NSW to announce package to combat violence against women ‘within days’
The NSW deputy premier, Prue Car, is speaking to the media following a cabinet meeting to discuss growing rates of violence against women.
She said the meeting heard from a number of experts and people with lived experience on “what the NSW government can and should be doing immediately and into the future”. This included Rosie Batty.
The state government would be announcing an emergency package “within days”, she said, followed by medium- and long-term actions to invest in cultural change.
We heard very clearly from today, investment must be in the frontline and crisis response services, but the primary prevention and the early intervention does need more attention because we need to drive the cultural change that stops this from happening.
Key events
NSW may explore behavioural change programs for men
Taking questions from reporters, Prue Car and Rose Jackson have been speaking about cultural change that is needed to combat violence against women.
Jackson detailed some of the discussions that took place during today’s meeting:
One of the things that actually did come up … in terms of the generational work we need to do with young men and boys, is the urgent crisis we have right now with men who think this behaviour is acceptable. One of the things that we learnt was how important appealing to their instincts to be good fathers are.
Most men want to be good dads to their kids and even if their behaviour right now – or some of their thinking right now – is expressing itself in a bad or toxic way, do they want to pass that on to their boys, to their kids?
And it was really interesting to hear from Victoria how, of all of the different men’s behavioural change programs that they tried … good parenting programs, being good dad programs, were actually an incredibly important hook in for men now who are not behaving in a way that’s acceptable to try and get them to change their thinking … So we’ll be exploring that.
Car says specialist program for schools ‘on the table’
As education minister, Prue Car said a specialist program for schools was “most certainly on the table”.
She said:
A lot of the places that women and young children, in particular, will go to, to ask about something that might be happening at home, can often be the classroom – can be the teacher, the deputy principal, the principal – because they’re the trusted people in those families’ lives.
So anything that we do that involves education in schools will really be about us being able to resource the education system, and our teachers, to be able to deliver that. Because this is a whole-of-societal challenge and education is always, always part of the answer, but the Government needs to make sure that schools are supported to be able to do that.
There’s no bigger advocate of that than me around the cabinet table.
Reforming justice system key to addressing violence against women – Car
The NSW deputy premier said the state government’s policy responses to violence against women “will include reform to the justice system.”
Prue Car told reporters this is because “we must have all of that at once.”
We must have investment in primary prevention, early intervention, crisis response, and it must involve – everyone in Australia right now can see – it has to involve reform to the justice system.
Emergency package just one aspect of addressing violence, Car says
Deputy premier Prue Car is now taking questions from reporters. She says today’s cabinet meeting was not about making decisions primarily, but about listening to experts and those with lived experiences.
As minister [Rose] Jackson said, we could not be more committed to this. We’re seriously saying to the people of NSW today we’ve had a cabinet meeting only focused on this one emergency issue. We will go away, develop an emergency package, but we will be very clear with the women of New South Wales in particular – that an emergency package is one thing but we have to focus also on the medium- and long-term to stop this from happening, to stop men inflicting violence onto women.
Sending a message to young women across New South Wales, youth minister Rose Jackson said:
I know that you are angry you are exhausted. You have been carrying the burden of looking after your own safety for far too long. Where you sit on public transport, what you wear, how you talk, where you go for a run … All of that energy to protect your safety has fallen on your shoulders. And we as a government want to step up and give you a rest, give you a break from that by doing the things that we can do so that it is not always on young women, in particular, to protect their own personal safety.
There is a limit, of course, and I think people except there is a limit to how much government can do. I want to put out a call to young men … you can be the ones to interrupt that sexist joke, you can be the ones to report images of women exploited online, you can be the ones to challenge gender norms and relationships and in your family, you could be the ones that promote this behaviour to your mates. This is something that is not going to be solved by government alone…
Housing measures vital for women leaving violence, says NSW homelessness minister
NSW housing and homelessness minister Rose Jackson says that today’s cabinet meeting was “the platform with which we are going to develop” actions towards change.
She said today’s meeting was a “comprehensive” two-hour meeting, dedicated solely to addressing violence against women.
That is not something that we do regularly, that is not something that is a normal part of business as usual for government. Business as usual is not acceptable on this issue any more.
So we have already taken steps to change the way we are addressing these issues by convening that special dedicated cabinet meeting, and there will be more to come.
She said housing and homelessness measures must be part of addressing this issue, and a safe place to go was “critical” for women – something that would be part of the government’s long-term plans.
Penny Sharpe says ‘breakthrough’ finally occurring on violence against women
Penny Sharpe addressed the media next, and said that after years of being involved in marches around violence against women, she believed “we are finally making a breakthrough”.
We are making the breakthrough that we need to, that governments need to, that they have failed to do so over many, many decades
Unless we put safety of women, equality of women, at the heart of what we do, women will die, women will be seriously injured and women every day outside this room will continue to live in fear.
Today, what this government has done [is] started a process that has taken too long but that is about urgent action, it is about medium-term thoughtful things that are going to change the dial and it is about the long-term prevention of ensuring that actually the violence and the cohesion and the behaviour does not start in the first place.
NSW to announce package to combat violence against women ‘within days’
The NSW deputy premier, Prue Car, is speaking to the media following a cabinet meeting to discuss growing rates of violence against women.
She said the meeting heard from a number of experts and people with lived experience on “what the NSW government can and should be doing immediately and into the future”. This included Rosie Batty.
The state government would be announcing an emergency package “within days”, she said, followed by medium- and long-term actions to invest in cultural change.
