Reports of students ranking female classmates ‘disgraceful and utterly unacceptable’, Allan says
Benita Kolovos
Circling back to Jacinta Allan’s press conference, where the premier was asked about reports in the papers this morning that four students at a private school in Melbourne’s east have been suspended after rating their female classmates.
According to a report in the Age, the students at Yarra Valley grammar school in Ringwood shared a spreadsheet of photos of their female classmates and ranked them in categories. The girls were ranked from top to bottom as “wifeys”, “cuties”, “mid”, “object”, “get out” and then finally “unrapable”.
Allan said the reported behaviour was “misogynist[ic], it’s disgraceful, it’s disgusting, and it’s utterly unacceptable”.
We have been having, for months now, an ongoing community conversation about how four women every week are losing their lives at the hands of a man. Maybe a current or former partner, maybe a complete stranger. This pattern of violence against women – not only does the act of violence have to stop, but these displays of disrespecting women. Like it’s just disgraceful.
My thoughts today are with the young women and the young men who they go to school with, who are absolutely devastated by this news, [and] with the young women and their families. To think that you’re sitting in a classroom with classmates who may not just hold these views, but write them down and share them.
Allan continued, stating “this is no joke”.
Respect for women has to be at the forefront of every classroom, of every household, of every part of our community, because we are seeing what happens [at the] extreme end of what respect for women looks like with too many women subjected to violence, too many women losing their lives.
My thoughts today [are] with those young women and their families who must be just devastated. I was devastated, utterly devastated when I read those reports this morning.
Key events
Dozens gather in Mexico for ‘paddle out’ in memory of trio, including Australian brothers
Dozens of people have gathered in the seaside community of San Miguel for a “paddle out” – a late afternoon vigil to honour the Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their travelling companion Jack Carter Rhoad.
Mexican authorities have identified the three dead bodies found in a well in Mexico as the trio. Residents trekked barefoot from their small beach cottages to the shoreline for the quiet ceremony.
Surfer Phil Brown, who said he spends four months a year in San Miguel, said he had planned to camp last weekend about 10km from the last known location of the surfers – an isolated area he said he’s travelled to often.
And that’s what’s scary is: Did I just get really lucky or did they just get very unlucky?
You can read the full story from Thomas Graham and Wendy Fry below:
David McBride sentencing hearing begins
Sarah Basford Canales
As we mentioned earlier, the sentencing of David McBride has begun today and the courtroom is now hearing from his legal team about his character and motivations.
So far, McBride’s defence wants Justice David Mossop to consider making three factual findings on the former military lawyer’s “exemplary character”, that his actions in leaking documents to expose alleged misconduct within the Australian defence force were “honourable” and that he didn’t believe he was committing a crime.
His counsel, Stephen Odgers, said McBride came to believe the ADF adopted a policy of “excessive investigation of soldiers” around 2013 after earlier war crime allegations against Australian special forces soldiers. McBride believed those within the “highest levels” of the ADF had concocted the “PR exercise”.
You can read more about the timeline in his own words below:
Of course, these reasons were already canvassed in the trial in November 2023 – to which he pleaded guilty to three offences, including stealing commonwealth information and passing that on to journalists at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Today’s hearing – which is scheduled to continue on Tuesday – is instead about sentencing. This means, the parties are making submissions to determine how McBride should be punished.
The federal government is yet to run through its submissions but will base it on a history of prior convictions, and a schedule of comparative cases.
The sentencing continues.
P&O Cruises ship that aided in search operation cleared to return to port
P&O Cruises says the Pacific Adventure cruise ship has been cleared by police to return to port after this morning’s search operation.
The company has just released a statement, following news a body had been found:
We thank guests for their care, understanding and patience on what’s been a distressing day for guests and crew.
Our thoughts are with the family of the guest at this difficult time.
Pacific Adventure’s next voyage, due to depart White Bay this afternoon, has been delayed.
Body located in water off Sydney following search for person overboard
The body of a man has been located and retrieved off the coast of Sydney after reports someone had gone overboard a cruise ship.
Emergency services received reports a person had gone overboard a ship 10 nautical miles (about 19km) off Sydney Heads just after 4am.
The P&O Pacific Adventure was due to dock in Sydney Harbour at 6am this morning, but was delayed as it took part in the search and rescue efforts.
NSW police confirmed that at about 10.30am, officers located the body of a man and it was retrieved.
Police will now launch an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
Greens poised for historic upper house election win in Tasmania
The Greens are poised to win their first seat in Tasmania’s upper house after the party’s improved showing at the recent state election, AAP reports.
Former party leader Cassy O’Connor has 37% of the primary vote in Hobart – one of three legislative council divisions that went to the polls on Saturday.
It comes after the Greens boosted their lower house representation from two to five MPs at the 23 March election. The party picked up a 1.5% swing, coinciding with the lower house increasing from 25 to 35 members.
Tasmania is widely acknowledged as being home to world’s first ‘green’ party, the United Tasmania Group, which ran candidates at the 1972 state election.
Counting in Hobart, as well as Elwick and Prosser, resumed today with final results potentially known in coming days.
O’Connor has a sizeable lead over independent candidate John Kelly (22%) and is expected to prevail. She resigned from the party leadership in July and left parliament for a tilt at the upper house.
Caitlin Cassidy
Education union backs placement payments as win to overcome placement poverty
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has backed the federal government’s Commonwealth Practice Payments as a win to overcome placement poverty, while calling on Labor to do more to prevent high dropout rates in critical degrees.
Its federal president, Correna Haythorpe, pointed to figures showing 20% of teaching graduates leave the profession in their first three years of entering the workforce, citing increased workload, class sizes and contact-hours.
