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Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong hails warm ties in address to parliament – politics live Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong hails warm ties in address to parliament – politics live
(35 minutes later)
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Here is Wong’s case:
This matter started when Senator Brandis made an amendment to the legal services directions in May.
The legal services directions set out rules and requirements for the performance of Commonwealth legal work.
Senator Brandis’s amending direction bars the Solicitor-General from providing legal opinions or advice to anyone in government without the Attorney-General’s permission.
It prohibits any Commonwealth agency or officer from referring a question of law to the Solicitor-General without the written permission of the Attorney-General.
This is a blatant power grab.
It is a bid to control the flow of legal advice from the independent Solicitor-General to Government departments and to senior figures in the government.
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Wong is reprising the dispute between the AG and the SG.
Wong says Brandis seems to believe that the only legal opinion anyone may need is his opinion.
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OK, in the Senate, Penny Wong is talking George Brandis, his greatest hits and his latest dispute with the solicitor general.
She says the attorney general should not mislead the parliament and the public. It is not trivial and represents a major attack on the solicitor general.
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Tell 'em they're dreaming – high court to pollies
Here is the next take from AAP on pollie perks ...
High court judges unanimously held that amendments to legislation and rulings by the Remuneration Tribunal did not constitute acquisition of property.A majority held that changes to the life gold pass legislation, reducing return air trips for retired MPs from an unlimited number to 25 and now 10, also did not constitute acquisition of property other than on just terms.In The Castle, the Aussie battler Kerrigan family resort to the high court when developers seek to acquire their home to expand an airport.The case hinged on Section 51 (xxxi) of the constitution which says that property can’t be acquired other than on just terms.Entitlements for politicians, past and present, remain deeply controversial and have been progressively wound back from their most generous heights.The high court directed that the four meet the unspecified but likely substantial cost of their challenge.
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High court tells doesn't get the vibe on pollie perks ...
Like this!
Breaking news from AAP and the high court:
Four former federal politicians have lost their high court challenge over reduced post-parliamentary perks.
The four – a Howard government defence minister, John Moore, the Hawke government minister Barry Cohen and Labor MPs Barry Cunningham and Anthony Lamb – had used the same legal principle made noteworthy by the Australian comedy movie The Castle.
They argued their entitlements under the Superannuation Act and to a life gold travel pass were their property which had been acquired by the commonwealth other than on the just terms required by a section in the constitution.
We are awaiting more from our colleagues at AAP.
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The Singaporean PM is addressing a lunch in the great hall in parliament over lunch. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have both spoken. It is of a similar vein to earlier, so unless there is a cracking line, I will move on to other matters.
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03:06
A minister for young people? Cathy McGowan thinks so
The Indi independent, Cathy McGowan, gave a speech last night calling for a minister for young people and a campaign from the Australian Electoral Commission to engage young people in civic participation.
There is a backstory.
McGowan won her first election in 2013 against the Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella by 439 votes. After the election, there were complaints referred by the Liberal party and an investigation by the Australian relating to allegations of electoral fraud by a number of young voters who were involved with the McGowan campaign. One was McGowan’s niece.
The original story ran in September 2014 and there were allegations raised during the joint standing committee on electoral matters (Jscem). The Australian Electoral Commission investigated and then the Australian federal police.
The AFP then charged Maggie Ellen McGowan, 27, and Sophie Petrea Fuchsen, 24, with providing false and misleading information, alleging the pair voted in the seat of Indi while living in Melbourne during the 2013 election.
The case dragged on and eventually was thrown out in April this year, almost two years after it began. From the story:
Outside court the women’s lawyer, Rob Stary, said the case was bound to fail and a terrible waste of resources.
Both women were students at the time and the AEC website clearly said students did not need to change their “home address”, he had told the court.
“The original complaint, whoever it was that initiated it, was quite scurrilous,” Stary told reporters.
The heart of the issue is around country kids who go to cities to study. As they often have no fixed address, they remain enrolled for voting and other purposes at their family home. But within this loophole, someone found cause to complain. On the numbers, given these are conservative electorates in regional Australia, it seems incredible that the complaint may have originated within the Coalition. If these young people cannot enrol at their home address, it is likely they would remain without a vote.
Anyway back to McGowan. She wants the appointment of a minister for young people, to “address systemic barriers that prevent young people from civic participation, to advocate on their behalf, and help ensure that when policies affecting young people are considered, they do not have an adverse impact”.
