Tag Archives: Liddell

The Two Weeks That Were – September 17 to September 30

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I worked all last weekend, so you get a rather busy two weeks to contend with.

The same-sex marriage postal survey is plodding along, as are the “yes” and “no” campaigns. The no campaign tried to sky write ‘vote no’ over Sydney on one of the windiest days we’ve had, and the yes campaign upset the no campaign by sending text messages. This led the yes campaign to point out that the no people got the survey/vote they wanted and now they had to contend with the yes people actively campaigning for their dignity.

Meanwhile, American rapper Macklemore (apparently pronounced “Mack-Le-More” and not “Mackel-more”) upset the “no” campaign’s apple cart by announcing that he would be singing Same Love as one of the five songs on his NRL Grand Final set list. Tony Abbott wants the song to be banned because “politics has no place in sport” – despite the fact every Prime Minister in my lifetime has gone to an AFL and/or NRL grand final. George Brandis had the best response to Abbott’s comments by saying that he thought Abbott liked free speech. Macklemore has said he will donate the Australian proceeds of sales of Same Love to the Yes Campaign.

Speaking of Tony Abbott – he got head-butted in Hobart earlier in the fortnight by a DJ wearing a “yes” badge. As it turned out the DJ, called Astro Labe (because why not?) didn’t head butt the former PM because of the same-sex marriage debate, but because he felt like it. He basically did what a large number of people in this country have at least once considered doing. I don’t condone head butting former Prime Ministers, but t was a tad amusing, and I’m sure for some people vicariously cathartic.

It looks as if there is another push to teach phonics to primary school children as a way to teach them to read – which most teachers suggest is all well and good, except when the government suggests national benchmark tests in Year One to go along with it. The teaching union is concerned that this leads to teaching to a test rather than just teaching them. While some schools do already do phonics testing and teaching, the government has since said it’s the responsibility for the states, which is one of the reasons being in a Federation is annoying – because it gets confusing as to who is responsible for what.

The government’s most favourite subject for the last three or four weeks – energy – has remained so, with the government still trying to get AGL to keep the Liddell plant going, and tring to keep more local LNG in the country to avoid a shortfall. AGL took the media around the ageing Liddell plant in what had to be the weirdest show off tour ever, showing the public what was broken and wasn’t working. Malcolm Turnbull wants to prevent a gas shortfall that is expected in 2018. He met with and attempted to encourage the gas comapnies to sell their gas in Australia first before exporting it overseas – which is what they currently do with most of Australian LNG.

The government has also announced we’ll be getting a space agency – only they don’t really know where it’ll be based or how much it will cost, so basically all that practical stuff.

A group of refugees who were going through “extreme vetting” have been accepted to be settled in the United States. Whether or not they’ve gone yet is unclear to me – but Australia is hoping that an addition 1200 will be accepted to settle in the USA in the coming months.

The NDIS is in the news again after a Cate Blanchett-voiced artificial intelligence computer program was shelved. The idea was that this AI program, called Nadia, would help people on the NDIS get information as more and more people move to the scheme. However, concerns with security – especially after the Census and other government computer-y problems, they want to wait to make sure it won’t break or something. Meanwhile, NSW has stopped the subsidy scheme for specialised smoke alarms for deaf people in preparation for the NDIS – only problem being that not everyone in NSW is on the NDIS yet and if they need a smoke alarm between now and when they do they’ll be out of pocket by a large amount of money without the subsidy scheme. There are concerns that other states will follow suit, leaving deaf people with no smoke alarms.

The High Court has ruled that Malcolm Roberts was a dual citizen at the time of his nomination and election to parliament, meaning it is quite likely he could lose his job under section 44 of the constitution. He’s also been declared a bit of an idiot in my house after he claimed he had no clue he was a British citizen, despite the fact an Australian citizenship form he filled in clearly stated that he was a few years ago. Centrelink is also in the news after it was revealed that several indigenous communities where welfare recipients work for the dole have to spend hours on the phone to avoid fines for not showing up to their required work for the dole activities if they have a good reason – e.g. going to a funeral or a medical appointment.

Also this week, it’s been revealed that a company lobbying the government is run by a member of the Nationals, who is also in the party leadership. He’s not on the registered lobbyist list and may not even be involved in the lobbying, but Griffith MP Terri Butler is concerned.

