‘Full suite’ of policy measures needed to change culture of male violence, PM says
The prime minister said Australia’s bail laws will be one of the things on the agenda at this Wednesday’s national cabinet.
In case you missed it, Anthony Albanese has announced an urgent national cabinet meeting on men’s violence against women for Wednesday. He provided some more details around this on ABC News Breakfast:
State premiers approached me about the convening of a meeting. I wanted to do that as well.
I’ve spoken directly with a range of premiers and chief ministers. We need to look at the full suite of policy measures that can make a practical difference here. There’s longer-term issues of culture change that we need to engage in so that people teach respect. And it’s not just women and children who will gain from that, men will gain from that as well, if we have respectful relationships across our society, the whole society benefits here.
But at the moment, women are feeling – quite rightly – frustrated and angry, and I understand that that is the case.
Key events
Police investigating after St Kilda palm trees set on fire
Victorian detectives are investigating after St Kilda’s iconic palm trees were set alight overnight, with one destroyed during the blaze.
In a statement, Victoria police said officers were called to reports of four trees alight along Marine Parade about 7.15pm.
No one was injured, but one tree was destroyed and three others sustained minor damages. Footage posted to social media showed the fire:
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Final hearings in landmark climate class action to begin in Cairns today
The final hearings in a landmark climate class action brought by Australia’s First Nations people will begin in Cairns today, AAP reports.
Over a few decades Torres Strait Islander elder Aunty McRose Elu has seen her ancestral lands inundated with water. Dr Elu was born on one of the outer islands of the Torres Strait – the low-lying Saibai Island, 4km south of Papua New Guinea.
As you go through the area when you fly over it’s very frightening. Now you can see more water than land but people live there.
Dr Elu is part of the first climate class action brought by Australia’s First Nations people.
Led by Uncles Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai, they’re arguing the Commonwealth owes a duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to take reasonable steps to protect them from the harms caused by climate change.
Pabai and Kabai launched the federal court action in 2021, faced with rising sea levels and fearing their communities could become Australia’s first climate refugees. The court held on-country hearings on Badu, Boigu and Saibai islands in 2023, while scientists and other expert witnesses gave evidence in Melbourne in November.
The final hearings in the landmark case will begin in Cairns today, with legal teams to make their closing arguments throughout the week.
Dr Elu said at the heart of the fight was the continued existence of Torres Strait Islander people and their homelands.
NSW premier’s father in coma after heart attack
The father of NSW premier Chris Minns is in an induced coma following a heart attack over the weekend. A spokesperson for the premier said in a statement:
John Minns had a massive heart attack yesterday and is in an induced coma in ICU at St George hospital.
The family are by his side and are thankful for the care he’s getting from health workers and doctors.
Adeshola Ore
Victorian premier to appear at state’s Indigenous truth-telling commission
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will appear at the state’s Indigenous truth-telling commission this morning.
Allan will become Australia’s first state leader to provide evidence at a truth-telling inquiry, which has the same powers as a royal commission. Allan’s evidence is due to begin at 11.15am, local time.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission is holding public hearings investigating land injustice. Speaking to Guardian Australia ahead of her appearance, Allan said she was “deeply humbled” to appear before the commission:
The truth-telling process is such an important part, indeed, a critical part of treaty, of the treaty process.
At times, that truth-telling has been challenging – challenging for governments, challenging for organisations and institutions – but it must be done because we can’t have treaty without telling the truth about how our state was colonised.
Civil liberties council says legislative change, without cultural change, leaves women ‘unsafe’
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties says the “scourge” of violence against women occurring across Australia will “not be solved by knee-jerk legislative responses … under the guise of making women safer”.
In a statement, the council stated that “the rising rate of domestic violence has not abated in NSW, even after new laws and tougher penalties were introduced over the past six years”.
President Lydia Shelly argued changes to bail laws or increasing penalties for particular crimes, such as domestic violence, won’t solve the problem but will “provide a false sense of reform and security and arguably, continue to expose women to harm and violence”.
