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

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

Weekend Wrap 30 January 2022: Ash Barty and Special K win at Australian Open, Albo on Insiders, COVID update and Where is Richard Colbeck?

Ben joins the #BartyParty as Ash Barty becomes the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open in 44 years and the Kyrgios & Kokkinakis "Special K" duo take out the men's doubles.

Insiders returns for 2022 with a first up interview with Labor leader Anthony Albanese.  Albo gave all the right answers to the wrong questions.  It boiled down to Speers repeatedly asking how much will that cost/how will it be paid for and Albo responding with "We will stop the waste, the rort and the corruption."

NSW has recorded the worst day for COVID deaths while Dominic Perrottet, Boy Prince, announces a business support package where the devil is once again hidden in the details.

Finally as the death toll in aged care facilities rises and Morrison's Aged Care Minister appears to be in hiding (possibly at the cricket) Ben asks, "Where is Richard Colbeck?"

You can support The Week in Wednesday at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Episode 72: Grace Tame channels Australian women, COVID deaths spiking, Australia and Survival Day plus good news on rivers

Van Badham and Ben Davison analyse the final day of Grace Tame's tenure as Australian of the Year, that handshake, that look, that photo, Morrison's failures on policy issues, Morrison entrenchment of unsafe cultural attitudes, the conservative response to Tame doing her duty and what it tells us about the state of politics and the status of women in Australia.

Van and Ben also remind people they can get active to support better safety for women at work, and in society, through their union at australianunions.org.au/wow with the We Won't Wait campaign and the demands to implement all the recommendations of the Respect@Work report.

COVID deaths in Australia are spiking with daily deaths per million currently higher in Australia than in Brazil.

With Morrison prioritising making RAT importer millionaires over providing RATS to NDIS participants and aged care residents Van and Ben look at how people in those sectors are struggling as well as how the Ministers are, not only failing, but hiding out at the cricket!

The union movement is holding webinars TOMORROW (Thursday 27th) on your workplace safety rights, hosted by Australian Unions leaders Sally McManus and Liam O'Brien, the webinars are a must for any worker who is concerned about COVID exposure at work, the shortage of RATS and what the rules are about not having to work in an unsafe environment.  The Australian Unions webpage and twitter has all the details.

Dylan Alcott is the Australian of the Year for 2022! His first acts were to call for more support for the NDIS, free RATS, a shift in mindset and to take a very cheerful selfie with Grace Tame.

Today is the Australia Day public holiday but the desire for a national day that all Australian's can celebrate is gaining momentum.  Van and Ben discuss some of the issues surrounding today, cameo some remarkable social shifts that commemorated Survival Day and suggest people check out Thomas Mayor's article on this topic in the SMH and Age.

The good news is about the Yarra River!

And we give shout outs to our Cadre and Extend the Reach supporters.  You can get a shout out by contributing at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday 

Weekend Wrap 23 January 2022: Morrison wants kids driving forklifts, The Wiggles win the Hottest 100, WA keeps borders closed, Vic and NSW announce school restart plan

Ben Davison dives into Morrison's botched attempt to get children driving forklifts by National Cabinet decree and urges people to check out their health and safety rights at the Australian Unions free webinar this week with ACTU Leader Sally McManus, australianunions.org.au has the details.

Triple J's Hottest 100 has been announced with The Wiggles winning the annual song poll with their Like A Version cover of Tame Impala's track, Elephant.  

WA announced it will be keeping border protections in place beyond the initial February 5 date originally floated for reopening.  Premier McGowan has said that concerns about the efficacy of double vaccination against Omicron and the "shadow lockdowns" that Omicron outbreaks have caused in the rest of Australia are behind the move.

While NSW and Victoria suffer from shadow lockdown, staff shortages, supply chain constraints and collapsing consumer demand, both state governments have announced plans to get kids back to school.  Regular testing, combined classes, vaccine mandates for staff and mask mandates for grade 3 and up are all part of the approach designed to keep schools open.  Queensland has already delayed the restart of school to February 7th to have its plans in place.

While the states are rolling out RATs to schools the he said, he said of Commonwealth RAT procurement and supply continues.  Many organisations have claimed their RAT supplies have been diverted to meet Commonwealth procurement contracts while the Morrison government claims it hasn't "seized" any RATs from the private market.  While this is going on people are paying hundreds of dollars to regularly test disability support workers and pharmacies cannot get RATs to give out to those who would qualify for the Morrison concessional RATs program.

In New Zealand new gathering limits and mask rules have been announced as Omicron threatens to breakout.  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has canceled her wedding in order to comply with the new protective measures.

And Ben thanks all of the Week on Wednesday listeners who have checked out the support page at buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday