What we learned today, Friday 28 April
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
Bruce Lehrmann will be free to pursue claims against News Corp and Network Ten after a court granted him an extension to the usual 12-month time limit on defamation cases.
National cabinet has committed nearly $1.5bn in new funding to overhaul Medicare, as part of a $2.2bn health plan to boost the number of nurses, increase after-hours care and expand the roles of pharmacists and paramedics.
The Australian government is resisting issuing a ban on WeChat on government devices despite many government departments instituting their own bans after the TikTok edict earlier this month.
Mark Latham’s repeated homophobic commentary is unworthy of a parliamentarian, according to the incoming New South Wales Liberal leader, Mark Speakman.
The devastated family of a Queensland man lost at sea after going overboard while on a Hawaii-bound cruise has posted loving tributes after search efforts were suspended.
Footballer Sam Kerr will lead a contingent of prominent Australians at King Charles’s coronation next week after being named as the official flag bearer for the ceremony in London.
Have a great evening, everyone. We will be back with you tomorrow morning.
Updated
Government urged to extend credit card ban to lotteries
Financial Counselling Australia has welcomed the government’s move to ban the use of credit cards for online gambling.
Its director of policy and campaigns, Lauren Levin, has been campaigning for the ban for many years. She says financial counsellors see too many clients who have used credit cards to gamble:
We should never have to discuss credit cards and gambling in the same sentence ever again.
In 2018, the federal government legislated to prevent gambling companies giving people credit to gamble. The amount spent on gambling dropped for a few weeks, but then people experiencing problems with gambling turned instead to credit cards.
Online gambling also increased during the pandemic, and a lot of it was also funded by credit cards.
Levin has also urged the government to change its mind and ensure credit cards are also banned for lotteries. She said gamblers determined to use their credit cards will find a way to do so:
Credit and gambling do not go together, even if a percentage of the amount gambled ends up funding a good cause.
Updated
