It was a relatively quiet week in Canberra, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened at all.
The seat of Herbert was finally declared. It was won by Labor’s Cath O’Toole, the first woman to win the seat. The seat is only held by 37 votes, so it has become very marginal, although it could be contested in the Court of Disputed Returns if the LNP so chooses. The Senate result was also declared, with One Nation winning four seats, Family First and the Liberal Democrats winning one seat each, along with Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie, and the NXT winning three.
The Royal Commission into NT Youth Detention has hit a snag only a week after it was announced. Brian Martin, who was to be the Commissioner has quit after it came to light that his daughter was working in a role in the NT government where she may be required to give evidence in the Commission, which could lead to public perception of a conflict of interest. The Attorney-General has selected Mick Gooda and former QLD Supreme Court Judge Margaret White to replace him.
Finally this week, Malcolm Turnbull has demanded the banks explain why they wouldn’t pass on the entirety of this week’s rate cut; terror raids took place in Melbourne; and the Royal Commission into Child Abuse is looking into allegations against the Anglican Church.
This week’s main focus was the allegations arising from Monday’s Four Corners story about juvenile detention in the Northern Territory. Basically there’s been some pretty terrible stuff happening to the young people there. The Prime Minister has announced that there will be a Royal Commission looking into whether the treatment of these youths has breached laws and what oversight was there and what more could have been done. There are questions over whether this is the right move, and criticism that the only commissioner chosen is not indigenous – with Bill Shorten suggestion indigenous co-commissioners.
Meanwhile Kevin Rudd is back in the headlines, after Malcolm Turnbull decided not to endorse him as a nominee for UN Secretary General. It was meant to be a cabinet decision, but the suggestion was that they came to an impasse and so Turnbull was allowed to make a captain’s call. Labor is upset at the descision, saying the Coalition are being unfair, while the Coalition are pointing out Labor has, at times, been Rudd’s biggest critic. Rudd has released letters showing communications between him and Turnbull regarding Rudd’s endeavours to be nominated for UN Secretary General. It appears that Turnbull was somewhat supportive up until about May when he changed his mind.
Finally this week, Cardinal Pell has been accused of child sexual abuse, which he is denying and accusing the ABC and the Victoria Police of a conspiracy; the Lindt Inquest will call Andrew Scipione, Cath Byrne and another senior officer to give evidence into their roles during the Lindt Siege; and there are concerns over the possibility of preventative dention measures and control orders and their impact on civil liberties.
Tweet of the Week
You don't see this too often. An apology that doesn't start "I'm sorry if anyone was offended…" Kudos. https://t.co/tBY4dsueqJ
So, Tony Abbott made Prince Phillip a Knight of the Order of Australia. That announcement kind of took away from the fact that Angus Houston – the former Defence guy that was coordinating the search of MH370 and represented Australia for a bit after MH17 – also received a knighthood, and that anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year.
Other than the awkwardness of the Prince Phillip knighthood “captain’s pick” issue, Australia Day was relatively normal, other than the heavy rain in Sydney. People who did some great things were recognised, there was some interesting helicopter and boat choreography on Sydney Harbour and Prince Phillip received a knighthood (the whole knighthood thing took over for a bit). Indigenous people also reminded people that they still see this day in a more negative light, treating it as a “Day of Mourning” or a “Day of Survival”, since over 200 years ago, they were basically invaded and colonised by the British.
Tony Abbott has been having a tough time this week, especially after his captain’s pick for the knighthood, with ministers and backbenchers saying they had no idea that was the plan and saying that it isn’t really an appropriate knighthood to have given. Those who haven’t specifically said that the knighthood was the worst idea ever, have at least placed all the blame on Abbott who has ignored social media backlash over the whole thing, calling it “electronic graffiti”. However, there’s more to it, because now there are rumours of serious rumblings behind the scenes over Abbott’s leadership, while some of his closest supporters in the media, like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones, are suggesting his leadership could be at an end.
Abbott has admitted he should have consulted more with his party and the public over the whole knighthood saga, but the rumours have continued with talk that Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and others, including Mal Brough (responsible for the whole Ashby-Slipper saga back in the Gillard days), are canvassing the party for numbers, or if not them, backbenchers who think that some of these Ministers could be PM and win them the next election.
The whole thing got a little bit more insane and ridiculous when Abbott said the reason ministers like Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison are any good at their jobs was because he is a great leader.
Meanwhile, the Queensland LNP is fully ready to blame Abbott if they get a poor result in the Queensland State Election, held on Saturday, which now looks increasingly likely. The number of seats needed by a party to rule Queensland is 45, and at last count just before midnight on Saturday night, the LNP had 40 seats, Labor had 43 seats, with three seats in doubt, and three seats to other parties and independents. The prediction is that Labor will get 45 (the magic number) and win the election, most likely with support from the three other MPs – a result nobody expected.
Matthew Gardiner, the Labor Party President in the Northern Territory, has left Australia for the Middle East in order to help the Kurdish forces fight against Islamic State. It has shocked the country, with Bill Shorten telling people it’s a bad idea to go, and asking Gardiner to return to Australia. Furthermore, the government has pointed out that regardless of who you are fighting for, it’s still illegal to go fight overseas.
While the Manus Island Detention Centre protests are over, it appears that the allegations of violence on the part of the security forces and PNG Police may have had some truth to them, with images showing detainees with what appears to be evidence of being beaten. 40 of the Detention Centre’s detainees have also been arrested by the PNG government, however, once again, both the Australian and PNG governments aren’t saying much.
Finally this week, Whitlam and Hawke government minister, Tom Uren died this week; it’s looking more and more likely that the two Australians on death row in Indonesia for drug offences will be executed in the next few weeks; the Sydney Siege Inquiry has begun; the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has released its recommendations for compensation and reconciliation for victims; and Brazil is upset that a NSW court acquitted all but one of four cops charged with a Brazilian student’s death – and the one that was found guilty was charged with assault for using three cans of pepper spray on the student and didn’t even get a conviction recorded.
Tweet of the Week
So Triple J disqualified Taylor Swift from the Hottest 100, only to play another Top 40 song in spot #6
On Sunday, in cities across Australia there were climate change protests as part of international protests in the lead up to a UN Summit on Climate Change in New York. World leaders like Obama attended, but Australia sent Julie Bishop, instead of Tony Abbott.
However, I feel like most of this week has been about terrorism and terror laws and stuff like that, and I case you were wondering, no, the budget has not yet been passed in full. Tony Abbott spoke to parliament about the new terror laws, which make specific nations or regions no go zones, punishable by 10 years in prison (unless you have a good reason to be there, like being a journalist or an aid worker – but you have to prove it), ASIO and the police get more powers and international evidence can be used against you in Australia, as long as it wasn’t obtained through torture. There has been criticism though, from people who think the laws go to far, as well as those who think the laws don’t go far enough.
One of the main stories this week is about an 18-year-old being shot by a Victorian Police officer outside a police station. The young man was asked to come to the station to be interviewed after his passport was cancelled and concerns were raised about him being radicalised. He was met by two officers, one from Victoria Police, the other an AFP officer. The young man allegedly stabbed them before the Victorian officer shot the man, killing him. There were reports suggesting he was looking into the Prime Minister’s movements, which have since been debunked, and it is also believed that he was following the Islamic State fatwa declared at the start of the week, which his family has denied. Either way, he scared the authorities enough that they’ve upped security at Parliament House. Tony Abbott told the country that there were obviously people in Australia who weren’t nice and are essentially out to get us – mind you this is also the Prime Minister who keeps giving people a checklist of things for a terror attack (a knife, an iPhone and a victim, apparently), which has been the source of both amusement and concern in my house.
Unfortunately with these new laws, as well as the aftermath of the terror raids and the young guy being killed, people have started to be quite horrible to the Muslim community. At least four mosques in Sydney have received threatening letters, and people in the community are being threatened, taunted and assaulted. It also doesn’t help that an Australian Defence Force officer reported that he had been assaulted by two men of Middle-Eastern appearance, only to withdraw the claim 24 hours later. Then you have those in politics, namely Cory Bernardi and Jacqui Lambie, who seem to have decided that we should universally discriminate against the Muslim community by banning the burqa, or force Muslim women to remove their burqa in Parliament House – despite the fact I’m under the impression that they’re using burqa as a universal term for all head coverings.
Moving on, the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS – aka ISIS/ISIL) began strikes on Syria this week, with help from regional partners like Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They’re trying to help Syrian Kurds fight IS. Australia was not part of the airstrikes, but may well join in soon as Cabinet is due to decide in the next few days, now that Abbott’s been at the UN and talked with Obama about it all.
Speaking of Tony Abbott going to the United Nations, he went to talk with world leaders, vote on resolutions to fight back against IS, and talked about how economic growth makes the world a better place – or something like that. He chatted with Iraq’s Prime Minister, as well as meeting with Egypt’s President Sisi to talk about Peter Greste – according to Abbott, Sisi is a “reluctant jailer”. He also checked out the FBI and NYPD offices before heading home.
This week there were two major developments in the realm of asylum seekers. First, in a deal with Clive Palmer, the government has brought back Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) for 30,000 refugees in detention centres in Australia and on Christmas Island. No one from Manus Island or Nauru will be eligible and the refugees that are will have to move to regional areas, or at least that’s what I took from the announcement. Second, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with Cambodia to allow the resettlement of refugees in Cambodia. Australia will give Cambodia $40 million in the next four years, for the voluntary program, with no cap on the number of refugees to be resettled. The money will be used to pay for a resettlement package, paying for housing, language lessons and other start-up costs the refugees will have. Australians are not the only ones upset by this move though. Protesters demonstrated outside the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh, saying that Cambodia doesn’t have the resources to look after their own people, let alone asylum seekers.
