Tag Archives: Junkee

The Week That Was – November 15 to November 21

Posted on by

As the world recovered from the shock of the Paris attacks, people either tried to encourage calm and tolerance, while others encouraged negativity towards others. Thankfully, the Turnbull government appears to be in favour of the former.

While continuing his “World Tour”, Malcolm Turnbull travelled to Turkey for the G20 where they spoke a bit about a collective response to terrorism, and how there really needs to be a political solution in Syria, even if it means allowing Assad to remain in power while Islamic State is defeated, while also reminding Australia that we have good security measures in place and shouldn’t start freaking out. This year’s G20 was a huge improvement for Australia’s image, with Turnbull placed in a prime spot in the ‘Family Photo’ and during some discussions. The PM was also invited to visit President Obama at the White House at the start of next year. After the G20 was the APEC Meeting in Manila, in the Philippines, where Turnbull was bombarded with concerns about the Darwin Port lease – which is covered in more detail below – especially because the USA didn’t find out through official channels, but through the Wall Street Journal, to which Turnbull told them to get a subscription to the NT News. Turnbull returned to Australia, spending some time in Darwin before flying out to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit starting this coming week.

Terrorism has been infiltrating our news feeds this week, after the Paris Attacks, in which one of the attackers is believed to have gotten into France through the Eastern European refugee channels. This has lead to concerns around the world about just who they might be letting in, especially in the United States, where more than half of the States have decided to refuse to take in some the 10,000 refugees the US will allow into the country to help lessen the burden the European Migrant Crisis is having on the region. Meanwhile France began more airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq and France is believed to be talking with several nations including the US and Australia about increasing their involvement. Meanwhile the NSW government has announced that police will now have the power to act without question (presumably lethally) if they believe someone is being killed or attacked in front of them, while other States and the ADF are considering similar powers.

Foreign investment is starting to cause concern this week with three different situations arising. The first is the Darwin Port lease, in which the Northern Territory Government leased the port to a Chinese company, this has caused concerns given that people in the company have links to the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. This seems to be surprising people even though it’s common for Chinese companies, especially the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), to have these links. It is also concerning because the Darwin Port’s lease area also encompasses a naval base, which has become a security concern.

The second investment issue this week has been the Treasurer’s decision to deny an application for a company, believed to be a Chinese company, from buying all of the Kidman Family farmland, as part of the land in South Australia backs onto the ADF weapons testing site at Woomera – a national security issue. The third is the concern that the NSW government will sell off their electricity assets to a Chinese SOE – which is another national security issue.

All of this is also leading to cabinet disagreements, which is leading to the perception of disunity in the party. This could be problematic for Turnbull, who is trying to balance all of the views in his party and cabinet to keep people happy.

Finally this week, the Trade Union Royal Commission has recommended that the people who gave evidence into the NUW last week should be prosecuted for their actions; the “On water operational matters” curtain was raised when a boat was turned back from Christmas Island – whether it was refugees or some wayward fishermen is unclear;  the Arts Minister is moving some finding back to the Arts Council, which will benefit individual performers and artists, but will still disadvantage small companies;  the top-secret ASIO part of the Sydney Siege Inquest has begun and it’s believed that any recommendations from this section will never be known to the public and Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall finished their visit to Australia and New Zealand and headed home.

Tweet of the Week

Waleed Aly on how Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) is weak.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on Paris – The Guardian

Durex wants a condom emoji – Junkee

Lee Lin Chin Interviews If You are the One host Meng Fei (subtitles)

Tea and Consent

 

The Week That Was – May 4 to May 10

Posted on by

So the week began with May Day protests, Christopher Pyne defending the Commission of Audit and Amanda Vanstone (a former Howard minister) wanting to keep her former MP ‘travel gold pass’ – something the Audit recommended, of which she was a Commissioner.

Then on Monday, there was a protest on Q&A about university cuts – it didn’t thrill many, especially the host, Tony Jones, who ended up having to go to a break – which was in fact a musical performance from the archives – while they booted the protesters out. You can read what I thought about the protest here, as well as seeing what the Executive Producer of Q&A thought here and another view from Clementine Ford here.

The talk about the Budget focused on whether or not a ‘debt levy’ should be implemented to help Australia deal with its debt. There is backlash from backbench MPs and the opposition in politics, while Peter Costello, a former treasurer famous for giving Australia at least ten consecutive budget surpluses, has said it’s bad idea. He’s added his voice to the large number of people who have the experience or the qualifications to talk about this kind of thing (i.e. people in the finance/economics sector, former Treasurers…) who are saying that the ideas the government have may not be the best ones.

The government could also be removing a freeze on the Fuel Excise – a tax on petrol and other fuels – making them more expensive. They haven’t sorted all the details out yet, but it’s believed the excise will go up with inflation. The major concern with this is for farmers. They spend upwards of $100,000 per year on fuel for equipment, and a raise in the Fuel Excise will make it more expensive. Many are hoping that if the Fuel Excise rises, then there will be a raise in the diesel fuel rebate to ease the pressure – otherwise agricultural production may face major issues.

Speaking of major issues, young people on the dole seems to be a big one for the government. Apparently, young people on welfare get money from the government so they can just sit on the couch and do nothing. So young people on the disability allowance (i.e. a medical condition prevents them from finding work) will be independently assessed and if they are deemed fit to work they will be sent out into the work force. Again, the people with the qualifications, experience and understanding of the situation are saying this is a bad idea, saying that they shouldn’t be sending people into a workforce where there may not be any suitable jobs for them. Adam Bandt (Greens MP) has said that this is only about the Budget’s bottom line – which it probably is.

Moving on, the government is closing some detention centres on Australian soil as well as combining all of the border protection and customs organisations into one big one called *drumroll* – The Australian Border Force! Ooh, scary. The Australian Border Force (ABF) is something less controversial than Operation Sovereign Borders (no kidding) and will save money – also a plus. Labor likes this plan. However, it does mean jobs will go, which is a good time to also say that there was the annual mention of sacking public servants – because they all sit around in their offices and do nothing. (I don’t actually believe this, but family members who have worked and do work in the public service make this comment in jest anytime cutting public service jobs is mentioned)

Back to border protection and Operation Sovereign Borders, though. Because this week, there’s been another scandal. According to Indonesian authorities, a vessel was turned around last week (when Tony Abbott was meant to be in Indonesia), and while being turned around by the Australian Navy, three people were put on the boat, one Indonesian and two Albanians. Indonesia wants to know how on earth that happened, and the Greens think the Australian Federal Police should investigate – which they probably should, given I am under the impression that what is alleged to have happened could be illegal under international law.

Finally this week, polling showed the Coalition government is at 38% approval, down 5 points – all of which have gone to the Greens or other parties, and Malcolm Turnbull was on BBC’s HARDtalk.

Tweet of the Week

Some don’t think this is a good look for Mathias Cormann and Joe Hockey – I wonder why…

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Calling out Miranda Devine (a conservative columnist) on a somewhat homophobic column – Junkee

A look at gay YouTubers – The Advocate

The Taiwanese animators got on the Packer-Gyngell Brawl bandwagon!