Marcus Stewart says current timeframe of Yoorrook Justice Commission not enough to ‘unpack 200-plus years of colonisation’
Victoria’s truth-telling commission needs up to a decade of inquiry before delivering its final report – which is slated for 2024 – a leader of the state’s elected First Nations body says.
Marcus Stewart, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, wants the Victorian government to extend the timeframe for the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Continue reading...Jim Chalmers accuses Josh Frydenberg of lying about tax as treasurer and shadow treasurer pressed on NDIS in debate; Coalition ‘oblivious’ to pressures facing working families, Albanese says; border force won’t confirm reports of asylum seekers moved to Christmas Island; at least 56 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
In a move designed to hold on to what is known as the “grey vote”, the government has announced a two-year freeze on deeming rates, in response to the interest rate rise.
That means pensioners with cash deposits which will increase with the rate rise (interest rates on bank accounts go up too) won’t have to worry about hitting the cap of how much they can earn before their pension is impacted.
We have always said where there are good ideas we will support them. We sought to be constructive during the pandemic and did support many of the measures and, you know, looking at this decision today, we have said, yes, this is a good idea and we will.
He already has, we went to a religious service at a local synagogue and no doubt he has many competing requests on his ...
Continue reading...Det Sgt Wayne Dean says on two occasions he shared tickets given to him by the alleged underworld figure with other officers
Victorian police officers received free tickets to boxing events with complimentary food and alcohol after alleged underworld figure Mick Gatto gifted the tickets to a senior detective, an anti-corruption commission hearing has heard.
Det Sgt Wayne Dean confirmed in his evidence before a public Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption (Ibac) hearing on Wednesday that on two occasions Gatto, who he had known since the mid-1990s, provided him free tickets to boxing events in Melbourne.
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Continue reading...Australian Border Force confirms 12 detainees, including one refugee, had visas revoked under Migration Act on character grounds
The Australian Border Force has confirmed the transfer of 12 immigration centre detainees to Christmas Island, 24-hours after a heated clash between police and protesters outside a Melbourne detention centre on Tuesday.
Guardian Australia understands that 12 detainees, including one person whose refugee status has been approved, were woken by guards at the Melbourne International Transit Accommodation centre early yesterday morning and told they would be moved to Christmas Island.
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Continue reading...Analysis: While the budget seeks to repair the damage of the past two years, it’s clear some wounds are yet to heal
Handing down his eighth Victorian budget on Tuesday, the treasurer, Tim Pallas, pitched it at not one but two elections.
The most timely is the federal election. Through the budget, Pallas makes it clear that, whoever wins in May, he expects a greater share of funding for Victoria and is happy to criticise the Morrison government until then.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison defends economic ‘shield’ after RBA lifts cash rate target from historic low; Philip Lowe says more interest rate rises to come; Jim Chalmers says central bank decision ‘a very serious development’; nation records 41 Covid deaths. Follow the latest updates live
Scott Morrison doesn’t get sick of the “silly” photo ops [silly photo opportunities being how the question was framed], he tells Melbourne radio’s Neil Mitchell, because he “doesn’t see them that way”.
He then gives a hero-gram to tradies.
I don’t fit in those ways, what I see is [being] out and about and doing what Australians do every day.
... What I enjoy doing is standing there with an apprentice who shows me what they’re learning, and then I’d have a go at it.
Continue reading...Cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of NSW midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday
Average temperatures are set to drop by 5-6C in some parts of Australia’s eastern states this week as “polar cold” sweeps north from Tasmania and up to Queensland.
The cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of New South Wales midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday. It will then move to south-east Queensland and north-east NSW by early next week, resulting in a 3-4C drop below-average temperature in this region.
Continue reading...Tim Pallas announces new hospitals, clearing of a surgery backlog and hiring of thousands of healthcare workers
The Victorian government will spend $12bn to repair its Covid-battered health system with the treasurer, Tim Pallas, confident that the worst of the pandemic is behind the state and a return to surplus will happen in the near future.
Pallas’s eighth budget, handed down on Tuesday, includes $2.9bn worth of new health infrastructure. This includes $900m to build a hospital in Melton, in Melbourne’s west, which will include a 24-hour emergency department and an intensive care unit, along with maternity and mental health services.
