16 News

A report released today from the Electoral Matters Committee (EMC) into Victoria’s group voting system finally backs what the Greens have been calling for, for years, recommending that group voting be scrapped in Victoria. 

Victoria is the only state in the country where voting for a party above the line gives that party full control of a voter’s preferences. It means that parties can make backroom deals that undermine the will of the voter and funnel people’s votes to parties they would never support. 

Ahead of the 2018 and 2022 state elections, Glenn Druery arranged microparties into preference-swapping cartels, in exchange for money. Successful candidates paid him 50-60 thousand dollars.

The Victorian Greens spokesperson for integrity, Dr Tim Read welcomed the EMC report, saying that the Greens and experts have been calling for group voting tickets to be scrapped for years. 

He added that Labor must commit to electoral reform now so that we don’t see a repeat of the seats for cash scandal, which has put people into the upper house on as little as 0.6% of the vote. 

The undemocratic system leaves many Victorians completely unaware of who they’re voting for in the Upper House and must be reformed before people go to the polls in 2026. 

Greens spokesperson for integrity, Dr Tim Read: 

“Group voting tricks voters into electing parties they haven’t heard of and may not support, ahead of candidates with a larger vote, leaving Victoria with an unrepresentative upper house.

“Upper house politicians elected by group voting are more accountable to the backroom preference dealer who took their money than they are to voters.

“Our Parliament should reflect and authentically represent the people of Victoria, not be a reflection of backroom deals between parties. 

“We need group voting reform now. Labor needs to take these recommendations seriously and ensure that group voting is scrapped by the 2026 election so that the people elected to the Upper House reflect the people they serve.” 

Today, on the 10th World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the Australian Government reaffirms our commitment to tackle modern slavery and to protect and support victims, survivors and individuals at risk.

This year’s global theme, ‘leave no child behind in the fight against human trafficking’, shines a light on this appalling abuse of the most vulnerable members of society.

This year, the Albanese Government established Australia’s first federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner. The Commissioner will work across government, industry and civil society to support victims and survivors, raise awareness and help business address the risk of modern slavery practices in their operations and supply chains. Recruitment of the Commissioner is currently underway and will be progressed through a merit-based selection process.

We are also working closely with state and territory counterparts to enhance civil protections and remedies for individuals in, or at risk of, forced marriage – a modern slavery crime that disproportionately affects women and children. Public consultation to assist in developing this model is now open.

Australia’s efforts continue to be recognised globally, with Australia maintaining a Tier One ranking in the US Government’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report for the 21st year.

Australia takes a strong and inclusive approach to our response to human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery within our region. This includes our work with Indonesia as co-chairs of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, our support for the ASEAN-Australia Counter-Trafficking program, and our engagement with ASEAN member states to develop special measures for children involved in the justice process as victims, witnesses or suspected offenders.

Australia is also supporting Pacific Island Countries to implement the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols, including its protocol on trafficking in persons.

If you suspect that you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of human trafficking, call 131 237 (131 AFP) or report online at afp.gov.au. In an emergency, call 000.

After 7 years on the public hospital waiting list – 9 year old Kadee will finally receive surgery after Pauline Hanson stepped in to pay for the Yeppoon girl to go private.

Young Kadee was told she would have to repeat grade 4 if she continued having days off with tonsillitis.

We broke the news yesterday to mum, Kahlia at the event we hosted at Roslyn Bay Ampol.

The latest data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) confirms that the number of Australians taking up a government funded TAFE course remains lower under Labor than under the Coalition. This comes despite repeated claims from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor, before and after the last election, that Fee Free TAFE would increase enrolments by hundreds of thousands of students.

The Albanese Government has repeatedly stated its Fee Free TAFE policy would increase the number of students taking up training by over 300,000.

Minister Brendan O’Connor said:

“After smashing our Fee-Free TAFE targets in 2023 with almost 300,000 enrolments as at September 30, I’m delighted we’re rolling out an additional 300,000 places from 2024.” – January 2024

“New figures reveal 355,557 Australians enrolled in Fee-Free TAFE across Australia during 2023, smashing the initial first-year target of 180,000.” – March 2024

But the official data demonstrates that in 2023 the number of Australians taking up a government funded TAFE course increased to 659,185, which is 12,200 fewer than the number of government funded TAFE students under Coalition in 2020, and in line with 2021 figures. 2022, the year Labor took office, saw a sharp decline in numbers as Labor delayed action on skills funding to keep announcements for its sham Jobs and Skills Summit.

This means Labor’s marquee skills program – Fee Free TAFE – has not materially increased the number of government funded students taking up training at TAFEs across the country.

Acting Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Skills and Training, Sussan Ley, said there was a clear gap between what Labor promised on skills and what it is delivering.

“Despite promising to increase the number of students at TAFE by hundreds of thousands, there are fewer than under the Coalition.

“Federal Labor, it appears, is just subsidising State budgets instead of having a meaningful impact on skills shortages by funding new students through new places at TAFEs.

“Compounding this failure, since Anthony Albanese took office, we have lost 85,300 apprentices and trainees from the workforce.

“Despite all of Labor’s grand promises to ‘skill more Australians’ the data demonstrates their policies just aren’t working and we are going backwards.”

This latest update follows the release of data from NCVER last week that shows apprentices and trainees in-training dropped to 343,640 in December 2023, 85,360 fewer than when Labor took office, or a loss of one in five.

Over the same period new training starts, or ‘commencements’, dropped to just 170,370. Meaning there are 107,500 fewer apprentices and trainees starting a trade or a skill, or a drop of 39 per cent since Anthony Albanese took office.

Trade apprentices in-training hit record highs in the final months of the Coalition Government and as of June 2022 there were 429,000 apprentices and trainees in-training and 277,900 commencements.

The number of female apprentices and trainees in training has fallen by 25 per cent and female commencements have fallen by 40 per cent.

Despite Labor promising to skill more construction workers, there are 5,300 fewer Construction Trades Workers apprentices in training since they took office and new starts have dropped by 23 per cent.

Labor came to power promising it would solve skills shortages. But according to Jobs and Skills Australia, 36 per cent of occupations were assessed as in-shortage in 2023, up from 31 per cent in 2022. 66 occupations were added to the in-shortage list in 2023 meaning on Labor’s watch, over 330 occupations are in-shortage across Australia.

The Albanese Labor Government’s weak leadership has enabled the out-of-control CFMEU to reach a point where we now see startling revelations that the union has been deeply infiltrated by bikies, gangland and underworld criminal figures.

“The depth of criminal infiltration, revealed by the Nine newspapers, is extremely disturbing and should be of concern to every Australian,’’ she said.

“The Albanese Government’s abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission has been even worse than expected – we now have organised crime figures and bikies running rampant on our nation’s building sites,” she said.

“What this means for Australian taxpayers is that the cost of building important infrastructure they pay for and rely on will continue to increase. This in turn will lead to further cost of living pressures for all Australians, something which Mr Albanese turns a blind eye to,’’ Senator Cash said.

“With today’s revelations of the criminal infiltration of the union the Labor Party should immediately hand back all the money that has been donated to them by the CFMEU in recent years,’’ she said.

“Mr Albanese needs to stop making excuses and take action, His constant excuses for their behaviour should appal all Australians. What more does Mr Albanese need before he shows a modicum of leadership,’’ Senator Cash said.

“But past conduct by Mr Albanese and Minister Tony Burke would indicate it is unlikely they will act against the union that donated $4.3 million to the Labor Party to help them win the election,’’ Senator Cash said.

“There are a series of actions that Mr Albanese can immediately take to start cleaning up the construction industry,’’ she said.

“Mr Albanese should legislate the former Coalition Government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill of 2019, which Labor fought tooth and nail against at the time,’’ Senator Cash said.

That Bill would introduce a range of measures to ensure registered organisations work for their members and not themselves.

It would give the Court powers to disqualify officials of registered organisations that don’t act in the interest of members, have a history of breaking the law or are otherwise not fit and proper to hold office in a registered organisation.

“Mr Albanese should also immediately bring back the ABCC as the tough cop on the beat in the industry. They need all the powers they had in the past’’ Senator Cash said.

“Penalties for breaches of the Fair Work Act need to be increased and the fit and proper person test for right of entry onto construction sites need to be tightened. People with multiple criminal offences should never be granted right of entry permits,’’ Senator Cash said.

Senator Cash welcomed the resignation of John Setka from the CFMEU in the wake of the revelations but said it was a long time coming.

“Australian taxpayers have ultimately paid the price for the militant actions of the CFMEU for many years now,’’ she said.

“Mr Setka’s behaviour has been appalling over many years, we saw his recent threats against the AFL over a personal vendetta,’’ Senator Cash said.

“We also saw Prime Minister Albanese’s pathetic weakness as he failed to condemn Mr Setka for his behaviour,’’ she said

“Unfortunately, there are many in the CFMEU who emulate Mr Setka and who exhibit similar behaviour. Unless this behaviour is stomped out, our construction sector will continue to be held back,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The Albanese Government gave Mr Setka and his allies effective control of the construction sector in Australia when they abolished the ABCC,’’ she said.

