Tag Archives: Badgery’s Creek

The Week That Was – October 18 to October 24

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This week wasn’t too insane, which is probably a good thing for the government as it might actually be settling down and doing something.

Speaking of, Senate cross bencher David Leyonhjelm thinks that the only reason the government is making such strict anti-terror laws is so that it looks like something is being done, while Cathy McGowan is calling on the Attorney-General to change the legislation so that abusive ex-partners can’t cross-examine their victims in court, which only a few states ban. The idea behind this is that it intimidates and terrorises the victims, giving the power back to the perpetrator.

Malcolm Turnbull turned 61 on Saturday, and celebrated with some interviews being published in the weekend papers that outlined some of his plans, which include borrowing money to invest in public transport projects as well a dealing with union corruption. Polls at the start of the week show that he has a 68% approval rating – which analysts are attributing to the fact that the bitterness of the Rudd-Gillard-Abbott period is over and the government appears to be acting sensibly.

Badgerys Creek Airport has taken a step towards actually being made instead of just being mused about, with a plan for the build and the environmental statement released. It’s been received mostly positively with tourism and business groups applauding the plan’s release, but concerned about the fact that there is no train line to the prospective airport mentioned. Warren Truss, the Transport Minister, has said that the train and other public transport will come eventually. The environmentalists are worried too, because they feel not enough is being done to protect native endangered species. If Badgerys Creek Airport is ever built (sorry, I live with parents who have heard about this plan since they were kids), construction would start next year, with 6 years to be spent levelling soil, and another few years to build the actual airport – at least ten years in all.

This week Senate Estimates brought to light an incident that occurred on the night Tony Abbott lost the spill. Dubbed “Tablegate” by the media, the gist of the story is that a bunch of people had an alcohol fuelled party in Abbott’s Prime Ministerial Office, in which people got a tad drunk and someone climbed atop a marble coffee table and danced. It is understood that the table then gave way, in Penny Wong’s words, “smashing” to pieces, and possibly injuring the dancer – and people are believed to have taken bits of the table as souvenirs. What makes the whole thing even better is the ABC’s reenactment of the event they filmed for the nightly news, which was quite funny and which I have turned into a gif.

Marble Table

Meanwhile, the people of the electorate of North Sydney (including me) are bracing themselves for a by-election after Joe Hockey made his valedictory speech in Parliament this week. Usually during elections the seat is ignored a bit because it’s a safe Liberal seat and Joe Hockey’s win is essentially a given, so I think some of us in the electorate are looking forward to a little attention.

The Somali refugee that was flown back to Australia after the government said she “changed her mind” about having an abortion after being raped in detention at Nauru has written a statement that contradicts a lot of what the government says. The woman, who is being referred to as Abyan (not her name), says that when she came to Sydney to get the abortion (illegal in Nauru, hence the reason she was flown here) she never saw a doctor, nurse, midwife, or even an interpreter. The government is yet to respond further as far as I have seen, while her lawyers and other activists protested the decision to send her back with no treatment.

Finally this week, Labor has agreed to the China free trade agreement as long as there are certain checks and balances in place; there are going to be changes to renewable energy legislation; Warren Entsch and Eric Abetz have differing views over whether pre-emptive same-sex marriage legislation should be written so that when the country passes it in a plebiscite they can push it through quickly; Bill Heffernan is accusing the judiciary of a cover-up of child abuse, saying he has police paperwork to prove it which includes allegations of child abuse by a former PM; the Trade Union Royal Commission is recommending charges against a union figure and the Social Services Minister Christian Porter bungled an interview question during the week which lead to some savage questioning from the Opposition during Question Time this week.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/656320299466518528

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on Joe Hockey – The Guardian

The ABC’s look back at Joe Hockey’s political career

The Week That Was – December 14 to December 20

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It hasn’t been the best week.

Sydney was rocked by a siege at the Lindt Chocolate Café, which left two hostages dead and the perpetrator dead as well. It’s understood the perpetrator, Man Haron Monis, was known to police. Tony Abbott was relatively decent for the first few days following the end of the siege, but as the week went on, he started to get a bit on the scaremongering side. The AFP are in strife after giving the Prime Minister’s Office incorrect information about whether or not Monis had a gun license – he didn’t. Abbott wants an investigation into why Monis was in Australia (he came requesting political asylum), why he had citizenship and why intelligence wasn’t watching him. He was also out on bail on charges of being an accessory before and after the murder of his ex-wife, which has led to some people deciding it is a good idea to threaten the magistrate that let Monis out on bail and the lawyers who have represented him in various court cases.

Meanwhile, there has been a growing mountain of flowers in Martin Place, near the Lindt Chocolate Café, and a positive has come out of the whole thing: a hashtag #illridewithyou, in which you say “on the xx bus or train, I will look out for people in religious clothing (Muslim women wearing headscarves in particular) in case racist idiots decide to torment them”.

