Ted O’Brien and Bridget McKenzie continue to call Labor’s fuel efficiency standard a tax despite Toyota’s CEO stating it is ‘not a car tax’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Ted O’Brien and Bridget McKenzie continue to call Labor’s fuel efficiency standard a tax despite Toyota’s CEO stating it is ‘not a car tax’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Renewed push to scrap activity level requirements for childcare subsidies
There was a lot of disappointment last budget when the government did not scrap the activity test as a way of making early child education more accessible and universal.
Your activity level as a parent, particularly the primary caregiver (usually mothers) impacts how much subsidy you receive for childcare. Your partner’s activity level counts, but Services Australia looks at the lower activity level when deciding the subsidy.
It means people who don’t work or study can’t access more than 36 hours of subsidy a fortnight, limiting the early child education they can receive. That impacts low income families particularly and can serve as a barrier to returning to work for parents who took time off to raise young children.
The government considered scrapping the test last year, but ultimately didn’t go through with it. Now, a new campaign is being launched to get the government to go all the way and scrap the test.
This morning, a group of women leaders will hold a press conference to renew the push, including:
Zoe Daniel MP, Member for Goldstein
Georgie Dent, the CEO of the Parenthood
Sam Page, the CEO of Early Childhood Australia
Kate Carnell, the former Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and former ACT chief minister
Natalie Walker, the deputy chair of Goodstart Early Learning
Sue Morphett, a businesswoman and the former president of Chief Executive Women
Hello and welcome to parliament Tuesday, where most of the chat is around legislation which hasn’t hit the chamber floor yet. And may not reach it.
It is still all about religious discrimination, cost of living and energy, which is a very 2016 flavour to 2024. The first eclipse of the year may have meant closure from an astrological point of view, but the Australian parliament keeps on keeping on with the same arguments it has been having for the better part of a decade.
If you are ever worried about the passage of time (I am still struggling to accept 2019 was five years ago) then just spend some time in Australian politics – it’ll make you feel like no time has passed at all.
Overnight the cabinet met, so we’ll learn more about the fuel efficiency standards the government will be presenting. But the fight over the gas bill (between the crossbench and Labor) will continue – not that it matters from a passage through the parliament point (because the Coalition appears to be in support). We’ll also see the religious discrimination issue continue to pop up, and the government attempt to get on top of cost-of-living issues which are still hitting Labor in the polls.
You’ll have Karen Middleton, Daniel Hurst, Josh Butler, Sarah Basford Canales and Paul Karp to guide you through all that and more, and me – Amy Remeikis – on the blog. Ready?
Concern over poor mental health of school students
Poor mental health among young people is at historically high levels and won’t improve unless the disparate funding system is interrogated, a policy brief has found.
The brief, prepared by 12 mental health organisations to analyse wellbeing programs in schools, will be launched by independent member for North Sydney Kylea Tink in Canberra today.
Lead author and researcher at the Matilda Centre Dr Louise Birrell said better coordination, evidence and measurement on the mental health of students was needed.
The brief has made eight recommendations, including national guidelines and transparent reporting on the half a billion that goes towards school-based mental health programs Australia-wide.
Tink said schools were “ideal settings” for preventative mental health interventions, yet policymakers were flying blind in the current system.
With rates of anxiety, depression and psychological distress increasing, we need to have the very best evidence-informed care available to build resilience in Australia’s young people, prevent mental health concerns and act early to provide treatment to those who need it. There is so much potential here to have a long-lasting impact, for generations to come.
School funding system is undermining choice, summit will hear
Caitlin Cassidy
Australia’s inequitable school funding system is undermining choice, not upholding it, a leading policy expert will tell politicians at an education summit today.
The National Education Summit is being held at Parliament House, to be attended by education minister, Jason Clare, Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, shadow minister for education Sarah Henderson, the Australian Education Union and dozens of principals.
Writer and teacher Tom Greenwell will tell the summit current funding arrangements are behind Australia’s unusually segregated school system, arguing that concentration of disadvantage must be reversed to improve student achievement:
A priority for the National School Resource Agreement (NSRA), now being negotiated, is for improved measurement and reporting on the socioeconomic diversity in schools, and its impacts on wellbeing and achievement.
He will urge the federal government to commit to an independent expert review into existing policy settings, including annual reporting for all schools detailing overfunding of the private system comparative to government schools.
Government to introduce amendments to digital ID bill
The federal government will introduce amendments to its digital ID bill this week that, if passed, will ensure take-up is voluntary, restrict the holding of data and include mandatory reporting on any law enforcement use.
Identity verification services are used by government departments and businesses to combat fraud and identity theft.
Legislation to allow the services was abandoned by the former Morrison government after a parliamentary committee raised concerns over insufficient privacy safeguards. But the service began operating, with the Albanese government pushing its new legislation in the House of Representatives.
Key amendments include annual reporting from any law enforcement that accesses, or seeks to access personal information, a phased roll-out to the private sector, restrictions on data retention and a voluntary opt-out system.
The minister for finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, said Labor was “taking the time to get this economy-wide reform right”.
“The Coalition started this work while in government but in classic style didn’t finish the job. Now, they have an opportunity to back the Albanese government in delivering a scheme which is safe, voluntary and will protect Australians in an increasingly online world.”
