Tag Archives: Melbourne

The Week That Was – November 18 to November 24

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The week began with the last days of APEC for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, where he announced several plans for involvement in the Pacific, mostly with the aim of countering Chinese influence. In particular, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the USA are working together to invest money into Papua New Guinea’s electricity grid so that more people in PNG have reliable electricity. But while Morrison had a relatively good showing at APEC, all was not smooth sailing, with Chinese officials marching into the PNG Foreign Minister’s office to demand changes to the wording of the joint communiqué, and wouldn’t leave until security was called. The USA and China appeared to have had a lot of disagreements at this APEC, and while some officials did try to find compromise, it was unsuccessful. For the first time in a long time, APEC did not finish with the release of any joint communiqué

The Banking Royal Commission is heading into its final days, with Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ASIC on the stand. ASIC has promised to punish and prosecute banks more, while Westpac has admitted that they don’t really know how many people were charged fees for no service, as there are insufficient records. Their explanation is that some very rich people are happy to pay for the relationship, where it’s at their discretion. On the other had, the Commonwealth Bank’s CEO Matt Comyn was attempting to make it seem that he was trying to fix things when he was in charge of the retail bank, and that the former CEO Ian Narev was trying to stop him from doing good things, which he then stopped doing to wait to see what the Royal Commission recommended.

The CommBank’s board chairperson Catherine Livingstone got into a spot of bother at one point, suggesting that she had brought up a concern at a board meeting, but there was no record of it in the board minutes. So, either Livingstone was trying to make herself look good, or she did genuinely bring up the issue, but the bank’s board broke the law by not keeping accurate minutes of the meeting.

Scott Morrison, in the wake of both the Bourke Street attack and some anti-terrorism raids this week, has announced a plan to strip the Australian citizenship from convicted terrorists if they have citizenship of another country, or if they have some sort of entitlement to it. Other than the logical question of whether a country is going to give citizenship to a convicted terrorist, no matter how entitled they are to it, there are also concerns about the legality of the policy should it actually come into law. As it could render people stateless, it may also lead to detaining those who lose their Australian citizenship in detention centres because they’ll become “illegal aliens” all of sudden.

Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton also want legislation to force technology companies hand over information on users during police investigations, as it will make it easier for the cops to find evidence when carrying out surveillance on terror suspects, but one you have the power you could theoretically use the powers for anything, so again, there are concerns about civil liberties. Labor isn’t saying much on Morrison and Dutton’s policy plans, other than their insistence that while security is important, the legislation must also be correct.

Labor has also been working on announcing their climate policy this week, which is essentially using Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG), which got him rolled in August, but with added subsidies for implementing renewables such as solar panels and wall batteries. They will also give the Clean Energy Finance Corporation more investments and push for a 45% reduction in emissions, based on 2005 levels. The Liberals, it seems are against the policy, despite the fact it was originally their idea, mostly because it’s Labor that is now announcing it. From the perspective of the intelligent life forms in my house, Labor is somewhat pushing this as a wedge issue, because the Liberals are then damned if they reject the policy and are damned if they support the policy.

Also this week, Victoria had a State election. It was originally thought that it could be quite a tight race, given the incumbent Labor government could have gone into minority government if they lost two seats, but as of Sunday lunch it’s looking as if it could be the biggest win for Victorian Labor in a very long time, with seats that haven’t been in Labor hands for decades falling to them with massive swings.

Finally this week, Jim Molan has pulled out of a Q&A appearance on the ABC this coming Monday, saying he cannot bring himself to defend his party after being placed in an unwinnable spot on the Liberal-National Senate ticket for NSW. Molan joined the senate in February this year, taking up the seat left vacant by National Senator Fiona Nash who got caught by section 44, and has ended up as one of the unlucky ones. He ended up drawing the short straw for the senators who got the three-year terms after the double dissolution election in 2016. He’s been placed in an unwinnable place on the Senate ticket, which has left him feeling a bit ripped off – which is understandable.

Tweet of the Week

The Week That Was – November 11 to November 17

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This week saw the centenary of the armistice following the First World War, with commemorations across Australia. Scott Morrison spoke at the War Memorial in Canberra and the Governor-General, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, attended services in France. 

