The Week That Was – April 24 to April 30

It was the week before the Budget, which meant that there was a lot of Budget speculation. Combine that with the whole “the election will probably be called in a week or two” vibe, and you’ve got yourself a week where it seems like we’re already in the middle of an election campaign. This week also saw the commemoration of ANZAC Day across the country and at Gallipoli and Villers-Bretonneux. There were further commemorations at various Consulates and Embassies all over the world, and of course in the Middle East, where there are several different groups of troops deployed, mainly in training and advisory roles.

For once it seems that the Budget is being kept very tightly under wraps with very little fanfare over the whole thing. What we do know is that there will be no changes to negative gearing, while driving home the somewhat incorrect statement that negative gearing is helping mum and dad investors in the middle-income bracket. There is also a small tax cut for middle-income earners. The rest of the announced Budget measures seem to involve  the Coalition saying they’ll do the opposite to what Labor has announced and saying Labor is bad, which has Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen suggesting the only plan the Liberals have is to attack Labor.

Meanwhile, Bill Shorten has continued being in his many months-long election campaign mode, with town hall-style meetings and other events. It seems to be doing him some good, in that he’s been able to get his messages across to the public, and keep the upper hand on announcing policies. One such example is negative gearing, which Labor announced and made a pretty convincing argument for several months ago. Their policy involves only allowing negative gearing on new housing stock, while grandfathering investment properties bought before the start date, which would allow for new housing to be built and people to find more affordable housing, especially young and first homebuyers. It’s an argument that has been considered and thought out, and for some people, including me, they are going to respond to that better than they might the personal attacks and bullying tactics that we see sometimes.

There was some drama thrown in towards the end of the week when the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court declared that detention centres were illegal as they violated a person’s right to personal liberty, which is written in their constitution. From there, the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced that the detention centre on Manus Island will close. There is an issue though, in that the Australian government believes PNG is responsible for the refugees in the centre, while the PNG government believes that Australia should be making the arrangements. Meanwhile, a refugee has died from self-inflicted burns in a Brisbane hospital after being transferred from PNG. It is understood that he set himself alight in front of his wife and UN officials.

We finally found out what submarines we’re getting in the next five to ten years, and who will build them. The government selected the French design, with construction to be done in Australia, mostly in South Australia, or at least that’s what is being said at the moment. However, there are also concerns over our relationship with Japan after they lost the bid, and also how they found out about it. A leak last week showed that the Japanese had lost the “competitive evaluation process”, seemingly before the government had a chance to tell them. There were also some suspicions over Defence Minister Marise Payne’s partner, Stuart Ayres, a NSW State MP, and his trip to France last week.

Finally this week, Nick Xenophon’s Nick Xenophon Team or NXT have announced some candidates which could shake up the Senate representation in South Australia; Scott Morrison essentially declined an application for a Chinese consortium to buy the Kidman farming empire, which takes up something like 1% of Australia’s land mass across three states and territories; the Port Arthur Massacre was commemorated twenty years on, as the gun control debate continues; and further arrests were made in relation to the ISIS-linked murder of Curtis Cheng.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/726628853301411841

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

The ABC is getting a new typeface soon – ABC Digital Network Blog

First Dog on the Moon on 60 Minutes – The Guardian

The Week That Was – April 10 to April 16

This week started off calm, and then Malcolm Turnbull went to China and an important preselection battle took place

The start of the week involved the Liberals supporting owner-driver truck operators and small trucking businesses over the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal’s (RSRT) future. The tribunal, set up under the Gillard government essentially keeps truck drivers’ payments at a level that would allow them to work safely and not cut corners in trying to make money. It is argued that the smaller operators could be priced out of the market, giving a monopoly to the larger operators. The Coalition wants to got rid of the RSRT, while Labor has agreed to put off the next pay rise the RSRT has recommended for a few months. However, the legislation for the removal of the RSRT and the legislation for the reincarnation of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) will both be brought before the Parliament when they return on the 18th of April after being recalled by the Governor-General.

Meanwhile, Labor has decided to announce that if they win the next election they will hold a Royal Commission into the banking industry after the scandals of the last few months. The Liberals have called the announcement “distracting” and unnecessary, given the existence of ASIC, but given their budget cuts, it’s thought a Royal Commission might be able to investigate more thoroughly and independently.

