The Two Weeks That Were – July 21 to August 4

Sorry, this might be a bit longer than normal…

Parliament was back this fortnight, but the main focus was the maiden speeches of new members like Zali Steggall and Helen Haines. As there aren’t any particularly controversial people in parliament right now, there was not much to report on. If you’re desperate to know what the new members said in their speeches, you can always check out Hansard. However it wasn’t just maiden speeches in parliament in the last two weeks: the government wanted to push through two major pieces of legislation, and avoid pressure on a few other issues.

The first was legislation to create a “Future Drought Fund”, which did end up passing the House of Representatives. The bill essentially means that the government will put aside $3.9 million to draw on when there is another drought, with additional money added to the fund over time. So far it is not clear what the money will be spent on (when the time comes) but farmers are just relieved that steps are being taken to help out in the next drought, even if not much can be done during the current drought. The Labor Party is willing to support the Future Drought Fund but they’re slightly concerned over where the money will be drawn from or what the money will be spent on.

The other legislation involves foreign fighters (mostly those who went to Syria), and whether they or their stranded families should be temporarily banned from entering the country, despite the fact many of these people are citizens. While many in parliament agree that they do support the temporary bans, based on legislation in force in the UK, there is disagreement over who should have the powers.

Despite a joint committee recommending that the bans be fully overseen by a retired judge – a model the Labor Party supports – the government has decided the powers should be held by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, and later reviewed by a retired judge. The Opposition is wary to give all the power to Dutton – as are many others. With Labor not agreeing in full, or having concerns with both pieces of legislation, the government has been painting them as “not on the right side”, with many government ministers saying in interviews this week that Labor needed to “decide whose side they’re on”.

The Labor Party is mostly unperturbed by this criticism, with suggestions that the government is using Labor’s relatively reasonable concerns as a wedge issue to distract from the internal divisions on other concerns. There are divisions amongst not only the right and left factions of the Liberal Party, but also between the Liberals and their coalition partners, the Nationals, mostly on the topic of a welfare payment for job seekers known as “Newstart”.

It appears that many Nationals MPs would like to see an increase to Newstart as many of their constituents on the welfare payment are struggling, especially as the drought continues to take hold. Barnaby Joyce’s is an unlikely supporter of a rise in Newstart, sparked by his recent epiphany that if he’s struggling to support two families (the family he had with his ex-wife and the family he has now with former staffer Vicki Campion) on just over $200,000, then he can’t imagine how hard it is to keep afloat on just under $300 a week.

The problem here is that the government, and to a lesser extent, the Opposition are reluctant to make this much-needed increase to Newstart until revenue levels are certain and there is a guarantee that a budget surplus can be delivered this financial year. This infatuation with a surplus is worrying – the fact that the government is so desperate to have a surplus on their record means that many important and vital that will improve the quality of life for many Australians are being delayed or ignored.

On the topic of welfare, it seems that the Centrelink robo-debt system is getting out of hand. In the last two weeks stories have emerged regarding the robo-debt system. In one case, an elderly man on the aged pension for the last 20 years, who himself admits that he is “obsessive” in updating his income to Centrelink, was told he had a debt of $67 from 1998. He was determined to clear his name because he was so convinced that he did not have a debt, and went to a great deal of trouble to do so. Despite calling Centrelink multiple times, he was unsuccessful until the ABC contacted Centrelink to ask them about his debt for their news story.

In a second case, Anastasia McCardel, the mother of Bruce McCardel, a man who died in November last year, was sent a letter from Centrelink claiming Bruce had an almost $6,750 debt, and then another letter thanking him for checking his income information. Ms McCardel said that she knew Bruce was very careful with his Centrelink information, and was unlikely to be in debt, and was also unsure how he could have checked his income information if he was dead. Again, it was only when the ABC broadcast the story that the debt was waived, and this time the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, delivered the apology.

Moving on, a forensic accountant from the University of Sydney has looked into Adani’s reports to ASIC and has found that Adani is potentially operating insolvent. Adani does not have enough money to cover its upcoming costs, and the accountant argues they shouldn’t be operating at all – especially given operating insolvent is illegal. However, it appears that auditors signed off in it as “a going concern” as Adani have said that their parent company will pay for the costs that they encounter until they actually start mining the coal in the mine that they’re currently building. However, if Adani does go out of business, it is likely that their parent company, who is basically loaning the money to pay for all the mine preparations, will be the first creditor in line.

The Liberal Party’s culture is under the spotlight again, after allegations that the party has not done enough to help two female staffers who allege that they were sexually assaulted by their male colleagues. One of the women is a federal staffer and the other is a staffer for the Victorian Liberals, and they say their complaints fell on deaf ears. The official line from the Liberal Cabinet was that they should go to the police. That combined with the announcement that there will be a national Code of Conduct for Liberal MPs and Senators, following the review into the spill that installed Scott Morrison in August last year. Part of the review looked into claims from female MPs that they had been bullied into signing the spill motion petition – which is why the code of conduct has been introduced.

Meanwhile, Oliver Yates, a Kooyong candidate that lost to Josh Frydenberg, and an elector in the seat of Banks have taken legal action in the Court of Disputed Returns. They’re arguing that some posters put up on election day by the Liberal Party at polling places in both seats were misleading. The posters, which were written in Chinese, said that the ‘correct way to vote is to put a ‘1’ next to the Liberal candidate’. These posters were in the AEC’s colours of purple and white and were placed next to official AEC signage, such as the “Polling Place Here” signs.

The argument is that these posters were misleading, as they looked like official AEC signage (except for a teeny tiny notice at the bottom that said it was a Liberal Party sign). Furthermore, there was a concern that voters in Kooyong and Banks who are of Chinese descent (there’s quite a few of them), who might be new to voting in Australia and how the process works, might have thought that the AEC was telling you the “right” way to vote.

In another court case during the fortnight, lawyers for the ABC were in court to argue that the information, documents and other evidence that was taken during the raids on the broadcaster a few months ago should not be unsealed. Other than the fact that the warrant for the raid was signed off on by a Local Court registrar, the ABC’s barrister Matt Collins argued that the warrant was “legally unreasonable”, “excessively broad” and “misstated the terms of the suspected offences”. Collins argued that the stories, known as the Afghan Files, were in the public interest and that the journalist who published them, Dan Oakes, also had the right to protect his sources. A lawyer has publically admitted to being the source of the leaks, even before the raids, which Collins also drew attention to saying it was extraordinary that the AFP’s response to that fact, when mentioned in a press conference, suggested that they thought the lawyer might’ve been lying.

The Garma Festival also took place, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, and Governor-General David Hurley in attendance. All three called for the Indigenous community to rally behind the constitutional recognition referendum that will occur in three years, reminding them that almost no referendum defeated in Australia’s 120-ish year history has ever been resurrected.

Finally this week, Amber Holt, the woman who attempted to egg Scott Morrison during the election has been sentenced to community service and a good behaviour bond; and Labor is pressuring the government to ban Raheem Kassan from entering the country to speak at a right-wing political conference that will also include Tony Abbott, Nigel Farage, Mark Latham and Senator Amanda Stoker as speakers.

Tweet of the Week

This week a second former High Court Chief Justice made the argument that an Indigenous voice to Parliament could be incorporated into the constitution quite easily, says @annabelcrabb.

"There's a lot of room for some leadership in Canberra." pic.twitter.com/IYsJnyQcys

— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) August 1, 2019

 

The Two Weeks That Were – July 7 to July 20

During the past two weeks, parliament didn’t sit at all, so things were a little quieter – but politicians still did things.

For example, Scott Morrison spoke and prayed at the Hillsong Conference, the annual conference the Pentecostal church hosts in Sydney and London. This was a further show of Morrison’s faith, something that has become part of his image since he ascended to the Prime Ministership. Other than the fact that during his prayer he spoke of Australians needing “more love” (whatever that is supposed to mean), he also spoke a little on enshrining religious freedoms in Australia.

This is somewhat concerning. While Attorney-General Christian Porter and Morrison seem to be on a similar page of a smaller, universally respectful addition to the Anti-Discrimination Act, there are some ultra-conservatives, like Concetta Fierravant-Wells, who have been emboldened by the recent Israel Folau drama – and are pushing for something that appears to be more in the vein of protecting only Christian freedoms.

Scott Morrison also spent time in Dubbo and other parts of regional Australia affected by drought, touting a future fund for droughts that he wants to introduce to parliament when it goes back. It was originally introduced before the election, but Labor was concerned that it would divert money from infrastructure funding that they saw as more important. However, regardless of the politics, farmers just want concrete plans and insight into what the government is going to do to help them during this drought and into the future.

