Malcolm Turnbull’s week started well, with him announcing $100 million for light rail infrastructure on the Gold Coast. However, as it went on, the week got tougher for him. His government with his cabinet had their first sitting day in the Parliament, with Andrew Hastie, the new MP for Canning being sworn in, and Tony Abbott on the back benches for the first time in almost two decades, which went well. However, by the end of the week Turnbull was dealing with the Labor party implying, but never directly accusing the PM of avoiding taxes, as it was revealed that Turnbull has an investment in the Cayman Islands, a famed tax haven. Turnbull says that he has always paid his taxes, and while it seems suspicious, he doesn’t control where his money is invested. Furthermore, he has no investments in Australia, so there is no perceived conflicts of interest. At the end of the week, Turnbull was in NZ for his first international trip as PM, with the main focus on Australia deporting New Zealand citizens who had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.
Refugees also became a major issue this week, with the doctors and nurses at the Melbourne Children’s hospital refusing to discharge patients who came to them from detention centres, due to concerns about mental health. The Victorian government is behind them, and both have told the public that the issue will not affect bed numbers. Another issue was the way the government dealt with a Somali asylum seeker who was raped and required medical attention, primarily because she wanted an abortion, which is illegal in Nauru. She was flown to Australia towards the end of the week, only to be sent back a few days later without the abortion. The government is claiming that she changed her mind, while her lawyers say that she was never seen by a medical professional and was never given access to an interpreter.
The Dutch report into MH17, was released this week, with the investigators concluding that a Russian-made BUK missile shot down the plane over Ukraine, although they do not know who launched it. Most of the families and friends of the victims, including Malcolm Turnbull, who I think said that he knew one of the passengers, have welcomed the report, while Russia has criticised it.
Finally this week, Glenn Lazarus has called for a Royal Commission into the Coal Seam Gas industry after a Queensland farmer killed himself after a long battle with the CSG companies drilling on his land; the Federal government is looking into legalising medical marijuana; charges have been laid against those involved in the Parramatta shooting, and the victim, Curtis Cheng was farewelled at a funeral on Saturday.
Tweet of the Week
International Politics can be interesting…
Vanuatu's Speaker says he's used his powers as Acting President to pardon himself and the 13 other MPs convicted of bribery on Friday.
Tony Abbott still wants his Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme to go ahead, although he may have to lower the cap again, with money saved going to childcare, but won’t share too many details other than the fact that he would prefer “in-home care” – i.e. nannies – and there is disquiet among the Coalition to do with city vs. rural mothers and how much money they get. In case you were wondering, the Labor party’s PPL is paying every primary carer 18 weeks at minimum wage (source here).
The Government is using taxpayer money to pay for advertising to convince people of the benefits of their plan for higher education funding. The government says that it is an “information campaign focused on facts”, while Glenn Lazarus has called the ad campaign “expensive propaganda for dud reforms”. The thing is, the bulk of students (including me), whether at uni, or planning to go in the next few years, still have an issue with the legislation, and it isn’t the fact that the interest on HECS is going up.
The $7 co-payment is technically gone. However, they are cutting $5 from the rebate doctors get from Medicare, meaning that if doctors want to make that up, they are going to have to raise their prices. There is an exemption for children, pensioners, veterans and concession card holders, however there is concern about chronically ill patients or patients needing long-term or ongoing care who are adults, as they will not be reprieved, and it may also lead to clogged Emergency Departments. This policy is yet to be introduced to Parliament, so it may not even get through, but people are worried anyway. Bill Shorten also had some choice words that scared a few people.
This is not a back down by the Abbott Government, this is a GP Tax that Tony Abbott can’t bring through your front door so he is going to bring it through your back door.
Not a pleasant thought, but I guess that’s the point.
NAPLAN is in the news again as it turns out that parents are pulling their kids out of school on NAPLAN day at record rates, because students are pressured to do well, or schools tell parents to keep their kid away in order to make the school look better when the NAPLAN results come out. This leaves an incomplete picture about how students are doing at schools.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is in Australia at the moment, meeting with Tony Abbott, who is apparently one of the most popular foreign heads of state in Ukraine. Abbott said that it was nice to be popular, even if it was in Ukraine, and that “shirt front” must have translated well into Ukrainian. Poroshenko wants more help from Australia to fight the separatists and also wants energy resources from Australia. Abbott has also been invited to come to Kiev on a visit, which could happen next year.
In the run-up to the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), it has been announced that up to 200 agencies could be axed, including a LGBTI working group and a Returned Servicemen group. The government needs to save $500 million dollars, and the fact that mining revenues are down, as is the petrol price, Australia is not getting as much revenue as it was.
Finally this week, Tony Abbott has suggested those in the Coalition who are complaining about Peta Credlin are sexist, which has led to people calling Abbott a hypocrite…
…Australia will contribute $200 million to the world Climate Fund, unemployment has risen to a 12 year high, making Joe Hockey’s life more difficult and Nick Xenophon has started his own party.
There has always been concern about the current government’s attitude to climate change, given last weeks passing of the Direct Action Plan, and this week had people more concerned. The government wants to scale back the renewable energy target and the use of renewable energy sources, which the Opposition has said they will oppose. The government wants to have a chat with opposition to see if there can be a compromise, so that there is still growth in the renewable energy market. This is despite the fact that the IPCC released a report saying that the use of fossil fuels should be stopped by 2100 and that the large amount of greenhouse gasses currently in the atmosphere are most likely caused by humans. However, coal is a major export for Australia, and while the Environment Minister Greg Hunt says there are ways to clean up the industry, Tony Abbott has been constantly saying that coal is essential for economic growth and the “foundation of prosperity”.
Australia has finally got itself sorted on sending people to the Ebola zone, however, they won’t be doing it themselves.They’re giving $20 million to a private health provider, Aspen, to run a 100-bed Ebola treatment centre. Hundreds of Australian medical staff have applied to go, although it is unclear how many Australian medics Aspen will take, as there has been talk of engaging local medics as well as international staff. There has been criticism of the government for taking this long to start sending people West Africa, especially since it was revealed that the EU has had a deal going for weeks, saying they’ll evacuate and treat any aid workers who contract Ebola, contradicting the government’s excuse that there was no plan to get Australians out of West Africa should they contract the virus. Other medical staff in Australia have been making the trip to West Africa with Médecins Sans Frontières and other aid groups because they’re unimpressed with the government’s response.
This week also saw the Gough Whitlam State Memorial Service at Sydney Town Hall. Several Gurindji Land Rights activists and descendants came to the service, as well as every Prime Minister that came after Whitlam. There were speeches from senior Labor figure John Faulkner, actress Cate Blanchett and academic and lawyer Noel Pearson, who is considered to have given the best speech of the service. There was a bit of a problem though when it came to seating. It became unclear as to how the organisers were running the public seating, whether by ballot or by first in, first served. It meant that for the 1500 seats available, 6000 people registered, and without confirmation, most showed up thinking they were good to go. It meant people ended up standing outside Town Hall watching on a big screen.
The Dutch Prime Minister visited for a couple of days to talk to Tony Abbott about the investigation into MH17, and the fact that more bodies have been found at the site, and will be brought to Amsterdam where they will be examined before being returned to the families. Tony Abbott also said that he would raise MH17 with Putin at some point in the next few weeks, with APEC and the G20 coming up. According to Abbott, Putin “owes it to us, he owes it to our common humanity to ensure that justice is done”. Tony Abbott will meet Putin for a short meeting on the sidelines of APEC next week.
Speaking of APEC, Julie Bishop is in Beijing, starting discussions, and also making sure that the last bits of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China are ready for the G20 and Xi Jinping’s visit to Australia. The FTA mainly involves labour and trade deals, including a live cattle trade worth about $1 billion annually.
