Australia politics dwell: MPs to pay tribute to Helen Haines as parliament resumes; Hanson says One Nation cartoons ‘not going wherever’ | Australian politics
Key occasions
Safety issues and threats have change ‘dramatically’ for politicians
Cabinet minister Mark Butler has mentioned this sitting week provides a possibility to to debate methods to maintain MPs, their households and staffers protected.
Asked by ABC Radio National if a lot had modified throughout his time in parliament, Butler mentioned:
It’s modified dramatically in my time.
I’ve been right here for nearly 20 years and safety has modified, and the federal police, in my expertise, have been very, very aware of our requests when there are threats or the potential for me going to an occasion.
But simply the quantity and the character of threats of violence and dying, not simply to MPs, however to their kids and to their companions and to their employees, is like nothing we noticed 20 years in the past.
Politicians to signal ‘civility pledge’ following alleged assault on Haines
The speaker of the home, Milton Dick, will name for civility in parliament in the present day, and a few politicians are anticipated to signal a “civility pledge”.
Independent MP Helen Haines was the primary to signal this pledge earlier than she was allegedly attacked final week.
Fellow impartial Kate Chaney, on Monday instructed ABC radio she can be including her identify:
I feel there’s one thing actually symbolic about the truth that Helen was [the first] federal MP to have signed this. It is a quite simple factor.
It simply says in my political life. I pledge to behave with honesty, respect, and compassion.
That feels to me like a easy and poignant strategy to honour the contribution Helen’s made to the parliament and proceed to attempt to embody these values that she personifies in the best way that I do my work in parliament.
Josh Butler
UTI therapy, contraception to be out there by way of pharmacies
All Australian girls will quickly be capable of attend a pharmacy for UTI therapy or re-supply of hormonal contraception, because the federal authorities expands a trial program to decrease well being care prices.
This program was beforehand restricted to concession card holders, however well being minister Mark Butler and minister for ladies Katy Gallagher introduced on Monday that it could be expanded to learn an estimated 900,000 girls.
The 12 month trial, to start from early 2027, will enable Australian girls to entry pharmacy therapy for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) and initiation or re-supply of hormonal contraception.
The federal authorities will cowl pharmacist session prices, of as much as $38 per go to.
Gallagher mentioned:
For too lengthy, girls’s experiences of the well being system haven’t obtained the eye they deserve. We’re decided to alter that. We’re making sensible modifications that give girls extra selection, make well being care extra accessible and assist save girls 1000’s of {dollars} over their lifetimes.
Butler added:
We wish to make it simpler for ladies to get care that matches into their lives.
MPs to ‘attempt to do justice’ to wounded fellow MP
Parliament will mark a solemn begin to the sitting week as politicians pay tribute to impartial MP Helen Haines, who was rammed by a automobile outdoors her electoral workplace.
The fashionable crossbencher was allegedly focused in a deliberate assault when she was struck by a four-wheel drive on the principle avenue of the Victorian city of Wangaratta on 19 October.
She has had each legs amputated and stays in hospital every week after the incident.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will ship a speech to parliament on Monday, reflecting on the alleged assault and its impression, and invite colleagues to do the identical.
Fellow impartial MP Monique Ryan described Dr Haines because the parliament’s “most light, principled and sort” member forward of her deliberate remarks within the decrease home.
“People who love her will attempt to do justice to Helen’s integrity and management,” she mentioned.
“I hope that each one members will rise to the event as Helen would do had been she with us.
“We’ll really feel her absence deeply.”
A fundraiser for charity Save the Children, arrange on Wednesday by Haines’ household in lieu of flowers, had surpassed $1.2m in donations by Sunday afternoon.
– Australian Associated Press
Hanson says One Nation cartoons ‘not going wherever’ regardless of criticism
Josh Butler
Pauline Hanson says One Nation’s controversial cartoon sequence “won’t be going wherever”, after rising outrage over its offensive portrayal of federal politicians together with earlier depictions of some being run over by motor automobiles.
Hanson mentioned her occasion’s Please Explain animation sequence had “nothing to do with the tragic assault on Helen Haines”, and claimed main occasion politicians needed the sequence “censored”.
The sequence has garnered additional criticism after movies from 2023 and 2024 had been re-circulated on-line and mentioned on Sunday morning political speak exhibits on the ABC and News24.
In one 2023 video, titled Under the Bus, Hanson seems to drive a bus over impartial senator Lidia Thorpe, who had been depicted as mendacity below the automobile’s tyres. In one other from 2024, titled The State of Melbourne, former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is proven being run down by a automotive pushed by cartoon character Bluey, with the video ending with strategies Anthony Albanese was additionally about to be hit.
Those cartoons, printed years earlier than the assault on Haines, have been criticised for portraying violence in opposition to politicians. Shadow minister Ted O’Brien mentioned on News24 the cartoons had been “not well timed”, and whereas admitting he hadn’t seen them, questioned whether or not they had been “applicable within the present local weather”.
The scrutiny comes after criticism of the cartoon sequence labelling Liberal MP Andrew Hastie a “traitor” and mocking Jacqui Lambie’s well being situation. Hanson beforehand stood by these cartoons, however later apologised to Lambie and claimed she hadn’t seen that clip.
But Hanson, posting on social media on Sunday afternoon, rejected criticism of the opposite clips. She claimed “the Labor and Liberal Dirt Units are already again at work, trying to make use of this tragedy to silence their critics and deflect from their very own failings. Too many media organisations are completely satisfied to assist them fling the dust.”
The Please Explain cartoons don’t have anything to do with the tragic assault on Helen Haines. They won’t be going wherever. Liberal and Labor politicians need our cartoons censored as a result of they don’t just like the scrutiny.
Those in search of to use this tragedy to silence their critics needs to be ashamed of themselves.
Kat Wong
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our dwell information weblog. I’ll be bringing you the information from Canberra as parliament resumes, with MPs to pay tribute to Helen Haines and senators to return for the primary week of estimates hearings in 5 months.
Let’s get began.
