The Two Weeks That Were – July 15 to July 28

The last fortnight saw the final days of campaigning before Super Saturday. There were some awkward moments, like the revelation that Liberal Candidate for Longman Trevor Ruthenberg was claiming he had an army medal he didn’t actually have. He says that it was an innocent mistake, in that he claimed he had an Australian Service Medal (given to those who serve in non-war operations overseas) rather than an Australian Defence Medal (given to those who go through an initial enlistment period or 4 years service).

There has also been a bit of awkwardness for the Liberal Candidate in Mayo, Georgina Downer, who hasn’t been able to shake the public perception that she is an outsider being parachuted in. Even with help from her father, former Howard Government Minister Alexander Downer, and even John Howard himself, it appeared that the Liberals began to feel that Downer was going to lose the seat to Centre Alliance Candidate Rebekha Sharkie.

The results ended up being called on the night, and Labor has won Longman and Braddon, as well as their two seats in Western Australia that the Liberal Party did not contest, while Sharkie won Mayo.

The government says they are going to get rid of junk health insurance policies (i.e. ones that don’t really cover you but could be bought cheaply to get the tax rebate) and there will be a crackdown on how health insurances are advertised. However, the opposition has pointed out that the only thing the government has done to protect people from junk policies is to just remove the rebate from them, rather than actually outlaw them.

Meanwhile, the government is giving people until October 15 to decide whether they want to opt out of the MyHealthRecord system. It’s being touted as an easy way for all your medical practitioners (and your emergency contact) to have your medical information all in one place, but there are concerns that the system is not secure enough especially given it will have all your personal information on that. There are also concerns over who else can have access to it – the police, health insurers and the government. Many people, including government MPs are opting out of the system.

If you decide to opt out you can do so here.

Malcolm Turnbull spent the a few days in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory to promise better services to help those in Tennant Creek deal with alcohol abuse and other social issues that the lead to the brutal sexual abuse of a two-year old child earlier this year. Turnbull went on patrol with a group that deals with alcohol abuse is the streets. However, he went on a Sunday, which is when the bottle shops are closed in Tennant Creek – so some suggest he didn’t really get the full picture. The government has announced that they will work an a plan with the NT government and NGOs to co-ordinate services so that there isn’t an overlap, but there are no costings or plans as of yet.

The Government has announced that there will be a 100-person strong team attached to the NDIS to catch people trying to defraud the system. Users of the scheme say that’s all well and good, but money could be better spent training more disability support staff and improving wait times for people’s applications. What’s even more awkward at the moment for the NDIS is that one of the people on their advertising has had their NDIS application rejected, despite having early onset Parkinson’s disease and a spinal injury (and being promised he was eligible).

Also during the last two weeks, Lindsay MP Emma Husar is taking personal leave while an investigation takes place into her office after allegations that she made a taxpayer-funded staffer run personal errands for her. Meanwhile, there has been some concern about government services going online, particularly those used most often by the elderly, as some of them are not computer literate.

Finally this week, there have been inaccurate predictions of Australia’s population growth and we are now going to hit 25 million people in August this year; Malcolm Turnbull is calling on the Pope to sack the Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson now that he’s been convicted of concealing child abuse and is refusing to quit; if the Labor Party wins the next NSW state election, they’ve pledged to define a ‘gig worker’ and give them rights under industrial relations laws; and Medals of Bravery have been given to the Australian divers involved in the Thai Cave rescue.

Tweet of the Fortnight

Oh, Lee Lin Chin is quitting SBS News…. July 29th is her last night.

Tonight I will read @SBSNews for the second last time. Watch it or miss the 2nd most important night of your life.

— Lee Lin Chin (@LeeLinChin) July 28, 2018

 

 

The Three Weeks That Were – June 24 to July 14

The week of June 24 was the last week of parliament before winter break, so after that, with the exception of “Super Saturday” campaigning, was pretty quiet.