Meanwhile, Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, has announced that within the term of this government (so, basically in the next three years), there will be a referendum for Indigenous recognition in the constitution. Many advocates are pleased about this development but concerned still about how the “voice to parliament” – another aspect of reconciliation that they feel is important – has not been fully addressed. Some of this is because the government is still hugely divided on the issue. This is because some of the less, shall we say, enlightened members of our parliament are worried that the “voice to parliament” will become a third house of parliament if enshrined in the constitution.

The Government also lowered the “deeming rate” in the past fortnight, which is the amount that the government assumes those on part pensions are earning from their investments and other incomes. This means that couples who rely partially on the aged pension will be around $1000 better off and a single person on the part pension will be around $800 better off. There are questions as to why the deeming rate is decided by the government and not by and independent body or decided on a case-by-case basis depending on how much pensioners actually earn.

The Aged Care Royal commission has been in North Queensland for the last fortnight hearing stories of poor treatment and some shocking information on some of the challenges chefs in aged care facilities face. Chefs say that they have been required to cook meals for residents for $7 per person, per day, with the emphasis on saving money. Cooks claimed that they watched residents waste away as they weren’t getting enough food and that they sometimes had to cook rancid food or reuse uneaten food. Maggie Beer, who is a chef and also has a foundation to improve elderly eating habits says that the evidence is shocking and that $7 per person, per day, is not enough money to provide food for the elderly that not only tastes good but is also nutritious.

Finally this week, Alek Sigley, who was released from North Korea earlier in the month has been accused of spying by the DPRK – and that they let him go on “humanitarian” grounds; and Australia and the United States have held military exercises – known as “Talisman Sabre” – while being monitored by the Chinese navy, who’ve sent a ship to lurk just outside Australia’s territorial waters, but within our maritime economic zone

Tweet of the Week

Behind the scenes on ABC’s Insiders.

“Could you pass me that cushion please?” Treasurer obliges pic.twitter.com/SL5lxl0JAM

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) July 13, 2019

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Kate McClymont on Israel Folau’s faith and current church – SMH

Are Donald Trump’s racist tweets some sort of campaign strategy? – ABC Online

The Week That Was – February 17 to February 23

This week was the last sitting week before the Budget in April, and ostensibly the Election – and boy was it a cracker, as we found out Matthias Cormann hadn’t paid for flights to Singapore for a family holiday booked through the travel agency Helloworld. Helloworld is run by Andrew Burnes, the Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party, and Cormann apparently booked the flights through him. Helloworld has taken the blame, saying an administrative issue meant that Cormann’s credit card wasn’t charged when the booking was made, but the fact that Helloworld had a lucrative deal with the government renewed shortly after Cormann’s trip with his family.

What’s more, it appears that Joe Hockey, former Treasurer and MP for North Sydney, and current Ambassador to the United States, may have also done Helloworld some sort of favour, getting their subsidiary QBT a contract with the government – it’s unclear what exactly the deal was but the head of the foreign service feels that Hockey’s actions were not in line with guidelines for how Ambassadors should act.

Meanwhile, Julie Bishop announced that she will be quitting parliament at the next election. She had said that she would stay on for stability, but many believed this would not be the case. Bishop has been in parliament for 21 years, eleven of those as Deputy Liberal leader under Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull (both as opposition leader and as PM) and Tony Abbott. She has stipulated that her replacement in her electorate of Curtin should be a woman, and I think the Liberals will probably make sure of that, or they’ll never hear the end of it.

This week Agriculture Minister David Littleproud was in hot water over comment he made regarding milk prices. This week Woolworths announced it would increase milk prices to help farmers, and when Coles and Aldi said they wouldn’t Littleproud said people should boycott the two supermarkets in favour of Woolworths. Only problem is at the start of the week David Littleproud held shares in Woolworths, which means that he would benefit from a boycott of other supermarkets. Littleproud sold his shares mid-way through the week when someone looked through his interests, and the money – about $750 – he made from that sale is going to drought relief.

There are questions over whether an arms manufacturer who receives grants from the federal government has been selling arms made under these grants to the Saudi Arabian government. The UK and US have restricted arms sales to Saudi Arabia after their military was accused of war crimes in the Yemeni civil war and after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but Australia has continued trade. There are concerns that the equipment the company was making will be used by Saudi forces in Yemen, and the Department of Defence and the company have not been able to guarantee that the Saudi military won’t.