Clive Palmer’s media guy has been arrested by Queensland Police. He’s alleged to have held a NAB banker against their will in Bali, using Palmer’s name to lure them. It’s understood Palmer has no idea of the plot, which also involves a former AFL player.

The Trade Union Royal Commission has returned its interim report. Julia Gillard has been cleared of wrongdoing, although she has been criticised for being naïve – she is demanding an apology. Several people have been referred to State DPPs and the CFMEU is under fire. Some parts of the 1800 page report have not been released in order to protect witnesses.

Craig Thompson’s Appeal has been somewhat succesful for him, with Thompson being acquitted of majority of the charges, and being fined $25,000 for those he was found guilty of. The judge agreed that Thompson did wrong but legal issues meant that she could only find him guilty of a few of them.

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) went ahead on Monday, during the siege, and it’s become apparent that the budget is worse. The deficit is now close to $40 billion and Joe Hockey has said that he “wasn’t conservative enough” when it came to the budget. The government will make more cuts to the public service and Hockey and Mathias Cormann have said that we may not have a surplus until 2020. This is mainly because Australia is not earning as much money as it was, due to the end of the resources boom, as well as a decline in corporate tax, because a decrease in sales.

Finally this week, the Prime Minister is reshuffling Cabinet after Arthur Sinodinos resigned, there are concerns that Medibank may tighten limits for chronically ill members no that it is a private company and has shareholders to please, and residents of Badgery’s Creek (where Sydney’s second airport will be based) are concerned about where they will live after they leave their homes, as the suburbs around them are more expensive than Badgery’s Creek and they are not getting much help from the state or federal governments.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

Two US pundits on C-SPAN, who are also brothers, get a call from their Mother – Slate.com

Annabel Crabb on the podcast Serial – Medium.com

Graeme Innes’ eulogy for Stella Young

The Week That Was – April 13 to April 19

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Well, NSW Political craziness overtook the ABC News NSW and ABC News 24 for the last few days, so I may have missed something. If you want to take a look at what happened in NSW have a look here.

So, this week saw Tony Abbott back from North Asia and Joe Hockey warn us about how tough the budget will have to be in order to fix everything. One idea being floated is raising the pension age to 70. Not immediately, mind you. Currently it is 65, and in a few years it will rise to 67. Only after that will it rise to 70. People seem somewhat unimpressed, but that’s because young people, like myself, will not be able to retire until 70, while people my parents’ age can retire 3-5 years earlier. In some ways I’m sort of expecting people to go on strike and protest this, but I think that’s the result of living in France, where almost anything will have the people go on strike. Anyway, Hockey said that the rises in the pension need to be “sustainable” and if you’ve got a good memory (and paid attention), then you will remember that Tony Abbott said in the election campaign that there wouldn’t be changes to the pension. Oh, and government organisations like the CSIRO are getting a bit antsy over whether or not they are going to have their funding cut.

Badgery’s Creek will become the location for Sydney’s second airport, with construction to begin in 2016. This decision has been made after almost 50 years. It will cost $2.5 billion to build and most of that money will come from the private sector. The government has promised to put in some major infrastructure – train lines and connections to the motorway and freeway systems around Western Sydney, along with some form of ring road. There are a few issues though – will the airport be a 24/7 airport or will it have curfews like Sydney Kingsford Smith? Will Sydney Airport, which has the first right of refusal, try to prevent the Badgery’s Creek Airport from being built and operated? What about the people who are living in the area that will become the airport and runways and the environment surrounding it? The other issue, one that came up on Wednesday, is the NSW Government’s involvement post-O’Farrell. Apparently, there is no need to worry and the Airport will go on as planned.

The Royals are in Australia this week and next week, flying into Sydney on Wednesday. They’ve spent their time here so far going to the Opera House, The Blue Mountains, Bear Cottage, Manly Beach, and Brisbane. Today (Sunday) they’ve been to Church and might be taking George to Taronga Zoo.

Also this week, the ABC-run Australia Network, an Australian news and entertainment channel for the Asia-Pacific Region got landing rights in China, meaning that they can broadcast there, at least through a Shanghai-based media organisation. This is significant, because unlike BBC World and CNN International which are only allowed in hotels (at least that’s what I understand the case to be), they will be able to broadcast not only in hotels, but also to the Chinese people. Maybe the ABC and Australia Network’s funding shouldn’t be cut.

Have a lovely Easter.

Tweet of the Week

Political journo Oscar-style selfies during the NSW leadership ballot

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Tom Meagher (Jill Meagher’s husband) on violence against women – ABC Online’s The Drum

Why Gladys Berejiklian couldn’t become Premier of NSW – SMH

The Lateline Interview that had people talking – ABC Online