Rachel Baxendale

Rachel BaxendaleVictorian Political Reporter

Rachel Baxendale writes on state and federal politics from The Australian’s Melbourne and Victorian press gallery bureaux. During her time working for the paper in the Canberra press gallery she covered the 2016 federal election, the citizenship saga, Barnaby Joyce’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and the 2018 Liberal leadership spill which saw Scott Morrison replace Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. Rachel grew up in regional Victoria and began her career in The Australian’s Melbourne bureau in 2012.

@rachelbaxendale

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BUDGET 2024Politics

Means testing energy handouts ‘too costly’

The government won’t contemplate means testing $300 energy rebates under its $3.5bn budget package.

Rosie Lewis and Rachel Baxendale

WELFARENation

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos MARCH 19, 2024:Generic photos of Centrelink on Edwards Street ,Norwood .Picture: NCA NewsWire / Mark Brake

Doubling down on help with the rent

Welfare recipients will receive a 10 per cent boost to their rent assistance payments, in what the government says is the largest and the first back-to-back increase to the maximum rates of rent assistance in more than three decades.

Rachel Baxendale

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. NCA NewsWire Photos. APRIL 23, 2024. Victorian Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt, left, and Premier Jacinta Allan announce the government will not proceed with a second injecting room in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Blair Jackson

Mental health data hits five-year high

Mental health-related presentations to Victorian emergency departments have surged to a five-year high.

Rachel Baxendale

VICTORIAN BUDGETPolitics

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 07: Victoria Treasurer Tim Pallas speaks to the media during the media budget lock-in on May 07, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. It is the first budget for Jacinta Allan since she took over from Daniel Andrews as the Victorian state premier. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

State debt interest $26m a day

Victorians face an interest bill of $26m a day to service their debt, despite spending cuts and delays to major projects announced in Tuesday’s state budget.

Rachel Baxendale

EXCLUSIVENation

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NCA NewsWire - 06 MAY, 2024: Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas poses for a photograph at the Department of Treasury and Finance Victoria in Melbourne, Monday, May 6, 2024. Treasurer Tim Pallas will deliver his 10th state budget on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Diego Fedele

Covid levy to hit federal budget

The Albanese government is expecting next week’s federal budget to take a hit from Victoria’s Covid debt levy, as economists warn the state’s weak fiscal outlook is likely to become an increasing drag on the nation’s finances.

Rachel Baxendale

renewablesNation

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos, FEBRUARY 07, 2023: Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews holds a press conference on the first day of Parliament in Melbourne with Lily D'Ambrosio the Minister for Climate Action. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Canberra cash ‘critical’ for offshore wind energy’s future

Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has declared federal spending ‘critical’ to her state’s plans for an offshore wind industry.

Rachel Baxendale

VICTORIAN BUDGETPolitics

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NCA NewsWire Photos MAY 02, 2024 : Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan speaks to the media at Wurun Senior Campus in Fitzroy North. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Stop the cash splash, Premier told

The warnings come as global ratings agency S&P signals that almost $250bn of an expected $600bn in Australian state debt, or 42 per cent, is expected to be attributable to Victoria by 2027.

Rachel Baxendale and Tricia Rivera

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

MELBOURNE,AUSTRALIA-NewsWire Photos 26 SEPTEMBER, 2023: UFU RALLY. In the largest rally in the history of the Firefighters Union, over 1,500 professional firefighters will travel from all across Victoria to march against the torching of their rights and conditions after the Andrews Government tore up a proposed enterprise bargaining agreement after two years of negotiations. Peter Marshall will addressed the media and the rally outside Eastern Hill Fire Station at Firefighters march to the Victorian Parliament on Spring Street and onto the Fair Work Commission on Exhibition Street, where the rally will end. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Valeriu Campan

Unions’ budget in reply: strikes

Public sector unions are preparing to take industrial action the day after Victoria’s Labor government hands down what is expected to be a horror budget.

Rachel Baxendale

Victorian budgetPolitics

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas and Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll. Picture: David Crosling

No more surprises, indie schools warn

Independent Schools Victoria has fired a warning shot at the state government, saying it wants to see a ‘no surprises’ budget handed down.

Tricia Rivera and Rachel Baxendale

VICTORIAPolitics

MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos OCTOBER 4, 2023: Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas speaks to the media prior to the start of Question time outside Parliament in Melbourne,Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Get budget right or we go: business

Business leaders are warning the Victorian government ahead of its budget on Tuesday that if they do not get the balance right, companies will leave the state, taking jobs with them.

Rachel Baxendale

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/rachel-baxendale/page/4