Tag Archives: Brandis

15 Things That Happened in the Last Three Weeks (December 17 to January 6)

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For the first time in a while, Australian politics actually went on holiday. So, here’s what happened, in case you missed it.

  1. A man was arrested in Sydney for allegedly acting as an economic agent for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea). Apparently he was trying to help them get WMDs, although the facts available are very basic given it’s a National Security issue.
  2. John Alexander won the Bennelong by-election.
  3. The first church services took place since the Royal Commission released their report.
  4. Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann presented MYEFO (Mid Year Economic & Fiscal Outlook) and revealed that we are to expect a surplus in 2021, and that they have made $3 billion in savings by capping university places, increasing the wait to three years for migrant welfare claims and cutting the rebate for after hours GP services.
  5. Oh, but somehow Australia can still have personal and corporate tax cuts even though the government needed to cut some money from other things.
  6. Chris Bowen, the Shadow Treasurer,  responded to the MYEFO announcements, saying that the Liberals have their priorities wrong.
  7. A cabinet reshuffle – where several senior Nationals ministers were dumped in favour of some young blood, suggesting instability within the National Party.
  8. The new cabinet the got sworn in – and Peter Dutton is the most powerful national security minister Australia has ever had.
  9. George Brandis is going to be High Commissioner in the UK, so Christian Porter is the new Attorney-General and will have to keep Dutton on a tight leash.
  10. Florence Bjelke-Peterson – former senator and wife of controversial QLD Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson – died aged 97.
  11. The replacement for Fiona Nash (who was caught up in Section 44 drama) was finally selected – Jim Molan. There are still questions surrounding whether he will get a 3-year or 6-year term in the Senate.
  12. Christmas happened as usual, with images of Malcolm Turnbull helping out at the Wayside Chapel Christmas Lunch in Sydney and dancing with guests.
  13. The end of 2017…
  14. New Years Day 2018 saw the release of the 1994/1995 Cabinet Papers – revelaing that Keating was warned about allowing the Australian people to vote for the President if Australia becam a republic because we plebeians might pick someone “of the wrong calibre” (read: we might pick someone like Trump).
  15. It was also revealed that after Sydney won the right to host the 2000 Olympics, that champion swimmer Kieran Perkin’s swimming record dating back to when he was 12 years old was used to argue for a 6-year funding plan for sport in order to increase the medal tally.

 

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

MYEFO Explained by ABC’s Emma Alberici

Huw Parkinson’s take on Australian Politics with some help from Harry Potter

The Two Weeks That Were – September 17 to September 30

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I worked all last weekend, so you get a rather busy two weeks to contend with.

The same-sex marriage postal survey is plodding along, as are the “yes” and “no” campaigns. The no campaign tried to sky write ‘vote no’ over Sydney on one of the windiest days we’ve had, and the yes campaign upset the no campaign by sending text messages. This led the yes campaign to point out that the no people got the survey/vote they wanted and now they had to contend with the yes people actively campaigning for their dignity.

Meanwhile, American rapper Macklemore (apparently pronounced “Mack-Le-More” and not “Mackel-more”) upset the “no” campaign’s apple cart by announcing that he would be singing Same Love as one of the five songs on his NRL Grand Final set list. Tony Abbott wants the song to be banned because “politics has no place in sport” – despite the fact every Prime Minister in my lifetime has gone to an AFL and/or NRL grand final. George Brandis had the best response to Abbott’s comments by saying that he thought Abbott liked free speech. Macklemore has said he will donate the Australian proceeds of sales of Same Love to the Yes Campaign.

Speaking of Tony Abbott – he got head-butted in Hobart earlier in the fortnight by a DJ wearing a “yes” badge. As it turned out the DJ, called Astro Labe (because why not?) didn’t head butt the former PM because of the same-sex marriage debate, but because he felt like it. He basically did what a large number of people in this country have at least once considered doing. I don’t condone head butting former Prime Ministers, but t was a tad amusing, and I’m sure for some people vicariously cathartic.

It looks as if there is another push to teach phonics to primary school children as a way to teach them to read – which most teachers suggest is all well and good, except when the government suggests national benchmark tests in Year One to go along with it. The teaching union is concerned that this leads to teaching to a test rather than just teaching them. While some schools do already do phonics testing and teaching, the government has since said it’s the responsibility for the states, which is one of the reasons being in a Federation is annoying – because it gets confusing as to who is responsible for what.

The government’s most favourite subject for the last three or four weeks – energy – has remained so, with the government still trying to get AGL to keep the Liddell plant going, and tring to keep more local LNG in the country to avoid a shortfall. AGL took the media around the ageing Liddell plant in what had to be the weirdest show off tour ever, showing the public what was broken and wasn’t working. Malcolm Turnbull wants to prevent a gas shortfall that is expected in 2018. He met with and attempted to encourage the gas comapnies to sell their gas in Australia first before exporting it overseas – which is what they currently do with most of Australian LNG.

The government has also announced we’ll be getting a space agency – only they don’t really know where it’ll be based or how much it will cost, so basically all that practical stuff.

A group of refugees who were going through “extreme vetting” have been accepted to be settled in the United States. Whether or not they’ve gone yet is unclear to me – but Australia is hoping that an addition 1200 will be accepted to settle in the USA in the coming months.

The NDIS is in the news again after a Cate Blanchett-voiced artificial intelligence computer program was shelved. The idea was that this AI program, called Nadia, would help people on the NDIS get information as more and more people move to the scheme. However, concerns with security – especially after the Census and other government computer-y problems, they want to wait to make sure it won’t break or something. Meanwhile, NSW has stopped the subsidy scheme for specialised smoke alarms for deaf people in preparation for the NDIS – only problem being that not everyone in NSW is on the NDIS yet and if they need a smoke alarm between now and when they do they’ll be out of pocket by a large amount of money without the subsidy scheme. There are concerns that other states will follow suit, leaving deaf people with no smoke alarms.

The High Court has ruled that Malcolm Roberts was a dual citizen at the time of his nomination and election to parliament, meaning it is quite likely he could lose his job under section 44 of the constitution. He’s also been declared a bit of an idiot in my house after he claimed he had no clue he was a British citizen, despite the fact an Australian citizenship form he filled in clearly stated that he was a few years ago. Centrelink is also in the news after it was revealed that several indigenous communities where welfare recipients work for the dole have to spend hours on the phone to avoid fines for not showing up to their required work for the dole activities if they have a good reason – e.g. going to a funeral or a medical appointment.

Also this week, it’s been revealed that a company lobbying the government is run by a member of the Nationals, who is also in the party leadership. He’s not on the registered lobbyist list and may not even be involved in the lobbying, but Griffith MP Terri Butler is concerned.

Finally during this fortnight, New Zealand went to the polls, and while Jacinda Ardern and the Labour Party didn’t win, there has been a swing to the Labour in NZ, suggesting ‘Jacinda-mania’ may have been moderately strong; Marise Payne and Malcolm Turnbull dedicated a new HMAS Hobart; big banks are scrapping their ATM fees; and unions are appealing the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rates ruling from earlier in the year.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Lee Lin Chin – need I say more?

TV News professionalism at its prime….

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Mark Riley on the church and ‘straw-man arguments’ – The West Australian

The Red Rooster Line – Honi Soit

The “ghost” candidate in the North Sydney Council Election – SMH

Male primary school teachers to be extinct – ABC News

 

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

 

The Week That Was – February 19 to February 25

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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 – October 23 to October 29

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It’s been a mostly quiet week in politics, with the exception of the massive drama between the Attorney-General George Brandis and now ex-Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson. Gleeson quit over the increasingly tumultuous relationship between him and the Attorney-General, and believes the relationship is “irretrievably broken”

Also this week, Bob Day has done a bit of a backflip, deciding that because there is no chance of finding a new Family First Senator for South Australia prior to the next sitting day (November 7), he’s going to stay on and vote on the ABCC, the plebescite and other “important” legislation. South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill has contradicted this, saying that there can be a vote in SA on who they send to Canberra by November 3, so it wouldn’t be a problem. Malcolm Turnbull’s been defending Day’s decision saying he’s an independent Senator and can do as he pleases; while Labor and the Greens have been critical.

Paid Parental Leave is due to change, with Malcolm Turnbull telling women he feels for those affected by the changes. The changes will leave some mothers worse off as they will have less weeks of maternity leave supported by both the government and their employer. While many in the government have called it “double dipping”, there are many who criticise them for this characterisation.

The Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) met this week for a summit on violence against women. It seemed from what I saw on the news as a bit of a gab-fest, but hopefully something will come out of it given the next lot of money is due to help in the reduction of harm or violence, and to Turnbull’s credit, he did apologise for the governments not doing something to help sooner.

Finally this week, IBM apologised for #censusfail; State, Territory and Federal governments, along with the opposition are disagreeing over how to improve housing affordability; Barnaby Joyce is fighting with Singaporean Sugar giant Wilmar (who own the CSR sugar brand) over their treatment of cane farmers; and Marise Payne in in Paris talking about post-Mosul battle Iraq and what will happen next.

Tweet of the Week

That Awkward Moment when the boss doesn’t properly confirm the return of a news show on the national broadcaster, and the PR people have to do it…

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/792189634402852864

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

It’s been assignment time at uni, so I only have one, and it is a tad sad.

“Injuries incompatible with life” confuses after the tragedy at Dreamworld – News.com.au

 

 

The Week That Was – September 20 to September 26

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The second week under Prime Minister Turnbull began with Cabinet assignments. Kevin Andrews is no longer Defence Minister and called for a conference where he basically got upset about being replaced – by Marise Payne, a NSW Senator and the first woman to be in the role. She, along with Michaelia Cash (Minister for Employment, Women and Assistant Minister to PM on Public Service) and Kelly O’Dwyer (Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer), join Julie Bishop and Susan Ley to make five women in the cabinet. Christopher Pyne has moved to Industry, Innovation and Science, while Simon Birmingham takes education. Christian Porter becomes Social Services Minister, Mitch Fifield takes Communications and Arts. That’s not the whole list of the new Cabinet, but Peter Dutton, Greg Hunt, Matthias Cormann, and George Brandis are keeping their jobs, while Eric Abetz and a few Abbott supporters have been booted. Several people who helped Turnbull into power did not get roles in the Cabinet because Turnbull told them he wanted renewal and freshness and they understood.

The most interesting move has been the inclusion of a new Ministry, held by Jamie Briggs, for Cities and Built Environment, as well as the reinstating of the Cabinet Secretary – a role to be filled by Arthur Sinodinos as part of Turnbull’s return to “traditional cabinet government”.

As for the role of Treasurer, Scott Morrison now holds the job, and Joe Hockey is not only out of a ministry, but will be leaving Parliament altogether, albeit “in due course”, making people thing that Hockey will be sent to Washington as the next Australian Ambassador to the United States – a very cushy job.

Meanwhile, one of the Murdoch papers caught up with Tony Abbott over the weekend. Technically they just bothered him while he was working out at the beach, but either way, Abbott took a swipe at Scott Morrison, accusing him of misleading the public in an interview. Morrison said that he had warned Abbott the Friday before Turnbull challenged that there was discontent in the party and that it wasn’t looking good for Abbott at all. Abbott disputes this and has not spoken with Morrison since the spill.

Scott Morrison spent his first week as Treasurer talking about opportunities to save and invest, saying the country doesn’t have a revenue problem, but a spending problem. Some experts dispute this, saying that the only way problems can be solved is if there is changes to the tax system. Meanwhile, Morrison has to figure out what to with the rising debt, that is now in fact his government’s doing and not Labor’s doing at all.

The Turnbull government has announced $100 million dollars for “practical” domestic violence measures, mainly through the improvement of front-line services and safety tools for victims such as panic buttons. As of September 24, 63 women have died at the hands of their partners and 3000 are turned away from shelters every year (both figures reported by ABC News NSW). Experts are welcoming the perception change, where the focus is on the offender’s actions and the onus of safety is not left to the victim, however they would like to see more money for shelters and other safe locations that women go to when they leave their abusive partners.

The UN Human Rights investigators have cancelled visits to Australian detention centres. They say they were not able to guarantee that detention centre workers who spoke to them would not be prosecuted under the Border Force Act, which prevents workers from talking on the public record about conditions in the centres.

Also, Australia is considering including the Assad government in the fight against Islamic State, with Julie Bishop saying that a political solution that includes both Russia and the Assad government is the only way that Islamic State can be stopped. The British Foreign Minister has suggested that there is a role for Assad in getting rid of Islamic State, but would have to be followed by Assad stepping down and allowing a transition to democracy. Regardless of the terms, the ALP is concerned about choosing a side in the Syrian Civil War. Bill Shorten was possibly a little stressed when he commented on the issue as he spouted some pretty random words, such as “ethno-facists” which left the people in my house poking a bit of fun at the Opposition Leader.

Finally this week, the government got a bounce in the polls now that Turnbull is PM, Peta Credlin appeared at a Women’s Weekly event talking about gender equality, Peter Greste is likely to get a pardon too, after his colleagues received pardons on Wednesday, a Senate Enquiry has begun into the payment activities of 7-Eleven and the trial for the men who killed asylum seeker Reza Berati in an Australian detention centre has begun in Papua New Guinea.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon’s guide to the Turnbull Ministry – The Guardian

Annabel Crabb on Turnbull’s Cabinet and how we are all now part of a ‘Turnbull experiment’ – ABC The Drum

John Oliver has been paying attention to our politics, it would seem…

The Week That Was – August 23 to August 29

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This week Tony Abbott spent his promised week with the indigenous community in the Torres Strait Islands, visiting Thursday Island (Mer) to visit Eddie Mabo’s grave, as well as meet with elders and run the country. He attended a memorial service for those in the region who fought in the Second World War, who protected the islands in the Torres Strait from invasion, despite bombing raids from the Japanese Army. Abbott also spent some time on one of the school buses in one community, helping children get to school. Generally, it’s been a good week for Abbott, however, there have been a few hiccups – first, several establishments have claimed that the PM’s Office booked hotel rooms, which were cancelled at the last-minute when Abbott decided to stay in the army barracks instead, costing the hotels money, as they had been preparing for the PM, Ministers and other government officials. Second, Abbott may have gotten his teaching methods mixed up, crediting improvement in one school to “direct instruction” (where the concept is broken up into pieces and taught directly), when it fact it was “explicit instruction” (aka “I do, we do, you do” where the teacher does one example, the class does one together and then the students work on their own) that was helping.

The scaremongering about terrorism has continued, with politicians equating ISIS to Pol Pot or Adolf Hitler, trying to express the need for Australians to support the government’s plans to join the US in bombing ISIS targets in Syria. Despite the fact that it is believe that the government engineered the request from the US to join, there are still legal issues to consider, given there is no UNSC Resolution or formal request from Syria. However, it’s thought that Australia may get around these issues by claiming self-defence or by claiming the land they are bombing is “ungoverned space”, as Australia does not recognise either the Assad government or ISIS as legitimate governments.

Joe Hockey meanwhile has been talking about one of life’s certainties – taxes. There is universal concern that as inflation rises, more and more people are going to fall into the next highest tax bracket – a phenomenon known as ‘bracket creep”. Despite the Treasurer’s concern with bracket creep, it appears that Hockey is still only talking about it, and doesn’t yet have any policies on the table, which concerns some analysts.

Unions are worried about the Free Trade Agreement with China, especially because Chinese companies will be able to bring in their own workers for some projects. This concerns the unions, not just because it would detrimentally affect the local workers, as there would be fewer jobs, but also because it’s possible the Chinese workers flown in will not be paid according to Australian labour laws. Labor has suggested that if the workers are going to be affected negatively by the Free Trade Agreement, then they may not support it, which led Tony Abbott to warn that if Labor and the unions had their way, then there would be a new “White Australia Policy” – which left me speechless.

The week was an improvement for the government, at least until Friday, when the Australian Border Force release a press release announcing that they were going to check the identity documents of anyone they came across in Melbourne over the weekend. It’s been equated with Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, and others expressed concerns that it would lead to racial profiling – lawyers also told the media it was illegal. By Friday afternoon the protesters were out in force in Melbourne’s CBD, and the police and Border Force cancelled their operation. There have been questions over whether or not the Minister or the PM knew about the program.

Finally this week, Heydon delayed his judgement on his recusal due to his apprehended bias, people are bringing up the possibility of having a referendum on becoming a republic, and George Brandis is under fire for not filling a regional judge vacancy after the retirement of one of the three judges.

Tweet of the Week

Judges in Peter Greste and his colleagues’ retrial in Egypt delivered the verdict on Saturday

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Not much, given I had an assignment for uni this week…

First Dog on the Moon on the Border Force Saga – The Guardian

The Week That Was – February 22 to February 28

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It’s been less than a month since the failed spill motion in the Liberal Party room, and already there have been some leaks from within the party. A message written by the outgoing Honourary Treasurer of the Liberal Party (a senior Liberal Party executive) has leaked in which he criticises the fact that Peta Credlin, Abbott’s Chief of Staff, is in a senior job within the party that her husband Brian Loughnane is in charge of, suggesting it is a conflict of interest. Also this week saw more leadership rumblings, with reports that backbenchers approached Malcolm Turnbull about challenging Abbott, telling him he would have the numbers to do so. Even more worrying is that many backbenchers are avoiding saying that Abbott will last to the next election.

Tony Abbott made a National Security Statement, in which most people in my house rolled their eyes, as Tony Abbott told us:

When it comes to someone like the Martin Place murderer, people feel like we have been taken for mugs.

He also said this:

I’ve often heard Western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’. I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it.

Yes, he actually said that. Here is a transcript of the speech, complete with death cults.

And you can also watch it below (It’s 20 mins long)

Part of the National Security speech had to do with Man Haron Monis and the Sydney Siege, in which it was revealed that despite calls to the National Security Hotline and the fact that Monis was on the authorities’ radars, he was not seen as much of a threat in the lead up to the Sydney Siege.

Gillian Triggs has shocked many by telling a Senate Estimates Committee that the Attorney-General asked her to resign from the role as President of the Human Rights Commission and in return she would be given a senior legal job in the government. The Attorney-General believes that the Australian Human Rights Commission is biased against the government, and Abbott has said that the government has lost confidence in Professor Triggs. Triggs has said that she will not go, and several opposition members have asked the Australian Federal Police to look into the offer given to Gillian Triggs to see if the Attorney-General acted corruptly.

This week has seen two reports about private organisations that have been rorting the federal government systems that they are beneficiary to. The first, a jobs company that is meant to help get people jobs, and is taxpayer-funded, has been claiming money on people who have since found a job and no longer require the serviced of the company, it has shown that the system is open to rorts, and it has also become apparent that some people within the company knew about the activity. The other issue has been a Sydney-based private vocational college that has been claiming government subsidies through FEE-HELP students, by claiming students have completed courses that they have not, with one claim that an office assistant who was helping a student with literacy issues withdraw (for which the college had no form) was told to tear up the withdrawal letter and put it in the bin once the student was gone, under the impression they had withdrawn.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has agreed to facilitate the move of asylum seekers from Nauru to Cambodia, with Australia covering the cost. The IOM has guaranteed education, job and family re-unification rights for the refugees. However, few, if any, of the refugees in detention on Nauru want to be moved to Cambodia, and the Cambodian locals are not happy with the prospect of refugees being sent there.

Finally this week, New Zealand unintentionally threw Australia for a loop after including Australia in an announcement about sending more Australian and New Zealander troops to Iraq to help train troops there; the Bali Nine ringleaders have had their appeal rejected; Knox Grammar School has been investigated by the Child Abuse Royal Commission; there is a proposal for foreign buyers to pay a $5,000 fee when buying a house under $1 million and $10,000 when they buy a house for $1 million and then for every $1 million thereafter; and the Medicare co-payment may be dumped.

Tweet of the Week

Matthew Mitcham has been touring his Cabaret Show Twists and Turns around the country.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

That dress that sent social media crazy, explained – ABC Online

Julie Bishop’s Emoji Interview – Buzzfeed

If Dying Phones Were People

The Week That Was – August 24 to August 30

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This government may be record holders. It’s been over three months since the budget was announced and they’re yet to get their big-ticket items through Parliament. Admittedly, they’ve got appropriation bills through, but they just keep everything up and running. Key ministers and figures have been threatening that they will start doing things that don’t require legislation to save money, which the Opposition is calling blackmail and it appears that the co-payment could be waived when children go for vaccinations. For some reason, this government likes equating the current economic situation with things like bushfires and melanomas, as if that is going to scare us or the opposition into accepting the changes. Meanwhile, the Opposition continues to demand the government drop the budget entirely and start again and some government backbenchers have spoken out against the co-payment and other budget measures they don’t like. Speaking of the co-payment, Clive Palmer has announced his party will not support it, and will not compromise. He’s also apologised to China for his comments last week.

