Tag Archives: Malaysian Airlines

The Year that Was – 2014 Politics

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New Words: 1

Shirtfront: Tony Abbott said that he was going to “shirt front” Vladimir Putin regarding the suspected Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17.

You bet you are.

Elections: 3

West Australian Senate Seats Re-election: This is what happens when you misplace 1300 ballot papers.

Griffith By-election: To fill the vacant seat left by former PM Kevin Rudd. Labor won.

Victorian State Election: Victorian Labor ousts a one term Liberal/Nationals Coalition government, which hasn’t happened in more than 50 years, and it scared the federal government.

Reshuffles: 1

Just before Christmas, Abbott reshuffled cabinet after Arthur Sinodinos resigned, which also meant that David Johnston was removed as Defence Minister. Other people were moved around which leads us to….

Women In Cabinet: 2

Julie Bishop: Minister for Foreign Affairs, since 2013 Election

Sussan Ley: Minister for Health and Sport, since December 2014

Dramatic Sagas: 1

Jacqui Lambie vs. Clive Palmer: Lambie basically got sick of working with Clive Palmer and the Palmer United Party and left 5 months into her senate term, deciding to vote in the “coalition of common sense” which involved Labor, Nick Xenophon, Ricky Muir and other independents.

Achievements as Minister for Women: 1

Apparently, that achievement is the repeal of the Carbon Tax. How? Well, I think it might have something to do with housework and electricity bills.

Here’s ABC 7:30’s Politics Year in Review.

Happy New Year. Let’s see what 2015 has on offer.

The Week That Was – August 3 to August 9

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This week there were MH17 memorials in Western Australia and Queensland and more bodies were found at the crash site. The people living in a town close to the crash site also held a memorial. Meanwhile, the Russians have imposed sanctions on Australia, the EU and the US, in retaliation for the sanctions placed on them (which I thought Australia was not a part of, because our main aim was to bring our dead home). These sanctions stop Australia from trading dairy and livestock. Tony Abbott has said Australia will now consider more sanctions on Russia. Also, the Prime Minister is due to travel to the Netherlands and the UK in the next week.

So it turns out the asylum seekers were moved to Nauru on Friday night last week. Scott Morrison has been saying that the Tamils are from Indian camps and most have long-term Indian residency. The lawyers for the High Court case have also begun to claim that their clients were taught to drive lifeboats and read maps to show them where to go. Meanwhile a report has come out about the asylum seekers that claimed to have been burnt by being forced to put their hands on boat engines by Australian authorities. The heavily censored report suggests that the asylum seekers were burned when trying to light a fire on their boat and not by the actions of the Australians. There has been no response from the Indonesian authorities, who treated the asylum seekers at the moment.

Unemployment is now at a 12 year high – at 6.4%. Only 300 jobs were lost in the last month, but more people have been looking for jobs, making the unemployment rate rise. Youth unemployment is worse, with a little over 20% in the 15-19 age group and nearly 15% in the 15-24 age group. South Australia and Tasmania have had a drop in the unemployment rate, while the other states have had a rise, with Sydney having one of the worst youth unemployment rates, especially out in Sydney’s west. The Paid Parental Leave Scheme may have been shelved or delayed. It’s thought to be because some backbenchers – primarily those in rural or low-income areas – are still not supporting it. The government claims that the budget is the priority at the moment, so they haven’t brought up the scheme yet.

Joe Hockey has also been disputing Treasury numbers, after information was released stating that many families would be up to $490 worse off because of the 2014 Budget. In fact, the table that explains this was omitted from the budget papers, and those who wanted to know what the table said had to make Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. However, it appears most FOI requests, including one from the ABC was denied. Joe Hockey says that the numbers are wrong because the Deficit Levy imposed on higher-income households wasn’t factored in and there could still be changes. Either way, there are still negotiations between the Government and the cross benchers in the Senate – David Leyonhjelm has said that these discussions should have begun before July 1.