1. The tax battle continued in parliament over the last week of sitting, with the government really trying to get their corporate tax cuts through. It mostly involved trying to figure out whether Pauline Hanson and her one remaining One Nation colleague were going to support it, and it now appears she won’t. Pauline Hanson and said that she wouldn’t, then that she would, and then flipped back to not supporting it – before denying she was flip-flopping. In fact, it got to the point where the government decided to wait until after the Winter Break to continue pursuing the tax cuts.
2. The Banking Royal Commission has shown the banks to once again be pretty horrible to people. This time the focus was on farmers and the indigenous community. Farmers were being treated badly when it came to paying back loans during droughts when money is tighter, forcing many off their farms, while the indigenous community is being exploited due to poor financial literacy – mostly by small operators looking to make a quick buck.
3. Super Saturday campaigning is continuing, with Labor looking safe in the two WA seats to the point where federal political news is very sparse on it. Meanwhile the seat of Longman in Queensland and Braddon in Tasmania could be won by the Liberals. This is virtually unheard of as usually the swing in a by-election is against the government, not to it. In Mayo, however it looks as if the main battle will be between the incumbent Centre Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie, and Liberal candidate Georgina Downer (daughter of former MP Alexander Downer). Sharkie got into parliament on the coattails of Nick Xenophon, and now with the Xenophon mania fizzing out, Sharkie has to work harder – she has however been lucky to have the support of Bob Katter and Cathy McGowan. On the other hand, Downer is facing criticism for being an outsider that has been parachuted in.
4. Bill Shorten caused some commotion during the last three weeks, making a “captain’s call” (remember those from the Abbott era?) about repealing mid-size business tax cuts. Most of the higher-ranking shadow Cabinet members did try to convince the public it had been discussed prior to Shorten’s off the cuff announcement – they weren’t totally convincing – and it did not help that some of the backbenchers essentially confirmed it was a captains call. Shorten and Chris Bowen have since announced a backflip, and these tax cuts will remain in place.
5. Denison MP Andrew Wilkie has revealed (under parliamentary privilege) that the government is prosecuting a former ASIO spy known as Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery under the espionage act for revealing that Australia bugged the East Timorese Cabinet during negotiations regarding an oil field between the countries.
6. Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has now been sentenced to 12 months in prison – but is more likely to spend it under house arrest with his relations rather than in an actual jail cell. Wilson was found guilty of concealing child abuse while a bishop in the Hunter Valley/Maitland area decades ago. He is yet to resign his role as Archbishop, and he is planning to appeal.
7. David Leyonhjelm and Sarah Hanson-Young are having an epic fight right now, with Hanson-Young calling in the lawyers. During Hanson-Young’s speech in the Senate on domestic violence, Leyonhjelm told her to “stop shagging men” and when she confronted him on it, he told her to “f- off” (or at least that’s what Hanson-Young said). Anyway, Leyonhjelm was invited to a Sky News politics show the weekend following this exchange where he made comments about Hanson-Young’s character that amounted to slut shaming – no one else is broadcasting what he actually said because Hanson-Young is now suing Leyonhjelm for defamation.
8. Tony Abbott has gone back to doing the thing he does best – causing trouble and stirring the pot. He’s decided that Australia needs to abandon the Paris Climate Agreement that he signed up to – saying it was an aspirational goal not a commitment to a goal, which is not what he said back when he signed Australia up for the agreement.
9. The “GST pie” is being re-divided and it is very confusing. Essentially, Western Australia, now without their Mining boom, needs a bit more of the share of the GST, and so the government is going to top up the GST money pile to help that transition. Other than that, NSW and Victoria, being the richest states will be the benchmark states to help determine what the other states get.
10. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has called in the farmers and the banks to hash out a deal that allows farmers who are doing it tough in the current drought in NSW and Queensland can survive and keep their farms. The basic idea, from what I understand, is that during the drought years, levies and loans will be cheaper to pay back, balanced out by paying more in the good years. It’s thought the banks will probably agree to this suggestion so that they can reclaim some of their tattered reputation after the Banking Royal Commission.
11. Mark Latham has re-emerged in the political sphere, this time voicing a robo-call for One Nation in the seat of Longman. Labor doesn’t seem concerned – saying if he repeats the result he gave the Labor party as their leader in 2004 (spoiler: it was a terrible showing for Labor) then they have no concerns about the rise of One Nation in Longman.
12. The ACCC has revealed that with some help from state government and the regulators, electricity bills could be made cheaper for households and businesses. The ACCC report says that confusing bill structures as well as the “lazy tax” (where people who are loyal or stay with the same provider are charged more and they are unlikely to pay attention to their bills) are what is making it most expensive for people.
13. NSW State MP Daryl Maguire has stepped down from the Liberal Party and his parliamentary secretary role after an ICAC investigation revealed he was trying to get a kickback from a property developer.
14. The public is being reminded to only claim what they are actually entitled to in their tax returns, reminding people that the cost of travelling to and from work is not claimable, and neither are clothes you buy to wear to work (unless it is a uniform with a logo and you always have to wear it).

Three Weeks That Were – May 13 to June 2

Yep, I worked two Sundays in a row again – that’s the joy of retail – so here’s a list of some of the things that happened in politics.

