Thursday 24 August 2017
Australian Politics: when is a welfare program trial not a trial?
When is a welfare program trial no longer a trial? When the Turnbull Government decides to remove those restriction which made it a trial……….
This Bill removes section 124PF of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, which specifies that the cashless debit card trial will occur in up to three discrete locations, include no more than 10,000 people, and will end on 30 June 2018. Removing this section will support the extension of arrangements in current sites, and enable the expansion of the cashless debit card to further sites. Individual sites, once identified, will be determined by disallowable legislative instruments. [Explanatory Memorandum, Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017]
What the federal government proposes to implement is in practice an open-ended cashless debit card roll-out at the discretion of Minister for Human Services and Liberal MP for Aston, Alan Tudge
BACKGROUND
Human rights implications
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights conducted a review of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Debit Card Trial) Bill 2015, which notes that the Cashless Debit Card engages and limits three human rights: the right to social security, the right to a private life and the right to equality and non-discrimination. [Ibid, p. 6]
See Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Human rights scrutiny report, 8 September 2015, pp. 20-29.
Wednesday 23 August 2017
Who's Who in Charlottesville "Unite The Right" Rally litigation
Eighteen far right groups and every single person who marched as part of the “Unite The Right” Rally on 11-12 August 2017 is being sued by two female Charlottesville residents injured when a car allegedly driven by a rally participant crashed into the back of their car.
This driver, James Alex Fields Jr., was charged with second degree murder, malicious wounding and hit and run by Charlottesville police on 12 August 2017.
Unite The Right Rally Lawsuit: Tadrint Washington and Micah Washington v James Alex Fields Jr. et al by clarencegirl on Scribd
This may not be the last lawsuit in relation to this violent white supremacist rally.
Things are crook at Tallarook for the Turnbull Government in August 2017
On 21 August 2017 The Australian published the 18th Newspoll in a row with negative numbers for the Coalition Federal Government:
The Turnbull government has taken a battering after a week of turmoil over the citizenship of key ministers, with the Coalition trailing Labor by 46 to 54 per cent in another brutal verdict from voters.
Labor has climbed to its strongest primary vote this year, with its core support at 38 per cent, giving it a convincing lead that would see it form government with a gain of 20 seats if the trend held at the next federal election.
The latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian, shows the government’s primary vote has fallen from 36 to 35 per cent over the past two weeks, amid internal rows over same-sex marriage and the storm over the foreign citizenship of three cabinet ministers.
Malcolm Turnbull has lost ground to Bill Shorten in his personal standing with Australians but has held his lead as preferred prime minister, favoured by 43 per cent of voters compared with 33 per cent who prefer the Opposition Leader…..
The combined effect has widened Labor’s lead to 54 per cent to 46 per cent in two-party terms, a swing of more than 4 per cent against the government since the election in July last year….
The Newspoll survey of 1675 respondents, conducted from Thursday to yesterday, saw most of the results move within the margin of error of 2.4 percentage points, except for the fall in Mr Turnbull’s rating as better prime minister and the greater dissatisfaction with both leaders.
This is the 18th consecutive Newspoll in which the Coalition has trailed Labor in two-party terms, a tally that is now used against Mr Turnbull by his critics because he cited the loss of “30 Newspolls in a row” as a reason for challenging Tony Abbott in September 2015.
The swing against the government, if repeated in a uniform fashion at the next election, would lead to the loss of about 20 seats — eight in Queensland, four in Victoria, four in NSW, one in South Australia and three in Western Australia.
Mr Turnbull has retained his lead over Mr Shorten as preferred prime minister but the gap between the two has narrowed.
Voters cut their support for Mr Turnbull as better prime minister from 46 to 43 per cent, while increasing their support for Mr Shorten from 31 to 33 per cent.
The proportion of voters who were “uncommitted” increased from 23 to 24 per cent.
As a result, Mr Turnbull is now 10 points ahead of Mr Shorten on this measure, compared with a lead of 15 percentage points two weeks ago.
Primary vote
If the federal election for the house of representatives was held today, which one of the following would you vote for? If uncommitted, to which one of these do you have a leaning?
Two-party preferred
Based on the preference flow at the July 2016 federal election.
Leaders' net satisfaction
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Prime Minister is doing his job? Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Leader of the Opposition is doing his job?
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