This week the Aged Care Royal Commission revealed that those approved for Home Care packages are waiting up to two years and sometimes longer for service providers to get to them. These service providers also seem to be more interested in money rather than the care of their patients, with one company charging $2,100 a month just for ‘case management’. It was also revealed that the Federal Health Department froze aged care funding, suspicious that aged care providers were trying to over-claim for patients in order to take in more money, but no analysis was done to see if that was actually the case. The aged care industry body has also recognised that care could be better, and while they are on board with starting a register of workers in order to weed out problematic staff, they don’t want legislated staff-to-patient ratios.

Finally this week, Scott Morrison was in Auckland to meet with Jacinda Ardern, where the New Zealand government again offered to settle asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru, and again Australia declined. Ardern also said that the current policy of deporting New Zealand citizens from Australia, especially those who have only know life in Australia, was becoming corrosive in the relationship between Australia and New Zealand.

Tweet of the Week

The end of contrition #InsidersExtra #Insiders @barriecassidy #auspol pic.twitter.com/jTMo0gUpk1

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) February 21, 2019

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Annabel Crabb on Julie Bishop – ABC Online

The issues surrounding $1 a litre milk – ABC Online

The Week That Was – October 21 to October 27

The by-election result in Wentworth is not yet fully finalised, but it definitely looks as if Kerryn Phelps will be the new Member for Wentworth. The counting of postal and pre-poll votes has narrowed her lead on Liberal Party candidate Dave Sharma, and a couple of polling booth recounts during the week have seen some preference errors fixed up and extended her lead to about 1600 votes. With Phelps now highly likely to become the Wentworth’s MP, she’s begun speaking about what she wants to work on when she reaches parliament. For many people in Wentworth, the issues that this election was fought on were value based, such as getting children out of detention in Nauru, action on climate change and LGBTIQ+ issues – things the government haven’t been focusing on as much recently.

Phelps is acutely aware that she doesn’t have much time to act in parliament – the next federal election is due in the first half of next year – but it’s the Government that will also have a tough time in the next six or so months. With Phelps winning the seat, we now have a hung parliament, which Scott Morrison said would make governing hard. He seems to think that all the cross-benchers will try to destabilise the government. Given most cross-bench MPs – like Rebekha Sharkie, Andrew Wilkie, Adam Bandt and Cathy McGowan – tend to judge each motion or piece legislation on its merits and also discuss things with the government, it is unlikely they will intentionally band together to overthrow the Prime Minister and the government.

This week also saw the National Apology for victims of child sexual abuse from Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten. The apologised for the government’s inaction on child abuse in the early days, as well as for abuse suffered in facilities run by the states, churches and charities. Julia Gillard came to Canberra for the apology, and received lots of cheers and applause, as she was the one that announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Abuse. The government also didn’t hold Question Time on Monday, out of respect for the victims and attendees at the apology in order to show that the day was about them, not about politics.

Meanwhile there are continued calls for the government to remove and resettle all the refugees detained in detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. Earlier in the week, eleven children (and presumably their families) were removed from Nauru and brought to Australia for urgent medical care. However, many adults and children are still in detention. There are suggestions to resettle some refugees in New Zealand, which has been offered multiple times by our neighbours in the last decade – but the New Zealand government understandably wants more information, especially given Australia still hasn’t decided whether they’re going to let people settled in NZ come to Australia at all, even as tourists. There are also thoughts about sending migrants to regional centres in Australia, which is all well and good but you must have the infrastructure and services to make that work. There were also rallies in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend, calling for detention on Manus Island and Nauru to be ended.

The plan to move the Australian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a key issue covered in Senate Estimates this week, with revelations that it was a bit of a captain’s call. Foreign Minister Marise Payne didn’t know about the plan until she was asked to notify Australia’s neighbours, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade wasn’t consulted, and the Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, found out through the media instead of being notified by the government, which Campbell felt wasn’t ideal.

The government announced this week that superannuation would be modified, such that there would be caps of fees paid, and making the life and income insurance cover optional for those under the age of 25 and in inactive super accounts. While the fee caps are being received pretty well, there are mixed reactions to the potential insurance cover changes – super funds feel that a change would leave thousands of young people without cover, and some people who have ended up needing to use their superannuation’s automatic life insurance or income protection has been very useful.

