"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison

Election kick off special: Morrison has called the election!

Van Badham joins Ben Davison to discuss the opening salvo's from Morrison and Albo on the first day of the election.

They take a brief look at some of the battle ground seats around the country, the key issues that have been put forward by the leaders and seperate some of the spin from the reality.

So settle in for a wide ranging chat about the issues, the leaders, how the systems of our democracy work and some frank confessions about who has eaten chalk and people's favourite cheeses in this "hey ho, lets go" election kick off special.

Episode 82: Morrison’s trust deficit worsens, Liberals with questions to answer, election battle lines drawn, good news about Fortnite and Ukraine

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into the mess that is Scott Morrison's relationship with the truth as the week since the budget has seen Morrison called "unfit to be Prime Minister" by member's of his own government, state Liberals MPs write articles on why they "cannot vote for the reelection of a Scott Morrison government" and ABC Fact Check find him to be "misleading"

All while his intervention in the NSW Liberal Party pre-selections has been called a "debacle" by NSW Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet. 

When the fish rots from the head it soon spreads to the rest of the body, Van and Ben look at some of the Liberals with questions to answer following exposes by FriendlyJordies, The Guardian and the SMH on Peter Dutton, George Christensen and Andrew Lamming respectively.

As the trust deficit in the Morrison government grows the election battle lines are being drawn with Albo's budget reply focussing on aged care support, wages for workers and "putting the care back into aged care, child care and medicare."  Jim Chalmers, the man who would be Treasurer, has given a Press Club speech and picked up on the themes of insecure work and low wages while pointing out the Morrison era "to gdp" targets on tax etc are "arbitrary" and "all politics and bad economics".

At the same time ACTU Leader Sally McManus has been at a small business conference talking about the need for Australia to be self reliant and that the claim for a 5% increase in the minimum wage is about ensuring a better life for each generation of Australians. 

To help ensure a better life, better work and better wages, you can join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow

And the good news is that Fortnite gammers have raised more than $144M for the people of Ukraine to help provide essential food, shelter and other supplies.

We know that people build community and community builds solidarity.  We've seen it in the support for The Week on Wednesday as our podcast has had THREE record months IN A ROW thanks to everyone listening, sharing, downloading and contributing. 

If you want to help us spread the word even further go to www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday 

Weekend Wrap 3 April 2022: Frydenberg’s train wreck on Insiders, Unions are campaigning to lift wages & Putin’s war crimes?

Josh Frydenberg gave a train wreck interview with David Speers on Insiders.

From refusing to fund aged care wages to it being exposed that he had planned to reduce the price of medicines but had it cut from the budget and continually saying he and Morrison were offering "temporary cost of living relief", when what we need is a permanent improvement in living standards, Josh came across as a man who doesn't believe his own spin.

Australian Unions have put in a minimum wage case claim to lift minimum wages by 5%, business lobby groups want a cut, yet the Morrison government won't even commit to funding a regulated increase in aged care wages. Go to australianunions.org.au/wow to join and support wage increases.

The budget showed wages have gone backwards and will keep going backwards.  Ben looks at how workers are standing up against wage cuts and job insecurity from nurses, and printers, McDonalds workers and security guards to carpet makers and aged care workers.

There is also a quick summary of the situation in Ukraine where Putin's forces are leaving a trail of destruction in their withdrawal and accusations of massacres are emerging.

And there's a huge congratulations to our www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday supporters who have helped the podcast have our third record breaking month IN A ROW!

Episode 81: Morrison’s election budget misses the point as Liberals expose who he really is, COVID making a come back and good news about wind turbines

Van Badham and Ben Davison breakdown the Morrison budget. This latest instalment of neo-liberal waste and vote buying STILL doesn't address the fundamental issues of insecure work and low wage growth that is dragging down the economy and people's household budgets.

While the average worker has already gone backwards $1,300 over the last 18 months this budget locks in another $1,355 cut to the living standards of the average working Australian. Union member's have been campaigning on the need for more secure work and better pay, you can go to australianunions.org.au/wow to join them. 

There's plenty of pork being slushed around with 123 of the 144 projects announced in the budget not stacking up to the standards set by Infrastructure Australia and $600M going into more gas projects.

While the media focuses on the one off cash handouts and temporary petrol tax cut (that might be eaten up by oil price rises anyway) this waste and vote buying is being paid for with cuts to schools, universities, the arts, public sector workers, climate change prevention and $3 BILLION in cuts "decided but not announced".

These sneaky cuts have been exposed at the same time that soon to be former Liberal Senator from NSW Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has opened the lid on Morrison's take over of the NSW Liberal Party saying "There is a putrid stench of corruption emanating from the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party", claiming Morrison is "a bully with no moral compass" and that party members "don't like Morrison and they don't trust him". 

These claims follow on from Barnaby Joyce calling Morrison a "hypocrite and a liar", Gladys Berejiklian calling him a "horrible, horrible person" and another minister calling him "a fraud and a complete psycho". With the holes in his budget becoming apparent and his own leadership called into question it is clear why Morrison has canceled his appearance on ABC 7:30....

