Echoes were prevalent in politics this week, with the sound of earlier comments coming back to haunt the Treasurer, while the government's "echonomics" taunt remains strong. Meanwhile, energy and housing affordability both made it onto the agenda.
Echoes were prevalent in politics this week, with the sound of earlier comments coming back to haunt the Treasurer, while the government's "echonomics" taunt remains strong. Meanwhile, energy and housing affordability both made it onto the agenda.
Echoes of the past
It was Treasurer Peter Costello's 50th birthday, and as he settled in for a quick Tuesday Morning chat with Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic on Channel 9's Today show, he probably had a fair idea of what to expect.
In between the light-hearted banter, party hats and chocolate cake with diplomatic single candle, came a question based on an article in the ACP-owned Bulletin magazine, which depicted him as being prepared to "carp" at the Prime Minister from the backbenches in order to win leadership.
This, he said at the time, was for the good of the party.
"Howard can't win. I can. We can, but he can't," he was alleged to have said, an allegation he swiftly denied.
"I must say when I read some of these things I wonder where the journalists get them from," Mr Costello said.
"They generally speak to somebody who's spoken to somebody, who was down the back of a pub, who heard the barman say and it gradually finds it way into magazines or articles. But no, that's not the case."
Normally, this would be the end of the matter, even though the person at the back of the pub was in fact the Treasurer himself.
However, in this instance, the journalists in question were prepared to rebut him, with the ABC's 7.30 Report's political correspondent Michael Brissenden showing the nation his notes on air.
The other journalists present - the Bulletin's Paul Daley, who wrote the story, and then-Bulletin writer Tony Wright, whose wife owned the restaurant - have corroborated each other's stories, including the status of the conversation - that it was originally placed as background material, rather than being considered strictly and permanently off-the-record.
The common understanding of background material is that it may be published, but not attributed - which is where entertainment writers get "friends of..." and political writers get "senior party members."
Mr Wright said it was never said during the dinner that the conversation was on or off the record and such meetings were widely viewed as providing background information.
But the following day, as he and Mr Daley began to write Mr Costello's comments into a story, the treasurer's press secretary David Alexander rang and told them his remarks were off the record.
After a wide-ranging discussion between the three journalists, Mr Wright, now national affairs editor for The Age, said he and Mr Daley decided to instead use the information as background for other stories, a decision he later regretted.
The next day, Labor's deputy leader Julia Gillard went on the offensive, telling reporters the Treasurer had "nowhere to run and nowhere to hide".
"He has to answer the allegations made about his truthfulness yesterday," she said.
If the conversation did take place it meant Mr Costello lied to the nation, she said.
"If these allegations are true the Australian people should know that and the Australian people will way the worth of everything he says in the future in the light of what has been revealed."
Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said there was now serious questions about whether the Australian people could trust anything Peter Costello says.
"It's pretty clear that there are basic questions about the treasurer's character and honesty at stake here," Mr Swan told reporters.
"And for someone who aspires to the highest job in the land it is his responsibility to provide a full and frank explanation."
In a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Costello told reporters the three journalists had got the date of the dinner wrong.
But he was less direct about the other claims - that he had given Mr Howard a deadline of April 2006 to hand over the leadership or he would challenge, and that if his challenge failed, he would move to the backbench and carp until he destroyed Mr Howard's leadership.
Mr Costello said he never told his supporters to carp at the prime minister.
He said he never had any doubt that Mr Howard could beat the then Labor leader Kim Beazley - but did not specify whether he said that over dinner.
He "absolutely" denied saying that he would go to the backbench.
But he was less definite about whether he gave Mr Howard a deadline.
"Did I set April? No. Did anything happen in April? No. Did I go to the backbench? No ... all of these things which in their recollection were going to happen, didn't happen," he said.
Future fund
Something that Mr Costello has said he doesn't want to happen is have money taken out of the Future Fund other than for covering future public servants' superannuation liabilities, something the Opposition plans to do in order to establish a national broadband network.
"That will insure that Labor's grubby attempt to get its hands on the Future Fund will be contrary to legislation," he said.
Free internet filter
Something else the government is keen to protect and the ALP keen to acquire is the family vote, which was catered to last week with the announcement of a $189 million package to provide a free internet filter for every Australian family in a bid to fight pornography and foul language online.
Speaking to an audience of Christians via a webcast, Mr Howard The Government's policy of giving every family an internet filter was first announced in June last year, but last night Mr Howard expanded the policy and put a dollar figure on it.
