Health News at Your Fingertips

Victoria passes affirmative consent laws

Victoria has adopted an affirmative consent model, shifting scrutiny off victims and back onto perpetrators of sexual violence, AAP reports.

Under new laws, which passed Victorian parliament on Tuesday, a person must have a clear and enthusiastic go-ahead for their belief in consent to be reasonable.

The consent can include – but is not limited to – verbally asking and getting a “yes” in response, a physical gesture such as a nod, or reciprocating a move such as removing clothes.

The laws make clear that “stealthing” – the removing, tampering with, or not using a condom without consent – is a crime.

They also target image-based sexual abuse, which includes taking intimate videos of someone without their consent as well as distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images.

A person who knowingly distributes an intimate image of someone else faces three years’ imprisonment under the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022.

The new laws mean judges can give juries directions about consent, and have to explain to them what “proof beyond reasonable doubt” means.

Delays on M5 near Liverpool after two-car crash

A two-car crash has occurred on the M5 this morning in Casula, near Liverpool. Authorities are warning drivers to expect delays, with westbound traffic impacted.

Nine news is reporting that the traffic is banked up 15km after two citybound lanes were closed.

Sarah Martin

Defence responds to Solomon Islands moratorium on foreign naval vessels

Defence has issued a statement in response to reports that Solomon Islands has issued a moratorium on foreign naval vessels visiting its ports.

The issue was thrust into the public spotlight after Honiara did not respond to a request for a US Coast Guard ship to dock and refuel on Friday. The ship was diverted to Papua New Guinea.

A spokesperson for the Australian Defence Force said it was aware of the reports that foreign navy and coast guard vessels had not received approval to visit Solomon Islands.

The spokesperson said:

Diplomatic clearances for visiting foreign vessels are a matter for the Solomon Islands government.

Australia continues to work with Solomon Islands to meet its security priorities and the region’s collective maritime security objectives.

Josh Butler

Chalmers admits stage three tax cuts ‘very expensive for the budget’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the federal government is focusing on its “near-term challenges” when asked if there were any changes that could be made to the $243.5bn stage three tax cuts, but has not ruled out making changes to the controversial tax plan for high earners.

At his Canberra press conference earlier today, Guardian Australia asked whether the government was considering tinkering with the extreme end of the tax cuts after Parliamentary Budget Office analysis found the top 1% of earners would get the same benefit as the lowest-earning 65% of Australians when they kick in after 2024.

Chalmers and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, have long said that the tax cuts have been legislated, the government has not changed their position on the tax cuts and that it was not their policy to change them.

But Chalmers did not entirely shut down the prospect of changes at some point. Chalmers said:

The reason we point out these tax cuts come in in two years’ time is because we’ve got some near-term challenges and they occupy 100% of our time.

The issues in the labour market that the jobs and skills summit it all about, issues in multinational tax avoidance … our position on the tax cuts haven’t changed, we’ve got other priorities and other focuses and that’s occupying all that time.

Chalmers added he was not working on a deficit levy for high-income earners. However, in a podcast with the Conversation this week, Chalmers conceded “it’s self-evident that [the tax cuts are] very expensive for the budget”.

He said:

It’s important to remember that even if a government were to tweak those stage three tax cuts, they don’t come in for another couple of years. So they have absolutely no bearing on some of these challenges that we’re dealing with right now.

Some in Canberra believe the Labor government will have to eventually reform some part of the stage three tax cuts or the wider tax system, with some theories that the government may start laying the groundwork for a change to the cuts after the October budget. Albanese appeared to leave himself some wiggle room on changes with answers to the National Press Club on Monday.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, called on the government to scrap the tax cuts. He said this week:

Australia shouldn’t be left reading the tea leaves and just hoping Labor will shift on their stage three tax cuts for the wealthy.

Dutton accuses government of pre-deciding outcomes from job summit with unions

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is speaking to Sky News about the government’s upcoming jobs and skills summit, to which he has rejected his invitation.

