Australia news live: ‘$56 a day goes fast’ welfare group says in call to lift jobseeker payments; the Age publishes Palmer ad after staff protest

Jordyn Beazley

Higginson later asked Caltey why she allowed the parliament to be “bombarded” with legislation by the Minns government drafted to respond to a wave of antisemitic attacks up until 11 February “on the false basis” of the caravan plot being a terrorist event.

Catley responded that the legislation did not specifically relate to that event, and was drafted to respond to “hateful crimes” that had occurred for months in Sydney, with the Jewish community increasingly feeling terrorised.

Higginson then asked:

At no point did you before imposing on the parliament these laws go to the public and disclose the truth of the matter that this was not a terrorist event? Why did you not do that?

Catley responded:

I will remind you Mrs Higginson that from July 2023 until January 2025 there have been more than 700 antisemitic events and incidents.

Higginson then asked:

There has been 14 people arrested as part of Strike Force Pearl, and not one of them was motivated by ideological, religious or hatred … Why did you not tell the public that the Dural event was not motivated by ideology, politics or religion?

Catley responded:

Well, that has now been.

Jordyn Beazley

NSW police minister in fiery exchange with Greens over Dural caravan plot

Yasmin Catley has refused to answer when she was told the Dural caravan plot was not a terrorist threat or attack, arguing she does not share her high-level police briefings with police with “anybody”.

The NSW police minister is before budget estimates today, where questioning over the caravan plot – which police revealed on Monday was a “con job” by organised crime figures and not ideologically motivated – has so far dominated the line of questioning.

The Greens’ spokesperson for justice, Sue Hugginson, repeatedly asked in a fiery exchange over when Catley – who said she’d had daily briefings on the investigation since the end of January – knew the plot was not a terrorist attack, and why the public was not informed sooner.

Higginson asked:

You came out and said this is a terror event. The premier said it is a terror event. Could you please tell this committee so that we can do our job as an oversight committee and an accountability body on behalf of New South Wales: did you become aware that it was not a terrorist event before the 13th of February?

Catley responded:

I’m not going to divulge conversations I had with [deputy police commissioner] David Hudson.

More to come in the next post.

Benita Kolovos

Allan says the ban of machetes announced today will be dealt with in seperate legislation to the bail laws:

Today, my focus is on bail and talking through the detail of the bail changes. On the implementation of a ban on machetes, what is legitimate use? We’ll have more to say very soon, on the details of banning machetes – we will be the first state in the nation to do so.

There is work to be done to work through implementation with Victoria police … there will be work with retailers. We need to crack down on these dangerous and deadly weapons and there is no place for them being carried on Victorian streets.

Benita Kolovos

‘We got it wrong’, Allan says of Victorian government’s 2023 law changes

Back to the Victorian premier’s presser.

Allan says the changes the government introduced in the wake of the coronial inquest into the death in custody of Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson were “wrong”.

So in terms of the 2023 changes I do acknowledge we got it wrong, and I’m standing here as the premier today having listened to the Victorian community – it’s clear to me, it’s clear to everyone in the Victorian community. But the current laws do not reflect community expectations.

She says she doesn’t expect people who have committed low-level offending will be caught up in the latest changes she’s announcing today.

What occurred with Veronica Nelson was an absolute tragedy, an absolute tragedy, and some of those safeguards that were put in place in the changes that were made in 2023 remain in place as part of this package … the target here is on the serious, the worst of offences, bringing in higher tests for the worst of offences, whilst also understanding that we have a responsibility to keep some of those safeguards in place from 2023 to support some of the more vulnerable members of our community.

Turning away from the Victorian premier’s presser to the Australian share market for a moment – which has seen a drop of more than 1% in the 15 minutes since it opened today.

ASX200 shed 84.4 points, dropping from 7,880 to 7,805.7 – a quick plunge in just over 15 minutes since it opened at 10am.

Benita Kolovos

Allan says more set to be in custody after bail laws tightened

Allan says she expects to see more people on remand as a result of the changes:

These changes will see more people on remand. These changes will tackle the heart of the issue, which is this repeat offending that is.

The premier says the new laws will come into effect as soon as they are passed:

We’ll be putting these tough new bail laws to the parliament at the earliest opportunity, which is next Tuesday … These laws can be in place by the end of next week, should the parliament choose to act with the same urgency that the government have and that the community are demanding.

Benita Kolovos

Kilkenny added:

The crimes that we are seeing at the moment that is driving fear within our communities – where young offenders are breaking into our homes, at night, often with weapons – these new bail laws are going to target squarely these kinds of crimes to ensure that community safety is put first.

No one wants to see kids on remand, but we know there are young offenders and other offenders out there who are committing the very worst types of crime that is driving community fear.

Benita Kolovos

Toughening Victoria’s bail laws meets community expectations – Allan

Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, attorney general Sonya Kilkenny and police minister Anthony Carbines are holding a press conference on their proposed changes to the state’s bail laws.

Allan is explaining why she’s introducing them:

It is absolutely clear to me and to the Victorian community that the current laws are not just not meeting community expectations, they are not dealing with this repeat pattern of offending we are seeing across our community – which is why, last month, I directed the attorney general and the police minister to look at what more needed to be done.