Under the package, there will be $43.5 million to pay for 90 additional Australian Federal Police officers for the online child sex exploitation team.
The Government will also spend an extra $11.7 million to pay for more child safety officers from the Australian Communications and Media Authority to visit schools and talk to children, teachers and parents about online safety, as well as new money for a telephone helpline and extra resources to help ACMA and other agencies deal with what is expected to be increased reporting of inappropriate and illegal content.
AWB laws
Speaking of reports, almost a decade after the first suggestions that AWB was bribing Saddam Hussein arrived in government departments, a bill that will punish those who break UN sanctions has passed the lower house.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock quietly interrupted the final debate of the parliamentary fortnight to put the bill before the House of Representatives for a third and final time last night.
"I reject the suggestion the government has been slow in its response to the threat of money laundering or terrorist financing," Mr Ruddock told parliament.
"The government, of course, remains committed to ensuring that Australian businesses uphold our international obligations in relation to trade sanctions and combating foreign bribery.
"Contravention of UN sanctions and bribery of foreign officials will not be tolerated."
The full extent of AWB's $300 million worth of kickbacks to the now dead Hussein were only uncovered after the government set up the Cole Commission.
Mr Ruddock quoted from Commissioner Cole's report, saying the government had shone a "bright light" on AWB.
The bill adds a new offence to the 1945 Charter of the United Nations Act which makes it illegal to break an Australian law which enforces UN sanctions.
It creates a separate criminal offence for providing false or misleading information relating to sanctions.
Agencies that administer sanctioned regimes will be given information-gathering powers to help them ensure companies are complying with sanctions.
India and Uranium
While clearly not a sanction, the federal government has traditionally refused to sell Australian uranium to nations that are not signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
But after a telephone conversation between Prime Minister John Howard and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, Mr Howard announced Australia has struck an in-principle agreement to sell uranium to India.
Mr Howard said the exports would be subject to strict conditions, including guarantees that the uranium would only be used for power generation. The Nuclear Suppliers Group will also have to approve the agreement.
"Australia has decided in principle to export uranium to India, subject to India agreeing to very stringent safeguards and conditions," Mr Howard said.
"We want to be satisfied that the uranium will only be used for peaceful purposes."
Mr Howard said the relationship between India and Australia was a vital one which would grow strongly in the future,and it did not make sense to sell uranium to China but not to India.
According to AAP, India may get an exemption from the treaty constraints due to an agreement it is finalising with the United States, opening its civilian reactors to international inspections. Australian negotiations are only likely to start when this deal is concluded.
Mr Singh told parliament on Monday that the agreement with the US would not affect India's military program or any plans to test nuclear weapons.
That suggestion has angered opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland, who said the government should review its decision.
"The US State Department has now made clear that the US-India agreement is off if India do go ahead with a nuclear weapons test," he said.
"In this light, the foreign minister must immediately make clear whether the Howard government are prepared to take their proposed nuclear deal off the table if India conducts nuclear weapons tests."
Mr Howard said countries needed to find ways to bring India to the table on non-proliferation.
"India does have a very good non-proliferation track record," he said.
"It has indicated that it does not intend to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty so we think it worthwhile finding practical ways to bring it into the non-proliferation mainstream."
Environmental concerns were also a factor, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said this morning, because India was expected to have enormous growth in energy demand in the next few years.
"We in Australia, I probably speak for nearly all Australians, want that growth in energy to be Co2 efficient," the foreign minister told ABC radio.
Jensen's hot air buried underground
One Australian the Foreign Minister probably didn't speak for was Dennis Jensen, former research scientist and Liberal member for Tangney, who sits on the House of Representatives Science and Innovation Committee.
The committee this week delivered a report on geosequestration technology - the process by which carbon gases are stored underground.
While the report barely troubled the airwaves, Dr Jensen's additional comments, along with those of his four co-signatories, did.
Dr Jensen told ABC Radio that he remained unconvinced that human activity was contributing to climate change and warned the cost of tackling carbon emissions would not be confined to big business.
"When you look through the literature - the scientific literature - and also the intergovernmental panel on climate change, which is the UN body which investigates climate change, there is considerable uncertainty expressed in their technical reports, as opposed to their summary for policy makers," he said.
"The reality is that it's going to cost every man, woman and child in Australia to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," he said.
"And those that will be hardest hit, unfortunately, are of necessity those that are on struggle street."
