The Week that Was – March 23 to March 29

Where to start?

First to Operation Sovereign Borders. If you remember a while back there was this big thing over asylum seekers getting burned on engines, allegedly at the hands of Australian Navy members. Well some of the asylum seekers on that have spoken and told their stories. They say that they got upset when they realised what the Navy was doing (i.e. turning the boat around) and they decided to stand up for themselves. The navy crew pepper sprayed them while others tried to get into the engine room, and they say that they were punished by being pushed or forced to touch the hot engine so they got burnt. Other people on the boat are backing up the story while the government maintains that the claims are untrue and unsubstantiated.

Staying with Operation Sovereign Borders, the government says that there have been no asylum seeker boat arrivals in 100 days, those 100 days being from December until now. They say that compared with the same period under the Labor government (Dec 2012 – March 2013) there were 66 boat arrivals. That may be so, but, as a lot of people have been asking, at what cost – and that is a good question. Speaking of questions, Scott Morrison was asked if he would get a promotion from the Immigration portfolio given he has done his job so well…he never got to answer, because Tony Abbott made the fastest media save I’ve ever seen and stopped the line of questioning in its tracks. Labor wants Morrison to stay in the Immigration portfolio for the entire term of government.

Moving on now to possibly one of the most divisive policy plans the government has in its six or so months in office. They want to change Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Put simply they want to take the words “insult, offend and humiliate” out and replace it with “vilify”. It is so divisive that members of the Coalition government such as Ken Wyatt are saying they will cross the floor (vote to oppose) if the reform makes it to a vote. The Liberal Premier of NSW has taken a swipe at the Attorney-General George Brandis over the proposed changes. I’m not going to say much more, because I’ll get too annoyed and start yelling.

Speaking of yelling, Question Time got quite its fair share of yelling this week, particularly when the Opposition moved a motion of no confidence in the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, who they believe has not been impartial and is favouring the government – and in the opinion of a few people I talked to about it, they agree. As of Thursday, when this motion occurred, the Speaker has made 99 expulsions of MPs – all from the Opposition.

This week also saw “Dames” and “Sirs” being returned to Australia’s Honours lists. The first two are Dame Quentin Bryce – the now former Governor General and Sir Peter Cosgrove, the new Governor General – he also has a “General” in there somewhere from his army days. The Opposition has been making fun of this addition, with Mark Dreyfus, the Shadow Attorney-General, asking if slavery was next. Dame Quentin Bryce has now left her position as Governor-General and Sir Peter Cosgrove has been sworn in. Cosgrove says he is agenda free, so lets hope he stays that way.

Also this week, Craig Thompson was sentenced to 12 months prison for his crimes, with 9 months suspended. He spent about an hour in jail before being released on bail after appealing his sentence. Medibank Private is most likely going to be sold off and you will be able to buy shares in the company when it does. Tony Abbott called the Egyptians and talked to them about Peter Greste, with Abbott saying he was only doing his job, and the Egyptians promising a free and fair trial – one hopes that more is done and Greste and his Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera colleagues are released. Oh, and before the university students come after me for not mentioning it – they protested this week over the government’s education cuts.

Tweets of The Week

People have been making fun of the Dames and Sirs thing – thanks in part to Peter FitzSimons encouraging people

Allowing the commoners to swim in my castle moat. Keeps the buggers clean. @Peter_Fitz #noblesseoblige pic.twitter.com/4LwOEcHile

— Juanita Phillips (@Juanita_Phillip) March 30, 2014

https://twitter.com/paintsreads/status/450032774921977856

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening

Waleed Aly on the change to the Racial Discrimination Act – SMH

Change the computer font, save money on ink – CNN

The Racial Discrimination Act, 1975. – AustLII

 

The New ALP Leader…

…Bill Shorten.

He’s most famous for the flip-flopping with support for leaders or prospective leaders of the Labor Party. He’s also one of the more crucial players who brought Kevin Rudd back to the leadership.

This is Mr Shorten on the night Rudd became PM again.

He’s also, in case you were not aware, the son-in-law of the Governor-General. Yep. He married Chloe Bryce, Quentin Bryce’s daughter, a few years back and they have a kid too.

The Governor-General offered to resign to avoid bias, as she should, but Tony Abbott thinks, given that her term ends in March next year, she can stay on until then. I have to say, that’s pretty decent of him.

Tanya Plibersek has become his deputy, and Penny Wong has kept her Head of the Senate position. A few people have been kicked out of the shadow cabinet, which may or may not have something to do with retribution for voting for Shorten instead of the other contender, Anthony Albanese. Yeesh, what is it with the politics on the inside of the party?

Shorten was on 7:30 the other night and held his own pretty well. It wasn’t Leigh Sales though – she’s on holiday – it was Annabel Crabb, but still, 7:30 is a tough gig. There was also a bit of humour in there too.

It should be interesting to see how he fares…