As what seems to be the longest unofficial election campaign known to man continues, snippets of the budget are being announced. There will be rises in tax – or “revenue measures” if you want to get all Scott Morrison on semantics – but it seems to be mainly in taxes that don’t directly affect the voting public. The announcement came after the people at Moody’s suggested Australia could loose its prized high credit rating if it only focused on cutting government spending, leaving Labor a chance to dig in and talk about fiscal responsibility.

The election drama continued on Saturday when the one hundred or so people who can vote in preselection battles in the electorate of Mackellar spent five hours in Dee Why RSL before finalising who would become the candidate. The three way contest, involving incumbent Bronwyn Bishop, the Abbott-supported Walter Villatora, and another candidate, Jason Falinski, resulted in the branch members choosing the more moderate Falinski. It suggests that the Liberal Party members of Mackellar are ready for someone fresh, moderate and different, with no apparent links to the former PM.

Malcolm Turnbull spent a few days in China, as part of the now annual “Australia Week” trade missions, in which businesses and politicians travel to Shanghai and Beijing to sell Australian goods, services and tourism to the growing middle class. Turnbull announced that a game in the 2017 AFL season would be played in Shanghai, while the issue of China’s actions in the South China Sea were mentioned but not broadly the focus of a very much trade-oriented trip.

The administrators appointed to deal with the drama and Queensland Nickel (QNI) have released a report scathing of the actions of Clive Palmer, suggesting he was a shadow director and that hundreds of thousands of dollars were shuffled between the various arms of Palmers business empire, including the Titanic II project and his failed resort project. It is likely that QNI will be liquidated, with the Federal Government paying out the entitlements owed to workers and their families. However, the Queensland Government has said they will make QNI, or one of the other Palmer businesses that technically owns it, clean up the site at their own cost, while the Federal Government has said it will pursue Palmer and/or his businesses in Court to pay back the costs of the entitlements to workers.

Finally this week, the Japanese Self Defence Force brought a submarine into Sydney Harbour for the first time since World War Two; Australia has opened its first medical marijuana farm even if nothing can be grown on it yet because they need to sort out the licensing system first; Bob Day’s challenge to the Senate reform legislation will be heard in the High Court on May 2 and May 3; and Stan Grant will join the council advising the government on the Indigenous Recognition Referendum.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/720120601508253696

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

It’s a Buzzfeed week this week – but the stories are good reading.

Both major party candidates in a Brisbane electorate are gay – Buzzfeed

The Keating Fandom – Buzzfeed

People are falling in love with the Electrical Trade Union guy – Buzzfeed

The Week That Was – March 6 to March 12

Last weekend saw the Mardi Gras Parade take over Sydney, with both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten coming to the parade – although Turnbull was just a spectator, and Shorten actually marched with other Labor Party members. On the Sunday, George Brandis announced that the planned plebiscite could happen by the end of the year, and then there was some confusion as Turnbull’s office sort of began backtracking on it. It seems that the idea was to have it shortly after the next election, and if that election is in September or October then the plebiscite won’t happen this year, but if it comes earlier, then what Brandis said kind of fits…

Cue logical jump from political analysts and commentators.

The rest of the week was spent with the Press Gallery focusing on when the election would be and whether it would be a Double Dissolution election. Now this is where it gets wordy and complicated. Bear with me.

The theory is that the last possible date for a double dissolution election is July 2, meaning Turnbull would have to call an election on May 11 at the latest for that date to be possible. That would be the day after the current planned date  of the 2016 Budget on May 10 and the issue and it is highly unlikely that parliament will pass budget bills in less than 24 hours, meaning a supply bill won’t have time to be passed and the government will run out of money in June or July.  So, if the July 2 plan is the one Turnbull is going with, then the budget will probably be moved forward to the week before (May 3) and in order to keep the public servants, number crunchers and journalists happy, they’ll actually need to give them warning about the date change – so we’ll find out too, essentially telling us the government’s plans.

The other option is to hold out till September/October for the full term of government, but that does leave the government, should the Liberals win again, with what they see as a “feral” and “hostile” Senate, with cross benchers like Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus and Ricky Muir for three more years. The understanding was they wanted to kind of, well, get rid of them with the new Senate reforms that the Liberals will be, as I’m understanding it, able to pass thanks to the Greens and Nick Xenophon.

