Monthly Archives: January 2017

The Week That Was – January 22 to January 28

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The week began with further commemorations and vigils for the victims of the Bourke St Mall tragedy, after two more people died in hospital – including a three-month old baby, who had been in such bad shape that police decided to transport him to hospital themselves before ambulances arrived. Malcolm Turnbull came to lay flowers, and the Federal Government is believed to be matching the Victorian Government’s contribution to a support fund for victims.

This week saw the country celebrate Australia Day. While many celebrated, Indigenous Australians protested the celebration of what they see as an invasion. There are calls to change the date, and while some agree, Malcolm Turnbull believed that constitutional recognition and reconciliation are the priorities. This year’s Australian of the Year is Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, who developed a treatment for paralysis from nasal stem cells. He proved the treatment to be safe, while doctors in Poland recently had success using the treatment on a paraplegic man, who is learning to walk again. Mackay-Sim called for priority funding for medical research.

Meanwhile, Australia Day Honours were given to Julia Gillard, who became a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC); Mick Fanning, who became and Officer of the Order of Australia (AO); and several Olympians and Paralympians received Order of Australia Medals (OAM), including Chloe Esposito.

Barnaby Joyce is being criticised for telling people trying to get into the housing market should buy a house in regional areas, and that houses are bound to be expensive if you want to live in Mosman or Point Piper. The comment is being perceived as one similar to Joe Hockey’s infamous ‘get a high paying job’ comment, and Labor has jumped on it. They’re accusing Joyce of being out of touch, with critics pointing out that most jobs are in the cities, rather than the country.

There are also calls to change negative gearing, with data showing that only 8% of house sales in 2016 were to first home buyers, and that there has been a 61% rise in the number of investment property purchases in the last three years. While many are calling for these changes, the Treasurer Scott Morisson saying that supply just needs to be increased.

Finally this week, federal parliamentarians congratulated Gladys Berejiklian, who is the first female Liberal State Premier; politicians are getting cyber safety lessons; and there are concerns over Trump’s actions and how they will affect Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, although the Trade Minister is suggesting there could be alternatives if the USA actually leaves the TPP.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Kristina Keneally on Gladys Berejiklian becoming Premier – The Guardian

Alana Schezter on the ‘glass cliff’ – ABC Online

The Week That Was – January 16 to January 21

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The week began with Bill Shorten returning from holidays with a more populist and protectionist focus for the year ahead. He spoke about Australian jobs and the likelihood of the USA not ratifying the TPP under Trump. Shorten believes that without the USA, the TPP will fail and therefore it is dead. Shorten has also made clear that Labor will not say ahead of time how they will vote on the TPP when it comes to parliament.

The ABC revealed this week that a Yahoo hack that took place three years ago resulted in several sales of private information to crime syndicates and foreign intelligence. These may have involved the private information and email accounts of several diplomats, government officials and Members of Parliament or the Senate – including Christian Porter, Chris Bowen and Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration has been criticised for the contracts made with companies when setting up detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island in 2012. According to the audit, they made vague contracts and staff approved the spending of millions of  dollars – some of whom were not authorised to do so. The department also did not keep their asset register up to date, meaning that several assets burned down in a riot were not covered by their insurance, costing the taxpayer.

Malcolm Turnbull has reshuffled his cabinet after the Sussan Ley drama, with Greg Hunt the new Minister for Health and Sport, Arthur Sinodinos is now Industry Minister, Ken Wyatt has now been promoted from an Assistant Minister to a fully fledged Minister – becoming Minister for Ageing and Indigenous Health, while rising young conservative Michael Sukkar has become Assistant Minister to the Treasurer. This is the fourth reshuffle in 16 months.

Malcolm Turnbull’s week has been a bit on the sombre side, with him in Sydney’s West to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Granville train accident, before heading to Melbourne to lay flowers in Bourke Street after the tragedy there. He’s also had to respond to the shock resignation of NSW Premier Mike Baird – who is ideologically similar – and prepare for his likely successor, Gladys Berejiklian.

Also this week, it has been announced that the three-year long search for the missing MH370 plane has been ended, having finished searching in the area in the Indian Ocean. It is still unclear how the plane went down, and it may remain a mystery for years to come – although the Australian, Chinese and Malaysian searchers hope that in the future more information will come to light and they will be able to search again.

Finally this week, the Centrelink debt collection saga continues; Australia Day plans are underway; Australian police commissioners will apologise to victims of child sexual abuse for not believing them when they reported it – although it will not take place until the Royal Commission report is released; Australia is behind the rest of the world in keeping university courses relevant to the modern labor market requirements; and protests took place in Australia and around the world after Trump’s inauguration to show solidarity with minorities in America who have uncertainty ahead for the next few years.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Stan Grant on taking until 2017 for an Indigenous minister to be appointed – ABC Online

 

The Two Weeks That Were – January 1 to January 14

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With the start of 2017 came some new laws, including the backpacker tax, pension asset test changes, TAFE changes and an increase in the price of passports by $20. The new year also brought the release of Cabinet Papers from 1992 and 1993, which saw the government’s decision-making in the recession of the early 1990s as well as decisions to start offshore detention and indigenous rights.

Meanwhile the government had a pretty easy first couple of days, with the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull having tea with the Pakistani and Australian cricket teams. But a relaxing fortnight it wasn’t to be.

It began with accusations that guards in Papua New Guinea had beaten two asylum seekers. Peter Dutton, the immigration minister said he wanted to hear both sides of the story. It seems that the PNG police officers believed the two asylum seekers to be drunk and so arrested them, which the two men involved deny. The men have a court date in the next few weeks. Meanwhile in the region, Indonesia has suspended some aspects of military co-operation after they took offence to some training material at an SAS base in Perth, where the Australians help train the Indonesian version of the SAS. It appears to only be temporary, but for how long is unclear. This has happened without the involvement of Joko Widodo, and that is because the head of the Army in Indonesia is independent, and it seems that the man in charge at the moment didn’t appreciate Australia’s involvement in East Timor in 1999, and also seems to have political ambitions.

Speaking of East Timor (aka Timor Leste), they have called for the maritime treaty with Australia to be cast aside. Under the current treaty, Australia has slightly more territory than East Timor and they share the revenue of resources 50/50. There will be a renegotiation  soon, but several oil and gas companies just want to know who they have to pay rent to so that they can extract resources.

Centrelink is under fire for its debt recovery program. It involves a computer matching welfare recipients’ declared income to Centrelink, with information from the ATO, and this computer is about 20% wrong. This means that a large number of people are receiving debt collection notices from the government who don’t need to. It’s lead to criticism of the government and Centrelink, with demands that the system be stopped while the issue is fixed, but the government disagrees. It is not a good look for them given the last seven days of drama with Sussan Ley.

Health Minister Sussan Ley has had to resign in the last week after it was revealed that she charged taxpayers for a trip to the Gold Coast that, while originally for official policy business, involved her and her partner purchasing a luxury apartment. It then sort of blew up in the minister’s face when it was revealed that she’s charged taxpayers for many more trips to the Gold Coast, including trips to attend a swanky New Years Eve party. She started by standing down, but then resigned.

It’s lead to calls for the reform of politician’s expenses, with 27 recommendations from an Abbott-era review that was started after Choppergate being looked into by Turnbull. It looks as if we might be taking a leaf from the UK’s book, having an independent review board overlook and advise on MP’s travel expenses – with an emphasis on the word expenses rather than entitlements – such as whether or not you should charge the taxpayer for flights because someone invited you to the AFL Grand Final.

Finally this week, Rod Culleton’s spot in the Senate has been declared vacant by the President of the Senate Stephen Parry, after Culleton was declared bankrupt.

Tweet of the Fortnight

 

The Two Weeks That Were – December 18 to December 31

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This Christmas and New Years period was possibly the least insane for politics in a very long time. The first few days had a bit of drama but nothing too major.

The long-awaited Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), showed us that the deficit is now $36.5 billion, and debts will be bigger until a forecasted surplus in 2020. The government is on track for 12 continuous deficits and the country’s growth is down. Part of the reason for the bad news is because there are still 2014 Budget ‘zombie measures’ that still haven’t passed the Senate, however they do think some money could be recouped in the next year or so by collecting welfare debts.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused some division amongst the Liberal Party when he attended a dinner hosted by the Republican Movement, who want to see australia become a republic rather than stay as a constitutional monarchy. The move to become a republic is unlikely while Queen Elizabeth II is still alive, however Turnbull has outlined his vision for the move to a republic, with a plebiscite to decide on the model, and a referendum to follow to make the final decision – a marked difference from the failed referendum in 1999.

Meanwhile, there are concerns among the Liberals that some more conservative members may split from the party. Both Cory Bernardi and George Christiansen are fans of Donald Trump, and have concerns about national security and Bernardi’s conservative movement is going well. Many in the party are encouraging the party to stay unified and not be divided “like Labor”. The issue also had Tony Abbott talking on radio about staying with the party, which drew criticism.

There were arrests in Melbourne just before Christmas, in which several people for arrested for allegedly planning to attack some of Melbourne’s key landmarks on Christmas Day. From what the police have said they were inspired by Islamic State and the police have been keeping an eye on them for a while. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has called for calm, and reminded people that they should not cower in fear, as that is what the terrorists want.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party is looking to do well in the next few years as State elections take place in traditionally conservative States such as Western Australia and Queensland. Critics are saying that Pauline Hanson “is for Pauline Hanson” – an allegation she and her supporters deny, saying that she is for the country. Meanwhile she’s having to deal with the Culleton validity scandal – and the fact that Rod Culleton just quit her party.

As if it couldn’t get more confusing, Rod Culleton has also been declared bankrupt, and although he has 21 days to appeal, he’s technically ineligible to be a Senator. It gets confusing because the validity issue is the more important constitutional issue than the undischarged bankrupt issue. So, if Culleton loses the bankruptcy appeal, but wins his validity case, then One Nation chooses the replacement. If Culleton is found to have been invalidly elected, then his replacement is chosen by seeing who came after him in the count.

Also during this fortnight, there have been concerns about the rental agreement between the government and the rifle range, in which it appears they are paying a lower rate of rent for the land. The other concern is that David Leyonhjelm’s comments about the rental agreement suggest some secret back room horse trading between the government and the cross bench senator.

Finally during this fortnight, there was an explosion at the Australian Christian Lobby building in Canberra – which police say was not ideologically motivated; mining company Adani is facing probes in India, leading to concerns in Queensland, where they are due to start a mine; there will be a national AUSLAN curriculum set up to help teach people sign language; and an asylum seeker has died in Brisbane after not receiving appropriate medical care on Manus Island before collapsing.

You can catch my 2016 Year in Review here.

Tweet of the Fortnight

The ABC’s James Glenday was covering the Berlin Terror Attack, and all the feedback he got was about staying warm.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC 2016 Year in Review