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

Weekend Wrap 6th March 2022: Dutton’s incompetence shines through poor Insiders interview, Morrison fails flood victims, profits soar as wages fall

Ben, live from the Adelaide Writers Week, breaks down the Peter Dutton Insiders interview that failed to ask a single question about his involvement with a Queensland business man, who he has made commercials for in the past, which FriendlyJordies has exposed as having been involved in questionable behaviour.  Dutton sabre rattled about China, made up defence policy on the run, refused to be accountable for his failure to properly deploy defence personnel to assist with the floods and in aged care.

While people in Queensland and Northern New South Wales are forming a "mud army" to deal with the disaster Dutton railed against suggestions his government hadn't done enough to support the people.  Despite even NSW Liberal Premier Perrottet admitting they had failed to do enough.

Ben looks at how this part of a broader picture of failure by the Morrison government on everything from a federal ICAC to un-needed car parks and how this weeks economic figures show that failure is being paid for by working people with wages FALLING while profits SKYROCKET.

We round out with a shoutout for the International Women's day events happening this week, including the big union rally in Melbourne this TUESDAY.

Plus there's a shout out to our supporters who've said hello while in Adelaide and made a contribution at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Episode 77: Morrison missing for women and elders, Putin’s war, flood disasters in Queensland and NSW

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a long look into whats happened in aged care now that Morrison has had the Aged Care Royal Commission findings for over a year.  Hundreds have died, minister Colbeck cannot guarantee that funding for nutrition was spent on food, nursing homes don't always have a nurse, minimum care times are not being met and the workers need a 25% pay increase just to get a liveable hourly wage. 

But unions have taken up the issue with a claim to lift wages to $30 an hour, have nurses in nursing homes, have staff to resident ratios and ensure people are feed more than $6 a day worth of slop.

The Australian Union movement also released a report this week called "Morrison Missing: A record of his failure for working women".  The report shows how under the Morrison government 2 out 3 working women have faced sexual harassment at work, women are paid nearly $500 a week less than men, retire with half as much as men and are more likely to experience insecure work, unemployment and homelessness.

The report coincided with the union movement bringing a case for paid family and domestic violence leave in the workplace commission.  While employer lobby groups were happy to contest the claim no employer was willing to put their face to opposing a paid day off for the victims of family and domestic violence.

While the Australia Services Union has asked Qantas to get rid of some outdated gender bias uniform laws, Tony Abbott has been spouting American right wing talking points that "gender whispering" is basically why Putin has invaded Ukraine.

It is not.  Putin has invaded Ukraine because he believes in a fascist ideology espoused by one of his advisors and praised by people like Steve Bannon.

Putin's War in Ukraine has highlighted how his far right ideology has been supported by bad faith actors in the west and is based on a written doctrine of fascism, "Greater Russian" rule over large parts of Europe and the "destruction" of "liberalism"

While the war is not going to plan for Putin it has unified democracies against his authoritarianism in some interesting and unexpected ways while also having devastating economic consequences for Putin and his cabal of oligarchs.

The flooding disaster in south east Queensland and northern NSW has claimed 10 lives and left over 50,000 properties without power.  Van and Ben rail against the failure of Morrison and Dutton to understand the role of government in supporting people in a time of crisis while praising the selflessness of the volunteers and community members on the front line.

Plus there is good news about Guinness and carbon capture! 

And as always we give a shout out to our supporters, you can check out the supporter page at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Weekend Wrap: Putin’s war in Ukraine and floods in Queensland

Ben opens the podcast with the Ukrainian national anthem and a call for peace. 

The Week on Wednesday focusses on issues that impact working people, whether in work, looking for work, unable to work or retired for work, and Putin's war will impact working people in Ukraine, Russia and around the world.

While giving a breakdown of how Putin has misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people, and their President, Ben explores how Putin used his puppet Trump to deny Ukraine weapons, his pawns to spread division and chaos in our democracies during the US election, Brexit and through the Qanon Cult.

Ben gives a rapid summary of the sanctions, military situation, international pressure and domestic unease that surrounds Putin's war. 

Here in Australia floods have claimed at least six lives in Queensland with flooding rains expected to continue in the days to come.  Emergency services are receiving as many as 1,000 calls an hour for assistance.

Ben rounds out the wrap with a call for peace, a hope for the safe return of AWU National Assistant Secretary Misha Zelinsky who is in Kyiv and a thank you to all those who are helping protect people from the floods in Australia.

 

Episode 76: Morrison attacks workers and children, real wages cut, billionaires are not the answer to climate change

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at how the diverging political fortunes of Morrison and Albo are driving Morrison into ever more desperate acts of political theatre at the expense of working people and children.

On Monday the NSW Liberal's effectively conspired to shut down the train system by locking out the workers and then spent the entire day using a decision, made by their management team (some who had played the same role locking out workers at Qantas), to attack workers, union leaders and the Labor Party.

From Prime Minister Morrison and his industrial relations Minister Michaelia Cash to the boy prince Premier Perrottet and his Transport Minister David "I don't answer my phone after dark" Elliot the full weight of the Liberal Party was focused on blaming the workers for stopping the trains when the truth is that it was the NSW Liberal government and their hand picked underlings who threw the state into chaos.

Tuesday saw no apology but did see Morrison move onto his other favourite target group; trans children.  On the same day that we received a copy of "This is me", a heart warming picture book written by a teacher and AEU member about sporty young people coming out to their family the Prime Minister of Australia was supporting banning trans children from playing sport.

Van and Ben discuss how this behaviour by Morrison is about his desperate attempts to revive his political fortunes in the face of news today that real wages are going backwards, living costs are going up, insecure employment rampant and his ideologically driven leadership has made things worse.

The news that billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian private equity fund Brookfield want to buy AGL has been greeted by some as the arrival of climate change Batman but Van and Ben breakdown why the low ball offer was never likely to succeed and what it tells us about the battles between billionaires for power and money.  Never simp for a billionaire.

Plus there is good news about carbon capturing soft drinks in The Netherlands!  

And as always we pay tribute to our contributors.  You can become a Cadre, Extending the Reach or Buck a Week contributor at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday or you can just make a once off contribution.  

Weekend Wrap 20 February 2022: Morrison gets desperate on national security while welding his own face, South Australia off to the poll and WA set to reopen

Ben Davison is back on the Weekend Wrap following Van Badham's stint filling in last week and he takes a look at the South Australian election. Labor has a good chance of winning back government from Marshall's chaotic Liberals on March 19th with only four seats needing to swing Labor's way.

Western Australia is due to reopen on March 3rd with nearly 99% of people over the age of 12 vaccinated.  

Ben dives into why Morrison launched, what Nikki Savva on Insiders called, a desperate attempt to tarnish the reputation of the opposition leader.  How James Paterson was unable to provide any evidence for the accusations Morrison has thrown at Labor and what it all actually means for the state of Australian politics. 

Plus Morrison's campaign circus is on the road again with the ringmaster himself very nearly welding his own face

Also Ben thanks our www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday supporters and reminds people to join their union, because Morrison isn't going to be lifting wages.

Episode 75: Morrison plays the ukulele while Liberals burn Australia, Dyson Heydon and the Liberal problem with women plus good news about clean energy & trees

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into the politics of the week - and what it tells us about the broader state of the nation.

Morrison appeared on 60 Minutes playing the ukulele while his NSW Liberal Party colleagues were being resoundingly spanked in by-elections across the state.  With nurses going on strike about a lack of staff at over 150 hospitals (during a pandemic) - and rolling industrial actions across the train network - it is easy to see why.

At the federal level, the Morrison Liberals aren't doing any better.  The aged care crisis is now exposing the dire state of our sovereign capacity with only 106 of the promised 1,500 defence personnel actually in aged care facilities.  The government's own committee has stated the NDIS will need another 83,000 full-time workers in the next two years - yet the sector is "overworked, underpaid, undervalued and poorly trained".  And total "payroll" wages in the economy dropped nearly 9% in January on the back of the total number of "payroll jobs" (a measure of jobs that are sometimes more secure) dropping nearly 6%.

Even on COVID Morrison is still failing, with January 2022 costing more lives than any month in 2021.

Van and Ben also look at the Dyson Heydon sexual harassment case settlement and draw together the strands of how the Liberal party treats the powerful - like Heydon - vs how they attack the disempowered and the vulnerable, like Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins. 

Plus TWO good news stories.  The first on clean energy from ammonia and the second on reforestation in India that includes an improvement in the social conditions for women.

Don't forget to join our supporter page www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Weekend Wrap 13 February 2022: Van gives a special breakdown of how ”get Albo” week got turned on it head with Labor beating Morrison on religious discrimination and more!

Van Badham fills in for Ben Davison, who has lost his voice, and gives a full break down of how Morrison's "get Albo" week in parliament turned into one of the worst weeks in Morrison's parliamentary career.

The divisive "religious discrimination" bill, a centre piece of Morrison's promises to the Australian Christian Lobby, was effectively gutted by a Labor party, very much in the minority, who was able to tactically navigate amendments, small "L" liberalism and the weaknesses of Morrison's leadership to put forward a genuine religious freedom bill that didn't allow discrimination against the LGBTIQA+ community. Morrison, wanting the wedge and hate more than the freedom, killed the bill in the senate and now it seems unlikely to happen before the election.

Morrison's hunt for friends and slices of the electoral pie has led to him blaming the states for vaccine mandates and tip toeing around the "Carnival of Crank" currently in Canberra that is stopping Lifeline fundraisers and generally causing a nuisance while also acting as the Australian chapter of the "Brownshirts without borders".

Van also gives some analysis of Morrison's desperate attempt to regain "daggy dad" status with his 60 Minutes piece.  If you can watch Scott Morrison play a ukulele and not think of him abandoning Australian's to horrific bushfires then you haven't been paying attention.

