Marcus Stewart says current timeframe of Yoorrook Justice Commission not enough to ‘unpack 200-plus years of colonisation’
Victoria’s truth-telling commission needs up to a decade of inquiry before delivering its final report – which is slated for 2024 – a leader of the state’s elected First Nations body says.
Marcus Stewart, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, wants the Victorian government to extend the timeframe for the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Continue reading...Analysis: While the budget seeks to repair the damage of the past two years, it’s clear some wounds are yet to heal
Handing down his eighth Victorian budget on Tuesday, the treasurer, Tim Pallas, pitched it at not one but two elections.
The most timely is the federal election. Through the budget, Pallas makes it clear that, whoever wins in May, he expects a greater share of funding for Victoria and is happy to criticise the Morrison government until then.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison defends economic ‘shield’ after RBA lifts cash rate target from historic low; Philip Lowe says more interest rate rises to come; Jim Chalmers says central bank decision ‘a very serious development’; nation records 41 Covid deaths. Follow the latest updates live
Scott Morrison doesn’t get sick of the “silly” photo ops [silly photo opportunities being how the question was framed], he tells Melbourne radio’s Neil Mitchell, because he “doesn’t see them that way”.
He then gives a hero-gram to tradies.
I don’t fit in those ways, what I see is [being] out and about and doing what Australians do every day.
... What I enjoy doing is standing there with an apprentice who shows me what they’re learning, and then I’d have a go at it.
Continue reading...Tim Pallas announces new hospitals, clearing of a surgery backlog and hiring of thousands of healthcare workers
The Victorian government will spend $12bn to repair its Covid-battered health system with the treasurer, Tim Pallas, confident that the worst of the pandemic is behind the state and a return to surplus will happen in the near future.
Pallas’s eighth budget, handed down on Tuesday, includes $2.9bn worth of new health infrastructure. This includes $900m to build a hospital in Melton, in Melbourne’s west, which will include a 24-hour emergency department and an intensive care unit, along with maternity and mental health services.
Continue reading...Analysis: To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas relies on economic growth rather than spending cuts or increased taxes
Inflation, a Covid comeback, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Josh Frydenberg “short-changing” his home state – these are the major battles Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, faces as he plots a narrow course towards a small budget surplus within four years’ time.
To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas is relying on economic growth – fuelled by the state’s speedy bounceback from a Covid-19 recession and a full-to-overflowing $21bn-a-year infrastructure pipeline, which itself contains significant potential pitfalls – rather than cutting spending or increasing taxes.
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Continue reading...Analysis: In the days before last year’s budget, $4.2bn in commitments were announced. Just $277m has been announced ahead of Tuesday’s
With all eyes fixed on the federal election campaign, you’d be forgiven for nearly forgetting Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, is set to hand down a state budget in a couple of days.
So far, all we know is that health will be a main theme of the pre-election budget. Improving lengthy ambulance wait times, emergency department overcrowding and the state’s triple zero call-taking system are front of mind after several much-publicised deaths, including that of a 72-year-old man who waited more than three hours for a bed at a regional hospital earlier this month.
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Continue reading...Yoorrook commission will establish official record of Indigenous experiences since colonisation
Victoria’s Indigenous truth-telling commission has opened public hearings, with respected actor and activist Uncle Jack Charles the first to share his story.
Born to a Wiradjuri father and a Bunurong mother, Charles was called as the first Indigenous elder to speak at the Yoorrook Justice Commission on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Victorian government wants extension of commonwealth funding arrangement to combat pandemic
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has reignited calls for the commonwealth to extend its increased health funding for Covid, warning the effects of the pandemic will not end after winter.
But the state opposition has lashed the Andrews government, saying the pressure has been caused by “years of Labor mismanagement” prior to the pandemic.
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Continue reading...Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service ‘disappointed’ that official repeal will not occur in November
Victoria will delay repealing public drunkenness as a crime, in a move that has triggered the state’s Indigenous legal service to urge the state government to prioritise the “overdue reform”.
The offence was to be officially repealed in November, but Guardian Australia understands the decriminalisation of public drunkenness may not take effect until 2023 – more than five years after the death of 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.
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Continue reading...While business groups celebrate change to isolation rules, some experts remain cautious
The easing of Covid restrictions in Victoria and New South Wales has been welcomed by industry groups, despite concerns from some epidemiologists that it sends the wrong message at a time daily infections remain high.
From Friday, people in both states who live with Covid-19 cases or are deemed close contacts will no longer have to quarantine for seven days, provided they have no symptoms.
Continue reading...Analysis: Like clockwork, an announcement is made to revive the ‘zombie’ toll road project
Almost seven years after Victoria’s Labor government scrapped a billion-dollar contract to construct the East West Link, the project – once dubbed a “zombie” by the state’s treasurer – refuses to die.
The federal Coalition has previously pushed the case for the project. But this time, it was the state opposition reviving it by announcing it would build the underground tunnel to connect Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway to CityLink if was elected at the November election.
