It’s been another busy and shitshow of a week in Australian Federal Politics as we hastily head to the end of the Parliamentary sitting year. The first week of the sitting week was again messy and nasty for the government as the fallout from the high courts decision to overturn indefinite detention led to the worst type of politics again show and rear its ugly head. I think the first thing to note and the Government certainly wanted to make this point was that it was a High Court decision and not a government decision but the Opposition didn’t care about semantics here, they smelt blood in the water and went for the jugular on this decision first asking why so many “hardened” criminals had been released into the community and then after that, why the Government had been so slow to react to the high courts decision and then why did they only make a decision to pass legislation to close the apparent loophole after the Opposition’s attacks on the government over the high court decision. I use “” because that is the Opposition’s language, not mine and indeed not all the members being released into the community are hardened criminals or indeed criminals at all. There’s also and this was raised on Insiders on Sunday the fact that Australian’s committing this sort of crimes wouldn’t be indefinitely detained either so there’s that hypocrisy too. However if you look at the politics this is perfect territory for the Liberal Party and they knew that overreach or not they were onto a political winner here. Labor realised this too and it was why by Thursday they rushed through legislation on the matter through the Parliament and accepted in principle all 6 Coalition Ammendments. As I said though because it is Peter Dutton there was still political overreach and the motion on Wednesday Afternoon linking Anti-Semitism being on the rise in the community and the high court decision was a low moment for Peter Dutton and it was very noticeable that Anti-Semitism was not referenced again by the Opposition in that context for the rest of the week. The Political Overreach from Peter Dutton overshadowed I think an important point which is that Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the community and had of it been made in a non political way then it would have been a fair point to make. Of course Pro-Palestine marches continued this week as well as the odd Pro-Israel Protest and what I noticed from the Pro-Palestine marches is it all about protecting Gaza lives which is all well and good but nothing about the loss of Israel lives from Hamas which started the conflict and the fact that it is Hamas that are essentially using Palestinian’s as human shields which is also atrocious. Onto non security issues this week and the long awaited report into Infrastructure Projects was sort of made public with the Executive Summary released and with it a number of projects were given the heave ho. That went down like a lead balloon with the states particularly Queensland who launched a grenade at the Federal Government both in State Parliament and then on X(Formerly known as Twitter). The Federal Government, screamed well we have to do this because of the mess the former Government made and that is true to an extent but that doesn’t mean that people wont be angry in the affected areas at losing their projects. I would also note as put on Insiders yesterday that there weren’t too many upset Labor MP’s or Labor marginal prospective candidates upset at the projects that were cancelled. Another Controversial move that came on the weekend was the Government announcing it would tighten the eligibility criteria for people with Autism to enter the NDIS Scheme as a way of making the funding of the NDIS more sustainable. This came only a week or so after a report came out showing a so called link between increasing rates of Autism diagnosis and the increased spending of NDIS on Autism Participants. So from that point of view I was not surprised at the Government’s decision but its a bad one nonetheless. The reason its a bad decision is the previous government already tightened the screws on eligibility for NDIS for people on the Autism Spectrum and so this is a further harsh cut to the scheme, especially when for a lot of Autism Spectrum People there are no alternatives to get help as States no longer do disability support. Lastly, before I move onto the main part of my blog and the Cross-Bench expanded by one this week as Russell Broadbent the member for Monash who lost preselection 162-13 the previous weekend decided to quit the Liberal Party and sit on the cross-bench for the remainder of the Parliamentary term however long that is. It’s another blow to Peter Dutton who loses his third Coalition member of the term, after losing the member for Aston to Labor at a by-election and then also losing the Nats member for Calare to the Cross-Bench over the Coalitions opposition of the Voice to Parliament referendum. It led to the government having some fun at the end of QT on Thursday to make fun of the seating arrangements of the Parliament as it currently stands with the references to the number of members that the Coalition had lost this term, that didn’t sit well with the Coalition who staged a walkout from Parliament after a move to gag the Speaker didn’t work. Now onto the main part of the blog and I will again discuss the week in Politics, before moving onto where the Polling numbers as we edge closer to the end of Parliament sitting for 2023.
So Monday was the start of the Parliamentary sitting week and it started with Monique Ryan the Teal Independent for Kooyong questioning why Michelle Rowland the communications minister had been dining with interest groups from the gambling community. The government responded to the Robodebt Royal Commission with an acceptance of all recommendations of the royal commission report. The PM said the parliament has a responsibility not to politicise the Israel-Hamas conflict, which came as the Opposition used Senate QT to continue its questioning of Penny Wong on the governments position on the conflict. Finally, Josh Burns a local inner Melbourne MP for Labor warned pro Palestinian protesters to not intimidate the local Jewish community, this came in the wake of the Caulfield protests turning ugly. That takes us to question time and the first question was on Penny Wong’s comments on Insiders on Sunday and whether her stance on Israel and Hamas was the governments position. There was then a question on the cost of living pressures of the People. After another two questions on cost of living, there was then a question on the Live Sheep Export Ban by the Nats Leader. There was then a question on the release of “hardcore” criminals from indefinite detention. And that ends question time.
