Fires, Illegals & Rorts

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3859326.htm Panellists: Barnaby Joyce, Minister for Agriculture; Tony Burke, Labor frontbencher; Amanda Vanstone, Former Howard Government Minister; Vince Sorrenti, Comedian; and Rabia Siddique, Lawyer and Author Equal Justice. Panellists -- Barnaby Joyce Since entering Parliament in 2005 Barnaby Joyce has became one of the country’s best-known MPs because of his uncompromising attitudes, his personality and his willingness to say what he thinks – sometimes to the annoyance of his own side. After the coalition’s election victory Barnaby entered Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. Originally a Senator, he switched to the Lower House seat of New England prior to the 2013 poll and is tipped to one day become National Party Leader. Barnaby was born near Tamworth, in the New England electorate, in 1967, and claims to have expressed an interest in entering politics from his primary school days. He graduated in commerce from the University of New England and worked for a chartered accountancy firm and a bank before setting up his own accountancy business in an old shop front in the town of St George in western Queensland. Before the practice became established he faced serious financial difficulties – an experience common to many in small business, and one which left an indelible mark on Barnaby. When Barnaby entered the Senate he refused to be taken for granted as simply another backbencher who would support the coalition no matter what. He crossed the floor on several key votes and clashed with colleagues on such matters as single desk wheat marketing, amendments to the Trade Practices Act and voluntary student unionism. Several clashes with Liberals Wilson Tuckey and Bill Heffernan took place in public, even on camera, and have become the stuff of Canberra legend. Barnaby and his wife Natalie have four daughters. -- Tony Burke Tony Burke is the Labor member for the seat of Watson in Sydney's west. Before the election he was the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, and had been a minister since Labor won government in 2007. A National President of Young Labor in the 1980s, he graduated with an Arts-Law degree from the University of Sydney and in the mid-90s he became a founding director of a small business. In 1997 he began working for one of Australia's biggest unions, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. After a year in the NSW Legislative Council he entered Federal Parliament in 2004 and was immediately given a front-bench position by then leader Mark Latham as shadow minister for small business. He subsequently became Opposition immigration spokesman and entered Cabinet after Labor's election victory. -- Amanda Vanstone Amanda Vanstone was a Liberal Senator for South Australia for 23 years, from 1984 to 2007, and was the only female member of the Howard Cabinet following the 1996 election that brought the coalition to power. Amanda was born in Adelaide in 1952. She studied Arts and Law at the University of Adelaide and before entering politics worked in the legal area, retailing and small business. In the late 1980s she married Tony Vanstone, a commercial lawyer. As a Minister in the Howard government Amanda faced several challenges and was at times criticised by those who believed she, and other moderates, had allowed their moderate principles to be overridden by the Government’s conservative agenda. As Minister for Employment and Education Amanda was charged with cancelling a number of Keating administration employment programs for budgetary reasons, and was sent to the outer ministry as Minister for Justice in 1997. In 2001 she returned to Cabinet as Minister for Family and Community Services, and in 2003 was given the onerous Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs portfolio. She had to oversee the Government’s Pacific Solution policy to counter boat people, and also decided to abolish the contentious Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. For much of her career she was a leading member of the moderate Liberal faction and a mentor to younger Liberal moderates, such as fellow South Australian Christopher Pyne. In 2010 Amanda returned to Australia after serving for three years as Australian Ambassador in Rome. Her dog Gus achieved renown in Rome for biting visitors to the Ambassador’s residence. She is now an ABC presenter on Radio National’s Counterpoint. -- Vince Sorrenti Vince Sorrenti is one of Australia’s best-know comic entertainers. He has a long performance history, cutting his teeth in university revues in the early 1980s and in the burgeoning stand-up comedy scene that he helped create. After graduating as an architect in 1985, he threw himself into comedy and has performed to ecstatic crowds on thousands of stages all over the world. Vince is a near permanent fixture at major sporting events in Australia, from Bledisloe Rugby to Ashes tests, NRL and AFL Grand Finals and State of Origin matches. He has entertained everyone from Prime Ministers to PNG highlanders, Hollywood celebrities to trade unionists, and cardinals to Wall Street bankers. Over the past 25 years Vince has hosted TV programs in Australia and the United States, appeared in movies, released comedy albums, performed in festivals, and been a guest on countless talk and variety programs. His most recent TV programs include The Great Aussie Cook Off, Sunrise, Wide Open Road, and Celebrity Apprentice. Vince is also a writer. He has won a gold medal at the New York Film Festival for his documentary, No Laughing Matter, in which