Tag Archives: Corruption

The Two Weeks That Were – December 20 to January 2

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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 Week That Was – February 22 to February 28

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It’s been less than a month since the failed spill motion in the Liberal Party room, and already there have been some leaks from within the party. A message written by the outgoing Honourary Treasurer of the Liberal Party (a senior Liberal Party executive) has leaked in which he criticises the fact that Peta Credlin, Abbott’s Chief of Staff, is in a senior job within the party that her husband Brian Loughnane is in charge of, suggesting it is a conflict of interest. Also this week saw more leadership rumblings, with reports that backbenchers approached Malcolm Turnbull about challenging Abbott, telling him he would have the numbers to do so. Even more worrying is that many backbenchers are avoiding saying that Abbott will last to the next election.

Tony Abbott made a National Security Statement, in which most people in my house rolled their eyes, as Tony Abbott told us:

When it comes to someone like the Martin Place murderer, people feel like we have been taken for mugs.

He also said this:

I’ve often heard Western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’. I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it.

Yes, he actually said that. Here is a transcript of the speech, complete with death cults.

And you can also watch it below (It’s 20 mins long)

Part of the National Security speech had to do with Man Haron Monis and the Sydney Siege, in which it was revealed that despite calls to the National Security Hotline and the fact that Monis was on the authorities’ radars, he was not seen as much of a threat in the lead up to the Sydney Siege.

Gillian Triggs has shocked many by telling a Senate Estimates Committee that the Attorney-General asked her to resign from the role as President of the Human Rights Commission and in return she would be given a senior legal job in the government. The Attorney-General believes that the Australian Human Rights Commission is biased against the government, and Abbott has said that the government has lost confidence in Professor Triggs. Triggs has said that she will not go, and several opposition members have asked the Australian Federal Police to look into the offer given to Gillian Triggs to see if the Attorney-General acted corruptly.

This week has seen two reports about private organisations that have been rorting the federal government systems that they are beneficiary to. The first, a jobs company that is meant to help get people jobs, and is taxpayer-funded, has been claiming money on people who have since found a job and no longer require the serviced of the company, it has shown that the system is open to rorts, and it has also become apparent that some people within the company knew about the activity. The other issue has been a Sydney-based private vocational college that has been claiming government subsidies through FEE-HELP students, by claiming students have completed courses that they have not, with one claim that an office assistant who was helping a student with literacy issues withdraw (for which the college had no form) was told to tear up the withdrawal letter and put it in the bin once the student was gone, under the impression they had withdrawn.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has agreed to facilitate the move of asylum seekers from Nauru to Cambodia, with Australia covering the cost. The IOM has guaranteed education, job and family re-unification rights for the refugees. However, few, if any, of the refugees in detention on Nauru want to be moved to Cambodia, and the Cambodian locals are not happy with the prospect of refugees being sent there.

Finally this week, New Zealand unintentionally threw Australia for a loop after including Australia in an announcement about sending more Australian and New Zealander troops to Iraq to help train troops there; the Bali Nine ringleaders have had their appeal rejected; Knox Grammar School has been investigated by the Child Abuse Royal Commission; there is a proposal for foreign buyers to pay a $5,000 fee when buying a house under $1 million and $10,000 when they buy a house for $1 million and then for every $1 million thereafter; and the Medicare co-payment may be dumped.

Tweet of the Week

Matthew Mitcham has been touring his Cabaret Show Twists and Turns around the country.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

That dress that sent social media crazy, explained – ABC Online

Julie Bishop’s Emoji Interview – Buzzfeed

If Dying Phones Were People

The Two Weeks That Were – December 28 to January 10

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Happy New Year. As the government slowly heads back to work after the holidays, Penny Wong has suggested that Tony Abbott’s New Years Resolution should be to stop breaking promises, while Abbott has told senate cross benchers to stop being selfish and think about the big picture, and Nick Xenophon thinks that Abbott is still acting like an opposition leader as opposed to a PM.

After the Air Asia crash just before New Year, Australia began to help in the search for the plane, as has the USA, Russia and other countries Indonesia has asked. It’s believed that some Australian searchers found some bits of wreckage, and Tony Abbott, ever the philosopher, said it was neither a mystery like MH370, nor was it an atrocity like MH17 (Air Asia is a Malaysian budget/low-cost carrier).

