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Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s heartbreaking loss

Penny Wong has shared the devastating news of her mother's passing. The Australian Foreign Minister took to Instagram to pay tribute to her mother, Jane Chapman, who passed away on Sunday. "Yesterday my beloved mother, Jane Chapman, left us peacefully," she began her post. "Mum was a woman of exceptional intellect and penetrating insight, of mischievous wit and endless curiosity. “Most of all she was a woman of deep compassion and principle,” Wong said. “She gave expression to her compassion through her courage and determination for justice, qualities that have steeled me through all my life’s challenges. “Through her work, her choices, her courage and her deeds, she inspired and empowered me and so many others. "Mum loved me completely. And she loved her granddaughters Alexandra and Hannah beyond measure," she continued. "We will miss her terribly." She then thanked Tony Michele and the staff at Mary Potter Hospice for taking care of her mum and for their kindness. Parliamentary colleagues and the public shared their condolences in the comments. "My heart goes out to you. Nothing can prepare us for the loss of a parent. Jane was an incredible woman. Sending love to you and the family," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote. "Sorry for your loss Penny. Losing your mum is so incredibly hard," added TV personality and former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones. "Your mum was great. Staunch, fierce, funny. I and aĺl her yoga class friends will miss her," one person wrote. "Words are completely inadequate at a time like this. I am so very sorry for your loss Penny. I hope the love and support of friends and family can offer you some comfort," added another. Chapman married Chinese-Malay architect Francis Wong while he was studying in Adelaide on a scholarship and shared two children together Penny and Toby. When they divorced, Chapman moved back to South Australia with her children. In 2001, 10 days after his 30th birthday and on the same day Wong was elected to the senate, Toby took his own life. Francis Wong passed away in May 2023. Image: Instagram

Family & Pets

Prime Minister's extraordinary offer for "Bollard Man"

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made an extraordinary offer to the hero dubbed "Bollard Man", who confronted Joel Cauchi on his rampage through Bondi Junction Westfield. Damien Guerot, a French national, was inside the eastern suburbs shopping centre when Cauchi began his stabbing spree which resulted in six lives lost. In CCTV footage of the terrifying incident that has made the rounds online, Mr Guerot could be seen fending off the knifeman with the use of a bollard he’d picked up off the ground. It’s understood he was preventing the attacker from reaching an area where dozens of children had been playing. He was immediately hailed as a hero on social media, where he became known as “Bollard Man”. As the community continues to reel from the incident, Mr Albanese thanked Guerot for his "extraordinary bravery" and encouraged him to become an Australian citizen. “I say this to Damien Guerot, who is dealing with his visa application, that you are welcome here,” he said. “You are welcome to stay for as long as you like, this is someone who we would welcome becoming an Australian citizen.” The prime minister said the actions of bystanders like Mr Guerot during the horrific Bondi Junction attack showed “the best of human character”. “It says a lot about the nature of humanity at a time when we are facing difficult issues, that someone who is not a citizen of this country stood bravely at the top of those escalators and stopped this perpetrator from getting onto another floor and potentially inflicting further carnage on citizens,” he said. Mr Guerot told <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/terrifying-moment-man-confronts-attacker-with-bollard-in-bondi-junction-shopping-centre-massacre-c-14307019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a> how he stared into Cauchi’s “empty eyes” as he confronted the killer. “We just saw him coming ... we were thinking, ‘We need to try to stop him’,” he said. Image credits: 7News

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As Scott Morrison leaves parliament, where does he rank among Australian prime ministers?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-strangio-1232">Paul Strangio</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> This week Scott Morrison, Australia’s 30th prime minister, will deliver his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives. As Morrison leaves parliament, it’s timely to ask where he is placed in the pantheon of Australia’s national leaders. Already there have been unflattering verdicts on Morrison’s prime-ministerial standing. For example, in her withering account of his leadership, veteran columnist and author <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/bulldozed-9781922585981">Niki Savva writes</a> that among detractors, “Morrison was regarded as the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon”. Moreover, according to Savva, following the August 2022 revelation of his commandeering of five ministries during the COVID pandemic, his reputation sunk still lower: “he was worse than McMahon. Worse even than Tony Abbott, who lasted a scant two years in the job”. <h2>How can we rank prime ministerial performance?</h2> How might we know how Morrison’s record stacks up against his prime-ministerial peers? One device for evaluating comparative leadership performance is expert rankings. Australia has had a slow take-up in this field, unlike the United States, where presidential rankings have a lineage stretching back three-quarters of a century and are a veritable scholarly cottage industry. In recent years, there have been forays into this territory in Australia, with three prime-ministerial rankings conducted by newspapers and two initiated by Monash University in 2010 and 2020. (I was the organiser of both of these Monash rankings.) These rankings have been largely consistent in their results. The experts, mostly political historians and political scientists, have judged the nation’s greatest prime minister to be its second world war leader, John Curtin. The other leaders in the top echelon are, in rough order, Bob Hawke, Ben Chifley, Alfred Deakin, Robert Menzies, Andrew Fisher, John Howard, Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam. At the other end of the scale, Billy McMahon, who is chiefly remembered for being defeated by Labor’s Whitlam at the December 1972 election, thereby bringing to a close the Liberal Party’s postwar ascendancy, has been consistently rated Australia’s prime-ministerial dunce. Even his biographer, Patrick Mullins, acknowledges that McMahon has become “a by-word for failure, silliness, ridicule”. However, in the most recent of the rankings, the Monash 2020 survey, McMahon had a close competitor for bottom place: Tony Abbott. Forty-four out of 66 respondents to that survey assessed Abbott’s prime ministership a failure. Other prime ministers to the rear of the field included Abbott’s contemporaries, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. Morrison was not included in the 2020 rankings because as the incumbent his prime ministership was incomplete, and so it was premature to evaluate his performance. Let us now, though, measure his record against the nine benchmarks that the experts were asked to consider in rating the nation’s leaders. <h2>So how does Morrison shape up?</h2> The first is “effectively managing cabinet”. To date, little has been disclosed about the integrity of cabinet processes under Morrison’s stewardship. Yet, whatever the merits of that management, his scandalous breach of the norms of cabinet government by <a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-the-bell-report-on-morrisons-multi-ministries-provides-a-bad-character-reference-195368">secretly assuming several ministries</a> will irretrievably stain his reputation in this regard. Next is “maintaining support of Coalition/party”. That Morrison avoided being deposed by his party, which was the fate of his immediate predecessors (Rudd, Julia Gillard, Abbott and Turnbull), counts in his favour. As the ABC docuseries Nemesis shows, however, his prime ministership was marked by serious frictions both within the Liberal Party and between the Liberal and National coalition partners. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gLXdXUwGrJs?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> “Demonstrating personal integrity”. This was not one of Morrison’s strong suits. As Savva makes searingly evident, and Nemesis also highlights, Morrison earned a reputation for being economical with the truth (including hiding his acquisition of colleagues’ ministries), for evading accountability and shifting blame (“I don’t hold a hose, mate”), and for corrupted processes under his watch (an example being the <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-sports-rort-questions-for-morrison-after-bridget-mckenzie-speaks-out-133160">shameless pork-barrelling</a> of the community sport infrastructure program in the lead-up to the 2019 election). “Leaving a significant policy legacy”. Here Morrison is partly damned by his own words. In office, he insisted he was not concerned about his legacy, equating the idea with a vanity project. Indeed, an obsession with the theatre of politics and a corresponding lack of substance caused his prime ministership to come to be seen as bereft of purpose. On the other hand, management of the COVID pandemic, however mixed, accords a significance to his time in office. AUKUS stands as the other major legacy of Morrison’s prime ministership, entrenched as it has been by his successor, Anthony Albanese. The agreement promises to influence Australia’s defence capability until the middle of this century and beyond, although only time will tell whether it enhances the nation’s security or is a dangerous white elephant. “Relationship with the electorate”. Morrison’s record here is mixed. In his favour, he won an election (something McMahon couldn’t claim). Yet, by the time of the 2022 election, according to the Australian Election Study, he was the least popular major party leader in the history of that survey, which dates back to the 1980s. His public toxicity was a primary factor in the Coalition’s defeat, one of his Liberal colleagues comparing the depth of public sentiment against the prime minister in 2022 to “having a 10,000-tonne boulder attached to your leg”. “Communication effectiveness”. Styling himself as a Cronulla Sharks-supporting “daggy dad” from the suburbs, at least initially Morrison’s communication mode seemed to be well received in the community. He was relentlessly on message during the 2019 election campaign. But the shine rapidly wore off his persona following that victory, with growing doubts about his authenticity. Rather than persuade, his habit was to hector, and rather than empathise, he exuded smugness. A series of notorious tin-eared statements, which especially alienated women voters, came to define his image. By the end he was known as the “bulldozer-in-chief”. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yamdw5VeNtA?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> “Nurturing national unity”. An innovation of Morrison’s at the beginning of the pandemic was the national cabinet. Bringing together the prime minister and premiers, it worked effectively for a time, only for partisan interests over lockdowns to strain relations between Canberra and the states. Under pressure, Morrison also flirted with divisive culture-war politics, instances being his divisive Religious Discrimination Bill and his egregious handpicking of the anti-transgender Liberal candidate Katherine Deves to contest the 2022 election. “Defending and promoting Australia’s interests abroad”. The AUKUS pact has vehement critics, led by Morrison’s prime-ministerial peers Keating and Turnbull, who argue it jeopardises national sovereignty. There is no denying, however, that AUKUS was Morrison’s signature foreign policy enterprise. On the other hand, Australia’s reputation as a laggard on climate change under the Coalition hurt our international standing, not least among Pacific neighbours. The Morrison government’s belated commitment to a net zero carbon emissions by 2050 target was too little, too late. Bellicose rhetoric towards Beijing also led to a deterioration in relations with the nation’s major trading partner (as well as estranging Chinese-Australian voters). “Being able to manage turbulent times”. Here, again, Morrison’s record is at best mixed. In his favour is decisive early actions to ameliorate the COVID pandemic, headed by the JobKeeper program. As the pandemic progressed, however, his government was too often flat-footed, demonstrated by its dilatory approach to procuring vaccines. His response to natural disasters, most notably the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, was another shortcoming, exemplified by his secret holiday to Hawaii in the midst of the crisis. Arguably, his prime ministership was doomed from that moment. <h2>And the verdict?</h2> Prime-ministerial reputations can take time to settle. The passing of years fleshes out historical knowledge as well as providing greater perspective on performance in office. For example, the fate of AUKUS will quite possibly affect Morrison’s standing well into the future. Even allowing for this, it seems safe to forecast that Morrison will be rated among the least distinguished of Australian prime ministers. His government’s relatively successful early management of the COVID pandemic and the legacy of AUKUS might spare him from falling below McMahon and Abbott at the bottom of the prime-ministerial heap. But avoiding that ignominy will probably be a close-run thing.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223003/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-strangio-1232">Paul Strangio</a>, Emeritus professor of politics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-scott-morrison-leaves-parliament-where-does-he-rank-among-australian-prime-ministers-223003">original article</a>.

