#5and5 We are Australian

The week started with the Government two Members down. That meant we had a minority Government. We didn’t have the 76 required to choose what issues would be debated. But on any issue that was before us, if all the crossbench voted with us, then the Government would be a vote behind.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Cash Out

Sometimes you can pinpoint the precise moment that everything shifts. We had started the week pursuing the Government’s handling of the NBN, but at 2pm on Tuesday Bill Shorten rose to ask the Prime Minister about resources for the Australian Federal Police.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 The Majority of One

This was the week we discovered the Government might not have a majority after all. For the first time ever, the Parliament has voted to ask the High Court whether or not we have a majority Government.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week ending 23 June

As everyone heads home at the end of the parliamentary session the changes that are going to be hitting Australians are real. This was the final week to stop the cuts to penalty rates and the last chance to stop the tax cuts to millionaires. Here is the 5 and 5.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Apparently they're not gonna take it

You don’t need inside information from me to know how this week was marked by division within the Government over how to respond to climate change. Remember they used to argue we couldn’t act on climate change because prices would go up and energy would be less secure? Well the Finkel report, which the Government asked the Chief Scientist to write, came back recommending a Clean Energy Target saying it will put downward pressure on prices and increase energy security. 

But the hard right of the Liberal and National Parties weren’t going to let evidence get in the way of an internal brawl. Here’s the #5and5:

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week ending 2 June 2017

It was tax, health and education this week. Well all that, plus infrastructure, climate, One Nation and finally a strange tale involving a giraffe. Let me have a go at explaining the five best and worst things of this week in Parliament. 

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week ending 26 May

Understandably the news focussed on international events and responses. So you won't have heard much about the other issues we pursued in Parliament this week. Here's the #5and5

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week of Budget

The Government’s plan was clear. The Budget was intended to reset the entire political debate. Like the final scene in a Men In Black movie the entire Australian population was meant to erase every memory Australians had since the 2014 Budget.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week of Walk for Respect

We’ve been winning the argument but last night we also won the vote in the Senate on whether there should be permission for more racist hate speech in Australia. I’m still astonished that we even had an official Government proposal to weaken our laws protecting people from this form of racism.

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Tony Burke
#5and5 Week of the Battle for Penalty Rates

We had Tony Abbott going after Malcolm Turnbull in the media, George Christensen resigning as the Nationals Whip (which I wish he’d done before that photo with the whip was ever taken - still trying to erase that memory), and we had leadership speculation about Peter Dutton. Sorry that wasn’t a typo - we had leadership speculation about Peter Dutton.

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Tony Burke