Van and Ben talk about how the COVID booster program is becoming another "strollout", with the time to reach 90% boosted getting pushed later and later into the year. This mismanagement is happening just as floods once again consume Lismore and northern NSW, making it harder to rollout boosters, and COVID cases rise, hospitalisations increase and more Australian's are tragically dying.

But there is good news about wind turbines!

Plus we give a shout out to all our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters who have signed up to make a regular contribution towards helping us grow the audience through www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday 

Weekend Wrap with Van: Pre-Budget Insiders, Morrison’s Hillsong lies, Putin’s War and good environmental news about cows!

Van Badham joins Ben Davison for a very special edition of the Weekend Wrap to bring you The Week on Wednesday, on a Sunday.

Van and Ben dive into the Morrison government's pre-budget leaks, analyse Insiders and Jim Chalmer's focus on wages and job security during his interview.  The budget will benefit from rising commodity prices but Morrison's renouncement of old policies, leaking of cash hand outs and continued waste on rorts doesn't look like addressing the job insecurity, real wage cuts and increasing living costs that are smashing Australian households.  Australian Unions are taking action in workplaces and communities around the country to make work more secure and lift wages join them at australianunions.org.au/wow

Morrison's record on delivering lines up with his record on lying as he was caught out in yet another needless lie about his connection to the Hillsong Church and its now disgraced former leader Brian Houston.  Van and Ben look at how the 2022 election will be impacted in a very different way by Morrison's trust deficit from the way it impacted 2019.

Putin's four day war in Ukraine enter's its 30th day with another dead general, senior staff missing, field commanders turning on each other, civilians ejecting soldiers from cities and Biden condemning Putin as a war criminal while the autocrat of Russia starts to talk about withdrawing to the most eastern parts of Ukraine.

There is good news for cows, methane emissions and seaweed farming as Chris Bowen points out Barnaby Joyce's call to shoot every cow in the head may have been pre-mature.

We have had two new Cadre supporters join us on www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday since our short Wednesday edition.  Our next episode will have the full shout outs for our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters.

Episode 80: Morrison cuts wages, Albo’s reality signalling, Putin’s war and good news about forests

Technical issues mean that Van Badham wasn't able to join Ben for this week's episode but The Weekend Wrap will be a special extended, post Insiders and pre federal budget Sunday edition.

In a shorter 30 minute episode Ben looks at how Morrison is leading the charge on cutting wages while the reserve bank admits that under the current government policies workers face another wage cut this year, on top of the cut last year!

As Morrison tries to make the election about fantastical culture wars (while ignoring the suspect behaviour of not only his own members but his spiritual advisor!) Albo has doubled down on what Labor is about: Delivering material improvements in people's lives that give space for progressive social policy as we've seen in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria.

The budget will see an improvement in national income from higher commodity prices driven by Putin's war in Ukraine but while that is good for the budget it is increasing the cost of living here and literally killing people in Ukraine.

Ben gives a quick update on the bogged down mess that is Putin's war as it enters day 28.

Even a shorter Week on Wednesday needs good news and this week it is about International Forest Day!

And as always Ben gives a shout out to all our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters who've headed to our page www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday and to everyone who has joined their union at australianunions.org.au/wow 

Don't forget to check out this Sunday's special Weekend Wrap with Ben AND Van Badham

 

Weekend Wrap 20 March 2022: Labor wins in South Australia, Morrison couldn’t stop a penguin invasion, teachers under strain & pork barrelling backfires

Ben Davison looks at how Peter Malinauskas won the South Australian for Labor focussing on health, ambulance waiting times, public ownership of assets and jobs while the Marshall Liberals, blinded by infighting and scandal, set the wrong, wasteful priorities.

Morrison minister, Simon Birmingham, appeared on Insiders this morning to claim the people of South Australia had been "tricked" and that there were no lessons for the Morrison government.  The Morrison government will be handing out some form of one off payments in the budget but doing nothing to address the systemic issues of insecure work, declining wages or rising living costs.

Greg Sheridan offered the insight that under Morrison and Dutton we "couldn't stop an invasion of penguins" given the hollowing out of our defence capability, despite huge amounts being given out to contractors and offshore suppliers.

Morrison's attempt to pork barrel the flood relief has backfired with one NSW coalition upper house MP resigning in protest and another claiming it would be "hard to vote for him"

And Morrison minister, Stuart Robert, has called public sector teachers duds as new research shows they in fact working 60 hours a week, 1 in 3 is thinking of leaving teaching and the independant and catholic school teachers are now looking at taking industrial action too.

A sharp 20 minutes to wrap up your weekend.

