Australia news LIVE: PM pledges financial support for DV victims, online safety measures; Violence flares among protesters at US college campuses

Greens senator Larissa Waters says she was extremely underwhelmed yesterday by the government’s $925 million commitment to reforming domestic violence.

Waters told ABC frontline services have been begging for more funding for almost a decade, and she had hoped the Albanese government would listen.

“I really thought this might be the moment that governments start to listen and do what’s really needed, rather than tokenistic, small gestures,” she said.

The payment to women fleeing violence will mean women can access up to $5000, Waters said while this was a positive it was not enough.

Here’s what Waters had to say:

All we saw and heard from the prime minister was the extension of a program that was set up under Scott Morrison, that’s been plagued with maladministration and delays, an extension of that program that doesn’t even start for another year and that is merely referring people to services.

There was nothing for frontline services, who are really doing that heavy lifting to support women when they flee violence. There was nothing on new money for prevention.

We know that at least 28 women have been killed this year, which is almost double what we saw at this time last year. So we know what we’re doing is not working and yet there was no acknowledgement of that, there was no big thinking, there was no big dollar for women and yet we saw last week there was $50 billion for defence.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to explain why the asylum seeker released from indefinite detention was allowed to remove his electronic monitoring bracelet before he allegedly attacked Perth grandmother Ninette Simons, saying it was “not appropriate” for him to comment.

“My thoughts are very much with Ninette Simons and with those directly affected, it is unacceptable. There is no place for violence in our society,” he said.

Asked if the Community Protection Board – which is set up to scrutinise visa conditions – had failed in this instance, Albanese refused to give an answer.

“The Community Protection Board is, of course, a board that’s independent of politicians,” he said.

“It’s not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases, particularly ones that are before the courts and this matter is of course before the court.”

National Australia Bank has reported a 12.8 per cent drop in cash earnings to $3.5 billion as a competitive mortgage market continued to squeeze its margins.

On Thursday, NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine said the bank was navigating a slowing economy, competitive pressures and a higher effective tax rate but that it saw good growth in some of its segments.

“This includes 8.6 per cent growth in Australian SME business lending and 6.4 per cent growth in personal banking and business and private banking customer deposits,” Irvine said in his first results update since becoming chief executive.

“In other areas where returns are less attractive, a selective approach has resulted in more subdued growth including 3.7 per cent in Australian home lending.”

NAB’s net interest margin, a measure of profitability comparing the bank’s funding costs with what it charges for loans, fell 5 basis points to 1.72 per cent. It comes as a competitive mortgage market and a shift towards more costly term deposits by customers has squeezed the sector’s margins.

NAB said it was also facing elevated cost pressures. The bank said 90-day late payments and impaired assets increased 13 basis points to 0.79 per cent, especially as its Australian home lending and business lending portfolios saw higher arrears.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is not frustrated with the pace of states and territories as they implement domestic violence reforms, but said there is a need to speed up solutions to workforce issues.

“Of course, we need to speed up, but there are workforce issues, that’s one of the issues. That’s one of the contradictions in this,” he said.

“I was in Alice Springs on Monday, there is funding available for more support workers to be employed. There aren’t people to fill those positions. That’s one of the issues that we have been discussing, so that’s part of the challenge.

“States and territories yesterday, one of the things that they committed to was to speed up the expenditure … [for] the employment of people … we want to see those places filled.”

Albanese declined to say that he was frustrated with the pace of implementing domestic violence reforms.

“What we can do as a Commonwealth government is to provide funding, we have done that. I know that states and territories all committed, across the political spectrum … to taking action on this, and yesterday was a very constructive meeting,” he said.

“It wasn’t about federal or states, you know, backing themselves in, it was about how do we work together to achieve positive outcomes because that is what people are looking for.”

Albanese says the leaving violence payment is not the only solution, but provides an important step for people to get back on their feet.

Asked how the women will receive housing support when many who flee domestic violence do not have a place to live, the prime minister said available funding has been forwarded to states and territories.

“We’ve got funding available that has been forwarded to the states and territories, including $2 billion forwarded last June for the social housing accelerator. States and territories have that money, they can invest in new homes including emergency service homes,” Albanese told ABC’s RN Breakfast.

Albanese would not say if the budget would increase JobSeeker payments as a way to support women struggling to escape domestic violence.

