Category Archives: Australian education

NSW nurses and midwives announce strike – as it happened

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Australia’s ‘sex report card’ released

The latest Australian Study of Health and Relationships was revealed at a conference in Sydney this week held by the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Rent assistance went up by $25 and … average rents have gone up by more than $100. What might look like a big percentage increase is, frankly, fuck all, and that’s one of the reasons that this is so upsetting.

When CRA is indexed, the amount of rent that you have to pay before you get any rent assistance increases. So the proportion of your rent, where you qualify for it, reduces if you aren’t receiving the maximum payment.

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NSW government announces free weekend train travel in bid to avoid industrial action – as it happened

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Australia “abstained with great disappointment” on the Palestinian-drafted resolution at the United Nations general assembly in New York early this morning, the Australian ambassador to the UN has said.

The resolution – which sought to act on a recent advisory opinion of the international court of justice – was passed with 124 votes in favour and 14 against. Australia was one of 43 countries to abstain, including the UK, Canada and Germany.

That is why we abstained with great disappointment.

We wanted to vote for a resolution that directly reflected the ICJ Advisory Opinion.

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‘The death of campus life’: first major Australian university dumps face-to-face lectures, leaving staff ‘furious’

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Adelaide University touts ‘rich digital learning activities’ that will be ‘self-paced and self-directed’ after student numbers on campus decline

The newly amalgamated Adelaide University has become the first Group of Eight institution in Australia to ditch face-to-face lectures, in a move condemned as accelerating the “death of campus life” by the union representing tertiary education staff.

Ahead of the merged university opening at the beginning of 2026, staff at the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia were informed last week that traditional lectures would no longer form a part of courses.

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John Howard weighs in on stoush between NSW and federal Liberals – as it happened

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Assistant treasurer says Elon Musk post is ‘crackpot stuff’

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said Elon Musk labelling the Australian government as “fascists” is “crackpot stuff”.

And whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals.

And, for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean is this what he thinks free speech is all about?

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Australian politics live: Labor confirms aged care deal; AEC abolishes Kylea Tink’s electorate; parliamentary standards bill passes Senate

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Helen Haines condemns ‘stitch up’ over Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission bill

Independent MP Helen Haines is furious at what she calls a “stitch up” between Labor and the Coalition that “weakens the transparency of the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission”.

The bill as currently drafted means serious findings could be made about an MP, but they could face no sanction and the public could never know.

I want to see more transparency around this process.

The government made two last-minute changes to its own legislation that would reinforce the major party duopoly, ensuring no member of the crossbench can be deputy chair of the parliamentary standards oversight committee. What a stitch up!”

We’re going to have the same people on the joint select committee as on the privileges committee, meaning the people who are meant to make sure the whole system is working are the same people who are part of it.

I’m really staggered by this, and it isn’t right.

We’re taking a stand against the unchecked greed that’s fuelling the cost-of-living crisis, and we’re urging the parliament to support this critical reform.

Our bill will put an end to corporate price gouging by making it illegal for corporations with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for goods and services.

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Australia politics live: Labor’s hate speech bill will not not criminalise vilification; man who ‘flipped the bird’ in parliament was not signed in by politician

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Dan Tehan outraged over tattered flag after devastating winds

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan is continuing to moonlight as Australia’s flag hall monitor.

While values are still rising at the national level, albeit at a slowing pace, beneath the headline figure, we’re starting to see some weakness, particularly in Victoria.

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NSW town Bungendore to ‘heal’ after it finally gets a high school eight years after John Barilaro promised it

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The then deputy premier announced $71m Bungendore project in 2019 but it was found to breach crown land law. Now Labor is proceeding with its own

The regional New South Wales town of Bungendore will finally get a high school after four years of legal headaches after the announcement of the $71m project by the then state deputy premier and member for Monaro, John Barilaro.

The new high school was a 2019 election commitment and due to be built by January 2023 in the middle of Bungendore’s heritage precinct, requiring the demolition of its pool, community centre and council offices. It caused immediate division and outrage among residents.