This is what she said last night.
There is confusion about enrolment rules. The involvement of the Australian federal police, Australian Electoral Commission and media in the affairs of 27 young people in my electorate caused the loss of trust in our democratic political institutions. In 2016 approximately 350,000 eligible young people were not enrolled to vote. In the eyes of many young people, these events are even more reason why they feel it makes no sense to engage. No wrongdoing was found after rigorous investigation but these young people are still being scrutinised. We need to stand up for our young people, we need to support them and we need to encourage them to participate in politics. The AEC needs to be supported to engage young people.
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A summary, before the time gets away.A summary, before the time gets away.
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Old chums.Old chums.
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Come on down.Come on down.
Malcolm the Magnanimous calls Tony Abbott down to see the Singaporean PM, who praised the former PM’s significant barbecue skills.Malcolm the Magnanimous calls Tony Abbott down to see the Singaporean PM, who praised the former PM’s significant barbecue skills.
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Sound the bells! The Australian Bureau of Statistics declares:
Australia records more than 96% preliminary response rate for the 2016 census
The Australian Bureau of Statistics would like to thank Australia for participating in the 2016 census of population and housing. The preliminary response rate is now confirmed at more than 96%. This ensures we are on track to deliver the quality census data Australia needs.
With the last of the 38,000 census field staff wrapping up after more than six weeks out in the field, the ABS will now focus on processing the 4.9m online and 3.5m paper household forms.
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The house now does not sit until 1.30pm. The Senate comes back at 12pm.
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Shorten also mentioned the 130,000 Singaporeans who had gained degrees in Australian universities (*cheers Dad*). And Shorten fondly remembers losing out to the Singaporean University team at intervarsity debating in the late 1980s.
There are more than 20,000 Australian expatriates living and working in Singapore, including friends of mine who voted at the royal golf course in the last three weeks of June, a booth we targeted most heavily. These Australians return to their friends and family praising a place where they know they’re welcome. Singapore is a culture that is different enough to feel novel, familiar enough to feel at home.
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I promised more of Bill Shorten. He said Labor welcomed the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.
Labor welcomes the comprehensive strategic partnership that will see our 14,000 Singaporean troops train in Shoalwater Bay in Queensland per year. This is good news for the region and good news for our region. And both our nations are engaged in countering a new threat of extremism, the fight against Daesh, its agents and imitators. We also share a tradition of learning from each other, from your father’s famous warning, a rebuke that shook Australia out of its lethargy and certainly my own party has pursued of an outward-looking economy to engage with key markets of Asia.
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Lee goes through the benefits of the comprehensive strategic partnership concluded by the two leaders.
In defence, the Singapore armed forces will have more training, space and opportunities in Australia.
In the upgraded free trade agreement, professionals from both countries will be able to work in each country.
In innovation and science, the two countries have identified some key challenges to tackle, including basic urban problems such as water supply and energy conservation and “we have much scope to cooperate more in R&D”.
A new Australia-Singapore arts group will provide for exchanges between museums, art festivals, visual and performing arts.
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Lee talks about the education exchanges and congratulates the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, on the new Colombo plan that provides for student exchanges.
By the end of this year, Singapore universities will have welcomed some 800 Australian new Colombo plan students. They will continue the spirit of exchange and renew the connections and good will between our peoples into the next generation. Our people also visit each other frequently. Last year some 400,000 Singaporeans visitedAustralia and 1 million Australians visited Singapore. Some come for education or business, more come for holidays or to visit family and friends. We feel quite at home in each other’s countries. Singaporeans may not quaff quite as much beer as Australians but I have it on good authority that Victoria Bitter goes well with chilli crabs.
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01:19
Lee says more than 20,000 Australians live and work in Singapore, in all sorts of professions.
He notes the Singapore-Australia free trade agreement signed in 2003 was Australia’s first FTA outside of New Zealand.
It has helped make little Singapore your fifth-largest trading partner and investor. We have also worked together on regional economic integration, first with Apec and now with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, and the regional comprehensive economic partnership, the RCEP.
Our two countries cooperate closely on security issues and humanitarian missions. Our security agencies work closely and quietly together to fight terrorism, sharing intelligence and information, carrying out counter-terrorism operations, exchanging notes on religious rehabilitation and deradicalisation programs. It’s important always and is especially worth mentioning today on the anniversary of the Bali bombings.
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