If we are to reduce the occurrence of … horrendous crimes, we must ensure that structural failures within our criminal justice system and our communities are appropriately understood, addressed and funded.
Without appropriate resourcing and funding, laws are rendered impotent. Legislative changes, without making any structural or cultural change will always leave women unsafe and at risk of violence.
Shelly said a royal commission into family violence is “violently overdue”, and the council has written to NSW attorney general Michael Daley “with respect to the structural and cultural changes that need to be made as a matter of urgency”.
Australian Council of Trade Unions calls for 9% gender-based pay rise
Workers in key feminised industries should get at least a 9% pay rise in the annual wage review, according to the nation’s largest union, AAP reports.
The ACTU says the boost would be a critical step in achieving equal pay for workers in occupations historically undervalued based on gender including care and degree-qualified work in early childhood education, education and health support, veterinary care and disability home care.
The union’s submissions filed with the Fair Work Commission say the 9% rise is based on the 5% increase it is advocating across all awards supplemented by at least an additional 4% in key low-paid feminised industries.
If accepted, a full-time care worker could see their pay boosted by $90 a week – a step towards equal pay, pending a full assessment. A similar assessment in aged care recently found workers required up to 23% pay increases to achieve equity, the union said.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said achieving equal pay for women “requires systemic change and targeted pay rises in industries traditionally dominated by women and historically very low-paid”.
A 9% pay increase will not only support families with cost-of-living pressures, it will also be a vital first step to properly valuing the work of working women doing critical work for our community, such as educating the next generation and caring for our loved ones.
‘Full suite’ of policy measures needed to change culture of male violence, PM says
The prime minister said Australia’s bail laws will be one of the things on the agenda at this Wednesday’s national cabinet.
In case you missed it, Anthony Albanese has announced an urgent national cabinet meeting on men’s violence against women for Wednesday. He provided some more details around this on ABC News Breakfast:
State premiers approached me about the convening of a meeting. I wanted to do that as well.
I’ve spoken directly with a range of premiers and chief ministers. We need to look at the full suite of policy measures that can make a practical difference here. There’s longer-term issues of culture change that we need to engage in so that people teach respect. And it’s not just women and children who will gain from that, men will gain from that as well, if we have respectful relationships across our society, the whole society benefits here.
But at the moment, women are feeling – quite rightly – frustrated and angry, and I understand that that is the case.
We need ‘concerted plan’ to end violence against women, not national emergency declaration: PM
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been making the rounds on breakfast television this morning, currently speaking on ABC News Breakfast.
He is asked why the government won’t declare violence against women as a national emergency?
When we declare a national emergency, things kick in [such as] one-off payments for people – for a bushfire, for a flood, for something like that. I don’t really want to get into a debate here that misses the point over whether it’s a national emergency or a national crisis. But an emergency declaration by state or territory governments kicks in immediate one-off actions by the federal government. What we need here is not one-off actions. What we need here is a concerted plan.
I was happy not to speak, or to speak: PM on rally controversy
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has appeared on Channel Nine’s Today, addressing controversy around yesterday’s rallies against gendered violence.
One of the organisers of the rallies, Sarah Williams, has accused Albanese of lying about asking to speak and being told no (see previous post).
Asked “what happened” Albanese replied:
The organisers throughout the country deserve credit for organising these rallies. I was happy not to speak. I was happy to speak, it was about raising awareness of the issue, but a call to action by all governments, quite clearly, we need to do more.
It’s not enough to just have empathy. The fact that one a woman dies every four days, on average, at the hand of a partner, is just a national crisis. So I’ll be convening the national cabinet on Wednesday. We’ll talk about what more we can do. Clearly governments need to do more, but as a society as well, we need to acknowledge that we need to change behaviour. We need to change attitudes. We need to change culture, because it is completely unacceptable.
In response to the claim he had lied, Albanese said:
I’m focused on the issue, Karl. It was an emotional day for people and I get that, on what is an emotional issue. Because women were saying yesterday, enough is enough.
Was the prime minister invited to speak at yesterday’s rally in Canberra?
Finance minister Katy Gallagher says she is “not aware” of an invitation for her and the prime minister to speak at yesterday’s rally to end male violence against women in Canberra yesterday.
Speaking to ABC RN, Gallagher said the government was working with organisers for an opportunity to speak but “we weren’t on the speaker’s list”.
We weren’t able to land that by the time the rally started … I think the rally expected to hear from their prime minister so he stood up and spoke… He wanted to show that he was deeply interested in [and] cared about the matters that were being raised at that rally.
So was the government invited to speak? Gallagher said:
I’m not aware of the invitation for the government to speak …
There was some concern about the demands, you know, the five key asks that were being sought at that rally and, you know, a commitment that they were seeking from from us and we weren’t able to reach agreement on how to proceed. So in the end, we decided to just walk and attend the rally and as a sign of respect, and as the sign of solidarity with women around the country.
In a statement last night, rally organiser Sarah Williams from What Were You Wearing said Anthony Albanese’s office told her he was interested in walking, but not speaking:
Representatives from Gallagher and Albanese’s offices both said this morning that they were sure Katy would be happy to speak. Not the prime minister … Myself and WWYW never denied him from speaking. He never asked to speak.
Gallagher rejects notion that government’s 10-year plan to end violence against women isn’t working
Finance minister Katy Gallagher has also been speaking to ABC RN, where she repeated her view that “people want to see change happen faster than it’s been happening” around addressing violence against women.
Host Sally Sara noted that “gender violence is worse this year than it was last year”, but Gallagher rejected the notion that the government’s 10-year plan to end violence against women isn’t working.
I mean, we’re two years into a 10 year plan that had months and months of consultation and involvement from everybody who works in the sector, and we’ve all signed up to it …
Certainly from our government’s point of view, we are very open to having discussions with anyone about areas that they see require more focus or better interventions. And I think it’s upon us to continually review that because violence against women and children is changing all the time.
‘We need to find better ways to protect women against epidemic of violence’: Katy Gallagher
Katy Gallagher said while she was at the Canberra rally yesterday she spoke to a number of young men who expressed concern about the way women are treated and “some of the toxic masculinity that they see around as young men”.
She told ABC News Breakfast:
I guess a very strong community sentiment of ‘enough is enough’. Everyone’s over it, and we have to work out better ways and more ways to protect women and to make sure that we can end this epidemic of violence against women in this country.
Government has ‘open mind’ to new prevention measures to address violence against women: Gallagher
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said the government has an “open mind” around introducing new measures to prevent violence against women, but doesn’t believe there is a lack of resources or commitment from government.
She acknowledged people are wanting to see change “happen faster than it’s been” and said violence against women is a “deeply embedded cultural problem in our community” that one government – or eight – cannot solve alone.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, she said there “wasn’t a lot of interest” in the issue outside of the sector when the government launched its 10-year national plan just over two years ago.
I don’t think there’s any shortage of resources and commitment going into this. When we launched the national plan just over two years ago, there wasn’t a lot of interest in it outside of the sector.
We’ve got this 10-year plan that’s two years in, and all the governments and the commonwealth, state and territory, are all working to implement that plan. But I think we always need to look at whether things are working, whether we need to shift focus or, you know, look at new ways – particularly in the area of prevention – about how we provide support and services.
From our point of view, we have an open mind. We understand that people are wanting to see change happen faster than it’s been. And I think we all feel that. But we’ve also got to acknowledge that this is a very deeply embedded cultural problem in our community, and it isn’t one that one government or eight governments can solve. It’s a whole-of-community problem.
Josh Butler
Government releases consultation paper on review into Online Safety Act
A review of federal rules on online behaviour will focus on increasing penalties and ensuring the tech industry considers the safety of children, as the government steps up its rhetoric after recent social media misinformation concerns.
