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.
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.
Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox has arrived at the Swans HQ this morning to hordes of waiting media. The club’s board met last night to decide on appropriate action regarding the players involved in the investigation.
“The club believes the players are in serious breach of expected club behaviour and standards, and it is appropriate to take firm action and highlight that any sanction we impose relates solely to those breaches,” a statement from the club last night read.
Health Minister Mark Butler says he is “confident” the government’s Thriving Kids program, which is set to replace the supports provided by the NDIS for young kids with autism and other learning disabilities, will be ready by 2028.
State governments have implementation plans ready to start rolling out the Thriving Kids scheme for children under nine from October this year, while a complete rollout is due by January 2028.
“I’m very confident that states recognise the importance of this, they’ve got their implementation plans ready … Those services will start to roll out. They’re not new concepts,” Butler told ABC’s News Breakfast.
“I’ve made clear, of course, to parents, that there is no way that any government will let their children, their precious children … go without support. But I’m really confident that the target date of the first of January 2028 will be achieved.”
Labor sealed an agreement with the Coalition yesterday to pass its contentious NDIS overhaul, which will remove 240,000 people from the scheme.
Butler also said during a press conference yesterday that the government were working with states and territories to implement safeguards that ensure older children who no longer qualify for the scheme weren’t left in the lurch when eligibility changes start in 2028.
Teenagers will be warned that artificial intelligence chatbots are not human, cannot feel emotions and cannot fall in love under safeguards designed for underage users.
The reminders will be one of several changes launched by OpenAI as part of its ChatGPT for Teens service, which began rolling out to users late last night.
Other reforms will include “responsible homework reminders” that encourage students to solve problems step by step, greater parental controls, and notifications if users ask about topics such as violence, eating disorders and self-harm.
The restrictions follow several US lawsuits against AI companies that allege chatbots contributed to teens’ mental health issues, and age restrictions placed on 10 social media platforms in Australia.
Federal and state governments must urgently start work on setting up new disability systems for older children, teenagers and adults with lower needs after the parliament this week passes laws that will remove 240,000 people from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler said a scheme akin to a “Thriving Teens” program would need to get off the ground within the next 16 months to make sure older children who no longer qualified for the scheme aren’t left in the lurch when eligibility changes start in 2028.
Labor sealed an agreement with the Coalition yesterday to pass its contentious NDIS overhaul, which should recoup $37 billion for the federal budget in the next four years, and $150 billion in a decade. The bill passed the Senate with a tranche of amendments on Tuesday night, and will return to the House this week to become law.
Butler said federal officials were already designing new NDIS eligibility assessments that will come into effect in January 2028, but there was plenty of work to be done by then so that new systems will be ready to cater to people who no longer qualified for the $50 billion scheme under stricter criteria.
State governments, except for Queensland, have implementation plans ready and to start rolling out the Thriving Kids scheme for children under nine with development delays and autism from October this year, with its complete rollout due by the start of 2028.
Read the full story here.
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.
