Category Archives: Tony Burke

Australia’s welfare system puts disadvantaged at risk, inquiry told

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Mutual obligation system subjects some participants to ‘punitive conditions’, commonwealth ombudsman says

Australia’s mutual obligation system for welfare risks “subjecting disadvantaged participants to unreasonably onerous and punitive conditions”, the commonwealth ombudsman has warned.

The ombudsman made the submission to a Senate inquiry, which has already recommended a major overhaul of the controversial ParentsNext program, and revealed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants were fined at almost double their rate of participation.

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‘The government has listened’: Australia’s peak bodies praise $300m federal arts policy

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Launched by Anthony Albanese at Melbourne live music pub the Espy, the policy offers welcome support for the beleaguered industry

Australia’s arts industry has welcomed the federal government’s $300m national cultural policy Revive, which was launched on Monday by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.

Albanese described it as a comprehensive and inclusive way to enhance the lives of all Australians, “from the gallery, to the mosh pit, to your favourite reading chair”. While most of the major policies were released over the weekend, the official launch, held at Melbourne live music venue the Esplanade, revealed a few more details, such as the establishment of a national poet laureate – a position Australia has not had since the convict era – and the commitment to deliver a state of culture report every three years, similar to the government-issued state of the environment report.

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Federal government to intervene in transport union’s high court fight against Qantas

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Tony Burke to appear in court as airline seeks to overturn November decision which found it illegally outsourced ground staff jobs

The federal government will join the Transport Workers’ Union’s (TWU) high court fight with Qantas as the airline bids to overturn a ruling that it illegally outsourced 1,700 ground handlers’ jobs.

The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, filed a notice of appearance on 16 January to intervene in the case, in which Qantas hopes to overturn a full federal court decision exposing it to a mammoth compensation bill for laying off staff at 10 airports in November 2020.

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National Library of Australia’s free digital archives may be forced to close without funding

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With only six months worth of funding left, library’s director general faces ‘very big decisions’ on the future of Trove

The future of Trove, the National Library of Australia’s expansive public digital archives, is in doubt with just six months funding left, with the library’s director general revealing that it is facing “very, very big decisions” in the next few months, if the government does not step in with funding.

Trove, a free online resource used by thousands of researchers, academics and members of the public, receives more than 20m hits each year. It has been treading water for the past six years, drip-fed by the federal government to the tune of about $5m annually.

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Labor to impose streaming content quotas and boost funding for writers and musicians

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Arts minister Tony Burke reveals policy that will also put ‘First Nations first’ and ensure artists get more ‘fair remuneration’

Streaming services will get Australian content quotas, artists will receive more “fair remuneration” for their work and musicians and writers will have access to more public funding, the arts minister, Tony Burke, has announced.

Burke revealed details of a new national cultural policy, to be released on 30 January, at the Woodford folk festival on Friday, promising to end 10 years of “culture wars” on the arts.

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Australia politics live: Dodson ‘taken aback’ by Nationals’ call on Indigenous voice but doesn’t see it as a setback

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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.

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Remains of 18 Indigenous people held by UK museums return to Australia

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Return is part of painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from traditional lands who now lie in more than 20 countries

The remains of 18 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia by two British museums, part of the laborious and painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from their traditional lands which now lie in more than 20 countries around the world.

At midnight Australia time on Wednesday, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum returned 17 ancestors to the custodianship of the federal government, which will hold them while further research is undertaken “to determine the traditional custodians”. Another was given to the custodianship of the south-east First Nations people of South Australia, who were represented by Robyn Campbell.

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Australia politics live: $591m cost of cancelling French submarines revealed in Senate estimates; Bob Brown charged with trespass

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Tony Burke is also being quite conciliatory about David Pocock’s concerns about the bill.

Asked by Patricia Karvelas if he is prepared to make more amendments to the IR bill, Tony Burke says that is standard after a senate inquiry process.

I suspect there’ll be more to come.

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Unions warn Tony Burke against potential debate on the better-off-overall test

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Workplace relations minister opens door to considering industrial relations changes as he announces gutting of building watchdog

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke has confirmed the current better-off-overall test that ensures workers do not go backwards will be on the table for discussion at the Albanese government’s jobs summit in September.

Burke said on Sunday he had been “sceptical” about having a conversation with employers and unions about the test, known as the Boot, at the September summit because he wanted Australian workers to have higher wages and conditions. The minister told the ABC he would “take some convincing” to overhaul the test.

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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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ABC misses out on final leaders’ debate; key independents back call for robodebt inquiry – as it happened

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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?”

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Australian retailers urge government to broaden employers’ power to cut workers’ hours

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The National Retail Association wants all businesses to have greater flexibility, not just those receiving jobkeeper

Australia’s retailers are calling on the Morrison government to broaden the power of employers to cut workers’ hours and change duties, as Labor signalled it will oppose the move to extend flexibility linked to the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

The National Retail Association chief executive, Dominique Lamb, told Guardian Australia the government should consider granting all businesses the flexibility to vary work hours – not just the firms in receipt of the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

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Australia cancels Milo Yiannopoulos’s visa after Christchurch comments

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Immigration minister says remarks by far-right figure were ‘appalling and foment hatred and division’

The Australian government has cancelled the visa of far-right commentator Milo Yianopoulos just a week after it was personally approved by the immigration minister.

Immigration minister David Coleman said on Saturday that comments about Islam made by Yiannopoulos in the wake of the Christchurch massacre were “appalling and foment hatred and division” and he would not be allowed in the country.

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‘Beggars belief’: more endangered parrots exported from Australia

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Warren Entsch demands investigation after German convicted kidnapper boasts about new shipment

A government MP has said it “beggars belief” that more endangered Australian birds have been exported to a German organisation headed by a convicted kidnapper and extortionist, after a Guardian investigation revealed there had been multiple warnings that the birds could be sold to collectors at a huge profit.

Warren Entsch repeated calls for an independent investigation into how the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots was able to receive hundreds of rare and endangered birds from Australia, after its founder, Martin Guth, used a social media post to say more endangered species had arrived at its facilities in January.

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Murray Darling Basin Plan breaches Water Act, royal commission to find

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Commissioner to find $13bn plan to restore river took into account factors other than the environment’s needs when it set the amount of water needed to be bought back from irrigators

The Murray Darling Basin Plan is likely in breach of the commonwealth act that underpins it – the Water Act 2007, the South Australian royal commission into the plan is expected to find.

The report of the royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan is being handed to the state governor on Tuesday but it is up to the SA government when it is released.

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