First day of phone ban in NSW schools
NSW government high schools will join government primary schools in enforcing a ban on mobile phones during school hours when Term Four begins today, AAP reports.
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia already have bans in place while Queensland students will face one from next year.
The ACT is asking its residents for feedback on a possible ban.
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NSW premier Chris Minns stressed the importance of the ban which will apply “across the board”. He said yesterday:
It’s essential to ensure that young people in particular can focus on the schoolwork in front of them and teachers have an attentive class.
An explosion in phone use in schools had coincided with declining test scores, he said.
He cited UK research that indicated schools with phone bans had better academic outcomes for 16-year-olds.
We cannot expect young people to focus on the academic work while they’ve got a phone pinging in their ear every other second.
The policy – a Minns government election pledge – will affect 320,000 students in 400 schools.
Key events
A new single has been launched in collaboration between international musicians and local Indigenous artists, highlighting the need for equal rights for Indigenous people worldwide – with a specific focus on Indigenous Australians.
The single, titled ‘Talk Different (Raise Your Voice)’, comes just ahead of the voice to parliament referendum. It hopes to inspire young people to vote and “serve as a timely reminder that they have the power to create social change”.
Founder of Dark Star Music International Ronan Coleman said he saw the referendum as a “great opportunity” to bring people together through music:
Music is the universal language that brings people together from all walks of life, which is what the proposed constitutional reforms are all about.
CEO of Songlines Aboriginal Music, Robbie Bundle, said the project was borne out of a willingness to come together and support one another:
The song lyrics are a powerful reminder for people to ‘use your voice’ and ‘turn up’, and even though we ‘walk different’ and ‘talk different’ essentially, we’re all human, and we all deserve equal human rights and the same chance to lead a happy, healthy life.
Director of RedBridge Group, Kos Samaras, said the youth vote will play a critical part in the outcome of the referendum:
Gen Z and Millennials make up about 43 percent of the voters. Recent polls show that around 10% of this cohort remain undecided, so a swing towards Yes within this demographic could contribute towards achieving a Yes majority.
Monash University staff to begin two-day strike over pay and job security
Caitlin Cassidy
Union members at Monash University will strike for the longest time in more than a decade in a bid for wage increases, eased workloads and increased job security.
It’s the latest round of industrial action to sweep through Victorian universities, following a week-long strike at the University of Melbourne that wrapped up on Friday and a 36-hour strike at RMIT.
The two-day strike, to begin at midday, comes days after the Fair Work Commission rejected a claim for the university to avoid repaying staff by retrospectively changing its enterprise agreement.
The estimated $9m wage claim, launched by the National Tertiary Education Union, will now proceed to the federal court.
NTEU Monash branch president Dr Ben Eltham said job security and wage theft were the key issues behind the strike.
Staff are deeply dissatisfied with the governance failures that are hurting staff and causing teaching conditions to deteriorate.
The university said it would review the commission’s decision and was “committed to paying its staff accurately” in line with its enterprise agreement.
Peter Costello won’t seek third term as Future Fund chair
Former treasurer Peter Costello has advised the government he will not seek a third term as chair of the Future Fund.
According to a joint statement from treasurer Jim Chalmers and minister for finance Katy Gallagher, Costello advised the government of his decision a fortnight ago.
The statement reads:
We thank Mr Costello for his significant contribution as a board member and then Chair over the past 14 years. He leaves with the Government’s appreciation and respect.
Chalmers and Gallagher note Costello’s “instrumental” role in establishing the Future Fund in 2006 and setting up its initial investment mandate:
Upon the fund’s inception, Mr Costello spoke about the importance of ensuring that Australia could meet its unfunded superannuation obligations without imposing an undue burden on future generations.
During his time at the Future Fund, its portfolio has grown steadily and is today worth more than $200 billion. It has delivered an average annual return of 8.8% per annum over the past decade.
A formal recruitment process will now commence to appoint a new chair, the statement reads.
The government will also carefully consider any future board vacancies as an opportunity to refresh and renew the Future Fund’s leadership.
Fire and flooding fears ease in Australia’s east
In some more positive news for your Monday morning, it appears that both flood and fire fears have died down this week after compounding weather events last week:
On the flood front, flood waters at Sale in Victoria are continuing to ease.
A moderate flood warning remains in place for the Thomson River downstream of Wandocka.
No significant rainfall has been recorded in the 24 hours to 9am Sunday, and no significant rainfall is forecast across the Thomson River catchment over the next few days.
The river level is likely to remain above the minor flood level (2.40 m) during Monday.
Meanwhile, there aren’t many high fire danger warnings along the east coast, aside from a few in central Queensland:
Albanese on Israel-Hamas war: ‘This is a very dangerous time in a volatile part of the world’
Staying with the prime minister’s breakfast television appearances:
Speaking to Karl Stefanovic on the Today Show earlier, Anthony Albanese was asked whether he has spoken with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yet.