Episode 79: Morrison’s cost of living crisis can’t wait until budget night, Malinauskas on path to victory in South Australia, Putin’s War and good news about solar powered water

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into the cost of living crisis that is smashing Australian households with some people going backwards by as much as $1,500 a year.  Morrison may be trumpeting low unemployment but more and more Australians are in lower paid, casual work and having to work more than one job just to survive.  Australian Unions are achieving better outcomes in workplaces with more union members both for job security and wage increases.

Van shares her own story of going to work in hospitality while extremely sick in London just to make the rent.

With the Victorian government stepping in to offer a sick pay guarantee to casuals to help stop the spread of illness and address the symptoms of insecure work Morrison has chosen to attack the Victorian government and unions.

Albo is promising that Labor will address the insecure work, systemic low wages and rising costs of early education and childcare that are driving the cost of living crisis.

Morrison's solution?  Cheaper beer, from taps, in pubs.  Not even Andrew Bolt supports the idea.  Even the mainstream media seems to have finally had enough of Morrison's opportunist politics.

Peter Malinauskas looks set to topple a one term Liberal government in South Australia this weekend, in what Ben and Van are calling a microcosm of the national mood, the chaotic, ineffective and mismanaging Liberal government looks set to be punished by the public.  And Steven Marshall isn't even as unpopular as Scott Morrison!

Putin's War in Ukraine is failing.  Van looks at how his autocratic rule of Russia allowed Putin to build a fantasy world where he only hears what he wants to hear.  Now Russian forces are stuck in the mud, Putin is running out of money and the world is laughing at his "retaliatory sanctions" against American officials who have no dealings with or in Russia.  But, as Ben points out, sanctions can cut two ways with the oil situation in India a development worth watching.

And the good news is that scientists have developed the kind of technology that might allow us to build "moisture farms" like on the Star Wars plant of Tatooine using solar panels and hydrogels!

Plus we thank all of our Cadre and Extend the Reach supporters.  To become a supporter check out our www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday page.    

 

Weekend Wrap 13 March 2022: Morrison’s defence waste exposed on Insiders, Flood fundraiser highlights Liberal failures, Eureka ban a symbol of skewed priorities

Ben Davison breaks down Labor shadow defence minister, Brendan O'Connor's, Insiders interview in which he exposes the wastefulness of the Morrison-Dutton government.  Billions spent on equipment that doesn't work, given to Liberal donor companies that have no staff and on contracts that will never be delivered.  All in pursuit of an arbitrary "Spending as a percentage of GDP target" while Dutton fails to effectively deploy the defence forces we have to support covid controls and flood relief.

The nation dug deep to support a flood relief telethon overnight but with the insurance bills likely to top $1 BILLION Ben asks the question; is this the Liberal party just once again trying to deflect from its failings and push the role of government onto the people?  

Morrison was on the Today show this morning rejecting that very claim and calling it a "Labor narrative".  The 865,000+ Australian's having to work two or more jobs, millions who've had a pay cut, tens of thousands who were abandoned during fires and floods and thousands who's loved ones have needlessly suffered and died in aged care might disagree.

Morrison has banned the flying of the Eureka flag on construction sites.  Despite failing to implement the recommendations of a review of workplace health and safety laws and standing to one side while two major construction companies have gone under Morrison's Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) have spent two years getting a ban upheld by the federal court.  The Eureka flag, flown by our first diggers, remains a powerful symbol of grass roots democracy and is a part of union iconography while also being a key part of Ballarat's cultural identity.

Van and Ben will be proudly marching under the Eureka Flag at the Ballarat Labour Day march tomorrow.  Don't forget to join you union and check out our supporter page!

Episode 78: Morrison’s flood disaster and the crisis of small government, Putin’s War and energy in the West plus solar panel flowers

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at how the Morrison government's current failures around the floods are deeply rooted in their obsessive small government ideology.  From defence readiness to aged care, from the NDIS to flood relief the ideological obsession of Morrison, Dutton and the Liberals has seen billions collected in taxes then doled out in rorts and dodgy deals while the sovereign capacity Australians need to keep us safe, employed and prosperous has been eroded.

Morrison has flown to Lismore to declare a national emergency in a photo-op but refuses to acknowledge that the undermining of the public sector, the sell offs, favours for mates and dodgy grant schemes, coupled with a refusal to acknowledge the science of climate change, is the root cause of the problem.

With people hiring helicopters, setting up their own field hospitals and Chris Hemsworth donating tonnes of food people are rightly asking "isn't this the role of government?"

Putin's War in Ukraine hasn't gone to plan with high casualties, equipment failures and stubborn Ukrainian resistance throwing his "special operation" into a chaotic second week.

The West has responded by imposing sanctions, the latest of which strikes at the rivers of black gold that Russia has been selling to Europe, the UK and USA.  Bans and rapid transitions away from Russian oil, coal and gas by the Western nations will cripple the Russian economy and speed up the global transition to renewable energy.

The good news is that South Korea has floated giant flower shaped solar farms that not only provide renewable energy but are also beautiful tourist attractions.

As always we thank our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters, check out https://www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday, for how you can help us keep making The Week on Wednesday.