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PM: ‘People don’t want a meeting, they want action’ after latest synagogue fire

The PM, Anthony Albanese, was speaking live from Hobart a short while ago.

Asked if he will convene national cabinet following the Melbourne synagogue fire, Albanese said “people don’t want a meeting, they want action”.

A 34-year-old man from New South Wales appeared in court, charged over allegedly entering the grounds of the East Melbourne Hebrew congregation on Albert Street at about 8pm on Friday, pouring a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and setting it on fire.

Asked if he would consider a taskforce, the prime minister said “we have a taskforce”:

What we do is take on security issues. We take advice from security agencies. That’s precisely what we have done.

Pushed on whether he would provide more money for CCTV and guards outside Jewish schools and places of worship, the prime minister said:

I spoke with Jewish community leaders on Saturday. Every time there has been a request, it has been met, expeditiously.

On Saturday, one of the reasons why this gentleman has been caught so quickly is because the CCTV that was in place there was as a direct result of commonwealth government funding. In addition to that, the reinforcement of the door of the synagogue was done with that commonwealth security funding.

We will respond. We will respond to any request constructively. That is what we have done.

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Updated at 01.06 BST

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Cait Kelly

Greens call for full implementation of Robodebt royal commission recommendations

The Greens have called on Labor to fully implement the Robodebt commission recommendations, after calls from Australia’s peak welfare organisations.

Recommendations from the royal commission that the government have failed to implement include a statute of limitations on the recovery of old debts, establishing a duty of care for the department and automatically protecting people experiencing hardship from receiving compliance notices.

The Green’s spokesperson on social services, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said:

Robodebt lives on today. It’s been two years since the royal commission and still Labor have refused to act on the commission’s recommendations to protect income recipients.

Labor continues to aggressively target income support recipients using questionable and potentially unlawful automated debt collection practices that can see people lose access to income support payments that are already below the poverty line.

We know people are still being flogged with ridiculous debt notices for supposed issues dating back to the 1970s, and the government still has no protections in place to prevent individuals already experiencing severe hardship from being further punished.

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Updated at 01.23 BST

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