Tag Archives: ABC News

The Election Has Been Called!

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So yesterday (April 11, 2019) Scott Morrison headed to the Governor General Peter Cosgrove and requested that an election be called for May 18, 2019. That request was granted and Australians are now headed to the polls.

I’ve listened to both Scott Morrison’s and Bill Shorten’s first speeches of the campaign, which have outlined what their campaigns will entail.

Scott Morrison painted this election as a choice between a strong economy, a good budget and low taxes if voters choose the Coalition or a weakened economy, poor money management and higher taxes if voters choose the Labor Party. Morrison also recalled his government’s achievements including the budget surplus – except that surplus is technically prospective, as the surplus is due not this financial year (2018-19) but next financial year (2019-20).

On the other hand, Bill Shorten has framed what he will be campaigning on. It was a slightly more complex speech, but he reiterated his pledge from his Budget Reply speech that a government he leads would ease the out-of-pocket costs of medical tests, specialist consults and treatments for cancer patients, as well as promising greater investment in education and health. He also reiterated a promise the Labor party has for quite a few years that they will remove negative gearing for new investment properties after January 1, 2020.

Here are the speeches, if you want to watch them yourself…

Scott Morrison

Bill Shorten

Stay tuned for more, as the election heats up – I’ll leave you with some helpful links..

The AEC Website – don’t forget to check your enrolment, you have until April 18 to change your details or enrol to vote!

ABC Elections – a place to find coverage of the election and the home of the extensive information that the inimitable Antony Green offers.

VoteCompass – a way to see where you stand in comparison to the major players at the election. It’s really interesting to see where you sit on the political spectrum.

The Week That Was – February 10 to February 16

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This week saw Parliament return, and what a week it was. The government released classified security information to the public that suggested that if all the Manus Island and Nauru detainees were deemed unwell by the medical team that they could all be transferred to Australia within weeks. Labor made an amendment to the legislation that means that the laws would only apply to those currently on Manus Island and Nauru, and they convinced the Greens and cross bench MPs to support this change.

So the government lost a vote on legislation, which is something that has not happened for around 80 years, and it sort of led to some sort of Trump-like transformation in the government, with suggestion that people with criminal histories would get into the country. This is despite the fact that the government hasn’t actually confirmed that any of the asylum seekers in detention have a criminal background. The government is also laying the foundations to blame Labor for any new boat arrivals, should they come.

Barrie Cassidy from ABC’s Insiders program had a great explanation about the whole issue.

This week was peak ridiculous from the government, and is exactly the reason that people switch off. People are getting annoyed with politics because the opposition to policy has become more about who was introducing that policy, rather than the policy itself. Labor has begun to recognise the change in public sentiment when it comes to humane treatment of asylum seekers, and it appears the government either hasn’t recognised the change, or they are simply ignoring it.

It also probably doesn’t help that it is an election year as well. Despite there being no date yet (but we know it has to take place by May), the pre-election policy announcements have begun, mostly from the Government. The Coalition are focusing on national security, something they see as one of their traditional strengths, which may have played into how they were dealing with the asylum seeker issue.

Meanwhile in the Senate, the Senate President Scott Ryan has banned Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby from entering parliament for “the time being” after he provoked Senator Brian Burston (formerly of One Nation, now part of the United Australia Party), leading to an altercation between the two. Burston also smeared blood on Pauline Hanson’s office door in the aftermath but it’s unclear whether that was on purpose or by accident, although I’d put my money on it being the former, even if Burston claims he can’t remember it.

The government also tried to avoid a vote on a Royal Commission into abuse in the disability sector. It passed the senate on Thursday, but the government kept Question Time going for an extra two and a half hours, so that the vote couldn’t be brought on in the Lower House. Labor accused the Coalition of running down the clock, which Scott Morrison denies, but Christopher Pyne didn’t.

This week also saw the start of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality in Adelaide. Most of Australia’s 1.3 million aged care clients are in home-based care (in a retirement or nursing home). During this week’s hearings we learned that there are not enough qualified nurses to fill nursing roles, meaning some roles are being filled by people who are unqualified, and that this issue, combined with a general lack of nursing staff has left those working in aged care facilities spread too thin, leading more nurses to quit, which adds to the nursing problem facing the sector. We also learned that there are a large number of patients with complex issues, such as dementia, being over-medicated. It’s thought that only a small fraction of those with dementia on anti-psychotic medication actually benefit from it, and that for those who don’t really need these medications it could be doing more harm than good.

Divisions in the seat of Gilmore are starting to show, with the Nationals holding a pre-selection for a candidate in the Southern NSW coastal electorate. It looks as if former NSW State MP and minister Katrina Hodgkinson will win that pre-selection and join the race against the parachuted Liberal candidate Warren Mundine, the originally pre-selected Liberal (and now independent) Grant Schultz, as well as the Labor candidate Fiona Phillips. Gilmore is an extremely marginal seat, and if the Liberal and National parties split the first preference vote, they may find neither party wins Gilmore.

Also this week, Hakeem al-Arabi was released from a Thai prison and returned to Australia. He’s likely to get his citizenship application fast-tracked from what Marise Payne and Scott Morrison were saying.

Finally this week, Michaelia Cash appeared in the Federal Court this week to give evidence in a case related to the raids on AWU offices in Melbourne, and it looks like one of her staffers may also be giving evidence soon

Tweets of the Week

Oh, and Tony Jones announced this week he would be leaving Q & A on the ABC, as his wife Sarah Ferguson will be posted to China as the ABC’s bureau chief, which led to numerous offers to host from social media, including this one that reflects many people’s feelings when it comes to politics these days:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The refugee drama distracted from a couple of other key points – ABC Online

 

The Two Weeks That Were – September 23 to October 6

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The school funding changes that the government wants to make to Gonski 2.0 may be derailed by some of the states and territories. The NSW and Queensland Education Ministers have said they don’t think the additional $4.5 billion earmarked for Catholic and Independent schools is fair. They want funding to be based on need such that the money goes to the schools with the most need, especially those in low socio-economic areas.

The earlier half of the fortnight saw an epic week of drama at the ABC. the Managing Director of the ABC, Michelle Guthrie was sacked from her role. While not much information was given by the board, other than Guthrie’s “leadership style” not fitting the direction in which the board wanted to take the Corporation, it appeared that some ABC staff, particularly those working in news and current affairs, were quite pleased to see her go,. It seems many felt that her lack of experience in public broadcasting, and focus on “platforms”was inappropriate, and staff morale was reportedly very low. There were also allegations that Guthrie had, when asked to what she would like to see on a future Four Corners program during a production meeting, she suggested positive puff piece profiles on business leaders, and stories about “happy” children detained on Nauru.

However, things kept on going. Someone then leaked documents from a board meeting held the week before, during which Guthrie had shown the board members emails from the Chairman of the ABC Board, Justin Milne, telling her to sack economics reporter Emma Alberici, whose story had angered the government (it also had some errors in it, but the story was revised and then republished). Guthrie also recounted a phone call from Milne in which she alleges he told her to ‘shoot’ ABC political editor Andrew Probyn, because the government didn’t like him.

Milne, as it turns out, is one of Malcolm Turnbull’s former business associates, and they are still quite good friends, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it weren’t for the fact Milne’s actions look a bit like political interference. Even if it wasn’t, the perception thereof is damaging enough, and led to ABC staff across the country holding snap union meetings, during which they agreed to demand Milne’s resignation, which did end up happening towards the end of the week. Meanwhile, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield announced a departmental inquiry into the board’s knowledge of Milne’s actions, and Labor and the Greens have announced they will move to create a Senate inquiry into the situation as well.

The Wentworth by-election seems to have gotten a bit dirty recently with allegations of dirty tricks against the Liberal candidate Dave Sharma and his supporters. This is because posters belonging to Independent Kerryn Phelps, Labor candidate Tim Murray and Hinch Justice Party candidate Ben Forsyth, among other candidates were removed or turned away from view and replaced by posters of Sharma. These posters can cost quite a bit of money and volunteers spend hours sticking them up, so understandably, people aren’t too happy about this. Wentworth has also had a bit of a shock with former Liberal Party MP for the seat (and former Opposition Leader) John Hewson, telling the people of Wentworth to vote for anyone other than the Liberal Party, because of their stance (or lack of) on climate policy, which has made Labor’ Tim Murray and Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps very, very pleased.

The interim report from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has been released, and while it doesn’t have any explicit recommendations, many are implied. Commissioner Hayne was withering in his criticism of ASIC, which didn’t punish badly behaved banks appropriately. Hayne will deliver his final report in February 2019, but the Opposition wants Hayne to have more time. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that he is not opposed to this and would gladly let Hayne have more time if he asked for it.