Continue reading...Unlike Queensland and New South Wales, Victoria has no culturally specific family violence refuges
Zara* believes she and her children wouldn’t be alive today were it not for the support she received while at a family violence refuge in New Zealand tailored to her cultural needs.
“The mainstream refuge didn’t understand the seriousness of abuse the ethnic women go through,” Zara said. “I have been told by my own family, community and society to reconcile so many times and every time the abuse worsens.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Allowing two more balls means overall odds of winning something increase but odds of first division win go from one in 45.3m to one in 62.8m
Australians’ chances of winning the Oz Lotto jackpot are set to become slimmer after changes to the game by the Victorian government.
The state government has amended the Public Lottery Licence to introduce two extra balls for Oz Lotto, which currently has participants select seven choices from 45 numbers, with two supplementary numbers drawn.
Continue reading...Law reform body says there should be consequences for offenders who make victims fear they will be sexually assaulted
Offenders who grab and drag their victim in a way that makes them fear they will be sexually assaulted could be jailed for up to 10 years under a proposal outlined by Victoria’s peak law reform body.
The Andrews government asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) to review “grab and drag” offences after a 2018 assault in which Jackson Williams grabbed a 39-year-old woman and dragged her into an alleyway.
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Continue reading...Foreign and defence ministers label Putin a ‘war criminal’; major Optus mobile network outage; ministers respond to criticism of Scott Morrison; NSW records 12 Covid deaths and 19,183 new infections; Victoria records eight deaths and 12,007 new infections. Follow all the latest updates live
Another senior Liberal has taken aim at Scott Morrison, accusing him of “self-serving ruthless bullying” and claiming he has “ruined” the Liberal party.
Catherine Cusack, a NSW Liberal who announced two weeks ago she would resign from the Legislative Council over her anger about flood relief, adds her voice to a growing chorus of critics of Morrison from within his own party in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia.
The concerns over the prime minister’s character are now well established, and they’re well established not by the Labor party, but the people who know him best.
I mean his own deputy prime minister called him a liar and a hypocrite*. These people know him best, they’ve served in cabinet with him, in the Liberal party with him over a period of many years ...
Continue reading...Forced adoptions inquiry recommended names of birth parents be included on birth certificates
Legislation to be introduced to Victoria’s parliament on Tuesday will allow adopted people to have both their birth and adoptive parents included on their birth certificates for the first time.
Under the current law, people who have been adopted in Victoria are issued a new birth certificate with their adoptive name and the name of their adoptive parents. Their original birth certificate is stamped with “cancelled” or “adopted”.
Continue reading...BushBank scheme aims to revegetate parcels of private land to create habitat for endangered wildlife and capture carbon
The Victorian government plans to restore an area five times the size of Melbourne as part of a new scheme to increase conservation on private land.
The state’s energy, environment and climate change minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, has announced the government will spend $31m to revegetate parcels of private land to create habitat for endangered wildlife and capture carbon.
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Continue reading...Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy are stuck at home – but that hasn’t made Victorian politics that much quieter
Both of Victoria’s political leaders were stuck at home this week – Daniel Andrews having tested positive for Covid-19 and Matthew Guy as a close contact of his nine-year-old son.
But it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference if they weren’t.
Continue reading...MP Clifford Hayes says reform is needed to rebuild public trust in political parties
A Victorian crossbench MP is set to introduce a motion to parliament next week calling on the government to overhaul the state’s “weak” donation laws.
It comes after the Centre for Public Integrity last week urged the government to strengthen rules around political donations, election advertising and lobbying ahead of the November poll.
Continue reading...Many buildings in Lismore are ‘expected to flood again’ as CBD ordered to evacuate; severe weather warning for large parts of NSW; foreign minister announces ‘Magnitsky-style sanctions’ targeting 39 Russians; treasurer Josh Frydenberg says election will be held ‘in a matter of weeks’; nation records 24 Covid deaths, with record high daily case numbers in Tasmania. Follow the latest updates live
The New South Wales government has approved fewer than 400 disaster relief grants for flood-ravaged northern rivers businesses, despite receiving almost 8,000 requests for help since applications opened almost a month ago.
After the state’s north was left reeling by weeks of devastating floods, the government announced grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses to help pay for cleanup costs, repairs, replace damaged stock and to lease temporary premises.
Today it’s been revealed that the unemployment rate will have a friend for the first time in 50 years. This is a remarkable achievement that belongs to 26 million Australians. We’ve avoided the scouring of the labour market so reminiscent of previous recessions in Australia in the 80s and 90s.
We now have an unemployment rate that is very, very low and we are banking that dividend, now with the cost of living.
Would you be providing that if Australians weren’t going to the polls in a matter of weeks?
We would of course be providing cost-of-living relief given the circumstances that Australia now faces. There’s higher expected inflation, indeed, it’s a global phenomenon. There’s petrol prices rising above $2 a litre and with the other challenges on Australian companies.
Continue reading...