Pencils, Mandates and a Single Bed

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3834217.htm Panellists: Clive Palmer, Leader of the Palmer United Party; Mark Latham, Former Federal Opposition Leader; Larissa Waters, Queensland Greens Senator; David Williamson, Playwright; Rebecca Huntley, Social researcher and writer; and Nick Xenophon, South Australia Independent Senator. -- Clive Palmer Clive Palmer is a mining entrepreneur and one of the most colourful characters in Australian business circles. He is renowned for being always willing to speak his mind. Once a staunch supporter of the Liberal National Party, Clive has had several clashes with the LNP leadership and the Queensland LNP Premier, Campbell Newman. He has now formed his own political party, the United Australia Party. Clive was born in Victoria but now lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland. He is widowed with two children. Now 56, he originally retired at the age of 29 after making a fortune in the 1980s Gold Coast property boom. In the later 1980s he started taking an interest in mining exploration in WA and his principal mining company, Mineralogy, secured access to 160 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves in the Pilbara region. Clive once worked as press secretary for the late Joh Bjelke-Petersen when he was Queensland Premier. He has been a big financial supporter of conservative political parties but has friendships and contacts across the political spectrum. He was named as an Australian Living Treasure and attracted controversy when he claimed the Greens were a puppet of the CIA. As owner of the Gold Coast United FC he also featured in a public spat with Frank Lowy, head of the Football Federation of Australia. His most recent venture has been the announcement that he is building a replica of the Titanic, to be called Titanic II. -- Mark Latham Soon after he entered Parliament in 1994 Mark Latham was regarded as somebody who was going places. He was young, energetic, ambitious and had a brilliant mind for policy. But he was also known for not suffering fools gladly, and put many of his Labor Party colleagues offside by being openly contemptuous of those he regarded as lacking intelligence and policy nous. Mark was born in 1961 in Ashcroft, a suburb of south-western Sydney. He was educated at the selective Hurlstone Agricultural High School, where he was dux, and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a degree in economics. As a young man he worked as a research assistant to the former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and worked on the latter's book The Whitlam Government. In 1987 he was elected to the City Council of Liverpool, in Sydney's south-west, and was mayor from 1991 until entering Parliament in the western Sydney seat of Werriwa, Whitlam’s old seat. He was promoted to the shadow ministry as education spokesman after the 1998 election, but later quit following a policy dispute with the opposition leader, Kim Beazley. The two became political enemies following this incident. In December 2003 Mark, then aged 42, became the youngest federal Labor leader since its first leader Chris Watson, who became leader at age 33 in 1901. It was a bold move by the Labor caucus which ended the bitter rivalry between Beazley and Simon Crean, and for much of 2004 it appeared to be paying off as Labor under Latham looked fresher and more energetic than the coalition under John Howard. But the polls started turning against Labor after missteps on national security and the war in Iraq, and a disastrous policy on Tasmanian logging had the union movement in open warfare with the parliamentary party. With the coalition mounting a scare campaign based around Labor inexperience and an allegation that interest rates would rise under the ALP, Labor suffered a heavy defeat and Mark announced early in 2005 that he was resigning from the leadership and from Parliament. He devoted much of his time after Parliament to writing newspaper and magazine articles, and in his book The Latham Diaries he mercilessly attacked many of his former colleagues and members of the press gallery. But his recent quarterly essay, Not Dead Yet, was a more measured assessment of the contemporary Labor Party and the political landscape, and signalled that Mark perhaps wanted to play a more constructive role in the political debate. The essay is being revised in the wake of Labor’s recent election loss. -- Larissa Waters Larissa Waters became the first Queensland Senate representative for the Australian Greens in the 2010 federal election, having narrowly missed out in 2007. Larissa is an environmental lawyer. Before entering Parliament she worked in the community sector for eight years advising people how to use the law to protect the environment. She is passionate about human rights, protecting the environment and public participation and accountability in government. As a member of the Greens her chief policy areas of responsibility include environment, biodiversity, natural heritage and population. Larissa lives in Brisbane with her partner and their daughter. -- David Williamson