The Week That Was – October 18 to October 24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tweets of the Week

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

In Canberra Al Desko, (coming next week to @abciview) I also drop in on politicians' tragic desk lunches: pic.twitter.com/B3QfznYXxu

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) October 22, 2015

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon on Joe Hockey – The Guardian

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

The Week that Was – January 11 to January 17

The Queensland Election is forcing some to start paying attention to politics again, and even those not living in Queensland are hearing about it. In the 2012 Queensland Election, the LNP won in a landslide that left only seven ALP MPs in the House of Representatives, since the there have been by-elections that have pushed that number to nine Labor MPs. This election is being watched closely because while the incumbents are disliked, the Opposition has a lot of ground to make if they are going to win the election, not to mention the fact that should the incumbent government remain in power, their leader, Campbell Newman may lose his seat.

Warren Truss has been in Queensland on the campaign trail for the LNP, as has Bill Shorten for Labor. Shorten has pointed out that the LNP can only get truss and not Abbott. The official excuse for Tony Abbott not being on the campaign trail has been that he is on leave, although some have pointed out that Abbott never showed his face in the Victorian State Election at the end of last year, and suggest that people are trying to keep him out of the way so he can’t mess anything up.

Julie Bishop is condemning Boko Haram’s use of girls as young as ten in suicide bombing missions. The East African terrorist cell has been attacking villages and towns in Nigeria for months, but most recently killed 2000+ people in a village, mostly women and children, and used a ten year-old girl in the suicide bombing of a market, as well as several other young girls on other occasions.

Now for another round of Government Policy Gymnastics. Earlier this week it was announced that the rebate cut of $20 for short (10 minutes or less) consultations that Peter Dutton – former health minister, now immigration and border protection minister – decided to make were to begin on January 19. It was made clear that both Labor and a majority of the Senate’s crossbenchers would support a disallowance motion that would effectively stop it. However, the new Health Minister, Sussan Ley, had announced that it won’t come into effect, and that while she supports a co-payment or change to the medicare rebate to those who can afford it, she wants to consult people before she makes a change.

Several asylum seekers are on hunger strike, some have sewn their lips together and some have recently attempted suicide. The government has said that actions like these will speed up the refugees’ applications, although I am inclined to think that these actions are more to do with the mental health of asylum seekers than their wish to move up the list and be allowed to move to Australia.

Finally this week, Australia has been appealing to Indonesia to spare the lives of two Australian men on death row for drug trafficking, the USA is thanking Australia for its help with the fight against ISIS, and a security expert is suggesting that one way to deal with people returning from Syria or Iraq, who are suspected to have fought, should be made to wear GPS trackers to surveil them.

Tweet of the Week

Shorten was talking about Medicare the other day and decided to quote a famous Australian movie.

DON'T AD LIB BILL

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) January 15, 2015

NO. DON'T QUOTE FROM THE CASTLE BILL.

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) January 15, 2015

He quoted from the Castle.

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) January 15, 2015

aksdnflkjasdflkjasdlfkjsdalkjfds

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) January 15, 2015

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

First Dog on the Moon’s Love Letter to Medicare – The Guardian

Yes they Can: Women of Wit are Winning – SMH

Is YouTube a “Real Job”?

The Week That Was – March 2 to March 8

This week began with the Australian missionary arrested in North Korea being released after he apologised, although it was mainly because of his age. Also, both Tony Abbott and the government are warning Russia not to invade Crimea in Ukraine, so he does have some diplomacy skills. It also happens to be the 6-month mark for the Coalition government.

Qantas’ issues continue to divide the politicians, with debate over whether or not the government should get rid of the Qantas Sale Act, with one suggestion being that the international operations of Qantas remain Australian-owned, while having the domestic operations foreign-owned. Apparently there is no “Plan B” so to speak, despite rumours that Warren Truss had come up with an idea to have the government keep majority ownership of the airline, but increase the maximum number of shares a foreign shareholder can have. It may have been on the news, but apparently it was never an idea…oh well.

The other issue that arose early this week was the airline’s communications, with a message from Qantas on Monday saying the carbon tax had nothing to do with their problems. But on Wednesday, all of a sudden, the carbon tax was a factor – the Opposition were suspicious, and rightfully so. Labor also expressed concern that the virtually clean safety record of Qantas could be compromised, which then brings out the clip from Rain Man.

This week the Grattan Institute called for a change to health pricing, particularly surgery prices. They found huge differences in prices between hospitals, with one charging less than $10,000 for a specific surgery and another hospital doing the same surgery charging almost $25,000. Apparently it has something to do with the services given to you pre- and post-operation, so in some ways it adds up.

