Showing posts with label Liberal Party of Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal Party of Australia. Show all posts
Tuesday 18 September 2018
Prime Minister Shouty McShouty is just being his normal obnoxious self
There has
been some advice offered to Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison by mainstream media.
Some
journalists are suggesting that he should shout less.
That would be
nigh impossible as it would be going against his very nature as the political
version of a weekday schoolyard bully and a Sunday self-righteous prig.
Here are
videos of his performance in the House of Representatives as Treasurer to demonstrate
that he had little volume control even then :
When a prime minster fails to grasp the basics of climate change policy.....
The
Australian Prime Minister for Fossil Fuels and Liberal MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, has been repeatedly insisting
since he came to office on 24 August 2018 that Australia is on target to meet
its Paris Agreement greenhouse gas emissions targets.
Apparently he
is telling journalists that “the
business-as-usual model gets us there in a canter”.
Business-as-usual of course includes those cuts to climate change mitigation programs Morrison made as federal treasurer - including no further funding for the Abbott Government's Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) which has so far failed to purchase enough abatement to outpace Australia's emissions growth.
Those agencies outside of Morrison's ‘magic circle’ are quite frankly contradicting his prediction of success.......
The COAG
Energy Security Council’s Energy Security
Board expects that Morrison’s refusal to revive National Energy Guarantee
legislation will see the electricity sector “fall short of the emissions
reduction target of 26% below 2005 levels”.
According to
Dept. of Environment and Energy total
annual emissions for the year to December 2013 fell by 0.8%.
No report was issued for the year ending December 2014, however annual
emissions rose by 0.4% for the year ending December 2015 and annual
emissions for the year to December 2016 rose by 1.4%.
While the Dept.
of Environment and Energy's, Quarterly
Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: December 2017 stated:
Annual emissions for the
year to December 2017 are estimated to be 533.7 Mt CO2 -e. This represents a 1.5% increase
in emissions when compared with the previous year. Over the year to
December 2017, there were increases in emissions from the stationary energy
(excluding electricity), transport, fugitive emissions, industrial processes
and product use, waste and agriculture sectors. These increases were partially
offset by a decline in emissions from the electricity sector. The annual
increases in stationary energy (excluding electricity) and fugitive emissions
were largely driven by an increase in LNG exports. [my
yellow highlighting]
The
independent Climate
Works Australia reported on 6 September 2018:
Australia is not yet on
track to meet its emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement but
there are many opportunities to still get there, according to new research
released today.
The ClimateWorks
Australia report, Tracking Progress to net zero emissions, found Australia
needed to double its emissions reduction progress to achieve the federal
government’s target of 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and triple
progress to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The report found
Australia’s emissions were 11 per cent below 2005 levels in 2017 but have been
steadily increasing since 2013. If Australia sustained the rate of improvement
in emissions intensity it had achieved between 2005 and 2013, it could meet the
government's 2030 target. But progress has stalled in most sectors and reversed
overall. [my yellow highlighting]
Climate Works’
latest report, Tracking
progress to net zero emissions: National progress on reducing emissions across
the Australian economy and outlook to 2030, was released in September
2018 and although cautiously optimistic it doesn’t suggest that a Morrison
Government would be able to just canter towards the commitments given in Paris:
This report uses
findings from the Deep Decarbonisation Pathways Project (DDPP) and compares
these with the Australian Government's emissions data and projections to
examine whether Australia is on track for a net zero pathway and for its first
commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change to reduce emissions by
26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. It assesses recent progress since
2005 and the outlook to 2030.
In common with 179 other
countries who ratified the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to keeping
global warming well below 2 degrees, aiming to limit warming to 1.5 degrees and
to reach net zero emissions. For developed countries like Australia, a 2 degree
limit is generally accepted to mean reaching net zero emissions by 2050 – the
majority of states and territories have agreed to this goal. Limiting global
warming to well below 2 degrees or 1.5 degrees would require an earlier date.
Australia’s current
emissions reduction target is 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. This
is less ambitious than the Climate Change Authority’s recommended target range
of 45 to 65 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 for Australia’s contribution to
a 2 degree goal (CCA 2015). To make sure the world is on track, all countries
in the Paris Agreement have been asked to consider whether their current target
is ambitious enough.
We already know
Australia can reach net zero emissions by 2050. The Pathways to Deep
Decarbonisation in 2050 (DDPP) report (ClimateWorks et al 2014) identified the
emissions reductions potential to put Australia on a pathway to net zero in 2050
while the economy continues to grow…
In 2017 Australia’s
emissions were around 11 per cent below 2005 levels. This is an increase from
their lowest point in 2013. Overall progress was due to strong reductions in
the land sector, while emissions rose in most other sectors. Although there
were improvements at the whole of economy level and in some sectors,
improvements on average were not equivalent to the pathway to net zero
emissions by 2050.