This week, Jacqui Lambie has raised eyebrows, saying she won’t pass any government legislation until the Defence Force is given a pay rise. Lambie is a former soldier, and thinks the current pay offer, which is below the rate of inflation and therefore a pay cut in real terms, is unfair. Many of her fellow Palmer United Party colleagues are distancing themselves, and Lambie is trying to get Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir to join her. This would, despite Joe Hockey telling people that threats won’t work against the government, make passing legislation in the Senate difficult, as the PUP and Muir hold the balance of power. Oh, and this is all despite the fact that the government had no involvement in the Defence Force pay offer, and the only thing the PM can do is ask the tribunal responsible to reconsider their decision.
Finally this week, a former Howard minister, Jackie Kelly, who left the Liberal Party last month will challenge a NSW state seat as an independent, only a small fraction of the 4400 special humanitarian visas available to refugees from Syria fleeing ISIS have been given out, and Australian troops are still in the UAE, yet to go to Iraq.
Tweets of the Week
One of the many protocol theories being made to figure out who stands next to whom in pictures:
So it’s officially been a year since Tony Abbott became Prime Minister.
Over the last weekend, March in August protests were held run by the March Australia movement. There was thought to be about 5,000 people protesting in Sydney, as well as thousands in other major cities and towns across the country. They’re not happy with the government for quite a few reasons, like the budget, asylum seekers and marriage equality, and they really don’t like Tony Abbott.
Australia will be sending more aid to Iraq to help with the crisis, as well as flying weapons into Iraq to give to the Kurdish fighters. The weapons won’t be Australian, and the flights carrying weapons will land so they know who they’re giving the weapons to. Tony Abbott is justifying the decision by saying that Australia should do what it can to help stop genocide. Bill Shorten isn’t happy that Australians could be in harm’s way but understands that this needs to be done, while the biggest critique has come from both the Greens and Independent Andrew Wilkie, who says that Australia has picked a side and therefore we’re at war and want a debate about whether we send Australians in. Tony Abbott seems to be having a little too much fun scaring people about IS (ISIS/ISIL) and this week has called them a “death cult” – at least they’ve got something to distract people from the budget.
Staying with war zones, Australia will have no new exports or export uranium to Russia, as part of more sanctions being announced by both Australia, the US and the EU. Australia is also setting up a temporary embassy in Kiev (there wasn’t one already?) where police and non-lethal military support will be based along with a few diplomats. Most of them are involved with the investigation into MH17, and will remain there for some time.
This week the Mining Tax repeal passed. The school kids bonus will remain in place until 2016, however the one thing that is upsetting people is that Superannuation increases will not occur until 2021 – in seven years time – which could make people’s super $20,000 worse off. Super experts, the Opposition and workers aren’t too happy and the government is being accused of hypocrisy. It’s thought that this could become an election issue. Tony Abbott also had a hissy fit, saying that the Opposition didn’t accept his mandate.
Criticism has been cast on a Centrelink measure meant to help with income management. Originating in the Northern Territory during the intervention years under John Howard, the Basics Card is being rolled out in other towns with high rates of unemployment and Centrelink payouts. Half the Centrelink payment is put on the card, with the idea being that you spend it on essentials like food and it can’t be used to buy alcohol or cigarettes – two major concerns when the intervention took place. The issue is, most people getting the card in NT were adults in family units, and the card was beneficial because it meant that the kids got food and their parents didn’t spend all the money on alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, whereas the people getting them in other towns are young, childless, singles. There are benefits to not being able to buy alcohol on the card, however the restrictions mean that young people have no freedom on the Basics Card to buy things that they want. People have been finding ways around the Basics Card restrictions and some have resorted to bartering, while other criticisms include the issue with addiction. The card just stops your from buying the alcohol and/or cigarettes, and there are no programs to help with quitting or treating the addiction.
