Jason Clare says growing number of public school students not finishing year 12 ‘a big challenge’ – as it happened
Key events
What we learned: Monday, 24 March
With that, we will wrap the blog for the afternoon. We’ll be back first thing tomorrow, with all eyes on the budget that nobody expected.
For now, here were today’s major developments:
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The prime minister has told his federal colleagues Labor will “unashamedly stand for workers” as it prepares to unveil its final budget before the federal election. The defence minister and deputy PM, Richard Marles, flagged an additional $1bn for defence to be revealed tomorrow, while the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spruiked more than $2bn found in budget savings.
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Every school in Australia will be fully funded within the decade after the federal government secured a deal with Queensland – the last holdout state – on public schools. The sunshine state will receive $2.8bn to 2034 to be tied to education reforms and targets.
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Kooyong MP Monique Ryan and her husband, Peter Jordan, have apologised after video circulated showing him removing a Liberal campaign sign from a Melbourne yard.
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And the Trump administration’s temporary pause of funding to conduct a review into whether Australian university researchers promote administration priorities and avoid “DEI” and “woke gender ideology” does not amount to foreign interference, the education minister has said.
University of Wollongong proposes drastic job cuts in face of major deficit
The University of Wollongong (UoW) has proposed slashing up to 185 full time roles as part of a major overhaul to reduce an ongoing deficit.
Potentially affected staff have been notified by the university and will participate in briefings this week. The proposal, now in its consultation phase, would also reduce the UoW’s faculties from four to three and its schools from 18 to 11.
Academic, student and research support services are proposed to be reconfigured as a “hub-and-spoke model within central portfolios to improve the efficiency and effectiveness”. The move is expected to reduce 155 to 185 full-time equivalent jobs. with savings of around $26m.
In a statement, the university said it was facing “significant financial challenges, in part due to the Australian government’s changes to visa processing and migration policy and a sharp reduction in international student numbers”.
As a result, UOW suffered a $35m drop in revenue in 2024, with ongoing impacts forecast for 2025.
Interim vice chancellor and president, Senior Prof Eileen McLaughlin, said the university “must continue to make challenging choices now to set the university up for a brighter future”.
Our priority is to strengthen our foundations and deliver a sustainable future for the university while ensuring that UOW remains competitive and innovative.
The final changes are expected to be released on 23 July.
Family fights for change ahead of prison death inquest
The family of an Aboriginal man who died in custody in 2022 hopes his inquest will bring about change in the justice system, AAP reports.
Clinton Austin, a 38-year-old Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man, died at Loddon prison in Victoria on 11 September, 2022.
Austin’s brother Shaun delivered an emotional statement outside the coroners court of Victoria on Monday ahead of the inquest:
I will not stop fighting for you. I will fight to make a change, any change possible, not only for Aboriginal people going through the justice system, but anyone who has to go through it. I know that’s what Clinton would want.
His family has said he was a proud father and artist who had a big heart and wanted to be an art teacher.
Austin had already served his two-year non-parole period in prison when he died. He was the second Indigenous person to die in custody in Victoria within the space of a month.
Almost 600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police or prison custody since the Royal Commission into Indigenous Deaths in Custody handed down 339 recommendations in 1991.
The inquest is scheduled to continue for three weeks.
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Victorian man charged with murder over 2006 disappearance
In Victoria, a man has been charged with murder after an investigation into the 2006 disappearance of then 38-year-old Christopher Jarvis.
The 72-year-old Wangoom man was arrested earlier today and has subsequently been charged with murder, due to face Warrnambool magistrates court this afternoon.
Jarvis was last seen when he left his house in Wangoom at around 6am on 13 June 2006. His car was later located on fire at Thunder Point, a popular coastal lookout in Warrnambool.
His disappearance initially wasn’t believed to be suspicious until new information from the public was reported to police. His remains are yet to be located.
