This week we are covering a variety of domestic political issues as the government seeks to reset the narrative after The Voice referendum. The Albanese Government appears to be returning to their core issues – IR reforms, net zero and cost of living – while the power to revoke citizenship enters the debate after the High Court ruled in favour of convicted terrorist Benbrika.
Off the back of his US visit, the PM now heads to China to help mend the strained relationship and hopefully secure the release of academic Mr. Yang Hengjun. Government Ministers Ed Husic and Richard Marles are also heading off overseas to the UK to attend the global AI summit. And just to round out global hot topics, we take a look at the status of the US Republican Presidential race where despite ongoing legal drama, Trump is still well in-front.
The Wiggles feature in the final section but for a very peculiar reason. We take a look at the love story of two Aussie sporting legends while also cover the horrific ice-hockey accident that took the life of star player.
But first, let’s take a look at the headlines from this week:
- Alleged fatal mushroom cook Erin Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
- Friends star Matthew Perry died aged 54 – allegedly found in the hot tub at his home.
- Hakan Ayik, one of Australia’s most wanted men, has been arrested in Istanbul along with other leaders and associates of the Australian Comanchero bikie group for allegedly running a global drug trafficking syndicate.
- The war in Gaza continues with Israeli soldiers reported to be fighting face-to-face with Hamas.
- Lilie James, 21, brutally murdered by at an inner-Sydney private school.
Politics
Net Zero a top priority
On Thursday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered the keynote address to the Economic and Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne where he highlighted the importance of energy and its impact on the economy. He emphasised the need for greater government intervention to meet Australia’s net-zero emission targets and called for greater investment from the private sector.
The Treasurer outlined the various programs, schemes and incentives the government has committed to in order to help reduce Australia’s carbon emissions. He highlighted the role of the Productivity Commission and explained how he will be working with the incoming PC chief to deliver real change in this area. The topic for his address was the Defining Decade, which is the theme he has set for his time as Treasurer. He used this theme in his Intergenerational Report and also the May Budget.
But back to the issue of net zero. Successive governments have spent billions of taxpayer dollars on renewable energy and elections have been won and lost on this issue. Remember the Carbon Tax?!
Both the government and opposition have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 but what does that actually mean? To put it in very simple terms, it means that by 2050 Australia will need to remove from the atmosphere the same amount (or more) of carbon dioxide that they are emitting. This is where renewable energy comes in.
For renewable energy projects in Australia to succeed and be sustainable, there must be private sector investment. It cannot be taxpayer money funding projects or propping up the industry – this is why it has failed in the past.
All levels of government need to be held accountable for their role in unlocking renewable energy projects as they all hold varying levers that could stimulate investment.
Labor wins back some support from employer groups for IR bill
The Senate’s Education and Employment Committee travelled to Rockhampton this week to hear from mining companies, unions and business groups about the Albanese Government’s controversial Closing Loopholes industrial relations bill.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday announced the government would make changes to the bill’s provisions on the engagement of casual workers, meaning employers that mistakenly misclassify an employee would not be subject to heavy penalties, and people could still work as casuals with regular hours if it suited them.
The changes led to influential peak bodies the Pharmacy Guild and Australian Hotels Association backflipping on their opposition to the bill and backing in the government, earning the ire of other employer groups fighting the government over what they say is a fundamentally flawed bill.
The Business Council of Australia and Minerals Council both subsequently warned the Minister about making ad-hoc, piecemeal changes to the bill – urging the government it should be scrapped and re-written entirely.
Importantly, the changes were welcomed by crossbench senator David Pocock, whose vote is crucial to the government passing the legislation.
Convicted terrorist wins High Court case
This week, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a convicted terrorist, won his High Court case against the decision of then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton to revoke his Australian citizenship.
In 2008, Algerian-born Mr Benbrika was found guilty of leading a terror cell that plotted attacks on Melbourne landmarks in 2005, including the AFL Grand Final at the MCG. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
When Mr Benbrika’s sentence expired in November 2020, Mr Dutton cancelled his citizenship, and he was placed in immigration detention under continuing detention order due to expire on 23 December 2023. It was the first time a person had been stripped of their citizenship for a terrorism offence while in Australia.
Laws introduced by the Coalition Government gave broad power to the minister to revoke a person’s citizenship after they were convicted of a terror offence. Mr Benbrika argued the laws were not constitutional as they gave the minister powers that should be reserved for the judiciary. The High Court found in his favour and ruled that section 36D of the Citizenship Act is invalid, as it confers powers to the minister that should be exclusive to the judiciary. Basically, it contravenes the Separation of Powers.
In response to this decision, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would “examine the ruling and respond appropriately … Quite clearly, there was an issue with the former government’s legislation, which is what this ruling relates to, but when it comes to the legal consequences, we will seek advice”.
Global
Marles, Husic head to global AI conference
As governments across the world grapple with the complex regulatory challenges posed by artificial intelligence, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Industry Minister Ed Husic this week jetted off to the UK to attend PM Rishi Sunak’s AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park.
Sunak raised eyebrows when he announced he was inviting China to the global summit to discuss how to identify and manage risks posed by the increasingly prevalent technology. The PM defended the decision, saying it wouldn’t be a substantive discussion without involving the world’s leading AI nations, with China undoubtedly being one of them.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who attended the summit, said Sunak had made the right call and said if China not been invited the exercise would have been “pointless”.
