Source : the age
Hello and welcome to our national news blog for Wednesday, August 19. It’s been a big week for federal politics already, as the government makes significant headway on its gambling and NDIS reforms. Here’s what is making news today:
- Labor’s gambling reforms passed through the House of Representatives yesterday. The laws will allow people to opt-out of gambling advertising, but have copped heavy criticism from opponents who say they do not go far enough to protect people, including children and young adults, from gambling harms.
- Sweeping cuts to the NDIS are expected to become law as early as this week, after the government’s NDIS Reform Bill passed the Senate last night. The contentious overhaul should recoup $37 billion for the federal budget over four years, and $150 billion in a decade.
- AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon released a statement last night responding to news that police were investigating an alleged incident of sexual assault involving a group of Sydney Swans players. “Our first question should not be what this means for a football club. It should be whether our actions match the standards we stand for and the community expects of us,” the statement said. Last night, the Swans issued a separate statement saying the club would finalise sanctions for “all players involved”, as the club board decided on punishments in a late-night crisis meeting.
- And mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will return to court today to appeal her convictions after she was found guilty of using poisonous mushrooms to murder relatives Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and was found guilty of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. Patterson was sentenced to life in jail, with a non-parole period of 33 years.
Erin Patterson will return to court today to appeal her convictions for three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following a high-profile trial in Morwell last year.
Patterson’s legal team filed an application to appeal her conviction and sentence in November.
Follow along with all of our live coverage here.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has weighed in on the police investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving a group of Sydney Swans players in the early hours of Monday morning.
“An investigation must come before football. I mean, ultimately, this is seemingly a serious situation … Organisations can’t be seen as getting on as if it’s business as usual when the gravity of the charges are so serious,” he told ABC Sydney radio this morning.
“Now, that’s not just for reputation reasons. It’s not just so that you can keep your reputation as a family-friendly club or the high esteem in which you’re held in the community. It’s so that if there are potential victims, they feel like they’re being listened to and the consequences of the alleged actions are being taken seriously.”
Asked whether the AFL should implement a no-fault stand-down clause – whereby a sports organisation can suspend a player when they are charged with a serious criminal offence, but before a court outcome is delivered – Minns said:
“It seems to work for the NRL, and it’s important again not for the reputation of the game, but to send the message that these things are being taken seriously, not just in the courts and the police, but within the organisation.”
Liberal MP Andrew Wallace said the parliament had missed an opportunity to develop meaningful gambling reforms, but that he would be able to look at himself in a mirror after he voted against his own party.
Wallace crossed the floor for the first time in his 10-year political career yesterday, voting against the government’s reforms after lobbying for his party to push the government to go further.
“I fundamentally believe that this was a probably a once in a career opportunity for me to make a stand, and I don’t think the bill went far enough,” he told Radio National.
“I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror, and I’ve got to look at my constituents in the face, and say that I did what I thought was right, and that’s where I landed.”
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has launched a fresh attack on the Labor Party and accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of economic failure after texts calling on voters to give political donations to the ALP emerged this week.
The texts read: “It’s Jim Chalmers here. I’m only texting supporters we know we can count on, so I’ll be direct. Andrew Bragg wants to scrap your super and Pauline Hanson’s backing him. Labor built super. I won’t let them tear it down. Chip in $41 now to help us reach Australians with the truth.”
It comes amid calls from members of the Coalition – and Pauline Hanson – to soften rules around superannuation to allow Australians to withdraw from their super early.
“Labor is afraid of debates which give people more choice and control over their lives,” Bragg wrote on Instagram this morning.
The husband of late Labor MP Peta Murphy, who championed a blanket ban on gambling advertising, has singled out the major sporting codes and media organisations as failing in their social responsibilities.
Rod Glover welcomed the parliament’s collaboration to make progress on reform while acknowledging the final package passing this week fell well short of the recommendations made in his late wife’s report “which remain the benchmark for comprehensive reform”.
