Blogotariat

This is Senator Dave Sharma’s maiden speech to the Senate.

Sharma, a Liberal, assumed his NSW Senate position on November 30, 2023. He filled a casual vacancy created by the departure of Senator Marise Payne. At her retirement, Payne was the longest-serving female senator, having held her seat for 26 years, 5 months and 21 days since 1997.

Previously, as the member for Wentworth (2019-2022), Sharma delivered a first speech to the House of Representatives.

Large language models (LLMs) have overrun commercial markets, more like a tsunami than a normal technical wave of interest. The topic is everywhere –news stories, blogs, podcasts, startup investments, analyst reports, hackathons, and government announcements. A virtual frenzy surrounds it.

Scott Morrison, the former Prime Minister (2018-22), has delivered his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives.

Morrison will resign as the Liberal member for Cook later this week.

First elected to parliament in 2007, Morrison was re-elected five more times. He served nearly six years in opposition before becoming a Cabinet minister upon election of the Abbott coalition government in 2013. Becoming prime minister on August 24, 2018, Morrison won the 2019 election, but was defeated at the election of May 21, 2022.

Jeremy Rockliff, the Liberal Premier of Tasmania, has announced that negotiations with two former Liberal MPs have broken down and he will call an early election tomorrow.

Rockliff said John Tucker and Lara Alexander had “failed to commit to a new, enduring agreement”, following their resignations from the Liberal Party in May, 2023. The former Liberals had concerns relating to the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium project. Their resignations sent the government into minority status in the House of Assembly.

The coalition will support the Albanese government’s tax cuts, the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, confirmed today.

Flanked by the Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor, and the Shadow Finance Minister, Senator Jane Hume, Dutton said “the coalition is not going to stand in the way of people who are doing it tough”.

With repeated references to “the liar in The Lodge” and the government’s “egregious lie”, Dutton said the coalition would take “a significant tax policy” to the next election.

Watch the Dutton-Taylor-Hume press conference (35m)