“Five” Starts with “F”, So Here’s 5and5 Friday . . .

Fiona Uncategorized

courtesy of Tony Burke, MP.

At one level the job is pretty simple: we stand up for those who need us most. This week Jenny Macklin and Penny Wong had significant wins for families and workers by doing just that.

Here’s the #5and5.

BEST

1. Ever since the 2014 Budget, Jenny Macklin has been leading the fight against cuts that would cost the typical family $6,000 a year. This week the Government backed down and gave up on $5 billion of the harshest cuts. It’s been a huge campaign which started with Bill Shorten’s 2014 Budget reply speech. These cuts were aimed at some of the most vulnerable Australians. There is a new proposal from the Government, but more about that in a minute.

2. The debate on the Free Trade Agreement with China started in the House of Reps on Wednesday with Bill recalling that Labor has a history of engaging with China, supporting trade, and importantly defending workers. The agreement Penny Wong and Bill Shorten reached delivered significantly on all three.

3. It’s rare a single question can change a national debate, but on Wednesday Clare O’Neil did just that. In a question to Malcolm Turnbull, Clare asked whether the outcome of a plebiscite on marriage equality would be binding on coalition MPs. In response, Malcolm Turnbull revealed for the first time he is working on legislation where the change would have already passed the Parliament but would only take effect following a plebiscite.

4. Last week I let you know about the Liberal Senators who spoke in favour of weakening protections against racist hate speech in Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. This week nine Labor members stood up in the House to speak against these changes, and Michelle Rowland pushed Malcolm Turnbull to agree the Bill would not be brought back for debate.

5. Who’s on first? The split over who’s responsible for what in the new Government is pure chaos. Albo and Mark Butler didn’t miss when they pointed out there are four different ministers in charge of cities. Water is just as bad – even though Barnaby Joyce announced he was in charge of environmental water held in rural and regional dams, Malcolm Turnbull thinks Greg Hunt is in charge, and the Senior Public Servants in Senate Estimates said it was the Minister for Cities, Jamie Briggs – who isn’t necessarily in charge of cities.

WORST

1. NBN. Remember when Malcolm Turnbull announced he was using the existing copper network to save money? That was before he nearly doubled the cost of the National Broadband Network and slowed it down. This week it got even worse. Jason Clare asked Malcolm Turnbull if reports were true the NBN had now started to purchase new copper wire. Not just a little bit of new copper wire, more than 1,800 kms. That’s nearly enough to reach from Parliament House to Alice Springs!

2. Scott Morrison. My first draft of the #5and5 dedicated all five in the worst to Scott Morrison. Anyone can be caught out not knowing a particular statistic, but the questions Chris Bowen fired at the new Treasurer went to the absolute basics of Morrison’s new job. The Treasurer of Australia couldn’t answer questions as straightforward as: Was growth revised up or down in the last Budget? But the strangest one was when Chris asked when the Budget is projected to return to surplus? Morrison answered: “When expenditure is less than revenue.” So far Morrison is working hard at being the weakest link in this Government.

3. On Thursday, Christian Porter decided to compete with Scott Morrison for weakest link. Jenny Macklin was interrogating the detail of the new proposed changes to family tax benefits, only to find the new Minister for Social Services was musing on the need for grandparent carers to go back to work and for 15 year olds to attend childcare. Even though the Government has retreated from measures on families in the 2014 Budget, Malcolm Turnbull’s new proposals hurt some very vulnerable Australians and the new minister seems to have no idea.

4. The curious case of the marble table. The night Tony Abbott lost his job he held a party in his office which may have got out of hand and a very fancy marble table was smashed. The next day Jamie Briggs showed up to work injured and people started to wonder if the two events were connected.

This week, when Jamie Briggs was asked a question, Christopher Pyne objected and said a different minister should be asked. I took a point of order saying I understood why the Government wouldn’t want to let Jamie anywhere near the House of Reps table. For what it’s worth, he’s adamant he didn’t break the table, and given I don’t have any friends who get invited to Tony Abbott’s parties, I might just take him at his word on this one.

5. The hole. Last week Albo told Warren Truss that the only hole the Government had dug is the one they buried the former Prime Minister in. This isn’t true. On Thursday, Catherine King asked why the Government “paid $56 million to the Northern Territory CLP government to dig a hole in Palmerston, part fill it with concrete, hold a media event and then immediately fill the hole again?” Paul Fletcher who is the new minister in charge of major projects had a moment of animation and tried to claim the hole had to be refilled for occupational health and safety reasons, which doesn’t really explain why they dug it in the first place.