Retirement Life

Woman charged after NT Chief Minister hit in the face with crepe

A 56-year-old woman is facing charges in connection with an alleged assault on Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, following an incident that occurred in her local electorate. The incident unfolded at Nightcliff Markets in Darwin at approximately 11:40am on Sunday September 24. According to law enforcement authorities, a member of the public reportedly thrust a crepe covered in cream into Fyles' face during the incident. Police confirmed on Monday morning September 25 that a 56-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated assault in relation to the incident. The accused has been granted bail and is scheduled to appear in court on October 10. It has since come to light that Chief Minister Fyles is a regular visitor to the Nightcliff Markets, often attending on Sundays. Nightcliff Markets manager, Ross Dudgeon, <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/northern-territory-news-chief-minister-natasha-fyles-allegedly-assaulted-at-nightcliff-markets/122ad004-153f-48e6-85d2-5cf66261dc0a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke highly of her to 9News</a>, describing her as approachable and friendly. Dudgeon recounted that one of the stallholders had witnessed the incident, stating, "I had a report from one of the stallholders that they saw a woman pour something over Natasha Fyles' head." He mentioned that the incident occurred shortly after Ms Fyles had participated in an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Bendigo Bank. Dudgeon emphasised the friendly and welcoming atmosphere of the market, where Ms Fyles often enjoyed breakfast or a smoothie with her family on Sunday mornings. He has overseen the market for two decades, and said that it has always been community-oriented in nature. Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis was also present at the event with Ms Fyles but had departed before the alleged assault took place. Reacting to the incident, Mayor Vatskalis expressed his shock, describing it as "disgusting". He further remarked that, in his 30 years in Darwin, he had never witnessed anything of this nature. "I just saw the very confronting video and I think this is disgusting," he said. "I have never seen anything like that in Darwin in the 30 years I've been here." This incident follows a previous incident in May of this year, during which Ms Fyles was reportedly followed and harassed by anti-fracking protesters while participating in a running competition in Central Australia. Images: 9News / Tiktok

