Australian census data shows 102,000 people left New South Wales and 10,000 abandoned Victoria
Far more people are moving to Queensland than any other state or territory, while New South Wales recorded the biggest net loss, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
There was a net gain of more than 100,000 people to the Sunshine State in the five years to 2021, according to internal migration numbers from the census.
Continue reading...Migration system review will focus on process
For those wondering, here is a little more detail on the migration review Clare O’Neil announced this morning.
Accessed the name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address for around 9.7 million current and former customers and some of their authorised representatives. This figure represents around 5.1 million Medibank customers, around 2.8 million ahm customers and around 1.8 million international customers.
Did not access primary identity documents, such as drivers’ licences, for Medibank and ahm resident customers.
Medibank does not collect primary identity documents for resident customers except in exceptional circumstances.
Accessed Medicare numbers (but not expiry dates) for ahm customers.
Accessed passport numbers (but not expiry dates) and visa details for international student customers.
Accessed health claims data for around 160,000 Medibank customers, around 300,000 ahm customers and around 20,000 international customers.
This includes service provider name and location, where customers received certain medical services, and codes associated with diagnosis and procedures administered.
Additionally, around 5,200 My Home Hospital (MHH) patients have had some personal and health claims data accessed and around 2,900 next of kin of these patients have had some contact details accessed.
Accessed health provider details, including names, provider numbers and addresses.
Did not access health claims data for extras services (such as dental, physio, optical and psychology).
Did not access credit card and banking details.
Continue reading...Premier says more to come on cost-of-living measures and asks ‘what is the point’ of News Corp story on his 2021 fall
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has pledged $37m to introduce a veterans card if re-elected later this month, while the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, offered stamp duty savings for first home buyers.
The Victorian veterans card, to be rolled out from mid-2023, would entitle the state’s 90,000 veterans to a $100 discount on the registration of one vehicle, as well as free trailer and caravan registration and free fishing and boating licences. Veterans would be entitled to free public transport on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
Continue reading...Floods crisis continues across NSW and Victoria although waters are subsiding in parts of the country including Forbes and Wagga Wagga
The body of a second man who died when a ute was swept into New South Wales flood waters last week has been found in the southern tablelands, as towns throughout the state and in Victoria remain on high alert.
NSW police confirmed on Sunday that police divers had found the man’s body after the ute was swept off a flooded causeway in Bevendale, about 280km south-west of Sydney, on Monday.
Continue reading...Victorian education department investigating after teacher accused of playing ‘explicit and blasphemous’ video to class
A Melbourne school has been accused of forcing a Muslim student to watch a cartoon depicting Muhammad in class, prompting an investigation by the state government.
A teacher at the college, in Melbourne’s north, allegedly played an “explicit and blasphemous” cartoon to the class that depicted the prophet Muhammad, according to the student’s father. The Victorian education department is investigating the incident.
Continue reading...Pregnant woman and midwife among 10 rescues in NSW town of Forbes. This blog is now closed
Victorian Labor lead narrows in polls in lead-up to state election
The Victorian election race appears to be tightening three weeks out from polling day, with Labor in danger of slipping in to minority government, AAP reports.
The AMA analysed the documentation these media reports relied on and, like the department, found nothing – not a skerrick of evidence – to support the claims made in headlines splashed across some news organisations.
The AMA has acknowledged consistently that while some fraud does occur, the vast majority of doctors are doing the right thing. And we have seen the mental toll these reports have taken on Australia’s doctors.
The minister has again highlighted the impact of years of cuts and neglect of Medicare, and, while this latest review may identify potential savings that could be made, what Medicare really needs is genuine reform and an injection of new funds.
Continue reading...Victorian premier says ‘I act appropriately at all times’ following questions about his role in awarding two grants worth $3.4m to a Labor-linked union
Daniel Andrews has issued a blistering statement about “smear and innuendo” surrounding an anti-corruption investigation.
The Victorian premier is facing questions about his role in awarding two grants worth $3.4m to a Labor-linked union.
Continue reading...Census data shows Sydney’s northern suburbs had highest WFH proportion, with lowest in regional areas such as Maryborough in Victoria and Taree in NSW
Areas with higher incomes in NSW and Victoria were more likely to have a higher percentage of people working from home during the pandemic, according to a Guardian Australia analysis of census data.
