Category Archives: Victoria

Australia news live update: mourners farewell Kimberley Kitching; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as SA premier; six Covid deaths recorded

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Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral held in Melbourne; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as new SA premier; Morrison and Palaszczuk announce infrastructure funding package; Lismore flood victims to dump debris at protest; at least six Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

For almost four years Suzanna Sheed has started each parliamentary sitting week by moving the same motion.

The independent MP for Shepparton, a rural electorate of almost 50,000 people in northern Victoria, asks for a non-government business program to be reinstated in the state’s lower house.

They’re having a real impact on people right now, so we’ve been conscious of that. But what we do as a government is we don’t have knee-jerk reactions, we think through carefully how we can best provide the sort of support that we believe the federal government can deliver.

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Victorian government calls for ‘fair’ commonwealth funding for transport projects

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Grattan Institute report finds ‘consistent pattern’ of transport funding going to political battleground states

Victorian transport infrastructure minister Jacinta Allan has called on the federal government to provide the state with its “fair share” of funding after a report found the state was being shortchanged compared with New South Wales and Queensland.

The Grattan Institute report, released on Sunday night, found there was a “consistent pattern” of successive federal governments spending more money on transport in New South Wales and Queensland – where elections tend to be won and lost – than in Victoria.

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Shane Warne remembered at private funeral in Melbourne

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Late cricketing great’s family and friends attended the service at the St Kilda Football Club

Shane Warne’s family and friends have held a private funeral in Melbourne, with about 80 guests gathering to say their goodbyes to the cricketing great.

Warne’s three children, Jackson, Brooke and Summer, and parents Keith and Brigette, along with close friends including retired Test captains Mark Taylor, Allan Border and Michael Clarke and former England skipper Michael Vaughan, attended the service.

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Victorian politics of paid sick leave is very different to developer levies

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Daniel Andrews was gearing up for a fight with lobby groups, but the main prize was in the electorate

For the second time in a month the Andrews government this week unfurled a big social reform to be funded by a levy on business.

And for the second time in a month, it provoked outrage from the usual quarters, including the state opposition, the federal government and industry groups.

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Farmers welcome provision of extra flood relief funding in NSW – as it happened

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Inquest into death of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker to start in September; call for inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women; advice for asthma sufferers during flood clean-up; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the telly now (hope he’s saving some juicy bits for his speech later). He’s talking about this idea of returning to some sort of pre-Covid fiscal world. He says:

As you know, we recalibrated our budget strategy when the pandemic first hit and we needed to do that to ensure there was sufficient economic support with programs like jobkeeper, the cash flow boosts, the $750 payments to pensioners, carer, and those on income support. That helped stabilise the economy by opening up the purse strings. Now that the recovery is well underway and the unemployment rate is down to a 14-year low of 4%, it is time to move to the next phase of the budget strategy and that means stabilising debt and then reducing debt as a proportion of the overall economy, and ending those crisis-level, emergency economic support programs.

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‘Just not the right time’: Victoria urged to keep mask rules for key workers

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Epidemiologists say calls by business to relax mask rules as case numbers escalate is ‘down the rabbit hole thinking’

Victorian business leaders pushing to scrap mask mandates for hospitality and retail workers are “clearly not following the trend” in rising cases, according to epidemiologists who say now is not the time to relax rules.

The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday rejected a push from the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian ­Retailers Association and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who told the Herald Sun they wanted national consistency on mask mandates and warned workers could leave the sectors for other jobs.

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Australia live news updates: call for inquiry into NSW flood response; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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AFLW final postponed after Covid outbreak; NSW Labor calls for inquiry into flood response; Ukraine embassy calls for Australian sanctions against two Russian oligarchs; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news live

From senior economics reporter Ben Butler and foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst:

Ukraine’s embassy in Canberra has joined calls for the Australian government to sanction two Russian oligarchs who have assets here, Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg.

The government of Ukraine is grateful to the government of Australia for its proactive and extensive sanctions policy against Russia, which is the biggest among the Indo-Pacific countries ...

We hope that those Russian oligarchs will be included in the next round of sanctions.

Vekselberg has already been sanctioned by the British and US governments. It’s curious that the Australian government has not yet followed suit given its claims of being in lockstep with the US and UK.

Vekselberg’s interest in Falcon pre-dates Origin’s farm-in agreement agreed in 2015, so Origin was entered into the joint venture with eyes wide open.

We certainly have had very limited capability to conduct experimental fires under extreme conditions. Nobody in their right mind is going to give us the go ahead to light a fire on a Black Saturday-type day ...

This lab means we’ll be able to study particular aspects of fire behaviour under the extreme conditions that are more likely to occur under climate change.

By using the data collected by the pyrotron, our prediction tools become more accurate. And that means better decision making about where firefighters can safely go, what firefighting strategies to use, and also improved emergency warnings for communities.

