Kathleen Folbigg criticises compensation offer as "an insult"
Published 11 August 2025, 8:53 am
NSW premier Chris Minns is refusing to reconsider a widely criticised $2 million compensation payment to a woman who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years for killing her four children. Kathleen Folbigg says it felt like a 'slap in the face' when she received the offer in a letter from the NSW government. Her solicitor described it as "woefully inadequate and ethically indefensible."
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ABC News
6 minutes ago
- ABC News
Calls to change Victoria's 'outdated' burial laws to allow for owners to be laid to rest with their pets
Lyn Robinson says she lost her pet dog twice. The first time was after she laid Deejay — a pit-bull terrier she likens to a sixth child — to rest at a pet cemetery outside Bacchus Marsh. She visited his grave several times a year, and even recommended the cemetery to friends mourning their own deceased pets. Then, without warning, she lost him again. The land was sold to developers — and the cemetery, along with Deejay's remains, was destroyed. "We went there and it had just been bulldozed. All the concrete slabs were gone. The small headstones and plaques had been thrown away. It's like they never existed," she said. This statue marks the grave of a pet dog at a grave in Castlemaine. ( ABC News: Danielle Bonica ) Lyn says Deejay's plaque — which she estimates cost up to $1,000 — was never returned, and she has since ordered a replacement to place in the backyard, "just to have something to remember him by". "We feel like we're going through all the emotions and all the stress of losing him again. "It's like losing a limb." It's left her grappling with how this could have happened — and why there isn't a safer option to lay her pets to rest. Now, advocates are pushing for a change that they say could prevent others from facing the same fate. An 'impossible' choice "I broke the law again today. Here's a video of me breaking the law." That was the text message Deb Tranter sent her local MP, alongside footage of a private ceremony she held for an 86-year-old man laying his dog Molly to rest in the grave beside his late wife. Deb Tranter has been Chair of the Castlemaine Cemetery Trust since 2018. ( ABC News: Danielle Bonica ) Under Victorian law, burying an animal in a public cemetery — even in an urn — is illegal. But Ms Tranter, who manages Castlemaine General Cemetery in central west Victoria, says she has "no problem" breaching the Act if it means burying people with their loved ones — human or otherwise. "Society now recognises pets as family — but in death, the law states that the pets must stay outside of the cemetery gate. And I think that's really, really harsh and unfair," she said. "So that, to me, is a really bad law, and bad laws need to be exposed and broken to show how ridiculous they are." Animal Justice Party MP and member for Northern Victoria, Georgie Purcell, says Ms Tranter is among "hundreds" of cemetery managers quietly doing the same. "They're doing this because they care so deeply about giving people their final wishes and honouring people after their lives end," Ms Purcell said. "And they're faced with this impossible decision of breaking the law or not letting someone be buried with someone that they love. "It's just not good enough." This owner was buried with their pet over a decade ago. ( ABC News: Danielle Bonica ) This owner was buried with their pet over a decade ago. (ABC New: Danielle Bonica) This 'treasured little companion' called Tramp was buried with his owner. ( ABC News: Danielle Bonica ) A plaque marks the resting place of Tramp, a 'treasured little companion'. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica) Cemetery volunteers could face hefty fines or even lose their positions if they're caught. "Every single day, these people are going to work, they are operating under a risk that doesn't have to be there," Ms Purcell said. Ms Tranter said she's "not worried in the slightest". "We need to normalise burying pets in the family plot. They are family members. "So we shouldn't have to keep it a secret." Victoria dragging its feet Deb Tranter is no stranger to fighting for the rights of animals. She was the founder of Oscar's Law, a campaign to end puppy farming in Australia, and has worked alongside Georgie Purcell for many years. The MP said she was horrified when Ms Tranter first brought the law to her attention, describing it as "heartless" and "outdated". Within days, she raised it in parliament and asked the government to change it. "They wrote back to me quite positively and said they'd consider it. But it's been almost a year now, and they've just been dragging their feet since that time." Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell says the government has been "dragging its feet" on cemetery reforms. ( ABC News: Matthew Holmes ) Earlier this year, fellow Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst succeeded in pushing for reforms to be legislated in New South Wales — the first of their kind in the country. "They've shown that this is actually not that difficult. It's very clear that this very simple change is just not something that they care about," Ms Purcell said. The Victorian Government told the ABC it was aware of community interest in the issue but said it was "not currently a legislative priority". Ms Tranter called the response "really sad". "It is such a tiny little amendment to the cemetery act, it could be done tomorrow, and it would mean the world to a huge range of people," she said. "And it'd bring us into line with community expectations and needs." Who gets a soul? Lyn Robinson says she would "of course" pursue co-burial if it were an option. The only legal way for owners to currently be laid to rest with their pets is to either be buried on private land with the owner's permission, or to be scattered with the ashes of a pet outside the gates of a cemetery. Dr Hannah Gould, a death studies academic at The University of Melbourne, says the legislation has its roots in 19th-century Christian beliefs. "In the history of our cemeteries, we see a lot of segregation between different groups … and a lot of the time animals have been excluded from that categorisation of who is important," she said. Dr Hannah Gould is a lecturer at University of Melbourne and researcher with the DeathTech team. ( ABC News: Simon Tucci ) She says this stems from the traditional belief that animals don't have a soul. "So there's a lot of religious traditions that only those who have souls … are the ones who have the last rites and are buried properly in a cemetery." Dr Gould says this belief is not universal across other religions. In Buddhism, she said, humans and animals have a "much more equal footing". Hundreds of pets are believed to have been buried at the pet cemetery in Rowville before it was sold off and destroyed. ( Supplied: Ashton Grave ) She says the exclusionary law is becoming increasingly out of step with the way Australians view their pets. "We're seeing a really marked shift, particularly between Gen Z and older generations, in who they consider family. More and more, this includes animals — and with that shift comes the expectation they'll be treated the same way in death." Recent findings from the Australian Institute of Family Studies backs this up, with over half of participants regarding pets as family rather than as property. The study also found this bond was more common with women and LGBTQIA+ people. "What I think we're going to see is more and more people wanting to be buried in groups that don't just reflect their blood ties, but also their kind of found family," Dr Gould says. "And that's something that our cemeteries are going to have to reflect in the future." 'More and more' pet cemeteries destroyed The pet cemetery at Bacchus Marsh was just one of several which have met a similar demise in the past decade. The Pets Memorial Gardens in Rowville had been housing the remains of dead pets and champion racehorses for 52 years before it was sold off and demolished. Former site of Pets Memorial Gardens in Rowville, December 2018. / Plot of land which was formerly Pets Memorial Gardens in Rowville, February 2025. Ashton Grave, 76, specialises in exhuming pets for owners across Victoria. He says he recovered the remains of about a dozen animals at the Rowville cemetery. "Some of the owners I spoke to were quite upset about the fact their animals' remains had an unknown future," Mr Graves said. Ashton Grave says he recovered at least a dozen animal remains from the Rowville pet cemetery. "Clearly these places get sold for development … and that's the main reason people want me to exhume — they're worried about them being dug up during construction." Mr Grave said the push to change Victoria's burial laws was an "absolute no-brainer". "I can't see any problems whatsoever with including a cremated animal in a human grave," he said. "It just seems very, very sensible". Georgie Purcell said these cases are exactly what she warned the government of. "That land can be sold off, ripped up, demolished at any time," she said. "By allowing joint burials of humans and pets in government-run cemeteries, we know that there's this protection that they can always be there and they can always lie together." She warns more resting places could be at risk if the government doesn't act soon. "There's going to be more and more instances of this as that land becomes more valuable," she said.
ABC News
36 minutes ago
- ABC News
$110b 'red tape burden' slowing productivity, says Business Council, calling for Abbott-style audit
Cleaning up even a small amount of a $110 billion "red tape burden" could deliver billions in savings, the Business Council of Australia says, ahead of next week's economic reform round table. Years of accumulated regulations that have built up with little oversight have led to a compliance burden needlessly costing billions, the peak business body says. But there has been no significant red tape audit since the Abbott government in 2014, and no central agency tasked with preventing the build-up of rules duplications and inconsistencies. "The only way to sustainably lift living standards and grow real wages is through faster productivity growth," the council's treasury submission concluded. "We've identified 62 discrete examples in our own report, but these aren't the only 62 and there are going to be hundreds of other opportunities out there," chief executive Bran Black said. Among them are proposals to harmonise disparate schemes requiring businesses to comply with eight different regulatory regimes across states and territories, relax trading and delivery hours for retailers and fixing licensing rules for tradespeople, so that qualifications are recognised across borders. Ageing environmental laws holding up housing, resources and renewables projects, widely viewed as "broken", but which the government was unable to reform last term are a chief concern. The Business Council says productivity growth over the last decade is the worst it has been in 60 years, and that has also led to the slowest decade in income growth for 60 years. The outlook is even more dire. Just this week, the Reserve Bank further revised down its expectations for productivity growth into the future, attaching a warning that wage expectations would also have to be reduced, or else it would drive inflation. An alliance of nearly 30 industry groups has called for Australia to pursue a target similar to the UK government's of a 25 per cent reduction in the cost of