Bandt concedes defeat; two men guilty of Cassius Turvey murder; and a snail lays an egg from its neck

Good afternoon. The outgoing Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has formally conceded defeat in the seat of Melbourne to Labor’s Sarah Witty. In a statement, Bandt said he “got the highest vote” in the electorate, but One Nation and Liberal preferences “got Labor over the line”.

As of Thursday afternoon, Witty was leading Bandt by more than 3,800 votes, an 8.6% swing against the sitting member. Bandt became the first Greens MP to sit in the lower house when he won Melbourne in 2010, and has been leader since 2020. The Greens candidate in the neighbouring seat of Wills, Samantha Ratnam, today also conceded defeat.

Speaking to reporters, Bandt urged Anthony Albanese’s re-elected Labor government to use its “big majority” to tackle climate and inequality, or else “watch for a big swing at the next election”.

Attention now turns to where the Greens go from here. Bandt’s office said leadership “will be determined by a meeting of the party room next week”, with the Tasmanian senator Nick McKim appointed interim caretaker.

“I don’t think we want to see a tax on Bluey.”

Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has taken aim at the US proposal to put tariffs on screen productions. Speaking on a panel about the state of modern diplomacy in Los Angeles, Rudd said cultural brands – such as the Brisbane-based cartoon juggernaut – had the “power to capture the public imagination”.

The New South Wales government has given the go-ahead for 10 renewable energy and storage projects to connect to the state’s first renewable energy zone near Dubbo. The state currently has about 13GW of renewable energy capacity made up of solar, hydro, wind and biomass power stations.

Supermarket pumpkin soup taste test: from decent work lunches to ‘thin yet clingy’

Canned, refrigerated or in a pouch: packaging didn’t make a huge difference to the overall quality, Tristan Lutze and his fellow judge found. But not all heat-and-eat soups were a hug in a bowl either.

Today’s starter word is: VERA. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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