In some slightly good news for Peter Greste, judges have overturned his and his colleagues convictions, but they will have to be retried. The Al Jazeera journalists were not given bail, however two have applied to be deported – Greste and his colleague with Canadian citizenship – the other is Egyptian and has no other citizenship. It’s unclear if that will happen, and both Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the Greste family are not getting too hopeful. Qatar and Egypt have apparently improved their relationship slightly, which will help in the case as Al Jazeera is based in Qatar and run by a member of the Qatari Royal Family.

Meanwhile, more has come to light in the saga involving one of Clive Palmer’s staffers. It’s alleged that he helped with a plan to lure a NAB executive to Bali in order to hold the executive against his will and force him to retract a witness statement he was going to make in court. It turns out the executive reported it to NAB and the Queensland Police Fraud Squad, and nothing was done. It wasn’t until 2014, when Taskforce Maxima – an anti-bikie taskforce – came across the case while looking into other matters and they arrested Palmer’s staffer and some of the other people involved, while also reporting the dodgy fraud squad investigation to Queensland’s corruption watch dog.

Ton Abbott went to Iraq just after New Years to meet with the Iraqi Prime Minister and Australian troops and talk about the fight against ISIS. He talked about decimating the ISIS “death cult” and how everyone wants the ADF to be out there fighting against ISIS. Reports are that the Iraqi PM wants Australia to send more troops and equipment to help, which Labor has said it would like information about before they vote for it. Abbott also went to see air force staff based in the UAE, who have been helping with airstrikes on ISIS strongholds.

Cabinet Papers from 1988 and 1989 have been released showing Australia’s concern about the Cold War, including the bugging of the Australian Embassy in Moscow, the aftermath of the Tiananmen Incident, and the expulsion of spies. There were also concerns about the introduction of HECS – the current tertiary funding model – and cabinet papers also show the tension already brewing between Hawke and Keating.

This last fortnight also saw the attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo (said “ebb-dough” – short for hebdomadaire, meaning weekly in French) in Paris, two men shot journalists and cartoonists, as well as the shooting of a Paris Police Officer and the hostage taking at a Kosher supermarket. The French terror threat level is at its highest level, while Australia’s remains at its second highest, with Tony Abbott drawing links between the Paris attacks and the Lindt Siege, and since Wednesday, has started to scaremonger again, and is also saying that Australia’s safety starts in the Middle East.

Finally this fortnight, Queensland is having an election on January 31, and it is unclear how that will end; Tony Abbott, Bill Shorten, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and Queensland Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk were at a funeral in Cairns for eight children killed by a family member; and an ISIS propaganda magazine has hailed Man Haron Monis’ attack on the Lindt Cafe, encouraging copycats, and there are reports that another Australian fighting with ISIS in the Middle-East has been killed.

Tweets of the Fortnight

As the Queensland election campaign begins, strange things begin to happen.

After the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, people are getting behind the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie

https://twitter.com/ABCNews24/status/553654405036122112

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon’s poignant cartoon about Charlie Hebdo – The Guardian

26 Things about JB Hi Fi – Buzzfeed

2014 in Interactive news stories – ABC Online

Not One More: Leelah Alcorn and how trans* teens in deeply religious families suffer – Huffington Post

The Week That Was – September 7 to September 13

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So, its been a year since Tony Abbott became PM, and he’s pretty happy with his government has achieved so far. Tony Abbott, having returned from South East Asia, spent time with his family. The Liberal Party released a two-minute video and a 19-page booklet, while the ALP released a video of their own and Bill Shorten spoke about how Australians shouldn’t be trusting the government.

You may remember at the end of last week’s post, that the media at ICAC were annoyed about the possibility of a suppression order on some pretty good stuff in ICAC evidence – in fact, some of them had seen it. The suppression order was rejected, and so we now know that Peta Credlin was mentioned at ICAC this week. A company wanting to donate to the NSW Liberals (illegal under NSW law) who is believed to have given money to the Free Enterprise Foundation (the Liberal Party’s federal fundraising arm) which was then funnelled to the NSW Liberals. The former NSW Liberal boss emailed Peta Credlin about the company’s CEO and how he was a fan of the Party and Credlin is believed to have contacted him. However, despite this mention in evidence, she is unlikely to be called to appear at ICAC as it is believed that she only contacted him and had no idea about any donations or the funneling into NSW.

