Happy New Year!
2019 started with the release of cabinet documents from 1996 and 1997 – the first two years of the Howard government. The 1996 Federal Budget was extremely tough, but cabinet documents reveal it could have been so much worse. Amanda Vanstone, who was then the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, prevented major cuts from tertiary education. Documents also showed the Howard decided not to cut welfare payments to people after 12 months of being on them. Cabinet documents also showed the government’s plans on their battle with the unions (especially the maritime unions) and the discussions that led to gun control reform after the Port Arthur Massacre.
Cabinet documents from 1997 show John Howard’s resistance to apologising to the stolen generations. Howard has always felt that Australians should not be made to feel guilty for something that happened in the past that they had no control over. This opinion upset and agitated many people at the time – and it’s part of the reason Kevin Rudd promised to apologise in Parliament if Labor won the 2007 election (a promise he kept).
Meanwhile, back in the current day…
…Independent Queensland Senator Fraser Anning is under fire for attending a far-right rally at St Kilda in Melbourne – where some of the speakers had criminal records and several people were seen doing Nazi salutes and other unpleasant things. Not only did he go, but he charged the taxpayer $3,000 for it, saying that he attended in his capacity as a Queensland Senator because some of his constituents are concerned about African gangs there. It’s led to an unusual unity amongst many in Parliament, who are criticising Anning’s choice to attend rallies and charge the taxpayer to do so, and are urging him to pay the money back.
Similarly, Mathias Cormann is under fire for chartering an airforce jet to take him from Canberra to Adelaide, where he was negotiating tax legislation with cross-benchers, and then on to Perth where he lives. In total it cost taxpayers $37,000, mostly because after flying from Canberra to Adelaide and then to Perth, the plane then had to return to Canberra. Since Bronwyn Bishop’s infamous “chopper-gate”, Liberal politicians were encouraged to strongly consider whether the transport they were taking was value for money, which Cormann seems to believe is the case, despite the fact that only a fraction of the tax legislation he was negotiating got through parliament.
Labor has dipped toes into the whole teachers, teaching degrees and ATARs situation, as concern grows about the low ATARs some students are getting into teaching degrees with. Labor wants universities to increase the minimum ATAR for teaching degrees to around 80.00, saying they can’t dumb down the degrees. Universities have hit out at Labor’s plan, and the Liberals have pointed out that they made changes already, requiring prospective teachers to complete the LANTITE – an exam that assesses their numeracy and literacy to ensure teachers can actually teach those things to children. There is also a call to increase wages for teachers, as that will attract more people with higher ATARs who might be put off teaching because it doesn’t pay enough compared to medical and legal roles.
This fortnight also saw over thirty packages containing asbestos delivered to various consulates and embassies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. A few days later, a 49-year-old man was arrested and charged for allegedly sending the packages, some of which were not yet delivered. Thankfully, Australia Post does know where they are.
This fortnight also saw Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne travel to Thailand to discuss the cases of two asylum seekers. The first, Rahaf Alqunun was in the news this week after fleeing Saudi Arabia via Kuwait, attempting to get to Australia. Saudi and Thai officials prevented her from travelling on to Australia – leading her to barricade herself in the airport’s hotel until the UNHCR ensured her safety and referred her asylum application on to Australia – until Canada ended up offering to take her. This is because Canada’s refugee processing can be done on Canadian soil, while Australia’s is more convoluted and apparently has to be done offshore.
Meanwhile, Payne also spoke to Thai officials about the incarceration of Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee that has Australian permanent residency. al-Araibi went to Thailand for his honeymoon, and the Thai government arrested him as he has an Interpol red notice based on a politically motivated vandalism conviction in Bahrain.
Finally during this fortnight, Peter Dutton has announced his support for a National Sex Offenders Register, which would make the names and postcodes of offenders available publicly, something Senator Derryn Hinch has wanted for a while; David Leyonhjelm has announced he will leave the Federal Senate to contest the NSW State Upper House. Australia is still in a row with Fiji over the citizenship of Neil Prakash, a former ISIS member, whose Australian Citizenship was revoked because he was fighting in Syria. This was under the assumption that he had Fijian citizenship, which according to Fiji he doesn’t have.
Tweet of the Fortnight
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
John Howard stopped a domestic dispute during the week – News.com.au
Mark Humphries on Fraser Anning’s St Kilda trip – ABC Online
Kara L 