Victorian Liberals plunge into chaos as John Pesutto faces second coming of Moira Deeming

Internal warfare has spiralled into threats of legal action and accusations of ‘terrorists’ holding the state opposition party ‘hostage’

Returning from a break, this week’s sitting of parliament was meant to signal a fresh start for the Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto.

The dust from his aborted plan to expel controversial MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary party six weeks earlier – exposing his vulnerability in the top job – seemed like it was starting to clear.

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Victorian duck hunters urge parliament not to bow to ‘political correctness’

Submissions to inquiry described hunting as generational tradition, while animal activists displayed dead ducks outside parliament building

Dozens of recreational duck hunters have urged a Victorian parliamentary inquiry not to bow to “political correctness” by outlawing the activity, warning that the banning of meat and other animal products could be next.

Hunters and activists suspect that this year’s duck-hunting season could be the last after the Andrews government in February announced a shortened season and a parliamentary inquiry to examine its future.

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Victoria Greens to push for greater access to safe injecting rooms with proposed bill change

Exclusive: Proposed amendment would make North Richmond facility permanent and widen eligibility criteria

The Victorian Greens will introduce changes to a government bill in a push to make it easier to open more safe injecting rooms and allow greater access for the “most vulnerable and marginalised” drug users.

The government’s drugs, poisons and controlled substances amendment (medically supervised injecting centre) bill 2023, which will make the currently facility in North Richmond permanent, will be debated and voted on in the upper house when parliament resumes this week.

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‘Great shame’: Daniel Andrews highlights injustice over Indigenous children in care and justice system

Overrepresentation of First Peoples ‘is a source of great shame’ for the Victorian government, premier tells Yoorrook chair

Daniel Andrews has expressed his government’s “great shame” regarding the overrepresentation of First Nations children in Victoria’s child protection and criminal justice systems, saying racism and injustice need to be “confronted and addressed”.

In a statement representing the strongest language the premier has used about the removal of Indigenous children from Victorian families, Andrews acknowledged that discrimination against First Nations people persisted today.

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Lidia Thorpe’s cousins pursuing contentious Victorian treaty negotiations model

Head of traditional owner corporations says Indigenous elders had long fought for current ‘representative structures’

Two cousins of federal senator Lidia Thorpe are pursuing a contentious model of representation for Victoria’s landmark treaty negotiations as they seek to be elected to the state’s First People’s Assembly.

Voting for the second term of the assembly will commence next month after nominations for the 32-seat Indigenous body closed on Monday, ahead of a treaty negotiations due to begin this year.

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Australia news live: defence strategic review ‘a cannibalisation of army mobility’, Hastie says; Victorian jockey dies after race fall

Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll

In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.

They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.

People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.

We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.

A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

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Billionaire boys’ club: trucking magnate Lindsay Fox celebrates birthday with men-only knees up

High profile male politicians, sports stars and businessmen attended Scottish-themed lunch at National Gallery of Victoria – but not their female counterparts

There were bagpipes, tartan-clad security guards and plenty of kilts, but there was one thing conspicuously missing from billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox’s 86th birthday party: women.

The Scottish-themed private lunch at the National Gallery of Victoria, to which the Fox family donated $100m last year, was a men-only affair attended by several prominent politicians, sportsmen and businessmen.

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Daniel Andrews denies power is centralised in his office after Ibac investigation

Report by anti-corruption commission looking at awarding of $1.2m contract criticises ‘increasing influence’ of advisers

Daniel Andrews has denied power is centralised in his office, after an anti-corruption inquiry found a $1.2m contract was awarded to a union due to pressure applied by Victorian government advisers.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission investigation into the contract, released on Wednesday, found staff in the health minister’s and premier’s private office “improperly influenced” health department officials to award a training contract to the Health Workers Union.

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Australia news live: seizure of $270m worth of heroin is Queensland’s biggest; RBA interest rates decision due

Australians will find out at 2.30pm AEST whether the Reserve Bank will pause its interest rates hikes after 10 consecutive rises. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, says becoming a republic is “inevitable” even if Australians are proud to have the British monarch as their head of state.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Smith told the Times newspaper that most British people would be “indifferent” to Australia getting rid of the monarchy and it would not damage the countries’ relationship.

There is a lot of affection and respect for the monarchy in Australia.

That affection and respect hasn’t gone away because of Australia contemplating from time to time what it should do about its constitutional arrangements.

My personal view is it’s inevitable. But how that’s progressed is entirely a matter for the Australian government of the day.

Our public-sector workers do a great job serving their fellow Victorians and we’re proud to support them. In addition to wage increases, workers will be able to obtain a sign-on bonus while productivity improvements will bring the potential for further advancement of conditions.

The policy provides fair outcomes for employees while being responsible as we deal with the types of budget challenges faced by families, businesses and governments across the world.

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Dutton’s leadership safe for now, Liberals say, despite calls for change of direction after historic loss in Aston

Malcolm Turnbull says the party’s future rests on its ability to move back to the centre

Peter Dutton’s leadership is safe for now as the Liberals have nowhere else to turn, party insiders claim, despite their third major loss since the federal election.

With the loss of the outer east Melbourne electorate of Aston in Saturday’s byelection, the Liberal party now holds just 14 of 79 federal urban seats. It has led to renewed calls for a major overhaul of strategy, and raised questions about Dutton’s leadership.

