Latest news with #LiberalsandNationals
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Failure of leadership': Jacinta Allan accused of putting children ‘at risk' after latest Working With Children Check revelations
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has been accused of putting children at risk after the Labor leader was unable to guarantee a former childcare worker sacked for sexual misconduct would have his Working With Children's Check (WWCC) cancelled. The ABC revealed on Wednesday that a Victorian childcare worker had been blacklisted from the industry in 2020 over accusations of grooming, kissing toddlers, and attempting to organise unsanctioned catch-ups and offer babysitting services. When alerted to the incident, Premier Allan said the process to cancel the man's WWCC was underway. However on Thursday the Victorian Premier was unable to provide a timeline for how long the process would take - or provide a guarantee the man would indeed be stripped of his WWCC. 'What's occurred here is just not acceptable. It demonstrates why the system needs to be strengthened and why we have taken action to strengthen the system and more will be done when we receive the rapid review report,' Ms Allan told reporters. 'In regards to this individual, the advice I had yesterday remains the advice today; that urgent steps are being taken to go through the process of cancelling this particular individual's Working With Children's Check as soon as possible.' Pressed on the timeline for a decision, the Victorian Premier said she was 'just not in a position to comment on individual cases'. The comments prompted a heated response from the Victorian Opposition, with Shadow Attorney General Michael O'Brien and Shadow Education Minister Jess Willson accusing the Premier of placing children at 'unacceptable risk'. 'Premier Jacinta Allan's continued refusal to take decisive action to protect children in childcare and educational settings is a failure of leadership,' the two Shadow Ministers said in a joint statement. 'More than 24 hours on from revelations that an individual dismissed from a childcare centre for grooming and kissing children still has an active Working With Children Check and the Premier still cannot guarantee when this individual's WWCC will be revoked.' The opposition frontbenchers said the loopholes that enabled the situation to occur would have been addressed by a bill introduced in Parliament by the Liberals and Nationals last week. 'Instead of supporting this new legislation, Premier Jacinta Allan blocked these laws and continues to place children at unacceptable risk,' they said. 'The Premier and Victorian Government must put politics aside, work with the Parliament and pass these laws now." The Victorian government is also under pressure to release the findings of its Rapid Child Safety Review as soon as possible. The review was launched after shocking allegations against Victorian childcare Worker Joshua Brown, who worked across 23 childcare centres and has been charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault. Premier Allan said on Thursday the report would be released "as soon as possible" but the government needed time to consider the findings. 'There will need to be a period of time for the government to consider and provide its thoughtful, detailed response to the rapid review,'Ms Allan said. 'But I want that response to be as soon as possible – not weeks.'
Sky News AU
08-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘At what cost?': Victorian opposition dismisses poll showing support for Suburban Rail Loop warning the project is a ‘debt bomb'
The Victorian opposition has dismissed polling showing a majority of Victorians support a major Allan government infrastructure project, describing it as a 'debt bomb'. Newspoll results released on Tuesday show a massive 78 per cent of Victorians are fairly worried or very worried about the state's skyrocketing debt levels – which are set to hit $194 billion by 2028-29. However the poll also found 59 per cent of Victorians backed the controversial multi-stage Suburban Rail Loop project, the first stage of which is set to cost more than $34 billion. Opposition Leader Brad Battin dismissed the findings on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters the question lacked key context. 'It depends on what question you ask. If I said to people, would you like to see a rail loop that goes all the way around Melbourne, they'd say yes. But if I said to you, it's at the cost of the next generations ever getting infrastructure, they'd say no,' Mr Battin said. The comment was echoed by shadow major projects minister Evan Mulholland, who said everyone liked a train, "but they don't like a debt bomb". "A debt bomb is what the Suburban Rail Loop is,' Mr Mulholland added. 'It's Victorians, particularly in the eastern suburbs, but everywhere that will be paying for the suburban rail loop for generations.' Mr Mulholland said the Victorian Liberals and Nationals wanted more new rail, but priority should be given to electrifying rail in outer suburban growth areas. 