Benita Kolovos
Work begins on Daniel Andrews statue commemorating more than 3,000 days in office
Work has begun on a statue to commemorate former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ more than 3,000 days in office.
The state government confirmed Meridian Sculpture, the company that created the statues of the other four Victorian premiers who reached the milestone, was selected following a standard procurement process.
The total cost of the statue is $134,304 and work is already under way.
A Victorian government spokesperson said:
double quotation markDaniel Andrews led Victoria through some of its toughest moments and never stopped fighting for working people. Under a policy introduced by the Kennett government, Victorian premiers who serve more than 3,000 days in office are recognised with a statue along Treasury Place in honour of their service to the state.
The government said installation details would be finalised “closer to completion”.
Updated at 00.43 EDT
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What we learned: Friday 15 May
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. It’s time to go rewatch Delta Goodrem’s Eurovision performance and marvel at her pitch. Until then, here were today’s major developments:
The minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, says the government has listed the National Socialist Network, also known as White Australia, as a prohibited hate group.
The federal court upheld a landmark decision that found a women-only social media app and its founder unlawfully discriminated against Roxanne Tickle after the transgender woman was denied access to the app.
A charter plane carrying the passengers from the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, landed in Perth.
One Nation has recorded a higher primary vote than Labor and the Coalition, in post-budget polling by Roy Morgan, which finds that if an election were held tomorrow, Australia would see a hung parliament.
And 11 Australians have left Turkey on a Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Updated at 03.43 EDT
Biggest downpour of the year possible in Adelaide, Weatherzone predicts
Weatherzone is predicting Adelaide could be lashed with its wettest rainfall of the year, with up to 4omm possible over the next four days.
The weather app said on Friday that Adelaide started the year with a completely dry January and had close to average rainfall since, without any “exceptionally wet spells”.
double quotation markFrom this Friday to next Tuesday, Adelaide could potentially see its wettest spell of the year – with the likelihood of 15 to 15mm over the five-day period, although some models are predicting as much as 40mm.
The rain that falls in Adelaide and elsewhere in SA this week will obviously help top up water storages, and it could boost water levels in Lati Thanda-Lake Eyre, where there’s extensive water to a depth of as much as 2.2 metres, according to the Lake Eyre Yacht Club.
The Bureau of Meteorology has said Adelaide can expect rainfall of up to 20mm on Friday, with up to 10mm on Saturday.
The bureau said there is a chance for a thunderstorm this afternoon or evening, with winds north-easterly at 15 to 25km/h, becoming light in the late evening.
ShareTwo people found dead in home north of Hobart
In Tasmania, two people have been found dead at a home in Campania, a wine region north of Hobart. In a statement, police said they were investigating the “serious incident” which they didn’t believe involved any other parties.
Detective inspector David Gill said emergency services were called to a property on Native Corners Road shortly after 10am.
He said ambulance officers were first on scene and notified police after locating a man and a woman deceased at the property.
double quotation markOur initial investigations indicate the incident was contained to the residence, and at this stage police do not believe anyone else was involved.
A crime scene has been declared and there is no evidence of any ongoing threat to the community. Crime scene investigators and forensic services remain at the scene conducting inquiries.
Updated at 03.29 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Daniel Andrews statue ‘doesn’t pass the pub test’, Victorian opposition leader says
Jess Wilson also criticised the government’s decision to spend $134,000 on a statue commemorating former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ more than 3,000 days in office.
The milestone was conceived by former Jeff Kennett just before the 1999 Victorian election, which he subsequently lost, depriving him of his own statue.
Wilson said Labor deliberately released the statue’s details on a Friday afternoon, which media and political insiders often refer to as the time to “take out the trash”.
She said:
double quotation markThey’ve chosen an opportunity on a Friday afternoon when there are other things going on … to drop out a piece of information that they’re going to spend more than $130,000 on a statue of a former premier in a cost of living crisis.
They know it doesn’t pass the pub test. They know that Victorians don’t want to see their taxpayer money being spent on this … They think they can spin their way out of everything. I think they seriously underestimate the intelligence of Victorians.
Updated at 03.14 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Victorian opposition leader reiterates call for CFMEU royal commission
As the premier appeared before estimates, the opposition leader, Jess Wilson, held a press conference, in which she reiterated her call for a royal commission into CFMEU corruption on construction sites.
Wilson told reporters the premier “refused to answer basic questions” at estimates and “failed to undertake serious investigations into why a labour hire firm has allegedly allowed a person who has been convicted of domestic violence to recruit women to put on government worksites”.
She said the premier couldn’t say if the labour hire firm which was the subject of the Age report’s allegations was still active on Big Build sites and if so, which sites. Wilson went on:
double quotation markOnce again [she’s] refusing to take any responsibility for the largest construction scandal in this state’s history. Only my team, the Liberals and Nationals, have a plan to clean up crime and corruption in this state, and if elected premier later this year, we will initiate a royal commission into CFMEU misconduct to understand and stamp out how this has happened for the past decade in Victoria.
Updated at 03.09 EDT
Coalition housing spokesperson says cost of tax indexation plan will be provided ‘before the election’
The shadow minister for housing and homelessness, productivity and deregulation, Andrew Bragg, has refused to put a figure on what the Coalition’s indexation plan for taxation will cost.
He told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing the numbers would be provided “with more detail as we go further into this term”.
double quotation markThe main point here is we want to relieve Australians from bracket creep, because that’s the thing that’s insidious, it’s a thing that is destroying innovation and incentive, and we think it’s a tax on working, and it should be relieved.
We have given a clear indication of our direction on tax reform, and all of the numbers will be provided before the election of course, so people can make up their mind.
Pressed on the Coalition’s indication it would cut migrants off from welfare payments, Bragg said “we think Australia is a great country and we think it’s a privilege to become an Australian citizen”.
double quotation markIf you become an Australian citizen, part of the Australian family, then you deserve to be able to use public services. Which can be particularly expensive. And we think that’s a reasonable proposition.
Updated at 03.05 EDT
Benita Kolovos
More labour hire questions for Jacinta Allan
Liberal MP John Pesutto also questioned the premier on the Age report, asking whether “any of these criminals named this morning” were “currently active on big build sites”.
Allan said:
double quotation markThat would be a matter for Victoria police to investigate.
She also wouldn’t say how much money the labour hire firm, which was the subject of the Age report’s allegations, had made on government sites or commit to recovering those funds.
Pesutto asked: “Why give licenses to family violence perpetrators?”, to which Allan replied:
double quotation markI would have to remind you that the Labour Hire Authority is an independent agency. That allegation is concerning, and it needs to be put to the Labor Hire Authority.
Pesutto responded:
double quotation markYou are the head of government. You run a government, can’t you guarantee that it is the policy of your government that the Labor Hire Authority will not give licenses to family violence offenders?
Allan said her government had introduced legislation that had “strengthened” the fit and proper test, affecting who is considered suitable to hold a labour hire licence.
Updated at 02.57 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Jacinta Allan questioned over labour hire allegations
Dipping back into the Victorian state budget estimates, the premier, Jacinta Allan, has faced a barrage of questions over a report published this morning by the Age, which alleges a labour hire company providing female workers for state government sites had significant criminal links.
Nationals MP Jade Benham asked the premier to “guarantee” to Victorian parents that young women were “never exposed to exploitation, grooming, or unsafe environments involving violent offenders and domestic violence perpetrators” on Big Build sites.
Allan replied:
double quotation markI appreciate the question and the opportunity to say very clearly to the committee and to the broader community – those allegations that have been reported on today … about the treatment of women on work sites is appalling, it’s disgusting, and it is behavior for which I have absolutely no tolerance for.
Benham also asked the premier “When was the first time you heard about this morning’s allegation concerning Women In Construction?”
Allan replied that she would “need to check”. She went on:
double quotation markThe allegations of potential illegal behaviour on work sites has been reported on previously, and I have been consistent in saying that where … allegations that have been made, they should be immediately referred [to relevant authorities].
She said the government had increased the Labour Hire Authority’s powers, resulting in the cancellation of 151 construction company licences and the blocking of 48 applications. Allan said:
double quotation markWhen it comes to this particular company they have started a process that about not renewing this company.
She also said police had laid 88 criminal charges against indiviudals as a result of their investigations into organised crime on Big Build sites.
Updated at 02.54 EDT
Kelly Burke
How a Sydney civic masterpiece was rescued
It was once a grand old sandstone masterpiece, where returned soldiers would cram into marble corridors to anxiously await lottery draws that could change their lives.
Then the 20th century happened.
The Lands hotel on Sydney’s Bridge Street has won a 2026 National Trust heritage award. Photograph: Timothy Kaye
As the bureaucracy swelled, the interior Victorian grandeur of the Department of Lands building on Sydney’s Bridge Street became infested with a warren of claustrophobic cubicles. Office partitions sprung up like weeds, hiding grand Australian red cedar joinery behind particleboard. Ornate vaulted ceilings disappeared behind suspended acoustic tiles and humming fluorescent strips.
But that’s not the end of the story. On Friday, the building, which served as the engine room of New South Wales’ colonial expansion for more than a century, took out one of the top gongs at the 2026 National Trust (NSW) heritage awards.
Read more:
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Jordyn Beazley
Continued from previous post:
Tickle said when she began her gender affirmation in 2017, she had no idea at that stage a small minority of people who had never met her “would invest an incredible amount of their own precious time and effort into ridiculing, degrading, threatening and mocking me to try to make my life as miserable as they could”.
She said:
double quotation markThere is so much hate and bile cast on trans and gender diverse people, simply because of who we are. Usually, by those who refuse to meet us or engage with us. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that most Australians are kind and believe in allowing everyone to be free to live their life in dignity and be free to be who they truly are.
The hate has not just affected me; it’s hurt so many other trans and gender diverse people, a number of them my friends, and it is not what the Australian community stands for. For that small minority, the decision to choose hate over friendship and community has removed them from a place they would have been welcomed, and can still be welcomed. My trans friends are some of the kindest and most empathetic people I have ever met.
I now look forward to getting on with the rest of my life, in the community that we all know and love, one that embraces freedom and equality for all women.
ShareJordyn Beazley
Tickle hopes landmark win helps ‘trans and gender diverse people and their loved ones to heal’
Roxanne Tickle has said after her landmark win was upheld in the federal court that she took legal action to show “trans people that you can be brave and that you can stand up for yourself”.
“In the process, I surprised myself at just how brave I could be,” she continued to say, outside court. “Young Roxy would be surprised but overjoyed.”
On Friday the full bench of the federal court found a women-only social media app, Giggle for Girls, and its founder, Sall Grover, unlawfully discriminated against Tickle after the transgender woman was denied access to the platform.
Tickle said in her statement after the judgement:
double quotation markI’m very pleased by the outcome of my case, and I hope that it assists trans and gender diverse people and their loved ones to heal. The court unanimously found that I was unlawfully directly discriminated against. The ruling clearly reinforces what the Australian community stands for, that all women are protected from discrimination by law, trans women, cis women, lesbian women, queer women, straight women, First Nations women, women of colour, migrant women, women with disabilities, all women.
I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and that you can stand up for yourself. In the process, I surprised myself at just how brave I could be. Young Roxy would be surprised but overjoyed.
Updated at 03.12 EDT