What we've learned - Monday 1 July
That brings the blog to a close this first day of the month, but first let’s recap the main events:
Anne Aly said she hoped Fatima Payman remained a Labor senator. Anthony Albanese said the Greens’ “stunt” was designed to put Payman in a difficult position.
Sam Mostyn was sworn in as governor general. The prime minister said Mostyn would be “an outstanding leader”. The new governor general said testing times’ called for kindness, care and respect.
International student visa fees more than doubled overnight.
Andrew Wilkie seconded Rebekha Sharkie’s private member’s bill on gambling ads, saying it was “way beyond time”.
The health minister, Mark Butler, told shops to stop selling vapes as new laws begin.
Mehreen Faruqi denounced Labor’s “shameful” suspension of Payman as Albanese urges that “we take the temperature down” on the Gaza debate.
Payman released a statement on social media saying she’d been “exiled” from Labor.
Amy will be back with you bright and early in the morning.
Updated
Coercive-control laws to protect NSW women come into force
NSW is safer for women after becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to criminalise coercive control as a standalone offence, a family violence expert says.
AAP reports that legislation criminalising repeated patterns of physical or non-physical abuse used to hurt, scare, intimidate, threaten or control someone passed the NSW parliament in 2022 and came into effect today.
Its introduction was delayed to allow time to educate police, the judiciary and the public, with perpetrators facing jail for up to seven years if found guilty.
Women’s Community Shelters chief executive Annabelle Daniel said NSW residents should be extremely proud to live in a state taking serious action on coercive control.
She said:
With this reform, we can now tell women seeking support at our services that the patterns of abuse that they’ve experienced are criminal.
This legislation will improve the lives of women and children who may never seek to use the legal system … the police and court system personnel are trained to identify patterns of abuse, and we’ll be less likely to misidentify the perpetrator of abuse when they attend to incidents.
Coercive control was a precursor to 97% of intimate partner domestic violence homicides in NSW between 2000 and 2018. Daniel said:
But it’s also really important to note coercive control deserves to be criminalised because it in itself is intimate partner terrorism, whether or not it leads to domestic homicide.
Tougher bail laws mean people charged with serious domestic violence offences, with a maximum imprisonment of 14 years or more, must now demonstrate why they should not remain in custody.
These include sexual assault, kidnapping, and choking to render someone unconscious with intent to commit another indictable offence in intimate partner relationships.
Updated
