Jenny Macklin: I Could Live On The Dole

Jan 01, 2013 Leave a Comment

This is a video clip showing Families Minister Jenny Macklin saying that she could live on the $35 a day Newstart allowance.

Macklin’s office released a transcript of her media conference which depicted the question and answer as inaudible.

  • Jan 2: Listen to Acting Greens leader Adam Bandt comment on living on the dole (9m)

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  • Jan 2: Listen to Cassandra Goldie from Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) comment (3m)

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Transcript of Jenny Macklin’s media conference in Melbourne, as released by the minister’s office.

Dad and Partner Pay, family payments, parenting payment

JENNY MACKLIN: Thanks everyone for coming to The Mercy today, happy New Year to everyone. First of all I’d like to thank everybody here at The Mercy for having us here today and for the family so kindly allowed us to meet their new born baby – just born at 7am this morning – so to Esther and Anthony and their little boy Cooper and baby Lucas, congratulations, it’s really, really wonderful to see a new member of their family. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio2013, Gillard, Social Welfare, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Current Federal Parliamentary Party Leaders

Nov 01, 2012 Leave a Comment

Each political party represented in the Federal Parliament elects leaders in each house.

Just as the government is decided in the House of Representatives, so the parties elect their leaders and deputy leaders from amongst their representatives in the House. If the party is not represented in the lower house, its leader will be chosen from amongst its members in the Senate.

House of Representatives
Party Leader Deputy Leader
Australian Labor Party Julia Gillard
Member for Lalor (Vic)		 Wayne Swan
Member for Lilley (Qld)
Liberal Party Tony Abbott
Member for Warringah (NSW)		 Julie Bishop
Member for Curtin (WA)
National Party Warren Truss
Member for Wide Bay (Qld)		 Senator Nigel Scullion
Northern Territory
Australian Greens - Adam Bandt
Member for Melbourne (Vic)



The major parties also elect leaders and deputy leaders in the Senate. These people form part of the leadership group and act as the focal point for their parties in the upper house.

For example, the current ALP leader in the Senate, Chris Evans, is referred to as the Government Leader in the Senate. Senator Eric Abetz is referred to as the Opposition Leader in the Senate.

Senate
Party Leader Deputy Leader
Australian Labor Party Senator Chris Evans
(Western Australia)		 Senator Stephen Conroy
(Victoria)
Liberal Party Senator Eric Abetz
(Tasmania)		 Senator George Brandis
(Queensland)
National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce
(Queensland)		 Senator Fiona Nash
(New South Wales)
Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne
(Tasmania)
-



Footnote: Convention dictates that the official leader of the main parties will be a member of the House of Representatives. In 1968, following the death of its Prime Minister, Harold Holt, the Liberal Party chose its upper house leader, Senator John Gorton, as the new prime minister. Gorton immediately resigned his Senate seat and contested the by-election for Holt’s lower house electorate, Higgins. Thus, Australia had a prime minister for several weeks who was not a member of either house. This is allowed for in Section 64 of the Constitution.

Filed Under: A.L.P., General Information, Greens, Liberal Party, Parliamentary People, The Nationals Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bob Brown Resigns; Christine Milne New Greens Leader

Apr 13, 2012

Senator Bob Brown has resigned as leader of the Australian Greens.

Brown’s surprise decision was announced at a party meeting in Canberra. Senator Christine Milne was immediately elected as the new leader.

Later in the day, Melbourne MP Adam Bandt was elected deputy leader.

Brown said he would leave the Senate later in the year when the Tasmanian Greens division has finalised pre-selections. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Greens, Senate, Video Tagged With: , , ,

House of Representatives Debates Gay Marriage Resolution

Nov 15, 2010

An impressive debate began in the House of Representatives tonight on a motion by the Greens member, Adam Bandt, calling on parliamentarians to gauge their constituents’ views on the issue of marriage equality.

Bandt’s motion reads:

That this House:

(1) notes there is:

(a) a growing list of countries that allow same-sex couples to marry including the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, SPain, Canada and South Africa; and

(b) widespread support for equal marriage in the Australian community; and

(2) calls on all parliamentarians to gauge their constituents’ views on the issue of marriage equality.

Speaking to the motion, Bandt said, “there have been many attempts through history to limit love and all have failed”. The text of his speech is at the end of this page. [Read more...]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Audio, Audio2010, Backbenchers, Equality, Gay, Gillard, Greens, Issues, Liberal Party Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Giving Substance To The Words

Nov 04, 2010

There are thirty-two new members of the 43rd Parliament, elected on August 21st. Three of them are returning after a voluntary or enforced absence. As a group they constitute one-fifth of the House of Representatives, a significant turnover and renewal of the lower house. Many of them will be there for years to come.

Maiden SpeechesOver the past month, I have made a point of watching the maiden, or first, speeches of these members. On the whole, it is difficult not to be impressed by these fledgling parliamentarians.

There has been much comment on the moving speech from the Western Australian Liberal, Ken Wyatt, the first indigenous member of the House, but others also delivered considered and thoughtful speeches.

Take Andrew Leigh, the member for Fraser in the ACT. His reputation as an economist and thinker preceded his election. In his speech, he spoke of the importance of education for the nation’s future, of “optimistic experimentation” and of rebuilding “a sense of trust between citizens and politicians”. Leigh’s book, “Disconnected”, has just been published. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2010 Federal Election, A.L.P., Backbenchers, Democracy, Greens, Liberal Party, Maiden Speeches, Opinion, Political Words, The Nationals Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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