This week also saw a bit of gymnastics on the repeal of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The government has decided not to continue with the repeal of section 18c because Tony Abbott wants to unify Australia, given the threat posed by Australians travelling to the Middle East. Andrew Bolt, along with other conservative commentators and politicians are not pleased. At least one conservative senator is going to launch a private member’s bill to keep the repeal alive.

There are now going to be changes to the Terrorism laws given the threat posed by those travelling to the Middle East perceived by the government. This change, on top of the “burden of proof” proposal last week, means that there will be another $630 million for security agencies, the ability to suspend passports and make it illegal to travel to certain nations without an acceptable reason (burden of proof on the traveller not the police) and telecommunications companies must keep metadata for a certain amount of time.

Now this “metadata” thing has confused everyone. Tony Abbott and George Brandis have been unable to explain exactly what will be retained, and they didn’t let Malcolm Turnbull (one of the guys who probably could explain it) out to talk until a few days later. Other than the concerns over privacy, it is completely unclear at the moment what is going to be retained by the telcos. Now, I am not a computer geek in any way, but from what I understand, what will be retained is the IP address of websites you visit, not the content or the URL of the site. So when you visit this blog, they only see the IP address, not the karaxl.wordpress.com or the content of the blog – in order to see those they need a warrant.

Before I forget, Eric Abetz is in trouble for appearing to link abortions with breast cancer. He said it on The Project on Channel Ten in what he says was a pre-recorded interview that was heavily edited, which Channel Ten denies. By the way, the link has been disproved by the scientific community, despite the fact that some scientists coming to the World Families’ Congress maintain there is a link. The congress will be held in Melbourne later this year, and several Federal Government MPs are planning to attend.

Finally this week, the Federal Liberal Party is being dragged into the NSW ICAC, Australia might become involved in humanitarian drops in Iraq, our Airports are preparing for Ebola checks, and the WA Premier Colin Barnett wants the GST changed, because he feels that Western Australia is ripped off as it contributes quite a bit to the GST and gets less back.

Tweet of the Week

After hitting 5000 followers on twitter this week, the people running Kevin Rudd 2000 (@Rudd2000), a spoof account called it a day, killing off “Kevern”.

(Translation: Albo [Anthony Albanese] ate Kevin [Rudd])

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening to etc

Balibo’s ghosts and East Timor’s media laws – ABC The Drum

When journalists stop covering a story without explanation and social media speculation gets out of hand – BBC News

Whitehousegate is still going, and a student at the college is facing criminal charges for blowing the whistle – Business Insider

The Week that Was – July 20 to July 26

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So this week was all about MH17 and the asylum seekers that are floating around Christmas Island.

Australia drafted a resolution for the UN Security Council which asked for an international investigation and for the crash site to be secure. Julie Bishop was there for the emergency meeting in New York as questions were asked about where the plane’s black boxes were and who was to blame for the crash. Australia’s resolution was voted on and passed, and Julie Bishop travelled to the Netherlands, where she, along with Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove, watched some of the bodies arrive from Ukraine. Julie Bishop has since travelled to Kiev, and also to a base in the north-east of the country where bodies are sent to the Netherlands.

Tony Abbott on the other hand, is staying in Australia and giving daily briefings. He’s also told the ABC that his daughters took flight MH17 a few months ago when they were returning home from a trip to Europe. Abbott is leading the criticism of Russia and the rebels, earning himself some narky comments from not only the Russian foreign ministry, but the Chinese as well. Since the crash, Abbott has spoken with Putin, who has “said the right things” and now needs to be held to his word. Abbott has sent Angus Houston (the guy in charge of the MH370 search) as his personal envoy, and Australian police, army and victim identification experts are being sent to Europe to help. One thing that has been getting to me though is Operation Bring Them Home – the plan to bring back all the bodies of the Australian victims. The number of times I have heard Tony Abbott say “bring them home” has now got me singing Bring Him Home from Les Misérables in my head.

