Chair, Climate Group, UK. Chair, South Australian Film Corp. SA Premier 2002-11. VisProf King's College. Former High Commissioner to UK and Ambassador to Italy.
When I was Australian High Commissioner to the UK I had the highest respect for the British intelligence and defence chiefs, and the heads of government departments I worked with. But the current Cabinet appears so amateurish and that has been exposed during this crisis.
Jacinda Ardern showed the world that a small country could be a leader internationally; a leader in decency and in building bridges between people, cultures and religions at home and abroad.She also deserves enormous credit for her government’s management of the Covid 19 crisis.
I found that one of the great things about working with
@AlboMP
is that he listens, makes his own assessments and when he commits to a project he works with you to make it happen. He is a builder.....not a divisive game player. That’s what Australia needs.
Today’s terrible COVID death toll and soaring number of hospitalisations around Australia underline the culpability of those ideologues committed to opening up but who didn’t do the proper planning or preparation.
When Australians were told the truth by scientists they were prepared to make sacrifices in fighting this pandemic. They weren’t told that the Australian Government was prepared to knowingly sacrifice some Australians in the name of its new “let it rip” ideology.
#auspol
Those governments who act against the health interests of their citizens in order to appease pressure groups will be held responsible and accountable for the tragic consequences and not only at the ballot box.
If a Solomon Islands/China security pact like this had occurred on Labor’s watch the media would be tearing its PM apart. This pact caught the Morrison Government napping, a serious national security failure. But there are different rules for the Coalition for much of the media.
It’s the same in Australia. Each Liberal Government wants to came after Medicare and the ABC. The most valuable item in every Australian’s purse or wallet is their Medicare card and whenever there’s a crisis Australia turn to the ABC for shared truth and shared reality.
Just saw Federal Government’s taxpayer funded TV commercial designed to con Australians into believing the Morrison government is really committed to renewable energy and reaching emission targets. Pravda style dishonesty.
Voting for Dave Sharma and Josh Frydenberg means voting for the climate policies of Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce. No amount of puff pieces in the papers can alter that fact. Sharma, Frydenberg and Peter Dutton are the closest colleagues and political brothers in arms.
Where are the business lobbyists who called on Libs for the big opening up? They seem strangely quiet now that people and business are hurting. Maybe they hope the tennis clowns will distract attention from a giant govt policy failure that is costing lives and hurting business.
I would very much like to know what percentage of elderly Australians in nursing homes received their booster jab before the big opening up. It would be a public health scandal as well as tragedy if there was a lack of adequate protection for the most vulnerable in our society.
Over a 100,000 new Covid cases today in Australia. Appalling. Business must be furious with those who called for this disastrous let it rip approach. Fools say we are showing we can live with Covid. The truth is that Australians are dying with Covid, unnecessarily.
Violent anti vax, anti mask, anti quarantine protestors; death threats against elected leaders; assaults on police and frontline health workers, should reveal to reasonable people the lack of character of those involved, and of those who won’t condemn their criminal behaviour.
Good to see
@DanielAndrewsMP
being backed so strongly by Victorians for his leadership during the pandemic. It shows that real people can see through the monotonous chorus of bile being promoted by the Libs’ equivalent of Pravda.
#Auspol
Tragedy of another 13 Covid related deaths today in South Australia. I am sickened by those around the country in politics and in the media dismissing this variant as “mild” in order to fit their same, shared political agenda.
Hours and hours queuing for testing, confusion over ever changing rules, elective surgery cancelled, ambulance ramping. If anyone boasts to you that the “let it rip” approach to COVID management was well planned, well prepared and is working well they are treating you as a mug.
This uncosted plan isn’t really about nuclear energy. It’s about delaying action on climate and postponing, for as long as possible, the phasing out of fossil fuels. It’s not about Australia’s national interest, but about the interests of the fossil fuel lobby.
Just heard from friends in Italy that
@AlboMP
election is big news there given PM’s Pugliese heritage. The town of Barletta is famous as the site of Hannibal’s great battle against the Romans and another battle involving the Germans and the Allies’ 8th Army and brave partisans.
