Newly elected Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged to serve a full term after scraping back into power, but her fragile coalition was immediately hit by discord over a new tax yesterday.
Gillard, who cobbled together a one-seat majority helped by three independents and a Greens member of parliament (MP) after inconclusive polls, promised the nation’s first minority government since World War II would be “stable and effective.”
“The government’s aim is to go for its full term and deliver stable and effective government for three years,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“You should expect to see me lead, but in a different style than has been done before, understanding that it’s not a question of dictating, but a question of consulting and inspiring,” she said.
Gillard, who seized power in a June party coup, was handed a flimsy mandate on Tuesday when she won the backing of two independent MPs, finally breaking a 17-day impasse after deadlocked elections.
Less than 24 hours later, however, independent Tony Windsor was disappointed that a new levy on the mining sector — which brought down Gillard’s predecessor Kevin Rudd — would not be discussed at an upcoming tax summit.
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said the 30 percent tax would not be raised at the summit because legislation was already being prepared, and said he had smoothed over the issue with Windsor.
However, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the incident raised questions about the unity of the coalition, which will also face difficult negotiations over taking action against climate change.
“We’re not going to have stability for the next three years if this is what happens on day one,” Hockey said. “The happy couple haven’t even left the chapel and they’re arguing about the mining tax already.”
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
RSS