Trump’s pause of Australian research funding over DEI not foreign interference, Clare says
The Trump administration’s temporary pause of funding to conduct a review into whether Australian university researchers promote administration priorities and avoid “DEI” and “woke gender ideology” does not amount to foreign interference, the education minister has said.
Jason Clare was asked about reviews being undertaken by the US government into funding agreements it has with Australian universities, including distributing questionnaires that request researchers confirm they align with Trump’s anti-DEI agenda.
Asked if he had a picture of the impact of those reviews, Clare confirmed seven universities had their research suspended or ceased.
This emerged out of a review the US government initiated into foreign aid and research has been caught in that … [I’ve] asked my department to work with those universities and get more information about potential research that might be affected and the Australian embassy in Washington is working with the US department to get a better understanding of this.
Pressed if the questions, which included whether the organisation espoused anti-American beliefs or received funding from China, amounted to foreign interference, Clare said “No, I don’t think it is”.
This is that US funded research, US universities working with Australian universities. Ultimately, it’s up to the US about what research it wants to fund.
He said individual researchers were responding to the questionnaires as the education department sought additional information. Asked if the Australian government would consider filling the funding gaps if they arose, he said it wasn’t “practical” to underwrite foreign research.
Clare said he expected the outcomes of the US reviews would be revealed in the second half of April.
Early childhood support key to boosting year 12 completion rates, minister says
Labor has a year 12 completion target of 85% in public schools by the end of the decade. Is that achievable?
Clare said the key to reaching it was making sure people who fell behind when they were young got extra support to catch up. He pointed to early intervention through catch-up tutoring and year 1 phonics and numeracy tests.
It’s not about building classrooms, it’s about the children in the classrooms, it’s the investment in the children … this is a big deal, no government has ever done this before ever. This agreement that we have now struck with every state and territory means that every public school across the country is going to be funded at that level that David Gonski said they should be, and it ratchets up year after year after year to get to that level.
I’m a kid from a public school in the western suburbs of Sydney, I’m the first person I my family to finish school, first person in my family to finish year 10, I’m only here because of … the teachers who taught me, I understand how important it is.
Growing number of public school students not finishing year 12 ‘a big challenge’: Jason Clare
The education minister, Jason Clare, is appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing in the wake of a deal inked between Queensland and the federal government to fully fund public schools for the first time. Queensland was the last holdout state to sign up to the agreement.
Asked if money was the solution to disadvantage and inequity in the education system, Clare said it had to be tied to “real reform”.
Reforms that will help our children who fall behind to catch up at school and to keep up and to finish school.
The big challenge that we are confronting at the moment is the number of kids finishing high school [is] dropping. Not everywhere, not in the non-government system but certainly in our [public] schools, it’s dropped from about 83% seven or eight years ago down to 73% … we’ve got to turn that around.
Clare hailed the agreements as the “the biggest investment by the commonwealth government in public education ever” – equivalent to $16.5bn over 10 years.
But it’s not a blank cheque.
Josh Butler
Coalition plan to allow first home buyers to draw from super could cost budget billions, analysis suggests
The Coalition’s plan to allow homebuyers to access a house deposit from their superannuation would eventually cost the budget billions in increased costs for the aged pension, Parliamentary Budget Office analysis reports.
Labor MP Daniel Mulino, the chair of the parliament’s economics committee, said the analysis shows “it will cost first home buyers more in the short term and taxpayers more in the long term”.
The Coalition’s affordable housing policy would allow Australians to access up to $50,000 from their super to buy their first home, with the money initially withdrawn from super required to be returned when the house is sold to support retirement.
The Labor government has strongly opposed the idea, proposed at successive elections, saying it would affect retirement savings. On Monday, PBO analysis was released saying the parameters of the Coalition policy could increase age pension costs by $1.4bn a year by the 2050s.
The modelling assumes 20% of renters (about 300,000 people) would take up the chance to take $50,000 from their super. A range of other assumptions (including on the rate of super returns, tax on super earnings, mortality rates and that people wouldn’t make extra contributions to their super to compensate for withdrawing the initial deposit).