“We make budget announcements on budget night. What we did yesterday was bring forward an announcement that we’ve been working on for the lead-up to the budget. That was a $925 million announcement that we made yesterday,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he does not think women have been let down by yesterday’s announcement of a suite of policies to tackle domestic violence.

The plan includes an investment of $925.2 million to permanently establish the leaving violence program introduced by the Morrison government, alongside a range of online safety measures aimed at ending violence against women including bans on doxxing and deepfake pornography.

Speaking on ABC Radio National, Albanese said women fleeing violence will be able to receive up to $5000, but the job was not done yet.

“We understand that Australians want action and so did every premier and chief minister, as well as the national government when we met yesterday. This comes on top of the $2.3 billion that we committed in our first two budgets – record funding that we have done yesterday made steps forward,” he said.

“It’s not job done, this isn’t something that you solve with a meeting on Monday, this is something that governments are determined to take action on.”

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth says the latest $925 million towards resolving domestic violence will not be enough until the nation’s women and children stop living in fear.

Speaking on Seven’s Sunrise, Rishworth said state and territory leaders were looking at reforming bail laws but the leaving violence payment – $5000 for women fleeing violence – was also important.

“It won’t be enough for me until we don’t see any women living in fear, any children living in fear as a result of violence from men in this country. So we need to commit to be doing more,” Rishworth said.

“We always need to be working to doing more. That’s what the states and territories and the Commonwealth have agreed to, but I won’t be satisfied until we don’t see any more women dying.”

Molly Ticehurst will be farewelled in a public service at the rugby grounds in Forbes this afternoon, 10 days after her former boyfriend allegedly murdered her in her home in the early hours of April 22.

The death of Ticehurst has prompted an outpouring of grief and anger in the western NSW community, following revelations that her alleged murderer Daniel Billings had been released on bail just weeks ago after being accused of sexually assaulting her.

“On Thursday, let’s not think of him or have vengeance in our hearts,” Ticehurst’s father Tony wrote under the online funeral notice.

“Instead, think of the good memories Molly gave us.”

The town of 9000 people has rallied around the Ticehurst family, with nearly $60,000 raised in a public fundraiser for her funeral.

Locals launched a campaign urging people across Australia to leave their front porch lights on throughout Wednesday night in her honour.

The town will also hold a “Molly Mattered” walk around Lake Forbes on Mother’s Day, with attendees asked to wear bright colours.

The event is described as a way for Forbes “to wrap their arms around each other in a show of support and say no to violence against women”.

Ticehurst’s alleged murder intensified a national movement against domestic abuse and gendered violence.

She was remembered at a series of rallies around Australia last weekend, along with many other women killed in acts violence this year.

AAP

Mounting tensions on US campuses boiled over on Wednesday when pro-Israel supporters attacked an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA, hours after police arrested activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and flattened a tent city on its campus in New York.

Eyewitness videos from UCLA showed people wielding sticks or poles to hammer on wooden boards used as makeshift barricades to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters before police were called to the campus.

On the other side of the country, scores of New York City police officers in helmets and armour arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupying an academic building at Columbia University.

Undergraduate students who were watching the extraordinary scene, many jeering at the police, fled into nearby buildings on officers’ command.

Police also cleared out a nearby protest encampment that had inspired similar protests at campuses across the country and abroad, including in Sydney and Melbourne.

Police arrested about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York, Mayor Eric Adams said. Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.

The clashes at UCLA and in New York are part of the biggest wave of US student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020. The protests follow the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave.

Reuters

Children will be blocked from watching explicit content online under a federal government porn passport trial, a move Australia’s online safety watchdog says was partly driven by a backlash against Labor’s earlier reluctance to force adult sites to shield young people.

Labor will spend $6.5 million on a pilot program that would force people to prove their age, likely through the use of electronic “tokens” that may also be required for alcohol delivery services and gambling sites.

Restricting access to porn and banning doxxing and artificial intelligence-created sexual content were headline solutions from a national cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state leaders discussed ideas to counter violence against women.

Albanese also pledged $925 million to expand a financial support scheme for women fleeing violent relationships, but a key consultant to the national domestic violence plan described the move as just “one piece of the puzzle” that must be quickly followed by stronger action.

Monash University Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, who led the consultations for the national plan to end violence against women, said Wednesday’s announcements were a step forward but not enough.

“The leaving violence program is one piece of the puzzle but it’s critical that it is implemented alongside increased funding for the range of wrap-around supports that victim-survivors so desperately need at the point of leaving an abuser,” she said.