POLITICIANS – AUSTRALIA

ALP links: 189-vote senator blocks $36bn tax cuts

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Original article by Michael Owen, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Mar-18

The Federal Government still hopes to secure the two Senate votes that are required to pass its corporate tax cuts package. The Government is continuing to negotiate with Derryn Hinch, but fellow crossbencher Tim Storer says he cannot support the bill in its current form. He argues that the forgone revenue from the company tax cuts should instead be used to finance social and economic programs. Storer gained just 189 votes as a Nick Xenophon Team candidate at the 2016 election, and he was elevated to the Senate after Skye Kakoschke-Moore was ruled ineligible due to dual citizenship. He had resigned from the Australian Labor Party in 2015.

CORPORATES
NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT

Billson faces rebuke for working two jobs

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Original article by Adam Gartrell
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 11 : 27-Mar-18

Federal parliament’s privileges committee has recommended amending parliamentary rules so that MPs are banned from undertaking any paid lobbying. This follows its finding that former Small Business Minister Bruce Billson had not followed parliamentary standards when he undertook paid lobby work while he was still an MP. Billson, who left parliament after the June 2016 election, took on a paid role with the Franchise Council of Australia in March of that year. However, he did not disclose his appointment in the register of interests. Billson is expected to be censured by federal parliament as a result of the privileges committee’s findings.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, FRANCHISE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AGILE ADVISORY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Cash could face court over raids

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Original article by Adam Gartrell
The Age – Page: 9 : 16-Mar-18

Daniel Walton, the national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, says it will seek to subpoena Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash to appear before a hearing into a police raid on the union’s offices in October 2017. The AWU also wants to subpoena Cash’s former media adviser, David De Garis, who resigned after admitting that he told the media about the raid, as well as the Fair Work Ombudsman’s former media director, Mark Lee. The latter has denied leaking details of the raid to De Garis.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GETUP LIMITED

PM’s poll survival plan

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 6-Mar-18

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has downplayed concerns about his continued poor performance in public opinion polls. Turnbull ousted predecessor Tony Abbott after the latter had racked up 30 consecutive negative opinion polls, but the Coalition has now trailed Labor in 28 polls under Turnbull’s leadership. Supporters of Turnbull argue that he also cited factors such as Abbott’s lack of economic leadership for the spill in September 2015. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says his values and priorities are education, health and jobs, rather than opinion polls.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEWSPOLL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Shorten’s excellent $17,000 coral and coal adventure

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Mar-18

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has disclosed that the Australian Conservation Foundation paid for him to tour the Great Barrier Reef and take a chartered flight over the site of Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine. ACF CEO Kelly O’Shanassy says Shorten subsequently discussed Labor’s options for blocking the Carmichael project with herself and environmentalist Geoff Cousins. Shorten has attracted criticism over his inconsistent stance on coal mining.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INCORPORATED, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Shorten vowed to kill Adani mine

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Original article by Rhian Deutrom, Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Feb-18

Former Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins held private meetings with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in January. They discussed the potential environmental impact of Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, and Cousins says Shorten repeatedly stated that Labor will revoke Adani’s coal mining licence on environmental grounds if it wins the next election. Shorten’s stance on the Carmichael mine has wavered over the last year, and Cousins argues that he needs to resolve Labor’s policy regarding the controversial project.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INCORPORATED, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Shorten vowed to kill Adani mine

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Original article by Rhian Deutrom, Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Feb-18

Former Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins held private meetings with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in January. They discussed the potential environmental impact of Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, and Cousins says Shorten repeatedly stated that Labor will revoke Adani’s coal mining licence on environmental grounds if it wins the next election. Shorten’s stance on the Carmichael mine has wavered over the last year, and Cousins argues that he needs to resolve Labor’s policy regarding the controversial project.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INCORPORATED, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Nationals leader: I’m not Barnaby

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 27-Feb-18

New National Party leader Michael McCormack says he will not seek to emulate former leader Barnaby Joyce in terms of his leadership style. McCormack, who also becomes Deputy Prime Minister as a result of his elevation to the Nationals leadership, notes that everyone has their own way of acting as a leader. McCormack has taken over Joyce’s transport and infrastructure portfolios, and rejects claims that the proposed $A10 billion inland rail link from Brisbane to Melbourne will not deliver a return for taxpayers.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Call for Adani to get on and build

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Original article by Mark Ludlow, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Feb-18

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Jackie Trad says it is time that Adani made a commitment to develop the $A16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine. Trad reiterated previous comments that the Carmichael project needs to be viable in its own right, a view echoed by federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese. Trad’s comments followed the revelation that Adani had backtracked on making March the deadline for deciding whether to make a financial commitment to the project.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY

Joyce faces challenge to Nats leadership

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Original article by Andrew Tillett, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Feb-18

Barnaby Joyce’s future as leader of the National Party remains under scrutiny ahead of a party room meeting on 26 February. Nationals MP Andrew Broad will ask his colleagues to support a resolution calling for Joyce to resign, arguing that he should do so for the good of the party and the nation. Broad also believes that Joyce should step down from his ministerial portfolio and spend some time on the backbench in the wake of his affair with a former staffer. The National Party’s chief whip Michelle Landry says Joyce should have sufficient party room support to fend off a leadership spill.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF VETERANS’ AFFAIRS