Tag Archives: North Korea

The Week That Was – October 1 to October 7

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This week saw state and territory leaders have a COAG meeting in which it was readily agreed to implement some form of facial recognition program in time for the Commonwealth Games next year. It’s unclear how it works, because Malcolm Turnbull and Annastacia Palaszczuk say one thing, and Justice Minister Michael Keenan says another. Either way, they’re going to use people’s drivers licence pictures for the program. They also said the system wouldn’t be as cool as the ones you see on crime shows, which is a bit disappointing if you ask me.

The COAG meeting also resulted in a commitment from state and territory leaders to make uniform legislation to allow them to hold terror suspects for 14 days without charge. However, concerns have sprung up that this might involve holding kids as young as 10 (the age of criminal responsibility in Australia) for that period. Domestic air passengers will also have to show a form of ID, which you would have thought Australia would have been doing for years already.

We’re at the halfway point of the same-sex marriage postal survey and we’ve sort of stopped hearing about the yes and no campaigns every single night on the news. I do know that there was a rally in Sydney this weekend, and I did get a robo-survey call which didn’t get very far because the first question asked if I had already voted – which my household has – and then it hung up on me. The major concern is that the no campaign may win due to grassroots level campaigning with ethnic and religious groups working within their communities. Why aren’t they hanging out with the big public no campaigners? Well, as the muslim cleric interviewed in the ABC news story pointed out – those people also tend to be a bit Islamophobic too.

The car industry in Australia is essentially no more, with the Toyota factories in Victoria closing on Tuesday. The main concern has been that the workforce, which is primarily older men, will not be able to retrain or get another job ever, which will only be alleviated if the federal and the Victorian state government work together to invest – and only the Victorians have been serious about it from what I’ve seen and heard since Toyota announced they were leaving three years ago.

This week also saw some refugees from Manus Island head to the United States to start their new lives. The ABC interviewed two of them, and it appears for the moment they’re pretty happy, although they’re only going to get help from a US charity for a little while, so they will soon need to get a job an fend for themselves.

Also this week, Nick Xenophon shocked many when he announced he was goung to leave federal parliament to start a new group in South Australia called SA Best and run for the South Australian Lower House next year. This is all depending on how the whole section 44 thing goes for Xenophon though. For those of you trying to place the guy – he’s the one that does stunts and makes terrible puns about the issues he draws attention to. He’s actually a really smart politician, and pretty good at negotiating for what he wants. His SA Best group has hand a setback though, with a candidate being caught on social media groping two wax statues (think Madame Tussauds) of Australian celebrities, and also making tasteless jokes about Rihanna’s domestic violence issues with rapper Chris Brown, by pretending to punch Rihanna’s wax statue.

Finally this week, there were protests against the proposed Adani coal mine; Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has praised President Trump for getting China to reconsider imposing stricter sanctions on North Korea; there are calls to have a wool processing industry after an incident where bags of merino wool were switched with less expensive wool and people were ripped off; and Australia is taking a fresher look at gun control laws (that may have become more lax) after the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Tweet of the Week

Actor Josh Thomas posted his survey this week

https://twitter.com/JoshThomas87/status/915839756302348288

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Eddie Aryes on how teaching in Kabul changed his life – ABC Online

Australian universities, self censorship and China – ABC Online

The Week That Was – May 1 to May 7

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It was the week of the Budget, which is always interesting – and also results in information overload.

In this year’s Budget, Scott Morrisson’s first, a lot of stuff was announced. They key ones are: $1 billion set aside for schooling, there’ll be a small tax cut for small to medium size businesses, $5 billion for public transport, a change to the tax brackets to help solve issues with bracket creep and inflation and the tobacco excise will increase. There’s some others and you can get a better picture on the ABC’s website – where they have an entire section dedicated to it.

Negative gearing is not on the table in this budget, but it remains a key plan of Labor’s, as does the excise. Labor is currently trying to get answers out of the Liberals over their ten year tax plan that they have forecasted ahead only four years. An answer will be unlikely, given the election is due to be called over the weekend.

A female refugee has become the second person to self-immolate on Manus Island, and has been sent to Brisbane for treatment. The Sudanese woman is as of Saturday night, still alive but there is no word on her progress. Meanwhile Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has been accusing social workers and other people working on Manus and at other detention centres are encouraging people to self harm. This is a dangerous allegation for him to make. First, it’s unlikely to be true that people working in social work and psychology in detention centres are encouraging people to self harm, and second, if it is true, then he should have evidence to back it up – and we have none other than his word.

Lastly, on Friday afternoon, the government announced a new deal with Singapore, in which the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the tiny island nation was updated, visa restrictions were relaxed, tourism and university links will be created and nearly 14,000 Singaporean troops will be trained in Australia, mainly because we have the space. It makes Singapore the closest ally Australia has in Asia, mainly to counter China, although no one is saying that out loud in politics land.

Finally this week, Clive Palmer has announced he will not re-contest his seat of Fairfax at the next election; an Australian fighter in the Middle East, believed to be a key planner of several plots in Australia, has been killed by a US airstrike; and Stan Grant has been talking about constitutional recognition of Indigenous people.

Tweet of the Week

The election hasn’t even been called yet (as of Saturday) and the the stunts have begun.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Lenore Taylor on this whole “class war” thing – The Guardian

Annabel Crabb on policies and Labor’s budget reply – ABC The Drum

And because it’s cool, Nobel Laureates in North Korea – from the BBC

The Week That Was – January 3 to January 9

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Despite the ongoing drama from the Jamie Briggs scandal, the week has gone by quietly.

It turns out that Jamie Briggs sent the photo of the young female public servant who made the complaint against him to several colleagues before and during the investigation into his actions. However, Briggs denies that he leaked the image to the media, meaning that someone else who had the photo had to have leaked it. We still don’t know who this is, and the Prime Minister has been focusing on the fact that Briggs should never have sent the image out in the first place.

Malcolm Turnbull is not the only person suggesting that Briggs has made some poor decisions recently. Several commentators and Press Gallery veterans have been writing pieces suggesting that the night out in Hong Kong that started this whole scandal was one of the not-so-great decisions made by Jamie Briggs. One of these was written by Samantha Maiden, who has worked in the Press Gallery for over 15 years.

Maiden’s piece, like many suggested that Briggs had made poor choices in Hong Kong, but was a tad more brutal than some of the others. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton decided to send Briggs a consolation message after the piece was published.

Problem was, he sent it to Maiden instead of Briggs. Oops.

What makes it that little bit worse was that the text called Maiden a “mad f**king witch”. Dutton apologised and Samantha Maiden has forgiven him, but it sparked criticism on social media. Dutton is also copping criticism from the opposition, who want Turnbull to act as soon as possible, and the women in his own party who have warned other men in the Liberal Party to be considerate, especially Minister for Women Michaelia Cash and Victorian MP Sharman Stone.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Australia will buy and refit several Gulfstream G550 jets from the US to replace their current spy plane fleet at a cost of $90 million. The planes, which are more commonly used as private jets for corporate and personal use, will be fitted out with spying equipment – which turns out to be far less rare than a lot of people thought. However, it was not the Australian Government making the announcement, but the US Government, and we may have to wait until the Defence White Paper is released later in the year before the Aussies comment at all on the decision.

Finally this week, Australia condemned the North Korean (DPRK) government for their self proclaimed “test” of a hydrogen bomb.

Tweet of the Week

Chris Gayle tried to chat up a female sports journalist from Channel 10 (which he has done before to other female journalists), offending people and he didn’t apologise very well the next day.

https://twitter.com/lucethoughts/status/684178868949782528

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Sexism in the workplace – ABC The Drum

Lee Lin Chin (and other media and sports stars) in the Lamb ad

The Week that Was – November 8 to November 14

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The possibility of tax reform is still floating around, with the Opposition calling the proposed changes are an attack on the poor, while the Greens would like the parliamentary library to do research into the GST. There have also been suggestions that the government would get more revenue by re-implementing a Carbon Tax than they would a rise in the GST. Meanwhile there are concerns about the uptake of health insurance, after it was reported that the number of people taking out private health insurance has fallen. Health Minister Sussan Ley wants to know if this is an affordability issue, and if so, what factors are affecting that and whether those factors are fair.

The Christmas Island Detention Centre was the scene of rioting earlier this week after a refugee died escaping the centre. The main issues appear to be related to access to services, such as medication. It was finally brought under control after armed police were flown in from Australia, with five detainees injured and allegations that the police used tear gas and rubber bullets to subdue the riots. Peter Dutton has told the public that the riot was started by a group of hardened criminals – believed to be mostly New Zealanders awaiting deportation after spending more that twelve months in prison – seven of whom were brought to Perth following the riots. If that doesn’t already cause problems for the government, then the 110 countries, including Russia, Iran and North Korea, that registered concern about Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers at a UN Human Rights Council meeting probably did.

Malcolm Turnbull has gone on his first international trip as PM this week, starting with a casual trip to Indonesia to meet President Joko Widodo and repair the relationship marred by spying scandals, executions and, well, let’s be honest, Tony Abbott. Turnbull then headed to Germany to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and is due in Turkey for the G20 this week. While in Germany, the Paris Terror attacks occurred, and despite being on the other side of the world, Turnbull was ably to speak in a measured and reassuring fashion without one mention of “Team Australia” or “death cult”, which shows that in some ways, Turnbull as PM was always going to be the most sensible move our country ever made – even if it was only made by the party. It is believe that Turnbull will still attend the G20 – although it may become a G19, as French President François Hollande is expected to stay in France and help his nation heal.

Finally this week, the government is believed to be rethinking the lease of the Darwin Harbour to a Chinese company, the man alleged to have supplied the gun in the Parramatta shooting was arrested, one of Julie Bishop’s staffers is being scrutinised after it was revealed that he was at a plotter’s meeting with Turnbull, Wyatt Roy and other Liberal figures instrumental in the spill and the unemployment rate is down, which is good news for the Turnbull government.

Tweets of the Week

And this one from the Mayor of Paris – it reads “Thank you to Clover Moore [Sydney Lord Mayor] and the residents of Sydney for their brotherly support”

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Annabel Crabb on the concept of Kitchen Cabinet and why she wont stab ScoMo with a fork – SMH

Labor looking for TV personalities to run in a federal seat at the next election – The Age

Same-sex couples and legal rights are still an issue – SMH

The Week That Was – October 5 to October 11

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The week began with Tony Abbott at the NRL Grand Final – where he got booed.

Australia has begun airstrikes in Iraq, which has also led to the question of how to pay for the ‘mission’ (the government still isn’t using the word ‘war’). The Defence Minister believes the mission won’t last too long, but it will take time, in the belief that if they under-promise, it will look like they’ve kept it. However, they still need to pay for it, and it looks like they might have to raise taxes – well it did, until Tony Abbott ruled it out. They could also cut foreign aid, but apparently Julie Bishop has been telling cabinet there is no way she is cutting the foreign aid budget further. The opposition has suggested that Tony Abbott’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme should be scrapped to save money, while Joe Hockey has suggested that if Labor supports the mission to Iraq, then they should also support the Coalition’s Budget measures.

Staying with the Budget, it is getting closer to the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) due in December/January and the Coalition still hasn’t got many of their big ticket items through Parliament, which is important as they play into other budget cuts and spending. There are 16 sitting days left for the House of Representatives and 12 days left for the Senate, which doesn’t give the government long to get things through an unpredictable Senate, as Clive Palmer changes his mind at will. Also, the six month waiting period for welfare could be dropped after the government backflipped on the 40 job applications requirement in order to receive the dole. The PM says it isn’t a backflip, but a ‘response’ to consultation with businesses and community.

The Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) is meeting this weekend, with higher security than normal because of the increased terror alert. It was a “constructive and productive” meeting (the Premiers’ words not mine). They’ve agreed to look into changing the way federal money gets given to the states, and they will also be setting up a federal agency to help guide families through the surrogacy process, but just advice.

Which leads us to the latest surrogacy scandal, this time in India. An Australian couple, whose surrogate gave birth to twins, abandoned one of the babies in India, with accusations of money changing hands. There are concerns that senior Australian government officials tried to speed up the process, and now the PM’s Office, the Attorney-General’s Office and DFAT are looking into the allegations. The reason so many people go to Asia for surrogacy is because surrogacy is illegal in Australia. Bill Shorten is of the opinion that there should be one national law to regulate surrogacy, but Tony Abbott says there will be no changes to the legislation.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is in trouble after losing people to redundancies and resignations. Morale is down in the agency apparently, especially after the decision to dump coal in the reef. Both stakeholders and the agency itself are concerned about the reef’s health.

A nurse from Cairns has been in hospital being tested for Ebola after going to hospital with a fever. The nurse, who travelled with the International Red Cross, has spent a month in Sierra Leone helping with the outbreak. She returned and quarantined herself in her apartment, only leaving to go to the hospital when she developed a fever. The local MP, Bob Katter, asked why she was in the community, and has demanded mandatory quarantine for anyone returning from the Ebola zone. As of Saturday the nurse is improving, and her tests thus far have been negative. Australia is sending financial aid to help fight Ebola, but won’t send actual medical staff until they have an evacuation plan in place. Meanwhile, an isolation pod to put potential Ebola victims in has arrived in Brisbane for use on the East Coast.

