MPs spent more than three hours debating the Coalition’s position in a meeting arranged by shadow energy and emissions reduction minister Dan Tehan.

At the same time Ms Ley was touring Australia’s largest aluminium smelter at Tomago in New South Wales, days after its owners warned the facility may be forced to close due partly to rising energy costs.

She says it’s important her colleagues carefully work through the Coalition’s future policy position.

“It’s actually the third meeting to discuss energy policy. It’s high on our priority list. It’s important,” Ms Ley said after finishing her tour of the Tomago smelter.

“And when we see this government’s train wreck energy policy writ large at Tomago aluminium, we know that it is important that we get this right, and this government has not got it right.”

Rebellious Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie will skip a key Coalition meeting on net zero, despite being one of the policy’s fiercest opponents.

In an email to supporters on Friday morning, Mr Hastie said he would have attended the meeting under regular circumstances.

“Normally I’d attend, but I have an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon in Perth after injuring my left shoulder during a Ju-Jitsu lesson at Mandurah Combat Sports Academy.

“I’m getting old, and time is short.”

However, Mr Hastie – who has publicly stated his future ambitions to lead the Liberal Party – urged supporters not to mistake his absence as a reversal of his position on the contentious policy.

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A more than three-hour long meeting of Liberal backbench MPs to debate energy and net zero policies has wrapped up in Canberra, with frontbencher Dan Tehan declaring a pathway forward is possible.

Over two dozen Liberal backbenchers attended the meeting with the shadow energy and emissions reduction minister, but Nationals MPs did not participate as they prepare for a federal council this weekend where similar debates will be held.

“There is a pathway, I think, to bring us all together in a way that unifies us all now, exactly what that looks like we are still working through,” Dan Tehan told reporters when asked if agreement could eventually be reached on net zero.

“And although you’d love me to make announcements here today, and I know you’d love me to be able to announce the policies today, I’m not going to do this.”

Opposition backbench MPs are locked in closed door discussions at Parliament House about the Coalition’s future position on net zero and energy policy.

Nationals MPs are not attending the gathering as they prepare for a federal council this weekend where similar debates will be held on net zero with party members.

“This is not going to be a day where we come to resolutions,” Liberal Senator Jane Hume said ahead of the backbench meeting on Friday morning.

“There’s not going to be a vote at the end of the day. It’s literally about letting people express their opinions in a safe way in a room where they feel trusted and listened to by your colleagues.”

Western Australian Liberal Senator Matt O’Sullivan said he was looking forward to a good discussion and expressed hope the Coalition would dump its current support for net zero.

Coalition backbenchers will voice their concerns over a lack of progress on the party’s energy policy at a joint meeting at Parliament House.

Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan has been criss-crossing the globe as he leads a roots-and-all review of the Coalition’s policy, including its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, following its disastrous election defeat in May.

But as the months have dragged on with no word of an updated policy position, backbenchers have begun to get itchy feet about a perceived lack of progress.

Calls are growing internally for the party to quickly come to a position, from both supporters and critics of net zero.

On Friday, Mr Tehan will hear the views of backbenchers who requested a meeting to be given a chance to contribute to the policy process.

Australia’s first treaty legislation has been passed, marking a historic milestone following a late-night parliamentary debate.

Premier Jacinta Allan said the bill would be signed by the State Government and First Peoples’ Assembly in coming weeks.

“Treaty gives Aboriginal communities the power to shape the policies and services that affect their lives,” she said.

Under the treaty bill, the state’s Indigenous representative body will be made permanent and granted expanded powers.

It will act as a voice to State Parliament that the Government must consult on laws and policies affecting Aboriginal Victorians.

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