The Two Weeks That Were – December 30 to January 12

Happy New Year!

2019 started with the release of cabinet documents from 1996 and 1997 – the first two years of the Howard government. The 1996 Federal Budget was extremely tough, but cabinet documents reveal it could have been so much worse. Amanda Vanstone, who was then the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, prevented major cuts from tertiary education. Documents also showed the Howard decided not to cut welfare payments to people after 12 months of being on them. Cabinet documents also showed the government’s plans on their battle with the unions (especially the maritime unions) and the discussions that led to gun control reform after the Port Arthur Massacre.

Cabinet documents from 1997 show John Howard’s resistance to apologising to the stolen generations. Howard has always felt that Australians should not be made to feel guilty for something that happened in the past that they had no control over. This opinion upset and agitated many people at the time – and it’s part of the reason Kevin Rudd promised to apologise in Parliament if Labor won the 2007 election (a promise he kept).

Meanwhile, back in the current day…

…Independent Queensland Senator Fraser Anning is under fire for attending a far-right rally at St Kilda in Melbourne – where some of the speakers had criminal records and  several people were seen doing Nazi salutes and other unpleasant things. Not only did he go, but he charged the taxpayer $3,000 for it, saying that he attended in his capacity as a Queensland Senator because some of his constituents are concerned about African gangs there. It’s led to an unusual unity amongst many in Parliament, who are criticising Anning’s choice to attend rallies and charge the taxpayer to do so, and are urging him to pay the money back.

Similarly, Mathias Cormann is under fire for chartering an airforce jet to take him from Canberra to Adelaide, where he was negotiating tax legislation with cross-benchers, and then on to Perth where he lives. In total it cost taxpayers $37,000, mostly because after flying from Canberra to Adelaide and then to Perth, the plane then had to return to Canberra. Since Bronwyn Bishop’s infamous “chopper-gate”, Liberal politicians were encouraged to strongly consider whether the transport they were taking was value for money, which Cormann seems to believe is the case, despite the fact that only a fraction of the tax legislation he was negotiating got through parliament.

Labor has dipped toes into the whole teachers, teaching degrees and ATARs situation, as concern grows about the low ATARs some students are getting into teaching degrees with. Labor wants universities to increase the minimum ATAR for teaching degrees to around 80.00, saying they can’t dumb down the degrees. Universities have hit out at Labor’s plan, and the Liberals have pointed out that they made changes already, requiring prospective teachers to complete the LANTITE – an exam that assesses their numeracy and literacy to ensure teachers can actually teach those things to children. There is also a call to increase wages for teachers, as that will attract more people with higher ATARs who might be put off teaching because it doesn’t pay enough compared to medical and legal roles.

This fortnight also saw over thirty packages containing asbestos delivered to various consulates and embassies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. A few days later, a 49-year-old man was arrested and charged for allegedly sending the packages, some of which were not yet delivered. Thankfully, Australia Post does know where they are.

This fortnight also saw Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne travel to Thailand to discuss the cases of two asylum seekers. The first, Rahaf Alqunun was in the news this week after fleeing Saudi Arabia via Kuwait, attempting to get to Australia. Saudi and Thai officials prevented her from travelling on to Australia – leading her to barricade herself in the airport’s hotel until the UNHCR ensured her safety and referred her asylum application on to Australia – until Canada ended up offering to take her. This is because Canada’s refugee processing can be done on Canadian soil, while Australia’s is more convoluted and apparently has to be done offshore.

Meanwhile, Payne also spoke to Thai officials about the incarceration of Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee that has Australian permanent residency. al-Araibi went to Thailand for his honeymoon, and the Thai government arrested him as he has an Interpol red notice based on a politically motivated vandalism conviction in Bahrain.

Finally during this fortnight, Peter Dutton has announced his support for a National Sex Offenders Register, which would make the names and postcodes of offenders available publicly, something Senator Derryn Hinch has wanted for a while; David Leyonhjelm has announced he will leave the Federal Senate to contest the NSW State Upper House. Australia is still in a row with Fiji over the citizenship of Neil Prakash, a former ISIS member, whose Australian Citizenship was revoked because he was fighting in Syria. This was under the assumption that he had Fijian citizenship, which according to Fiji he doesn’t have.

