It was a quieter week this week because parliament didn’t sit.
The Liberals won the Tasmanian state election, just hitting the “magic number” of 13 for the House of Representatives. Tasmania, being so small population-wise, uses the Hare-Clark electoral system. There is a lot of concern still about the fact that the Liberals did announce the day before election that they were considering decreasing gun ownership restrictions.
Barnaby Joyce this week suggested the paternity of his baby with Vikki Campion was a “grey area”, but that he’d raise the child as his own. He then changed his tune and said that it was no-one’s business, which is a bit hypocritical given the comment he’d made the day before.
The Federal Government has announced a redress scheme for victims of institutional child abuse. The New South Wales and Victorian State governments have signed up, and Malcolm Turnbull is encouraging other states and territories as well as charities and church organisations to sign up, otherwise lots of victims will miss out. The redress scheme gives payouts of up to $150,000, which is $50,000 less than the Royal Commission recommended, as well as access to counselling and a direct response from the responsible organisation.
After Donald Trump announced the steel and aluminium tariffs, Australia has been working hard to get an exemption. The government has been successful, and Australia, like America’s NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada, will be exempt from the 25% tariff on steel and the 10% tariff on aluminium, leaving other key steel importers to pay the taxes. This is leading to concerns that Australia could be a dumping ground for cheap steel imports, which the government does not seem to concerned about (yet).
Finally this week, James Ashby, Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff, is being investigated for flying her around in a plane without the correct pilot’s licence; Australia is on the way to eradicating the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which causes cervical cancer, thanks to the use of the Gardasil vaccine; and there is now a commitment between the Australian and NSW Governments to build the Badgery’s Creek Airport.
Tweet of the Week
Leigh Sales wrote a column for International Womens’ Day, and after a positive response which included people saying that they wanted her advice every day….
I don’t know whether the government decided their New Year’s Resolution was to give Australia a nice break from the annoying back and forth blame-game of politics for a few weeks, or whether this is sheer luck, but it’s been mostly pleasant in the land of politics this past fortnight.
One exception is the whole DRAMA between the Labor Premier of Victoria Dan Andrews, and the Liberal government who have been having a fight about African crime gangs in Melbourne. According to the Liberals there is a crisis, and according to Labor (and some community leaders) there isn’t. There hasn’t been much detail other than tha fact that they are having a bit of a back and forth – but some of that is probably due to the fact I watch the ABC’s NSW news, not the Victorian one.
The Prime Minister is in Japan, meeting with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to talk about security and trade. They’re trying to see what they can salvage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership after Trump pulled the USA out, and also discuss the security threats of China and North Korea.
The ABC has revealed that the Labor plan to change negative gearing would not affect the housing market as much as the Liberals were saying it would. Part of this is because the government models are based off the policy plan that Bill Shorten has stuck to since announcing it, which would only prevent negative gearing on new investments properties, allowing people who have been claiming negative gearing for years to continue to do so. House prices would drop, but it would not be a massive decrease.
There is a push in some parts of the education sector to use the “explicit instruction” model of teaching in order to ensure students are keeping up with the curriculum. While there seems to be some benefits to it, some teachers and academics have concerns that students will only be spoon-fed and they won’t learn to think critically.
Also this week, there has been the regular debate about whether or not Australia Day should be on January 26th, while Kristina Keneally has decided she will nominate for the casual vacancy when Sam Dastyari finally quits the Senate.
Finally this fortnight, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has become a dual Ecuadorian-Australian citizen, in the hope that there would be some way for Assange to have diplomatic immunity by becoming a member of the diplomatic team in London, which the UK refused meaning Assange is still stuck in the embassy; NSW will soon have a shortage of enrolled nurses; and there is a push to have new laws to protect the privacy of Australians with the changes in technology in the last decade or so.
Well, as the edit in last week’s post showed, Bronwyn Bishop resigned. It’s believed that despite her friendship and trust from Tony Abbott, it was causing too much damage and she had to go. Abbott has been trying to shift the blame from her to the system, even announcing an inquiry into the system to see if the rules can be made clearer (which they probably can be). Parliament is due back soon, which means that people are putting themselves forward for the role of Speaker. Constitutionally, the vote for the new speaker will happen first thing, as you can’t run the House of Representatives without a Speaker. There are a few people being suggested for the role, such as Philip Ruddock, Andrew Southcott and the current Deputy Speaker Bruce Scott. There is hope that they will be far less partisan than Ms Bishop was.
MPs have begun to shut up about the whole entitlements saga, after Tony Burke went on the attack on Bishop, which lead Christopher Pyne to go on the attack regarding Burke’s spending, before it was pointed out that Pyne is just as bad as Tony Burke. Since then, MPs have not really said anything because it’s become clear that most of them have done something inappropriate at least once.
Abbott spent his week in South Australia and Victoria, announcing contracts for ship builders in SA, which they hope will improve employment and the Liberal Party’s vote in the state. Meanwhile in Victoria, he’s been focusing on jobs and training, which has made some wonder if South Australia is getting a better deal than Victoria.