Continue reading...Analysis: To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas relies on economic growth rather than spending cuts or increased taxes
Inflation, a Covid comeback, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Josh Frydenberg “short-changing” his home state – these are the major battles Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, faces as he plots a narrow course towards a small budget surplus within four years’ time.
To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas is relying on economic growth – fuelled by the state’s speedy bounceback from a Covid-19 recession and a full-to-overflowing $21bn-a-year infrastructure pipeline, which itself contains significant potential pitfalls – rather than cutting spending or increasing taxes.
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Continue reading...Channel Seven to host final debate of election campaign; crossbenchers back call for royal commission into robodebt scandal; Scott Morrison focuses on cost of living concerns; Anthony Albanese marches for May Day in Brisbane; Sally McManus would support wage increase for public sector workers; 13 Covid deaths recorded across the nation. This blog is now closed
Labor is still on the campaign sell for its first homeowner policy.
Jason Clare faced questions ranging from, “Is this too small to have an impact?” to, “Won’t it drive up house prices?”
Continue reading...Construction company confirms work has begun to knock down the two-storey house in south-east Melbourne
The residence of one of Australia’s most iconic TV duos, Kath & Kim, is being demolished.
Construction company Dig Dig Demolition confirmed to Guardian Australia that workers began knocking down the two-storey house in south-east Melbourne on Monday. Images and videos shot from inside the house show wood and debris strewn across the living room and roof tiles and bricks piled up in the back yard.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese and senior Labor members speak at ALP campaign launch in Perth; Scott Morrison speaks at Sydney rally; Coalition outlines e-safety plan; Greens announce LGBTQ+ equality plan; Victoria reports seven Covid deaths; NSW reports five; South Australia reports two. This blog is now closed
Simon Birmingham is pushed on what the Coalition will actually do on the cost of living but there isn’t a clear answer. See this exchange with Insiders host David Speers:
Q: So essentially to get wages going is to keep doing what you’ve been doing for the last nine years?
David, our plan is a comprehensive economic plan and in contrast to the Labor party. We have outlined clearly plans for … that jobs growth. Jobs growth fuelled by lower taxes and tax relief for Australians that continue to be implemented in terms of lower income taxes, support for more businesses.
David, it is a plan that we’ve outlined in quite a lot of detail, compared to ...
If you look at this year’s budget, small business, a particular focus in relation to investment in technology …
The approach we’ve taken is to fix a particular problem in the housing market and that was the fact that you had to save, of course, for your deposit, takes months and months, years and years, to get that 20% deposit to avoid having to pay mortgage insurance, that was meaning that people were having to pay rent at the same time as saving.
Continue reading...Prime minister announces a $10 cut to PBS scripts from next year in an attempt to tackle cost-of-living pressure, while Labor vows to hold a royal commission into the robodebt scandal. This blog is now closed
Now some questions on China’s security deal with the Solomon Islands.
Morrison, asked about the timing of the announcement, says:
We’re very aware of the influence that the Chinese government seeks to have in this country. We, in fact, introduced laws to prevent it. So any suggestion that the Chinese government doesn’t seek to interfere in Australia – well, we didn’t put that legislation in for no reason. We put it in there to ensure that Australian security could be safeguarded from foreign influence in our own country.
The Chinese government would say that, wouldn’t they?
There are temporary measures that we put on the budget, longer term measures in the mid-year statement. It is a fairly common way that we do budgets …
This is a longer term measure and it will start next calendar year. So the reason that we’re talking about it now, normally we would make an announcement like that later in the year.
Continue reading...Analysis: In the days before last year’s budget, $4.2bn in commitments were announced. Just $277m has been announced ahead of Tuesday’s
With all eyes fixed on the federal election campaign, you’d be forgiven for nearly forgetting Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, is set to hand down a state budget in a couple of days.
So far, all we know is that health will be a main theme of the pre-election budget. Improving lengthy ambulance wait times, emergency department overcrowding and the state’s triple zero call-taking system are front of mind after several much-publicised deaths, including that of a 72-year-old man who waited more than three hours for a bed at a regional hospital earlier this month.
