One Nation NSW leader Mike Newman escorted from parliament after backing anti‑vax bill

One Nation NSW leader Mike Newman entered the Legislative Council during question time and was escorted out by parliamentary staff, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Newman, who is also a Cessnock candidate, told reporters he did not know why staff removed him and suggested he may have been standing in an area set aside for opposition staff rather than the public gallery. The paper records Newman saying his presence during a vaccine speech was coincidental and that he had gone to the chamber to "measure the curtains" and learn how parliament operates, because One Nation has never been in government. During the episode Newman voiced support for a proposal raised by Ruddick in the vaccine speech, saying while it was not official One Nation policy it "has a lot of merit," according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The article frames Newman's remarks as endorsing elements of an anti‑vaccination bill discussed in the chamber; it reports that Newman described his visit as accidental but expressed sympathy for the idea discussed by Ruddick. The Sydney Morning Herald also records Newman criticizing the Parliamentary Budget Office, questioning its independence and reiterating that he would not use it to cost One Nation's policies. Instead, Newman said he would seek access to obtain "the total cost of net zero to the NSW budget," the paper reports. Premier Chris Minns responded in parliament by accusing Newman of dismissing the PBO's work and by warning that refusing to publish policy costings would risk increasing spending, worsening debt and placing additional pressure on the Reserve Bank. According to the Herald, Minns told the chamber: "The bottom line here is that if One Nation and Mike Newman won’t have the costs of their policies released, then they won’t control spending, and if they’re not going to control spending, they will stuff the budget, screw up debt, and add pressure to the Reserve Bank’s task when it comes to inflation." The article quotes Newman describing his interest in who works at the PBO and saying, "let’s have a debate about how you do things."

Local outlets' headlines show the incident attracted wider coverage: The Age and WAtoday ran headlines noting Newman "crashing question time" and backing anti‑vax bills, while News24 headlined that the NSW One Nation leader was escorted out of parliamentary Question Time. The Herald's account supplies the direct quotes and the sequence of events: Newman's entry during question time, his public endorsement of aspects of a vaccine bill, his removal by staff, and the ensuing criticism from Premier Minns. The episode blends a procedural breach in the chamber—Newman's presence in a restricted area—and a political intervention: Newman publicly aligning himself with an anti‑vaccination proposal while simultaneously attacking the Parliamentary Budget Office's role in costing policies. The Sydney Morning Herald supplies the quotations and descriptions that underpin those two threads of the story.