Dr Jensen, along with former ministers Jackie Kelly, Danna Vale and CLP backbencher David Tollner labelled people who believe humans are causing climate change as fanatics in their dissenting comments in the committee report.
The Prime Minister has rejected the claims, while opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett told parliament the report highlighted divisions in the coalition over climate change.
Emissions Trading Scheme
The report came as draft laws creating the first step of the government's emissions trading scheme were introduced to parliament.
The legislation sets up $21.6 million national emissions reporting scheme, under which companies will have to report their carbon emissions and energy consumption by July 2008.
After three years, companies which emit more than 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas or consume 200 terajoules of energy will be required to report annually.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the reporting thresholds would be tightened progressively.
Rudd's housing affordability strategy
Also tightening this year has been the rental market, a situation Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd aims to fix by announcing a $600 million policy aimed at encouraging investors to build housing and then rent it more cheaply to needy families.
Labor promises its scheme will cut rents by 20 per cent by creating 50,000 new, more affordable homes.
Under the Labor proposal, to be allocated on a competitive basis, investors will receive an annual $6,000 tax incentive over 10 years to construct homes for the rental market.
The tax relief will only be available to institutional investors who build homes to be rented to eligible families at 20 per cent less than the average market rent.
Labor estimates the program will cost $603 million in its first five years of operation.
Bits and Pieces
- Western Australian members of parliament have been given a 4.5 per cent pay rise from next month, with the Premier's pay packet rising to $287,170 from September 1, and backbenchers will get a $5,000 a year rise, taking their pay to $123,780.
- Federal Minister for Regional Services, Mark Vaile, said the Federal Government would consider increasing Commonwealth funding for WA country public hospitals, much to the pleasure of the state's opposition forces.
- Parliament has passed the federal government's $10 billion national takeover of water management in the Murray-Darling basin, giving the commonwealth control over water allocations for irrigators in Australia's premier river basin and denying it to Victoria, which had opposed the measure. Federal Labor supported the bill.
- Radical laws for the Northern Territory's indigenous people, including welfare restrictions, alcohol and pornography bans, medical checks for children and the commonwealth takeover of Aboriginal land on five-year leases, have passed parliament. The controversial measures, costing close to $600 million for the first year, passed the upper house with Labor's support.
- A proposed biomass plant near Bridgetown that has attracted strong community opposition and is yet to gain environmental approval has been selected by government-owned energy retailer Synergy to supply 40 megawatts of renewable energy
- State member for Collie Wellington Mick Murray was convicted of a drink driving offence, blowing .06 and being fined $100, along with picking up three demerit points.
53-year-old Queenslander Susan Kiefel has been appointed to the High Court, replacing fellow Queenslander Justice Ian Callinan next month when he turns 70.- Lobbyist Julian Grill apologised to the Western Australian Parliament this week.
- South Australian Liberal Senator Alan Ferguson became the new Senate President, replacing Tasmanian Paul Calvert and
- Senator Mathias Cormann made his first speech to parliament, saying that Western Australians get nervous when people talk about centralisation of government power.
The Final Word
In a week where the ALP found a renter to support their housing affordability plan, only to have it pointed out the renter would be ineligible for any benefit, and when Liberal backbencher Don Randall told the ABC he "didn't give a rat's a**e" if the PM and Treasurer didn't get along, the final word goed to Victorian Premier John Brumby.
Among the challenges facing the Victorian government in its early days are finding people to fill the seats left vacant by departing Premier Steve Bracks and his Deputy, John Thwaites.
Among the suggested candidates were Melbourne-based ABC sports presenter Angela Pippos, who went on ABC radio to confirm she had been approached to stand in the former Premier's seat of Williamstown.
She had rejected the offer, she said, because she wanted to pursue other creative opportunities, which included writing another book.
But that wasn't what Mr Brumby told reporters in a press conference that morning.
"She made contact with people in the party and I had a meeting with her, I think, on ... Monday or Tuesday night, and it was just for 20 minutes or so," Mr Brumby said.
Asked whether he had asked Ms Pippos to stand, he replied: "No."
But two hours after his comments, his spokesman Tom Laurie rang reporters to say the premier had misunderstood the questions put to him about Ms Pippos.
Mr Laurie said the party had approached Ms Pippos about standing.
Arch reckons it's just as well the Premier recognised his misunderstanding - after all, you couldn't expect a meeting with journalists to go unreported could you?
Oh. Wait...
