Australia news live: Labor's women's health package offers cheaper contraceptive pills and HRT; Queensland on flood watch
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Labor's $573.3m package for women's health
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Cait Kelly
Some measures will take effect almost immediately, like the PBS listing of the first new contraceptive pills in more than 30 years, and the first new menopausal hormone therapies in more than 20 years.
Other measures will be implemented following the re-election of the Albanese Labor Government.
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher:
Women have asked government to take their healthcare seriously, and we have listened.
Our investment of more than half a billion dollars will deliver more choice, lower costs, and better healthcare for women at all stages of their lives.
These changes could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.
Whether it's saving hundreds of dollars on contraceptives, opening more endo and pelvic pain clinics, or ensuring more reliable support for women going through menopause – this comprehensive package will deliver for millions of women and their families. Share Cait Kelly
Today the Labor party will announce a $573.3m it says will deliver more choice, lower costs and better healthcare for women.
The package of measures includes: The first PBS listing for new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years.
Larger Medicare payments and more bulk billing for IUDs and birth control implants saving about 300,000 women a year up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs.
A new Medicare rebate for menopause health assessments, funding to train health professionals, the first clinical guidelines and a national awareness campaign.
The first PBS listing for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years.
Opening 11 new clinics for endometriosis and pelvic pain, and ensuring these and the existing 22 clinics are also staffed to provide additional specialist support for menopause.
Contraceptives and treatment for uncomplicated UTIs directly from pharmacies, with two national trials to benefit 250,000 concession cardholders. Share Rafqa Touma
And welcome to our live news blog. I'm Rafqa Touma updating you with the stories of the day as they happen.
We woke up to news that a heatwave, bringing high humidity and hot nights, is moving east from southern and central Australia. Southern parts of the Northern Territory and far western parts of Queensland are bearing the brunt, while Melbourne and Hobart are also expected to experience a run of unusually hot weather.
Yesterday thousands of people attended rallies across Australia to show solidarity with transgender youth and their families, after the Queensland government's decision to pause essential healthcare for trans minors. Twenty rallies were held, including crowds of 5,000 gathering in Brisbane and Melbourne, 2,500 in Sydney and more than 200 in Cairns, a lead organiser said.
And Australia's largest childcare provider is facing activist pressure to give staff paid parental leave. Australian employers commonly offer paid parental leave – in addition to the government scheme – to attract and retain workers in a competitive jobs market. But the largest listed childcare provider in Australia, G8 Education, has no such policy, drawing the attention of activist shareholders who want to pressure it to change.
Now let's get into the news of the day. Share
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The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Victoria's Liberals saved John Pesutto from bankruptcy. But can they save themselves from all-out war?
As his party room imploded last year, plagued by infighting and a looming defamation trial, John Pesutto placed a blank sheet of butcher's paper in front of his colleagues. In the dying days of his tenure as opposition leader, Pesutto asked MPs what should have been simple questions to answer: What are our values? What do we stand for? His attempt to unify a deeply divided party failed spectacularly. Almost a year later, there is no consensus answer to those questions. Factional grievances have intensified, with MPs now warning of 'all-out war' and outlining 'completely brutal' schemes to gain control of the party. A bitter rift between Pesutto and fellow Liberal Moira Deeming, who successfully sued him for defamation after he falsely implied she sympathised with neo-Nazis, has left the party room, its organisational wing and dwindling membership divided. Many senior Liberals are despondent. There have been, according to some, more than two years of 'shit fights', 'constant stupidity and self-harm' that have allowed 'an inept Labor government' to evade scrutiny, despite the best efforts of a few opposition MPs. Some hope the party's decision to loan Pesutto $1.5m so he can pay Deeming's legal fees, avoiding bankruptcy, may lead to a truce. But others suggest animosity runs deep and the party will struggle to heal while both remain in the party room. On Thursday night, members of the party's administrative committee handed over their phones to an official before voting in a secret ballot. Pesutto, who had only a matter of days to raise $2.3m, outlined a last-minute loan deal using his superannuation as security, repayable with a commercial interest rate. This was, for some on the committee, the first time they had been briefed on the proposal despite reading about it in the media for several weeks. When Deeming's lawyers filed a bankruptcy notice against Pesutto, the Victorian Liberal party president, Philip Davis, began to canvass the views of his colleagues. Those strongly opposed were kept in the dark until the secret ballot. 