Tag Archives: Same-Sex Marriage

The Week That Was – December 3 to December 9

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Same sex marriage is now legal! Yay! I’ll have a post on this in the next day or two, so keep your eyes peeled.

It was pretty cool to watch the Lower House pass the bill with no amendments and at one point, all of the people in the public gallery got preemptively excited and celebratory, leaving the Speaker Tony Smith to explain that there was still some procedural stuff to go through. When it did actually pass however, the house broke into applause and a rendition of We are Australian.

The debate in parliament took pretty much all week with over 100 MPs wanting to speak. Highlights included: Tony Abbott saying he accepted the result of the survey and was excited to see his sister wed her partner; Warren Entsch being dubbed an “honourary gay” by North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman; and MP Tim Wilson proposing to his partner Ryan in the first ever proposal on the House floor.

Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have survived the infamous “Killing Season” – the last sitting week of the year, when MPs have the last chance to overthrow their leader. Previous Killing Season victims include former Labor Leader Kim Beazley who lost the leadership in the final sitting week of 2006 to Kevin Rudd; and Malcolm Turnbull who was Liberal Opposition leader in 2009 when he was booted by the party in favour of Tony Abbott. On Turnbull’s side, what counted in his favour this week is that there is no viable alternative.

The Citizenship saga continues, and I know I’ve mentioned I might write something on it but every single time I start it, the story takes another turn. Labor Senator Katy Gallagher and Labor MP David Feeney are heading to the High Court to establish their eligibility. Gallagher’s issue stems from the fact that while she submitted the forms for renunciation of UK citizenship prior to nomination, confirmation of her renunciation came two months after the 2016 election. Meanwhile, Feeney’s issue is that he applied to renounce his UK citizenship in 2007, but can’t find the paperwork. Oops. There are also concerns about Labor MPs Susan Lamb and Justine Keay, NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie and some Liberal MPs – but the House of Representatives is basically having an epic tit-for-tat in which each major party is accusing the other of a protection racket. This is making the crossbench a bit annoyed because they want everyone with concerns to go to the High Court, rather than picking off people one by one.

The Bennelong by-election campaign continues with pre-polling getting underway and it’s a tight race. It’s also getting really nasty with the Liberals creating “scratchies” in both English and Chinese that show the dangers of voting for Labor. Labor has complained to the AEC and the lottery and gambling regulator in NSW over the flyers, suggesting they break NSW laws.

Meanwhile, the government has announced changes to national security and espionage laws. The idea essentially is to update the Cold War era legislation to modern-day, with the inclusion of cyber attacks and internet espionage. There was also some finger-pointing at China, which is rarely done these days, and China didn’t take too kindly to that. They made a diplomatic complaint (which is hardball) about Australia characterising them in that way.

Malcolm Turnbull’s response was to refer to the words spoken when modern China was founded in 1949 – “中国人民站起来” (zhongguo renmin zhan qi lai – the Chinese people have stood up) – which Turnbull said was an assertion of sovereignty. He then said “澳大利亚人民站起来” (aodaliya renmin zhan qi lai – the Australian people have stood up) as an assertion of Australia’s sovereignty. It took me a second to figure out what he was saying as his pronunciation was a bit off, but I guess that’s the nicest way to suggest that he doesn’t seem to care or worry about China’s complaint, at least in public anyway.

Finally this week, the Snowy Hydro plan is going through its feasibility study; the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has started releasing reports; the rollout of the NDIS is causing financial issues for some organisations that provide crucial services; Australia has made clear it does not support US President Trump’s (it’s been a year and I still cannot believe I’m writing that) decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; and Labor has won the Queensland Election.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/939259791691542529

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Akiva Eldar on Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – ABC Online

The very, very weird (from what I read) Kings Cross Wax Works – ABC Curious Sydney

30 Things That Happened in the Last Three Weeks – October 29 to November 18

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Uni kind of took over for a while (as did some extra work shifts) so here is a run through what happened in the last three weeks.

