What we learned: Wednesday 27 March
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today, but first a recap of the main events:
Andrew Wilkie said the UK delaying the Assange appeal decision was good news.
The Coalition unexpectedly moved to refer the Labor deportation bill to an inquiry.
Bill Shorten outlined the new NDIS bill prioritising “more dignified” support based on needs.
David Shoebridge was scathing on Labor’s “crayon drawing” deportation bill as the Greens and Coalition pushed for an inquiry.
Inflation remained steady in February.
Evidence suggested vaping may affect eye health, as peak bodies call for more legislation.
Abortion has officially been removed from Western Australia’s criminal code.
The former One Nation candidate backed by conspiracy theorists is set to become Townsville’s mayor.
Andrew Wilkie claimed Labor “prevented” him tabling documents about AFL drug tests.
The Northern Territory chief minister announced there would be a curfew enacted in Alice Springs for young people from tonight.
A Senate panel accused PwC of trying to cover up the tax leaks scandal.
Linda Burney welcomed the Alice Springs curfew as a “circuit breaker”.
Homelessness in WA reached an all-time high.
The Australia news live blog will be back tomorrow. Have a lovely evening.
Updated
Labor toughens penalties for assaulting frontline workers amid ‘a lot of agro’
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has introduced laws that will increase penalties for attacks on frontline services.
Bill Shorten, the government services minister, represents 30,000 people frontline public servants, these are the people that do Medicare, Centrelink and child-support.
Shorten told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
What I realised is that of our public servants are carrying a lot of stress, there’s a lot of agro, there’s more increases in assault and violence – not from most people that use the system but from a small group of people.
I think one of the things to improve their safety is to increase the penalties. If you hit a cop – I mean a cop shouldn’t ever be hit, or a judge - but they’ve got very strong protections. In the case of police, they are armed and trained.
Our frontline staff, they don’t have any of that but their work is as important as anyone else’s, so we are increasing the penalties.
I’m not saying that will guarantee that no one will ever get assaulted but it is part of my commitment to these 30,000 people and other public servants, what you do is important and you don’t have to put up threats of abuse.
Updated