There is a push for there to be a review into the Family Law system, as cases continue to back up and be delayed. There is a concern that if the Law Reform Commission cannot find solutions to the issues, then we may need to have a Royal Commission. There are also concerns over the government’s plan to merge the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court in order to maximise efficiency. Those in the legal system aren’t on board, saying people are more concerned about the quality of the justice delivered, rather than the speed at which it is done so.

Labor has announced a $1.75 billion dollar childcare package that will be delivered should they win the next election. They say they will pay for it by winding back the tax breaks the current government has implemented, and the plan would see recognised preschool program funding extend to include the education of three-year-old children. This would increase the current number of three-year-olds in preschool, and bring us into line with other OECD nations.

Also during this fortnight, Malcolm Turnbull called Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd “miserable ghosts” for hanging around in parliament after they lost the Prime Ministership. The GST on sanitary products will be removed, making many women very happy, eighteen years after the GST was introduced.

Finally this fortnight, Labor announced that when they’re in government they’ll require companies with more than 1,000 employees to declare the differences in pay between men and women in an effort to reduce the gender pay gap. Scott Morrison has announce that there could be a new day for the recognition of indigenous people (but it’s literally a thought bubble, there is no other information as yet).

Tweet of the Fortnight

Former 7:30 Report presenter Kerry O’Brien on the ABC.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Why Michelle Guthrie went (written before the Milne allegations came to light) – Meanjin

Mark Dapin on the ABC’s Acting Managing Director David Anderson – SMH

ABC presenter Jeremy Fernandez reads texts about a DJ set played on Triple J – Triple J

First Dog on the Moon on the banking royal commission – The Guardian

The Week That Was – August 13 to August 19

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The tally of dual citizen victims if section 44 of the Constitution has risen to seven, with Barnaby Joyce learning he was a Kiwi, Fiona Nash discovering she’s British through her estranged Scottish dad, and Nick Xenophon found out he was a “British overseas citizen” because his dad was born in Cyprus while it was still a British Colony. It turns out Labor has been doing some digging, because they found out about Xenophon and passed on the information. A Labor staffer has also been implicated in the Joyce citizenship issue, after it was revealed that a staffer in Penny Wong’s office was chatting with a NZ Labour mate, who asked about it.

https://twitter.com/jmodoh/status/897378576818884608

This lead to Julie Bishop accusing both the Labor Party and NZ Labour of “treachery”, and saying that the current Liberal government may not be able to work cooperatively with a Kiwi Labour Government. Bishop has been panned for her comments, while NZ Opposition Leader Jacinda Ardern has been apologising and asking to talk with the Foreign Minister.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse has made over 80 recommendations to better help victims. These recommendations include making it an offence to groom a child or their parents, making it illegal to move priests from parish to parish with the charge of failure to protect children, and most controversially, make it an offence not to report abuse revealed in confessional. Catholics see the confessional as sacred, and some priests are suggesting that instead of breaching the sacrament, they could refuse absolution to priests unless they turn themselves in, and ask victims who confess to chat to the priest or another trusted adult outside the confessional so they can report the incident to police.

Finally this week, Pauline Hanson pulled a stunt in the senate, wearing a black burqa – ostensibly to make a point about security and banning the burqa. Senator George Brandis swiftly refused and then scolded her for being disrespectful to Muslims.

Tweets of The Week

ABC staff once again stand up for their employer after someone spreads misinformation. (In this case Alan Jones said the ABC had 65 trauma counsellors – these people are trained counsellors but work for the ABC in news roles)

Sam Dastyari and Nick Xenophon have a laugh (before Xenophon found out he was a Brit)

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC 7:30’s Andrew Probyn on the s44 saga – ABC Online

Noel Debien on the Confessional recommendation – ABC Online

 

A Quick Note.

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Apologies for the sudden radio silence (again). I got a bit busy at work over the last month with some colleagues on holiday, and then a new semester got underway at Uni. I’ll be back on Sunday with a new The Week that Was, and hopefully you’ll soon see a few extra posts as well.

Check out some of these links to articles that will cover what happened over the last few weeks, while the politicians were on winter holidays.

The ABC’s Julia Baird on the domestic violence exposé she wrote – ABC Online

Why you can no longer wander through the ABC Foyer – Canberra Times

Universities and their tackling of sexual assault and harassment – ABC Online

Annabel Crabb thinks section 44 has been turned to the “evil” setting – ABC Online

 

 

The Week That Was – May 7 to May 13

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First, apologies for the sudden few weeks off, but when your internet dies and the family ends up having to use a pocket wi-fi device for two weeks, you end up having to decide what is the best use of what little wi-fi there is available.

