The federal government launches its major shake-up of Australia’s employment services system... Ali France referred to the Australian Electoral Commission... and Nishan Velupillay feeling good about his form, with the Socceroos' World Cup squad announcement just days away
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TRANSCRIPT
Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth says too many people are falling through the cracks of Australia's employment system.
Announcing what the government calls the biggest reform to employment services in 30 years, Ms Rishworth has outlined a new three tiered system for Australians seeking employment.
The new system intends to improve responses to the diverse needs of job seekers, providing more individualised services for those with different needs.
Ms Rishworth says the current system does not incentivise providers to support participants with more complex barriers.
"The way providers are paid means they are incentivised to focus their efforts on those who fit this narrow profile rather than supporting everyone on their caseload, and people with more complex barriers to employment simply get put in the too hard basket, what's known in the system commonly as parking, 20 per cent of the Workforce Australia caseload has been stuck in the system for over five years. This figure is just too high."
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Welfare and employment groups say the government's employment reforms don't go far enough, with calls to overhaul the mutual obligations system.
The mutual obligations system has been widely criticised, including in two Commonwealth ombudsman's reports finding the suspension of many people's welfare payments for failing to meet their jobseeking requirements may have been unlawful.
Greens spokesperson for government services Penny Allman-Payne says the government must end the privatised model for employment services.
"If the government was serious about these reforms, it would have listened to its own inquiry that it had in 2023 that told them that we need to bring employment services back into public hands, we need to have an independent watchdog oversighting it, and we need to stop pumping money into for-profit providers who are simply making money off harming vulnerable people. ."
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Federal Labor MP Ali France has been referred to the Australian Electoral Commission over claims she is enrolled to vote at a vacant block of land in Brisbane.
Liberal senator James McGrath has asked the A-E-C to investigate whether the Member for Dickson breached electoral laws by failing to update her enrolment details.
France says she demolished her home earlier this year to rebuild a property better suited to her accessibility needs as a wheelchair user, and denies breaking electoral rules.
The A-E-C says it takes the integrity of the electoral roll seriously and investigates all matters raised with the commission.
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The actions of New South Wales Police senior officers have been examined at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is looking at the intelligence and law enforcement response leading up to the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14.
At the time of the Bondi attack, the Commission has heard ASIO advised the level of terrorist threat to crowded places and religious events was probable, but that there were no specific plots identified at the time.
The Deputy Commissioner New South Wales Police Force, David Hudson, says the information sharing arrangements between agencies need to be improved - and he would support a review.
He has also told the royal commission, a new armed response command announced in February to boost the capability of police may not be fully realised until 2028.
"The armed response command will have dual purpose. It will be high visibility operations. Both static and mobile. Similar to models that we have seen overseas about how they are deployed. Commanded by 24/7 police operations centre, which will track where those armed response units - and what capabilities are on the streets 24/7."
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New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australia’s inflation rate has eased after hitting a three-year high.
Annual inflation fell to 4.2 per cent in April, down from 4.6 per cent in March.
The drop was driven by a seven per cent fall in fuel prices, after the federal government’s temporary cut to the fuel excise.
But underlying inflation edged higher, with the trimmed mean rising to 3.4 per cent over the year, as higher oil prices continue to flow through to freight-heavy areas including parcel delivery and building materials.
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South Australian police arrested 70 people over 116 alleged domestic violence offences during a statewide operation in April.
Police targeted more than 350 alleged offenders as part of Operation Storm Days of Action, carrying out hundreds of compliance checks across the state.
Among those arrested was a 76-year-old Barossa Valley man accused of indecently assaulting his wife and breaching an intervention order. Another man from the state’s far north was charged over the alleged assault of his partner.
SA Police says the operation also focused on referring offenders to support and behaviour change programs, with more than 100 referrals made during the two-week crackdown.
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Mercury brought to school by teenagers for show and tell has triggered a hazardous materials scare in the outback Queensland town of Cunnamulla.
The students are believed to have found small vials of liquid mercury at the local tip before taking them to Cunnamulla State School, prompting emergency cordons across parts of the town.
The school, a hospital waiting room, a service station, several homes, a council depot and the town tip have all been affected while specialist crews test for contamination.
Paroo Shire Mayor Suzette Beresford says the children have been checked by health staff and cleared, with no reports of anyone becoming sick.
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Kerrupmara/Gunditjmara Traditional Owner Travis Lovett has completed a five-week trek from Melbourne to Canberra as part of a call for a national process of truthtelling of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people.
The walk ended this morning at Parliament House, with the goal to deliver a letter for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on kangaroo skin, urging the creation of a truthtelling process for national healing.
Speaking to NITV Radio, Travis Lovett says he finished his task as deputy chair of the Victorian truthtelling process, called the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and realised there is a need for this to be a national project.
"Many of our aunties and uncles back in the times, coming off the missions. They would say to the mission manager: we've saved up enough money through unfair wages and labour that our people were subjected to - to buy that property down the road. Can we leave the mission? And the response was no. And these were the facts and evidence that we were able to acquire through the more 10,000 documents from the state government. But also the authority come from the more than 8-thousand First Peoples that trusted us with their advice; with their lived experience."
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In football, Socceroos winger Nishan Velupillay says the poor ending to the season for his club team wasn't all bad news for him personally ahead of the World Cup.
Velupillay plays for Melbourne Victory in the A-League, who were knocked out by Sydney F-C in the opening week of the finals.
The 25-year-old says he, naturally, would have liked to go further in the competition, but also says he made the most of the games Victory did play, as he searches for his first-ever World Cup squad berth for Australia.
"It was unfortunate, obviously, the way we ended the season. But, I think in terms of me on a personal level, I feel I was getting back to my best football, and feeling fit and fresh again, and playing my type of football."
Australia plays Mexico in Los Angeles on Sunday, with coach Tony Popovic set to announce Australia's 26-man squad for the tournament the next day.
