![\"Benita](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778952856_926_Benita_Kolovos.png\")
Benita Kolovos<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\n
Work begins on Daniel Andrews statue commemorating more than 3,000 days in office<\/p>\n
Work has begun on a statue to commemorate former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews\u2019 more than 3,000 days in office.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The total cost of the statue is $134,304 and work is already under way.<\/p>\n
A Victorian government spokesperson said:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The government said installation details would be finalised \u201ccloser to completion\u201d.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.43 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n What we learned: Friday 15 May<\/p>\n With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. It\u2019s time to go rewatch Delta Goodrem\u2019s Eurovision performance and marvel at her pitch. Until then, here were today\u2019s major developments:<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n The federal court upheld a landmark decision that found a women-only social media app and its founder unlawfully discriminated against <\/a>Roxanne Tickle<\/a> after the transgender woman was denied access to the app.<\/p>\n A charter plane carrying the passengers from the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, landed in Perth.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And 11 Australians have left Turkey on a Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.43 EDT<\/p>\n Biggest downpour of the year possible in Adelaide, Weatherzone predicts<\/p>\n Weatherzone is predicting Adelaide could be lashed with its wettest rainfall of the year, with up to 4omm possible over the next four days.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cexceptionally wet spells\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markFrom this Friday to next Tuesday, Adelaide could potentially see its wettest spell of the year \u2013 with the likelihood of 15 to 15mm over the five-day period, although some models are predicting as much as 40mm.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s extensive water to a depth of as much as 2.2 metres, according to the Lake Eyre Yacht Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bureau of Meteorology has said Adelaide can expect rainfall of up to 20mm on Friday, with up to 10mm on Saturday.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Two people found dead in home north of Hobart<\/p>\n In Tasmania<\/a>, 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 \u201cserious incident\u201d which they didn\u2019t believe involved any other parties.<\/p>\n Detective inspector David Gill said emergency services were called to a property on Native Corners Road shortly after 10am.<\/p>\n He said ambulance officers were first on scene and notified police after locating a man and a woman deceased at the property.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.29 EDT<\/p>\n Daniel Andrews statue \u2018doesn\u2019t pass the pub test\u2019, Victorian opposition leader says<\/p>\n Jess Wilson also criticised the government\u2019s decision to spend $134,000 on a statue commemorating former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews\u2019 more than 3,000 days in office.<\/p>\n The milestone was conceived by former Jeff Kennett just before the 1999 Victorian election, which he subsequently lost, depriving him of his own statue.<\/p>\n Wilson said Labor deliberately released the statue\u2019s details on a Friday afternoon, which media and political insiders often refer to as the time to \u201ctake out the trash\u201d.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThey\u2019ve chosen an opportunity on a Friday afternoon when there are other things going on \u2026 to drop out a piece of information that they\u2019re going to spend more than $130,000 on a statue of a former premier in a cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n They know it doesn\u2019t pass the pub test. They know that Victorians don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.14 EDT<\/p>\n Victorian opposition leader reiterates call for CFMEU royal commission<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Wilson told reporters the premier \u201crefused to answer basic questions\u201d at estimates and \u201cfailed 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\u201d.<\/p>\n She said the premier couldn\u2019t say if the labour hire firm which was the subject of the Age report\u2019s allegations was still active on Big Build sites and if so, which sites. Wilson went on:<\/p>\n double quotation markOnce again [she\u2019s] refusing to take any responsibility for the largest construction scandal in this state\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.09 EDT<\/p>\n Coalition housing spokesperson says cost of tax indexation plan will be provided \u2018before the election\u2019<\/p>\n The shadow minister for housing and homelessness, productivity and deregulation, Andrew Bragg, has refused to put a figure on what the Coalition\u2019s indexation plan for taxation will cost.<\/p>\n He told ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing the numbers would be provided \u201cwith more detail as we go further into this term\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe main point here is we want to relieve Australians from bracket creep, because that\u2019s the thing that\u2019s insidious, it\u2019s a thing that is destroying innovation and incentive, and we think it\u2019s a tax on working, and it should be relieved.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Pressed on the Coalition\u2019s indication it would cut migrants off from welfare payments, Bragg said \u201cwe think Australia is a great country and we think it\u2019s a privilege to become an Australian citizen\u201d.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s a reasonable proposition.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.05 EDT<\/p>\n More labour hire questions for Jacinta Allan<\/p>\n Liberal MP John Pesutto also questioned the premier on the Age report, asking whether \u201cany of these criminals named this morning\u201d were \u201ccurrently active on big build sites\u201d.<\/p>\n Allan said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThat would be a matter for Victoria police to investigate.<\/p>\n She also wouldn\u2019t say how much money the labour hire firm, which was the subject of the Age report\u2019s allegations, had made on government sites or commit to recovering those funds.<\/p>\n Pesutto asked: \u201cWhy give licenses to family violence perpetrators?\u201d, to which Allan replied:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Pesutto responded:<\/p>\n double quotation markYou are the head of government. You run a government, can\u2019t you guarantee that it is the policy of your government that the Labor Hire Authority will not give licenses to family violence offenders?<\/p>\n Allan said her government had introduced legislation that had \u201cstrengthened\u201d the fit and proper test, affecting who is considered suitable to hold a labour hire licence.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.57 EDT<\/p>\n Jacinta Allan questioned over labour hire allegations<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Nationals MP Jade Benham asked the premier to \u201cguarantee\u201d to Victorian parents that young women were \u201cnever exposed to exploitation, grooming, or unsafe environments involving violent offenders and domestic violence perpetrators\u201d on Big Build sites.<\/p>\n Allan replied:<\/p>\n 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\u2019s disgusting, and it is behavior for which I have absolutely no tolerance for.<\/p>\n Benham also asked the premier \u201cWhen was the first time you heard about this morning\u2019s allegation concerning Women In Construction?\u201d<\/p>\n Allan replied that she would \u201cneed to check\u201d. She went on:<\/p>\n 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].<\/p>\n She said the government had increased the Labour Hire Authority\u2019s powers, resulting in the cancellation of 151 construction company licences and the blocking of 48 applications. Allan said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWhen it comes to this particular company they have started a process that about not renewing this company.<\/p>\n She also said police had laid 88 criminal charges against indiviudals as a result of their investigations into organised crime on Big Build sites.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.54 EDT<\/p>\n How a Sydney civic masterpiece was rescued<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Then the 20th century happened.<\/p>\n The Lands hotel on Sydney\u2019s Bridge Street has won a 2026 National Trust heritage award. Photograph: Timothy Kaye<\/p>\n As the bureaucracy swelled, the interior Victorian grandeur of the Department of Lands building on Sydney\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not the end of the story. On Friday, the building, which served as the engine room of New South Wales\u2019 colonial expansion for more than a century, took out one of the top gongs at the 2026 National Trust (NSW) heritage awards.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Continued from previous post:<\/p>\n 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 \u201cwould 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\u201d.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The hate has not just affected me; it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\nBenita Kolovos<\/p>\n![\"Kelly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Kelly_Burke.png\")
Kelly Burke<\/p>\n![\"Jordyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778952858_508_Jordyn_Beazley,_L.png\")
Jordyn Beazley<\/p>\n