Will the new PM change Australia's stance on climate change?

Malcolm Turnbull has gone back on his previous views on climate change. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

After the appointment of our new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, many were hoping for a radical shift in the governments stance on climate change. For many those hopes were diminished when Turnbull announced that there will be no change to government policy in regards to climate change (Davey 2015).

Prof Will Steffen, of the Climate Council, however has more faith in the Turnbull government saying he is confident that they will take the issue seriously (Davey 2015). 

Although it has been said that the government haven't got any comprehensive policies in place to deliver even on modest climate change targets (Hashan 2015), perhaps the Australian public should give Turnbull more time before they loose faith in his power to make a positive impact.

In 2010, Mr Turnbull held a much stronger position on climate change (Hashan 2015). It was this stance, and his push to reduce Australia's emissions, which famously lost him the leadership of the Liberal party last time round (Hashan 2015). It is this memory that will lead him to be more cautious with his approach this time.

The government's climate change policy has a reevaluation point set for 2017/18 (Arup 2015). If the Turnbull government is re-elected, it is at this point he would be most able to make a difference to policy and make a push for a trading scheme or a stronger cap on industry emissions (Arup 2015).

Despite Turnbull's verbal agreement with the government's current policy, it is hard to believe that the man that so strongly urged Australia to act on the issue of climate change could completely change his views. Perhaps if the Australian public keep their faith in him, it will have positive ramifications for the future.  

References:
Arup, T 2015, 'Any changes to the coalitions climate change policy under Malcolm Turnbull are likely to be slow and subtle', The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015,
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/any-changes-to-the-coalitions-climate-change-policy-under-malcolm-turnbull-are-likely-to-be-slow-and-subtle-20150914-gjmn5k.html

Davey, M 2015, 'Lack of planning for climate change puts australia behind its allies reports find', The Guardian, 22 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/lack-of-planning-for-climate-change-puts-australia-behind-its-allies-report-finds

Hasham, N 2015, 'Malcolm Turnbull has lost his courage on climate change', The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/pm-malcolm-turnbull-has-lost-his-courage-on-climate-change-says-bernie-fraser-20150922-gjs4vx.html

Women in Australian Politics

Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop with Michaelia Cash, the new Minister for Women. Picture: News Corp AustraliaSource:News Corp Australia

Praise has been heaped upon new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for "more than doubling the number of women in federal cabinet" (Wilson 2015).

Prime Minister Turnbull appointed five female ministers in Sunday's cabinet reshuffle, including the country's first female Minister of Defence, Senator Marise Payne (Emery 2015).

"There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing more women in positions of power and influence in Parliament, in ministries right across the country," said Turnbull (Associated Press 2015).

While many are celebrating the better representation of women in the cabinet, the move is not without its detractors. Oriel 2015 suggested that the move was an act of 'tokenism' and that the Turnbull government appointed the women ministers merely to quiet gender equality advocates.

Oriel 2015 says "equal opportunity demands the demonstration of equal merit" and this is a stance that few would debate. However, perhaps the fact that we are questioning the merits of the freshly appointed women cabinet ministers and not the merits of the male cabinet ministers is at the heart of the problem in the first place?

It also begs the question; if women are not achieving equal performance outcomes in the workplace, why aren't they?

Australian has only seen one female prime minister and of the fifty prime ministerial chiefs of staff, only three have been female (Crabb 2015).

The promotion of women should not addressed with cynicism. Gender equality needs to be further advocated by the Turnbull government and they also need to reevaluate pathways for women and focus on the importance of paid parental leave schemes.Until more women are being represented in parliament, it is impossible for the government to fairly represent the views of the country.

