The Week in Politics : It’s not Easy Being Green
While Barnaby Joyce declined to criticise Greens non-Senator Larissa Waters for what he said was “an innocent mistake,” the Prime Minister was not so temperate.
He told the Nine Network’s Karl Stefanovic that the fact that neither Scott Ludlum nor Larissa Waters had bothered to check whether they held dual citizenship was an example of sloppiness.
There was a story that Members of Parliament born overseas, including Tony Abbott, were rushing to check their credentials but, as the Prime Minister pointed out, people are required to confirm that they do not hold dual citizenship when they nominate for election to Parliament.
The loss of two Deputy Leaders within the one week presents a problem for the Greens but it’s not the only one.
At the moment the Party at large is in conflict with the NSW Greens.
Dr Bob Brown has said that the situation where membership of the Greens in NSW is conditional upon applicants first joining the NSW Greens and being bound by their rules, rather than the rules of the national Party, is bad governance.
The current leader, Dr Richard Di Natale, seems unable or unwilling to confront this situation.
The Greens are not the only party having problems with its NSW branch.
The Council of the Liberal Party of NSW, which is facing a threat of rebellion at the upcoming state conference, has taken to purging members who publicly disagree with government policy.
Although it is yet to make a move on Tony Abbott it has expelled a retiree member from the North Shore who had the temerity to write to a newspaper criticising the changes to superannuation rules.
It’s possible that the Turnbull moderates are determined to create a party of the sensible centre by expelling anyone who’s not sensible.
So much for Menzies’ party of freedom and enterprise.
From the Gallery
On Tuesday Former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir John Key was invested with Australia’s highest honour an Order of Australia.
•The Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull recommended the award to the Governor-General for Sir John’s leadership in advancing the Australia-New Zealand bilateral relations and helping drive economic growth in both Australia and New Zealand by reinvigorating the agenda of the Single Economic Market, which the Prime Minster said further liberalised the trans-Tasman economy.
•The Australian Hotels Associations held their annual awards. The awards were held at the QT Hotel in Canberra City.
• On Tuesday Leader of the Nationals Barnaby Joyce addressed the Clean Energy Summit. In his speech he said he’s a supporter of renewable energy. The Nationals Leader said “Obviously some would say it seems innocuous that I would be here, as the caricature of me is a redneck, which is probably right, that I’d be a supporter of renewable energy. But of Course I am.”
• On Tuesday Evening the Scandinavian Film Festival #ScandiFilmFest was launched a Palace Cinemas in Canberra. The launch was attended by many in the local and diplomatic community. The film festival runs across Australia until the 6th of August.
• In the first official visit of an Australian Foreign Minister to Skopje since Macedonia’s independence, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with her counterpart Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov. The two Ministers had discussion on improving bilateral relations. She also meet with new Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and congratulated her on her appointment and encouraged Serbia’s accession to the EU.
• New Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi continued his tour around Australia promoting his new party the Australian Conservatives. This time he was in Brisbane on Tuesday holding a lecture.
• The National Day of Columbia was marked on Tuesday night. The event was a night of Columbian music hosted by H.E Ambassador Clemencia Forero-Ucros and Conductor Carlos Alvarado. The event was attended by many members of the local community and diplomatic corps.
• Foreign Minster Julie Bishop travelled to India on Wednesday where she meet with Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi. The pair discussed aspects relating to India-Australia ties.
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