Tuesday 25 May 2021

 The by-election in the NSW Hunter Valley seat has returned an unexpected increased 2-party preferred vote to the National Party. Although, this is a very safe National Party seat, the circumstances surrounding the resignation of the sitting member and the heavy coal-based electorate had predictions questioning whether the Nationals would retain the seat. Consequently, this has led to calls for the ALP Opposition Leader, Jody McKay to step down from the leadership.

Victoria now has five (5) cases of COVID and has reimplemented some restrictions. QLD has also implemented 14-day quarantine requirements for anyone who has visited an exposure site.

The issue of sexual assault complaint mechanisms in the Commonwealth parliament continues to raise its head, aided by Grace Tame who reportedly repeated part of a private conversation with the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the timing of the press reporting seems to indicate that Tame is being used by the media for political anti-LNP purposes, rather than for any intrinsic support of improvement in sexual harassment and sexual assault complaint processes within the workplace.

Christian Porter's defamation trial continues with the current focus on an attempt by the ABC to have his barrister removed from the case.

School children took the day off school at the end of last week to protest climate change.

Wednesday night will see a lunar eclipse at a very respectable early evening timeslot in the Eastern States of Australia, as long as there is no too much cloud cover.

Belarus has reportedly caused a plane flying over its airspace to be diverted with a military escort to land within Belarus so that they could arrest journalist Pratasevich, a former Belarusian who currently has asylum in another country. It is expected that he may face the death penalty. The European Union is in the process of implementing no-fly zones and sanctions. The UK has banned the Belarus national carrier from its skies.

In the background, 

  • the trade and diplomatic spat between China and Australia continues, 
  • China continues to sabre-rattle with Taiwan and possibly India.
  • Gas fired power station in the Hunter Valley continues to raise objections
  • NSW is considering adopting positive consent laws
  • A number of countries in the world are having issues with the subversion of democracy

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