Category Archives: Labor party

Reboot of Jenkins review into toxic parliamentary culture already begun, Katy Gallagher says

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Minister for women says mission to improve workplace conditions is urgent and will not ‘die a little slow death’

Minister for women, Katy Gallagher, says she will kickstart implementation of the Jenkins review in the opening fortnight of the new parliament, declaring the mission to eradicate toxic parliamentary staffing culture is not going to “die a little slow death”.

In her first interview as the new federal minister for women, Katy Gallaghersaid the Jenkins reboot had begun this week. She said Kerri Hartland, the independent chair of the Jenkins review implementation taskforce, had contacted MPs across the parliament to revive the process that went into hiatus because of the May election.

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Labor’s new ministerial code of conduct bans blind trusts like Christian Porter used

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Changes come after Labor criticised Porter for not declaring who contributed to fund he used to pay for ABC defamation case

Blind trusts of the kind Christian Porter used to partially pay for his defamation case against the ABC have been explicitly banned by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in a new code of conduct for his ministers.

While in opposition, Labor had attempted to have Porter, the former attorney general, disciplined for failing to declare who had contributed to the fund he used to pay for the ultimately aborted defamation court action he instigated against the ABC.

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Australia news live: fourth covid vaccine dose to be offered from 11 July; NSW rain and flood risk move north

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In his speech, Jason Clare also lamented the fact that although the target of 40% of people aged 25 to 34 having bachelor degrees had been achieved, a separate target for 20% of enrolments to be from people from low socioeconomic backgrounds had not.

Instead, it had “barely moved” from 15%, from when the target was set in 2008. Indigenous enrolment was less than 10%.

I don’t want us to be a country where your chances in life depend on your postcode, your parents, or the colour of your skin. None of us want that. But that’s where we are today. I am not naive, I know this is hard to shift.

And that, at its core, is what the Australian Universities accord will be about: a reset. And an opportunity to build a long-term plan for our universities, together. Drawing on the advice of the leadership in this room, your staff, unions, business, students, parents and all political parties.

Looking at everything from funding and access to affordability, transparency, regulation, employment conditions and also how universities and TAFEs and other higher education and vocational education providers and training institutions work together.

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Penny Wong says she is open to meeting with Chinese counterpart at G20

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Foreign minister confirms Australia’s willingness to engage with China but insists ‘coercive’ trade sanctions must be scrapped

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signalled she is open to meeting her Chinese counterpart at a looming meeting of G20 foreign ministers, but she has warned any diplomatic thaw will require the removal of Beijing’s “coercive” trade sanctions against a variety of exports.

Wong was asked during a visit to Singapore on Wednesday to disclose whether or not arrangements were now in place for a conversation at the G20 meeting in Indonesia later this week – and if so, what her message would be to China’s Wang Yi.

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More major warnings issued as focus turns to mid-north coast – as it happened

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Sussan Ley criticises Labor over flood response

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley is upping the Coalition’s attacks on the Labor government over the floods, asking why they haven’t activated disaster recovery payments for affected residents.

We have already announced a wide range of support for people but I think it’s fair to assume that there will be more coming.

I can’t commit to anything specific like that but what I can tell you is that from the weekend, I began talking with our authorities about what we could do to make sure that any disaster support we approved got out the door quickly.

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Australian superannuation industry leaders to visit Indonesia to turbocharge business ties

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Former Labor frontbencher Greg Combet says group will examine viability of infrastructure investment opportunities as Australia tries to move past its reliance on China

Former Labor frontbencher and chair of IFM Investors Greg Combet will lead a high-powered delegation of leaders from the superannuation industry to Jakarta next month as part of efforts to turbocharge the economic relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

Combet has confirmed the group will examine the viability of investment opportunities in infrastructure on the back of a successful visit in June, when Anthony Albanese took a business delegation to Jakarta during his first visit to the country as prime minister.

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Labor’s Kate Thwaites backs call for MPs to be sacked for serious breaches of new code of conduct

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Australia should follow UK model where an independent expert panel determines a sanction which parliament votes on, MP says

The Labor MP Kate Thwaites has backed calls for fellow members to be sacked for serious breaches of a proposed new parliamentary code of conduct, saying consequences are “vital” to ending the “political culture of impunity” in Canberra.

