Australia news live: childcare prioritised as parliament returns; Antoinette Lattouf case goes to court
Childcare prioritised as parliament returns
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Laws to enshrine the next step in Labor’s plan for universal childcare will be introduced when federal parliament this week, as Anthony Albanese attempts to leverage the flagship policy to propel his bid for re-election.
The $426m plan, which the prime minister announced in December, would guarantee the childcare subsidy for three days a week to all families earning up to $530,000 from January 2026.
The Coalition and Greens likely won’t allow swift passage of the bill through parliament, meaning it almost certainly won’t pass in what could be the final sitting fortnight before the election.
But Labor will push ahead nonetheless in order. to highlight a clear point of contrast with the opposition, which in December described the childcare announcement as a “desperate pitch to lure voters”.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, said “every child has the right to early education … and our Labor government is going to make that possible”.
This is fundamentally about making sure every child gets a great start in life and start school ready to learn.
At the moment the children who need early education the most can’t access it. They are missing out. As a result they start school behind and often never catch up. This will help fix that.
Legislation to enshrine fee-free Tafe places, set up tax breaks for critical minerals processing and green hydrogen production and prevent any future sale of the National Broadband Network will also be prioritised in the coming sitting fortnight.
Key events
More than eight in 10 Australian schools will face a “high climate risk” by 2060, severely impacting the nation’s education system and infrastructure, a new report has forecast.
The Zurich-Mandala Climate Risk Index, released on Monday, analysed the risk of the climate crisis across 9,829 primary and secondary schools across Australia for the first time.
Two-thirds of schools in Australia currently face high climate risk. The report estimated this would increase to 84% of schools by 2060, under an intermediate climate scenario with 2C of warming.
New South Wales and Queensland have the most schools at high risk with 92% and 91% respectively, followed by the ACT and the NT.
The report found increased chances of bushfire and hail posed the greatest climate risk to Australia’s schools. Students are projected to experience 34 annual heatwave days by 2060.
Mandala Partner Dr Adam Triggs said high classroom temperatures could slow children’s cognitive ability and function.
Perhaps most troubling is how climate risks compound existing inequalities. The same schools already facing socio-educational disadvantage are often those most exposed to climate impacts, creating a double burden for vulnerable communities.
Childcare prioritised as parliament returns
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Laws to enshrine the next step in Labor’s plan for universal childcare will be introduced when federal parliament this week, as Anthony Albanese attempts to leverage the flagship policy to propel his bid for re-election.
The $426m plan, which the prime minister announced in December, would guarantee the childcare subsidy for three days a week to all families earning up to $530,000 from January 2026.
The Coalition and Greens likely won’t allow swift passage of the bill through parliament, meaning it almost certainly won’t pass in what could be the final sitting fortnight before the election.
But Labor will push ahead nonetheless in order. to highlight a clear point of contrast with the opposition, which in December described the childcare announcement as a “desperate pitch to lure voters”.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, said “every child has the right to early education … and our Labor government is going to make that possible”.
This is fundamentally about making sure every child gets a great start in life and start school ready to learn.
At the moment the children who need early education the most can’t access it. They are missing out. As a result they start school behind and often never catch up. This will help fix that.
Legislation to enshrine fee-free Tafe places, set up tax breaks for critical minerals processing and green hydrogen production and prevent any future sale of the National Broadband Network will also be prioritised in the coming sitting fortnight.
Amanda Meade
Continued from previous post:
Lattouf lost her job after she posted on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, which the ABC said was a breach of editorial policy.
The ABC denied she was sacked because she was paid for the full five days of her contract.
The Fair Work Commission found last year she was sacked, triggering her unlawful dismissal case.
The ABC has strongly denied Lattouf’s dismissal was the result of outside pressure on the broadcaster, after the Age reported that it had seen a chain of leaked WhatsApp messages showing a campaign from pro-Israel lobbyists to have Lattouf sacked days before her dismissal.
The new court documents reveal there is a key difference of opinion over whether Lattouf was told by her ABC radio manager not to post anything about Israel/Palestine on social media or was told to only post factual information, a point the Fair Work Commission made last year.
Lattouf claims the post about the situation in Gaza was factual information based on a report from Human Rights Watch.
The commission found there was some confusion over whether the manager had advised Lattouf it would be best to make no social media posts at all for the rest of the week or had been “directed” not to make any posts.
The commission heard Oliver-Taylor had been told on 18 December by Anderson that he had received external email complaints about Lattouf’s position on the Israel-Gaza war and asked radio management to “ensure that Antoinette is not and has not been posting anything that would suggest she is not impartial”.
“I am concerned her public views may mean that she is in conflict with our own editorial policies … Can we also advise why we selected Antoinette as stand in host?”
Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful dismissal case goes to court
Amanda Meade
Today is the first day of the unlawful dismissal case brought by journalist Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC, which allegedly unlawfully dismissed her from a casual Sydney radio job in December 2023 three days into a five-day contract.
Witnesses who are expected to appear in the court room at Sydney’s federal court during the trial include former ABC chair Buttrose, outgoing chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor and outgoing managing director David Anderson.
The three ABC leaders have all left or are in the process of leaving the national broadcaster but were central figures in the case in 2023.
On Friday the court released a number of documents which included a list of emails between Buttrose and Anderson.
The content of the emails are yet to be released by the court.
But the list of dozens of emails shows the flow of communication between the chair and the MD in the hours leading up to Lattouf’s sacking after her shift on Wednesday 20 December.
“Between 11.04 am and 11.31 am on Wednesday, 20 December 2023, Ms Buttrose sent a series of emails,” the agreed statement of facts published by the court says.
Continued in next post.
Welcome
Good morning, readers.
Caitlin Cassidy here to take you through today’s news, with all eyes on Canberra ahead of parliament’s return on Tuesday.
This will be one of the last sittings before the formal election campaign kicks off, and Labor has a full slate of legislation to deal with, from hate speech laws to super tax changes.
Speaking of the federal election: Labor launched a new ad campaign this weekend with the tagline “You’ll be worse off under Peter Dutton” – we’ll bring you more on that in a moment.
In Sydney, today is the first day of the unlawful dismissal case brought by journalist Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC. Lattouf was taken off air three days into a five-day casual contract in December 2023 after she posted on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, which the ABC said was a breach of editorial policy.
Witnesses who are expected to appear in the court room at Sydney’s federal court during the trial include former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, outgoing chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor and outgoing managing director David Anderson.
And more record rainfalls are forecast in north Queensland after a woman was killed in floodwaters amid emergency warnings and evacuations.
Let’s get into it.