regulation by 2030. Its chief executive Bran Black says if even a 1 per cent reduction in compliance burden was achieved, it would represent more than $1 billion in savings through lower costs, reduced delays and better choices. "Are there opportunities to consider overlaps, and where there are overlaps dispense with one of the overlaps? Do we really need, for instance, 36 different licences in Victoria in order to pour a first cup of coffee?" he asked. The BCA said the last "regulatory stocktake" under former prime minister Tony Abbott identified $65 billion in compliance burdens, $110 billion in today's dollars, and another $5 billion at least in new compliance costs since then had been identified by the government's Office of Impact Analysis. Mr Black said the government should launch a new red tape stocktake, and appoint a dedicated "minister for better regulation" who could ensure regular monitoring. Among its 62 'red tape' examples are inconsistencies across state borders on when retail stores can operate, what hours they are allowed to sell certain products and the hours workers are allowed to be onsite, for example to prepare ovens or cash registers. The BCA says hours are still "heavily regulated" in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia despite the shift in consumer preferences to 24/7 online trade. Similarly hours of operation for major stores and distribution centres are limiting when businesses can receive supplies and restock, an issue that hampered supermarkets in responding to panic buying during the pandemic, the BCA says. The council noted curfews were temporarily lifted to allow 24-hour operation of freight delivery and restocking during COVID, and easing the rules again would improve efficiency and reduce road congestion. "There are some jurisdictions that are far more open and free ... our position would be ultimately businesses are best to judge whether or not they should be open ... at the end of the day they are not going to be open if there's not a clientele that they can serve," Mr Black said. "I'm not for a second suggesting regulation is unnecessary, we have just got to make sure we have got the right regulation." It is less than a week until the Economic Reform Roundtable, led by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, is due to begin. The BCA's submission comes a day after accusations from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley that the government was using the round table to orchestrate a "stitch-up", with pre-determined outcomes in mind, after the ABC revealed leaked Treasury advice detailing possible announcements from the event. Mr Black however maintained optimism that participants were entering with an open mind. "I would be surprised if a treasurer wasn't receiving advice from his or her department in relation to the kind of issues that might come out of a round table and which should therefore be on the agenda for discussion," he said. "I genuinely think we should be approaching the round table with an open mind. We really do have a national productivity problem, and if that problem isn't addressed then that has an impact on your day-to-day quality of life."
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Ex-Geelong footy player Ray Card jailed over fatal car crash
A former Geelong footballer says he will have a 'lifetime of hurt and regret' after he was sentenced to nine years' jail for causing a horrific traffic accident in November last year. Ray Card played 110 games for the Cats in the 1970s and 80s, but now lives 'under a shroud of sadness and shame' following the drunken accident that killed his partner and left a 19-year-old woman with significant injuries. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Card and Mandy McDonald attended a wedding in Lara, outside Geelong, on November 16 when he made the fateful decision to drive home, as reported by the Geelong Advertiser. Card, 68, who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.226, more than four times the legal limit, drove onto the wrong side of Melbourne's Ring Road and collided with a BMW. McDonald died at the scene and the teenager from Lovely Banks, who was a passenger in the BMW, was left with a dislocated and fractured hip, a broken forearm and permanent nerve damage. Card pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury, with Judge Gerard Mullaly telling Geelong's County Court on Thursday Card made a 'catastrophically bad decision' to get behind the wheel. Peter and Jenny, the parents of the young lady involved in the crash who is now 20, spoke outside the court after the sentence. 'The Justice had his reasons, but I think it's time that a stronger message was sent that too much alcohol doesn't do anybody any good,' Peter said. 'And it's time something was really done about it to reduce these sorts of incidents and the suffering it causes.' Asked about his daughter, Peter said: 'It's still a long road to follow, to get over the trauma that it caused her is probably the biggest issue I think 'She's still got a long way to go … she used to be an active volleyballer and she's not able to do that sort of thing yet. 'But she certainly wants to be able to.' Jenny added: 'The sentence for serious injury was two years and 10 months, Angelina will be still struggling with all her injuries well past two years and 10 months. 'At 20, that's a hard pill to swallow.' Card had a number of character references during the trial, including some former teammates, which were taken into account by the judge. But he still called Card's conduct a 'diabolically bad decision'. Card wrote an apology letter to Angelina, when he stated he now 'lived under a shroud of sadness and shame'. 'The prison time I will serve will not compare to the lifetime of hurt and regret I will have caused you,' he wrote.
