Tag Archives: Rudd

As the finish line nears, Bill Shorten appears relatable and ScoMo gets egged (almost).

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The week began with the Labor Party’s campaign launch in Western Sydney, with former Prime Ministers Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard putting aside their dramas to attend, along with a large majority of the Labor team. The party opted to have Penny Wong speak about the problems Labor sees with the current government and Tanya Plibersek spoke on Labor’s virtues and values.

The Opposition reiterated their policies on climate change, wage growth and health, along with several new promises – $200 million for youth mental health, $500 million for hospital emergency department upgrades, and tax credits for companies that hire under-25s and over-55s.

The only spanner in the works on launch day was Paul Keating. He started by surprising the ABC’s Andrew Probyn and Jane Nicholson who were hosting coverage from the launch:

Keating, who is famous for his use of words over the years (see here), then proceeded to call Scott Morrison “a fossil with a baseball cap”, and suggest that government security agencies were going “berko” over China. The latter statement gave the government something to grab onto to use against Labor regarding embracing China too openly – which sort of distracted from Labor policies during the week because people kept asking if the Labor front bench agreed with him.

The Labor Party also had Bill Shorten’s wife Chloe introduce him at the launch, where she talked about how wonderful Bill is as a human being – but a pretty terrible dancer (a reference to his “dad dancing” in Kiribati).  The aim of Chloe’s speech was to improve Shorten’s personal popularity, and that combined with some luck and the ability to capitalise upon in late in the week has shown Shorten to be far more relatable and human than he has been in the past.

Bill Shorten then appeared on Q&A on the ABC on Monday night by himself – Scott Morrison declined to attend, and opted to be interviewed on ABC 7:30 instead – allowing Shorten a further chance to speak about his values and policies. It also allowed him to make a few jokes and show his sense of humour. If you have a spare 70-80 minutes before the election, I recommend you watch the episode either on iView or below:

Whatever media or public speaking training Bill Shorten has had over the last 3-6 years has worked pretty well and it shows. He sounds like a reasonable, sensible human being and he’s explaining a lot of his policies in a very measured manner, treating the voters like intelligent humans. The humour at the Q&A appearance helped Shorten seem more personable and it makes a refreshing change from some of what we have seen with the government recently.

During the program he spoke about his mother and how she hadn’t been able to study law when she finished high school as she’d wanted. Instead she earned a scholarship to study education, and had stuck with it and she was able to provide for Bill and his siblings as children – the gist essentially was that Ann Shorten didn’t get all the opportunities because she was working class and Bill Shorten wants to make all opportunities available to all.

On Wednesday, the Daily Telegraph in Sydney published a story that implied that Bill Shorten had made up things or lied about his mother on the Monday Q&A appearance. As you would imagine, Shorten was very upset and in a press conference defending his mother, he cried in public.

This has served to make Bill Shorten appear even more ‘normal’, for want of a better word, as this show of emotion is something not really ever seen with Shorten in the past.

Scott Morrison also said that the Telegraph’s story was unfair, and there have again been calls to leave the parents, children and other family members of candidates out of the spotlight in campaigns – unless they are there willingly as part of the campaign, like Bill’s wife Chloe.

Scott Morrison and the government kept Sunday pretty low-key because of Labor’s launch but did announce money for e-Safety and anti-cyberbullying programs, as well as promising to increase prison time for those who abuse people online.

The week became a bit interesting for Morrison when he was the victim of an attempted egging while at a Country Women’s Association (CWA) event. A 24-year-old woman tried to egg Morrison’s head, but missed. Morrison’s security arrested the woman, and in the kerfuffle, knocked over an elderly CWA member at the event. Morrison assisted the member to her feet and checked she was alright, while the CWA ladies watched the young woman get taken away by security and police, with some telling her she was a “silly girl”. Morrison was unfazed by the incident, brushing it off by saying that the CWA knows what to do with eggs, and Bill Shorten has condemned the egging and any type of violence during an election campaign.

There was a third debate this week at the National Press Club, and it was an experimental model that the Press Club had never tried before. There was only one moderator – the Press Club’s President Sabra Lane – and the audience was made up of equal numbers of Coalition and Labor supporters, who asked the questions.

After weeks and weeks of nagging Labor has, in their own time, revealed the costings for their policies. Chris Bowen and Jim Chalmers presented the policy costings, which showed how much Labor intends to raise through tax changes and how they intend to spend taxpayer money while still maintaining a surplus over the next few years. Matthias Cormann and Josh Frydenberg were dispatched to rebut the costings, but all they could seem to come up with was “it’s a con job” and “Labor deception”, which does suggest to me that the Coalition is panicking a bit on how to deal with the reasoned and measured approach Labor is taking.

Other than the Keating issue Labor is having a little bit of trouble this week with tax policy as some on the right-wing of politics are suggesting that Labor will bring in a “Death Tax” at the behest of the Greens if they win the election. This is despite the consistent denials of Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese and many other Labor figures. This non-existent policy that the right is trying to scare people with just won’t die (if there is a pun in that, it is totally intended) and it’s another distraction that is beginning to frustrate the Labor party a bit – there are a limited number of ways to say “there will be no death tax” before you start to get annoyed.