We heard very clearly from today, investment must be in the frontline and crisis response services, but the primary prevention and the early intervention does need more attention because we need to drive the cultural change that stops this from happening.
French embassy holds first welcome to country
The French embassy in Canberra has held its first welcome to country ceremony, performed by Indigenous artist and Ngambri-Ngunnawal custodian Paul Girrawah House.
In a statement, the ambassador of France to Australia Pierre-André Imbert celebrated yesterday’s ceremony as a “symbol of mutual respect” and “our commitment to create a vibrant and profound relationship between France and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.
The connection between France and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people began with the French expeditions of Lapérouse, Baudin and D’Entrecasteaux…
France is eager to continue strengthening its relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with further collaborative initiatives on history, memory and the arts.
Riverina man on 35 charges after guns and lizards allegedly found at property
A man in the New South Wales Riverina has been charged with 35 offences after numerous items were seized from his property, including firearms, a lawnmower and four native lizards.
Officers executed a search warrant at a rural Humula property – about 60km south-west of Holbrook – on Wednesday morning and seized three trail bikes, three firearms and ammunition, a luxury watch, a chainsaw, hedge cutter, lawnmower, RMS road signs, number plates and a bogie trailer, alleged to have been stolen.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service also assisted with the seizure of four shingleback blue tongue lizards, after the man was found to not hold the appropriate licence.
Police said drugs including cannabis and methamphetamine were also seized, plus hunting equipment including knives and a GPS handheld tracking module.
The 25-year-old man was arrested and taken to Holbrook police station, where he was charged with 35 offences, including three counts of possessing an unauthorised firearm, larceny, entering private land to hunt an animal without owner consent, and five counts of carrying an unrestrained dog on the back of a moving vehicle on the street.
He appeared in Wagga local court yesterday and was refused bail to reappear on 14 May. Police said investigations were ongoing.
Sharlotte Thou
Doctors praise Queensland for sharing road deaths data
The peak body for doctors has praised Queensland’s move to share data on road deaths and injuries to the federal government.
Catherine King, the federal transport minister, announced she would make it mandatory for all states and territories to share data on road accidents as part of the next five-year funding agreement between the two levels of government.
Last year the Australian Medical Association (AMA) wrote to King urging the federal government to mandate data sharing.
From March 2023-24, 1,286 people died on Australian roads – an 8.2% increase from the previous 12-month period.
Prof Steve Robson, the AMA president, said a nationally consistent data set “would save countless lives”.
It’s highly disappointing that state and territory governments have been gatekeeping important data on road accidents. Without this data, the national road safety strategy objective of zero deaths and serious injuries on roads by 2050 will be nothing but a fantasy.
Bonza logo to vanish from A-League club’s kits
Elias Visontay
A-League men’s club Melbourne Victory has announced its home playing kit has been redesigned to feature a front new sponsor, replacing the logo of budget airline Bonza, which this week entered voluntary administration.
For the upcoming A-League finals series, in which they will take on local rivals Melbourne City in an elimination match on Sunday, players’ kits will feature the logo of insurance company AIA.
Bonza had been the Victory’s principal partner, signing a four-year deal with the club in 2022. The deal was facilitated by Bonza and Melbourne Victory’s shared ownership links. Bonza is wholly owned by US private investment firm 777 Partners, while the Miami-based company owns about a 20% stake in the football club with an option to increase that to 70%.
The implications of Bonza entering administration on its sponsorship deal with Melbourne Victory are unclear, and the club did not respond to Guardian Australia’s questions on the matter. Caroline Carnegie, the club’s managing director, said:
We’re thrilled to have AIA Australia as our principal partner for the upcoming finals series.
However, since Bonza’s aircraft fleet was abruptly repossessed shortly before midnight on Monday after a change in the ownership structure of its plane leases partly organised by 777 Partners, speculation has mounted about the financial position of the US firm.
777 Partners had been attempting to take over English Premier League football club Everton, loaning the club more than £200m ($382m) over seven months as it tries to convince the Premier League it has the funds to complete a proposed takeover of the club.
Following news of Bonza entering administration, the Guardian revealed that Everton called in a leading firm of restructuring and insolvency advisers, raising further questions about 777 Partners’ role in sport.
Class action to stop demolition of Melbourne public housing towers dismissed
Cait Kelly
A class action attempting to stop the demolition of Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers has been dismissed.
The class action, which was filed by Inner Melbourne Community Legal, states the redevelopment adversely affects the human rights of thousands of tenants.
Justice Richards said the case could not go ahead in its current form:
I’ve concluded that Mr Berry’s claim in its current form has no real prospect of success, and so must be summarily dismissed.
What I will indicate is that I have accepted the defendant’s submissions in relation to the jurisdictional error ground, and in particular have concluded that the decision is as it’s currently pleaded is not justiciable.
She said her reasons were still in draft form, and would be published next week. The class action will have seven days to re-plead.
New CEO appointed to higher education regulator
Dr Mary Russell has been appointed as chief executive officer of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa).
Announced this morning by education minister Jason Clare, Russell has been appointed for a five-year term after acting in the position since last June.
Teqsa is Australia’s independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education.
Clare said in a statement:
[Russell] brings extensive experience in regulatory operations, tertiary education and dispute resolution. Before joining Teqsa [she] served as chair and member of regulatory boards in the health sector.
She also has experience working in the telecommunications sector, the tertiary education sector, in university teaching, curriculum development and delivery and has worked as a health practitioner.
Teqsa’s chief commissioner, Emeritus Prof Peter Coaldrake, also advised he would step down from the role on 10 May. A new chief commissioner would be appointed “in due course”, Clare said.
