Blow the Truth

Dan Andrews Photo facebook Andrews: I won’t waste words: today hurts.  Victorians know, better than anyone, just how deeply.  But as we’ve seen – here in Australia and around the world – we are facing a new kind of enemy. A virus that is smarter, and faster, and more infectious.  And until we have a vaccine, we need to do everything we can to keep this virus at bay. In the past 24 hours, five new cases have been identified. It shows just how incredibly infectious this virus is. And our public health team tell us it’s only getting faster. Right now, we are reaching close contacts well within the 48-hour benchmark. But the time between exposure, incubation, symptoms and testing positive is rapidly shortening.  So much so, that even secondary close contacts are potentially infectious within that 48-hour window. In short: this hyper-infectious variant is moving at hyper-speed. It’s why on the advice of our public health experts, the whole of Victoria will move to circuit-breaker action fro

Senator Hanson and Thorpe The Greens Senator Lidia THORPE: MATTERS OF URGENCY - National Security: I rise to speak on this motion, and I thank Senator Lines for putting it before this chamber. It's very disturbing to hear the comments that people are making in this chamber. This is absolutely critical right now in this country because it is getting worse, and there is deep division in this country where we are meant to be uniting—as people who represent our constituents and the people of Australia. It's deeply saddening that we have a government who is so connected to the far-Right, to the fascists, to the Nazis. It's deeply disturbing. I have been on the receiving end of these racists, these violent perpetrators that don't like anybody else but themselves and the whiteness that they bring. When I was 14 and I started my first job, I rocked up to work one day and there was 'coon' written across the window, in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. When I had my first child,

The Economic Support Payment is an extra payment to support people impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19). You’ll get the payment from early March if you’re: living in Australia and getting an eligible payment or concession card on 26 February 2021. You need to get certain payments to get the Economic Support Payment. Services Australia pays 2 more Economic Support Payments , 1 from December 2020 and 1 in March 2021. You must get an eligible payment or concession card and be living in Australia to get the payments. Services Australia pay the Economic Support Payments straight into your bank account. If you have a Cashless Debit Card they will pay the Economic Support Payments onto your card. If you’re income managed, the payments will be 100% income managed. Generally, you won’t get the Economic Support Payment if you get $1 or more of the  Coronavirus Supplement . You’ll get the payment if you get one of the following: Age Pension Carer Allowance Carer Payment Commonwealth Seniors Health

ScoMo: The first F-35A aircraft has been inducted into BAE Systems Australia’s (BAESA) maintenance depot as part of the next major milestone in the Joint Strike Fighter Program. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the F-35A fleet was now 33 strong and ready to deploy on operations. “This is about protecting and securing Australia’s interests but it’s also creating jobs and driving investment right here in the Hunter and across the country too,” the Prime Minister said. “This induction demonstrates the world-leading capability of our local defence industry here in Australia. “We want to give as many opportunities to Australian companies as possible which is why there’s already more than 50 local companies sharing in $2.7 billion worth of contracts as part of the F-35 Program. “As we recover from the COVID recession a key plank of our Economic Recovery Plan is our $270 billion investment in Defence capability over the next decade and our $65 billion commitment in air capabilities which in

PM Scott Morrison PM Scott Morrison, I had a very warm and engaging call with Joe Biden. And we appreciated the opportunity to have that conversation in an early phase, amongst the many nations that have been engaged with early on in that process. As he said to me again today, he sees the Australia - US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region. And that is true. We share that view. In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there's nothing to fix there, only things to build on, and we intend to do just that. We talked about the stewardship we share, A stewardship that has been held by prime ministers and presidents over a very long time, and particularly this year. Some 70 years of the ANZUS Alliance that we will celebrate in September of this year. I spoke to former prime minister Howard when we were at Doug Anthony's funeral the other day, and he reminded me that it was 20 years ago in September, when he was in the Uni

PM Scott Morrison Prime Minister:  Thank you very much, Laura, and to everybody who is here today. I, of course, begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, their elders past, present and the future. Can I also acknowledge any veterans who are with us today, serving men and women of our Australian Defence Force and say to them thank you for your service. Can I also acknowledge today the beautiful Abdallah and Sakr families on this first national i4Give Day, as we remember their four beautiful angels - Antony, Angelique, Sienna and Veronique - who were taken from us this day a year ago. I also welcome the very many of my colleagues who are here today. Of course, led by the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. It is great to have you all here today and I acknowledge you all and the great job you have been doing and I know you will do over the course of this year. In 2020, I said we would not let this virus break our Australian spirit. It hasn’t, and it won’t. I said we always believed ourselves a