There’s now a headlong rush by Australian diplomats to convince overseas governments that Australia really is ambitious to tackle climate change and reduce emissions. It isn’t working. Influential decision makers in host countries are laughing about it. They know it isn’t true.
Mark McGowan’s self-serving decision to keep Western Australia’s border shut to other Australians ignores the changed realities of the pandemic. | OPINION
#WA
#covid19
#borders
Meanwhile governments hoping to please voters by opening up for Christmas failed to prepare for the consequences. No plan for adequate testing or for increased hospital demand. Caught themselves by surprise through wishful thinking rather than common sense and a proper strategy.
Australians should be allowed to see the modelling on expected COVID deaths, undertaken before this “opening up” phase. How many Australian deaths were predicted? How do those predictions compare with what has happened so far during what we have been told is a “mild” variant?
Labor has picked up another Labor seat in SA......the southern Adelaide seat of Gibson. Congratulations to Sarah Andrews. All the seats taken from the Liberals have been won by strong, community based Labor women.
Important for Australian journalists to look at the Hinkley C nuclear power station under construction in UK. It was announced in 2010. The construction cost was given in 2012 as £16 billion. Now estimated to cost up to £46 billion with estimated commissioning date of 2029/31.
For Aussie diplomats trying, with a straight face, to convince governments that Mathias Cormann has the track record and enthusiasm to lead the OECD in its climate ambitions must be like their US colleagues reassuring allies that President Trump really was a very stable genius.
South Australia owes a great deal to
@AlboMP
When I was Premier and he was Federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister our governments together co-invested in transformational transport and other infrastructure projects worth billions. Federal/State partners in progress.
Just remember that a vote for Dave Sharma and Josh Frydenberg is a vote for the some of the most regressive climate policies on the planet. Re-electing these MPs and the rest of their Liberal colleagues is an endorsement of the policies of Morrison, Dutton and Barnaby Joyce.
The indigenous peoples of Canada, and their rights, are recognised in the Canadian Constitution. New Zealand and Canada did the right thing years ago. The sky didn’t fall in. The “no” vote campaign in Australia is based on fake fear. Surely Australians are better than that.
Jacinda Ardern’s announcement flushed out an extra burst of weirdness and misogyny. Conspiracy theorists have some things in common: abuse in place of argument, allegations instead of facts plus doses of bad grammar and spelling. And so many of the “bravest” hide behind anonymity
The Federal Opposition knows nuclear power plants cannot be built and operating on their timelines and would produce much more costly electricity. So this “policy” is all about delay. It’s about buying extra time for the coal lobby and their taxpayer subsidised fossil fuel mates.
So sad to hear about how Australia’s ABC is being slowly ringbarked by a government determined to look after its donors and backers. They would prefer current affairs coverage to resemble the chorus of shrill, shock jock bile that now dominates Sky News “commentary” in Australia
Incredible to see senior Liberals on TV blaming voters for the SA govt losing the election. Telling voters they got it wrong is as bizarre as attacking Independents in the last week of a campaign. Or Libs attacking each other before that. Leaders have to lead, but also listen.
4 years ago Trump boasted he would “drain the swamp” in Washington. He didn’t. He turned it into a sewer. And between now and Joe Biden’s Inauguration there will be a fatberg of criminal pardons signed in the White House. The list will further foul the end of his Presidency.
A big contingent of Federal Lib strategists worked on the SA Lib campaign. They wanted the re-election of Libs in SA to halt the momentum towards a change of government nationally. They really let Steven Marshall down. Will Scott Morrison continue to have faith in their advice?
If some journalists(but not the Cabinet, the Parliament or the public) were told of this “secret” dual ministry contrivance why didn’t they write the story at the time?
It will be interesting to see if there is any real self analysis by the media about their performance during the election campaign. Fair and balanced journalism? Equal scrutiny? Partisan “journalism” at bosses’ behest? Surely some in the gallery will want to openly reflect?
Just proudly cast my vote for a Bill Shorten Labor Government at Australia’s biggest and busiest polling booth: Australia House, Strand, London. Make sure you vote!
@billshortenmp
@AustralianLabor
@KKeneally
The results coming through in the NSW by-elections are not only bad news for the Liberals and the out of touch Dominic Perrottet. They are also a great start for NSW Labor Leader
@ChrisMinnsMP
. I know Chris and he will be a terrific Premier of NSW.
@NSWLabor
@brucehawker2010
Neo- Nazis dressed in black and cowardly wearing masks, give the Hitler salute at an anti migration rally in Melbourne. What an insult to Australian values and to the children and grand children of countless Australians, born or migrated here, who fought the evil of Nazism.
When Australians vote in the Voice referendum, it won’t be just the world that is watching. Future generations of Australians will look back and judge whether we were big enough to come to terms with both our past and our future. Let’s vote “Yes” for a truly great Australia.
If there’s talk of Libs overriding State bans to build nuclear plants, remember what happened when the Commonwealth tried to impose a waste dump on SA. In 2004 the Federal Court ruled Howard Govt’s compulsory land acquisition was unlawful. SA won the case. Libs didn’t appeal.
Elderly Australians, particularly those who are vulnerable or in nursing homes, should have been vaccinated by now. It should have been done through late summer and early autumn. The claim that Australia was somehow at the head of the international vaccine queue was a con.
Voice? In 1867 the Maori Representation Act became law in NZ. 4 Maori seats. It was a trial, which became permanent in 1872. A voice in Parliament was established to help ensure lasting peace between Maori and Pakeha. 150 years before Australians vote for a Voice to Parliament
Bob Hawke’s final public act, the day before he died, was to release an eloquent endorsement of Bill Shorten and his qualifications to lead Australia. “Bill Shorten is ready to be Prime Minister of Australia. He will serve our nation well.”
@AustralianLabor
@KKeneally
Those who refuse to wear masks, won’t observe social distancing or wilfully break quarantine and lockdown rules are the moral equivalent of someone during the Blitz refusing to turn off their lights during the blackouts because it infringed THEIR civil liberties.
After months of lockdown in 2020 and 2021 in London, and a 12 month delay in returning to Australia, we are now in a 14 day, precautionary quarantine. We do do willingly because we are part of a community and understand the importance of listening to scientific advice. Community.
Two major national opinion polls have just come out. Both polls show ALP extending its lead over a Coalition so strongly and desperately supported by Murdoch newspapers.
Extremists give the Nazi salute at a protest in Australia today. Many were wearing masks. Gutless as well as offensive. They dishonour Australian values and those who suffered torture and died in Nazi concentration camps. They also insult our family members who fought this evil.
I hope today voters will make South Australia the winner by supporting a strong, united team led by Peter Malinauskas. Our State needs a stable, forward looking government that reflects community values, not more division and instability. And let’s thank the “Ambos” when we vote.
UK rioters call themselves “patriots” but their violence towards both community and police, their looting of local shops (but never bookshops), their swastika tattoos and “Heil Hitler” salutes show what they really are: racist, cowardly, thick as mince criminals awaiting prison.
The Liberal email controversy here in South Australia is even more reason why the government should release Covid modelling and full health advice given BEFORE the big opening up. People need to know that the government’s health decisions are being made for health reasons.
Prominent Aussie Libs advised Boris and gave enormous policy and political advice to Liz Truss during her disastrous 49 day Prime Ministership. Lib strategists also played a key role in Rishi Sunak’s campaign, a record breaking defeat. Will they return to Oz to work for Dutton?
UK PM Boris Johnson has phoned the White House and spoken with President Trump about the Covina 19 virus. It might now be useful for him to talk with the leaders of countries who are handling the threat competently. NZ PM Jacinda Ardern might be a good start.
The Libs bitterly fought Whitlam’s introduction of Medibank and Hawke’s Medicare. Before the 1993 election, when Keating was PM, the Liberals pledged to abolish bulk billing and restore the supremacy of private health insurance. Great that
@AlboMP
govt is strengthening Medicare.
In building highways, extending rail lines and in so many other projects South Australia had a real ‘partner in progress’ with
@AlboMP
when he was Transport and Infrastructure Minister. As PM he would be a builder and a uniter. And, at last, there would be real action on climate.
