This week saw the leaking of the report from the religious freedom inquiry run by Philip Ruddock, which suggested that all religious schools have the right to refuse the enrolment of or expel a student because of their sexuality, if it was against the schools doctrinal teaching. This sent people into an uproar about adults discriminating against children, and an argument over whether or not it was already illegal – and it actually depends on the state in which the school is. In Queensland and Tasmania it is illegal for religious schools to expel or refuse enrolment to LGBTIQ+ students, while in WA, SA, Victoria and the Northern Territory, the legislation is not clear, while in NSW and the ACT, it is legal.
This became something that caused problems for the government this week. There is a week until the Wentworth by-election, which was quickly dealt with by Scott Morrison, who promised to legislate to make it illegal nationally to expel or refuse enrolment to LGBTIQ+ students, and Labor has agreed to support the legislation.
Meanwhile taxes have been another niggly problem in which the opposition has been in agreement with the government. It did take a bit longer than the schools issue, Labor did agree to the government’s decision to fast-track the tax relief to small and medium businesses. They want to drop the tax rate from 27.5% to 25% – originally by 2025-ish, but the government seem to have decided that saying they’ll be doing it faster might be to their benefit electorally (both at the Wentworth by-election and in the next 6-9 months). initially sometime between 2018 and 2020 the tax rate for small to medium business will drop to 26% and then in 2020-2021 it will drop to 25%.
The Wentworth by-election has headed into its final week, with Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex telling the voters of Wentworth not to vote for the Liberal Party, which is irritating Scott Morrison a bit, but that is the least of his problems, as polling shows Kerryn Phelps and Dave Sharma are neck and neck in the polls. Phelps has promised stability if she wins the seat, saying she’ll support supply (the money needed to run the country) – her winning the seat would deprive the government of their one-seat majority and turn them into a minority government – while Labor is way back in the polls. Labor isn’t necessarily giving up just yet, but they are telling the people of Wentworth to use their votes on October 20th to send a message to the government.
The Labor Party appeared to have some sort of launch event at the start of the week. I say some sort, because the election hasn’t actually been called yet. It’s thought that Labor decided to start campaigning a little bit after Malcolm Turnbull was rolled, separate from the Wentworth by-election. Bill Shorten has promised to be a Prime Minister “ambitious” for Australia’s future and its future generations. He has a five point plan – which could be dangerous, if you remember back to the 2013 Election when a Liberal Party candidate struggled to remember the “Six-Point Plan to Stop the Boats” – the highlights of which include school and healthcare investment, easing the cost of living and embracing clean energy. However, there is the small issue, where the Labor Party does have a chance of winning the next election, but Bill Shorten isn’t necessarily popular as a person. We shall have to wait and see.
There are plans to place conditions on some migrants moving to Australia, requiring them to move to regional centres as opposed to cities in order to address both overpopulation in the cities and labor shortages in regional areas. The only concern with this is some migrants are highly skilled and the kinds of jobs they would be doing are usually only in major cities. Without the jobs and infrastructure being available, this plan may not play out the way the government wants. Meanwhile, there is also a plan to require those on welfare in regional areas to work seasonal fruit picking jobs, or lose their payments (if they are capable of working). There are also concerns with this plan, such as the fact that a lot of people who want or need jobs in these regional areas want more permanent work rather than seasonal jobs.
The week also saw protests at the Opera House, over the use of the sails to project the barrier draw of the Everest Horse Race as demanded by Alan Jones. The sails have been used to show projections for the Vivid Light Festival, Remembrance Day and other events of public interest (like a national sports team winning). However, the sails have never been used to promote an event like The Everest before, nor has a prominent media entity pushed so hard for the advertising of something that they have a vested interest in. It led to members of the Chaser satire group to project Alan Jones’ phone number on the Opera House sails on Monday, and the public (with some professional help) shining lights onto the sails during the draw.
Doctors and psychologists working for Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) were asked to leave Nauru last week, leaving the under-equipped local health authorities to deal with a large number of local patients and refugee patients with major physical and mental health issues. MSF staff held a press conference in Australia after leaving Nauru in which they told the media about the plight of refugees on Nauru, with some children suffering from Traumatic Withdrawal Syndrome, which is characterised by a semi-comatose state and incontinence, among other symptoms.
It was announced this week that the Royal Commission into Aged Care would be based in South Australia, and that the commissioners would be WA Supreme Court Judge Joseph McGrath and former Medicare CEO Lynelle Briggs. They’ve been given until 2020 to submit their final report with an interim report expected by 2019.
There are also calls for a program known as “Senior Smiles” to be implemented nationwide in aged care homes, in which a certified dental hygienist is employed within the care home to tend to the dental needs of the residents. University of Newcastle research has shown this to be beneficial to the residents’ health. There’s thought that perhaps the Aged Care Royal Commission can recommend a dental program to implemented as part of their report.
Finally this week, the IPCC has released a report that calls for coal use to be phased out by 2050, if not beforehand, in order to prevent a catastrophic 2ºC rise in global temperatures. The aim is to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5ºC, as the effects of a rise in temperature of that level will not be as catastrophic as those if the rise in temperature of 2ºC. However, the government doesn’t seem to perturbed, with Environment Minister Melissa Price suggesting 2050 is a long time away and by then there will be technology that will make coal use cleaner, while Price’s shadow minister Mark Butler has accused the Liberals of “blocking their ears and ignoring the signs”.
Tweet of the Week
Kara L 