49 — Billapalooza 2020

It's too hot to podcast but we delve into the content mines yet again to keep you updated on the landslide of bills from the last sitting week of parliament.

 

Shrugging towards apocalypse

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been excluded from the recent UN climate summit.
• Morrison has backflipped on the governments use of “Kyoto carryover credits” as an accounting trick to get out of climate targets.
• Australia’s catastrophic bushfires had a slight cooling effect on the global climate.
• At Australia’s current rate of emissions reduction, we’ll hit zero by the year 2300.
• Wish granted, Lang.

Cashless welfare

• The LNP government is pushing through a cashless welfare card for the NT.
• The government’s own research shows the card doesn’t work.
• Pauline Hanson declared that those on the welfare system have given up their rights as humans.
• Jacqui Lambie continues to be a problematic fav.
• Rachel Siewert continues to an unproblematic fav.
• Senator Stirling Griff was a last-minute no-show to the welfare card vote, allowing the bill to pass.
• The Labor party are just a loose sloshing bucket of double-negatives.

Cyber cops

• Laws introduced by Peter Dutton allow for sweeping new online powers for police.
• Labor tried to introduce amendments to the bill, but failed and wave it through anyway.
• The bill will allow police to take over and impersonate people’s online accounts.
• …and introduces powers to reveal journalist’s sources.
• During debate on the bill Peter Dutton labeled Greens Leader Adam Bant an “enemy of the state”.
• The Cristchurch shooter could have been stopped if the AFP took far-right threats seriously.

Breaking up the CFMEU

• The government has passed a bill to make it easier for the CFMEU to break up.
• Secondary and solidarity strikes are illegal in Australia.
• In good news, wage theft will become a criminal offence, under certain conditions.