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41m agoWork from home laws won’t come into effect in Victoria until after election
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, has announced the government’s nation-first bill to legislate a right to work from home two days a week won’t take effect until after the election.
Carroll also said debate on the bill – which was expected to pass parliament’s upper house later this week – has been delayed.
He said he made the decision as part of his commitment to “reset the relationship” with the business community:
double quotation markI’ve spoken with Sally Curtin this morning and Tim Piper, and I told them that work from home will not proceed on 1 September. It will proceed on 1 July 2027.
I want to be very clear. I support work from home. I support flexible work. It is good for working families. Equally, though, we need to make sure that … Everyone knows it’s a partnership between working families and the business community and the government.
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Work from home laws won’t come into effect in Victoria until after election
2h ago
Coalition to work with Hanson on migration bill
2h ago
Melon gaffe a ‘national embarrassment’ even if Japanese government unconcerned, Ted O’Brien says
3h ago
Independent MP accuses Labor of ‘listening to the money and the power’ on gambling ad policy
4h ago
RBA predicted to hold cash rate
4h ago
Good morning
First vaccines for bird flu to begin rolling out in ‘coming days and weeks’
The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, says priority species of birds in captivity will be the first to be vaccinated, with the rollout to begin soon.
Speaking at a press conference in Parliament, Collins says the government can’t stop the spread in wild birds, but can protect some native species.
double quotation markI can announce that the first vaccines are expected to roll out in coming days and weeks based on an agreed national approach to the targeted vaccination of priority native bird species.
This approach will mean that the states and territories are able to commence vaccination activities, initially focussing on priority species in captivity identified by those states and territories.
We’ve been very clear that we cannot stop the H5 bird flu from spreading amongst wild birds … Australians should expect to see more spread and larger numbers, particularly of dead birds and mass mortalities around the country from the H5 bird flu. We have been very clear that this will continue to spread across the country.
It’s census day!
For all you stats nerds out there, today is the day … well it’s at least the day all the data gets input before all the results come back later.
If you – like myself – are doing it tonight, here’s your best guide on what to expect.
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Do you have a question you’d like to ask Guardian Australia’s political team this week?
Well do I have news for you …
I’ll be recording an ‘Ask me anything’ episode of the Australian Politics podcast with my fabulous colleagues Tom McIlroy, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford Canales.
We’d love you to send through questions for us, so hit us up at [email protected].
Looking forward to hearing from you!
In pics: Vietnam president meets with Albanese and governor general
Vietnam’s general secretary and president, To Lam, has just arrived at parliament ahead of a meeting with Anthony Albanese.
It is Lam’s first state visit to Australia since becoming Vietnam’s Communist party chief in late 2024.
A little earlier he met Sam Mostyn at Government House.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria commits to amending suppression orders
The Victorian government has committed to removing “loopholes” in the state’s laws on suppression orders if elected in November and will introduce legislation to parliament today to ban character references altogether.
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, has announced a raft of reforms he said is informed by the voices of victims.
Speaking alongside attorney general Sonya Kilkenny on Tuesday morning, he said:
double quotation markFirst and foremost, we are going to stop suppression orders being used to protect convicted rapists. Suppression orders were designed to protect victim survivors, not convicted rapists. We’re also going to take good character references off the table. If you commit a heinous crime, the fact of being a volunteer for part of your life should not form part of any judgment. If you commit the crime, you need to do the time.
The bill before parliament today amends the state’s Equal Opportunity Act to make “subjection to family violence” a protected attribute, which will make it unlawful to discriminate against someone because they have or are experiencing family violence. It criminalises coercive control as a standalone offence, strengthens family violence intervention orders and expands personal safety intervention orders to recognise grooming.
But the bill does not deal with suppression orders. Kilkenny said the government is committed to scrapping the for convicted rapists if elected while an advisory group was also reviewing other “loopholes”.
double quotation markThat review is underway right now, and as we’ve announced today a re-elected Carroll Labor government will ensure that we make amendments to our Open Courts Act so that we are closing every loophole used by high-profile accused and convicted persons on the use of suppression orders.
Asked what the review was exploring, she said:
double quotation markInterim suppression orders, the length of those suppression orders, the reasons for those suppression orders … if there are loopholes, we are going to close them, and that they can’t be abused and exploited.
Entertainment manager, Ralph Carr, and Tom Silvagni, the son of AFL footballer Stephen Silvagni, both successfully applied for court suppression orders while facing trial on separate rape charges, with their identities only publicly released once they were convicted.
In the case of Carr, his identity was suppressed for almost three years.
Work from home laws won’t come into effect in Victoria until after election
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, has announced the government’s nation-first bill to legislate a right to work from home two days a week won’t take effect until after the election.
Carroll also said debate on the bill – which was expected to pass parliament’s upper house later this week – has been delayed.
He said he made the decision as part of his commitment to “reset the relationship” with the business community:
double quotation markI’ve spoken with Sally Curtin this morning and Tim Piper, and I told them that work from home will not proceed on 1 September. It will proceed on 1 July 2027.
I want to be very clear. I support work from home. I support flexible work. It is good for working families. Equally, though, we need to make sure that … Everyone knows it’s a partnership between working families and the business community and the government.
‘This government has been beaten by high interest and inflation’: Taylor
Angus Taylor is giving his party room a bit of a gee up for the first sitting day back after the winter break.
He’s let the cameras in for his opening speech (the same as what Anthony Albanese did ahead of his caucus meeting yesterday) – before the party gets into the nitty gritty. We can expect gambling to be a key talking point of the meeting.
There are plenty of shouts of “hear hear” from the MPs in the background.
Taylor says:
double quotation markThis government told Australians that it had beaten high inflation and high interest rates and this government has been beaten by high inflation and high interest rates.
Now, over the course of the break, we launched our plan. Our plan to fix the economy and to protect our way of life.
As I said, we will lax labor’s toxic taxes, their taxes on savings, on investment, on housing, on small businesses, on widows.
That last point is reference to the so-called “widow tax”. Under the tax reforms announced in the May budget, a widow or divorcee would lose grandfathered exemptions to negative gearing and capital gains tax in the event the property was transferred from both to one of the partners and the tax settings reset.
Independent senator David Pocock raised the issue before the tax legislation was passed, which then Labor said it would fix in subsequent bills.
Albanese to meet with Vietnam’s president at Parliament House
The president and general secretary of Vietnam, To Lam, is in Canberra today, currently meeting with the governor general, Sam Mostyn.
Lam arrived in Sydney yesterday, in time for the government to announce that VietJet would start flying into the new western Sydney airport.
The president will then head over to Parliament House to meet with Anthony Albanese and the pair will later provide joint statements to the media.
We can probably expect China and Donald Trump to be on the agenda for the talks.
Malinauskas didn’t consult with federal counterparts on AI royal commission
Yesterday’s announcement that South Australia would hold a royal commission into artificial intelligence would have taken some by surprise yesterday – including the federal government.
The SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, has done his own media rounds this morning plugging the announcement, but says he didn’t give the commonwealth a heads up.
He told RN Breakfast the idea for a royal commission was cemented after he went to the United States:
double quotation markWithin 72 hours of being on the ground and talking to people who are themselves developing the technology and using the technology, and them talking about the profound implications of what AI will do to our modern economy, I was absolutely convinced this is something we should do ...
This is something that we’re pursuing as a state government because of course within our federation sub-national governments or states are responsible for a whole range of areas of service delivery that are quite separate to considerations of the federal government.
Earlier, independent MP Kate Chaney told RN Breakfast it was good the premier was “realising the magnitude of this issue” but said a royal commission wasn’t the right mechanism.
double quotation markIt’s very slow, takes too long. I wrote a letter to the Coalition and some others a few weeks ago pushing for or seeking support for a joint standing committee on AI because I do think we need parliamentary oversight … But Peter Malinauskas has at least recognised the urgency of this issue.
Coalition to work with Hanson on migration bill
Speaking of One Nation’s immigration bill, Ted O’Brien tells News24 that he’s open to working with “anybody who is going to make Australia safer.”
He says the Coalition are working on their own immigration bill, and that the opposition “won’t be political” in dealing with the issue.
double quotation markWe are open to working with anybody who is going to make Australia safer. I don’t particularly care where they come from.
We’re yet to see all the detail, right? So if, at the end of the day, ours is a better bill, of course, we’ll be pursuing ours over it but I think the right thing to do by Australia is not to be overly political on these issues. If somebody wants to genuinely bring forward a bill, absolutely, let’s engage in good faith, have a look at it.
In two separate cases in June 2022 and in November 2023, the high court struck down Coalition-era laws that gave the home affairs minister power to strip dual nationals of Australian citizenship for engaging in suspected terrorist activities.
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, also told News24 this morning that the Coalition would work with One Nation on the bill:
double quotation markWe’ll work with them on that legislation, it is important we get it right. We’d love to see it go off to a Senate committee to make sure that people who know a little more than we in the Senate know, legal experts to make sure it is robust.
We want to shut the door on terrorists, we’ve been trying for years to do this.
PM ‘still under the thumb of the gambling companies’: Greens senator
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she’s sceptical of negotiations between the opposition and government over gambling reforms, worried they won’t go far enough.
She stops by the cameras stationed outside the Senate entrance:
double quotation markWe haven’t seen any details from the government, as to how far they’re willing to go, I am sceptical that the prime minister is still under the thumb of the gambling companies.
She also responds to the bill Pauline Hanson wants to introduce a bill to strengthen powers to cancel or refuse passports and toughen bail laws for terrorism charges. It’s legally tricky territory with the high court previously ruling that a minister could not strip the citizenship of a dual national.
Hanson-Young says:
double quotation markPauline Hanson is a one trick pony. She preys on people’s fears and on their grievances … If Pauline Hanson really wants to help people in Australia, become with [the] cost of living crisis, she would focus on that rather than on where people have come from.
Albanese congratulates new ACTU secretary
Anthony Albanese has congratulated Melissa Donnelly, who will replace Sally McManus as secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
In a statement on Monday night, the prime minister said McManus leaves the job with “the gratitude and well-wishes of the entire Australian labour movement.”
double quotation markMelissa will assume the Secretary role at the end of August after seven successful years leading and growing the Community and Public Sector Union … It is a tremendous honour to lead the Australian union movement on behalf of all working people, and one I know Mel will succeed in.
McManus and the ACTU president, Michele O’Neil, both announced they’d step down after eight years in the job, but the later will finish up a little later this year.