As former Chief of Staff Peta Credlin said;

"You want women in places where they can make a difference, because half the policy in this country is for us, but only about a tenth of it is by us.
And if we do not stand up and put women in the epicentre of decision making, whether it's boardrooms, government boards, politics, cabinet rooms, wherever, if you don't have women there, we will not exist. (Crabb 2015)"


References:

Crabb, A 2015, 'Another lesson on what it means to be a woman in high office', ABC News, 23 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-23/crabb-a-lesson-on-what-it-means-to-be-a-woman-in-high-office/6798602

Emery, K 2015, 'Cabinet women show girls a politcal career path', The West Australian, 22 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015, https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29595657/cabinet-women-show-girls-a-politics-career-path/

Oriel, J 2015, 'Malcolm Turnbull ends era of female victimhood', The Australian, 23 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/malcolm-turnbull-ends-the-era-of-female-victimhood/story-e6frg6zo-1227539269523

Wilson, L 2015,'Malcolm Turnbull has more than doubled the number of women in cabinet', News.com, 20 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015, http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-has-more-than-doubled-the-number-of-women-in-cabinet/story-fns0jze1-1227535991914

Associated Press, 2015, 'New Australian Prime Minister flasg more women in cabinet', New York Times, 15 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/09/14/world/asia/ap-as-australia-politics.html

Liberal Spill 2015:

Yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull was sworn in as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, after he defeated Tony Abbott in an overnight leadership spill to become the new leader of the Liberal party (Allard 2015).

Tony Abbott is ousted as PM (Source ABC News Lukas Coach)

Following his demise, Mr Abbott addressed the public saying, "Poll-driven panic has produced a revolving-door prime ministership which can't be good for our country (Allard 2015)".

And he is right to some extent. The revolving-door of prime ministers needs to stop. Turnbull's appointment as Prime Minister has only served to further highlight the instability currently plaguing Australian politics.

It has been eight years since John Howard was in office yet he remains the last Australian prime minister to serve a full term (Taylor & Hoyle 2015). Mr Howard served as prime minister for 11 years, standing behind the motto; "Disunity is death," (Taylor & Hoyle 2015).

That statement rings true for Australian politics at the moment. Disunity and selfishness in federal politics has led to the overthrow of Australia's fourth prime minister in two years (Taylor & Hoyle 2015) .

In Australia, unlike in America, the political system gives a small group of ministers the power to oust a leader that has been elected through popular vote (Taylor & Hoyle 2015). This is based on the similar design of the British parliamentary system, a key difference being that in the United Kingdom, leaders have a five year election cycle versus Australia's three year cycle (Taylor & Hoyle 2015).

Not only does Australia have one of the world's shortest elections cycles, it has now created a habit of ousting a leader before they complete their term. Tony Abbott completed the shortest term as Prime Minister since the 1960's (Taylor & Hoyle 2015).

Australian politics are becoming too dictated by the media cycle and to focused on the short term (Handley 2015). Voters are no longer a primary focus. Long term plans are being overlooked and this will lead to negative effects in the future (Handley 2015). Too much time is being wasted on messy ministerial changeovers and in-party bickering. A weak government with weak policies is the result.

If the Australian public is continue to be made irrelevant but their politicians, the doubt facing the integrity of our political system will only grow. Australians can only hope that the appointment of Malcolm Turnbull will mark the return of stability and a renewed focus on long-term politics.

References

Allard, J 2015, 'Bad polls, not media, to blame for Tony Abbott's demise says former PM John Howard', The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 September, viewed 15 September 2015, 
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bad-polls-not-media-to-blame-for-tony-abbotts-demise-says-former-pm-howard-20150915-gjn8am.html

Handley, K 2015, 'Politics, spills and craft beer', ABC News, 17 September 2015, viewed 23 September 2015,
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/09/17/4314066.html

Taylor, R & Hoyle R 2015, 'Australia's political upset raises alarm over instability', The Wall Street Journal, 15 September, viewed 15 September 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-political-upset-raises-alarm-over-instability-1442302718

#stoptheviolence

The issue of domestic violence in Australia is once again in the spotlight. Calls for more to be done by the government, on both a state and federal level, have reached an all-time high.

After two women and a six year old girl were allegedly killed in domestic violence incidents in Queensland over the past week, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has fast tracked a number of changes in the way the state deals with family violence (Agius & van Vonderen 2015).

The Queensland government is also working on identifying gaps in the support available for victims (Agius & van Vonderen 2015).

Lisa Wilkinson addressed the gaps in support systems and lack of government funding on the Today Show on Friday.

Wilkinson said that while domestic violence has reached ‘epidemic proportions’ in Australia, government funding for the issue does not reflect that (Hall 2015).

