Tag Archives: Protests

The Two Week That Were – November 25 to December 8

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The Victorian State Election saw the incumbent Labor government returned to power with a massive margin. Labor won seats they hadn’t held for decades, if ever, and this election results suggests that both the NSW and Federal Liberals have a big fight ahead of them in elections due in early 2019. NSW Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian says that the Victorian election was fought on local issues, and therefore the result bears no reflection on NSW, but I don’t think that’s entirely true – yes, a lot of the issues that got Labor over the line in Victoria were local, but the sentiment towards the Liberal party in general isn’t good. They’re seen by many to be homophobic, anti-women and climate denialists – and that is a problem for moderate Liberals who are trying to hold on to their seats.

This fortnight saw the final two sitting weeks of federal parliament, where the main focus was on national security, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and medical treatment for detainees on Manus Island. New Wentworth MP, Kerryn Phelps was sworn into the House of Representatives, and then Chisholm MP Julia Banks announced she was moving to the crossbench and would no longer be a Liberal MP, and would consider running in Chisholm as an independent at the next election.

Phelps introduced legislation during this fortnight that fulfilled her election promise to ensure the medical evacuation of detainees on Manus Island and Nauru when two doctors deem it necessary to do so. The Labor party and the cross-bench are on board, however, the Liberal party seems to be framing this legislation as a way to changing the way people are being processed (spoiler alert: it’s not), and lead the government to run out the clock on Thursday afternoon to avoid the legislation being voted on in the House of Representatives.

The government also moved to delay the vote on the Labor Party’s anti-discrimination legislation in the Senate. The legislation is to stop schools from being able to expel or refuse enrolment to LGBTIQ+ students, which the government referred to a Senate review committee, angering the Opposition. The Liberals then announced their own legislation that did the same thing yet allowed religious schools flexibility in order to reflect their beliefs – which kind of defeats the point of the legislation in the first place.

A parliamentary committee that was reviewing the Uluru Statement – a set of recommendations on constitutional recognition formed by indigenous scholars, politicians and indigenous elders – have recommended that many of the statement’s recommendations be implemented, including an “indigenous voice” to parliament, a truth-telling commission and a national resting place for indigenous remains. Labor has said if it wins the election in 2019, that implementing the recommendations, or at least seeing how they could be implemented, would be a top priority. The Liberal Party is yet to comment.

This fortnight also saw Prime Minister Scott Morrison attend the G20 Summit in Argentina, where he emphasised the need for the G20 member states to trade fairly and openly. Morrison met with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump – all of whom I think were slightly confused as to who the new Prime Minister was. Merkel was seen with briefing notes on Morrison, while Trump asked the PM what happened to Malcolm Turnbull. It seems that the G20 was quite successful, with Morrison doing well on the international stage, and the Chinese and Americans agreeing on some trade rules.

The Banking Royal Commission has come to an end with the major banks’ CEOs and Board Chairpeople appearing at the Commission to (somewhat) admit to, and apologise for the banks’ bad behaviour. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne QC thanked the witnesses for their evidence, and especially to the victims of rogue banking practices who had to speak about their financials in public. Hayne’s report is due in February.

The ABC’s board members, as well as former Managing Director Michelle Guthrie and former board chairman Justin Milne, have appeared at a Senate inquiry into the sacking of Ms Guthrie. Guthrie reiterated her allegations of both inappropriate behaviour and political interference on Milne’s part, while Milne continues to deny both allegations. Meanwhile the board members have expressed confusion as to why Guthrie only brought up the interference issue at the last moment in what looks like an eleventh-hour attempt to stave off being sacked.

Also this fortnight , the Australian Border Force has had a $300 million budget blow-out and they have to cut costs, mostly through sacking casual personnel. The concern from the union and Labor is that frontline staff will be sacked, a concern the government says is unfounded. The other fear is that should frontline staff go, many might come from Australia’s airports, delaying holiday travellers as the Christmas period gets underway.

Finally this fortnight, students skipped school during the fortnight to protest the government’s approach to climate change, while the government suggested they should go back t school rather than engaging in politics, which would only lead to the dole queue. There are also concerns that there are major delays in registering religious organisations for the redress scheme with only 20 payouts so far from 2000 applications.

Tweet of the Fortnight

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Parliament House is designed for democracy, and dysfunction – ABC Online

Simon Royal on the career of ex-South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill – ABC Online

The Week That Was – November 27 to December 3

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The final sitting week of the year saw the government endeavour to pass the last of their legislation.

The first was the ABCC that finally passed in the Senate after deal making with the cross-benchers, primarily through promising to look into the Murray Darling Basin Plan again, to make sure that the concessions being made to northern farmers do not come at the cost of the farmers downstream in South Australia.

Meanwhile, the backpacker tax drama has continues with haggling back and forth between the government, who dropped their offer from 19% to 15% tax on backpacker earnings, while Labor offered a rise from 10% to 13% tax on backpacker earnings. Malcolm Turnbull suggested that anything lower would have backpackers paying less tax than young Australians doing the same job – forgetting that Australian citizens and permanent residents’ earnings are tax-free to $18,000, and most backpackers don’t make that much. There was finally an agreement, when the Greens decided to accept the Government’s 15% tax rate in return for $100 million for environmental organisation Landcare. The Opposition is calling the Greens sell-outs, and criticising the government for making a deal that puts a big hole in the budget instead of fixing it.

This week the first female Chief Justice of the High Court was announced. Susan Kiefel was the first female QC in Queensland, and she will take over from current Chief Justice French next year. Meanwhile the replacement for Kiefel’s position as a High Court Justice is just 42, meaning he will be on the bench for the long-term.

The final week of parliament was rocked by protests both in the House of Representatives, where some young activists protesting offshore detention interrupted Question Time and glued themselves to the handrails. The next day protesters abseiled Parliament House to unfurl a banner demanding the government close detention centres while others stood in the fountain.

Finally this week, Tony Abbott is making moves to get into cabinet and is also giving Turnbull advice; the “No More” domestic violence campaign from the Northern Territory has gone national; there are calls for George Brandis to go after it was alleged he was trying to make a deal with the West Australian government about dividing up the remaining assets of a now-defunct Alan Bond company – which he blame Joe Hockey for; and ANU research into Super Max prisons suggests that terrorism convicts and suspects should be spread out across the system, rather than just in Super Max jails to avoid radicalisation.

Tweet of the Week

Mike Baird offended the NSW Parliament Press Gallery….

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Sydney’s problem with IT specialists – SMH

Don’t be the sleazy male customer – SMH

Sexual Harassment in the retail industry – SMH

The Week That Was – February 7 to February 13

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From the interviews, Question Time responses and reports this week, it appears that the proposed rise in the GST may be no more. With someone suggesting that the GST will become a “tar baby” for governments – essentially meaning that it is something bes avoided lest you get entangled – which is possibly true. Turnbull and Morrison appear to believe that tax reform can be done another way. However, the business lobby appears to be annoyed, as is Labor – although not publicly – because they were going to have a pretty good run at the election had the GST been part of the plan. It seems that we will have to wait for the Budget in May before we know what the tax reforms will be.

Internal party drama took the forefront this week, with Veterans Affairs and Human Services Minister Stuart Robert under fire for a trip to China under peculiar circumstances. He says that he went there in a personal capacity, witnessing a deal that mining company Nimrod Resources made in China. The company is a big donor to the Liberals, and despite what Robert has said, it appears that China thought he was there in his role as an MP and as Assistant Defence Minister, and dutifully threw him under the bus. He resigned from his ministerial role on Friday. A lot of the information the media has, seems to have come from people leaking in order to destabilise the Turnbull government. Sound familiar?

This instability was compounded by the fact that several senior ministers have announced they will step down at the next election, leading to a cabinet reshuffle announced on Saturday. Nationals Leader Warren Truss has said he won’t contest the next election and stepped down from his role as leader, leading to a spill that was won by Barnaby Joyce, who is now the new Deputy PM, and Fiona Nash was voted his number two. She will also become Minister for Regional Development, Regional Communications and Rural Health. Trade Minister Andrew Robb has also decided that he will retire from politics, and step down from Cabinet, with Steve Ciobo replacing him. However, Robb will stay on as a “special envoy”, basically so he can finish out the Free Trade Agreements he negotiated and guide Ciobo through the portfolio. There have been some other moves, and an increase in the number of women in the wider cabinet to ten, and the Nationals have got themselves another Cabinet position.

Rounding out the outgoing MPs and Senators is former Defence Minister David Johnston – the guy who wouldn’t trust South Australian shipbuilders to build a canoe – will also leave parliament, with the likelihood of the position of Consul-General to Hong Kong as a sweetener. Along with Phillip Ruddock, who will not be contesting his seat of Berowra at the next election, getting a Human Rights Envoy role in return. A lot of experience – nearly 150 years all together – is walking out the door.

Several State Premiers of both major parties have told the PM and the Immigration Minister that they would like to take in the nearly 300 detained asylum seekers and their family members currently in Australia for medical treatment. Dan Andrews of Victoria, Will Hodgman of Tasmania, Annastacia Palaszczuk of Queensland and Jay Wetherill od South Australia have said that they would gladly allow them to stay in their states, and NSW Premier Mike Baird has said that he’s happy to have them if he’s asked.

