Tag Archives: SMH

The Week That Was – April 20 to April 26

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tweets of the Week

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

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

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

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

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

Hillary Clinton and the Fake Baby Conspiracy – SMH

The Week That Was – April 13 to April 19

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Well, NSW Political craziness overtook the ABC News NSW and ABC News 24 for the last few days, so I may have missed something. If you want to take a look at what happened in NSW have a look here.

So, this week saw Tony Abbott back from North Asia and Joe Hockey warn us about how tough the budget will have to be in order to fix everything. One idea being floated is raising the pension age to 70. Not immediately, mind you. Currently it is 65, and in a few years it will rise to 67. Only after that will it rise to 70. People seem somewhat unimpressed, but that’s because young people, like myself, will not be able to retire until 70, while people my parents’ age can retire 3-5 years earlier. In some ways I’m sort of expecting people to go on strike and protest this, but I think that’s the result of living in France, where almost anything will have the people go on strike. Anyway, Hockey said that the rises in the pension need to be “sustainable” and if you’ve got a good memory (and paid attention), then you will remember that Tony Abbott said in the election campaign that there wouldn’t be changes to the pension. Oh, and government organisations like the CSIRO are getting a bit antsy over whether or not they are going to have their funding cut.

Badgery’s Creek will become the location for Sydney’s second airport, with construction to begin in 2016. This decision has been made after almost 50 years. It will cost $2.5 billion to build and most of that money will come from the private sector. The government has promised to put in some major infrastructure – train lines and connections to the motorway and freeway systems around Western Sydney, along with some form of ring road. There are a few issues though – will the airport be a 24/7 airport or will it have curfews like Sydney Kingsford Smith? Will Sydney Airport, which has the first right of refusal, try to prevent the Badgery’s Creek Airport from being built and operated? What about the people who are living in the area that will become the airport and runways and the environment surrounding it? The other issue, one that came up on Wednesday, is the NSW Government’s involvement post-O’Farrell. Apparently, there is no need to worry and the Airport will go on as planned.

The Royals are in Australia this week and next week, flying into Sydney on Wednesday. They’ve spent their time here so far going to the Opera House, The Blue Mountains, Bear Cottage, Manly Beach, and Brisbane. Today (Sunday) they’ve been to Church and might be taking George to Taronga Zoo.

Also this week, the ABC-run Australia Network, an Australian news and entertainment channel for the Asia-Pacific Region got landing rights in China, meaning that they can broadcast there, at least through a Shanghai-based media organisation. This is significant, because unlike BBC World and CNN International which are only allowed in hotels (at least that’s what I understand the case to be), they will be able to broadcast not only in hotels, but also to the Chinese people. Maybe the ABC and Australia Network’s funding shouldn’t be cut.

Have a lovely Easter.

Tweet of the Week

Political journo Oscar-style selfies during the NSW leadership ballot

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Tom Meagher (Jill Meagher’s husband) on violence against women – ABC Online’s The Drum

Why Gladys Berejiklian couldn’t become Premier of NSW – SMH

The Lateline Interview that had people talking – ABC Online

The Week that Was – March 23 to March 29

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Where to start?

First to Operation Sovereign Borders. If you remember a while back there was this big thing over asylum seekers getting burned on engines, allegedly at the hands of Australian Navy members. Well some of the asylum seekers on that have spoken and told their stories. They say that they got upset when they realised what the Navy was doing (i.e. turning the boat around) and they decided to stand up for themselves. The navy crew pepper sprayed them while others tried to get into the engine room, and they say that they were punished by being pushed or forced to touch the hot engine so they got burnt. Other people on the boat are backing up the story while the government maintains that the claims are untrue and unsubstantiated.

Staying with Operation Sovereign Borders, the government says that there have been no asylum seeker boat arrivals in 100 days, those 100 days being from December until now. They say that compared with the same period under the Labor government (Dec 2012 – March 2013) there were 66 boat arrivals. That may be so, but, as a lot of people have been asking, at what cost – and that is a good question. Speaking of questions, Scott Morrison was asked if he would get a promotion from the Immigration portfolio given he has done his job so well…he never got to answer, because Tony Abbott made the fastest media save I’ve ever seen and stopped the line of questioning in its tracks. Labor wants Morrison to stay in the Immigration portfolio for the entire term of government.

Moving on now to possibly one of the most divisive policy plans the government has in its six or so months in office. They want to change Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Put simply they want to take the words “insult, offend and humiliate” out and replace it with “vilify”. It is so divisive that members of the Coalition government such as Ken Wyatt are saying they will cross the floor (vote to oppose) if the reform makes it to a vote. The Liberal Premier of NSW has taken a swipe at the Attorney-General George Brandis over the proposed changes. I’m not going to say much more, because I’ll get too annoyed and start yelling.

Speaking of yelling, Question Time got quite its fair share of yelling this week, particularly when the Opposition moved a motion of no confidence in the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, who they believe has not been impartial and is favouring the government – and in the opinion of a few people I talked to about it, they agree. As of Thursday, when this motion occurred, the Speaker has made 99 expulsions of MPs – all from the Opposition.

This week also saw “Dames” and “Sirs” being returned to Australia’s Honours lists. The first two are Dame Quentin Bryce – the now former Governor General and Sir Peter Cosgrove, the new Governor General – he also has a “General” in there somewhere from his army days. The Opposition has been making fun of this addition, with Mark Dreyfus, the Shadow Attorney-General, asking if slavery was next. Dame Quentin Bryce has now left her position as Governor-General and Sir Peter Cosgrove has been sworn in. Cosgrove says he is agenda free, so lets hope he stays that way.

Also this week, Craig Thompson was sentenced to 12 months prison for his crimes, with 9 months suspended. He spent about an hour in jail before being released on bail after appealing his sentence. Medibank Private is most likely going to be sold off and you will be able to buy shares in the company when it does. Tony Abbott called the Egyptians and talked to them about Peter Greste, with Abbott saying he was only doing his job, and the Egyptians promising a free and fair trial – one hopes that more is done and Greste and his Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera colleagues are released. Oh, and before the university students come after me for not mentioning it – they protested this week over the government’s education cuts.

Tweets of The Week

People have been making fun of the Dames and Sirs thing – thanks in part to Peter FitzSimons encouraging people

https://twitter.com/paintsreads/status/450032774921977856

Things I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening

Waleed Aly on the change to the Racial Discrimination Act – SMH

Change the computer font, save money on ink – CNN

The Racial Discrimination Act, 1975. – AustLII

 

The Week That Was – January 26 to February 1

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So, this week began with controversy. The guy who runs one of Australia’s pro-monarchy groups thinks that a referendum on Indigenous recognition could lead to “violence in the streets” against those who do not support it. He’s been criticised for his comments because, really, I don’t think Australians would be that stupid as to get violent just because people don’t agree on a topic. If we were, there wouldn’t be many of us left, and no-one would want to be a politician.

The ABC and Fairfax revealed that there is corruption and criminality in the CFMEU (the construction union) and at some of Australia’s major building sites. Tony Abbott says he isn’t surprised, and says that if the Labor Party is serious about tackling corruption they will “stay out of the way”. Abbott used to be the minister that oversaw this kind of stuff, and there was a Royal Commission. He wants another now, but the unions don’t. They don’t see why the government can’t leave the investigating to the Australian Federal Police.

Tony Abbott had a go at the ABC too, not for the story they broke about the CFMEU and construction industry, though. You see, the Prime Minister seems to think that the ABC is “on everyone’s side but Australia’s”. Labor thinks that the government should leave the ABC alone. And in what seems like the worst timing possible, the next day Malcolm Turnbull announced an efficiency review into the ABC and SBS (which is partially taxpayer-funded). Turnbull appeared on the ABC and explained what the review was going to be about. You can see that here.

There has also been a bit of a change in the stories about how the asylum seekers got burnt. They’re still blaming the Australian Navy, but one now says that they were sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray and as he couldn’t see, he walked into the engine, burning his hands. Another says that asylum seekers were thrown onto the engine when they confronted the sailors. Meanwhile, Scott Morrison appeared in front of a Senate Committee, and answered some questions on Operation Sovereign Borders. He didn’t answer some of them because the people smugglers would have found out. But why any other nation would broadcast Australian Senate Committee sittings confounds me, given other nations don’t really seem to care about Australian politics, unless the leader changes,.

Also this week, Peter Cosgrove was named the next Governor-General of Australia. He still has to be approved by Parliament and the Queen, but most people seem pleased and Labor appears to like him.

Tweets of the Week

The ABC News and Current Affairs staff got a bit cheeky after the PM said they weren’t patriotic.

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening

Opinion on the Coalition vs. ABC – Guardian Australia

Tracey Spicer at TEDxSouthBankWomen

Jonathan Holmes on Scott Morrison and the ABC – Sydney Morning Herald

Faux Pas of the Week

Julie Bishop is usually intelligent, but someone must not have checked that she knew what electorate she was in, because she kept calling Griffith (Kevin Rudd’s old seat, currently in a by-election campaign) “Griffin”. Oops. (it starts at about 0:35)

The Week That Was – November 17 to November 23

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This week has seen quite a bit of insanity.

First, the ABC and The Guardian released information about Australia spying on Indonesia, and more seriously spying on the President, his wife and his inner circle. This may have been in 2009, but they found out this week, and that means that it is Tony Abbott’s responsibility to respond. He didn’t and as of writing this, still hasn’t responded appropriately. Tanya Plibersek spoke to Insiders this morning and said that Abbott is mishandling it. The Indonesians may not specifically want an apology, although they’d like one, instead they want an explanation as to why Australia’s intelligence organisations saw it necessary to tap the phones of Indonesian politicians. Abbott has been saying that the relationship is special and that he is committed to building it and making it better, but the Indonesian government has stopped helping with people smuggling – unless cases were already underway. Hamish Macdonald, sitting on Richard Glover’s chair at 702 ABC Sydney at the start of the week, talked to the Indonesian President’s party deputy.

https://soundcloud.com/702abcsydney/nurhayati-ali-assagaf-sbys

Also this week, came the saga over the ABC payroll leak – you can read my take on it here – and they have solved who leaked it. When a South Australian politician lodged a Freedom of Information (FOI) request about the number of people who worked at the ABC, the payroll information was also sent along. The politician was asked not to disclose the payroll information and presumably, get rid of it. Before that was done, someone passed the payroll information onto News Limited papers, who published them.

