The pretend to care China debate has reached comedic proportions today with Peter Hartcher making a complete gig of himself: At a minimum, here are six areas for urgent measures. The first line of protection is the community…Australian governments, federal, state and local, as well as schools, universities and community groups, could do much more
To understand the politcal import of Pauline Hanson’s blocking of the union-busting bill, you need to know where ScoMo’s power base lies. The Colaition election review tells you, via Domain: A Liberal Party review into Scott Morrison’s stunning election victory has warned the Coalition’s future chances of forming government will remain “worryingly narrow” unless it
He sure doesn’t want us to know, via Domain: Nationals MP George Christensen has blocked the release of information about a federal police probe into his frequent travels to the Philippines over a four-year period. The federal Queensland MP has objected to the release of key documents relating to the year-long police “assessment” of his
IPSOS via Domain: The environment has for the first time surpassed healthcare, cost of living and the economy to be the number one concern for Australians. The Ipsos Issues Monitor, which asks a representative sample of Australians to select the three top issues facing the nation, found 32.1 per cent rated the state of the
This morning we find an Aussie being tortured in China, via The Guardian: The detained Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun is being subjected to daily interrogations with his arms and legs shackled, as Chinese security officials try to “break” him, his lawyers say, pushing for him to confess to unspecified allegations of espionage that potentially
The Coalition has nicely illustrated why it is a very weak government. Via Domain: A Liberal Party review into Scott Morrison’s stunning election victory has warned the Coalition’s future chances of forming government will remain “worryingly narrow” unless it improves its standing in Victoria and parts of NSW. The review warns there is “no room
Via The Australian: The government has pledged to revive its union-busting bill after Pauline Hanson handed the Coalition an embarrassing Senate defeat that business branded a “win for union thuggery”. Attorney-General Christian Porter called on Senator Hanson to explain why One Nation sided with Labor and the Greens to oppose the Ensuring Integrity Bill, leaving
This is what Scummo sees as doing something about CCP influence operations in Australia, via Domain: Australia’s flagship foreign interference scheme has issued only one notice to a potential agent of influence, despite sending out more than 1500 letters, as former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull urged the Morrison government to enforce the controversial laws. Fifty
Nice little poke from Jason Murphy today at News: Because the point of the boomer wars is not to focus on people in poverty, it’s to focus on people who have many millions and are getting more. The boomers I don’t mind niggling a little are the ones who point to the two million dollar
The Global Times obtained an exclusive video of self-proclaimed Chinese spy #WangLiqiang being tried for fraud at a Chinese court in 2016. https://t.co/arjVebRxes pic.twitter.com/PpWcrSWGGG — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) November 27, 2019 Make of that what you will. All I will add is that say the CCP has a long history of using our own media
Via Crikey: This is the sequence of events. Angus Taylor, federal cabinet minister, used a doctored document to publicly accuse Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore of being a hypocrite on climate change because her councillors spent, allegedly, $15 million on travel in a year (the real figure was about $6000). The document was a forgery,
The NSW Government plans to overhaul state planning laws next year in a bid to turn Sydney into a 30-minute city: In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) on Wednesday, Ms Berejiklian will outline a vision for the state’s planning system, which will be her focus next year. Her State
It is my curse to have to cover this debate: On the need to diversify Australia’s international economic engagement, Rudd said: “We have become too China-dependent. We need to diversify further to Japan, India, Indonesia, Europe and Africa – the next continent with a rising middle class with more than a billion consumers. We must
So says Penny Wong buried deep in the Murdoch Press: Labor has accused the prime minister of running a protection racket for a Liberal MP facing questions about her ties to the Chinese government. As allegations of Chinese foreign interference swirl around federal parliament, opposition senator Penny Wong is demanding Gladys Liu explain her connection
Kevin Rudd appears to think it’s the former: As we flagged earlier, Kevin Rudd returned to parliament today to launch Peter Hartcher’s Quarterly Essay on China’s attempts to build influence in Australia. Mr Rudd said Australia must “maintain domestic vigilance against any substantive, rather than imagined, internal threats to our democracy, our political institutions and our critical
Via Peter Hartcher: Beijing’s overreach is producing the beginnings of a resistance in much of the world. Australia was one of the earlier developed democracies to wake to China’s intrusions. The Turnbull government’s ban on Huawei and its foreign interference laws were the clearest signs. But now Australia is being tested again. Test one: The
The pretend debate about Chinese influence in Australia plods on today. There’s lots of outrage and committees forming but no action. The AFP has launched another investigation, via The Australian: The Australian Federal Police has opened a formal investigation into claims by self-proclaimed Chinese spy Wang Liqiang that Chinese intelligence services sought to interfere in
Via the Daily Telegraph: A Liberal backbencher is facing fresh questions about her connections to the Chinese government, following allegations Beijing tried to plant a spy in federal parliament. Senate crossbencher Rex Patrick said a “shadow” remained over Victorian Liberal MP Gladys Liu. “She hasn’t made a statement to parliament about her connections with the
Via a revamped Newspoll now conducted by YouGov online: The Coalition holds a narrow lead over Labor ahead of the final parliamentary sitting fortnight of the year, with Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese both losing voter appeal. An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows the Coalition ahead of Labor on a two-party-preferred vote of
Pretending to care is the bete noir of modern politics. As a singular globalisation ideology has moved inexorably foward, politicians and media have become little more than baubles adorning an unstoppable machine. They pretend to care about various interests groups impacted but nobody really challenges the status quo. Now this phony debate has taken a
Poor old Guy Rundle’s world is falling apart: Well, looks like we’re going to have to talk about China. Really talk about China. Much of the world, of Australia, and of the left respectively have avoided the conversation for years. But we could can’t do so anymore. At the same time, we have to avoid
When pictures are worth a thousand words. The fantasy: The reality: May Centerlink be with you.
Idiot: Maybe the 23 fire experts that have been trying to meet with #LiarFromTheShire need to set a sports team to get a meeting and media #ClimateEmergency https://t.co/mw17agoYHT — 💧🌱 wentworth falls (@tilly64) November 20, 2019
The Grattan Institute has released analysis on which groups hold the most influence over Australian policy making. And not surprisingly, the business lobby dominates: As Figure 2 shows, the financial and professional services industries together represented 57 per cent of the 400 submissions to the Tax White Paper from organisations, despite collectively representing only 18
Via Domain: Attorney-General Christian Porter appears close to winning crossbench support for the government’s industrial relations bill and determined to secure its passage when Parliament resumes next week. Mr Porter has agreed to additional amendments proposed by One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson and the government has listed the union-busting Ensuring Integrity bill on the Senate’s
Given the old bullyboy’s unhealthy hold over the national imagination regarding the future of Chinese ties, let’s explore where his vision would take us. Paul Keating would like to see Australia’s commitment to ANZUS modulated versus Chinese interests. That will mean a much more insecure commitment by the US to Australia so the first implication
Via John Fitzgerald at Crikey: The education tours arranged by Australian interest group China Matters were bound to end in tears. All it was ever going to take to scuttle the efforts of the organisers to improve bilateral understanding through parliamentary visits was for Australian politicians to speak their minds and shine a light on issues that
For a day supposedly dominated by “realism”, the obvious didn’t get a look in at The Australian’s Cowards of Canberra Conference yesterday. While the PBOC was forced to cut interest rates to combat a structural slowdown in the Chinese economy, and Hong Kong degenerated into near open war, all the Canberra cowards could discuss was
From Paul Xeating just now: Paul Keating says Australia’s foreign policy lacks “any strategic realism” and is leaving the nation unable to effectively manage the rise of China as Donald Trump vacates the Asia Pacific region. …Mr Keating said Australia should channel its focus on helping “design a new construct” that engages with China but
Welcome to the new era of partisanship run amok, via the AFR: Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor will seek to cut deals with “collaborative” states to shore up the destabilised national electricity grid, potentially isolating Victoria over energy and climate policy. …It is understood the bilateral agreements will involve funding or other arrangements to achieve
