Category Archives: Victorian politics

Killing kangaroos could be banned in metro Melbourne in plan hailed as ‘step in the right direction’

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Reduced kangaroo populations and urban sprawl prompt proposal to end commercial culling in 10 council areas

Hunters would be banned from killing kangaroos in all Melbourne metropolitan areas from 2025, under a proposed overhaul of Victoria’s commercial culling program.

A plan by the state’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action for kangaroo harvesting between 2024 and 2028 proposes excluding 10 council areas across the urban ring of Melbourne due to reduced kangaroo populations and urban sprawl. The proposal was first reported by the Herald Sun.

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Victorian government told emissions targets at risk under plan to increase taxes on renewable energy providers

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Industry experts say renewable energy providers could pay up to 20 times more tax if bill passes

Victoria’s ambitious emissions targets could be imperilled if the state government’s plan to slug renewable energy providers millions more in taxes each year goes ahead, the sector has warned.

Renewable energy providers could pay up to 20 times more tax if a bill currently being debated in Victorian parliament passes, according to industry experts.

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Moira Deeming says she’ll lodge defamation claim against Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto in court

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First-term MP says mediation with the party leader failed, as she seeks to return to the Liberal party room

Victorian MP Moira Deeming says she will lodge defamation proceedings against the state’s Liberal leader, John Pesutto, declaring mediation has failed.

The first-term MP was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party after she took part in an anti-transgender rally in March that was gatecrashed by a group of masked men who performed Nazi salutes.

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Mulgrave byelection: Labor retains Daniel Andrews’ seat despite swing against Victorian government

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Dandenong mayor Eden Foster leading 54-46 on a two-party preferred basis after Saturday’s byelection

Victorian Labor has retained Daniel Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave despite a significant swing against the government in the former premier’s seat.

The Dandenong mayor, Eden Foster, was leading with more than 40% of the primary vote in Saturday’s byelection, which was down more than 10 percentage points from Andrews’ showing at last year’s state poll.

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Melbourne has waited decades for an airport train. But is a federal funding commitment enough to get it done?

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Unlike governments interstate, Jacinta Allan was uncharacteristically subdued about Canberra’s funding review

Throughout her decades in politics, Jacinta Allan hasn’t been afraid to pick a fight with the federal government – no matter which party was in power.

But on Thursday, when the Albanese government announced it would cut $4.8bn worth of infrastructure funding in Victoria after a months-long review, the premier was uncharacteristically subdued.

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‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

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Albanese government move to make states pay at least 50% of new infrastructure project bills receives pushback from premiers

State Labor leaders are at odds with the Albanese government over its plan to split the cost of building nationally significant infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, announced it would no longer be “the default” for the federal government to pick up the bulk of the tab for new roads, rail and other major projects.

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Victorian premier suggests businesses could pay more if Coalition votes down WorkCover reforms

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The government may increase premiums paid by businesses if Labor’s WorkCover bill is defeated, Jacinta Allan says

The Victorian premier has threatened to further hike premiums paid by businesses to fund the state’s workers’ compensation scheme if parliament does not pass proposed reforms she says will secure its financial future.

The Coalition party room on Tuesday voted to oppose the WorkCover bill in its current form, joining the Greens and several other crossbenchers in effectively denying Labor the numbers it needs to pass the legislation in the upper house.

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Animals to be recognised as sentient beings under proposed Victorian cruelty laws

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New draft of animal care and protection act may make Victoria first state to explicitly recognise animal sentience

The Victorian government will follow the ACT and could become the first Australian state to recognise that animals are sentient beings, under a draft overhaul of cruelty laws to be released in the coming weeks.

Guardian Australia understands a long-awaited draft of the new animal care and protection act will be released for public consultation next month, before a final bill is tabled in parliament in 2024.

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Shooters MP calls for hunted deer meat to be given to homeless Victorians and charities

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Statet MP Jeff Bourman says his ‘Hunters for the Hungry’ proposal will help deal with ballooning deer numbers

The lone Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party MP in Victoria’s parliament has made one of his first major policy pushes of the year – to give deer meat to food banks and homeless shelters due to the high numbers being hunted.

State parliament will on Wednesday debate a motion from the upper house MP Jeff Bourman to set up a pilot program to distribute venison from government-controlled culls to food charities.

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Victoria’s yearly document ‘dump day’ reveals a mix of good, bad and ugly

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Among the 241 annual reports released all at once are 45 children’s deaths, triple-zero success and a fish ‘misadventure’ at the zoo

Every year, the Victorian parliament partakes in a tradition that has come to be known as “dump day”.

Usually towards the end of the sitting year, the government will release a bewildering number of annual reports at once, presumably so that journalists and other interested parties are rendered physically incapable of taking them all in.

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Victorian government scrambling to prepare for long-planned end of public drunkenness laws

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Sobering-up facility not completed, emergency workers unclear about their role in new scheme – and it begins on Melbourne Cup Day

It’s been almost six years since Tanya Day hopped on a train to Melbourne but never made it to the city.

The 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman was arrested for being drunk in public on 5 December 2017 after she fell asleep. She was placed in a police cell to sober up, suffered a head injury and later died.

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Victorian premier Jacinta Allan accuses News Corp of using ‘sexualised imagery’ in cartoon

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Allan says she doesn’t recall seeing a male politician being drawn in such a way

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has slammed a News Corp cartoon that depicts her naked at a fashion show, saying women should not be drawn with “sexualised imagery”.

In a cartoon published in the Herald Sun on Tuesday, cartoonist Mark Knight depicts Allan as a new nude catwalk model – using some pixelation – with the caption: “From the Commonwealth Games cancellation … the premier’s new clothes.”

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Victorian Liberals’ moderate credentials looking shaky as commitment to treaty wavers

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After the voice referendum, John Pesutto appears non-committal on treaty – but it’s unclear whether an about-face will be well-received in the ‘Massachusetts of Australia’

It was not even 18 months ago that the Victorian Coalition was seeking to dispel the “myth” that only the Labor party supported a treaty with the state’s First Nations people.

“This side of the house, both the Liberal and the National parties, are committed to working with the Indigenous community on treaty,” the Nationals leader, Peter Walsh, told parliament last year when he spoke in support of a bill establishing a Treaty Authority.

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Teal MPs call for national road-user charges after high court shuts down Victoria’s EV tax

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‘We need … to maintain our roads in a way that’s fair, and aimed at helping, not hindering, electrification of transport’, says Monique Ryan

Teal independent MPs have welcomed the high court’s decision to strike down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax, urging the federal government to instead legislate national road-user charges.

Zoe Daniel, Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan and Kylea Tink have all called for road use charges to apply fairly to all vehicles, with a nationally consistent scheme that does not target EVs.

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Australians told ‘do not travel’ to Lebanon – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

No move on paying super to people on paid parental leave

But so far, the government has not moved on paying superannuation to parents (mostly women) on paid parental leave.

Super, of course, is really important and it’s something we would very much like to look to in the future when the budget can afford it. But this is a very big step forward, the current arrangements, but we’ll continue to look around superannuation into the future and consider it in each budget context.

I think with the reserved period as well, we’re going to see an increase in shared care, both parents taking some time out, which is really, really important if we want to get a more equal burden of, you know, of that share of care.

So that is really important as well.

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High court strikes down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax in ruling that could threaten other state levies

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An array of state charges including waste levies could potentially be unlawful after court overturns 1974 precedent on consumption taxes

Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has been struck down by the high court in a landmark case likely to bar all state-level road user charges and expose other state levies to challenge.

On Wednesday, a majority of the high court ruled in favour of two electric car drivers who argued that the imposition of a tax by the Victorian government per kilometre ​driven was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on consumption.

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Victoria to outlaw strangulation and consider making animal cruelty a domestic violence offence

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Government says research suggests survivors of strangulation are more likely to be seriously injured or murdered by the same partner

Victoria will make non-fatal strangulation a stand-alone offence and consider including cruelty to animals under the state’s family violence laws.

Describing the act as the “reddest of red flags”, the attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, on Wednesday announced the crimes amendment (non-fatal strangulation) bill would be introduced to parliament.

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Airbnb petitions Victorian government to exclude single rooms and cheap stays from new levy

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The introduction of 7.5% levy on short-stays will have ‘disproportionate impact on budget accomodation’, company’s head of public policy says

Airbnb will urge the Victorian government to exclude private room bookings and other “budget accommodation” from its recently-announced 7.5% levy on short-stays, and has cautioned other states from immediately following suit.

At a media event on Wednesday morning, the company’s head of public policy in Australia and New Zealand, Michael Crosby, said he was “disappointed” the levy was limited to short-stay platforms, having previously pushed for a 3-5% tax on all accommodation providers.

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Australia news live: Parliament House in Canberra to be lit up in blue and white in support of Israel

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Follow the day’s news live

AAP has the latest polling results ahead of the Indigenous voice referendum day this Saturday:

Two surveys show the no campaign is still ahead a week out from referendum day despite one poll indicating a slight late gain in support for the yes vote in the past month.

Not at all. It’s only done when people cast their ballots.

We’ll wait and see when they cast their vote. I’m not getting ahead of the Australian people.

I know there’s some arrogance has crept into the no side campaign, but it’s a campaign based upon fear and it’s similar to the sort of arguments that were put prior to the apology to stolen generations. And if people think about that … there weren’t any negative consequences for anyone.

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Labor gets a taste of life after Daniel Andrews in Jacinta Allan’s chaotic first week as premier

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From a bungled tax announcement to muddled performances from ministers, the best laid plans for a smooth handover quickly went awry

There’s no doubt that when Daniel Andrews resigned as Victoria’s premier he had planned a perfect handover for his successor, Jacinta Allan.

Over several years, he grew their socialist left faction to greatly outnumber the right, meaning Allan would be able to fend off any possible challenge for the leadership.

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