David Williamson is Australia’s best known and most widely performed playwright. His first full-length play The Coming of Stork was presented at La Mama Theatre in 1970 and was followed by The Removalists and Don’s Party in 1971. His prodigious output since then includes The Department, The Club, Travelling North, The Perfectionist, Sons of Cain, Emerald City, Top Silk, Money and Friends, Brilliant Lies, Sanctuary, Dead White Males, After the Ball, Corporate Vibes, Face to Face, The Great Man, Up For Grabs, A Conversation, Charitable Intent, Soulmates, Birthrights, Amigos, Flatfoot, Operator, Influence, Lotte’s Gift, Scarlet O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot, Let the Sunshine and Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica, Nothing Personal and Don Parties On, a sequel to Don’s Party. At Any Cost, co-written with Mohamed Khadra, opened at the Ensemble Theatre in July 2011. His play When Dad Married Fury had its world premiere in Perth at the Metcalfe Playhouse in 2012. David’s latest play, Rupert, centres on media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his influence on society. His plays have been translated into many languages and performed internationally, including major productions in London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. Dead White Males completed a successful UK Production in 1999. Up For Grabs went on to a West End production starring Madonna in the lead role. In 2008 Scarlet O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot premiered at the Melbourne Theatre Company starring Caroline O’Connor and directed by Simon Phillips. As a screenwriter, David has brought to the screen his own plays including The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North and Emerald City along with his original screenplays for feature films including Libido, Petersen, Gallipoli, Phar Lap, The Year of Living Dangerously and Balibo. The adaptation of his play Face to Face, directed by Michael Rymer, won the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. David was the first person outside Britain to receive the George Devine Award. His many awards include 12 Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Awards, five Australian Film Institutes’ Awards for Best Screenplay and, in 1996, the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. In 2005 he was awarded the Richard Lane Award for services to the Australian Writers’ Guild. David has received four honorary doctorates and been made an Officer of the Order of Australia. He has been named one of Australia’s Living National Treasures. -- Rebecca Huntley Rebecca Huntley was born in Oxford, England, to an Italian-Australian school teacher and an Australian law professor. She studied law at the University of NSW and spent a year of her law degree at the University of British Columbia. She also attained a first class honours degree in film studies, with a thesis on the political debate around the banning of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s controversial film Salo. Her law and film studies led her to become interested in film censorship, feminism and pornography. She published in this area and was actively involved in the Sydney Film Festival and the anti-censorship lobby group Watch on Censorship. After a brief stint in legal publishing, Rebecca started a PhD in Gender Studies at the University of Sydney, exploring the gender gap and the ALP in the 1983 and 1993 federal elections. During this period she was involved in ALP politics, working for numerous federal politicians. She was a member of the National Committee of Emily’s List and the ALP’s federal policy committee. During her PhD she also worked part-time as an academic teaching public law, film studies, communications and politics. She left the ALP in 2006. While working in book publishing, Rebecca wrote her first book The World According to Y: Inside the Adult Generation. After that book was published she was appointed as the director of the Ipsos Mackay Report, Australia’s longest running, qualitative social trends study, founded by research pioneer Hugh Mackay over thirty years ago. Rebecca now works as a research director as well as a writer. She is a regular feature writer for Australian Vogue as well as a contributor to numerous essay collections, magazines, newspapers and online publications. Her latest book, The Italian Girl, examines her family background and the experience of migrants to Australia. Rebecca is married and lives in Sydney. When she isn’t writing and researching, she is cooking, reading and knitting. She hates the word ‘awesome’. -- Nick Xenophon Nick Xenophon was first elected to represent South Australia as an Independent in the Senate in 2007, having already spent ten years in the State’s Legislative Council. He was well-known for his sustained campaigning against poker machines, and entered the Senate on a ‘No Pokies’ platform. Other strong areas of interest include aged care, climate change, fuel pricing, housing affordability and the Murray-Darling Basin. Nick has a reputation for being a true Independent and a tough negotiator in the