Senate
Governments of either persuasion don’t like it when they don’t get their own way in the Senate.
However, in recent days the Rudd government has taken the levels of whingeing, moaning and sulking about so called ‘Senate obstruction’ to new levels. No doubt this is all part of a deliberate pre-election strategy, seeking to justify the government’s failings and perhaps even the need for a double dissolution election.
No less than five senior Ministers fronted a press conference last week accusing the Senate of the worst obstruction in 30 years, while the Prime Minister shouted ‘get out of our way’.
Continue reading "The Senate protects us from bad government" »
Some years ago the BBC produced a brilliant documentary series about the House of Lords which chronicled the strange existence of those hereditary peers who by dint of their birth had wound up being underemployed for life in this absurd parliamentary chamber.
There was one chap aged only in his 30s who was not only completely loaded, he was also completely smashed, living in the rundown country estate his late father had left to him where the only functioning room appeared to be the cellar. Every morning he would wake up, put on his tweed trousers and a silly cravat, and start working his way through bottle after bottle of 1950s French burgundy. His face was dotted with burst capillaries and he sat in his comfy chair like that Uncle Monty from Withnail and I, rabbitting about how one felt a sense of duty in maintaining one’s family traditions by serving as a Lord.
It now seems that even the Brits have realised their Upper House is an elitist anachronism and a waste of money.
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Matt Stewart says:
Gavin, The reforms I suggest are based on the assumption that you are right. The goal is to direct that factionalism along state lines, with senators thinking about what is best for that state. Ruling out political party membership is not foolproof, but it will help. When you are a… Read more »
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Gavin says:
Aboloshing the right to join a party in any official capacity will not stop “factions” from forming and power bases establishing themselves. At least with party politics, everyone knows it is happening and who sits where on issues… Read more »
Sitting on our Immigration Minister’s desk is an application for ministerial intervention; an application that if not approved will send two young Kenyan women back to their homeland and into the hands of a barbaric fate.
What awaits Grace, 22, and Teresia, 21, is genital mutilation. While outlawed around the world, it still exists in their homeland – an act involving a knife, 10 men holding them to the ground and another 30 looking on. So horrific, that death is not unusual (and for those who do survive female genital mutilation, it does irreparable harm).
If they refuse mutilation, they will be murdered.
Continue reading "On the brink of condemning two women to mutilation" »
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Bee says:
Mike_The_Fisherman - you have completley misconstrued the topic and managed to branch off into unsophisticated dribble - We are all people??? - yes you are right - but are we all HUMAN??? Humanity is the key topic under discussion - This debate has little to do with world inequality on… Read more »
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Mike_The_Fisherman says:
Sure the practice is archaic, and in most cases unwanted. I say in most cases because there are some of these people that willingly go through with this mutilation to maintain family honour. It still doesn’t excuse it. I think we need to forget that this is happening to women.… Read more »
One in six people in this country will encounter problems conceiving and need medical assistance to have a child.
It’s a startling figure and it probably explains why most of us know someone who has struggled to start or add to a family.
In the past there was little that could be done for these couples, but thankfully science has provided options that many only dreamed of previously. Sadly it seems the Government is about to take those options away from many Australians.
Continue reading "IVF for the rich and infertility for the rest" »
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Lee says:
Isn’t it ‘amusing’ how so many responders feel so strongly against subsidised fertility treatment for people who are unable to conceive (usually through no fault of their own) yet our health dollar spends BILLIONS treating individuals for illnesses self inflicted by drug and alcohol abuse (read smoking and drinking), by… Read more »
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Mark says:
A bit late to comment but just cam across this article whilst researching IVF online. My wife and I are left to give IVF a go after failing to conceive naturally. We have been trying for over 12 months and have already spent a small fortune on doctors bills getting… Read more »
Make no mistake about it. The battle to preserve Australia’s mix of public and private health care will be joined in earnest this week.
At stake is a worsening of the shaky health of our public hospitals.
At stake also is a direct cost impact for almost half the population who have private health insurance and an indirect, or delayed, impact on those who rely on public hospitals for treatment.
Continue reading "The ALP simply hates private health insurance" »
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Julian Thomas says:
I would love to pay Health Insurance but wait, I already do Medicare Surcharge and levy etc, increasing premiums and age penalties, no thanks, get rid of medicare and introduce low premiums and I think of joining “private health” once it really private and not a subsidy hybrid Read more »
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Jessica says:
Excellent article, Peter. I have had private health insurance all my life and had the misfortune of visiting a friend in one of Qld’s public hospitals recently. Thanks, but if I have a medical emergency I’d prefer to go to the Wesley and be seen immediately rather than sit for… Read more »
Gene patents are at the intersection of cutting edge technology, modern commerce and human ethics. And recently the Senate’s Community Affairs Committee has taken evidence as part of their inquiry into gene patents.
Over the last two decades around the world patents have been granted over isolated gene sequences for which a practical and useful application has been identified.
More often than not the practical application is a test for diagnosing a condition that the inventor has shown is associated with the gene.