Moving on to the asylum seekers, it has come to light that they are being held on a customs ship in windowless rooms but they are let out into the light during the day when they have their meals. The government has defended the treatment saying that there are children on board and they have to be kept safe. However since the case was in court at the start of the week, Scott Morrison has announced that the refugees will be taken to Curtin Detention Centre via the Cocos Islands. At Curtin Detention Centre (in remote WA), the refugees will be interviewed by Indian Consular staff to determine if any can be taken back to India. However, legal experts and refugee advocates have pointed out that technically if the asylum seekers are brought to Australia, then technically we have to assess them and decide to grant them asylum, as per their rights in the Immigration Act. But this is “not a broken promise” according to Morrison, despite the fact he’s letting them into Australia.

Its been discovered that the current Childcare Rebate scheme doesn’t help families as well as it used to. the 50% rebate doesn’t always cover an entire year’s childcare for a family. It’s been suggested that the signature Paid Parental Leave scheme should be smaller and that the Childcare Rebate should be expanded – something that has been suggested multiple times – giving lower-income families a 90% rebate and high-income earners a 30% rebate, while also making the hiring of nannies eligible for the rebate as well.

Finally this week, Joe Hockey’s authorised biography has been released, revealing that he wanted a tougher budget and that Tony Abbott would sometimes give him no warning before announcing a policy. It has sparked rumours that there could be a leadership spill in the Liberal Party, which most government MPs are rubbishing. But we’ll never know.

Tweet of the Week

So the Queen photobombed a selfie by some Aussie hockey players at the Commonwealth Games:

Things that I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

What happens when you equate your President with a giant inflatable toad online in China – ABC Online

Westboro Baptist Church picketed a Panic! At the Disco concert – Huffington Post

Virginia Trioli talks about SAD – The Weekly Review

ABC1 recently rebranded to become ABC and has some new idents to go with it:

The Week that Was – July 13 to July 19

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This week was less insane than previous weeks, or at least it was until about Friday.

This week saw the Coalition negotiating with the Palmer United Party to get the Carbon and Mining taxes through the Senate, with the hope that both would get through by the end of the week. Senate ran later on Tuesday and Thursday, and while the Carbon Tax passed the Senate on Thursday, the Mining Tax was not, as the PUP wanted to see the $10 million of welfare that came with it to remain. Regardless, the Government is pleased with itself for removing the Carbon Tax, while the opposition is saying that the government will be judged harshly in the future. Bill Shorten has said that he will take an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the next election and Tony Abbott, when asked if he would consider an ETS, said there wouldn’t be a Carbon Tax. It appears that if you are Tony Abbott, there is no difference between an ETS and a Carbon Tax.

The financial regulation laws are floating around too, with the PUP asking for some consumer safeguards to be added before they let it through. There was also the release of an interim report from a financial inquiry, stating that while the market is quite concentrated, it is still competitive. There are also concerns with superannuation though, with funds borrowing money to make investments and high fees, as well as the recommendation that financial advice from banks be called “sales” leaving the term “advice” to independent advisors who aren’t attached to any bank or financial group.

This week also saw this:

Yep, David Leyonhjelm, a Liberal Democratic Senator (different from the Liberal Party), says that basically, the politicians should let people do what they want to do behind closed doors and allow marriage equality. He’s pretty sure that the Greens and Labour will be supportive of his Marriage Deregulation Amendment, and says that he will table it only if he gets a guarantee from the Coalition that there will be a conscience vote on their side. He says that it’s a liberty issue, and that if same-sex marriage were legal, then maybe people wouldn’t make it so hard for the government to get their budget through. He also pulled the “Tony Abbott, what about your sister?” and the “Bill Shorten, think about Penny Wong” cards. In return for the conscience vote, Leyonhjelm has said he will support Temporary Protection Visas in the Senate.