“And Australians know why – the CFMEU gave $4.3 million to Labor to win the last election,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The Albanese government has shown craven cowardice and weakness – they have given Mr Setka everything he wanted and were wilfully blind to his militant actions for years. As always with Labor, money talks and principle has no place.”

The Albanese Labor Government should immediately move to deregister the militant and out of control CFMEU following startling revelations the union has been deeply infiltrated by bikies, gangland and underworld criminal figures.

“What we’ve seen revealed by the Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes investigation shows this union has no right to still be operating,” Senator Cash said.

“Bob Hawke was brave enough to deregister the BLF and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister Tony Burke should follow his lead and do the same with the CFMEU,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The Albanese Government’s abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission has been an unmitigated disaster – this union is now riddled with bikies and underworld figures,” she said.

“The whole industry now needs to be free of the grip of this union and the only way to do that is deregister them,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The powers exist under the Fair Work Act for deregistration and Minister Burke can clearly make the application – he should do so immediately,’’ she said.

“The ACTU should then work out how the decent law-abiding workers who want to be part of a union could best be represented within the construction industry,’’ Senator Cash said.

“Minister Burke’s past conduct would indicate he will be slow to act against the union that donated $4.3 million to the Labor Party to help them win the last election,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The Labor Party should immediately hand back all the money that has been donated to them by the CFMEU in recent years. There is a question over some of that money possibly being the proceeds of crime. There needs to be a full investigation into the money trail,’’ she said.

The Coalition maintains its call for the Albanese Government to legislate the Ensuring Integrity Bill of 2019, re-instate the ABCC with increased powers, increase penalties for breaches of the Fair Work Act and tighten the fit and proper person test for right of entry onto construction sites.

Australia’s weak Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must explain to the Australian people why he chose to ignore detailed evidence provided to him in 2022, which highlighted extreme violence and unlawful black-banning by CFMEU officials against non-union-preferred firms on state and federally funded projects.

In October 2022, the directors of an Indigenous labour-hire firm sent a letter to Prime Minister Albanese, detailing serious threats of violence, intimidation, and unlawful union bans on the Monash Freeway upgrade project.

Despite the urgency and severity of these claims, there is no clear evidence that the Prime Minister or his office took any action or responded to the letter.

“Prime Minister Albanese’s failure to act on the detailed evidence of CFMEU misconduct at the time, is a blatant disregard for the safety and integrity of our construction industry,” Senator cash said.

“It is only now, after reports of the CFMEUs criminality have been thoroughly exposed the media, that Labor is pretending to act tough on the lawless union.

“If these issues had been dealt with when they were brought to the Prime Ministers attention, Australian building sites would not be in the position of dysfunction they are in today.

“It’s little wonder though that these warnings were blatantly, if not maliciously ignored, given the CFMEUs direct affiliation with the Labor party, and the $6.2 million dollars the CFMEU has given Labor since Mr Albanese has been leader.

“The CFMEU demanded Labor abolish the construction industry watchdog, the ABCC, and Labor promptly abolished it.

“Now all Australians are seeing the consequences of Labor bowing down to a lawless union, blindly following the demands of CFMEU thugs.

“The CFMEU need only ask, to have their whims and wishes attended to by this Government and this weak Prime Minster.

“Prime Minister Albanese needs to demonstrate that lawless unions do not run his Labor party.

“Labor must immediately, and formally break ties with the CFMEU, as well as pledge to accept no further donations from the militant union.

“At the end of the day, it is Australian’s who are ultimately paying the price for Labor’s failures.

Australian small businesses are facing a perfect storm of rising costs, high interest rates and collapsing demand because Anthony Albanese’s distracted and divided government has failed to deliver a proper economic plan.

The latest Business Risk Index report from credit reporting bureau, CreditorWatch, provokes serious concern for the health of many Australian businesses. It has found:

• One in 11 hospitality businesses are set to fail over the next year — as Australian households feel the pain of higher mortgage repayments, rents, power bills and other essentials, Australia’s hospitality sector is being hammered. This means almost one in ten cafes and restaurants could close their doors over the next year alone.
• The value of business orders is at a record low — the average value of invoices held by businesses has halved over the year to June 2024 as higher prices and declining demand hits the economy. As reported in February, invoice defaults are also at record highs; and
• The business failure rate has increased by nearly 10 per cent over the past 12 months alone.

⁠Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Industry and Small and Family Business, Sussan Ley, called on Anthony Albanese to take responsibility for the economic deterioration occurring on his watch and under his policies.