"This is all happening against a backdrop of women's refuges being closed, as calls to the national crisis assistance line go unanswered due to lack of funding and we rely on a system that turns women away in the moment of greatest need," Wilkinson said (Hall 2015). 

This year alone, 62 women have lost their lives in domestic violence incidents (Hall 2015). For far too long, this serious issue has been ignored by the government and it is important that a strong stance be taken against it now. 

As Dame Quentin Bryce said, if the issue of domestic violence in Australia is going to be solved, "the government must take the lead, must take action, must provide services and funding (Conifer 2015)."

Growing levels of awareness within the Australian community and increased media coverage is shining a light is on this once private issue. The government needs to work with the momentum and increasing funding and support to help stop the violence. 

References

Agius, K & van Vonderen, J 2015, 'Domestic violence: Queensland Premier announces changes after horrific week',ABC News, 14 September, viewed 14 September 2015, 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-13/new-measures-to-stop-domestic-violence-in-queensland-palaszczuk/6771428

Conifer, D 2015, 'Domestic violence: 'Deeply disturbing' statistics a concern for all society, Dame Quentin Bryce says', ABC News, 6 April, viewed 14 September 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-06/domestic-violence-deeply-disturbing-statistics-dame-quentin-bryc/6372814

Hall, L 2015, 'Domestic Violence: high profile women use social media, television to speak out', Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September, viewed 14 September 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/national/domestic-violence-highprofile-women-use-social-media-television-to-speak-out-20150910-gjk4sz.html

Is Australia doing enough to assist with the global refugee crisis?

Tony Abbott called a press conference about Syrian refugees - ABC News, AAP Lukas Coch

At a press conference yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott unveiled his plan to increase Australia's intake of refugees who have been displaced by the war in Syria (ABC News 2015). 

  

However the Australian government’s pledge has been met with criticism. This is because while the government has agreed to increase the numbers of Syrian refugees, this increase will come under existing quotas and it will not lead to an increase in the overall size of the humanitarian resettlement program (Martin & Lewis 2015). 

Mr Abbott confirmed this.

"No, we are proposing to take more people from this region as part of our very substantial commitment," Mr Abbott said (ABC News 2015). 

This has raised doubts as to whether Australia is doing enough at a time when the global refugee crisis has reached an all-time high.

UN Human Rights Commissioner estimates that more than four million people have left Syria since war broke out in 2011, with an additional 7.6 million people displaced within the country (Martin & Lewis 2015).

The viral image of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi has put a face to the plight of refugees and added urgency to the question; what more can Australia do?

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has suggested the creation of ‘safe-havens’ along the borders of both Syria and Iraq (ABC News 2015).

“There should be consideration to whether we can set up safe havens inside Syria, inside Iraq, so that people who don’t want to leave can remain in their home country but safe from the terrorist attacks,” she said (ABC News 2015).

Mr Abbott has also been urged to consider offering temporary visas to the displaced, just as the Howard government did for Kosovar refugees in 1999 (Henderson 2015).

Assistant Treasurer John Frydenburg as supported this proposal.

“Maybe what John Howard did in 1999 with the Kosovars could be a bit of a guide for us. He took 4,000 at that time, some of those went home but he did provide a humanitarian response and shelter for people who were fleeing persecution,” he said (Henderson 2015).

With Immigration Minister Peter Dutton due to meet with the UN Commissioner for Refugees, it seems it is clear to all that the situation cannot be left as it is and that Australia needs to pledge more assistance and quickly.

REFERENCES
ABC News 2015, 'Tony Abbot says Australia will accept more Syria refugess but within current intake, Peter Dutton to travel to Geneva for UN talks on crisis', ABC News, 7 September, viewed 7 September 2015,  
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-06/abbott-vows-australia-will-help-syria-refugees/6753220

Henderson, A 2015, 'Prime Minister urged to consider reviving Howard era-style temporary visas to help Syrian refugees', ABC News, 7 September, viewed 7 September 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-07/frydenberg-calls-for-one-off-refugee-increase/6754102

Martin S & Lewis R 2015, 'Abbott opens door to Syrian conflict refugees', The Australian, 7 September, p.1.