Victoria’s Allan agrees action, not royal commission, needed on gender-based violence
Adeshola Ore
A reporter asks the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, about the federal government’s decision not to back a national royal commission into gender-based violence. The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, this week ruled out holding a federal royal commission into domestic violence, saying the government should instead focus on implementing policies it has already identified.
Allan says she supports the Albanese government’s decision:
What we want to do is take action. We’ve had a royal commission here in Victoria, Australia’s first ever royal commission in Victoria. It laid down the pathway for further investment for further reform of the sector.
We can take that action much more quickly than undertaking another royal commission which is why I support the position of the federal government on this matter.
Key events
Wildlife hospital gets boost for koala conservation
Sick and injured koalas will receive more care with a dedicated centre to care for the depleted marsupial population.
The NSW government will spend $4.5m to establish the centre at the Wildlife Health and Conservation hospital in south-western Sydney.
Koalas were heavily affected by the black summer bushfires, with 17% of the state’s population lost in the disaster.
The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the funding would bolster koala rescue, rehabilitation and conservation efforts.
Safeguarding these koalas is vital.
We want future generations to be able to step into bushland in south-western Sydney and see koalas in the wild.
Koalas Mack and Gage have been in the care of the Wildlife Health and Conservation hospital since 2023.
Macklin, an orphaned female joey, was found at the base of a tree in Sydney’s south-west in July 2023.
Three months later, Gage was found in the same area after his mother was hit by a car.
The pair are being released back into the wild on Sunday, following their rehabilitation.
– AAP
Josh Butler
‘It’s a pretty simple message’: PM makes appearance at Canberra rally against gendered violence
Canberra’s “No More” rally against men’s violence has drawn several thousand people, including prime minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers, to march to Parliament House.
The PM was met by numerous rally participants who wanted to call for more action on domestic violence from the government. Speaking to one woman about the issue, Albanese said simply: “We’re over it.”
To another woman, holding a sign saying “stop killing women”, Albanese said: “It’s a pretty simple message.”
The PM said “the whole government” was united in a push to do more on the issue.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, was by Albanese’s side, telling one woman she was concerned about online influencers like Andrew Tate promoting inappropriate messages to young men.
You worry about what your kids will accidentally stumble on.
Another woman expressed major concerns to the PM and Rishworth about coercive control, calling for messages about that issue to be taught to children in primary school
We need to get parents interested in this.
The rally will move to Parliament House where more speakers are expected to address the crowds this afternoon.
Guardian Australia’s political reporter Josh Butler is on site at the Canberra rally against domestic violence where the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is present along with other Labor MPs.
PM Albanese at Canberra’s No More rally against men’s violence, with a number of Labor MPs
Numerous rally attendees have approached to ask the govenment to do more on domestic violence, coercive control, online issues pic.twitter.com/dN36aF9En9
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) April 28, 2024
Adeshola Ore
Victorian premier says she determined MP’s behaviour did not meet standards required under code of conduct
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has faced questions over Labor MP Darren Cheeseman who has resigned from his parliamentary secretary role following allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour.
On Friday, Allan said she had requested the South Barwon MP’s resignation from his senior role after allegations of “persistent, inappropriate behaviour in the workplace towards staff”. Allan said Cheeseman would remain a member of the parliamentary Labor party.
Speaking to reporters, Allan says the ministerial code of conduct requires “higher standards” for ministers and parliamentary secretaries:
The allegations were put were in the context of the ministerial code of conduct that I am responsible for enforcing.
Those allegations were looked at, and it was my determination that the behaviour did not meet the standards required under the ministerial code of conduct, which is why his resignation was requested.
Allan says senior staff in her office briefed her about the allegations on Wednesday evening before she asked Cheeseman to resign on Friday.
Cheeseman has been contacted for comment.
Man charged over Central Coast crime spree
A man has been charged with 20 offences following a rampage on the New South Wales Central Coast yesterday.
Police responded to an alleged armed robbery in Wyong at 10pm on Friday night where they were told a man left with cash.