This week saw the Duke of Sussex attending Invictus Games events on Sunday and then unveil a plaque on Fraser Island on Monday, while the Duchess of Sussex rested. They spend the middle of the week in the Pacific, visiting Fiji and Tonga, before returning to Australia on Friday night to attend the Australian Geographic Society Awards, and attend the Wheelchair Basketball finals and the Invictus Games Closing Ceremony on Saturday. They’re now headed to New Zealand, where they will spend the rest of their trip before heading back to England.

The Government has announced that they will start an investment fund to help drought-proof regional areas for future droughts, while at a summit on farming and the drought, held at Old Parliament House. There won’t be any money for two years though, and the full amount promised wont be fully given our for a decade after that – which is a good long-term plan perhaps, but it relies on the Coalition being returned to government at the 2019 Federal Election, which may not happen. Some farmers though are also suggesting that the government needs to look at programs to help farmers for whom an exit from farming would be the best option rather than helping drought-proof their farms.

Also this week, Fraser Anning has been dumped by the Katter’s Australia Party, after he brought a motion to have a plebiscite on non-European migration, which is something Anning thinks should be stopped. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has returned to Australia after spending some time in America – while also facing criticism for not helping the Liberal Party during the election campaign.

Finally this week, Scott Morrison announced that returned service members would be able to get discounts on things they buy with the new veterans card coming out early next year. Also, there is a push for more intergenerational care programs, particularly between young children in childcare and the elderly in aged care. Evidence shows that it teaches young children to be comfortable around older people and in turn, it helps the older people feel they have a purpose and a greater feeling of self-worth.

Tweet of the Week

Days like this I just want to go to wherever ⁦⁦@jonkudelka⁩ lives and just shake his hand very vigorously. pic.twitter.com/e5eVlDMUwK

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) October 24, 2018

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

VICE Australia’s new “Dolly Doctor” for the social media age – Walkley Magazine

Laura Tingle on how the Liberals are dealing with the Wentworth result – ABC Online

Parties urged to be honest about businesses paying for political access – The Guardian

 

The Week That Was – August 5 to August 11

Drought now affects 100% of the state of New South Wales, as new assistance and tax breaks were announced by both the Federal and the NSW State Government. A lot of the money from the Federal Government is going to mental health phone support and topping up the “living on the farm” tax break that farmers already get (I don’t know what that tax rebate is actually called but that was how I understood it from the news). However some farmers fear they may miss out because their land is too large.

There is also a bit of angst from some farmers who have invested heavily in drought proofing or preparation, because they don’t feel that those farmers that haven’t prepared should get rewarded for it; however if the drought goes on for too long, those that made preparations may also need the assistance, and if it isn’t there now they’ll be angrier in the future when they need the help. In some towns, they’re running out of water and even Sydney’s water supply is dropping. While Sydney is not yet at strict water restrictions like it was back in the 2000s, there is a chance we will, even after the desalination plant kicks into action.

As the Garma Festival came to an end this week, there is further criticism of the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as it appears he isn’t acting on or is simply rejecting suggestions that were made in the Uluru statement last year. One particular point of contention is the call for there to be an elected body of indigenous advisors to parliament, like a third house of parliament essentially, which Turnbull doesn’t want to even approach because he doesn’t think it will get through a referendum.

This week the banking Royal Commission has taken its focus to superannuation, looking into both industry and retail funds. Because super makes no sense sometimes, there will be no average people giving evidence, just experts and executives. The main focus has been NAB, who owns super fund MLC, and how they charged fees for no service (which is illegal) and then debated whether or not they should compensate customers and how.

Emma Husar’s political career will end at the next election, after she decided she would not re-contest her marginal Western Sydney seat of Lindsay. She said her reputation has been irreparably damaged. The awkward part in all of this is that the day after she made this announcement, the investigation into her conduct reported that while her management style is a little unusual and she can be heavy-handed, but in no way is she behaving inappropriately and she doesn’t need to resign from parliament.

The National Audit Office is looking into how the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a small charity run by corporates, is using the money it was granted for Great Barrier Reef protection. There are suggestions that the money was potentially given to the foundation without a tender process. There are suggestions from former board members and employees that the organisation is less geared towards climate issues and that giving them such a large grant without much of a process.

