Opposition leader joins crossbench in calling for more regulation of betting content during sports programs
Pressure is building on the Albanese government to further restrict gambling advertisements as opposition leader Peter Dutton joins calls from the parliamentary crossbench to regulate betting content.
But Dutton’s call to ban wagering ads during sporting broadcasts was slammed by the peak body for commercial TV, saying the sector was already taking action.
Continue reading...Controversial MP Moira Deeming expelled from Victorian Liberal party room; ally Renee Heath sanctioned. Follow live
Medicare benefits increase will help all patients, Butler says
The surprise centrepiece of the budget was $5.7bn increased funding for Medicare, including incentives to improve bulk billing for children and concession cardholders.
Rebates aren’t frozen, every rebate on the MBS [Medicare Benefits Schedule] in going to increase next year – the biggest Medicare increase across the board – every single service, for every single Australian.
Continue reading...Albanese government will spend $28bn on schools in 2023-24, but unions demand more to improve retention rates
Public schools in Central Australia will meet the minimum education funding benchmark for the first time in about a decade under the new federal budget, but the Greens say more needs to be done to close the gap between public and private education.
The Albanese government will spend a record high of $28bn on schools in 2023-24, Tuesday’s budget confirmed, rising to $31.4bn in 2026-27.
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Treasurer pushes ‘middle Australia’ benefits in budget
Jim Chalmers says the big program changes – cheaper medicines, tripling the Medicare bulk billing incentive and childcare subsidy changes (which come in July after forming part of the last budget) will help middle Australia.
And kids under 16 … there are kids right throughout middle Australia and they will benefit substantially, but also we’re making medicines cheaper.
Also … we’ve put these caps on gas and coal and that’s the big reason for the moderation in the … electricity price increases, the household energy upgrades funds, the home guarantee scheme, the Tafe and training places, the fact that we’ve got wages moving after a decade of deliberate wage suppression and stagnation.
I think the divisive commentary is coming from the opposition. I mean … Peter Dutton is a divisive figure, but he’s not a credible figure.
He takes his cues from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. The rest of Australia has moved on from Abbott and Morrison but he hasn’t. And we’ll see that tonight in his budget reply. He is trying to divide people against each other in this budget.
Continue reading...Treasurer to resume spruiking his budget today at the press club in Canberra. Follow the day’s news and budget analysis, live
What about the jobseeker rate?
Anthony Albanese:
Reform is never done.
What we do as a Labor government is focus on what we can do for people, but we focus as well on doing it in a really practical way. I think one of the things that we need to examine, for example, with people who are on jobseeker, is how we improve employment services to get those long-term unemployed into work quite clearly. When you have an unemployment rate of 3.5% but you have a whole lot of people who are just stuck in, in unemployment, then what you need to do is to focus on how is it that the system can be reformed so that we provide those people with employment opportunities, because that’s the key.
You can’t do everything in every budget. And if I did that, you would be asking me questions about inflation. You’d be asking me questions about whether the deficit was too large. As it is what we’ve done is produce a projected surplus. We’ve got the balance, right, providing support, doing, I think, very significant changes.
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Greens accuse Labor of designing budget surplus ‘for political reasons’
Greens treasury spokesperson Nick McKim is next on ABC radio RN Breakfast and he is still not happy with the changes to the petroleum resource rent tax.
This surplus has been designed for political reasons, by Jim Chalmers. And again, what we are seeing in this budget is an acknowledgment rhetorically that the government needs to do more to help people who are doing it really tough, but they are not taking the action they need to actually deliver help at the extent that it is desperately needed.
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Stuart Robert says his time in parliament ‘has not been the smoothest ride’
Stuart Robert, who was a close confidant of the former prime minister Scott Morrison, served as the minister for veterans’ affairs, the minister for the national disability insurance scheme and the minister for government services under the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
I am the first to acknowledge my time in parliament has not been the smoothest ride. Politics is tough. People throw the kitchen sink at you. And promises of a kinder, gentler parliament need to be taken with a grain of salt. We may all aspire to it, but ambition in politics will always win – as Labor stalwart Graham Richardson aptly put it: whatever it takes.
I do hope civility does eventually come to the theatre of politics. But I do fear division has well and truly entrenched itself in the current parliament. A kinder, gentler parliament it is not.
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Albanese added he is concerned about Assange’s mental health.
There was a court decision here in the United Kingdom that was then overturned on appeal that went to Mr Assange’s health, as well, and I am concerned for him.
It’s frustrating. I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is.
… I think that the Assange case needs to be looked at in terms of what occurred, what the allegations are, and whether the time effectively that has been served already is in excess of what would be reasonable if it were proved that this had occurred.
Continue reading...Albanese government says mutual obligations under the widely criticised program will end immediately
The Albanese government will scrap the controversial ParentsNext program from next year and stop compulsory obligations for participants immediately in a significant win for campaigners.
The decision comes after years of protest from advocates about the pre-employment program, which saw about 100,000 people on parenting payments drawn into the mutual obligations system.
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Continue reading...Treasurer says $112bn cost over five years is one of fastest growing pressures on budget, blaming Coalition for the ‘mess’ it left
Interest payments on commonwealth government debt will cost the federal budget $112bn over five years, or $60m a day.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, revealed the soaring cost of debt ahead of Tuesday’s budget, which will show interest now costs more than the family tax benefit, childcare or infrastructure.
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Senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell have agreed to back the government’s housing affordability legislation.
The housing minister, Julie Collins, has told ABC Radio the deal was struck after the government agreed to build 1,200 social housing homes in every state and territory:
We’ve agreed to make sure that every state and territory gets a fair share of housing from the housing future funding from other federal government programs.
What we want to do is make sure that every state and territory gets their fair share of funding.
Many of these deaths occurred in the home. There is opportunity for others present to avert death and reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if they administer a medicine called naloxone.
The Australian Government has funded the availability of naloxone for free, without a prescription, for anyone who may be at risk of witnessing or experiencing an overdose.
Continue reading...Agreement heralded as ‘massive victory’ by Jacqui Lambie Network but Greens senators want government to do more
Labor’s $10bn housing affordability future fund is one step closer to passing the Senate after a deal with the Jacqui Lambie Network to support the bill.
The deal, which guarantees a minimum of 1,200 social and affordable houses in each territory and state over five years, adds pressure on the Greens, whose 11 Senate votes would now be sufficient to pass the bill.
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Asked whether he would swear allegiance, Albanese replied he “will do what is entirely appropriate as the representative of Australia” promising to “engage in that spirit” by swearing the oath – as he has done 10 times when sworn in to parliament and as a minister.
Albanese noted that Australians had voted at the 1999 referendum to remain a monarchy, but acknowledged that Australians have a “wide range of views” on whether to become a republic.
I think that Australia should have an Australian as our head of state, I don’t shy away from that. I haven’t changed my views.
But my priority is constitutional recognition – I can’t imagine going forward, for example, going forward as was suggested by some legitimately that we should be having another referendum on the republic before that occurs.
All Australians wish King Charles well regardless of the different views of people will have about our constitutional arrangements.
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Chalmers promises ‘substantial cost-of-living relief’ for most vulnerable
Asked if the age of 55 is the distinction Jim Chalmers thinks should be made on jobseeker, the treasurer says:
The reason I’m using 55 is because the reports that we received women’s economic equality taskforce and the economic inclusion advisory committee, which has been, in welcome ways, discussed quite a lot on your program, say that women over 55 are the most vulnerable group amongst unemployed Australians.
We’ve indicated before that we want to do something to help them in particular, but again, without pre-empting what’s in the budget in a week’s time, there will be a number of elements to our cost-of-living relief. Not all of them will be determined by age. For example, our energy bill relief plan, which will be in the budget in a week’s time, is for people on pensions and payments right across the board, not limited by age.
Will you increase jobseeker for people aged over 55?
There will be responsible cost-of-living relief in the budget, and it will focus on the most vulnerable people. There will be a number of elements to it. It won’t all be limited to one cohort or another. But it will all be made clear in the budget.