It seems though, from what was said on the ABC, this coming week is going to be the week they decide to change (or not change) the date of the Budget, indicating what their plan is. If they take the Double Dissolution option, then they sort of need a trigger, and the government has suggested two. The catch? One has not been listed for debate in parliament yet, and the other isn’t even written yet. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, Bronwyn Bishop’s seat of Mackellar is in for a big fight, with six people contesting Bishop for preselection. Bishop has held the seat for years and at 73, some people think she should go quietly and calmly. However, it’s understood that Bishop has a very tight grip on the people who vote in preselections and most of them are likely to vote for her. It’s so dodgy and her grip is so tight, that it’s believed preselection challenger #7 dropped out.

Meanwhile, Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce has a tough run in New England coming up after former New England MP, Tony Windsor announced his comeback. Joyce is confident of his return, especially if the seat is fought on mining (Windsor is known to have sold his land to a mining company for a lot of money). However, mining is not the only focus in the seat, and Windsor may win if other issues take precedence.

The government has announced that they will update the Collins class submarines, as they will need to be used for up to 20 more years until the new submarines are made. Meanwhile, China is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the defence relationship between Australia and the USA, with American B-1 Bombers being stationed in the Top End. China has warned Australia and the USA not to target a “third country”, essentially telling them that they shouldn’t be targeting China over it’s claims in the South China Sea.

Finally this week, the nerds have calculated that Labor needs to win 21 seats and have a swing of over 4.5% to win the next election; there are proposed changes to HECS repayments, such as the income threshold being decreased; and Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel company has gone down the drain and another company affiliated to Palmer has bought the refinery, applied for environmental permits, but is yet to employ the 500-ish QNI employees in limbo.

Tweet of the Week

In the next instalment of “Fashion Advice for Female TV Presenters”….

ICYMI: Ladies please make yourself look nice today and cover any unsightly body parts. Like arms. #IWD2016 pic.twitter.com/mawIfz5YFC

— Juanita Phillips (@Juanita_Phillip) March 8, 2016

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Antony Green on the Turnbull Government’s options – ABC Elections

Antony Green explains terms in the Senate after a Double Dissolution – ABC Elections

The extent of Peta Credlin’s involvement in the Abbott Prime Ministership – The Guardian

Mark Di Stefano explains the whole Peta Credlin thing – Buzzfeed

The Week That Was – February 28 to March 5

I feel like February has been fully focused on tax. Rumours were that Turnbull has been getting advice from former PM John Howard about finding and keeping the balance between direct and indirect tax. Meanwhile the government is still ‘looking at options’ for tex reform, which Labor has been able to twist into ‘have a plan to have a plan’ – which at this point may be true. However, former PM Tony Abbott has also wandered into the debate, advising his successor not to raise taxes.

That advice, given in a speech in the Liberal party room, was the start of a pretty crazy week for the government in which someone leaked National Security documents about when the submarines would be available, and a book came out about the fall of Abbott and Peta Credlin’s role in his Prime Ministership.

The leaking of National Security documents, which the Australian Federal Police are investigating, has lead people to suggest that Abbott is behind the leak – although no one will know unless the journalist reveals their source, which is highly unlikely. It appears that Abbott believed that the submarines Australia is getting would be available in the early 2020s. He may have misunderstood his Defence Chiefs, as they have said that they won’t be around until the 2030s at the earliest, as is written in the Defence White Paper. Abbott said he was ‘flabbergasted’ – and because he commented on it, they think he may be the source.

The book about Abbott and Credlin, written by Niki Savva, suggests that several government MPs believed that they might have been having an affair. While both have denied that, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells went to Abbott in the days before the spill back in September, telling him that he had to get rid of Credlin because of the perception of the affair, among other reasons. She also suggested to Credlin directly, only to be told that Abbott would not cope without her.

This drama, adds to some of the damage already done by a mid-term rolling of a sitting PM, which could cause trouble at the election. Malcolm Turnbull needs to win this year in order to cement his mandate. Which leads me to the thing about how unclear it is when the election will be. Will we have a Double Dissolution election before August? Will we hold out until September? No one seems to know.

Cardinal Pell spent several days in a hotel room in Rome talking to the Royal Commission into Child Abuse. Survivors and victims families travelled to Italy to watch Pell give evidence too, while the Vatican has decided the Commission is a domestic issue that Pell is dealing with and he had the full backing of the Pope. There were several moments where he said things like “it [a complaint] wasn’t of much interest to me” and “it was a world of crime and cover-up” which had the Counsel Assisting, the Commissioners and the public unimpressed and accusing Pell of lying to protect his reputation. However, Pell did meet with some of the survivors and their families where he promised to do what he could.

Finally this week, NSW Deputy Opposition Leader Linda Burnie is going to run for a seat in Federal Parliament – if successful she will be the first female Aboriginal MP; an Islamic School in Canberra is shutting down due to losing its government funding over concerns of financial mismanagement; the Health Minister has slammed Helath Insurance providers for raising premiums too high; and Malcolm Turnbull has become the first PM to attend Sydney Mardi Gras (although he usually comes because it’s in his electorate) while Bill Shorten has become the first Opposition Leader to attend and march in the Mardi Gras Parade alongside Tanya Plibersek and other members of his party.

Tweet of the Week

https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/705921195212873728

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Today Show newsreader Sylvia Jeffreys on her career and personal life – Sunday Style

Also, check out Planet America on the ABC – ABC TV

 

 

The Week That Was – February 15 to February 21

This week was a little less crazy as the last, but there was still some drama.

Philip Ruddock has spoken out about his sacking, saying that he was never approached by Tony Abbott about his performance as Chief Whip. Some have suggested that Ruddock was sacked because he allowed the spill motion to go ahead last week, or that the sacking was a way to show the backbench that he was serious about change and that he wants to communicate with them differently.

The Bali Nine ringleaders are getting closer to execution, although it was closer at the start of the week, when the authorities decided to move them to the execution prison by Wednesday. However that changed, and the two men will not be transferred for some time, so they can have more time with their families. Tony Abbott and the government have been trying to save the two men from execution, saying that if it goes ahead, Australia will make their disappointment known diplomatically. Abbott also said that because of the $1 billion in aid Australia gave to Indonesia after the 2004 Tsunami, Indonesia should pay us back by saving the two men from execution, which Indonesia did not like, saying that threats were not part of diplomatic language and foreign aid was not a bargaining chip. It put strain on the relationship and Julie Bishop ended up apologising to the Indonesian Foreign Minister for the gaffe.

The Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has ruled out including the family home in the means-testing calculations for the aged pension, after rumours that it would be included. Morrison has asked for ideas on saving money so he doesn’t get in trouble from the public for doing something they don’t like.

The Productivity Commission has released their report into childcare, saying that the cost and the limited places are what keeps parents (usually mothers) at home looking after the kids and not returning to work. The Commission has recommended that there be a means-tested subsidy that is paid directly to the child care providers, meaning that wealthier parents will pay more towards childcare than lower-income parents. If the parents choose to get a nanny, the subsidy can also go towards paying them, however the professional child care providers are concerned about the quality of care children get from nannies. Meanwhile, the Health Minister Sussan Ley is trying to make the Medicare changes more palatable.

David Hicks, an Australian held in Guantánamo Bay by the Americans, has had his conviction quashed after it was ruled that the crime he was charged with did not exist at the time he committed his crime. Hicks has welcomed the development, but has been critical of the Australian and American governments, saying his conviction was politically motivated, and wants an apology from the government, which the Prime Minister has said he will not get because he was “up to no good”. Hicks also wants the government to help him pay his medical bills, as he needs quite a few procedures and long-term treatments thanks to his time in the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

The submarine building drama continues, with the announcement that Japan, Germany and France will compete for the tender to build Australian submarines, meaning that the ASC will have to partner with the company that earns the tender in order to have building jobs available. The Opposition and the unions have said this is a broken election promise. The government has also ruled out the Swedish firm Saab from building submarines, even though Saab said it would be more than happy to have all the building done in Australia, because the Swedish haven’t built a submarine since 1996.

Also, there appears to be someone leaking things to the media, after a story came out on Saturday suggesting that Tony Abbott wanted to send thousands of troops into Iraq. Abbott has denied that he ever brought it up, although it has been suggested that it may have been an informal suggestion rather than a formal idea.

Finally this week, Western Australia is worried that the measures to prevent young Australians heading to fight in the Middle East are focusing too much on the eastern coast after a West Australian man left for the Middle East; George Brandis is trying to monitor social media in real-time; the ADF has been called in to help with the Cyclone Marcia recovery; and there are concerns that Free Trade Agreements might make it easier for incidents, like this week’s Hepatitis A outbreak, to happen again.

Tweet of the Week

CNN – you're doing it wrong! #TCMarcia http://t.co/MlGSJmxbR4—
Brendan Casey (@BrendoCasey) February 21, 2015

Things I’ve been Looking at Online

Malcolm Turnbull talks to Indonesia through Q & A about the Bali Nine ringleaders (and in the process auditions for the role of PM)

Queensland’s Cyclone Marcia sent rain and wind to Northern NSW – so this happened.

