Tag Archives: Indigenous Affairs

The Two Weeks That Were – July 7 to July 20

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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.

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

More Gaffes, Stonewalling and Alt-Right Infiltration

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Oops, a bit late with the posting…working in retail during holiday periods tends to lead to that.

I hope you had a restful Easter break.

Last week, we saw policy promises from both major parties around health, jobs and the economy. The parties both rallied their volunteers on Sunday, and so began a week of campaigning with tempered by truces on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

This week saw another gaffe, with Bill Shorten saying there would be “no new taxes on superannuation” – except, well, he has one planned should he get into government. He apologised and said that upon reflection he should have said that there would be no new taxes on superannuation other than what had already been announced by Labor in the last few months. Scott Morrison has attempted to jump on this gaffe, but it feels overdone, mostly because he’s using the line he’s been using for the last ten days about Labor and Bill Shorten being liars.

When not selling their policies to the electorate, both Shorten and Morrison have been frustrating journalists (and voters) by stonewalling on certain questions. For example, when the Prime Minister was in the electorate of Deakin with MP Michael Sukkar, he was asked he felt confident in Sukkar’s support, given Sukkar had backed Dutton last August – and Morrison responded:

That is such a bubble question, I’m just going to leave that one in the bubble

Shorten on the other hand, got into a terse exchange with Channel 10 reporter Jonathan Lea, who asked about the costs of Labor’s emissions reduction target five time and didn’t get a “proper” answer – Lea was rightfully frustrated.

It is a worry that both leaders feel they can control what is put out by the media by stonewalling and avoiding questions. It doesn’t work, because we have a fairly independent and free press, which means that politicians or governments can’t control the story anyway. If anything it makes both leaders look like they’re hiding something, which one might think would be something they would rather avoid.

There weren’t a huge range of announcements this week due to the agreement to not campaign on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but Labor has promised to give Indigenous community organisations more say in where money goes, combined with further promises to invest $115 million in indigenous health, and to make Pat Dodson the Indigenous Affairs Minister should Labor win the election. Otherwise, most of the week was spent either talking more about previous policy announcements, or debating whose policy costings were correct. There are so many millions and billions floating around, my head is spinning.

Meanwhile, Fraser Anning had been embroiled in some sort of alt-right conspiracy to infiltrate politics. It seems that at least one of his political staffers and some of his campaign staff have links to an ultra right-wing group that tried to infiltrate the Nationals (they were unsuccessful, after they were discovered and expelled from the party in October last year). However, it gets a bit weirder, as one of these alt-right guys worked for Clive Palmer a few years ago. He only worked for Palmer and his eponymous – but now-defunct – Palmer United Party, but only for three weeks. Palmer doesn’t see it as a big deal, he apparently fires people all the time.

Meanwhile, Clive Palmer is having another stab at politics – he is now running a new political party, the United Australia Party, and will be running for the Senate. Palmer was planning to contest the ultra-marginal Queensland seat of Herbert, but because he’s quite unpopular there, he’s decided to put someone else in the seat and try for the Upper House where he potentially has a better chance.

Many in the government now believe that George Christiansen’s electorate of Dawson in Queensland is going to be lost in the election, as he comes under more fire for being an “absent member” – he’s spending more time in the Philippines than in Australia, mostly because Christiansen has a Filipino girlfriend. The main concern for the electorate Dawson for both major parties is that the One Nation vote is generally quite high and they don’t really want a member of the Lower House from One Nation.

There are also questions surrounding Barnarby Joyce and Angus Taylor over the $80 million government purchase of water rights from two farms owned by a company that is domiciled in the Cayman Islands. If that wasn’t enough, the company did at one point employ Angus Taylor. Taylor denies that he or any family members have benefitted from the sale, and Barnaby Joyce was “out of range”.

Tweet of the Week

Election campaigns that have Easter in the middle of them means politicians take photos with the oddest of characters…

Thing’s I’ve Been Looking at Online

The logistics of the world’s biggest single-day election – The Interpreter

Annabel Crabb says we shouldn’t be distracted by the billions and millions – ABC Online

 

The Week That Was – August 5 to August 11

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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. 🙂

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

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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 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 – November 13 to November 26

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The fortnight began with the shock win of the NSW state seat of Orange by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, leading to people suggesting that the people of Orange were possibly inspired by the win of Trump in the USA.

