5&5: Bragging Rites
Both the House and the Senate are back from the winter break for a double sitting week. A lot happened.
Here’s the 5&5:
BEST
Next step in ending gambling harm
Saving Tomago
Backing early educators
100,000 free TAFE places
Happy Feet
WORST
Nothing to Bragg about
Calling for higher interest rates
What is Medicare?
Just wanted to flag with you
Thank you Speaker Smith
1. Next step in ending gambling harm
The House spent much of this week debating our bill to address the harms of gambling. There have been some really powerful speeches, few more so than Jodie Belyea's, “I have often reflected on my predecessor and friend, the late Peta Murphy. Peta was a passionate and determined advocate for Australians experiencing gambling harm. She understood both the scale of the problem and the very real human impact that sits behind it.” Jodie continued, “Throughout this debate, I have also spoken to Rod, her husband. In April this year, Rod wrote and shared on social media, 'Let's not let the pursuit of perfection stand in the way of reforms that will deliver real protection now.' I believe Peta would have recognised these reforms for what they are: an important next step—not the end of the conversation but a significant and meaningful step forward that will make a difference in people's lives and the community. That is worth supporting.” Renee Coffey also shared an emotional story of a mother’s experience with gambling harm in her community that’s definitely worth the watch.
2. Saving Tomago
We promised to back Australian workers and Australian manufacturing. And on Thursday, the PM and Premier Minns, accompanied by Chris Bowen, Tim Ayres, Meryl Swanson and Kate Washington visited the hunter region to deliver on this promise, making a landmark announcement to secure the future of Tomago Aluminium and the thousands of jobs that depend on it. As the Prime Minister told the House during QT on Thursday: “Resilience, good, secure jobs and a future made in Australia are what we have delivered with New South Wales and Tomago Aluminium today, securing the future for more than 1,000 workers directly on the Tomago Aluminium smelter site itself and more than 5,000 jobs direct in the Hunter, helping to contribute to the manufacturing supply chain and the future for the generations of Australians who will work at Tomago in the years to come.”
3. Backing early educators
When Labor came to office, childcare centres were losing staff at an alarming rate. Educators loved the job, but too often couldn't afford to stay. On Wednesday, Jason Clare introduced legislation to extend support for the wage rise that's helped turn things around. As he explained to the House during QT that same day: ‘It turns out that, if you pay people more, more people want to do the job. The legislation that I introduced this morning locks all of this in. It's good for workers because they get paid more, but it's also good for parents, because part of the legislation here is that childcare centres only get the funding if they also cap their fee increases. That'll save the average family about $1,500 over the next two years.’
4. 100,000 free TAFE places
Free TAFE is here to stay. Andrew Giles took the opportunity to remind the House how 100,000 places guaranteed each year from 2027 will make a real impact. “Free TAFE is changing lives. It's backing more Australians into good, secure jobs, which our communities need right around the country…Labor, is the party of TAFE. The opposition leader can't even say the word 'TAFE' or look up Medicare online, it seems.”
5. Happy Feet
Bird flu is a serious threat to Australia's wildlife. That's why the Albanese Labor Government has taken critical action and invested in preparedness, habitat protection and biosecurity measures to help protect threatened species. But in the fight against bird flu, one bit of happy news this week stood out as Julie Collins announced the little penguins at both Phillip Island and St Kilda will be vaccinated, starting as early as next week. Adding to this on Thursday Jullie Collins announced further steps to combat the bird flu with Western Australia’s threatened black cockatoos becoming the next species to be vaccinated against bird flu.
1. Nothing to Bragg about
Andrew Bragg's major speech this week got a bit of buzz, but not quite in the way he imagined. It was extraordinary, to say the least. Bragg managed to get ahead of himself by announcing a major policy outside his shadow portfolio without the authorisation or endorsement of his Leader or the relevant Shadow Minister. The Prime Minister during QT on Thursday was quick to point to some of the more remarkable positions Bragg has taken, from calling universal superannuation one of the biggest public policy failures since Federation to suggesting some low-income Australians would have to accept substandard housing. As Charlotte Walker put it: “Australians are entitled to ask who is running the show over there. Because at the moment the Liberal Party doesn't look like an alternative government. It looks like a group therapy session with the press gallery. Perhaps, before they start lecturing the country on its direction, they could work out which direction their party is going. I present to you 'Braggy's Big Day Out'.”
2. Calling for higher interest rates
The RBA’s decision on Tuesday to hold interest rates was welcome news for many Australians, except of course Tim Wilson. The PM reminded the House during QT on Tuesday that the now Shadow Treasurer spent years arguing rates were too low and should go up. Tim Wilson didn’t appreciate the inconvenient reminder and found his interjection earned him a one-way ticket out of the Chamber.
3. What is Medicare?
No matter how many times I say this, it still rings true: Angus Taylor and the Liberals cannot be trusted on Medicare. This week, it was revealed that the Shadow Health Minister sought a departmental definition of Medicare. In response to a great question from Jess Teesdale, Mark Butler told the House: The Leader of the Opposition—I continue to search his website every week or so and I still can't find a single mention of Medicare or health policy on the Leader of the Opposition's website. And of course, the Shadow Minister has had to ask my department for help in understanding what Medicare means in the first place—to ask the department for a definition. We've helpfully provided her with that, and hopefully that will give her a foundation to put together a health policy for the next election, so they don't have to simply copy ours.
4. Just wanted to flag with you
When MPs arrive at Parliament each morning, they're greeted by a pack of journalists looking for a quick interview. Most of those exchanges don't make the news. That wasn’t the case for Anne Webster, who first thing on Wednesday morning questioned one of the flags flying above Parliament House, and got the flag wrong. You gotta see this for yourself.
5. Thank you Speaker Smith
Dan Tehan came to Question Time armed with a folder of former Speaker Tony Smith quotes, hoping to prove that preambles in answers were against the rules. The problem? Speaker Smith allowed them. I stood to make that point, and Speaker Milton Dick had the receipts, producing his own folder to show the House exactly what the precedent says. Worth watching in full.
In the spirit of the current hype around the Odyssey, you can’t miss Murray Watt’s Odyssey-inspired answer in the Senate on Thursday. Watch it here.
Parliament is back again next week.
‘til then,
Tony
PS. The penguins in St Kilda bring joy to so many. So, in honour of protecting them from bird flu, I asked their local member Josh Burns to pick the song of the week from the Happy Feet soundtrack. Josh went with ‘Tell Me Something Good’ by P!NK. Great choice.