Finally during this fortnight, New Zealand went to the polls, and while Jacinda Ardern and the Labour Party didn’t win, there has been a swing to the Labour in NZ, suggesting ‘Jacinda-mania’ may have been moderately strong; Marise Payne and Malcolm Turnbull dedicated a new HMAS Hobart; big banks are scrapping their ATM fees; and unions are appealing the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rates ruling from earlier in the year.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Lee Lin Chin – need I say more?

TV News professionalism at its prime….

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Mark Riley on the church and ‘straw-man arguments’ – The West Australian

The Red Rooster Line – Honi Soit

The “ghost” candidate in the North Sydney Council Election – SMH

Male primary school teachers to be extinct – ABC News

 

The Two Weeks That Were – September 3 to September 16

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After arguments were heard in the High Court at the start of the fortnight, the government won their case 7-0, and we will now have a postal plebiscite survey. The survey started being posted out on the 12th of September, and some people have already got them. Hopefully you all fixed your enrolment and will get your letters – if not, hopefully the people living in your old home will be kind enough to try to contact you (and if you find one in your letterbox for the previous resident, see if you can find them online – that’s what some people are trying to do). Send it before November 7 so it gets counted.

There have been “yes” rallies across the country, with some awesome banners and signs. One of my favourite messages was “I could have done this on SurveyMonkey for you for free”. The Liberals and Nationals for Yes group is starting with Turnbull, Christine Forster (Tony Abbott’s sister – who is gay), and several key Liberals from years gone by – mostly from NSW because the meeting I saw was in Sydney.

Section 44 – the bit of the constitution that is catching out unaware dual citizens – was brought up again at the start of the fortnight with Bill Shorten and former PM Tony Abbott being forced to prove they’d denounced their British citizenship prior to being in Parliament. The Liberals did try to focus the attention on Bill Shorten in question time about it, but it backfired on them when Bill Shorten waited until after Question Time to prove he wasn’t a British citizen – meaning that Barnaby Joyce, who is likely a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen and is refusing to step down as Deputy PM – got all the attention.

The government has decided that AGL’s Liddell coal plant in the Hunter Valley can’t shut down when AGL plans to in 2022. The government wold like it to stay open for another five years, closing in 2027 instead, which is when AGL plans on shutting a second plant down. It appears that people are blaming the East Coast’s power issues on the shutdowns of coal plants, such as the Hazelwood Plant in Victoria earlier this year. However, AGL is adamant the plant will shut when planned, and that by then they will have a non-coal alternative. At the moment, AGL’s whole thing is “getting out of coal” – as seen in their ads.

AGL’s people met with the government later in the fortnight, where AGL was told to either keep Liddell going, sell it to someone who would or replace with an alternate reliable source – and it appears AGL is set on the latter, which will most likely end up being gas. Oh, and um the Clean Energy Target is getting a new name so that the pro-coal Liberal backbenchers won’t roll Turnbull.

Media reforms passed the senate in the latter part of the fortnight, 31-27. With an NXT amendment to help support regional publishers, the “reach rule” and the “two-out-of-three rule” appear to have been abolished. The “reach rule” stopped  a TV broadcaster from reaching more than 75% of the population, and the “two-out-of-three rule” stopped someone from owning newspaper, radio and television networks in the one market. This change is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as people don’t go mad with power and do stupid things.

Also during this fortnight, the government is still trying to figure out where they will be placing the people who have been found to be refugees when Manus Island closes in October. It appears some were taken to Port Moresby recently, where they were interviewed by US officials. This does suggest that some of them may be going to the United States soon.

Finally this week, the WA Liberals passed a motion to look into the possibility of succession (WAxit?); the Nationals Conference narrowly defeated a motion introduced by George Christiansen to ban the burqa; Australia now has a memorial for peacekeepers at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra; and Clive Palmer has revealed that his nephew – who worked for the collapsed Queensland Nickel and has a warrant out for his arrest – is being paid $4000 a week, which Palmer says is his own money.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Jacqui Lambie smacks down those attacking the ABC

SUPER IMPORTANT TO NOTE – Don’t mess with the question on the survey, it’ll be considered invalid

https://twitter.com/lanesainty/status/907847393265295361

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American state legislator – TIME Magazine

The generation gap between China’s millennials and their parents – ABC Online