The US has begun to plan what it will so about Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) insurgents in Iraq and Syria, with Australia likely to help with airstrikes in regions held by Islamic State. However, the concern is that with this offer to help, Australia could be seen as siding with nations with Shia regimes.

The outgoing head of ASIO, David Irvine, flagged at the start of the week that the terror threat level might be raised from “medium” to “high”. After arrests in Queensland over the last week, and the fact that it looked more and more likely that Australia would help the US in the Middle East, the terror threat level is now at high, making an attack more likely – people are being told to take the threat level seriously, even though there is no specific threat and the main concern is Australians currently in Iraq and Syria.

James Ashby is causing problems after telling 60 Minutes that before the scandal with Peter Slipper came to light he’d met Christopher Pyne three times and the Pyne had promised him a party-paid lawyer and that there would be a job for him after the scandal died down. Pyne says that Ashby misinterpreted the conversation they had. However, other than that comment, the Liberal Party has been trying to distance itself from the whole thing, and are being very difficult when it comes to questions.

The investigators of MH17 have released an interim report about the crash, which states that the flight was completely normal and that there was no emergency call before it disappeared off radar. It suggests that the flight disintegrated in mid-air and that a high-energy object was the reason the plane went down, with the report not telling us what the object was and who was responsible for the object being launched in the first place.

This week also saw Bill Shorten shouting himself hoarse in South Australia, over the possibility that submarines could be built in Japan instead of in Australia, despite promising to keep Australian shipbuilders building Royal Australian Navy vessels. The government has since said that they are considering all of the options, while Bill Shorten spoke at a union rally – going so far as to mention the Second World War and how the Japanese sunk Australian ships.

Julia Gillard appeared at the Trade Union Royal Commission regarding her legal advice to her boyfriend from twenty years ago when he was setting up a union slush fund.

Finally this week, Jose Ramos-Horta criticised the Australian government, concerns are being raised about indigenous offenders and unemployment has dropped thanks to the creation of part-time jobs, but youth unemployment is still very high.

Tweet of the Week

The ABC is setting up a mental health site called Mental As…

Things that I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Antony Green looks at the Scottish independence vote – ABC Elections

Two 90-year-old women marry in Iowa – Huffington Post

A Year in Power – ABC Online

The Week That Was – August 17 to August 23

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The big story this week was Clive Palmer’s attack on the Chinese. When asked about the court case involving him and a Chinese State Owned Enterprise on Q & A, he got overly defensive.

The Chinese Embassy responded by saying that Palmer is ignorant and prejudiced and the Australian government has gone into damage control, telling China that they don’t agree with Palmer – FYI, there is a Free Trade Agreement under negotiation at the moment. Jacqui Lambie isn’t making it easy though, as she believes that the Chinese are going to invade us at some point – which is absolutely ridiculous.

Ricky Muir from the Motoring Enthusiasts’ Party appeared from the shadows at the end of the week. He appeared and had a press conference at a car show, in which he said that while he does vote in the Palmer United Party bloc, he is his own man and does not agree with PUP’s views on China. He also said that he had talked with treasury people – apparently getting calls at all hours – and told the press that he still isn’t sold on the $7 GP co-payment or the Higher Education changes.

Speaking of the co-payment, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has suggested an alternative plan for the co-payment. The AMA suggests that consultations for children, concession card holders and pensioners should not be subject to the co-payment. Both sides of politics, as well as other lobby groups are calling this plan a money grab, not a nice alternative, given something like $2-$3 goes to them out of the co-payment. However, the government is also being criticised for trying to sell the co-payment as a Medicare-strengthening measure because the government’s slice of the co-payment goes into a Medical research fund, and not into the budget or Medicare.

