Monthly Archives: October 2016

The Week That Was – October 23 to October 29

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It’s been a mostly quiet week in politics, with the exception of the massive drama between the Attorney-General George Brandis and now ex-Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson. Gleeson quit over the increasingly tumultuous relationship between him and the Attorney-General, and believes the relationship is “irretrievably broken”

Also this week, Bob Day has done a bit of a backflip, deciding that because there is no chance of finding a new Family First Senator for South Australia prior to the next sitting day (November 7), he’s going to stay on and vote on the ABCC, the plebescite and other “important” legislation. South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill has contradicted this, saying that there can be a vote in SA on who they send to Canberra by November 3, so it wouldn’t be a problem. Malcolm Turnbull’s been defending Day’s decision saying he’s an independent Senator and can do as he pleases; while Labor and the Greens have been critical.

Paid Parental Leave is due to change, with Malcolm Turnbull telling women he feels for those affected by the changes. The changes will leave some mothers worse off as they will have less weeks of maternity leave supported by both the government and their employer. While many in the government have called it “double dipping”, there are many who criticise them for this characterisation.

The Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) met this week for a summit on violence against women. It seemed from what I saw on the news as a bit of a gab-fest, but hopefully something will come out of it given the next lot of money is due to help in the reduction of harm or violence, and to Turnbull’s credit, he did apologise for the governments not doing something to help sooner.

Finally this week, IBM apologised for #censusfail; State, Territory and Federal governments, along with the opposition are disagreeing over how to improve housing affordability; Barnaby Joyce is fighting with Singaporean Sugar giant Wilmar (who own the CSR sugar brand) over their treatment of cane farmers; and Marise Payne in in Paris talking about post-Mosul battle Iraq and what will happen next.

Tweet of the Week

That Awkward Moment when the boss doesn’t properly confirm the return of a news show on the national broadcaster, and the PR people have to do it…

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/792189634402852864

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

It’s been assignment time at uni, so I only have one, and it is a tad sad.

“Injuries incompatible with life” confuses after the tragedy at Dreamworld – News.com.au

 

 

The Week That Was – October 16 to October 22

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Apologies for the absence over the last few weeks, but we’re back to regular programming.

Malcolm Turnbull began the week hoping to get his ABCC legislation through the Senate, but all did not go to plan, with Family First Senator Bob Day – a key supporter of the ABCC legislation – resigning from parliament after his house construction company went into liquidation. He believes his spot is untenable and that he needs to focus on paying back creditors, which is fair enough, and now there is a casual vacancy in the Senate for Family First in South Australia. Fair Trade has gotten involved in the liquidation as families with homes under construction and there are also questions over whether the company traded insolvent.

It got worse for Turnbull when Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm claimed that in return for his vote on legislation, he was promised a the government would reconsider the import ban on Adler A110 guns. When the 12-month sunset clause passed and the gun’s import ban remained, he felt betrayed and went to the media. Basically it appears the deal was done by the Justice Minister Michael Keenan and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. There is then contention over whether Tony Abbott knew of the deal, of which he says he knew nothing, while Turnbull says the then-PM’s office knew.

This leads me to suspect that the then-Prime Minister’s Office knew, but the Prime Minister himself did not. It could be one of these things that Credlin knew that she either decided Abbott didn’t need to or she never got the chance to tell him. Regardless, Turnbull’s declaration in Question Time, that Abbott then got up to refute saying he had been “most grievously” misrepresented, has led to a suggestion from commercial media that there is a Turnbull-Abbott feud, which really distracts from the government actually running the country and wanting to talk about that more than the whole guns saga.

Senate Estimates also took place this week, with some epic moments. Top of the list though had to be the response of Defence Minister Marise Payne to a question about the three defence focused ministers. She was asked who was the most senior minister among the three ministers and what each minister’s roles were – she couldn’t really tell them. Oops.

Finally this week, Labor won the ACT election; the new Reserve Bank chair suggests there could be another interest rate cut; the AMA is recommending a $2 price rise for GP consultations as the Medicare rebate remains at 2014 levels; and the Liberals in NSW may allow the rank and file members to vote in preselections.

Tweets of the Week

Aussie accents get noticed everywhere

And the smashed-avo-breakfast-gate

https://twitter.com/dtsmith_sydney/status/787584914635919361

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Cafés are having a bit of (cheap) fun with the whole breakkie vs housing thing  – ABC News

Michael Janda on why Gen Y should postpone buying a home – ABC Online