Tag Archives: Royal Commission into Union Corruption

The Week That Was – August 31 to September 6

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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:

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Hamish Macdonald reflects on Steven Sotloff, the US journalist killed by ISIS this week – SMH

Jim Middleton leaves the ABC and Australia Network

Not allowing YouTube comments on videos

The Week that Was – June 8 to June 14

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Tony Abbott is continuing to represent Australia on the world stage. After Normandy at the end of last week, Abbot went to Villers-Bretonneux and visited the memorial and the local school L’ecole Victoria (Victoria School – named after the state) where he chatted in French to the students. Unfortunately his French wasn’t that great, but he gets a few kudos points for trying. He wants the Western Front to become more prominent and announced an interactive museum that will be open in time for ANZAC Day in 2018 – the Centenary of the Second Battle of Villers-Brettoneux.

His linguistic adventures continued in Canada, where he may or may not have called the country “Canadia” before quickly correcting himself. He and Stephen Harper, Canada’s PM, are ideologically similar, and so they were very happy to be in the same room as each other and both bashed the Carbon Tax a little bit, calling it “economy destroying” – or something close to that. The Opposition were a bit concerned given that Abbott’s itinerary in United States wasn’t fully sorted before he arrived, but that seems to have been sorted out.

In New York, Abbott visited the 9/11 Memorial, chatted with Ban Ki-moon and rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. It was amusing at the NYSE as one of the spots where Abbott stopped for the cameras was near the stock screen for Abbott – a healthcare company with the slogan “A Promise for Life”…

He also had dinner with Rupert Murdoch, defending it by saying it what a Prime Minister should do. If that’s the case, then he should also meet with Mark Scott, David Gyngell, Hamish McLennan and other Australian media CEOs and Directors, not just Murdoch. Abbott then travelled to Washington D.C., where he met with Republican John Boehner. He was also meant to meet with Eric Cantor, another senior Republican, but Cantor lost his primary and so he resigned from his post. He met President Obama as well, and given the situation in Iraq (Al-Qaeda inspired ISIS militants have taken over some cities in the north), the PM assured Obama that we would be there to help if asked by the USA.

He also went to the Arlington Cemetery in Virginia and had talks with the US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, at the Pentagon. He also went to Texas, where he talked about how amazing coal is and how it was going to fuel our future for years to come, as well as bashing the Carbon Tax again. He also got given a big hat, which lead to George W. Bush comparisons…which I don’t think were meant to be positive.

Still with international affairs, there was concern this week that some Middle Eastern nations might stop or sanction trading with us, because the government recently stopped calling Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For many years, the government has used the term “occupied” but now they’re using “disputed”. It’s been said that our government has a “pro-Israel bias”, which the government has disputed. Barnaby Joyce, the Minister for Agriculture, “says he is leaving foreign policy issues affecting his portfolio to people “smarter” than him” (quote from the ABC). That’s a bit of a cop-out if you ask me, and the government should have kept things the way they were – offending large blocs of trading partners is not a good look.

I’ll leave the international jet-setting fun for now, and move on. Again the Budget is causing trouble, with a “Bust the Budget” protest in Melbourne that not only involved students, but also union members and ordinary people. There are moves to change the welfare system to cut 40-50 payments down to 4-6 payments as well as identifying those who may become “welfare dependent” and putting a stop to it. However, youth unemployment is very high in Australia – almost 20% – and the government wants those on welfare to apply for 40 jobs a month, so there could be an issue when it comes to stopping unemployment when there are no jobs. Oh, and if there is too much trouble getting the Budget through the Senate, the treasurer has essentially said there will be a double dissolution.

There were two inquiries this week:

The first was the Royal Commission into Union Corruption, which this week got onto a case involving the AWU. In particular, this case implicates Julia Gillard’s ex-boyfriend, who created a slush fund. It’s said that Julia Gillard – at the time a lawyer – helped with the legal stuff related to the set up of the fund, but she and the ex-boyfriend, among other witnesses, have said that she had no idea what the fund was for and that all she did was help. There is also suggestions that renovations at her old house were paid for by her ex-partner using this slush fund, but there has been contradictory evidence, and it’s also been pointed out that people in relationships often give each other money at times.

The second is a senate inquiry into what is going on in the Manus Island Detention Centre. A former G4S employee gave evidence as did a Salvation Army official, who attacked Scott Morrison for placing the blame one of their Papua New Guinean staffers, suggesting that witnesses were not questioned properly, and those witnesses say that the Salvation Army staff were trying to help the injured. Two 22-year-old students have also given evidence, saying they were hired by the Salvation Army as case workers. With no training or job interview, the two students were sent to Nauru and Manus Island within days of applying and found themselves counselling suicidal and distressed asylum seekers. One of the students got into a debate/argument with Senator Ian Macdonald over her opinions on asylum seekers and other things (SMH).

Finally this week, Senator-elect Ricky Muir had an interview with Channel 7, which didn’t go so well (see here), and NSW is in the lead-up to its Budget.

Tweets of the Week

Oh, and Tony, just because you delete a tweet with a mistake in it does not mean that people haven’t screencapped it before it disappears.

https://twitter.com/thebleague/status/477624340733632512

(It should be Ange Postecoglou, Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill)

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Tony Abbott’s response to the son of gay parents – SameSame

The explanation of a comment by an Q&A panellist, and why it was so important – New Matilda

A comparison: ABC vs. BBC and CBC – Quadrant