Melbourne is recovering from the apparent terror attack on Bourke Street, with Dan Andrews offering the family of the deceased victim, Sisto Malaspina, a state funeral – which they’ve accepted. Meanwhile the Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton have been speaking tough on extremism, saying the community, especially the Muslim community, needs to keep an eye on radicalisation and report it  – which has somewhat upset the Muslim community because they’re being tarred with the same brush. There are also questions now over whether the attacker, who died after being shot by police, was also mentally unwell, separate from his radicalisation – something that Scott Morrison did not like the idea of when asked about it in an interview on Channel 10. 

This week also saw Prime Minister Scott Morrison at his first regional summits. First, to Singapore, where he attended ASEAN meetings. He was received well, however both Indonesia and Malaysia have concerns about the Israel Embassy decision, which is yet to made. This has lead to the delay in signing the free trade agreement with Indonesia, which was supposed to happen this week. Morrison says the decision will be made in “a little while”, but won’t say exactly when – although the aim seems to be before Christmas.

Morrison also attended the APEC conference in Papua New Guinea this weekend, during which there has been a lot of announcements about joint projects. Most of these are designed, it seems, to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific region. The first is a joint infrastructure venture between America, Japan and Australia, which is meant to be an alternative to the “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative offered by China.

The other of these is a Joint Naval base on Manus Island that will house Papuan, Australian and American naval forces. Again, the plan is to counter Chinese influence in the region by setting up a naval base close to Australia before China did. Australian Defence members have also bee brought in during APEC to help the Papua New Guinean security forces with security and protection for the conference, as Australia knows a thing or two about APEC security having hosted in 2007.

The closing date for opting out if the MyHealth Record system was November 15 – or at least it was until the website crashed in the days prior as people rushed to opt out or get more information. This has lead the Health Minister Greg Hunt to announce that there will be an extension to the opt-out timeframe. If you are yet to opt-out (if you so wish) you have until January 31.

Also this week, the ABC investigated itself on Four Corners over the sacking of Michelle Guthrie. Guthrie essentially accused the board of failing to act when she brought up instances of former Chairman Justin Milne interfering politically in the running of the public broadcaster. Guthrie also accused Milne of “inappropriate touching”, saying that he rubbed her back, which made her feel uncomfortable. She reported it to another board member but refused to make a formal complaint. Many people can understand why that’d make you uncomfortable, but it did feel a little bit like she was throwing that in at the eleventh hour to save her job. 

This has lead to calls for the ABC Board to be entirely replaced, but also lead to several former and current politicians to support the ABC and the work they do – with former Deputy PM Tim Fischer saying regional Australia would “be like Siberia” if not for regional ABC programming.

Finally this week, in an epic display of “policy gymnastics”, the government announced a cut to Foodbank, ostensibly to share the money with two other food rescue organisations, SecondBite and OzHarvest, before deciding instead to increase the food rescue industry budget after facing public backlash.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

A year after the vote, the LGBT community are still recovering – ABC Online

Morrison’s government brings back memories of McMahon’s – ABC Online

The Week That Was – October 11 to October 17

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Malcolm Turnbull’s week started well, with him announcing $100 million for light rail infrastructure on the Gold Coast. However, as it went on, the week got tougher for him. His government with his cabinet had their first sitting day in the Parliament, with Andrew Hastie, the new MP for Canning being sworn in, and Tony Abbott on the back benches for the first time in almost two decades, which went well. However, by the end of the week Turnbull was dealing with the Labor party implying, but never directly accusing the PM of avoiding taxes, as it was revealed that Turnbull has an investment in the Cayman Islands, a famed tax haven. Turnbull says that he has always paid his taxes, and while it seems suspicious, he doesn’t control where his money is invested. Furthermore, he has no investments in Australia, so there is no perceived conflicts of interest. At the end of the week, Turnbull was in NZ for his first international trip as PM, with the main focus on Australia deporting New Zealand citizens who had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.

Refugees also became a major issue this week, with the doctors and nurses at the Melbourne Children’s hospital refusing to discharge patients who came to them from detention centres, due to concerns about mental health. The Victorian government is behind them, and both have told the public that the issue will not affect bed numbers. Another issue was the way the government dealt with a Somali asylum seeker who was raped and required medical attention, primarily because she wanted an abortion, which is illegal in Nauru. She was flown to Australia towards the end of the week, only to be sent back a few days later without the abortion. The government is claiming that she changed her mind, while her lawyers say that she was never seen by a medical professional and was never given access to an interpreter.

The Dutch report into MH17, was released this week, with the investigators concluding that a Russian-made BUK missile shot down the plane over Ukraine, although they do not know who launched it. Most of the families and friends of the victims, including Malcolm Turnbull, who I think said that he knew one of the passengers, have welcomed the report, while Russia has criticised it.

Finally this week, Glenn Lazarus has called for a Royal Commission into the Coal Seam Gas industry after a Queensland farmer killed himself after a long battle with the CSG companies drilling on his land; the Federal government is looking into legalising medical marijuana; charges have been laid against those involved in the Parramatta shooting, and the victim, Curtis Cheng was farewelled at a funeral on Saturday.

Tweet of the Week

International Politics can be interesting…

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

I’ve been working on an assignment for uni, so this is really all I’ve looked at…

Diversity at the ABC – ABC Radio National

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 – 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 – October 13 to October 19

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I have to say, with no sitting parliament and no leadership speculation, politics is a little less hectic. But that will soon change.

Bill Shorten is leader of the Australian Labor Party and had made Tanya Plibersek his deputy. Penny Wong is keeping her Head of Senate spot too. He’s also named his shadow cabinet.

The taxpayer money saga continues, with a West Australian MP claiming $5000 in taxpayer money for “electorate business” in Cairns (in QLD) and a trip to Melbourne that was claimed as “parliamentary sittings”. For the record, Parliament hasn’t sat in Melbourne for almost 90 years now.

This week was O-Week for the new MPs, and Anna Burke, former speaker and more recently, tantrum thrower, was giving them advice. The video is long, but you only need to click in random places and watch for a bit – I could only muster that much – it’s a bit cringe-worthy.

I actually preferred the advice written by the staff at the ABC Parliament House Bureau – funny, concise and helpful. You can read it here.

This week also saw bushfires just outside of Sydney, and I have to say, for Tony Abbott’s first natural disaster, he did pretty well. He needs to be a bit more concise and not talk for too long, but other than that, he did quite well. Barry O’Farrell also gets his gold stars for his work.

Tweet of the Week

I was tempted to show another of Jonathan Green’s car stealing analogies, but thought better of it…

Fashion of the Moment, Katy v Tony and Counting to 110

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Wednesday brought us some more of Tony Abbott, the gaffe-prone politician.

Wednesday saw him being interviewed on radio. When asked about same-sex marriage, he said his view was that marriage should be between a man and a woman and then, he said this:

“My idea is to build on the strength of our society and I support, by and large, evolutionary change, I’m not someone who wants to see radical change based on the fashion of the moment.”

Yep. He did just say that. Oops. He said that the previous day’s ‘sex appeal’ comment was a ‘dorky dad’ moment and that it was all ok.

In Melbourne, Adam Bandt, the Greens MP for Melbourne and the other candidates for the seat were out canvassing. It appears that if Adam Bandt looses the seat, it will be a battle of roads vs. public transport. If the liberals win the seat, and the election, they have promised an expressway with tunnels – but that means that houses will be bulldozed. If Labor gets the seat, and wins the election, they will improve public transport.

On Thursday, we had some star power in the election. Tony was one of a few Aussie ‘celebrities’ that got to ask Katy Perry a question, and she turned it back on him.

https://soundcloud.com/kyleandjackieo/katy-perry-head-on-with-tony/s-S7pRD

Kevin Rudd on the other hand, announced a 2018 plan for a Special Economic Zone in the Top End, above the Tropic of Capricorn. Meanwhile, in Tasmania, Abbott was announcing his own economic plan. One end of the country or the other it seems…

Peter Slipper is standing as an independent in his seat, and his wife supports him fully. The candidate the Liberals put up is Mal Brough – he’s the one that hosted the dinner involved with the offensive menu.