he also starred. His feature film script Gino won film corporation funding in 1990. Vince has also written hundreds of feature articles for publications including The Bulletin, Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekend Australian, Vacation, The Daily Telegraph and many others. In 2012 Vince won the coveted Mo Award for Australia’s Best Stand-Up Comic for the fifth time. -- Rabia Siddique Rabia Siddique was born in Perth, WA, in 1971, the daughter of an Indian Muslim father and an Australian mother. After obtaining Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees from the University of Western Australia, Rabia started her legal career as a criminal defence lawyer at the Legal Aid Commission of WA. In 1998 she moved to the United Kingdom with the intention of expanding her practice to the fields of international humanitarian and criminal law. In September 2001 Rabia was commissioned as a Legal Officer in the British Army and served until 2008. In 2006 she was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for her humanitarian work in the Middle East and in 2009 was the runner-up for Australian Woman of the Year in the UK. Her memoir Equal Justice tells of how she and another soldier were taken hostage by Islamic insurgents on Iraq as they tried to negotiate the release of two kidnapped British SAS operatives. After their release, her colleague received a Military Cross while Rabia received nothing. Her subsequent sex and race discrimination case against the British Army made headlines around the world. Rabia returned to Australia in 2011. She now works as a senior government lawyer in Perth, where she lives with her husband and triplet sons. ---- Audience: ALP 36%, Coalition 48%, Greens 11% FIRES – CLIMATE Ted Wziontek asked: The Sydney Morning Herald today has reported that deep cuts to staff and funding by NSW government have largely dismantled the state’s ability to investigate and prepare for the effects of climate change such as more frequent extreme fires. Are governments too focused on short term fiscal policies at the expense of investment into the long term strategic policies? CLIMATE – IGNORING CLIMATE SCIENTIST Zachary Harrison asked: Why is it that a government made up of lawyers, business owners, accountants and professional politicians think they can ignore the advice of climate scientists who specialise in the field and put the future of Australia at risk by abolishing a price on carbon? FIRES Alan Laing asked via Video Question: As long as homeowners can get insurance to build and even rebuild in the most blatantly hazardous locations, we will continue to see the rise in the cost of premiums for the rest of us. Live in amongst the trees if you wish, but why should the rest of us have to pay – sometimes with brave firelighters’ lives. FTA PROBLEMS Roger Colman asked: Does it make sense to have free trade agreements with countries that have poor records in honouring the spirit of contracts let alone the wording? Take the 2005 Thailand free trade agreement where we got hammered. From 1988 to 2005 we exported to Thailand more than we imported from them. Now we import three times what we export there. And now you are proposing one with China, a country that is one of the worst violators of free trade around. All you appear to be doing is closing down Australia. Do you guys really know what you are doing when you sign such deals? ASYLUM – NAMES Talia Stump asked: The immigration minister Scott Morrison now wants to further shift the discourse on asylum seekers by instructing they be publicly referred to as “illegals” and “detainees”. What does the panel think about how this may influence community attitudes toward asylum seekers and the impact it will have on asylum seekers who are already living in our community? To what extent is this change in terminology a strategy in stopping the boats or is it rather, a reflection of political opinion? ENTITLEMENT RORTS Danica Sajn asked: WA Liberal Don Randall has repaid more $5000 for a trip to Cairns with his wife yet he has still not explained to the Australian taxpayer how this so-called oversight could have occurred. Tony Abbott himself has said that the rules governing the entitlements that MPs are allowed to correctly claim are not 'always clear'. (At one stage he himself regarded the costs incurred to attend the private wedding of a colleague as a correctly claimed entitlement.) How can the Australian people feel at ease with the entrusting of a 1.6 trillion dollar economy to politicians with such poor discernment and ethical standards? ROXON / RUDD Kirk Koelmeyer asked: In responding to Nicola Roxon’s speech last week, I noted that a spokesman for Kevin Rudd said that he was busy developing new policies for Australia’s future. Is this a clear indication that he is set to remain in politics? Does the line “developing new polices for Australia’s future” suggest that he might have another tilt for the Labor leadership in the future? POLITICS: WOMEN IN POWER Kylie Harris asked: Amanda Vanstone, recently you defended the Liberal Party’s cabinet including only one woman stating, “I’d rather have a good government than more women in the cabinet for the sake of it”. Why do you believe there aren’t more women that could contribute to a ‘good government’ and what could be done to change this unequal representation of women in the highest level of politics that wouldn’t be considered just doing it “for the sake of it”? SILENT GOVERNMENT Paul Hirayama asked via a Video Question: Vince Sorrenti, as a comedian, are you struggling for material now that we have a silent government?