Also this week, Kerryn Phelps called in the Australian Federal Police after an email was circulated suggesting Phelps was pulling out of the race because she had been found ineligible to run in the seat under section 44. The email suggests that because she is Jewish, she has the right to Israeli citizenship. There are two key facts that prove this email wrong. First, while being Jewish makes you eligible to be an Israeli citizen, you do have to express a desire to do so and get a special visa (which she hasn’t done), or have parents who were Israeli citizens, the latter of which Phelps doesn’t have as she is a convert. Second, there are several other Jewish candidates and MPs, including Josh Frydenberg, Mark Dreyfus and Phelps’ opponent Dave Sharma, and they haven’t had problems with section 44 in regards to Israeli citizenship.

Finally this week, the Aged Care Royal Commission has been hearing evidence about the treatment of nursing home residents with dementia, and the evidence so far hasnt been pleasant. There are allegations that one patient’s dentures were left in her mouth for weeks, and that a patient was given such a high dose of anti-depressants that they were unresponsive to family when they came to visit on the patient’s birthday.

Before I go, interest rates stayed the same, although the word on the street is that they might be cut in the next few months, making people think the only reason they didn’t cut them this month is because of the election campaign.

Don’t forget to vote on May 18!

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/MrsDzTB/status/1126681842319364096

What do you do when you’re an independent with limited resources – an interpretive dance:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Vote Compass results on penalty rates and the minimum wage – ABC Online

Could America get a gay president in 2020? – ABC Online

Laura Tingle on the differences between the Labor and Coalition campaigns – ABC Online

The Two Weeks That Were – September 23 to October 6

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The school funding changes that the government wants to make to Gonski 2.0 may be derailed by some of the states and territories. The NSW and Queensland Education Ministers have said they don’t think the additional $4.5 billion earmarked for Catholic and Independent schools is fair. They want funding to be based on need such that the money goes to the schools with the most need, especially those in low socio-economic areas.

The earlier half of the fortnight saw an epic week of drama at the ABC. the Managing Director of the ABC, Michelle Guthrie was sacked from her role. While not much information was given by the board, other than Guthrie’s “leadership style” not fitting the direction in which the board wanted to take the Corporation, it appeared that some ABC staff, particularly those working in news and current affairs, were quite pleased to see her go,. It seems many felt that her lack of experience in public broadcasting, and focus on “platforms”was inappropriate, and staff morale was reportedly very low. There were also allegations that Guthrie had, when asked to what she would like to see on a future Four Corners program during a production meeting, she suggested positive puff piece profiles on business leaders, and stories about “happy” children detained on Nauru.

However, things kept on going. Someone then leaked documents from a board meeting held the week before, during which Guthrie had shown the board members emails from the Chairman of the ABC Board, Justin Milne, telling her to sack economics reporter Emma Alberici, whose story had angered the government (it also had some errors in it, but the story was revised and then republished). Guthrie also recounted a phone call from Milne in which she alleges he told her to ‘shoot’ ABC political editor Andrew Probyn, because the government didn’t like him.

Milne, as it turns out, is one of Malcolm Turnbull’s former business associates, and they are still quite good friends, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it weren’t for the fact Milne’s actions look a bit like political interference. Even if it wasn’t, the perception thereof is damaging enough, and led to ABC staff across the country holding snap union meetings, during which they agreed to demand Milne’s resignation, which did end up happening towards the end of the week. Meanwhile, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield announced a departmental inquiry into the board’s knowledge of Milne’s actions, and Labor and the Greens have announced they will move to create a Senate inquiry into the situation as well.

The Wentworth by-election seems to have gotten a bit dirty recently with allegations of dirty tricks against the Liberal candidate Dave Sharma and his supporters. This is because posters belonging to Independent Kerryn Phelps, Labor candidate Tim Murray and Hinch Justice Party candidate Ben Forsyth, among other candidates were removed or turned away from view and replaced by posters of Sharma. These posters can cost quite a bit of money and volunteers spend hours sticking them up, so understandably, people aren’t too happy about this. Wentworth has also had a bit of a shock with former Liberal Party MP for the seat (and former Opposition Leader) John Hewson, telling the people of Wentworth to vote for anyone other than the Liberal Party, because of their stance (or lack of) on climate policy, which has made Labor’ Tim Murray and Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps very, very pleased.

The interim report from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has been released, and while it doesn’t have any explicit recommendations, many are implied. Commissioner Hayne was withering in his criticism of ASIC, which didn’t punish badly behaved banks appropriately. Hayne will deliver his final report in February 2019, but the Opposition wants Hayne to have more time. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that he is not opposed to this and would gladly let Hayne have more time if he asked for it.

There is a push for there to be a review into the Family Law system, as cases continue to back up and be delayed. There is a concern that if the Law Reform Commission cannot find solutions to the issues, then we may need to have a Royal Commission. There are also concerns over the government’s plan to merge the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court in order to maximise efficiency. Those in the legal system aren’t on board, saying people are more concerned about the quality of the justice delivered, rather than the speed at which it is done so.