I’m annoyed that only today(five days after the election) has the Electoral Commission SA admitted it got it wrong in finding I had breached electoral laws in my properly authorised and signed letter to voters of Italian origin. They apparently didn’t look at the second page!
28,132 people have died in the UK of the Covid-19 virus. During the Blitz 32,000 civilians were killed in Britain. Boris Johnson, earlier this week said there would be “many people looking at our current success”. Success? It has been a tragedy made worse by govt incompetence.
Peter Malinauskas will be an outstanding Premier of South Australia. Strong, smart, family man, good values. He will fight for our state. And fight for opportunities for young people. He will invest in health not basketball stadiums. And by contrast he will lead a united team.
I’m told Aussies are running the election campaign for Rishi Sunak and UK Tories. I’m also told senior Aussie Libs advised Liz Truss on the policies underpinning her record 49 day Prime Ministership. Will this brains trust be the dream team behind Dutton’s campaign next year?
I visited Sellafield decades ago. So many problems including serious radiation leaks and discharges into the Irish Sea over many years. Now massive decommission costs estimated at over £100 billion. And the UK’s big new plant being built in Somerset has had huge cost blowouts.
Anyone advocating political violence or saying things that could be seen to encourage violence is unfit for office. Social media is becoming more feral with those hiding behind anonymity becoming more abusive. Australia doesn’t need to follow others into this sewer of hate.
From the 44th to the 47th, warmest congratulations to Peter Malinauskas on being sworn in as South Australia’s Premier. You will be a great Premier and I am sure my predecessors, including Don Dunstan and John Bannon, would also be cheering you on.
@PMalinauskasMP
@alpsa
Simon Birmingham beyond disappointing on ABC’s “Insiders”. His attempt to walk both sides of the street on the Voice didn’t last long and this morning he gave Dutton a submissive salute. Birmingham exemplifies why the so-called Liberal moderates did so badly against the Teals.
Once again the loudest, most abusive responses to my urging support for a “Yes” vote in the coming referendum came from those who hide behind anonymity and pseudonyms. Cowards, plain and simple. Certainly not Australians with the guts to put their names to their opinions.
Angered the ABC will no longer have a State based 7pm Sunday TV news bulletin. A real blow to the coverage of State and local politics, news and sport. The Sydney stranglehold tightens. The ABC’s rich mosaic will become blander, less reflective of a big and diverse continent
South Australia will produce 100% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2027. It’s Time for Australia to phase out fossil fuel subsidies not increase them. Continuing the current trajectory makes no sense if Australia is serious about achieving its Net Zero goals.
Our chair
@Mike_Rann
calls the approval of new coal mines in Australia 'environmental vandalism', and brands the influence of the
#fossilfuel
industry 'unhealthy for our democracy'.
"It's not a real policy, it's a fantasy policy"
The
#ABCInsiders
panel discusses the Coalition's big nuclear policy, in light of a CSIRO report showing nuclear energy would cost roughly twice as much as renewables.
Once again the most abusive responses to my tweet about the masked Neo Nazis protesting against immigration in Melbourne have come from those who are anonymous. Hiding behind masks and anonymity are clearly key ingredients of cowardice.
Appalling. We need as a nation to embrace zero tolerance to racism of any kind. Racism has scarred our history. It has too often been part of our national story. Let’s not let it pollute Australia’s future. Thinking of Eddie Betts and his family this Good Friday.
Much of the Libs’ posturing on both climate and foreign policy is about shoring up their donor base. Dutton’s appalling Port Arthur comparisons again show he is unfit to be Prime Minister. He seeks to divide rather than unite and lacks that essential ingredient: good judgment.
The election result means that UK Labour will have to decide whether it wants to be a party of government in the future or remain the weird cult it has become under Corbyn. Through its self indulgence it has betrayed the interests of working people who need a Labour government.
Shocked to hear of the death of Simon Crean, former Labor Leader, former Minister in the Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments and President of the ACTU. Simon made a huge commitment to the Labor movement, to Labor governments and to Australia. And a very good person.
Good win for Federal Labor in Dunkley by-election. Strange that some commentators just don’t seem to understand politics. They can’t read polls and even when the results stare them in the face, they are in denial.