The man was last seen driving away in a stolen car to the M1 near Ourimbah.
A police operation then tracked the man as he allegedly engaged in a string of break-ins and thefts, including stealing a car with a woman still inside.
Police have been told the man allowed the woman to get out of the car at Kangy Angy before driving away.
A chase ended when a police car was rammed at Ourimbah at 11am.
A 54-year-old Tuggerawong man was arrested just after midnight on Saturday and taken to Wyong hospital under police guard where he was treated for minor injuries.
He has been charged with several offences, including use of an offensive weapon with intent to commit indictable offence, robbery armed with offensive weapon, aggravated break and enter and impersonating a police officer.
The Queensland premier Steven Miles has made his presence known as the anti-domestic violence rally gets going in Brisbane.
Enough is enough.
Violence against women has to stop.
It’s not a female problem – it’s a male problem.
Men: talk to your mates.
If you see something wrong, speak up.
My government will do everything we can to end this scourge. pic.twitter.com/Na0maP9I9A
— Steven Miles (@StevenJMiles) April 28, 2024
Auction clearance rate slips to 72.9% across Australia
Auction activity has remained stable this weekend with 1,902 auctions due to be held. This is almost equal to the 1,90o held last week and a modest gain on the 1,739 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found the preliminary clearance rate was 72.9% across the country, lower than the 74.4% preliminary rate recorded last week but well above the 66.2% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
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Sydney: 469 of 657 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 78.3%
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Melbourne: 603 of 849 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 69.8%
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Brisbane: 106 0f 168 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.7%
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Adelaide: 72 of 135 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 76.4%
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Canberra: 49 of 49 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 63.3%
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Tasmania: One of two auctions held.
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Perth: Ten of 15 auctions held.
Retail trading, property data due for release, this week
Fresh retail trading data due this week will show how Australian consumers are coping with the high cost of living.
The Tuesday dataset for March from the Australian Bureau of Statistics follows a lacklustre 0.3 per cent increase in February, in part supported by Taylor Swift concerts.
Consumers have been under pressure from higher interest rates, elevated but slowing inflation and an increasing tax burden.
Selected cost-of-living indexes expected from the ABS this week will illustrate the impact of higher prices on different household types.
However, the tough economic climate and cash-strapped households have not been enough to stop property prices rising.
The April update to real estate data firm CoreLogic’s home value index, due on Wednesday, will follow a 0.6 per cent rise in March, on a par with February’s increase.
Prices rose in every capital city except Darwin over the month, with the biggest increases recorded in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.
More housing-related data is scheduled later in the week, with building approvals for March due on Thursday.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver an address on the state of the domestic and international economy at the Lowy Institute on Wednesday.
The treasurer will hand down his third budget on 14 May.
– AAP
Burrup campaigners say WA premier may have defamed activists who interrupted Woodside AGM
Campaign group Disrupt Burrup Hub says Western Australian premier Roger Cook may have defamed two activists who interrupted the Woodside annual general meeting on Wednesday.
Three activists, including two 17-year-olds, invoked the names of the Woodside CEO and chair in urging the executives to think about the future impacts of continued oil and gas extraction.
Following the incident, Cook held a press conference on Friday where he made a series of statements about the activists that the activist group says are untrue.
These comments were then quoted in The West Australian, which the campaign group says failed to include the group’s response to the statements in their subsequent reporting.
A spokesperson for Disrupt Burrup Hub says the activists involved made no threats, “either direct or otherwise” and group is now consulting lawyers about whether the premier defamed the activists.
The West Australian made a very foolish editorial choice to uncritically print false statements from the WA Premier while refusing to include any right of response to the teenage targets of his potentially defamatory threats.
The West Australian Premier would want to be very careful about false claims regarding threats based on recorded statements that directly disprove his claims. We are consulting our lawyers.
The spokesperson says the entire incident was recorded on published video.