Finally this week, ASIC will embed agents in financial institutions; Australia’s population hit 25 million sometime on Tuesday; the State and Federal Energy Ministers met this week to discuss lowering power prices while lowering emissions and keeping the energy reliable – which suggests we wont really get a lot of renewables in the mix for a while yet; and there are concerns over how providers are handling customers who go it alone paying to get fibre to the premises, and then when their neighbours decide they want it too, they don’t get any compensation, despite the fact they have made it cheaper for everyone else in the street.

Tweet of the Week

Cool history things. 🙂

The Bray Head fire combined with recent heavy rain has resulted in the "Eire" sign becoming visible from the air once more. The sign was made during the 2nd World War in order to warn Allied & German airmen that they were flying over a neutral country. #Wicklow #EIRE @barrabest pic.twitter.com/CYaXtpoRtS

— SkycamIreland (@IrelandSkycam) August 4, 2018

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Daniel Ziffer on the Banking Royal Commission’s look into super – ABC Online

Apparently Tony Abbott and the Greens are on the same side – ABC Online

The Week That Was – June 3 to June 8

Barnaby Joyce’s interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night aired on Sunday and it appears that the only viewers were the Canberra Press Gallery – the interview didn’t really garner the attention or the rise in viewership. Even Scott Morrison admitted he was watching singing reality show The Voice. Joyce’s performance was all sorts of weird (from what I’ve seen from clips on the ABC) in which he disparaged some of his colleagues, implied his partner Vikki wasn’t an adult woman with a mind of her own, and admitted he knew that he was in trouble when Vikki got pregnant. People in his electorate seemed to have been forced by the local pubs to watch the interview, and as one younger viewer commented  to the ABC (we’re talking a 20-30 year old) thought Joyce was bit of a tool.

There are now questions over whether Joyce will be able to survive pre-selection this time around. Most MPs aren’t really commenting on it, although it appears that they wouldn’t mind if Joyce didn’t come back after next year’s election. Tony Abbott on the other hand, seems to be very supportive of Joyce, which could be a blessing or a curse – we shall have to see.

So while Joyce takes some time off, the rest of Australia can get on with their lives.

Malcolm Turnbull and local MPs across regional New South Wales and Queensland have been inspecting drought ravaged areas. He’s pledged assistance and help but it is not totally clear exactly what that help will be just yet.

The economy is doing alright at the moment, with GDP up by 1% in the March quarter, and up 3.1% for the year. It’s a positive picture, and a good start to 2018. However, it is mostly exports and predominantly to China, which isn’t necessarily an issue, but does suggest we’ll be in trouble if China has a slump.

The Public Service Commissioner, John Lloyd, who is responsible for public service pay and conditions, has quit. There have been questions over his conduct and independence, as he has links to the right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). He will leave the role in August, and it appears that quite a few people are relieved that he’s going.

This week marks 30 years since former Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised a treaty between the government and Australia’s indigenous population. There hasn’t been a treaty, and this leaves Australia as the only Commonwealth nation with no treaty with the Indigenous population. However three states – Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory – have begun the treaty process with land councils, with varying success. This week saw the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister sign Memoranda of Understanding with three Central Australian Land Councils. Bill Shorten has also announced that he will act on the recent Uluru Statement and implement a federal Indigenous advisory panel.

The Australian military’s special forces (SAS) is being investigated for their conduct and behaviour while deployed. This information has come through leaks to the media making some politicians concerned. While the SAS does get some latitude and secrecy given the nature of their missions, it appears that some of their behaviour may have been illegal – so Mark Binskin, the head of Australia’s armed forces, has asked that this investigation continue and finish quickly without interference.

While the Royal Commission wasn’t in hearings this week, the banks still had a bad time. First, the Commonwealth Bank has been fined $700 million for breaching money laundering laws. There were over 53,000 breaches where the bank knowingly let suspicious transactions take place and potentially let money go to criminal organisations and terrorist groups. The fine could have been a lot worse, so CommBank is very, very lucky.

Meanwhile, the ANZ, Citibank and Deutsche Bank have been charged with cartel behaviour. The important thing here is that these are criminal charges, not civil. This means that they have also arrested people – mostly former CEOs and executives. It involves the ANZ approaching Citibank, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to help them increase their shares. JP Morgan has not been charged in the case, because they are helping in the investigation and case and getting immunity in return.