Meanwhile, protesters have been rallying against the decision, with many rallying outside a Brisbane hospital on Saturday night after medical staff refused to discharge a baby being treated for burns at risk of being returned.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has ruled that Cardinal Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, can give his evidence to the Commission via video link from the Vatican, as he is “too ill” to travel. The Commission appears to have accepted the request in the interests of time, as they are due to deliver their report at some point this year, and they will likely see another priest give evidence via video link from their nursing home as they are very unwell and elderly. Victims and their families are not happy, because they wanted to have Pell in person, but in some ways, they should at least feel relieved that Pell will actually give evidence to the enquiry at all.

Finally this week, there are concerns about a CSIRO restructure; the Close the Gap report reveals that while there are some improvements for some indicators, there is still a long way to go in improving the quality of life for the indigenous population; and there has been a suggestion that some of the NDIS could be privately funded – a suggestion that has not gone down well.

Tweets of the Week

 

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/698323436662161408

Things That I’ve Been Looking at Online

Cabinet Reshuffle: Who’s going where? – ABC Online

First Dog on the Moon on Greg Hunt being named world’s best minister – The Guardian

First Dog on the Moon on how Turnbull has disappointed people – The Guardian

The Week That Was – November 16 to November 22

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The G20 continued over Sunday with leaders having a “robust” discussions with Putin, who left the G20 a little early, he says to catch up on sleep, but others say he was feeling hardly done by. Obama kept talking about climate change while Abbott kept talking about coal. However, the G20 is mainly about the economy, so they’ve promised to work harder to fight corporate tax evasion as well as try to get 100 million women into the work force. It was 42ºC in Brisbane over the weekend, making it very hot for some of the northern hemispheric heads of state, who are heading into winter.

China’s President, Xi Jinping arrived in Canberra shortly after the G20, he made a speech to Federal Parliament and signed a Declaration of Intent regarding the finalised Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

In the FTA, tariffs on dairy, beef and wine will decrease or be removed, mining tariffs will be gone in a decade and Australian service companies, like hotels, will have it much easier in China. Xi also visited Tasmania, making him the first Chinese head of state to visit every Australian state and territory. He met some school children – presumably the ones who wrote him a letter in Chinese – saw Tasmanian devils and went to Tasmania’s government house. His wife, Peng Liyuan, also visited a girls school on Sydney’s upper north shore and met some of the students and watched a Chinese lesson.

Narendra Modi, the Indian PM, also came to Canberra, but visited Sydney first, where he made a community address at Sydney Olympic Park. There were thousands there including some from Melbourne who took an overnight train to Sydney, dubbed the “Modi Express”. Modi spoke in Federal Parliament, where he suggested that making the members both houses sit through three speeches by Heads of State over the course of five days was Tony Abbott’s way of “shirtfronting” them.

Angela Merkel, Matteo Renzi and François Hollande also stayed in Australia a little longer, although they didn’t go to speak at Parliament House. Merkel visited a technology park in Sydney, Renzi visited Kellyville, a suburb in Sydney’s northwest, where an Italian company is working on part of a transport build, and Hollande hung around Sydney with the Governor General.

The Jacqui Lambie Saga continued this week with her being removed from her role as the PUP’s Deputy Senate Leader, and suspended her from attending party room meetings. The PUP has also removed references to her from their site, and she has removed references to them off hers. Lambie, along with the Motoring Enthusiasts’ Ricky Muir, voted with Labor, the Greens and Nick Xenophon against government changes to FOFA legislation. Lambie is looking at her options, because while she has every right to leave the party, should she pass away or be forced to quit, the casual vacancy will be filled by a PUP member and not by an independent or a member of Lambie’s alternative party, should she create one. This does make Senate more difficult at the moment, as it forces the government to negotiate with more people.

Julie Bishop was in New York this week in the blistering cold to chair the last meetings of the UN Security Council that Australia has the Presidency. The UNSC took a veiled sweep at nations like Australia that are restricting or stopping visa applications from the Ebola hot zone. Bishop called Ebola more than just a “health emergency” and that more needed to be done to help. The opposition was not impressed, suggesting that Australia says one thing internationally and does another thing domestically.

The ABC will lose almost 5% of its budget over the next five years, which is about $300 million dollars. The Opposition is telling people that Abbott lied during his election campaign, which he did, and money will also be taken from SBS, which will be allowed to play more advertising during prime time to help make up for the loss. Malcolm Turnbull has said that people shouldn’t be blaming the government, but some seem to think the government will be blamed. The ABC has suggested that they may have to close down foreign bureaux, cancel some programs and close a production unit based in South Australia, the latter making Christopher Pyne start a petition to stop the ABC from shutting the unit down. This week also saw rallies across the country with people coming to support the ABC – many fearing they will lose news coverage and entertainment.

The Overcoming Disadvantage report was released this week, suggesting that things are slowly improving for Indigenous Australians. Mortality is down, life expectancy is up, albeit not by much, and high school completion is also on the rise. However, there is an increase in the number of indigenous people incarcerated, which is being blamed on poor policy decisions, and experts want more investment in mental health services for indigenous people. Indigenous people have said that they should be involved in the decision-making in order to help the community.

The Australian government is receiving criticism this week for deciding that they would not take anymore refugees that registered in Indonesia, in the belief that they will stop people smugglers from sending people to Indonesia in the first place. Indonesia has said that they were not consulted and that this puts all the burden on them to help refugees, which they cannot do. Furthermore, an asylum seeker boat showed up on the island of Yap in Micronesia with refugees who wanted to settle in Australia. Micronesia has never had to deal with this and are now trying to figure out what to do with the 30-odd refugees.

Finally this week, Baby Gammy will likely get Australian citizenship, Westpac is closing accounts of money transfer businesses, making things difficult for workers who send money back to Australia, the Dutch have begun to remove the wreckage from MH17 and Peter Greste could be pardoned if it is in Egypt’s national interest, although DFAT is unaware of anything going on.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

According to Mark Latham, left-feminist women hate kids – Australian Financial Review

Meet Lammily, the normal body alternative to Barbie – The Guardian

FDA Changes regarding blood donations from men who have sex with men – TIME Online

It’s lose-lose for Malcolm Turnbull with ABC cuts – ABC The Drum

The Week That Was – September 28 to October 4

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It’s official. Australia is going to Iraq to take part in US airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS/ISIL). At the beginning of the week, while waiting for confirmation, Australian troops were doing practice flights in the UAE and reconnaissance flights over Iraq. The government has not considered Syria yet, and may decide not to go there in the end. However, according to the government, we’re not going to war, we’re going to help a humanitarian mission – despite this the ABC has been using the term ‘war’, so go figure. Australia’s tactical advisors are yet to begin working in Iraq as they haven’t been given their diplomatic immunity, but apparently that will happen soon. Meanwhile, raids were carried out in Melbourne by Victoria Police and the AFP. There was one person arrested and charged for sending money to finance terror organisations. The police say it had noting to do with the young man killed last week, and that the FBI tipped them off about the guy.

At the end of this week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President decided to force women wearing burqas or niqabs to sit behind the glass walled part of the public gallery, usually reserved for school groups. This “security measure”, as they’re calling it, has been criticised by most people, arguing that it treats Muslim women as second-class citizens, with some calling it religious apartheid. On Friday, Tony Abbott spoke with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop and asked her to reconsider the decision.

That mysterious thing called the budget is still haunting the government, as they try to figure out new ways to save money that won’t upset the Opposition, and will allow for the changes to go through. There is talk of lowering the income limit for tax benefits, as well as fiddling with the large family tax benefit. In the meantime, they’ve also got to find cuts in order to have money to fight in Iraq and fund new terror laws, though getting through a hostile senate may be a challenge, especially if Clive Palmer and the PUP decide not to support the changes the government decides to make.

This week, Scott Morrison announced an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse by guards at the Detention Centre in Nauru, after saying earlier this week that he would be “pretty damn cross” if the allegations are true. However, the investigation is also looking into whether or not the children’s charity Save the Children is orchestrating the claims or encouraging asylum seekers to make such allegations.

As the Ebola outbreak continues in Africa, and with the news of the first person being diagnosed of the disease on US soil, officials are moving to quell the fear here. Australia is at low risk, and while airports are on alert and have the capacity to send suspected Ebola cases to hospitals, we shouldn’t be overly concerned. They’ve also pointed out that in Australia, we have the resources to deal with a patient with Ebola.

In other news, the move to fully privatise Medibank is gaining momentum, with advertising now letting people know that they can register their interest in buying shares in the health fund. While some are happy with the move, there are concerns that jobs could be at risk, premiums will go up, and what happens to the many Australians that picked Medibank due to its link with the government. Also, the Trade Union Royal Commission continued this week with bribery allegations against the MUA, as well as the implication of the CFMEU in activities with crime bosses.

Finally this week, Australia Network stopped transmission into the Asia Pacific, and Australian citizen was killed in Afghanistan, and it turns out some Australian companies are not paying the amount of tax they should be.

Tweets of the Week

ICYMI – Hong Kong has been crippled by protests. But they are some of the most well-behaved and polite protesters you will ever see…

They recycle:

They apologise for barricading train stations:

They shield the cops from the rain:

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

California adopts “Yes means Yes” consent legislation – TIME Magazine

Only in Australia…Bushfire training for journalists – ABC Backstory

How to Comment – The Not Adam