Tony Abbott spent the end of this week in India and Malaysia. In India, Abbott paid respects to those killed in the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks in 2008, had a lunch or breakfast with investors, talked to Mumbai University students about the “Colombo Plan” which allows Indian international students to study in Australia and of course, talked about Australia being “open for business”. He also met with Narendra Modi, signed a deal on uranium trade, with the promise the uranium would only be used for energy purposes, and not for weapons. In Malaysia, Abbott and the Malaysian PM discussed the Malaysian Airlines flights MH370 and MH17, spoke about how Australia and Malaysia were great friends and condemned ISIS. Malaysia, being a Muslim-dominated nation is one nation that the West wants to keep onside.
Unfortunately this week, an asylum seeker passed away from septicemia/sepsis after cutting his foot. It has led to concerns that the Manus Island Detention Centre is ill-equipped and poorly maintained. There is also concern that the asylum seeker may have been mistreated, which the government denies. The Queensland Coroner will hold an inquest and the Immigration Department will also investigate. The opposition wants a fully independent investigation and that all the information be publicly available.
There have been concerns about the number of students doing Maths and Science at school, with the main concern being that Australia could fall behind dramatically. Experts have been suggesting that universities and companies should get involved with education as well as work with each other, as well as the provision of education and training for teachers.
Finally this week, an application at ICAC for a suppression order regarding emails that could be private due to parliament privilege is upsetting journalists, the Royal Commission into Labor’s insulation program returned, critical of the governmental departments in charge of the scheme, the Royal Commission into Child Abuse got more time and money, and we learned that CFMEU construction workers have a tendency to swear to the Trade Union Royal Commission.
Tweet of the Week
You know something has a lot of swearing when ABC News 24 stops the live cross to it:
We had to leave the Trade Union Royal Commission because of all the swearing .. you can continue to watch it on the Commission website.
This week there were MH17 memorials in Western Australia and Queensland and more bodies were found at the crash site. The people living in a town close to the crash site also held a memorial. Meanwhile, the Russians have imposed sanctions on Australia, the EU and the US, in retaliation for the sanctions placed on them (which I thought Australia was not a part of, because our main aim was to bring our dead home). These sanctions stop Australia from trading dairy and livestock. Tony Abbott has said Australia will now consider more sanctions on Russia. Also, the Prime Minister is due to travel to the Netherlands and the UK in the next week.
So it turns out the asylum seekers were moved to Nauru on Friday night last week. Scott Morrison has been saying that the Tamils are from Indian camps and most have long-term Indian residency. The lawyers for the High Court case have also begun to claim that their clients were taught to drive lifeboats and read maps to show them where to go. Meanwhile a report has come out about the asylum seekers that claimed to have been burnt by being forced to put their hands on boat engines by Australian authorities. The heavily censored report suggests that the asylum seekers were burned when trying to light a fire on their boat and not by the actions of the Australians. There has been no response from the Indonesian authorities, who treated the asylum seekers at the moment.
Unemployment is now at a 12 year high – at 6.4%. Only 300 jobs were lost in the last month, but more people have been looking for jobs, making the unemployment rate rise. Youth unemployment is worse, with a little over 20% in the 15-19 age group and nearly 15% in the 15-24 age group. South Australia and Tasmania have had a drop in the unemployment rate, while the other states have had a rise, with Sydney having one of the worst youth unemployment rates, especially out in Sydney’s west. The Paid Parental Leave Scheme may have been shelved or delayed. It’s thought to be because some backbenchers – primarily those in rural or low-income areas – are still not supporting it. The government claims that the budget is the priority at the moment, so they haven’t brought up the scheme yet.