'My position is well known,' said one admin member contacted by Davis. 'No, no, no, no, how many times can I say no.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Several members of the committee were furious at the prospect of party money being spent on an internal dispute, rather than on campaigning to beat Labor. The proposal, first reported by Guardian Australia, was pushed by Pesutto's supporters as a way to avoid an expensive byelection in his seat of Hawthorn and to ensure, in their view, that moderate MPs were not pushed out of the party. Even before the meeting was called, Pesutto's supporters put pressure on the party leader, Brad Battin, to endorse the loan and give it momentum. 'We're already in a shit fight, but if Brad doesn't support a loan, it will lead to all-out war,' threatened one Liberal MP who declined to be named so they could speak freely. Another MP said Battin 'should not be the one to stand in the way of a deal that has support' from the party room and a majority of the committee. This did not go down well with some on the committee. 'All this media stuff is emotional blackmail,' said one committee member who declined to be named given the tense nature of discussions. When the deal was ultimately approved, Davis emailed party members to claim it would 'settle the matter once and for all' and allow the party to move on without further distraction. Battin, who endorsed the motion, said it would 'avoid further financial and reputational damage' and also declared the matter resolved, with the party now 'united, disciplined and determined' to focus on the future. Not everyone agrees. Before the meeting, Deeming said she was dismayed a loan deal was even being considered. She said it ran 'against the grain of everything we believe as Liberals' and claimed it would be a 'direct rebuke' of the federal court judgment. 'I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me,' Deeming said in reference to some of her party room colleagues. Pesutto's supporters remain bitter the party only intervened at the final hour after relentless pressure to do, in their view, the right thing. Others won't forget that Deeming's legal team threatened to chase money from Pesutto's supporters should he not be able to pay. Correspondence named former Liberal premiers Jeff Kennett, Denis Napthine and Ted Baillieu, and Victorian MPs David Southwick and Georgie Crozier as people who may be held liable. 'How can those two MPs sit in the party room with someone who was willing to do that and trust her?' said one Liberal source. 'They will always be looking over their shoulder.' Deeming did not respond to that comment, but a source close to her denied any allegation that she was untrustworthy, dishonest or a bully. Her financial backer, the New South Wales property developer Hilton Grugeon, who is owed $2.3m, said he was not bothered by the damage this would have unleashed on the party. 'I supported [the Liberals] when they were unsupportable,' Grugeon said. 'But I cannot care what happens to a party that wants to look the other way while their leader beats up on a woman who did nothing wrong.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Shortly before lodging defamation proceedings against Pesutto, Deeming outlined a vision of the Liberal party that is antithetical to some of her colleagues. In late May, Deeming told the podcast Club Grubbery praised the rightwing South Australian senator Alex Antic's ability to control his state branch and said 'nobody can get rid of him'. 'We need to take back ownership of the party of the centre right,' Deeming said, before speaking to its rank-and-file. 'This is your party. You own it, it's yours. Do not cede this ground.' 'We've really got to get really mercenary about it,' said Deeming, who raised the prospect of working with Antic and Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to recruit more like-minded members. 'We've got to get completely brutal.' But many moderates, including former federal vice-president Tom Harley, warn any push to become more conservative would make the party electorally irrelevant. Harley is scathing of the party's internal divisions, describing them as being in a state of 'constant stupidity and self-harm'. 'The Liberal party in Victoria is stuck talking to a small section of itself in the corner,' Harley said. 'We must focus on the issues that matter to people, not who goes to which lavatory.' Others, including the federal Liberal MP Jason Wood, believe factionalism is tearing the state party apart, rather than being a disagreement about values. 'Hopefully all this sorts itself and everyone takes a chill pill but, sadly, people are putting their factions first,' Wood said. Many Victorian Liberals deny they have factions equivalent to the rigid blocs that divide power in the Labor party. But they don't dispute that their party is bitterly divided. On Friday morning, Pesutto said he was 'grateful and humbled' by the party's decision to save him from bankruptcy and his colleagues would 'focus all our energy on winning the next state election'. But some didn't get the memo. Within hours of the deal being approved, one unnamed conservative MP told the Herald Sun that Battin's leadership was in question and 'the conservative block will want a 'please explain''. One senior Liberal operative not authorised to speak publicly believes the party's leadership team allowed the saga to remain unresolved for too long. They argue the damage will now be difficult to contain, despite a resolution being reached. 