horse-trading that takes place in the Senate over legislation when no one party has a majority. After being re-elected in the recent election Nick will form part of the large group of Greens, Independents and micro-party Senators with which the major parties will have to negotiate to get the numbers to pass, or block, particular items of legislation. Nick attended Prince Alfred College in Adelaide and studied law at the University of Adelaide, attaining his Bachelor of Laws in 1981. He established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co, in 1984. Between 1994 and 1997 he served as president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers' Association. ---- Audience: ALP 35%, Coalition 46%, Greens 10% -- SENATE REFORM Brigid Meney asked: There are mutterings of reform in how the Australian Senate is elected because of the possible induction of colourful new senators. Is an ordinary Australian citizen with real life experience out-manoeuvring the larger money-backed parties such a negative idea? Or does the current process take the Australian ethos of “fair-go” to dangerous new heights where incompetent, unqualified and questionable individuals are gaining seats by mere accident? FAIRFAX ELECTORAL FRAUD Kailee Cross asked: Clive Palmer, you recently accused the Australian Electoral Commission of corruption alleging that they 'rigged' the seat of Fairfax, this being the reason that your lead continues to shrink. How do you think this impacts upon the integrity of the AEC, and the credibility of every other seat in Australia? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Clive made a comment earlier, why are we in 2013 still using a pencil while in America and other countries they’re not and why in 2013 we’re not using the technology we could be? ABBOTT MANDATE Alexander Lau asked: Tony Abbott seems to believe that he has a mandate in both houses and that the Labor Party should vote in Parliament according to his purported mandate. Does the Coalition understand that the Labor, Greens, Independents or other minor party representatives and Senators hold the trust and interests of their constituents and are not serving purely in the interests of the current government? Mr Xenophon, Ms Waters and Mr Palmer, will you remain steadfast in your beliefs and the beliefs of your electorate rather than bending to the will of the Liberal Party? PALMER PARTY LINE Greg Vains asked: One of your elected PUP representatives, Jacqui Lambie, seems to support the Carbon Tax even though your party’s policy is to abolish it. Will you allow your elected PUP Senators to vote according to their conscience or will you require them to toe the party policy line? LABOR LEADER RULES Emmanual Macrides asked: Julie Gillard wrote in her essay published in the Guardian online that the new rules for electing labour party leaders, pushed through caucus by Kevin Rudd after he replaced her, are "a clumsy attempt to hold power”. She stated that "these rules protect an unsupported, poorly performing, incumbent rather than ensuring that the best person gets chosen and supported for the best reasons”. Mr Latham, do you think that the Labor Party leadership is now compromised by these changes and do you feel that Kevin Rudd acted in his own best interests rather than that of the party? COAL V CORAL Brian Davies asked: Ms Waters, Campbell Newman is encouraging Tony Abbott to cut “green tape” to allow mining and the expansion of the Abbot Point coal-loading facility near the barrier reef. A recent piece in The Guardian describes Mr Abbott’s environment policies as “the difference between coal and coral”. Have Australians just voted our coral reefs out of existence? MINING TAX CLIVE Michelle Bourke from VIC asked via video: Clive, Michelle here from Victoria. The Parliament members code of conduct states all members must act in the public interest first, so that conflicts of interest don’t occur. You are one of only 18 people in Australia who are billionaires, much of it off the back of the mining company you own, Minerology. The ABC poll of over 1 million Australians showed 59% believed the mining industry should pay more tax and only 10% believed it should pay less - but you have publicly stated your support for the Liberal plan to scrap the tax. So what steps are you really taking to ensure you have no conflict of interest and that you are doing everything you can to represent the concerns of the Australian people? MURDOCH & WILLIAMSON Jacqueline Elaine asked: David Williamson, when you wrote Don's Party in the Whitlam era, politics seemed fervently ideological compared to the appeal to voter self-interest which currently seems to dominate. Now you've written a play which looks at the 'ideological fervour' of Rupert Murdoch. Do you think Murdoch, and the media more generally, have contributed to, or just responded to the lack of ideology in today's politics? ABBOTT’S SINGLE BED Petar Rajic asked: There are now two people in high office in the world sleeping on single beds in a simple room: the Jesuit Pope Francis and the Jesuit-educated Tony Abbott. What other Jesuit values can we expect from our new PM?