He’s accused the government on not striking the balance right on its invitation list, with too many representatives from the unions and not enough from small businesses. He said:

The small business community is going to be completely overlooked.

He also accused the government of having the outcomes of the summit pre-determined:

Some policy outcomes [have been] already written by government in concert with [the] ACTU.

Dutton said the test of the summit’s success will be “if the numbers are achieved”, such as the processing of visas and accepting the coalition proposal of allowing pensioners to work more.

There were 2,857 new cases in the last reporting period, and 20 people are in intensive care.

There were 5,434 new cases in the last reporting period, and 38 people are in intensive care.

Adeshola Ore

New drug centre in Melbourne to tackle infectious diseases

A new pandemic drug centre is set to be created in Melbourne to fast-track the development of treatments to tackle infectious diseases.

The Victorian government has invested $75m in the new centre at the University of Melbourne, alongside a $250m donation by the Canadian philanthropist and businessman Geoffrey Cumming.

The centre will be titled the Cumming Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics and be based at the Peter Doherty Institute, before being located at the Australian Institute for Infectious Diseases that is due to open in 2027.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the investment would help “create life-saving therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases and help us fight future pandemics”.

Initiatives from the jobs summit to be announced Friday

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was also speaking at a media conference in Canberra this morning.

He said a list of initiatives from the jobs summit to move forward immediately would be announced on Friday afternoon.

Jobs summit invitation list ‘tried to strike a good balance’, treasurer says

The full invitation list for the government’s jobs and skills summit is out, but ABC is reporting that the big four banks are not on it.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told ABC Radio this morning that not everybody could be accommodated:

We have tried to do, with this invitation list … to strike the right balance, whether it is gender, employers, unions, community groups, state and local governments, we have tried to strike a good balance.

We have a good problem here in that we have got hundreds of people who have got a legitimate reason to be there. We have got people absolutely clamouring to be involved, which is better than the alternative.

Chalmers also indicated he could be open to allowing pensioners to work more before their pension payments are effected.

Greens leader concerned changes to better-off-overall test could weaken worker protections

The business council’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said she was keen to see industry and unions agree on changes to enterprise bargaining, including to the better-off-overall test, to make the system less complex for employers and ensure workers were paid more.

However, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, is expressing “deep reservations” about any weakening of the test. At a pre-jobs summit address on Wednesday, Bandt said:

The test protects workers, especially young and casual workers, from getting even less than the already low award minimum wages and conditions.

It is deeply distressing to see even the Labor government now open to changing the Fair Work Act to endorse this… The Greens cannot back the summit striking deals that leave young and low-paid workers worse off.

Josh Butler

‘He was a reminder it takes more courage to end a war than to start one’: Chalmers on Gorbachev

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev at a press conference in Canberra, saying:

The curtain has come down on one of the world’s most significant leaders. He was a pivotal figure at a defining moment.

When the world saw conflict, and stalemate, he saw peace and possibility.

He was the epitome of courage and vision. And he was a reminder that it takes more courage to end a war than to start one.

There is no history of the 20th century that doesn’t have him playing a central role.

Suggestion 13-year olds fill labour shortages shows lack of leadership, Wells says

Australia’s peak retail body this morning released a submission to the government’s jobs summit suggesting children as young as 13 could be put to work to help fill labour shortages.

Anika Wells, the minister for aged care, was asked about that suggestion this morning on Channel 9 and said while “workforce is the key issue in country” she certainly did not think lowering minimum working age requirements was the way to get there.

To me the fact that we’re throwing out ideas like this – apart from the throwback to remember that time Scott Morrison suggested children drive forklifts – suggests that there’s been a lack of leadership in this country regarding [industrial relations].

Thank god we’ve got the jobs summit coming up tomorrow and Friday here in Canberra, so that 140 people from all sides of the IR system can get together and come up with agreed criteria to stop things like that.