It was going pretty smoothly this week until Friday morning, when the news came through that a Malaysian Airlines flight had been shot down over a rebel-held region in Ukraine. The flight, MH17, from Amsterdam’s Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur, had 298 people aboard, including 3 infants, 15 crew, and 36 (UPDATE: now 37) Australian citizens and permanent residents. Australia has the third highest death toll, behind The Netherlands and Malaysia. The Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop has called for an international investigation, I’m assuming by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) given they have investigated similar incidents (like Korean Air 007). Russia is also under scrutiny, as it is believed that the pro-Russia separatists in the region are being supported by Russia in many ways, and possibly gave the rebels the missile used to shoot down the plane.

Finally this week, the guy in charge of looking at the Australian education system, Kevin Donnelly, thinks corporal punishment is ok. Thankfully, no-one else appears to agree with him. The refugees that are somewhere on a boat off Christmas Island are still there and haven’t been handed over yet.

Tweets of the Week

Not sure if this is true, but if it is….

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Oz:  A very supportive nation when it comes to marriage equality, but we still haven’t changed the law – The Advocate

ABC’s Hayden Cooper reflects on the Greste case – ABC Backstory

The Week That Was – April 6 to April 12

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Less busy this week, I guess that’s what happens when there’s no parliament and the PM is off in Asia.

So, the WA Senate re-election took place, with the Greens and the Palmer United Party getting quite a few seats. The major Parties didn’t do as well, with Louise Pratt battling with the Liberals for the last seat – although it looks as if she may have lost it.

Tony Abbott has spent the week in North Asia arranging, negotiating and signing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – thrilling stuff. In Japan, we finalised the FTA which will make cars and electronics cheaper for us and make meat and dairy cheaper for the Japanese, as the Australian Farmers won’t have to pay as high a tariff as they are now. It’s given the Coalition a gold star, because they were able to negotiate it and finalise it. Abbott also signed the FTA in Seoul, again, tariffs have been slashed and every household will probably save about $700 a year.

Abbott also made a trip to the Demilitarised Zone on the 38th Parallel. He went into one of the blue huts and met some South Korean and American armed forces, all the while being stalked by North Korean soldiers who took pictures of him through the window….

According to Tony Abbott the DMZ is probably the most dangerous border on earth….NO! Really? I had no idea! Thank you so much Prime Minister Obvious. Oh and he thinks that North Korea is a danger to the South…yeah, kinda guessed that too.

After that The PM visited China as part of Australia Week in China. He also went to Hainan Island for the Bo’ao conference and was basically asked anytime he was in front of a camera if he had anymore news about MH370. I have to say though, this trip’s timing is good – though most likely a coincidence. China is eternally grateful that Australia is still looking for the flight – with 150-ish Chinese passengers on board – and that may make the Chinese more receptive to some of Australia’s requests.

Moving back to Australia now, this week the Commission into Union Corruption started, with the Commissioner, Judge Dyson Heydon, promising it wouldn’t be a witch hunt. He has also said that if anyone who is giving evidence is threatened, they will arrest the person who made the threat.

In other news this week, Bob Carr has a book that upset everyone’s apple cart, the jobs numbers were up and a Sri Lankan Asylum seeker self-immolated after fining out he was to be deported.

Tweets of the Week

Ever wondered why some people don’t particularly like FOX News in the US? Here’s one example…

https://twitter.com/TeaPartyCat/status/455002504586338304

This may be a few weeks old, but it only just showed up on my feed…

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc.

This week’s Q&A was very interesting…and no-one yelled at anyone – ABC Online

Apparently the Republicans in the US are doing some things right – NY Times

The Week That Was – March 30 to April 5

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So this week was pretty busy too for politics what with Western Australia going back to the polls to re-elect their six senators – Louise Pratt copped judgement for voting below the line and putting herself first – but hey, she has every right to do that and that is how she decided to vote.