Albanese said he has put a request in for a phone call, but Netanyahu “has the task at hand that he’s focused on”:
We’ve put in a request for a phone call with the prime minister, but I understand that his priority will be organising the defence that needs to occur [there].
Albanese said that across the political spectrum here in Australia, “this isn’t a partisan issue”.
This is one where clearly Hamas has been the aggressor here and … an attack like this requires substantial planning.
The concern about thousands of rockets being shot into Israel, a very dangerous escalation could occur here as well. There’s reports as well of Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel. So, this is a very dangerous time in a volatile part of the world.
Of course Israel will defend itself, but of course there should always be restraint when it comes to the targeting of civilians.
Albanese heading to regional centres and capital cities in yes campaign blitz
As the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum approaches this Saturday, Anthony Albanese is making his final rounds as part of the yes campaign.
This morning he appeared on breakfast television programs to advocate for a yes vote (we brought you this earlier).
Albanese has also flagged he will participate in a nationwide blitz campaigning for the yes vote, AAP reports.
The prime minister will hit regional centres such as Broken Hill and Port Lincoln, along with stops at Uluru, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Sydney.
Rapper Briggs speaks to Full Story about why he’s campaigning for yes
On today’s Full Story podcast, Laura Murphy-Oates spoke to Yorta Yorta rapper Adam Briggs from the Now and Forever concert in the regional Victorian town of Shepparton.
She asked Briggs about why he is advocating for a yes vote, and about the power of comedy and community to counter misinformation.
This follows his viral video on the Indigenous voice to parliament:
You can listen to the full episode here:
Sussan Ley says it will be ‘lose-lose’ whatever the voice result
Earlier, Indigenous leader and yes campaigner Noel Pearson said a no result in Saturday’s referendum would be a “travesty” and Australia may “never live it down”.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese also claimed that “some arrogance has crept into the no side campaign” when asked about polling.
But as AAP reports, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley argues the country would still have negative outcomes either way after the referendum.
She told Sky News:
It’s a lose-lose whatever the result is on Saturday.
It will be bad, divisive and unhappy for Australians the next day, so we do need to bring the country together.
It is just so important that the day after we come together as a country.
Five men charged over plot to import cocaine through Sydney airport
Five men have been charged over an alleged plot to import 100kg of cocaine in the cargo hold of a passenger plane from South Africa.
In a statement the Australian federal police said all five men appeared in Parramatta local court yesterday and were remanded in custody to reappear on 30 November.
A 42-year-old man is alleged to be the primary Australian facilitator of the plot. A 62-year-old man allegedly coordinated the activities of two men working at Sydney airport as part of the operation.
A 55-year-old man and a 61-year-old man allegedly used their employment and access of freight handling operations at the airport to facilitate the removal of five large bags of cocaine from the cargo hold to a secure airside area.
These men then allegedly transferred the five bags to a car driven by a 24-year-old man outside the freight terminal.
All three men were arrested shortly after the alleged handover on Saturday afternoon.
The cocaine haul could have been sold as 100,000 individual street deals, police say, with an estimated street value of $40m.
Paul Keating backs the voice, saying it will ‘drastically’ improve Indigenous outcomes
Less than a week out from the referendum, former prime minister Paul Keating has voiced his support for the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Writing in The Australian, Keating said an Indigenous voice would “drastically” improve outcomes. He said the idea of a voice has been tried, and “it worked big time”.
For this and a host of other reasons, I will be voting Yes on Saturday.
In his piece, Keating pointed to consultation employed over seven months between the commonwealth government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in respect of Native Title.
That consultation began in the cabinet room on 27 April, 1993, and finished on 15 November, 1993, seven months later, on the day before, as prime minister, I introduced the Native Title Bill to the House of Representatives.
He said this consultation was the “very first episode of an Indigenous ‘voice’ speaking directly to the executive government on a matter materially central to Indigenous people”.
Last year, Keating – along with Noel Pearson – urged Labor not to postpone the voice referendum if it won government.
Dental association warns payroll tax changes will cripple dentists
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) warns that changes to payroll tax law “slapped” on health practitioners, including dentists, will result in “thousands” of providers facing bankruptcy or passing significant price increases on to patients.
In a statement released this morning, the ADA says this represents the “single biggest threat to the dental profession and access to dental treatments for patients since the start of Covid”.
The ADA has written to premiers and first ministers in NSW, Victoria, SA, the ACT and the NT asking them to step in and grant dentists the same amnesty doctors have received.
But the ADA said it hasn’t received any noteworthy response. It said this will force many dental practices to either hike prices up considerably during the cost of living crisis, or face bankruptcy.
CEO Damian Mitsch is calling on state governments to “sit down at the table with us to negotiate a way out of this mess”.
Of course dentists want to pay their taxes – what they don’t want is the unwanted surprise of a backdated tax bill for five or six figure sums that could see them having to close down.
The dental peak body is also urging its 17,500 members to write to their local MP to push for the amnesty and stop any backdate which would cripple many businesses.