This week may have been serious, but there were some amusing bits. A clip has been put online of Gary Gray eating his hair…

Which reminds me of this from 6 years ago…

Here’s hoping we sort out our issues with Indonesia and have a better time next week.

Tweet of the Week

A cartoon from an Indonesian newspaper that is anything but flattering of Tony Abbott.

What I’ve Been Looking At

Annabel Crabb’s look into press freedom (including the publication of her pay packet) – SMH

Western Celebrities and Arabic Culture – Al Jazeera English

The Week That Was – November 10 to November 16

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This week was always going to be interesting, given that Parliament started, but no-one knew how much so until Kevin Rudd decided to quit – but I’ll get to that in a little bit.

The week began with the first day of parliament on Tuesday. Politicians were sworn in and Bronwyn Bishop was elected as Speaker. She’s known to have a well-thumbed copy of the rules and it seems that Labor is not happy about it.

Yep. Tony Burke just likened parliament to Hogwarts after Dumbledore’s Army was discovered and Dumbledore took the blame, escaping arrest, leaving Dolores Umbridge as Headmistress of Hogwarts (the end of chapter 27 and the start of chapter 28 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). I have to admit it was funny.

Tony Abbott said in his speech to parliament that he wanted a Parliament where there would be no character assassinations, which had the Opposition cracking up. Why? Well, when he was in opposition, he did exactly that, particularly when Julia Gillard was PM.

Speaking of those who are no longer Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd decided it was time to retire from politics. He says he wants to spend more time with his family. Here is his speech, and as expected, it’s 15 minutes long.

Tony Abbott says there will be no rush to give Rudd a job, but I think he was staying in parliament until he found one himself. I’d say he probably has one and that is why he’s quitting. Mind you, Antony Green thinks it’ll be a while before a by-election can be held.

There have also been the usual tributes and looking back at Rudd’s political career. This is from the ABC.

And this one, also from the ABC is a look at all his strange gestures (in gif form). They give credit to Annabel Crabb and Mary Hamilton for the idea. Here is one of Annabel Crabb’s pieces from 2009 in the SMH and this is Mary Hamilton’s collection of gifs.

Well, other than that, Tony Abbott has been in Sri Lanka for CHOGM. So that’s this week for you.

Quotes of the Week

“This chamber should always be a place of spirited debate, but it should never be a place where motives are impugned or characters assassinated” – Tony Abbott. (Glass houses and throwing stones?)

“When they all return to Hogwarts, Dumbledore is gone and Dolores Umbridge is now in charge of the school,” Tony Burke, making his Harry Potter reference.

Tweet of the Week

This is in reference to the Sri Lankan asylum seeker saga.

https://twitter.com/natalietran/status/401529441332908032

https://twitter.com/natalietran/status/401530092838346753

The Week That Was – October 20 to October 26

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This week has been mainly about the fires. Understandable, given the fires have toasted over 100,000 hectares and about 200 homes. But we did raise the debt ceiling and Greg Hunt used Wikipedia to get his facts.

First, on the weekend, Tony Abbott went with his volunteer brigade to help with back burning – his security detail were not entirely happy, given the fact that their job is to protect him but otherwise, he was doing his bit.

Second, we made international headlines. Yep, once a bushfire destroys a few hundred houses and toasts an area roughly the size of New York City, you’ve got yourself one of the top stories on CNN International, BBC, Al Jazeera and whatever other news services you can think of. Also making news is Tony Abbott’s views on climate change.

This is from Amanpour on CNN, talking to former CNN and current Sky News journalist Stan Grant.

Then there is the more recent issue of compensation. The Lithgow fire was unintentionally started by the defence force during an exercise involving live munitions. So, does the Department of Defence have to pay compensation? Not as yet, but obviously the key is dealing with the fires before playing the blame game.

There has also been anger from people especially in Winmalee and Springwood after the changes to eligibility for government assistance – now it is only if your house is burnt to the ground or severely damaged. People aren’t impressed, as the ABC found out – video here.

Also this week, the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary are in town, primarily for the Opera House celebrations. They’ve also been to a few schools and a hospital and it seems they may have fit in some time to visit the bushfire affected areas – which is nice.

Tweets of the Week

So, on Wednesday, the ABC did their 7pm News live from Springwood, near the bushfires:

https://twitter.com/MartinCuddihy/status/392923987396669440

What I’ve Been Reading

Annabel Crabb on being made up for TV while standing in for Leigh Sales – on the SMH Website.

Behind the Scenes at RFS HQ – ABC Online

How long can the ministerial sound of silence last? – ABC The Drum