The week began with a protest from Qantas workers who are upset that 5000 jobs are going. They are threatening to engage in civil disobedience, but have said that they will warn customers and the public if they plan on doing anything, unlike Alan Joyce when he just decided to ground Qantas flights back in 2011. They have support from some politicians as well, with Bob Katter and Tanya Plibersek attending their protest. Labor has been giving the government a hard time about all these job losses, given they promised to create them, asking if any of the one million jobs they have pledged to create will be in Australia.

We’re starting to hear about the budget a little bit as it gets closer and closer to May. The government has been saying that it’s going to be tough because according to Tony Abbott, “Labor booby-trapped the budget. Labor booby-trapped the budget” – Yes, he did say it twice – and that means its going to be a tough one. Labor seems to think that isn’t the case, and is saying the government is being over dramatic in order to get away with making huge cuts. To be quite honest I would not be surprised – given that booby-trapping a budget would have been quite difficult if it is computer based – maybe it had a virus…

The International Court of Justice in the Hague has ruled that Japan’s Southern Ocean whaling expeditions are not for scientific purposes as the Japanese have claimed. The court ruling is final, but the Japanese are expected to continue whaling in the Northern Pacific Ocean because they can. But it is a win for Australia and most, if not all, Australians are pretty happy about it.

Also this week, the government is being accused of moving asylum seekers for their own purposes – and not good ones. According to the government, Villawood Detention centre is being renovated and that means the asylum seekers inside need to be moved. The issue is that there are some asylum seekers at Villawood who are suing the government for protection because of a bungle a few months ago that saw their information put on the Dept of Immigration website, and their court cases are due to start this and/or next week. These asylum seekers are being moved to Curtin Detention Centre in a remote part of northern WA, which has what has set off the conspiracy alarms. The suggestion is that the government is moving them to a remote centre on the other side of the country, where there is limited communications and the possibility of not having contact with their lawyers, such that they will voluntarily leave Australia and return home or drop the cases. There were protests outside Villawood Detention Centre on Friday and Saturday, with people blocking the entries on Friday and others clashing with police on Saturday.

Also this week, Angus Houston was put in charge of the Australian-run search for MH370 and Tony Abbott has promised to look for as long as is possible for the flight, the Malaysian PM also came to visit to check on how it was going and to say thank you, Arthur Sinodinos suffered from ICAC Memory Loss Disorder and the ICAC was gatecrashed.

Tweet of the Week

There was mention that the guy who gatecrashed ICAC is a serial pest….

Stuff I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

A dating site in the US prevented Mozilla Firefox users from entering their site before they read a letter about how the Mozilla CEO was homophobic – SFGate

But was this an overreach by activists? – The Advocate

The Week That Was – March 16 to March 22

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This week was definitely crazier.

Sunday saw the “March in March”, an anti-Liberal protest that took place in all major cities, with the slogan “a vote of no confidence” – essentially, these people are not happy with the way the country is being run. There was a good turn out, with Melbourne having the largest protest, and Sydney had pretty high numbers too. Tony Abbott was in Sydney and was either poking fun or being a complete idiot when he replied to a reporter asking about the protests, saying “I thought the only rally today was the St. Patrick’s Parade,” with a grin. So I’m more inclined to think that maybe he was trying to be funny as opposed to being an idiot.

Tony Abbott was in Sydney to help announce a new roads project called the North Connex – a motorway and tunnel project to be built in north-western Sydney to help with congestion on Pennant Hills Road. The NRMA seems positive about it, mainly because the tunnel in this project is going to be high enough to clear large trucks (a problem we’ve been having for a while) and will cut travel time for many in the Hills District.

Moving on, the Royal Commission into the Insulation Scheme revealed that only two bureaucrats costed the scheme over one long weekend without much help and that the public servants and government knew about the risks and similar deaths New Zealand. While that probably is a pretty big thing to come out of the hearings this week, some are still calling it a witch hunt on Tony Abbott’s part to get back at Labor.