  1. After the whole Citizenship thing in the High Court, more and more people are popping up as potential dual citizens, with Stephen Parry, John Alexander and Jacqui Lambie resigning from their positions – More on this in a post coming up later this week.
  2. Questions are being raised over whether or not Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash’s ministerial decisions can be questioned in court given they made those decisions while in parliament, well, illegally. However, a litigant with some money will be needed to do it.
  3. Queensland is holding their State Election on November 25, earlier than expected.
  4. Sir Ninian Stephen, a former Governor-General from the 1980s passed away.
  5. Unions are calling for a boycott of Streets brand ice cream products while Streets attempts to suspend the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement to pay their workers less money.
  6. There will be more government funding for brain cancer research.
  7. Because Barnaby Joyce is no longer in parliament and the PM (or acting PM) has to be in the Lower House, Julie Bishop became Acting Prime Minister while Malcolm Turnbull was overseas, first in Israel and then on his whirlwind Asian conference tour.
  8. Turnbull went to Israel to the Beersheba memorial (a WWI battle on what is now Israeli soil 100 years ago) and to talk with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
  9. Turnbull also went to Asia to show up at the APEC and ASEAN conferences in Vietnam and the Philippines respectively, and also swung by Hong Kong too.
  10. The detention centre on Manus Island closed, but many refugees did not want to leave saying they don’t feel safe outside the centre. They’ve been staying there since it closed on October 31, with no running water, no medicine and only the small amounts of food locals are getting into the centre.
  11. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten finally agreed on a method to audit (but not audit) MPs’ and Senators’ citizenship statuses.
  12. Stephen Parry is to be replaced by Richard Colbeck.
  13. The Senate has had a small renovation to put in ramps for Scott Ludlam’s replacement Jordan Steele-John who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.
  14. The traditional owners of Uluru will ban climbing the iconic rock. After 2019, those caught climbing will be fined.
  15. New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has offered to settle a couple hundred of the Manus detention centre refugees in NZ. Turnbull has said “not now thanks” which leaves the door open for him to say “yes please” in the future.
  16. Telstra will pay compensation to around 42,000 customers who have not received the NBN internet speeds they paid for.
  17. Sam Dastyari was accosted by two racists who called him a terrorist at a Melbourne university pub. He was hanging out with Gellibrand MP Tim Watts who will forever be known for asking the racists who were berating Dastyari “what race is dickhead?” 
  18. Protests outside a fundraiser for Tony Abbott got somewhat out of hand, with Abbott’s sister Christine Forster, among other Liberal heavyweights, being accosted by the protesters. Forster’s “favourite” jacket was ripped in the scuffles.
  19. Hollie Hughes, the person that was expected to replace Fiona Nash in the senate is not eligible to sit in the senate because she took a job after the 2016 election that is considered to be a “position of profit under the Crown”. Lambie’s replacement, who is the current Mayor of Devonport is also under a cloud but does not have the $15,000 left lying about to refer himself to the High Court.
  20. Malcolm Roberts’ replacement in the Senate, Fraser Anning, has left the One Nation party within a day of showing up in Canberra – it’s unclear whether he left voluntarily or was pushed out after he had a disagreement with Pauline Hanson.
  21. Scott Ryan has become the Senate President, at least for the time being.
  22. The by-election in John Alexander’s seat of Bennelong has been shaken up with Labor running former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. Liberals have already started the dirt throwing with allusions to Keneally’s corrupt ministers and the epic loss of the Labor party in NSW at the 2011 State Election. (Note that she wasn’t corrupt and she was found to be so by the NSW ICAC)
  23. AUSTRALIA SAID YES TO SAME SEX MARRIAGE! 61.6% of the country voted to allow same-sex marriage. Now it just has to be legislated. You can see the makeup of the result and some more detailed numbers on the ABC website. Malcolm Turnbull has promised the legislation will pass by Christmas.
  24. Penny Wong is embarrassed that she cried in front of the country. 
  25. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage has hit the Senate, with Dean Smith introducing the bill. There are concerns from conservatives that there aren’t enough religious protections a la American cake bakers. See this SBS article to get what this is all about.
  26. People are now pointing out the economic benefits of same-sex weddings, because if you do the maths…. 47,000(ish) gay couples multiplied by the average cost of a wedding means a lot of money will be poured into the weddings industry.
  27. The Royal Commission into Juvenile Detention has recommended that the Don Dale correctional centre in the Northern Territory be closed, and that the age of criminal responsibility be raised from 10 to 12, among other recommendations.
  28. Cory Bernardi and his Australian Conservatives party are planning on running a candidate in Bennelong.
  29. 17 people are running in the New England by-election, and there are thoughts from Antony Green that more than that could run in Bennelong.
  30. The NSW voluntary euthanasia bill has been rejected in the NSW Upper House, while the Victorian Upper House debate has been suspended for a few days after a Labor member collapsed in their office during the mammoth overnight session.