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Guardian Essential poll: more voters blaming Albanese government for interest rate rises

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However poll shows majority back Labor’s plan to cap international students enrolments in tertiary education

More voters are blaming the Albanese government for interest rate rises but Labor appears to have hit the electoral sweet spot with its proposed cap on international student enrolments.

Those are the conclusions of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,132 voters conducted after a week of debate about whether the Reserve Bank should begin cutting interest rates due to extremely soft growth.

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Teacher at Sydney’s Knox Grammar school charged with alleged grooming of a child

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Headmaster says alleged online incident occurred outside school hours and premises, and staff member has been sacked

A senior teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar school has been charged with an alleged child grooming offence.

The teacher, 27-year-old William Gulson, was arrested in Wahroonga on Friday after an investigation into allegations he had groomed a child online.

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Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector – as it happened

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Michele O’Neil said this isn’t about “expecting everyone to have the same opinion all of the time” but continued:

We’re a diverse movement, and people have strong opinions, but it is at its core about who we are and what we stand for. And we don’t walk away when things get tough, we face up to them. And angry individuals lashing out and blaming everyone except themselves doesn’t get us through this.

We need to stay steady on what is in the interest of working people and what’s in the interest of working people is good, clean, strong, effective unions with leaders who see their job as representing workers and their members, not acting in their own self-interest.

No … I think that it’s important that we realise that the union movement – the vast bulk of unions – want to stay part of the united union movement, and have made that really clear.

What I’m saying, Patricia, is we’re talking to all of our unions all of the time … I haven’t had any other unions threaten to quit.

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Australia news live: severe weather warnings for parts of NSW and Victoria; Tasmania flood warnings downgraded but river rises still possible

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Moving to the 2026 census, Katy Gallagher was asked about comments from some of Australia’s major health institutions who say data on gender diverse Australians will be critical to inform care.

Is that something the government will consider, given that this is the advice from a lot of major health bodies?

It is, as you say, really important and it’s no surprise that health groups are saying that because, you know, it informs future health policy and identifies gaps and responses.

But the PM has already said there will be questions. We need to work with people about what those questions are and we’ll be doing that, but I’m very positive there’ll be a good outcome here.

You can see that from this data. You can see that household consumption, particularly on discretionary spending [which has] really declined substantially. I think that shows that household budgets are smashed and contributing to that, of course, is those 13 interest rate increases.

And the bank’s got a job to do to get inflation down, but we have also got a job to do to explain what we’re seeing in the economy and what we know is happening and that is that households are under huge pressure. So I think, you know, there’s been a lot said about this this week but it really is stating the facts and [that] played out for all to see in the national accounts yesterday.

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Australia news live: BoM predicts warm spring as Sydney faces high fire danger and four states warned of high winds

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Windy weekend in prospect as BoM forecasts warmer-than-usual spring. Follow the day’s news live

Good morning and welcome to the end-of-week news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories to get you up to speed before hosting duties switch to Emily Wind.

Mano Yogalingam was 23 years old and had “his whole life in front of him”. But the stresses and strains of living with the prospect of being deported back to Sri Lanka pushed him over the edge and he took his own life this week. Our top story this morning hears from refugee advocates who say the death of the Tamil asylum seeker has exposed the failings of the fast-track immigration system. “All of these people have been failed by the system. It’s a total cobweb of cruelty,” one said.

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Australia news live: thousands rally in capital cities as CFMEU workers walk off sites; fears of overdose crisis as use of nitazenes grows

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Rallies in support of the CFMEU have kicked off across the nation’s capital cities, from Sydney, Melbourne to Brisbane. Follow the day’s news live

Jim Chalmers accuses Liberals of ‘economic insanity’ on potential housing cuts

Jim Chalmers was asked about the $100bn in cuts the Coalition is set to announce today, mostly from Labor initiatives, if it wins the next election. Would this appeal to the electorate?

What we know from what’s in the newspapers today is that they plan billions of dollars to cuts in housing at a time when we’ve got a very severe housing shortage, and this goes with the absolute economic insanity of the Liberals and Nationals. During an extreme housing shortage, they want to swing the axe on billions of dollars in housing funding.

Also this is $100bn they reckon – let’s see the details. They flagged more than three times that amount when it comes to cuts, so let’s hear them come clean on the other cuts. Let’s hear what it means for Medicare and pensions and for the economy more broadly.