Labor has also highlighted University of South Australia research forecasting the policy could also inflate house prices by up to 10%.
Mulino said the PBO modelling showed that “if people withdraw money from their superannuation, all taxpayers would be footing the bill with the cost of the Age Pension to grow”.
Peter Dutton’s reckless plan to force first home buyers to raid their super will push house process up by even more than the $50,000 super withdrawal he is proposing. The real solution is to build more homes and help first home buyers without forcing them to rob from tomorrow to pay for today.
Henry Belot
Stan Sport criticised over digitally inserted ads for offshore gambling company
Stan Sport has become the second major streaming service to broadcast an offshore gambling company linked to bikini-clad croupiers in as many months, drawing inquiries from the media regulator.
The broadcaster digitally imposed ads for the bookmaker 8XBet during live coverage of a 9 March game between NZ Super Rugby Aupiki clubs Matatū and Hurricanes Poua. In February, Paramount+ broadcast ads for the same bookmaker during an A-League match between Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar in New Zealand.
Both streaming companies have blamed the apparent breach of advertising policy on an unnamed third party. In 2022, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) found 8XBet allowed Australian clients to gamble, despite not having an Australian licence. The company has subsequently withdrawn from the country.
A Stan Sport spokesperson said:
Stan Sport understands that these virtual graphics were caused by a brief, one-off and unauthorised test by a third-party vendor involved with the production in NZ. We are working with our delivery partners in NZ to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
In a statement, a NZ Super Rugby Clubs spokesperson said:
This was an unfortunate human error by a third-party provider who the NZ Super Rugby Clubs work with to provide virtual advertisements and graphics on field during Super Rugby Aupiki games. We are working with the supplier to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
An Acma spokesperson said it was “seeking information from Stan so that we can consider the application of the rules in regard to these matters”.
In regard to the Paramount+ matter, we have sought information from Paramount+ and are currently considering their response.
Northern and western Queensland brace for more flooding
Inland parts of Queensland are facing “significant flooding” that could become widespread, with communities threatened to become isolated and roads likely to be blocked off.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Miriam Bradbury said on Monday afternoon isolated six-hourly rainfall of up to 90mm could hit some areas of Queensland as a low-pressure trough drew “significant moisture from the tropics”.
This is only likely to exacerbate the flash and riverine flooding that’s already unfolding in those areas, water moving over roads and access routes is likely to lead to lengthy delays or detours, and we may see … some communities being isolated or cut off, as well as impact for agriculture and industry … this situation is only beginning to develop and is likely to continue through much of this week.
Flood warnings are in place across multiple regions, with particular concern for the north tropical coast, where “grounds are wet and rivers are swollen”. The eastern interior of the NT, parts of north-eastern South Australia and far north New South Wales may also be impacted.
It comes as Western Australia faces a rare autumn heatwave and the possible development of a cyclone off the coast.
BoM forecaster Jessica Lingard told ABC radio the temperature would remain above 35C for the next five days – the first time the city had been hit with such a string of hot weather in 40 years.
The unseasonable weather was being accompanied by a tropical low forming off WA’s north-west coast – forecast to move westward as the weekend approached.
Ben Doherty
More on HMAS Sydney’s three-month deployment
We have more from Ben Doherty on the departure of HMAS Sydney for a three-month deployment that will include training exercises alongside ships from Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK.
Australian vessels and aircraft “will continue to exercise our rights to freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”, the department of defence said in a statement.
The departure of the Sydney for three months follows the circumnavigation of Australia by a flotilla of Chinese navy vessels earlier this year
The three ships – comprising the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu – possibly accompanied by an undetected nuclear submarine – sailed down the east coast of Australia in late February conducting unannounced live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea, before sailing west through the Great Australian Bight. They then sailed north, up Australia’s west coast, into the Sunda Strait, between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. All of the flotilla’s activities – including the live-fire drills – were in accordance with international law.