Tweet of the Fortnight

On tonight’s sketch for @abc730, Manly Beach stands in for St Kilda Beach as wasting taxpayer funds on unnecessary flights to Melbourne is reserved for Senators.

— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) January 10, 2019

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

John Howard stopped a domestic dispute during the week – News.com.au

Mark Humphries on Fraser Anning’s St Kilda trip – ABC Online

 

The Year That Was – 2018

Leadership Spills: 2

Back at the end of August there were two spills in the same week, with the right-wing of the Liberal Party attempting to roll Turnbull. They were, the second time around, successful-ish. You see, the party knew that had Peter Dutton won the leadership (which was what the right wanted), the party would have been doomed, so Scott Morrison was the safer, more reasonable option.

Cabinet Reshuffles: 1

Just after the spill in August, the new Prime Minister Scott Morrison had to reshuffle the Cabinet.

Women in Cabinet: 6 (assessed by whether or not the role is bolded in the PMO’s Ministry List here.)

Julie Bishop is no longer in the Ministry, leaving:

• Marise Payne – now Foreign Minister
• Kelly O’Dwyer – Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations and Minister for Women
• Melissa Price – Environment Minister
• Bridget McKenzie – Minister for Regional Services, Sport, Local Government and Decentralisation
• Michaelia Cash – Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education
• Karen Andrews – Minister for Industry, Science and Technology

State and Federal Elections: 9 (by-elections included)

• South Australia – where after 16 years, the Labor party lost to the Liberals.
• Tasmania – where the incumbent Liberal Premier Will Hodgman maintained a majority. It’s also the first state election where more female than male members were elected – 13 women and 12 men.
• Victoria – where the incumbent Labor party earned another term with a massive majority.
• Wentworth – after Malcolm Turnbull was rolled from the Prime Ministership, he left Parliament. The by-election saw independent Kerryn Phelps win the election, with a swing of 19% and leaving the Liberals in minority government.
• Super Saturday – the five, yes five, by-elections held on one day in July, in order to solve four section 44 issues and replace one Perth MP retiring from politics.

Politician’s Kids getting involved in public debate: 1

Alex Turnbull, Malcolm Turnbull’s son – who lives and works in Singapore – got involved in the Wentworth by-election, telling people not to vote Liberal.

Scandals: 3

• We learned the reason why Barnaby Joyce’s marriage ended back in 2017…he’d taken up with a staffer of his, and she was expecting a baby.
• Barnaby Joyce was also accused of inappropriately touching a Nationals member at an event (which would not have been made public if someone wasn’t trying to smear the victim)
• Andrew Broad, just before Christmas, was discovered to have engaged the services of a “sugar baby” while in Hong Kong on a trip. He will no longer be a Minister and will no longer contest the next election.

The ABC’s Year in Review

 

The Week That Was – August 26 to September 1

This week was Scott Morrison’s first week as Prime Minister and he rather quickly announced his cabinet. Mathias Cormann and Peter Dutton, have kept their roles – although Immigration is now no longer part of the Home Affairs portfolio.  A number of cabinet members have also stayed in cabinet or kept their roles, regardless of who they supported during the drama of last week. However, there has been a bit of a reshuffle and two backbenchers have been pulled out of relative obscurity into the ministry, with Melissa Price becoming Environment Minister and Karen Andrews becoming Minister for Industry and Science. Michaelia Cash has been moved sideways to become the Minister for Small Business and Skills, and Kelly O’Dwyer is now Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations. Steve Ciobo seems to have lost his Trade portfolio to Simon Birmingham, and Dan Tehan is now Education Minister.

Julie Bishop has left the front bench, and will be replaced by Marise Payne as Foreign Minister, so Christopher Pyne is now Defence Minister. The big thing here though is that Bishop has left the ministry and the deputy leadership of the Liberal party after eleven years. One of the most senior and experienced women in the Liberal party is no longer in the ministry, and that’s a heck of a lot of expertise no longer on the front bench. Part of this seems to be because of a group text conversation on WhatsApp between some moderate Liberal MPs and Senators calling themselves “Friends of Stability”. It appears one of them uncovered an alleged plan from the Dutton camp to stick some WA votes behind Bishop in the first round of voting during the spill, in order to knock out Morrison so Dutton would win. Poor Christopher Pyne was left to very respectfully warn Julie Bishop of this plan to use her to get Dutton as PM.

Julie Bishop has said that she will contest her seat of Curtin at the next election, and there are whispers that she could be the next Governor-General as she is respected on both sides of the political divide.

This is not the only issue involving women in the Liberal Party and the spill of last week. Julia Banks, the Member for Chisholm, has announced she will not contest the next election in her marginal Melbourne seat. She cites bullying and sexist behaviour from parliamentary Liberal Party, especially during the week of the spill, where she alleges three MPs and Senators (who are thought to be some of Dutton’s numbers men) engaged in intimidation tactics to try to get her to vote their way.

https://twitter.com/juliabanksmp/status/1034597677017718784

Two other members of parliament, Sarah Henderson MP and Senator Linda Reynolds have also alleged poor behaviour on the part of these “numbers men”, with Henderson apparently being promised a ministry or some other worldly goods, and Reynolds feeling intimidated by the actions of her party – something she spoke about in the Senate to get it into Hansard.

Prime Minister Morrison spent a lot of his first full week as PM not in Canberra. He toured drought affected Queensland at the start of the week and learned more about the effects the drought is having on families. At the end of the week he travelled to Jakarta and met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Originally the trip was for Malcolm Turnbull, and many expected it to be postponed after the spill, however, Morrison went over and spent time with Widodo, and they seemed to get on well, and Morrison did represent us well on his first international trip as Prime Minister. Australia is about to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Indonesia, eight years in the making, so the relationship is now more important than ever.

Meanwhile, Peter Dutton is facing criticism over what is being dubbed the “Au Pair Affair”. It’s understood that a couple of years ago, Peter Dutton allowed a 27-year-old French national into the country on a tourist visa, despite the fact that she had admitted to Border Force officials that she would engage in work as an au pair for the McLachlan family. The McLachlan family are well-known South Australian pastoralists and are related to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan – who knows Dutton from when he was Sports Minister. It appears Gillon McLachlan linked his relatives to Dutton’s office so they could plead the young woman’s case. It’s also understood that he has helped a former cop colleague in the same situation whose potential au pair was detained at Brisbane airport, along with one other au pair – but that last one hasn’t been talked about much.

The Catholic Church has responded to the recommendations from the Child Abuse Royal Commission, saying it will take all but a few of the recommendations on board. They have stated that they won’t be breaking the seal of confession to report child abuse, but they will apply to the Vatican to consider making celibacy a voluntary aspect of being a member of the clergy. Meanwhile, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory are continuing in their push to make it illegal to not report child abuse revealed to priests in the confessional, against the wishes of the Catholic Church.

Finally this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Barnaby Joyce will be a Special Envoy for the Drought, and Tony Abbott will be Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs (which is going down really well amongst the Indigenous community); Chelsea Manning, the US Army intelligence officer who leaked thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, was banned from entering Australia, but she will be allowed to enter New Zealand; the NAPLAN results came out and while Primary school results are improving,  the high school results aren’t as positive; and Australia probably won’t get visited by US President Donald Trump, instead we’ll get a visit from Vice-President Mike Pence.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/BevanShields/status/1034259584221736960

Christopher Pyne has just been sworn in as Minister for Defence.
I repeat: @cpyne now has weapons.

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) August 28, 2018

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Annabel Crabb on Julie Bishop’s savage one-liners – ABC Online

Mark Latham’s defamation defence dismissed (it’s awesome) – Federal Court of Australia

The Week That Was – January 28 to February 3

The week began with the ABC revealing the Abbott government cabinet had considered banning welfare for those under the age of 30 or limiting assistance to those with a “solid work history” in order to save money during the 2014 Budget. Bureaucrats convinced the government it could lead to homelessness and crime amongst young people, which prevented them from going ahead with the idea. Next, the ABC revealed that the then-Immigration Minister Scott Morrison asked ASIO to delay checks on some refugees, which could be a breach of due legal process and lead to legal action. It’s unclear if ASIO actually did that, as they aren’t bound by the request.

Both of those documents were cabinet papers. This means that they aren’t supposed to be seen for 20 years – so in about 2034 – so how on earth did the ABC get those documents?

Well, it turns out that somehow two locked filing cabinets with missing keys were sent to an ex-government furniture sales yard. They were sold on the cheap, because they were heavy and had no keys. When the buyer took a drill to them to bust them open they found the cabinet papers and handed them to the ABC. Yes, someone in the government was stupid enough to get rid of locked filing cabinets without knowledge of what was inside. It’s an extraordinary breach of national security, as several of the documents were considered “top-secret” or “for Australian Eyes Only (AUSTEO)”, and while the ABC only ever revealed “Cabinet in Confidence” papers for national security reasons, to think that these were floating about Canberra is a little concerning.

Soon after announcing how they got a hold of the papers, the ABC had a visit from security officials who brought in new filing cabinets. The ABC also began negotiations with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet over the return of the papers – those negotiations were finished on Friday and the ABC gave back the papers (which was probably always the plan) while protecting their source. The best part of this has to be the fact that the ABC kept the country guessing for two days before revealing how the papers came to be in their possession.

Meanwhile, there has been a change in the Senate. Senator Lucy Gichuhi, the woman who filled the vacancy left by Family First Senator Bob Day, has joined the Liberal Party. Prior to this change, she was an independent after the Family First Party was absorbed into the Australian Conservatives Party.

There is another victim of the section 44 saga, with David Feeney, the MP for Batman (pronounced bat-muhn) resigning. He will not contest the by-election that he’s created, mostly because he still can’t find his paperwork, and instead ACTU President Ged Kearney will run in the seat. The seat is a very progressive marginal seat, with the Greens nearly taking the seat at the 2016 election. This has led the Liberal party to decide not to run, and let the Labor party and the Greens have at it.

It appears this year is the year of “Oh my goodness, the cost of living is too high” in the government. This is because both Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull have been outlining their plans for the year and have announced that they will tackle the cost of living. Malcolm Turnbull through middle-income tax breaks, and Shorten, well he doesn’t necessarily have to have a plan just yet, because he’s not in government, although it’d be nice to know the plan.

There are concerns that there is now an oversupply of childcare services in some areas, which is leaving some community based providers to raise costs. It appears that some large companies have seen the benefit of running a childcare centre as providers get government assistance, which allows for-profit providers to spend big on advertising and sweeteners to encourage parents to pick them. Some are suggesting the government become a little more involved, perhaps by planning where the centres need to go, so that there isn’t an oversupply.

Finally this week, the government has decided to become a major arms dealer, but will only supply allies; Malcolm Turnbull has been revealed as the biggest individual donor during the last election having donated 1.75million to the Liberal party; a university study has suggested means testing government funding in private schools; and there is a massive backlog of people who have been assessed for home care assistance but are yet to have their package delivered.

Tweets of the Week

This is very awkward in hindsight. On Monday Australia's PM Malcolm Turnbull joked about the few cabinet docs the ABC had published as coming from "someone's bottom drawer" 🤔 pic.twitter.com/lPqvarkN40

— Paul Farrell (@FarrellPF) January 31, 2018

Oh and another Wallaby got loose in the city…

Why are the Wallaby’s going mad in Sydney? Is it like whales beaching themselves? Is this the reckoning? https://t.co/pSaHGhjioe

— Andy Park (@andy_park) February 1, 2018

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

More info on “The Cabinet Files” – ABC Online

First Dog on the Moon on selling arms to our allies – The Guardian

 

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

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 Year That Was – 2017

It’s the end of another year, and that means another look back on the year that has been.

Leadership Spills: 0
Yep, they kept their cool again this year, but only just. There were rumours through the year that Coalition Backbenchers were annoyed enough with Malcolm Turnbull that had there been a viable alternative they may have sounded out numbers.

MPs/Senators caught by Section 44: ?
It has gotten to the point where so many people have been potentially affected by this section of the Australian Constitution regarding their citizenship status, that I’ve stopped counting. Last time I was paying attention to the number it was over 10.

Cabinet Reshuffles: 1.5
One proper one just before Christmas, which saw George Brandis sent to the UK to be High Comissioner, and sparked rumours of instability within the Nationals Party. The other was only a temporary one that saw Malcolm Turnbull and a few other Ministers temporarily take over the ministries of Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash who were caught up in the first wave of section 44 victims.

Women in Cabinet: 5 (as of Dec 20, 2017)

• Kelly O’Dwyer – Minister for Women, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services
• Bridget McKenzie – Minister for Regional Communications, Minister for Rural Health, Minister for Sport
• Julie Bishop – Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Marise Payne – Minister for Defence
• Michaelia Cash – Minister for Jobs and Innovation

There are five others in the outer ministry, but they are not Cabinet Ministers.

State and Federal Elections: 11 (by-elections included)

• WA State Election – saw the Labor Party victorious against the Barnett Liberal Government
• The NSW State By-elections for the seats of Manly, North Shore and Gosford
• The NSW State By-elections for the seats of Cootamundra, Blacktown and and Murray
• The VIC State by-election for the seat of Northcote – a win for the Greens who got their first Victorian Lower House seat
• New England By-Election – Banarby Joyce re-elected after his section 44 snafu
• QLD State election
• Bennelong By-election – John Alexander ] re-elected after his section 44 snafu, but had a tough fight on his hands after Labor put former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally on the ballot.

Scandals: 2
Both the work of Sam Dastyari, through his links to a big donor who is involved in a Chinese State Owned Enterprise.

The ABC’s Year in Review

 

The Week That Was – January 16 to January 21

The week began with Bill Shorten returning from holidays with a more populist and protectionist focus for the year ahead. He spoke about Australian jobs and the likelihood of the USA not ratifying the TPP under Trump. Shorten believes that without the USA, the TPP will fail and therefore it is dead. Shorten has also made clear that Labor will not say ahead of time how they will vote on the TPP when it comes to parliament.

The ABC revealed this week that a Yahoo hack that took place three years ago resulted in several sales of private information to crime syndicates and foreign intelligence. These may have involved the private information and email accounts of several diplomats, government officials and Members of Parliament or the Senate – including Christian Porter, Chris Bowen and Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration has been criticised for the contracts made with companies when setting up detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island in 2012. According to the audit, they made vague contracts and staff approved the spending of millions of  dollars – some of whom were not authorised to do so. The department also did not keep their asset register up to date, meaning that several assets burned down in a riot were not covered by their insurance, costing the taxpayer.

Malcolm Turnbull has reshuffled his cabinet after the Sussan Ley drama, with Greg Hunt the new Minister for Health and Sport, Arthur Sinodinos is now Industry Minister, Ken Wyatt has now been promoted from an Assistant Minister to a fully fledged Minister – becoming Minister for Ageing and Indigenous Health, while rising young conservative Michael Sukkar has become Assistant Minister to the Treasurer. This is the fourth reshuffle in 16 months.

Malcolm Turnbull’s week has been a bit on the sombre side, with him in Sydney’s West to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Granville train accident, before heading to Melbourne to lay flowers in Bourke Street after the tragedy there. He’s also had to respond to the shock resignation of NSW Premier Mike Baird – who is ideologically similar – and prepare for his likely successor, Gladys Berejiklian.

Also this week, it has been announced that the three-year long search for the missing MH370 plane has been ended, having finished searching in the area in the Indian Ocean. It is still unclear how the plane went down, and it may remain a mystery for years to come – although the Australian, Chinese and Malaysian searchers hope that in the future more information will come to light and they will be able to search again.

Finally this week, the Centrelink debt collection saga continues; Australia Day plans are underway; Australian police commissioners will apologise to victims of child sexual abuse for not believing them when they reported it – although it will not take place until the Royal Commission report is released; Australia is behind the rest of the world in keeping university courses relevant to the modern labor market requirements; and protests took place in Australia and around the world after Trump’s inauguration to show solidarity with minorities in America who have uncertainty ahead for the next few years.

Tweet of the Week

History repeats: When Reagan became president in 1981, Britain had a female prime minister, Canada had Trudeau and Australia had Malcolm.

— George Megalogenis (@GMegalogenis) January 20, 2017

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Stan Grant on taking until 2017 for an Indigenous minister to be appointed – ABC Online

 

The Year That Was – 2016

Another year over, and it is time to look back at the year in politics.

Women in Cabinet: 7

In a massive change from the Tony Abbott days, we now have 7 women in cabinet – Julie Bishop, Michaelia Cash, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Kelly O’Dwyer, Fiona Nash, Marise Payne and Sussan Ley – and three others in the outer ministry.

Elections: 3

1. Federal Election – which had a nail-biting end, and lead to a record breaking broadcast on the ABC
2. Northern Territory State Election – which saw the tumultuous Liberal government kicked out of power in a landslide.
3. ACT State Election – in which Andrew Barr became the first gay Chief Minister or Premier elected in their own right.

Leadership Spills – 0

Yep, that’s right! Political parties kept their cool this year, and kept their leaders.

Reshuffles – 2

Sparked by the changes of the Federal Election, both parties had ministry reshuffles.

Scandals – 3

1. Malcolm Turnbull embroiled in the Panama Papers
2. Bob Day and his collapsed home building company – leading to his resignation
3. Rod Culleton and the validity of his election – leading to court dates pending in the new year.

Leigh Sales hosts the record-breaking election broadcast through until nearly 1am.

Triple J Hack’s look at 2016 Politics

The Week That Was – February 14 to February 20

It seems that the lead up to this years election is all about tax and the economy. Well, that is just wonderful for all of those for whom economics is not easy and for young people who are still learning to adult (and I fit into both boxes). Bill Shorten is trying to get it back on the agenda by changing negative gearing on new purchases, which the government originally just said it was a bad idea before finally deciding that it wouldn’t raise enough money, and then that it would reduce the house prices (which for young people is a plus). There is also confirmation that there will be no changes to the GST, which was covered in a media conference in which Malcolm Turnbull equated himself and new Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce t0 Thelma and Louise – which may not have been the best analogy…

Meanwhile, Scott Morrison had a more difficult week, speaking at the National Press Club, where he said that it would take years for there to be a surplus as they need t0 find savings that the senate will pass, while keeping taxes low and dealing with bracket creep. Bill Shorten is using this indecisiveness to try and show the government in disarray, although there is confidence that the Liberals will win this year’s election with a few seats less than 2013.

As we go into March, we’re going to start seeing preselection fights for seats across the country, with eight people challenging the Liberal preselection for Bronwyn Bishop’s seat of Mackellar – including Bishop. One of the challengers has written references from NSW Premier Mike Baird and former PM and Warringah MP Tony Abbott. Also this week, Labor politicians Alannah MacTiernan and Gary Gray announced their retirement from federal politics. There are also rumours that Australia could vote as early as July, instead of the suggested September-ish timeline a few weeks ago.

The new Cabinet was announced on Sunday and sworn in on Thursday, with some great commentary from ABC journalists Chris Uhlmann and Greg Jennet, who had the histories of some of the Bibles being used during the ceremony such as Senator Scott Ryan’s massive family bible. You can see who moves where on the ABC website, although some notable moves include Fiona Nash as Deputy Nationals Leader, Minister for Regional Development, Regional Communications and Rural Health, Alan Tudge as Human Services Minister and Darren Chester as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Cabinet now has six women in Cabinet and ten in the executive.

The Royal Commission is now trying to figure out where to do their vide0 link evidence with Cardinal Pell in Rome, while critics still say he should come back to Australia for it. Some victims and families have raised money to travel to Rome to watch in person – however, whether or not that happens is yet to be seen. Some of that money was raised thanks to this song by Tim Minchin which is causing some controversy.

 

Finally this week,John Key came to visit and stayed in the Turnbulls’ Point Piper home instead of the Lodge, leading to a lot of jokes from the media about a ‘sleepover’; Australian of the Year David Morrison has said he will not be defined by he critics and that he will support veterans, as well as domestic violence and gender equality (which is what he was chosen for in the first place); there is call for there to be a Royal Commission into the banking industry after revelations that the big banks have been using heavy-handed tactics to foreclose on regional properties and electoral change is nigh, with plans for the senate ballot papers.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/700089646705831936

This ABC journo asks tough questions like 'can I have a phone for my birthday dad?' Thanks @JDoyle73 for pix #auspol pic.twitter.com/Z6hjSRN3Za

— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) February 18, 2016

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Some weeks I don’t find much and then there are weeks where I find a lot…

Kristina Keneally on the Tim Minchin song and the Catholic Church – The Guardian

Annabel Crabb on election policies – ABC The Drum

A look at LGBTIQ safe formals – Buzzfeed

Media and Journalism Couples – Crikey

ABC News ACT’s Virginia Haussegger on that Sunrise segment with Kristen Davis – SMH

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