Further Election Update

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Wednesday 8 September 2010 Further Update on the Australian Election Julia Gillard will remain as Australia's prime minister and form a minority Labor Government. Labour reached the required 76 seat majority after securing the support of two of the final three unaligned independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. The remaining independent, Mr Bob Katter, gave his support to the Coalition. The Green MP, and the Tasmanian independent, Mr Andrew Wilkie had already aligned with Labor last week. The final numbers: Labor 76, the Liberal/National Coalition 74. It took almost $10 billion in incentives to regional Australia to secure the support of the independents. In particular health, hospitals and education investment funding along with regional infrastructure were pledged. The regional roll out of the national broadband network, a key issue for the independents, has also been brought forward. The composition of the government requires a higher level of consultation to operate effectively. An "Agreement for a Better Parliament," a reform of parliamentary processes instigated by the independents, has been negotiated with the major parties and focuses on greater integrity, accountability and transparency. Changes include a Speaker who does not sit in a party room, a Deputy from the opposing party, a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner and a formal code of conduct for MPs and Senators, more time for MPs speeches, a Parliamentary Budget Office to provide independent policy proposal costings, a more focused Question Time, a greater role for Committees and more significance given to their reports. Ms Gillard said her new ministry should be able to be sworn in next week..

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Independents in Federal Parliament: a New Challenge Or a Passing Phase?
Independents in Federal Parliament: A new challenge or a passing phase? Jennifer Curtin1 Politics Program, School of Political and Social Inquiry Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. [email protected] “Politics just is the game played out by rival parties, and anyone who tries to play politics in some way entirely independent of parties consigns herself to irrelevance.” (Brennan, 1996: xv). The total dominance of Australia’s rival parties has altered since Brennan made this statement. By the time of the 2001 federal election, 29 registered political parties contested seats and while only the three traditional parties secured representation in the House of Representatives (Liberals, Nationals and Labor) three independents were also elected. So could we argue that the “game” has changed? While it is true that government in Australia, both federally and in the states and territories, almost always alternates between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party (the latter more often than not in coalition with the National Party), independent members have been a feature of the parliaments for many years, particularly at the state level (Costar and Curtin, 2004; Moon,1995). Over the last decade or so independents have often been key political players: for a time, they have held the balance of power in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. More generally, since 1980 an unprecedented 56 independents have served in Australian parliaments. In 2003, 25 of them were still there. This is more than six times the number of independents elected in the 1970s. New South Wales has been the most productive jurisdiction during that time, with fourteen independent members, and Tasmania the least, with only one.
[Show full text]
Read the Australian's Full Response to Media Watch's Questions
From: Mitchell, Chris Sent: Friday, 10 September 2010 5:07 PM To: Lin Buckfield Subject: RE: Questions from Media Watch Dear Lin, Bob Brown criticised the ABC for ignoring the Greens during the federal election campaign and not treating his party seriously. We assigned a senior Canberra bureau reporter to travel around the country with Mr Brown during the early part of the campaign and gave extensive coverage to the party throughout the campaign, including its campaign launch. We make no apologies for applying scrutiny to the Greens’ policies, something other media organisations including the ABC appear to have paid scant attention to, and all the more important given their balance of power position in both Houses. 1 Possibly but not exclusively. We have covered many Greens news stories straight. 2 We are not a big circulation newspaper and we are not silly enough to think we could wreck anything. We are scrutinising a major party (as we did the Howard Government during the AWB story) and we are scrutinizing a new government. We do not seek to be part of any “rainbow Coalition” but just to do our jobs 3 We would have run several hundred political stories since August 15. Twenty negatives on the greens seems very few. We would have run many more negative stories about Labor and the Coalition in that period. 4 The public interest in this story is obvious. Imagine if we found Bob Katter’s wife was employed by Tony Abbott. That would have been reported in the public interest. No one thought it inappropriate to report the familial relationship of Bruce Hawker and his cousin Tony Windsor.
[Show full text]
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures—Access Arrangements) Bill 2010
Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services BILLS DIGEST NO. 63, 2010–11 28 February 2011 Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures—Access Arrangements) Bill 2010 Paula Pyburne Law and Bills Digest Section Contents Purpose .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Background .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Basis of policy commitment ................................................................................................................ 4 Committee consideration ................................................................................................................... 5 Current consideration .................................................................................................................... 5 Previous consideration .................................................................................................................. 5 Policy position of non-government parties and independents .......................................................... 6 Coalition ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Australian Greens .......................................................................................................................... 6
[Show full text]
SPECIAL REPORT AUSTRALIA May 28Th 2011
SPECIAL REPORT AUSTRALIA May 28th 2011 No worries? SRaustralia.indd 1 17/05/2011 16:21 S PECIAL REPORT A USTRALIA N o worries? W ith two decades of unbroken growth behind it, record prices for its minerals and an insatiable market on its doorstep, Australia can a ord to be carefree. Or can it, asks John Grimond? HP AP Y THE COUNTRY that never makes the front pages of foreign newspapers. Australia is one such. Only a dozen economies are bigger, and only six nations are richerof which Switzerland alone has even a third as many people. Australia is rich, tranquil and mostly overlooked, yet it has a story to tell. Its current prosperity was far from inevita• ble.Twenty•ve years ago Paul Keating, the country’s treasurer (nance minister), declared that if Australia failed to reform it would become a ba• nana republic. Barely ve years later, after a nasty recession, the country began a period of uninterrupted economic expansion matched by no other rich country. It continues to this day. This special report will explain how this has come about and ask whether it can last. Those with a passing acquaintance of Australia will attribute its success to its luck in having such an abundance of minerals that its C ONTENTS booming Asian neighbours want to buy. That is certainly part of the story. Yet Australia was not dragged down when a nancial 3 The case for crisis struck Asia in 1997. And commodity exports have not complacency always been fashionable. In the 1990s many thought they She’ll be right were evidence of an incorrigibly old, low•tech econ• omy doomed to decline.
[Show full text]
The Most Vitriolic Parliament
THE MOST VITRIOLIC PARLIAMENT EVIDENCE OF THE VITRIOLIC NATURE OF THE 43 RD PARLIAMENT AND POTENTIAL CAUSES Nicolas Adams, 321 382 For Master of Arts (Research), June 2016 The University of Melbourne, School of Social and Political Sciences Supervisors: Prof. John Murphy, Dr. Scott Brenton i Abstract It has been suggested that the period of the Gillard government was the most vitriolic in recent political history. This impression has been formed by many commentators and actors, however very little quantitative data exists which either confirms or disproves this theory. Utilising an analysis of standing orders within the House of Representatives it was found that a relatively fair case can be made that the 43rd parliament was more vitriolic than any in the preceding two decades. This period in the data, however, was trumped by the first year of the Abbott government. Along with this conclusion the data showed that the cause of the vitriol during this period could not be narrowed to one specific driver. It can be seen that issues such as the minority government, style of opposition, gender and even to a certain extent the speakership would have all contributed to any mutation of the tone of debate. ii Declaration I declare that this thesis contains only my original work towards my Masters of Arts (Research) except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text to other material used. Equally this thesis is fewer than the maximum word limit as approved by the Research Higher Degrees Committee. iii Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge my two supervisors, Prof.
[Show full text]
Waiting for the National Broadband Network: Challenges of Connectivity in Regional Australia
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Middleton, Catherine; Park, Sora Conference Paper Waiting for the national broadband network: Challenges of connectivity in regional Australia 20th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS): "The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies" , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 30th-03rd December, 2014 Provided in Cooperation with: International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Suggested Citation: Middleton, Catherine; Park, Sora (2014) : Waiting for the national broadband network: Challenges of connectivity in regional Australia, 20th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS): "The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies" , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 30th-03rd December, 2014, International Telecommunications Society (ITS), Calgary This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/106893 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.