Meanwhile, the announcement that refugees in detention will go to the USA, has been met with cautious optimism from the detainees, but there are questions over how many the USA will actually take given their stringent health checks. The other concern is that of one of the witnesses to Reza Berati’s death, as it appears he may not be able to go to the USA with the others as the case is yet to be closed.

Meanwhile, Bill Shorten is taking aim at another group of migrants. He says that Australia is issuing too many 457 visas – those for skilled migrants – shutting Australians out of the workforce. Shorten has been criticised for making Trump-esque comments, as well as the government’s claim that when Shorten was Employment Minister in the Labor Government, he issued many more 457 visas, which Shorten counters was proportionate to the mining boom at the time.

There are also concerns about the unemployment rate numbers, as those that are released (most recently 5% unemployment) do not include those who have given up looking for work, or those who wish to work more hours. The other concern is that full time employment is decreasing and most new jobs are part time hours.

Malcolm Turnbull has had a fortnight of travelling to Peru for APEC, dealing with uncertainty over US-Australia relations when the Trump administration is in power and having the government’s ABCC bill passed through the senate with all but one cross-bencher agreeing to the legislation, with a few amendments. Turnbull has also revealed this week that Greg Norman gave him Trump’s private phone number, while pundits suggest that because Turnbull is a conservative politician he may be able to get Trump’s ear – and that he should act on it as soon as possible.

Indigenous indicators are once again concerning the public, especially health, education and incarceration rates. However there are some positives, as some local and community based initiatives are paying back dividends.

Also this week, the whole property drama took an interesting turn with a NSW Liberal minister suggesting that negative gearing has to be reformed in order for first home buyers to get a foot in the market. Despite the NSW Liberal State Government continually talking about needing to increase supply, the Planning Minister Rob Stokes has said that maybe negative gearing is another factor to consider among others to allow first home buyers to get into the market.

Finally during this fortnight, there are complaints about the NBN rollout; theres issues with the Murray-Darling basin plan and water allocations; there are fights over the backpacker tax, among other senate drama; and people are demanding Peter Dutton be sacked for suggesting that Malcolm Fraser made a mistake by allowing so many Lebanese Muslim refugees into Australia, given the majority of people in recent terror arrests have been Lebanese-Muslims.

Tweet of the Fortnight

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Not much due to a busy work schedule…

This Cuban-American grandmother’s reaction to Fidel Castro’s Death – Buzzfeed

The Week That Was – September 18 to September 24

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This week saw Malcolm Turnbull overseas in New York City to take part in the United Nations General Assembly. Turnbull visited the 9/11 Memorial, met with wold leaders to talk about asylum seekers at an invite-only migration summit run by Obama, and also met with US Defence Secretary Ash Carter to talk defence as well as US Congress members to convince them to pass the TPP.

While at the migration summit, Australia committed to an increase of $130 million to refugee programs in Australia, and will permanently increase the refugee intake to just under 19,000 after 2018. We will also take some Central American refugees, a decision which has confounded many. There are also questions as to whether Australia’s pledge was exactly what Obama was wanting.

The government is planning some major welfare reform. They’re thinking of going down the same route as New Zealand, with the aim of reducing the overall lifetime cost of welfare payments to people. There are concerns that some could be left behind, and it’s also a very confusing system to wrap one’s head around.

Meanwhile, parents and teachers are angry over proposed changes to the Gonski funding model. The plan, according to Education Minister Simon Birmingham, is to redo the entire education funding model, and it is believed that there will be cuts to some public education, while there are increases to private schools.

Finally this week, Australia was involved in a botched airstrike on Syrian forces; the government settled with the ship that ran aground on Douglas Shoal a few years ago; Nigel Scullion is meeting with Indigenous groups in order to repair the relationship between the government and the Indigenous community; and the National Gallery of Australia is returning two Indian artefacts that were believed to be stolen.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/779466847875760128

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Michael Fletcher on the NZ welfare model – The Conversation

Annabel Crabb on Pauline Hanson – The Age

The Week That Was – August 21 to August 28

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The week began with a commemoration of the Wave Hill walk off fifty years ago, with the Lingiari and Mabo families meeting up together for the commemorations. It began the movement for Indigenous land rights in Australia, as well as Indigenous working conditions.