NAPLAN tests are showing that there is little to no improvement in Australia’s literacy and numeracy skills overall, although there has been major improvement in Queensland and Western Australia. Most experts and teachers are suggesting that there needs to be more information and resources for teaching staff and a more individual focus on students.
It’s believed that the terrorism legislation may be struck down in the High Court, after it was revealed by legal experts that the legislation is poorly written and extremely broad. It’s believed that people who a caught putting graffiti on Commonwealth buildings could be charged with terrorism offences and lose their Australian citizenship if they are dual citizens.
Malaysia has announced that the piece of plane that washed up on Réunion Island is from MH370. However, the French, who are looking after the plane at the BEA, want to do more tests to double-check.
Finally this week, unemployment is up to 6.3%, it’s been revealed that the Vietnamese asylum seekers who were intercepted off WA a few weeks ago have been sent back to Vietnam, and that under Peter Dutton, 20 boats have been turned back, eight more than under Scott Morrison, Foreign investors are still being cracked down upon, with around 400 sales suspicious, the Productivity Commission has suggested changing penalty rates, and the MUA is picketing at Hutchison Ports (a holding company for Hutchison Whampoa) locations after they sacked workers by email this week.
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.
Shirtfront: Tony Abbott said that he was going to “shirt front” Vladimir Putin regarding the suspected Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17.
You bet you are.
Elections: 3
West Australian Senate Seats Re-election: This is what happens when you misplace 1300 ballot papers.
Griffith By-election: To fill the vacant seat left by former PM Kevin Rudd. Labor won.
Victorian State Election: Victorian Labor ousts a one term Liberal/Nationals Coalition government, which hasn’t happened in more than 50 years, and it scared the federal government.
Reshuffles: 1
Just before Christmas, Abbott reshuffled cabinet after Arthur Sinodinos resigned, which also meant that David Johnston was removed as Defence Minister. Other people were moved around which leads us to….
Women In Cabinet: 2
Julie Bishop: Minister for Foreign Affairs, since 2013 Election
Sussan Ley: Minister for Health and Sport, since December 2014
Dramatic Sagas: 1
Jacqui Lambie vs. Clive Palmer: Lambie basically got sick of working with Clive Palmer and the Palmer United Party and left 5 months into her senate term, deciding to vote in the “coalition of common sense” which involved Labor, Nick Xenophon, Ricky Muir and other independents.
Achievements as Minister for Women: 1
Apparently, that achievement is the repeal of the Carbon Tax. How? Well, I think it might have something to do with housework and electricity bills.
The Victorians held an election last weekend, and a first term government was thrown out. That hasn’t happened in decades. Labor won a comfortable majority to beat the Liberal/National Coalition. There is a suggestion from the left that the current government is to blame for the Liberal election loss, and that this is, or at least should be, a wake up call to the current federal government, telling them that people are not happy with them. The new Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews has said that he will work with the federal government and Tony Abbott, but not for them. The election loss of a one term government isn’t the only shock though. Shepparton, which was considered the second safest seat in Victoria and held by the Nationals, has swung 32 percent against the Nationals to become an Independent-held seat.
After a shocking week last week, Tony Abbott held a 45-minute long press conference in which he took responsibility for some of the broken promises, and announced that the government will give back the days off it was planning to take away from people in the ADF. The budget is still in trouble, not just because the government hasn’t got major legislation through but because mining revenues are down, which is how the government was making a lot of money before. This week is the last week of sitting for 2014, so the government is hoping next week is better. To add to the government’s concerns, the GDP is down again, and worse than the most pessimistic forecast.
With this week being the last week of Parliament for 2014, there has been a lot of nagging about legislation that people want to pass through the Senate, especially the university fee deregulation legislation and Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) legislation. The university fee legislation did not pass, with PUP senator Glenn Lazarus complaining that Education Minister Christopher Pyne had been texting him non stop about it – Lazarus was in hospital with kidney stones last weekend and Monday. Pyne was not to be deterred, as he has tweaked the legislation and is sending it through next year, although my understanding is that the tweaking will not mollify students as they are more concerned with the cost of tuition than with having to pay it back. One success for the government has been the passing of legislation for Temporary Protection Visas. TPVs will be introduced, allowing genuine asylum seekers to be released into the Australian community.
There is frustration among rural communities, and in particular indigenous communities, with the announcement that people will have to work five hours a day, five days a week all year round in order to receive their welfare benefits. It’s meant to stop “sit down welfare”, but it also forces people into jobs. It’s also criticised as discriminatory as it only affects rural and indigenous communities and not people in the city.
The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has announced that DFAT is going to be stricter on Australians who cause trouble abroad, suggesting that they may charge some people for consular assistance and may not even help some people who break local laws. Bishop has said that consular assistance is a privilege and not a right, and has also said that people need to stop asking DFAT stupid questions, like if they will feed your pets while you are away or requesting an embassy car to take people to and from their hotel.