It will be a long fight to the next election and Malcolm Turnbull has only just started to make new policy decisions. But if the treatment of grandparent carers is any guide, the decisions will have one key ingredient in common: the people who are most vulnerable are only defended when Labor defends them.

There was plenty of talk about the Back to the Future movies this week. So in honour of the year 1985 when the films began, here’s a song which brings together a few of the themes in Parliament this week: Jefferson Starship “We built this city”.

Parliament’s back in a fortnight.

198 thoughts on ““Five” Starts with “F”, So Here’s 5and5 Friday . . .”

  1. This is the song that was played as the bridal waltz when Mrs Scorpio & I attended a most wonderful wedding reception.

    A wonderful friend of ours & her partner came from another wedding reception to perform it for us, backed by a 7 piece band that performed for our reception till well after midnight.

    Unforgettable and truly a magical experience, never to be forgotten.

  2. scorps:

    This sailor’s previous occupation had been as a French Polisher in a family operation. Apparently, being a right hander, he had developed quite a powerful right arm.

    Maybe he had to compensate for a bad shellacker?

    I’m learning as I go, but I’m now getting close to a mostly “mirror” finish – except the last 10-20%.
    I’m hoping a quick rub with “rotten stone” will nail it…

  3. While playing a few clips following on from that Anne Murray one, I came across this one and what memories it brought back.

    As a musician, I played this song many hundreds of times but was amazed that this singer was using an identical guitar that my parents had brought back for me from the USA in 1990, fully 2 years before that model was released in Australia.

    It helped that the son of their good friends there was the west coast manager in LA of Kaman Music which was the US agent for Takamini guitars.

    They got it at “mates rates” with a beautiful fur lined, Canadian guitar case thrown in. I still play it on occasions. A beautiful instrument. Hand made in Japan.

  4. Jaeger,

    Just goes to show that insects can sometimes be useful. From memory in my younger days, most furniture that was french polished was terribly expensive and mostly only bought by people with means.

    This was mostly because it was a highly skilled and labour intensive operation to produce the best quality items.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

  5. The spalted maple veneer is stupidly thin (0.5mm?) but full of character and, fortunately, also very smooth. (“Sanding back” is not really an option.)

    “White” shellac isn’t, but preserves as much of the “wet” timber appearance as possible.
    It’s supposedly a bit harder than traditional shellac finishes, so may be used as a top coat.

    The rest of the guitar is (pale) “mahogany”. I’m finishing in de-waxed ruby shellac.
    (“Garnet” shellac is probably closer to the colour I had in mind at the start, but “ruby” is growing on me – and a better match with the spalted maple cap.)

  8. From memory in my younger days, most furniture that was french polished was terribly expensive and mostly only bought by people with means.

    This was mostly because it was a highly skilled and labour intensive operation to produce the best quality items.

    OTOH, as Jeremy Clarkson may have said a few times: “How hard can it be?”

    O_o

  10. Hittin’ the road with the Bedford and the nags this morning…first time out for all of us for a while..nice day for it..to Mt. Crawford via Sedan Hill, Keyenton, Eden Valley , Springton…see how the re-worked motor goes…

  11. I can remember “French Polishing” when I was an apprentice…did a bit of it myself…not with great success, I might add…it was one of the trades taught at the trade school…I think it was on it’s last legs as a general trade by then…like solid plastering and stone-masonry…a lot of those old skills were lost..

  12. Couple of worthwhile Saturday paper articles directly on Australian politics. Now that you only get one free article read per week, you’ll either need to clear cookies/history for the second one, or try copying the URL and opening the article in a browser you don’t normally use. I find with using all of Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer on my PC, I can get a lot more free views from the various metered paywalls around. Also, if you’re using a non-usual browser, you’ll have less hesitation regularly clearing your cookies/history to re-visit certain news sites.

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2015/10/24/resolving-doors-and-malcolm-turnbulls-spat-with-mike-baird/14456052002521

    Oct 24, 2015
    Resolving doors and Malcolm Turnbull’s spat with Mike Baird
    Paul Bongiorno

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2015/10/24/malcolm-turnbull-versus-the-coalitions-social-conservatives/14456052002541

    Oct 24, 2015
    Malcolm Turnbull versus the Coalition’s social conservatives
    SOPHIE MORRIS
    For the new prime minister, it’s time to keep his enemies close and the conservatives closer.

  13. http://thewalrus.ca/the-nicest-guy-in-the-room/

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com//news/politics/premiers-agree-to-attend-paris-climate-summit-with-trudeau/article26945307/

    http://kevinbonham.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/poll-roundup-wealth-attack-on-pm-fails.html

    http://www.donotlink.com/h3oz from yesterday, via do not link, so you don’t give Bolt’s site the clicks. Ties back to the theme of the two Sat Paper articles.

