The Whole Barnaby Joyce Saga in one Simple Post (I hope)

Barnaby Joyce is expecting a baby with a former staffer.

Vikki Campion, who used to be his media advisor, before being shunted to two other offices for seemingly superfluous jobs, is due to have a boy in April. Joyce was married until late last year (technically still is) and it’s on the public record that he and his wife Natalie are  separated. However, up until three weeks ago the whole baby with Vikki Campion thing was only known amongst some of those in Parliament.

Questions were raised about the ethics of Vikki Campion working in those seemingly superfluous jobs with other Nationals ministers while having a relationship with Joyce. The rules say that your partner and children cannot work for you at all and can only work for other Ministers with Prime Ministerial approval. But because Joyce was married at the time, Vikki Campion is somehow exempt from the rule, and also Malcolm Turnbull had no knowledge of the relationship at the time of the other jobs being created.

There’s no denying Barnaby has not had the best six months of his life. He found out he was a dual citizen and while fighting the by-election was awarded a prize by mining magnate Gina Rinehart which he accepted and then had to give back. After winning the election, and announcing during the same-sex marriage debate that he’d separated, the news of this affair broke. Add to this the fact that there are now questions over a house that Joyce and Campion have been living in, as a donor is letting them stay there rent-free.

Meanwhile many people of both political stripes have been questioning why Barnaby Joyce’s private life is being made public. That was until about a week after the news broke, when questions started to arise over the rent-free unit and whether tax payer funds were used to fly Campion anywhere. It appears that the latter has not happened, but the former did seem to happen. That lead to calls from the opposition to quit.

At the start of last week, the National Party appeared to be in turmoil with backbench Nationals suggesting Joyce might need to resign, while his deputy leader Bridget McKenzie supported him. It got to the point where Malcolm Turnbull announced that while he would be away in the USA, Joyce would be on leave, and Mattias Cormann would be Acting PM.

Then Malcolm Turnbull introduced the Bonk Ban, and said that Joyce had a shocking lapse of judgement. Joyce to offence to that and traded barbs with Turnbull via press conference the next day. Then they had a short meeting in Sydney before Turnbull went overseas, where they had ‘constructive’ discussions.

Then, a WA Nationals rank and file member made an allegation of sexual harassment against Barnaby Joyce and he announced that he would quit effective Monday (Feb 26).  So now, we wait to see who becomes the new Nationals Leader – most people’s money is on former journalist Michael McCormack.

The question about all of this is whether or not it is in the public interest. Should the public be made aware of a man who has cheated on his wife with a woman 20 years younger than him, who is having his child? Perhaps not, but it becomes in the public interest when taxpayers money, or rent free accomodation, comes into the mix. But that is something Barnaby Joyce needs to answer questions about. Vikki Campion should not have been ambushed on a street in order to get the front page photo that started this whole saga off, and it caused Campion, Natalie Joyce and Barnaby Joyce’s four children pain and embarrassment.

More News on the Sydney Siege

This is simply to keep people informed on the situation.

I originally posted this on Tumblr as I was concerned people would become misinformed.

• Three people have escaped the cafe, one through the fire door, two through the front door
• There is a command/information centre set up in Hyde Park
• High visibility of police around the City and transport hubs – ask them questions if you need too
• No one has been harmed as far as the police are aware
• Police negotiators are in contact with those in the cafe
• There is no information on who the perpetrator is or their motivation
• safety of the hostages is key – do not speculate
• Two female staff members are now out of the cafe, although it is unclear if they escaped or were released – 5 people are now free, three of them Lindt Staff
• as of 5pm AEDT the situation has been going for just over 7 hours
• NSW Police are in contact with the gunman
• National Security Committee is meeting for a second time
• The flag, with Arabic writing reads (loosely translated) “There is no god but God [Allah], Muhammad is the messenger of God.” – it is a testament of faith, and is also seen on the Saudi Arabian national flag and across the Islamic World.

