What we learned today, Tuesday 21 April
Thanks for staying with us today. We’ll leave our live coverage of Australia’s breaking news there for the evening.
Here were today’s top stories:
A NSW Treasury employee has been charged after an alleged breach involving over 5,600 documents.
Petrol stations have been fined more than $128,000 for breaching Victoria’s fuel price plan.
A crocodile attack in the Kimberley involving a “large” animal prompted a warning to Western Australian officials.
A parliamentary inquiry into gas company taxation began, with Punters Politics’ Konrad Benjamin warning politicians were underestimating public interest.
Labor’s Ed Husic called for the May budget to bring in a 25% tax on gas export.
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has said such a tax would kill the sector.
Adam Bandt predicted there would be ‘statues in every town square’ for any PM who made gas companies pay their ‘fair share’ of tax.
Updated
Medicare ‘unfairly excluding’ parents who choose surrogacy, inquiry hears
Intended parent Lucy Koops said high out-of-pocket surrogacy costs are exacerbated by the Medicare system which effectively discriminates against intended parents.
A witness at today’s hearing for the NSW Inquiry into fertility support and assisted reproductive treatment, Koops shared that she is unable to carry a child as a direct result of medical intervention.
After a miscarriage, a junior doctor performed a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure on her. This left her with a perforated uterus and Asherman’s syndrome, an acquired condition involving scar tissue in the uterus.
She described the frequent denial of standard IVF rebates when a surrogate is involved as “unfairly excluding” people with physical conditions preventing pregnancy. She estimated her total surrogacy costs at over $250,000.
Koops also noted systemic issues in basic hospital protocol once a child is born via surrogacy. Intended parents said staff routinely treat them as “boarders” in maternity wards rather than the child’s actual parents, including a rushed discharge process.
Updated