  14. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-23/fact-check-bill-shorten-stem-qualifications-australia/6828470

    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/caucus/2015/10/23/ben-carson-charges-9-points-ahead-of-donald-trump-iowa-poll-gop/74278414/

    the craziness continues, see more below

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-24/ben-carson-tops-donald-trump-in-2016-nomination-race/6881730

    http://croakey.org/tobacco-control-is-smart-economics-amongst-other-things/

    http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/10/the-deadly-legacy-of-hiv-truthers/ good recent history article

    http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/future-proof/2015/10/kettles-are-leaking-wifi-passwords-and-other-failures-internet

  16. Meh – Bongiorno’s piece allegedly about Turnbull’s spat with Baird turned out to be yet another ‘Labor is done for/how can they dump Shorten’ ‘Isn’t Turnbull wonderful’ piece of fluff.

  18. I do like Australia’s multicultural spirit, especially the way no body mentions our Minister for Immigration’s Chinese facial features

  20. Paddy Manning, writing for Fairfax, with a not-so-flattering piece about The Messiah which includes this wonderful Keating quote –

    “I fancy Malcolm is like the big red bunger. You light him up, there’s a bit of a fizz, but then nothing, nothing.”

    Bad blood and bastardry: how Malcolm Turnbull became opposition leader
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/paddy-manning-how-malcolm-turnbull-became-opposition-leader-20151021-gkfaru.html

    Manning is drumming up publicity for his book, an unauthorised biography of The Sainted One.

    Paddy Manning’s unauthorised biography of new PM shows Malcolm Turnbull as brilliant but arrogant
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/paddy-mannings-unauthorised-biography-of-new-pm-shows-malcolm-turnbull-as-brilliant-but-arrogant-20151022-gkfvg0.html

  29. Keep this in mind when enduring the media puff pieces. If Turnbull is as popular as Rudd was, why aren’t the polls showing 60-40 to the Coalition?

  34. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-24/eric-abetz-still-a-force-on-tasmanian-liberals-senate-ticket/6881414

    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/asleep-on-duty-australias-patchy-military-response-to-climate-change-risks-20151021-gkegd4.html

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-24/shorten-calls-crackdown-on-imported-building-products-asbestos/6882286

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-23/myanmar-jade-trade-biggest-heist-in-modern-history/6880144

  36. Is Chris Kenny delusional, insane or just a common variety liar?

    Do you all know that Professor Gillian Triggs can't get visa to Nauru? Isn't that amazing? https://t.co/6Tiv3daxlt— Kate Emerson (@kateemerson88) October 20, 2015

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Do you all know that Professor Gillian Triggs can't get visa to Nauru? Isn't that amazing? https://t.co/6Tiv3daxlt— Kate Emerson (@kateemerson88) October 20, 2015

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    For starters – I've never given false evidence to a senate inquiry. https://t.co/tIskDgaLau— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) October 23, 2015

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  39. I think Kenny was sent to Nauru by Turnbull and Dutton to put the government spin on the Abyan saga. The Nauru government does what the Australian government says, orders would have been sent from the top level to let him in.

    Don’t ever forget – Kenny was Turnbull’s Chief of Staff until The Sainted One was bumped of by Abbott in 2009. Kenny quit then. Yet another indication of Turnbull’s absolute lack of judgement.

    Favours owed, secrets held, all that sort of stuff in play here.

  47. I have just discovered I should never try to merge spreadsheets when I am really really tired.

    Of course, I still have the originals, so no harm done. But 20 minutes of time that could have been more profitably used (e.g., sorting the navel fluff collection) has been wasted.

    Tomorrow – upward and onward. As of Monday I will have a hundred or so assignments to mark, so tomorrow must be getting the paper mountain in my study under control (no, not assignments – they are all marked online these days) and stuff made ready for tax returns.

    I might even think about cleaning bits of the kitchen.

  48. Make that three chickens.

    We have FIVE whopping black chickens on the loose,14 brush turkeys, a pair of crested pigeons, a couple of galahs, a corella family, Mr and Mrs Eastern Rosella, countless Rainbow Lorikeets, the odd black cockatoo, and the benign, friendly ghost of Cozzie the Shi’tzu-Silky walking up to everyone saying “Gidday!”, in our little bushland close.

    Sounds like a bastard version of the 12 Days Of Xmas, I know, but that’s life in the big city.

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