On Friday, opinion polls put Labor down in most seats. Tony Abbott had a lovely little rant (at least that’s how I perceived it) about asylum seekers while telling us how he was going to deal with them. In a moment of déjà vu for anyone who remembers the 1990s consciously:

“It is our country, and we decide who comes”

I think he did it just to look tough, given the fact that he also said:

“If you can’t stop the boats, you aren’t fit to govern,”

Might I just point out that being an asylum seeker isn’t illegal? Also, if Tony Abbott’s policy is the one we follow, the Temporary Protection Visas that will let them into Australia give them no chance of citizenship or getting a job – either that or working for the dole. I do not think we should be treating them like second class citizens. They are people like you and I.

NSW has just had its Senate Ballot put together and there will be 110 candidates. There are over 40 columns, the sheet of paper will be a metre long and in 6-point font. There will be magnifiers if you need them.

Three weeks to go!

Magic Pudding, Peter Beattie and the Wombat Trail

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So, as the election campaign continues, there has been some interesting developments….

First off, we’re getting special election-themed episodes of Gruen Nation and The Hamster Decides. Yay.

Gruen Nation is all about the advertising. The Hamster Decides is the Chaser’s show – enough said. I really quite enjoy these shows, and if you are a political junkie, Wednesday nights on the ABC is going to be the place to be.

Onward with the serious, important election campaign.

Wednesday saw Abbott promising to have a company tax of 1.5%. This has been called “magic pudding economics” by Labor. There was a lovely (i.e. entertaining) exchange on ABC 774 Melbourne radio when both Joe Hockey and Chris Bowen had a debate. You can listen to that here.

Tony has also been talking up his Paid Parental Leave Scheme. It involves paying women being paid in proportion to their salary. Simply put, a female executive (e.g. major CEO earning millions) is going to get more money when on maternity leave than a woman working as a teacher. In a rare move, the National Party is making clear that they are considering ‘crossing the floor’ (i.e. voting against) over this policy if the Coalition win government, as the National Party MPs usually represent country communities, where people don’t earn as much.

Kevin Rudd visited a school in Western Sydney, where some of the most marginal seats in the country exist. These are key to winning the election, and are usually held by the party in government. These are crucial seats and very important in elections these days.

We also had

Thursday saw some big news….

Peter Beattie, the former QLD Premier, is stepping into Federal politics to be the candidate for the electorate of Forde, after the original candidate pulled out or was replaced…One of the two anyway.

The unemployment rate is steady, so there was nothing really to comment on there, Joe Hockey did say that Labor has no plans to create jobs.

Thursday was also the end of Ramadan and at Eid celebrations, we saw politicians galore.

Joe Hockey (who has Palestinian heritage), Jason Clare (Home Affairs Minister), Bob Carr (Foreign Minister) and Tony Burke (Immigration Minister) all showed up at various events, most in Western Sydney.

Friday saw the play of the ‘underdog card’ on Kevin Rudd’s side.

With the News Corp Australia CEO quitting, Rudd had a go at their papers again, taking a swipe at Murdoch as well. With a higher GST under Tony, Kevin says, Vegemite will cost more.

Tony brought up the Insulation scandal again, to which he says ‘it makes you cry’. He promised a judicial inquiry to see just how Kevin screwed up. I think he may have just implied (at least to some) that Kev is as corrupt as NSW Labor. Thanks Tony. He’s scared I think, given that several Liberal-held seats are 50/50 in two-party preferred in QLD, especially after Beattie was called in.

Meanwhile, on the “Wombat Trail”, as it’s called, the Nationals’ leader Warren Truss has been going around country towns and regions campaigning. Their results in elections have been declining, but they think their numbers will be better this year. They’re also hoping to get the seat of Page this year, which is held by Labor.

Well, I’ll leave you to enjoy the weekend, and I’ll summarise the week in the next day or two..

The Week That Was – June 23 to June 29

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Wow. What a week.

It began with Julia Gillard copping flak for knitting the Royal Baby a Kangaroo, despite being a supporter of Australia being a republic. I thought that was nice and thoughtful. It ended with a new PM.

