Tag Archives: New York Times

The Week that Was – August 30 to September 5

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The week hasn’t been that bad for the government, but it hasn’t been fantastic either.

There are rumours that Tony Abbott is being asked to get rid of Treasurer Joe Hockey, meanwhile Hockey has been dealing with some not-so-great growth data and a fall in average national income. On top of that, Abbott is also dealing with the fallout from a blistering New York Times piece about the Australian Government’s treatment of refugees, as well as a gaffe that offended the Jewish community – Abbott said that Islamic State was worse than the Nazis. Abbott, former PM John Howard and others have been in the West Australian seat of Canning as the by-election heats up.

Unions are still concerned about the way the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will affect the labour market, not only for them but for the workers that could be flown in by China. These concerns seem to have been misinterpreted by the government, who keep reminding people that labour mobility was always part of the agreement and then bad mouth the Unions and the Labor Party, calling them racists. On the other hand, you have the Labor Party trying to get people to understand that they are just concerned about it because there doesn’t seem to be that much information about how the labour mobility thing is going to work. Labor has also said that they don’t want the FTA renegotiated, they’re just worried about Australian jobs.

The Royal Commissioner for the Trade Union Royal Commission, Dyson Heydon has ruled that he does not need to recuse himself due to apprehended bias. He’s said that the average fair-minded lay person (which is a legal concept and doesn’t actually exist) would not think he’s biased. Heydon has also pointed out that he can’t use a computer and can only read emails if they’ve been printed out by his assistant.

The plight of the Syrian Refugees is hitting home this week after the image of the drowned toddler went viral. It has leads some Liberal Party figures to speak about how Australia should take in more refugees. Both Mike Baird, the NSW Premier and Craig Laundy, a Federal MP, have called on Abbott to consider letting more refugees in to Australia, particularly from Syria, with Laundy saying that he and his family had talked over dinner about whether or not they would jump on a boat to escape Islamic State and that the family agreed that they probably would. The Prime Minister is keeping his cards close to his chest, while the Greens are demanding that Australia take in 20,000 Syrian refugees.

Finally this week, there will be a Senate Inquiry into the 7-Eleven pay scandal, which will also incorporate United service stations, the citizenship legislation is probably going to be challenged in the High Court, and it’s looking very likely Australia will join the USA in bombing Syria – Oh and Johnny Depp had a go at Barnaby Joyce, which you can see here.

Tweet of the Week

Scott Ludlam on Dyson Heydon’s decision…

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Julia Baird (Host of The Drum on ABC TV) on her cancer diagnosis – New York Times

Michelle Grattan on Abbott and his government – The Conversation

Emma Alberici on how Trump is reminding people of Ronald Reagan’s campaign – ABC The Drum

The Week That Was – March 2 to March 8

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This week began with the Australian missionary arrested in North Korea being released after he apologised, although it was mainly because of his age. Also, both Tony Abbott and the government are warning Russia not to invade Crimea in Ukraine, so he does have some diplomacy skills. It also happens to be the 6-month mark for the Coalition government.

Qantas’ issues continue to divide the politicians, with debate over whether or not the government should get rid of the Qantas Sale Act, with one suggestion being that the international operations of Qantas remain Australian-owned, while having the domestic operations foreign-owned. Apparently there is no “Plan B” so to speak, despite rumours that Warren Truss had come up with an idea to have the government keep majority ownership of the airline, but increase the maximum number of shares a foreign shareholder can have. It may have been on the news, but apparently it was never an idea…oh well.

The other issue that arose early this week was the airline’s communications, with a message from Qantas on Monday saying the carbon tax had nothing to do with their problems. But on Wednesday, all of a sudden, the carbon tax was a factor – the Opposition were suspicious, and rightfully so. Labor also expressed concern that the virtually clean safety record of Qantas could be compromised, which then brings out the clip from Rain Man.

This week the Grattan Institute called for a change to health pricing, particularly surgery prices. They found huge differences in prices between hospitals, with one charging less than $10,000 for a specific surgery and another hospital doing the same surgery charging almost $25,000. Apparently it has something to do with the services given to you pre- and post-operation, so in some ways it adds up.

Still with health, it appears that Medicare is being defrauded by a few nasty people – apparently the vast majority of Australians are not rorting or misusing the system. But it is an easy system to defraud because people’s information is available at so many service providers.

The government is still trying to convince workers that they will be ok under the new government, but may have had a setback when the draft terms of reference for the Productivity Review Commission were leaked. They want the commission to see if penalty rates could be removed…I thought Work Choices was dead, buried and cremated.

Tweet of the Week

Faux Pas of the Week

Mattias Cormann, the Finance Minister, said that the issue of more women in cabinet was a “side issue” – it may not have caused so much fuss, if he hadn’t said it on International Women’s Day…Ooops.

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

SBS2’s The Feed had fun spoofing 12 Years a Slave in the hope that the ABC might apologise for spelling their presenter’s name wrong, a là Solomon Northup and the New York Times.

The Week That Was – September 8 to September 14

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So, the first week of Tony Abbott’s Prime Ministership (well, he’s actually PM-elect) is going ok and the sky hasn’t fallen, as many predicted. However, anyone who said that they were going to leave the country if Abbott ever became PM are now in a difficult position.

This week, we’ve seen the counting continue, especially in the seat of Indi (Sophie Mirabella’s seat before the election) where it is so close between Mirabella and Cathy McGowan, an Independent, that they are having to go through and look at all of the preferences. There was controversy too, when the AEC found 1,000 misplaced votes for McGowan – the AEC says it was a clerical error, so no conspiracy. If McGowan does win the seat, Mirabella will be one of, if not the only, Liberal MP to lose their seat this election, which leaves Abbott with another issue – now there is only one woman, Julie Bishop, in the yet to be sworn in Cabinet, and that could be a real problem.

Even more controversy was created on Tuesday, when Foreign Minister-elect Julie Bishop sacked the Consul-General-to-be Steve Bracks from his post. He was meant to be going to the New York Consulate as Consul-General, and was still in Canberra, presumably for briefings and training when he lost his job. That has sent Labor into a bit of a tantrum, and I’ll let them have this one, because I thought it was a little bit vindictive.

We’ve also seen some of the new senators-elect on TV:

David Leyonhjelm

Wayne Dropulich

Ricky Muir – on the ABC Website

With Kevin Rudd no longer the Labor leader, there is now the question on who will. There is a choice between Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese – and not just for Caucus. Members of the Labor Party can join as well. The only issue is how it’ll work. It’ll take about a month to find out who’ll lead the Opposition.

Hmm. At least the election campaign is over.

Last, but not least, the story of the New York Times journalist and photographer who took an asylum seeker boat to Christmas Island – they had visas, so they aren’t going to Manus Island, but hey, it’s interesting. You can read the story here.

Links

To read Julia Gillard’s piece in the Guardian, click here.

To read Antony Green’s piece about Senate preferences, click here.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/hamishNews/status/377731382983680000

Amusement

Craig Emerson singing, Skyhooks, and somewhat veiled insults on the ABC…