The Week That Was – October 1 to October 7

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This week saw state and territory leaders have a COAG meeting in which it was readily agreed to implement some form of facial recognition program in time for the Commonwealth Games next year. It’s unclear how it works, because Malcolm Turnbull and Annastacia Palaszczuk say one thing, and Justice Minister Michael Keenan says another. Either way, they’re going to use people’s drivers licence pictures for the program. They also said the system wouldn’t be as cool as the ones you see on crime shows, which is a bit disappointing if you ask me.

The COAG meeting also resulted in a commitment from state and territory leaders to make uniform legislation to allow them to hold terror suspects for 14 days without charge. However, concerns have sprung up that this might involve holding kids as young as 10 (the age of criminal responsibility in Australia) for that period. Domestic air passengers will also have to show a form of ID, which you would have thought Australia would have been doing for years already.

We’re at the halfway point of the same-sex marriage postal survey and we’ve sort of stopped hearing about the yes and no campaigns every single night on the news. I do know that there was a rally in Sydney this weekend, and I did get a robo-survey call which didn’t get very far because the first question asked if I had already voted – which my household has – and then it hung up on me. The major concern is that the no campaign may win due to grassroots level campaigning with ethnic and religious groups working within their communities. Why aren’t they hanging out with the big public no campaigners? Well, as the muslim cleric interviewed in the ABC news story pointed out – those people also tend to be a bit Islamophobic too.

The car industry in Australia is essentially no more, with the Toyota factories in Victoria closing on Tuesday. The main concern has been that the workforce, which is primarily older men, will not be able to retrain or get another job ever, which will only be alleviated if the federal and the Victorian state government work together to invest – and only the Victorians have been serious about it from what I’ve seen and heard since Toyota announced they were leaving three years ago.

This week also saw some refugees from Manus Island head to the United States to start their new lives. The ABC interviewed two of them, and it appears for the moment they’re pretty happy, although they’re only going to get help from a US charity for a little while, so they will soon need to get a job an fend for themselves.

Also this week, Nick Xenophon shocked many when he announced he was goung to leave federal parliament to start a new group in South Australia called SA Best and run for the South Australian Lower House next year. This is all depending on how the whole section 44 thing goes for Xenophon though. For those of you trying to place the guy – he’s the one that does stunts and makes terrible puns about the issues he draws attention to. He’s actually a really smart politician, and pretty good at negotiating for what he wants. His SA Best group has hand a setback though, with a candidate being caught on social media groping two wax statues (think Madame Tussauds) of Australian celebrities, and also making tasteless jokes about Rihanna’s domestic violence issues with rapper Chris Brown, by pretending to punch Rihanna’s wax statue.

Finally this week, there were protests against the proposed Adani coal mine; Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has praised President Trump for getting China to reconsider imposing stricter sanctions on North Korea; there are calls to have a wool processing industry after an incident where bags of merino wool were switched with less expensive wool and people were ripped off; and Australia is taking a fresher look at gun control laws (that may have become more lax) after the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Tweet of the Week

Actor Josh Thomas posted his survey this week

https://twitter.com/JoshThomas87/status/915839756302348288

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Eddie Aryes on how teaching in Kabul changed his life – ABC Online

Australian universities, self censorship and China – ABC Online

The Two Weeks That Were – September 17 to September 30

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I worked all last weekend, so you get a rather busy two weeks to contend with.

The same-sex marriage postal survey is plodding along, as are the “yes” and “no” campaigns. The no campaign tried to sky write ‘vote no’ over Sydney on one of the windiest days we’ve had, and the yes campaign upset the no campaign by sending text messages. This led the yes campaign to point out that the no people got the survey/vote they wanted and now they had to contend with the yes people actively campaigning for their dignity.

Meanwhile, American rapper Macklemore (apparently pronounced “Mack-Le-More” and not “Mackel-more”) upset the “no” campaign’s apple cart by announcing that he would be singing Same Love as one of the five songs on his NRL Grand Final set list. Tony Abbott wants the song to be banned because “politics has no place in sport” – despite the fact every Prime Minister in my lifetime has gone to an AFL and/or NRL grand final. George Brandis had the best response to Abbott’s comments by saying that he thought Abbott liked free speech. Macklemore has said he will donate the Australian proceeds of sales of Same Love to the Yes Campaign.

