ABS reveals 4.5% of Australians are LGBTI+
Paul Karp
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed for the first time that an estimated 4.5% of Australians 16 years and over are Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans or gender diverse, or Intersex (LGBTI+).
According to ABS head of health statistics, Robert Long, this is the “first nationally representative data of their kind in Australia”.
The ABS estimated that:
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About 0.3% of Australians 16 years and over report they know they were born with variations of sex characteristics
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LGB+ Australians 16 years and over make up about 3.6% of the population
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About 0.9% of Australians 16 years and over are trans and gender diverse, including trans men, trans women and non-binary people
Young Australians were more likely to be LGBTI+, with 9.5% of people aged 16 to 24, and 7.5% in the 25-34 category identifying as LGBTI+.
The jurisdictions with the most LGBTI+ people were in the ACT (5.9%) and Victoria (5.3%), statistically significantly more than other states and territories – although LGBTI+ people are found everywhere in Australia.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Jaclyn Symes is speaking about her appointment as Victoria’s first female treasurer.
She says she’s very excited about the new challenge, though sad to leave her role as attorney general and emergency services minister:
When you are a minister and you have the opportunity to work in a portfolio, it’s somewhat a part of your family, it becomes part of your identity. Leaving attorney and emergency services is hard, but I am excited about a new challenge.
Asked how she will she be different to Tim Pallas, Symes says:
I have an enormous amount of respect for Tim, but I’m a very different person. I will bring a different approach, and I’ll let you guys, perhaps do comparisons at some time in the future.
Benita Kolovos
Allan says Symes will be first female treasurer in state history
Allan says Jaclyn Symes will bring “new energy” and focus to the role of treasurer. She says:
I am particularly proud to note that Jaclyn is the first woman in Victoria’s history to serve in the role of treasurer, and alongside myself, we are the first two women to hold these roles in the state’s history, and that is something that reflects enormously on Jacqueline’s great work ethic, great dedication and commitment, and also has the Victorian parliament and the Victorian government reflect the community that we represent.
Allan says:
This team backs in my priorities in housing, jobs and supporting busy families.
Jacinta Allan unveils new cabinet
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has unveiled her new cabinet.
As we reported earlier the state attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, will become treasurer as well as minister for industrial relations and regional development, with the planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, to take over her role as attorney general. Vicki Ward will take Symes’ emergency services portfolio, equality and a new minsitry for “natural disasters and recovery”
In a demotion for Danny Pearson, he has lost his transport infrastructure ministry to Gabrielle Williams and responsibility for the suburban rail loop to Harriet Shing, who will also take the newly created “housing and building” portfolio. His portfolios of Worksafe and TAC will be handed to deputy premier, Ben Carroll.
Instead, Pearson will become minister for economic growth, jobs and a new portfolio for “finance”.
Labor’s newest minister, Nick Staikos, will take on the ministries of consumer affairs and local government.
Minns says pill-testing is not permanent and they will be ‘led by the information’
Minns reiterated that the introduction of trial pill testing at music festivals is not a permanent decision.
He said to press:
We [are] not making the decision to make it permanent today, we want to be led by the information that is presented over [the] summer period. Ultimately our responsibility is to keep people alive and to save lives and we believe this decision is a step in the right direction.
Minns acknowledges ‘essential contradiction’ in NSW pill testing turnabout but says it’s better than risking deaths
Speaking to press about the introduction of trial pill testing at music festivals, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, says his government has decided to “live with a contradiction” in law “rather than risk someone dying as a result of not having it in place”.
He said:
I want to make it clear from the beginning, we acknowledge there is an essential contradiction to this change in policy. Drugs are illegal in the state yet we have made a decision to allow for pill testing at major music festivals. There is no perfect law here, there is no law that we can craft that can do both things at the same time.
The government has made a decision to live with a contradiction rather than risk someone dying as a result of not having it in place.
AGL fined $25m for wrongly taking welfare money via Centrepay
Christopher Knaus
AGL has been fined $25m for wrongly taking money from the pockets of welfare recipients who were no longer its customers using the government-run Centrepay system.
The federal court issued the substantial fine on Thursday morning. It had previously ruled that AGL had breached the energy rules 14,000 times in its use of Centrepay, a debit system designed to help welfare recipients pay for essentials.
The Centrepay system was used to allow AGL to take deductions from hundreds of welfare recipients who had long ago left as customers.
The court ordered that AGL implement a compliance and training program to ensure that it was automatically alerted when money came to it via Centrepay from former customers. It must also set up a compliance and training program to ensure staff do not breach energy retail rules when dealing with inactive customers, with the program to be regularly and independently reviewed.
AGL was also ordered to appoint a compliance officer to ensure the company meets the court’s orders.
The company is not alone in its alleged misuse of Centrepay. The government services minister, Bill Shorten, has referred three other energy retailers to the regulator over similar allegations. The regulator is still considering whether to take enforcement action against them.
The federal government recently announced a suite of reforms to Centrepay, including measures to stop energy retailers using the system to continue receiving money from former customers.
Jonathan Barrett
Shareholders rebuke ANZ over executive pay
ANZ’s outgoing chief executive, Shayne Elliott, will forfeit $3.2m in bonuses in a bid to quell backlash by shareholders against the bank’s executive remuneration plans at the annual general meeting today.
The forfeited 2025 bonus is called “long term variable remuneration”, which refers to various incentives linked to performance. Last financial year, he secured a $3.4m long-term bonus, and a total statutory pay packet of $5.7m.
The long-serving CEO is due to step down next year, and will still earn his base pay plus any other available bonuses. Elliott’s base pay last financial year was $2.5m.
Earlier, the ANZ chairman, Paul O’Sullivan, told shareholders in Melbourne today that a “sizeable group” of shareholders will voting against the remuneration report.
“We will ensure we take the lessons into account in our future deliberations,” O’Sullivan said.
Early voting results from appointed proxy groups showed that the protest vote would exceed 25% when votes are finalised today, which would represent a first strike against the remuneration report.
A second strike next year would open the bank up to a potential board spill.
The corporate regulator has previously announced it is investigating ANZ over its handling of a bond sale.
Sarah Basford Canales
Australia sends disaster assistance to Vanuatu
Australia has sent a 64-person disaster assistance team and two canines to Vanuatu to help with search and rescue efforts after a powerful magnitude-7.3 earthquake hit the island on Tuesday.
The federal government confirmed the teams, which include doctors, paramedics and federal police, landed in the island’s capital, Port Vila, on Wednesday.
Communications and the commercial airport on the island have been heavily affected by the earthquake and teams on the ground are still assessing the damage and searching for survivors.
Overnight, 148 Australians were returned home on two Royal Australian air force aircraft. The foreign affairs department has confirmed about 500 Australians have registered on its online crisis registration portal for assistance.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, was asked whether further flights would be organised to help stranded Australians.
She told ABC News breakfast this morning:
We stand ready to support the people of Vanuatu at the government of Vanuatu’s request. Really what was sent in the last 24 hours was the first instalment and of course we are ready to provide further assistance as this disaster unfolds. We are neighbours and friends in this region.
Elias Visontay
Qantas engineers to strike on Friday
Qantas is seeking to reassure its holidaymakers that industrial action planned by some of its engineers for Friday won’t wreak havoc on their travel plans.
Members of an alliance of engineering unions will take stop work action tomorrow, a week after they also walked off the job last Friday, as they seek better pay and conditions.
On Thursday, Qantas said last week’s strike led to no customer impact.
In a statement, Qantas said:
The airline has worked hard to put a number of contingencies in place and passengers should continue to head to the airport as planned. As always, unplanned maintenance issues, adverse weather, or other events may impact operations on the day.
Approximately 160 line maintenance AMEs are rostered on during Friday’s period of action with only Alliance union members eligible to take part. The additional workgroups taking action form part of long-term aircraft maintenance teams and don’t perform day of operation engineering support.
A Qantas spokesperson said:
It’s disappointing to see the unions targeting people travelling to see loved ones at this time of year. We’re offering our engineers a competitive package including pay rises, upskilling and career progression that will enable them to earn significantly more over the next few years.
NSW agrees to pill testing trial at music festivals
Jordyn Beazley
New South Wales will trial pill testing at music festivals after a decades-long push by advocates calling for the government to heed harm reduction evidence.
The Minns government announced on Thursday the 12-month long trial will enable festival-goers to take a small sample of narcotics to a health professional to test for purity, potency and adulterants.
“No parent wants to be given the news that something has happened to their child at a music festival, and that they are now in an emergency department or worse,” said the state premier, Chris Minns.
The trial has a clear purpose – to reduce harm and save lives.
In March, Queensland became the first state to establish two permanent pill-testing clinics after Canberra established one in 2022.
Last October, the Minns government had rejected renewed calls to introduce pill testing after two young men died at a music festival.
Jen Ross-King, whose daughter Alex Ross-King died in 2019 at a Sydney music festival after taking MDMA and drinking, was among those calling for the change, imploring the government “listen to the experts”.
The introduction of pill testing was overwhelmingly backed by drug reform advocates at the state’s second drug summit, last month.
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Schools honour founder and author John Marsden
Schools founded by beloved Australian author John Marsden have honoured their former principal’s contribution to education as groundbreaking and to young adult literature as revolutionary.
Marsden founded Candlebark in 2006, then Alice Miller School in 2016, “embodying his progressive educational philosophy that emphasised student agency, creativity, and adventure,” their statement reads.
John Marsden transformed countless young lives through both his writing and his groundbreaking approach to education.
Despite stepping down as principal earlier this year, John remained deeply involved with both schools … Just last week, he attended both the Year 7 and Grade 6 graduations, where students spoke movingly about the impact of his educational vision on their lives.
As an author, John’s contribution to young adult literature was revolutionary. His unflinching honesty in addressing complex themes resonated with readers globally, earning him numerous awards including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award. However, true to his humble nature, John often downplayed his literary success, preferring to focus on his educational work where he could directly impact young lives.
The Australian author, beloved for young adult novels including the Tomorrow series and The Rabbits, died yesterday, aged 74:
Threats to parliamentarians surge
Threats to Australian federal parliamentarians reported to the Australian Federal Police have increased by more than 40% in the past financial year.
The AFP received 1,009 reports of incidents involving harassment, nuisance, offensive and threatening communications in 2023-2024. This is a 42% increase from the 709 matters reported during the same period in 2022-23.
AFP Cmdr Stephen Fry said a threat of harm or violence against a federal parliamentarian is a criminal offence.
Caitlin Cassidy
Universities Australia welcomes scrapping of Ministerial Direction 107
Universities Australia has breathed a sigh of relief over Labor’s decision to scrap Ministerial Direction 107 (MD107), which “wreaked havoc” on regional and outer metropolitan institutions.
The regulation, enacted in December last year, gave visa processing priority to “low risk” sandstone universities and students from “low risk” nations.
The chief executive of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, said it was a “commonsense decision” that was “desperately needed” to deliver certainty and stability to the embattled sector.
MD107 has wreaked havoc, stripping billions of dollars from the economy and inflicting incredibly serious financial harm on universities, particularly those in regional and outer suburban areas. We have called for it to be revoked since June and we strongly support the Albanese government’s decision to create a more even playing field for universities.
Sheehy said declining government investment in higher education had meant institutions had become “necessarily reliant” on international student venue, while also being used as “cannon fodder in a political battle over migration and housing”.
“As we head toward the next federal election, our ask is simple – we need to take the politics out of higher education and focus on the national interest that flows from it.”
Labor to slow international student visa processing
Caitlin Cassidy
The federal government will slow visa processing in place of its failed international student cap with a new ministerial direction.
The cap, which would drive down enrolments to a maximum of 270,000, was voted down by the Liberals and the Greens.
Ministerial Direction 107, which has been operating as an arbitrary cap by targeting regional universities and “high risk” countries, will be replaced from today with a new direction that priorities international education providers acting “sustainably”.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the policy was a counterbalance to Peter Dutton’s “recklessness” in blocking the legislation.
The best option would have been the cap that was voted down by Peter Dutton, but this option will still allow us to use one of the biggest levers in our migration system.
Benita Kolovos
Jaclyn Symes to become Victorian treasurer
Victoria’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, is set to become the state’s first female treasurer.
Guardian Australia understands Symes – the leader of the government in the upper house – will be sworn in on Thursday to replace Tim Pallas, who quit politics on Monday.
She was tapped by the premier, Jacinta Allan, for the role, despite not being from the socialist left faction Pallas was a part of. While she does not have an economic or financial background, Symes currently sits on the cabinet’s expenditure committee and is widely considered a good operator.
Symes will be one of few treasurers to sit in the upper house, including former Labor treasurer John Lenders. Her swearing-in at Government House will be accompanied by a more significant cabinet reshuffle than previously flagged by Allan earlier this week.
It will kick off at about 11am.
Man charged after allegedly threatening violence against an aged care facility based on religion
A man has been charged with threatening violence based on religion after he allegedly posted an offensive comment online directed towards a Randwick aged-care facility, NSW police said in a media release. Guardian Australia understand the comment is believed to be antisemitic.
Officers commenced investigations on Wednesday after receiving a report of an alleged threat of violence.
A 48-year-old man was arrested at a home in Cambridge Street, Harris Park, at 3pm.
He was charged with publicly threatening violence on the grounds of religion and using a carriage service to “menace/harass/offend,” police said.
The man was released on conditional bail to appear at Parramatta local court on 15 February 2025.
Police will allege he posted a threatening and offensive comment on a social media platform directed towards an aged care facility in Randwick.
Bali bomb plotters moved from Guantánamo to Malaysia after guilty plea
The US has transferred two Malaysian detainees from the Guantánamo Bay military prison to their home country, after they pleaded guilty to charges related to deadly 2002 Bali bombings and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader of that and other attacks.
Prosecutors say Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep worked for years with Encep Nurjaman, known as Hambali, an Indonesian leader of al-Qaida affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah. The two men helped Nurjaman escape capture after the 12 October 2002 bombings that killed 202 people at two nightspots in Bali, US officials said.
The two men entered guilty pleas to conspiracy and other charges in January. Their transfer comes after they provided testimony that prosecutors plan to use in the future against Nurjaman, the alleged mastermind, the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nurjaman is in custody in Guantánamo awaiting resumption of pre-trial hearings in January involving the Bali bombings and other attacks.
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