Gloves are back on
AFTER a two-week moratorium on political sparring, expect MPs and senators to step back into the ring with gusto. The end of the official mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II means politicians can dust off their gloves and start swinging – though don’t expect much talk of an Australian republic.
Instead, scrapping the compulsory cashless debit card, a federal corruption watchdog, childcare changes and the end of the fuel excise are among the issues set to dominate this week’s delayed parliamentary sitting.
Anthony Albanese is out of action due to a longstanding commitment to attend the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July.
This means Defence Minister Richard Marles will be sitting in the chair as acting Prime Minister, squaring off with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at Question Time.
With the next federal budget now less than a month away, the Coalition will sharpen its attack on cost-ofliving issues.
The opposition is also expected to take up the fight on the government’s move to scrap the compulsory cashless debit card and will continue to highlight Labor’s relationship with certain unsavoury union figures.
It is understood Mr Marles has been preparing for bouts on these issues, and is no doubt hoping to emulate the weekend’s performance of his beloved Geelong Cats – rather than the Sydney Swans.
DEVIL IN THE DETAIL ON ANTI-CORRUPTION
LABOR’S model for a national anticorruption commission will finally be unveiled this week, but there’s one small detail the government is hoping everyone will overlook.
And no, it’s not the model itself, which will, of course, be dissected from every angle by pro and antiintegrity commission camps once the draft legislation is released on Tuesday.
As focus shifts to the content of the proposal, it appears Mr Albanese is hoping no one will remember that he did promise to “legislate” the federal corruption watchdog by the end of this year. This column has previously highlighted the difficulty in delivering a complex Bill on such a tight timeline, which has been exacerbated by the delay in parliament sitting caused by the Queen’s death.
Instead of conceding his ambitious promise made in the heady early days of the federal election campaign may not be achievable, Mr Albanese has taken the frankly bizarre step of denying he ever made such a pledge in the first place. But unfortunately for the PM, there are receipts.
According to a transcript issued by Mr Albanese’s office on April 16, the Labor leader said: “We will legislate this year a national anti-corruption commission.” The PM now prefers to rely on a statement he made later on May 18, in which he vaguely committed that “a Labor government I lead will put forward legislation … before this year is over”.
Given the very clear mandate Australians gave the government to deliver a national anti-corruption body, Labor would be better to focus on delivering the best version they can, in a reasonable time, than trying to rewrite history to avoid a mildly uncomfortable political narrative.
STEP CLOSER TO ENDING A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
THE ongoing Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has already made it abundantly clear that Australia has let down its current and former serving men and women.
In an interim report released in August, the failings of successive governments were laid bare, and 13 recommendations made to address urgent issues. On Monday Labor was due to make its formal response to these recommendations.
The government has already started the critical process of clearing the backlog of assistance claims sitting with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
But it also must take immediate steps to clear the legal barriers the royal commissioners have argued prevent them from access to information they need.
Anything less than a plan to legislate protections for witnesses and to prevent those within institutions from hiding from the royal commission would only further compound previous governments’ failings.
SPORT A GOLDEN POINT OF DIPLOMACY
AUSTRALIA’S new $2.2m investment in Papua New Guinea’s rugby league teams is a blip in the broader context of security in the Indo-Pacific, but its significance should not be overlooked.
The funding, which was announced on Sunday to coincide with PNG Prime Minister James Marape’s visit to Queensland, is about so much more than sport.
As Australia grapples with a more belligerent China looking to expand its influence in the region – often using cash in questionable ways to do so – being able to offer something money can’t buy is a critical advantage.
Providing Indo-Pacific nations access to our sporting, education and cultural activities and programs can build lifelong connections with communities and insure against potential security threats.