Russian government calls on Australian embassy to delete social media post
Russian authorities say they have summoned a diplomat from the Australian embassy in Moscow over a social media post that criticised the holding of Russian presidential elections in occupied parts of Ukraine, AAP and Reuters report.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that an Australian embassy post on Telegram questioned “the territorial integrity of the Russian federation” and contained “knowingly false information about the voting in a number of Russian regions during the election of the president” on 15-17 March.
Australia’s chargé d’affaires was told the online post was regarded as interfering in the country’s internal affairs, the Russian statement said, demanding he remove the message and take measures to ensure such incidents do not happen again.
The Australian embassy posted a Russian-language message on Telegram on 19 March saying Australia is “aware that the Russian government conducted sham elections in Ukrainian territories, which reflects its continuing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence”.
The post continued: “Australia rejects the outcome of these sham elections and again calls on Russia to immediately withdraw from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.”
The Russian presidential election, which electoral authorities stated President Vladimir Putin won with more than 87% of the vote, was conducted in parts of Ukraine that Russia says it has annexed including Crimea and parts of four regions it it seized after its 2022 invasion.
The Smith Family report also found school leavers were significantly less likely to be in work of any form than their counterparts.
Three in four young people surveyed who completed year 12 were in work and/or study in 2023, compared with only two in three of those who failed to graduate.
Head of research and advocacy at The Smith Family, Anne Hampshire, said there was a role for businesses, universities, wraparound services and the federal government to play in maintaining aspiration so students knew they had options to pursue career pathways.
Financial pressures also had a flow-on effect. Some surveyed flagged they couldn’t keep up with schoolwork as they didn’t have access to a laptop, and some didn’t pursue post-school study or left study because of financial pressures.
Hampshire said:
Students who are pushed out of school are more likely to have poorer pathways. It’s much better to have their support needs attended to earlier on. But it’s really hard for disadvantaged schools if they only have one careers advisor and limited financial resources.
The good news is we can do something about these early flags, and if we do, we’ll get more young people completing year 12. I’ve got no doubt.
ACTU push for 5% pay rise for those on minimum and award wages
The peak union body is shooting for a 5% pay rise for the millions of Australians on minimum and award wages, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions says inflation has left workers on awards more than $5000 worse off, even when accounting for their pay rises over the past three years.
The independent workplace relations umpire is undergoing its annual wage review this week and will hear from employers, unions and governments.
The federal government has recommended “real wages of Australia’s low-paid workers do not go backwards”.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has already advocated for an increase of no more than 2% for both minimum and award wage workers.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the lowest-paid workers were the hardest hit by inflation and businesses could afford the 5% increase.
Secretary of the ACTU, Sally McManus. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
“When inflation goes up businesses are able to adjust their prices to protect their margins, but workers’ pay does not move so easily,” she said.
The union boss also said the 5% increase would not be inflationary, with consumer prices moderating ahead of schedule even after the commission handed out the biggest minimum wage increase in four decades last year.
The decisions in the annual wage review affect about a quarter of Australian employees, including those on industry and business specific awards and a smaller cohort on the minimum rate of pay.
More careers advice needed to reverse school absenteeism, Smith Family report
Caitlin Cassidy
The federal government must invest in careers advice and targeted early intervention support if it is to reverse the trend of school absenteeism and drop-out rates, a major study has found.
The study, published by the Smith Family today, followed 2,000 young people who were in year 10 in 2020 over a three-year period.
It found responding to early warning signs and providing better personalised careers advice was crucial to help more students finish year 12 and have better long-term outcomes.
While the commonwealth has ambitious plans to double the number of students attaining tertiary degrees by 2050, year 12 completion rates are on a steady decline, particularly among disadvantaged cohorts.
Head of research and advocacy at The Smith Family, Anne Hampshire, said achievement and attendance were the strongest predictors of whether young people would leave school early – more so than factors such as gender, background or location.
The survey data found six in 10 (57%) students with poor attendance in year 9 left school before graduating, while just under half (45%) of students who received poor marks also failed to graduate.
Four in 10 students (39%) who couldn’t remember receiving careers advice left school early, compared with just 13% who could. Other leaving factors included mental health struggles and bullying.
Good morning and welcome to our rolling politics coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories before handing over to our esteemed blogger Amy Remeikis.
Our lead story looks at a GP, opposed to the government’s vaping reforms, who runs education sessions at schools on vaping but in at least one case did not declare her financial support from a tobacco company.
Writing for Guardian Australia, Malcolm Turnbull criticises the Aukus submarine deal, arguing it depends on “US industrial development, military needs, politics – and possibly Trump. Australia has no agency or leverage over any of these”. The former prime minister says no one in Canberra appears to have a plan B for any delay which would leave Australia short of a submarine fleet. It comes as the UK company building the new boats, Rolls-Royce, said the extra $4.6bn funding announced last week would create 1,000 new jobs at its Derby factory.
The opposition appears to have retained an edge in two-party-preferred terms with 50% of voters planning to vote for the Coalition versus 44% for Labor while 6% remain undecided, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll today. Excluding undecided voters, the Coalition leads Labor 53% to 47%, up from 50-50 earlier in March, indicating the results are volatile but trending in the opposition’s direction. It also shows that less than a third of voters back increased public funding for political candidates to reduce reliance on donations in a blow for government hopes to reform the system.
And this week is the annual wage review at the Fair Work Commission, where the peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, will push for a 5% increase. More on that soon.
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