Aly introduces childcare subsidy bill in parliament
Over in the house this morning, Anne Aly, minister for early childhood education, has introduced legislation for a three-day guarantee on subsidised childcare.
The bill partially abolishes the activity test to guarantee three days of subsidies for families earning up to $530,000.
Aly says the bill provides support for First Nations families and is a “cost-of-living measure”.
Aly quotes Snaicc CEO Catherine Liddle:
This can be a game changer for our babies … setting them up for a thriving future. It’s a significant commitment towards closing the gap.
The Greens have said they’ll push for the activity test to be scrapped entirely but will ultimately support the bill.
Key events
In the Senate, debate is continuing on the Greens bill to ban online gambling advertising
The bill proposes a ban on online gambling ads across television, radio, online and print via a three-year phase-in approach.
Shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson says it’s “ironic” that the Greens are pushing for a vote on their bill, as the Coalition had put up its own bill in 2023. That was after Peter Dutton, in his budget reply speech, had put forward a ban on gambling advertising during sports matches, as well as an hour before and an hour after them.
We delivered a bill just six weeks later… our bill would have drawn a line in the sand and put an end to gambling advertisements during live sport, that was 20 months ago, and guess what has happened, when that bill went before parliament the Albanese government opposed our bill, and guess who else voted against our bill, yes, it was the Greens.
The Greens have previously argued the Coalition’s policy wouldn’t go far enough to tackle the harms of online gambling advertising.
Independent senator David Pocock is also up, he’s been a strong proponent of reform on gambling advertising. He also brings up the Coalition’s which he says wouldn’t work.
It’s a landmark report, it is historical, and when she [Peta Murphy] released the report she said ‘gambling is grooming young children to gamble’.
…All the experts gave evidence that a partial ban doesn’t work.
‘Take them out to the pub’: Hume on Coalition’s business lunch policy
Sky News is having another go at trying to tease out some more details on the tax-free lunch policy, this time with shadow finance minister Jane Hume.
Hume says:
This will help them build their businesses, and it helps them reward and retain staff, bring them back to the office after working from home, making sure that after they’ve had a successful and productive week.
After they’ve had a productive week, take them out to the pub, buy them a chicken schnitzel. It’s not that complicated. It’s very modest.
Host Laura Jayes calls the policy “small fry”, and Hume says the Coalition will announce “more” on tax policy in the lead-up to the election.
Emily Wind
Minns defends Haylen after resignation as transport minister
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has just wrapped up a press conference in Sydney after Jo Haylen quit as the state’s transport minister yesterday.
This followed revelations about her use of a ministerial car for private purposes. Elias Visontay has all the details below:
Minns defended her character and said she had paid a “big personal and professional price” for what happened.
I’ve made it clear when it comes to my colleagues around the cabinet table that I expect them to follow the rules and to follow the new directions … I expect all ministers to treat this process and their positions in office with respect.
He said that roads minister John Graham would be acting in the transport portfolio “almost immediately”.
It’s a huge, huge portfolio, but John does have extensive experience in his previous jobs … We’ve made a decision late yesterday that he can do it, but we’ll be putting all the help in place to make sure he can.
Minns also said he hadn’t “ruled out anyone potentially being a cabinet minister”.
Aly introduces childcare subsidy bill in parliament
Over in the house this morning, Anne Aly, minister for early childhood education, has introduced legislation for a three-day guarantee on subsidised childcare.
The bill partially abolishes the activity test to guarantee three days of subsidies for families earning up to $530,000.
Aly says the bill provides support for First Nations families and is a “cost-of-living measure”.
Aly quotes Snaicc CEO Catherine Liddle:
This can be a game changer for our babies … setting them up for a thriving future. It’s a significant commitment towards closing the gap.
The Greens have said they’ll push for the activity test to be scrapped entirely but will ultimately support the bill.
Greens debate gambling legislation as parliament resumes
The bells are ringing … you know what that means – parliament has begun sitting.
In the Senate, the Greens are debating their legislation on gambling.
It’s been close to two years now since the release of the Peta Murphy review, which made 31 recommendations, and the government hasn’t officially responded to it.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she wants the government to support their legislation and bring in a ban on online gambling ads before the next election.
I am hopeful that over the next week and a half this parliament, this government, will show the strength of courage to do the right thing, to ban gambling advertising before the election, as you promised to do.
The crossbench has been agitating on this issue, and Labor backbenchers have been pushing for reforms.
Hanson-Young says it shows Labor’s “loyalties” lie with the gambling industry.