Speaking of Tony Abbott – he got head-butted in Hobart earlier in the fortnight by a DJ wearing a “yes” badge. As it turned out the DJ, called Astro Labe (because why not?) didn’t head butt the former PM because of the same-sex marriage debate, but because he felt like it. He basically did what a large number of people in this country have at least once considered doing. I don’t condone head butting former Prime Ministers, but t was a tad amusing, and I’m sure for some people vicariously cathartic.

It looks as if there is another push to teach phonics to primary school children as a way to teach them to read – which most teachers suggest is all well and good, except when the government suggests national benchmark tests in Year One to go along with it. The teaching union is concerned that this leads to teaching to a test rather than just teaching them. While some schools do already do phonics testing and teaching, the government has since said it’s the responsibility for the states, which is one of the reasons being in a Federation is annoying – because it gets confusing as to who is responsible for what.

The government’s most favourite subject for the last three or four weeks – energy – has remained so, with the government still trying to get AGL to keep the Liddell plant going, and tring to keep more local LNG in the country to avoid a shortfall. AGL took the media around the ageing Liddell plant in what had to be the weirdest show off tour ever, showing the public what was broken and wasn’t working. Malcolm Turnbull wants to prevent a gas shortfall that is expected in 2018. He met with and attempted to encourage the gas comapnies to sell their gas in Australia first before exporting it overseas – which is what they currently do with most of Australian LNG.

The government has also announced we’ll be getting a space agency – only they don’t really know where it’ll be based or how much it will cost, so basically all that practical stuff.

A group of refugees who were going through “extreme vetting” have been accepted to be settled in the United States. Whether or not they’ve gone yet is unclear to me – but Australia is hoping that an addition 1200 will be accepted to settle in the USA in the coming months.

The NDIS is in the news again after a Cate Blanchett-voiced artificial intelligence computer program was shelved. The idea was that this AI program, called Nadia, would help people on the NDIS get information as more and more people move to the scheme. However, concerns with security – especially after the Census and other government computer-y problems, they want to wait to make sure it won’t break or something. Meanwhile, NSW has stopped the subsidy scheme for specialised smoke alarms for deaf people in preparation for the NDIS – only problem being that not everyone in NSW is on the NDIS yet and if they need a smoke alarm between now and when they do they’ll be out of pocket by a large amount of money without the subsidy scheme. There are concerns that other states will follow suit, leaving deaf people with no smoke alarms.

The High Court has ruled that Malcolm Roberts was a dual citizen at the time of his nomination and election to parliament, meaning it is quite likely he could lose his job under section 44 of the constitution. He’s also been declared a bit of an idiot in my house after he claimed he had no clue he was a British citizen, despite the fact an Australian citizenship form he filled in clearly stated that he was a few years ago. Centrelink is also in the news after it was revealed that several indigenous communities where welfare recipients work for the dole have to spend hours on the phone to avoid fines for not showing up to their required work for the dole activities if they have a good reason – e.g. going to a funeral or a medical appointment.

Also this week, it’s been revealed that a company lobbying the government is run by a member of the Nationals, who is also in the party leadership. He’s not on the registered lobbyist list and may not even be involved in the lobbying, but Griffith MP Terri Butler is concerned.

Finally during this fortnight, New Zealand went to the polls, and while Jacinda Ardern and the Labour Party didn’t win, there has been a swing to the Labour in NZ, suggesting ‘Jacinda-mania’ may have been moderately strong; Marise Payne and Malcolm Turnbull dedicated a new HMAS Hobart; big banks are scrapping their ATM fees; and unions are appealing the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rates ruling from earlier in the year.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Lee Lin Chin – need I say more?

TV News professionalism at its prime….

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Mark Riley on the church and ‘straw-man arguments’ – The West Australian

The Red Rooster Line – Honi Soit

The “ghost” candidate in the North Sydney Council Election – SMH

Male primary school teachers to be extinct – ABC News

 

The Two Weeks That Were – September 3 to September 16

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After arguments were heard in the High Court at the start of the fortnight, the government won their case 7-0, and we will now have a postal plebiscite survey. The survey started being posted out on the 12th of September, and some people have already got them. Hopefully you all fixed your enrolment and will get your letters – if not, hopefully the people living in your old home will be kind enough to try to contact you (and if you find one in your letterbox for the previous resident, see if you can find them online – that’s what some people are trying to do). Send it before November 7 so it gets counted.

There have been “yes” rallies across the country, with some awesome banners and signs. One of my favourite messages was “I could have done this on SurveyMonkey for you for free”. The Liberals and Nationals for Yes group is starting with Turnbull, Christine Forster (Tony Abbott’s sister – who is gay), and several key Liberals from years gone by – mostly from NSW because the meeting I saw was in Sydney.

Section 44 – the bit of the constitution that is catching out unaware dual citizens – was brought up again at the start of the fortnight with Bill Shorten and former PM Tony Abbott being forced to prove they’d denounced their British citizenship prior to being in Parliament. The Liberals did try to focus the attention on Bill Shorten in question time about it, but it backfired on them when Bill Shorten waited until after Question Time to prove he wasn’t a British citizen – meaning that Barnaby Joyce, who is likely a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen and is refusing to step down as Deputy PM – got all the attention.

The government has decided that AGL’s Liddell coal plant in the Hunter Valley can’t shut down when AGL plans to in 2022. The government wold like it to stay open for another five years, closing in 2027 instead, which is when AGL plans on shutting a second plant down. It appears that people are blaming the East Coast’s power issues on the shutdowns of coal plants, such as the Hazelwood Plant in Victoria earlier this year. However, AGL is adamant the plant will shut when planned, and that by then they will have a non-coal alternative. At the moment, AGL’s whole thing is “getting out of coal” – as seen in their ads.

AGL’s people met with the government later in the fortnight, where AGL was told to either keep Liddell going, sell it to someone who would or replace with an alternate reliable source – and it appears AGL is set on the latter, which will most likely end up being gas. Oh, and um the Clean Energy Target is getting a new name so that the pro-coal Liberal backbenchers won’t roll Turnbull.

Media reforms passed the senate in the latter part of the fortnight, 31-27. With an NXT amendment to help support regional publishers, the “reach rule” and the “two-out-of-three rule” appear to have been abolished. The “reach rule” stopped  a TV broadcaster from reaching more than 75% of the population, and the “two-out-of-three rule” stopped someone from owning newspaper, radio and television networks in the one market. This change is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as people don’t go mad with power and do stupid things.

Also during this fortnight, the government is still trying to figure out where they will be placing the people who have been found to be refugees when Manus Island closes in October. It appears some were taken to Port Moresby recently, where they were interviewed by US officials. This does suggest that some of them may be going to the United States soon.

Finally this week, the WA Liberals passed a motion to look into the possibility of succession (WAxit?); the Nationals Conference narrowly defeated a motion introduced by George Christiansen to ban the burqa; Australia now has a memorial for peacekeepers at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra; and Clive Palmer has revealed that his nephew – who worked for the collapsed Queensland Nickel and has a warrant out for his arrest – is being paid $4000 a week, which Palmer says is his own money.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Jacqui Lambie smacks down those attacking the ABC

SUPER IMPORTANT TO NOTE – Don’t mess with the question on the survey, it’ll be considered invalid

https://twitter.com/lanesainty/status/907847393265295361

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American state legislator – TIME Magazine

The generation gap between China’s millennials and their parents – ABC Online

The Week That Was – August 27 to September 2

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This week was mostly quiet for politics, but the issues that did make the news were pretty major.

First, Peter Dutton announced that refugees in Australia for medical treatment, who had finished treatment and were living in the community would lose their financial assistance and be moved onto a visa that essentially expects that they will leave soon. Until they do leave, refugees will be expected to pay their own way. It appears this mainly concerns single refugees, rather than families, but the concern is that this decision could soon include them. The Greens, activists and service providers are mad, and Labor is yet to comment.

Malcolm Turnbull visited the Snowy Hydro to talk up his “Snowy 2.0” plans, which will take six years to build – once everything has been approved. Turnbull and other government ministers met with energy providers as well this week, the result of which was the providers agreeing to send letters to consumers to show them how to get compare and get cheaper energy bills. Most people seem to think this somewhat unimpressive, and I have to say, it is a bit of a fail when you’re the PM and all you can get out of the energy providers is a commitment to send customers a letter, when you’ve been going on and on about how it is such a massive problem for Australians.