But I came back in time for Budget Week! Yay! I’m not normally a fan of maths and economics and finance, because it makes my head hurt, but in the last couple of years I’ve warmed to it. Modern technology also helps, as people can now make graphics to simply explain “winners and losers”.

The theme for the budget this year was “Fairness, Opportunity and Security”, with the aim of differing between good and bad debt (borrowing for paying bills = bad; borrowing to build infrastructure = good) and making things fairer. The big things in this budget include the funding for Snowy Hydro 2.0, Gonski 2.0, Badgery’s Creek Airport and other infrastructure. The AFP will get a $320 million boost in funding, and

There will also be an increase in the Medicare levy to pay for the NDIS, as well as an increase in tax for most, if not all, taxpayers. There is also a restructure to schools funding, which is causing a bit of drama, because several schools will lose some money. In NSW (because that’s what version of ABC News I get) several independent and public schools will lose between $500,000 to $2.5 million in funding in 2018, making the State Education minister, as well as the NSW Department of Education boss Mark Scott (who used to run the ABC) very mad – although more about the public schools than the independent ones.

The ‘big four’ banks (ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac) are going to be taxed by the government, with the aim of rasing $6.2 billion over the next four years. The banks are not happy, and walked out of meeting with the government this week, convinced the tax is unworkable. Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have both encouraged the banks to take the pain and not pass on the costs to the consumers. There is also a plan to allow first-home buyers to salary sacrifice money into their super in order to help them afford the deposit on a home. There are still no mentions of changing negative gearing.

The government has also decided to randomly drug test Centrelink recipients, which has been met with mixed reviews. Some support it, mainly in areas where the jobs involve drug testing in order to be allowed onto site, while others are concerned it will push those on the dole who may be just barely getting by into homelessness when their payments are cut off. Jacqui Lambie has decided that she will only support it if politicians are drug tested as well (which will be unlikely in my lifetime).

Bill Shorten and the Labor party are in a bit of hot water this week after an advertisement touting Labor’s plan to ‘hire Australians first’ – with a cast of, well, white people in work uniforms. The party has been criticised for not reflecting the diversity of the country, with Shorten and the party apologising for the advert, which will likely never be played again ever.

Finally this week, the Prime Minister has revealed he is considering an American request to send more troops to the Middle East, a decision he will be making without Dennis Richardson, a long-serving public servant and advisor, who retired on Friday; and the death of ABC radio journalist and presenter Mark Colvin shocked and saddened politicians and the media.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Leigh Sales’ tribute to Mark Colvin – ABC Online

ABC journalists remember Mark Colvin – ABC Online

How Brigitte Macron is different from other French presidential spouses – ABC Online

The Week That Was – January 24 to January 30

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Despite the public holiday this week, politics is revving up again in preparation for the first sitting of Parliament for 2016 in the next week. There are discussions about the GST and the economy, with Scott Morrison ignoring calls from state and territory Premiers to tell them what the GST plan was. Morrison has said that he is still figuring it out and that the less he says about it, the more ideas come in that he can consider. Meanwhile economic data shows that NSW is currently the best economy in the country, thanks to its infrastructure boom, while the resource-reliant states are falling towards the back as they struggle with falling resource prices and the difficulty of transitioning their economies.

As we head back into full on political fun, the opposition has begun to sell itself for the 2016 Election (yep, it’s an election year!) and parties are beginning to field candidates. As the infighting in the Liberal Party between the party’s right and moderate factions over candidates in some blue-ribbon seats with long-serving MPs, Tony Abbott has announced that he will stay in his seat to fight the next election. This is despite the giant carrot the Prime Minister waved in front of him in the form of the next High Commissioner to the UK – with people suggesting he wants to stay in order to have another go at the leadership. I wonder if Abbott might go if he’s offered the job of Ambassador to the Holy See, but I could be quite wrong there.

Meanwhile Labor has been selling their new education plan as the election year heats up. Labor wants to re-introduced needs-based education funding from the Gillard days, which will cost around $37 billion, which Labor claims it has found savings for. The Government says that increased spending may not mean actual improvement, and that spending billions that they may not have is stupid, but that’s about it. It is still unclear when the election will be, but general consensus is it will happen later in the year; bearing in mind that the second weekend in September heralds Council elections in NSW.

It was Australia Day this week, in which we welcomed around 16,000 new citizens and the naming of the 2016 Australian of the Year as former Army Chief David Morrison – being credited for his advocacy for gender equality. There was a little controversy, after Catherine McGregor, a transgender advocate and Morrison’s former speechwriter criticised the judges for going with a “conventional” choice and then Veterans feeling hardly done by because Morrison didn’t mention them in his acceptance speech. McGregor has since apologised, and Morrison has clarified that he will also work to support veterans in his role as Australian of the year.

The drama with Queensland Nickel (QNI) continues, as it has been revealed that while Fairfax MP and owner of QNI, Clive Palmer, is happy to be the last creditor to be paid, he is likely to be protected from any collapse of QNI. This is because the QNI refinery is technically (and totally legally) owned by two other Clive Palmer companies. It may also mean that the taxpayers will have to foot the redundancy payment bill for QNI workers. However, no matter how protected Palmer is from the collapse of QNI, he won’t be protected from the collapse in his support in Fairfax. It’s believed that Palmer may loose the seat at this year’s election, which he holds on a small margin.

Finally this week, the Republic debate is revving up again; the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has demanded that victims of abuse at the Parramatta Girls home receive compensation; the town of Hill End has been told it will not be the location of the nuclear waste side and health insurance companies are being told by the Health Minister to come back with a better deal for Australians, after requesting permission to increase premiums by 6%.

Tweet of the Week

Malcolm Turnbull’s adventures in Melbourne at the end of the week included traffic control at a tram stop.

Thing’s I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on Australia Day snacks – The Guardian

Matthew Mitcham’s retirement from diving in quotes – ABC News

First Dog on the Moon on First World Problems – The Guardian

The Two Weeks That Were – December 20 to January 2

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I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Before Christmas, there were a few announcements, starting with the Health Minister announcing that there would be $1 billion in funding to help eradicate Hepatitis C, however the concerns about the bulk billing of pathology are still rife. Then, the Productivity Commission recommended that Sunday penalty rates should be wound back from their current level to the current Saturday penalty rates. Labor and Unions are not impressed by the suggestion, while the Government is trying to distance itself from the recommendations and blame the Productivity Commission, even though they commissioned the report and set the terms of reference for the commission to investigate.

The Adani Abbot Point Coal Terminal in Queensland has been approved by the federal government, with the dredge spoil to be dumped on land and not in the Great Barrier Reef. This could increase export capacity, however there are strict environmental rules Adani has to follow. The other major issue is that Moodys is planning to give the development “junk status” in terms of its financial health, and the government is refusing to give financial assistance at this point, meaning the development may not even go ahead, which would make environmental groups pleased.

After Christmas, a whole heap of negative news was released, presumably in the hope that people wouldn’t notice. First, two ministers have left the frontbench, with Mal Brough – the Special Minister of State – being stood down temporarily until the police investigation into Slippergate is resolved; and Jamie Briggs – the Minister for Cities – has resigned or was forced to resign as a result of an investigation into a complaint made by a female public servant in Hong Kong. The Briggs scandal has grown in recent days, with the revelation that a photo of his Chief of Staff and the public servant (whose face was pixelated) that ended up on the front page of some papers, was taken by Briggs and sent to colleagues by Briggs himself, despite saying he wanted to protect the identity of the woman. Either way, this means that there are now two spots to fill in cabinet. Some think Turnbull should have more women, while others think Tony Abbott should be on the front bench.

The Trade Union Royal Commission has delivered its report, recommending over 40 people to the relevant authorities for further investigation and releasing almost eighty recommendations. The government is saying that the public should be appalled by the level of misbehaviour in the union movement, while Labor and the Unions are suggesting there are just a few bad apples in a very large barrel. Either way it appears that the next election (due this year!) could be run on busting union corruption and other industrial relations issues. This could be interesting to see given the last time an election was run on those issues, its was 20o7, and just after WorkChoices was introduced, which was so poorly received that Labor won convincingly.

Cabinet Documents from 1990 and 1991 have been released, and it is creepily reminiscent of the last year or so. A sluggish economy, issues with submarine building, refugee issues and a war in the Middle East were all from 1990 and 1991 and were still issues in 2015. And hey, two attempts at booting the party leader, with the second being successful? It would appear that Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull have something in common – although Keating was behind both in the 1990s and Turnbull appeared to have nothing to do with the first in February 2015.

Finally this fortnight, the people living near the Williamtown RAAF base have been able to speak at a Senate Inquiry, Border Force stopped entry of a French national of arabic background from entering the country earlier in December, Malcolm Turnbull made Dr Who references regarding the TARDIS, and concerns about Childcare reforms are rearing their heads again.

Tweet of the Fortnight

https://twitter.com/hamishNews/status/679413177013022720

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Not much really – it was Christmas.

The ABC News Year in Review (from the 31/12/15) – ABC Online

The Year That Was – 2015

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Another year, another batch of numbers.

Leadership Spills: 2

The first in February this year, saw Tony Abbott survive a ballot to see if there would even be a spill. The second saw Tony Abbott rolled by Malcolm Turnbull, who has brought Australia some calm in the political realm.

Elections: 4

Queensland State Election – saw the first term Liberal government go from over 80 seats in a less than 100-seat House of Representatives to a hung parliament lead by Labor with around forty seats each for the major parties.

New South Wales State Election – The Liberals, under Premier Mike Baird, remained in power in NSW, albeit with a reduced majority, and the Greens had one of their best showings with four seats – two in the Sydney Metro area, and two on the north coast.

Canning By-election: Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain, retained the seat for the Liberals less than a week after Malcolm Turnbull took over the country. Hastie replaces the late Don Randall.

North Sydney By-election: Won by Trent Zimmerman for the Liberals. Nominated for the seat under controversial circumstances, Zimmerman is the first openly gay MP in the lower house and replaces former Treasurer Joe Hockey, who is now the incoming Australian Ambassador to the US.

Scandals: 2

First, the knighting of Prince Phillip (the Queen’s husband) by Tony Abbott, resulting in the non-spill in February. Second is Chopper-gate in which former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop was discovered to have used taxpayer dollars to charter a helicopter to travel to an event that she could have easily travelled to by car. The scandal resulted in Bishop’s resignation after more than two weeks.

Women In Cabinet: 5

Julie Bishop: Minister for Foreign Affairs, since 2013 Election

Sussan Ley: Minister for Health and Sport, since December 2014

Kelly O’Dwyer: Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Marise Payne: Minister for Defence, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Michaelia Cash: Minister for Employment and Minister for Women, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Changes to the AEC’s Ballot Paper Protocols: Many.

Since that awkward moment in 2013 when 1,300 senate ballot papers from WA went into the void, causing the AEC to nullify the 2013 result and recall the senate election for the state. Since then the protocols for ballot papers at federal elections, including by-elections, have changed dramatically, with the Canning by-election and the North Sydney by-election becoming test runs.

Last Minute Cabinet Resignations: 2

#1: Mal Brough, stood down until the police investigation into Slipper-gate ends.

#2: Jamie Briggs, resigned after a public servant made a complaint about him regarding a trip to Hong Kong.

ABC News 24 Year in Review

ABC News 24 Politics Unearthed

ABC Digital Most Popular Vines

Happy New Year. Let’s see what 2016 has on offer.

The Week That Was – December 13 to December 19

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As Christmas approaches, the world of politics has mellowed a bit.

The week began with a Climate Change agreement in Paris, with an aspiration to cap temperature rises to 2ºC if not 1.5ºC. Australia did not get all of the things that it wanted, but nor did other countries.The next step, as Julie Bishop said, was the implementation of changes.  According to experts and activists the changes need to ba made now and that the government should do more than just the 26-26% reduction it promised at the talks in Paris – with suggestions that Australia needs to become a carbon neutral economy sooner rather than later.

As always, just before Christmas, the government releases MYEFO – basically a budget update in which, at least for the last few years, we’ve been told the deficit is just a little bit worse. It was the same this year, as iron ore prices continue to drop and tax reform is yet to occur, meaning that other options have been considered. The government has announced that bulk billing incentives for pathology services will either be decreased or removed, causing issues for patients who need regular scans, blood tests or other services, causing concern among doctor’s groups, as well as patient and community groups.

Malcolm Turnbull spent the end of this week in Japan, meeting with academics and other tech experts to talk about innovation, Turnbull took a selfie with a robot.

He also met with Japanese PM Abe, and talked about the economy and also about issues with Southern Ocean Whaling, after Japan set off this year for the Southern Ocean after a year off.

Finally this week, it has been a year since the Sydney Siege and a memorial service was held in Martin Place, Ian Macfarlane has been stopped by LNP state executive from changing party rooms, and Australia is now doing freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea to keep an eye on China.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Tweet of the Week

Hilarity from the latest Chat 10, Looks 3 episode

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Annabel Crabb on the Paris Agreement – ABC The Drum

An AFR article on outgoing ABC Managing Director – AFR

2015 on ABC News 24