Thwaites, who co-wrote an essay on Australia’s political culture with Labor heavyweight Jenny Macklin last year, said she agreed with the independent MP Kylea Tink’s view that MPs should be expelled from parliament for extreme breaches of a new code of conduct.

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Australia live news: Jacinda Ardern meets Daniel Andrews; NSW floods ‘far from over’ as Sydney rain continues; RBA interest rates announcement

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Jacinda Ardern meets with Daniel Andrews; Dominic Perrottet warns heavy rain forecast in NSW; federal disaster payments available to 23 flood-affected areas; RBA interest rate decision due; Victoria records 16 Covid deaths, NSW records 14, Queensland records 11. Follow the day’s news live

The federal government is making disaster relief payments available to 23 flood-affected areas in NSW, with emergency management minister Murray Watt saying the assistance would be “uncapped”.

Watt announced early on Tuesday that the federal and NSW governments were making assistance available through the commonwealth-state disaster recovery funding arrangements.

These are uncapped payments, they are demand-driven and they will be available for anyone who qualifies.

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Sexual harassment of women in Australian culture industries must be stopped, says arts minister

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Tony Burke, who holds arts and workplace portfolios, says national cultural policy must include ‘assurances of a safe workplace for women’ after #MeToo allegations

As the first minister to ever hold the joint portfolios of arts, and employment and workplace relations, Tony Burke is promising to use government policy to tackle sexual harassment allegations within Australia’s cultural industries.

Speaking to Guardian Australia just prior to announcing the start of a seven-week national consultation period on Friday, Burke said he had closely followed mounting controversies over the treatment of women in the performing arts industries, while in opposition.

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Jane Garrett, Victorian Labor MP, dies from breast cancer aged 49

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Former emergency services minister offered a state funeral to honour her ‘life of service’

The family of Victorian Labor MP Jane Garrett has has accepted the offer of a state funeral to farewell the former emergency services minister who has died from breast cancer at the age of 49.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the service would be “a fitting way to mark her significant contribution” to the state.

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Three rescued from flood waters; abortion rights protests; 54 Covid deaths – as it happened

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SES warns of flooding across saturated NSW; airport chaos spreads from Sydney to Melbourne; Anthony Albanese meets Emmanuel Macron in Paris. This blog is now closed

Flights have been cancelled, ticket prices are through the roof and queues are out the door at Sydney airport as travellers looking to jet off have been caught up in more chaos.

More than two million passengers are expected to pass through Sydney airport during the July school holidays and it is not clear whether the airport will be able to handle the massive demand over the coming days.

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Warning over Omicron subvariants as nation records 23 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Omicron BA.4/BA.5 likely to become dominant coronavirus strains in Victoria as nation records at least 23 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

The Australian literary community is paying tribute to the writer Frank Moorhouse, who died on Sunday, aged 83.

His publisher at Penguin Random House, Meredith Curnow, said in a statement to Nine Newspapers:

Renowned for his use of the discontinuous narrative in works such as The Americans, Baby and Forty-Seventeen, Frank Moorhouse has been an active participant in Australian literature for nearly 50 years.

The Edith Trilogy, made up of the astounding novels Grand Days, Dark Palace and Cold Light have not only brought immense pleasure to so many readers, but have also affected the career paths of many women. I feel so privileged to have worked with Frank on Cold Light.

It does happen a lot in plants – like Banksia, for example, after [Joseph] Banks.

Usually, a frog scientist of such prestige and contribution will get a frog [species] named after them eventually. [Marion Anstis] never had anything named after her.

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‘Things aren’t going back’: Australia braces for step-up in China’s Pacific push

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Despite initial relief over island nations’ rejection of security and economic pact, senior government figure says reprieve could be only temporary

The Australian government is bracing for China to step up its push to expand influence in the Pacific, with a senior figure privately conceding Canberra has a lot of work to do to regain lost trust and strengthen regional unity.

Despite initial relief at a decision by Pacific island countries to defer a sweeping 10-country security and economic pact proposed by China, the Australian government now believes this may be only a temporary reprieve.