'If there had been good leadership of the party, the John and Moira saga might have been dealt with very differently and much quicker,' the source said. 'But no one stood up. They all thought, 'oh this will be fine, it will be buried'. But it wasn't buried. And that's how we've got to this stage.' On Thursday night, just hours after the loan was secured, some members of Deeming's branch urged each other to draw a line under the scandal and focus attention on Labor. 'Let's move on now,' said one member in a WhatsApp message leaked to Guardian Australia. 'We have got an election to win.' One of Deeming's closest allies, her husband, Andrew, replied saying, 'sadly it's not that easy to just move on'. 'Personally, my kids have nightmares because of this. Moira still gets abusive messages because of this. Politically, the party just reinforced all its negative stereotypes that they are anti-woman, that they are an old boys club,' Andrew Deeming said. 'How can we convince the public that the Liberal party cares about them when the Liberal party has given effective support to an MP who defamed his own colleague?' The text messages show Moira Deeming is bitterly disappointed by the organisational wing's conduct. 'They literally sent a bulk email to brag about earning interest off ruining my life and destroying my family,' she wrote. 'Disgusting.' Deeming confirmed she sent the message and told Guardian Australia it explained her motivation for uploading an image on social media that said: 'They financially profited off her trauma. They told the world they did her a favour. This is what institutional abuse looks like.' 'Clearly, it is undeniable that there are deep wounds,' Deeming said. 'There have been wrongs done. The things I needed were full exoneration and my loan repaid. I now have those two things.' Pesutto may have been saved from bankruptcy, but the Victorian Liberals' internal battles are far from over.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Panic mounts as social security's cash shortfall date revealed
The US Social Security and Medicare programs for seniors will both run short of funds to pay full benefits in 2033. The go-broke dates the two trust funds have moved up due to rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits, according to an annual report released Wednesday. The yearly assessment found that Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund will be unable to fully cover costs beginning in 2033 — three years earlier than last year's estimate. Higher-than-forecast hospitalizations of Americans over 65 years old was a key factor. Social Security's combined trust funds, which support retirement and disability benefits to 70 million Americans, are also expected to be depleted in 2033. While the year was unchanged from last year's report, it was advanced by three calendar quarters within that year. The projections reflect higher-than-expected healthcare spending, along with recent legislation that increased Social Security benefits for some workers. Once the funds are exhausted, beneficiaries would still receive payments, but at reduced levels. Medicare would be able to cover just 89 percent of hospital costs, while Social Security could pay only about 81 percent of promised benefits. The trustees say the latest findings show the urgency of needed changes to the programs, which have faced dire financial projections for decades. But making changes to the programs has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare´s troubling math to the next generation. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have vowed not to make any cuts to Medicare or Social Security, even as they seek to shrink the federal government´s expenditures. 'The financial status of the trust funds remains a top priority for the administration,' said Social Security Administration commissioner Frank Bisignano (pictured) in a statement. The new forecast adds urgency to a long-standing challenge facing Congress, which has repeatedly delayed making reforms due to political sensitivity around the issue. Lawmakers would need to act — either by raising taxes, reducing benefits, or both —to ensure long-term solvency. President Donald Trump and many Republican lawmakers have pledged not to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits, but critics say recent legislative changes have worsened the programs' financial outlook. One provision enacted in January—the Social Security Fairness Act—eliminated two rules that had reduced benefits for certain workers, effectively increasing payments and accelerating the trust fund's projected depletion. Romina Boccia (pictured), director of budget and entitlement policy at the CATO Institute, called the change 'a political giveaway masquerading as reform.' Instead of tackling Social Security´s structural imbalances, Congress chose to increase benefits for a vocal minority-accelerating trust fund insolvency.' About 68 million Americans are currently enrolled in Medicare, and more than 70 million receive Social Security benefits. Both programs are primarily funded through payroll taxes, but costs are projected to outpace revenues due to the country's aging population and rising healthcare expenses. Experts say failure to act soon could result in sudden benefit cuts and instability for millions of retirees and disabled Americans. 