Changes to be included in budget will slash costs for GP visits and medicines but pharmacists likely to push back against new policy
Millions of Australians will be able to buy two months’ worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription, in a move that will slash out-of-pocket costs for GP visits and medicines.
The health minister, Mark Butler, announced the change on Wednesday, suggesting it will save patients more than $1.6bn over the next four years.
Continue reading...‘Every death at Gallipoli was like a sapling torn out of the earth,’ Albanese says in first dawn service address as PM. Follow the day’s news live
Symbolic sea burial held at Gold Coast dawn service
At the Anzac Day dawn service at Currumbin on the Gold Coast, the local surf life-saving club held a symbolic burial at sea.
Our two countries already work closely together. William has had a long association with Australia. He’s the chair of our naval expert advisory panel that’s already providing advice on our naval acquisitions, and even when he was a serving officer in the US navy, he provided a critical role, he played a critical role in supporting our efforts, for example, he was instrumental in improving the Collins Class submarine to make it the best diesel-powered submarine in the world.
…We do have Australians involved with that review. It will be a short, sharp review, just to check that we got the right structure of our surface fleet to complement the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.
Continue reading...Company says its own code of conduct goes further than the global accord prompted by the Rana Plaza disaster 10 years ago
Major clothing retailer Best&Less has been accused of putting company profit ahead of the safety of Bangladeshi garment workers by declining to sign a key international accord on worker safety and labour rights.
The Rana Plaza disaster, 10 years ago on Monday, prompted outrage at the abysmal safety standards in the Bangladesh factories supplying major clothing brands and retailers, leading to the establishment of a cross-border agreement known as the international accord.
Continue reading...Climate change and humanitarian crisis are calling on too many ADF resources which should be reserved for conflict, Tony Sheldon says
Australia needs to rethink how it uses its defence force for natural disasters, reserving its troops for conflict and limiting their deployment except for in the most extreme events, according to the government’s special envoy for disaster recovery, senator Tony Sheldon.
After the release of the defence strategic review on Monday, the senator also said the government should help locals respond to emergencies before considering creating a new civilian agency.
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Continue reading...Police in Western Downs acknowledge the thefts are likely the work of organised groups
Thieves in regional Queensland are stealing copper wiring from farm equipment as part of a rise in rural crime which the agriculture lobby says appears to be the work of organised groups, not just individuals.
Farmers in the Western Downs region have reported a rise in thefts, particularly of copper. They’re working with police and local government to try to catch the perpetrators.
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Continue reading...Head of traditional owner corporations says Indigenous elders had long fought for current ‘representative structures’
Two cousins of federal senator Lidia Thorpe are pursuing a contentious model of representation for Victoria’s landmark treaty negotiations as they seek to be elected to the state’s First People’s Assembly.
Voting for the second term of the assembly will commence next month after nominations for the 32-seat Indigenous body closed on Monday, ahead of a treaty negotiations due to begin this year.
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Continue reading...Call comes after Australia’s defence review says activities in South China Sea ‘threaten rules-based order’
The Chinese government has urged countries not to “hype up the so-called China threat narrative” after a major Australian defence review criticised its activities in the South China Sea.
The Australian government’s defence strategic review, released on Monday, labelled the intense competition between China and the United States as “the defining feature of our region and our time”.
Continue reading...Cyber-warfare and the ‘missile age’ have radically reduced Australia’s geographical defensive benefits, report argues
Australia’s defence strategic review paints an alarming picture of the “radically different” security outlook in the Indo-Pacific, including the risk of “major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national interest”.
But it is important to be very clear about what Monday’s document does and doesn’t say about the threats Australia faces.
Continue reading...Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live
Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll
In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.
They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.
People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.
We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.
A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”
Continue reading...Anote Tong says that Australia needs to take responsibility for emissions caused by the export of its fossil fuels
A former Pacific Island president has backed a Torres-Strait Islander-led legal case to hold the Australian government accountable for climate crisis inaction.
On Monday, Anote Tong, the former president of Kiribati, signed a statement of solidarity with Paul Kabai and Pabai Pabai, who have taken the government to court, demanding further emissions reductions in line with science.
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Continue reading...Joana Partyk declined to give full access to her electronic devices after they were seized by police in a raid in February
An artist who defaced one of Australia’s most famous paintings during a gas company protest will fight a counter-terrorism charge over access to her electronic devices, labelling it “state-sanctioned overreach”.
