The Two Weeks That Were – December 20 to January 2

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 Two Weeks that Were – November 29 to December 12

I probably made the worst choice of weeks to put together, but this is what happens when you work at a by-election and help people move into apartments. Plus I missed a day of news so if I’ve missed anything that went on, that’s probably why.

Back at the end of November, Turnbull was in Malta for CHOGM, where he met the Queen, chatted about security and the economy with Commonwealth leaders before heading to Paris for the Climate Conference, where he made a speech about how Australia plans to decrease emissions by 26-28% by 2030. While in Paris, Turnbull, his wife Lucy and New Zealand PM John Key, laid flowers at the Bataclan Theatre. Since becoming Prime Minister, Turnbull has been placed in good positions in the photos of leaders at events, which shows that he’s not only making people in Australia happy, but world leaders and other important people respect him too.

With MYEFO due in the coming week, the Budget has become a focus again, with reports of a deficit continuing for some time thanks to the mining boom winding up and revenue issues. While the numbers aren’t clear yet, it does seem like the government is having trouble putting the country back into surplus. Meanwhile there are discussions again about how to change the GST, with states, especially Western Australia, wanting more money, and the concern that if they increase the rate of the GST the public and community groups would not be happy. There is also a suggestion of increasing the Medicare levy in order to pay for more healthcare, which was discussed at COAG, but no real decision was made.

Mal Brough is being hounded in Question Time, after the police came to interview him regarding Ashby-gate. It’s believed that back when Peter Slipper (remember him?) became Speaker and angered all of the Liberals, Brough asked Slipper’s staffer James Ashby to (possibly illegally) copy Slipper’s diary. Why he needed the diary is unclear, but now the police are interested so one can’t help but think it’s not good. Meanwhile, former Liberal minister Ian Macfarlane has defected to the Nationals, most likely in the hope that he can get back into cabinet, even though it’s not a given.

Malcolm Turnbull has introduced his big innovation plan, with tax breaks for investments in startups, money for research and more forgiving bankruptcy legislation. It’s Turnbull’s signature policy, with a $1 billion price tag and it appears that Turnbull has a long term plan for it. It has come with coverage showing some interesting projects that have fascinated the inhabitants of my house.

Liberal Trent Zimmerman won the seat of North Sydney, which was expected. However there has been a 13% swing. With the seat originally being a safe seat with a 15-16% margin while Joe Hockey was there, it appears that the seat is now somewhat marginal at 2-3%.

Finally this fortnight, the family court has a massive backlog of cases to get through because the government won’t replace retiring judges, Joe Hockey is off to Washington to replace Kim Beazley as Ambassador to the US, Tony Abbott’s been speaking about Islam, and Cardinal Pell has disappointed and angered victims of church sexual abuse by being to ill to appear at a Royal Commission hearing in Ballarat – with suggestions he’s not actually ill.

Tweet of the Fortnight

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/671452808520974336

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The Simpsons and the LGBT community – SBS Online

Who follows who in Federal Parliament – SBS Online

Leigh Sales and Malcolm Turnbull banter on the ABC

 

The Week That Was – November 22 to November 28

The week began with Anti-Islam and Anti-racism protests in most capital cities and while there was some fighting between the groups, most people were well behaved and the police kept each group as far away from each other as possible.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull completed his first World Tour with a trip to Malaysia for the ASEAN East Asia Conference. Turnbull met with the Malaysian PM, discussing the battle against Islamic State as well as trying to encourage China to play nice in the South China Sea. Upon his return to Australia, Turnbull was in Parliament, where the government and the opposition made speeches of condolence to the people of Paris as well as talking about keeping Australia safe.

Turnbull has also been questioned by the media over the wording in some of his speeches as well as whether or not he has a grip on the more conservative faction of his party. Furthermore, there has been calls from Labor that Mal Brough should either stand down or be sacked from his ministry due to a police investigation into Brough’s role in the Peter Slipper scandal back in 2011-2012. Then, at the end of the week, he flew to Malta for the CHOGM meetings, where he met Queen Elizabeth and apparently made her chuckle when he spoke of Prince Charles’ visit to Australia a few weeks back, and then he will travel to Paris for the Climate Conference.

Climate Change was a big thing this week in the lead up to the Paris conference, with concerns that Turnbull is heading to France with Tony Abbott’s old, and somewhat sub-par climate plan. Labor has come out with an alternative, suggesting a 45% reduction by 2030 and a carbon neutral economy by 2050. This is based off the exact same model that the Liberals are using for their climate plan too, so it should be interesting to see the reaction.

Domestic Violence came to the fore this week for Wednesday’s White Ribbon day, with Malcolm Turnbull telling the country that there must be change and it will have to be lead by men, while surveys are showing that young men are more likely to blame others for their problems and play down their aggressive behaviour, while young women are more likely to blame themselves as well as justify the aggressive behaviour of their partners.

The government has changed the terrorism warning system indicators from High, Low, Moderate etc, to a simpler system suggesting the likeliness of an attack.

The new terror attack warning system. (from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-26/national-terrorism-threat-advisory-system-graphic./6976880)

 Under this simpler system the current warning is the second-lowest “probable”, so we’re pretty safe for now.

There are still national security concerns over foreign investment in Australia, with the US Ambassador meeting Australian officials to get more information on the Darwin Port deal, angry that they were not consulted. However, Defence Minister Marise Payne says that she was abroad with Julie Bishop when the decision was made and that as soon as it was, someone was dispatched to the Pentagon to tell US officials.

Finally this week, the coalition against Islamic State have completed more airstrikes on ISIS strongholds; the government wants the states to increase their trading hours to increase choice and the help the economy and Hillsong’s Brian Houston has been found to have had a conflict on interest over his father’s abuse of a young child at the Royal Commission into Child Abuse.

Also, if you live in the electorate of North Sydney, don’t forget you have a by-election on December 5!

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/nthsydneyvotes/status/669365995148972032

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on Bill Shorten’s dismal poll numbers – The Guardian

First Dog on White Ribbon Day – The Guardian

SBS2 The Feed’s retrospective for 2015

 

The Week That Was – January 25 to January 31

So, Tony Abbott made Prince Phillip a Knight of the Order of Australia. That announcement kind of took away from the fact that Angus Houston – the former Defence guy that was coordinating the search of MH370 and represented Australia for a bit after MH17 – also received a knighthood, and that anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year.

Other than the awkwardness of the Prince Phillip knighthood “captain’s pick” issue, Australia Day was relatively normal, other than the heavy rain in Sydney. People who did some great things were recognised, there was some interesting helicopter and boat choreography on Sydney Harbour and Prince Phillip received a knighthood (the whole knighthood thing took over for a bit). Indigenous people also reminded people that they still see this day in a more negative light, treating it as a “Day of Mourning” or a “Day of Survival”, since over 200 years ago, they were basically invaded and colonised by the British.

Tony Abbott has been having a tough time this week, especially after his captain’s pick for the knighthood, with ministers and backbenchers saying they had no idea that was the plan and saying that it isn’t really an appropriate knighthood to have given. Those who haven’t specifically said that the knighthood was the worst idea ever, have at least placed all the blame on Abbott who has ignored social media backlash over the whole thing, calling it “electronic graffiti”. However, there’s more to it, because now there are rumours of serious rumblings behind the scenes over Abbott’s leadership, while some of his closest supporters in the media, like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones, are suggesting his leadership could be at an end.

Abbott has admitted he should have consulted more with his party and the public over the whole knighthood saga, but the rumours have continued with talk that Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and others, including Mal Brough (responsible for the whole Ashby-Slipper saga back in the Gillard days), are canvassing the party for numbers, or if not them, backbenchers who think that some of these Ministers could be PM and win them the next election.

The whole thing got a little bit more insane and ridiculous when Abbott said the reason ministers like Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison are any good at their jobs was because he is a great leader.

Meanwhile, the Queensland LNP is fully ready to blame Abbott if they get a poor result in the Queensland State Election, held on Saturday, which now looks increasingly likely. The number of seats needed by a party to rule Queensland is 45, and at last count just before midnight on Saturday night, the LNP had 40 seats, Labor had 43 seats, with three seats in doubt, and three seats to other parties and independents. The prediction is that Labor will get 45 (the magic number) and win the election, most likely with support from the three other MPs – a result nobody expected.