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Seventh Japanese encephalitis case in NSW; nation records 17 Covid deaths – as it happened

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PM highlights China’s ‘chilling silence’ on Russian invasion as Labor says China has ‘responsibility’ to call out Putin’s actions; NSW Health confirms seventh case of Japanese encephalitis; man in court over Sydney boarding house fire; Coalition to spend $243m on four mining projects; a man has died in Broken Hill after driving his ute into flood waters; nation records at least 17 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

NSW Health has added the results from 10,000 additional positive rapid antigen tests to its official numbers after a data error meant they were left out.

The results were registered between Sunday 13 March and Monday 14 March, with NSW Health warning the numbers will “inflate the cases being reported today for the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday (Tuesday)”.

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Covid cases rise sharply in NSW to more than 30,000 with data glitch only partly to blame

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Victoria also recorded its highest daily coronavirus case total in five weeks as the more-infectious Omicron subvariant spreads

Covid-19 cases have spiked dramatically in New South Wales, with 30,402 new infections recorded, but authorities say it’s at least partly due to a data glitch.

NSW Health says about 10,000 positive rapid antigen tests registered between Sunday and Monday are included in figures released on Wednesday due to a data processing problem.

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‘I never felt right’: DNA test reveals Melbourne woman introduced to wrong ‘biological mother’

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Penny Mackieson bonded for two decades with a woman she was told put her up for adoption

Penny Mackieson finally has the name that feels right to her, nearly 60 years after she was inadvertently swapped with another baby when the infants were placed for adoption.

After mustering the courage to contact the person that records indicated was her biological mother, the Melbourne woman spent two decades getting to know and love the woman and her family.

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Cruise ship ban to end; nation records 24 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Search for owner after bodies found in Newtown boarding house fire police believe was ‘maliciously lit’; cruise ship ban to end on April 17; Victorian health minister says Omicron subvariant ‘slowly asserting itself’; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths with 10 in Queensland. This blog is now closed

The government has decided to withdraw a women’s network logo that was widely mocked online for its phallic shape.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet issued a statement today saying the logo had been removed from its website “pending consultation with staff”:

The women’s network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years.

The rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely. No external providers were engaged for this work.

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Australia news live updates: NRMA says any fuel excise cuts likely to be ‘eaten up’ by soaring prices; two Covid deaths

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NRMA says any fuel excise cuts likely to be ‘eaten up’ by soaring prices; Victoria records 5,499 new Covid cases, one death; NSW 9,911 new cases, one death; ACT 599 cases; QLD 3,797 cases as health minister tests positive; NT 198 cases; cruise ship ban could lift soon; NSW health minister ‘not keen’ on reintroducing Covid restrictions. Follow all the day’s news

NSW emergency services minister Steph Cooke has said there will be an independent review of the response to the floods in northern NSW.

Cooke was speaking to 2GB earlier today, and lamented that the government “can always do better next time”.

I think we can always do better next time.

There’s no question of that. That’s why we’re looking to do an independent review of the immediate response and the immediate aftermath in terms of what was deployed and when and what discussions were had.

[Different agencies] worked together extremely well during this difficult environment and I think that trying to cast blame is not actually helpful.

I am sorry to say it but sometimes the media like to put the point of blame back on various people. There will be a review and no doubt there will be learnings again, as there is in every crisis but it is not helpful to have a blame game going on and all through the two-year pandemic, you wouldn’t have heard me say a word about any other state government’s views and not criticising the federal government was very much at the forefront as well.

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Victorian public schools face $20bn funding shortfall, analysis shows

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Private schools will be overfunded by almost $400m, but public schools will fall short of national standards

Victoria’s public schools face a dire funding shortfall of almost $20bn, with new analysis revealing funding growth for private schools is five times higher than for the state’s government schools.

Analysis from public schools advocacy group Save Our Schools shows that combined federal and state funding for government schools from 2019 to 2029 would be about $19.5bn below the Gonski review’s recommended funding benchmark – the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

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Home births cancelled at short notice due to Victoria’s ambulance crisis

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The state’s two publicly funded home-birth programs are suspended, with some expectant mothers not told until weeks before due dates

Expectant mothers are having planned home births cancelled within weeks of their due dates, with Victoria’s ambulance crisis putting intense strain on the state’s maternity services.

Victoria has just two publicly funded home-birth programs at Sunshine and Casey hospitals – both of which are now temporarily suspended. Assisted home births require ambulances to be available in case of any complications during the procedure.

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Everything you need to know about Guardian Australia’s state news coverage

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A team of nine has been appointed to extend our reporting of state politics and issues such as education, health, transport and energy

Guardian Australia is expanding its coverage of state news via a new section of the homepage in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

The expansion, which is being funded by the Google News Initiative, will allow a team of nine to extend the Guardian’s rigorous, progressive reporting of state politics and issues such as education, health, transport and energy.

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Live news update: Australia bans imports of Russian oil, petroleum, gas and coal

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Australia follows lead of US and UK with latest Russia sanctions; ‘We want tradies to come to Queensland,’ premier says; helicopter crashes in NSW Snowy Mountains; Japanese encephalitis outbreak grows to 15; nation records at least 30 Covid deaths, seven in New Zealand. Follow all the day’s news live

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is speaking to ABC News breakfast now from Lismore. He has been asked about the death of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching.

