AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

From virus city to island refuge

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Original article by Richard Ferguson, Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 30-Jan-20

The federal government has requested permission from its Chinese counterpart to evacuate Australian citizens from Wuhan. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stressed that only one chartered flight from Australia may be permitted to land in Wuhan, while he has defended the government over criticism of its slow response to repatriating citizens who are in the quarantined city. The government intends to place evacuees in quarantine on Christmas Island for up to 14 days. Seven cases of the coronavirus has now been confirmed in Australia; more than 6,000 people worldwide have contracted the virus, which has claimed 132 lives to date.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Aussies trapped as US flees virus

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Original article by Richard Ferguson, Amanda Hodge
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Jan-20

The official death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 106, while more than 4,500 people have now been diagnosed with the illness worldwide. The virus has spread to at least 15 countries, including the US, France and Japan, with five cases having been confirmed in Australia to date. Meanwhile, more than 400 Australian citizens remain in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the outbreak began, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that the federal government will seek to evacuate them. The Chinese government has not yet agreed to allow Australia to send a chartered plane to Wuhan, although the US has been cleared to do so.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Coronavirus: Australian government asks travellers to reconsider their need to travel to China

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Original article by Danuta Kozaki, Kevin Nguyen
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 29-Jan-20

The federal government’s Smarttraveller website has updated its travel advice for China in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Australians have been advised to reconsider whether they need to travel to China at all, while Foreign Minister Marise Payne says people should not travel to Hubei province – ‘ground zero’ for the virus – under any circumstances. Meanwhile, some schools in New South Wales have urged parents to keep their children at home for the start of the school year if they have travelled to China in recent weeks.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

PM’s bid to boost disaster powers

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Original article by Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 29-Jan-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will use a National Press Club speech on 29 January to argue the case for the federal government to be given increased powers to declare a national emergency. He will also call for the government to be given the power to deploy Australian Defence Force personnel to disaster areas without a request from a state premier. Morrison will stress the need for Australia to learn from the current bushfire season in order to be better prepared for future disasters.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

MPs warn of side effects if McKenzie fired

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 28-Jan-20

Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie remains under scrutiny over the ‘sports rorts’ scandal in her previous role as sports minister. Senior bureaucrat Phil Gaetjens will release a report into the allocation of sports grants in coming days, amid demands for McKenzie to lose her portfolio. However, some National Party MPs are concerned that removing McKenzie could embroil Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the scandal, as his office is believed to have passed requests for funds from Liberal MPs on to McKenzie’s office.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

PM’s welfare shake-up to deliver $2bn saving

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 28-Jan-20

The federal government will legislate to ensure that welfare recipients are not overpaid, in a move that is projected to save some $2.1bn over four years. The proposed reform will affect about 1.2 million welfare recipients who also have income from a job, with changes to how they report gross earnings to Centrelink. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston says the current system for calculating earnings can be confusing and result in misreporting. The cost savings will help offset the impact of the bushfires on the federal Budget.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Health authorities brace for coronavirus’ spread from China

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Original article by Eryk Bagshaw
The Age – Page: Online : 24-Jan-20

Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, says health authorities are developing a one-step test for the pneumonia-like coronavirus. Chinese officials are preparing to seal off Wuhan, a city with 11 million people, in an attempt to contain the spread of coronavirus, with the last flight out of Wuhan to Australia arriving in Sydney on 23 January. Murphy says that if any passengers on the flight were infected, it could be weeks before they display any symptoms. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Australians not to be too concerned; he noted that there have been no confirmed cases of the disease in Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Australia among 21 nations where perceived corruption has worsened

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 24-Jan-20

Australia has received a rating of 77 out 100 in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. This is unchanged from 2019, although the nation has risen from 13th position to 12th in terms of the world’s least corrupt nations. Australia has also been identified as one of 21 countries in which perceived corruption has significantly declined since 2012. Transparency International Australia CEO Serena Lillywhite says the nation’s ranking and trust in the government will continue to decline unless a proposed federal anti-corruption agency is established.

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TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA

Turmoil as Nats split on rorts deputy

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 24-Jan-20

The future of Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie remains under scrutiny in the wake of the so-called ‘sports rorts’ scandal. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that he will take appropriate action when an investigation by top bureaucrat Philip Gaetjens is completed. However, National Party leader Michael McCormack has expressed support for his embattled deputy, although some Nationals MPs believe that McKenzie’s position is untenable. She was sports minister when the grants for community sports groups were allocated.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

PM orders probe into McKenzie

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 23-Jan-20

The so-called ‘sports rorts’ scandal that has embroiled Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie has been referred to Philip Gaetjens, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet. He will investigate whether McKenzie breached ministerial standards with regard to the allocation of sports grants in her previous role as sports minister. McKenzie has also been accused of a conflict of interests in giving a $35,000 grant to a clay target club of which she was a member. Labor contends that she may be in contempt of the Senate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY