CANBERRA, Australia — Finance Minister Simon Birmingham believes the government’s AU$17.7 billion ($13.73 billion) funding package into aged care is adequate, as a key commitment in last week’s big-spending federal budget. The funding is spread over four years, while aged care advocates, economists, and the opposition say it should have been more like AU$10 billion ($7.75 billion) a year. “We stand by this as being a very considered and a complete response to the royal commission,” Senator Birmingham told in a program of a reputed broadcast show. Describing it as a reform package, he says it guarantees minimum care times, bed…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — The national broadcaster has three new board members, with the Morrison government filling roles that had been vacant for up to six months. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has chosen Mario D’Orazio, Fiona Balfour and Peter Tonagh for five-year terms on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation‘s board. Their predecessors had left the board as late as November last year and the search for the new ones was on. D’Orazio’s media career has spanned more than three decades at Channel 7 in Perth, while Balfour has broad business experience focused in the arena of information technology. Tonagh has been the chief executive…
CANBERRA, Australia — Just one traveler who returned to Australia on board a repatriation flight from India has tested positive for coronavirus. The person has been placed in isolation at the Howard Springs quarantine site on the outskirts of Darwin. Northern Territory acting chief health office Charles Pain warned other passengers from the flight were undergoing further testing and the number of cases could rise. “I have news this morning that probably only one — they’re still subject to further testing – but only one person has tested positive in that group,” Pain said on May 17. “So the testing that…
HOBART, Australia — Australia’s island state Tasmania’s Labor opposition needs the federal party to intervene to limit the influence of the hard left, says a Member of Parliament who has put his hand up for the leadership position. Braddon Member of Parliament Shane Broad announced on May 17 his intention to run for the role vacated by Rebecca White at the weekend. Broad, who has a career in science, agriculture and politics entered the parliament in 2018. His decision will force Labor to a ballot of party members and parliamentarians, with shadow treasurer David O’Byrne the other option. Labor Party has been left…
SYDNEY — Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is not seeking to cut spending after the next federal election but says the government will always strive to balance the books. The treasurer delivered a big-spending budget last week which does not forecast a surplus in at least the next decade. Repeatedly asked on ABC’s Insiders program on May 16 whether the government intends cutting spending after the election — which will be held in the next year -Frydenberg said,”We are focused on the here and now.” “We are not seeking to cut spending after the next election. We are always striving to balance the…
SYDNEY — The rollout of the coronavirus vaccine to people in disability residential care has been an “abject failure”, an inquiry has heard. The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disabilities is hearing evidence on May 17 about problems with the vaccine rollout. Royal commission chair Ron Sackville told the hearing disability organizations had expressed at a meeting in April “serious concern at the apparently slow pace of the vaccine rollout for people with disability and disability care workers”. “They also recorded concern about the lack of accessible information available to people with disabilities concerning the…
German police discovered Mayan artifacts said to be worth 100,000 euros ($121,000) in the basement of a farmhouse in Klotze, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The artifacts, which date between A.D. 750-850, were found after a man, whose name was not disclosed, reported to police in 2020 that he had buried old weapons in the basement of the farmhouse before he sold it, according to media reports. Even though he described in detail the basement where he had hidden his grandfather’s rifle and pistol 14 years earlier, police doubted his story. The man contacted police a second time because he…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Transport Minister Michael McCormack declared to parliament this week that motorists will be “dancing in the streets” over the federal budget. But what sort of dance? Some would argue it’s a tediously slow waltz when motorists actually want a fleet-footed foxtrot. The budget papers do confirm the government is on track to spend more on roads by the end of the current financial year than forecast. In last October’s budget, it committed AU$7.38 billion ($5.72 billion) over 2020/21 on road infrastructure. The budget of May 11 shows this target will be exceeded with an investment of AU$7.77…
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK, Australia — Gladys Berejiklian, premier of the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales, is pleased with the uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine, with almost a million people receiving a jab so far. The premier outlined her ambition for international borders to open “sooner than the middle of next year” based on her desire for most of the state’s six million adults to be vaccinated as soon as possible. “New South Wales is edging towards a million jabs being administered,” Berejiklian said on May 17. “If we get the majority of our population vaccinated, then we can think…
BRISBANE, Australia — A government worker accused of corruptly rigging contracts then arranging kickbacks for himself says he does not know why a contractor bought him expensive Apple products. Craig Steyn appeared at a New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing as part of a probe into corruption allegations against him and his former colleague, Alexandre Dubois, at New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services. The inquiry heard on May 17 revealed that Steyn asked electrician Steven Masters to buy him an iPhone, an iPad, Apple Pencil, and a keyboard. Masters, whose business was a long-time Roads and Maritime Services’ contractor, acquiesced. When asked why…