Matthew Gardiner, the Labor Party President in the Northern Territory, has left Australia for the Middle East in order to help the Kurdish forces fight against Islamic State. It has shocked the country, with Bill Shorten telling people it’s a bad idea to go, and asking Gardiner to return to Australia. Furthermore, the government has pointed out that regardless of who you are fighting for, it’s still illegal to go fight overseas.

While the Manus Island Detention Centre protests are over, it appears that the allegations of violence on the part of the security forces and PNG Police may have had some truth to them, with images showing detainees with what appears to be evidence of being beaten. 40 of the Detention Centre’s detainees have also been arrested by the PNG government, however, once again, both the Australian and PNG governments aren’t saying much.

Finally this week, Whitlam and Hawke government minister, Tom Uren died this week; it’s looking more and more likely that the two Australians on death row in Indonesia for drug offences will be executed in the next few weeks; the Sydney Siege Inquiry has begun; the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has released its recommendations for compensation and reconciliation for victims; and Brazil is upset that a NSW court acquitted all but one of four cops charged with a Brazilian student’s death – and the one that was found guilty was charged with assault for using three cans of pepper spray on the student and didn’t even get a conviction recorded.

Tweet of the Week

So Triple J disqualified Taylor Swift from the Hottest 100, only to play another Top 40 song in spot #6

https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/559657461620027392

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

Kristina Keneally is a Catholic and a Feminist – The Guardian

Things that would have been different if Harry Potter was set in Australia – Buzzfeed

Your Argument is Wrong: “Guns don’t kill people”

Fashion of the Moment, Katy v Tony and Counting to 110

Wednesday brought us some more of Tony Abbott, the gaffe-prone politician.

Wednesday saw him being interviewed on radio. When asked about same-sex marriage, he said his view was that marriage should be between a man and a woman and then, he said this:

“My idea is to build on the strength of our society and I support, by and large, evolutionary change, I’m not someone who wants to see radical change based on the fashion of the moment.”

Yep. He did just say that. Oops. He said that the previous day’s ‘sex appeal’ comment was a ‘dorky dad’ moment and that it was all ok.

In Melbourne, Adam Bandt, the Greens MP for Melbourne and the other candidates for the seat were out canvassing. It appears that if Adam Bandt looses the seat, it will be a battle of roads vs. public transport. If the liberals win the seat, and the election, they have promised an expressway with tunnels – but that means that houses will be bulldozed. If Labor gets the seat, and wins the election, they will improve public transport.

On Thursday, we had some star power in the election. Tony was one of a few Aussie ‘celebrities’ that got to ask Katy Perry a question, and she turned it back on him.

https://soundcloud.com/kyleandjackieo/katy-perry-head-on-with-tony/s-S7pRD

Kevin Rudd on the other hand, announced a 2018 plan for a Special Economic Zone in the Top End, above the Tropic of Capricorn. Meanwhile, in Tasmania, Abbott was announcing his own economic plan. One end of the country or the other it seems…

Peter Slipper is standing as an independent in his seat, and his wife supports him fully. The candidate the Liberals put up is Mal Brough – he’s the one that hosted the dinner involved with the offensive menu.

On Friday, opinion polls put Labor down in most seats. Tony Abbott had a lovely little rant (at least that’s how I perceived it) about asylum seekers while telling us how he was going to deal with them. In a moment of déjà vu for anyone who remembers the 1990s consciously:

“It is our country, and we decide who comes”

I think he did it just to look tough, given the fact that he also said:

“If you can’t stop the boats, you aren’t fit to govern,”

Might I just point out that being an asylum seeker isn’t illegal? Also, if Tony Abbott’s policy is the one we follow, the Temporary Protection Visas that will let them into Australia give them no chance of citizenship or getting a job – either that or working for the dole. I do not think we should be treating them like second class citizens. They are people like you and I.

NSW has just had its Senate Ballot put together and there will be 110 candidates. There are over 40 columns, the sheet of paper will be a metre long and in 6-point font. There will be magnifiers if you need them.

Three weeks to go!

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.