'It's people in the growth areas, places like Donnybrook and Wallen in my electorate, and Wyndham Vale and Melton that desperately need electrified rail,' he said. 'And we know the government sitting on a secret report which shows that these communities, within five years, are going to be facing crushed conditions where V-Line trains are going to have to skip stations because the government hasn't planned the infrastructure where it is urgent. 'We want electrified rail where it's needed for all Victorians, because you've got people living in third-world conditions in our growth areas. Our fellow Victorians that are suffering, that do not have public transport access where it's needed.' Mr Battin said that in just four years Victoria would be spending $1.2 million every hour in interest on the debt. 'That's more than $10 billion each and every year,' he said. 'That's nearly twice what we spend on Victoria Police during a crime crisis. It's just under what we spend in health during a health crisis. It's more than we spend on education here in Victoria. How can the government justify putting so much money into one project?' The Allan government is yet to outline how it will fund the SRL East - the first of three stages on the project, which will see trains run between Cheltenham and Box Hill. The Victorian government has committed just $11.8 billion towards the project with the Albanese government committing just $2.2 billion, leaving an almost $20 billion black hole – with the Allan government claiming a third of the funding will come from value capture. The multi-stage orbital train line was estimated to cost $50 billion when it was proposed by then-Premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the 2018 state election. However costs have since doubled, with a 2024 report by the Parliamentary Budget Office estimating it will cost $96.4 billion to build the SRL East and SRL North sections of the project. SRL East, which is already being constructed, will see trains running from Cheltenham to Box Hill, with stops in Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley and Burwood – thereby connecting the Frankston, Pakenham/Cranbourne, Glen Waverley and Lilydale/Belgrade train lines. SRL North will then see this extended from Box Hill to Melbourne Airport, with stops in Doncaster, Heidelberg, Bundoora, Reservoir, Fawkner, and Broadmeadows – connecting the Lilydale/Belgrade line with the Hurstbridge, Mernda, Upfield and Craigieburn lines. The line will then connect to the long-awaited Melbourne airport rail link, which will run from Sunshine to the Airport via Keilor East, with a final SRL West section connecting Werribee to Sunshine.
The Age
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Chalmers ‘confused' about veteran MPs' super tax escape clause: Bragg
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of not knowing how the government's new super tax will work after a senior Labor minister refused to say whether it was fair that some public officials would be able to delay paying their resultant tax bill. Bragg, in a statement on Tuesday, said Chalmers had been unclear and confused about how the tax on super balances of more than $3 million would apply to the prime minister. 'Chalmers clearly hasn't read his unrealised gains tax bill and draft regulations,' he said. 'He doesn't know how it works for the prime minister and retired politicians.' Pressure on the government's new tax on superannuation earnings has come from tax experts and investors who say the threshold should be indexed and the capturing of unrealised capital gains trashed. Chalmers himself has dismissed the calls. The new tax, set to take effect on July 1, will double the tax rate for superannuation earnings from 15 per cent to 30 per cent for the portion above $3 million in a super balance. The tax rate will also apply to unrealised capital gains on amounts above this threshold. Chalmers, at a press conference earlier this month, said he was unable to put an exact number on the amount of tax the prime minister would pay in the first year of his pension, but said there were provisions in the draft regulations for defined benefit schemes that would ensure the taxes were fair. 'When it comes to the prime minister, his pension's not yet known,' he said. 'There are calculations, [and] those calculations are very similar to the ones that the Liberals and Nationals put in when they changed superannuation in the last term of the government and will apply to the prime minister, [and] any politician who's got the equivalent of more than $3 million in super.' Appearing on Nine's Today Show on Tuesday morning, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth deflected a question on whether it was fair that some politicians elected before John Howard scrapped the scheme in 2004 could wait until retirement to pay the tax bill on their savings, while others caught by the tax – estimated to be just 1 in 200 people – would have to find the cash to pay immediately. Rishworth, elected in 2007, will not get annual salary when she leaves parliament, but argued that all politicians would still have to pay the higher tax rate on earnings if their super balances tipped over the new threshold.
