Senior politicians from both major parties to travel to Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau this week. This blog is now closed
The Bureau of Meteorology expects scattered showers expected over South Australia.
Meanwhile the heatwave that has settled across northern Australia is expected to ease.
Continue reading...The Victorian Labor and Liberal parties face challenges over the next four years after a decisive election result
Despite predictions of a late swing to the Coalition and the possibility of minority government, Labor not only emphatically won the Victorian state election – it has outdone its 2018 “Danslide” result by one lower house seat.
The size of the victory, as well as the likelihood of a largely progressive crossbench in the upper house, provides Daniel Andrews with a mandate to tackle important reform. This includes scrapping group voting tickets and overhauling the criminal justice and child protection systems, which are being examined at public hearings by the nation’s first truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Continue reading...Jordan Crugnale claims Bass, seeing the party’s presence in the lower house increased by one seat
Victorian Labor has surpassed its emphatic 2018 “Danslide” election result, claiming victory in the seat of Bass, in Melbourne’s south-east.
Labor MP Jordan Crugnale claimed the seat on Friday night, after a redistribution before the poll made the seat notionally Liberal with a margin of 0.7%.
Continue reading...Victoria police confirm at least seven infringements totalling $462 each were issued for ‘serious traffic offences’
Mourners who were fined for running red lights during late music icon Uncle Archie Roach’s funeral procession will not have them overturned.
Victoria police confirmed at least seven infringements totalling about $462 each were issued to mourners travelling as part of the motorcade, including the driver of a hearse carrying Roach’s body back to Country in August.
Continue reading...Emma Vulin wins newly created seat in Melbourne’s south-east to equal party’s previous election result
The Victorian Labor government holds as many lower house seats as it won in the 2018 “Danslide” election after claiming victory in Pakenham, ahead of a final declaration in Bass.
Labor candidate Emma Vulin claimed victory for the newly created seat in Melbourne’s south-east on Thursday, after a tight race with Liberal David Farrelly.
Continue reading...Federal government tight-lipped on whether it will allow ceremonies on other dates as Merri-bek council votes on change
The future of citizenship ceremonies at three Melbourne councils hangs in the balance, as the federal government refuses to reveal whether it will revoke a Coalition-era policy that forces the ceremonies to be held on 26 January.
The Greens-led Merri-bek council, in Melbourne’s north, on Wednesday voted to abandon Australia Day citizenship ceremonies and instead honour the date with a mourning event to recognise the dispossession of Indigenous Australians.
Continue reading...The central bank has raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to a decade high of 3.1%. Follow the day’s news
Shorten confident solution will be found ‘well before Christmas’
The national cabinet meeting was supposed to see the federal government negotiate with the states on an acceptable intervention on soaring energy prices.
It will be delayed just a few days. The fact of the matter is all options are on the table.
It’s no secret with the premiers, the challenge is Putin’s war in Ukraine has flowed through to coal and gas prices all around the world and it’s affecting Australian families.
Continue reading...Demand back to normal in emergency department after long wait times for some patients with less urgent illness
The Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne is back to “normal” levels of demand after a surge on Monday night that led to emergency wait times of up to 12 hours.
Dr Sarah Arachchi, a general paediatrician who works across public and private hospitals in Melbourne, said a lack of bulk-billing doctors, summer viruses including Covid-19, and health anxiety among carers had led to the hospital having to urge people to seek alternative care if their child’s condition was not urgent.
Continue reading...Workload from treating high number of extremely unwell children means patients may face 12-hour wait
Melbourne parents with sick children may face waits of more than 12 hours at the Royal Children’s hospital emergency department as it buckles under demand.
The hospital, in a statement on Monday evening, warned families should seek alternative care where possible given it was dealing with more than 90 patients in its emergency department.
Continue reading...Condemnation comes as the state’s truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice commission, prepares to hold hearings on the subject from Monday
Aboriginal leaders say Victoria’s “culturally unsafe” child protection system is creating “a new stolen generation”, as the state’s truth-telling inquiry prepares to hold hearings on the subject from Monday.
Last year, one in nine Aboriginal babies aged under one was taken away from their families by the state of Victoria, more than double the national average.
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Fans frustrated at last-minute World Cup arrangements
As fans and supporters made their way out of the Darling Harbour viewing site for the Socceroos’ round of 16 loss to Argentina, many expressed their frustration at the hastily organised event.
Lots of us got locked outside. It would have been good if they let some more people in. There were so many up there on stairs, it could’ve been more dangerous if they jumped around too much.
Six thousand people for a major sporting event is just not good enough. It looks like triple that number have turned up. It feels like they underestimated the number of people who would turn up today.
Continue reading...WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights extradition from Britain to US, where he is wanted on criminal charges. This blog is now closed
We now have more details from NSW authorities about the four-vehicle crash on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge shortly before midnight last night, which killed two people.
