Showing posts with label Australian politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian politics. Show all posts
Saturday 16 November 2019
Quote of the Week
"We mustn’t bring politics into the disastrous situation that was created by ... wait for it ... POLITICS"
Saturday 2 November 2019
Quotes of the Week
"Even
inside the Liberal party, there is some discontent with what MPs say
is an increasingly dictatorial style of Mr Morrison.
One
described the Prime Minister as ‘‘Caesar’’.
[Political Editor Phillip Coorey, writing in the Financial Review on 23 October 2019]
“Last year, a Royal Commission found that a Pentecostal leader covered up the abuse of a seven-year-old. Yesterday, Scott Morrison wilfully shared a stage with him. His apathy toward victims is painfully clear” [Dr. Jennifer Wilson writing in The Big Smoke (Australia), 11 July 2019]
[Political Editor Phillip Coorey, writing in the Financial Review on 23 October 2019]
“Last year, a Royal Commission found that a Pentecostal leader covered up the abuse of a seven-year-old. Yesterday, Scott Morrison wilfully shared a stage with him. His apathy toward victims is painfully clear” [Dr. Jennifer Wilson writing in The Big Smoke (Australia), 11 July 2019]
Sunday 27 October 2019
Australian Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction & Liberal MP for Hume Angus Taylor is not having a good year
The Guardian, 26 October 2019:
Clover Moore rejects Angus Taylor's explanation of document he used to attack her............ Sydney’s lord mayor has categorically rejected Angus Taylor’s version of how he came to rely on
inaccurate figures of the council’s travel spending to attack her, saying “there were no alternative versions of the document” on
the council’s website at any time.
from Labor. (RMIT ABC Fact Check), 24 October 2019
|
The Guardian at 4:05pm on 24 October 2019 reported that Labor will refer the matter of the alleged false documents used by Minister for Energy Angus Taylor to the police under Sect 253 of the Crimes Act 1900 if the federal government doesn't do so within 24 hours.
The Guardian, 23 October 2019:
Angus Taylor baselessly accused Sydney’s lord mayor of driving
up carbon emissions by spending $15m on travel, a claim that was
later backed up with a doctored council document provided to the
Daily Telegraph, which reported the figure.
On 30 September, the Telegraph reported on page three that the
“City of Sydney Council’s outlay on flights outstrips that of
Australia’s foreign ministers”.
“City of Sydney Council’s outlay on flights outstrips that of
Australia’s foreign ministers”.
The story quoted a letter sent by Taylor to the mayor, Clover
Moore, saying the council’s annual report for 2017-18 “shows
your council spent $1.7m on international travel and $14.2m
on domestic travel”, contrasting the spending with Moore’s
declaration of a climate emergency in June.
Moore, saying the council’s annual report for 2017-18 “shows
your council spent $1.7m on international travel and $14.2m
on domestic travel”, contrasting the spending with Moore’s
declaration of a climate emergency in June.
City of Sydney’s publicly available annual report shows
councillors spent $1,727.77 on overseas travel and $4,206.32
on domestic travel.
In total, the council spent $229,000 on travel during 2017-18,
under its $300,000 budget.After the story was published, Moore
vigorously disputed the figures on Twitter. In subsequent emails
between the Telegraph and Moore’s office, the paper justified the
figures using a document supplied by Taylor’s office, purporting
to be the council’s annual report.
councillors spent $1,727.77 on overseas travel and $4,206.32
on domestic travel.
In total, the council spent $229,000 on travel during 2017-18,
under its $300,000 budget.After the story was published, Moore
vigorously disputed the figures on Twitter. In subsequent emails
between the Telegraph and Moore’s office, the paper justified the
figures using a document supplied by Taylor’s office, purporting
to be the council’s annual report.
But the document provided to the Telegraph shows wildly different
figures, which appeared in a strange format unlike the one used
elsewhere in the annual report.
figures, which appeared in a strange format unlike the one used
elsewhere in the annual report.
It is unclear who altered the document. There is no suggestion
that Taylor himself was responsible.
that Taylor himself was responsible.
The council is adamant that it did not alter the figures. It said it
had checked the metadata to establish that the report had not
been changed on its website since being posted in November
2018.
had checked the metadata to establish that the report had not
been changed on its website since being posted in November
2018.