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Albanese government seeks to cap new international student enrolments at 270,000

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Labor will also dump a controversial ministerial direction that gave priority to students applying to low-risk institutions

The Albanese government aims to cap new international student enrolments in Australia to 270,000 in 2025 and dump a controversial ministerial direction that gave priority to students applying to low-risk institutions.

In a statement released on Tuesday the education minister, Jason Clare, revealed the details of the proposed national planning level, which would pare university enrolments back to 145,000, or around their 2023 levels.

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Australia news live: winter heat record set in South Australia; NZ suspends import of all Australian tomatoes

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South Australia has notched up its hottest winter day on record. Follow the day’s news live

David Anderson says it was ‘the right time for me’ to resign from ABC

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, is speaking with ABC RN after yesterday’s announcement of his resignation.

And I think the right time for the ABC. It is something I had thought about now for months, and went away on leave, spoke to [ABC chair] Kim [Williams] a lot. Kim tried to get me to change my mind. [I] came back from leave with it, certain in my mind that I was making the right decision.

We’ve got a long lead time for the board to find a new managing director, and I’ve been asked to and I agreed to stay on until that person starts, which could very well be April next year.

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Australia politics live: Coalition to reveal cost of nuclear plan ‘in good time’, Angus Taylor says; misbehaving MPs face fines under new standards commission

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The government will introduce legislation today which includes penalties for MPs and parliament house staff who have been found to have committed wrong doing. Follow the day’s news live

Gambling ads ‘an issue of morality’: Sharkie

As Paul Karp reported yesterday, the independent MP Rebekha Sharkie is one of the MPs pushing for the major parties to be allowed a conscience vote on the forthcoming Labor gambling legislation.

The Murphy report called for a full ban. That’s the expectation of many members of parliament, both the opposition and government said and the crossbench, but many have said to me that they’re wrestling with their conscience on the idea that there would only be a partial ban and many people see this issue closely tied to their faith, an issue of morality.

So it would appear to me and also to Andrew Wilkie that, you know, a straightforward position would be to allow a conscience vote and in my time in the Parliament, we’ve had four conscience votes. I think it would naturally fit for the parameters an issue that sits within their soul.

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Five issues that threaten to derail the Albanese government’s plans before the next election

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The PM wants the focus to be on first-term achievements and cost-of-living relief but question marks remain over religious freedoms and gambling ads

After a five-week break, the spring session of the parliamentary year is about to begin. Early election rumours continue to swirl – the “break in case of emergency” date bandied around the corridors of power remains 7 December. Calmer heads will point out that voters would only hit the polls on that date if the political situation appeared irrevocably difficult for the Albanese government, given that the last months of the year will be dominated by the US election and its outcome.

Either way, there are only nine months until the very last date the next election could be held. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for the Albanese government to complete its first-term agenda, regardless of whether it returns Australians to the polls before May. Albanese wants the focus to be on cost-of-living relief and the reforms the government has already passed through parliament, but stumbling blocks threaten to derail the agenda.

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Linda Reynolds defends actions following Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape – as it happened

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Budgets running on fumes as car costs outpace inflation

High transport costs are fuelling household budget concerns, AAP reports, with research revealing a surge of more than 10% over the course of a year.

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Australia news live: Linda Reynolds deleted some text messages with Bruce Lehmann’s barrister during routine ‘cyber hygiene’, defamation trial hears

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The prime minister was asked about criticism that increased public spending is fuelling inflation.

Anthony Albanese pointed to two budget surpluses and said this, plus cost-of-living measures, are applying downward pressure:

Fee-free Tafe, cheaper childcare, energy price relief – all of these measures are aimed at making sure we look after people but do so in a way that’s designed to see inflation continuing to moderate, which is what we want to make sure happens.

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Australia news live: Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial she felt like a ‘punching clown on the fairground’ after social media posts by Higgins and Sharaz

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Wong endorses call from Blinken for de-escalation in Middle East

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said she endorsed Antony Blinken’s call for de-escalation in the Middle East.

We continue to add our voice to the support for the ceasefire outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the security council.

Thank you for an incredibly productive day.

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