Australia, alongside the EU and 28 other countries (including China), signed up to the Bletchley Declaration, which signals a global commitment to work together to ensure AI is developed with the right guardrails in place.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said AI had a role to play in the defence context, but it was important there was a human-centred approach that complies with countries’ obligations under international treaties.
The Albanese Government has wrapped up consultation on its ‘Supporting responsible AI’ discussion paper, which called for feedback from industry on regulatory and policy responses to the game-changing technology.
Pence bows out
There will be one less Republican Presidential candidate on the stage at next week’s candidate debate in Florida.
While speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, former Vice President Mike Pence announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Pence said it had become increasingly clear that he could not win the Republican nomination.
Donald Trump, despite not participating in the previous two candidate debates, is by far the front runner at this stage. According to a recent CNN poll, Trump has 58 per cent of the potential GOP primary electorate supporting him, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailing him with 15 per cent support. In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, former President Trump is also leading President Biden.
The third candidate debate will take place on 8 November and as of today, only five of the candidates have qualified to participate. Requirements vary from debate to debate, but for this one, candidates must hit at least four per cent in two national polls, or four per cent in one national poll and four per cent in polls of two different early-primary states. They also need to have 70,000 donors and meet all requirements by 6 November. Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have qualified but former Vice President Mike Pence (who has now dropped out anyway) and Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) are yet to meet the requirements.
PM’s China Trip
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will touch down in China tomorrow where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing during his trip. This is the first trip by an Australian PM since Malcom Turnbull visited in 2016 and it comes at a time when tensions between the two countries is beginning to thaw.
Perhaps it’s a coincide that the PM will start his trip at China’s largest trade show (the China International Import Expo in Shanghai) given that China’s trade sanctions are a key reason for the visit.
Since 2020, there have been a number of trade disputes between Australia and China, with Australia even taking action in the World Trade Organisation (the WTO). China has imposed tariffs or unofficial bans on a variety of Australian exports, including, wine, barley, lobster, timber and meat. Some of these have been resolved or agreed to be reviewed in the lead up to the PM’s visit.
Along with seeking to improve the bilateral relationship, Albanese is also expected to raise the issue of detained Australian democracy blogger Mr Yang Hengjun with Chinese leaders during his visit. Mr Hengjun was arrested in August 2019 on suspicion of espionage and has been detained in Beijing ever since. He is an Australian citizen and a former Chinese diplomat who has written extensively on Chinese politics and society. This week his children penned a letter to PM asking for him to advocate on their fathers’ behalf as he has been held in detention for more than four years and his health has deteriorated significantly during this time.
On the other side, China is expected to seek Australia’s support for them to join the CPTPP – a comprehensive trade agreement between 12 nations including Australia and Japan. China’s desire to join has been raised in the past and it will require the support of all 12 member countries. Even if Australia was to provide support, it is unlikely Japan will.
Pop culture and sport
Matilda’s and NRL
Two of Australia’s much-loved sporting superstars went public with their relationship this week. After much speculation, Matilda’s rising star Mary Fowler and the NRL’s favourite son Nathan Cleary have confirmed their relationship while he supported her in Perth.
Mary Fowler is a 20-year-old Australian soccer player (Matilda’s legend) who has been branded as the “next big thing” in women’s soccer. She has played for Adelaide United and currently plays for Manchester City. Nathan Cleary is a 25-year-old rugby league player who plays as a halfback for the Penrith Panthers and has been awarded the NRL’s highest award – the Clive Churchill Medal – twice.
The media coverage of these two and their relationship has been incredible. A quick google search returned pages and pages of articles from almost every media outlet.
WA council in hot water over hot potato
The Wiggles’ highly rated documentary, Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles, may have just dropped on Amazon Prime last week, but it was another rendition of the Australian children’s music group’s iconic song that was making headlines this week.
Bunbury Council, south of Perth, have come under fire for their unusual strategy to deter homeless people from camping out in the Graham Bricknell Memorial Music Shell, apparently a popular shelter from the elements for those sleeping rough.
The Wiggles’ song Hot Potato has been playing on a loop from loudspeakers at the site, in what the council concedes was a deliberate tactic to prevent the homeless from loitering and congregating in the shelter.
That hasn’t gone down too well with the Wiggles, who asked the council to stop playing its song – a request which was apparently met on Thursday.
Bunbury Mayor Jaysen Miguel in a statement blamed a troublemaker for breaking into the storage area and cranking the volume of the music, which “had been played at the shell for more than six months without incident”. According to the Mayor, the city has put the music back to an acceptable level, although there’s no word on what replacement tune was chosen.
Shocking ice hockey death leaves fans traumatised
Having taken in a couple of National Hockey League games in the US and Canada during our travels, we can certainly attest the popular North American sport is, to the untrained viewer, fairly violent.
But a game in England this week went horribly wrong when former NHL player Adam Johnson died after his throat was cut by an opposing player’s skate blade.
About 8000 fans witnessed the traumatic event, with the match immediately suspended and fans asked to leave.
Player Matt Petgrave, whose blade struck 29-year-old Johnson, was understandably said to be distraught after the incident which has been described as a freak accident, despite commentators and others saying it was an unusually aggressive move.
An inquest into the death opens on Friday.
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