This week has been an interesting one for Australia-China relations, with China getting anxious about the government’s plans to introduce foreign interference laws in time to protect ‘Super Saturday’ by-elections on July 28 – because apparently China is going to try to affect the outcome. From my perspective, it’s unlikely that China is going to get involved in five by-elections that are unlikely to dramatically affect the government’s standing in parliament – yes three more seats will make the Coalition more comfortable, but it’s not going to change the course of history.

Australia is also under pressure to get involved in freedom of navigation activities in the South China Sea, and it became really awkward when it became apparent that a suspected Chinese surveillance ship had been following HMAS Adelaide around the South Pacific, somewhat confirmed when they both pulled into port in Suva, Fiji.

Finally this week, technology companies are trying to figure out who the government is going to approach access to encrypted messages – essentially the government wants ways to access messages and informations on people’s phones when they are doing investigations; Qantas has bowed to Chinese pressure to label Taiwan as a region of China, making the government (potentially) a bit concerned; NBN quotes for people who are wanting to upgrade from fibre-to-the-node (or curb) to fibre-to-the-premises are ridiculously high and it’s unclear why that is the case; and eyes are now on a charity that has been named by an Australian teenager arrested in Lebanon for allegedly trying to join ISIS – he says the charity encouraged him to join.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/leighsales/status/1004875931134017536

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Laura Tingle on the political football that is the ABC – ABC Online

Lucy Barbour on Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘drought tour’ – ABC Online

 

The Week that Was – February 23 to March 1

So back last week, a guy died on Manus Island during riots. When Scott Morrison first talked about it, he said that the deceased asylum seeker was outside the complex when he was killed. It appears that this was not the case – the Iranian asylum seeker, who arrived after Kevin Rudd’s asylum seeker PNG resettlement plan, was inside the centre when he was killed. There have been calls for Scott Morrison to resign or for Tony Abbott to sack him. Abbott has said that he won’t sack him because we “don’t want a wimp running border protection” and that Morrison is “strong and decent”, despite the fact that Scott Morrison is the Minister for Immigration and not the Minister for Border Protection. Back on Manus Island, the locals have said they are rattled by the event and would very much like to know what happened that night. Fair enough, if a guy had died near my house, I’d like to know exactly what happened too. The Manus locals are blaming Australia for what happened and Papua New Guinean officials are saying that locals and PNG police weren’t very involved. They also said that the asylum seeker death was confirmed to have taken place in the complex very early on.

Craig Thompson, after having been found guilty in court last week, has this week been referred to the Privileges Committee to see if he deliberately lied to Parliament when he made a speech, denying he did anything untoward, and the Government has apologised to the people Thompson named in his speech. Labor allowed both motions through, and I guess, given Thompson was found guilty, it would look bad if they voted against it.

Stephen Conroy caused a major brouhaha (yes, brouhaha) this week, when he accused Angus Campbell of a political cover-up to do with Operation Sovereign Borders and what happened on Manus Island, which you can watch here. The Defence Minister wants an apology, which Conroy hasn’t given and Bill Shorten isn’t forcing him to. Conroy has however, withdrawn the comment, but the Liberals still want him sacked. In Senate Estimates hearings, it has been said that about $2 million has been spent on Operation Sovereign Borders, but they won’t say how much specifically they have spent on the orange lifeboats they’ve been using to send the asylum seekers back. Hmmm.

Aid for drought affected farmers also passed through parliament this week, with money for loans as well as handouts for those farmers who really and desperately need money and help. They are also setting aside $33 million dollars for mental health services to help farmers as well.

Speaking of aid, Qantas came back with its results, but it seems that the government is very reluctant to give it money, because there would be backlash from, well, a lot of people. However, they may still change the Qantas Sale Act so they can have more foreign ownership and make a bit more money. And while I don’t understand finance and economics that well, I can tell when shareholders are unimpressed. Qantas shares went down twice on Thursday, first when the $252 million loss was announced and then again when Alan Joyce said he was staying in his role as CEO…Ouch.