Finally this week, the Royal Commission into Child Abuse looked into the Retta Dixon home in the Northern Territory, Sydney Airport had a security scare thanks to a passenger ambling around distracted by a tablet, Peter Slipper was sentenced to 300 hours community service for his issue of travel vouchers, and a Islamic School in Sydney went into lockdown after a guy with a knife threatened staff at the office.
Tweet of the Week
Remember that wobbly underexposed shot of Gillard on spill night? That was some ABC guy learning how to shoot… pic.twitter.com/2dPm2jHbzR
So it’s officially been a year since Tony Abbott became Prime Minister.
Over the last weekend, March in August protests were held run by the March Australia movement. There was thought to be about 5,000 people protesting in Sydney, as well as thousands in other major cities and towns across the country. They’re not happy with the government for quite a few reasons, like the budget, asylum seekers and marriage equality, and they really don’t like Tony Abbott.
Australia will be sending more aid to Iraq to help with the crisis, as well as flying weapons into Iraq to give to the Kurdish fighters. The weapons won’t be Australian, and the flights carrying weapons will land so they know who they’re giving the weapons to. Tony Abbott is justifying the decision by saying that Australia should do what it can to help stop genocide. Bill Shorten isn’t happy that Australians could be in harm’s way but understands that this needs to be done, while the biggest critique has come from both the Greens and Independent Andrew Wilkie, who says that Australia has picked a side and therefore we’re at war and want a debate about whether we send Australians in. Tony Abbott seems to be having a little too much fun scaring people about IS (ISIS/ISIL) and this week has called them a “death cult” – at least they’ve got something to distract people from the budget.
Staying with war zones, Australia will have no new exports or export uranium to Russia, as part of more sanctions being announced by both Australia, the US and the EU. Australia is also setting up a temporary embassy in Kiev (there wasn’t one already?) where police and non-lethal military support will be based along with a few diplomats. Most of them are involved with the investigation into MH17, and will remain there for some time.
This week the Mining Tax repeal passed. The school kids bonus will remain in place until 2016, however the one thing that is upsetting people is that Superannuation increases will not occur until 2021 – in seven years time – which could make people’s super $20,000 worse off. Super experts, the Opposition and workers aren’t too happy and the government is being accused of hypocrisy. It’s thought that this could become an election issue. Tony Abbott also had a hissy fit, saying that the Opposition didn’t accept his mandate.
Criticism has been cast on a Centrelink measure meant to help with income management. Originating in the Northern Territory during the intervention years under John Howard, the Basics Card is being rolled out in other towns with high rates of unemployment and Centrelink payouts. Half the Centrelink payment is put on the card, with the idea being that you spend it on essentials like food and it can’t be used to buy alcohol or cigarettes – two major concerns when the intervention took place. The issue is, most people getting the card in NT were adults in family units, and the card was beneficial because it meant that the kids got food and their parents didn’t spend all the money on alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, whereas the people getting them in other towns are young, childless, singles. There are benefits to not being able to buy alcohol on the card, however the restrictions mean that young people have no freedom on the Basics Card to buy things that they want. People have been finding ways around the Basics Card restrictions and some have resorted to bartering, while other criticisms include the issue with addiction. The card just stops your from buying the alcohol and/or cigarettes, and there are no programs to help with quitting or treating the addiction.
Tony Abbott spent the end of this week in India and Malaysia. In India, Abbott paid respects to those killed in the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks in 2008, had a lunch or breakfast with investors, talked to Mumbai University students about the “Colombo Plan” which allows Indian international students to study in Australia and of course, talked about Australia being “open for business”. He also met with Narendra Modi, signed a deal on uranium trade, with the promise the uranium would only be used for energy purposes, and not for weapons. In Malaysia, Abbott and the Malaysian PM discussed the Malaysian Airlines flights MH370 and MH17, spoke about how Australia and Malaysia were great friends and condemned ISIS. Malaysia, being a Muslim-dominated nation is one nation that the West wants to keep onside.
Unfortunately this week, an asylum seeker passed away from septicemia/sepsis after cutting his foot. It has led to concerns that the Manus Island Detention Centre is ill-equipped and poorly maintained. There is also concern that the asylum seeker may have been mistreated, which the government denies. The Queensland Coroner will hold an inquest and the Immigration Department will also investigate. The opposition wants a fully independent investigation and that all the information be publicly available.
There have been concerns about the number of students doing Maths and Science at school, with the main concern being that Australia could fall behind dramatically. Experts have been suggesting that universities and companies should get involved with education as well as work with each other, as well as the provision of education and training for teachers.
Finally this week, an application at ICAC for a suppression order regarding emails that could be private due to parliament privilege is upsetting journalists, the Royal Commission into Labor’s insulation program returned, critical of the governmental departments in charge of the scheme, the Royal Commission into Child Abuse got more time and money, and we learned that CFMEU construction workers have a tendency to swear to the Trade Union Royal Commission.
Tweet of the Week
You know something has a lot of swearing when ABC News 24 stops the live cross to it:
We had to leave the Trade Union Royal Commission because of all the swearing .. you can continue to watch it on the Commission website.
Kara L 