The government announced last week plans to allow around 4,000 Iraqi and Syrian refugees to come to Australia “through the front door”, however concerns have been raised about who will be allowed to come. There are a large number of Iraqis and Syrians in Australia who still have family in the region, who want the government to allow their family members to come, and other concerns have been raised over the fact that the 4,000 or so spots are part of the 13,000 yearly quota set by the government and not an addition to the quota.

Australia may also help the US with strikes against the Islamic State (IS – formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) mobilising and the PM and Defence Minister both saying that while we haven’t been asked yet, we’ll be happy to help. The bulk of the Opposition supports this but there are a few Labor MPs and senators as well as the Greens, who are not so sure about military action.

University Open Days began this weekend, and understandably, prospective students are concerned about the future costs of higher education. There is concern that the Group of 8 Universities might drop nursing degrees, which don’t make much money. This has been denied, as has the possible price hike, with universities saying that they aren’t trying to gouge money from people, they just want to keep a high standard of education. The Nationals are also concerned, with requests that if the money the universities make do go into scholarships, that more scholarships should be available to regional students.

Tony Abbott has done his fair share of annoying people this week, with his comment that the defining moment in Australia’s history is white settlement, saying British settlement made Australia what is today and equated the first Governor, Gov. Arthur Phillip, to George Washington. Abbott is also in trouble for using cancer patients to make it ok for him to go to a private function on taxpayers’ money. He was at a private function in Melbourne on Monday night and visited the cancer research centre on Tuesday morning, meaning he was late to a Cabinet meeting.  The Attorney-General George Brandis has also been annoying people. He went to a meeting with Muslim community leaders, was an hour late, and the community leaders felt their concerns about the terrorism law changes (mainly about the targeting of those in the Muslim community) weren’t really being heard.

Julie Bishop was in Indonesia this week signing the “Joint Understanding Code of Conduct” on the sidelines of something to do with the UN. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono watched on, and now it appears that both Australia and Indonesia are happy.

This week, the World Congress of Families held their event at Catch the Fire Ministries after being cancelled on by every other venue they’d booked. Kevin Andrews pulled out of his appearance, as did a Victorian State Liberal MP. There were protesters outside, and one even got into the hall where the meeting was being held. NSW State MP Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats was there, and was interviewed by an ABC journalist. He implied that the people inside the room were on God’s side and that the protesters outside were on the Devil’s side, then told the ABC and SBS that they had to make a choice about where they stand – despite the fact the ABC is meant to be impartial and have no views.

Finally this week, a memorial might be set up in the grounds of Parliament House for Australians killed in MH17, the Trade Union Royal Commission got interesting when it was revealed that Kathy Jackson from the HSU and the HSU’s barrister at the commission had an affair, Julia Gillard had been summoned to the Royal Commission and Tony Abbott was also at the National Party Council this weekend and said that the Coalition has “saved Australia”.

Tweet of the Week

The World Congress of Families event was on Saturday – and they mentioned NSW State MP for Sydney

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

With Gammy making world headlines, the partner of a surrogate in the US shared her story – The Advocate

Zach Stafford tries to make sense of the white cop shooting black men scenarios – The Guardian

 

The Week That Was – August 3 to August 9

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This week there were MH17 memorials in Western Australia and Queensland and more bodies were found at the crash site. The people living in a town close to the crash site also held a memorial. Meanwhile, the Russians have imposed sanctions on Australia, the EU and the US, in retaliation for the sanctions placed on them (which I thought Australia was not a part of, because our main aim was to bring our dead home). These sanctions stop Australia from trading dairy and livestock. Tony Abbott has said Australia will now consider more sanctions on Russia. Also, the Prime Minister is due to travel to the Netherlands and the UK in the next week.

So it turns out the asylum seekers were moved to Nauru on Friday night last week. Scott Morrison has been saying that the Tamils are from Indian camps and most have long-term Indian residency. The lawyers for the High Court case have also begun to claim that their clients were taught to drive lifeboats and read maps to show them where to go. Meanwhile a report has come out about the asylum seekers that claimed to have been burnt by being forced to put their hands on boat engines by Australian authorities. The heavily censored report suggests that the asylum seekers were burned when trying to light a fire on their boat and not by the actions of the Australians. There has been no response from the Indonesian authorities, who treated the asylum seekers at the moment.

Unemployment is now at a 12 year high – at 6.4%. Only 300 jobs were lost in the last month, but more people have been looking for jobs, making the unemployment rate rise. Youth unemployment is worse, with a little over 20% in the 15-19 age group and nearly 15% in the 15-24 age group. South Australia and Tasmania have had a drop in the unemployment rate, while the other states have had a rise, with Sydney having one of the worst youth unemployment rates, especially out in Sydney’s west. The Paid Parental Leave Scheme may have been shelved or delayed. It’s thought to be because some backbenchers – primarily those in rural or low-income areas – are still not supporting it. The government claims that the budget is the priority at the moment, so they haven’t brought up the scheme yet.

Joe Hockey has also been disputing Treasury numbers, after information was released stating that many families would be up to $490 worse off because of the 2014 Budget. In fact, the table that explains this was omitted from the budget papers, and those who wanted to know what the table said had to make Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. However, it appears most FOI requests, including one from the ABC was denied. Joe Hockey says that the numbers are wrong because the Deficit Levy imposed on higher-income households wasn’t factored in and there could still be changes. Either way, there are still negotiations between the Government and the cross benchers in the Senate – David Leyonhjelm has said that these discussions should have begun before July 1.

This week also saw a bit of gymnastics on the repeal of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The government has decided not to continue with the repeal of section 18c because Tony Abbott wants to unify Australia, given the threat posed by Australians travelling to the Middle East. Andrew Bolt, along with other conservative commentators and politicians are not pleased. At least one conservative senator is going to launch a private member’s bill to keep the repeal alive.

There are now going to be changes to the Terrorism laws given the threat posed by those travelling to the Middle East perceived by the government. This change, on top of the “burden of proof” proposal last week, means that there will be another $630 million for security agencies, the ability to suspend passports and make it illegal to travel to certain nations without an acceptable reason (burden of proof on the traveller not the police) and telecommunications companies must keep metadata for a certain amount of time.

Now this “metadata” thing has confused everyone. Tony Abbott and George Brandis have been unable to explain exactly what will be retained, and they didn’t let Malcolm Turnbull (one of the guys who probably could explain it) out to talk until a few days later. Other than the concerns over privacy, it is completely unclear at the moment what is going to be retained by the telcos. Now, I am not a computer geek in any way, but from what I understand, what will be retained is the IP address of websites you visit, not the content or the URL of the site. So when you visit this blog, they only see the IP address, not the karaxl.wordpress.com or the content of the blog – in order to see those they need a warrant.

Before I forget, Eric Abetz is in trouble for appearing to link abortions with breast cancer. He said it on The Project on Channel Ten in what he says was a pre-recorded interview that was heavily edited, which Channel Ten denies. By the way, the link has been disproved by the scientific community, despite the fact that some scientists coming to the World Families’ Congress maintain there is a link. The congress will be held in Melbourne later this year, and several Federal Government MPs are planning to attend.

Finally this week, the Federal Liberal Party is being dragged into the NSW ICAC, Australia might become involved in humanitarian drops in Iraq, our Airports are preparing for Ebola checks, and the WA Premier Colin Barnett wants the GST changed, because he feels that Western Australia is ripped off as it contributes quite a bit to the GST and gets less back.

Tweet of the Week

After hitting 5000 followers on twitter this week, the people running Kevin Rudd 2000 (@Rudd2000), a spoof account called it a day, killing off “Kevern”.

(Translation: Albo [Anthony Albanese] ate Kevin [Rudd])

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening to etc

Balibo’s ghosts and East Timor’s media laws – ABC The Drum

When journalists stop covering a story without explanation and social media speculation gets out of hand – BBC News

Whitehousegate is still going, and a student at the college is facing criminal charges for blowing the whistle – Business Insider