Sydney Morning Herald
27-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Chalmers ‘confused' about veteran MPs' super tax escape clause: Bragg
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of not knowing how the government's new super tax will work after a senior Labor minister refused to say whether it was fair that some public officials would be able to delay paying their resultant tax bill. Bragg, in a statement on Tuesday, said Chalmers had been unclear and confused about how the tax on super balances of more than $3 million would apply to the prime minister. 'Chalmers clearly hasn't read his unrealised gains tax bill and draft regulations,' he said. 'He doesn't know how it works for the prime minister and retired politicians.' Pressure on the government's new tax on superannuation earnings has come from tax experts and investors who say the threshold should be indexed and the capturing of unrealised capital gains trashed. Chalmers himself has dismissed the calls. The new tax, set to take effect on July 1, will double the tax rate for superannuation earnings from 15 per cent to 30 per cent for the portion above $3 million in a super balance. The tax rate will also apply to unrealised capital gains on amounts above this threshold. Chalmers, at a press conference earlier this month, said he was unable to put an exact number on the amount of tax the prime minister would pay in the first year of his pension, but said there were provisions in the draft regulations for defined benefit schemes that would ensure the taxes were fair. 'When it comes to the prime minister, his pension's not yet known,' he said. 'There are calculations, [and] those calculations are very similar to the ones that the Liberals and Nationals put in when they changed superannuation in the last term of the government and will apply to the prime minister, [and] any politician who's got the equivalent of more than $3 million in super.' Appearing on Nine's Today Show on Tuesday morning, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth deflected a question on whether it was fair that some politicians elected before John Howard scrapped the scheme in 2004 could wait until retirement to pay the tax bill on their savings, while others caught by the tax – estimated to be just 1 in 200 people – would have to find the cash to pay immediately. Rishworth, elected in 2007, will not get annual salary when she leaves parliament, but argued that all politicians would still have to pay the higher tax rate on earnings if their super balances tipped over the new threshold.
9 News
27-05-2025
- Business
- 9 News
Victorian opposition pledges to ditch stamp duty for first-home buyers
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Stamp duty will be scrapped for first-home buyers who purchase any property valued up to $1 million if the Victorian Liberals and Nationals are elected at next year's state election. Opposition Leader Brad Battin and Shadow Treasurer James Newbury announced the "bold and visionary plan" as part of its budget reply. The tax-exemption would be applied to more than 17,000 first-home purchases in its first full year, according to estimations by the Parliamentary Budget Office. Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin and Shadow Treasurer James Newbury. (Getty images) Battin said described the policy, which forms the centrepiece of the opposition's budget reply, a "common-sense reform" that would deliver "the circuit-breaker Victoria desperately needs". "Labor's war on property and addiction to tax has destroyed confidence in the economy," he said. "We need a plan to grow, not just tax and spend." Newbury added the proposal focused on "giving aspirational first home buyers the final leg up they need" "This policy is about rewarding aspiration. It's about giving young Victorians a fair go," he said. "For too many young Victorians, the first home dream has become a nightmare. "This policy is about backing in renters that have been stuck in the rental market not by their own choice, but by a tax system that is stacked against them."' On a $750,000 home, Victorians pay an average of $40,000 in up-front stamp duty. In October 2024, the Allan Government announced a 12-month stamp duty concession for off-the-plan apartments, units and townhouses. That tax cut is available for homes of any value and is not limited to first-home buyers. The concession is tipped to save home-buyers an average of $25,000 in its first full year, according to Allan. Victoria national Victoria Politics Tax Victorian Politics Victorian Election CONTACT US Property News: He was evicted. Then he saw his home on Airbnb.