Keeping with Commissions, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) revealed the Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos stood to make $20 million from some dodgy deals that Sydney Water Holdings made while he was in charge of the board. Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party have been standing by him, but Labor wanted him to quit. He hasn’t – but he “stood aside” from his ministerial position (he may come back when and if he is cleared) of Assistant Treasurer, which could make life difficult the closer the Budget gets.

Manus Island has been in the news this week, with a judge in Papua New Guinea opening an inquiry into the conditions at the detention centre. The aim is to see whether or not the PNG Government is treating the asylum seekers in their care as they should be. A couple of the asylum seekers testified, saying they felt like they were in jail and the feel like humans for once, because this inquiry is letting them talk. They’ve also said that on a visit to the centre, Scott Morrison told the asylum seekers “don’t even dream of coming to Australia” because they weren’t going to be settled. The judge leading the inquiry travelled to the detention centre and allowed the media to come along – as if they would decline that opportunity. The ABC reported that there are still scars of the riots with broken windows and bullet holes in places. The dorms are packed and the bathrooms look pretty bad. According to the ABC journalist the asylum seekers kept asking the media to help them.

Still on Papua New Guinea, Tony Abbott has paid a visit to Port Moresby to discuss the deal with the asylum seekers, as the PNG Government is yet to process any of them. In return for speeding up, the Papua New Guineans will have more say in where the aid money they’re getting for taking the asylum seekers. Not only that, but Australia has to see if other nations will take our asylum seekers, because PNG can’t possible take all of them in. Tony Abbott did say something about the nations shouldering “their fair share of the burden” of the asylum seekers coming into the region, but that is a bit unfair – most countries have their own issues.

MH370 is still missing, and now an area around 2500km off the Western Australian coast is the main area for looking for the plane. They’ve found some chunks using satellites – and they’ve had ships and planes looking for them, but they can’t be found. There has been some great international co-operation though, so hopefully with some hard work they might find something.

Also this week, with the RBA considering changes to the Australian notes, the vision impaired are calling for tactile markings on the notes (like Canada does) to make it easier to tell whether they’re handing over $10 or $50.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

A car crashes into the concrete fence/wall surrounding the Lodge – ABC Online

The US Media has trouble with Australian facts – News.com.au

The Week That Was – March 9 to March 15

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This week seemed less politically charged nationally, which is a nice change, but there were state elections in Tasmania and South Australia.

We begin the week with both Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten being sombre about the missing plane belonging to Malaysia Airlines. The flight, MH370 (the flight number now retired) went missing early (2am Malaysian time) on Saturday morning and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Tony Abbott talked with his Malaysian counterpart, and Australia has sent some Orion surveillance planes to search for the flight.

SPC Ardmona (you remember them?) have had a good week, signing a deal to give Woolworths supermarkets more fruit, not only in its capacity as an independent company with its own brands, but also as part of Woolworths’ home brand (Woolworths Select). Hopefully someone will think its a good idea to call the fruit products “Woolworth’s Select by SPC” such that the consumer can tell that the fruit is home-grown. SPC has also had a rise in sales due to the coverage of its bid to get some taxpayer money, so they are much happier down in Shepparton.

Meanwhile, the State election campaigns in South Australia and Tasmania have wrapped up, with Tasmania (at last glance) changing from a Labor Government to a Liberal Government. It looks like South Australia might have ended up with a hung parliament, but there are still pre-poll, declaration and postal votes to count, so we won’t know for a while, especially in some marginal seats. I don’t live there, so I don’t know much about it. You can read more in-depth on the ABC Elections website for both Tasmania and South Australia.

Other than that, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce fronted a Senate Estimates Inquiry, and the Western Australian Federal Senate re-election campaign began to gain momentum.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Tasmania’s State voting system explained – ABC Online

The YouTube ad revenue split – DailyDot

Ukraine – explained by author John Green

Scott Ludlam invites Tony Abbott to Western Australia