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Victoria names new ministers; Penny Wong to travel to south-east Asia – as it happened

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Jacinta Allan appointed Victoria’s new deputy premier; Australia records at least 56 Covid deaths and Penny Wong to travel to Vietnam and Malaysia. This blog is now closed

There have been 21 Covid deaths in NSW. 1,453 people have been hospitalised, and 45 are in intensive care:

US president Joe Biden is calling on Americans to vote for officials who will restore abortion rights. This is how he described the overturning of Roe v Wade earlier:

So extreme that women could be punished for protecting their health.

So extreme that women and girls who are forced to bear their rapist’s child – of the child of consequence.

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Factions, new blood and Jeff Kennett: Daniel Andrews’ dilemma after losing four ministers

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Analysis: Victorian premier has five months to introduce a new leadership group to voters

A lot of comparisons can made between Victorian premiers Daniel Andrews and Jeff Kennett, though, being from opposite sides of politics, neither of them will likely admit it.

Both are considered crash-through leaders, either loved or loathed. Both have shaped their state, either for better or worse – depending on whom you ask.

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‘Slap in the face’: independents furious at PM’s decision to cut advisory staff from four to one

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Anthony Albanese’s move to reduce crossbench staffers to pre-Coalition levels met with outrage

Furious independent MPs and senators have accused the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, of an “attack on democracy” after he decided to slash their staff allocation in one of his first dealings with the newly expanded crossbench.

One Nation has threatened to reject all government legislation as their “default position”, while crucial Senate vote David Pocock called the decision “extremely damaging” to the relationship with the crossbench. The Greens also claimed they have been given an effective staff cut, allocated the same number of staff as the last parliament despite their representatives growing from 10 to 16.

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‘Considerable strain’: how Australian officials saw the China rift

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Officials kept in ‘regular contact’ with Chinese embassy even as Morrison government ministers frozen out, FoI documents shows

Australian officials stayed in “regular contact” with the Chinese embassy in Canberra to “explain our decisions” even when Australian ministers were subjected to a two-year diplomatic freeze, newly released documents show.

The former Morrison government had been “willing to engage with China in dialogue at any time”, according to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade briefing notes, which also described the relationship as being under “considerable strain”.

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Senior ministers to retire before Victoria’s election – as it happened

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Housing market posts first monthly decline since September 2020; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Australian scientists celebrate world first

AAP is reporting that in a world first, Australian scientists have developed a device with “exquisite precision” that they say is a huge step towards a commercial quantum computer.

This is a remarkable piece of engineering. This experiment paves the way for larger and more complex quantum systems to be emulated in future.

It won’t be long before we can start to realise new materials that have never existed before.

All of this is just a fantasy because they don’t understand what actually happens at the bargaining table.

I think the Reserve Bank governor has weirdly changed his tune, he was the one who said so long as wages keep up with inflation and productivity, they are not inflationary.

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NSW Labor pledges measures for public transport, toll relief and preschools in state budget reply

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Opposition denies claims of running a ‘low-level scare campaign’ on Perrottet government’s proposed land tax implementation

Public transport built in NSW, toll relief and 100 new public preschools will centre the state opposition’s budget reply speech, as the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, continues selling his “reform” agendaahead the state’s March polling date.

Chris Minns, the NSW opposition leader, will on Thursday unveil a number of pledges but will stop short of presenting his entire pitch to the voting public, with his plans for home ownership remaining under wraps despite an earlier attack on the government’s planned stamp duty reform for first home buyers.

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Public service shake-up continues with four new secretaries for government departments – as it happened

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Dominic Perrottet called on to halt Barilaro appointment pending inquiry; at least 63 Covid deaths recorded nationwide. This blog is now closed

NSW teacher strike ‘about politics, not pay’, Kean says

Matt Kean has hit out at plans by public and Catholic school teachers to strike next Friday after receiving a 3% pay rise offer, well below the rate of inflation.

Our 3% pay increase is far more than the Labor government’s 1.5% pay increase for public servants down in Victoria.

So the same unions complaining about our generous pay rise up here in NSW and protesting aren’t marching in the streets down in Victoria.

A senior woman, a senior public servant with knowledge of financial markets and trade particularly with the United States was offered the job, it was rescinded by the New South Wales government.

We don’t know by whom. And then John Barilaro mysteriously was given it just last week.

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