With polling booths opening this week, The Voice to Parliament referendum has dominated the news cycle. In fact, it is pretty much all we’ve heard about. However, a lot of other important events took place this week and we’ve got them covered in our weekly wrap up.
What’s making headlines?
- Australia’s last Liberal government hanging by a thread in Tasmania.
- Spy fears surround PMs China trip.
- Russian strike kills 51 mourners gathered for a wake in east Ukraine.
- Donald Trump allegedly discussed US nuclear subs information with Aussie billionaire Anthony Pratt.
- Parts of Victoria ravaged by fire then flood.
- Lidia Thorpe threatened in a neo-Nazi video.
- Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is threatened with possible jail time if he refuses to face a Senate inquiry.
Politics
Interest rates on hold but cost of living rising
New Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock presided over the first interest rate decision since her elevation to the new role, with the board keeping the cash rate on hold for the fourth consecutive month.
This week the RBA also released their biannual health check of Australia’s financial system which identified some concerns but ultimately concluded that the Australian financial system remained strong.
Concerningly, the report found that almost a third of Australians are at risk of running out of their savings buffers within six months and could be left vulnerable in the event of further interest rate rises. Furthermore, one in 20 households with a mortgage are spending more than their income on essentials and repayments.
However, in positive news, it did find that most Australians remain well placed to manage the ongoing impacts of high inflation and higher interest rates.
With interest rates on hold, some commentators are now calling for government to focus on easing other cost of living pressures. While there are clearly global factors outside the government’s control (i.e. war in Ukraine and high oil prices), they must focus on what they can do. For example, ever-increasing energy prices.
Sky high energy costs impact not just the family budget but can cripple small businesses. A shortage of supply leading into what is expected to be a hot and dry summer, will not only drive-up energy costs but it will also result in blackouts. Australia’s prosperity depends on reliable and affordable energy – without it, our economy will decline.
Insolvencies surge
The RBA health check also found that cost pressures and slowing demand were impacting some businesses more than others and that the post-pandemic recovery was no longer providing the buffer it previously did.
Not surprisingly, this has resulted in an increase in the number of company insolvencies. Most insolvencies were small businesses, however the RBA did note that there has also been an increase in medium and large companies becoming insolvent.
With almost weekly reporting of another construction business becoming insolvent, it is no surprise the RBA found the construction industry accounted for one-third of the increase in insolvencies.
The increase in insolvencies is obviously concerning, however it is important to point out that during the pandemic the federal government suspended laws against trading while insolvent. The government also made it harder to have companies wound up for unpaid debts by increasing the amount that had to be owed from $2,000 to $20,000, and the notice period required for a statutory demand to be valid from 21 days to six months. The end of those provisions coupled with an economic slowdown meant more businesses were bound to impacted.
Voting on The Voice opens
Polling booths officially opened across the country this week for Australians to vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum. Voting is compulsory and all Australians must cast their vote by 14 October 2023.
There have been a number of controversies this week – including:
- The AEC warning the Yes campaign over some of their signs.
- A social media post from a Labor MP encouraging people to #voteearly #voteoften – despite multiple voting being an offence.
- The AEC was questioned over its social media post regarding multiple voting but quickly pointed out that it was an offence.
- Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, a leading No campaigner, was subjected to vile threats and harassment.
The No vote is still well ahead in the polls but as all politicians say – the only poll that matters is on election day.
Government slams Dutton after migration review release
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil this week released the government’s response to the so-called Nixon review, otherwise known by its fancier title, Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia’s Visa System.
O’Neil commissioned the review in January, headed by former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Christine Nixon, to examine migrant worker exploitation.
In announcing the reforms, Minister O’Neil slammed Leader of the Opposition and former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, saying the Coalition had ‘starved’ the immigration system of resources.
The government announced a $160 million package including:
- $54 million to establish real-time priority processing of Protection visa applications for refugees
- $58 million for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia to increase the capacity of those bodies to deal caseloads
- $48 million for legal assistance services for applicants
The review found there had been “grotesque abuses” of temporary migrants including sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Peter Dutton rejected the criticism and said the Coalition had cancelled more criminals’ visas in government than the Albanese Government.