Legal

Modern prime ministers have typically left parliament soon after defeat. So why doesn’t Scott Morrison?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-strangio-1232">Paul Strangio</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> With each passing month, Scott Morrison is developing into a post-prime-ministership peculiarity. Well over a year since voters cast him from power, he remains limpet-like in the House of Representatives, defying speculation that he is ready to quit parliament and trigger a byelection in his New South Wales seat of Cook. Hanging around on the backbench is generally not the way of ousted national leaders in the modern political era. It is true that in bygone times former prime ministers did not scurry to leave parliament after losing office. The most spectacular example is Australia’s leader during the first world war, William Morris Hughes. Bumped from office in 1923, the “Little Digger”, as he was known, remained in the House for another three decades, relentlessly scheming for power. Only death in 1952 brought closure to his parliamentary career. Since the 1980s, however, the habit of former PMs has been to hastily abandon politics once the mantle of office has slipped their grasp. Malcolm Fraser established this modern pattern, triggering a byelection in his seat of Wannon two months after his Coalition government was defeated by the Bob Hawke-led Labor Party in March 1983. From that time there have been few exceptions to this norm. Deposed from office by Paul Keating in December 1991, Hawke was out of the parliament by February 1992, with his seat of Wills won by the independent, Phil Cleary. Keating, too, followed the trend. After his Labor government lost power to the John Howard-led Coalition in March 1996, Keating resigned from the House the following month. For Howard, the decision was taken out of his hands, as voters not only finished his prime ministership in November 2007 but terminated his more than three decades as the member for Bennelong. Howard’s slayer, Kevin Rudd, did buck the trend after he was overthrown by caucus colleagues in June 2010. Convinced of the righteousness of his resurrection and thirsting to avenge his usurper, Julia Gillard, he stayed on for another parliamentary term, wresting the prime ministership back in June 2013. However, when electors put an end to his second government three months later, Rudd swiftly exited politics. Meanwhile, Gillard had resigned as the member for Lalor only weeks after being dethroned by Rudd. Prone to eccentricity, Tony Abbott is the clearest exception to the rule of modern ex-PMs not dallying in parliament once their reign is over. Deposed by Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015, less than two years after becoming prime minister, Abbott lingered mostly aimlessly on the backbench for the rest of that term and the next. Recontesting his seat of Warringah again at the May 2019 election, he lost to the independent, Zali Steggall. In contrast to Abbott, Turnbull left parliament with almost unseemly haste once he was unseated from power. After being dumped from the leadership in favour of Morrison in August 2018, he tendered his resignation as the member for Wentworth within a week. In the ensuing byelection, his seat too went to an independent, Kerryn Phelps. How do we explain the modern pattern of former prime ministers sprinting to the exit door once their time in office is over? In earlier times, there was a role for ex-leaders as elder statesmen in parliament. The best example is the Great Depression-era PM, Labor’s James Scullin. Despite failing health, he remained in the House for nearly another two decades and served as a trusted confidant to John Curtin throughout the harrying days of the second world war. Modern former prime ministers can be a source of counsel to their successors, offering advice both welcome and unwelcome. But there is no appetite among colleagues for them to hang around in parliament fulfilling that function. The media are quick to portray them as an unhelpful distraction or curiosity, while opponents point-score off them. Better they are out of the way. Another reason modern former leaders are impatient to move on is that, with extended lifespans and expanded opportunities post-office (for example, book-writing deals, lecture circuits, ambassadorships, business ventures, NGO and think-tank appointments), ex-PMs can now enjoy a second wind once out of parliament in a way that was not so open to earlier predecessors. Politics is now less of a lifetime vocation. Why, then, is Morrison clinging on? We can discount his declarations that he is relishing being the member for Cook. Being a humble backbencher visits daily humiliation on him. Indeed, Morrison’s post-prime ministership has been most notable for his reputation being tarnished by revelations of his bizarre commandeering of several portfolios while PM, and by the adverse findings against him by the Robodebt Royal Commission. These scandals have undoubtedly complicated an early departure for Morrison because, in going, he would be seen to be retreating in disgrace. He needs time and space from the scandals for the semblance of a dignified escape. The opportunities Morrison had hoped for following politics have potentially also thinned because of his sullied reputation. Finally, there is the political calculation surrounding his exit for his party. Stay or go, Morrison is a headache for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. As long as the scandal-ravaged Morrison hangs around, he is damaging the Liberal brand. Yet a byelection in his electorate is also unwelcome. Though Cook is very safe on paper, the history of the seats of three former PMs going to independents over the past 30 years is intriguing and not to be lightly dismissed.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212544/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-strangio-1232">Paul Strangio</a>, Professor of Politics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/modern-prime-ministers-have-typically-left-parliament-soon-after-defeat-so-why-doesnt-scott-morrison-212544">original article</a>.

Legal

New Zealand Prime Minister's heartbreaking family update

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced his temporary withdrawal from political engagements to care for his 4-year-old daughter who is in hospital. Hipkins, who is mostly private about his personal life, opened up about his daughter's health battle for the first time in a post shared on Facebook. “I don’t normally talk publicly about my kids because I want them to grow up out of the public spotlight, but sometimes it’s unavoidable,” he said. “Both my kids have a blood condition called Von Willebrand Syndrome. It means that sometimes when they get bleeding noses or other health issues they need a bit of extra medical help to get sorted. “Today my four-year-old is in hospital for some needed treatment, so for the rest of the day while that is happening I’ll be working from the hospital while I’m focused on her.” <iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fchrishipkinsmp%2Fposts%2Fpfbid021REVmAth3sr9crVCb7Na1PN42D5vskouAv5QrRf5DXWu7KUbTtq5R96gzq1G18d2l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="381" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> He also thanked his colleagues for covering him over the next few days and extended his gratitude towards blood donors. "All going well I’ll be back at work soon, but thanks to my colleagues for covering a few engagements over the next couple of days that I’m going to have to miss. "Lots of New Zealanders rely on the generosity of those who give blood. Thank you to all those who help out people like my little girl," he concluded. Hipkins, who replaced Jacinda Ardern in January, had previously revealed that he and his wife had separated and lived apart for a year. At the time, he explained that they were living separately for "the best interest of our family," and he acknowledged the pressure of being a family member of a politician and prime minister. Image: Getty

Caring

Ex-Finnish Prime Minister’s rebrand after divorce and leaving office

The former Finnish Prime Minister is living her best life after filing for divorce and leaving her position in office. Sanna Marin, the youngest ever female world leader, has kicked off her single girl summer by attending a three-day music festival in Helsinki, leaning into her love of partying. The 37-year-old shared photos from her summer adventures on Instagram, flaunting her relaxed politics-free new life. “This summer I’ve had a proper summer vacation for the first time in a while,” Marin wrote on Instagram while sharing snaps of her fun-filled days. “It has included, among other things, being busy with [5-year-old daughter] Emma, sports, friends, good food, and unforgettable trips.” Most of her followers applauded the change in her lifestyle, and were happy she was taking some quality time for herself. “You look AMAZING. Thank you for showing the world that you can fill the chair as a president and dress as you like at the same time,” influencer Dr. Caecilie Johansen commented. “Pretty sure we would’ve achieved world peace already if most world leaders were as chill as Sanna,” wrote one. Another agreed, “A politician having fun and looking really cool. This gives a really good example to young people and you give Finland great PR.” Marin’s drastic lifestyle change comes after she officially left her post as Finland’s prime minister three weeks earlier, when the National Coalition Party’s Petteri Orpo took office. As well as being out of a job in politics, Marin is also going through divorce proceedings with her ex-husband of three years and partner for 19 years Markus Raikkonen. The pair announced their separation in May, and said they would still remain best friends and happy co-parents to their daughter Emma despite jointly filing for the separation. Image credits: Instagram / Getty Images

Beauty & Style

Minister steps in to stop deportation of family with Down syndrome son

A Perth family who were on the brink of deportation because of their son’s Down syndrome have been granted permanent residency after an intervention from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Last month, the family from India were told to leave because their 10-year-old son’s condition was viewed as a “burden” on the taxpayers. Parent’s Krishna Aneesh and Aneesh Kollikkara begged the Immigration Minister to intervene, as their bridging visa was set to expire on March 15 and they had exhausted all other legal options. The family had been living in Australia for seven years, and on Wednesday they received the happy news through a letter from Giles. The letter read: "[The minister] has personally considered your case and has decided to exercise his public interest power in your case to substitute the decision of the [Administrative Appeals] Tribunal”. Aneesh and her husband spoke to reporters after the decision came out, and said they were “over the moon” when they found out. "I literally went into tears we can stay here we can live in this community we can provide a very good environment for our kids,” she said. Both parents work in highly-skilled industries, with Aneesh as a cyber security expert and Kollikkara working in telecommunications. People with Disability Australia treasurer Suresh Rajan, the family representative, said that their contribution to the society was taken into consideration in the intervention. "That public interest criteria goes to the fact that Krishna and Aneesh are performing work in critical industries and the public wants them here," he said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Letter received from Minister Giles office granting Permanent Residency to Krishna and Aneesh. Hallelujah! <a href="https://t.co/iYnWHrAZ0C">pic.twitter.com/iYnWHrAZ0C</a> — Suresh Rajan (@SureshRajan6) <a href="https://twitter.com/SureshRajan6/status/1633340769493999617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2023</a></blockquote> Rajan also shared the development on the family’s case on Twitter. “Letter received from Minister Giles’ office granting permanent residency to Krishna and Aneesh. Hallelujah,” he captioned with a picture of the family. Image: Twitter