What more needed to be done to toughen our bail laws, to meet those community expectations and to get these repeat offenders off our streets? Which is why today we are bringing forward these tough new bail laws that are making sweeping changes to our bail system that will put the focus on reducing the risk of people offending and reoffending on bail, reducing that risk across our system.

The White House has confirmed the blanket 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports from US trading partners “with no exceptions”, the Guardian’s US Politics live blog is reporting.

Here is the statement:

President Trump has once again used the leverage of the American economy, which is the best and biggest in the world, to deliver a win for the American people. Pursuant to his previous executive orders, a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium with no exceptions or exemptions will go into effect for Canada and all of our other trading partners at midnight, March 12^th.

Read more in the Guardian US Politics live blog.

Cait Kelly

Raising welfare payments would help domestic violence victims – Acoss

The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss), which was a member of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, called for the government to lift the merger rate in the upcoming budget.

Acoss CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said:

The benefits are crystal clear. It would improve people’s mental and physical health, it would improve wellbeing, and it would reduce poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

It would also support women experiencing domestic and family violence, helping them to leave an abusive partner.

The committee again heard harrowing testimony from people receiving jobseeker and related payments about how it is not possible to get by on such little income. People broke down in front of the committee because of the severe stress they are under, not knowing if they can pay the next electricity bill and keep a roof over their heads.

How many more times do people need to explain the distress and harm caused by living in poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world?

The way to fix this, in Acoss’s view, is to lift jobseeker, youth allowance and related payments to at least the pension rate of $82 a day so that everyone can get through difficult times.

Increase jobseeker payment, welfare groups urge: ‘$56 a day goes fast’

Cait Kelly

Mission Australia has joined other welfare organisations, including Acoss, in demanding the rate of jobseeker be lifted after the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee suggested raising the rate to bring people out of abject poverty.

The independent committee said increasing jobseeker to 90% of the pension from $56 to $74 per day would help ensure its adequacy.

Mission Australia’s executive of practice, evidence and impact, Marion Bennett, said:

Our frontline workers know that $56 a day goes fast and not very far when there is rent, food, bills and healthcare costs to cover. It is heartbreaking to see so many people relying on charities like Mission Australia for the first time in their lives because inadequate income support is pushing them into poverty, housing instability and even homelessness.

People in Australia are compassionate and caring and the government’s actions should reflect these qualities. We hope third time is a charm for the government to heed the recommendation of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee to permanently and adequately increase the base rate of jobseeker and youth allowance to help protect people and families from poverty and homelessness.

The Age has published an ad from Clive Palmer’s new Trumpet of Patriots party today which says “there are only two genders”. This comes after the Newcastle Herald apologised for publishing the same ad after journalists were “furious” yesterday, Guardian Australia reported.

In the past week the Age has published Palmer’s anti-immigration and anti-welcome-to-country advertisements, which have also appeared in News Corp publications.

Read more about the ad in the Newcastle Herald from Amanda Meade here:

Benita Kolovos

Victorian government lashed for ‘draconian bail reforms’

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is going to hold a press conference later this morning on the changes, which will likely face opposition from legal and human rights groups, as well as within her own Socialist Left faction.

On X, the former president of Liberty Victoria, Michael Stanton, wrote:

The duplicity of this Government fronting Yoorrook and now desperately introducing these draconian bail reforms is just breathtaking. Including removing the principle of detention being a last resort for children? This will result in deaths in custody. It’s a disgrace.

Ali Besiroglu, the head of legal services at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, replied:

300 kids, that’s it. Overhaul the entirety of the bail system for 300 children (with 25 kids being responsible for a quarter of those offences). Unbelievable!

Besiroglu linked to our feature, which includes those figures:

Benita Kolovos

Scrapped Victorian offence set to be brought back

The Victoria government is also going to reintroduce the offence of committing an indictable offence while on bail. The offence was scrapped in 2023 an inquest into the death of Veronica Nelson, an Aboriginal woman who died in custody after being remanded for shoplifting.

The coroner investigating her death, Simon McGregor, found the state’s bail laws were a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, contributing to the death of Nelson, a proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman in custody on January 2020. She had been refused bail for shop theft offences in December 2019.

The coroner said the Bail Act had a “discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates of [First Nations people] remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women”.

Victoria moves to bring in country’s ‘toughest’ bail laws

Benita Kolovos

The Victorian government will today announce its plans to introduce the “toughest bail laws in Australia”, which will treat children accused of serious crimes like adults when courts decide whether to remand them or release them into the community.

As we reported earlier this morning, cabinet met on Tuesday to agree to make changes to the Bail Act, which – if passed by parliament – will scrap the principle of remand only as a “last resort” for accused youth offenders. In its place, community safety will become the “overarching principle” when deciding bail for children and adults.

Repeat offenders of serious and violent crimes will also have a greater onus to convince courts they can be bailed while they await trial, with a new test to be introduced the government says is “extremely hard to pass”.

Under the test, bail can’t be granted to repeat offenders unless a court is satisfied to a “high degree of probability” they won’t reoffend. The test will apply to offences such as murder, aggravated charges of home invasion, burglary and carjacking.

The government says a similar test recently introduced in NSW led to a halving of the number of people who received bail.

Victoria’s test goes further: it will apply to adults as well as youths and it will apply to more offences.

Tougher bail tests will also be introduced for crimes including home invasions and carjackings, even when no weapons are involved.