The Prime Minister has been busy this week. The start of the week saw the Pollie Pedal end in Penrith and Tony Abbott join in for the last few (wet) days and at a First World War memorial on Cockatoo Island. He was also on 2GB this week talking about the previous week’s NSW ICAC scalps – saying it was “a bad look” for the Liberal Party – but criticised the previous NSW Labor Government for changing the rules, making it illegal for property developers to make donations. According to the PM, it is unclear in the legislation what constitutes a property developer and arguing that private donations are better that publicly funded elections. He was also asked by 2GB presenter Ray Hadley about the ASADA investigation, saying that the ASADA claims were meant to be the previous Federal Labor government’s distraction from Julia Gillard, although Ray Hadley didn’t actually call Gillard by her name, he called her something along the lines of “that woman“. In the same interview, he was asked about a flag that had been seen in Sydney’s west that looked like it could be an ISIS flag (it wasn’t), and Abbott said that the only flag that should fly is the Australian flag – forgetting that most of the time the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are often required to be flown as well.

Speaking of ISIS, they gruesomely murdered a journalist this week. The PM described the murder as “evil”, and then decided to also warn Australia that if we let our vigilance down, similar things could happen here.

Moving on though, the budget is still being talked about over three months after it was laid out. The government isn’t overly concerned, because they’ve got the appropriation and supply bills through, but some of their big-ticket items are still on the table and being negotiated. After his “poor don’t drive” gaffe last week, Joe Hockey has been out of sight for a while, leading journalists to question Mattias Cormann about why he was selling the budget over the weekend and not Hockey. Cormann said it was because they’re working together to sell the budget and therefore either of them can appear in front of the media to do so. However, it’s believed that the government may be compromising and giving ground on some of their major policy items in order to get them through.

It was also announced this week that Australia has agreed to take 2200 Iraqi and 2200 Syrian refugees in. However, they will be coming through what Scott Morrison called the “front door”, so therefore they are still stopping the boats, ergo no broken promises. Also, children and their families (where applicable) are being released from detention centres on bridging visas, and the Papua New Guinean authorities have arrested and charges two G4S employees over the murder of Reza Berati, the asylum seeker killed during the Manus Island riots.

Bill Shorten made a statement this week about rape claims made against him last year.

He’s been applauded by both sides of politics for being open and transparent about it now, rather than hiding it and having it come out later on.

So this week, Australia-Indonesia relations have gotten much better, to the point where thy are signing an agreement not to spy on each other…

Finally this week, the NSW Liberal Party has announced they will not put anyone forward for the by-elections in Newcastle or Charlestown, there has been criticism of the NAPLAN writing question, Australia and India have done a trade deal on uranium, there’s another ADFA sex scandal, and the man who was convicted of the Winchester Assassination has been released from prison after his conviction was quashed.

Tweet of the Week

Fairfax staff went on strike this week…

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Eliza Harvey on the only Liberal MP in the Hunter not to quit, and how she’s changed for the better – ABC The Drum

Sean Dorney’s leaving Australia Network and the ABC – ABC Backstory and Australia Network Online

What Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond thinks of Tony Abbott – Huffington Post UK

The Week That Was – August 3 to August 9

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This week there were MH17 memorials in Western Australia and Queensland and more bodies were found at the crash site. The people living in a town close to the crash site also held a memorial. Meanwhile, the Russians have imposed sanctions on Australia, the EU and the US, in retaliation for the sanctions placed on them (which I thought Australia was not a part of, because our main aim was to bring our dead home). These sanctions stop Australia from trading dairy and livestock. Tony Abbott has said Australia will now consider more sanctions on Russia. Also, the Prime Minister is due to travel to the Netherlands and the UK in the next week.

So it turns out the asylum seekers were moved to Nauru on Friday night last week. Scott Morrison has been saying that the Tamils are from Indian camps and most have long-term Indian residency. The lawyers for the High Court case have also begun to claim that their clients were taught to drive lifeboats and read maps to show them where to go. Meanwhile a report has come out about the asylum seekers that claimed to have been burnt by being forced to put their hands on boat engines by Australian authorities. The heavily censored report suggests that the asylum seekers were burned when trying to light a fire on their boat and not by the actions of the Australians. There has been no response from the Indonesian authorities, who treated the asylum seekers at the moment.

Unemployment is now at a 12 year high – at 6.4%. Only 300 jobs were lost in the last month, but more people have been looking for jobs, making the unemployment rate rise. Youth unemployment is worse, with a little over 20% in the 15-19 age group and nearly 15% in the 15-24 age group. South Australia and Tasmania have had a drop in the unemployment rate, while the other states have had a rise, with Sydney having one of the worst youth unemployment rates, especially out in Sydney’s west. The Paid Parental Leave Scheme may have been shelved or delayed. It’s thought to be because some backbenchers – primarily those in rural or low-income areas – are still not supporting it. The government claims that the budget is the priority at the moment, so they haven’t brought up the scheme yet.

Joe Hockey has also been disputing Treasury numbers, after information was released stating that many families would be up to $490 worse off because of the 2014 Budget. In fact, the table that explains this was omitted from the budget papers, and those who wanted to know what the table said had to make Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. However, it appears most FOI requests, including one from the ABC was denied. Joe Hockey says that the numbers are wrong because the Deficit Levy imposed on higher-income households wasn’t factored in and there could still be changes. Either way, there are still negotiations between the Government and the cross benchers in the Senate – David Leyonhjelm has said that these discussions should have begun before July 1.

This week also saw a bit of gymnastics on the repeal of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The government has decided not to continue with the repeal of section 18c because Tony Abbott wants to unify Australia, given the threat posed by Australians travelling to the Middle East. Andrew Bolt, along with other conservative commentators and politicians are not pleased. At least one conservative senator is going to launch a private member’s bill to keep the repeal alive.

There are now going to be changes to the Terrorism laws given the threat posed by those travelling to the Middle East perceived by the government. This change, on top of the “burden of proof” proposal last week, means that there will be another $630 million for security agencies, the ability to suspend passports and make it illegal to travel to certain nations without an acceptable reason (burden of proof on the traveller not the police) and telecommunications companies must keep metadata for a certain amount of time.

Now this “metadata” thing has confused everyone. Tony Abbott and George Brandis have been unable to explain exactly what will be retained, and they didn’t let Malcolm Turnbull (one of the guys who probably could explain it) out to talk until a few days later. Other than the concerns over privacy, it is completely unclear at the moment what is going to be retained by the telcos. Now, I am not a computer geek in any way, but from what I understand, what will be retained is the IP address of websites you visit, not the content or the URL of the site. So when you visit this blog, they only see the IP address, not the karaxl.wordpress.com or the content of the blog – in order to see those they need a warrant.

Before I forget, Eric Abetz is in trouble for appearing to link abortions with breast cancer. He said it on The Project on Channel Ten in what he says was a pre-recorded interview that was heavily edited, which Channel Ten denies. By the way, the link has been disproved by the scientific community, despite the fact that some scientists coming to the World Families’ Congress maintain there is a link. The congress will be held in Melbourne later this year, and several Federal Government MPs are planning to attend.

Finally this week, the Federal Liberal Party is being dragged into the NSW ICAC, Australia might become involved in humanitarian drops in Iraq, our Airports are preparing for Ebola checks, and the WA Premier Colin Barnett wants the GST changed, because he feels that Western Australia is ripped off as it contributes quite a bit to the GST and gets less back.

Tweet of the Week

After hitting 5000 followers on twitter this week, the people running Kevin Rudd 2000 (@Rudd2000), a spoof account called it a day, killing off “Kevern”.

(Translation: Albo [Anthony Albanese] ate Kevin [Rudd])

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening to etc

Balibo’s ghosts and East Timor’s media laws – ABC The Drum

When journalists stop covering a story without explanation and social media speculation gets out of hand – BBC News

Whitehousegate is still going, and a student at the college is facing criminal charges for blowing the whistle – Business Insider

The Week That Was – July 27 to August 2

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Again this week, international investigators attempted to get to the MH17 crash site, and finally arrived by the end of the week. The AFP and the Dutch police are both there to secure the site, with no ADF, because it is a humanitarian mission. Julie Bishop remained in Kiev meeting with Ukrainian politicians and the Red Cross as part of the response to MH17. Both she and Angus Houston have been in Ukraine while waiting for the international investigators to get close to the crash zone and have shared the OSCE’s frustration when the missions failed. There are now new sanctions on Russia from the US and the EU. At the moment the Australian Government is not imposing sanctions (Our main focus is to “bring them home”) but the government could revoke Russia’s G20 invite if they so choose.

There’s been a suggested change to welfare again, this time suggesting the expansion of the “work-for-the-dole” plan to all those on welfare under 50. Those on welfare could do between 15-25 hours of work depending on their age and must apply for 40 jobs per month. The opposition has labelled it cruel, and businesses are not impressed, because it means that they have to trawl through thousands of applications and possibly write back to all of them so there is evidence that the applicant, should they be on welfare, did apply but was rejected.

