Fireworks, Free Trade & Indigenous Issues

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3854672.htm Panellists: Arthur Sinodinos, Assistant Treasurer; and Penny Wong, South Australian Labor Senator. -- Arthur Sinodinos NSW Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos, the Assistant Treasurer, is a ministerial newcomer but an old hand at politics as a key staff member for former Prime Minister John Howard. He first worked for Mr Howard as Senior Economic Adviser from 1987-89, resuming that role when Mr Howard returned to the Opposition leadership in 1995. In 1997 Arthur became Mr Howard’s Chief of Staff, a position he held for nine years. The role gave him experience at the highest levels of national policy development and politics. He resigned in 2006 to work at Goldman Sachs JB Were and most recently the National Australia Bank. Arthur was a member of various pro-bono boards including the Mary MacKillop Foundation, a charity which funds small life-changing projects for the underprivileged, the Aboriginal Employment Strategy Pty Ltd and the Australian Institute of Management. In 2008 Arthur was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to politics through the executive function of government, to the development of economic policy and reform, and to the Greek community. He returned to politics in October 2011, when he succeeded Liberal Senator Helen Coonan from NSW. Arthur is known for his focus on substantive topics affecting Australia’s increasingly complex economic and financial landscape. He is an expert on financial markets, economics and public policy, reflecting his experience gained through previous roles as an economist with the Commonwealth Treasury and the Department of Finance. -- Penny Wong Penny Wong was born in 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, to a Malaysian-Chinese father and an Australian mother. She was eight years old when she, her mother and brother moved to Australia when her parents separated. They settled in Adelaide and Penny ultimately graduated with an Arts/Law degree from the University of Adelaide, where she became politically active and joined the ALP. Penny graduated in 1992 and worked with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union before being admitted to the Bar in 1993. During the mid-1990s she worked for the NSW Government as an adviser, specialising in forestry policy, then returned to Adelaide to work as a lawyer and union adviser. She also won a position on the ALP’s State executive. Penny won top spot on the South Australian ALP Senate ticket for the 2001 election and entered the shadow ministry in 2005. After the 2007 election she entered Cabinet with the onerous and high-profile climate change portfolio, and took over from Lindsay Tanner as Finance Minister in 2010. She remained in that portfolio until Labor’s election loss. As well as being regarded as one of the most capable members of the Labor government, Penny is the first Asian-born member of an Australian Cabinet and the first to be openly in a same-gender relationship. She was instrumental in bringing about a change to the ALP's platform on the issue of gay marriage. She and her partner, Sophie Allouache, have a daughter, Alexandra. ---- Audience: ALP 32%, Coalition 44%, Greens 10% LIBERAL PARTY REFORM Adrian Falleiro asked: The democratic reform that saw Bill Shorten elected as Labor leader this weekend highlights a stark contrast to the NSW Liberal party, who made news last week for suspending party members who dared speak in favour of internal democratic reform. As both Tony Abbott, John Howard and many other MP’s and former MP’s are on the record for supporting democratic reform in the NSW Liberal Party, are these suspensions an abuse by factional powers in NSW and an attempt to stifle the debate, or are you not allowed to answer this question for fear of expulsion yourself? SAME SEX MARRIAGE BY STATE Jarrod Lorch asked: Currently in Australia there is inconsistency between the states with laws regarding, age of consent, drugs and alcohol, road rules, abortion, adoption, the list goes on. If we allow the Federal Government to trump state legislation on an issue as popular locally and Federally as same-sex marriage, doesn't this just open the floodgates for further forced social policies? TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP Martin Connolly in Terrigal, NSW asked via video: Why is this government intent on signing the Trans Pacific Partnership which will do little good to Australia? It is not a free trade deal and it threatens our sovereign rights. Multinationals will be able to sue our government if they feel disadvantaged by our laws eg tobacco companies. Why are we signing this? What good is it to Australia? Why do we need it? A QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Arthur, could you explain to the audience please. In relation to China, Coalitions approach to not necessary applying pressure but to be fair to everyone in term of benefiting each other regarding the fixed Chinese currency? INDIGENOUS DOLLARS – WHAT’S TO SHOW? Peter Frohlich asked: According to a report released by the Productivity Commission last year, state and federal government spending on Indigenous Australia was estimated to amount to $25.4 billion in 2010-11 or a little over $44,000 per Indigenous person per year. That’s more than double the average per capita spend for non-Indigenous Australians. Billions have been spent before and since but there’s precious little to show for it in terms of improved literacy or health or life expectancy or employment. What should be done differently or is it time to think about reducing Indigenous spending to the same per capita level as the broader community? INDIGENOUS SELF-DETERMINATION Jannali Futcher asked: Mr Mundine - do you agree with the concept of self-determination for Aboriginal people seeing you are a government appointed member selected to create Indigenous policies which fail to take into account the uniqueness of every Aboriginal community? Also are you really able to say you can fairly represent Aboriginal people when you support Coalition policies that will deny a voice for Aboriginal communities? As we’ve seen with large cuts to funding for legal aid. A QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: While you’re all talking, another generation of children wont go through primary school and wont go through high school. When this is centralised what are you actually going to do to make sure we catch this children before the fall off the cliff. What are you going to do to make sure we catch the children as they enter the preschool and primary schools?