Meanwhile, the Department of Defence is beginning an investigation into the leaking of receipts from restaurants, showing that the Defence Minister, while wining and dining foreign officials, has spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on food and drink at upscale establishments, including at Adelaide Casino, where a steak that cost $98 was ordered, along with several hundred dollars on drinks.
Finally this week, the Child Abuse Royal Commission investigated a yoga retreat where children were abused, there are mutterings of a cabinet reshuffle with the Treasurer and Defence Minister in the rumoured firing line, Australian medics are will soon be off to West Africa, once they’ve completed some critical situation training and safety training in Australia, and ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher is stepping down in order to be eligible to be considered for the casual vacancy that Kate Lundy is leaving in the Senate.
It’s been four weeks since the budget and we’re still talking about it – albeit a little bit less than in previous weeks.
But still, there are reports that the Liberals allegedly conned the Country Liberals, Nationals and anyone in the Coalition who represents a rural seat into accepting the changes to the fuel excise. It appears that they may have hinted that they would change the diesel rebate – something that helps miners and farmers pay for diesel fuel for their operations – and not the fuel excise. That scared the Nationals and other rural MPs in the coalition, because they might lose the next election and there could have been tractors on parliament house lawn and war with the miners. So the nationals supported the fuel excise and are now defending themselves, saying it was legitimately on the table. Treasury have said that they only did the maths for the fuel excise and never the diesel rebate, though. In public they’ve been friendly, but reports are that behind closed doors people are annoyed.
There is also concern from Universities Australia – the organisation that represents Australian universities – about whether or not the fee changes will lead to higher costs. Christopher Pyne says prices will be forced down because it will be competitive, while others believe that it will lead to prices at more “prestigious” universities rising. There is also conflicting information about who is paying what back when – but the legislation has to get through the senate first, and the Labor and Greens have said they will oppose it. Clive Palmer says his party won’t let anything through that doesn’t make sense to them, and that they want more staff to help them understand things.
Speaking of money, it was announced that two new navy ships will not be built in Australia, but in Spain and Korea. The government has said that the boats are too large to be built in Australia and it would seem it’s also very expensive too. The shipbuilding industry is understandably annoyed, as apparently there is a gap coming up where there will be more builders than ships to be built and these two ships would have covered that gap. Apparently some frigates will be built here soon – so we shouldn’t worry – but given the government has said that they want Australian-built ships, but not at any cost, I fear what will happen in the future when it becomes even more expensive.
This week has been full of the drama between Malcolm Turnbull and conservative commentators. Andrew Bolt has accused Turnbull of planning to overthrow Tony Abbott. Bolt cites Turnbull’s dinner last week with Clive Palmer, as well as attending an event hosted by Friends of the ABC. Wow, the Communications Minister went to an event related to the government-funded broadcaster, he’s totally planning to overthrow the Prime Minister. Turnbull said that “it borders on the demented” and even said it was “unhinged”.
It continued later in the week, when Turnbull was on 2GB radio with Alan Jones – who questioned him about his motives and if he was after the leadership. From what I’ve heard of the interview, Turnbull remained quite calm. Turnbull was also on 7:30 this week – the full interview is here.
This week, Tony Abbott is off to Indonesia, France, The USA and Canada. He’s met with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Indonesia for the first time since the spying allegations, and Julie Bishop appeared to give Yudhoyono a demotion, calling him “Prime Minister SBY” – when she should have said “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono” or “President Yudhoyono”. The PM’s flight was delayed because the plane they were originally going to use was broken, so they had to get a different one. The relationship does appear to be on the mend, so that is good. Abbott then went to Paris, where he met the Queen at the British Embassy, and talked with French business leaders before heading to Normandy for D-Day commemorations, where six Australian veterans became Chevaliers of the Légion d’Honneur – France’s highest honour.
Clive Palmer is in trouble this week for being rude to a senior Abbott staffer, Peta Credlin. Palmer said that the reason Abbott was bringing in a Paid Parental Leave Scheme was so that Ms Credlin could have her baby. But he’s also fighting with the QLD state government. He’s suing QLD Premier Campbell Newman for defamation, after Newman said he was buying governments. It’s now come to light that the Deputy Premier had referred Palmer to the CMC (QLD’s ICAC – but with no power) over allegations that Palmer asked for special treatment after the 2012 QLD Election that saw the LNP come to power.
Finally this week, Victoria’s in the middle of a constitutional crisis, the USA changed its emissions aims…now making them more active in the battle against climate change than us, and it turns out the Prime Minister gave a character reference to a priest who is accused of paedophilia – they met in the same seminary when Abbott was thinking of joining the priesthood. Oh, and the government might have lied to the World Heritage people about Tasmanian forests.
Tweet of the Week
Barnaby Joyce’s disconcerting photo out a plane window – I think his phone might have been upside-down.
Kara L 