This week saw the political machine whirr back into gear, with Bill Shorten touring marginal seats across the nation, campaigning against a rise in the GST. In one of these visits he was at supermarket asking a shopper what variety of lettuce they preferred, which lead to some frivolity with Triple J journalist Alice Workman desperately trying to find out which variety was Shorten’s favourite (you can tell we’re only in low gear at the moment).
https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/687027060460486656
Shorten even played along, only to frustrate Workman further.
https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/687049109484654592
The frivolity kind of stopped a bit later in the week, when it was revealed that the NSW ALP boss Jamie Clements was being accused of sexual harassment and many people in the party were asking him to go, such as former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, NSW Acting Opposition Leader Linda Burnie and Shorten himself. It’s believed that Clements wanted $1 million to go, but whether that happened was unclear when it was announced that he had resigned, as he put it “for the good of the party”.
Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party are under scrutiny this week after Palmer’s company Queensland Nickel sacked hundreds of workers after they were unable to get financial assistance to the tune of $35 million from the Queensland Government, despite the fact that the company donated nearly $290,000 to the PUP at the end of 2015.
Finally this week, Save the Children staffers have been vindicated over accusations they were causing trouble on Nauru; there are concerns about the share market and commodity prices as the price of oil drops to below USD $30 a barrel; Nick Xenophon and his party the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) have announced their candidates for this year’s election with a candidate in Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah; and there are also concerns that the government is trying to make it harder for people to prove they need the Disability Pension.
Tweet of the Week
Something for us all to think about.
And if you can guess who it was, well done you.
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
First Dog on the Moon on killing off carp with herpes – The Guardian
First Dog on the Moon “moonsplains” sexism – The Guardian