It was entertaining, at least for news and political junkies (much like yours truly), and for once, might have had the nation sitting on the edge of their seats. If you weren’t paying attention on Wednesday night you can read what happened in the links at the bottom of this post.

In short, we now have a new Prime Minister – Kevin Rudd.

Not only that, but many people have decided to resign and leave politics, including Julia Gillard, Greg Combet and Peter Garrett. You can see who is staying and going here on the ABC News website. The media did pretty well, especially the ABC and Sky News.

In his first speech as the new PM, Kevin asked for a ‘gentler’ brand of politics and that politicians be nicer to each other. No such luck. By Tony Abbott’s second sentence, he’d taken a stab at Kevin Rudd.

Before I go, I have to say that the Liberal’s rally in Melbourne on the 29th has a distinctive US feel to it. Here’s a picture.

Personally, I don’t think we should go in this direction – but that’s just me. What do you think?

Oh well, let’s hope that next week is a little less frantic – I have a holiday planned!

Quotes of the Week

“I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he is speaking on the indulgence of the chair, and it is being tried” – Anna Burke, Speaker of the House, the day after the spill. Tony Abbott had started getting a bit too vocal about the previous nights shenanigans. (from Hansard)

“Before I conclude, let me say a word or two to young Australians. It’s clear that many of you, in fact far too many of you, have looked at our political system and the parliament in recent years and not liked or respected much of what you have seen. In fact as I rock around the place, talking to my own kids, they see it as a huge national turn off. Well I understand why you have switched off. It’s hardly a surprise but I want to ask you to please come back and listen afresh. It’s really important that we get you engaged, in any way we can. We need you. We need your energy. We need your ideas. We need your enthusiasm and we need you to support us in the great challenges that lie ahead for the country. With your energy, we can start cooking with gas.” Kevin Rudd in his speech after winning the spill, encouraging young Australians to come back and pay attention to politics, ended with one of his signature quips. (from Kevin’s website)

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/hamishNews/status/349856913917345792

(Context: Leigh Sales was on the ABC from 7pm until about 10:45 (she is normally just on between 7:30 and 8pm). She and Annabel Crabb were talking for a good hour or so, holding the fort while the media awaited a slightly late Kevin Rudd to speak)

Links

6:24pm

6:42pm

6:59pm

7:54pm

9:09pm

Speeches

Part 1 (Gillard and Swan)

Part 2 (Rudd and Albanese)

Part 3 (Abbott)

Leadership Spill – The Speeches Part I

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Julia Gillard

  • Sent letter to Governor General telling her to allow Kevin to be the PM
  • Will not contest the next election as promised
  • Being the PM was a “great privilege”
  • Thanks the Labor MPs for giving her the chance
  • Says being PM has not been easy
  • Very proud of what her government has achieved
  • Happy about carbon price and other policies
  • Calling Liberal campaigning “reckless”
  • Happy with the Gonski reforms and that 60% of students will have a better education
  • Proud of the Royal Commission and foreign policy achievements with USA and China and India
  • Proud of the Armed forces and their courage
  • Thanks her colleagues for their support despite the media calling for the change of leader
  • Tells her colleagues to win the election – “It can be done”
  • “Heavens knows no one knew I was a woman till I raised it” – good on you –  I laughed a bit
  • Thanks her staff both in Canberra and Melbourne
  • Thanks her family, especially Tim.
  • Warns her pregnant niece that there is one meddlesome great-aunt coming her way

Wayne Swan

  • Driven by social justice
  • Everyone should get a fair go
  • Proud of the Labor governments record
  • Proud of Australia’s avoidance of a major recession and the fact that Australia’s economy is 14% larger than at the end of 2007
  • 1 million jobs created in the last 5 or so years
  • “It say a lot about the Labor Party”
  • Julia is one of the “toughest” and has done a lot for Australia
  • 3 years in a minority government is a substantial achievement
  • Talking about his electorate in Queensland
  • He will contest the election
  • Thanks his family for being so supportive
  • “good team work” in the cabinet
  • Thanks the colleagues and the electorate office staff and his staff in Canberra
  • Labor deserves and can win the election