Again, information is from the ABC, the Guardian feed, and verified/trusted Twitter accounts.

Again, I will remind you, the situation is ongoing, and things could change.

More Information on Sydney Siege

This is simply to keep people informed on the situation.

I originally posted this on Tumblr because I was concerned about people becoming misinformed.

• Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister, has spoken to the media – he didn’t say much
• the Budget update will now be released today as planned, at 1:30pm
• US Consulate has been evacuated, US citizens in Australia are being warned to remain vigilant
• People are slowly letting people out of buildings that were on lockdown in the area and presumably sending them home or away from the area
• The NSW Police Commissioner will talk to the media shortly – believed to be at 1:30pm
• Martin Place Station is closed
• the White House has confirmed the President has been briefed on the situation
• Several buildings along Macquarie St are being evacuated gradually
• Budget update announcement now at 2pm
• We are still awaiting the NSW Police Commissioner and NSW Premier’s press conference – they were due at 1:30pm AEDT
• Buses that are travelling over the Sydney Harbour Bridge are stopping at Wynyard.
• Trains and buses are affected
• people are being told that if they do not  need to be in the city, they should avoid the area or leave
• Police presence in major cities across Australia has been increased
• Sydney Ferries are so far unaffected

Again, information from the ABC and verified/trusted twitter accounts

Transport info from: http://www.transportnsw.info/

Some Information on the Sydney Siege

This is simply to keep people informed on the situation.

I originally posted this on Tumblr because I was concerned about people becoming misinformed.

Here’s what I know from the ABC and Twitter right now:

• there is a hostage situation at the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD
• A flag that proclaims one’s Islamic faith, often used by jihadists, has been shown in the window – IT IS NOT AN ISIS FLAG
• Buildings in the area, some government, some corporate, are locked down or have been evacuated
• Trains are not stopping at Martin Place Station, Buses are being stopped at the perimeter
• Buses that normally travel over Sydney’s Harbour Bridge are stopping in North Sydney
• The Opera House has been evacuated
• Australia’s national security committee has met
• A budget update announcement has been postponed until further notice
• People are being evacuated from the Lindt Building – not the cafe, but the offices above it
• Bystanders have been moved away from a section of Macquarie St between Hunter St and Hyde Park
• A man has been arrested near the scene – HIS ARREST IS UNRELATED TO THE SITUATION
• The situation has made the top of bulletins on CNN, BBC World, Al Jazeera English, and the front page of international news sites
• The Prime Minister is due to make a statement to the media any time now (12:41pm)

Remember: This is an ongoing situation, it can change suddenly.

The Cuts to the ABC

The ABC has announced its cuts to save money after the government cuts to their funding.

The ABC has announced the axing of several Radio National programs, including regional and agriculture programs, 7:30 State editions on Friday nights as well as the scaling back of non-news TV production and TV sports broadcasting. The ABC will also close five – yes, five – regional radio stations in Gladstone, Port Augusta, Nowra, Morwell and Wagin. There will be a restructure of the foreign bureaux and the ABC will close Adelaide’s production unit, despite Christopher Pyne’s petition to save it. Lateline will now be broadcast on ABC News 24 at a set time and replayed on ABC1 later. Newcastle’s station has been re-labeled a “regional” station, cutting the funding it gets as a “metropolitan” station.

The ABC will also sell Outside Broadcast (OB) vans, as well as its Langley Place property in Artarmon in Sydney. The ABC will review the rest of its property portfolio. The Managing Director and senior executives will forego a pay rise and 400 jobs will be made redundant, which is about 10% of the ABC’s workforce.

However, there are some positives. The ABC will not change their emergency coverage for bushfires, floods and cyclones. With the money that the ABC re-invests from the savings, they will start a new regional division and a new digital network, as well as a new foreign bureau in Beirut, Lebanon.

