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Allan says Victoria’s bail laws need to be tightened
Benita Kolovos
Also asked about the front page of the Herald Sun, which reported a youth offender had been bailed despite the magistrate admitting the public would want him remanded, Jacinta Allan said she could not comment on individual cases.
But she conceded the state’s bail laws needed to be tightened:
What is clear to me is that our current settings need to be changed, and also don’t align with community expectations.
She said she would be introducing legislation to “bring about that change … very soon”.
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Podcast: how do the major parties plan to win your vote?
Has the interest rate cut made any difference to how people intend to vote at the upcoming federal election?
In today’s podcast, Guardian Australia’s political reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy and Essential Media’s executive director, Peter Lewis, discuss how voters are responding to major political parties’ campaign rhetoric on key issues affecting their lives.
You can have a listen to the episode below:
Out of control bushfire south of Ballarat grows to 47 hectares
A watch and act alert has been issued for Buninyong and Scotsburn, south of Ballarat in Victoria, amid an out of control bushfire.
The alert, issued by Forest Fire Management Victoria, says the bushfire at Mt Buninyong has now grown to 47 hectares in size.
An alert was first issued yesterday for the same bushfire, which has since grown due to “steep terrain and exceptional dry fuel loads”.
Firefighters remain on scene, with support from aircraft.
The situation can change at anytime. You must monitor conditions, remain vigilant and be ready to act.
Steggall says ‘flexibility is important’ amid speculation over when election will be called
Independent MP Zali Steggall said “flexibility is important” when it comes to calling an election, amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Speaking on Sky News, she was asked about the timing of Anthony Albanese calling the election, and said she was assuming a 12 April poll date:
I think flexibility is important, and there is a very significant disaster unfolding … I welcome the fact that he and his government are currently focusing on the communities impacted, and they are preparing.
What I would say, though, is in the last budget, very little money was invested by his government on preparation, and so, this is a great opportunity to commit to investing in significant adaptation and preparation system.
Steggall has been making the rounds this morning, calling for both major parties to commit to legislating national climate risk and adaptation plans.
Caitlin Cassidy
La Trobe enters enforceable undertaking over staff underpayments
La Trobe has become the sixth university to enter an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman after identifying more than $10.7m in staff underpayments.
About 6,700 staff were underpaid, performing across the university’s 10 schools as casual academics and professional staff between 2015 and 2022.
The ombudsman said the underpayments were caused by “systemic failures in compliance, central oversight and governance processes”, including incorrectly applying its enterprise agreements.
Individual underpayments range from $2 to $91,837, while 35 employees were underpaid more than $20,000.
A spokesperson for La Trobe said the casual staff underpayments were identified by the university through an independent review in 2020, and self reported to the ombudsman the following year.
Affected current staff had been fully compensated, while La Trobe continued to “proactively seek” some former staff who hadn’t responded.
The underpayments were unintentional, resulting from complex industrial agreements, inefficient and outdated systems and processes. La Trobe has since improved and simplified these systems and processes to prevent future errors.
Allan says Victoria’s bail laws need to be tightened
Benita Kolovos
Also asked about the front page of the Herald Sun, which reported a youth offender had been bailed despite the magistrate admitting the public would want him remanded, Jacinta Allan said she could not comment on individual cases.
But she conceded the state’s bail laws needed to be tightened:
What is clear to me is that our current settings need to be changed, and also don’t align with community expectations.
She said she would be introducing legislation to “bring about that change … very soon”.
Benita Kolovos
Allan says Metro Tunnel on track to open ‘a year ahead of schedule’
Continuing from our last post: Jacinta Allan was asked why the station was behind Anzac, Parkville and Arden stations, which have been completed and are undergoing testing. She replied:
You can get a real sense of the complexity of this station and also the next station along the line at the State Library. These are stations that are being constructed deep underground ...
These sites have been through really quite narrow portals at ground levels. This has been a hugely complex part of the project, which is why these stations are where they are, in terms of the journey of the entire project.
She said the entire tunnel is on track to open “a year ahead of schedule” later this year.
Benita Kolovos
Allan holds press conference on Metro Tunnel project
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has held a press conference in the town hall concourse of her government’s Metro Tunnel project which she says will open later this year.
In her media release, Allan said the concourse – which will feature new shops and cafes – would be free to public access without touching on.
She said the project – 40 metres below the CBD – was challenging to build. Instead of “opening a massive hole” over Swanston Street, the station has been built using “deep shafts at either side”, which Allan said was akin to “keyhole surgery”. At the press conference, she said:
Just as we can’t imagine Melbourne today without the City Loop, in years to come, we won’t be able to imagine Melbourne without the Metro Tunnel, without stations like town hall, because of what it means to be able to get more people in and out of the CBD but also connect people to where they want to go … Doing this complex construction work deep underneath the ground while the city kept moving above ground, and standing here today in this concourse area, you can see the complexity. You can see the size and the enormity of this project.