John Kerry, who will be President Biden’s Climate Envoy, will help pull Australia out of the troglodyte cave of climate change deniers that looked to Trump for leadership and protection.
I had the privilege of working closely with
@LindaBurneyMP
when I was ALP National President and she was Vice President, and then when she was President and I was her Deputy. She is an outstanding person and a leader with a profound sense of service and commitment to others.
Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor have made an outstanding contribution to our nation.
Today, they have announced they will retire at the next election. They will also step down as Ministers.
Amazing how some people are dismissing the unnecessary deaths of fellow Aussies in the name of some kind of political ideology. As with the anti vaxers and anti maskers, it’s all about them. No sense of community or common cause. Just them. They are far worse than just stupid.
It is interesting that so many racists who crawl out of the woodwork are addicted to anonymity. Cowardice, ignorance and racism seem so often to walk hand in hand.
What a disgraceful absence of leadership by an Australian Prime Minister, trying desperately to walk both sides of the street....this time hoping to appeal to the anti vax mob.
Then take a look at why recent proposed nuclear reactor projects have been cancelled in the US. And at the massive cost of decommissioning. Given reactor build timelines Dutton’s pressing of the nuclear button is all about delaying Australia’s transition from fossil fuels.
Just spent six days in Sydney. Picked up widespread disappointment and disenchantment with Wentworth MP Dave Sharma on a range of issues but particularly about climate change. The most common description of him is that he is “weak on the issues” that local voters care about.
The government’s denial of regular briefings on the Covid situation to the Opposition during a time when Parliament is not sitting is not in the interests of South Australians and not in the interests of the administration of health care and prevention during a pandemic. Petty.
It is astonishing that Joe Hockey could be Australia’s Ambassador to the US yet somehow have learned so little about the city he lived in for four years; its demographics or previous voting patterns. Yet he makes public claims about vote fraud with no evidence at all.
#auspol
Sasha and I are deeply shocked and saddened by the death in Vienna of our friend Helena Carr, wife of former NSW Premier Bob Carr. For us Helena and Bob were indivisible. They were co-pilots in a rich life including through Bob’s long career in politics. The closest partnership.
It’s madness that the counting of pre-polls and postal votes won’t start until Monday. The staff, and the volunteers who assist Electoral Commission SA, do a fantastic job. With bipartisan support there now needs to be a fundamental review of Electoral Commission SA practices.
I wonder if the weak fellows wearing masks in recent protests, to hide their shame, also protested against wearing masks a year or so ago when it was in the community interest to do so.
Congratulations to the next Prime Minister of Australia.
@AlboMP
will be a PM who will never forget where he comes from or whose side he’s on. And now he will be a PM who will work tirelessly to unite Australian and to build an Australia that cares about climate change.
Any government that opened up before ensuring that nursing home residents received Covid booster shot protection deserves condemnation. Clearly governments put their pre-election, political needs first. As a result too many elderly Australians died. That is gross negligence.
A truly historic victory for Peter Malinauskas and SA Labor tonight. Brilliant effort. ALP majority could grow. Disunity is death and Steven Marshall, who gave a most gracious concession speech, paid the price for SA Libs internal warfare. Their perpetual enemy within.
With the UK’s sanctions against Russia the real news is which Oligarch cronies of Putin are not on the sanctions list. And why? Match the non sanctioned alongside the party donors’ lists. And watch for EU countries seeking exemptions...including for luxury goods!
Is further legal advice holding up the decision from the Morrison Govt on Novak visa or are they waiting for the results of focus group polling to tell them which way will “play best” in the marginals?
New Zealand’s economy grew by 14% between July and September. Jacinda Ardern’s government knew that being tough in its response to Covid-19 would be better for the health of New Zealanders and better for the country’s economy. The two go together.
So the Libs are embracing nuclear power for Australia as an alternative to renewables. It’s really another strategy to delay cutting emissions, given the huge expense of nuclear energy compared to renewables, much longer timelines for permitting plus waste disposal problems.
So whenever the Federal election is called please make sure that the future funding of the ABC is in your head when you vote. Shared truths are essential for a shared reality and a shared future.