There are questions over whether the change in funding of sport is working after we only won half of the gold medals that we won in Sydney in 2000. As the Olympians returned from Rio, it was announced that there would be a review into the “Winning Edge” funding program and the falling medal tally.

Parliament has been interesting this week with the new Senators having orientation day, and police raids in the office of Senator Stephen Conroy over NBN leaks. Labor has claimed parliamentary privilege on some of the documents seized by the police, meaning the Senate has to vote on whether or not to allow the police to take them as evidence.

Meanwhile, Scott Morrison made a speech about no being complacent about the risk of a recession as the mining boom ends, Barnaby Joyce has announced an investigation nto the dairy industry, especially how pricing is determined, and Malcolm Turnbull is condending with an ambitious backbench and a possibly hostile Senate.

Also this week, the Greens have said they will not support the same-sex marriage plebiscite, as they believe it puts the mental health of LGBTIQ youth at risk, instead believing a parliamentary vote on the subject is a better course of action. They’ve also had a reshuffle, in which Sarah Hanson-Young has lost her Immigration Spokesperson role to Nick McKim.

Finally this week, there are concerns over the extent of Chinese involvement in Australia, with most Chinese language media toeing the Communist Party line, as well as Chinese state company donations to politcal parties; Man Haron Monis has been mentioned in is girlfriend’s murder trial, with the prosecution saying that he was the mastermind of the murder of his ex-wife; and the NT election looks to be in Labor’s favour.

Tweet of the Week

An interesting look at which countries allow foreign donations:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Not much, recently, thanks to uni.

Questions over the “Winning Edge”funding system – ABC Online

The Week That Was – August 23 to August 29

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This week Tony Abbott spent his promised week with the indigenous community in the Torres Strait Islands, visiting Thursday Island (Mer) to visit Eddie Mabo’s grave, as well as meet with elders and run the country. He attended a memorial service for those in the region who fought in the Second World War, who protected the islands in the Torres Strait from invasion, despite bombing raids from the Japanese Army. Abbott also spent some time on one of the school buses in one community, helping children get to school. Generally, it’s been a good week for Abbott, however, there have been a few hiccups – first, several establishments have claimed that the PM’s Office booked hotel rooms, which were cancelled at the last-minute when Abbott decided to stay in the army barracks instead, costing the hotels money, as they had been preparing for the PM, Ministers and other government officials. Second, Abbott may have gotten his teaching methods mixed up, crediting improvement in one school to “direct instruction” (where the concept is broken up into pieces and taught directly), when it fact it was “explicit instruction” (aka “I do, we do, you do” where the teacher does one example, the class does one together and then the students work on their own) that was helping.

The scaremongering about terrorism has continued, with politicians equating ISIS to Pol Pot or Adolf Hitler, trying to express the need for Australians to support the government’s plans to join the US in bombing ISIS targets in Syria. Despite the fact that it is believe that the government engineered the request from the US to join, there are still legal issues to consider, given there is no UNSC Resolution or formal request from Syria. However, it’s thought that Australia may get around these issues by claiming self-defence or by claiming the land they are bombing is “ungoverned space”, as Australia does not recognise either the Assad government or ISIS as legitimate governments.

Joe Hockey meanwhile has been talking about one of life’s certainties – taxes. There is universal concern that as inflation rises, more and more people are going to fall into the next highest tax bracket – a phenomenon known as ‘bracket creep”. Despite the Treasurer’s concern with bracket creep, it appears that Hockey is still only talking about it, and doesn’t yet have any policies on the table, which concerns some analysts.

Unions are worried about the Free Trade Agreement with China, especially because Chinese companies will be able to bring in their own workers for some projects. This concerns the unions, not just because it would detrimentally affect the local workers, as there would be fewer jobs, but also because it’s possible the Chinese workers flown in will not be paid according to Australian labour laws. Labor has suggested that if the workers are going to be affected negatively by the Free Trade Agreement, then they may not support it, which led Tony Abbott to warn that if Labor and the unions had their way, then there would be a new “White Australia Policy” – which left me speechless.

The week was an improvement for the government, at least until Friday, when the Australian Border Force release a press release announcing that they were going to check the identity documents of anyone they came across in Melbourne over the weekend. It’s been equated with Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, and others expressed concerns that it would lead to racial profiling – lawyers also told the media it was illegal. By Friday afternoon the protesters were out in force in Melbourne’s CBD, and the police and Border Force cancelled their operation. There have been questions over whether or not the Minister or the PM knew about the program.