Joe Hockey has also been disputing Treasury numbers, after information was released stating that many families would be up to $490 worse off because of the 2014 Budget. In fact, the table that explains this was omitted from the budget papers, and those who wanted to know what the table said had to make Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. However, it appears most FOI requests, including one from the ABC was denied. Joe Hockey says that the numbers are wrong because the Deficit Levy imposed on higher-income households wasn’t factored in and there could still be changes. Either way, there are still negotiations between the Government and the cross benchers in the Senate – David Leyonhjelm has said that these discussions should have begun before July 1.
This week also saw a bit of gymnastics on the repeal of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The government has decided not to continue with the repeal of section 18c because Tony Abbott wants to unify Australia, given the threat posed by Australians travelling to the Middle East. Andrew Bolt, along with other conservative commentators and politicians are not pleased. At least one conservative senator is going to launch a private member’s bill to keep the repeal alive.
There are now going to be changes to the Terrorism laws given the threat posed by those travelling to the Middle East perceived by the government. This change, on top of the “burden of proof” proposal last week, means that there will be another $630 million for security agencies, the ability to suspend passports and make it illegal to travel to certain nations without an acceptable reason (burden of proof on the traveller not the police) and telecommunications companies must keep metadata for a certain amount of time.
Now this “metadata” thing has confused everyone. Tony Abbott and George Brandis have been unable to explain exactly what will be retained, and they didn’t let Malcolm Turnbull (one of the guys who probably could explain it) out to talk until a few days later. Other than the concerns over privacy, it is completely unclear at the moment what is going to be retained by the telcos. Now, I am not a computer geek in any way, but from what I understand, what will be retained is the IP address of websites you visit, not the content or the URL of the site. So when you visit this blog, they only see the IP address, not the karaxl.wordpress.com or the content of the blog – in order to see those they need a warrant.
Before I forget, Eric Abetz is in trouble for appearing to link abortions with breast cancer. He said it on The Project on Channel Ten in what he says was a pre-recorded interview that was heavily edited, which Channel Ten denies. By the way, the link has been disproved by the scientific community, despite the fact that some scientists coming to the World Families’ Congress maintain there is a link. The congress will be held in Melbourne later this year, and several Federal Government MPs are planning to attend.
Finally this week, the Federal Liberal Party is being dragged into the NSW ICAC, Australia might become involved in humanitarian drops in Iraq, our Airports are preparing for Ebola checks, and the WA Premier Colin Barnett wants the GST changed, because he feels that Western Australia is ripped off as it contributes quite a bit to the GST and gets less back.
Tweet of the Week
After hitting 5000 followers on twitter this week, the people running Kevin Rudd 2000 (@Rudd2000), a spoof account called it a day, killing off “Kevern”.
Again this week, international investigators attempted to get to the MH17 crash site, and finally arrived by the end of the week. The AFP and the Dutch police are both there to secure the site, with no ADF, because it is a humanitarian mission. Julie Bishop remained in Kiev meeting with Ukrainian politicians and the Red Cross as part of the response to MH17. Both she and Angus Houston have been in Ukraine while waiting for the international investigators to get close to the crash zone and have shared the OSCE’s frustration when the missions failed. There are now new sanctions on Russia from the US and the EU. At the moment the Australian Government is not imposing sanctions (Our main focus is to “bring them home”) but the government could revoke Russia’s G20 invite if they so choose.
There’s been a suggested change to welfare again, this time suggesting the expansion of the “work-for-the-dole” plan to all those on welfare under 50. Those on welfare could do between 15-25 hours of work depending on their age and must apply for 40 jobs per month. The opposition has labelled it cruel, and businesses are not impressed, because it means that they have to trawl through thousands of applications and possibly write back to all of them so there is evidence that the applicant, should they be on welfare, did apply but was rejected.
