POLITICIANS – AUSTRALIA

Lib takes aim at teal with corruption probe call

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Original article by Rhiannon Down, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 7 : 25-Mar-25

Former Liberal MP Jason Falinski has called for a National Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into MP Zoe Daniel to be re-opened. Daniel had been accused of misusing commonwealth resources, but was cleared by the NACC earlier this year. It came after consultant Jim Middleton approached The Australian Financial Review about dropping Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court from its 2024 Power list, with Holmes a Court having funded Daniel’s 2022 election campaign. The NACC found that Middleton was working as a temporary part-time consultant for Daniel and was being paid by her private not-for-profit company rather than the Commonwealth at the time of his approach to the AFR, but Falinski contends he has evidence that indicates that Middleton was still a ‘senior adviser’ to Daniel at the time, with Falinski accusing her of misleading the NACC.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

ALP’s Michele bollocking: cut rates now

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Original article by Greg Brown, Jack Quail
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Feb-25

Labor MP Mike Freelander says the Reserve Bank of Australia should reduce the cash rate by 50 basis points at its board meeting today. He is among a number of Labor backbenchers who have urged the RBA to ease monetary policy, even though Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told government MPs to avoid publicly commenting on the issue. Opposition leader Peter Dutton favours a rate cut, arguing that families need interest rates relief after 12 increases under the current government. However, EQ Economics’ chief economist Warren Hogan says the case for a rate cut is pretty weak at present, and the RBA should leave the cash rate on hold.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, EQ ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Dutton to RBA: resist pressure to cut rates

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Original article by Michael Read, John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Feb-25

Bond market traders have priced in a 95 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce the cash rate next week. The case for a rate cut was strengthened by recent data showing that the RBA’s preferred measure of underlying inflation has fallen to 3.2 per cent. However, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says there is concern that the RBA may need to tighten monetary policy again if it reduces the cash rate too soon. He has urged RBA governor Michele Bullock to act in the nation’s best interests rather than yielding to political pressure to cut interest rates.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Loss of Western values: Lib MP slams Wong’s contempt

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Original article by Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 14-Jan-25

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of having a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to Israel, and having a lack of faith in the Western values that Australia and Israel share. Leeser contends this lack of faith has resulted in Wong in being openly hostile to what is the only democracy in the Middle East, while he accused her of showing ‘quiet contempt’ by refusing to visit massacre sites on her official trip to Israel. Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein claims that Leeser’s comments about Wong "ring true".

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA-ISRAEL AND JEWISH AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Loss of Western values: Lib MP slams Wong’s contempt

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Original article by Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 14-Jan-25

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of having a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to Israel, and having a lack of faith in the Western values that Australia and Israel share. Leeser contends this lack of faith has resulted in Wong in being openly hostile to what is the only democracy in the Middle East, while he accused her of showing ‘quiet contempt’ by refusing to visit massacre sites on her official trip to Israel. Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein claims that Leeser’s comments about Wong "ring true".

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA-ISRAEL AND JEWISH AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Dutton calls on Thorpe to resign

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Original article by Paul Garvey, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-Oct-24

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe may face a censure motion when the upper house sits in mid-November. However, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says the measure is only symbolic, adding that Thorpe would probably wear it as a "badge of honour". Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Thorpe’s disruption of a parliamentary reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla on Monday was "disrespectful". He adds that there is a very strong argument that Thorpe should resign in principle, given that she does not believe in the parliamentary system but receives a quarter of a million dollars a year from taxpayers. Thorpe is paid a base salary of $233,660 and an additional $25,702 for chairing a committee on so-called ‘forever chemicals’.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Chalmers unmoved by $3m super-tax critics

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 27-Aug-24

Former prime minister Paul Keating has criticised the federal government in regard to its proposal to increase the tax on high-value superannuation accounts. Keating is unhappy about the part of the proposal that involves taxing unrealised gains, while he says if there has to be a threshold, it should be at least $5 million and should be indexed; the government is talking about an account balance threshold of $3 million and does not plan to index it at this stage. Crossbench MPs have echoed Keating’s concerns, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected the criticisms of Keating and the crossbench MPs, contending his proposals are modest and that he is not open to amending them.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Docked pay, red cards for badly behaved politicians

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Original article by Olivia Ireland
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

The federal government will belatedly introduce a bill on Wednesday to establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission. The proposed commission was one of the key recommendations of a landmark 2021 report by former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins, and it was originally intended to be operation by the end of 2023. It will have the power to investigate allegations of breaches of parliamentary standards by MPs, senators and their staffers. Amongst other things, politicians could be be suspended from parliament or be fined up to five per cent of their base salary for any breaches of the standards.

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PM calls for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked for telling voters to use votes as bullets

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Original article by Courtney Gould, Tim Fernandez
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 30-Jul-24

National Party MP Barnaby Joyce has apologised for using an inappropiate metaphor during an anti-wind farm rally in NSW on Sunday. Joyce likened a ballot paper in the upcoming election to a bullet and the ballot box to a gun’s magazine; he stated that voters should "get ready to load that magazine" and says goodbye to Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese and the local MP Stephen Jones. Albanese has urged Opposition leader Peter Dutton to remove Joyce from his frontbench, contending that the analogy was completely unacceptable and could potentially incite violence behaviour. Joyce’s comments followed the recent failed attempt to assassinate former US president Donald Trump.

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Not Labor they elected as people reel from Gaza war

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Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 9-Jul-24

Fatima Payman says people who voted for a Labor government have told her that it is now not serving their interests, when being asked why the now independent senator was not quitting her seat. Payman quit the Labor Party last week after crossing the floor on the issue of Palestinian statehood, claiming the government was not moving quickly enough on the matter. She claims that it is not just Australia’s Muslim and Palestinian communities that are being affected by the war in Gaza, saying it has "been impacting each and every person with a conscience and a heart out there".

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