The Week That Was – February 19 to February 25

The week began with reflection as Malcolm Turnbull returned from New Zealand and travelled to Darwin to commemorate 75 years since the bombing of the city in World War II. There was a reenactment, as well as speeches – and it appears that Japan is, year by year, becoming more involved in the commemorations. There was also a service for American soldiers based in Darwin who were killed during the bombing.

While not a sitting week, there was some controversy as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming to Australia, where he was met by the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier, amongst other government ministers. The whole Israel-Palestine conference is complicated and controversial. The Liberal government supports the two-state solution, but also sucks up to the Israelis a bit too – criticising the UN for a resolution that criticised Israel for building settlements. However, Labor is a divided house on this issue – many members believe Israel is in the wrong, mainly in their branches and grassroots groups. On the other hand, there are Jewish and Israel-sympathetic members of the party who disagree, but are increasingly shouted down within the party.

The end of the week saw Indonesian President Joko Widodo finally pay a visit to Australia, where he met with the PM, the NSW Premier and Australian business groups, as rumours of a Free Trade Agreement swirl.

Meanwhile, Tony Abbott reared his head and decided to cause some trouble, accusing the party of not being far enough to the right and saying they’ll be defeated at the next election. He was then criticised by Matthias Cormann and other members of the Liberal Party for being unhelpful and destructive. While Abbott doesn’t have the numbers to challenge, the concern is he may be setting the foundations for unrest within the party which could lead to a challenge from someone else.

It appears that the Medicare rebate freeze might be loosened at the next budget as long as the money is available to do so, while Labor continues to go on about Medicare privatisation.

The week’s biggest news was the Fair Work Commission decision on retail (including pharmacy), fast food and hospitality employee penalty rates. Rates will now be decreased on Sundays and public holidays. While the government is supportive of the Commission’s ruling, Labor is critical of the ruling and are suggesting that the Liberal party are behind the change, not the Commission. They also believe that this will allow other industries to challenge current penalty rates.

Finally this week, the RBA chief has said abolishing or reforming negative gearing will help with housing affordability; the government has announced that medical marijuana will be imported to give patients better access until local stocks grow; Julie Bishop travelled to the USA to visit Vice President Mike Pence; the Australia Post boss has quit shortly after his pay packet was revealed to be around $5.6 million – although it is unclear if this is what caused it; and there are calls for George Brandis to quit after Labor accused him of lying to Parliament.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/newley/status/834615245717008389

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Mem Fox (author of Possum Magic) was detained at LAX – ABC Online

The Week That Was – February 12 to February 18

So I had two weeks off from work and blogging. I missed a pretty crazy two weeks, what with Cory Bernardi leaving the Liberal Party for his own, the Trump-Turnbull phone call and Rod Culleton being ruled invalidly elected.

This week saw some drama as the Liberal Party in Western Australia made a preference deal with One Nation over the Nationals. This has led to suggestions that the Coalition in WA may be at risk of falling apart and has led the Federal Labor party to push the Federal Liberals to promise not to do the same. It appears to be an attempt to save the WA Liberals from losing the State election in March, as it looks as if the swing against the Liberals there could be a large as 12% – leading to a Labor win. Labor also seems to be enjoying making inner city Liberals uncomfortable about the whole One Nation thing.

Businesses, conservation groups and other organisations are pushing politicians to have a bipartisan approach to energy policy. These groups are saying that all this uncertainty is bad for society and the economy.

Malcolm Turnbull has also been caught out after a Freedom of Information showed that Turnbull was told by government officials that the South Australian blackout at the end of last year was not the result of South Australia’s mix of renewable and non-renewable energy. Labor is accusing the Prime Minister of lying to the public, while Turnbull is sort of ignoring the whole thing.

To add to the governments issues is the poor Closing the Gap Report results that came out this week. Only one of the 7 markers is on track at the moment, while the other 6 are behind. It appears that there is little information on what programs are actually working, so the government has decided to start a productivity commission to figure that out.

Meanwhile, the prestigious private school, Barker College, and an Aboriginal Land Council has found a program that seems to be working on the NSW Central Coast, with the school hiring teachers for a co-educational indigenous-only school with a teacher for every 7 students. The school is funded by corporate donations, and the Sydney-based College provides the educators. The school has been incredibly successful with students improving by up to five years – with the school only being open for about a year.

Malcolm Turnbull also made a trip to New Zealand this week to hang out with the new Prime Minister Bill English. The two have discussed the benefits of lower business taxes and free trade, with the aim of telling their Asian counterparts that even if the USA pulls out of the TPP, there are still nations in the region to have free trade with.

And if that wasn’t all – George Christiansen is threatening to leave the LNP.

Finally this week, Bob Katter is demanding that the government create laws to protect Australian made cultural souvenirs, as Asian nations make cheap fakes that we sell here; American official have arrived on Manus Island to begin interviewing asylum seekers; refugees that have been settled in Sydney are having trouble finding homes; and there are concerns over recent job cuts at Air Services Australia – the company that provides air traffic control to the country – with staff saying that the public is at risk.

Tweet of the Week

To my sis @Azdastyari, note Kim Jong Un appears to have poisoned his sibling. Just a reminder of what a good (non poisoning) bro you have.

— Sam Dastyari (@samdastyari) February 14, 2017

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The cost to the US taxpayer for Trump’s weekly trips to Mar-a-Lago – ABC USA

Richard Glover tells the US why Australia and the USA are friends – Washington Post