POLITICIANS – 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

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

Hastie helped spy find an ASIO haven

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 29-Nov-19

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has been linked to Wang Liqiang, who claims to have been a Chinese spy and is now seeking asylum in Australia. It has been revealed that Hastie was contacted by an associate of Wang via an encrypted telephone app in early October. Hastie, who chairs the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, then contacted ASIO about Wang’s allegations regarding Chinese intelligence operations in Australia. The Chinese government maintains that Wang is a fraudster rather than a spy.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE LIMITED

Activist threat to blockade airport

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 25-Nov-19

Extinction Rebellion has demanded immediate action on climate change in the wake of the recent bushfires. The climate activist group has warned that federal MPs will be prevented from accessing Canberra airport when parliament rises for the year on 5 December unless they take action to shut down the fossil fuel industry and adopt a target of net zero emissions by 2025. Shadow resources minister Joel Fitzgibbon says the latter demand would destroy the Australian economy. The proposed blockade has also been criticised by Liberal-National Party MPs Michelle Landry and Keith Pitt.

CORPORATES
EXTINCTION REBELLION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND

Albanese to dodge unions’ walkout

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 15-Nov-19

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has refuted claims that he will not attend the party’s Victorian state conference on 16-17 November because unions planned to stage a mass walkout when he gave the keynote speech. Albanese says the decision was made several months ago, while Deputy Leader Richard Marles will be at the conference but has declined to deliver the keynote speech. The proposed walkout by unions that are aligned with Labor’s Left faction is primarily in response to the party’s support for free-trade agreements with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Co-author of ALP’s tax policy slammed

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 4 : 12-Nov-19

Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers have sought to omit the use of the phrase ‘the top end of town’ following Labor’s defeat in the May election. However, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar notes Chalmers has used the phrase over 300 times since 2013. Sukkar has also accused Chalmers of allowing Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen to take all of the blame for Labor’s tax policies, saying he should admit to playing his part in putting the policies together.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

‘We’re not doing it’: PM quickly nixes call to raise GST

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 29-Oct-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ruled out any changes to the goods and services tax regime without seeking a mandate from voters. Morrison has indicated that the federal government looked at broadening the GST when he was Treasurer, but such a move was deemed to have little economic benefit. Liberal senator Dean Smith recently broke ranks with his Coalition colleagues by advocating an increase in the rate and scope of the GST, arguing that the additional revenue would allow the states to abolish payroll taxes.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEW SOUTH WALES. THE TREASURY

Setka forks out $40k of members’ funds on ad

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 26-Sep-19

Embattled Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union official John Setka has criticised senator Jacqui Lambie in a full-page advertisement in the ‘Herald Sun’. Lambie has signalled that she will support the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill unless Setka steps down as Victorian secretary of the CFMMEU. Setka has accused her of attempting to blackmail himself and the union’s members. A spokesman for Setka says the ad was "union business", so it was funded by the CFMMEU rather than Setka.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Time to stay calm on Iran, says Frydenberg, despite perfect storm

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Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 17-Sep-19

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has urged business leaders and investors not to overreact to recent events such as the attacks on Saudi oil facilities. He said on 16 September that the attacks, along with Brexit and trade tensions, give "investors cause to pause". The attacks, which took place on 14 September, have sparked fears of war in the Middle East, with Donald Trump saying the US is "locked and loaded" to take action over them. Iran has denied allegations it was responsible for the attacks, which saw the price of Brent crude oil jump almost 20 per cent when markets opened on 16 September.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY