Tom McIlroy

Labor asks Deloitte to design universal childcare system as PM eyes political legacy Exclusive: Government could redirect billions in existing spending on the childcare subsidy and introduce a daily flat fee for families Labor has commissioned consulting giant Deloitte to help design a universal childcare system in Australia, launching a two-year study of demand and costs, as Anthony Albanese chases a political legacy to rival Medicare. The government could redirect billions in existing spending on the childcare subsidy and introduce a daily flat fee for families. It will spend $10.4m on the research, with Deloitte required to assess service demands and collect data across the early childhood education system, with a report due before the next federal election. Continue reading...

Labor asks Deloitte to design universal childcare system as PM eyes political legacy

Australia could announce plan to recognise Palestinian statehood ‘within days’ Labor has been facing demands to accelerate its timeline to recognise a Palestinian state as the Israeli PM says such a move is ‘shameful’ The Albanese government could announce its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood within days, cabinet sources have confirmed to Guardian Australia. The confirmation comes hours after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – facing growing disapproval over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – branded Australia and European nations “shameful” for considering recognising a Palestinian state. He claimed Australia would do “at least what we [Israel] are doing” if Sydney or Melbourne had been subject to the type of terrorist attack Israel experienced in the 7 October Hamas attacks, when 1,200 people were killed. Continue reading...

Australia could announce plan to recognise Palestinian statehood ‘within days’

Albanese and Chalmers could take the Howard-Costello approach to tax reform. The conditions may never be better | Tom McIlroy Channelling the competitive tension that often exists between treasurer and prime minister would provide an opportunity to frame policies for the next election * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Even before he announced plans for a roundtable to shape Labor’s second term growth and productivity agenda, Anthony Albanese was managing expectations about what was to come. Speaking at the National Press Club, a month after a stunning election victory, the prime minister began publicly signalling his government would not be getting out over its skis. Continue reading...

Albanese and Chalmers could take the Howard-Costello approach to tax reform. The conditions may never be better | Tom McIlroy

Australia joins UK, Germany, Italy and New Zealand in condemning Israel’s planned Gaza City takeover Joint statement warns Netanyahu’s new ground offensive will worsen ‘catastrophic humanitarian situation’ as international outrage grows * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Foreign Minister Penny Wong has joined international condemnation of Israel’s plans to control more of Gaza in a new ground offensive, warning it risks breaching international law and putting the lives of hostages and civilians in renewed danger. Wong joined the foreign ministers of Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in a joint statement on Saturday, saying the plans by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to control Gaza City will make already perilous situation worse. Continue reading...

Australia joins UK, Germany, Italy and New Zealand in condemning Israel’s planned Gaza City takeover

Albanese government has no knowledge of Trump administration threat to deport Iranian man to Australia Reza Zavvar has lived in US for 40 years but is being held in detention due to marijuana conviction from the 1990s * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Labor has cast doubt on the possibility of the Trump administration transferring an Iranian-born man from US immigration detention to Australia, saying it has no knowledge of the case. The US government is threatening to deport Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old permanent resident who lives in Maryland, to either Australia or Romania – despite having no links to either country. Continue reading...

Albanese government has no knowledge of Trump administration threat to deport Iranian man to Australia

‘A huge human cost’: Labor criticised over delays to aged care reforms as waitlist grows Senate votes to establish inquiry after aged care minister rejects calls to bring forward additional 20,000 home care packages

Labor is facing a backlash over aged care services as a delay to landmark reforms prompts calls for urgent funding for 20,000 additional home packages and warnings that a two-speed system is locking out poorer elderly people.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... @australia.theguardian.com

Thanks Angus 🙏

Australia’s parliament opens with tradition and pageantry – plus a sideshow of protest and reactionary zeal | Tom McIlroy There was the usual welcome to country and speech by the governor general – but members of the Nationals, One Nation and the Greens had battles to fight * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Just as the governor general, Sam Mostyn, was preparing to address the ceremonial opening of federal parliament this week, word got around the press gallery that One Nation was preparing to mount a stunt. Along with veterans Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, One Nation’s two new senators, Warwick Stacey from New South Wales and Tyron Whitten from Western Australia, had quietly let it be known they would turn their back on the Indigenous acknowledgment of country. Continue reading...