Caring

Chris Hipkins announced as next Prime Minister of New Zealand

Labour MP Chris Hipkins has been elected as New Zealand’s next prime minister after a caucus meeting in Wellington on Sunday. Hipkins was the sole nominee, and the 64-person vote - considered to be largely a formality - was unanimous. “As a team we will continue to provide strong, stable and focused leadership that New Zealanders expect from us,” Hipkins told reporters in a conference after the vote. He went on to announce that his government would turn their attention to a key election concern - helping families that were struggling through difficult economic times, in the wake of rising inflation and housing affordability concerns. On this, he noted, “you shouldn't have to be on a six-figure salary to buy a new house.” Hipkins has helped to steer the country through crises before, having played a crucial role in New Zealand’s COVID-19 response after being appointed as health minister in 2020, work that established him as a household name in New Zealand. He was first elected to parliament in 2008, and as of 2020 was Minister of Education, Minister for the Public Service, and COVID-19 Response Minister. However, to many around him he is known instead as “Chippy”. Hipkins has strong ties within his party, and was seen walking to Sunday’s vote with “very good friend” Jacinda Ardern. He praised her leadership, and like many before him, noted the inspiration she provided for women and girls everywhere. Australia’s own PM Anthony Albanese took to Twitter to congratulate Chris, and to share that he looks forward “to working with him as Prime Minister.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A warm discussion this morning with incoming NZ Labour Leader Chris Hipkins. I congratulate him and look forward to working with him as Prime Minister. 🇦🇺🇳🇿 — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1616585939052265472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote> Treasurer of Australia Jim Chalmers echoed Albanese’s sentiments, telling Sky News Australia, “Chris Hipkins is someone of immense experience and depth and intelligence. He’s a very worthy successor to prime minister Ardern.” Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni was voted in as incoming deputy by the caucus. Sepuloni, who has Samoan and Tongan heritage through her mother, was said by Hipkins to become the first Pasifika person to become deputy prime minister. In a six part thread to Twitter, Sepuloni shared her gratitude for and commitment to her new role, as well as her enthusiasm at working alongside Hipkins, writing, “It’s hard to fathom the working class girl from Waitara can become the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand. I’m incredibly humbled that Chris Hipkins and my colleagues have put their faith in me to take up this important role. “I also acknowledge the significance of this for our Pacific community. I am proudly Samoan, Tongan and New Zealand European and represent generations of New Zealanders with mixed heritage.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/THREAD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#THREAD</a>: 1/6 It’s hard to fathom the working class girl from Waitara can become the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand. I’m incredibly humbled that <a href="https://twitter.com/chrishipkins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@chrishipkins</a> and my colleagues have put their faith in me to take up this important role. ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/uGPCCZDpM4">pic.twitter.com/uGPCCZDpM4</a> — Carmel Sepuloni (@CarmelSepuloni) <a href="https://twitter.com/CarmelSepuloni/status/1617011240731283456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2023</a></blockquote> Hipkins’ full Cabinet has not yet been announced, but he has stated that he intends to keep former deputy prime minister, Grant Robertson, on in the role of finance minister. It is expected that Hipkins will be sworn in as the country’s 41st prime minister on Wednesday. Image: Getty Images

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The "forgettables": 5 Australian prime ministers you may not know much about