Tweets of the Week

A selection of tweets from the growing number of people who are taking part in a twitter campaign #notinmyname

As the daughter of a refugee who helped build Australia #sorryasylumseekers #notinmyname pic.twitter.com/0AsgKrExqz

— Dr Julie Milland (@JulieMilland) February 28, 2014

#sorryasylumseekers #notinmyname #closemanus pic.twitter.com/p4C0sNYydR

— Jessica Lee (@jesslee85) March 1, 2014

33 Deeply Remorseful Australians Apologise To Asylum Seekers http://t.co/MFDDeg1jQg #NotInMyName pic.twitter.com/jUtQt6ypUe

— Simon Crerar (@simoncrerar) February 24, 2014

The Week that Was – February 16 to February 22

A lot happened this week.

This week the report into Indonesian border incursions was released, revealing that the navy has breached Indonesian waters six times, all, they say, were inadvertent because incorrect calculations were made regarding the location of the water border. Some have been asking how that’s possible given all the GPS technology that would’ve told them there was a problem. Indonesia did bring up Operation Sovereign Borders with the Americans, but it seems no one really asked about that chat because John Kerry didn’t bring it up in public.

Speaking of bringing up issues, the Chinese brought up the treatment of asylum seekers in scheduled talks with Australian officials. Usually the Australians are the ones being concerned about the human rights issues in China, and they did bring it up, but never have the Chinese lectured Australia on treating people humanely. Australian officials said they explained everything to the Chinese and that once explained, everything was ok.

Tony Abbott spent last weekend in areas of drought in western Queensland and north-western New South Wales and it seemed as if he brought rain with him as a gift. And while it sounds a tad mean, it’s hard to not laugh when you’re talking about drought relief when it is raining, and quite heavily at that. Farmers have made it clear that they don’t just want help because there is a drought, they want long-term support.

Still with the Prime Minister, he’s saying that he wants his government to be “the best friend Medicare has ever had”, despite people flagging changes to the system. They’re suggesting $6 co-payments when you visit the doctor. However, some have been asking why we can’t just raise the Medicare levy, given that’s how we already pay for Medicare anyway. Which is a valid point, as is the suggestion that maybe decreasing or removing rebates for some of the expensive elective surgeries that people have.

Moving on, Craig Thompson was found guilty of fraud and theft for using his union credit card to pay for things that he shouldn’t be using that card for. A few of the charges were thrown out, but he was still found guilty of most of them. Now he is waiting to be sentenced. Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek have both made it clear that no one is above the law and that they are pleased that the law has caught up with him.

Speaking of Labor, the former government’s confidential cabinet files could be unsealed for the Royal Commission being held to look at the “pink batts” scheme – an insulation scheme carried out during which four workers were electrocuted. There’s a bit of fuss about that, because they are released 30 years later (e.g. 1983 cabinet files were released at the end of last year, 2013). Never have they been released while the following government is in power.

This week, an 75-year-old Australian missionary was arrested in Pyongyang for handing out religious leaflets. He apparently left some in a Buddhist temple while on a tour, and has reportedly admitted that tourism was not the only reason for his visit. He could face time in prison or a labour camp, and because Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea, the Swedish Embassy is representing our interests there.

The G20 had the Finance ministers’ meeting in Sydney this weekend, and while they aren’t finished yet nothing major has occurred. Joe Hockey has been talking with lots of people, and he wants “measurable” results from these meetings, which are often criticised as talk-fests. He’s also said a couple of times that government spending needs to be sustainable, which is fair enough.

Finally, we get to the big newsmaker this week – the chaos on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where there is an Immigration Detention Centre. It began when a few asylum seekers either escaped or at least attempted to after being told they would not be settled in Australia. It soon turned into what appeared to be a riot, in which one Iranian asylum seeker was killed and many others were injured, and at least three were transferred to Australia for medical treatment, one believed to have a gunshot wound. Journalists were not allowed in, but the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre released a call they received from one of the detainees inside.

Right now there’s a bit of a blame game going on, with Manus Island residents blaming the security staff, both Australian and Papua New Guinean. The security staff says that they were provoked by the asylum seekers saying nasty things about PNG. While the Papuan Prime Minister says that it was the Australian security staff, not the locals. There will be an inquiry, but it will take a while.

Tweet of the Week

The ABC's PNG correspondent @Liam_Cochrane has been joined on the ground by the last one @liamfoxpng. Other ABC Liam's on standby.

— Mark Scott (@mscott) February 22, 2014

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Correspondents Report – an ABC Radio program which, as their website says: “the ABC’s overseas reporters give their interpretation and analysis of the week’s major events.”