That takes us to Tuesday and Protestors rocked up to Parliament House calling for the release of Israeli Hostages. Russell Broadbent quit the Liberal Party in a dummy spit for losing preselection in his seat. In Economic News, Consumer Confidence has taken a real hit as a result of the latest interest rate hike. Lastly, Labor accused the Coalition of playing politics on the matter of the high court decision on Indefinite Detention. That takes us to QT and the first question was from Peter Dutton to the Immigration Minister about the release of criminals from Indefinite Detention. And every Liberal Opposition Question in Question Time continued to be on this theme.
Onto Wednesday, hump day and it was a fiery QT where Peter Dutton was accused of stoking fears of Anti-Semitism for political gains. Claire O’Neill the Home Affairs Minister said that the people being released from indefinite detention would face very strict visa conditions. Albanese is back on the airplane again this time to the USA to attend the APEC Summit. Deputy PM Richard Marles said Israel had a right to defend itself against Hamas and that any ceasefire could not be one sided. Lastly, Don Farrell the Trade Minister said that the last of the China diplomatic freezes and product tariffs should be removed by Christmas. That takes us to QT and the first Opposition Question was on the topic of Indefinite Detention being ended and that was the topic for all of QT culminating in a suspension of standing orders which linked the high court decision to rising Anti-Semitism in the country and also criticising the PM for jet setting off to the USA again.
That takes us to Thursday and Richard Marles was acting PM for the day as Anthony Albanese was off to the USA. State Premiers learnt which Infrastructure Projects would be slashed as a result of the Infrastructure Review, it led to a lot of anger from the Queensland Labor Government. Two Labor MP’s and a Nats MP along with the Greens and the Australian Palestine Advocacy Group stood together to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It came as the fallout from the shitshow in QT came to be yesterday with Josh Burns saying Peter Dutton shouldn’t conflate antisemitism for Political Purposes and Tony Burke leader of the House said it was one of Dutton’s worst performances of his political career. That takes us to QT and the first question was asking for an update on the legislation being passed to deal with the release of criminals as a result of the High Courts decision on the Indefinite Detention. And Again QT was the same theme from the Opposition for every Question in QT.
Onto Friday and it was a quieter day with only the Senate sitting, Zoe Daniels another of the teal Independents said there was great anxiety in her community about the Israel-Hamas Conflict. Thousands of School Students took to the streets to protest the lack of climate action in the community, this was despite several politicians telling them not to do so. The Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has reiterated his dislike of the Infrastructure changes too Queensland.
That takes us to the weekend. Saturday saw the release of information saying that Australian Submarine divers had been allegedly targeted by Chinese sonars. It comes as the new legislation on Indefinite Detention came into effect. Sunday as always was Insiders day and it saw the Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson be on the show. He is a Chinese Hawk and very Pro Israel so a lot of his rhetoric on those issues were not surprising. In other news the Government have announced double funding for the local councils for its roads to recovery program. Thousands gathered across the country for a march for Pro-Palestine rallies. Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil said the government may take additional steps on the returning of indefinite detainees to indefinite detention once the courts full explanation of its decision becomes clear. And former Hawke and Keating Minister Gerry Hand passed away.
So where do we stand in Australian Politics after the week in Politics? Well, there were a number of polls out this week which showed a continued narrowing of the Labor Lead with Labor leading by as little as 51-49 2PP in a couple of polls over the last few weeks, You still have the one outlier poll in Resolve showing Labor ahead 57-43 2PP but as I just said that seems to be an outlier at this point and not reflective of the closing gap that seems to be taking hold in the upcoming election. As I’ve said the Coalition have so many fronts they are fighting fires on, be it Labor, the Greens and Independents that I can’t see them getting to 76 seats at the next election, that would require a net gain of 21 seats at the next election a tall task. However Labor are currently on 78 seats so a loss of 3 seats by them would get them into minority government which is a much more realistic expectation. With the Queensland Government on the nose as a Labor point of view its becoming harder to imagine Labor making too many gains from their low base of 5 seats in Queensland already and that could be a problem if the Labor Party start losing ground in other states. I think Labor still deserve favouritism going into the next election but the honeymoon is finally over I reckon.
Thanks for reading my blog, with Australian Federal Politics off this week, I will probably do another international blog next week unless something crazy happens in Australian Politics.
Political Musings from the Man Down Under 