The first same-sex marriage “no” campaign ad came out this week, and was panned by most people for being factually incorrect. For the millionth time – having same-sex marriage is not going to mean that your child is going to be forced to pretend they are in a same-sex relationship. I could go into an entire rant about the actual Safe Schools lesson that this misinformation stems from, but I won’t in this post – mainly because I did back in February last year. The Education Minister has also said that there is no such plan to change the education of children simply because the country lets same-sex couples get married. Panti Bliss, an Irish drag queen, has also reinforced that point in an interview for an ABC news story about what Ireland thinks about Australia’s survey.

Finally this week, US broadcaster CBS will buy Channel 10 (as long as it passes a foreign investment review); Derryn Hinch may or may not be the eighth politician to fall victim to section 44; Aboriginal people in Yamba have been ruled the traditional owners of an additional area of water that they consider sacred after a twenty year push for recognition; and Australia might send military trainers to the Philippines to help fight ISIS in Marawi.

Tweets of the Week

Buzzfeed’s Mark Di Stefano is leaving Australia to go to the UK (he’s following his girlfriend)

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/900612075587723264

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Joe Biden on Trump and Charlottesville – The Atlantic

ABC’s meteorologist Nate Byrne explains Hurricane Harvey – ABC Online

Did a book buy its way onto the New York Times Bestseller List – Pajiba

The Week That Was – August 20 to August 26

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The week began with the government revealing their plans to protect people in crowded places, including more bollards and statues. They’re encouraging big businesses and small businesses to help contribute. There wasn’t much more they said publicly, but many feel they’re doing something.

The Australian Medical Association is concerned about certain levels of private health insurance and are pushing for the government to  more strictly regulate the industry. At the moment, there are 20,000 variations in policies and some are so poor that they simply help you avoid the Medicare levy. They’re suggesting a streamlined Gold, Silver & Bronze grading system for every policy so that people know exactly what they are getting.

The government is planning to start trials for drug testing welfare recipients in several areas, including the Western Sydney regions of Canterbury & Bankstown. It’s thought that they will test 1750 people on location at the Centrelink office, and if they test positive, they will not be reported to police. They will however, have their income managed, and may be asked to attend rehab. The legislation still has to get through parliament, and with Labor and the Greens against it, it will be interesting to see if it gets through the Senate.

The citizenship saga continues, with five of the seven cases in the High Court starting this week. Hearings will take place in October, even though people wanted them heard earlier. It was an interesting day, with Tony Windsor, who lost to Barnaby Joyce at the 2016 election, being allowed to join the case against Joyce, and One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts changing his story again. In an amusing aside, Barnaby Joyce has also been nominated for New Zealander of the year.

Nick Warner, the head of Australia’s CIA equivalent, ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service), has been criticised for appearing in a photo with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte doing the President’s famous fist-pump gesture. Some saw this as Australia’s acceptance of Duterte and his war on drugs, which has led to the extrajudicial killings of many people. In fact, Warner was meeting with Duterte to show Australia’s support of the Philippines military efforts to quash ISIS fighters in Marawi.

While the country awaits the court ruling on the same-sex marriage postal survey (actual name: “Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey”), the Yes and No sides are gearing up for campaigning. There are somewhat dubious claims coming from the NO campaign regarding the evils of the gays, while the YES campaign has been focusing on making sure that all of their potential voters are enrolled. It’s believed that the push for people to enrol to vote has led to hundreds of thousands of eligible young Aussies being added to the electoral roll, not just for this vote/survey, but for every election thereafter, which could change the direction of the country.

Finally this week, the worst was realised when the 7-year-old Australian boy missing after the Barcelona attack was identified as one of the 14 killed; the government has shut nearly 125 childcare centres in a crackdown; Tony Abbott confessed to being too drunk to show up to some divisions during the passing of Rudd-era financial crisis legislation (Wayne Swan is mad because people made him retract allegations he made at the time); and there are allegations that the big tobacco companies are in cahoots with customs and police to catch tobacco smugglers – which could be in violation of a World Health Organisation treaty.