It was revealed that the Labor party had received $188,000 and the Liberal party $167,000 from the gambling lobby just in this last financial year alone. No wonder there isn’t a will to ban gambling ads.
Last year, the prime minister cleared his schedule for a day to meet with the gambling lobby and the sports code CEOs back to back. We know that because it’s been revealed by FoI [documents].
Natasha May
Union calls on junior doctors to protest over manager’s misfired email
The doctors’ union calling is calling for junior doctors to take a stand Thursday morning outside the hospital where a medical administration manager accidentally sent them an email calling them a “workforce of clinical marshmellows [sic].”
As Guardian Australia first revealed on Friday, the local health district apologised for the incident which the union representing doctors, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (Asmof), called “tone-deaf” and “unacceptable.”
The NSW branch of Asmof has announced the protest to take place at 11am for a safer workplace on on its Instagram page:
Junior doctors, aka clinical marshmallows, are saying enough is enough. They’ve had it with the Minns Government and how it treats healthcare workers.
One year since Australian Dr Yang Hengjun receives suspended death sentence in China
Foreign minister Penny Wong has released a statement this morning on the continued detention in China of Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun.
Today marks one year since Australian citizen Dr Yang Jun received a suspended death sentence in Beijing.
The past year, and the five years of detention before his sentencing, have been a difficult and dark time for Dr Yang. Throughout, he has demonstrated his inner strength and remarkable resilience.
Today, my thoughts are with Dr Yang, his family and his many loved ones.
The Australian government has made clear to China that we remain appalled by Dr Yang’s suspended death sentence. We hold serious concerns about Dr Yang’s health and conditions. We continue to press to ensure his needs are met and he receives appropriate medical care.
Dr Yang is entitled to basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment, in accordance with international norms and China’s legal obligations.
In his communication with the government, Dr Yang has made clear he knows he has the support of his country. We want to see him reunited with his family. The government will continue to advocate for Dr Yang at every opportunity.
Dr Yang has been detained since January 2019 on national security charges.
‘A complete train wreck’, Labor MP says of Coalition lunch policy
Labor MP Julian Hill and Liberal MP Keith Wolahan are sparring on Sky News over the Liberals’ tax-free lunch policy and debating how much it will cost.
The Coalition hasn’t yet publicly released the figures but has said it will cost under $250m, far below costings from the government – done by the treasury department – that have come in at $1.6bn. Hill says:
Peter Dutton said on the weekend there would be no costings before the election. Sussan Ley came on TV this morning, the deputy leader, and said they’d already released the costings. None of those things can be true – like, it’s a lie. There are no costings that have been released.
Wolahan comes back to the argument the treasury department was “politicised” by doing those costings, and that small businesses are supportive of the policy.
The council of small business welcomes this, and our home state of Victoria is particularly bad. Small business operators have to pay all of the property taxes that everyone else has to pay, so they are closing at a rate that is higher in the rest of the nation. So as Victorians, we really welcome small hospitality that has been given this leg up.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria announces free virtual health clinic for women
The Victorian government has announced a free virtual women’s health clinic to help reduce barriers to services such as contraception and abortion.
The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, has announced the new clinic will launch in the middle of the year to offer free medical advice, treatment and care for a range of women’s health needs.
Available via telehealth or online, it will offer an initial health assessment and some treatments.
Thomas says it will reduce barriers to care, including for women in regional and remote Victoria where access to services like contraception and abortion is hard due to distance from major towns.
I know that there are women and girls too that need access to both medical or surgical termination of pregnancy and they don’t know where to start. The virtual women’s health clinic will be able to provide MTOP services to women and girls with this assistance of GPs.
This is a really great initiative, and it’s all part of our government’s commitment to ensuring that sexual and reproductive health care, including access to both medical and surgical termination, is more readily available for women and girls wherever they live.
Oscar Jenkins to be added to Ukraine’s PoW list, envoy says
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has spoken to ABC News Breakfast and said Australian Oscar Jenkins will be added to Ukraine’s list of prisoners of war.
Jenkins was captured by Russian forces, and Myroshnychenko confirmed he had signed a contract with Ukrainian defence forces, so international law on prisoners of war would apply to him.
There was no evidence of him being allegedly killed, as it was widely reported in the Australian media, and in a way some of my concerns got confirmed later on when the Russian ambassador and Russian embassy confirmed [he] is actually alive, which is good news and I’m sure it was uplifting news for his family. Now he will get on the list as a prisoner of war.
