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A Victoria-wide teacher strike hangs in the balance as voting closes today on a revised pay offer, following months of industrial action.
Victorian members of the Australian Education Union had agreed to take further industrial action on Thursday, citing excessive workloads and uncompetitive pay, AAP reports.
The state government has provided an updated pay offer of 28.3% over the next four years, which has gone to a union member ballot. Voting on the proposal opened on Friday and will close on Tuesday afternoon.
A union spokesperson told AAP the planned action hinged on the outcome of the vote:
If members vote to reject the offer, the action will proceed as planned.
More than 35,000 Victorian teachers, principals and education support workers walked off the job in March, the first strike of its kind in 13 years.
Union educators have been locked in a pay dispute with the government for months, with graduate teachers – the worst paid in the country – earning $13,000 less than those in the Northern Territory, who are the best paid.
The union’s state branch represents more than 60,000 public school staff.
Members have been pushing for a 35% pay rise over four years, after rejecting an initial offer of an 18.5% increase over three years.
Melissa Davey
Life-saving drugs used to treat common childhood infections are increasingly failing and the resistance of bacteria to these medicines will only worsen over the next decade, a global analysis has found.
Led by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in collaboration with the University of Sydney in Australia, researchers analysed 106,581 infection samples from children aged up to 18 years old across 82 countries.
They found antibiotic resistance – when bacteria are no longer killed by antimicrobial medicines – increased in every region between 2004 and 2022.
Babies and children in intensive care, and countries with fewer healthcare resources, are most affected, according to the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday.
Read the full exclusive story here:
Albanese congratulates new British PM
Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, after the latter took over the job yesterday. The Australian PM posted a note to X, emphasising the strategic allyship:
Congratulations Prime Minister Burnham on your appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Australia and the United Kingdom are longstanding friends, allies and partners, united by shared values and deep ties between our peoples.
I look forward to working with you to strengthen our partnership and promote security, resilience and prosperity in the years ahead.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network criticises Labor’s draft policy platform
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network has criticised Labor’s draft policy platform on Palestine, saying it is “currently falling far short and does not acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.
We reported this morning that Israel had made an intervention into the Labor party’s internal processes, publicly criticising the draft that it claims risks blaming Israel for the Gaza conflict while giving “insufficient attention” to the role of Hamas.
The Israeli embassy in Canberra issued a four-page statement on Monday challenging the proposed positions on Palestine, Hamas and settler violence in the West Bank, due to be debated at this week’s Labor national conference.
The language in the 2026 draft platform relating to Israel and Palestine is substantially different to the 2023 iteration, reflecting shifts in government policy following Hamas’ 7 October attack and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Nasser Mashni, the APAN president, said this morning:
Despite what the Israeli Embassy might say, Labor is currently falling far short and does not acknowledge the Palestinian genocide and must take real, urgent action at this conference. Their platform position is totally insufficient.
Australia must reckon with the obligations that flow from its recognition of Palestine, and the Conference must draw a red line on genocide and Australian complicity in it.
The International Court of Justice ruled in its July 2024 Advisory Opinion that Israel’s presence in Palestine is unlawful and that all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The Court further found that states are obligated not to recognise or assist the illegal occupation. Australia is bound by these findings.
Recognition of Palestine cannot remain symbolic. Australia must impose wide ranging and wholesale sanctions on the Israeli regime and anyone or any entity associated with the settlement enterprise.
Thanks so much Martin Farrer for kicking us off this morning. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be with you until mid-afternoon today.
Joyce dogged by interruptions in 7.30 interview
The Joyce interview was spiky from the start, as he responded to Ferguson’s welcome saying:
I don’t know whether you do welcome me, but let’s have a go.
It was also made more awkward by several interruptions by a dog.
The first time, as Joyce was asked if he was “comfortable with where [Hanson] is taking you”, he turned and loudly yelled “sit down!” off camera, then explained “Sorry, it’s a dog”. He then explained that he believed One Nation’s views mirrored a large proportion of Australia.
The second time, he was asked about suggestions One Nation would implement mass deportations by intercepting visa overstayers during medical visits.
A glum Joyce replied:
I have to apologise for this dog, which has decided to bail up my …
Ferguson said:
Don’t worry about the dog. Just answer the question.
Joyce responded:
Don’t be rude. Don’t be rude. Otherwise, this interview will come to a grinding halt, Sarah. So what was the question actually?
The subject of the dog was returned to at the interview’s conclusion, with Ferguson saying:
Thank you very much indeed for joining us Barnaby Joyce. The dog was no problem. Thank you.
Joyce:
It was to me.
Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview with far-right criminal Tommy Robinson
Catie McLeod
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has tried to defend party leader Pauline Hanson’s decision to meet far-right convicted criminal Tommy Robinson during a recent visit to the UK.
Hanson and her colleagues have spent recent days clarifying, explaining or walking back headline-grabbing parts of the One Nation leader’s trip to Europe, including a podcast interview with Robinson.
On ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Joyce first acknowledged Robinson had done “some things” that were “basically against the law” but went on to blame a “form of Balkanisation, where there’s not an assimilation” for “massive problems, and we saw that in Bondi”.
The host, Sarah Ferguson, put to Joyce that Hanson was effectively endorsing a man with an extensive criminal record, who had been condemned by UK authorities for encouraging race riots and retribution against minorities.
My question to you, Barnaby Joyce, is: is that not a red line?
Joyce responded:
I believe that there is not a condoning of every action of Tommy Robinson.
I don’t think that was ever said.
During the interview, Joyce also said that he did not know who had bankrolled Hanson’s trip.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Steph Convery with the main action.
We start with Barnaby Joyce’s rather unusual interview with the ABC’s 7.30 last night, in which he attempted to defend some of the more controversial aspects of his leader’s trip to Europe, in particular Pauline Hanson’s podcast with Tommy Robinson, while simultaneously trying to fend off an apparently misbehaving dog.