“The limits of the reforms reflect, in large part, the considerable lobbying power of the gambling industry, major sporting codes and media organisations,” Glover wrote on LinkedIn.
“The online gambling industry is predatory, but the failure of social leadership among some of our major sporting and media institutions is different. Organisations with a privileged place in Australian life have continued to put their commercial interests in gambling ahead of the social responsibilities that come with the influence, standing and trust they hold.”
Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie said there would always be more to do on gambling reform but he was satisfied with the Coalition’s improvements to the legislation.
Hastie, along with other Coalition MPs and former prime minister John Howard, signed a letter urging the prime minister to toughen the reforms, including by considering a national regulator.
Asked whether he was disappointed that regulator has not been established, Hastie said: “I think we’ve landed in the right spot”.
“Politics is the art of the possible, and we wanted to improve the government’s bill, and we’ve done a lot of work,” he told Radio National.
“There’s always more you can do, but in the end, I think we’re trying to work in the interests of the Australian people, and we’ve made some good progress.”
Independent senator and former professional rugby union player David Pocock said the public response to the Sydney Swans players linked to a sexual assault allegation “shows just how far we have to go as a country”.
Commentators have been criticised for playing up the drama of the implications for the club’s upcoming finals season and erasing the alleged victim from the picture.
“Clearly, culturally in this country, we’ve got a long way to go on this, and it’s important that we’re all playing our part,” Pocock told ABC TV, adding the allegation was deeply concerning.
“The hope is that the police thoroughly investigate this, and that the woman at the centre of this is looked after. As to what should happen now, clearly there’s been a real breach of team protocol and all the rest, and I think the team should come down on that hard, but as to the actual allegations, I think it’s really important that the process plays out.”
Independent senator David Pocock said the gambling reform package passing through parliament this week would fail to protect Australians from harms.
Labor secured a deal with the Coalition yesterday to usher through its controversial reforms, which stop short of a blanket ban on gambling advertising and inducements as recommended in the late Labor MP Peta Murphy’s report.
“It’s really tragic to see vested interests and their capture of the major parties, meaning that we don’t get evidence-based policy in this country, and we don’t get policy that actually puts Aussies and our kids ahead of the gambling companies,” Pocock told ABC TV.
“We have four out of five Australians wanting a ban on all gambling ads, and yet the government is trying to sell us this [is] getting the balance right, which is three ads per hour on TV and a fairly unworkable opt-out system online.”
“This legislation fails on so many different levels. The big one was the phased-in, complete ad ban. The late Peta Murphy said partial bans on gambling advertising do not work, and that’s why they went with a full gambling ad ban.”
Women from across the political spectrum have taken aim at cultures that normalise and enable violence against women as headlines about allegations of sexual violence at the Sydney Swans and Scots College continue to dominate the news cycle this week.
Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek accused both institutions of failing to respond appropriately to the allegations.
“In less than seven days, an all-boys school and one of the nation’s most influential sporting clubs have been at the centre of concerning sexual assault allegations,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Both Scots and the Sydney Swans play a direct role in educating and inspiring men and boys … When people in positions of power gloss over allegations of sexual violence, when they’re more focused on their reputations than their responsibilities – it reinforces the culture of disrespect and entitlement that fuels this violence in the first place.”
The health minister was asked this morning whether the government was considering cutting the tobacco excise, after Pauline Hanson vowed to slash the tax on tobacco by 75 per cent.
He said there was no evidence for the claim that pushing down the price of legal cigarettes would deter people from buying illegal cigarettes.
“No one’s really said to me, or to the government, where [it is] the price point that actually starts to move them out of the market,” Butler told News Breakfast.
“You can get rid of the excise altogether, completely abolish it. But still, legal cigarettes would be significantly more expensive than the illegal products. So that’s why I think this requires more deep thought than frankly cheap headlines of the type we’ve seen this week. We’re not particularly interested in thought bubbles in an area that is this important.”
He said the government was still considering measures to crack down on black market tobacco.
