We cannot have another pointless, rudderless, parliament like the one that has just limped to an end
There was a moment or two on Wednesday, during Josh Frydenberg’s traditional post-budget address to the National Press Club, where the room felt so depressurised it seemed like oxygen masks could tumble from the ceiling.
This bit of whimsy gripped me so profoundly, at one point I caught myself looking up at the ceiling, before shaking myself and looking back at the podium.
Continue reading...The Labor leader will give his party’s 2019 budget reply tonight, with bigger tax cuts for workers among the promises. All the day’s events, live
We are in the downhill slide for the final question time for the final time of the 45th parliament.
Cathy McGowan managed to bring everyone together for her farewell
Cathy McGowan and her Indi army of supporters in the entrance hall of Parliament House after she delivered her valedictory @AmyRemeikis @murpharoo @GuardianAus #PoliticsLive #auspol @Indigocathy pic.twitter.com/JFBXyn53ol
Continue reading...Independent Tim Storer warns voter confidence in politics is at ‘all-time low’ as he wins crossbench support for transparency charter
Senator Tim Storer says the major parties were “protecting their own skins” when they opposed a dramatic overhaul of anti-corruption measures proposed by a for-once united crossbench, including One Nation and Greens senators.
On Wednesday, 18 crossbenchers backed Storer’s “transparency charter”, which called for real-time disclosure of donations, a strong and well-resourced integrity commission, codes of conduct for MPs, reforms of freedom of information laws, stronger whistleblower protections, and changes to lobbyist rules.
Continue reading...Senior home affairs official says no major changes planned to ‘scientifically calibrated’ focus on terrorism after attack
Australian security agencies had no information to suggest the man accused of the Christchurch mosque massacre should be placed on a watchlist or prevented from leaving the country, a Senate committee has heard.
However, there were no major changes being made to Australia’s “scientifically calibrated” focus on different types of terrorism, the home affairs department secretary, Michael Pezzullo, said.
Continue reading...Labor supports legislation in response to Christchurch shooting that threatens jail for executives, despite media companies’ concerns
The Australian parliament has passed legislation to crack down on violent videos on social media, despite furious reaction from the tech industry, media companies and legal experts.
The Labor opposition combined with the ruling Liberal-National Coalition to pass the law on Thursday, despite warning it won’t allow prosecution of social media executives as promised by the government. Tech giants expressed the opposite concern that it may criminalise anyone in their companies for a failure to remove violent material.
Continue reading...As elections loom in one of south-east Asia’s only true democracies, some wonder whether the president has done enough
Five years ago he was south-east Asia’s democratic poster boy, Indonesia’s Obama. His face plastered across Time magazine with three words: A New Hope.
When Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi”, was elected president of one of the only true remaining democracies in the region it was a moment of triumphant vindication – proof that outliers could trump an entrenched oligarchy, that an ordinary Indonesian could make it.
Continue reading...Coalition’s about face on one-off payment prompts Labor to declare the budget is already ‘falling apart’
The Morrison government’s big post-budget sell has been disrupted by its own late-night decision to backflip on providing a one-off payment to recipients of Newstart.
The government used Tuesday night’s budget to provide supplements to welfare recipients, with $75 for singles and $125 for couples going to 2.4 million pensioners, 744,000 disability pensioners, 280,000 carers, 242,000 single parents and 225,000 veterans and their dependents – but not to people on unemployment benefits.
Continue reading...The federal budget is done and the (unofficial) election campaign begins. All the day’s events, live
Penny Wong’s speech on Fraser Anning censure motion
Labor senator and Yawuru man Pat Dodson spoke powerfully about the “Killing times”, Australia’s massacre history, as part of today’s censure motion against Fraser Anning.
Our First Nations people have carried the consequence of murderous prejudice throughout our entwined history.
First Nations peoples in Australia know what it is like to be powerless in the face of hateful prejudice, fanned by the illusion of superiority; and the false courage created by a weapon in their hand and their victims are defenceless.
Continue reading...Australia’s treasurer says the budget is ‘back in the black’. This blog is now closed
And that is where we are going to end tonight, before we all turn into pumpkins.
But don’t worry, we’ll be back early tomorrow morning for all the fallout. Plus, you know, parliament.
Mike Bowers has been out and about:
Continue reading...As the new process for bringing sick refugees to Australia faces unexplained delays, others who have come are being held under guard in hotels
More than a month after the medevac bill passed the Australian parliament, just one person is believed to have been transferred under the law.
The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force refuse to say how many transfers have occurred, but according to advocates and detainees only one of more than 25 people brought to Australia for treatment in recent weeks has been under the new law.
Continue reading...Taoiseach Leo Varadkar sent handwritten letter saying he is ‘huge fan’ and offering to meet singer in person before her Dublin concert
The Irish prime minister used official letterhead to write a fan letter to Kylie Minogue, freedom of information documents reveal.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar sent a handwritten message saying he was a “huge fan” of the Australian pop star, offering to meet her in person ahead of her Dublin concert in October last year.
Continue reading...Australia’s global leadership on whale conservation will be tested as Japanese hunters move to a different hemisphere
Japan’s whaling fleet arrived back at the port of Shimonoseki on the weekend with a barbaric tally of 333 dead whales that are no longer swimming freely in the Southern Ocean.
If the work of the Japanese whalers is anything like last year, more than 100 pregnant females and 50 or so juveniles will have been killed. But from now on, things are different.
Continue reading...Legal expert tried to shed light on Australia’s efforts to prevent reef being listed as ‘in danger’ by Unesco
A legal expert has slammed Australia’s freedom of information regime after spending two years and more than $1,000 trying to shed light on Australia’s enormous lobbying effort to prevent the Great Barrier Reef from being listed as “in danger”.
In 2014-15, Australian government officials spent more than $100,000 visiting and lobbying members of Unesco’s world heritage committee to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the “in danger” list.
Continue reading...Labor abandons Kyoto credits and highlights vehicle emissions in climate policy, as budget and election loom. All the day’s events, live
Scott Morrison finishes his press conference with an attack on the Greens, which in this political climate is an attack on Labor:
Now, the Labor party have got to apply their own rule to their own decisions. If they want to have this rule, which says minor parties should be considered separate to the mainstream parties, well it seems that the Labor party doesn’t think the Greens have these extreme views.
They’ve got to apply the same ruler to themselves. We’ve made our decisions on this. The challenge is on Labor now. Are you for national security? Are you for the US alliance? Are you for border protection? Are you against death taxes? If that’s your view, if you’re for all of those things, then by all means put the Greens ahead of the Liberal party. But if you’re not, then you shouldn’t do that.
We now need to change the national anthem. We are no longer girt by sea, apparently, because – Labor.
Scott Morrison:
The only difference, when it comes to the National Energy Guarantee in terms of what Labor are proposing, is this: the reliability energy guarantee, which was part of the Neg we brought forward at the time, that’s now happening.
That’s the important part. The bit Labor are applying to that is legislating a 45% emissions reduction target. That’s what Labor are doing. They are going to legislate that. That’s not going to reduce power prices. Labor’s Neg actually put prices not down, because they are going to legislate a reckless target that will hit wages, that will hit jobs, that will hit production.
Continue reading...Nationals MPs are given prominent roles in areas that hurt the Coalition at the election
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and her deputy, John Barilaro, have unveiled the new cabinet lineup, giving a renewed focus to the regions after the countryside swung away from the coalition at the state election.
But critics have been quick to point out there are fewer women with portfolios than there were before the reshuffle.
Continue reading...Greens senator and disability rights advocate Jordon Steele-John was speaking on Friday at the University of Melbourne, where he was named as one of the McKinnon political leaders of the year 'for his courageous, visionary and collaborative political leadership'. In his acceptance speech he condemned Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and declared that 'the era of the dominant, white, able-bodied man is over'. He added: 'We see a perverse attempt to disown the monster of Fraser Anning without attempting to acknowledge and take responsibility for the collective roles played in the creation of that monster.' He went on to say that Australia was in desperate need of a parliament 'as diverse and as vibrant and as energetic as the community it is sent to represent'
Continue reading...On 20 January 2016, the Guardian published an article concerning the conduct of the Bluesfest music festival, of which Mr Peter Noble is director.
The Guardian accepts that in publishing the article it misstated some material available to it.
Continue reading...Instructions not to sell tickets were reportedly received before last year’s Naidoc Week AFL game
Box office staff at the Adelaide Oval were reportedly directed to stop selling tickets to Aboriginal people while fans gathered before last year’s Naidoc Week AFL match celebrating Indigenous culture.
The box office and Oval management said a supervisor “misinterpreted” an instruction from the police and security not to sell tickets to a specific group of people who were intoxicated and had been refused entry.
Continue reading...Victorian court upholds supreme court ruling that even if David Hingst’s allegations were true, flatulence did not necessarily constitute bullying
An Australian appeals court on Friday dismissed a bullying case brought by an engineer who accused his former supervisor of repeatedly breaking wind toward him.
The Victoria state court of appeal upheld a supreme court judge’s ruling that even if engineer David Hingst’s allegations were true, flatulence did not necessarily constitute bullying.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison among estimated 20,000 attending national remembrance service near site of attacks
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was greeted with a standing ovation as she took the stage to address a crowd of thousands gathered at Hagley Park for a nationwide remembrance service in honour of 50 people killed in the country’s worst terrorist attack.
Related: With respect: how Jacinda Ardern showed the world what a leader should be
Continue reading...