Onto the Asylum Seekers that are now no longer floating out near Christmas Island, but were sent to Curtin Detention Centre via the Cocos Islands. The Indian High Commission stated that they would not be repatriating anyone against their will, while lawyers have argued that technically, because they’re here, Indian officials shouldn’t be talking to the refugees, Australian officials should. Scott Morrison has been saying that because the Indian refugee camps are “safe” those who have come to Australia are economic migrants, not refugees. But in the last day or so, it appears that because the asylum seekers refused to talk to the Indian officials, they have all been secretly flown to Nauru. The government blames the lawyers, saying that they instructed the refugees to say nothing, which the lawyers deny – they haven’t been able to talk to the asylum seekers at all. The lawyers are now thinking about launching a second case, while Tony Abbott is telling asylum seekers “they’ll never stay” and that “If we stop the boats, we stop the deaths”. The government has had to apologise this week to former cricketers Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath after asking them to sign bats, which were then given to the Indian officials who were going to talk with the asylum seekers.
There has also been an Inquiry into Children in Detention this week. The results are quite shocking: there are large numbers of children with mental illness, and the government asked the people doing the survey to remove that statistic from the report. Other children have had their medication confiscated, the medical centre on Nauru frequently runs out of supplies and because there are no child protection laws or protection services in Nauru, the children are in strife.
The Government is also planning to change national security laws in an aim to deter people from travelling to the Middle East to fight with ISIS. It reverses the onus of proof – meaning that instead of the police proving that you did something wrong, you have to prove that you did nothing wrong. This essentially restricts people’s human rights, as it presumes guilt over innocence, instead of the other way around (It is a human and civil right that a person be treated as innocent until proven guilty – usually in a court of law).
The ABC has got a promise tracker going – you might be surprised by the results
Finally this week, Peter Slipper has been found guilty of dishonesty regarding Cabcharge vouchers, the CSIRO is helping with the African Ebola outbreak and Wikileaks is telling people what a suppression order won’t let them find out from mainstream media regarding an RBA corruption scandal.
Tweet of the Week
Young boy in #Gaza pretending to be a journalist with his home made flak jacket, had to lend him my helmet. pic.twitter.com/CnlUShdixI
So this week was all about MH17 and the asylum seekers that are floating around Christmas Island.
Australia drafted a resolution for the UN Security Council which asked for an international investigation and for the crash site to be secure. Julie Bishop was there for the emergency meeting in New York as questions were asked about where the plane’s black boxes were and who was to blame for the crash. Australia’s resolution was voted on and passed, and Julie Bishop travelled to the Netherlands, where she, along with Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove, watched some of the bodies arrive from Ukraine. Julie Bishop has since travelled to Kiev, and also to a base in the north-east of the country where bodies are sent to the Netherlands.
Tony Abbott on the other hand, is staying in Australia and giving daily briefings. He’s also told the ABC that his daughters took flight MH17 a few months ago when they were returning home from a trip to Europe. Abbott is leading the criticism of Russia and the rebels, earning himself some narky comments from not only the Russian foreign ministry, but the Chinese as well. Since the crash, Abbott has spoken with Putin, who has “said the right things” and now needs to be held to his word. Abbott has sent Angus Houston (the guy in charge of the MH370 search) as his personal envoy, and Australian police, army and victim identification experts are being sent to Europe to help. One thing that has been getting to me though is Operation Bring Them Home – the plan to bring back all the bodies of the Australian victims. The number of times I have heard Tony Abbott say “bring them home” has now got me singing Bring Him Home from Les Misérables in my head.
Moving on to the asylum seekers, it has come to light that they are being held on a customs ship in windowless rooms but they are let out into the light during the day when they have their meals. The government has defended the treatment saying that there are children on board and they have to be kept safe. However since the case was in court at the start of the week, Scott Morrison has announced that the refugees will be taken to Curtin Detention Centre via the Cocos Islands. At Curtin Detention Centre (in remote WA), the refugees will be interviewed by Indian Consular staff to determine if any can be taken back to India. However, legal experts and refugee advocates have pointed out that technically if the asylum seekers are brought to Australia, then technically we have to assess them and decide to grant them asylum, as per their rights in the Immigration Act. But this is “not a broken promise” according to Morrison, despite the fact he’s letting them into Australia.
