Anthony Albanese reveals his bold vision for Australia - and the huge change he has planned
Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he'd most want to be remembered for.
But the accusations levelled against Joshua Brown, whose 70 counts of alleged abuse, including child rape, have raised concerns that the rapid expansion of government subsidies into the sector has not been met with a commensurate increase in safety and scrutiny.
'Well, it reinforces why you need a stronger commonwealth role in childcare,' Mr Albanese said when asked by AAP whether the case had changed his views on how his universal childcare ambition should be enacted.
Commentators have criticised the current model of handing subsidies to for-profit providers, arguing the incentive to cut costs and boost margins sacrifices standards and oversight.
When asked whether he envisaged the sector being run more like public schools, Mr Albanese said 'we'll see how that evolves'.
'I think it makes sense to have co-location of childcare centres wherever possible in schools. It is just a practical thing to be done.
'If you're starting again you would completely have co-location of child care.
'I know as a parent, we had a public school in our street but we had to send our son to a different school that was driving distance - a short drive - but the next nearest school, because they had after school care.
'That's something that people across the board feel as well - that convenience - and that's part of the productivity agenda.'
But first, Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation giving his department powers to conduct spot checks and pull funding from childcare centres deemed to be consistently failing safety and quality standards.
It's one of four priorities Mr Albanese identified for his first sitting fortnight back in parliament since his swingeing election win.
From Tuesday, the government will also push forward legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent and enshrine penalty rates into law.
The fourth priority, Mr Albanese, said will be seeing Labor's 24 new members sworn in and ensuring they all participate fully towards the government's long term goals.
'I'm feeling very energised about parliament coming back and seeing the outcome of the election in real form,' he said.
'What that represents ... is it gives the confidence that we were correct last term to prioritise people's living standards and cost of living, dealing with those pressures, and that we're correct to continue to prioritise that.
'You need to deliver for people what they need in order to then have the legitimacy to push forward on longer term changes.'
The prime minister was feeling buoyant as he flew back from a successful six-day tour of China, where he balanced tensions over Chinese military build-up and a mutual desire to strengthen economic ties.
Amid coalition criticism that he had failed to deliver enough tangible outcomes, Mr Albanese hit back that they didn't understand how patiently nurturing the relationship would pay dividends in the long-term.
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor's clumsy comments that Australia should be 'prepared to act' alongside the US in conflict with China over Taiwan broke with the bipartisan 'One China' policy in support of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Mr Albanese said.
His eye is on a Labor dynasty to carve out a positive future for Australia in a challenging region.
'One of the things we're very determined to do is to have long-term Labor government in Australia so that we can implement the long-term changes that Australia needs.
'The world is changing fast and you can either shape that change or it will shape you.'
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The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Why are some Australian farmers losing faith in peak agricultural bodies to represent their interests?
Last September, a leaked email revealed the National Farmers' Federation had directed members to stay silent about the putative health risks from paraquat, a widely used herbicide. Some farmers rebelled. Among them was Mirboo North grower and grazier Emma Germano, who was then the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation. Germano broke ranks with the NFF to support the farmers who'd been vilified for speaking out about clusters of Parkinson's disease, which they believed to be linked to paraquat use on farms. (Manufacturer Syngenta, which has partnerships with NFF, denies any link.) 'These people are suffering,' Germano told the ABC's AM program. 'They're asking a question. For that to be shut down, when these are people who have been diligently part of our industry, salt-of-the-earth farmers – that, to me, is inexcusable.' Germano's stance revealed a growing discontent with peak bodies in Australia's fragmented agriculture sector. Some farmers believe peak bodies advocate for agribusiness interests over those of grassroots farmers. In niche and nascent sectors especially, farmers say they don't feel represented by Australia's 50 farming organisations, which range from regulators and statutory bodies to commodity groups, industry associations and farmers federations. The latter have faced declining memberships for decades. Andrew Meseha, whose companies grow hemp in Deniliquin, Shepparton and South Gippsland, says farm bodies cannot advocate for farmers while sponsored by corporations and aligned with specific political parties. 'The chemical companies are in every pocket,' he says. Meseha believes consequent farmer discontent accounts for the rising influence of independent rural MPs and the advent of non-partisan, issue-based collectives such as Lock the Gate and Farmers for Climate Action (FCA). Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Founded in 2010, Lock the Gate says it has 120,000 supporters, and decade-old FCA claims it has 45,000 supporters and more than 8,400 members. By comparison, state federations and associations – some more than a century old with huge legacy capital – report membership bases from about 3,500 in Western Australia and about 19,000 in New South Wales. The NFF accepts only organisational members – a structure Germano says privileges 'special interests, factions and commodity groups', and generates 'a huge amount of overlap' with state federations. 'It's a pyramid scheme without the Tupperware,' she says. The NFF president, David Jochinke, who was previously the president of the VFF, says the structure of agricultural organisations has been 'a topic of discussion for decades' and should continue to be so 'to make sure we have the best system to ensure agriculture and farmers are heard'. 