Emissions are higher in
buildings, industry and transport than they were in 2005. Emissions are lower
in the land sector, with the reduction being larger than increases in other
sectors. Electricity emissions fell slightly…
There were times of
reasonable emissions intensity improvements in industry and buildings but, as
with the electricity sector, these improvements then slowed or reversed. This
occurred alongside the repeal of the carbon price and related policies. Energy
intensity improved in these sectors, suggesting better energy efficiency, but
not at the rate needed for net zero. And in industry, some of this improvement
was driven by declines in energy-intensive manufacturing….
Without further policies, Australia will not be on track
for the net zero pathway or the Government's 2030 target. ClimateWorks’ research previously
identified potential emissions reductions on the net zero pathway and this
report shows where this potential is not yet being unlocked. The national
process of developing Australia’s long term emissions reduction strategy
provides an opportunity to unlock this remaining potential and get on track to
achieving net zero emissions by 2050, as do similar processes in many state and
territory governments. [my yellow highlighting]
Monday 17 September 2018
Will Dutton face the High Court?
On 23 August 2018 sixty-nine members of the Turnbull Coalition Government voted down a Labor motion to refer the Minister for Home Affairs and MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton, to the Court of Disputed Returns.
Included in this sixty-nine was Peter Dutton himself and most of the forty-five MPs who a day later refused to support Dutton's second leadership bid, as well as some reported to now be keeping their options open concerning referral to the Court.
It seems that another motion is being prepared and there is no guarantee that the vote would go Dutton's way in a Morrison Coalition Government.
News.com.au, 15 September 2018:
Included in this sixty-nine was Peter Dutton himself and most of the forty-five MPs who a day later refused to support Dutton's second leadership bid, as well as some reported to now be keeping their options open concerning referral to the Court.
It seems that another motion is being prepared and there is no guarantee that the vote would go Dutton's way in a Morrison Coalition Government.
News.com.au, 15 September 2018:
Home Affairs Minister
Peter Dutton has been dealt another legal blow as constitutional law expert
Anne Twomey says her advice for his referral to the High Court is
"stronger" than ever.
Professor Twomey told
The Australian the Solicitor-General's opinion brings up information about
funding for the child care centres owned by Mr Dutton's family trust which
"raised considerably the risk of disqualification" under section 44
of the constitution.
This new assessment
comes after Julie Bishop called for "clarity" over Mr Dutton's
eligibility and backed former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's calls for his
referral.
Shadow Treasurer Chris
Bowen told reporters in Sydney on Saturday that it was "very
important" that Mr Dutton be referred.
"I see one of
Australia's most eminent constitutional lawyers, Anne Twomey, suggesting today
that the case for the reference to the High Court has been increased, is now
stronger," he said.
Mr Bowen wouldn't say if
and when Labor would make a second attempt to move a motion to refer Mr Dutton
to the High Court, only that "we'll keep our options open."
A Labor motion for a
referral was defeated by just one vote on August 23.
Ms Bishop hasn't ruled
out crossing the floor to support the motion, saying if a vote was called:
"I will make up my mind at that time".
Crossbenchers Cathy
McGowan and Rebekha Sharkie told The Conversation on Wednesday that they would
vote for a referral.
Ms McGowan said,
"it should be done quickly and efficiently and effectively and sorted
out."
"I think it's
taking up a huge amount of space in parliament at the moment," she
said."
According to The
Saturday Paper, Mr Dutton only absented from one cabinet discussion on child
care, despite having regularly declared his family investments.
A spokesperson for Mr
Dutton said: "The minister has complied with the Statement of Ministerial
Standards and the Cabinet Handbook. Suggestions to the contrary are
false".
News.com.au, 15 September 2018:
The Greens are preparing
a vote in parliament to check Home Affairs minister's eligibility over
questions about his family financial interest in two childcare centres.
A similar motion failed
by just one vote on Malcolm Turnbull's second last day as prime minister.
"I have taken
advice in relation to my position, which put the question beyond doubt,"
Mr Dutton told parliament on Thursday.
Section 44 of the
constitution disqualifies anyone who has a "direct or indirect pecuniary
interest" in any agreement with the Commonwealth.
Childcare centres now
get direct funding from the Commonwealth, which is then passed through to
parents.
"Every day he
continues on in this place there's going to be a huge cloud over him and over
the government," Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters on Friday.
Greens MP Adam Bandt has
been speaking to Liberal MPs about voting to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court,
and the Greens believe support is rising.....
At the height of the
Liberal leadership crisis, Solicitor General Stephen Donaghue advised he could
not categorically determine Mr Dutton's status and only the High Court could.
However Mr Donaghue
found on balance Mr Dutton was "not incapable" of sitting as an
MP.....
A News Corp report on
Friday claimed two government MPs are considering voting with Labor in forcing
Mr Dutton to the High Court.
The report understands
the rogue MPs are planning to use the threat of crossing the floor to force Mr
Morrison to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court.
Prime Minister Scott
Morrison says he won't act on Mr Turnbull's advice.
He's also checking
whether Mr Dutton stepped out of cabinet when the childcare funding changes
were discussed.
Sunday 16 September 2018
A sign of increasing desperation on Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton's part?
After threatening to bring into the House of Representatives files he kept on members of parliament when he Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Minister for Home Affairs and Liberal MP for Dickson Peter Dutton made sure two particular files were very visible on 11 September 2018.
Images found on Twitter
After he quoted from these files the Opposition requested that they be tabled. A request Dutton refused.
Watching these files deployed prior to and during Question Time, in what looked suspiciously like a form of visual intimidation, did little to enhance Dutton's defence of his own actions as immigration minister in 2015.
Friday 14 September 2018
Dutton doubles down in a very public fight
“Grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection
with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation or trafficking. Children and young people can be groomed online or
face-to-face, by a stranger or by someone they know - for example a
family member, friend or professional.” [National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 2018]
The
Canberra Times,
11 September 2018:
Home Affairs Minister
Peter Dutton has dramatically escalated his attack on Roman Quaedvlieg,
claiming the former Border Force commissioner "groomed" a woman 30
years his junior.
Mr Dutton also said Mr
Quaedvlieg – who has emerged as a key figure in the high-profile saga
surrounding the Minister's interventions in visa matters – was Labor's
Godwin Grech, a reference to the former Treasury official whose misleading
evidence in the "Utegate" scandal helped destroy Malcolm Turnbull's
first stint as Liberal leader.
On Tuesday, amid ongoing
scrutiny of Mr Dutton's conduct, Fairfax Media reported he pressed Mr
Quaedvlieg in 2014 to help
two Queensland policemen get jobs in the newly formed Border Force.
In response to questions
from Labor in question time, the Home Affairs Minister said Mr Quaedvlieg was
spreading lies.
"This smear is
coming from the former Australian Border Force commissioner, a man who was, as
commissioner, sacked from his position. He was a man who had groomed a girl 30
years younger than himself. He is discredited and disgraced," Mr Dutton
said.
Mr Quaedvlieg,
53, was sacked from Border Force earlier this year after he was found to
have helped his younger girlfriend, Sarah Rogers, reportedly 22 years old, get
a job within the agency.
"He is somebody
that the Labor Party should not rely on. A lot has been promised to the Labor
Party but it's clear to me that Roman Quaedvlieg is your Godwin
Grech."
Mr Quaedvlieg
immediately responded to the attack, saying they were "curious,
stuttering, rambling comments". He noted Mr Dutton was making the comments
under parliamentary privilege, protecting him from legal action.
"Grooming? Are you
serious? That has a legislative meaning. Is that what he meant?" he said
on Twitter.
Quaedvlieg has since written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives complaining that Dutton has abused parliamentary privilege.
The Dutton allegations......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhPorZ3tWoo
Quaedvlieg has since written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives complaining that Dutton has abused parliamentary privilege.
The Dutton allegations......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhPorZ3tWoo
Wednesday 12 September 2018
Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories & Liberal MP for Farrer Sussan Ley shows her true colours
"This is an industry with an operating model built on animal suffering" [Sussan Ley, 21 May 2018]
Recently
welcomed back into the Coalition ministerial fold after being forced to resign
as health minister due to her expense scandal, Assistant Minister for
Regional Development and Territories & Liberal MP for Farrer
Susan Ley, placed her lack of moral
compass on full display this week when she abandoned her commitment to limit the
cruel trade in live sheep.
Compare her present actions with her description three months earlier of the live sheep trade which she then condemned in no uncertain terms.
Compare her present actions with her description three months earlier of the live sheep trade which she then condemned in no uncertain terms.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
10 September 2018:
They threatened to cross
the floor to stop the trade they felt was so heinous. But when it came to a
vote on Monday, Liberal MPs Sussan Ley and Sarah Henderson staged a change of
heart and used their deciding votes to prevent a debate on a ban on the live
animal export trade.
As backbenchers the pair
led a government backlash against the live export trade after horrific footage
showing the deaths of thousands of sheep en route to the Middle East last year
emerged. They even proposed their own bill to stop the trade.
That was within grasp on
Monday, when a private member's bill sponsored by the Greens and crossbenchers
to stop the trade passed the Senate 31 votes to 28.
Just two votes were
required to approve it in the House of Representatives but Ms Ley and Ms
Henderson, who were recently elevated to the outer ministry in Scott Morrison's
reshuffle, voted against moves to bring it on for debate.
To cross the floor, they
would have needed to quit their ministerial positions.
The pair then also
rejected Labor attempts to bring on a debate in the House on their own bill.
Their two votes made the difference with the bill going down 70-72.
Labor's agriculture
spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the pair had put their political interests ahead
of animal welfare.
“Sussan Ley and Sarah
Henderson sponsored a bill to phase-out the live sheep export trade and made
passionate speeches in support of their proposal," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"But today they put
their own political careers ahead of their policy convictions.
"Given the 72-70
result, their votes were the difference."
Both bills now disappear into history and the issue of cruelty to exported livestock remains unresolved.
Monday 10 September 2018
Under Morrison's prime ministership will church and state begin to regressively merge?
Liberal MP
for Cook, former Australian Immigration Minister and former Treasurer, Scott
John Morrison, is being marketed as Australia’s first Pentecostal prime
minister.
Right from
the start of his parliamentary career Morrison politicised his own faith and made
sure he identified as a Pentecostal ‘Christian’ in his First
Speech in the House of Representatives on 14 February 2008.
This month
the Pentecostal ministry returned the favour by commencing his re-election
campaign….
The
Guardian, 7
September 2018:
Pentecostal leaders have
warned their congregation that “darkness” will spread across Australia and
Christians will be persecuted if Scott Morrison
does not win the next election.
Others have been told
that Morrison’s rise to power was a “miracle of God” that answered three days
of prayer and fasting. They have been told that Morrison has made a public
stand for Christian freedoms, and has promised to keep doing so, so God intervened
to ensure he beat the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, in
the Liberal leadership spill.
Videos posted to YouTube
show how Pentecostal and evangelical religious communities are reacting to the
rise of Morrison as prime minister.
Last Sunday, pastor Adam
F Thompson from Voice of Fire Ministries and Adrian Beale from Everrest
Ministries told a congregation of Hope City Church that Morrison’s elevation to
power was divinely inspired.
Thompson, who says he
can interpret dreams and that supernatural signs and manifestations accompany
his ministry, said he’d received a message from God that Morrison and the
Coalition must win the election.
“The Lord woke me up at
4.30am this morning,” Thompson told the Hope City Church congregation on
Sunday, in a
video he asked to be recorded.
“Scott Morrison, he’s a born-again Christian,
he’s probably one of the first ever born-again prime ministers, but it’s not
time to celebrate at the moment.
“This is a crucial time
right now … In the next six months it’s time for the body of Christ [the
Christian church] to put its differences aside … and come together and agree
that Jesus is the Messiah and start praying together and calling it in and
praying for our prime minister right now, and for our government.
“I really see that the
body of Christ is going to have influence in the arena of – the political arena
of this nation.
“[But] if the prime
minister right now doesn’t get elected in this next election there’s going to
be darkness coming. And I’m not being negative. The laws are going to change
where darkness is going to come and there will be persecution on the church.”
Thompson asked the
congregation if they truly wanted a Pentecostal revival and reformation in
Australia.
“If it doesn’t happen in the next six months,
in the next year I should say, there is going to be, the laws are going to come
in, where they’re going to change and darkness will come,” Thompson said.
“The Lord is saying he
wants us to rise up and pray, rather than come into persecution where we’ll
have no choice.”
In the video, Beale from
Everrest Ministries then leads the congregation in prayer for Morrison, calling
on God to help Australians grasp the value of his intervention in the
leadership spill.
“Just as Scott has come to the fore, unexpected
Lord, you’ve kept him hidden for a time such as this,” Beale said.
“Lord, we pray that the
whole of the body of Christ in Australia would grasp the value of what you’ve
done, Lord, and get behind our new leader … and that the next election would be
won so that godly principles would be put into place, rather than the enemy
having his way.”
In a
different video posted to YouTube, Warwick Marsh from the Australian
Christian Values Institute has claimed three days of prayer and fasting had
been answered with two miracles.
“Firstly, on the 15th of
August, the Senate voted down the euthanasia in the territories proposal. No
one expected this. This was an absolute miracle,” Marsh says in the video,
which was posted last month.
“Secondly, on Friday the
24th, the Liberal party voted in a new prime minister, Scott
Morrison, after a week of political turmoil.
“Many people here in
Australia of faith believe this was a miracle of God, as Mr Morrison has a
strong faith in God and has made a stand for Christian freedoms and has
promised to do so in the future.
In apparent response Morrison has stated....
Pause for a moment and consider the ramifications for an Australian democratic secular society, when the far-right leader of a right wing federal government apparently believes that secular society has no greater claim to legitimacy than faith-based society and, that prayer not environmental or economic policy is an appropriate response to the effects of climate change.
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Scott
Morrison was managing director of Tourism
Australia from 2004-2006 when he lost
his $350,000-a-year job after what insiders describe as a bitter falling-out
with the federal Tourism Minister and Liberal MP for McEwan, Fran Bailey.
Subsequently
he stood for parliament as a Liberal Party candidate and won the seat of Cook
in the 2007 federal election.
On the
election of the Abbott Government in 2013 he began his ministerial career:
Cabinet Minister from 18.9.2013
Minister for Immigration and Border
Protection from 18.9.13 to 23.12.14
Minister for Social Services from
23.12.14 to 21.9.15
Treasurer from 21.9.15 to 26.08.2018
Prime Minister from 24.8.2018.
As Minister
for Immigration and Border Protection Morrison had a reputation for refusing
information to parliament, mainstream media and the general public.
Eight asylum seekers in onshore/offshore detention died during his term as immigration minister - these deaths included three suicides (one by self immolation), one ruled a death in custody, one due to failure to receive adequate medical care whilst in offshore detention and another a murder of an asylum seeker by offshore detention security guards.
His well-known antipathy towards asylum seekers has been demonstrated by his actions and statements such as this in 2013:
Eight asylum seekers in onshore/offshore detention died during his term as immigration minister - these deaths included three suicides (one by self immolation), one ruled a death in custody, one due to failure to receive adequate medical care whilst in offshore detention and another a murder of an asylum seeker by offshore detention security guards.
His well-known antipathy towards asylum seekers has been demonstrated by his actions and statements such as this in 2013:
In 2015 and 2018 Scott Morrison took part in the removal of two Liberal prime ministers - Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. In the first instance by agreeing not to stand as deputy on Abbott's ticket and in the second instance by sending his own supporters to lobby for the second leadership spill and then successfully standing for the vacant prime ministership.
The first two Newspolls published after he was sworn in as Australia's 30th prime minister were unfavourable to the government he leads. The second was the Coalition Government's 40th consecutive unfavourable Newspoll with First Preference voting intentions running at Labor 42% to Coalition 34% and Second Preference voting at Labor 56% to Coalition 44%.
So unlike the prime minister he replaced, Morrison experienced no 'honeymoon period' after he came to office.
Due to the resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on 31 August 2018 Scott Morrison currently leads a government without a majority in the House of Representatives.
The first two Newspolls published after he was sworn in as Australia's 30th prime minister were unfavourable to the government he leads. The second was the Coalition Government's 40th consecutive unfavourable Newspoll with First Preference voting intentions running at Labor 42% to Coalition 34% and Second Preference voting at Labor 56% to Coalition 44%.
So unlike the prime minister he replaced, Morrison experienced no 'honeymoon period' after he came to office.
Due to the resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on 31 August 2018 Scott Morrison currently leads a government without a majority in the House of Representatives.
Morrison has not been generally viewed in a favourable light by the media nor by some who worked with him in the private sector.
The
New Daily, 25
August 2018:
Morrison attended Sydney
Boys’ High School through to Year 12. In March 2015, approximately 300 alumni
of the schools former students signed a letter protesting Mr Morrison’s
attendance at a fund-raising event. The letter accused Mr Morrison of having
“so flagrantly disregarded human rights”…..
Veteran Canberra
journalist Laurie Oakes once said on television that the government “should
avoid the goading and arrogance of Scott Morrison, where he just pours mullock
on journalists”. Oakes added that his attitude towards journalists was
disgusting. “When people like Scott Morrison give us the finger when we ask
tough questions, we’ve got to shine a light on that and expose it because it’s
not acceptable.”
To become Liberal
candidate for Cook in 2007, he lost the preselection ballot, 82 votes to 8, to
Michael Towke, a telecommunications engineer and the candidate of the Liberals’
right faction. However, allegations emerged that Towke had engaged in branch stacking and
embellished his resume.The Liberal Party’s state executive disendorsed Towke
and Morrison won the pre-selection. Later, the allegations against Towke were
disproved and Sydney’s Daily Telegraph was successfully sued by
Towke.
When 48 people died in
the Christmas Island disaster of 2010, Morrison objected to the Gillard
Government offering to pay for families’ fares to the funerals in Sydney……
The BBC’s Nick Bryant
ungenerously wrote: “My hunch is that Scott Morrison doesn’t spend much time
agonising over the contradictions that have marked his career, or fretting
about the veering course of a political journey that has taken him from the
moderate wing of the party, to the right. The main point for him is that his
career has been heading in an ever-upward trajectory.”
The
Saturday Paper,
8 September 2018:
Twelve years ago,
Morrison was sacked from Tourism Australia – two years into his term as boss
there. The then Liberal minister for tourism, Fran Bailey, in 2006 said the
board could no longer work with him. He was “incapable of being a team player”
and faced a revolt from state and territory tourism executives.
An Australian National
Audit Office report released a scathing report into Tourism Australia’s
management of “perceived conflicts of interest” while Morrison was at the helm
and quoted industry observers who had “expressed the view that the perceived
conflicts of interests of board members are a major risk to Tourism Australia’s
reputation”.
Morrison’s reported
half-a-million dollar payout was questioned as excessive and not in accordance
with regulations according to then Remuneration Tribunal president John Conde.
Morrison’s ability to
listen to others was questioned during his time as treasurer. Sydney Liberal
John Alexander, who headed a group of parliamentary colleagues worried about
housing affordability, was incensed by Morrison’s dismissive attitude to him.
The task of holding his badly fractured government together will make
Morrison’s time at Tourism Australia seem like a walk in the park.
Karl Stefanovic put it
bluntly on the Nine Network: “You are the boss but you have little or no
control over the party … Your party is an absolute dog’s breakfast.” Amazingly,
Morrison said he was “not fussed” about all that. “We are focused on the job
ahead.” But in a giveaway that it’s getting to him, the PM leaked one of his
own pending announcements: that his five-year commitment to raise the pension
age to 70 was being ditched. Labor’s Jim Chalmers quipped the PM was getting in
first.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
3 November 2012:
In 1998, aged 30,
Morrison went to New Zealand to run that country's national Office of Tourism
and Sport, answering directly to the then tourism minister, Murray McCully. He
became known as "Murray's Rottweiler", so enthusiastically did he
throw himself into a battle between the minister and the national tourism
board. When the dust settled, the casualties included the board's chairman and
chief executive, as well as McCully himself. A Wellington newspaper reported
that in the ensuing inquiry, Morrison emerged as "a cross between Rasputin
and Crocodile Dundee".
Saturday 8 September 2018
Quote of the Week
“We have lost our moral
compass as a nation. And our new PM has been a huge part of the problem.” [Director of Legal Advocacy at Human Rights Law Centre Daniel Webb, Twitter,
31 August 2018]
Friday 7 September 2018
The new Australian Minister for Energy & Liberal MP for Hume Angus Taylor has "thought hard" about climate change for over 30 years.....
Excerpt form House of Representatives Hansard, 24 September 2014:
Mr
TAYLOR (Hume) (15:44): It is a great pleasure to speak on this matter
of public importance because I have had a deep concern about climate change for
over 30 years. I have watched the snowline rise south of here, and it is
something that I have thought hard about for over 30 years. That has meant that
I have come to the conclusion that there are three things that taking climate
change seriously really means. The first is effective and consistent policies
that actually contain global atmospheric concentrations. Secondly, that you
bring the Australian people along with you. Thirdly, you protect the Australian
economy so that we can pay for all of this. Let me tell you what I believe it
does not mean. It does not mean throwing lots of money at the problem for the
sake of it. It does not mean passing encyclopedias of legislation. It does not
mean putting endless programs in place. It does not mean establishing a cavalry
of so-called independent advisers and advisory boards. It does not mean turning
up at lots of global meetings.
Thursday 6 September 2018
The world is running out of patience with Australia: Europe warns Morrison Government
Europe has strongly signalled that the Morrison Coalition Government needs to stop pretending it has a national climate change policy and keep the pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions made under the November 2016 U.N. Paris Agreement which the Australian Government ratified and, on the government's part contained such a pitifully weak commitment to a 2030 abatement target i.e. emissions reduced by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
31 August 2018:
The Coalition's internal
climate war risks damaging the economy after Europe declared it would reject a
$15 billion trade deal with Australia unless the Morrison government keeps its
pledge to cut pollution under the Paris accord.
Prime Minister Scott
Morrison this week reset his government’s course on energy policy, declaring a
focus on lowering electricity bills and increasing reliability, while
relegating efforts to cut dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.