Continue reading "Gene patents: a very 21st Century dilema" »
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Phil says:
@Dan - you’re right. And you can’t patent something that is naturally occurring. Part of the debate in this Senate inquiry is about the patents held over what flows from the discovery of the gene. Some argue this shouldn’t be patented either. @davido - The answer is that there isn’t… Read more »
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Dan says:
You shouldn’t be able to patent something that’s naturally occurring. The test to find it on the other hand… Read more »
Last night the Senate voted in favour of referring Senator Eric Abetz to a special committee over his role in the Utegate affair and things are about to get a bit awkward for all parties involved.
For starters a fellow Liberal Senator George Brandis will be in charge of the inquiry, which is bound to make people wonder whether this is going to be a fair dinkum examination of Abetz’s role in the fake email/Utegate/OzCar affair.
On the other side, Labor Senators on the privileges committee that will be questioning Abetz’s role in the shonky Godwin Grech testimony (specifically his handling of the email and whether it was a manipulation of the Senate committee) will have to be pretty careful about who and what they start demanding from the Liberal Senator - especially if it comes to calling public servants and journalists in front of the committee.
Continue reading "Senator Abetz and his odd date with the star chamber" »
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William Boeder says:
I would much prefer to trust a Spitting Cobra than Senator Eric Abetz, do remember how he championed the MIS of forestry plantations, now they are bankrupt and are being sold (along with their precious water rights,) at fire-sale prices to institutions mostly overseas. This Senator should be defrocked for… Read more »
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alan cotterell says:
It’d be interesting to see the Senate Privileges Committee try to subpoena someone who is subject to a state Mental Health Act! Malcolm Turnbull is NOT the victim in this matter. Godwin Grech is the patient! Read more »
The most baffling aspect to the entire debate surrounding the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is how so many who agree on a problem can be so divided about the best solution.
With the exception of a few mavericks in the Nationals and the Liberals and one lone Senator from Family First, parliament accepts that the scientific debate is over.
Anthropogenic climate change presents us with the most pressing and complex policy problem humankind has faced. Ever. And personally, I can’t help wondering what planet climate change denialists are living on.
Continue reading "Rudd acting like a used car salesman over ETS" »
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Joe says:
If Rudd REALLY believed in AGW he would actually be doing something to celan up Austraia’s environment. Instead he is letting the media have a full run at using his ETS as a wedge issue against the liberals, and Turnbull is falling for it. The Turnbull/Xenophon ETS show’s that Rudd… Read more »
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DIS says:
The Senator writes “After all, an unwillingness to look at alternate (sic) models is what got us into this mess in the first place.” I hope he meant “alternative”. DIS Read more »
In his first appearance on The Punch, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd blogs on climate change. This piece also appears on his new blog at www.pm.gov.au.
I decided to kick off my blogging career with a focus on climate change. The latest scientific research on climate change confirms our worst fears. Climate change is happening faster than we previously thought, creating a more serious threat to our economy, our environment and to future generations.
I recently returned from a meeting of leaders of the world’s major developed and developing countries in Italy, where our discussions focused on our global efforts to tackle climate change.
This meeting - the Major Economies Forum on Climate and Energy – made some important progress. In particular, it recognised the clear message from climate science that the increase in global average temperature must not exceed 2°C.
Continue reading "Here’s why Fielding should support us on climate" »
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chris says:
Hmmm Bluey, you sound frighteningly like Kev talking down to me and “bungin’ on” a bit of blokieness eh?? You refer me to ABC to check facts… on global warming..? Surely you jest Blue! Read more »
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James says:
I suppose temperature in New Zealand can be used to infer global average temperatures? I’m sorry but you’re arguement it too stupid to waste more words on. Read more »
Climate change is real. Yes that’s right, contrary to the misreporting in the media, I do believe in climate change.
That might come as a shock to some of those on the left side of politics, but it’s the truth.
The question that concerns me, however, is what is driving it? Is it increasing levels of human made carbon dioxide emissions, variations in solar radiation or something else?
Continue reading "The real reason I’ll fight in the Senate on climate change" »
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Seano says:
My computer science degree also qualifies me as a climate change expert. Read more »
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Front Row says:
Whatever the truth of the global warming/cooling/drowning thing is, we should be very clear about this: There is no way that the United States is going to be doing anything about an ETS or a similar program for at least a decade. All of the credible polls indicate “climate change”… Read more »
Rightly or wrongly the Senate is currently standing in the way of a chunk of the Rudd Government’s agenda.
The Rudd Bank, Renewable Energy Targets, and a Building Industry Watchdog are all in contention at the moment.
But after Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young suffered what she said was the most “humiliating moment” of her life last night, its been agreed the Senate will debate on Monday the rules over children being allowed into the Chamber. Taxpayer dollars at work.
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Lexi says:
The real issue here is not whether the child should be in the workplace - most people are of the opinion that it’s not professional. The problem I see is that the major parties are so desperate for the Greens to play nice with them in the Senate, that new… Read more »
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Karen says:
Nobody wants to see children or breastfeeding in Parliament, or anywhere for that matter in public. Too many women, especially mothers, just expect the world to bow down to them and give them everything on a platter because they are nurturing the “future generation”. Big deal. That’s been happening for… Read more »
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