First of all, the jobseeker payment already makes a distinction between workers closer to the age pension, older workers, it already pays a different rate at the moment for people over 60. And that’s in recognition that it is harder to find a new job at that end of your working life. That’s the first point.
The second point is related. All of the expert advice a lot of the analysis I’ve heard it on your show, and it’s been right, says that the group that’s most likely to be long-term unemployed – people over 55 – that that group is dominated by women that the most vulnerable part of the unemployed population in Australia is at the moment women over 55. And so that’s another issue that people need to factor in.
Continue reading...The measure will deliver a ‘more dignified retirement to more Australian workers’, treasurer Jim Chalmers says
Employers will be required to pay superannuation on payday, rather than quarterly, under reforms aimed at cracking down on the scourge of more than $3bn of super that goes unpaid each year.
The measure, announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and financial services minister, Stephen Jones, will take effect in July 2026, giving businesses three years to prepare.
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Continue reading...The $50 daily rate will rise at first only for people over 55 as ministers target cost of living relief at women and long-term unemployed
The Albanese government is poised to increase jobseeker for people aged over 55, citing the need to target cost of living relief at women and the long-term unemployed.
On Monday Channel Seven first reported, and Guardian Australia independently confirmed, that the $50 a day rate of jobseeker will be increased at first only for those 55 and over with reconsideration of a broader raise in later budgets.
Continue reading...ACCC says social media companies not doing enough to prevent users falling victim to scams on the sites. Follow live
‘Gamble responsibly’ to be replaced with ‘You win some you lose more’
Rishworth is also flagging further gambling reform to sports betting ads and other areas to come.
In addition to this credit card ban, to implementing a number of new measures, the government is very much looking forward to the House of Representatives inquiry into online wagering.
It is looking at a whole range of areas, including advertising. We look forward to those recommendations and certainly there is an appetite for a discussion about what comes next with my state and territory colleagues.
By using a credit card, you’re going into debt and if you are using that for online wagering, you can get yourself into trouble.
When it comes to things like casinos, pokies, you are not able to use a credit card for that, so we are wanting to bring in line online wagering and ban the use of credit cards.
Continue reading...Coast guard say passenger went overboard 500 nautical miles (926 kilometres) from Hawaii’s Big Island. Follow live
The US coast guard has confirmed that an Australian man fell overboard on the Quantum of the Seas cruise ship, which was travelling from Brisbane to Hawaii.
The coast guard said the passenger went overboard 500 nautical miles (926 kilometres) from Hawaii’s Big Island.
500 nautical miles south of Hawaii’s Big Island a man fell overboard on Quantum of the Seas cruise ship. He is an Australian national.
A Hercules airplane is on scene conducting a search. At the moment it is the only asset that’s on scene searching.
We’ve been on scene since 9am. And with the crew’s endurance and the fuel constraints of the vessel they should be there for about six hours since arriving on scene.
What I can confirm is the budget will have a cost of living package that is targeted to the most vulnerable. We’ve been clear about that. Obviously some of that is the assistance and support on energy relief. We’ve had the announcements around medicines in the last day.
We are focused on making sure we can do the right thing for those that are doing it tough, but within an environment where there are a lot of demands on the budget in a lot of areas.
Continue reading...Labor urged to ditch skills lists, allow more workers in caring occupations and tackle long wait times for family visas
Australia’s “broken” migration system encourages 1.8 million guest workers to be “permanently temporary” due to strict caps on permanent migration, a landmark review has found.
The migration review, to be released on Thursday by the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, calls for “major reform”, warning that fixing Australia’s migration system “cannot be achieved by further tinkering and incrementalism”.
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The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is this morning committing to $260m to Australia’s national parks to address problems after “a decade of neglect”.
Plibersek is telling ABC News some parks have become unsafe:
What we’ve seen in our national parks, feral animals, invasive weeds, despite the best efforts of our rangers and staff, they just haven’t been able to keep up with the demand in our parks.
They’ve actually become unsafe. One of the worst examples I heard was broken and missing crocodile signs in Kakadu national park.
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