He has reaffirmed his
government’s commitment to the Paris accord despite persistent calls by
conservative Coalition MPs, led by Tony Abbott, to quit the agreement.
However there is deep
uncertainty over how Australia will meet the Paris goal of reducing Australia’s
carbon emissions by 26 per cent by 2030 given the government does not have
a national strategy to meet the target.
The policy ructions did
not go unnoticed at a meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on
International Trade in Brussels, where the EU’s chief negotiator on the deal,
Helena König, faced angry questions from the floor over Australia’s commitment
to climate action.
Australia and the EU
will in November enter a second round of negotiations over the deal that would
end restrictions on Australian exports and collectively
add $15 billion to both economies.
In a video of this
week's proceedings, Ms König told the committee that “it’s the [European]
Commission’s position ... that we are talking about respect and full
implementation of the Paris agreement [as part of the trade deal]”.
“No doubt we will see
what comes out in the text [of the deal agreement] but that I expect to be the
minimum in the text, for sure.”
Her assertion is a clear
signal that any failure by Australia to meet its international climate
obligations would have serious economic consequences.
Ms König fired off the
warning after a question by Klaus Buchner, a German Greens member of the
Parliament who said “the intention of the new Australian regime to withdraw
from the Paris Agreement unsettles not only Australians”.
“Australia is by far the
biggest exporter of coal in the world ... what will the commission do when
Australia does indeed withdraw from the Paris agreement? Is this a red line for
us in these discussions or do we just accept it?
“I believe as the
largest trading block in the world we have a responsibility to go beyond pure
profits.”
Wednesday 5 September 2018
Australian Minister for Home Affairs & Liberal MP for Dickson still has questions to answer
Peter Dutton. Image credit The Chronicle |
Meanwhile the list of potentially questionable situations appears to be growing........
The
Guardian, 30
August 2018:
One of the foreign au
pairs Peter
Dutton saved from deportation came to Australia to work for the family
of a former police force colleague, Guardian Australia understands.
Dutton used his
ministerial powers under the Migration Act in June
2015 to grant a visa to an Italian au pair who was intending to work for a
Brisbane family.
The couple have worked
for the Queensland police service and have two young children. The Guardian has
decided not to name them.
The matter is one of at
least two au pair visa cases which are now the subject of a Senate inquiry.
Guardian Australia
revealed on Tuesday that Dutton
had saved another au pair from deportation, intervening after the AFL chief
executive officer, Gillon McLachlan, raised the young woman’s case on behalf of
his relatives.
An
email chain was leaked on Thursday featuring the correspondence of
immigration officials, Peter Dutton’s office, an AFL staffer, McLachlan and his
second cousin. The emails run over 14 pages and indicate that Dutton overruled
border security advice and allowed entry to Australia for the French woman,
Alexandra Deuwel, on 1 November 2015.
In the Queensland case,
the Italian au pair had her visa cancelled upon arrival at Brisbane’s
international airport on 17 June 2015. She was able to make a phone call and
soon afterwards Dutton approved a new visa.
There are pictures on
her Facebook profile showing she ate Tim Tams and Caramello Koalas on her first
night in Australia, after the visa dramas were resolved. “First night in
Australia.. FINALLY!” she wrote.
She later visited
Surfers Paradise, Brisbane’s agricultural show the Ekka, Australia Zoo,
Melbourne, and posed for pictures by the Brisbane River.
The au pair’s case file
names the Brisbane family as her hosts, a source told Guardian Australia.
Dutton was a police
officer from 1990 until 1999 before being elected to federal parliament in
2001. In 1997 Dutton and the family’s father completed a surveillance course
together and were pictured in a group photograph.
Asked if the au pair was
intending to work for his family, the policeman told Guardian Australia: “Not confirming,
not denying. Just talk to Peter Dutton’s office. It’s well above my call as to
what to say.”
The visa status of two
au pairs have been in the spotlight since March, when it was revealed Dutton
granted them visas on public interest grounds.
Crime and Corruption Commission (Queensland), excerpt from media
release, 14 August 2018:
The Crime and Corruption
Commission (CCC) has tabled a report in State Parliament this afternoon
following the completion of its investigation into Ipswich City Council.
The CCC commenced
Operation Windage in October 2016 to investigate allegations of corrupt conduct
relating to the then Mayor, Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Operating
Officer.
The investigation has
resulted in 15 people being charged with 86 criminal offences. Of the 15 people
charged, seven are either current or former council employees or councillors.
This includes two mayors, two CEOs and one Chief Operating Officer.
Queensland Parliament, tabled
papers, 8 August 2017:
Since this issue became public Dutton has begun to publicly threaten his critics.
Revealing he kept files on Opposition members of parliament (and presumably other individuals) who approached him as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and, that he fully intends to use the contents of these files against his critics if he feels the need.
BACKGROUND
I refer to concerns
raised in the media today relating to the minister's use of his ministerial
discretion to grant a tourist visa to an au pair. Was his decision based
on departmental advice? If not, what prompted the minister to intervene? And
will the minister undertake to provide the opposition with a departmental
briefing at the earliest opportunity so the facts can be made clear?
Revealing he kept files on Opposition members of parliament (and presumably other individuals) who approached him as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and, that he fully intends to use the contents of these files against his critics if he feels the need.
When parliament resumes sitting next week Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt, seconded by Independent MP for Denison Andrew Wilkie and supported by Labor MPs, will move a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Home Affairs over the visa for au pairs affair.
It will likely fail by a slim margin, as MP for Page Kevin Hogan's faux change from Nationals MP to an independent member sitting on the cross benches (in order to save his seat at the next federal election) will still see him support the dysfunctional Morrison Government and an ethically challenged Peter Dutton.
The Standing Committee Legal and Constitutional Affairs public hearing re allegations concerning the inappropriate exercise of ministerial powers, with respect to the
visa status of au pairs, and related matters commences at 9am today 5 September 2016.
The Standing Committee Legal and Constitutional Affairs public hearing re allegations concerning the inappropriate exercise of ministerial powers, with respect to the
visa status of au pairs, and related matters commences at 9am today 5 September 2016.
BACKGROUND
House of Representatives
Hansard, 26 March 2018:
Shayne Neumann (Blair):
Peter Dutton (Dickson): I thank the honourable member for his
question. At last a question from the member for Blair! Well done! Fighting
away on tactics each day—finally, you've risen to the top of the pile. It is
six past three. You have missed out on television but, nonetheless, it's throw
the dog a bone, I guess. There are media reports around today which talk about
a decision that I made in relation to a visa. There are defamatory parts of
that which I'm going to address with the journalist. Our family does not employ
an au pair. My wife takes very good care in my absence of our three
children. We have never employed an au pair. I have instructed before that
that story is completely false and yet it still continues to be published.
In relation to the
matter otherwise, I will release more detail which I'm putting together at the
moment. As I say, it is defamatory. I won't tolerate it being printed again. I
make decisions—
I won't! I won't have my
family—
I won't have false
details, as the Leader of the Opposition would appreciate as well, about my
wife and my children printed. I won't stand for it. That's the reality.
I make hundreds of
decisions each year in relation to ministerial discretion under the Migration
Act, as has been the case with many ministers passed. There are cases brought
to me by members on the frontbench and members of this parliament on a regular
basis. I look at the individual circumstances around each matter. If I determine
that there is an interest in me intervening in those cases, I do. In many cases
I look at the particular facts. For example, the honourable shadow
Treasurer—nodding away—writes to me regularly in relation to matters. If I deem
the circumstances to be appropriate, I intervene. In this particular
matter—again I'm happy to release further detail—I was advised at the time
there were two matters, only one to which you are referring at the moment.
There were two young
tourists who had come in on a tourist visa and declared in an interview with
the Border Force officers at the airport—I was advised—they were here on a
tourist visa but intended to perform babysitting duties while here. The
decision that was taken, I was advised, was that the tourist visas would be
cancelled, that those two young tourists would be detained and that they would
be deported. I looked into the circumstances of those two cases and I thought
that inappropriate. I thought if they gave an undertaking they wouldn't work
while they were here, I would grant the tourist visas and they would stay,
which they did. They didn't overstay; they returned back home. Now if there are
facts there you dispute or you think there is another scurrilous point you want
to put, put it outside of this chamber.
House of Representatives, Hansard,
27 March 2018:
Mr BANDT (Melbourne): My question is to the
Minister for Home Affairs. Minister, I note your recent statements in relation
to your personal intervention to prevent the deportation of two foreign
intended au pairs. Can you categorically rule out any personal connection or any
other relationship between you and the intended employer of either of the au
pairs?
Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Minister for Home Affairs and
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection): The answer is yes. I haven't
received any personal benefit. I don't know these people. They haven't worked
for me. They haven't worked for my wife. I repeated all of that yesterday, and
I repeat it again today. I point the honourable member to the facts in relation
to ministerial intervention. The member for McMahon—we were just talking about
his successful record when he was last in government. Remember, he was the
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. At one point in 2012, there were 218
cases referred for consideration. In 2013, the honourable member for McMahon
was there, along with the member for Watson. There were 228 cases in the year
2013; in 2014, 193 cases.
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