The looming economic disaster that means inheritance tax is inevitable in Australia - even after multiple governments said it would never happen: STEPHEN JOHNSON
It was once the most loathed tax in Australia - a final hit to the hip pocket as families mourned a loved one.
Death duties were officially abolished in 1979, after Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen led a successful revolt against inheritance taxes. Since then, governments of all stripes have vowed never to bring them back.
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New Statesman
26 minutes ago
- New Statesman
The grooming gang fallout is only just beginning
Photo by'The findings are here, and they are damning.' This was the assessment of Yvette Cooper in response to Baroness Casey's rapid national audit of the grooming gangs scandal. As the Home Secretary stood up to make her statement on the Casey report, a group of schoolchildren were hurriedly shepherded out of the public gallery, where they had a moment ago been watching Education Questions. A few stragglers will have heard Cooper speak of the conviction of seven men in Rochdale last Friday for 'treating teenaged girls as sex slaves'. It has, she added, taken 20 years to bring them to justice. This was the theme of Cooper's statement. As she outlined the recommendations in Casey's 200-page report, which MPs were frenetically skimming during her speech, and confirmed that, despite the Government's insistence to the contrary that there was no need to hold a national public inquiry into this scandal, one would now be launched, she returned again and again to the issue of time. 'Most disturbing of all,' Cooper told MPs, 'is the fact that too many of these findings are not new.' Later, she cited 15 years of reports and reviews: 'We have lost more than a decade.' This is the message the government will be trying to get across as the backlash from the report – and from the six months of delay since this historic scandal was pushed to the top of the news agenda in January – plays out. The failings listed in such stark terms by Casey, horrific though they are, should not come as a surprise: victims as young as ten repeatedly failed by police and social services; the use of the law to protect adult perpetrators rather than child victims; ethnicity data not collected; calls for mandatory reporting of child sexual violence (which Cooper herself demanded 10 years ago) ignored; a 'deep-rooted failure to treat children as children'. Cooper attempted to strike an impartial tone, trying (though not always succeeding) to keep the emotion out of her voice as she outlined the steps which had not been taken over the last decade and a half, during almost all of which the Conservatives had been in power. She talked of the House coming together now to right this injustice, as though the cross-party consensus of the horrors in the Casey report could extend to cooperation. Any such illusion was shattered the moment Kemi Badenoch stood up to respond. It is no surprise the opposition leader chose to take this on herself rather than leave it to her shadow home secretary. There are few issues on which she is more passionate, and few areas on which her attacks against the government land better. 'We all know this is another U-turn,' Badenoch contended, sweeping away Cooper's attempts to deflect the government's abrupt change in stance. Her rhetoric had the frenzied intonation of a religious preacher as she accused the Home Secretary of having been 'dragged' to this new position, and the Prime Minister of 'an extraordinary failure of leadership'. While the House was hushed in sombre silence while Cooper spoke, the jeers and taunts from both sides while Badenoch was on her feet were grew so aggressive she had to pause and repeat herself as she ran through a list of the three times Labour MPs had voted against the national inquiry the government now supports. Pausing theatrically for a sip of water, she speculated that perhaps the fact these crimes often occurred in Labour-run local authorities was a factor in the government dragging its heels. 'The people out there believe this is why nothing has happened,' Badenoch added slyly, couching her accusation in terms of rumour and public discontent. There were cries of 'shameful' from the Labour benches; Cooper looked pale with anger. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe These are the battlelines to watch as this fight plays out: the Labour government endeavouring to take the heat out of an issue that has exploded on their watch, the Conservatives determined to stoke it. And not just the Conservatives: four Reform MPs were present in the Commons today (though Nigel Farage was absent – as was Rupert Lowe, which is curious given he has been spearheading his own grooming gangs inquiry campaign). Critics of the government have all the ammunition they need. Cooper all but said it herself: the findings in Casey's report are damning, but they are not new. Starmer and Cooper can argue that they were waiting for the recommendations that they will now implement in full – including an inquiry with statutory powers, new police operations, new ethnicity data and research, and further support for child victims – rather than rushing in with a half-baked response. But this hesitancy has made the government appear bounced into its new position, and as such they have lost much of the moral high ground they had when pointing to the Conservatives' patchy record on the topic. It is true that Badenoch only seemed to care about this issue once she was out of office and looking for a stick with which to beat the government. It is also true that the government handed that stick right to her. [See also: The truth about the grooming scandal] Related
The Herald Scotland
41 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Primary school pupils using screens for tests is ‘normalising' use, Tories claim