Albanese touts latest GDP figures as he fields another election timing question
Anthony Albanese was again asked if he is planning to call an election in the next week – but pointed to Tropical Cyclone Alfred as his focus.
I refuse to be engaged in the game that has gone on for one year. For one year ago Peter Dutton called for an election to be held in order to stop our tax cuts. Our tax cuts went through. Ever since then, what I’m focused on is governing.
He pointed to yesterday’s GDP figures as “extremely positive” and exceeding market expectations:
What that shows is that our coherent, orderly plan for responsible economic management is making a positive difference.
With that, the press conference wrapped up.
Albanese on Trump’s position on Ukraine and Russia
Sticking with international politics, Anthony Albanese was asked about Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw military aid from Ukraine.
A reporter said: “Do you worry that Donald Trump is about to hand Ukraine on a platter to Putin?”
The prime minister said it is in Australia’s national interest to support “the brave struggle of the people of Ukraine, led so ably by President Zelenskyy”.
This is a struggle of a people who have suffered from an illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian leader who leads a regime that has imperialist designs, not just on Ukraine but on the region. That’s why we need to stand with Ukraine in support of their national sovereignty, but also in support of the international rule of law.
The PM said the war could stop tomorrow if Russia withdraws and “back[s] off from its illegal and immoral invasion”.
Tariff negotiations with US ongoing, PM says
A reporter asked whether Australia is on track to receive tariff exemptions from the United States.
Anthony Albanese said the government was “continuing to engage with the US administration”.
We think that tariffs are not in Australia’s interest and not in the United States’s interest. The United States enjoys a trade surplus with Australia.
Does cyclone rule out election being called this weekend?
At the press conference in Canberra, Anthony Albanese has been asked whether Tropical Cyclone Alfred rules out an election being called this weekend, or early next week?
But the prime minister said his focus was on the cyclone, and that this “isn’t a time to for party politics”.
I’m just focused on doing my job in governing and that’s something I’ve been focused on since the 23 May 2022, [when] I was sworn in as prime minister.
Follow PM’s press conference on cyclone in our separate live blog
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to reporters ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
You can follow all the updates on our separate live blog below, and I’ll bring you any non-cyclone related issues that get raised right here.
WA premier faces ‘big test’ at state election despite Labor dominance
Circling back to the West Australian election this Saturday: AAP reports that the ruling Labor party may be the favourite to win, but the premier, Roger Cook, still faces a hefty challenge.
Cook is attempting to win a historic third term for his party and an election off his own back, having replaced Mark McGowan when he stood down midterm in 2023.
Prof John Phillimore, the executive director of Curtin University’s John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, said this was a “big test” for Cook as it “gives him a chance to walk out of the shadow of McGowan and be his own man and win an election in his own right.”
Experts are tipping a comfortable win for Labor in Saturday’s contest. The party holds 53 of 59 seats in the lower house after an unprecedented landslide victory in 2021 under McGowan.
But the party’s massive majority is likely to shrink as the conservatives claim back seats lost in the past two elections. Phillimore said that while it was important for Cook to establish himself as the elected leader “given McGowan’s complete dominance”, he also had to manage expectations about the likely result:
When you’ve got 53 out of 59 seats and 70% two-party preferred of the vote and a majority in your own right in the upper house for the first time in 150 years, guess what – the only way is down.
Steggall says insurance premiums have risen ‘exorbitant’ amount since 2022
New research from the Australia Institute shows one in five households are either underinsured or has no insurance at all due to soaring premiums – and if you don’t have insurance, you’re likely to lose three-quarters of your wealth.
Independent MP Zali Steggall told ABC News Breakfast this was an “iceberg issue where the scale is probably much greater than what we think”.
[The research shows] when events like [Tropical] Cyclone Alfred hit, a huge proportion of the community stand to lose the bulk of their assets and wealth they have accumulated over their lifetime.
Steggall said it was important to address the “underlying factor around why insurance is so expensive – which is climate risk”.
These events happen more and more often. That’s why governments of all persuasions need to do much more to invest in preparation, adaptation, to mitigate the climate risk.
As Krishani Dhanji reported earlier in the blog, Steggall is calling for Labor and the Coalition to commit to legislating national climate risk and adaptation plans.
Steggall said, on average, insurance premiums had risen 32% across the country since 2022 – an “exorbitant” amount.
It’s simply unaffordable. And it’s not just households being impacted, it’s local government areas – they are facing increasing clean-up [and] disaster emergency costs.
