Tag Archives: Culleton

The Week That Was – February 12 to February 18

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So I had two weeks off from work and blogging. I missed a pretty crazy two weeks, what with Cory Bernardi leaving the Liberal Party for his own, the Trump-Turnbull phone call and Rod Culleton being ruled invalidly elected.

This week saw some drama as the Liberal Party in Western Australia made a preference deal with One Nation over the Nationals. This has led to suggestions that the Coalition in WA may be at risk of falling apart and has led the Federal Labor party to push the Federal Liberals to promise not to do the same. It appears to be an attempt to save the WA Liberals from losing the State election in March, as it looks as if the swing against the Liberals there could be a large as 12% – leading to a Labor win. Labor also seems to be enjoying making inner city Liberals uncomfortable about the whole One Nation thing.

Businesses, conservation groups and other organisations are pushing politicians to have a bipartisan approach to energy policy. These groups are saying that all this uncertainty is bad for society and the economy.

Malcolm Turnbull has also been caught out after a Freedom of Information showed that Turnbull was told by government officials that the South Australian blackout at the end of last year was not the result of South Australia’s mix of renewable and non-renewable energy. Labor is accusing the Prime Minister of lying to the public, while Turnbull is sort of ignoring the whole thing.

To add to the governments issues is the poor Closing the Gap Report results that came out this week. Only one of the 7 markers is on track at the moment, while the other 6 are behind. It appears that there is little information on what programs are actually working, so the government has decided to start a productivity commission to figure that out.

Meanwhile, the prestigious private school, Barker College, and an Aboriginal Land Council has found a program that seems to be working on the NSW Central Coast, with the school hiring teachers for a co-educational indigenous-only school with a teacher for every 7 students. The school is funded by corporate donations, and the Sydney-based College provides the educators. The school has been incredibly successful with students improving by up to five years – with the school only being open for about a year.

Malcolm Turnbull also made a trip to New Zealand this week to hang out with the new Prime Minister Bill English. The two have discussed the benefits of lower business taxes and free trade, with the aim of telling their Asian counterparts that even if the USA pulls out of the TPP, there are still nations in the region to have free trade with.

And if that wasn’t all – George Christiansen is threatening to leave the LNP.

Finally this week, Bob Katter is demanding that the government create laws to protect Australian made cultural souvenirs, as Asian nations make cheap fakes that we sell here; American official have arrived on Manus Island to begin interviewing asylum seekers; refugees that have been settled in Sydney are having trouble finding homes; and there are concerns over recent job cuts at Air Services Australia – the company that provides air traffic control to the country – with staff saying that the public is at risk.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The cost to the US taxpayer for Trump’s weekly trips to Mar-a-Lago – ABC USA

Richard Glover tells the US why Australia and the USA are friends – Washington Post

The Two Weeks That Were – January 1 to January 14

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With the start of 2017 came some new laws, including the backpacker tax, pension asset test changes, TAFE changes and an increase in the price of passports by $20. The new year also brought the release of Cabinet Papers from 1992 and 1993, which saw the government’s decision-making in the recession of the early 1990s as well as decisions to start offshore detention and indigenous rights.

Meanwhile the government had a pretty easy first couple of days, with the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull having tea with the Pakistani and Australian cricket teams. But a relaxing fortnight it wasn’t to be.

It began with accusations that guards in Papua New Guinea had beaten two asylum seekers. Peter Dutton, the immigration minister said he wanted to hear both sides of the story. It seems that the PNG police officers believed the two asylum seekers to be drunk and so arrested them, which the two men involved deny. The men have a court date in the next few weeks. Meanwhile in the region, Indonesia has suspended some aspects of military co-operation after they took offence to some training material at an SAS base in Perth, where the Australians help train the Indonesian version of the SAS. It appears to only be temporary, but for how long is unclear. This has happened without the involvement of Joko Widodo, and that is because the head of the Army in Indonesia is independent, and it seems that the man in charge at the moment didn’t appreciate Australia’s involvement in East Timor in 1999, and also seems to have political ambitions.

Speaking of East Timor (aka Timor Leste), they have called for the maritime treaty with Australia to be cast aside. Under the current treaty, Australia has slightly more territory than East Timor and they share the revenue of resources 50/50. There will be a renegotiation  soon, but several oil and gas companies just want to know who they have to pay rent to so that they can extract resources.

Centrelink is under fire for its debt recovery program. It involves a computer matching welfare recipients’ declared income to Centrelink, with information from the ATO, and this computer is about 20% wrong. This means that a large number of people are receiving debt collection notices from the government who don’t need to. It’s lead to criticism of the government and Centrelink, with demands that the system be stopped while the issue is fixed, but the government disagrees. It is not a good look for them given the last seven days of drama with Sussan Ley.

Health Minister Sussan Ley has had to resign in the last week after it was revealed that she charged taxpayers for a trip to the Gold Coast that, while originally for official policy business, involved her and her partner purchasing a luxury apartment. It then sort of blew up in the minister’s face when it was revealed that she’s charged taxpayers for many more trips to the Gold Coast, including trips to attend a swanky New Years Eve party. She started by standing down, but then resigned.

It’s lead to calls for the reform of politician’s expenses, with 27 recommendations from an Abbott-era review that was started after Choppergate being looked into by Turnbull. It looks as if we might be taking a leaf from the UK’s book, having an independent review board overlook and advise on MP’s travel expenses – with an emphasis on the word expenses rather than entitlements – such as whether or not you should charge the taxpayer for flights because someone invited you to the AFL Grand Final.

Finally this week, Rod Culleton’s spot in the Senate has been declared vacant by the President of the Senate Stephen Parry, after Culleton was declared bankrupt.