Its been discovered that the current Childcare Rebate scheme doesn’t help families as well as it used to. the 50% rebate doesn’t always cover an entire year’s childcare for a family. It’s been suggested that the signature Paid Parental Leave scheme should be smaller and that the Childcare Rebate should be expanded – something that has been suggested multiple times – giving lower-income families a 90% rebate and high-income earners a 30% rebate, while also making the hiring of nannies eligible for the rebate as well.
Finally this week, Joe Hockey’s authorised biography has been released, revealing that he wanted a tougher budget and that Tony Abbott would sometimes give him no warning before announcing a policy. It has sparked rumours that there could be a leadership spill in the Liberal Party, which most government MPs are rubbishing. But we’ll never know.
Tweet of the Week
So the Queen photobombed a selfie by some Aussie hockey players at the Commonwealth Games:
This week was less insane than previous weeks, or at least it was until about Friday.
This week saw the Coalition negotiating with the Palmer United Party to get the Carbon and Mining taxes through the Senate, with the hope that both would get through by the end of the week. Senate ran later on Tuesday and Thursday, and while the Carbon Tax passed the Senate on Thursday, the Mining Tax was not, as the PUP wanted to see the $10 million of welfare that came with it to remain. Regardless, the Government is pleased with itself for removing the Carbon Tax, while the opposition is saying that the government will be judged harshly in the future. Bill Shorten has said that he will take an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the next election and Tony Abbott, when asked if he would consider an ETS, said there wouldn’t be a Carbon Tax. It appears that if you are Tony Abbott, there is no difference between an ETS and a Carbon Tax.
The financial regulation laws are floating around too, with the PUP asking for some consumer safeguards to be added before they let it through. There was also the release of an interim report from a financial inquiry, stating that while the market is quite concentrated, it is still competitive. There are also concerns with superannuation though, with funds borrowing money to make investments and high fees, as well as the recommendation that financial advice from banks be called “sales” leaving the term “advice” to independent advisors who aren’t attached to any bank or financial group.
This week also saw this:
Yep, David Leyonhjelm, a Liberal Democratic Senator (different from the Liberal Party), says that basically, the politicians should let people do what they want to do behind closed doors and allow marriage equality. He’s pretty sure that the Greens and Labour will be supportive of his Marriage Deregulation Amendment, and says that he will table it only if he gets a guarantee from the Coalition that there will be a conscience vote on their side. He says that it’s a liberty issue, and that if same-sex marriage were legal, then maybe people wouldn’t make it so hard for the government to get their budget through. He also pulled the “Tony Abbott, what about your sister?” and the “Bill Shorten, think about Penny Wong” cards. In return for the conscience vote, Leyonhjelm has said he will support Temporary Protection Visas in the Senate.
It was going pretty smoothly this week until Friday morning, when the news came through that a Malaysian Airlines flight had been shot down over a rebel-held region in Ukraine. The flight, MH17, from Amsterdam’s Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur, had 298 people aboard, including 3 infants, 15 crew, and 36 (UPDATE: now 37) Australian citizens and permanent residents. Australia has the third highest death toll, behind The Netherlands and Malaysia. The Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop has called for an international investigation, I’m assuming by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) given they have investigated similar incidents (like Korean Air 007). Russia is also under scrutiny, as it is believed that the pro-Russia separatists in the region are being supported by Russia in many ways, and possibly gave the rebels the missile used to shoot down the plane.
Finally this week, the guy in charge of looking at the Australian education system, Kevin Donnelly, thinks corporal punishment is ok. Thankfully, no-one else appears to agree with him. The refugees that are somewhere on a boat off Christmas Island are still there and haven’t been handed over yet.
This week seemed less politically charged nationally, which is a nice change, but there were state elections in Tasmania and South Australia.