Labor has announced a $1.75 billion dollar childcare package that will be delivered should they win the next election. They say they will pay for it by winding back the tax breaks the current government has implemented, and the plan would see recognised preschool program funding extend to include the education of three-year-old children. This would increase the current number of three-year-olds in preschool, and bring us into line with other OECD nations.

Also during this fortnight, Malcolm Turnbull called Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd “miserable ghosts” for hanging around in parliament after they lost the Prime Ministership. The GST on sanitary products will be removed, making many women very happy, eighteen years after the GST was introduced.

Finally this fortnight, Labor announced that when they’re in government they’ll require companies with more than 1,000 employees to declare the differences in pay between men and women in an effort to reduce the gender pay gap. Scott Morrison has announce that there could be a new day for the recognition of indigenous people (but it’s literally a thought bubble, there is no other information as yet).

Tweet of the Fortnight

Former 7:30 Report presenter Kerry O’Brien on the ABC.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Why Michelle Guthrie went (written before the Milne allegations came to light) – Meanjin

Mark Dapin on the ABC’s Acting Managing Director David Anderson – SMH

ABC presenter Jeremy Fernandez reads texts about a DJ set played on Triple J – Triple J

First Dog on the Moon on the banking royal commission – The Guardian

The Two Weeks That Were – September 2 to September 15

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Politics returned to relative normalcy over the last fortnight, following a change in Prime Minister, however the Au Pair Affair and another of Peter Dutton’s problems remain. Dutton is still under fire over the thing with the au pairs, after he intervened in the cases of an Italian au pair stopped at Brisbane Airport, and a French au pair stopped in Adelaide Airport. Dutton was asked months ago during question time if he had a personal connection to either of these cases, which he denied was the case. However, the Italian au pair was destined to work for one of Dutton’s former police colleagues, and the French au pair was due to work with the McLachlan family – and AFL boss Gillon McLachlan , who knew Dutton from when he was Sports Minister, alerted Dutton to the situation.

The Senate Inquiry into the au pair affair has seen former Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg give evidence against Dutton, saying he intervened in these cases, in one case alleging that Dutton’s chief of staff Craig McLachlan (no relation to the McLachlan family mentioned above) asked Quaedvlieg directly what needed to be done to allow the Italian au pair into Australia. Meanwhile, Dutton is rebuking Quaedvlieg’s account of events, saying they’re untrue because at the time, his Chief of Staff was someone else. Dutton’s accused Roman Quaedvlieg of being a crazed, mentally ill liar and suggested he’s “Labor’s Godwin Grech” – a reference to a former treasury official who went to the liberal party in 2008 or 2009 with false evidence of then-Treasurer Wayne Swan and then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd abusing the OzCar scheme, which ended up backfiring on then-Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

It got to a point where Dutton, under parliamentary privilege, said that Quaedvlieg had been sacked for “grooming” a woman thirty years younger than him. Now, first thing is, the woman at the centre of the Quaedvlieg issues was 18, so while a tad creepy with the whole age gap thing, the relationship is totally legal. “Grooming”, which is essentially the act of making it easier to sexually abuse a child, is a crime. In NSW (because that’s where I live), under section 66EB of the Crimes Act 1900, it’s punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Quaedvlieg’s situation is different as the woman in question was at the time an adult, so Dutton’s trying to do some epic damage. Unfortunately for Quaedvlieg, parliamentary privilege is protected speech and so he cannot sue for defamation.

Add to this the further scrutiny of Dutton’s eligibility to even be in Parliament. Dutton and his wife have a trust, mostly controlled by his wife, that owns two childcare centres. It appears that with the recent changes to the way childcare is funded by the government means that the trust directly benefits from the commonwealth, which it didn’t do before. Sources told The Saturday Paper that when the childcare policy came up in Cabinet meetings, while he did make clear his conflict of interest, he didn’t offer to leave the meeting, something many Cabinet members felt he should have done.

Meanwhile Malcolm Turnbull is texting people from New York, telling them Dutton needs to be referred to the High Court.

While Dutton faces his many issues, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been making deals with the Catholic school system over the “Gonski 2.0” needs-based funding model. In return for going along with the funding program, the government will also give the Catholic school system a transition payment of $4 billion over ten years, which has left Labor unimpressed. He also dragged the parliamentary Liberal Party to a meeting in Albury – the birthplace of the modern Liberal Party – where he attempted to invoke Menzies. The speech also had elements of Christian evangelist preaching – unsurprising given Morrison is the member of a Pentecostal Church.

Morrison also had his first Parliamentary sitting week as PM. It went pretty well, with the exception of his and the party’s inability to explain why the Prime Minister had changed in the first place, and a social media gaffe with this video (Video from the Guardian because Morrison deleted the original from twitter)

The music is Be Faithful by Fatman Scoop – and while this section of the song that Morrison (or more likely a staffer) used is clean, other parts of the song contain sexual references and explicit language (see below).

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/1040187121397649408

The only other thing causing the Prime Minister problems is the fact that bullying accusations have continued for the last two weeks. Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi is being encouraged to name and shame under parliamentary privilege, and Kelly O’Dwyer has admitted that there was bullying during the week of the spill. It got a bit weird though, because Scott Morrison was being interviewed on 7:30 by Leigh Sales, and he said that Senator Gichuhi had said that in the context of the week of the spill Gichuhi had not been bullied which is in contradiction to her tweet earlier that day:

https://twitter.com/senatorlucy/status/1039317298543177728

So now the residents of my home wonder if the contradiction is the Liberals bullying Senator Gichuhi into silence or if Morrison is using tricky language to say that during the week of the spill Gichuhi was not bullied but she has been bullied generally in her career (as per her tweet) – if that made any sense at all. Julie Bishop has also spoken about the culture in the Liberal Party, and within politics itself, saying much of the behaviour would not be acceptable in any other workplace.

The Wentworth by-election has been set for the 20th of October, with the Liberals party trying to find a candidate that will hold on to the seat for them. Wentworth is currently held on a margin of about 17%, but a lot of that is Malcolm Turnbull’s personal vote, because people like him – Wentworth is one of the most progressive electorates and that combined with the anger at the treatment of Turnbull could see the seat leave Liberal Party hands. Christine Forster, Sydney City Councillor, marriage equality advocate and Tony Abbott’s sister, did not contest the pre-selection battle. However nine others did, until Malcom Turnbull-backed Andrew Bragg stepped out of the race, saying a woman needed to be selected as the candidate. That did not happen, as Dave Sharma, former Ambassador to Israel, was voted as the candidate after a seven hour meeting that ended in the early hours of Friday morning. Sky News reporter Kieran Gilbert was sent a copy of the results by one of the candidates:

There are also concerns about the potential date for the next Federal Election, as there are several factors to take into account. First, the Victorian State election is slated for November 24, 2018, and the NSW State Election is happening on March 23, 2019. Then the government needs to find five clear weeks, preferably without public holidays right in the middle of them, and avoiding school holidays. This means that the last possible date of May 18, 2019 is a bit awkward because the Easter weekend falls on April 19-21, which would be in the middle of a campaign. February and January election dates are not ideal because people tend to take most of their holidays then while their kids aren’t at school. A date in April before easter will result in doubled up campaigning for NSW, which they’d like to avoid as well. I don’t envy the person who has to sit down and figure out the date that works for everyone.

Also this week, the Banking Royal Commission looked at insurance companies and some of their tactics. Freedom Insurance admitted to cold call practices that resulted in a 26-year-old with Downs Syndrome buying life insurance and funeral cover he did not need. His father then fought with the company to cancel the policies, which revealed Freedom Insurance’s practice of not taking no for an answer, with 85% of cancellation requests being unsuccessful. Meanwhile Clearview Insurance has admitted to breaking the law over 300,000 times; CommInsure admitted to using outdated medical definitions; and insurer TAL admitted to having a private investigator trail a customer who was trying to claim for mental health issues which exacerbated the customer’s condition.

Finally this fortnight, the pension age will not rise above 67 for the foreseeable future after the Prime Minister announced the backflip on the Abbott-era policy to increase it to 70; childcare workers across the country went on strike for better pay; there are growing concerns over the health and wellbeing of some young children incarcerated on Nauru – with some apparently close to death; and the GDP rose 0.9% in the June quarter.

Tweets of the Fortnight

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/1040352699424755712

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Labor’s Muppet Show doorstop – ABC Online

Simon Smart writes about Scott Morrison being a Christian – ABC Online 

An anonymous White House staffer on working against Trump – New York Times

16 Things That Happened in the Last Three Weeks – February 4 to February 24

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The weeks that I work on a Sunday really throw a spanner in the works of this blog writing thing. But here is what happened while I was busy working too much…

  1. Barnaby Joyce is expecting a baby with a former staffer. Yes, this requires its own post, or most of this post would be about Barnaby and some of you may not want that. Point is, Barnaby Joyce ended up having to quit so now the National Party need a new leader.
  2. Parliament went back and there are still questions over section 44 with two Labor MPs and a Liberal MP being suspected of being dual citizens. Meanwhile the Batman by-election campaign continues.
  3. South Australia and Tasmania are holding their elections in March, with SA Labor attempting a fifth term in government while fighting off the Liberals and Nick Xenophon’s SA-BEST; and Tasmanian Liberals are trying to keep their power after one term, although the Labor party is definitely a threat.
  4. South Australia’s Premier Jay Wetherill likes Elon Musk (of Tesla), with Tesla now helping South Australia to set up solar panels and Tesla battery storage at residences across the state.
  5. The government is trying to sell middle class and business tax breaks, while people debate whether ‘trickle down economics’ actually works. Some suggest that for it to work, government needs to specify that savings from the tax breaks should be used towards wage rises (i.e. specify that the trickle effect has to happen)
  6. The Close the Gap Report and National Sorry Day came around, with results in the report that suggest that is not enough funding going to programs.
  7. There will be a National Apology for the victims of sexual abuse by the end of the year.
  8. Jacqui Lambie has booted the Davenport Mayor Steve Martin from the JLN after he was found to be eligible to sit in Senate while still being a local government representative and didn’t create a casual vacancy for Lambie to fill.
  9. HIV prevention drug PrEP has been PBS approved, making it cheaper and more accessible.
  10. Kevin Rudd has evaluated Australia’s foreign policy, suggesting that the government’s strategy regarding China is “all over the place” and Turnbull is sending mixed signals to China
  11. The Banking Royal Commission has begun and the Big Four Banks are in trouble because they didn’t hand in their documentation by the due date, and the Commissioner is not impressed. Despite the banks apparently having a lot of say in how the commission runs, it seems that Commissioner Hayne is taking his job seriously.
  12. Malcolm Turnbull introduced new rules saying Ministers should not have sex with their staff – which is being referred to as the “Bonk Ban”.
  13. Mattias Cormann became Acting PM while Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull were away on diplomatic trips (because Joyce was also on leave – see point 1)
  14. There is more funding confusion between the NDIS and the states, with some parents who have kids with high-care needs have been considering putting their children into state care so they get the help they need as their subsidies dry up.
  15. Tony Abbott announced that he thought Australia’s permanent migration numbers should be reduced, which the Liberal Party has rebuked, by saying most of the immigration we have right now is temporary – i.e. Students and short-term skilled workers.
  16. Malcolm Turnbull went to the USA to meet Trump and other key government officials on a short trip. He also took NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on the trip, along with several business CEOs.

 

Tweets’n’Articles

The young people taking on the NRA after the school shooting in Florida – A Plus

 

The Week That Was – July 24 to July 30

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This week’s main focus was the allegations arising from Monday’s Four Corners story about juvenile detention in the Northern Territory. Basically there’s been some pretty terrible stuff happening to the young people there. The Prime Minister has announced that there will be a Royal Commission looking into whether the treatment of these youths has breached laws and what oversight was there and what more could have been done. There are questions over whether this is the right move, and criticism that the only commissioner chosen is not indigenous – with Bill Shorten suggestion indigenous co-commissioners.

Meanwhile Kevin Rudd is back in the headlines, after Malcolm Turnbull decided not to endorse him as a nominee for UN Secretary General. It was meant to be a cabinet decision, but the suggestion was that they came to an impasse and so Turnbull was allowed to make a captain’s call. Labor is upset at the descision, saying the Coalition are being unfair, while the Coalition are pointing out Labor has, at times, been Rudd’s biggest critic. Rudd has released letters showing communications between him and Turnbull regarding Rudd’s endeavours to be nominated for UN Secretary General. It appears that Turnbull was somewhat supportive up until about May when he changed his mind.

Finally this week, Cardinal Pell has been accused of child sexual abuse, which he is denying and accusing the ABC and the Victoria Police of a conspiracy; the Lindt Inquest will call Andrew Scipione, Cath Byrne and another senior officer to give evidence into their roles during the Lindt Siege; and there are concerns over the possibility of preventative dention measures and control orders and their impact on civil liberties.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Annabel Crabb’s bad dream – The Age

What did the NT Government know about mistreatment of juveniles – ABC Online

Has Vladimir Putin interfered in the US election? – ABC Online

 

The Week That Was – October 18 to October 24

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This week wasn’t too insane, which is probably a good thing for the government as it might actually be settling down and doing something.

Speaking of, Senate cross bencher David Leyonhjelm thinks that the only reason the government is making such strict anti-terror laws is so that it looks like something is being done, while Cathy McGowan is calling on the Attorney-General to change the legislation so that abusive ex-partners can’t cross-examine their victims in court, which only a few states ban. The idea behind this is that it intimidates and terrorises the victims, giving the power back to the perpetrator.

Malcolm Turnbull turned 61 on Saturday, and celebrated with some interviews being published in the weekend papers that outlined some of his plans, which include borrowing money to invest in public transport projects as well a dealing with union corruption. Polls at the start of the week show that he has a 68% approval rating – which analysts are attributing to the fact that the bitterness of the Rudd-Gillard-Abbott period is over and the government appears to be acting sensibly.

Badgerys Creek Airport has taken a step towards actually being made instead of just being mused about, with a plan for the build and the environmental statement released. It’s been received mostly positively with tourism and business groups applauding the plan’s release, but concerned about the fact that there is no train line to the prospective airport mentioned. Warren Truss, the Transport Minister, has said that the train and other public transport will come eventually. The environmentalists are worried too, because they feel not enough is being done to protect native endangered species. If Badgerys Creek Airport is ever built (sorry, I live with parents who have heard about this plan since they were kids), construction would start next year, with 6 years to be spent levelling soil, and another few years to build the actual airport – at least ten years in all.

This week Senate Estimates brought to light an incident that occurred on the night Tony Abbott lost the spill. Dubbed “Tablegate” by the media, the gist of the story is that a bunch of people had an alcohol fuelled party in Abbott’s Prime Ministerial Office, in which people got a tad drunk and someone climbed atop a marble coffee table and danced. It is understood that the table then gave way, in Penny Wong’s words, “smashing” to pieces, and possibly injuring the dancer – and people are believed to have taken bits of the table as souvenirs. What makes the whole thing even better is the ABC’s reenactment of the event they filmed for the nightly news, which was quite funny and which I have turned into a gif.

Marble Table

Meanwhile, the people of the electorate of North Sydney (including me) are bracing themselves for a by-election after Joe Hockey made his valedictory speech in Parliament this week. Usually during elections the seat is ignored a bit because it’s a safe Liberal seat and Joe Hockey’s win is essentially a given, so I think some of us in the electorate are looking forward to a little attention.

The Somali refugee that was flown back to Australia after the government said she “changed her mind” about having an abortion after being raped in detention at Nauru has written a statement that contradicts a lot of what the government says. The woman, who is being referred to as Abyan (not her name), says that when she came to Sydney to get the abortion (illegal in Nauru, hence the reason she was flown here) she never saw a doctor, nurse, midwife, or even an interpreter. The government is yet to respond further as far as I have seen, while her lawyers and other activists protested the decision to send her back with no treatment.

Finally this week, Labor has agreed to the China free trade agreement as long as there are certain checks and balances in place; there are going to be changes to renewable energy legislation; Warren Entsch and Eric Abetz have differing views over whether pre-emptive same-sex marriage legislation should be written so that when the country passes it in a plebiscite they can push it through quickly; Bill Heffernan is accusing the judiciary of a cover-up of child abuse, saying he has police paperwork to prove it which includes allegations of child abuse by a former PM; the Trade Union Royal Commission is recommending charges against a union figure and the Social Services Minister Christian Porter bungled an interview question during the week which lead to some savage questioning from the Opposition during Question Time this week.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/656320299466518528

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on Joe Hockey – The Guardian

The ABC’s look back at Joe Hockey’s political career

The Year that Was – 2014 Politics

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New Words: 1

Shirtfront: Tony Abbott said that he was going to “shirt front” Vladimir Putin regarding the suspected Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17.

You bet you are.

Elections: 3

West Australian Senate Seats Re-election: This is what happens when you misplace 1300 ballot papers.

Griffith By-election: To fill the vacant seat left by former PM Kevin Rudd. Labor won.

Victorian State Election: Victorian Labor ousts a one term Liberal/Nationals Coalition government, which hasn’t happened in more than 50 years, and it scared the federal government.

Reshuffles: 1

Just before Christmas, Abbott reshuffled cabinet after Arthur Sinodinos resigned, which also meant that David Johnston was removed as Defence Minister. Other people were moved around which leads us to….

Women In Cabinet: 2

Julie Bishop: Minister for Foreign Affairs, since 2013 Election

Sussan Ley: Minister for Health and Sport, since December 2014

Dramatic Sagas: 1

Jacqui Lambie vs. Clive Palmer: Lambie basically got sick of working with Clive Palmer and the Palmer United Party and left 5 months into her senate term, deciding to vote in the “coalition of common sense” which involved Labor, Nick Xenophon, Ricky Muir and other independents.

Achievements as Minister for Women: 1

Apparently, that achievement is the repeal of the Carbon Tax. How? Well, I think it might have something to do with housework and electricity bills.

Here’s ABC 7:30’s Politics Year in Review.

Happy New Year. Let’s see what 2015 has on offer.

The Week That Was – August 3 to August 9

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This week there were MH17 memorials in Western Australia and Queensland and more bodies were found at the crash site. The people living in a town close to the crash site also held a memorial. Meanwhile, the Russians have imposed sanctions on Australia, the EU and the US, in retaliation for the sanctions placed on them (which I thought Australia was not a part of, because our main aim was to bring our dead home). These sanctions stop Australia from trading dairy and livestock. Tony Abbott has said Australia will now consider more sanctions on Russia. Also, the Prime Minister is due to travel to the Netherlands and the UK in the next week.

So it turns out the asylum seekers were moved to Nauru on Friday night last week. Scott Morrison has been saying that the Tamils are from Indian camps and most have long-term Indian residency. The lawyers for the High Court case have also begun to claim that their clients were taught to drive lifeboats and read maps to show them where to go. Meanwhile a report has come out about the asylum seekers that claimed to have been burnt by being forced to put their hands on boat engines by Australian authorities. The heavily censored report suggests that the asylum seekers were burned when trying to light a fire on their boat and not by the actions of the Australians. There has been no response from the Indonesian authorities, who treated the asylum seekers at the moment.