Tweet of the Fortnight

 

The Two Weeks That Were – December 18 to December 31

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This Christmas and New Years period was possibly the least insane for politics in a very long time. The first few days had a bit of drama but nothing too major.

The long-awaited Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), showed us that the deficit is now $36.5 billion, and debts will be bigger until a forecasted surplus in 2020. The government is on track for 12 continuous deficits and the country’s growth is down. Part of the reason for the bad news is because there are still 2014 Budget ‘zombie measures’ that still haven’t passed the Senate, however they do think some money could be recouped in the next year or so by collecting welfare debts.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused some division amongst the Liberal Party when he attended a dinner hosted by the Republican Movement, who want to see australia become a republic rather than stay as a constitutional monarchy. The move to become a republic is unlikely while Queen Elizabeth II is still alive, however Turnbull has outlined his vision for the move to a republic, with a plebiscite to decide on the model, and a referendum to follow to make the final decision – a marked difference from the failed referendum in 1999.

Meanwhile, there are concerns among the Liberals that some more conservative members may split from the party. Both Cory Bernardi and George Christiansen are fans of Donald Trump, and have concerns about national security and Bernardi’s conservative movement is going well. Many in the party are encouraging the party to stay unified and not be divided “like Labor”. The issue also had Tony Abbott talking on radio about staying with the party, which drew criticism.

There were arrests in Melbourne just before Christmas, in which several people for arrested for allegedly planning to attack some of Melbourne’s key landmarks on Christmas Day. From what the police have said they were inspired by Islamic State and the police have been keeping an eye on them for a while. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has called for calm, and reminded people that they should not cower in fear, as that is what the terrorists want.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party is looking to do well in the next few years as State elections take place in traditionally conservative States such as Western Australia and Queensland. Critics are saying that Pauline Hanson “is for Pauline Hanson” – an allegation she and her supporters deny, saying that she is for the country. Meanwhile she’s having to deal with the Culleton validity scandal – and the fact that Rod Culleton just quit her party.

As if it couldn’t get more confusing, Rod Culleton has also been declared bankrupt, and although he has 21 days to appeal, he’s technically ineligible to be a Senator. It gets confusing because the validity issue is the more important constitutional issue than the undischarged bankrupt issue. So, if Culleton loses the bankruptcy appeal, but wins his validity case, then One Nation chooses the replacement. If Culleton is found to have been invalidly elected, then his replacement is chosen by seeing who came after him in the count.

Also during this fortnight, there have been concerns about the rental agreement between the government and the rifle range, in which it appears they are paying a lower rate of rent for the land. The other concern is that David Leyonhjelm’s comments about the rental agreement suggest some secret back room horse trading between the government and the cross bench senator.

Finally during this fortnight, there was an explosion at the Australian Christian Lobby building in Canberra – which police say was not ideologically motivated; mining company Adani is facing probes in India, leading to concerns in Queensland, where they are due to start a mine; there will be a national AUSLAN curriculum set up to help teach people sign language; and an asylum seeker has died in Brisbane after not receiving appropriate medical care on Manus Island before collapsing.

You can catch my 2016 Year in Review here.

Tweet of the Fortnight

The ABC’s James Glenday was covering the Berlin Terror Attack, and all the feedback he got was about staying warm.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC 2016 Year in Review

The Year That Was – 2016

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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 – October 30 to November 5

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The week began with the decision to put forward a policy to cabinet in which refugees trying to get into Australia will never be able to get a visa to Australia, with the exception of children. It’s thought that the policy is aimed to divide Labor, making it harder for them to appear like a good alternative to the government, while the Greens believe that it is the Liberal Party trying desperately to grab back votes from One Nation. The other concern is that if New Zealand were to take in these refugees, it may affect visa-free travel between NZ and Australia, something the Kiwi PM John Key does not like the idea of.

The Bob Day saga seemingly came to an end this week when he announced that his company would not be bought out and that it would be folding, therefore keeping his promise from last week and resigning. However, it is not over, as there are suggestions that Bob Day may not have been legally elected, as he was possibly making money off the government and the tax payer through the rental of his electorate office. Constitutionally, one cannot be a member of parliament and financially benefit from them – and with suggestions that Day’s electorate office is in a bulding that he owns, that disqualifies him, and therefor makes his election void. The question is however, how a vacancy like that is filled. It is still unclear whether the next person in the Family First ticket, or whether there will be a count back and the next highest person or party will get the seat instead.

Meanwhile another issue in the senate has popped up, as it turns out that Senator Rob Culleton may have also been invalidly elected. Culleton had a criminal conviction at the time of the election, but it had been quashed by the time he took up his seat in parliament. He did initially promise to not vote on contentious legislation, but then he decided against that. It has become unclear now as to when the joint sitting for the ABCC legislation will be held, and Labor and the Greens have made clear that the government needs to tell the public what their plans are.

There have also been developments in health and education, with the possibility of pre-schooling being made better available to three year olds and not just four year olds. There is concern though about what seems to be a rethink of the whooping cough vaccine advice, and what the government’s plans actually are.

Finally this week, there has been a redress scheme suggested by the government; concerns over whether Andrew Robb is breaking ministerial guidelines by working for the company with the 99-year lease of the Darwin Ports; Joko Widodo was due to visit Australia, but had to postpone after protests over the Christian governor of Jakarta; international experts have come to look at some of the pieces of MH370 that have been found; and Tony Abbott and his volunteer firefighting crew attended to a bushfire on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/792512653298065408

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC News Breakfast “offers something fresh” – The Age

The problem with agenda trolls – The Conversation

Don’t read too much into the rise of Donald Trump – ABC Online