Daily News Roundup

WEDNESDAY, November 7

The polls are starting to close in the 2018 US midterm elections.

Though he isn’t on the ballot, President Donald Trump has taken a deeply personal interest in these races, which are widely viewed as a referendum on the first two years of his presidency.

Democrats are predicted to take the House of Representatives, while Republicans are expected to keep a majority in the Senate.

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The former leader of the Labor Party, Mark Latham, has joined One Nation and will run for the NSW Parliament.

Speaking on Alan Jones’ 2GB radio program this morning with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, Mr Latham said he was putting his hand up because he believed NSW voters needed a third choice reports the ABC.

He identified immigration, congestion, over-development and electricity prices as some of the issues he would use to campaign.

But Mr Latham also hit out against “political correctness” and “divisive identity politics”.

“These are all issues that are banking up in NSW they haven’t been addressed by the major parties,” he said.

“I want to provide people with a third choice — to say you can vote One Nation and have practical, common sense solutions to these big issues in our state.”

Mr Latham had been teasing a political comeback of sorts for months, telling news outlets he has been asked by four parties to consider a Senate run.

However, he previously refused to say whether he would accept any of the offers from parties he would not name.

During the Longman by-election, Mr Latham recorded robocalls for One Nation urging people to vote against the major parties.

Senator Hanson said she was proud to have Mr Latham on her team.

“These major political parties here won’t have their own way, we will make them work for the people of this state,” she said.

“We need ideas that are driven by good policies and to get the state moving.”

Mr Latham said he was at a stage in his life where he was unable to “stand on the sideline”.

“This is a fight for our civilisational values, for free speech, for merit selection, resilience, love of country, all of it under siege from the left,” he said.

Labor leader Luke Foley ruled out any preference deals with One Nation following Mr Latham’s announcement.

“We will not preference One Nation candidates anywhere in NSW,” he posted to Twitter.

“I challenge the Liberals and the Nationals to make the same commitment.”

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A man has been left with a 20-centimetre gash on his leg after being attacked by a shark on the NSW far north coast.

The 43-year-old local was surfing with two friends at Ballina’s Shelly Beach early this morning.

He told police he was bumped off his board before 7:00am and then saw a five-foot shark circling and coming back towards him.

Police Inspector Bill McKenna said the man struck out at the shark with his board.

“They’ve managed to paddle into shore and he’s realised he had a large laceration on his left calf,” he said.

“(He was) very lucky in the circumstances.”

The man took himself to Ballina Hospital and has since been transferred to Lismore Base Hospital.

The Surf Lifesaving duty officer in the region, Jimmy Keogh, said beaches in the area would be closed for 24 hours, at the request of police.

“You are looking at all the beaches from South Ballina beach through to Lennox Head, so we are just advising people to follow directions by lifeguards and lifesavers and police on the beach,” he said.