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Continue reading...Staff raise concerns after incoming chief executive Andrew McConville emphasises agricultural outcomes in introductory letter
The new chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Andrew McConville, has caused consternation after sending an all-staff memo outlining his approach to the job which failed to mention the regulator’s environmental role.
A former chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Producers & Exporters Association (APPEA), McConville was appointed to the top job at the MDBA by the Morrison government just days before the federal election was called.
Continue reading...Prime minister responds after Solomon Islands PM says he heard about Aukus pact through media; Labor leader heads to Perth after week in Covid isolation as deputy Richard Marles tests positive; at least 26 coronavirus deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
I’m not sure if voters care about all this debate about debates, but it goes on:
Anthony Albanese agreed to debate Scott Morrison anytime. Morrison wants a debate on Seven and on Nine. The ABC has been cut out, as has the National Press Club.
Well, I think the national broadcaster can have a role here as well and the prime minister thinks that he is the only person who has a say in this.
The national secretaries of the Liberal party and Labor party should sit down, work these issues through, like adults.
I’m up for more debates.
... But I’m not up for the prime minister deciding when, who, how that all occurs. We both need to be involved in this process and the Labor party needs to be engaged so I’m certainly up for more debates.
Well, it’s all relative, I guess, in in terms of what I have to do. So today, this morning, I’ve got a round of interviews. Just the doctor’s advice that when I’m feeling tired – which he advises, and others [are] telling me is the case, that I’ll continue to feel tired and a bit fatigued, particularly over the next week – that I need to be conscious about that, I need to rest when I can and just be a bit sensible.
It’s no use not looking after your health. There’s still three and a bit weeks to go in this campaign. He’s advised that each and every day, if I get that rest, I’ll feel better, and I certainly feel much better today than I did yesterday.
Continue reading...Predicted rate rises and falls in property values pose risks to those considering loans with a 5% deposit, experts say
First-home buyers have been warned to plan carefully before taking advantage of a federal government scheme that would allow them to secure property with a 5% deposit, at a time interest rates are predicted to rise.
Experts say the First Home Guarantee scheme could be appropriate for people who plan to stay in one spot for a while and are comfortable riding out a possible property value trough, but warn it could still be risky, especially in regional areas.
Continue reading...Treasurer ‘not taking anything for granted’ in Kooyong; low wage growth under Coalition ‘not an accident’, says Jason Clare; Jacqui Lambie and Pauline Hanson in dispute over preference deal claims; at least 50 coronavirus deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Jim Chalmers has also been everywhere. Labor’s choice for treasurer has his one message to push, and he’s making sure he gets it into every interview.
This was him following the PM on the Seven network:
You would hear it around Australia and I hear it as I move around Australia. The problem is, if things are going well, he takes the credit; if things are difficult, he never takes responsibility, and we just saw that in that interview as well.
If something is going well, he takes credit. Doesn’t take responsibility for the [things that go wrong].
I have never been a commentator on what the reserve bank should do.
I respect the independence of the reserve bank, and they need to make the judgments they need to make ... in the best interests of the Australian economy, and I have no doubt they will do that.
There’s a big difference between what occurred in 2007 and where we are now, the reserve bank did that last time and the rate was 6.5%, today it is 0.1% and so I think the circumstances of the economic environment we are in now is very different.
Continue reading...About half had failed to get a booster shot before the March deadline and have been placed on unauthorised leave
About 420 public school teachers across Victoria have been stood down for failing to meet Covid vaccination requirements – with the majority of them not working because they haven’t received a third dose.
Despite previous fears of staff shortages in schools, Guardian Australia understands there are 420 full-time-equivalent teachers across Victoria’s public school system who are unable to work as they have not met the state’s vaccination mandate.
Continue reading...Yoorrook commission will establish official record of Indigenous experiences since colonisation
Victoria’s Indigenous truth-telling commission has opened public hearings, with respected actor and activist Uncle Jack Charles the first to share his story.
Born to a Wiradjuri father and a Bunurong mother, Charles was called as the first Indigenous elder to speak at the Yoorrook Justice Commission on Tuesday.
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