Australia live news: Matthew Guy dumps Victorian candidate from Liberal party; flood alerts in NSW | Australia news

The prime minister Anthony Albanese has begun speaking at the Apec summit.

He is highlighting the importance of international cooperation on global problems, and says he believes Australia has “achieved some significant steps forward” in the past week of international meetings.

We live in an increasingly globalised world, one where events in one part of the world, on security like we’ve seen with the Russian invasion of Ukraine impact the whole world. We have seen that have an impact on the global economy but before that, we saw the pandemic health issue spread around the world. We have also seen climate change and at this time, as the conferences of the parties is occurring, we are reminded that you can’t have one nation solutions to issues which are global.

They require international cooperation, they require goodwill and they require countries to work together for our common interests. That is what I have sought to do over the past eight days, is to send a message that Australia wants to engage constructively, to work with our partners in the region and throughout the world.

I believe Australia has achieved some significant steps forward over the past eight days. We have reengaged, firstly, with Asean through the Asean Australia summit, reaffirmed Australia’s position of the centrality of Asean in our region. We reinforced that with the increased support that we have for aid in South-East Asia, for the increased number of economic agreements we have with this region, including with the Asean itself.

But also with the appointment of Nicholas Moore as the envoy to South-East Asia, a practical step that will make a difference, someone who brings with him enormous capacity but also great standing, not just in Australia but in the region as well.

Following up on our post from earlier, Matthew Guy has spoken to reporters about the decision to dump the upper house candidate Renee Heath from the Liberal party.

Guy said that given the election was a week away, it was too late to disendorse candidates.

He said that while he was not going to discuss matters raised in an investigation published by the Age on Saturday that outlined ultra-conservative views allegedly espoused by members of Heath’s church, he confirmed they included gay conversion practices, which are banned in Victoria.

Guy said:

I’m not having any discussions around some of those matters raised in the paper, because my position on those are clear and are sensible and are reasonable and they just need to be mainstream and sensible, that’s what the Liberal party is.

I’m not in any way going to have the Liberal party in any way going to be supportive or tacitly supporting any type of practices that should and are illegal in this state.

He said Heath had not told him she supports such practices, but he would not be drawn on personal conversations he had with her, aside from adding “she’s a reasonable person when you have a conversation with her”.

When repeatedly pressed about why Heath was not dumped earlier, given questions had previously been raised about her association with the church, Guy said some of the allegations in the Age article were not known at the time of the candidate review process.

Katharine Murphy

Australia confirms it supports Taiwan joining CPTPP trade deal after Albanese comment

Good morning from Bangkok, where the Apec summit is about to kick off for the final day.

Readers with us yesterday will know Anthony Albanese addressed a question about whether Australia would support Taiwan joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The prime minister said no in essence – on the rationale that the trade agreement was between nations, not between economies, and Australia supported the one China policy. (In case this sentence makes no sense to you let me unpack it quickly – Apec is a grouping of economies, not nations. Australia’s policy is there is one China, not two).

The shadow trade minister, Simon Birmingham, pointed out quickly what Albanese said was incorrect. Australia supports Taiwan joining the agreement.

A statement from the foreign ministry of Taiwan this morning says Australia has since clarified that it welcomes Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP if it meets “the high standards” of the agreement.

The statement said:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) welcomes the Australian government’s reaffirmation of its consistent position on Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP.

The Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, has distanced the party from an upper house candidate who is a member of a conservative church.

Renee Heath is expected to be elected to parliament, given she occupies the top position on the Liberal party’s ticket for the eastern Victorian region.

But her involvement with the City Builders Church, where her parents are pastors, has repeatedly come under scrutiny, including in an investigation published by the Age on Saturday.

Heath has denied having the same views as her parents.

Guy has previously backed Heath, a chiropractor based in Gippsland, saying in July that “Renee is not her family, Renee is herself”.

He also said:

She’s a professional woman, she’s in the health field, she’s a professional person. I’ll ask people to judge Renee by Renee and not by anyone else.

But on Saturday, Guy said Heath would not sit in the Liberals’ party room if she was elected, following more revelations regarding the church and an interview with members of Heath’s family that was published by the Age.

Guy said in a statement:

Today, I have spoken with Liberal Candidate Ms Renee Heath to advise that she will not be sitting in the Liberal Party Room following the election.

Neither I, nor the Liberal Party, were aware of information prior to today’s report in The Age.