Joana Veronika Partyka, 37, pleaded not guilty on Monday in the Perth magistrates court to one count of failing to obey a data access order after she declined to cooperate with authorities.
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Continue reading...The former governor general and former Anglican archbishop of Brisbane was the subject of complaints about his handling of child abuse complaints in the 1990s
The Anglican church’s complaints body has ruled former governor general Peter Hollingworth should not be defrocked despite upholding multiple allegations of misconduct over his handling of child abuse complaints while in a senior leadership role.
Hollingworth has been the subject of complaints over his handling of abuse cases in the Anglican church while archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s, a role he held for 11 years before becoming Australia’s 23rd governor general.
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Continue reading...Renee Fry-McKibbin says panel considered ‘a lot of alternative frameworks’ but decision on shift would fall to future reviews
The review of the Reserve Bank of Australia has “opened the door” for a potential shift away from targeting inflation using interest rates, one of the review panellists says.
Renee Fry-McKibbin told an event on Monday that the panellists had examined “a lot of alternative frameworks” but it would fall to future reviews to discuss ditching the bank’s current goal of aiming to keep inflation between 2% and 3%.
Continue reading...Government ‘broadly supportive’ as report recommends allowing for ads and scrapping of police powers
Queensland will decriminalise sex work after a long-awaited review recommended sweeping changes to the industry to combat violence, discrimination and exploitation.
A landmark review into sex work by the Queensland Law Reform Commission has made 47 recommendations, including scrapping the Prostitution Licensing Authority, repealing some police powers and allowing services to be advertised on radio and TV.
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Continue reading...The AE1 was found 103 years after it sank in the first world war. Now a team hopes to salvage part of the disintegrating wreck to be preserved in a museum
The wreck of Australia’s first submarine is disintegrating, sparking a new mission to salvage a relic from it for the Australian War Memorial.
HMAS AE1 disappeared with 35 crew on board while on a mission near the Duke of York Islands in Papua New Guinea in September 1914, less than two months after the outbreak of the first world war.
Continue reading...Poll also revealed 65% of drivers expect to be buying a hybrid or electric vehicle if they upgrade in the next 10 years
The majority of Australians feel positive about switching off the gas and turning to cleaner energy options, with environmental reasons one of the biggest drivers behind the shift, according to new research by the Australia Institute and research firm SEC Newgate.
In a poll about electrification, 55% felt positively about electrifying more homes, with 59% mentioning environmental reasons as a main driver of their opinion and 18% pointing to the potential for cheaper electricity bills.
Continue reading...More than 140,000 people who traded welfare payments for loans are still repaying them decades later
The Australian government is still chasing $2bn of debt from more than 140,000 former low-income students who traded away their right to welfare under a loan scheme two decades ago for its unfairness.
The student financial supplement scheme (SFSS), which operated for a decade from 1993, enticed tertiary students to take out “low-cost” loans by giving up benefits including youth allowance, Austudy or the pensioner education supplement.
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Continue reading...New figures from the home affairs department show some families are waiting years for temporary visas to be processed
Australian families are living in constant fear of being torn apart, as wait times for partner visas blow out – to years in some cases, according to newly released figures.
The Department of Home Affairs has released figures on partner visa processing times to Guardian Australia in response to a freedom of information request.
Continue reading...Tributes have flowed across Australia, with both politicians and entertainers sharing messages praising the late comedian
Tributes have flowed in Australia for Barry Humphries, with politicians and fellow entertainers remembering him as an “icon” who left an “indelible legacy on the history of Australian comedy”.
Humphries – best known for his character Dame Edna Everage – died surrounded by family in an inner-Sydney hospital on Saturday, where he had been receiving treatment for complications after hip surgery he had after a fall earlier this year. The 89-year-old had been living in London, and had travelled to Sydney for Christmas, falling ill during his trip.
Continue reading...Prime minister welcomes move to let New Zealanders apply for Australian citizenship without becoming permanent residents first
A “historic” agreement allowing New Zealanders a faster pathway to Australian citizenship is the biggest change “in a generation” and will help the two countries forge even closer ties, the New Zealand prime minister, Chris Hipkins, has said.
Hipkins visited Australia on Sunday for talks with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, after the decision to give New Zealanders the right to apply for Australian citizenship without becoming permanent residents first.
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