And if you'd like to support The Week on Wednesday and the Weekend Wrap you can check out our supporter page www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday   

Episode 74: Morrison’s parliament apology but what’s really changed? Colbeck no show on aged care crisis, Morrison MPs support QAnon protests and a million flowers bloom

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive head first into the big political stories of the week.  Morrison makes an apology for bullying and harassment in parliament but prioritises a bill allowing the bullying of trans children over laws that would give people escaping family violence paid leave, make sexual harassment a workplace health and safety issue and would mean 200,000 women who aren't paid super got super on every dollar they earned. 

The Australian Union Movement "We Won't Wait" Campaign continues to press on getting real action on these issues, you can join at australianunions.org.au/wow

Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins appeared at the National Press Club today and outlined their concerns with the Morrison government's inaction on violence against women and put forward three priorities for how we can move forward on these issues.  

Van and Ben look at the religious discrimination bill and break down the parliamentary parlour games that are now being played in place of making real reforms on issues impacting people while talking through some of the hurt that is being caused.

Morrison has come to the defence of his aged care minister after it was revealed he didn't attend senate hearings about the COVID19 response. The Australian defence force has finally been called into assist the sector which has seen 500 deaths in the time between the unions and providers calling for help and the Morrison government providing support.

QAnon and anti-vax protests in Canberra are getting support from Morrison Senators and MP's as they call for Morrison to face a gallows and get signed into parliament by former Liberal and current Palmer pupper Craig Kelly.

And the good news is a million sunflowers are blooming!

Plus we are doing a Fabian's event, Van is discussing her book "QAnon and On" and we give shout outs to our supporters, which you can also find here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday 

Weekend Wrap 6 February 2022: ”We need to get him out” Morrison minister flaps on Insiders, Barnaby and Colbeck show Morrison priority is image over lives, the bigot bill and around the states

"We need to get him out."

Ben Davison dives into the latest revelations about how much Morrison's own Deputy PM, Ministers, Liberal Premiers, Former Liberal Prime Ministers and his own members don't trust the "horrible, horrible person", who puts "politics before people", is a "liar", a "fraud" and "a hypocrite".  Barnaby Joyce was due to appear on Insiders but due to his own text messages where he revealed he feels the same way about Morrison he dropped out of the show and left Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews to pick up the pieces. 

The interview is worth watching for some insight into the cruelty of the Morrison government approach to genuine refugees but also because when asked if Morrison was no longer the campaign asset he was in 2019 she said. "We need to get him out."

The latest bombshell comes as Barnaby Joyce offers his resignation over a question of political appearances yet Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck refuses to even acknowledge the sector is in crisis! Morrison rejected Barnaby's resignation and continues to support Colbeck in the face of calls for the Minister to be sacked by Labor and the unions while the sector, unions and providers, demand military support.

While this coming week in parliament should see two new ministers (it won't) and a plan to fix aged care (also won't happen) it will instead be focussed on the "Religious discrimination bill", or what is in effect the bill to legalise bigotry in schools.  Ben, a gayby, has strong views on this topic

Ben gives a brief wrap up of the situation in Western Australia with fires and school closures, Queensland schools returning next week, NSW by-elections looking like a referendum on the boy prince Perrottet's Let it Rip strategy and the upcoming South Australian election gets firing with accusations that the Liberal Premier suggested weakening COVID protections in return for political support!

Don't forget you can support the podcast at www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday

Episode 73: Qanon loons caravan of crazy, ”psycho” Morrison crashes at Press Club, ’how to vote cheques’ won’t solve aged care crisis and good news about bees!

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at the latest Qanon protests in Canberra that have seen a Go Fund Me suspended, a pile up on the highway and demands for MPs, not in parliament, to come out of parliament to answer questions from unmasked and unvaccinated "protestors".

Down the road from the parliament house protests Scott Morrison delivered a National Press Club speech full of self congratulation, reminders that things could have been worse, half baked policies and laundry lists of stats that bear no resemblance to lived reality.  In the questions that followed he was torn to pieces by a cascade of insightful and explosive revelations about his honesty, his failures and his integrity.   The subsequent attempts to spin the disaster have only further stripped away the facade of the "daggy dad" to expose the "fraud" politician who "cares more about politics than people" and is desperately out of touch with the lives of ordinary people.

The "how to vote cheques" of up to $800 for fulltime aged care workers has been called out as being symbolic of the "trinkets in place of diamonds" approach that Morrison has consistently taken to the aged care sector.  Despite the sector, the staff and unions all agreeing wages need to increase Morrison has ruled out supporting a wage case to improve conditions in aged care and continues to defend his government's performance.

Van and Ben explain why Sunrice workers have gone on strike and how Morrison's government refuses to help protect the wages of the thousands of Qantas workers that the company, heavily subsidised by taxpayers, is trying to cut by up to 65%

And the good news is about bees!

Don't forget we give shout outs to all our Cadre and Extend the Reach supporters which you can check out on the supporter page here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday