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Neville –
The final afternoon of Parliament this week needs a quick explanation. It was extraordinary. Our questions were going right to the heart of the Government’s economic credibility and the Libs and Nats were hating it. Tony Abbott finally snapped and made an unbelievable reference to Nazi Germany. Bill Shorten then moved a motion to condemn the Prime Minister for the cruelty of the budget and the appalling economic management. When the debate ended Tony Abbott left the chamber as quickly as he could and Bill stood up to talk calmly in a nonpartisan way about closing the gap with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Anyone watching could only be left with one impression. Tony Abbott publicly demonstrated he wasn’t fit to lead Australia. As he left the room, Bill stood up and showed the decency Australia needs.
BEST:
- On Wednesday the Government’s higher education changes were voted down in the Senate. This is good news, but it’s not the end of the fight against $100,000 degrees. Christopher Pyne says he’s not backing down and will reintroduce the legislation later this year. Bill gave a speech on Monday on all the reasons why Labor will continue to stand and fight against these unfair changes.
- On Tuesday the Parliament debated a piece of legislation called the Succession to the Crown Bill 2015. This bill changes the law to allow Australia’s next Head of State (the Monarch) to be chosen on birthright, not gender, and to also be a Catholic. While Labor doesn’t oppose these changes, Bill gave a great speech questioning why, in 2015, we’re still having this debate in Australia.
- When it comes to the Budget, the Australian Financial Review headline on Thursday said it all: “Abbott loses the plot on debt”. As Opposition Leader Tony Abbott called a debt to GDP ratio of 13% a “debt and deficit disaster”, yet a debt to GDP ratio of 50-60% under his watch “a pretty good result”. Chris Bowen slammed Tony Abbott for his hypocrisy in this speech on Thursday.
- Last week Tony Abbott said Indigenous Australians living in remote communities were making a “lifestyle choice.” On Thursday Labor made indigenous disadvantage a Matter of Public Importance. Bill Shorten, Shayne Neumann, Catherine King, Warren Snowdon and Stephen Jones gave speeches about investing in policies to close the gap, not close the door, on indigenous disadvantage.
- Tomorrow is the 15th anniversary of Harmony Day. Harmony Day is about celebrating cultural diversity, inclusiveness, respect and sense of belonging for everyone who lives in Australia. This week Michelle Rowland organised A Taste of Harmony morning tea in Parliament House for MPs to share the many and diverse cultures that make up our electorates.
WORST:
- On Monday afternoon Christopher Pyne gave an interview on Sky News that would not have looked out of place on Clarke and Dawe. It is one of the most bizarre interviews I have ever seen on television. He called himself “The Fixer”. No really, he did.
- Despite saying in January if the Senate voted down the Government’s higher education scheme for $100,000 degrees it “will have expressed its will”, Christopher Pyne this week committed to reintroduce the legislation later this year. Sometimes I have to remind myself that Christopher Pyne is real.
- The Budget is in chaos. They can’t decide if there’s an emergency, or if everything is awesome. They can’t decide if we should be confident or if we should be concerned. They can’t even decide which decisions they’ve made, attributing to Labor billions of dollars worth of decisions they made in the Intergenerational Report. The nickname “Captain Chaos” will stick.
- I’ve shared with you previously the the saga around Barnaby Joyce changing his official Hansard record. Well, late last week Tony Abbott sacked the Head of the Department of Agriculture, Dr Paul Grimes PSM. Dr Grimes is the epitome of the frank and fearless public servant and his sacking is a disgrace. There were plenty of questions from Bill and from Joel Fitzgibbon on this, which Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce were refusing to answer.
- This week Tony Abbott managed to offend the Irish community, the Greek community and then wanted to compare Bill Shorten to one of the most evil people in Hitler’s regime. He’s completely out of control. No one knows what will come out of his mouth next.
Finally, Speaker Bronwyn Bishop appeared to rule that answering questions during Question Time was optional, saying: “If the Honourable Treasurer wishes to answer the question, he may.” Maybe we should rename it to “Optional Question Time”. Chris Bowen opened the next question with the words “My question is to the Prime Minister, if he chooses to answer”. Bronwyn Bishop was unimpressed.
On a final note, many people have been wanting information on the reasons behind Labor taking the stance we did on data retention. I’d encourage you to have a look at Shadow Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus’, speech in the Parliament which covers how the Bill was changed from what the Government first tried to do.
The #5and5 will be back next week.
Tony
PS: I know I used Pearl Jam last week, but in dedication to Christopher Pyne, this week’s #5and5 song had to be “The Fixer”. |
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