Australia news live: Victoria to review exam cheat sheet bungle; Myer scraps Christmas windows event over pro-Palestine protest | Australian politics
VCAA to be investigated after students given access to de facto cheat sheets
Catie McLeod
The Victorian government has announced another review of the state’s Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) after thousands of VCE students were given access to de facto cheat sheets.
The education minister, Ben Carroll, said the Labor government had accepted all the recommendations from this year’s review of the system but it was clear there were “ongoing issues relating to the production and distribution of exams”. In a statement, Carroll said:
Students deserve better. It is clear to me that some students have been let down as a result of these errors and that is completely unaccaptable.
The cheat sheets, first reported by the Herald Sun, were for eight subjects including business management, specialist maths and legal studies, which contained almost identical questions to those used in final exams.
Published by the VCAA online, when blank sections of the cover pages were pasted into a Word document it revealed a series of questions and answers.
This year’s exams for those particular subjects have already been sat, and the VCAA’s chief executive officer, Kylie White, told 3AW radio there had been “similarities” between the cheat sheet questions and the final exams.
In response, the Victorian government has ordered a “root and branch” external review of the VCAA’s structure and operations, and said it would appoint an independent monitor to oversee next year’s exams.
The independent monitor will be appointed early next year.
Key events
Murray Watt also responded to yesterday’s unemployment rate, and said:
We’re quite pleased to see a modest increase in the number of jobs created last month. We have managed to create more than 1m jobs since coming to office, which is the most any government has ever created in a single parliamentary term. But I think it would be reasonable to expect that the labour market will continue to soften and we could see a slight uptick in the unemployment rate before too long.
Watt on UN vote on Palestine: ‘this is the best way to achieve change’
Murray Watt was also asked about Australia’s backing of a UN resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, marking a major departure from its previous position.
He said that when it comes down to it, “most people want to see change in the Middle East” and “the terrible violence and terrible casualties that we see there.”
But the reality is that no country acting on its own, whether it be Australia or anyone else, is able to influence what is going on there. So we think the best way of trying to drive forward with peace … is by working with other like minded countries.
Watt said Australia was one of more than 150 countries who voted for the resolution, including the UK, Germany and “many other countries with very similar views to Australia”.
There are issues when it comes to settler violence against Palestinians, around the control of resources by Palestinians in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. So we think this is a resolution worth supporting, it may not be that we agree with every single word in that resolution, but when you’ve got 150 other countries moving, we think that is the best way to achieve change as well.
Asked about Coalition support on electoral reform, Murray Watt said there was in-principle agreement:
I wouldn’t say they have agreed to every single detail and there no doubt will be continued negotiations. The crossbenchers’ position is a little bit more unclear. Of course there are some crossbench members who have benefited significantly from extremely large donations from particular individuals, and have been able to spend very large amounts of money on an individual seat.
Watt said the government is attempting to bring in caps on what can be spend on an individual seat, and “that would apply to large parties just as it would to independents”.
Murray Watt says Australia must not have political donations ‘arms race’
The employment and workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, was up on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss government’s political donation reforms, set to be introduced to parliament next week.
In case you missed this, you can read more below:
Why bring these reforms in now? Watt said this issue has concerned many Australians “for quite some time now”.
We don’t want to go down the American path where we can see rich individuals effectively buy elections, and the amount of money that is being spent on elections even in Australia keeps increasing year on year.
He said the government had been working on this “for some time”, with a joint parliamentary inquiry looking into matters about electoral reform.
We are seeing an increasing arms race when it gets to political donations and the amount of money that’s been spent on election campaigns, and I think all Australians have an interest in trying to keep big money out of [politics and trying] to keep it clean and try to make sure this actually functions as a democracy where everyone’s vote counts, rather than just the richest people in our communities.
Australia and Indonesia leaders discuss Trump impact at Apec
The leaders of Australia and Indonesia have discussed what a Donald Trump presidency will mean for the world, AAP reports, after the incoming US leader threatened to impose tariffs on imported goods.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, held the talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders summit in Lima, Peru. Albanese told reporters there:
We had a good discussion. He had a phone conversation with president [elect] Trump, as I did last week, so we discussed that and what it might mean for the world. Obviously, that’s part of the backdrop of Apec and the G20 is what the impact of a change in US administration will have.
Albanese, who is in Peru alongside the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, also met with the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, to discuss the bilateral engagement between their two countries on mining and agriculture.
Asked if he also planned to meet with China’s president, Xi Jinping, who has arrived in Lima, Albanese left the door open, saying “we’ll make announcements at appropriate times”.
Albanese was also asked if he had considered making a side trip from Lima to Florida, where Trump has an estate, to meet him in person, and said: “I’ll have a meeting with President Trump when it is organised”.
We spoke about gathering, and I’m sure that will occur. I intend to be in parliament next Thursday, when our parliament is sitting.
Albanese said he believes that so far his relationship with Trump had been “very constructive” and “very positive”.
Good morning
Emily Wind
Thanks to Martin for kicking things off – I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be here through most of today to bring you our rolling coverage.
As always, you can reach out via email with any story tips, feedback or questions: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
Myer scraps Christmas windows event over pro-Palestine protest
Retail company Myer has cancelled a special event to mark the opening of its Christmas windows over concerns for customer and worker safety due to a threatened pro-Palestine protest, AAP reports.
Activist Group Disrupt Wars had promoted a “Crash the Christmas Windows” demonstration on Sunday, encouraging supporters to bring banners, flags, placards, noise-makers and props. A social media post read:
Christmas is cancelled, and there will be no joy or frivolity while children in Gaza are massacred.
It said the protest was designed to “inconvenience those who would rather bury their heads in the capitalist machine than speak up against a genocide”.
Victoria police said they had “repeatedly requested they do not do this, however the group is not co-operating”. Police said a separate pro-Palestine rally later on Sunday had changed its usual route to avoid the Christmas windows.
Myer said the display will still be visible as planned from Sunday until early January. The retailer said late yesterday:
In light of recent developments and to ensure the wellbeing and safety of customers and team members, we will no longer hold an event on Bourke Street Mall for the unveiling of our Christmas windows.
VCAA to be investigated after students given access to de facto cheat sheets
Catie McLeod
The Victorian government has announced another review of the state’s Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) after thousands of VCE students were given access to de facto cheat sheets.
The education minister, Ben Carroll, said the Labor government had accepted all the recommendations from this year’s review of the system but it was clear there were “ongoing issues relating to the production and distribution of exams”. In a statement, Carroll said:
Students deserve better. It is clear to me that some students have been let down as a result of these errors and that is completely unaccaptable.
The cheat sheets, first reported by the Herald Sun, were for eight subjects including business management, specialist maths and legal studies, which contained almost identical questions to those used in final exams.
Published by the VCAA online, when blank sections of the cover pages were pasted into a Word document it revealed a series of questions and answers.
This year’s exams for those particular subjects have already been sat, and the VCAA’s chief executive officer, Kylie White, told 3AW radio there had been “similarities” between the cheat sheet questions and the final exams.
In response, the Victorian government has ordered a “root and branch” external review of the VCAA’s structure and operations, and said it would appoint an independent monitor to oversee next year’s exams.
The independent monitor will be appointed early next year.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Emily Wind with the main action.
Our top story this morning is that donation and electoral spending caps could pass parliament as early as this fortnight, with Labor confident the Coalition will help it block campaigns of the size run by Clive Palmer at the national level and teal independents at the local level.
Chris Sidoti, Australia’s former human rights commissioner and member of the UN’s inquiry into Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, has warned that the bombardment of Gaza was sowing the seeds for generations of conflict. “The conflict in Gaza is an Israeli terrorism creation factory and there is no sign of it finishing,” he told Guardian Australia. It comes as Australia backed in a United Nations resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, marking a major departure from its previous position.
The Victorian government has announced another review of the state’s Curriculum and Assessment Authority after thousands of VCE students were given access to de facto cheat sheets. The education minister, Ben Carroll, said it was “clear students had been let down”. More on that in a minute.
And a beloved tradition, the unveiling of the annual Christmas windows at Melbourne’s Myer on Bourke Street mall, has been cancelled after an activist group promoted a “crash the windows” protest saying there should be “no joy or frivolity while children in Gaza are massacred”. More on that too soon.
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