“Keeping the doors open at one of our iconic Australian cafes or suburban restaurants is in real question because of the failed economic policies of this distracted and divided Albanese Government,” the Deputy Leader said.

“Shuttered small businesses are the collateral damage of the failures of Anthony Albanese to focus on one his most fundamental jobs, managing the economy – costs are up across the board and along supply chains.

“The loss of almost one in ten hospitality businesses, in the next year alone, is deeply concerning because behind every one of those businesses is a family and a community – this is what happens under Labor governments, they just cannot manage the economy.”

According to CreditorWatch, the regions with the highest risk of business failure are around Western Sydney (six of the top 10) and South-East Queensland, with Bringelly-Green Valley (NSW) the top-ranked region (7.63 per cent chance of default), followed by Merrylands-Guildford and Canterbury.

It’s typical of the Albanese Labor Government to take the weak option when dealing with the CFMEU, which is exactly what they have done by placing the union into administration rather than deregistering it.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister Tony Burke should also stop acting like they are surprised by the appalling revelations of recent days.

It has been known for years that the CFMEU is riddled with criminal elements who have been involved in violence, thuggery, intimidation and bullying.

By his actions today Mr Albanese has shown Australians he is no Bob Hawke.

Bob Hawke had the guts to deregister the rogue BLF.

In 2016, he famously said that the unions need to clean up their act and get their house in order: “It is just appalling……I would not tolerate it. You know what I did with the BLF, I would throw them out.”

However, Mr Albanese is no Bob Hawke and has chosen the weaker option when dealing with the CFMEU.

Minister Tony Burke’s claim that administration is a tougher option than deregistration is complete non-sense. He says a deregistered organisation can still act as a bargaining representative. Mr Burke knows full well that anyone from an administered organisation can also act as a bargaining representative.

The Albanese Government is extremely conflicted.

Mr Albanese and Labor has spent the last two years giving the CFMEU everything they want, including control of Australia’s construction sector when he abolished the ABCC.

The CFMEU chaos we see today is a result of their actions.

Appointing an administrator is unlikely to have any long-term impact on the CFMEU.

They will still have all their systems in place and we will see individuals from the old leadership continue to pull the strings behind the scenes.

When the period of administration is over they will simply return to their old practices.

The thuggery, intimidation, corruption and criminal behaviour has been going on for years.

The Albanese Government has been in denial the entire time.

When will Mr Albanese and Labor say enough is enough and that the behaviour of the CFMEU is so bad that we need to start again.

The CFMEU needs to be deregistered and a new body established which respects law and order and works in the best interests of its members.

Most importantly, an administrator is no replacement for the Australian Building and Construction Commission which ensured the CFMEU and its officials were kept in check.

The Albanese Government needs to re-establish this body as soon as possible and give it enhanced powers to fight corruption and lawlessness in our construction sector.

Australians deserve nothing less.

Australians are desperately seeking extra jobs and extra hours of work as the country’s cost of living crisis charges on unabated.

Employment data released today shows the unemployment rate went up slightly to 4.1%, but more Australians are seeking work, more hours are being worked by those with jobs.

All this means that Australians are working harder and harder to make ends meet under the Albanese Government’s cost-of-living crisis.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said hardworking Australians are suffering under the out of touch Albanese Labor Government.

“Australia is in an entrenched household, consumer confidence and productivity recession after two years of Labor’s homegrown inflation crisis.

“Australians’ standard of living has collapsed and after three failed budgets, it’s clear the government has no plan to reverse it.

“Labor is completely out of touch. While the government keeps patting itself on the back, the reality is a record number of Australians are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. And we’ve had a record number of businesses go insolvent in the last two years – over 18,000.

“We are in a cost of living and cost of doing business crisis, with no light at the end of the tunnel under the Albanese Labor Government.”

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Michaelia Cash said Australians were feeling the pinch of the Albanese Government induced cost-of-living crisis more and more.

“People are working harder than ever just to keep their heads above water,’’ she said.

“Small businesses are under siege in this country. They are facing a perfect storm of rising costs, high interest rates and collapsing demand because Anthony Albanese’s distracted and divided government has failed to deliver a proper economic plan,’’ Senator Cash said.

“Mr Albanese can’t hide from the fact that his Government have caused this crisis because of his its’ appalling management of our economy,’’ she said.

“For small businesses it is a cost of doing business crisis which only adds to the cost of living for all Australians,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The Government’s pursuit and introduction of restrictive industrial relations policies is only making matters worse,’’ she said.