The data provides further evidence of how differently people in areas with different socioeconomic backgrounds experienced the pandemic.
Continue reading...Industry minister says gas companies are ‘not picking up the signals’. Follow all the day’s news live
Gas supply not a problem, ‘glut of greed is’, industry minister says
Husic:
This is not a shortage of supply problem; this is a glut of greed problem, that has to be basically short-circuited and common sense prevail.
The pricing mechanism is the one that I think needs to be seriously examined.
The LNG exporters are offering gas to the domestic market at prices they couldn’t reasonably expect on the international market.
We have the ACCC looking at that [code of conduct] and that code of conduct is to help better guide the way in which these contracts get negotiated … in terms of the other areas, we want to work through that internally.
If you look at what the treasurer has said over the last few days, he is examining those type of options and again that will be in the mix of things he thinks through.
I think the bigger focus long-term is the price mechanism.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Kerry Chant expected to reiterate importance of vaccine boosters as Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and XBB tipped to become dominant
A new wave of Covid-19 infections is looming in New South Wales, the state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, will warn on Thursday, with transmission of the virus predicted to increase in coming weeks.
It follows Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, making a similar announcement last week, with Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and XBB tipped to overtake BA.5 as the dominant variants throughout Australia.
Continue reading...Activist among 30 people in three states and ACT to report visits from officers at request of NSW police ahead of mining forum
Counter-terror police in Queensland have visited the home of an environmental activist following a request from New South Wales ahead of planned protests at a mining conference in Sydney.
The activist is one of about 30 people across four jurisdictions to report visits from police in the past week ahead of the International Mining and Resources Conference, which starts on Wednesday.
Continue reading...We’ve been bringing you some of the news about rain causing more flooding in NSW. Here are some visuals from Wagga Wagga in southern NSW and the Newell highway in the state’s central west.
Jacinta Allan avoids question of whether families returned from Syria would be welcome in Victoria
The first group of families the wives and children of Islamic State fighters arrived in Sydney over the weekend from Syria and are now living in the community in Sydney. Will Victoria accept returnees?
I was with the premier [Daniel Andrews] on Sunday at a at a media event… where the premier was asked this direct question and I’ll give to you the answer he gave on Sunday which is these are very sensitive security matters. They are primarily the province of the federal government, it would not be appropriate -
As a matter of principle, will you accept them [in] Victoria? Or have you asked for them not to come during the election campaign?
We’ve not, Patricia. There is a … As I think we’ve seen from the media reporting around this issue, this is a very careful matter. There is a very -
Sure, but as a matter of principle, do you think returning citizens – they’re Australian citizens – should be allowed to live in Victoria?
I would really direct you to the federal government and the federal … I think you would appreciate that this is not a simple yes or no proposition because there needs to be robust and careful assessments that are not undertaken by the Victorian government. They’re undertaken by the federal government and the federal Department of Home Affairs.
And if they do all the checks and balances, should they be welcome in Victoria?
Firstly it’d be entirely inappropriate to cut across that and secondly, I am in no position to run a commentary.
Continue reading...Comes as Victorian and federal governments announce $877m package for flood recovery
Victoria has endured its wettest month on record, the State Emergency Service says, as it warned the flood risk may continue across the state for up to two months.
On Tuesday the SES’s chief of operations, Tim Wiebusch, said October was both Victoria’s wettest month on record and the busiest for his volunteers.
Continue reading...Andrews pledges to cooperate with Labor on fixing any loopholes found in visa regime
ABC Radio asks Andrews about reports in the Nine papers of significant gaps in Australia’s visa regime allowing migration agents and fixers to set up so-called visa farms.
I would encourage the Labor government to have a look at the issues in that report and see whether or not there are concerns, there are loopholes and if so I can assure them I will work very cooperatively to get them fixed.
Your department was found to have leaked details of a boat turnback which had come from Sri Lanka on election day this year … and yet you’re criticising this government for … allegedly leaking?
It was a deliberate decision that was taken on the day. And the reason that that decision was taken was because of transparency, and for deterrence ... the issue was that there was a lot of a lot of criticism about discussions of boat arrivals and the fact that we, as a Coalition, were very concerned about whether or not there would be increases in boat arrivals.