Australia’s parliament opens with tradition and pageantry – plus a sideshow of protest and reactionary zeal | Tom McIlroy

Labor lifts ban on US beef, saying new measures ‘effectively’ manage biosecurity risks Move expected to help Australia’s negotiations with Trump administration for lower trade tariffs on exports * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Labor will lift restrictions on imports of US beef, easing tensions with the Trump administration as the federal government seeks relief from punishing US tariffs on steel and aluminium. The government confirmed on Thursday morning that the Department of Agriculture would allow the imports into Australia, saying the US now “effectively” manages biosecurity risks in beef production. Continue reading...

Labor lifts ban on US beef, saying new measures ‘effectively’ manage biosecurity risks

Asio’s 9/11-era questioning powers to become permanent despite warnings from human rights advocates Exclusive: Tony Burke also introduced legislation to add sabotage, promotion of communal violence, and serious threats to Australia’s border security to the rules

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Exclusive from @tommcilroy.bsky.social

Ken Henry is right to be a bit worked up – he has a solid reform plan ready to go for an emboldened Labor | Tom McIlroy With tax reform back on the agenda thanks to the productivity roundtable, Henry’s 2010 review has a lot of answers to the biggest challenges facing the Albanese government * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Ken Henry, the former Treasury boss, slipped up during his address to the National Press Club this week. Speaking in his capacity as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry was asked about his landmark review of the nation’s tax system, handed to the Rudd government back in 2010. Continue reading...

Ken Henry is right to be a bit worked up – he has a solid reform plan ready to go for an emboldened Labor | Tom McIlroy

O’Brien on Liberal ‘soul-searching’ amid nuclear and net-zero policy review - podcast Tom McIlroy speaks to deputy opposition leader Ted O’Brien about the road ahead – from climate policy to rebuilding trust – and whether the Coalition can rise from the ashes of defeat

Ted O'Brien talks to @australia.theguardian.com on the party's long road back

Albanese heads to China as Trump upends the global order. The PM may wish he lived in less interesting times | Tom McIlroy In 2014 Xi Jinping told Australian MPs friendship between the countries would be as ‘strong and everlasting’ as Uluru and the Great Wall of China. How things change * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese watched on from the opposition benches when Xi Jinping addressed a joint sitting of federal parliament back in 2014. In Australia for the G20 summit, and hosted by Tony Abbott, China’s president told MPs he had visited the country five times over 30 years, spending time in every state and territory. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Albanese heads to China as Trump upends the global order. The PM may wish he lived in less interesting times | Tom McIlroy

You won’t have to go far to see some familiar names

Albanese heads to China as Trump upends the global order. The PM may wish he lived in less interesting times | Tom McIlroy In 2014 Xi Jinping told Australian MPs friendship between the countries would be as ‘strong and everlasting’ as Uluru and the Great Wall of China. How things change

‘No one should forget Trump tried to overturn a democratic election, goading his supporters to deadly violence as he attempted to cling to power.’ @tommcilroy.bsky.social #AUKUS #TACO #China #auspol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

YouTube video by Guardian Australia Does the Liberal party need to change its values to survive? – Full Story podcast

A lack of women is just one part of the story behind the Australian Liberal party's big election loss. @tommcilroy.bsky.social talks to us about how the party is wrestling with the idea of quotas, and maybe even reassessing its core values. youtu.be/95BLcfczJqA?... @australia.theguardian.com

If old school white-anting Sussan Ley on gender quotas works, the Liberals may pay a heavy political price | Tom McIlroy The problem for those opposing a new system is that quotas are the only method shown to have worked to get more women in politics * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A day after the Labor party first voted to implement gender quotas to promote the representation of women in federal politics, five female Liberal MPs condemned the decision in a statement. Labor’s national conference in Hobart in September 1994 featured heated debate about rules requiring that women be preselected for 35% of winnable seats by 2002. At the time, blokes made up more than 85% of Labor’s parliamentary ranks. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

