Both Daniel Andrews and the opposition leader are now in isolation as Covid cases rise across the state
A quick summary of all the Victorian news you need to know on Tuesday 29 March.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Victorian politics
A week of own-goals leaves Victoria’s opposition bruised
Analysis: the Coalition’s week began with swagger and ended in a whimper after series of stumbles
A week ago, the Victorian opposition was quietly confident.
After struggling to gain any political momentum amid the pandemic, the opposition leader, Matthew Guy’s consistent and disciplined messaging on the triple-zero call response crisis appeared to be cutting through.
Continue reading...Push to protect sexual assault victims’ communications with doctors enters Victorian parliament
Confidential communications often obtained by defence lawyers to undermine victims’ credibility
Victorian alleged sexual assault victims will have the right to defend their confidential communications being aired in court under new amendments to be introduced to state parliament by Justice party MP Stuart Grimley.
The amendments to the justice legislation amendment bill 2022, to be debated in the upper house on Thursday, were recommended in two separate inquiries by the Victorian Law Reform Commission in 2016 and 2021.
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Continue reading...Victorian government calls for ‘fair’ commonwealth funding for transport projects
Grattan Institute report finds ‘consistent pattern’ of transport funding going to political battleground states
Victorian transport infrastructure minister Jacinta Allan has called on the federal government to provide the state with its “fair share” of funding after a report found the state was being shortchanged compared with New South Wales and Queensland.
The Grattan Institute report, released on Sunday night, found there was a “consistent pattern” of successive federal governments spending more money on transport in New South Wales and Queensland – where elections tend to be won and lost – than in Victoria.
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Continue reading...Victorian politics of paid sick leave is very different to developer levies
Daniel Andrews was gearing up for a fight with lobby groups, but the main prize was in the electorate
For the second time in a month the Andrews government this week unfurled a big social reform to be funded by a levy on business.
And for the second time in a month, it provoked outrage from the usual quarters, including the state opposition, the federal government and industry groups.
Continue reading...‘Just not the right time’: Victoria urged to keep mask rules for key workers
Epidemiologists say calls by business to relax mask rules as case numbers escalate is ‘down the rabbit hole thinking’
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Victorian business leaders pushing to scrap mask mandates for hospitality and retail workers are “clearly not following the trend” in rising cases, according to epidemiologists who say now is not the time to relax rules.
The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday rejected a push from the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Retailers Association and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who told the Herald Sun they wanted national consistency on mask mandates and warned workers could leave the sectors for other jobs.
Continue reading...Victorian public schools face $20bn funding shortfall, analysis shows
Private schools will be overfunded by almost $400m, but public schools will fall short of national standards
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Victoria’s public schools face a dire funding shortfall of almost $20bn, with new analysis revealing funding growth for private schools is five times higher than for the state’s government schools.
Analysis from public schools advocacy group Save Our Schools shows that combined federal and state funding for government schools from 2019 to 2029 would be about $19.5bn below the Gonski review’s recommended funding benchmark – the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
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Continue reading...Home births cancelled at short notice due to Victoria’s ambulance crisis
The state’s two publicly funded home-birth programs are suspended, with some expectant mothers not told until weeks before due dates
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Expectant mothers are having planned home births cancelled within weeks of their due dates, with Victoria’s ambulance crisis putting intense strain on the state’s maternity services.
Victoria has just two publicly funded home-birth programs at Sunshine and Casey hospitals – both of which are now temporarily suspended. Assisted home births require ambulances to be available in case of any complications during the procedure.
Continue reading...NT chief minister says Omicron ‘too infectious’ for lockdowns to work as nation records at least 88 Covid deaths – As it happened
Michael Gunner says lockdowns and lockouts no longer effective; At least 88 Covid deaths recorded around the country as Kerry Chant says Omicron sub-variant is circulating in NSW; Queensland reveals back-to-school plan. This blog is now closed
- NSW reports 52 Covid deaths in deadliest day of pandemic to date as ‘son of Omicron’ variant cases emerge
- Anthony Albanese accuses Morrison government of leaving business behind during Omicron wave
- NSW unveils $1bn support package for businesses hit by Omicron
- How is Australia’s Covid vaccine booster rollout going and is it fast enough for groups that need it most?
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Albanese says Labor will boost aged-care funding, but cannot specify by how much.
There has been a boost.
Two things they haven’t done: One is to tie that funding of actual delivery of better healthcare for aged-care residents in terms of some of the regulatory measures required that were recommended by the royal commission, but the big missing piece in this workforce, we still don’t have a commitment to have a nurse in a nursing home.
We still don’t have a commitment to increase in the number of other care workers in aged care, and we still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged-care facilities are able to attract the staff.
Quite clearly there will be a need for increased health funding, but there is a need also to look at the particular areas of funding.
GPs, for example. One of the reasons there is so much pressure on the hospitals is we have GP shortages in terms of training, we have GP shortages in terms of some of the changes that they’ve made to the Medicare schedule that have had an impact in our regions.
Continue reading...‘No vax, no play’: surfer Kelly Slater won’t be let into Australia if he’s not vaccinated against Covid
World Surf League events are due in Victoria and WA but federal health minister says position on coronavirus vaccine is ‘pretty clear’ following Novak Djokovic visa saga
Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.
Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.
Continue reading...Political leaders condemn alleged attack on MP’s daughter – as it happened
PM comments after Animal Justice MP Andy Meddick says daughter attacked; Indian PM repeals controversial agricultural laws; rapid antigen Covid testing for NSW primary schools; Victoria records 1,273 new cases and eight deaths; NSW records 216 new cases and three deaths; rain set to hamper search for remains of William Tyrrell. This blog is now closed
- Tim Paine resigns as Australia’s Test cricket captain over text messages sent to colleague
- Victoria is removing most Covid restrictions for fully vaccinated people. What are the new freedoms for Melbourne and regional Vic
- Vaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases and data tracker
- Victoria vaccination rate map; NSW vaccination rates map
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OK, jumping back to South Australia where opposition leader Peter Malinauskas has condemned the premier’s decision not to dismiss his deputy premier and attorney general Vicky Chapman after the parliament passed a vote of no confidence against her.
Malinauskas told ABC News Breakfast that this was “a truly extraordinary state of affairs, if not a constitutional crisis”.
It’s an incredibly unfortunate state of affairs in South Australia where premier Steven Marshall has decided to almost literally tear up the rulebook of convention that’s been established over hundreds of years of the Westminster system of government and ignore the parliament’s will [for him to] ask Vickie Chapman to resign her position at deputy premier.
There’s been a motion of no confidence passed in the deputy premier. This is unprecedented. Everybody seems to be putting their fingers in their ears and pretending nothing has happened, particularly the premier himself.
What I accept and what I’ve always defended and been a very strong supporter of is people’s right to protest. But if it’s not peaceful, it’s not protest and it’s something very different.
We have seen extremists, rabid anti-vaxxer and others making all sorts of threats, threats against me, my wife and my kids. That is not my focus, this is about every family’s safety and that’s why we have to work together and that’s what Victorians have done.
Continue reading...Victorian Labor MP gave staffer more than $33,000 to pay for party memberships, Ibac hears
Investigators obtain bank records of transfers between Marlene Kairouz and electorate office manager Kirsten Psaila, hearing told
A Labor MP gave a staffer more than $33,000 to pay the party memberships of people within her faction, according to evidence provided to the Victorian anti-corruption commission.
But the MP, Marlene Kairouz, whose evidence is considered critical to the investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds by paying staff to do factional activity – including branch stacking – will not be subject to a public examination by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac).
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Continue reading...Australia politics live: climate deadline looms as Nationals prepare demands for Morrison; Victoria records 2,232 Covid cases, NSW 372
Covid case numbers rise in Victoria and NSW; Victoria hits 70% vaccination target; Nationals MPs poised to hand PM details of what they require to secure support for a 2050 net zero emissions target – follow all today’s news
- NSW and Vic restrictions; Vic hotspots
- Vaccine rollout and rates tracker
- Covid cases and data tracker
Scott Morrison will also appear on Nine’s commercial breakfast TV show. No doubt we’ll have one of the favoured radio shows pop up as a media alert soon.
Penny Wong is now in the ABC radio studios speaking to Fran Kelly on ABC RN.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: Scott Morrison in last-ditch talks with Nationals on net zero
Prime minister expected to push Liberals and Nationals to find agreement on emissions roadmap in meeting on Tuesday. Follow the latest updates live
- NSW and Vic restrictions; Vic hotspots
- Australia cases and data tracker;
- Interactive maps: NSW vaccination rate by postcode; Vic vaccine rates
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And also worth keeping in mind – the Liberals don’t actually need the Nationals to move ahead with the climate commitments. Nothing is going to parliament (at least at this stage – because we are talking a 2050 plan) which means there is no danger of people crossing the floor.
Scott Morrison told the Liberal party room yesterday he planned on taking Australia’s commitment to net zero by 2050 to Glasgow as an NDC – a a nationally determined contribution – which doesn’t need the parliament either. It’s essentially a pledge which says ‘we intend to do this’, and makes it a little more official, rather than just a speech. He doesn’t need the Nationals for that either.
Continue reading...Australian politics live: Victoria records 1,903 Covid cases, NSW 265; Liberals hear climate plan; Gladys Berejiklian Icac hearings begin
Liberals hear climate plan; Victoria and NSW release Covid numbers; Tasmania snap lockdown to end tonight; Icac hearings begin into Gladys Berejiklian; Barnaby Joyce ‘hopes’ climate won’t split the Coalition – follow the latest updates live
- Nationals fail to reach agreement on 2050 emissions reductions
- Australia could see Covid surge from new variants when border reopens
- NSW is opening up further today – what extra freedoms do people have?
- NSW and Victoria schools are reopening amid Covid outbreaks – what can be learned from overseas?
- Vaccine rollout tracker; cases and data tracker
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The federal treasurer and Victorian Liberal MP Josh Frydenberg has once again ramped up his attacks on the Victorian Labor government over lockdowns (you may remember some of his speeches on the Victorian lockdown last year) a theme he continued yesterday, even as the state government announced an earlier than expected loosening of restrictions.
Daniel Andrews responded to that on ABC News Breakfast this morning:
Well, look, I would just say to Josh, this is not about you and your breathless political rants don’t work against this virus. This day and this week, and the weeks to come, are all about Victorians who have done an amazing thing.
They’ve got vaccinated in record numbers and in record time. And this is their moment. It’s not for Josh. And his endless criticism and negativity, I just don’t think it goes down very well in Victoria because it doesn’t work against this virus. So, I will say no more about him.
Continue reading...Ibac branch stacking inquiry told publicly funded staffer spent 80% of time on factional work
An executive assistant in Adem Somyurek’s office tells commission she was told to work on ALP factional activities instead of minister’s portfolios
A Victorian ministerial staffer being paid by the taxpayer spent as much as 80% of her days doing factional work as part of a vast branch stacking operation, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Committee has been told.
Ellen Schreiber, who was employed as the executive assistant in the ministerial office of Adem Somyurek between January and August 2019, said that instead of dealing with work associated with Somyurek’s small business or local government portfolios, the minister advised her and other members of his staff to work on factional activities of the moderate faction.
Continue reading...Australia news live update: Melbourne to set Covid lockdown world record, Dominic Perrottet set to become NSW premier
Melbourne overtaking Buenos Aires as city that has spent most days under stay-at-home orders. Follow all the updates
- Dominic Perrottet set to become NSW premier
- NSW reports 667 new Covid cases and Victoria 1,220 on Sunday
- How disability homes fell from the front of the vaccine queue
- NSW and Vic restrictions; Vic hotspots
- Vaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases and data tracker
- 5km and 15km from home map: check your travel radius
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When it comes to Melbourne now, by some counts, becoming the most locked-down city in the world, premier Daniel Andrews says he is proud of the sacrifices Melburnians have made over the pandemic.
Yesterday he called on Melburnians to make a final push before lockdown ends in coming weeks, reports Callum Godde from AAP.
We are going to get past this. We are going to end this lockdown and open up, and all that we will enjoy then will be a result of all that we have given.
If we let it rip last year, we would have had severe mortality and morbidity. It’s just that we haven’t had the same luck as other place.
Continue reading...How Melbourne’s ‘short, sharp’ Covid lockdowns became the longest in the world
Australia’s second-largest city’s strategy has left it economically and psychologically depressed after initially succeeding in reducing case numbers to zero
It has been a long 19 months in Melbourne. As of Tuesday 5 October, Australia’s second-largest city will have been in lockdown for 246 days – overtaking Buenos Aires as the city that has spent the most cumulative days under stay-at-home orders.
By the time Melbourne’s current lockdown lifts at the end of the month, it will have spent 267 days in lockdown – 45% of the time since the coronavirus pandemic was declared on 12 March 2020.
Continue reading...Over 50% of Australians over 16 are fully vaccinated; Berejiklian reopening plans coming ‘next week’ – as it happened
All the day’s news, as it happened. This blog has now closed
- NSW frontline medical staff gagged as health system braces for Covid peak
- NSW and Vic restrictions; Vic hotspots
- Vaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases and data tracker
- 5km and 10km from home map: check your travel radius
- Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing
Enjoy your evening, all, and thanks for having me! Here’s just a taste of what we learned today:
In case you missed this earlier (I did) please enjoy this piece by Arwa Mahdawi on cancel culture, critical race theory and ... sexy seahorses.
It’s very easy to laugh at a bunch of rightwing moms clutching their pearls over sexy seahorses – but there’s nothing funny about the systemic, organised way in which conservatives are trying to rewrite history and restrict freedom of speech.
Continue reading...Australia Covid live news update: NSW records 1,405 new cases; Berejiklian unveils roadmap out of lockdown; Victoria records 324 cases; ACT records 15
NSW freedoms come into effect the Monday after 70% over-16 vaccination is achieved; state confirms five more deaths; new case in Qld quarantine; 107 of Victoria’s new cases linked to known outbreaks – follow the latest updates live
- NSW Covid reopening plan: roadmap allows some freedoms for fully vaccinated including visiting pubs and sport venues
- Indigenous community in Wilcannia targeted by ivermectin spruiker
- Australia to have vaccine passport system ready within weeks for international travel
- Restrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; borders
- Vaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our morning email briefing
An update on another story I did this week regarding those Craig Kelly text messages everyone has been getting.
We know that under the current legislative situation, there’s nothing preventing political parties like the United Australia Party from sending out those text messages, and people cannot unsubscribe from them.
The carriage of messages is generally a commercial matter for telecommunications providers, except in circumstances where there may be offences against the laws of the commonwealth or states or territories.
Both the Telecommunications Act 1997 and Spam Act 2003 contain provisions about implied freedom of political communications. These provisions set out that the acts or parts of them do not apply to the extent they would infringe on any constitutional doctrine of implied freedom of political communication.
There’s a press conference with the PM at 1.40pm AEST.
Continue reading...