Now on election day, when that boat arrived, and I was advised of it early in the in the morning and the prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison would have been advised either before or after – I’m not sure when he was actually advised of that … The decision was taken that in the interests of transparency, the information would be released and it would be released by the agencies responsible because that was the most apolitical way to release that information.
Continue reading...People have been cleared to return to their homes as flood threat eases in Victoria, but the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of renewed flooding in parts of NSW. This blog is now closed
Chalmers on the size of government debt and making it ‘sustainable’
The treasurer is asked whether the government will consider rethinking taxes like GST and PRRT.
We have already found $22bn in savings, $28.5bn in budget improvements overall. We kept real spending growth flat across the forward estimates. We have got the debt down over the forward estimates. We have let 99% of the temporary revenue surge from higher commodity prices flow through to the budget.
That is good progress when we have shown in doing that … you can move sensibly on all fronts, restraint, trimming spending, sensible tax reform, you can make the budget more sustainable and that will be the task of the two or three budgets remaining in this parliamentary term as well.
We need to work out how do we maintain a focus on Australians with a disability and their families, how do we put them front and centre, and at the same time make sure that spending on the NDIS is sustainable and important part of that is making sure we get value for money for every dollar that is spent in what is a really important, really, really important service that we provide to Australians.
I do understand there is a substantial part of the community that would prefer that that PRRT take was higher.
We haven’t been working up an option to do that to change the PRRT arrangements but the treasury has been commissioned by my predecessor and by his predecessor to do some of this work around the taxing point in the PRRT.
We do want to make sure Australians get a good return for their resources. We need to balance that against the investment that’s been made into the sector. When I get that advice from I will engage in it a meaningful way and I will listen to it.
We have seen I think as you acknowledged in your first question, on this topic, company taxes are up quite substantially. That’s a good thing and we have let that flow through to the budget. The PRRT, there’s a modest increase. I will wait to see what the treasury advises us on the conclusion of the review that my two predecessors put in place.
Continue reading...The opt-in program would be implemented by the end of 2026 in an effort to ease cost of living pressures and support nutrition of students
All Victorian public school students would be provided with free lunches under a major cost-of-living election pledge by the state’s opposition.
The healthy lunches program was unveiled on Sunday, just weeks before early voting opens on 14 November for the state election where more than half of voters are expected to cast their ballot paper before polling day.
Continue reading...Boy, 11, was riding bike when sucked into drain and under road before he managed to grab on to metal grate when his helmet caught
An 11-year-old boy has had an amazing escape after being sucked into a flooded stormwater drain and washed 10 metres under a road in Melbourne.
The boy was riding his bike with a friend in Altona Meadows on Thursday afternoon when he accidentally rode across a submerged drain and was sucked underwater.
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Continue reading...Leader of the opposition to give his reply to the treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget. Follow the day’s news live
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi will give notice of a private senator’s bill she will introduce today aiming to halt the indexation on student loans and increase the repayment threshold to above the median wage.
Faruqi says it is one way which would help ease the cost of living burden on people with student debt:
Student debt is no small problem. About three million people in Australia have the burden of student debt.
At a time when the cost of living is biting hard, governments can no longer ignore the student debt crisis and its impacts.
What we have said all the time is that we want wages to grow, and we want them to stay growing. Not to have a short-term growth and then have at the expense of potentially higher unemployment.
So that’s the first thing. The second thing is we’ve got to get an IR system that drives productivity. That’s not about working harder for less, it’s about working smarter. It’s about creating the environment where people use new technology, where they innovate, where they share ideas, where they open new markets, where they have more skilled people.
Continue reading...The Victorian Electoral Commission is examining donations made during the 24-hour fundraiser
An inquiry into the Victorian Liberals’ “Ditch Dan” donations drive will not be complete before voters head to the polls.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) confirmed Thursday that the outcome of its investigation into the 24-hour fundraiser in August won’t be known until after the 26 November state election.
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Continue reading...Magistrate rules TT-Line made no inquiries to ensure the horses were individually stalled and there was adequate ventilation
Spirit of Tasmania ferry operator TT-Line has been found guilty of breaching animal welfare laws over the deaths of 16 polo ponies on a summer Bass Strait voyage.
The horses had competed in a tournament in Tasmania and were travelling from Devonport to Melbourne in a converted refrigeration trailer on the night of 28 January 2018.
Continue reading...