Embattled Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard begins a make or break parliamentary season this week, trying to deliver her key carbon and mining tax policies against a barrage of opposition from voters, business and opposition parties.
Gillard and her minority Labor government remain stuck in a “political death zone” according to a latest opinion poll yesterday and would be swept from office if elections were held.
“It really is the business end of the match for Gillard now,” said political analyst John Uhr from Australian National University, adding that she needs to secure her centerpiece reforms in the coming parliamentary session.
Coinciding with the start of the spring parliamentary sittings today, an anti-government rally will be held on the lawns of parliament house to oppose plans to price carbon.
At the same time, 11 separate truck convoys set off this week for Canberra to demand fresh elections, arguing that the minority Labor government has been hijacked by Green and independent lawmakers who guarantee it power.
“We are anti a system that allows unrepresentative minorities to dominate decision making,” organizer and National Road Freighters Association president Mick Pattel said yesterday.
The truck convoys could act as a lightning rod for growing discontent among Australians who believe they are not benefiting from the country’s resources-led economic boom.
Despite the building protests and business against new taxes caused by global economic jitters, Gillard is determined to push ahead with a series of controversial bills.
The main laws will be plans for a carbon tax from July next year, ahead of an emissions trading scheme from mid 2015, as well as a 30 percent profits-based tax on iron ore and coal mines.
The government will also introduce tough anti-smoking laws, which force tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packages. The laws have angered global tobacco giants, who have threatened international legal action.
Gillard will be buoyed by the new numbers in the upper house Senate, where the Greens will hold the key votes needed for the government to pass its laws.
That means Gillard should be able to pass her centerpiece policies mostly intact, enabling her to then to try and move the political debate onto more fertile ground for Labor next year, a year out for the next election.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was