[Show full text]
Bring on the Broadband - Regional Australia
Bring on the Broadband - Regional Australia The National Broadband Network (NBN) was “... the delivery of broadband services to regional proposed during 2007 as an election promise by the Australians was also a key issue” Labour party. Support for the NBN since its He also stated: proposal has appeared to be strongest in rural and regional Australia. For example in 2008 a survey by “I see the National Broadband Network as the the Australian Industry Group and Deloitte (2008), railway of the 21st Century that will help country of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) employing Australians overcome the disadvantages of distance, around 215,000 people, and reported that two thirds remoteness and smallness” of all the CEOs Australia wide believed that their Although Bob Katter MP, the independent Federal businesses would reap benefits from high-speed Member for Kennedy ultimately supported the broadband. Coalition he preferred the NBN to the Coalitions broadband proposal, stating: “The overwhelming majority of Australian “The NBN was a better option of the two broadband businesses now have some form of internet policies presented throughout the election access, but the absence of an effective and truly campaign” (Hutchinson, 2010) national, high speed broadband network has meant that many have failed to take advantage So why is there so much desire in the in of the new applications and ‘next generation’ rural/regional Australia for the NBN? services available. Business efficiencies, productivity gains and other commercial In this article we will first examine the history of the benefits have been lost as a result. ” ‘gobroadband’ initiative of Southern Cross University.
[Show full text]
Mr.Tony Windsor Chairman Murray Darling Basin Inquiry PO Box 6021 Parliament House Act 2600 Submission No: Date Received
16/12/10 Mr.Tony Windsor Chairman Murray Darling Basin Inquiry PO Box 6021 Parliament House Act 2600 Submission No: Date Received:.. Secretary!........., Dear Sir, Find enclosed our submission to the Murray Darling Basis inquiry chaired by Mr Tony Windsor. Trusting we can getter a better out come for the farmers. Yours Sincerely John McGrath CC: Mr Richard Anderson Mr.Anthony Couronpis SASIN INQUIRY SUBMISSION TO COMMITTEE SECRETARY ON REGINAL AUSTRALIA P O BOX 6021 PARLIAMENT HOUSE CANBERRA ACT 2600 John McGrath 13/12/2010 The committee Secretary Standing Committee On Reginal Australia PO Box 6012 Parliament House Canberra 2600 Submission on Murray Darling Water Use By John Alexander McGrath Retired Farmer age 76yrs. Credentials and Experience Started farming age 20 with borrowed funds clearing forest and scrub land. During 1971 entered and won State competition for farms under $100,000. The judges said the farm was an outstanding example of development in virgin' country and over a relative short period a valuable asset relatively free of debt and been created from limited cash resources. My First Thoughts; Murray Darling Water Use: With a future 50 million population as against a past 100 thousand there is NO way that the environment can be issued with the same amount of water. Irrigation has with big projects done a lot of good for the environment, Snowy Mountain scheme, Dams Hume, Dartmouth, Eildon, to just name a few. There is a need for some water to flow to the sea to reduce salt levels. FIRSTLY; The 4 barrages that block the Murray from the sea need removing.
[Show full text]
OAK Oakeshott, Rob, 1969 Rob (Robert James Murray Oakeshott) Worked Initially As a Staffer in the Office of Mark Vaile, Federal Member for Lyne
Port Macquarie Historical Society OAK Oakeshott, Rob, 1969 Rob (Robert James Murray Oakeshott) worked initially as a staffer in the office of Mark Vaile, Federal Member for Lyne. On 30 November 1996 he was elected State Member for Port Macquarie in the NSW Parliament. In September 2008, in a by-election, he was elected Federal Member for Lyne in the Commonwealth Parliament, and held this seat until the 2013 election, in which he did not stand for re-election. OAK/1 [Federal Member for Lyne] Appointment Diary (Office Copy), 2008-2013 OAK/1/1 1 - 31 December 2008, 2008-2008 OAK/1/2 1 - 31 January 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/3 1 - 28 February 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/4 1 - 31 March 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/5 1 - 30 April 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/6 1 - 31 May 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/7 1 - 30 June 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/8 1 - 31 July 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/9 1 - 31 August 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/10 1 - 30 September 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/11 1 - 31 October 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/12 1 - 30 November 2009, 2009-2009 Page 1 of 64 Tuesday, 25 August 2020 Port Macquarie Historical Society OAK/1/13 1 - 31 December 2009, 2009-2009 OAK/1/14 1 - 31 January 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/15 1 - 28 February 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/16 1 - 31 March 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/17 1 - 30 April 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/18 1 - 31 May 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/19 1 - 30 June 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/20 1 - 31 July 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/21 1 - 31 August 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/22 1 - 31 September 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/23 1 - 31 October 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/24 1 - 30 November 2010, 2010-2010 OAK/1/25 1 - 31 December