Unemployment is now at a 12 year high – at 6.4%. Only 300 jobs were lost in the last month, but more people have been looking for jobs, making the unemployment rate rise. Youth unemployment is worse, with a little over 20% in the 15-19 age group and nearly 15% in the 15-24 age group. South Australia and Tasmania have had a drop in the unemployment rate, while the other states have had a rise, with Sydney having one of the worst youth unemployment rates, especially out in Sydney’s west. The Paid Parental Leave Scheme may have been shelved or delayed. It’s thought to be because some backbenchers – primarily those in rural or low-income areas – are still not supporting it. The government claims that the budget is the priority at the moment, so they haven’t brought up the scheme yet.

Joe Hockey has also been disputing Treasury numbers, after information was released stating that many families would be up to $490 worse off because of the 2014 Budget. In fact, the table that explains this was omitted from the budget papers, and those who wanted to know what the table said had to make Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. However, it appears most FOI requests, including one from the ABC was denied. Joe Hockey says that the numbers are wrong because the Deficit Levy imposed on higher-income households wasn’t factored in and there could still be changes. Either way, there are still negotiations between the Government and the cross benchers in the Senate – David Leyonhjelm has said that these discussions should have begun before July 1.

This week also saw a bit of gymnastics on the repeal of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The government has decided not to continue with the repeal of section 18c because Tony Abbott wants to unify Australia, given the threat posed by Australians travelling to the Middle East. Andrew Bolt, along with other conservative commentators and politicians are not pleased. At least one conservative senator is going to launch a private member’s bill to keep the repeal alive.

There are now going to be changes to the Terrorism laws given the threat posed by those travelling to the Middle East perceived by the government. This change, on top of the “burden of proof” proposal last week, means that there will be another $630 million for security agencies, the ability to suspend passports and make it illegal to travel to certain nations without an acceptable reason (burden of proof on the traveller not the police) and telecommunications companies must keep metadata for a certain amount of time.

Now this “metadata” thing has confused everyone. Tony Abbott and George Brandis have been unable to explain exactly what will be retained, and they didn’t let Malcolm Turnbull (one of the guys who probably could explain it) out to talk until a few days later. Other than the concerns over privacy, it is completely unclear at the moment what is going to be retained by the telcos. Now, I am not a computer geek in any way, but from what I understand, what will be retained is the IP address of websites you visit, not the content or the URL of the site. So when you visit this blog, they only see the IP address, not the karaxl.wordpress.com or the content of the blog – in order to see those they need a warrant.

Before I forget, Eric Abetz is in trouble for appearing to link abortions with breast cancer. He said it on The Project on Channel Ten in what he says was a pre-recorded interview that was heavily edited, which Channel Ten denies. By the way, the link has been disproved by the scientific community, despite the fact that some scientists coming to the World Families’ Congress maintain there is a link. The congress will be held in Melbourne later this year, and several Federal Government MPs are planning to attend.

Finally this week, the Federal Liberal Party is being dragged into the NSW ICAC, Australia might become involved in humanitarian drops in Iraq, our Airports are preparing for Ebola checks, and the WA Premier Colin Barnett wants the GST changed, because he feels that Western Australia is ripped off as it contributes quite a bit to the GST and gets less back.

Tweet of the Week

After hitting 5000 followers on twitter this week, the people running Kevin Rudd 2000 (@Rudd2000), a spoof account called it a day, killing off “Kevern”.

(Translation: Albo [Anthony Albanese] ate Kevin [Rudd])

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening to etc

Balibo’s ghosts and East Timor’s media laws – ABC The Drum

When journalists stop covering a story without explanation and social media speculation gets out of hand – BBC News

Whitehousegate is still going, and a student at the college is facing criminal charges for blowing the whistle – Business Insider

The Week that Was – February 16 to February 22

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A lot happened this week.

This week the report into Indonesian border incursions was released, revealing that the navy has breached Indonesian waters six times, all, they say, were inadvertent because incorrect calculations were made regarding the location of the water border. Some have been asking how that’s possible given all the GPS technology that would’ve told them there was a problem. Indonesia did bring up Operation Sovereign Borders with the Americans, but it seems no one really asked about that chat because John Kerry didn’t bring it up in public.

Speaking of bringing up issues, the Chinese brought up the treatment of asylum seekers in scheduled talks with Australian officials. Usually the Australians are the ones being concerned about the human rights issues in China, and they did bring it up, but never have the Chinese lectured Australia on treating people humanely. Australian officials said they explained everything to the Chinese and that once explained, everything was ok.

Tony Abbott spent last weekend in areas of drought in western Queensland and north-western New South Wales and it seemed as if he brought rain with him as a gift. And while it sounds a tad mean, it’s hard to not laugh when you’re talking about drought relief when it is raining, and quite heavily at that. Farmers have made it clear that they don’t just want help because there is a drought, they want long-term support.

Still with the Prime Minister, he’s saying that he wants his government to be “the best friend Medicare has ever had”, despite people flagging changes to the system. They’re suggesting $6 co-payments when you visit the doctor. However, some have been asking why we can’t just raise the Medicare levy, given that’s how we already pay for Medicare anyway. Which is a valid point, as is the suggestion that maybe decreasing or removing rebates for some of the expensive elective surgeries that people have.