Still with health, it appears that Medicare is being defrauded by a few nasty people – apparently the vast majority of Australians are not rorting or misusing the system. But it is an easy system to defraud because people’s information is available at so many service providers.

The government is still trying to convince workers that they will be ok under the new government, but may have had a setback when the draft terms of reference for the Productivity Review Commission were leaked. They want the commission to see if penalty rates could be removed…I thought Work Choices was dead, buried and cremated.

Tweet of the Week

The internet turns 25 next week. Look at all we've achieved. http://t.co/PVX1fagYZF—
Modern Toss (@ModernToss) March 08, 2014

Faux Pas of the Week

Mattias Cormann, the Finance Minister, said that the issue of more women in cabinet was a “side issue” – it may not have caused so much fuss, if he hadn’t said it on International Women’s Day…Ooops.

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

SBS2’s The Feed had fun spoofing 12 Years a Slave in the hope that the ABC might apologise for spelling their presenter’s name wrong, a là Solomon Northup and the New York Times.

The Week That Was – December 8 to December 14

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that politics is going to be a lot busier with Tony Abbott at the helm – so I’ve started taking notes.

This week there was a new NewsPoll – the Coalition is down 48 to 52 against Labor in two-party preferred. Admittedly, given there is no election until 2016 – unless a double dissolution is called – the Coalition has plenty of time to sort themselves out. This week, after cutting a deal with the Greens – yes, the GREENS – the Coalition has abolished the debt ceiling. Labor wasn’t impressed, and they’ve been saying that the government is playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun.

This week also saw Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten in South Africa for Mandela’s memorial service. Abbott said some decent, relatively sage things. While the Prime Minister was away, Warren Truss ran the joint and did pretty well. However, he may have contributed to a not-so-nice early Christmas present to the car industry.

Holden is leaving Australia by the end of 2017. Warren Truss was demanding an answer from Holden, and they replied. This will leave Toyota as the last car maker in Australia, and they could go to. It seems from some reports that Tony Abbott just assumes that Toyota will just stay forever, but I could be misunderstanding. The government cars (which are from Holden) are being replaced too. The new cars will be from BMW. If you ask me, the government should be buying cars from Toyota that are made in Australian factories. For now though, Tony Abbott is trying to put together a compensation package for the Holden workers and affiliated component makers.

The bad news keeps on coming. The High Court ruled that the ACT same-sex marriage law is at odds with the federal marriage law. The couples that did get a chance to marry are disappointed but they aren’t too bitter – they knew it was a possibility. If you remember last week, I did the maths and found that 12.5% of Australia allows same-sex marriage compared with 30% of the USA. Well, the USA is still at 30%, and Australia is back to zero.

This week also saw the Coalition wanting to take back money from Childcare to put into training instead of pay packets, a bit of COAG and the NBN or Coalition equivalent is going to take forever to come. Oh well, hopefully it will all settle down as Christmas gets closer…

Tweet of the Week

Kate Ellis (Labor MP for Adelaide) retweeted this:

There's more than one MP who cd spend a few hours with 2 or 3 toddlers to see what it's like. And then ask them abt taking a pay raise away.

— Stephanie Peatling (@srpeatling) December 10, 2013

What I’ve Been Reading/Listening/Watching etc.

Tea Party-like fun is not (yet) in Australia, thank goodness – ABC Drum Online

The Phobie Awards – The Advocate Online

The Week that Was – August 25 to August 31

Well, its been an interesting week.

Saturday saw an addition to Tony Abbott’s asylum seeker policy, with him not only trying to “stop the boats”, but if an asylum seeker or refugee does arrive in Australia, they will not be given access to Legal Aid – the people who provide legal advice free of charge. It also saw some sort of brouhaha regarding the Liberal-National coalition. Warren Truss’ head has been cut out of an election advert in the papers and it appears that they are really trying to get the votes off the Liberals.

It’s been an ok week, no major gaffes, not too boring either. But just ok.

Also, if you’d like to look at who is up for election in your seat or your state’s senate seats, have a look here at Below the Line. You can also have a go at ordering the candidates – if in NSW, I would definitely have a look.

Best Moments this Week

Rooty Hill ‘Common Sense Test’ Guy:

Netballers (start watching at about 1:40):

Tweet of the Week

according to antony green: If you want to be ultra safe, fill in below the line and the fill in one of the above the line squares… /2

— Jonathan Green (@GreenJ) September 1, 2013

… The below the line vote takes priority, but if proves to be informal, the ballot paper will revert to the above the line option.

— Jonathan Green (@GreenJ) September 1, 2013

Another Debate, Awkward Netballers and Costings

Wednesday saw another debate, as well as the Liberal Party’s costings coming out, though the didn’t seem to make sense to me – then again my understanding of economics is dodgy at best.

I have to say, the best moment in a debate where I nearly fell asleep due to the constant repetitiveness of party spin, was the guy who asked Tony Abbott about his paid parental leave and said this:

I like him. Anyway, back to the costings. They are, in case you’ve been deaf for the last four weeks, going to cut the mining tax and carbon tax. The only new bit is that they are cutting 12,000 public service jobs – none of which will come from education and health.

Thursday will be the day forever etched in the memories of a netball team told “a little contact never hurt anyone” by Tony Abbott – the players faces were priceless to look at. On the other side, Kevin Rudd got in trouble with the Treasury Department for saying the Coalition’s costings had a hole. Oops.

Rural Queenslanders are feeling ripped off – maybe because all the focus is on Brisbane and Western Sydney. Trying to make them feel better (and to win votes of the Liberals), Warren Truss, the Nationals leader, said that he was announcing rural funds – AU$200m to help towns that need it.

Friday showed just how annoying the tabloid papers can get – I don’t read them for that reason, unless I am searching quotes. Kevin Rudd had a go at them for not asking Abbott about the Liberal’s finance plans. Mind you this is only 24 hours after Treasury corrected him, but even so, they haven’t asked Abbott at all during this election. It has got to the point, it appears, that the Finance Minister herself, Penny Wong, is sick of it. She got asked if the two Treasury Department guys who called Rudd out would still have jobs after the election if Labor won. The intelligent woman she is (sorry, I like her) she rolled her eyes and refused to answer.

Julia Gillard will not be attending the Labor Party launch on Sunday. However, she will be getting an honourary degree from a university in Adelaide.

One week to go….

Magic Pudding, Peter Beattie and the Wombat Trail

So, as the election campaign continues, there has been some interesting developments….

First off, we’re getting special election-themed episodes of Gruen Nation and The Hamster Decides. Yay.

Gruen Nation is all about the advertising. The Hamster Decides is the Chaser’s show – enough said. I really quite enjoy these shows, and if you are a political junkie, Wednesday nights on the ABC is going to be the place to be.

Onward with the serious, important election campaign.

Wednesday saw Abbott promising to have a company tax of 1.5%. This has been called “magic pudding economics” by Labor. There was a lovely (i.e. entertaining) exchange on ABC 774 Melbourne radio when both Joe Hockey and Chris Bowen had a debate. You can listen to that here.

Tony has also been talking up his Paid Parental Leave Scheme. It involves paying women being paid in proportion to their salary. Simply put, a female executive (e.g. major CEO earning millions) is going to get more money when on maternity leave than a woman working as a teacher. In a rare move, the National Party is making clear that they are considering ‘crossing the floor’ (i.e. voting against) over this policy if the Coalition win government, as the National Party MPs usually represent country communities, where people don’t earn as much.

Kevin Rudd visited a school in Western Sydney, where some of the most marginal seats in the country exist. These are key to winning the election, and are usually held by the party in government. These are crucial seats and very important in elections these days.

We also had

Thursday saw some big news….

Peter Beattie, the former QLD Premier, is stepping into Federal politics to be the candidate for the electorate of Forde, after the original candidate pulled out or was replaced…One of the two anyway.

The unemployment rate is steady, so there was nothing really to comment on there, Joe Hockey did say that Labor has no plans to create jobs.

Thursday was also the end of Ramadan and at Eid celebrations, we saw politicians galore.

Joe Hockey (who has Palestinian heritage), Jason Clare (Home Affairs Minister), Bob Carr (Foreign Minister) and Tony Burke (Immigration Minister) all showed up at various events, most in Western Sydney.

Friday saw the play of the ‘underdog card’ on Kevin Rudd’s side.

With the News Corp Australia CEO quitting, Rudd had a go at their papers again, taking a swipe at Murdoch as well. With a higher GST under Tony, Kevin says, Vegemite will cost more.

Tony brought up the Insulation scandal again, to which he says ‘it makes you cry’. He promised a judicial inquiry to see just how Kevin screwed up. I think he may have just implied (at least to some) that Kev is as corrupt as NSW Labor. Thanks Tony. He’s scared I think, given that several Liberal-held seats are 50/50 in two-party preferred in QLD, especially after Beattie was called in.

Meanwhile, on the “Wombat Trail”, as it’s called, the Nationals’ leader Warren Truss has been going around country towns and regions campaigning. Their results in elections have been declining, but they think their numbers will be better this year. They’re also hoping to get the seat of Page this year, which is held by Labor.

Well, I’ll leave you to enjoy the weekend, and I’ll summarise the week in the next day or two..