Neville,
There’s been plenty of coverage of the national security issues which understandably dominated this week. I want to make sure you knew about a lot of the other issues which were raised in parliament but might not have made the news, so here’s the #5and5.
BEST:
- In the second half of Bill’s speech after the awful events at Endeavour Hills, he made some comments urging all of us to reflect on how we can address the causes of radicalisation. These are huge questions which had largely been missing from the public debate. Take a look – especially at the comments from 3:10 seconds onwards.
- Talk about an own goal. On Monday Tony Abbott said to the Parliament “I defy members opposite to justify this charge of broken promises.” Well PM, we have an entire website for them.
- Before the election Tony Abbott promised to make childcare more affordable. This week Labor MPs spoke on behalf of the 500,000 families who will be worse off because of the Government’s Child Care Benefit cuts.
- Always be careful what you wish for. On Wednesday Christopher Pyne challenged Labor to ask University groups about the Government’s planned changes to Higher Education. The next day he didn’t like what we had to say – take a look.
- Finally, Albo caught Joe Hockey out big time this week. In Question Time Joe referred to a “contract for the East West Link”. This seemed a bit odd to Albo who asked for the document to be tabled – the only problem? No contract exists and the Government has handed over $1.5 billion with no cost-benefit analysis.
WORST:
- Before the election Tony Abbott said he wanted to be the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. This week when asked about the impact of his $500 million in cuts to Aboriginal Affairs and how his cuts are affecting a Children and Family Centre in Fitzroy Crossing, his answer concluded with simply “so be it”. Clearly his week in Arnhem Land didn’t have much of an impact.
- You might recall in my last #5and5 email I talked about Pyne Online lying online. Well Christopher Pyne’s media release titled “Coalition will not cap places or raise HECS” is still on Pyne Online and was again proved to be a lie this week when the University of Western Australia confirmed that under the new arrangements some degrees would increase to more than $100,000.
- For months Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has been talking about how people in New Zealand have to wait a month before they’re eligible for unemployment benefits. The only problem is, that’s completely wrong. He made it up. This week Jenny Macklin forced him into a humiliating fess up.
- I’ll understand if the name George Christensen doesn’t mean anything to you. He’s one of Tony Abbott’s Queensland MPs who this week called environmental activists “terrorists” and “the greatest terrorism threat in north Queensland”. These bizarre comments come from the man who tried to dismantle the largest network of Marine Sanctuaries in the World.
- We thought we had already won. This week a Liberal senator teamed up with two crossbench senators to again try to remove protections against racist hate speech in Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Bill challenged the Government to commit to Liberal and National Senators voting against the change. The Government wouldn’t make any commitment.
My main sporting team is the Rugby League’s Canterbury Bulldogs but I do have to acknowledge the AFL Grand Final this weekend where the Sydney Swans are playing a team from another state. Good luck!
The #5and5 will be back next week.
Tony
PS: This week’s song of the week is dedicated to Christopher Pyne. Here’s Pink Floyd with “Another Brick In The Wall”.
