The Prime Minister meets with state and territory leaders to discuss NDIS reforms; The education minister responds to a new study on Australia's academic performance; And in tennis, Brisbane International organisers face a tough call on final entries.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The Prime Minister meets with state and territory leaders to discuss NDIS reforms;
- The education minister responds to a new study on Australia's academic performance;
- And in tennis, Brisbane International organisers face a tough call on final entries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with state and territory leaders to discuss reforms to secure the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
National cabinet has pledged to adjust state and territory contribution escalation rates in an effort to contain the cost of the NDIS, which is growing at an unsustainable 14 per cent.
Speaking at the National Cabinet meeting, Mr Albanese said contribution rates will be adjusted to increase in line with actual scheme growth but will be capped at eight per cent to contain growth.
"To adjust state and territory NDIS contribution escalation rates, increasing from 4% to be in line with actual scheme growth, capped 8% with the federal government completing from the 1 July 2025."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia's economy is broadly making progress as new figures reveal a lower than expected growth rate last quarter.
Australia's economy grew by 0.2 percent in the September quarter, with Mr Chalmers citing high interest rates and global uncertainty as the leading factors.
It comes as the Reserve Bank chose to leave interest rates unchanged at 4.35 per cent in their December meeting.
Mr Chalmers says Australia's economy has continued to make progress all year despite slowing down last quarter.
"Our economy grew faster than most of the major advanced economies through the year to the September quarter. Faster than Germany, the UK, France, Canada and Italy. And despite the hard times for many people in our country, and despite our economy slowing, we are nonetheless making some welcome and encouraging progress particularly in the fight against inflation."
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Minister for Education Jason Clare says while Australia's education system is better on average than international peers, there is still room for improvement.
Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment were released yesterday, with more than 690 thousand students taking part from 81 countries in 2022.
It is the first study to examine the academic progress of students in dozens of countries during the pandemic and noted an "unprecedented drop in performance".
While Australia is reportedly above average in maths, science and literacy, on average 15-year-olds from poor families are falling far behind in in the core subjects, and Indigenous students are also four years behind.
Minister Clare says there are a number of issues that need to be addressed, including attracting more people to teaching, as well as improving funding of government schools.
"Almost every single government school at the moment isn't funded at the Gonski level. We've gotta make sure that we fund our schools fairly and fully, and we're committed to working with state and territory governments to do that. But we also have to make sure we use that money on the kinds of things that will help kids to catch up, keep up, and to finish high school."
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To tennis,
Brisbane International organisers face a tough call on final spots after four of Australia's top prospects missed the cut for automatic entry.
Fields were announced today, with the world number 40 Alexei Popyrin, number 45 Max Purcell and number 55 Jordan Thompson as the three Australian men guaranteed to play in the event.
But Aleksandar Vukic, Thanasi Kokkinakas, Chris O'Connell and Rinky Hijikata have all narrowly missed the top-60 cut line.
The event will begin on December 31 2023 and runs until 7 January 2024.
Returning great Rafael Nadal, officially ranked 664 in the world after almost a year off recovering from hip surgery, has taken on of three wild cards on offer.