Onto the Asylum Seekers that are now no longer floating out near Christmas Island, but were sent to Curtin Detention Centre via the Cocos Islands. The Indian High Commission stated that they would not be repatriating anyone against their will, while lawyers have argued that technically, because they’re here, Indian officials shouldn’t be talking to the refugees, Australian officials should. Scott Morrison has been saying that because the Indian refugee camps are “safe” those who have come to Australia are economic migrants, not refugees. But in the last day or so, it appears that because the asylum seekers refused to talk to the Indian officials, they have all been secretly flown to Nauru. The government blames the lawyers, saying that they instructed the refugees to say nothing, which the lawyers deny – they haven’t been able to talk to the asylum seekers at all. The lawyers are now thinking about launching a second case, while Tony Abbott is telling asylum seekers “they’ll never stay” and that “If we stop the boats, we stop the deaths”. The government has had to apologise this week to former cricketers Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath after asking them to sign bats, which were then given to the Indian officials who were going to talk with the asylum seekers.

There has also been an Inquiry into Children in Detention this week. The results are quite shocking: there are large numbers of children  with mental illness, and the government asked the people doing the survey to remove that statistic from the report. Other children have had their medication confiscated, the medical centre on Nauru frequently runs out of supplies and because there are no child protection laws or protection services in Nauru, the children are in strife.

The Government is also planning to change national security laws in an aim to deter people from travelling to the Middle East to fight with ISIS. It reverses the onus of proof – meaning that instead of the police proving that you did something wrong, you have to prove that you did nothing wrong. This essentially restricts people’s human rights, as it presumes guilt over innocence, instead of the other way around (It is a human and civil right that a person be treated as innocent until proven guilty – usually in a court of law).

The ABC has got a promise tracker going – you might be surprised by the results

Finally this week, Peter Slipper has been found guilty of dishonesty regarding Cabcharge vouchers, the CSIRO is helping with the African Ebola outbreak and Wikileaks is telling people what a suppression order won’t let them find out from mainstream media regarding an RBA corruption scandal.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening to etc

Julia Gillard appeared to launch Greg Combet’s new book…mentioning ABC News NSW anchor Juanita Phillips at the end:

So a Guardian Australia staffer applied for 40 jobs in nine minutes – Guardian Australia

Behind the Baden-Clay trial – ABC Backstory

The Week that Was – June 1 to June 7

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It’s been four weeks since the budget and we’re still talking about it – albeit a little bit less than in previous weeks.

But still, there are reports that the Liberals allegedly conned the Country Liberals, Nationals and anyone in the Coalition who represents a rural seat into accepting the changes to the fuel excise. It appears that they may have hinted that they would change the diesel rebate – something that helps miners and farmers pay for diesel fuel for their operations – and not the fuel excise. That scared the Nationals and other rural MPs in the coalition, because they might lose the next election and there could have been tractors on parliament house lawn and war with the miners. So the nationals supported the fuel excise and are now defending themselves, saying it was legitimately on the table. Treasury have said that they only did the maths for the fuel excise and never the diesel rebate, though. In public they’ve been friendly, but reports are that behind closed doors people are annoyed.

There is also concern from Universities Australia – the organisation that represents Australian universities – about whether or not the fee changes will lead to higher costs. Christopher Pyne says prices will be forced down because it will be competitive, while others believe that it will lead to prices at more “prestigious” universities rising. There is also conflicting information about who is paying what back when – but the legislation has to get through the senate first, and the Labor and Greens have said they will oppose it. Clive Palmer says his party won’t let anything through that doesn’t make sense to them, and that they want more staff to help them understand things.

Speaking of money, it was announced that two new navy ships will not be built in Australia, but in Spain and Korea. The government has said that the boats are too large to be built in Australia and it would seem it’s also very expensive too. The shipbuilding industry is understandably annoyed, as apparently there is a gap coming up where there will be more builders than ships to be built and these two ships would have covered that gap. Apparently some frigates will be built here soon – so we shouldn’t worry – but given the government has said that they want Australian-built ships, but not at any cost, I fear what will happen in the future when it becomes even more expensive.

