Tag Archives: Royal Family

The Week That Was – October 21 to October 27

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The by-election result in Wentworth is not yet fully finalised, but it definitely looks as if Kerryn Phelps will be the new Member for Wentworth. The counting of postal and pre-poll votes has narrowed her lead on Liberal Party candidate Dave Sharma, and a couple of polling booth recounts during the week have seen some preference errors fixed up and extended her lead to about 1600 votes. With Phelps now highly likely to become the Wentworth’s MP, she’s begun speaking about what she wants to work on when she reaches parliament. For many people in Wentworth, the issues that this election was fought on were value based, such as getting children out of detention in Nauru, action on climate change and LGBTIQ+ issues – things the government haven’t been focusing on as much recently.

Phelps is acutely aware that she doesn’t have much time to act in parliament – the next federal election is due in the first half of next year – but it’s the Government that will also have a tough time in the next six or so months. With Phelps winning the seat, we now have a hung parliament, which Scott Morrison said would make governing hard. He seems to think that all the cross-benchers will try to destabilise the government. Given most cross-bench MPs – like Rebekha Sharkie, Andrew Wilkie, Adam Bandt and Cathy McGowan – tend to judge each motion or piece legislation on its merits and also discuss things with the government, it is unlikely they will intentionally band together to overthrow the Prime Minister and the government.

This week also saw the National Apology for victims of child sexual abuse from Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten. The apologised for the government’s inaction on child abuse in the early days, as well as for abuse suffered in facilities run by the states, churches and charities. Julia Gillard came to Canberra for the apology, and received lots of cheers and applause, as she was the one that announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Abuse. The government also didn’t hold Question Time on Monday, out of respect for the victims and attendees at the apology in order to show that the day was about them, not about politics.

Meanwhile there are continued calls for the government to remove and resettle all the refugees detained in detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. Earlier in the week, eleven children (and presumably their families) were removed from Nauru and brought to Australia for urgent medical care. However, many adults and children are still in detention. There are suggestions to resettle some refugees in New Zealand, which has been offered multiple times by our neighbours in the last decade – but the New Zealand government understandably wants more information, especially given Australia still hasn’t decided whether they’re going to let people settled in NZ come to Australia at all, even as tourists. There are also thoughts about sending migrants to regional centres in Australia, which is all well and good but you must have the infrastructure and services to make that work. There were also rallies in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend, calling for detention on Manus Island and Nauru to be ended.

The plan to move the Australian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a key issue covered in Senate Estimates this week, with revelations that it was a bit of a captain’s call. Foreign Minister Marise Payne didn’t know about the plan until she was asked to notify Australia’s neighbours, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade wasn’t consulted, and the Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, found out through the media instead of being notified by the government, which Campbell felt wasn’t ideal.

The government announced this week that superannuation would be modified, such that there would be caps of fees paid, and making the life and income insurance cover optional for those under the age of 25 and in inactive super accounts. While the fee caps are being received pretty well, there are mixed reactions to the potential insurance cover changes – super funds feel that a change would leave thousands of young people without cover, and some people who have ended up needing to use their superannuation’s automatic life insurance or income protection has been very useful.

This week saw the Duke of Sussex attending Invictus Games events on Sunday and then unveil a plaque on Fraser Island on Monday, while the Duchess of Sussex rested. They spend the middle of the week in the Pacific, visiting Fiji and Tonga, before returning to Australia on Friday night to attend the Australian Geographic Society Awards, and attend the Wheelchair Basketball finals and the Invictus Games Closing Ceremony on Saturday. They’re now headed to New Zealand, where they will spend the rest of their trip before heading back to England.

The Government has announced that they will start an investment fund to help drought-proof regional areas for future droughts, while at a summit on farming and the drought, held at Old Parliament House. There won’t be any money for two years though, and the full amount promised wont be fully given our for a decade after that – which is a good long-term plan perhaps, but it relies on the Coalition being returned to government at the 2019 Federal Election, which may not happen. Some farmers though are also suggesting that the government needs to look at programs to help farmers for whom an exit from farming would be the best option rather than helping drought-proof their farms.

Also this week, Fraser Anning has been dumped by the Katter’s Australia Party, after he brought a motion to have a plebiscite on non-European migration, which is something Anning thinks should be stopped. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has returned to Australia after spending some time in America – while also facing criticism for not helping the Liberal Party during the election campaign.

Finally this week, Scott Morrison announced that returned service members would be able to get discounts on things they buy with the new veterans card coming out early next year. Also, there is a push for more intergenerational care programs, particularly between young children in childcare and the elderly in aged care. Evidence shows that it teaches young children to be comfortable around older people and in turn, it helps the older people feel they have a purpose and a greater feeling of self-worth.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

VICE Australia’s new “Dolly Doctor” for the social media age – Walkley Magazine

Laura Tingle on how the Liberals are dealing with the Wentworth result – ABC Online

Parties urged to be honest about businesses paying for political access – The Guardian

 

The Week That Was – January 25 to January 31

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So, Tony Abbott made Prince Phillip a Knight of the Order of Australia. That announcement kind of took away from the fact that Angus Houston – the former Defence guy that was coordinating the search of MH370 and represented Australia for a bit after MH17 – also received a knighthood, and that anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year.

Other than the awkwardness of the Prince Phillip knighthood “captain’s pick” issue, Australia Day was relatively normal, other than the heavy rain in Sydney. People who did some great things were recognised, there was some interesting helicopter and boat choreography on Sydney Harbour and Prince Phillip received a knighthood (the whole knighthood thing took over for a bit). Indigenous people also reminded people that they still see this day in a more negative light, treating it as a “Day of Mourning” or a “Day of Survival”, since over 200 years ago, they were basically invaded and colonised by the British.

Tony Abbott has been having a tough time this week, especially after his captain’s pick for the knighthood, with ministers and backbenchers saying they had no idea that was the plan and saying that it isn’t really an appropriate knighthood to have given. Those who haven’t specifically said that the knighthood was the worst idea ever, have at least placed all the blame on Abbott who has ignored social media backlash over the whole thing, calling it “electronic graffiti”. However, there’s more to it, because now there are rumours of serious rumblings behind the scenes over Abbott’s leadership, while some of his closest supporters in the media, like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones, are suggesting his leadership could be at an end.

Abbott has admitted he should have consulted more with his party and the public over the whole knighthood saga, but the rumours have continued with talk that Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and others, including Mal Brough (responsible for the whole Ashby-Slipper saga back in the Gillard days), are canvassing the party for numbers, or if not them, backbenchers who think that some of these Ministers could be PM and win them the next election.

The whole thing got a little bit more insane and ridiculous when Abbott said the reason ministers like Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison are any good at their jobs was because he is a great leader.

Meanwhile, the Queensland LNP is fully ready to blame Abbott if they get a poor result in the Queensland State Election, held on Saturday, which now looks increasingly likely. The number of seats needed by a party to rule Queensland is 45, and at last count just before midnight on Saturday night, the LNP had 40 seats, Labor had 43 seats, with three seats in doubt, and three seats to other parties and independents. The prediction is that Labor will get 45 (the magic number) and win the election, most likely with support from the three other MPs – a result nobody expected.

Matthew Gardiner, the Labor Party President in the Northern Territory, has left Australia for the Middle East in order to help the Kurdish forces fight against Islamic State. It has shocked the country, with Bill Shorten telling people it’s a bad idea to go, and asking Gardiner to return to Australia. Furthermore, the government has pointed out that regardless of who you are fighting for, it’s still illegal to go fight overseas.

While the Manus Island Detention Centre protests are over, it appears that the allegations of violence on the part of the security forces and PNG Police may have had some truth to them, with images showing detainees with what appears to be evidence of being beaten. 40 of the Detention Centre’s detainees have also been arrested by the PNG government, however, once again, both the Australian and PNG governments aren’t saying much.

Finally this week, Whitlam and Hawke government minister, Tom Uren died this week; it’s looking more and more likely that the two Australians on death row in Indonesia for drug offences will be executed in the next few weeks; the Sydney Siege Inquiry has begun; the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has released its recommendations for compensation and reconciliation for victims; and Brazil is upset that a NSW court acquitted all but one of four cops charged with a Brazilian student’s death – and the one that was found guilty was charged with assault for using three cans of pepper spray on the student and didn’t even get a conviction recorded.

Tweet of the Week

So Triple J disqualified Taylor Swift from the Hottest 100, only to play another Top 40 song in spot #6

https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/559657461620027392

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

Kristina Keneally is a Catholic and a Feminist – The Guardian

Things that would have been different if Harry Potter was set in Australia – Buzzfeed

Your Argument is Wrong: “Guns don’t kill people”

The Week that Was – June 1 to June 7

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It’s been four weeks since the budget and we’re still talking about it – albeit a little bit less than in previous weeks.

But still, there are reports that the Liberals allegedly conned the Country Liberals, Nationals and anyone in the Coalition who represents a rural seat into accepting the changes to the fuel excise. It appears that they may have hinted that they would change the diesel rebate – something that helps miners and farmers pay for diesel fuel for their operations – and not the fuel excise. That scared the Nationals and other rural MPs in the coalition, because they might lose the next election and there could have been tractors on parliament house lawn and war with the miners. So the nationals supported the fuel excise and are now defending themselves, saying it was legitimately on the table. Treasury have said that they only did the maths for the fuel excise and never the diesel rebate, though. In public they’ve been friendly, but reports are that behind closed doors people are annoyed.

There is also concern from Universities Australia – the organisation that represents Australian universities – about whether or not the fee changes will lead to higher costs. Christopher Pyne says prices will be forced down because it will be competitive, while others believe that it will lead to prices at more “prestigious” universities rising. There is also conflicting information about who is paying what back when – but the legislation has to get through the senate first, and the Labor and Greens have said they will oppose it. Clive Palmer says his party won’t let anything through that doesn’t make sense to them, and that they want more staff to help them understand things.

Speaking of money, it was announced that two new navy ships will not be built in Australia, but in Spain and Korea. The government has said that the boats are too large to be built in Australia and it would seem it’s also very expensive too. The shipbuilding industry is understandably annoyed, as apparently there is a gap coming up where there will be more builders than ships to be built and these two ships would have covered that gap. Apparently some frigates will be built here soon – so we shouldn’t worry – but given the government has said that they want Australian-built ships, but not at any cost, I fear what will happen in the future when it becomes even more expensive.

This week has been full of the drama between Malcolm Turnbull and conservative commentators. Andrew Bolt has accused Turnbull of planning to overthrow Tony Abbott. Bolt cites Turnbull’s dinner last week with Clive Palmer, as well as attending an event hosted by Friends of the ABC. Wow, the Communications Minister went to an event related to the government-funded broadcaster, he’s totally planning to overthrow the Prime Minister. Turnbull said that “it borders on the demented” and even said it was “unhinged”.

It continued later in the week, when Turnbull was on 2GB radio with Alan Jones – who questioned him about his motives and if he was after the leadership. From what I’ve heard of the interview, Turnbull remained quite calm. Turnbull was also on 7:30 this week – the full interview is here.

This week, Tony Abbott is off to Indonesia, France, The USA and Canada. He’s met with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Indonesia for the first time since the spying allegations, and Julie Bishop appeared to give  Yudhoyono a demotion, calling him “Prime Minister SBY” – when she should have said “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono” or “President Yudhoyono”. The PM’s flight was delayed because the plane they were originally going to use was broken, so they had to get a different one. The relationship does appear to be on the mend, so that is good. Abbott then went to Paris, where he met the Queen at the British Embassy, and talked with French business leaders before heading to Normandy for D-Day commemorations, where six Australian veterans became Chevaliers of the Légion d’Honneur – France’s highest honour.

Clive Palmer is in trouble this week for being rude to a senior Abbott staffer, Peta Credlin. Palmer said that the reason Abbott was bringing in a Paid Parental Leave Scheme was so that Ms Credlin could have her baby. But he’s also fighting with the QLD state government. He’s suing QLD Premier Campbell Newman for defamation, after Newman said he was buying governments. It’s now come to light that the Deputy Premier had referred Palmer to the CMC (QLD’s ICAC – but with no power) over allegations that Palmer asked for special treatment after the 2012 QLD Election that saw the LNP come to power.

Finally this week, Victoria’s in the middle of a constitutional crisis, the USA changed its emissions aims…now making them more active in the battle against climate change than us, and it turns out the Prime Minister gave a character reference to a priest who is accused of paedophilia – they met in the same seminary when Abbott was thinking of joining the priesthood. Oh, and the government might have lied to the World Heritage people about Tasmanian forests.

Tweet of the Week

Barnaby Joyce’s disconcerting photo out a plane window – I think his phone might have been upside-down.

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Introducing American cable viewers to Tony Abbott…

An introduction to OTPs: The flirtation between ABC2 and SBS2 – as chronicled by Buzzfeed.

Peppa Pig’s uncertain future on the ABC made one girl worried about her little sister – Canberra Times

The Week That Was – April 20 to April 26

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So the week began on Easter Sunday, with the Royals going to St Andrews Anglican Cathedral in Sydney and later on, taking George to Taronga Zoo, where they opened a bilby enclosure. They took Easter Monday off, visited Uluru on Tuesday, Adelaide on Wednesday and were in Canberra on Thursday and Friday.

This week, as we get even closer to the Budget we’re starting to hear about what may or may not be cut from the budget and what we are going to have to sacrifice. This week seems to be focused on cuts to the health service. There have been suggestions that people on the disability pension will have to go to independent doctors and not their GPs to get the stamp of approval for the pension. There is also mention of cutting the amount of money people on the disability pension earn. One of the major issues here is that those with mental illnesses and disabilities could be disadvantaged as their mental state can vary. There could also be cuts to Medicare Locals, an after-hours GP service. This has major benefits for the chronically ill, who would otherwise have to go to Emergency, saving lots of money.

Another thing people are worried about cuts to is the Indigenous Health Service, in particular mental health and rehabilitation services, as well as the concern with raising the pension age, given the average life expectancy of Aboriginal males is less than 70 years old (ABS). Comments have been made about how cuts are going to make the PM look bad, given he has said he is focused on closing the gap and being there for the indigenous people.

If that doesn’t concern you, at least we’re spending about $12 billion on F-35 fighters from the USA. We originally ordered 14, and now we’re getting 58 more. They’re due in 2020, and have had some major issues, given the development of these planes are over budget and have had some safety issues – to the point where Canada and Denmark are reconsidering their ordering of the planes.

ANZAC Day was on Friday and the royals apparently surprised everyone by showing up to the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial – which really doesn’t shock me – and then came back later that day to lay a wreath at the ANZAC Day Ceremony. Then they left the country, with George giving us one of the best pictures of this entire tour – you can see it below in the Tweets of the Week.

And finally this week, a former NSW Premier Neville Wran died this week. He seemed to be liked by most in politics, and brought in a lot of changes for NSW including random breath testing, decriminalising homosexuality, developed modern lotto and started ICAC, only to resign because of it. He is getting a state funeral on May 1.

Tweets of the Week

In the mad rush to cover what was thought to be a hijack of an Australian plane but was just an allegedly drunk passenger, you can type too fast and have spelling issues

Oh, and this is why outsourcing sub-editing is a bad thing

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

A humourous take on why you should support same-sex marriage – College Humor

Behind the scenes of the ABC’s Coverage of Barry O’Farrell’s resignation – ABC Back Story

Hillary Clinton and the Fake Baby Conspiracy – SMH

In Case You Missed It….

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…Barry O’Farrell resigned on Wednesday.

It turns out that O’Farrell did receive a bottle of $3000 Grange (1959 Vintage) from Nick Di Girolamo and did write a thank you note. But, given he vehemently denied it on Tuesday and may (or may not – I could be wrong) have said that he would resign if proven otherwise, he’s had to go.

