Tag Archives: Cash

The Week That Was – February 10 to February 16

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This week saw Parliament return, and what a week it was. The government released classified security information to the public that suggested that if all the Manus Island and Nauru detainees were deemed unwell by the medical team that they could all be transferred to Australia within weeks. Labor made an amendment to the legislation that means that the laws would only apply to those currently on Manus Island and Nauru, and they convinced the Greens and cross bench MPs to support this change.

So the government lost a vote on legislation, which is something that has not happened for around 80 years, and it sort of led to some sort of Trump-like transformation in the government, with suggestion that people with criminal histories would get into the country. This is despite the fact that the government hasn’t actually confirmed that any of the asylum seekers in detention have a criminal background. The government is also laying the foundations to blame Labor for any new boat arrivals, should they come.

Barrie Cassidy from ABC’s Insiders program had a great explanation about the whole issue.

This week was peak ridiculous from the government, and is exactly the reason that people switch off. People are getting annoyed with politics because the opposition to policy has become more about who was introducing that policy, rather than the policy itself. Labor has begun to recognise the change in public sentiment when it comes to humane treatment of asylum seekers, and it appears the government either hasn’t recognised the change, or they are simply ignoring it.

It also probably doesn’t help that it is an election year as well. Despite there being no date yet (but we know it has to take place by May), the pre-election policy announcements have begun, mostly from the Government. The Coalition are focusing on national security, something they see as one of their traditional strengths, which may have played into how they were dealing with the asylum seeker issue.

Meanwhile in the Senate, the Senate President Scott Ryan has banned Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby from entering parliament for “the time being” after he provoked Senator Brian Burston (formerly of One Nation, now part of the United Australia Party), leading to an altercation between the two. Burston also smeared blood on Pauline Hanson’s office door in the aftermath but it’s unclear whether that was on purpose or by accident, although I’d put my money on it being the former, even if Burston claims he can’t remember it.

The government also tried to avoid a vote on a Royal Commission into abuse in the disability sector. It passed the senate on Thursday, but the government kept Question Time going for an extra two and a half hours, so that the vote couldn’t be brought on in the Lower House. Labor accused the Coalition of running down the clock, which Scott Morrison denies, but Christopher Pyne didn’t.

This week also saw the start of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality in Adelaide. Most of Australia’s 1.3 million aged care clients are in home-based care (in a retirement or nursing home). During this week’s hearings we learned that there are not enough qualified nurses to fill nursing roles, meaning some roles are being filled by people who are unqualified, and that this issue, combined with a general lack of nursing staff has left those working in aged care facilities spread too thin, leading more nurses to quit, which adds to the nursing problem facing the sector. We also learned that there are a large number of patients with complex issues, such as dementia, being over-medicated. It’s thought that only a small fraction of those with dementia on anti-psychotic medication actually benefit from it, and that for those who don’t really need these medications it could be doing more harm than good.

Divisions in the seat of Gilmore are starting to show, with the Nationals holding a pre-selection for a candidate in the Southern NSW coastal electorate. It looks as if former NSW State MP and minister Katrina Hodgkinson will win that pre-selection and join the race against the parachuted Liberal candidate Warren Mundine, the originally pre-selected Liberal (and now independent) Grant Schultz, as well as the Labor candidate Fiona Phillips. Gilmore is an extremely marginal seat, and if the Liberal and National parties split the first preference vote, they may find neither party wins Gilmore.

Also this week, Hakeem al-Arabi was released from a Thai prison and returned to Australia. He’s likely to get his citizenship application fast-tracked from what Marise Payne and Scott Morrison were saying.

Finally this week, Michaelia Cash appeared in the Federal Court this week to give evidence in a case related to the raids on AWU offices in Melbourne, and it looks like one of her staffers may also be giving evidence soon

Tweets of the Week

Oh, and Tony Jones announced this week he would be leaving Q & A on the ABC, as his wife Sarah Ferguson will be posted to China as the ABC’s bureau chief, which led to numerous offers to host from social media, including this one that reflects many people’s feelings when it comes to politics these days:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The refugee drama distracted from a couple of other key points – ABC Online

 

The Year That Was – 2018

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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 – February 25 to March 3

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Michael McCormack won the ballot for the Nationals leadership, almost uncontested, after George Christiansen staged a last minute attempt in the party meeting. McCormack is a former journalist, who wrote an anti-LGBT tirade when he was editor of a Riverina newspaper. He has since apologised profusely for the editorial and he did vote in favour of same-sex marriage in parliament, so he appears to have toned himself down a bit. Banarby Joyce hasn’t ruled out making a comeback, but for now, McCormack is Deputy PM.

Speaking of Barnaby Joyce, it was revealed in Senate Estimate Hearings this week that the Prime Minister asked the secretary of prime minister and cabinet to investigate Joyce’s conduct and it was then ended when he resigned. Estimates hearings this week were a bit insane, with Labor Senator Kim Carr suggesting Liberal Senator James Patterson would have been a member of the Hitler Youth. Also, Michaelia Cash, upon being asked about the qualifications of her new Chief of Staff, said she’d name all the young women in Bill Shorten’s office ‘because there are rumours’, which left many politicians on both sides angry and shocked. Tanya Plibersek wants Cash to go into Shorten’s office and apologise to every single young woman in the office, but that’s unlikely happen, given that Turnbull defended her saying that she was ‘provoked’. In my humble opinion, that’s a load of crap, and from the look on Turnbull’s face, he didn’t believe it either.

Malcolm Turnbull came back from Washington and welcomed the NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Sydney. They shared the usual ‘Australia and New Zealand are best friends and we are closer than ever’ spiel before being asked about a couple of sore spots in the friendship, such as Ardern’s offer to take around 150 refugees from Manus detention centre which Turnbull keeps declining, and the fact that Australia sends Kiwi citizens back to New Zealand after they’ve served time for their crimes – only catch is, some of them had no idea they were New Zealand citizens and have spent their entire lives in Australia.

The Tasmanian election took place this weekend, with the issue of poker machines a big one in the state. Labor and the Greens said early on that they would get rid of pokies in Tasmania if they won the election, while the Liberals said they’d keep them. This has seen a large amount of money and support for the Liberal Party from the clubs and poker machine industry. While the Liberals did suggest at one point easing gun control, which made some people uneasy (Port Arthur, the location of Australia’s worst mass shooting, is in Tasmania), it appears they will win the election. Election day was marred by the passing of former Tasmanian Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin from cancer.

Finally this week, Australia is trying to see if it can get an exemption of some sort after President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium; the gun amnesty last year resulted in 57,324 guns being handed in – many will be destroyed, while some will be registered and returned to owners; and there are still funding issues with the NDIS, with people being kicked off their care programs after bills weren’t paid and providers being left with hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to them.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

MPs want Julie Bishop to declare her boyfriend – ABC Online

Michelle Grattan on Michaelia Cash’s outburst in Senate Estimates – ABC Online

The Week That Was – October 22 to October 28

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Apologies for the radio silence, uni assessments combined with work tend to take over around this time of year.

The main focus this week was the “Citizenship Seven” – the seven MPs and Senators whose position in the parliament was in doubt. On Friday, it was ruled that Senators Fiona Nash, Larissa Waters, Scott Ludlam and Malcolm Roberts were elected while ineligible for Parliament. Senators Nick Xenophon and Matthew Canavan were ruled as safe. The court decided that Xenophon’s potential UK overseas citizenship is so obscure that “taking all possible steps” to discover and get rid of it would be very difficult (Xenophon had already renounced his Greek citizenship when he first became a politician) and Matthew Canavan was ruled not to be a dual Italian citizen after his mother took out Italian citizenship.

If you’ve been counting, then you’ve noticed I’ve only listed six people so far. The seventh is Barnaby Joyce MP, the Member for New England, Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He’s been ruled ineligble for office as a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen. This means that New England is going to a by-election on December 2. Joyce, who has since renounced his NZ citizenship, will run for the seat. Tony Windsor, the independent that the media often thinks might run against him, has said that he won’t be.

There has been some drama though, as Labor has suggested that they might cause trouble in the last sitting week of the year now that Malcolm Turnbull has a minority government. There were also questions over who was going to run the country while Malcolm Turnbull went overseas to Israel, as the top two Nationals – Fiona Nash and Barnaby Joyce – were caught up in the citizenship issue. His options were Nationals Senator Nigel Scullion or Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. Given the constitution states that the Prime Minister must be from the House of Representatives, it had to be Julie Bishop. Meanwhile the government is attempting to maintain the image of stable government, but it’s not working very well for them given Labor is continuing to say that things aren’t stable. It also appears that some Liberal Party people are annoyed with the Nationals for causing these issues, putting strain on the Coalition.

Oh, and Labor is planning on challenging Fiona Nash’s and Barnaby Joyce’s decisions.

The Australian Federal Police has revealed that they’re somewhat understaffed – or at least that’s what appears to be the case. The equivalent of three investigative squads have been redirected to keeping an eye on the Prime Minister’s home at Potts Point (ICYMI – Turnbull lives in his family home in Potts Point, not at Kirribilli House) and protecting the PM himself. Several drug investigation cases have been handed to either the NSW Police or to overseas police forces. The Federal Police Commissioner says that this is the “normal” level of protection for the Prime Minister, but that the security climate has changed. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know, but it does seem like they might need to hire more people.

The Australian Workers Union’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne, over some sort of funding issue regarding GetUp! – I think it has to do with donation declarations. Anyway, the whole drama is that somehow, the media was there when the cops walked through the door to carry out their warrants, suggesting that either the AFP or the Employment Minister Michaelia Cash tipped the media off. The AFP said they didn’t, which leaves either Cash or a person in her office. Despite an office staffer talking the fall and resigning, there are still many who think Cash is behind the leak to the media. This has lead to calls for Cash to quit or be sacked.

Finally this week, there’s still more NBN drama; the building works at Parliament House are making it look pretty bloody ugly; and foreign policy bureaucrats are stopping Australia from getting into a China-run trade group due to national security concerns.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/RyanSheales/status/924376782349860864

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Michelle Grattan on the drama with Michaelia Cash – ABC Online

Julie Robert on ‘Physical Philanthropy’ – ABC Online

The Week That Was – January 3 to January 9

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Despite the ongoing drama from the Jamie Briggs scandal, the week has gone by quietly.

It turns out that Jamie Briggs sent the photo of the young female public servant who made the complaint against him to several colleagues before and during the investigation into his actions. However, Briggs denies that he leaked the image to the media, meaning that someone else who had the photo had to have leaked it. We still don’t know who this is, and the Prime Minister has been focusing on the fact that Briggs should never have sent the image out in the first place.

Malcolm Turnbull is not the only person suggesting that Briggs has made some poor decisions recently. Several commentators and Press Gallery veterans have been writing pieces suggesting that the night out in Hong Kong that started this whole scandal was one of the not-so-great decisions made by Jamie Briggs. One of these was written by Samantha Maiden, who has worked in the Press Gallery for over 15 years.

Maiden’s piece, like many suggested that Briggs had made poor choices in Hong Kong, but was a tad more brutal than some of the others. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton decided to send Briggs a consolation message after the piece was published.

Problem was, he sent it to Maiden instead of Briggs. Oops.

What makes it that little bit worse was that the text called Maiden a “mad f**king witch”. Dutton apologised and Samantha Maiden has forgiven him, but it sparked criticism on social media. Dutton is also copping criticism from the opposition, who want Turnbull to act as soon as possible, and the women in his own party who have warned other men in the Liberal Party to be considerate, especially Minister for Women Michaelia Cash and Victorian MP Sharman Stone.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Australia will buy and refit several Gulfstream G550 jets from the US to replace their current spy plane fleet at a cost of $90 million. The planes, which are more commonly used as private jets for corporate and personal use, will be fitted out with spying equipment – which turns out to be far less rare than a lot of people thought. However, it was not the Australian Government making the announcement, but the US Government, and we may have to wait until the Defence White Paper is released later in the year before the Aussies comment at all on the decision.

Finally this week, Australia condemned the North Korean (DPRK) government for their self proclaimed “test” of a hydrogen bomb.

Tweet of the Week

Chris Gayle tried to chat up a female sports journalist from Channel 10 (which he has done before to other female journalists), offending people and he didn’t apologise very well the next day.

https://twitter.com/lucethoughts/status/684178868949782528

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Sexism in the workplace – ABC The Drum

Lee Lin Chin (and other media and sports stars) in the Lamb ad

The Year That Was – 2015

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Another year, another batch of numbers.

Leadership Spills: 2

The first in February this year, saw Tony Abbott survive a ballot to see if there would even be a spill. The second saw Tony Abbott rolled by Malcolm Turnbull, who has brought Australia some calm in the political realm.

Elections: 4

Queensland State Election – saw the first term Liberal government go from over 80 seats in a less than 100-seat House of Representatives to a hung parliament lead by Labor with around forty seats each for the major parties.

New South Wales State Election – The Liberals, under Premier Mike Baird, remained in power in NSW, albeit with a reduced majority, and the Greens had one of their best showings with four seats – two in the Sydney Metro area, and two on the north coast.

Canning By-election: Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain, retained the seat for the Liberals less than a week after Malcolm Turnbull took over the country. Hastie replaces the late Don Randall.

North Sydney By-election: Won by Trent Zimmerman for the Liberals. Nominated for the seat under controversial circumstances, Zimmerman is the first openly gay MP in the lower house and replaces former Treasurer Joe Hockey, who is now the incoming Australian Ambassador to the US.

Scandals: 2

First, the knighting of Prince Phillip (the Queen’s husband) by Tony Abbott, resulting in the non-spill in February. Second is Chopper-gate in which former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop was discovered to have used taxpayer dollars to charter a helicopter to travel to an event that she could have easily travelled to by car. The scandal resulted in Bishop’s resignation after more than two weeks.

Women In Cabinet: 5

Julie Bishop: Minister for Foreign Affairs, since 2013 Election

Sussan Ley: Minister for Health and Sport, since December 2014

Kelly O’Dwyer: Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Marise Payne: Minister for Defence, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Michaelia Cash: Minister for Employment and Minister for Women, since September 2015 (Turnbull’s Reshuffle)

Changes to the AEC’s Ballot Paper Protocols: Many.

Since that awkward moment in 2013 when 1,300 senate ballot papers from WA went into the void, causing the AEC to nullify the 2013 result and recall the senate election for the state. Since then the protocols for ballot papers at federal elections, including by-elections, have changed dramatically, with the Canning by-election and the North Sydney by-election becoming test runs.

Last Minute Cabinet Resignations: 2

#1: Mal Brough, stood down until the police investigation into Slipper-gate ends.

#2: Jamie Briggs, resigned after a public servant made a complaint about him regarding a trip to Hong Kong.

ABC News 24 Year in Review

ABC News 24 Politics Unearthed

ABC Digital Most Popular Vines

Happy New Year. Let’s see what 2016 has on offer.

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…