'We recognise that the agricultural landscape is changing, and with it the expectations of how peak bodies engage, advocate and represent grassroots voices,' he says. This week, the NFF chief executive, Troy Williams, resigned after three months in the job, citing 'personal reasons'. Consumed with infighting, the VFF lost about 400 members in the year before the paraquat showdown – partly attributable to corporatisation and mergers of farms. Farm sizes have swelled, meaning fewer individual farmers to represent, with the number of Australian broadacre and dairy farms declining by a third in the last 25 years. Increasing automation has also reduced the sector's workforce – a dragnet of occupations that includes pickers and processors, as well as fishing and forestry labourers – to only 2.1% of Australia's working population, represented largely by unions, not peak farm bodies. Farmers – a famously individualistic sector – don't tend to collectively organise in union style. But first-generation farmers are increasingly looking to 'collective action solutions that peak bodies could embrace', says horticulturist and 'agvocate' Lisa Brassington. These bodies could 'depoliticise the messages and reach out to the commons', she says. Politicking by farm bodies can stoke populist myths about urban-rural divides, with the 'latte line' and 'quinoa belt' rhetoric sometimes deployed, but Brassington says fire and flood relief donors are largely 'from urban and township postcodes', showing broad solidarity and goodwill. 'Natural and financial crises create a loss of autonomy' for farmers and peak bodies 'have a time-sensitive role' to support 'collective interests', she says. Claiming to amplify the voices of farmers, aspiring social media influencers such as FOALS (Future of Agricultural Leadership) are emerging. Agricultural influencers are also a growth industry. But many influencers reiterate divisive messaging and can't effectively advocate because they don't have the established bodies' governance structures and transparency obligations, says Brassington. Furthermore, issues for farmers remain mostly 'similar to previous generations – drought, flood, roads, labour, supply chains, and profit margins', alongside 'succession planning, affording technology and water rights' and mental health. Much advocacy for the latter is carried by charities such as Farm Angels and Rural Doctors Foundation, and university research outfits such as AgHealth. Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion Germano believes farm bodies need to modernise and reform their profligate cultures if they want to retain grassroots members. 'Peak state organisations mirror National party branches from long ago, when they served men from the landed gentry,' she says. A third of Australia's farmers are now women, yet women 'can't step outside the status quo' inside federations, she says. 'They're still old boys' clubs.' Jochinke says the NFF's national advocacy model is 'proudly member-driven and we are actively working with our member organisations to shape a modernised, effective approach'. Germano led the VFF's split from the NFF in September, after the NFF didn't consult with Victorian sheep farmers before staging a Coalition-partnered Canberra rally against the phase-out of live exports. She believes such tactics are undemocratic and outdated – promoting myths that farmers are indifferent to animal welfare and 'that the big war is against animal activists'. 'The live sheep ban was advocated most strongly by meatworkers unions who wanted meat locally processed,' she says. Negotiating with diverse interest groups achieves better policy outcomes for farmers and the broader community. To advocate effectively, farm bodies need 'better governance, independence and listening – discipline, culture, restructure', says Germano. 'They need to ask: do we stand for farmers or do we stand for agribusiness? These are different things and are often at cross purposes.' Jochinke says the NFF 'reject the notion that peak bodies prioritise agribusiness over grassroots concerns'. 'Our recent work, such as opposing the biosecurity levy, securing bipartisan support for a national food security plan, and advocating for fair environmental and tax policies, demonstrates our commitment to representing the interests of everyday farmers.' Katherine Wilson is a writer and freelance journalist from the Yarra Ranges in Victoria Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
NSW supreme court rules in favour of pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge
Pro-Palestinian protesters will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday after a New South Wales supreme court decision. The Palestine Action Group has claimed as many as 50,000 people will take part in the march across the iconic bridge, protesting against Israel's conduct in Gaza and the starvation of children. Earlier this week, police rejected an application from organisers for it to facilitate the march. Police argued there was not enough time to prepare a traffic management plan and warned of a potential crowd crush and huge disruptions. Once the application, known as 'a form 1' was rejected by police, the supreme court was required to decide whether the protest should be considered as 'authorised', which provides some legal protections to demonstrators. The court ruling means protesters will have immunity from being charged under the summary offences act. This includes protection from offences like 'obstructing' traffic – crucial in this particular protest. However, police will still have access to a range of other powers to stem so-called 'anti-social behaviour' or other types of offending. This includes showing prohibited symbols. David Mejia-Canales, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the authorisation 'doesn't give people the ability to engage in all types and all forms of activism'. 'It's really important for people who do attend that they follow the directions of organisers and marshals.' There is no authority to ban protest or deem it unlawful in NSW. This is because while there is no express right to protest in the state, it is covered in common law and by the Australian constitution, which the high court has found implies the right to freedom of political communication. The Palestinian Action Group's lawyer, Felicity Graham, told the court on Friday that organisers would proceed with the demonstration regardless of the decision. 'I have the firmest of instructions that Palestine Action Group are proceeding with this protest … it cannot be stopped,' Graham said. Graham said her argument was not to threaten the court, but to point out 'the police have no choice' and there was no evidence prohibiting the protest would increase public safety. 'The intention to march, irrespective of an immunity, is grounded in a belief that the situation is one of profound moral urgency and that the time is now,' she said. A spokesperson for the group, Josh Lees, said they were willing to delay protest by up to three weeks if the police were willing to work with them. The police's barrister Lachlan Gyles argued that what was being asked was 'unprecedented' in terms of the 'risk, the lack of time to prepare, and, of course, the location, which is one of the main arteries in one of the largest cities in the world'. 'There's been no liaison whatsoever with any of the agencies and government authorities who would be involved, most particularly Transport for New South Wales,' he said. The decision came after several NSW Labor MPs defied their premier, Chris Minns, by vowing to attend the march. Labor's Stephen Lawrence, Anthony D'Adam, Lynda Voltz, Cameron Murphy and Sarah Kaine were among 15 NSW politicians who signed an open letter on Thursday evening calling on the government to facilitate 'a safe and orderly event' on Sunday
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Victorians could soon have the right to work from home two days a week under Australian-first laws
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