Ms Trott said the policy was supported by teachers, health professionals and parents. She said: 'Every day we have new evidence of the harm screens are doing. So why is the Education Secretary (Bridget Phillipson) ignoring this, and still pressing ahead with screen-based assessments for children as young as four from September? 'Does she accept that this is normalising screen time for young people, which is the opposite of what we should be doing?' Education minister Stephen Morgan said: 'Is this all she can go on? Frankly, after 14 years, they broke the education system. As I said, there's guidance already in place for schools, the majority of schools already have a ban in place on mobile phone use.' Earlier in the Commons, Mr Morgan had told MPs mobile phones had 'no place' in schools. He said Government guidance said schools should ban the use of smartphones during the school day. However ,he said it was up to schools to use their powers to take them off pupils. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott claimed the Government was normalising screen time for young children (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Conservative MPs raised the links between mobile phone usage and violent behaviour, as well as schools with bans having better grades on average. Conservative MP Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) said: 'Schools with smartphone bans were rated higher by Ofsted, and their students achieved better GCSE results. So all the evidence shows the benefit of banning smartphones in schools. 'But the Government is simply issuing non-statutory guidance and passing the buck. So does the minister not understand the evidence, need more evidence, or do you not trust the Government to be able to implement a ban on smartphones in schools?' Meanwhile, John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) said: 'Mobile phones in classrooms are linked to disruptive and violent behaviour. So does the minister agree with me that mobile phones should be banned in all schools, so the children are focused on their education and not glued to Instagram and TikTok?' While in government, the then Conservative education secretary, Gillian Keegan, sent guidance to schools that told headteachers they could ban mobile phones during the school day. However, this was short of an out-and-out ban. Since their election defeat last year, the Conservatives have pushed for Labour to introduce a full ban. In March, it tried to amend Labour's flagship education policy to legally prohibit smartphone usage. A Government spokesperson said the existing guidance meant about 97% of schools restrict mobile phone use in some way. Studies are unclear on the impact of a smartphone ban. One by the University of Birmingham, published in the Lancet earlier this year, suggested there was no link. Replying to Ms Bool, Mr Morgan said: 'I'll take no lectures from the benches opposite on this. When in government, they exclaimed the same guidance meant a consistent approach across all schools. So you have to ask, were they wrong then, are they wrong now?'
Rhyl Journal
an hour ago
- Rhyl Journal
Primary school pupils using screens for tests is ‘normalising' use, Tories claim
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said the Government was instilling screen usage for children as young as four, as the Government came under pressure to ban smartphones in schools. Ms Trott said the policy was supported by teachers, health professionals and parents. She said: 'Every day we have new evidence of the harm screens are doing. So why is the Education Secretary (Bridget Phillipson) ignoring this, and still pressing ahead with screen-based assessments for children as young as four from September? 'Does she accept that this is normalising screen time for young people, which is the opposite of what we should be doing?' Education minister Stephen Morgan said: 'Is this all she can go on? Frankly, after 14 years, they broke the education system. As I said, there's guidance already in place for schools, the majority of schools already have a ban in place on mobile phone use.' Earlier in the Commons, Mr Morgan had told MPs mobile phones had 'no place' in schools. He said Government guidance said schools should ban the use of smartphones during the school day. However ,he said it was up to schools to use their powers to take them off pupils. Conservative MPs raised the links between mobile phone usage and violent behaviour, as well as schools with bans having better grades on average. Conservative MP Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) said: 'Schools with smartphone bans were rated higher by Ofsted, and their students achieved better GCSE results. So all the evidence shows the benefit of banning smartphones in schools. 'But the Government is simply issuing non-statutory guidance and passing the buck. So does the minister not understand the evidence, need more evidence, or do you not trust the Government to be able to implement a ban on smartphones in schools?' Meanwhile, John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) said: 'Mobile phones in classrooms are linked to disruptive and violent behaviour. So does the minister agree with me that mobile phones should be banned in all schools, so the children are focused on their education and not glued to Instagram and TikTok?' While in government, the then Conservative education secretary, Gillian Keegan, sent guidance to schools that told headteachers they could ban mobile phones during the school day. However, this was short of an out-and-out ban. Since their election defeat last year, the Conservatives have pushed for Labour to introduce a full ban. In March, it tried to amend Labour's flagship education policy to legally prohibit smartphone usage. A Government spokesperson said the existing guidance meant about 97% of schools restrict mobile phone use in some way. Studies are unclear on the impact of a smartphone ban. One by the University of Birmingham, published in the Lancet earlier this year, suggested there was no link. Replying to Ms Bool, Mr Morgan said: 'I'll take no lectures from the benches opposite on this. When in government, they exclaimed the same guidance meant a consistent approach across all schools. So you have to ask, were they wrong then, are they wrong now?'
