The last fortnight saw the final days of campaigning before Super Saturday. There were some awkward moments, like the revelation that Liberal Candidate for Longman Trevor Ruthenberg was claiming he had an army medal he didn’t actually have. He says that it was an innocent mistake, in that he claimed he had an Australian Service Medal (given to those who serve in non-war operations overseas) rather than an Australian Defence Medal (given to those who go through an initial enlistment period or 4 years service).
There has also been a bit of awkwardness for the Liberal Candidate in Mayo, Georgina Downer, who hasn’t been able to shake the public perception that she is an outsider being parachuted in. Even with help from her father, former Howard Government Minister Alexander Downer, and even John Howard himself, it appeared that the Liberals began to feel that Downer was going to lose the seat to Centre Alliance Candidate Rebekha Sharkie.
The results ended up being called on the night, and Labor has won Longman and Braddon, as well as their two seats in Western Australia that the Liberal Party did not contest, while Sharkie won Mayo.
The government says they are going to get rid of junk health insurance policies (i.e. ones that don’t really cover you but could be bought cheaply to get the tax rebate) and there will be a crackdown on how health insurances are advertised. However, the opposition has pointed out that the only thing the government has done to protect people from junk policies is to just remove the rebate from them, rather than actually outlaw them.
Meanwhile, the government is giving people until October 15 to decide whether they want to opt out of the MyHealthRecord system. It’s being touted as an easy way for all your medical practitioners (and your emergency contact) to have your medical information all in one place, but there are concerns that the system is not secure enough especially given it will have all your personal information on that. There are also concerns over who else can have access to it – the police, health insurers and the government. Many people, including government MPs are opting out of the system.
If you decide to opt out you can do so here.
Malcolm Turnbull spent the a few days in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory to promise better services to help those in Tennant Creek deal with alcohol abuse and other social issues that the lead to the brutal sexual abuse of a two-year old child earlier this year. Turnbull went on patrol with a group that deals with alcohol abuse is the streets. However, he went on a Sunday, which is when the bottle shops are closed in Tennant Creek – so some suggest he didn’t really get the full picture. The government has announced that they will work an a plan with the NT government and NGOs to co-ordinate services so that there isn’t an overlap, but there are no costings or plans as of yet.
The Government has announced that there will be a 100-person strong team attached to the NDIS to catch people trying to defraud the system. Users of the scheme say that’s all well and good, but money could be better spent training more disability support staff and improving wait times for people’s applications. What’s even more awkward at the moment for the NDIS is that one of the people on their advertising has had their NDIS application rejected, despite having early onset Parkinson’s disease and a spinal injury (and being promised he was eligible).
Also during the last two weeks, Lindsay MP Emma Husar is taking personal leave while an investigation takes place into her office after allegations that she made a taxpayer-funded staffer run personal errands for her. Meanwhile, there has been some concern about government services going online, particularly those used most often by the elderly, as some of them are not computer literate.
Finally this week, there have been inaccurate predictions of Australia’s population growth and we are now going to hit 25 million people in August this year; Malcolm Turnbull is calling on the Pope to sack the Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson now that he’s been convicted of concealing child abuse and is refusing to quit; if the Labor Party wins the next NSW state election, they’ve pledged to define a ‘gig worker’ and give them rights under industrial relations laws; and Medals of Bravery have been given to the Australian divers involved in the Thai Cave rescue.
Tweet of the Fortnight
Oh, Lee Lin Chin is quitting SBS News…. July 29th is her last night.
Kara L 