It was an enormous shock, James. I was visiting a family in Ballina yesterday, who have lost everything and I got an urgent message and then I took a call and it is something that was just totally unexpected. Kimberley was just 52 years of age. She was just beginning her political career. It was her first term serving in the Senate.

I appointed her to the frontbench and gave her additional responsibilities when I became the leader and Kimberley was someone who lit up a room when she was there. She was so full of life. She was a vivacious character and to lose her so young is just an enormous shock.

Essential workers who were lauded in the pandemic, like those in aged care, child care or supermarkets were already forking out up to three-quarters of their salary on rent. Unless we want a social disaster to follow this natural disaster we need to get serious about giving people on low and modest incomes a decent shot at getting and keeping a house. That means more social and affordable housing is urgently needed.

The problem with temporary housing is the lack of security and the poor quality. If people are in a temporary home but know they will have permanent housing soon, they are safe and warm through winter, and they can keep their job and kids can continue at their school, then they will most likely do well.

But if they are worried about how long they will have a roof over their head, and where they will live in the future, if they feel unsafe, or always have a cold because they can’t warm their home, or if the housing dislocates the family from the community they know, then their mental and physical health will suffer.

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Australia news live updates: Palaszczuk says too late for emergency declaration in Qld; Rio Tinto ditching Russia; 21 Covid deaths

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Palaszczuk rejects Morrison’s move to declare national emergency in Queensland, where flood costs are ‘well into the billions’; Rio Tinto will terminate all contracts with Russian businesses; nation records at least 21 Covid deaths amid concerns over Omicron subvariant. Follow all the updates live

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being questioned about his promises to keep the cost of living down as he chats to ABC News Breakfast:

Well, we have been making policies that have been driving down the cost of living, for example, around electricity prices which are down by 8% in the last two years.

They doubled under our political opponents, but what I was referring to last night is the international events in the Ukraine have seen a spike in oil prices, and that is flowing through with some people paying more than $2 a litre.

This high and increasing burden of skin cancer emphasises the need for continued investment in skin cancer education and prevention.

We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to do it so that one day Australia is no longer considered the skin cancer capital of the world.

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States on borrowing binge as Morrison government predicts $1tn in net debt by 2024-25 fiscal year

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Pandemic and other disaster recovery efforts will further power state debt, says rating agency

Australia’s states and the ACT have almost doubled their borrowings in the past three years, placing them on track to hit the half-trillion dollar debt mark by mid-year, according to rating agency S&P Global.

The borrowing binge comes as the Morrison government projects almost $1tn in net debt by the 2024-25 fiscal year, with commonwealth outlays on the economy and health during the Covid pandemic amounting to more than 14% of gross domestic product.

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Australia news live updates: residents in Sydney’s south-west ordered to evacuate; Queensland flood death toll hits 13

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Thousands of people in Sydney’s south and south-west have been told to leave as flood warnings are in place for vast swathes of NSW, as Dominic Perrottet admits ‘better planning’ is required for future flood mitigation. Follow all the day’s news

Federal opposition frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has jumped on the radio right after the premier to talk about Labor’s proposed $77m package to improve consent education at school. (Hopefully with something better than that bizarre milkshake video from last year.)

Well, the national curriculum has just been strengthened in this area to say that all students should learn about respectful relationships while they’re at school ... This is making sure that we change the objective in the curriculum into real change in every classroom in Australia.

... If we can change that when they are young, we can change these shocking statistics across Australia where we see one in five Australian women experiencing sexual assault in her lifetime, one in three experiencing domestic violence.

Premier, can you guarantee people who lost their homes to these floods, that they will be able to rebuild where they are, or will some be forced to move to less flood-prone areas?

Well, Patricia, I’ll work through that because I mean, obviously this was an unpredicted, freak catastrophe. I mean, there’s a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore!

But ultimately, in these times, we need to have frank assessments of the circumstances.

Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but you say “freak” – is it really a “freak” if we’re being told we’re going to have more of these events more frequently?

Should we be really describing it that way when we know that these events are going to be with us more often?

We’ve never seen a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore, I’m sure you have that. There’s no doubt that we are seeing more of these events and we need to make sure that as we rebuild, we do so in such a way that ensures that we protect people’s lives and we have communities built in a way where we mitigate flood risk or fire risk.

... So as we get to that rebuilding phase, we’ll certainly look at better planning and more flood mitigation and fire mitigation as we move through.

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Australia news live updates: weather warnings stretch from NSW mid-north coast to Victoria border; ‘rain bomb’ set to cost Queensland billions

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Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. Follow all the day’s news

As expected, AGL Energy has formally rejected the takeover bid by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset manager Brookfield, posting an ASX statement this morning.

AGL, the country’s largest electricity generator, received a revised bid late on Friday, offering $8.25 a share, up from an initial unsolicited bid of $7.50 a share.

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