1. Liberal MP Jane Prentice has lost pre-selection in her seat to a man, making many Liberal women very, very concerned. Warren Entsch is also worried and concerned, but that’s normal for Warren Enstch, because he’s probably one of the nicest, most accepting people in parliament. Meanwhile Craig Laundy is implying the person who will now be the candidate in the seat may have been partaking in branch stacking.
2. There are continuing concerns over the standards of care at residential care facilities (i.e. Nursing Homes) after revelations that some facilities are failing several benchmarks.
3. There are calls to encourage refugees to come to small country towns rather than the big cities in order to fill job shortages. While there are concerns that some may face problems with the isolation in some of these towns, many employers seem willing to take people on.
4. There a questions over how Australia plans to deal with waste now that China has stopped taking in other nations’ rubbish (yes, apparently Australia has been sending some of our rubbish to China for years). There a questions over whether Australia should have a Pay As You Throw system, or burn some of our rubbish to add to the electricity grid.
5. Focus in the Banking Royal Commission has moved to how banks have been treating small businesses. ANZ has confessed to misconduct, NAB has conceded it forced a business loan client to pay off his debt with the sale of his home, and the Commonwealth Bank has admitted to charging double the amount of interest they were entitled to.
6. Around 200 athletes that attended the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April have now applied for temporary protection visas. Another 50 athletes have officially over-stayed their visas.
7. Operation Augury – the mission to the Philippines to help the Philippine Army with the fight against ISIS in the city of Marawi – has all of a sudden become a very quiet operation shrouded in secrecy.
8. Several Liberal parliamentarians are trying to get a private members bill through parliament to ban the live export of animals during the Northern Hemisphere Summer, after vision of conditions on a sheep live export ship became public a few weeks back. Other Liberals have pushed for more regulation rather than a full on ban, and that is what Minister David Littleproud ended up announcing.
9. Pauline Hanson has announced that her party will no longer support company tax cuts – making it incredibly hard for the government to now pass the bill through the senate. Apparently, Hanson has been asking for way too much in return and the liberals can’t give it to her so she isn’t going to help them. But…
10. …it appears that either the whole party was not aware, or NSW Senator Brian Burston has decided not to go with the party, as he has announced that he will support the government’s company tax cuts. Pauline Hanson is very upset – she had one heck of an interview on SKY News – and told Burston to resign. He won’t resign and Hanson is yet to sack him so, we’ll have to watch this space.
11. Canning MP Andrew Hastie has revealed that Chau Chak Wing – a prolific donor to both parties and the name sake of a university building at the University of Technology, Sydney – has been named in a UN bribery investigation.
12. The day for the 5 by-elections – dubbed Super Saturday – has been announced as July 28. That’s a nine week campaign, leaving these seats without representation for over 80 days. While the AEC and the Liberals say that date has been chosen to avoid school holidays, so as not to disadvantage voters, Labor is very angry. July 28th is the weekend Labor is having their national conference, and while they have since deferred the date of the conference, they felt like the selection of that date was politically motivated.
13. Speaking of Super Saturday – the Liberals have announced that they will not be contesting the two safe Labor seats in WA in order to preserve their election war chest (i.e. They are unlikely to win and they shouldn’t be throwing money at a futile endeavour), while Bob Katter is helping Rebekha Sharkie out with costs for her campaign in the seat of Mayo, as she takes on Liberal candidate Georgina Downer (daughter of former foreign Minister Alexander Downer).
14. The Government is and the Opposition are currently fighting over each other’s respective tax plans. The Liberal tax plan costs the government more, but will take longer to implement, with the highest tax bracket benefitting later on. The Labor plan will be cheaper and faster to implement but provides less relief to the highest paid workers. Meanwhile, Amazon has announced that Australians will only be able to access the Australian website from July 1, in order to comply with new online shopping GST legislation.
15. A review has called for the superannuation program in Australia to be simplified and made more transparent. It turns out many young people who have changed jobs multiple times have multiple super accounts, meaning they will have less to retire on in the future. There are also calls to make it easier for workers to stay with one super account for their entire working life.
16. Workers on the minimum wage have had a 3.5% wage increase to $719.20 per week. The unions are happy for the rise, but say that it is not enough to give workers a living wage. Meanwhile, employers say it will make it harder for them to hire people because it costs more to pay people.
17. The redress scheme that came out of the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has now had the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Scouts, YMCA and the Salvation Army sign up, along with all states and territories, except WA.
18. Barnaby Joyce is facing criticism for getting paid for an interview with Channel 7. He argues that, despite calls to respect his and his partner Vikki Campion’s privacy, there have been drones flying over their home and paparazzi everywhere, and because Vikki felt ripped off she agreed to the interview and took the $150,000, which is to be put into a trust for their son Sebastian.
19. Labor faced some drama at the Victorian State conference, when the CFMEU and the AWU teamed up to end controversial debates and end the conference early. Delegates were set to debate offshore detention of asylum seekers, an issue that would have revealed the deep divide within the party, and there were concerns that this would affect the five Super Saturday by-elections.
20. Independent Tasmanian Senator Steve Martin is no longer independent, having joined the Nationals. The former Mayor of Devonport, who got in on the Jacqui Lambie ticket after Lambie had to quit due to Section 44, was sacked from the party when he refused to step aside for her. Since coming to parliament, he’s made friends with the Nationals and found he shares their views and so he joined them.
21. Michaelia Cash has received a subpoena from the federal court, calling her to give evidence regarding the AWU raid scandal, in which one of Cash’s staffers tipped the media off to raids being carried out at AWU offices. Cash is trying to get the subpoena thrown out, which is just a little suspicious.

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Hamish MacDonald on the Barnaby Joyce interview – SMH

Jessica Harmsen on being pregnant on TV – ABC Online

15 Things That Happened in the Last Three Weeks – April 1 to April 21

When I end up working a few Sundays in a row it sort of messes up the whole “posts every Sunday” thing, so here is a recap of the last three weeks:

1. Easter happened, which meant that there was a bit of a lull for the first two weeks – but there was still political stuff happening, just less dram a than is normal.
2. Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John brought awareness of the fact that the 1980s era Parliament House is not really built for people with wheelchairs – especially the MP’s offices
3. Former Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley will become the new WA Governor, after returning from Washington DC  where he was the Ambassador to the United States.
4. Alinta Energy is offering to buy the Liddell power plant off AGL. Alinta has said they won’t ask for money from the taxpayers, but AGL is unlikely to sell the ageing plant as it is vital to its 2022 transition plans.
5. The GST distribution between the states is being redistributed, with WA getting some more money, while money is being taken away from the (richer) East Coast.
6. The Australian Taxation Office is in trouble for abusing their powers and being heavy-handed in their actions, with allegations that the motive was revenue raising rather than enforcing compliance.
7. Kelly O’Dwyer then announced that there would be an investigation into the ATO’s practices.
8. The National Broadband Network is still causing trouble with complaints about fibre to the node (FTTN) links (with some people returning to copper wire links) and concerns about the difference in service for people with FTTN, fibre to the premises (FTTP), and the new fibre to the curb (FTTC) plans.
9. Malcolm Turnbull hit what the media dubbed the “Dirty Thirty” – as it has been thirty consecutive Newspolls lost to the Opposition, which Turnbull used as a measure to topple Tony Abbott. Turnbull says he regrets using thirty Newspolls as a measure of failure now, but used the attention to highlight his economic leadership.
10. There was thought that if someone did use “Dirty Thirty” to try to topple Turnbull it’d probably be at the hands of Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop – however there really isn’t a viable alternative to Turnbull right now so we’re stuck with him 🙂
11. There are new concerns about live sheep exports to the Middle East after footage was released of sheep dying of heat stress on one of the export ships. This has led the cross-bench and backbench MPs to either call for bans or changes to the live export trade.
12. There was a rumour that Vanuatu was in talks with China to host a Chinese military base on the archipelago. Vanuatu has denied this strenuously, and Vanuatu’s Foreign Minister reportedly had no idea about any plans or talks.
13. The Banking Royal Commission continued over the last three weeks and it has been shocking – banks and financial advisors have admitted to knowingly giving poor financial advice to customers and knowingly charging “fees for no service” that they were not entitled to, even charging fees to someone who was dead (and had been reported dead to the bank already).
14. It has also been suggested that if Commissioner Hayne were to approach the Government and ask for an extension for the Royal Commission, he would likely get it, as the Government has realised that the banking sector has been very, very naughty.
15. Malcolm Turnbull began his European Tour in London, attending the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where the Queen made clear her “sincerest wish” that Prince Charles become the next Head of the Commonwealth – as the Queen’s headship of the Commonwealth of Nations is not hereditary.

 

I’ll be back to regular posting on Sundays this coming week.

The Whole Barnaby Joyce Saga in one Simple Post (I hope)

Barnaby Joyce is expecting a baby with a former staffer.

Vikki Campion, who used to be his media advisor, before being shunted to two other offices for seemingly superfluous jobs, is due to have a boy in April. Joyce was married until late last year (technically still is) and it’s on the public record that he and his wife Natalie are  separated. However, up until three weeks ago the whole baby with Vikki Campion thing was only known amongst some of those in Parliament.

Questions were raised about the ethics of Vikki Campion working in those seemingly superfluous jobs with other Nationals ministers while having a relationship with Joyce. The rules say that your partner and children cannot work for you at all and can only work for other Ministers with Prime Ministerial approval. But because Joyce was married at the time, Vikki Campion is somehow exempt from the rule, and also Malcolm Turnbull had no knowledge of the relationship at the time of the other jobs being created.

There’s no denying Barnaby has not had the best six months of his life. He found out he was a dual citizen and while fighting the by-election was awarded a prize by mining magnate Gina Rinehart which he accepted and then had to give back. After winning the election, and announcing during the same-sex marriage debate that he’d separated, the news of this affair broke. Add to this the fact that there are now questions over a house that Joyce and Campion have been living in, as a donor is letting them stay there rent-free.

Meanwhile many people of both political stripes have been questioning why Barnaby Joyce’s private life is being made public. That was until about a week after the news broke, when questions started to arise over the rent-free unit and whether tax payer funds were used to fly Campion anywhere. It appears that the latter has not happened, but the former did seem to happen. That lead to calls from the opposition to quit.

At the start of last week, the National Party appeared to be in turmoil with backbench Nationals suggesting Joyce might need to resign, while his deputy leader Bridget McKenzie supported him. It got to the point where Malcolm Turnbull announced that while he would be away in the USA, Joyce would be on leave, and Mattias Cormann would be Acting PM.

Then Malcolm Turnbull introduced the Bonk Ban, and said that Joyce had a shocking lapse of judgement. Joyce to offence to that and traded barbs with Turnbull via press conference the next day. Then they had a short meeting in Sydney before Turnbull went overseas, where they had ‘constructive’ discussions.

Then, a WA Nationals rank and file member made an allegation of sexual harassment against Barnaby Joyce and he announced that he would quit effective Monday (Feb 26).  So now, we wait to see who becomes the new Nationals Leader – most people’s money is on former journalist Michael McCormack.

The question about all of this is whether or not it is in the public interest. Should the public be made aware of a man who has cheated on his wife with a woman 20 years younger than him, who is having his child? Perhaps not, but it becomes in the public interest when taxpayers money, or rent free accomodation, comes into the mix. But that is something Barnaby Joyce needs to answer questions about. Vikki Campion should not have been ambushed on a street in order to get the front page photo that started this whole saga off, and it caused Campion, Natalie Joyce and Barnaby Joyce’s four children pain and embarrassment.

The Year That Was – 2017

It’s the end of another year, and that means another look back on the year that has been.

Leadership Spills: 0
Yep, they kept their cool again this year, but only just. There were rumours through the year that Coalition Backbenchers were annoyed enough with Malcolm Turnbull that had there been a viable alternative they may have sounded out numbers.

MPs/Senators caught by Section 44: ?
It has gotten to the point where so many people have been potentially affected by this section of the Australian Constitution regarding their citizenship status, that I’ve stopped counting. Last time I was paying attention to the number it was over 10.

Cabinet Reshuffles: 1.5
One proper one just before Christmas, which saw George Brandis sent to the UK to be High Comissioner, and sparked rumours of instability within the Nationals Party. The other was only a temporary one that saw Malcolm Turnbull and a few other Ministers temporarily take over the ministries of Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash who were caught up in the first wave of section 44 victims.

Women in Cabinet: 5 (as of Dec 20, 2017)

• Kelly O’Dwyer – Minister for Women, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services
• Bridget McKenzie – Minister for Regional Communications, Minister for Rural Health, Minister for Sport
• Julie Bishop – Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Marise Payne – Minister for Defence
• Michaelia Cash – Minister for Jobs and Innovation

There are five others in the outer ministry, but they are not Cabinet Ministers.

State and Federal Elections: 11 (by-elections included)

• WA State Election – saw the Labor Party victorious against the Barnett Liberal Government
• The NSW State By-elections for the seats of Manly, North Shore and Gosford
• The NSW State By-elections for the seats of Cootamundra, Blacktown and and Murray
• The VIC State by-election for the seat of Northcote – a win for the Greens who got their first Victorian Lower House seat
• New England By-Election – Banarby Joyce re-elected after his section 44 snafu
• QLD State election
• Bennelong By-election – John Alexander ] re-elected after his section 44 snafu, but had a tough fight on his hands after Labor put former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally on the ballot.

Scandals: 2
Both the work of Sam Dastyari, through his links to a big donor who is involved in a Chinese State Owned Enterprise.

