Tag Archives: oceania

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Social services minister says cost-of-living pressures to stay in 2023

Australians face a "very difficult situation" in the upcoming year as the nation's cost-of-living crisis shows no signs of easing.

With the federal government's first budget to be released later this month, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says that the government is dealing with a "very difficult budget" and that "responsible measures" are being taken to combat the crisis, but a resolution won't be found overnight.

"It is a very difficult situation that families are facing – we've got rising interest rates and rising inflation and we've also got a very difficult budget situation," Rishworth said on Weekend Today.

READ MORE: Australia to offer six months paid parental leave by 2026

"We've been left with more than a trillion dollars of debt by the former government and so we need to take a responsible approach.

"There will be measures that will be accommodated in the budget that we took to the election – whether that be our cheaper medicines or cheaper childcare – they do have a real impact on people.

"But we have to be responsible at the same time and that is the balance, that the treasurer and the government is striving to make."

READ MORE: Residents in Victoria's north told they have until midday to evacuate

Australian woman doing her budget

Rishworth said that the government's move to extend paid parental leave is "critically important", despite it not taking effect for four years.

"We are bringing in structural changes to paid parental leave at this budget, which will involve more flexibility, involves an element of shared care and also two income tests as opposed to one, to allow families once again for that more flexibility," she said.

"One of the key things coming out of the summit is that all the caring responsibilities shouldn't fall on the primary caregivers, which is usually mum.

"So we're looking at how we make sure that we're promoting shared care when it comes to our paid parental leave.

"We're taking a responsible staged approach to this to increase paid parental leave so that we can get to that 26 weeks, that six months, which is critically important."

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Russia military range shooting leaves 11 dead, 15 wounded

Two men fired at soldiers on a Russian military firing range near Ukraine on Saturday, killing 11 and wounding 15 before being slain themselves, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement that the shooting took place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia that borders Ukraine.

It said two men from an unnamed former Soviet republic fired on volunteer soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire.

READ MORE: Ukraine's Kyiv area hit by Iranian-made kamikaze drones

The ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.

The shooting comes amid a hasty mobilisation ordered by President Vladimir Putin to beef up Russian forces in Ukraine — a move that triggered protests and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Russia.

Putin said Friday that over 220,000 reservists already had been called up as part of an effort to recruit 300,000.

He promised the mobilisation would be wrapped up in two weeks.

The mobilisation was troubled from the start, with authorities issuing confusing signals about who should be called up for service in a country where almost all men under age 65 are listed as reservists.

READ MORE: UN demands Russia reverse 'illegal' annexations in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he attends a meeting on agricultural issues via videoconference in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Even though the Russian leader declared that only people who had recently served in the military would be subject to the call-up, activists and rights groups reported military conscription offices rounding up people without any army experience — some of whom were also unfit for service for medical reasons.

Some of the freshly called-up reservists posted videos of themselves being forced to sleep on the floor or even outside and given rusty weapons before being sent to the front lines.

Russian media reports said some of those who were mobilised were sent to combat without receiving proper training and were quickly killed.

Authorities have acknowledged the mobilisation was often poorly organised and promised to improve the situation.

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