We begin the week with both Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten being sombre about the missing plane belonging to Malaysia Airlines. The flight, MH370 (the flight number now retired) went missing early (2am Malaysian time) on Saturday morning and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Tony Abbott talked with his Malaysian counterpart, and Australia has sent some Orion surveillance planes to search for the flight.
SPC Ardmona (you remember them?) have had a good week, signing a deal to give Woolworths supermarkets more fruit, not only in its capacity as an independent company with its own brands, but also as part of Woolworths’ home brand (Woolworths Select). Hopefully someone will think its a good idea to call the fruit products “Woolworth’s Select by SPC” such that the consumer can tell that the fruit is home-grown. SPC has also had a rise in sales due to the coverage of its bid to get some taxpayer money, so they are much happier down in Shepparton.
Meanwhile, the State election campaigns in South Australia and Tasmania have wrapped up, with Tasmania (at last glance) changing from a Labor Government to a Liberal Government. It looks like South Australia might have ended up with a hung parliament, but there are still pre-poll, declaration and postal votes to count, so we won’t know for a while, especially in some marginal seats. I don’t live there, so I don’t know much about it. You can read more in-depth on the ABC Elections website for both Tasmania and South Australia.
Other than that, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce fronted a Senate Estimates Inquiry, and the Western Australian Federal Senate re-election campaign began to gain momentum.
Tweet of the Week
So the ABC is biased you say? Um actually, no it is not. ABC largely meets its professional standards, auditors find http://t.co/S2CfdbFQLL
Tasmania and South Australia both have elections this year, and both are being held on the 15th of March. The Griffith by-election will be held on the 8th of February. So the beginning of this year will be quite busy.
The Australian Navy’s been a bit naughty lately, what with their unauthorised travels into Indonesian waters, and it seems like they may be in more hot water. There are accusations that the Navy forced asylum seekers to put their hands on a hot engine for long enough that they were burnt. The ABC story can be found here. The ABC then got told off for breaking the story by the Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, who said people should stop sledging the Australian Navy and that there was no investigation being carried out by Indonesian Police. But they are:
Breaking: Indonesian police say: – They ARE investigating claims the Aust Navy subjected asylum seekers to burns – The claims warrant report
Tony Abbott, on the other hand, has been in Davos, Switzerland in his capacity as head of the G20. His line to the media was “Australia is under new management, and open for business” and then got asked about Syria, and once again said that the Syrian Civil War was “baddies versus baddies” and then added that “the only way [either side] can be goodies is if they lay down their arms”. Hate to break it to you, Mr Abbott, but the Syrian Civil War is way more complicated than that.
He also made a speech in which he explained that Australia is in financial trouble because the Labor government spent beyond its means. He also thinks free trade and small government is good for the economy and that taxes should be fair and low. I may not fully understand finance and economics, but last time I checked, the Labor government got us out of the GFC. Labor is unimpressed and thinks Tony Abbott should stop being an opposition leader and shouldn’t have brought up domestic politics at an international conference.
Also in Europe, you may vaguely remember the raid on the lawyer representing East Timor in a dispute over spying in the Hague. Well, East Timor has now taken Australia to court over the raid, asking for the confiscated stuff back. They finished presenting in court and are now awaiting the judges to come back with a verdict on that.
Finally, we had the Australian of the Year announcements on January 25.
Australian of the Year: Adam Goodes
Young Australian of the Year: Jacqueline Freney
Senior Australian of the Year: Fred Chaney
Local Hero: Tim Conolan
Congratulations to them.
Tweet of the Week
Hamish Macdonald has been covering the Ukrainian riots for ABC (the American one). It must be very cold.
An interesting look at “net neutrality” in the USA – YouTube
Peter Greste (Al Jazeera Journalist) is still in prison in Egypt without charge… His parents have spoken with the media – ABC News Online. He’s also written a letter – Al Jazeera
Kara L 