Tag Archives: Carr

The Week That Was – July 17 to July 23

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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….

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 – April 6 to April 12

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Less busy this week, I guess that’s what happens when there’s no parliament and the PM is off in Asia.

So, the WA Senate re-election took place, with the Greens and the Palmer United Party getting quite a few seats. The major Parties didn’t do as well, with Louise Pratt battling with the Liberals for the last seat – although it looks as if she may have lost it.

Tony Abbott has spent the week in North Asia arranging, negotiating and signing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – thrilling stuff. In Japan, we finalised the FTA which will make cars and electronics cheaper for us and make meat and dairy cheaper for the Japanese, as the Australian Farmers won’t have to pay as high a tariff as they are now. It’s given the Coalition a gold star, because they were able to negotiate it and finalise it. Abbott also signed the FTA in Seoul, again, tariffs have been slashed and every household will probably save about $700 a year.

Abbott also made a trip to the Demilitarised Zone on the 38th Parallel. He went into one of the blue huts and met some South Korean and American armed forces, all the while being stalked by North Korean soldiers who took pictures of him through the window….

According to Tony Abbott the DMZ is probably the most dangerous border on earth….NO! Really? I had no idea! Thank you so much Prime Minister Obvious. Oh and he thinks that North Korea is a danger to the South…yeah, kinda guessed that too.

After that The PM visited China as part of Australia Week in China. He also went to Hainan Island for the Bo’ao conference and was basically asked anytime he was in front of a camera if he had anymore news about MH370. I have to say though, this trip’s timing is good – though most likely a coincidence. China is eternally grateful that Australia is still looking for the flight – with 150-ish Chinese passengers on board – and that may make the Chinese more receptive to some of Australia’s requests.

Moving back to Australia now, this week the Commission into Union Corruption started, with the Commissioner, Judge Dyson Heydon, promising it wouldn’t be a witch hunt. He has also said that if anyone who is giving evidence is threatened, they will arrest the person who made the threat.

In other news this week, Bob Carr has a book that upset everyone’s apple cart, the jobs numbers were up and a Sri Lankan Asylum seeker self-immolated after fining out he was to be deported.

Tweets of the Week

Ever wondered why some people don’t particularly like FOX News in the US? Here’s one example…

https://twitter.com/TeaPartyCat/status/455002504586338304

This may be a few weeks old, but it only just showed up on my feed…

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc.

This week’s Q&A was very interesting…and no-one yelled at anyone – ABC Online

Apparently the Republicans in the US are doing some things right – NY Times