Apologies for the radio silence, uni assessments combined with work tend to take over around this time of year.
The main focus this week was the “Citizenship Seven” – the seven MPs and Senators whose position in the parliament was in doubt. On Friday, it was ruled that Senators Fiona Nash, Larissa Waters, Scott Ludlam and Malcolm Roberts were elected while ineligible for Parliament. Senators Nick Xenophon and Matthew Canavan were ruled as safe. The court decided that Xenophon’s potential UK overseas citizenship is so obscure that “taking all possible steps” to discover and get rid of it would be very difficult (Xenophon had already renounced his Greek citizenship when he first became a politician) and Matthew Canavan was ruled not to be a dual Italian citizen after his mother took out Italian citizenship.
If you’ve been counting, then you’ve noticed I’ve only listed six people so far. The seventh is Barnaby Joyce MP, the Member for New England, Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He’s been ruled ineligble for office as a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen. This means that New England is going to a by-election on December 2. Joyce, who has since renounced his NZ citizenship, will run for the seat. Tony Windsor, the independent that the media often thinks might run against him, has said that he won’t be.
There has been some drama though, as Labor has suggested that they might cause trouble in the last sitting week of the year now that Malcolm Turnbull has a minority government. There were also questions over who was going to run the country while Malcolm Turnbull went overseas to Israel, as the top two Nationals – Fiona Nash and Barnaby Joyce – were caught up in the citizenship issue. His options were Nationals Senator Nigel Scullion or Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. Given the constitution states that the Prime Minister must be from the House of Representatives, it had to be Julie Bishop. Meanwhile the government is attempting to maintain the image of stable government, but it’s not working very well for them given Labor is continuing to say that things aren’t stable. It also appears that some Liberal Party people are annoyed with the Nationals for causing these issues, putting strain on the Coalition.
Oh, and Labor is planning on challenging Fiona Nash’s and Barnaby Joyce’s decisions.
The Australian Federal Police has revealed that they’re somewhat understaffed – or at least that’s what appears to be the case. The equivalent of three investigative squads have been redirected to keeping an eye on the Prime Minister’s home at Potts Point (ICYMI – Turnbull lives in his family home in Potts Point, not at Kirribilli House) and protecting the PM himself. Several drug investigation cases have been handed to either the NSW Police or to overseas police forces. The Federal Police Commissioner says that this is the “normal” level of protection for the Prime Minister, but that the security climate has changed. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know, but it does seem like they might need to hire more people.
The Australian Workers Union’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne, over some sort of funding issue regarding GetUp! – I think it has to do with donation declarations. Anyway, the whole drama is that somehow, the media was there when the cops walked through the door to carry out their warrants, suggesting that either the AFP or the Employment Minister Michaelia Cash tipped the media off. The AFP said they didn’t, which leaves either Cash or a person in her office. Despite an office staffer talking the fall and resigning, there are still many who think Cash is behind the leak to the media. This has lead to calls for Cash to quit or be sacked.
Finally this week, there’s still more NBN drama; the building works at Parliament House are making it look pretty bloody ugly; and foreign policy bureaucrats are stopping Australia from getting into a China-run trade group due to national security concerns.
Tweet of the Week
https://twitter.com/RyanSheales/status/924376782349860864
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
Michelle Grattan on the drama with Michaelia Cash – ABC Online
Julie Robert on ‘Physical Philanthropy’ – ABC Online
Kara L 