The Week That Was – February 8 to February 14

Tony Abbott has survived the spill motion this week, after making a “captain’s pick” to move the spill vote forward from Tuesday to Monday. It upset a few pro-spill voters, who suggested that the change could work against him. Abbott had an interview on ABC News on Sunday, and seemed contrite about the whole thing, using hypothetical words and phrases.

On Monday morning, the spill motion was voted on, and it did not succeed.

He then spoke to the party room, describing the events as a “near death experience” and that the party was not going to end up like the Labor Party. He then recorded a statement for the media.

The political analysts are all suggesting that Tony Abbott is on borrowed time, and that if he doesn’t start showing improvement, the Liberal Party will sack him and pick someone else. They also said that Abbott should be concerned, because the Abbott supporters had said that they had a guaranteed 70 votes, and only received 61, so nine people lied to the Abbott camp. If one also looks at the numbers, if all those who voted for the spill were backbenchers, then two-thirds of the backbench do not support the PM. Another point made was that Abbott is still talking about “fighting” Labor, as if he is still an Opposition Leader, and not a Prime Minister – and he was formidable as an Opposition Leader.

People are also talking about how the Prime Minister should sack the Treasurer Joe Hockey and his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin. It appears that they will likely keep their jobs for the moment, as Abbott has promised to consult more with the backbench. However, in the last couple of days, Philip Ruddock has been sacked as Chief Whip, and replaced by Deputy Whip, Scott Buchholz. Many senior Liberals have been shocked by the decision and it is unclear why he was sacked.

In the days leading up to the spill vote, Abbott told several South Australian MPs and Senators that the submarine contract would be the subject of an open tender or a competitive evaluation process. It is unclear which, and no one is sure what the latter means. There are also rumours that a secret deal has been done with Japan and that this “competitive evaluation process” stuff was a way for Abbott to guarantee SA MPs and Senators.

The Human Rights Commission released a report on children in immigration detention, condemning both the current Liberal and the previous Labor governments for imprisoning children. The children in detention are mentally ill, and think they will die in detention. The report recommends that the government release all children immediately and that a Royal Commission be started. Tony Abbott is not impressed with the report at all, saying it is partisan, politicised and that the Commissioner, Professor Gillian Triggs should resign or be sacked. Professor Triggs has denied that the report is politicised.

It is becoming more apparent that the Bali Nine ringleaders are likely to be executed in the next few weeks, with Australian religious leaders pleading with the Indonesian government to spare the lives of the the men. The Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, and the Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, have made contact with the Indonesian government in the hope that the deeply religious country might respond better to religious leaders than politicians. However, there are rumours that the two men will be moved from Kerobokan Prison in Bali, to the prison where they will be executed in the next few weeks. Furthermore, Australian diplomats, along with diplomats from other countries have been called to the government offices in Jakarta, suggesting that their execution is nearing.

Channel 9 and Channel 7 had duelling Sunday night current affairs programs on the Sydney Siege, with Channel 9’s 60 Minutes and Channel 7’s Sunday Night both broadcast interviews with survivors, some of whom are believed to have been paid $300,000 for their stories. It has also come to light that the NSW Police negotiation van was not available on the day and the police had to be based in the NSW Leagues Club.

There were terrorism raids in NSW this week, with two men charged with planning a terrorist attack. Police say a machete, a flag affiliated with the Islamic State group, and a video were found in the raid, with the video apparently outlining the attacks and the reasons for it. Tony Abbott was briefed on the incident and shown the video, which he later quoted in parliament. This has concerned the legal community who suggest that the Prime Minister may have compromised the trial by publicly talking about the video.

Also this week, student protesters were pepper sprayed by police in Sydney, the two remaining Al Jazeera journalists were released on bail, there are changes to teaching qualifications for primary and secondary school teachers, and unemployment is on the rise.

Tweet of the Week

Lee Lin Chin.

https://twitter.com/corbinbluwaffle/status/564795020839235585

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The Buzzfeed Australia editor (who is not Australian) makes his first trip to Canberra – Buzzfeed

Pets watching Q&A – Buzzfeed

Confusion over the whole submarine tender issue – Sky News

Tanya Plibersek on her husband’s drug conviction and the changes he made afterwards