The Ukrainian government will negotiate his exchange … We have exchanged previously lots of prisoners of war and we swap them for Russian prisoners of war, which we have in Ukraine.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian bail law move ‘another step backwards’, legal centre says
Following from our last post…
Human Rights Law Centre’s director of First Nations justice, Maggie Munn, has also expressed concern over the review, saying:
Children belong in our communities, not locked up in a prison cell. The [Jacinta] Allan Government has today flagged bringing back bail laws which were a labelled a ‘complete and unmitigated disaster’ and led to Veronica Marie Nelson, a strong Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman dying in custody.
This is another step backwards and directly contravenes the recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the 2022 Parliamentary Inquiry, and the Coronial Inquest into Veronica Nelson’s death, all of which recommended urgent and widespread reform to bail laws which were found to be unjust, punitive and entrenched disadvantage.
Instead of buckling to fear-mongering by the Liberal Opposition, the Allan Government should implement Poccum’s Law, developed by the family of Veronica Nelson and endorsed by over 70 community, human rights and legal organisations, which will make Victoria’s bail laws safer and fairer for every person in Victoria.
Here’s our analysis on the announcement:
Benita Kolovos
Indigenous leader says Victorian review of bail laws ‘premature’
The Victorian government’s review into the state bail laws – despite the most recent reforms having only come into effect in mid-December – has sparked concern among Aboriginal community leaders and legal experts.
The co-chair of the First People’s Assembly, Ruben Berg, says the move is “premature”:
The laws were only just passed by Parliament. It’s hard not to question the underlying political motivations driving this decision.
We’ve seen the damage knee-jerk reactions to bail reform can have to our community. We cannot forget that it was a death of Veronica Nelson, an Aboriginal woman in custody, that prompted the recent reforms in the first place.
Bail reform was a key focus of recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission who heard extensive evidence about the disproportionate impact the laws are having on First Peoples in Victoria. Any attempt to walk back from those latest reforms would fly in the face of this testimony.
Coalition says Labor’s $1.6bn pricing of tax-free lunches are ‘fake costings’
As expected, there have been more questions to the Coalition this morning on its policy for tax-free lunches for small businesses.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, yesterday released costings done by the treasury department, putting a $1.6bn price tag on the policy.
Sussan Ley says those are “fake costings”.
We have released the parliamentary budget office costings of less than $250 million. So that’s out there that’s on the table, we’ve done everything that we would normally do when it comes to costing a policy and the full details or costing of policies, comes out before an election.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor also said that number yesterday, but it hasn’t yet been publicly released.
Jane Hume was then asked about the policy on RN Breakfast, attacking Chalmers again for getting the policy costed by his department. She said businesses support the move, despite the number of small businesses facing insolvency.
It’s a win win. It helps more businesses to do something for their teams or do something for their clients, but it also helps those hospitality businesses that have been at the pointy end of Labor’s cost of living crisis.
Parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on campus to question QUT
Caitlin Cassidy
A parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses will question the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) this morning after it received backlash over a controversial anti-racism symposium hosted on its campus.
On Tuesday, QUT appointed former judge John Middleton KC to lead an independent review into the content of the symposium, run by QUT’s Carumba Institute, and its broader program of events and activities.
The university has received widespread backlash from some Jewish groups and political leaders, including the education minister and former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, over the symposium, which included a comedy event prior to the symposium with a cartoon image of a character dubbed “Dutton’s Jew”.
The slide, presented by the head of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, criticised what she described as stereotyping of the Jewish community by the Coalition, providing a “human shield” to talk about “hating on migrants … protecting everyday Aussies from leftwing anti-war protesters and … bolstering support for Israel”.
QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil said she appreciated Middleton had agreed to independently assess the symposium and awaited his findings, which would be made public once the review was completed.
Macquarie University officials will appear before the inquiry at 9am, followed by Sheil and QUT vice-president Leanne Harvey at 9.45am. The hearing will adjourn at 10.30am.
Hanson-Young worried Labor not doing enough to regulate technology
Earlier this morning Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young was on ABC News Breakfast and also weighed in on home affairs minister Tony Burke’s announcement that DeepSeek would be banned from government devices.
Hanson-Young says she’ll take the security agency’s advice on the AI app, but is concerned about the government not doing enough to regulate technology, including establishing a “duty of care” on large social media platforms.
The duty of care was recommended in a review of the online safety act released this week, and communications minister Michelle Rowland has said she intends to act on it, but the timeline is unclear. Hanson-Young says:
I am worried that despite being able to move fast on something like this in relation to this Chinese-owned chatbot, that we’re seeing the government and seemingly the opposition starting to crab walk away from stronger regulations against the big tech companies and billionaires like, of course, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Article by:Source: Krishani Dhanji