The Daily Telegraph & ANGUS TAYLOR ‼️— 💧 Sleeping Giants Oz 📣 (@slpng_giants_oz) October 23, 2019
3 options you could be:
STUPID
DISHONEST
BOTH
No one expects any better from the Murdoch Press then again no expects any better from Angus Taylor just waiting for his next sleazy deal.#Auspol
Link to full story: https://t.co/3mZTUud5oN pic.twitter.com/b6PGDdJfMR
The Guardian, 24 August 2019:
Angus Taylor did not declare at a meeting with environment
officials about critically endangered grasslands that he had
a financial interest in a company that was under investigation
for poisoning them.
officials about critically endangered grasslands that he had
a financial interest in a company that was under investigation
for poisoning them.
And no notes were taken by the senior department official
who attended the meeting in 2017, a Senate committee has
heard.
who attended the meeting in 2017, a Senate committee has
heard.
Officials from the environment and energy department gave
the evidence at a special hearing of the Senate’s inquiry into
the extinction crisis on Friday....
the evidence at a special hearing of the Senate’s inquiry into
the extinction crisis on Friday....
ABC News, 20 August 2019:
New figures show Australia's carbon emissions are continuing
to climb despite Federal Government assurances it has the
policy framework to address climate change.
to climb despite Federal Government assurances it has the
policy framework to address climate change.
In the year to March, emissions rose 0.6 per cent on the previous
year, according to data released by Energy and Emissions
Reduction Minister Angus Taylor......
year, according to data released by Energy and Emissions
Reduction Minister Angus Taylor......
The Guardian, 2 May 2019:
The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has denied he played a role
in structuring the company which received an $80m government
buyback of its water rights through the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.
in structuring the company which received an $80m government
buyback of its water rights through the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.
Taylor, who was a director of Eastern Australia Agriculture between
2008 and 2009 and who described himself as a co-founder of the
company, told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning he was
involved only in advising on the agricultural side of the investment.
2008 and 2009 and who described himself as a co-founder of the
company, told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning he was
involved only in advising on the agricultural side of the investment.
He said he severed all involvement in the company prior to being
elected to parliament.
elected to parliament.
EAA was paid $80m for its overland flow water rights without
tender in 2017 when Barnaby Joyce was agriculture minister......
tender in 2017 when Barnaby Joyce was agriculture minister......
Labels:
Australian politics,
climate change,
energy,
greenhouse gases,
water
Saturday 26 October 2019
Cartoons of the Week
Labels:
Australian politics,
climate change,
drought,
water
Tweets of the Week
Unity message to the government from Australia's papers #mediawatch #rightoknow pic.twitter.com/wuE9ZyGjQx— Media Watch (@ABCmediawatch) October 20, 2019
Scott Morrison’s arrogant dodging of questions is spreading through his Department - nobody is prepared to reveal the truth on the PM’s attempt to get a White House invitation for Brian Houston. #righttoknow #estimates pic.twitter.com/uBAIRG5ZZR— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) October 21, 2019
Labels:
Australian politics,
free speech,
media
Saturday 12 October 2019
Cartoons of the Week
Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 October 2019 |
Mark David in Independent Australia, 4 October 2019
From The Guardian, 24 September 2019, Comment is Free - Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints.
Wednesday 9 October 2019
Australian Politics 2018 to 2019: as good an explanation as any
This is an excerpt from a version of the speech delivered by RMIT University Adjunct Professor Barrie Cassidy at the Capitol on 3 October 2019:
Consider this. The Labor Party in Australia has now won a
majority of seats in the House of Representatives, where
governments are made and unmade, a majority just once in
the last 26 years. Once since Paul Keating won the 1993
election. That once was Kevin Rudd in 2007. Julia Gillard
didn’t do it. She won minority government only. And in May
Labor failed again. Not against well-established Liberal Party
heavyweights like John Howard and Peter Costello – but
they lost to a government led by Scott Morrison, a
government that Morrison himself described as ‘The Muppet
Show’. And a government that lost so much talent from its
front bench when so many moderates simply couldn’t go
on any longer.
So why? What happened? What’s going on?
So much of went wrong for Labor is only transparently
obvious after the event. But it’s obvious just the same. First
and foremost, their agenda was too ambitious – too cluttered.
Kevin Rudd won with a single-minded attack on work choices.
Paul Keating with an attack on John Hewson’s Fightback
document, Bob Hawke with a non-specific promise of bringing
Australia together.
Labor this time had a myriad of policy and political approaches.
A combination of poor planning and poor salesmanship led to
hundreds and thousands of people who will never see a
franking credit in their lives, fearing they were about to lose
something. Fearing it to such an extent that, faced with a blunt
choice – franking credits or increased childcare benefits – they
chose the franking credits.
Now franking credits are unsustainable and at some stage
something will have to give; the numbers in just a few short
years from now will be compelling. The cost will grow
exponentially. There will have to be at the very least a trimming
of the benefits.
But having said that, it wasn’t sensible to go so hard right off
the bat at the problem, and it wasn’t sensible to put the policy
out so far ahead of time. It went out in isolation from the upside
– the benefit to community – the revenue … the money that
would then flow to other priorities.
Here’s the evidence for that. The Age and the Sydney Morning
Herald, to their credit, put out these numbers themselves. They
surveyed their own papers and what did they find? The dental
plan that was to be paid for with the franking credits policy –
that got 10 mentions; the cancer funding, virtually free cancer
treatment for older Australians – that got 21 mentions.
Franking credits ... 700.
That’s how big a start that issue – the negative issue – got over
the positive.
Same with negative gearing. It wasn’t just the policy shift – but
what in their minds it represented.
To so many it was an illustration of Labor’s inability to manage
the economy; to threaten economic welfare.
A huge lesson: you can’t take anything away from people
without a very good reason. If it’s hard to explain then it’s easy
to exploit. But more than that, the policies left Labor exposed to
a government campaign built around higher taxes. They built a
fear that taxes would go up across the board, to such an extent
that an internet-led scare campaign around death taxes even
got traction.
In retrospect, Labor would have been better off running a far
narrower campaign built around climate change and wages.
The rest could have waited until after the election. That is not
to say Labor should be forever gun-shy: too timid now to
address long-term budgetary problems that negative gearing
and franking credits represents. They should not be gun-shy.
As I said, those issues will have to be dealt with, by either a
Labor or a coalition government. But more gradually, certainly
initially impacting on fewer people.
But what we are seeing right now is a Labor Party knocked
about by a shock loss and in real danger of overreacting …
ready to abandon so much; a party that now seems hesitant to
take on the government even on some of the bigger issues.
Herein lies the dilemma now for Labor. Research has shown
that at the last election – if that election had just been held in
Victoria, NSW and the ACT – Labor would have won 48 seats
to 37. That’s probably not surprising. But throw in SA,
Tasmania and the NT – a large part of the country – and Labor
still wins 57 seats to 43. Now add the capital cities of Brisbane
and Perth – still Labor by 67 seats to 54. That only leaves the
rural and regional seats of Queensland and WA: but there are
a lot of them. 25 in fact – and 23 of those went to the Coalition.
That put the Coalition comfortably in front.
Now I’m not suggesting in any way that skewers the result. It
doesn’t. The people in those rural areas are Australians too.
Their vote counts in the same way as those in the capital cities.
The point though is this. That demographic carried it for the
Coalition. The rest of the country voted marginally Labor.
So how does Labor deal with that? What do you say to
Queenslanders? I recall 30 years ago saying to Bob Hawke:
I’ve noticed when you’re in WA you remind people that you
were educated there; when you’re in SA you remind them that’s
where you were born; when you’re in Victoria you talk about
your ACTU days; and now as PM you spend most of your time
in NSW. What are you going to say to Queenslanders? And
he said with a twinkle in his eye. I could tell them that’s where
I’ll retire!
But the serious dilemma now for Labor is essentially this.
Do they abandon policies because regional Queensland hates
those policies? Do they appease Pauline Hanson and her ilk?
Do they make compromises simply aimed at winning back a
share of that vote? Do they appease the regions of Queensland
but in the process risk looking and sounding wishywashy in
other parts of Australia?
One answer surely is to be true to yourself. Back yourself to
grow the vote in the rest of Australia; without abandoning
Queensland altogether. Sort out what you stand for and be
resolute behind those values.
Labor lost the last election, sure, but by and large they died
on their feet. If they’re not careful they’ll over analyse and die
on their knees at the next one.
Read the full speech here.
Saturday 5 October 2019
Saturday 28 September 2019
Quote of the Week
"The One Nation leader is a populist decoupled from an ignition point. Scott Morrison shouldn’t give her one" [Journalist Katherine Murphy, The Guardian, 21 September 2019]
Labels:
Australian politics,
One Nation
Saturday 21 September 2019
Thought of the Week
If you combine photos of Australian political players Joyce, Abbott, Dutton and McCormack in a soup pan you have the makings of a simple borscht - beetroot, onion, potato and dill. [Anon]
Labels:
Australian politics,
humour
Wednesday 4 September 2019
It wasn't enough that the Morrison Government gamed the rules and began an unofficial election campaign months before 11 April 2019 at taxpayers' expense - the fiddle appears to have continued right up to polling day
On the morning of Thursday 11 April 2019 Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison visited the Australian Governor-General in order to formally dissolve Parliament at 8:30am and call a federal election.
Once that was done a reasonable person would suppose the Prime Minister, along with every other MP and senator, would be obliged to use party and personal campaign funds until after polling day on 18 May.
That may possibly have been the original intent when the rules were first drafted but over the years that has morphed into a loose obligation to use party and personal funds only after the official political party campaign launch.
These same rules also allow government ministers to campaign right up to polling day on other people's money by listing the expense claim as "Official Business", as well as getting free VIP jet travel around the country.
In 2019 Scott Morrison launched the Liberal Party campaign just 6 days out from polling day - playing the national electorate for fools
So instead of using Liberal Part funds from 11 April 2019 onwards, Scott Morrison spent $11,540 of taxpayers' money crisscrossing the country and staying overnight to give his stump speeches as well as glad handing voters and the party faithful.
He also spent $1,786.40 on travel by Com Car at taxpayers' expense during the official federal election campaign. Morrison even made a Com Car claim on polling day.
These claims were on top of the est. $1,961.79 charge to taxpayers for fuel for his own car in the period which included the 38 day election campaign.
That is a total of $15,389.19 charged to the taxpayer during the official federal election campaign.
If he was an ethical politician he would immediately pay back that money back.
See Scott Morrison's expense claims here.
The Deputy-Prime Minister & MP for Riverina Michael McCormack was even more of a drain on taxpayer wallets.
He spent $9,544 on overnight stays for his stump speeches and glad handing courtesy of the taxpayer and, a further $1,769.09 for campaigning in his own electorate.
Then there the $4,900 to travel to and from his own electorate on Day 14 of the official election campaign.
Taxpayer generosity apparently also extended to $4,373.52 in Com Car expenses so that he could campaign in comfort.
Then of course there was the est. $2,659.50 charge to taxpayers for fuel for his own car in the period which included the 38 day election campaign.
That is a total of $23, 246.11 charged to the taxpayer during the federal election campaign.
See Michael McCormack's expense claims here.
Readers can find other MP/Senator expense claims at https://www.ipea.gov.au/pwe.
However, if you want a quick summary.....
The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 2019:
Taxpayers copped millions of dollars in bills for flights, charters, hotels and luxury cars as politicians and their staff jetted around the country campaigning in the federal election.
Ministers also kept charging taxpayers for travel right up to polling day, despite a convention that most expenses after the official campaign launches should be paid by the political party......
The records reveal that despite the government being in caretaker mode, cabinet ministers still claimed almost $550,000 in travel allowance, air fares and luxury car transport during the campaign period - for themselves alone.
Shadow cabinet ministers claimed about $385,000 in similar expenses. Ministers usually travel with multiple staff such as media and policy advisers, meaning the true cost of those trips is likely to be many times higher.
A detailed breakdown of staff campaign costs is not available. But across April, May and June, cabinet ministers' staff racked up nearly $5 million in travel expenses, and shadow ministers' staff had travel bills of about $1.6 million during that period....
National Party ministers spent more than most, with the outgoing Mr Scullion racking up more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses during the campaign, including $80,000 in charter flights. He declined to comment.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud billed taxpayers more than $65,000 for travel during the campaign period, including $46,000 in charter flights around regional Queensland....
The profligacy was not limited to the major parties, with Katter's Australian Party leader Bob Katter spending $60,000 on travel during the campaign, including $50,000 on charter flights.
Former senator Fraser Anning, the far-right Queenslander who lost his seat, spent $11,250 on flights alone during the campaign, including trips to Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.
Read the full article here.
Sunday 1 September 2019
Australian PM Scott Morrison gets a slap in the face from regional News Corp masthead
The Daily Examiner, 29 August 2019:
OUR SAY
BILL NORTH
Editor
Be sure to verify statements before you take them with a grain of salt – even when they’re delivered by our most trustworthy Prime Minister. It’s probably not a profound statement given today’s world leaders and proliferation of fake news.
But once upon a time, you could trust your national leader to rise above the spin. Scott Morrison’s response to the GetUp campaign during the federal election – which succeeded in ousting colleague Tony Abbott, if little else – was to smear the activist group with nothing short of propoganda.
He has accused GetUp of bullying and misogyny – two words more apt for describing some of the far-right politicians who were targeted not because of their political allegiance, but because they actively blocked progress on environmental and humanitarian issues that, in the eyes of GetUp, shouldn’t be political footballs.
As an observant member of the media with no political allegiance, but an environmentally conscious soul, I was on the GetUp mailing list.
In this age of ruthless political tactics, GetUp’s consistency to their cause using fact-based evidence in an articulate, respectful and considered tone gave them far more credibility in my mind than any political party.
If all you know about GetUp is how they’ve been portrayed in the media, then please read a couple of their releases, before jumping on the bandwagon.
You might not agree with their philosophies, but they do play clean and fair.
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