This week has been full of the drama between Malcolm Turnbull and conservative commentators. Andrew Bolt has accused Turnbull of planning to overthrow Tony Abbott. Bolt cites Turnbull’s dinner last week with Clive Palmer, as well as attending an event hosted by Friends of the ABC. Wow, the Communications Minister went to an event related to the government-funded broadcaster, he’s totally planning to overthrow the Prime Minister. Turnbull said that “it borders on the demented” and even said it was “unhinged”.

It continued later in the week, when Turnbull was on 2GB radio with Alan Jones – who questioned him about his motives and if he was after the leadership. From what I’ve heard of the interview, Turnbull remained quite calm. Turnbull was also on 7:30 this week – the full interview is here.

This week, Tony Abbott is off to Indonesia, France, The USA and Canada. He’s met with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Indonesia for the first time since the spying allegations, and Julie Bishop appeared to give  Yudhoyono a demotion, calling him “Prime Minister SBY” – when she should have said “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono” or “President Yudhoyono”. The PM’s flight was delayed because the plane they were originally going to use was broken, so they had to get a different one. The relationship does appear to be on the mend, so that is good. Abbott then went to Paris, where he met the Queen at the British Embassy, and talked with French business leaders before heading to Normandy for D-Day commemorations, where six Australian veterans became Chevaliers of the Légion d’Honneur – France’s highest honour.

Clive Palmer is in trouble this week for being rude to a senior Abbott staffer, Peta Credlin. Palmer said that the reason Abbott was bringing in a Paid Parental Leave Scheme was so that Ms Credlin could have her baby. But he’s also fighting with the QLD state government. He’s suing QLD Premier Campbell Newman for defamation, after Newman said he was buying governments. It’s now come to light that the Deputy Premier had referred Palmer to the CMC (QLD’s ICAC – but with no power) over allegations that Palmer asked for special treatment after the 2012 QLD Election that saw the LNP come to power.

Finally this week, Victoria’s in the middle of a constitutional crisis, the USA changed its emissions aims…now making them more active in the battle against climate change than us, and it turns out the Prime Minister gave a character reference to a priest who is accused of paedophilia – they met in the same seminary when Abbott was thinking of joining the priesthood. Oh, and the government might have lied to the World Heritage people about Tasmanian forests.

Tweet of the Week

Barnaby Joyce’s disconcerting photo out a plane window – I think his phone might have been upside-down.

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Introducing American cable viewers to Tony Abbott…

An introduction to OTPs: The flirtation between ABC2 and SBS2 – as chronicled by Buzzfeed.

Peppa Pig’s uncertain future on the ABC made one girl worried about her little sister – Canberra Times

The Week That Was – April 27 to May 3

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This week seemed to be all about the Budget and the Commission of Audit, which meant quite a bit of information, so if I miss something, I apologise.

So, the Commission of Audit (in 1000 pages) has made 80 recommendations, some of which are:

  • Having people pay more for medication and seeing a GP and charging people for going to Emergency
  • Getting more “well off” people to buy private health insurance
  • A reduction in the minimum wage, if not getting rid of it
  • A reduction in family tax benefits – cutting Family Tax Benefits A and B and replacing it with one benefit
  • Forced relocation for young people on the unemployment benefits if they can’t find a job after 12 months
  • Abbott’s Paid Parental Leave max payment should be $29,000 (half of what the Government is suggesting) and funnel what money is saved from that into childcare
  • Higher retirement age (up to 70 by 2053) and making means testing tougher for those on the aged pension

If you have 10 minutes to spare, this ABC 7:30 story summarises the key points and has visuals as well.

I can understand that in the future, Australia is going to be spending a lot of money, as things get more expensive as we go along. So yes, being cautious when it comes to spending does have its benefits. However, while I may not study business, finance or economics, I do know that getting on the wrong side of the people means you get kicked out of government, and if the Coalition want to stay there, they need to be very careful when it comes to deciding what to cut or change in the budget. Especially these days when news programs can easily retrieve footage from the election campaign where you are saying “No new taxes,”.

It is also an issue when economists and business leaders pop up on the news and start telling people that Australia is not having an economic or budgetary crisis right now, despite what the government is saying. They do suggest that putting some preventative measures in place will be beneficial so there is not a crisis in the future. But when the people with degrees directly related to economics, finance and business say things like that, then one should be a little concerned about the governments motives.