On Tuesday, following his appearance at ICAC he spoke to the media.

Then overnight, it appears Di Girolamo found the letter and gave it to ICAC, which meant that O’Farrell had to resign – you can see his speech here on the ABC website. Then, O’Farrell was called back to ICAC, speculation arose as to who would become the new Premier of NSW and Tony Abbott spoke to the media. Abbott was mainly talking about Badgery’s Creek, but that was taken over by the news of the resignation – and the first question asked by a journalist at Abbott’s press conference went like this:

From there, Barry O’Farrell pulled out of welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George to Sydney, and has been keeping quiet ever since. The reactions from the other sides of NSW Politics have been interesting, with John Robertson (NSW Labor Opposition Leader) and John Kaye (Greens MLC) both talking to the media about it.

On Thursday, Gladys Berejiklian and Mike Baird released a statement saying they would run on the same ticket for the party leadership with Baird as Premier and Berejiklian as deputy leader. Pru Goward put her hand up for the deputy leadership in the morning, before pulling out after lunch as did Anthony Roberts. Meanwhile, Jillian Skinner, Barry O’Farrell’s deputy stepped aside to allow for Gladys Berejiklian to take up the role. Both Baird and Berejiklian were elected unopposed to the Liberal leadership.

And that is it for now, as Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian spend Easter reshuffling NSW State Cabinet.

The Week That Was – June 23 to June 29

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Wow. What a week.

It began with Julia Gillard copping flak for knitting the Royal Baby a Kangaroo, despite being a supporter of Australia being a republic. I thought that was nice and thoughtful. It ended with a new PM.

It was entertaining, at least for news and political junkies (much like yours truly), and for once, might have had the nation sitting on the edge of their seats. If you weren’t paying attention on Wednesday night you can read what happened in the links at the bottom of this post.

In short, we now have a new Prime Minister – Kevin Rudd.

Not only that, but many people have decided to resign and leave politics, including Julia Gillard, Greg Combet and Peter Garrett. You can see who is staying and going here on the ABC News website. The media did pretty well, especially the ABC and Sky News.

In his first speech as the new PM, Kevin asked for a ‘gentler’ brand of politics and that politicians be nicer to each other. No such luck. By Tony Abbott’s second sentence, he’d taken a stab at Kevin Rudd.

Before I go, I have to say that the Liberal’s rally in Melbourne on the 29th has a distinctive US feel to it. Here’s a picture.

Personally, I don’t think we should go in this direction – but that’s just me. What do you think?

Oh well, let’s hope that next week is a little less frantic – I have a holiday planned!

Quotes of the Week

“I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he is speaking on the indulgence of the chair, and it is being tried” – Anna Burke, Speaker of the House, the day after the spill. Tony Abbott had started getting a bit too vocal about the previous nights shenanigans. (from Hansard)

“Before I conclude, let me say a word or two to young Australians. It’s clear that many of you, in fact far too many of you, have looked at our political system and the parliament in recent years and not liked or respected much of what you have seen. In fact as I rock around the place, talking to my own kids, they see it as a huge national turn off. Well I understand why you have switched off. It’s hardly a surprise but I want to ask you to please come back and listen afresh. It’s really important that we get you engaged, in any way we can. We need you. We need your energy. We need your ideas. We need your enthusiasm and we need you to support us in the great challenges that lie ahead for the country. With your energy, we can start cooking with gas.” Kevin Rudd in his speech after winning the spill, encouraging young Australians to come back and pay attention to politics, ended with one of his signature quips. (from Kevin’s website)

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/hamishNews/status/349856913917345792

(Context: Leigh Sales was on the ABC from 7pm until about 10:45 (she is normally just on between 7:30 and 8pm). She and Annabel Crabb were talking for a good hour or so, holding the fort while the media awaited a slightly late Kevin Rudd to speak)

Links

6:24pm

6:42pm

6:59pm

7:54pm

9:09pm

Speeches

Part 1 (Gillard and Swan)

Part 2 (Rudd and Albanese)

Part 3 (Abbott)