NSW police have named the two victims as a 25-year-old female from the local area and a 38-year-old man from Sydney’s south-west. A police representative has been speaking to reporters:
At about 11:45 last night, there was a minor collision on the Anzac Bridge involving two vehicles. A 25-year-old female and a 38-year-old male were exchanging details or doing what you need to do after you’ve had a minor collision.
At that point, there’s been another two vehicles that have become involved in that stationary collision. One was a taxi and the second was a Commodore. Tragically, the way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars has impacted with the two pedestrians who were out on the road exchanging details and unfortunately those two people have been killed.
The last 12 hours have seen an absolute tragic number of road trauma incidents in NSW. Six people have lost their lives. Six families are grieving the loss of family members.
Continue reading...Media and the Liberal party were enthralled by the ‘toxic Dan’ narrative in the face of evidence to the contrary
There is a bias all journalists share. It is baked into the profession, inseparable from craft skills, such as news sense. It is not ideological or party political. Rather, it skews the judgment towards whatever interpretation of the evidence makes for the best, most exciting story.
This, surely, is one of the reasons that so much of the media reporting of the Victorian election campaign was off the mark – particularly in the last week, when multiple outlets were predicting a late swing to the Coalition and against Labor.
Continue reading...Infections climbing at slower pace than last month and death rate stable but experts say reporting changes making numbers harder to interpret
Covid cases are continuing to rise across Australia, but health authorities remain confident the peak will hit before Christmas.
Cases have more than doubled in New South Wales and Victoria compared with the beginning of November, and jumped by 20% nationwide in the space of a week. The numbers build on the increases recorded last week of 10-15%.
Continue reading...Despite premier Daniel Andrews refusing to budge on the issue, Legalise Cannabis party promises to push ‘forcefully’ on drug reform
A group of progressive candidates that might hold the balance of power in the Victorian upper house have vowed to push for cannabis decriminalisation despite premier Daniel Andrews refusing to budge on the issue.
While the Legalise Cannabis party said it was too early to “count their eggs”, preliminary projections suggest they are in the running to win three upper house seats – but it is promising to push “forcefully” on drug reform if elected.
Continue reading...Under Victoria’s wage theft laws the Macedon Lounge owner could be jailed if found guilty
A Victorian restaurant faces a potential fine of more than $1m and jail time for its owner, in an Australian-first wage theft case brought over allegations it underpaid workers by thousands of dollars.
The Wage Inspectorate Victoria has deployed the first criminal wage theft charges in Australia, filing a combined 94 against the Macedon Lounge, north-west of Melbourne, and its “officer”.
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Coalition is alienating young voters, PM says
Over on ABC radio Melbourne, Anthony Albanese has been asked what he thinks about the Victorian election and the lessons for the Liberal party.
One of the things that we’re seeing, I believe is an alienation from younger voters from the Coalition.
When you have a position where you have senior members of the Coalition [who] can’t say that climate change is real in spite of the floods and bushfires and all of the evidence of the heating of the planet that we’re seeing, let alone any time something is put up to take action on climate change. They dismiss it.
[It] depends where you work. There will be some businesses, for example, which refuse to bargain with their staff where they used to and their staff where they used to and the better-off-overall test became too complex. Getting rid of the red tape we got there will bring some of the businesses back to the table straight away.
Also, any businesses that are concerned, like ... that actually don’t want to be involved in multi-employer bargaining, the simple fix for them is for them to negotiate with their staff now.
Continue reading...Guardian Australia brings together all the figures on Covid-19 cases, as well as stats, charts and state-by-state data from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania, the ACT and NT. Here you can also find the numbers on the vaccine rollout and fourth dose booster vaccination rates.
In September 2022, federal and state governments began releasing data once a week, on Fridays, rather than daily. As a result, Guardian Australia has aggregated the data released before that date to weekly values, to make the new figures comparable with the old.
Continue reading...Party also argues Victorian campaign finance reforms favoured Andrews government as Anthony Albanese calls out media ‘scare campaign’
The Coalition must improve its offering to female voters and oppose electoral laws that entrench incumbent Labor governments, federal Liberals have suggested following their disappointing Victorian election defeat.
But Anthony Albanese argued on Sunday the election also has lessons for the media, citing adverse commentary about Victorian premier Daniel Andrews as part of a “scare campaign” that had fallen flat.
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Continue reading...Of four state election candidates backed by Climate 200, two remain in contention – but both trail Liberals
The “teal” candidate Kate Lardner has called for reform of Victoria’s “unfair” campaign donation laws with the number of independents in the state’s parliament certain to go backwards at the weekend’s election.
With independents claiming 10 seats at May’s federal poll, one of the key talking points heading into the Victorian election was whether the major parties would suffer a similar assault.
Continue reading...