The federal government is today releasing a consultation paper on its ongoing review into the Online Safety Act, the rules that govern bodies like the eSafety Commission and the powers it has to pull tech giants into line. It comes as the commission fights X, formerly Twitter, in a federal court case over footage of the Wakeley church stabbing.
The review, announced last year, is set to report back by October. Public consultation on the review opens today.
The consultation paper raises numerous questions including whether the act’s remit should be widened, whether complaint schemes should be reformed or simplified, whether the eSafety Commissioner has “the right powers” to address violent content online, and whether penalties are high enough for misbehaviour.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland said:
The Government is considering a range of matters, including the strength of penalties, ensuring industry acts in the best interests of children, and taking the lessons from overseas.
Rowland said the potential for “emerging harms” around technology like artificial intelligence showed online safety laws should not be “set and forget”.
Online misogyny working against efforts to tackle violence against women: Plibersek
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has said an “incredible amount of violent misogyny online” is actively working against any policies aimed at tackling violence against women.
Speaking to Sunrise early this morning, she listed a number of government policies aimed at tackling the issue but said despite these, “I’m not surprised that those people at rallies across the weekend are still furious that the behaviour continues”.
There’s this smorgasbord of violent misogyny that’s being fed to, particularly, adolescent boys. And so society is trying to fix it on the one hand and, on the other hand, we have the exact opposite force happening, working against us trying to improve things.
We need to look at what governments are doing, what police are doing, what courts are doing, what emergency services are doing, but we also need to look at what is happening particularly to young men online that is supporting these misogynist attitudes.
Australians lost $2.74bn to scams last year, new report shows
Josh Butler
Australians lost $2.74bn to scams in 2023, a decrease from the previous year and the first time since 2016 the annual figure has gone down.
The federal government says its National Anti-Scam Centre is helping raise awareness about frauds the public should be aware of, but says it has more work to do in order to stop more investment, romance and phishing scams.
The annual Targeting Scams report is out today, showing the type of crimes Australians are getting sucked into. The 2023 figure of total money reported lost to scams was 13% down from 2022, where the figure was $3.15bn.
A release from the office of assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said:
This reverses a long-term trend that saw scam losses double year on year, demonstrating that the government’s tough anti-scam agenda is working.
His office says investment scam losses were down 13% between 2022 and 2023, with romance scam losses down 4%, phishing scam losses down 13%, and payment redirection scams decreasing 59%.
But the government is also sounding an alarm on the changing face of scam activity. While scams originating on phone calls or texts were down, social media scams were up 17%. The government says it will soon be introducing new industry codes obligating banks, telecommunication companies and online platforms to detect, prevent and respond to scams.
Jones said:
We want Australia to be a world leader in combatting scammers and our mandatory codes will put us well ahead.
While the report shows positive early signs, scam losses remain far too high and we urge Australians to remain alert to the threat of scammers and report any suspicious activity.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome back to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll bring you our rolling coverage today.
Thousands of Australians took part in rallies across the country over the weekend, marching to end men’s violence against women. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and a number of senior ministers participated in the Canberra rally and confirmed an urgent national cabinet meeting on men’s violence against women will be convened for Wednesday, but stopped short of announcing new violence prevention policies or funding. Josh Butler and Adeshola Ore have the full story below:
The environment minster, Tanya Plibersek, has told Sunrise that an “incredible amount of violent misogyny online” is actively working against government initiatives aiming to tackle violence against women.
She told Sunrise just earlier:
There’s this smorgasbord of violent misogyny that’s being fed to, particularly, adolescent boys. And so, society is trying to fix it on the one hand and, on the other hand, we have the exact opposite force happening, working against us trying to improve things.
Meanwhile, Australians lost $2.74bn to scams in 2023, a decrease from the previous year and the first time since 2016 the annual figure has gone down. This is according to the annual Targeting Scams report, released today, showing the type of crimes Australians are getting sucked into. More on this shortly.
See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or shoot me an email: [email protected].
Let’s get started.