Tweets of the Week

As an ex-resident of Hong Kong, typhoons are always interesting to follow…

And somewhat related to weather, ABC News Breakfast’s meteorologist Nate Byrne was getting into science week:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Leigh Sales on interviewing – ABC Online

Hillsong’s position on Same-Sex Marriage as covered by the New Matilda (N.B. – While critical of Hillsong, it does break down the church’s position)

Teachers on the joys of teaching – ABC Online

The Week That Was – August 6 to August 12

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This week was the first week back from Winter Holidays for politicians, and the Liberals found themselves coming in a day early to have an internal party vote on whether or not they should have a conscience vote for same-sex marriage in Parliament  or stay with their plebiscite idea. In the end, only seven voted for the conscience vote, so they sent the once-rejected plebiscite legislation back into the Senate, where it failed. Prior to doing so, the government announced that if the vote in the Senate failed they would run a postal survey through the Bureau of Statistics at a cost of $122 million.

Activist groups are challenging the survey thing in the High Court, arguing that the Treasurer can’t justify pulling $122 million out of his back pocket. The High Court will urgently hear the argument, starting next week, before holding a one and a half day hearing on September 5. Already people are joining sides, with former Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard joining the ‘no’ campaign. Abbott, in a doorstop on Wednesday, tried to frame voting no as a way to protect freedom of speech and religion, as well as protecting people from political correctness. It was bizarre. Meanwhile several MPs and Ministers have jumped on the yes train, Education Minister Simon Birmingham, George Brandis, Trent Zimmerman (who was one of the seven wanting a conscience vote) as well as most Labor MPs, and all Greens.

However, the “yes” campaign needs to be careful, and they need to unify soon, no matter how reluctant they are to have a postal plebiscite survey. Many believe this survey is just ridiculous, and it likely is, but this may be their chance to have same-sex marriage in Australia, and they need to join the campaign and encourage others to vote ‘yes’. As for concerns over hate speech and the safety of LGBTIQ youths and children of LGBTIQ parents, there appears to be a plan to get some rules legislated to protect them.

Moving away from one stupid thing to another, apparently we’re going to war with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) if they attack US Territory, including the Pacific territory of Guam. In return if the DPRK decides to go after Australia, the US will come and help us. It’s all because of the ANZUS treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and Malcolm Turnbull spoke with Mike Pence during the week to pledge our support. Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has said that it is amazing that we’re being brought along by an “unhinged and paranoid” leader in Trump, who seems to be having a war of words with an equally paranoid and unhinged dictator.

 

Finally this week, public servants could lose their jobs for liking or appearing to support anti-government posts online; the Commonwealth Bank is in trouble for failing to report over 50,000 suspicious transactions to several government agencies until they were taken to court; former MP Bruce Billson is in hot water for being paid by his new lobbying job before he left parliament; and power prices are still a bit of an issue, and there doesn’t seem to be any sensible results coming from meetings between the government and power providers.

Tweet of the Week

German Newspaper Der Spiegel on Trump v Kim Jong Un

(The words under the cartoon read “Trump against Kim: The Comparison”)

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC meteorologist Nate Byrne on the ‘weather girl’ stereotype – ABC Online

Annabel Crabb on Parliament House – ABC Online

Buzzfeed is still checking out Malcolm Roberts’ citizenship – Buzzfeed

Paul Kildea on the Same-Sex Marriage postal plebiscite survey thing – The Conversation

The Week That Was – June 25 to July 1

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Unless you were living under a rock, or really couldn’t care less about politics to even pay attention, then you are probably aware of the pretty terrible week the Liberal Party has had. In the first week of the winter break for parliamentarians, Malcolm Turnbull travelled the country talking up some policies that are being funded by this year’s budget. But instead of being asked questions about policies and the budget, he was questioned over the unity of his party.

It started with a recording being leaked to the Daily Telegraph, in which Minister of Defence Industry Christopher Pyne bragging to some more moderate Liberal party members – while drinking at a nightclub at the Star Casino – that he had a lot of power and that they would eventually get same-sex marriage through the parliament. He also claimed that he had always voted for Malcolm Turnbull in any spill or ballot Turnbull had run in. Turnbull was left to calm his more conservative party members, promising they would still go through with a plebiscite, while Bill Shorten reminded the public Turnbull wants same-sex marriage and urged him to just get on with it. Pyne later apologised to marginal seat MPs, apologising for causing trouble.