Global
Trump in court
Donald Trump is facing a number of charges across the US but this week he was in a New York courtroom fighting a civil lawsuit that could cost him several of his prized properties, including Trump Tower.
Last week, in the non-jury trial New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Mr Trump committed fraud for years while building his real estate empire. There are another six claims including allegations of conspiracy, falsifying business records and specific insurance fraud.
Trump is denying any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.
However, that hasn’t stopped New York Attorney-General Letitia James seeking at least $US250 million ($392 million) in fines, a permanent ban against Mr Trump and his sons from running businesses in New York and a five-year commercial real estate ban against Trump and the Trump Organization.
Never one to shy away from saying what he is thinking, Trump has been very vocal in his attacks on the AG and the judge, and his claims that this is part of a political set-up to stop his presidential campaign.
Trump has previously labelled the AG racist and on his way into court he accused her of being a Democrat and corrupt. He also attacked the judge, who is a Democrat and was elected to the New York Supreme Court unopposed in 2015. Trump said, “…He’s a Democrat judge, he’s an operative and it’s ridiculous.”
Despite all of this, Trump is still well ahead in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. No other candidate is even coming close to him.
With no end in sight, we will continue to follow this circus.
US Speaker ousted in historic move
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy this week after a tumultuous period in Congress, as a key deadline approaches on approving aid for Ukraine.
McCarthy had faced a revolt from Republican conservatives for months, who argued he had broken key promises made to the faction during the marathon vote for the Speakership in January.
Firebrand Republican Matt Gaetz led the charge against McCarthy, following through on a threat to force a vote on the issue, where a flank of Republicans voted with Democrats to remove McCarthy.
It was McCarthy who agreed to change the rules to make it easier to challenge the Speaker’s leadership, agreeing in a bid to win support from the conservatives in January that just one member could raise a motion to vacate.
When the House returns from a week’s recess, members will vote on a new Speaker on 11 October. But with the Republicans’ slim majority in the House, and unrest within the caucus, it could take days to get a result. It took McCarthy 15 votes over four days to be finally win enough votes to be elected – the most since before the Civil War.
City of love invaded by bed bugs
It could be straight out of the script of a horror movie but for many Parisians, it’s daily reality at the moment as the city struggles to contain an outbreak of bed bugs.
Social media is full of horrifying videos of the small insects crawling around public transport, movie theatres, schools, homes and offices. Bed bugs, like mosquitos, feed on blood – many people have hopped off a train or left a movie theatre in Paris covered in bites.
The city just wrapped Paris Fashion Week, which attracted dozens of A-list stars, and the 2024 Summer Olympics are just around the corner. Everyone from the Prime Minister down is involved in trying to manage the crisis, with the government claiming the outbreak is not as severe as it appears on social media and calling for calm.
Extermination companies are run off their feet trying to respond to the outbreak, with some saying the situation is worse in more disadvantaged areas of the city where residents might not be able to afford expensive pest control treatments.
It’s a nightmare for city officials, as thousands of rugby fans flock to Paris for Rugby World Cup final games. No thank you!
Sport and Pop Culture
Netflix banks on Beckhams
The streaming giant’s latest release, a four-part documentary series on David Beckham, debuted this week after a glitzy premiere in London. Victoria and David really are the perfect cross-over of sport and pop culture.
In a break from their notoriously private lives, the Beckhams have given candid interviews about key moments in their lives and David’s football career over the past few decades.
The pair discuss infamous affair rumours that surfaced in the early 2000s, when David was at the height of his football career, and their questionable choice to wear matching purple outfits to their wedding in 1999.
We haven’t streamed it just yet but who doesn’t love a bit of 90s nostalgia. It’s on our weekend watch list.
AI images of Tom Hanks
With the rise of generative AI, we are starting to see more cases where companies are using AI generated images/videos to make consumers believe their products are being endorsed by celebrities.
Tom Hanks is the latest celebrity to have his image used in an advertising campaign for dental insurance. He recently took to social media to point out the unauthorised use of his image and shared an image of the computer-generated lookalike. He captioned it, “There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”
The use of AI is likely to become more prevalent as the technology develops and it was a large part of the recent writers’ strike in Hollywood. Society and the law are going to have to catch up and adjust for the changes.
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