'Congress must act to protect and strengthen the Social Security that Americans have earned and paid into,' said AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan (pictured). Several policy proposals have been floated in recent years, but none have gained significant momentum. The last major reform to Social Security came in 1983, when the eligibility age for full retirement benefits was raised from 65 to 67. Without further legislative changes, the federal programs that serve as the backbone of retirement security in the US could face significant challenges within the next decade. Last year, billionaire CEO Larry Fink (pictured) said Americans should work beyond the age of 65 to stop the Social Security system collapsing. Meanwhile, experts recently said Americans are making a big mistake by claiming their Social Security checks early, since delaying their claims could lead to higher payments. Every year you delay taking a Social Security payment after full retirement age you receive a significant increase in payments up to the age of 70.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Panic as Social Security bosses set date America will run out of cash
The US Social Security and Medicare programs for seniors will both run short of funds to pay full benefits in 2033. The go-broke dates the two trust funds have moved up due to rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits, according to an annual report released Wednesday. The yearly assessment found that Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund will be unable to fully cover costs beginning in 2033 — three years earlier than last year's estimate. Higher-than-forecast hospitalizations of Americans over 65 years old was a key factor. Social Security's combined trust funds, which support retirement and disability benefits to 70 million Americans, are also expected to be depleted in 2033. While the year was unchanged from last year's report, it was advanced by three calendar quarters within that year. The projections reflect higher-than-expected healthcare spending, along with recent legislation that increased Social Security benefits for some workers. Once the funds are exhausted, beneficiaries would still receive payments, but at reduced levels. Medicare would be able to cover just 89 percent of hospital costs, while Social Security could pay only about 81 percent of promised benefits. The trustees say the latest findings show the urgency of needed changes to the programs, which have faced dire financial projections for decades. But making changes to the programs has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare´s troubling math to the next generation. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have vowed not to make any cuts to Medicare or Social Security, even as they seek to shrink the federal government´s expenditures. 'The financial status of the trust funds remains a top priority for the administration,' said Social Security Administration commissioner Frank Bisignano in a statement. The new forecast adds urgency to a long-standing challenge facing Congress, which has repeatedly delayed making reforms due to political sensitivity around the issue. Lawmakers would need to act — either by raising taxes, reducing benefits, or both —to ensure long-term solvency. President Donald Trump and many Republican lawmakers have pledged not to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits, but critics say recent legislative changes have worsened the programs' financial outlook. One provision enacted in January—the Social Security Fairness Act—eliminated two rules that had reduced benefits for certain workers, effectively increasing payments and accelerating the trust fund's projected depletion. Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the CATO Institute, called the change 'a political giveaway masquerading as reform.' Instead of tackling Social Security´s structural imbalances, Congress chose to increase benefits for a vocal minority-accelerating trust fund insolvency.' About 68 million Americans are currently enrolled in Medicare, and more than 70 million receive Social Security benefits. Both programs are primarily funded through payroll taxes, but costs are projected to outpace revenues due to the country's aging population and rising healthcare expenses. Experts say failure to act soon could result in sudden benefit cuts and instability for millions of retirees and disabled Americans. 'Congress must act to protect and strengthen the Social Security that Americans have earned and paid into,' said AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan. Several policy proposals have been floated in recent years, but none have gained significant momentum. The last major reform to Social Security came in 1983, when the eligibility age for full retirement benefits was raised from 65 to 67. Without further legislative changes, the federal programs that serve as the backbone of retirement security in the US could face significant challenges within the next decade. Last year, billionaire CEO Larry Fink said Americans should work beyond the age of 65 to stop the Social Security system collapsing. Meanwhile, experts recently said Americans are making a big mistake by claiming their Social Security checks early, since delaying their claims could lead to higher payments. Every year you delay taking a Social Security payment after full retirement age you receive a significant increase in payments up to the age of 70.