[Show full text]
Independents in Australian Parliaments
The Age of Independence? Independents in Australian Parliaments Mark Rodrigues and Scott Brenton* Abstract Over the past 30 years, independent candidates have improved their share of the vote in Australian elections. The number of independents elected to sit in Australian parliaments is still small, but it is growing. In 2004 Brian Costar and Jennifer Curtin examined the rise of independents and noted that independents ‘hold an allure for an increasing number of electors disenchanted with the ageing party system’ (p. 8). This paper provides an overview of the current representation of independents in Australia’s parliaments taking into account the most recent election results. The second part of the paper examines trends and makes observations concerning the influence of former party affiliations to the success of independents, the representa- tion of independents in rural and regional areas, and the extent to which independ- ents, rather than minor parties, are threats to the major parities. There have been 14 Australian elections at the federal, state and territory level since Costar and Curtain observed the allure of independents. But do independents still hold such an allure? Introduction The year 2009 marks the centenary of the two-party system of parliamentary democracy in Australia. It was in May 1909 that the Protectionist and Anti-Socialist parties joined forces to create the Commonwealth Liberal Party and form a united opposition against the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Government at the federal level.1 Most states had seen the creation of Liberal and Labor parties by 1910. Following the 1910 federal election the number of parties represented in the House * Dr Mark Rodrigues (Senior Researcher) and Dr Scott Brenton (2009 Australian Parliamentary Fellow), Politics and Public Administration Section, Australian Parliamentary Library.
[Show full text]
Credit Where Credit Is
ADVERTISEMENT Credit where credit is due WE HAVE all witnessed something The ensuing toxic political discourse We pay tribute to retiring Independents Tony extraordinary in Australian politics over surrounding the Prime Minister and the Windsor and Rob Oakeshott for their true the past three years. minority government gave public licence independence, their courage and hard work in across the community, online and elsewhere, upholding democratic values; and for enduring The 43rd parliament came to a close with the for an unprecedented campaign of sexist with dignity, the threatening abuse aimed at removal of Julia Gillard as the nation’s first and chauvinist abuse, denigration, double them, their partners and staff. female Prime Minister: the first woman ever to standards, gross disrespect for the office of hold the position after one hundred and ten years The success of this minority government has Prime Minister and gross disrespect for her as of federal political leadership that saw 26 male come at a significant cost. a person. Prime Ministers elevated to the highest office. The past three years have led to a great loss It has been a fraught political environment The frenzy of the forthcoming federal election of civility and common decency, a poisonous and we remain baffled by several of the Gillard campaign will change the nation’s focus. Before political discourse and a downturn in respect government’s policies – on immigration and it’s too late, we want to pay public tribute to those for our leaders. We now have a climate in which asylum seekers, reducing economic support for who made this period of democratic minority people willingly and disrespectfully attack single parents and the Prime Minister’s position government a successful one - against the odds.
[Show full text]
The Hon Rob Oakeshott MP Parliament House Canberrra ACT
From the Office of the President The Hon Rob Oakeshott MP Alexander Ward Parliament House [email protected] Canberrra ACT 2600 Dear Mr Oakeshott, MEETING TO DISCUSS LEGISLATIVE STANDARDS, PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND OTHER ISSUES I write to congratulate you on the historic agreement reached between yourself, the Hon. Tony Windsor MP and the Australian Labor Party on 7 September 2010 (the agreement). I also wish to raise some matters relevant to that agreement and some other matters of interest to the Law Council. I would be pleased if we could meet to discuss these matters further. I enclose a copy of a letter that I have recently sent to the Prime Minister in relation to legislative standards in the 43rd Parliament. I also enclose copies of previous correspondence with the former Prime Minister, Mr Rudd in relation to similar issues. As you will note from the most recent correspondence, I hoped that following the formation of the Gillard Government and its agreements with the Greens and a number of Independent Members of the 43rd Parliament, there would be improvements in legislative standards, particularly in timeframes for consultation on draft legislation. However that does not appear to be the case and I write to draw your attention to these concerns. I also write to raise matters concerning the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 and the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2010. These Bills were recently introduced into Parliament and examined by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which recommended amendments to them.
[Show full text]