John,
It’s been a really hard couple of weeks of Parliament, particularly for Brittany Higgins and other women in politics who’ve been let down. So, where I’ve often been able to put a week in a lighter context I have to tell you the whole tone of this week was pretty grim. The sense of the building having failed people was everywhere.
So please forgive the fact that this week the tone of the email is different to normal. It was that sort of week, and in
fairness, it needed to be. Here’s the 5&5:
BEST
WORST
1. With the aged care royal commission due to hand its final report to the government today, Anthony Albanese made it clear
in Question Time this was an issue Labor will continue to pursue: “How can Australians trust the Prime Minister to
act on the Aged Care Royal Commission when he cut $1.7 billion from aged care; nearly 11,000 people died while waiting for
their approved home care package in the last year alone; there is chronic understaffing, malnutrition and ants in wounds
in aged care facilities; and there have been 685 deaths of aged care residents from COVID?,” he asked. “How
can Australians trust the Prime Minister to do what is required when he takes responsibility for nothing and nobody?”
2. Should all Australian workers be paid at least the minimum wage? You’d think that would be the easiest question in the world for a government to answer. OF COURSE THEY SHOULD! But Scott Morrison and Christian Porter repeatedly struggled to give a straight answer to this very simple question as Labor kept up the pressure on them to do something to protect gig workers, many of whom are getting ripped off and forced to work in dangerous conditions. Anthony Albanese and I stood shoulder to shoulder with three gig workers – Jun Yang, Ashley Moreland and Malcolm Mackenzie - who are showing real courage in campaigning for a better deal. Labor won’t stop fighting until they get one.
Anthony wants a better deal for gig workers. PIC: NINE/Alex Ellinghausen
3. The government lost its majority on the floor of parliament. To keep control of the house Mr Morrison must now depend on the vote of crossbench conspiracy theorist Craig Kelly. Never forget Mr Morrison personally intervened to save this guy’s Liberal pre-selection.
PIC: The Guardian/Mike Bowers
4. Michelle Rowland gave a cracking speech on Tuesday about the government’s “litany of failures” on the
NBN: “There is no greater example of deception, incompetence, shortsightedness and poor economic management by this
government than when it comes to the NBN”.
Have a read of the full thing here.
5. This week legendary actor Bryan Brown met with caucus members to talk about government policies that will make it harder to get Australian films on to the big screen. Right now three of the four films topping the local box office are Australian: The Dry, Penguin Bloom and Higher Ground. That’s the first time that’s ever happened. But if the government gets away with its changes to the producer offset it might never happen again!
1. While the criminal investigation into the reported sexual assault of Ms Brittany Higgins will appropriately be dealt with by the police, the questions on the way the Morrison Government responded needed to be asked in the parliament. The House of Reps focussed on Mr Morrison’s inaction and the Senate focussed on the role of the Defence Minister Senator Linda Reynolds. Have a read of this speech from Penny Wong.
2. Mr Morrison’s story kept changing as new information emerged. He hid behind review after review and evaded questions from Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles, Tanya Plibersek, Brendan O’Connor and Sharon Claydon. He consistently refused to answer whether the Gaetjens Review into the conduct of his office would be made public. By the end of the week we discovered he was making it a Cabinet document so it doesn’t have to be released for 30 years.
Ducking and weaving. PIC: The Guardian/Mike Bowers
3. There are few things more important in this country right now than maintaining confidence in our COVID-19 vaccination program. But to maintain confidence the government needs to be competent. It was a worrying sign on Wednesday when Mark Butler kicked off Question Time by asking about reports that two aged care residents had been given an overdose by a government-contracted doctor. Greg Hunt stood up and assured the house that the doctor had completed the full vaccine training, calling it an “individual act of human error”. But then a little over an hour later Mr Hunt stood up to correct the record, revealing that, actually, the doctor had been administering the vaccine without completing any training.
4. The government’s industrial relations scheme got through the lower house this week. They’re bad, unfair laws and we’re working hard to kill them off when they get to the Senate next month.
5. I told you I’d get back to you once Scott Morrison dodged his 200th question in Question Time. I honestly didn’t think I’d get back to you so soon but after hiding behind his ministers another dozen times this fortnight Mr Morrison has achieved this embarrassing milestone.
Parliament doesn’t sit for the next two weeks but we are back after that.
‘Til then
Tony
PS. The risk to the future of the Australian film industry is huge if the government gets away with cutting the producer offset. If you haven’t seen the three Australian films I mentioned please do. They’re great. And when you see The Dry you’ll enjoy hearing the classic song from Australian alternative rock band The Church, Under the Milky Way.
Australian Labor Party
Authorised by P. Erickson, ALP, Canberra.
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