Sexism in Politics

I should warn you, the last couple of days have made me very angry.

First, there was the Liberal fundraiser menu, referring to Julia as so:

from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4748796-3×2-700×467.jpg

I am shocked and horrified. This is totally inappropriate. It may have been a “joke” but if it were, then why is Julia’s menu item the only dish that has extra (and very offensive) information? If there hadn’t been the description or if every dish with a Labor MP’s name had the extra description, I might still be annoyed, but I wouldn’t be as angry as I am.

What makes it worse is the Joe Hockey, the Shadow Treasurer and MP for North Sydney (my electorate) was at the function. Whether or not Mr Hockey saw the menu is right now irrelevant to me. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t condoned it. He hasn’t said that it is wrong. That’s what is making me so angry. For all I care, he can wax on as much as he wants saying “I haven’t seen it!” – but he isn’t condoning it. The only people condoning it are the Labor Party – as far as I can tell.

Next we move onto what happened in Perth on Thursday. Here is what happened on 6PR that afternoon:

It is astounding how people like Howard Sattler think they can get away with things like that. I do have to commend Julia Gillard for maintaining her poise during Sattler’s questions. People may not like her, but she appears on radio shows and TV channels that she may not like, unlike Tony Abbott who has been avoiding the ABC News and ABC Radio interviews ever since Leigh Sales trumped him on 7:30 about a year ago.

I happened to be watching Ten Late News this evening when I heard the story – it was still developing – and it turns out that Howard Sattler has been stood down pending an “internal review”. Hmm. Like many twitterers – I think he should be sacked.

It’s made me realise in the last couple of days that there is ingrained sexism in Australian culture. It has been there for a while, but with recent, high-profile developments, it has become more obvious to me. I just hope that something can be done about it soon, and it has to be made clear that it is not OK.

Boston and the Paranoia that Followed

So, unless you live under a large, heavy rock, you know that there were bombings at the Boston Marathon last week. It’s upsetting and scary – most bombs are, funnily enough. Ok, enough jokes – what happened in Boston is serious, and is one of the first major attacks on a city on America’s east coast since 9/11. Three people are dead, many dozens more are injured. For a period of time, Boston was in lockdown. It also makes everyone realise that we do have the crazy whack-jobs out there, whether they be extremists of any religion, or just plain mental, who do think that bombing things is a good idea.

By the time it got to 12noon on Tuesday (10pm Monday night in Boston), it was obvious that it wasn’t Al-Qaeda or any of those groups, because they would have said, “Yes, we claim responsibility”, as they did with 9/11, the Bali Bombings, the London Underground Bombings and others. Which of course meant that terrorists didn’t do it.

Excuse me, what?

I hate to break the bubble, but what happened in Boston was terrorism, plain and simple. A bomb in a public place that kills people – that’s terrorism.

It interests me that our definition of terrorism is no longer an umbrella term, but is now a term that describes only the acts of religious extremists, usually Al-Qaeda or other groups. This astounds me. Timothy McVeigh – The Oklahoma City Bomber – his act is still the most deadly domestic terrorist act in the USA. The Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski) is also a terrorist.

Ok, enough of the ranting about the definition of terrorism.

On another, slightly lighter note, I was entertained by the immediate paranoia that hit the organisers of marathons in other cities. In Australia, everyone got a little tense about security for the City2Surf and the Blackmores Running Festival. In the UK, security was stepped up for both Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday and the London Marathon, held on Sunday. It was amusing, despite the fact that it was quite obvious that it was not an extremist group that carried out the Boston Bombings, to watch the paranoia grab hold of the organisers as they planned their events and stepped up security.

Security is important, yes. There’s no doubt about it. However, it was a little entertaining to watch the Post-Boston Paranoia take hold.

Although it seems like I’m not concerned, I am. As I said, this is serious. However, we also need to see how paranoid and slightly panicked we get when anything like this happens, as we often do very stupid things.