Summary
Here is a wrap of the day’s politics, in case you missed a bit:
Prime minister Anthony Albanese says legislation to impose a minimum age for teenagers accessing social media and gaming platforms will be introduced into parliament before the next election (and experts responded by saying bans, although seductive to parents, are not the answer).
Opposition leader Peter Dutton committed to overturning the live sheep export ban if elected at the next election. Nationals leader David Littleproud said it would be the first bill he would introduce as an agriculture minister.
The federal government published the draft of its National Suicide Prevention Strategy, and the public has been invited to give their feedback.
The Greens’ Nick McKim demanded treasurer Jim Chalmers use his intervention powers to override the Reserve Bank board and cut interest rates immediately.
Question time was hectic. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor was ejected amid a fierce RBA debate, and independent MP Zali Steggall said a member of the public gallery “flipped the bird” and accused Littleproud of threatening her.
Thanks for tuning in, Amy Remeikis will be with you for another Australia politics live blog tomorrow morning.
Updated
Unregistered babies risk missing out on care, education
Thousands of babies won’t be registered in Australia in 2024, which could inhibit their access to education, healthcare and future employment.
Up to 12,500 births are never registered with Birth, Deaths and Marriages, a report using a combination of Australian Bureau of Statistics data has found.
The report published by Unicef Australia raises concerns about a lack of access to childcare for young people without birth certificates, but says most of the children unregistered live in remote parts of the country where childcare is not accessible.
Unicef Australia’s head of policy and advocacy Katie Maskiell said data for the Certify Hope: Rights from the Start report was pooled from a range of sources that fed into the ABS, but recognised the information could be incomplete.
It is the first time unregistered births have been measured and analysed nationally.
“We know that these are some of the barriers, the distrust of government services from a stolen generation perspective,” Maskiell said.
We know that there are barriers for remote communities in terms of accessibility to the internet, lack of services on the ground in those communities in the first place ... we’d heard all of that anecdotally, but the data now kind of confirms those barriers.
Only 22.1% of First Nations births in the most remote areas were registered more than one year after birth, according to the report.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