Victoria’s Allan agrees action, not royal commission, needed on gender-based violence
Adeshola Ore
A reporter asks the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, about the federal government’s decision not to back a national royal commission into gender-based violence. The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, this week ruled out holding a federal royal commission into domestic violence, saying the government should instead focus on implementing policies it has already identified.
Allan says she supports the Albanese government’s decision:
What we want to do is take action. We’ve had a royal commission here in Victoria, Australia’s first ever royal commission in Victoria. It laid down the pathway for further investment for further reform of the sector.
We can take that action much more quickly than undertaking another royal commission which is why I support the position of the federal government on this matter.
Name of Melbourne woman killed in light plane crash confirmed by family
A Melbourne woman has been named as one of two people killed after a powered glider crashed near an airport in Victoria’s alpine region.
Kate Callingham, 39, died when the light aircraft crashed on Saturday afternoon, her family confirmed in a statement.
Callingham was described as a “beloved partner, mother, daughter and friend, and a keen-minded leader in the arts and cultural life in Melbourne”.
Emergency services were called to the incident at Mount Beauty, north of Falls Creek, after 1.40pm on Saturday.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said:
It is believed the pair were flying over Embankment Drive when the aircraft crashed about 1.45pm.
For more on this story, read the full report:
Police investigating shootings in potential mistaken identity case
Police are investigating two shootings that took place at the same house weeks apart.
The first shooting took place shortly before 6pm on Sunday, 13 April 2024 at a family home in Blacktown in New South Wales.
The house was occupied at the time but no one was injured.
On Saturday night the same home came under fire again, with several shots were fired into it.
Five people were inside but no one was injured.
Police have seized a Ford Ranger for forensic examination and crime scenes have been established.
It is understood the family is a victim of mistaken identity and have asked the perpetrators to stop before someone is hurt.
Payslip wars: Australian jobseekers suffer harassment in ‘a crazy system’
A former employee of one of Australia’s biggest job network providers has spoken up about the extreme methods they use to claim public money when jobseekers find employment.
One researcher calls the process – supposedly designed to help people enter the workforce or increase their hours – a “crazy system that doesn’t work for anyone”.
Jobseekers must sign up with a private job provider to receive Centrelink benefits, which they can continue to claim if they have work but are earning below a certain threshold.
The providers can claim “outcome payments” when a client on their books has completed four, 12 and 26 weeks of employment, regardless of whether the client or provider found the job, using payslips as proof of the client’s employment. In 2022-23 providers received $329m in outcome payments.
But jobseekers, employers and former staff at the providers say the requirement to obtain payslips has led providers to put unreasonable pressure on clients – who are not obliged to hand over the information – and employers.
In some cases providers trying to obtain payslips have forced jobseekers’ Centrelink payments to be suspended.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia reporter Cait Kelly:
Victorian premier: Women have had enough of being angry, outraged, sad
Adeshola Ore
Speaking to reporters at a press conference after the rally, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan thanks protesters who attended the marches across Australia:
Women deserve the right to be safe in every space and we are seeing, continuously, too many women are losing their lives.
There were women at the march today, like me, we’ve been marching on this issue for decades and decades and decades. We’ve had enough … we’ve had enough of being angry and outraged and sad and grieving for women who’ve lost their lives, for women who have been seriously injured, for women who are too traumatised to participate in the workplace, to participate as members of our community.
Adeshola Ore
More funding needed for family, sexual violence services, women’s advocates say
The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, and the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, have joined thousands in Melbourne to rally against gender-based violence.
Thousands of Victorians gathered outside the Melbourne State Library before marching to Federation Square.
A series of national rallies, organised by non-profit group What Were You Wearing, is calling for boosted funding for family and sexual violence service and for Anthony Albanese to declare the violence a national emergency.
This year, 26 Australian women have been killed – a rate of one death every four days – according to data compiled by advocacy group Destroy the Joint’s project Counting Dead Women.
In one of the latest cases, on Tuesday, emergency services discovered the body of Emma Bates, 49, in Cobram, in northern Victoria.