Meanwhile, Tony Abbott seems to be going back on his promise not to snipe and cause trouble. This week he spoke at two events where he spoke of his plans for the country and for policies, to “make Australia work again”. At the first event, Abbott was suggesting slowing migration, a freeze on renewables, a state-run coal plant and reform of the senate to allow joint sittings without a double dissolution. In the second appearance, he talked about Australia considering nuclear submarines instead of the usual diesel ones Australia currently has, despite the fact Australia doesn’t have the infrastructure it needs for that to possible. It appears Abbott is trying to fashion himself as a thought leader, and Turnbull has been speaking about how most Australians don’t want to be dealing with politics and personalities and just want the government to do its job.

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has been stood down by her federal parliamentary colleagues, pending negotiations with the NSW branch of the Greens. She was accused of working to undermine the Greens’ almost-deal with the coalition on Gonski. It’s understood that she was working with the education union while Richard Di Natale and Sarah Hanson-Young were attempting to make a deal on Gonski. Rhiannon thinks that her party acted unfairly and she is asking for a review.

Despite its epic fail back in August last year, the Census appears to have been completed by most of the country with results suggesting the country is more ethnically diverse and less religious than it was 25 years ago during the 1991 Census. The results show that most people live in the capital cities with either a mortgage or rent to pay, many immigrants come from India and China, and more same-sex couples are declaring their partnerships.

This week also saw an international cyber attack that hit the Australian branches of Cadbury and courier company TNT. It was also announced this week that as of July 1, Australia will have its own cyber warfare unit, 11 years after the Americans created one. The unit will start with 100 members and by 2027 there will likely be 900 members of the unit.

Finally this week, Cardinal George Pell, the former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, has been charged with historical sexual abuse by the Victorian police; Defence is making a push to wipe out domestic violence; and Australia and the USA are completing their biennial war games operation “Talisman Sabre”.

Tweets of the Week

Trickle down economics – expectations vs reality:

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on the Census results – The Guardian

 

The Week That Was – May 14 to May 20

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It was looking like a quiet, relatively calm week for federal politics this week. Then cam the ATO scandal.

The scandalous part of this whole tax office thing is that the Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston has been stood down and will be appearing in court in the next few months for allegedly accessing and giving his son Adam confidential information that he shouldn’t have – in relation to an alleged conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth. It’s especially awkward given he’s theoretically the most senior tax cop the country has. Cranston’s son, Adam, and daughter, Lauren, have also been arrested in relation to the matter, as have seven or eight others. It’s believed Cranston was unaware of what the information he allegedly gave was used for, but he did allegedly abuse his position. The government went for the angry and disappointed reaction – but to avoid screwing up the case against the accused they haven’t said much else.

Before the ATO drama broke this week, the regular post-Budget selling trip was looking relatively boring. This budget has been mostly well-received, with only a few issues really being hit on by the opposition and cross bench. I say mostly because the post-Budget opinion poll puts Labor in front of the Government by a few points in the two-party preferred. The tax issue is still the main point of contention. Australia has a progressive tax system, which means that the 80% of Australians that earn less than $80,000 per year, contribute around a third of the country’s tax revenue; while the other 20% who earn over $80,000 per year, contribute 70% of tax revenue.  While the Liberals wanting an increase in tax for everyone, no matter their salary, Labor only wants to increase taxes for those on high incomes.

Treasurer Scott Morrison is also annoyed with former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry – who now works for NAB – because Henry has said that banks will have to pass on the bank levy (applicable to the Big Five – Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, St George, NAB and ANZ) to customers, and he also criticised the tax. Morrison would like for the banks to just take the levy and not affect customers, but this is unlikely to happen. The Treasurer is also calling Ken Henry a hypocrite, because Henry once supported a previously floated bank tax.

The Navy has some issues with two relatively new ships – the HMAS Adelaide and the HMAS Canberra. It appears that the foreign designed and built ships have propulsion issues – and they’re unlikely to be fixed in time for war games with the United States in a month. The experts behind the ships have been called in and there appears to be a major design flaw in the systems causing problems.

Finally this week, some media companies are wanting the cross media ownership laws to be loosened; a Senate Inquiry is looking into research funding into low survival cancers such as brain cancer; and the Australian Medical Association says that same-sex marriage has positive health effects on those in same-sex relationships.

Tweet of the Week

 

Buzzfeed’s international offices get sassy during Eurovision…

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Juanita Phillips on what she doesn’t worry about as a single mum – SMH

Stan Grant on the “great divide” getting wider – ABC Online