Finally this week, Brisbane practiced for G20 transporting a “delegate” around the city with all of the security staff (probably also practicing for a Chaser-like prank), the government will begin to flag “hate groups”, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics is having problem with job numbers, which is being blamed on budget cuts.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/xinwenxiaojie/status/520383886748966912

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales talk cakes, politics and Annabel’s book – The Saturday Paper

Emma Alberici vs. Wassim Doureihi on Lateline – ABC Online

Where in the World is Kim Jong-Un?

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 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 – February 16 to February 22

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A lot happened this week.

This week the report into Indonesian border incursions was released, revealing that the navy has breached Indonesian waters six times, all, they say, were inadvertent because incorrect calculations were made regarding the location of the water border. Some have been asking how that’s possible given all the GPS technology that would’ve told them there was a problem. Indonesia did bring up Operation Sovereign Borders with the Americans, but it seems no one really asked about that chat because John Kerry didn’t bring it up in public.

Speaking of bringing up issues, the Chinese brought up the treatment of asylum seekers in scheduled talks with Australian officials. Usually the Australians are the ones being concerned about the human rights issues in China, and they did bring it up, but never have the Chinese lectured Australia on treating people humanely. Australian officials said they explained everything to the Chinese and that once explained, everything was ok.

Tony Abbott spent last weekend in areas of drought in western Queensland and north-western New South Wales and it seemed as if he brought rain with him as a gift. And while it sounds a tad mean, it’s hard to not laugh when you’re talking about drought relief when it is raining, and quite heavily at that. Farmers have made it clear that they don’t just want help because there is a drought, they want long-term support.

Still with the Prime Minister, he’s saying that he wants his government to be “the best friend Medicare has ever had”, despite people flagging changes to the system. They’re suggesting $6 co-payments when you visit the doctor. However, some have been asking why we can’t just raise the Medicare levy, given that’s how we already pay for Medicare anyway. Which is a valid point, as is the suggestion that maybe decreasing or removing rebates for some of the expensive elective surgeries that people have.

Moving on, Craig Thompson was found guilty of fraud and theft for using his union credit card to pay for things that he shouldn’t be using that card for. A few of the charges were thrown out, but he was still found guilty of most of them. Now he is waiting to be sentenced. Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek have both made it clear that no one is above the law and that they are pleased that the law has caught up with him.

Speaking of Labor, the former government’s confidential cabinet files could be unsealed for the Royal Commission being held to look at the “pink batts” scheme – an insulation scheme carried out during which four workers were electrocuted. There’s a bit of fuss about that, because they are released 30 years later (e.g. 1983 cabinet files were released at the end of last year, 2013). Never have they been released while the following government is in power.

This week, an 75-year-old Australian missionary was arrested in Pyongyang for handing out religious leaflets. He apparently left some in a Buddhist temple while on a tour, and has reportedly admitted that tourism was not the only reason for his visit. He could face time in prison or a labour camp, and because Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea, the Swedish Embassy is representing our interests there.

The G20 had the Finance ministers’ meeting in Sydney this weekend, and while they aren’t finished yet nothing major has occurred. Joe Hockey has been talking with lots of people, and he wants “measurable” results from these meetings, which are often criticised as talk-fests. He’s also said a couple of times that government spending needs to be sustainable, which is fair enough.

Finally, we get to the big newsmaker this week – the chaos on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where there is an Immigration Detention Centre. It began when a few asylum seekers either escaped or at least attempted to after being told they would not be settled in Australia. It soon turned into what appeared to be a riot, in which one Iranian asylum seeker was killed and many others were injured, and at least three were transferred to Australia for medical treatment, one believed to have a gunshot wound. Journalists were not allowed in, but the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre released a call they received from one of the detainees inside.

Right now there’s a bit of a blame game going on, with Manus Island residents blaming the security staff, both Australian and Papua New Guinean. The security staff says that they were provoked by the asylum seekers saying nasty things about PNG. While the Papuan Prime Minister says that it was the Australian security staff, not the locals. There will be an inquiry, but it will take a while.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Correspondents Report – an ABC Radio program which, as their website says: “the ABC’s overseas reporters give their interpretation and analysis of the week’s major events.”