Moving on, Craig Thompson was found guilty of fraud and theft for using his union credit card to pay for things that he shouldn’t be using that card for. A few of the charges were thrown out, but he was still found guilty of most of them. Now he is waiting to be sentenced. Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek have both made it clear that no one is above the law and that they are pleased that the law has caught up with him.

Speaking of Labor, the former government’s confidential cabinet files could be unsealed for the Royal Commission being held to look at the “pink batts” scheme – an insulation scheme carried out during which four workers were electrocuted. There’s a bit of fuss about that, because they are released 30 years later (e.g. 1983 cabinet files were released at the end of last year, 2013). Never have they been released while the following government is in power.

This week, an 75-year-old Australian missionary was arrested in Pyongyang for handing out religious leaflets. He apparently left some in a Buddhist temple while on a tour, and has reportedly admitted that tourism was not the only reason for his visit. He could face time in prison or a labour camp, and because Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea, the Swedish Embassy is representing our interests there.

The G20 had the Finance ministers’ meeting in Sydney this weekend, and while they aren’t finished yet nothing major has occurred. Joe Hockey has been talking with lots of people, and he wants “measurable” results from these meetings, which are often criticised as talk-fests. He’s also said a couple of times that government spending needs to be sustainable, which is fair enough.

Finally, we get to the big newsmaker this week – the chaos on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where there is an Immigration Detention Centre. It began when a few asylum seekers either escaped or at least attempted to after being told they would not be settled in Australia. It soon turned into what appeared to be a riot, in which one Iranian asylum seeker was killed and many others were injured, and at least three were transferred to Australia for medical treatment, one believed to have a gunshot wound. Journalists were not allowed in, but the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre released a call they received from one of the detainees inside.

Right now there’s a bit of a blame game going on, with Manus Island residents blaming the security staff, both Australian and Papua New Guinean. The security staff says that they were provoked by the asylum seekers saying nasty things about PNG. While the Papuan Prime Minister says that it was the Australian security staff, not the locals. There will be an inquiry, but it will take a while.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Correspondents Report – an ABC Radio program which, as their website says: “the ABC’s overseas reporters give their interpretation and analysis of the week’s major events.”

The Week That Was – February 9 to February 15

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So, Griffith will remain in Labor hands after the by-election last week, despite a lower than expected voter turnout. Who can blame them though? People in that area have had to go and vote up to five times in the last three years.

Meanwhile, the Government has decided to hold a Royal Commission into construction union corruption after the ABC and Fairfax broke the story. Speaking of unions, Tony Abbott seems to like blaming them for problems. This week Toyota announced they would stop manufacturing cars in Australia by 2017. This means that there will be no more car manufacturing in Australia after 2017. He says that the unions are to blame because they were demanding about work conditions, despite the fact that Toyota’s isn’t blaming them at all.

Tony Abbott has also been using his “some businesses close, others open” and “some jobs finish and others begin” lines again. While that line wasn’t commented on in Australia, an Australian CNN journalist threw some excellent shade by commenting “No word yet on what those new jobs will be”. There are fears however, because if the number of new jobs created is less than the number of jobs lost, there could be a recession here in Australia, which we avoided thanks to Kevin Rudd’s Labor government in 2007.

SPC Ardmona has been thrown a $22 million lifeline by the Victorian Government in a deal with the parent company Coca Cola Amatil. They’ll upgrade the plant with the money and hopeful keep some workers there. I don’t know if the Victorian Government were always going to give some money anyway, but they had promised to match the $25 million that SPC asked the Federal Government for, had they helped. Another issue is Qantas, Australia’s national airline. They would also like some money and some ownership legislation change. They’re saying that because they are not Holden, and they mainly want a change in their foreign ownership guidelines, the government should really consider helping them, and that argument appears to have worked.

Moving on, the Close the Gap Report shows that while there have been some gains within the indigenous population, particularly in decreasing infant mortality and the rise in Year 12 attainment, there are still some major issues to deal with, such as life expectancy and unemployment. The national unemployment rate also rose this month, which was expected but there are disagreements over who or what is to blame.

On to international matters, the foreign minister Julie Bishop has been in Fiji with delegates from the Pacific Forum in the hopes that once free and fair elections are held in Fiji later this year, the nation can rejoin the forum. Bishop says that she hopes to increase to trade between Australia and Fiji. Of more concern however, is that when the Americans come to Indonesia in the next week, the Indonesian Foreign Minister has said he will be talking to them about Australia’s actions in Operation Sovereign Borders. Oh dear.

Tweet of the Week

Juanita Phillips, the weekday newsreader for ABC News NSW has got Twitter (and a new news set)

Faux Pas of the Week

A lesson in paying attention in Federal Parliament.  Nickolas Varvaris, a Liberal MP, appeared to be asleep during a division of the house and he ended up voting with Labor, because no-one told him what had happened. Oops.

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening

A Valentine’s themed Dumb Ways to Die message (see the original here)

The ABC Elections Site – with two (maybe three) state elections and multiple by-elections this year, not to mention some recent redistributions, you need to have a look.