The Week That Was – July 17 to July 23

It was almost back to business this week, only for everyone to go back home at the end of it.

Turnbull and Shorten announced their respective ministries, with expansions and reshuffles – with few loosing jobs. Turnbull has decided to keep most people in the same spots they were in before the election, replacing those who lost seats, and shuffling a few people and names around. Notably, Kelly O’Dwyer job name has changed from Assistant Treasurer and Small Business Minister, and she is now Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. The new ministry, which is one of the largest has 41 member, with three nationals, one of whom is in the cabinet.

Labor on the other hand had some factional hissy fits this week, with Kim Carr nearly losing his Shadow Ministry. The shadow ministry is one of the bigest, with 32 – 30 being paid shadow ministry salaries, and two being paid backbencher’s salaries those two being Sam Dastyari and Andrew Leigh. The reshuffle here has been a little more dramatic, with Penny Wong becoming Shadow Foreign Minister, Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek becoming Shadow Education Minister, heading up a 6-person Education ministry team including Kate Ellis, who retains the Vocational and Early Childhood Education shadow ministries. Bill Shorten has taken Shadow Indigenous Affairs, and will be advised by WA Senator Pat Dodson, and new NSW MP Linda Burnie will take Shadow Human Services.

Meanwhile, the last seat in doubt in the country has finally been counted, with Labor winning Herbert by eight votes. Not surprisingly, given the closeness, they’re going to count it again to be absolutely sure.

The President of the Australian Medical Association has met with Sussan Ley this week to talk medicine and health policy. He believes that the Medicare rebate freeze will not last and that health is not the area the government should be cutting from to save the budget.

Finally this week, the Child Abuse Royal Commission has announced it will look into accusations in the Anglican Church; and the Lindt Cafe Siege Inquest heard evidence from a tactical officer in charge, who offended families by first suggesting that the attacker, Man Haron Monis, had the same rights as the hostages, and then making a poor choice of words, while calling the situation a “high stakes game”.

Tweet of the Week

Editorial Questions at the ABC….

Trying to avoid the odious term "honour killing" in @abcnews at 7. It deeply offends many of us yet there is no widely accepted alternative.

— Juanita Phillips (@Juanita_Phillip) July 17, 2016

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Ameer Ali on Sonia Kruger’s comments – ABC Online

Michelle Grattan on the Same Sex Marriage Plebiscite – ABC Online

The Week That Was – January 10 to January 16

This week saw the political machine whirr back into gear, with Bill Shorten touring marginal seats across the nation, campaigning against a rise in the GST. In one of these visits he was at supermarket asking a shopper what variety of lettuce they preferred, which lead to some frivolity with Triple J journalist Alice Workman desperately trying to find out which variety was Shorten’s favourite (you can tell we’re only in low gear at the moment).

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/687027060460486656

@workmanalice Butter lettuce, but with four growing on the farm, I’m very inclusionary when it comes to #lettuce .

— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) January 13, 2016

Shorten even played along, only to frustrate Workman further.

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/687049109484654592

The frivolity kind of stopped a bit later in the week, when it was revealed that the NSW ALP boss Jamie Clements was being accused of sexual harassment and many people in the party were asking him to go, such as former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, NSW Acting Opposition Leader Linda Burnie and Shorten himself. It’s believed that Clements wanted $1 million to go, but whether that happened was unclear when it was announced that he had resigned, as he put it “for the good of the party”.

Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party are under scrutiny this week after Palmer’s company Queensland Nickel sacked hundreds of workers after they were unable to get financial assistance to the tune of $35 million from the Queensland Government, despite the fact that the company donated nearly $290,000 to the PUP at the end of 2015.

Finally this week, Save the Children staffers have been vindicated over accusations they were causing trouble on Nauru; there are concerns about the share market and commodity prices as the price of oil drops to below USD $30 a barrel; Nick Xenophon and his party the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) have announced their candidates for this year’s election with a candidate in Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah; and there are also concerns that the government is trying to make it harder for people to prove they need the Disability Pension.

Tweet of the Week

Something for us all to think about.

Australia Day this year will mark 50 years since a prime minister left office voluntarily. #auspol

— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) January 12, 2016

And if you can guess who it was, well done you.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on killing off carp with herpes – The Guardian

First Dog on the Moon “moonsplains” sexism – The Guardian