With half of students not completing their teaching degree this measure will help to not only attract students but also financially support them to complete their studies to be a teacher. That will be life changing for many students.
We are very pleased to see this announcement by the Albanese government today as it is a first step towards building a strong teaching profession. However much more needs to be done, including addressing chronic workloads, fully funded professional development and mentoring programs to support teachers as they begin their profession.
Paul Karp
Continuing from our last post: The education minister Jason Clare didn’t rule out extending the payment to other types of students when speaking earlier, but said that those professions were identified by the Universities Accord as the priority.
This is what he said at an earlier press conference:
The accord said this is where we go first … They said look at teaching, early education, nursing, midwifery as well as social work, so that’s where we’re focused first.
Greens reject placement payments as ‘slap in the face’ to students
Caitlin Cassidy
The federal government’s plan to front a stipend for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work placements has been rejected as a “slap in the face” to students, with the Greens urging Labor to make the payments universal and not limited by degrees.
Students are required to complete hundreds of hours of unpaid placements in a number of courses including psychology, counselling and physiotherapy that are excluded from Labor’s announcement.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson for education, senator Mehreen Faruqi, said Labor was moving in the right direction but all students should be paid for their hours of work to at least the minimum wage. Labor has suggested the payment be benchmarked to the single Austudy rate of $319.50 a week from 2025.
During this cost-of-living crisis, unpaid placements are forcing students to choose between putting fuel in the car to get to their placement or putting food on the table every day. Labor’s policy won’t even try to change that until 1 July 2025. It’s a slap in the face from the government to ignore the many students experiencing placement poverty right now.
James Sherriff, spokesperson for Students Against Placement Poverty (SAPP), said without a living wage, students remained in placement poverty despite winning “an important concession” from the government.
This change will do very little to alleviate placement poverty in the vast majority of cases, and [SAPP] urges that more drastic change is needed immediately.
Reports of students ranking female classmates ‘disgraceful and utterly unacceptable’, Allan says
Benita Kolovos
Circling back to Jacinta Allan’s press conference, where the premier was asked about reports in the papers this morning that four students at a private school in Melbourne’s east have been suspended after rating their female classmates.
According to a report in the Age, the students at Yarra Valley grammar school in Ringwood shared a spreadsheet of photos of their female classmates and ranked them in categories. The girls were ranked from top to bottom as “wifeys”, “cuties”, “mid”, “object”, “get out” and then finally “unrapable”.
Allan said the reported behaviour was “misogynist[ic], it’s disgraceful, it’s disgusting, and it’s utterly unacceptable”.
We have been having, for months now, an ongoing community conversation about how four women every week are losing their lives at the hands of a man. Maybe a current or former partner, maybe a complete stranger. This pattern of violence against women – not only does the act of violence have to stop, but these displays of disrespecting women. Like it’s just disgraceful.
My thoughts today are with the young women and the young men who they go to school with, who are absolutely devastated by this news, [and] with the young women and their families. To think that you’re sitting in a classroom with classmates who may not just hold these views, but write them down and share them.
Allan continued, stating “this is no joke”.
Respect for women has to be at the forefront of every classroom, of every household, of every part of our community, because we are seeing what happens [at the] extreme end of what respect for women looks like with too many women subjected to violence, too many women losing their lives.
My thoughts today [are] with those young women and their families who must be just devastated. I was devastated, utterly devastated when I read those reports this morning.
Jordyn Beazley
DVNSW responds to NSW government’s emergency family violence package
The peak body for NSW’s domestic violence sector has said the Minn’s government’s emergency $230m family violence package is a “positive and substantial first step” that should be followed by more funding for housing and homelessness services.
Delia Donovan, chief executive of Domestic Violence NSW, said:
This is a comprehensive investment for the domestic and family violence sector. We’re glad to see the NSW government respond to our advocacy and recognise the critical need for investing in the sector to address the domestic and family violence emergency in our state.
DVNSW applauded the government’s expansion of the Staying Home Leaving Violence (SHLV) program, which helps victim-survivors remain in their home or another safe home of their choice. Through the funding, the SHLV program will be expanded from 91 locations in the state to 128 local government areas and will help an additional 4,200 women every year.
The organisation also welcomed the increased specialist support for children, which will go towards improving the wellbeing of children who are victim-survivors and help break the cycle of violence. Donovan said:
The recognition of children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right has been a key area of advocacy for us.
The peak body said it hoped to see more on housing in the upcoming budget, including an additional $52m for existing refuges to ensure no victim-survivors were turned away.
It also urged the government to build an additional 7,500 social and affordable homes each year over the next 20 years, and 750 more transitional homes to provide a pathway out of crisis refuges. Donovan said:
We are eager to continue to work with the NSW government to ensure that meaningful investment into the sector remains a priority and includes continued investment.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier urges RBA to consider pressures on households ahead of rates decision tomorrow
As the Victorian government hands down its budget tomorrow, the Reserve Bank will make a decision on interest rates.
Jacinta Allan said she won’t give them any advice but highlighted the pressure that families, businesses and governments are under:
Whether it’s our budget, household budgets, budgets of businesses, we are all already feeling the pressures of successive interest rate rises [and] ongoing inflationary impacts, and if you just look at the construction sector alone, construction costs have gone up by 22% since 2021 – that’s a massive jump in just a really short space of time. You add to that the workforce shortages and the pressures that puts on the ability to deliver projects and services, but also to again it has an inflationary impact on our overall settings.
And I would hope that the Reserve Bank considers these pressures as they are making their deliberations, because these are pressures that are having a real impact on families at their kitchen table, on businesses and on governments who around the cabinet table have been working very hard on making the sensible and disciplined decisions that we need to make to support Victorian families.