Finally this week, Heydon delayed his judgement on his recusal due to his apprehended bias, people are bringing up the possibility of having a referendum on becoming a republic, and George Brandis is under fire for not filling a regional judge vacancy after the retirement of one of the three judges.

Tweet of the Week

Judges in Peter Greste and his colleagues’ retrial in Egypt delivered the verdict on Saturday

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Not much, given I had an assignment for uni this week…

First Dog on the Moon on the Border Force Saga – The Guardian

The Week That Was – January 25 to January 31

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So, Tony Abbott made Prince Phillip a Knight of the Order of Australia. That announcement kind of took away from the fact that Angus Houston – the former Defence guy that was coordinating the search of MH370 and represented Australia for a bit after MH17 – also received a knighthood, and that anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year.

Other than the awkwardness of the Prince Phillip knighthood “captain’s pick” issue, Australia Day was relatively normal, other than the heavy rain in Sydney. People who did some great things were recognised, there was some interesting helicopter and boat choreography on Sydney Harbour and Prince Phillip received a knighthood (the whole knighthood thing took over for a bit). Indigenous people also reminded people that they still see this day in a more negative light, treating it as a “Day of Mourning” or a “Day of Survival”, since over 200 years ago, they were basically invaded and colonised by the British.

Tony Abbott has been having a tough time this week, especially after his captain’s pick for the knighthood, with ministers and backbenchers saying they had no idea that was the plan and saying that it isn’t really an appropriate knighthood to have given. Those who haven’t specifically said that the knighthood was the worst idea ever, have at least placed all the blame on Abbott who has ignored social media backlash over the whole thing, calling it “electronic graffiti”. However, there’s more to it, because now there are rumours of serious rumblings behind the scenes over Abbott’s leadership, while some of his closest supporters in the media, like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones, are suggesting his leadership could be at an end.

Abbott has admitted he should have consulted more with his party and the public over the whole knighthood saga, but the rumours have continued with talk that Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and others, including Mal Brough (responsible for the whole Ashby-Slipper saga back in the Gillard days), are canvassing the party for numbers, or if not them, backbenchers who think that some of these Ministers could be PM and win them the next election.

The whole thing got a little bit more insane and ridiculous when Abbott said the reason ministers like Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison are any good at their jobs was because he is a great leader.

Meanwhile, the Queensland LNP is fully ready to blame Abbott if they get a poor result in the Queensland State Election, held on Saturday, which now looks increasingly likely. The number of seats needed by a party to rule Queensland is 45, and at last count just before midnight on Saturday night, the LNP had 40 seats, Labor had 43 seats, with three seats in doubt, and three seats to other parties and independents. The prediction is that Labor will get 45 (the magic number) and win the election, most likely with support from the three other MPs – a result nobody expected.

Matthew Gardiner, the Labor Party President in the Northern Territory, has left Australia for the Middle East in order to help the Kurdish forces fight against Islamic State. It has shocked the country, with Bill Shorten telling people it’s a bad idea to go, and asking Gardiner to return to Australia. Furthermore, the government has pointed out that regardless of who you are fighting for, it’s still illegal to go fight overseas.

While the Manus Island Detention Centre protests are over, it appears that the allegations of violence on the part of the security forces and PNG Police may have had some truth to them, with images showing detainees with what appears to be evidence of being beaten. 40 of the Detention Centre’s detainees have also been arrested by the PNG government, however, once again, both the Australian and PNG governments aren’t saying much.

Finally this week, Whitlam and Hawke government minister, Tom Uren died this week; it’s looking more and more likely that the two Australians on death row in Indonesia for drug offences will be executed in the next few weeks; the Sydney Siege Inquiry has begun; the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has released its recommendations for compensation and reconciliation for victims; and Brazil is upset that a NSW court acquitted all but one of four cops charged with a Brazilian student’s death – and the one that was found guilty was charged with assault for using three cans of pepper spray on the student and didn’t even get a conviction recorded.

Tweet of the Week

So Triple J disqualified Taylor Swift from the Hottest 100, only to play another Top 40 song in spot #6

https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/559657461620027392

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

Kristina Keneally is a Catholic and a Feminist – The Guardian

Things that would have been different if Harry Potter was set in Australia – Buzzfeed

Your Argument is Wrong: “Guns don’t kill people”