We also saw Tony Abbott cancel – at the 11th hour –  a diplomatic trip to Bali this week. The government’s official line is that Abbott is doing Budget related things, despite the fact he hasn’t appeared on the news in days, other than for a COAG photo-op. The ABC suggests it has something to do with “on-water operations” to do with Operation Sovereign Borders – essentially, the navy is most likely in the process of intercepting and turning a boat around and they don’t want to embarrass the Indonesian President. The real reason is still unclear, though, and the Opposition has been asking the government to “please explain,”.

Also this week, the decision was made to call off the aerial search for MH370 – it doesn’t mean they are stopping altogether, just that there is now almost no chance of seeing any wreckage from the air, so they may as well spend the money on the undersea search. It may take a long time to find the plane though, and the underwater search is going to be expensive.

The Palmer United Party has spread to the Northern Territory, where three former Country Liberal backbenchers have joined the party. There does seem to be some concern within the two major parties though, with Queensland Premier Campbell Newman suggesting that Clive Palmer may have paid them or in some way sweetened the deal for them, which Palmer denies.

And finally, Ian Ross, a newsreader and journalist for both Channel 7 and Channel 9 over a 50-year career, passed away this week after battling with pancreatic cancer.

Tweet of the Week

The Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW has meant that several NSW State Ministers have had to quit.

https://twitter.com/JezNews/status/461364753927921665

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

How Important is a Promise in Politics? – ABC Radio National

Tony Abbott cancelling his Indonesia trip has made the news in Hong Kong – South China Morning Post

A browser plugin that switches Tony Abbott’s image for those of cute cats seems to have caused a stir in the PM’s office – SMH

 

The Week That Was – April 20 to April 26

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So the week began on Easter Sunday, with the Royals going to St Andrews Anglican Cathedral in Sydney and later on, taking George to Taronga Zoo, where they opened a bilby enclosure. They took Easter Monday off, visited Uluru on Tuesday, Adelaide on Wednesday and were in Canberra on Thursday and Friday.

This week, as we get even closer to the Budget we’re starting to hear about what may or may not be cut from the budget and what we are going to have to sacrifice. This week seems to be focused on cuts to the health service. There have been suggestions that people on the disability pension will have to go to independent doctors and not their GPs to get the stamp of approval for the pension. There is also mention of cutting the amount of money people on the disability pension earn. One of the major issues here is that those with mental illnesses and disabilities could be disadvantaged as their mental state can vary. There could also be cuts to Medicare Locals, an after-hours GP service. This has major benefits for the chronically ill, who would otherwise have to go to Emergency, saving lots of money.

Another thing people are worried about cuts to is the Indigenous Health Service, in particular mental health and rehabilitation services, as well as the concern with raising the pension age, given the average life expectancy of Aboriginal males is less than 70 years old (ABS). Comments have been made about how cuts are going to make the PM look bad, given he has said he is focused on closing the gap and being there for the indigenous people.

If that doesn’t concern you, at least we’re spending about $12 billion on F-35 fighters from the USA. We originally ordered 14, and now we’re getting 58 more. They’re due in 2020, and have had some major issues, given the development of these planes are over budget and have had some safety issues – to the point where Canada and Denmark are reconsidering their ordering of the planes.

ANZAC Day was on Friday and the royals apparently surprised everyone by showing up to the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial – which really doesn’t shock me – and then came back later that day to lay a wreath at the ANZAC Day Ceremony. Then they left the country, with George giving us one of the best pictures of this entire tour – you can see it below in the Tweets of the Week.

And finally this week, a former NSW Premier Neville Wran died this week. He seemed to be liked by most in politics, and brought in a lot of changes for NSW including random breath testing, decriminalising homosexuality, developed modern lotto and started ICAC, only to resign because of it. He is getting a state funeral on May 1.

Tweets of the Week

In the mad rush to cover what was thought to be a hijack of an Australian plane but was just an allegedly drunk passenger, you can type too fast and have spelling issues

Oh, and this is why outsourcing sub-editing is a bad thing

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

A humourous take on why you should support same-sex marriage – College Humor

Behind the scenes of the ABC’s Coverage of Barry O’Farrell’s resignation – ABC Back Story

Hillary Clinton and the Fake Baby Conspiracy – SMH