Australian news and politics live: Taylor says Wong returning from US ‘empty-handed’, making ‘no progress’

Mr Taylor avoided questioning on whether Australia should request that the US increase aid spending in the Pacific, similarly to how America has demanded that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese boost his defence budget.

Australia has long touted that “soft-diplomacy” in the Pacific and investing in relationships is just as critical for security in the region.

But shortly after US President Donald Trump was reelected, he announced that the key ally would axe its aid commitments to Pacific nations.

When asked at a press conference on Wednesday if the US should rethink the decision amid China’s increasing push for influence over Indo-Pacific countries, Mr Taylor just acknowledged the importance of having “good relations with our Pacific partners”.

“I’m not going to get into giving the Americans advice on their aid spending,” he said.

“Obviously, they (Pacific nations) are important allies of ours and partners to ours.

“And we do understand that the Chinese Communist Party is seeking increased influence in that part of the world.

“It’s incredibly important we continue to build those relations.”

Shadow defence minister Angus Taylor has accused Penny Wong of “coming home empty-handed” from Washington in a failed meeting with her US counterparts.

Speaking in Canberra on Wednesday, he said “it’s time to get serious” about Australia’s alliance with its key ally and set down a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“Penny Wong had a very clear job this week, which was to get over to the United States and to strengthen that alliance,” he said, before listing tariff exemptions, AUKUS assurances and a Trump meeting.

“Penny Wong will come home empty-handed on AUKUS, no real progress on tariff barriers, no progress on setting up a meeting - it’s anyone’s guess as to when that’s going to happen.”

Victorian Minister for Children, Lizzie Blandthorn, has confirmed that the state will move from a voluntary to a mandatory ban on personal devices in childcare centres.

While a federal voluntary code was introduced last July and widely adopted, the new state rules mean all services must comply by the end of September or risk fines and conditions on their licence.

“July last year, nationally we made it a voluntary model code that we asked all services to comply with that, and by and large, they did. But what we’re going to say to services now, is that we expect you to comply with that by the end of September. And if you don’t comply with it then we will consider that in the context of your overall service provision, and if necessary, make a condition of your license to provide the service, and then if you don’t comply with that we will have capacity for fines.”

Ms Blandthorn also said the government’s rapid review will look at installing CCTV in all childcare centres.

“The police have been clear with us even as recently as yesterday ... it makes a difference. I believe it would make a difference. It’s a deterrent, if nothing else, in a centre, people who might have that intent. I definitely think that it’s a worthwhile reform to at least get that further advice on what we can and can’t do.”

Police confirmed yesterday that Joshua Brown, the childcare worker at the centre of abuse allegations, was employed at 20 different childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025.

Around 3,600 families whose children attended those centres during that period have been notified, with 1,200 children advised to undergo precautionary screening for infectious diseases.

Speaking at a press conference, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Christian McGrath, acknowledged the distress families are experiencing and sought to reassure those affected.

“I want to provide assurance to those 1,200 families where we’ve recommended screening and testing that this is a high precautionary measure. The risk is low.”

Dr McGrath said 1,300 families received support through the dedicated phone line yesterday, but admitted there were long wait times:

“There was some wait times, and any wait time could be stressful for any family at this point of time. So I want to acknowledge that. I want to thank everyone for their patience. While the demand may be reduced, today, we do want to ask people that if they haven’t been directly contacted, that they please check the central website if they can—there’s a list of childcare centres and the dates the alleged worked there, so please check there first, and that’ll really help us prioritize that support and care.”

In the wake of disturbing child abuse allegations at a Victorian childcare centre, Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn has called for urgent action to strengthen child safety standards.

Ms Blandthorn confirmed that state, territory, and federal education ministers have already agreed on key safety measures, but warned that national reforms are not moving quickly enough to protect children.

“There is national reform work underway, but as the Premier said, it is frustratingly slow,” she said.

“This is something we have expressed over the past months and weeks, and certainly something that I expressed last Friday. We need to see tangible outcomes sooner, and as I told the commonwealth last week. In Victoria, we will be looking at what we can do ahead of existing national schedules for the implementation of child safety reform. One of those things, as the premier spoke to, is a registration system.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has reminded Victorian families that they are eligible for financial support is they were affected by the recent child sex offence allegations at a Victorian childcare centre.

A 26-year-old childcare worker, Joshua Brown, has been arrested and charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault and child exploitation, after allegedly abusing eight children aged five months to two years at Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023.

Following the arrest and notification of parents, the government will provide a $5,000 immediate-needs payment to families whose children have been referred for precautionary testing by public health officials.

“Affected families will be eligible for a $5,000 immediate-needs payment. This will be made available to those families who have been given the advice based on our public health team for their children to be referred for precautionary testing. It will support parents and families if they need to take time off work to help them find other care arrangements and cover the costs of over medical or mental health appointments.”

“We can’t imagine what those families are going through when they were contacted yesterday. What I do know is this sort of news, this sharing of information, turns your normal daily life upside down.”

In response to the arrest of a Victorian childcare worker charged with more than 70 child sex offences, Premier Jacinta Allan has announced an urgent review into childcare safety.

The review aims to deliver immediate reforms to protect children and restore trust in the childcare system.

“We will also commission here in Victoria an urgent review into childcare safety. We’ll be announcing who’ll be leading this review by the end of the week. This will be a short, sharp piece of work that will focus on the immediate actions that we can take.”

“I want this Victorian review to examine options, for example, of installing a CCTV in childcare centres. We’ll also, too, look at the national framework for childcare to see if we can go even further and act faster on any of the measures that are currently being considered at a national level.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is speaking at a press conference and has announced that all childcare centres in the state will be required to ban personal devices from September 26.

This move comes after shocking allegations of abuse at a Victorian childcare centre, which have left families across the state demanding immediate action to protect children.

“Work is also ongoing at the national level to ban the use of personal devices in childcare centres. In Victoria, we’ll be bringing that forward. To avoid delay, we’ll be putting all Victorian childcare centres on notice. They will be required to adopt this ban on personal devices, effective from 26 September.”

“Childcare centres who don’t comply with this ban will have this placed on them as a condition of licence and may face fines of up to $50,000.”

Education Minister Jason Clare has revealed plans to introduce legislation empowering the government to withhold funding from childcare providers that fail to meet safety and quality standards, aiming to prevent repeat offenders from operating in the care sector.

“I directed my department to get that legislation drafted as quickly as possible. It’ll deal with cutting off funding to centres where there’s egregious behaviour, stopping them from expanding, and preventing bad actors from moving into other care sectors like the NDIS,” he explained.

“We know Working with Children Checks aren’t a silver bullet. Too often perpetrators have no prior record and pass checks. So, while we’re working to improve those checks, we need a broader approach to keep kids safe.”

“Education ministers are collaborating on a national package of reforms to ensure early education and care centres are as safe as they need to be. The safety of our kids in early education and care is our highest priority.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has called for urgent national reforms to protect children in early education following disturbing abuse allegations in Victoria.

He stressed the deep anger and trauma felt by affected families, including a close friend whose children were involved.

“I think any Australian who heard the news from Victoria yesterday would be sickened by what they heard. And for every parent that is directly affected by this in Victoria, they would be frightened, and they’d be angry. They would be bloody angry. And I know that they’re angry because one of those parents is a friend of mine, and her two little girls are directly affected by this... She’s right to be mad. I’m mad,” Mr Clare said.

“This is serious, and it requires serious action. I was informed about this by the Victorian government a little over a week ago. It’s one of the reasons why I put this on the top of the agenda when education ministers met last week.”

“We’ve banned the use of personal mobile phones and devices in childcare centres, changed mandatory reporting from seven days to 24 hours, and are working on legislation to cut funding to centres that don’t meet safety standards.”