The ABC’s Year in Review

 

The Two Weeks That Were – September 3 to September 16

After arguments were heard in the High Court at the start of the fortnight, the government won their case 7-0, and we will now have a postal plebiscite survey. The survey started being posted out on the 12th of September, and some people have already got them. Hopefully you all fixed your enrolment and will get your letters – if not, hopefully the people living in your old home will be kind enough to try to contact you (and if you find one in your letterbox for the previous resident, see if you can find them online – that’s what some people are trying to do). Send it before November 7 so it gets counted.

There have been “yes” rallies across the country, with some awesome banners and signs. One of my favourite messages was “I could have done this on SurveyMonkey for you for free”. The Liberals and Nationals for Yes group is starting with Turnbull, Christine Forster (Tony Abbott’s sister – who is gay), and several key Liberals from years gone by – mostly from NSW because the meeting I saw was in Sydney.

Section 44 – the bit of the constitution that is catching out unaware dual citizens – was brought up again at the start of the fortnight with Bill Shorten and former PM Tony Abbott being forced to prove they’d denounced their British citizenship prior to being in Parliament. The Liberals did try to focus the attention on Bill Shorten in question time about it, but it backfired on them when Bill Shorten waited until after Question Time to prove he wasn’t a British citizen – meaning that Barnaby Joyce, who is likely a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen and is refusing to step down as Deputy PM – got all the attention.

The government has decided that AGL’s Liddell coal plant in the Hunter Valley can’t shut down when AGL plans to in 2022. The government wold like it to stay open for another five years, closing in 2027 instead, which is when AGL plans on shutting a second plant down. It appears that people are blaming the East Coast’s power issues on the shutdowns of coal plants, such as the Hazelwood Plant in Victoria earlier this year. However, AGL is adamant the plant will shut when planned, and that by then they will have a non-coal alternative. At the moment, AGL’s whole thing is “getting out of coal” – as seen in their ads.

AGL’s people met with the government later in the fortnight, where AGL was told to either keep Liddell going, sell it to someone who would or replace with an alternate reliable source – and it appears AGL is set on the latter, which will most likely end up being gas. Oh, and um the Clean Energy Target is getting a new name so that the pro-coal Liberal backbenchers won’t roll Turnbull.

Media reforms passed the senate in the latter part of the fortnight, 31-27. With an NXT amendment to help support regional publishers, the “reach rule” and the “two-out-of-three rule” appear to have been abolished. The “reach rule” stopped  a TV broadcaster from reaching more than 75% of the population, and the “two-out-of-three rule” stopped someone from owning newspaper, radio and television networks in the one market. This change is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as people don’t go mad with power and do stupid things.

Also during this fortnight, the government is still trying to figure out where they will be placing the people who have been found to be refugees when Manus Island closes in October. It appears some were taken to Port Moresby recently, where they were interviewed by US officials. This does suggest that some of them may be going to the United States soon.

Finally this week, the WA Liberals passed a motion to look into the possibility of succession (WAxit?); the Nationals Conference narrowly defeated a motion introduced by George Christiansen to ban the burqa; Australia now has a memorial for peacekeepers at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra; and Clive Palmer has revealed that his nephew – who worked for the collapsed Queensland Nickel and has a warrant out for his arrest – is being paid $4000 a week, which Palmer says is his own money.

Tweets of the Fortnight

Jacqui Lambie smacks down those attacking the ABC

MUST WATCH. "You are a disgusting bunch of individuals" @JacquiLambie tells it like is about those who'd hurt the ABC. #auspol pic.twitter.com/PL6jKhTI8V

— Peter Martin (@1petermartin) September 13, 2017

SUPER IMPORTANT TO NOTE – Don’t mess with the question on the survey, it’ll be considered invalid

https://twitter.com/lanesainty/status/907847393265295361

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American state legislator – TIME Magazine

The generation gap between China’s millennials and their parents – ABC Online

The Week That Was – March 12 to March 18

The West Australian election saw a changing of the guard with the Labor party winning the election. It a larger than expected success for the party, with 18 seats changing. There are now questions over what caused the loss for the WA Liberals. The belief is mostly jsut that West Australians just got annoyed with the Barnett Government and wanted change, although the preference deal with One Nation appears to have been somewhat of a contributor. Barnett will now step down from the Liberal leadership and a new leader will be voted on – as soon as the Liberals know just how many people will be in the party room. The Nationals, both West Australian and Federal are warning the Liberals to never make a preference deal with One Nation ever again, but neither the Prime Minister nor the NSW Premier (NSW is having some by-elections right now so the premier has been out and about) have specifically ruled a deal out.

There are concerns that some of the NDIS staff that are involved in the rollout have not recieved adequate training in order to understand what kind of treatments and plans are appropriate for people on the scheme. This, in addition to states preemptively cutting their funding to providers has left people unable to access providers and treatments that benfit them. One person affected by this change, who has cerebral palsy and autism, did have several treatmets that aided in his quality of life (like remedial massage, which was helping with some of his paun) removed from ghis treatment plan. Another concern is that providers are having trouble applying to be part of the scheme, while others are having trouble recouping money from the scheme.

South Australia had a pretty nice week in the power stakes, with their power plan announced and Elon Musk suggesting he put some (non-domestic) Tesla batteries in SA, and would do it for free if it took more than 100 days. It appears however that some other South Australian companies were already making batteries too. Other parts of the SA plan include having a gas plant backup just in case the power goes out in the state again.

It was also energy week for the federal government, firsly covering the concerns concerns over both a gas shortage and the price of gas in Australia. Gas companies on the eastern coast of the country tend to send most of the gas overseas cheaply, and at a loss meaning that the prices go up in Australia. This sending abroad also means that unless more is saved for use here in Australia, we’ll run out soon. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull announced an expansion to the Snowy Hydro in southern NSW. The idea is that they’ll increase the capacity of the hydro-electric plant by 50%, as well as pump water up to the dams to make sure there’s enough water for peak times, all at the low price of $2 billion. It’s hoped that the NSW and Victorian governments will chip some money in for the (at least) four year long projects but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said he was a “Nation Building Prime Minister”, says the federal government will be happy togo it alone.

But the week of energy and power (in the sense of electricity anyway) wasn’t over yet.

Missed this the first time. Q: Minister, is this a bit awkward? @JoshFrydenberg– no! @JayWeatherill, on the long run-up: "it's about to be" pic.twitter.com/svbWGQ0aok

— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) March 16, 2017

In what can only be described as one of the best political smackdowns I have ever seen in my 23 years on earth, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill crashed Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s press conference and gave him a telling off for hating on South Australia. Many even recalled the Love Actually press conference scene.

Also this week, there were calls to look at reform in order to help with housing affordability. There are again calls to reform negative gearing and capital gains tax, while people also suggested allowing people to dip into their superannuation to help them buy a house. The Greens also had their idea costed by the nerds this week, in which they propose changing the one-off stamp duty charge that is paid as soon a you buy a home with an ongoing land tax, which would reduce costs, but also reduce one of the state’s biggest cash cows for a few years.

Finally this weeks, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2% in February; Peter Dutton told CEOs to back off from the same-sex marriage debate; the craft beer industry wants changes to the way kegs are taxed; Bill Leak was farewelled at a memorial servoce; and there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about the Adani mine in Queensland, with concerns there is a Cayman Islands bank account.

Tweet of the Week

This is the look German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave when Trump said that he and Germany had wire-tapping in common

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/843231346046644225

Annabel Crabb on workplaces v parliament for women – SMH

Lessons on love from a Divorce Lawyer – TIME Online

How Insiders is beating Today and Sunrise in ratings – The Age

The plan for when the Queen dies – The Guardian

The Two Weeks that Were – February 26 to March 11

Uni returned and work schedules changed so you’ve got two weeks rolled together again.

Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s President, finally made his way to Australia and met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. They talked about Australian and Indonesian military and maritime partnerships and announced that there would be a new Australian consulate in Surabaya.

Penalty rates are still causing issues, with Labor continuing to paint the issue as one Malcolm Turnbull is responsible for. Turnbull doesn’t seem to be making it easier for himself by not stating his position clearly. Ann Sudmalis MP didn’t make it easier either, after she was quoted as saying that penalty rate cuts were a ‘gift’ to young people. Meanwhile the government is hoping that the Fair Work Commission can phase in penalty rate cuts in order to ease the blow on workers.

Malcolm Turnbull has had shocking fortnight in the polls after Tony Abbott decided to make comments about the direction of the Liberal Party and what the government needs to do to keep their voters from moving to One Nation. While Abbott doesn’t have the numbers, people think he might be trying to get someone from the party’s right, like Peter Dutton, into the Prime Ministership instead. The polls the next week were in Labor’s favour on two-party preferred, and Turnbull’s approval has taken a dive

George Christiansen has quit at the Chief Whip of the National Party, but says he does not intend to quite the Party. This is something that Pauline Hanson is advising Christiansen to do (unsolicited) because she thinks the voting public will not be too happy with an unstable House of Representatives and government. Meanwhile the Queensland LNP had a crisis meeting last weekend in which they discussed the growth of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Pauline Hanson has been pointing out the similarities One Nation has with the Coalition, while her critics are suggesting that her party not that much of an alternative party, and closer to the Liberal Party. Although she has been casting doubt on the benefit of vaccinations – making the AMA and mainstream politicians wary.

Meanwhile the Joint Strike Fighter planes were flown to Victoria via Queensland for an airshow to be shown off. All looked good, until it was announced that they were not going to fly to Queensland when they were planned to because they didn’t yet have lightning protection and couldn’t fly in bad weather.

Finally this fortnight, intelligence sharing is unlikely to be looked at during the Lindt Siege Inquest; the economy grew 1.1%, therefore avoiding a recession; there is an increase in Indigenous students going to university, but more support for students is needed; Western Australia has gone to the polls, and it looks as if the Labor party will win; and The Australian cartoonist Bill Leak has passed away.

Tweet of the Fortnight

A stern warning on Election night in WA

https://twitter.com/sallyjsara/status/840444700339257344

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Vale Bill Leak – ABC Online

A look at One Nation in the WA Election – ABC Online

 

The Two Weeks That Were – December 18 to December 31

This Christmas and New Years period was possibly the least insane for politics in a very long time. The first few days had a bit of drama but nothing too major.

The long-awaited Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), showed us that the deficit is now $36.5 billion, and debts will be bigger until a forecasted surplus in 2020. The government is on track for 12 continuous deficits and the country’s growth is down. Part of the reason for the bad news is because there are still 2014 Budget ‘zombie measures’ that still haven’t passed the Senate, however they do think some money could be recouped in the next year or so by collecting welfare debts.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused some division amongst the Liberal Party when he attended a dinner hosted by the Republican Movement, who want to see australia become a republic rather than stay as a constitutional monarchy. The move to become a republic is unlikely while Queen Elizabeth II is still alive, however Turnbull has outlined his vision for the move to a republic, with a plebiscite to decide on the model, and a referendum to follow to make the final decision – a marked difference from the failed referendum in 1999.

Meanwhile, there are concerns among the Liberals that some more conservative members may split from the party. Both Cory Bernardi and George Christiansen are fans of Donald Trump, and have concerns about national security and Bernardi’s conservative movement is going well. Many in the party are encouraging the party to stay unified and not be divided “like Labor”. The issue also had Tony Abbott talking on radio about staying with the party, which drew criticism.

There were arrests in Melbourne just before Christmas, in which several people for arrested for allegedly planning to attack some of Melbourne’s key landmarks on Christmas Day. From what the police have said they were inspired by Islamic State and the police have been keeping an eye on them for a while. Meanwhile, Malcolm Turnbull has called for calm, and reminded people that they should not cower in fear, as that is what the terrorists want.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party is looking to do well in the next few years as State elections take place in traditionally conservative States such as Western Australia and Queensland. Critics are saying that Pauline Hanson “is for Pauline Hanson” – an allegation she and her supporters deny, saying that she is for the country. Meanwhile she’s having to deal with the Culleton validity scandal – and the fact that Rod Culleton just quit her party.

As if it couldn’t get more confusing, Rod Culleton has also been declared bankrupt, and although he has 21 days to appeal, he’s technically ineligible to be a Senator. It gets confusing because the validity issue is the more important constitutional issue than the undischarged bankrupt issue. So, if Culleton loses the bankruptcy appeal, but wins his validity case, then One Nation chooses the replacement. If Culleton is found to have been invalidly elected, then his replacement is chosen by seeing who came after him in the count.

Also during this fortnight, there have been concerns about the rental agreement between the government and the rifle range, in which it appears they are paying a lower rate of rent for the land. The other concern is that David Leyonhjelm’s comments about the rental agreement suggest some secret back room horse trading between the government and the cross bench senator.

Finally during this fortnight, there was an explosion at the Australian Christian Lobby building in Canberra – which police say was not ideologically motivated; mining company Adani is facing probes in India, leading to concerns in Queensland, where they are due to start a mine; there will be a national AUSLAN curriculum set up to help teach people sign language; and an asylum seeker has died in Brisbane after not receiving appropriate medical care on Manus Island before collapsing.

You can catch my 2016 Year in Review here.

Tweet of the Fortnight

The ABC’s James Glenday was covering the Berlin Terror Attack, and all the feedback he got was about staying warm.

Dear Twitterers, yes it's cold in Berlin, yes I have thermals & yes I got gloves & a scarf from my cameraman @nialls85 Thx for the feedback pic.twitter.com/3ebvgoZZf4

— James Glenday (@jamesglenday) December 21, 2016

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

ABC 2016 Year in Review