Parliament is on holidays for a bit, and the internet was out in my house while we painted walls so we have a relatively eventful fortnight to cover.
Malcolm Turnbull has had a tough fortnight, with Bill Shorten seemingly getting the upper hand in the pre-election campaign campaign. Bill Shorten spent the week travelling the country showing up at various public schools talking up his education policy which seems to be Gonski related, as well as claiming that they’ve costed over sixty of their policies for the next election, and while health policies are yet to be costed, Shorten is saying that will happen soon. Meanwhile, the Liberals have only managed to say Gonski was never properly funded and tell people that they’re leaving commentary on their fall in the polls to the commentators. Then Labor announced that they would have a Royal Commission into the banking industry, after several scandals over the last few months, while Scott Morrison attempted to rebut by talking about how it would damage the economy and confidence in the banks. It also didn’t help that several Liberal MPs talked to the media about the party being a little bit unfocused, which from my perspective is quite accurate and has been the case for a while.
I wonder if the the Liberal Party got a little complacent after Turnbull came to the Prime Ministership last September, thinking that now they had a popular guy in the role they could coast through to the election, at which point they could campaign their hearts out and win with a few lost seats that were going to go anyway thanks to redistributions and insanely tiny margins. They failed to realise two things. First, while the electorate like Turnbull far more than Abbott, they like him because of his position on certain issues, and so far, he has had to ignore a few of them to keep the conservative faction happy, and no progress has been made on the others. There have been few changes to Liberal Party policies and that has lead people to look towards the alternatives, who have been providing options and policies.
Second, the Liberals failed to realise that the Labor Party isn’t dumb, and that they would eventually figure out that they could start costing and planning policies and start suggesting a few ideas and alternatives to the electorate in a way that would leave the Liberal Party playing catch-up, and that is exactly what has happened. The combination of the public wanting change and the Opposition proving alternative ideas has left the Government, who would usually have the upper hand as incumbents, playing catch up and the complacency that started all this may now cost them a safe majority in the lower house.
Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have been working hard on the budget, and it seems that the states will possibly get some more money for health, after the massive cut the Abbott Government made back in 2014. Premiers and Chief Ministers seemed happy with that idea, which buttered them up a bit for the Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) meetings. It didn’t last long though.
Prior to COAG, Turnbull floated the idea of decreasing the federal government’s intake of income tax, allowing the states to take in what was left to take inc0me tax back to it’s usual level. The idea was to give the state governments more control over their finances. The Premiers and Chief Ministers began by being divided and either ruling it out or wanting more information, before they completely and utterly killed the idea at the meetings in Canberra, around 48 hours after the idea was floated. This left Turnbull picking up the pieces and Bill Shorten pointing out that Turnbull had had that idea in the first place, while the Health Minister, Sussan Ley, got angry at the the States, and States were told not to come crying to federal government for more money. The next COAG meeting is set for June-ish, meaning Turnbull will likely meet with Premiers and Chief Ministers during the election campaign.
The fortnight also saw the announcement that the Australian Federal Police were investigating Defence Housing Australia (DHA), the company that rents houses and apartments to Defence Force members and their families as they move around the country. It seems that the CEO resigned rather mysteriously and the Department of Finance – one of DHA’s main shareholders – decided to call in the AFP to investigate, which has led to concerns that there has been financial mismanagement.
Meanwhile, there is debate over whether or not the government should get involved in the drama at steel company Arrium, which has gone into voluntary administration with nearly $4 billion in debt. It’s believed that a combination in the fall in steel prices, and the fact that Australian builds have been buying cheaper steel from overseas, has lead to the company’s troubles and thousands of jobs are at risk. Labor has suggested putting a quota on building projects in Australia, requiring them to use a certain amount of Australian made steel to keep the industry afloat. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party have been less forward with ideas, saying their main focus is the workers.
Finally, over the last fortnight, survivors of the Lindt Cafe Siege have been speaking at the inquest into the deaths of Tori Johnson, Katrina Dawson and Man Haron Monis; all kids were released from detention in Nauru; Julie Bishop is trying to assist a crew from current affairs show 60 Minutes and the woman they were doing a story on after they were arrested in Lebanon; and the government is going to lose a ton of money when the write off some of the HECS debts.
Tweets of the Fortnight
https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/718937812423192576
https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/718266567142830085
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
Cory Bernardi, his website and Jungle Juice sellers (yes, really) – Buzzfeed
Panama Papers reveal a two-tier economy – ABC’s The Drum
Gold Logie nominees and racism – ABC’s The Drum
Kara L 