If old school white-anting Sussan Ley on gender quotas works, the Liberals may pay a heavy political price | Tom McIlroy

Top public servant urges ‘more doing, less reviewing’ after 70 inquiries in Labor’s first term, FoI papers reveal Exclusive: Health department secretary Blair Comley tells minister Mark Bultler to stop commissioning costly and time-consuming inquiries * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast One of the nation’s most respected public service chiefs has told Labor to stop commissioning so many government reviews, warning the costly and time-consuming inquiries risk swamping bureaucrats and unduly heightening public expectations. The secretary of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Blair Comley, has urged the health minister, Mark Butler, to allow public servants to adopt a more implementation and less analysis mindset in the coming term of parliament, after more than 70 reviews were commissioned, consulted-on or published in Labor’s first three years in office. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Top public servant urges ‘more doing, less reviewing’ after 70 inquiries in Labor’s first term, FoI papers reveal

Thanks. Will check it out.

Sussan Ley wants to keep the Coalition together – but caving on net zero won’t help her win back seats | Tom McIlroy High-profile Nationals and powerful forces in business and media are pushing back against climate action, posing a test of credibility for the new Liberal leader

Sussan Ley wants to keep the Coalition together – but caving on net zero won’t help her win back seats

My column for @australia.theguardian.com

Trump campaign chief claims he visited Australia to advise Liberals at start of election campaign Exclusive: Chris LaCivita, Trump’s presidential campaign co-manager, tells undercover reporters he advised on ‘structural issues’ related to Peter Dutton; the Coalition denies LaCivita was involved in...

EXCLUSIVE: Trump campaign chief claims he visited Australia to advise Liberals at start of election campaign

There are six book covers: Wita Witalana by Paul Collis, Coventina's Well by Joanne McCarron, Blue Poles by Tom McIlroy, Disaster Resilience and Sustainability by Hitomi Nakanishi, Techno by Marcus Smith, and In Defence of Solidarity and Pleasure by Firuzeh Shokooh Valle on a dark grey background. There is a gold stripe at the top of the image with "Focus On April", and a green stripe at the bottom with the MARION and ACT Government logos on it.

Our April Focus On is here! This month featuring work by Paul Collis, Joanne McCarron, Tom McIlroy, Hitomi Nakanishi, Marcus Smith, and Firuzeh Shokooh Valle.

Check out these plus our region archive: marion.ink/focus-on

@firuzehsv.bsky.social @tommcilroy.bsky.social

Blue Poles and its $1.4m price-tag shocked the nation, but did it change us?

The historical controversy over Jackson Pollock’s ‘masterpiece’ revealed much about Australia’s attitude towards the arts.

A finishing school for the nation • Frank Bongiorno New, modern and international, the Blue Poles purchase helped open up the world to Australia

“James Mollison was a curator to his boot-heels, but he defied many people’s image of what that might entail. He liked Brahms, he said, but also the Rolling Stones and Number 96, the risqué late-night TV soap.”

He was there at the critical moment!

Blue Poles: how Australia came to own the Jackson Pollock masterpiece This edited extract reveals how Australia acquired one of the 20th century’s most prized paintings – and why then PM Gough Whitlam was so invested in the purchase.

Book extract in today’s Fin Review - how Australia came to own Blue Poles, the Jackson Pollock masterpiece www.afr.com/life-and-lux...

'A shattering experience': Blue Poles is still the painting that shocked Australia A new book recounts the tale of Australia's most controversial art acquisition.

“Art on the front page of newspapers. How good is that?”

Blue Poles: Jackson Pollock, Gough Whitlam and the Painting That Changed a Nation

Out February 26 www.hachette.com.au/tom-mcilroy/...

Very pleased to announce that @tommcilroy.bsky.social is joining @australia.theguardian.com as chief political correspondent.