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Daniel Andrews returns from media-free China trip as opposition vows to pursue unanswered questions

Victorian premier reveals it was his decision not to invite media on his four-day mission to China

The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says it was his decision not to invite journalists or key stakeholders on his four-day trip to China and has batted off criticism he had failed to be transparent about the visit.

Andrews this week became the first Australian leader to travel to China since the start of the pandemic and the announcement of the Aukus defence pact, visiting Beijing, Jiangsu and Sichuan before returning on Saturday.

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Aston byelection: Labor achieves once-in-a-century victory capturing Liberal heartland seat

Labor secures first win at a byelection by a government from an opposition since 1920 as senior Liberals play down implications for Peter Dutton’s leadership

The Albanese government has achieved a once-in-100-year victory in a byelection, capturing the Liberal heartland seat of Aston in eastern Melbourne.

Labor’s Mary Doyle won a two-party preferred swing of at least 6%, leading about 54% to 46% over the Liberals’ Roshena Campbell in the count on Saturday evening.

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Labor claims Aston win, throwing Dutton’s Liberal leadership into question – as it happened

Labor’s Mary Doyle has two-party preferred swing of at least 6% in the count on Saturday evening. This blog is now closed

Dutton says Labor’s road funding cuts in Aston ‘a disaster’

Out of hiding and into the open, opposition leader Peter Dutton has been seen on the campaign trail in Aston today.

[Labor] haven’t explained to the people of Aston why it is that they cut road funding as the first act in government, and it’s quite remarkable.

It’s a disaster for locals and people realise that the first act of the Albanese government was to cut road funding here in Aston … They’ve never apologised for it, they never explained why.

There are a lot of Australian families who have heard Anthony Albanese promise before the last election on 97 occasions that he would reduce your power to $275. That was a promise he made before the election, he’s never mentioned it since, not once.

So cost of living pressures are real for families and the opportunity in the election today is to send a very clear message to Labor that they shouldn’t be cutting local road funding, and they shouldn’t be abandoning this community.

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Daniel Andrews begins meetings in Beijing amid claims of Australian media exclusion

Victoria’s opposition accuses premier of snubbing education leaders while union says absence of journalists on China trip is ‘disturbing’

Daniel Andrews has begun a series of meetings in Beijing as part of a four-day trip to China amid criticism from home over the exclusion of Australian journalists and education leaders, and the limited information provided about the visit.

The Victorian opposition has accused the premier of snubbing industry leaders from the higher education sector by not having them join him on a visit designed to entice Chinese students back to the state.

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Daniel Andrews to travel to China this week to discuss education, trade and cultural issues

The Victorian premier will leave on Monday night for the first visit to China by an Australian state or national leader since the pandemic began

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, will travel to China to meet with senior officials on education, trade and cultural issues.

The premier will leave on Monday night, visiting Beijing and the Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces before returning to Melbourne on Saturday morning.

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Calls to increase allowances for Indigenous carers to keep children connected with culture

Ensuring First Nations siblings remain in contact must also be a priority, former Victorian Aboriginal children’s commissioner says

Victoria’s former Aboriginal children’s commissioner has called for increased allowances for kinship and foster carers in a bid to increase the pool of First Nations people looking after children in out-of-home care, and ensuring they remain connected to culture.

Andrew Jackomos, who held the commissioner role for five years between 2013 to 2018 and was the first person to hold an Aboriginal children watchdog role, has also appealed for greater safeguards to ensure Indigenous siblings in the out-of-home care system remain in contact.

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Victoria’s bail laws to be loosened after being labelled ‘complete, unmitigated disaster’

State’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, says Andrews government has ‘no plans to weaken the laws’ for offenders who pose a serious community safety risk

Victoria’s contentious bail laws, which doubled the imprisonment rate of Aboriginal women, are set to be loosened within months, as the opposition warns the changes must not lead to violent offenders being released into the community.

The Coalition has signalled a willingness to offer bipartisan support for the wide-ranging reforms but warned the government must put “community safety first”.

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Energy infrastructure payments of $200K deemed ‘slap in face’ to Victorian farmers

State government defends payments for projects designed to help guarantee energy stability across Australia’s east coast

A move to pay landowners $200,000 per sq km for energy infrastructure imposed on their properties has been labelled a slap in the face by a Victorian farmer.

Residents living in the path of several transmission projects in regional Victoria have previously protested against high-voltage power lines and towers more than 80m high and are calling for infrastructure to be placed underground instead.

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‘Changing the justice system’: Victorian Liberal Brad Battin goes from tough on crime to keeping people out of jail

Exclusive: former police officer says those who commit low-level crimes should not be in prisons

After years of tough-on-crime policies being pushed by the Victorian Coalition, Liberal MP Brad Battin is pursuing a different goal: using money currently spent locking people up to keep them out of prison.

After his appointment as the opposition’s criminal justice reform spokesperson, Battin – who worked in prisons and later became a police officer before entering politics – said it was possible to prioritise community safety while also finding alternative punishments for people who should not be in jail.

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Victorian child protection cases to consider past Aboriginal mistreatment under reform of landmark bill

Exclusive: Amendment will ‘stop the cycle of higher rates of Aboriginal child removal’ says Aboriginal child care agency chief

Victorian judges and child protection workers will have to consider the past mistreatment of Aboriginal families when dealing with cases involving Indigenous children, under an Australian-first bill to be introduced to parliament.

The children and health legislation amendment (statement of recognition, Aboriginal self-determination and other matters) bill will be introduced to parliament on Tuesday after it lapsed last year due to the state election.

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