HMAS Sydney is one of three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers in service in the Royal Australian Navy: it carries a complement of more than 200 personnel, and a Seahawk helicopter.
“As we embark on this deployment, we are proud to represent Australia and contribute to regional stability and cooperation,” Cmdr Ben Weller, commanding officer of the Sydney, said.
Deployments such as this allow us to exercise the ship’s capability across a range of areas and alongside different partners, ensuring we’re prepared to work together in future.
Anthony Albanese has no interest in delving into the pre-election politics of Kooyong.
Asked about video footage reported today of Monique Ryan’s husband, Peter Jordan, removing a Liberal party sign, he replied:
I have no idea who Monique Ryan’s husband is.
The reporter replied that Jordan had removed a campaign sign of Amelia Hamer, the Liberal candidate for Kooyong. Both Ryan and her husband have since apologised, with Jordan suggesting he thought it was displayed illegally.
Albanese replied:
On a day where we have a $16.5bn national education announcement, I am asked about someone’s husband removing a Liberal party sign on a road somewhere!
Can I ask, is there any connection whatsoever with anyone in the Labor party with this alleged event of which I did not know? No.
The prime minister is taking questions in Melbourne after announcing a boost to Victoria’s infrastructure funding.
He is asked about a new government safety campaign on the dangers of drinking alcohol while overseas, unveiled today.
It follows the deaths of two Melbourne teenagers, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, who died after drinking alcohol tainted with methanol in Laos last year.
Albanese said his heart went out “to the family and friends of Holly and Bianca, who lost their lives so tragically … and to their communities and to their friends”.
This was a tragedy that should not have happened and one of the things we’re doing is ramping up our advertising campaign to increase awareness of the alcohol related risks of overseas travel.
For some time young people have been warned about drugs overseas but people have thought – quite clearly wrongly – that having a drink in a bar, in this case in Laos … was a harmless thing to do.
It is fantastic for Australians to do what I did and what a lot of Australians do … we are one of the great travelling populations of the world, but it needs to be made safe. This campaign, funded by the federal government, is about doing that, is about making sure that young Australians who travel overseas are aware of the risk.
All schools in Australia will be ‘fully funded for the first time’, Albanese says
Albanese also spruiked Labor’s school funding agreement, to which all jurisdictions have now signed on after receiving the seal of approval from Queensland today.
Victoria successfully pushed the federal government to double its funding offer from a 2.5% increase to public schools to 5% in January.
Albanese:
Schools will be fully funded for the first time right throughout Australia. Victoria earlier on had signed up to our schools funding agreement, we now have every state and territory signed up in our $16.5bn of improved funding, to make sure that every child gets the best opportunity in life.
I thank the Allan government for signing up very early to that school funding agreement, to see increased funding between now and 2034.
Read more about what it all means here:
Albanese announces $125m for Melbourne road upgrades
The prime minister has been hopping all over the place today.
He just appeared in Melbourne, announcing a $125m upgrade to the Donnybrook Road and Mitchell Street intersection in the outer north, as part of Labor’s $1.2bn suburban roads blitz.
Anthony Albanese said the budget commitment came on top of infrastructure investments already announced to make sure Victoria got its “fair share” of funding after a 10-year deficit.
We want to make sure that Victoria and Melbourne’s growing suburbs get support. That’s why this weekend we’ve had the minister out there announcing support for regional roads funding, to deal with level crossings.
That’s why today, as part of our $1.2bn suburban roads blitz … we are making these commitments to make a difference so that productivity can increase, so that people can spend more time at home with their family and their kids, rather than stuck in traffic. And this important project, a $125m upgrade to the Donnybrook Road and Mitchell Street intersection, is a part of making sure that we keep up with this growing community.
The project will transform the current roundabout I’ve just been through, delivering additional lanes, a fully signalised intersection and a new bridge over the creek here … it’s part of the substantial infrastructure commitments that we’ll have in tomorrow evening’s budget. A budget that will continue to have responsible economic management whilst making a difference, providing cost of living relief, and always having own eye on the future.