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joshua-black-729708">Joshua Black</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> The idea of a “forgotten prime minister” may seem laughable. For Australian historians, it is the governed rather than the governors who need rescuing “from the enormous condescension of posterity” as the English historian E. P. Thompson famously put it. Our First Nations histories especially were for too long silenced and concealed in what the anthropologist Bill Stanner called a “cult of forgetfulness practised on a national scale”. Prime ministers, on the other hand, are stitched into the tapestry of national history thanks to extensive newspaper coverage, the dogged pursuits of political biographers, and the quest of archivists and librarians to collect their personal papers. Deceased leaders’ names adorn buildings and streets, federal electorates, and dedicated research centres, and in Harold Holt’s case, a memorial swimming pool. But some, of course, are better known than others. So which prime ministers, if any, can be considered “forgotten” by contemporary Australia? And what does that act of forgetting reveal about our political culture? Commemorative rituals and <a href="https://essentialvision.com.au/tag/john-curtin">opinion surveys</a> suggest that some have very much receded from memory. Here are a few prime ministers who deserve to be a little better known. <h2>Edmund Barton 1901-03</h2> <figure class="align-right "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501811/original/file-20221219-16-gd6rzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Edmund Barton, Australia’s first prime minister. National Archives of Australia</figcaption></figure> Barton was a hugely significant figure in his day. A leading advocate of federation, he was summoned by the <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hopetoun-seventh-earl-of-6730">Governor-General Lord Hopetoun</a> (after a false start) to form the first Commonwealth government. Between 1901 and 1903, Barton’s government, with the dynamic Alfred Deakin as its attorney-general, established some of the national institutions we now take for granted, such as the public service and the High Court. Barton and Deakin’s deeply racial vision of a White Australia was also enacted in legislation in these years. Australia’s first prime minister (known to detractors as Tosspot Toby) helped to establish the machinery of federal government out of nothing. But this earned him no special place in Australian collective memory. Resigning in 1903, he spent the remainder of his life as a reticent statesman and High Court judge. <h2>George Reid 1904-05</h2> <figure class="align-left "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501812/original/file-20221219-12-k2osuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>George Reid, a political enemy of Barton’s, held office from 1904-05. Museum of Australian Democracy</figcaption></figure> Reid was a political opponent of Barton’s. The defining issue of the early Commonwealth was tariff policy, and all other matters – industrial development, employment, and individual liberty – were refracted through the “tariff question”. Reid, a former New South Wales premier who had earned the moniker “Yes-No Reid” for his prevarications during the earlier federation debates, was a devout advocate for and leader of the Free Trade movement. Reid was summoned to form a government in August 1904. Hamstrung by his lack of a parliamentary majority, he remarkably passed the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/education/australias-prime-ministers-george-reid/13856906">Conciliation and Arbitration Bill</a>. This was core business for the early Commonwealth, and two previous ministries had failed to secure it. But Reid’s attempts to settle the tariff question with Deakin’s Protectionists failed, and his ministry was defeated in parliament in July 1905. <h2>Joseph Cook 1913-14</h2> <figure class="align-right "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501813/original/file-20221219-16-k4lphv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Joseph Cook, together with Reid, was instrumental in establishing the two-party system that continues today. National Archives of Australia</figcaption></figure> Out of office, Reid and his Free Trade colleague Joseph Cook played a crucial role in making the two-party system that endures today. Whatever their differences with Deakin and the protectionists, Reid and Cook (himself a former Labor MP in New South Wales) saw the rising Australian Labor Party as the real enemy. Reid travelled the country establishing anti-socialist leagues and building the groundwork for a united anti-Labor Party. When the tariff schedule was finally settled in 1908, and the mutual animosity between Deakin and Reid seemed the only barrier to a Liberal fusion, the latter sacrificed himself and resigned so that the former could join forces with Cook on his own terms. In 1913, Cook led the new Commonwealth Liberal Party to a federal election, winning by the narrowest of margins. He oversaw the opening weeks of the Great War the following year, committing 20,000 Australian troops and the Australian Navy to Britain, but soon lost power in <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7/HTML/Chapter13/Double_dissolutions#:%7E:text=The%201914%20double%20dissolution&text=Elections%20were%20held%20on%205,in%20question%20was%20not%20reintroduced.">Australia’s first double dissolution election</a>. <h2>Stanley Melbourne Bruce 1923-29</h2> After the war, the task of national leadership fell to Stanley Bruce, a young businessman and ex-serviceman from Melbourne. In 1923, as leader of the non-Labor forces (now reconstituted as the Nationalist Party), Bruce formed government with Earle Page’s Country Party (forerunner of today’s rural National Party). In doing so, Frank Bongiorno has recently explained, Bruce and Page ‘inaugurated the Coalition tradition on the conservative side of Australian federal politics’. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501814/original/file-20221219-12-fzk3nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Stanley Melbourne Bruce (pictured with his wife Ethel) had the task of leading the country after the first world war. National Archives of Australia</figcaption></figure> Bruce’s government was ambitious for Australia in the “roaring ‘20s”. He envisioned a future underscored by British migrants, British money and imperial markets. In power for six years, he presided over the creation of the Loans Council and the federal parliament’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Parliament_House,_Canberra">move from Melbourne</a> to Canberra in 1927. But like others before him, he came unstuck on the issue of centralised arbitration. His attempt to abolish the federal arbitration court (with a view to restraining wage growth) saw his government defeated and his own seat lost in the 1929 election. <h2>Arthur Fadden 1941</h2> <figure class="align-left "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501815/original/file-20221219-22-gd6rzd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Arthur Fadden was chosen to lead his party after Robert Menzies resigned. National Archives of Australia</figcaption></figure> In the early 1930s, conservatives once again reorganised in the form of the United Australia Party, and dominated politics for the ensuing decade. But by 1941, after two years of wartime leadership, the young leader Robert Menzies appeared to falter. His colleagues disliked his brisk manner and the public lacked confidence in his government’s war efforts. A hung parliament after the 1940 election, in which two Independents held the balance, confirmed this. With his position untenable, <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/robert-menzies/during-office">Menzies resigned in August 1941</a> and the coalition unanimously chose Fadden, the Country Party leader, to replace him. “Affable Artie” was a widely respected figure and apparently the only one who could hold together a decade-old government too consumed by infighting to meet the demands of the moment. His premiership lasted just 40 days, at which point the Independents offered John Curtin and Labor their support. The sole Country Party leader to become prime minister on a non-caretaker basis, Fadden was one of a small handful of men to lead the nation in a global war. <h2>Australia and Its Forgettables</h2> Why is it that these five prime ministers are largely absent from national memory? Four factors seem particularly significant. First, contemporary Australian political discourse offers only a shallow sense of history. Political reporting rarely reaches for historical depth, and when it does, the second world war tends to be the outer limit. Moreover, when Australians are asked to <a href="https://essentialvision.com.au/tag/john-curtin">rank their prime ministers</a> and select a “best PM”, they rarely reach beyond living memory. The federation generation, overshadowed by the first world war, fare especially poorly. In the 1990s, with the centenary of federation fast approaching, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/pops/Papers_on_Parliament_67/The_Australian_Prime_Ministership">surveys</a> revealed that Australians knew less about its federal founders than they did about America’s 'founding fathers’. What kind of country, the civics experts implored, could <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6niKTWMx4_c">forget the name of its first prime minister</a>? Tosspot Toby was no match for Simpson and his donkey. Second, Australians prefer to think of their political history in terms of heroes and villains (often embodied by the same individuals). Those binary roles require gregariousness, dynamism, some controversy, and the occasional serving of larrikinism. “Tall poppy syndrome” notwithstanding, partisan heroes like Menzies and Gough Whitlam, or infamous rats such as Billy Hughes, make for easy storytelling. The forgettables are more often reserved, restrained or even polite characters. The Primitive Methodist Joseph Cook was “<a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cook-sir-joseph-5763">[s]olemn and humourless</a>”. The patrician Bruce was judged “<a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bruce-stanley-melbourne-5400">too aloof and reserved to be an Australian</a>”. And Frank Forde, in his old age, maintained that all of his colleagues and opponents had been <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2239262?lookfor=Francis%20Forde%20%7bformat:Audio%7d&offset=1&max=1">“outstanding” and “capable men”</a> for whom he had only “friendly feeling”. This is not exactly the stuff of masculine political legend. Alfred Deakin has tended to absorb the historical limelight and cast long shadows over his contemporaries, not least because he furnished historians and biographers with rich personal papers. (Barton scrupulously destroyed most of his). But as <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4704220">Sean Scalmer has argued</a>, we ought not to overlook the influence of Deakin’s contemporaries in the making of Australian politics as we know it. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501817/original/file-20221219-20-9hooph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Alfred Deakin (front row, second from right) has tended to cast a long shadow over his contemporaries. <a class="source" href="https://deakinslettersmorningpost.parliamentarylibrary.gov.au/letters/1903?page=1">Australian Parliamentary Library</a></figcaption></figure> Third, prime ministers are rendered immemorable if they were judged to be temporary, or presiding over some kind of interregnum. Australians have valorised the longevity and stability of Menzies and Howard, or the sense of epochal change that accompanied Whitlam and Hawke. Men like Reid, Cook and Fadden seem transitory in comparison. Fourth, public memory has often depended on the sponsorship of major parties and their affiliated scribes and institutes. The corollary is that those who preceded the two-party system are harder to commemorate. Labor has been excellent at proselytising its great leaders and their great reforms, and demonising the rats and renegades. The Liberal Party, on the other hand, has struggled to memorialise its antecedents and influences (Deakin perhaps excepted). Menzies and Howard predominate in the collective Liberal psyche, and Liberal forerunners from Barton to Bruce rarely get a look-in.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196360/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joshua-black-729708">Joshua Black</a>, PhD Candidate, School of History, National Centre of Biography, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-forgettables-5-australian-prime-ministers-you-may-not-know-much-about-196360">original article</a>.

Retirement Life

The new UK Prime Minister is richer than King Charles

The new UK Prime Minister and his wife are richer than the royal family, making waves after featuring on the 2022 Rich List. Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, who come from wealthy families and backgrounds, have an estimated fortune of £730 million ($A1.3 billion), according to the <a title="www.thetimes.co.uk" href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-akshata-murty-net-worth-sunday-times-rich-list-86ls8n09h">Sunday Times </a><a title="www.thetimes.co.uk" href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-akshata-murty-net-worth-sunday-times-rich-list-86ls8n09h">2022 Rich List</a>. The list placed them as the 222nd richest people in Britain. In comparison, the same list placed Queen Elizabeth II’s fortune at £370m ($A660m) before her death. King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort’s wealth is estimated to be between £300m ($A536m) and £350m ($A626m), according to The Guardian. Mr Sunak formerly worked as a hedge fund manager, while Ms Murty is the daughter of a tech giant who is known as one of the richest men in India. She has a A$1.2 billion stake in her father's company, while also working as a fashion designer, and invests in start-ups through her private investment firm. The couple, both 42, met when they were studying at Stanford University and have two daughters together. They have a property portfolio of four homes worth an estimated £15m ($A26.7m), including a penthouse in Los Angeles. Mr Sunak won’t only be one, if not the, richest UK prime ministers in history, he will also be the first prime minister of colour and the youngest person to take office in more than 200 years. He takes over from Liz Truss, who he lost the leadership race to in September. She <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/revolving-door-of-chaos-uk-pm-quits-after-44-days-in-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned last week</a> after 44 days in office. Image credits: Getty Images

Money & Banking

Who is Liz Truss, the new UK prime minister?

The United Kingdom now has its third ever female prime minister. Liz Truss was elected as leader by grassroots members of the Conservatives to lead the party – and hence the nation – on a platform that positioned her as the continuity candidate from Boris Johnson. This result will be celebrated on all sides of British politics. Members of the Conservative party – the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05125/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approximately 180,000</a> people who elected the new leader – will be delighted that the continuity candidate got over the line. Similarly, strategists for the opposition parties – Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party – will also be delighted that the continuity candidate got over the line. In electing Truss as leader, Conservative members have increased their party’s chances of losing the next general election. This is because Truss essentially offers more of the same. She steps into 10 Downing Street at a moment when the views of the Conservative party and the experience of the wider electorate are diverging. As Britons find themselves in the throes of a cost-of-living crisis, the leadership debates between Truss and her main opponent, Rishi Sunak, were focused on the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2901846c-9424-47dc-b986-fc8e570a2098" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extent of tax cuts</a>, weakening the public purse when it is needed most. This was music to the ears of the older and wealthier Conservative members, but a case of “same world, different planet” for the wider electorate. To add insult to injury, Truss disparaged the idea of support for struggling Britons as “<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/times-liz-truss-attacked-handouts-27838296" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handouts</a>”. Furthermore, her views on British workers as “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62571016" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lazy</a>” resurfaced during the leadership contest. This is unlikely to endear her to those one-time Labour voters in the 45 so-called “Red Wall” seats in northern England that switched to the Johnson-led Conservatives at the 2019 election. Newly-minted Conservative MPs in such seats fear that, faced with this disdain, their new supporters <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1657586/UK-election-polls-red-wall-seats-Labour-Tory-voters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may switch back to Labour</a>. Additionally, as someone who symbolises continuity with the Johnson government, Truss may struggle in the 20 so-called “Blue Wall” seats in southern England. Former Conservative voters switched to the Liberal Democrats in three recent by-elections in such seats, heaping pressure on Johnson to resign earlier this year. Conservative MPs in this part of England fear that voters who were switched off by Johnson’s political tone and governing style, <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-tipped-lose-26-blue-27377717" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may not warm</a> to Truss’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/21/the-tory-leadership-contest-could-alienate-voters-in-blue-and-red-wall-seats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">embrace of the same tactics</a>: hostility to the EU, goading the French, and waging a “war on woke”. North of the border, Truss’s embrace of all things British, from her <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1532994/liz-truss-cheese-speech-this-is-a-disgrace-foreign-secretary-chatham-house-spt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">famous support for British cheese</a> to the self-conscious adoption of <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/30/liz-truss-ukraine-russia-tank-war-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thatcherite imagery</a>, will consolidate support for Scottish independence. There are only six Conservative MPs in Scotland, but having Truss as leader won’t make the job of retaining seats at the next election any easier. Given these strategic perils, why was she elected? A <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-would-win-tory-leadership-race_uk_62ea575fe4b0da5ec0f02397" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouGov opinion poll</a> found a plurality of Conservative members did not want to see Johnson ousted from Number 10, despite his record in government. A <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/should-boris-johnson-remain-as-leader-of-the-conservative-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gulf has emerged</a> between grassroots Conservatives and the wider electorate. If Truss emulates Johnson too closely – as the party seems to want – it is the party that will pay the price. <h2>What does this mean for Australia?</h2> Truss will find a series of pressing yet complex issues in her in-tray. The foremost of these will be the cost-of-living crisis. This will intensify as winter approaches and <a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-updates-price-cap-level-and-tightens-rules-suppliers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">energy price caps are lifted</a>, leaving many struggling to heat their homes and buy food. The industrial action witnessed during the summer, will intensify. The next issue is the war in Ukraine. Part of the Russian global strategy is to hope that western states, not least the UK, tire in their support for Ukraine. This will not happen under Truss. She is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/ukraines-greatest-friend-uks-truss-pledges-more-support-kyiv-2022-07-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a firm supporter of Ukraine</a> and can be expected to retain the UK’s current posture of support. Truss is also the continuity candidate as far as Anglo-Australian relations are concerned. Like Johnson, Truss is a big fan of Australia (Dan Tehan’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/uk-chair-fight-criticised-canberra-trade-talks/100085830" target="_blank" rel="noopener">uncomfortable chair</a> during free trade negotiations notwithstanding). As the British author of the free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and the UK, this form of bilateral relationship will only strengthen. Being very favourably disposed to Australia means the commitment to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/16/what-is-the-aukus-alliance-and-what-are-its-implications" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AUKUS</a> – the strategic alliance between Australia, the UK and the US – will remain. Of course, Johnson had an ideological confrère in Scott Morrison as his Australian counterpart. Truss will not enjoy such an ideological affinity with Anthony Albanese or Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Nevertheless, the ALP view of the Australia-UK FTA is broadly favourable, with perhaps some stronger provisions for workers’ rights built in. Less is known about ALP views towards AUKUS, or whether the Australian government will choose British over US submarine designs (or whatever there might be <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/can-australia-get-nuclear-powered-submarines-this-decade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on offer in the interim</a>). Questions remain about whether, like her predecessor, Truss believes in herself more than in Britain. Given her ability to hold more than one political position with great conviction (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/30/liz-truss-profile-ambition-charm-thick-skin-thatcher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she started out as a Liberal Democrat and voted to remain in the EU</a>) it might be that we have a new leader more interested in their own CV than the common good. Boris Johnson <a href="https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/johnsonism-and-the-strange-death-of-conservative-england/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">damaged trust in politics</a>, but Truss may not be equipped to address that particular issue. Her advisers will be tempted to consider a quick election – giving her a spurious “mandate” that the Westminster system doesn’t require – and there are lessons in what happened to Theresa May when that temptation arose. Yet for all his faults, Johnson bequeaths Truss an imposing 73-seat majority. But Truss must tread carefully: she’s the best hope of ousting the Conservatives that the opposition has had in many years. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-liz-truss-the-new-uk-prime-minister-189774" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Getty

Legal

The who's who of the new Labor government

Anthony Albanese has unveiled his new government, with many senior Labor politicians finally stepping into prominence as they take on more ministerial roles. The cabinet ministers will be responsible for implementing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's campaign promises, from legislating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament to establishing a federal anti-corruption commission. The new cabinet has already made history in the walls of Parliament House, with more women being sworn in than ever before, and Australia's first ever Muslim ministers joining the cabinet. "I want to see us move towards 50/50 representation across all of the spectrum," Albanese said on Monday. "I also want to see a parliament and a government that reflects the diversity that is there of the Australian people themselves." "This is an exciting team, it's a team which is overflowing with talent, with people who are absolutely committed to making a difference as ministers and assistant ministers in my government," he said. So, who are the new Labor ministers? And what are their roles? First up (behind Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of course) is Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister and minister for defence. As deputy leader, Marles was able to choose his portfolio, opting for defence over his previous shadow ministries of national reconstruction, employment, skills and small business and science. In his new roles, Richard Marles will step in as acting Prime Minister when Albanese is out of the country, and will also be responsible for the organisation, implementation, and formulation of government policy in defence and military matters. Next, Senator Penny Wong, the minister for foreign affairs. The foreign affairs minister is the minister who is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Jim Chalmers is stepping into the role of Treasurer, and will be responsible for handing down the Labor government's first budget later this year. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government. Next up is Katy Gallagher, the minister for finance, minister for the public service, and minister for women. Gallagher will have three varied roles with her new titles, as she will be responsible for Australia's overall finances, handling non-corporate agencies, and delivering policies and programmes to advance gender equality and improve the lives of Australian women. Senator Don Farrell, minister for trade and tourism and special minister of state, will work closely with Senator Wong to establish relationships with foreign countries to strengthen Australia's trade agreements. He will also be responsible for special administrative matters within the government. Tony Burke, the minister for employment and workplace relations and minister for the arts, will advocate for the rights of workers in Australia. He will also be responsible for obtaining funding and sponsors to keep Australia's art scene alive. Mark Butler, the minister for health and aged care, is responsible for national health and medical research policy, providing direction and oversight of the Department of Health. He will also be tasked with the reform of Australia's aged care facilities. Chris Bowen, the minister for climate change and energy, will be a key player in enacting Albanese's campaign promises of radical action on climate change. Tanya Plibersek, the minister for the environment and water, provides direction and oversight of the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to develop and implement national policy, programs and legislation to protect and conserve Australia's environment and heritage. Catherine King, the minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government, will be responsible for all of the matters falling within the Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications portfolio, including regulation, safety and funding. Linda Burney, minister for Indigenous Australians, will ensure that Indigenous programs and services are delivering for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as intended, while also aiding the constitutional reform to include the Uluru Statement of the Heart. <div> Amanda Rishworth, the minister for social services, will oversees government social services, including mental health, families and children's policy, and support for carers and people with disabilities, and seniors. Bill Shorten, the minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and minister for government services, will oversee the NDIS funding and operation, while also overseeing government services such as Medicare and Centrelink. Mark Dreyfus, the attorney-general and cabinet secretary, will protect the rule of law and the integrity of the Courts, while also being in charge of cabinet administration. Brendan O'Connor, the minister for skills and training, will advocate for vocational training funding programs to keep the workplace moving. Jason Clare, the minister for education, will oversee policies and programs in the education system, while also advocating for student support. Julie Collins, the minister for housing, minister for homelessness, and minister for small business, will serve to explain and prevent the further rising of housing prices, while also advocating for small business owners. Michelle Rowland, the minister for communications, will be responsible for telecommunications in Australia, as well as broadcasting and the information economy. Madeleine King, the minister for resources and minister for Northern Australia, will oversee agricultural resources in Australia. Senator Murray Watt, the minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry and minister for emergency management, will advocate for the preservation of Australia's diverse lands that can often be threatened by environmental factors. Ed Husic, the minister for industry and science, works with environmental government agencies to bring together industries for an economic boost. Clare O'Neil, the minister for home affairs and minister for cyber security, will be responsible for Australia's cyber policy coordination and setting the strategic direction of Government's cyber effort. Image credits: Getty Images </div>

News

Readers respond: If you were prime minister, what would your first rule be?

Millions of Aussies will be heading to the polling booth on May 21st to vote for either the same government or a new one. There is also a possibility of a hung parliament with many Aussies furious with the two major parties. So the balance of power could be held by the Greens or Independent candidates. However, with the election just around the corner, we asked you to tell us what your first rule would be if you became prime minister. Dianne received the comment with the most likes calling for a cut in all wages for politicians by up to 25 per cent. She said this cut is not limited to certain politicians but goes to all at local, state and federal levels. Dianne went a step further but also called for their pensions to be cut by at least 50 per cent and that politicians must serve at least two full terms to be eligible and that they should pay all their own expenses unless they are for government events. Grahame responded to Dianne’s comment and said that politicians should in fact not receive a pension until they reach the pension age “just like the rest of us”. The second most supported comment came from Donna who called for the abolishment of pension entitlements and make politicians self-funded retirees. She explained that by doing this, politicians will face the same pension entitlements as all other Australians. Fellow Aussie Carol supports the scrapping of perks for all politicians, having to be means tested to receive their pension like everyone else. “They are after all employees of the Australian people,” she said. Edith responded to Carol’s perk comment saying politicians have to stop with increasing their pay while not doing anything to support the rest of the country. She also said politicians should use their own cars, pay for their own fuel and have their daily spending rate cut. Another topic that received a lot of traction came from Carmen who called for pensioners to be brought above the poverty line. “Everyone cries about the minimum wage, forgetting that pensioners are below it! I would raise the pension to affordable living so the elderly don't have to suffer In many ways for being poor!” On the other side, Robyn said she would ensure that all politicians would actually be qualified in the position they are given. “Finances should have an economic degree, medical should be a doctor.” “Agree it has always believed this should be a prerequisite,” Dorrell replied. Australians will head to the polls on May 21. Image: Getty

Legal

Ministers not happy with new Respect at Work rules

As part of new workplace behaviour advice, NSW government ministers have been reportedly told to avoid using the word “mate”, as they recently undertook "Respect at Work" training sessions. Dominic Perrottet's government ministers have been advised against using the word “mate” in a work setting, against drinking alcohol in the office, and to not yell at staff. “I use ‘mate’ all the time – it’s as Australian as you can get. How can it be offensive?” one minister said. Those who attended described the training as “PC insanity” with other unnamed ministers also criticising the course. A critical part of the training was ensuring that all sexual assault allegations are reported appropriately. The two-and-and-a-half-hour modules were run by an external “diversity and inclusion” consultant. The training came after a review into bullying and harassment by former sex discrimination commissioner Pru Goward. Banter and gossip were deemed a no-no, while ministers were also told to invite everyone in the office if heading out for lunch or after-work drinks. Veterans Minister David Elliott took issue with the alcohol ban, saying he keeps a bottle of whiskey in his office to “placate (his) parliamentary colleagues”. Delegating the work of a “junior” staff member to a more “senior” person can now also be construed as bullying. The Respect at Work training sessions are expected to be run regularly. According to a new “inclusive language guide” released by The University of Washington Information Technology department , words such as “grandfather,” “housekeeping,” “minority,” “ninja,” and “lame” are also considered “problematic words”. Image: Getty

Caring

Prime Minister explains media ban on tour of flooded regions

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made his way to flood affected communities on Wednesday after finally leaving isolation. His visit to damaged homes and communities in flood-affected areas of northern New South Wales spread across the media. However, they were banned from accompanying the prime minister out of “respect for the privacy of those I came to speak to”. “In these disasters, not everybody wants a camera shoved in the face while they’re trying to share their heart with you,” he explained, <a href="https://7news.com.au/politics/federal-politics/scott-morrison-explains-why-media-were-banned-from-his-visit-to-flood-affected-nsw-towns-including-lismore-c-6000763" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a> reported. “I came down to listen to them and what they are going through and understand what was needed for their primary production business, paint business, all those householders themselves, what was needed to make sure we can get this town back on its feet, and that is assisting me with other matters. “The primary purpose is to make sure I understand fully what we need to do, and the alignment of what our plans are and our announcements are with the needs here in the community.” Morrison announced a national emergency for the affected towns as well as promising further assistance. “The sheer scale and impact to these areas in northern NSW highlights the need for extra support right now,” the Prime Minister said in a statement. “While people in northern NSW aren’t able to work, are still clearing out their homes and businesses, the extra two lots of $1,000 payments we’re rolling out to eligible families and individuals will give them some certainty as they start to rebuild their lives. “We can’t underestimate the long term mental health toll so many communities will be facing. As well as the new mental health supports we’re announcing, my government will closely monitor the situation to understand what else people need as they recover from these disasters. “Resilience NSW and Deputy Commissioner Lanyon and the Queensland Government and Major General Ellwood will work alongside the Federal National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) to identify the priorities for the longer-term recovery under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. “We’ll work closely with the NSW and Queensland Governments to deliver further funding. It’s crises like this that the Emergency Response Fund was established to help support and it will help as part of the initiatives we deliver so communities across NSW and Queensland get back on their feet.” Image: 7News

World’s youngest Prime Minister goes out clubbing after Covid exposure

The world’s youngest Prime Minister, Finland’s Sanna Marin, has apologised to the public after a photo surfaced of her in a nightclub following the foreign minister testing positive for COVID-19. “I did wrong. I should have considered the situation more carefully,” Marin, 36, said in a television interview by public broadcaster Yle on Wednesday night. Marin decided not to cut her night out short on Saturday, despite being told she had been exposed to the coronavirus the day before, she explained on Facebook on Monday, after a Finnish gossip magazine published a photo of her in a crowded nightclub. But Marin wasn’t the only politician in the line of fire. Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila also attended a floorball match between Finland and Latvia on Sunday, despite being advised to avoid contact with others, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported on Wednesday. Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen went to a dinner party on Saturday while Finance Minister Annika Saarikko and Science and Culture Minister Antti Kurvinen cancelled their attendance of the same event to avoid contacts, evening paper Ilta-Sanomat reported on Tuesday. All three ministers were exposed on Friday at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, who on Saturday tested positive. Marin said she was at a restaurant when she received a phone call from her state secretary informing her about the exposure. “He said ministers would not be quarantined because they all have been vaccinated twice,” Marin wrote on Facebook, explaining why she continued socialising. The prime minister’s office later said it had sent the exposed ministers two text messages on Saturday recommending that they avoid contact with other people. Marin said she had left her official phone at home and instead relied on aides reaching her on her personal phone. Marin has since taken two tests that were negative, while Lintila and Kaikkonen have also tested negative. Finland has seen a surge of new COVID-19 cases in the past months, spurring health officials to worry about the healthcare system being overburdened. Several big hospitals around the country have postponed non-critical surgeries and the government on Wednesday proposed a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. Image: EPA

Travel Trouble

Education Minister to stand aside amid abuse allegations

Education Minister Alan Tudge has agreed to stand aside while an investigation into allegations of abuse made against him is conducted. Rachelle Miller, a former staffer, alleged that her relationship with Tudge, which took place in 2017, was abusive. She addressed the media in Parliament House on Thursday, saying that she wanted to tell more of her story, which first became public in a Four Corners episode a year ago. She said that she’s speaking out again in part because she wants the nation’s leaders to implement all of the recommendations made in a review into parliamentary workplace culture. Miller alleged that in 2017, she drank heavily with Mr Tudge and he became angry when she answered the phone early the next morning from their hotel room bed. She said, "It was about four in the morning and a morning media producer … was calling about the front-page story we'd lined up. I started to talk to her to arrange a time, but I was still half asleep. "Then I felt someone kicking me on the side of my hip and leg. As I tried to sit up in bed. It was the minister, he was furious." In calling for the government to implement the recommendations made in the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s review into the culture in Parliament House, Miller said, "This is not about revenge, it has never, ever been about that. “I still sometimes feel sorry for him. It's about ensuring no-one else goes through this in this workplace ever again. It's about changing a system that enabled this to happen. We should not have to fight." Tudge denied Miller’s claims, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked him to stand aside while the claims are investigated. The news comes a day after former attorney-general Christian Porter <a rel="noopener" href="https://oversixty.com.au/news/news/christian-porter-to-quit-politics" target="_blank">announced</a> that he will not contest the next election following a turbulent year that includes historical rape allegations. It also comes mere hours after <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/nationals-mp-james-hayward-charged-over-alleged-child-sex-abuse-20211202-p59e85.html" target="_blank">Western Australian Nationals MP James Hayward was charged</a> over the alleged sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl. The review, conducted by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/the-jenkins-review-has-28-recommendations-to-fix-parliaments-toxic-culture-will-our-leaders-listen-172858" target="_blank">made 28 recommendations</a> aimed at improving the workplace culture at Parliament House, including a statement of acknowledgement from parliamentary leaders, recognising people’s experiences of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in parliamentary workplaces, targets to increase gender balance among parliamentarians and a new office of parliament staffing and culture. The report found that one third of people currently in parliamentary workplaces have experienced sexual harassment at work, while 37% have experienced bullying. Image: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

News

Climate change activists dump a huge pile of poo in front of minister's office in protest

Climate change activities have dumped a huge pile of horse manure in front of Simon Birmingham’s Adelaide office because they say Australia’s contribution to the COP26 climate summit “stunk most of all”. Extinction Rebellion protesters dressed in hazmat suits dumped numerous bags of the animal dung outside the federal Finance Minister’s office along Sir Donald Bradman Dr at Hilton on Friday morning. A video broadcasted live on Facebook shows activists at the premises where a sign was propped into the top of the manure heap that read “climate pariah”. A sign reading “Glasglow was a sh*t show and “Your gas stinks”. “We are currently in a climate code red and all we’ve witnessed lately is Glasgow’s sh*t show.” “We have left a nice message of some very organic horse manure which hopefully senator Birmingham will feel quite at home with, with all the sh*t that’s been going around.” One passer-by, who did not wish to be identified, said the stunt was “the best I’ve seen in all my 84 years”. Extinction Rebellion took to social media to say Prime Minister Scott Morrison took a “weak, non-binding ‘plan’ with no new policies or mandates” to the summit. “(Australia) also refused to sign global pledges aimed at limiting methane emissions and phasing out fossil fuel production,” the post read. “Instead, the government continued to shamelessly spruik coal and gas. “Birmingham assures us that Australia is ‘over-achieving’ on climate. That’s what ScoMo was going to tell the world at COP26. “There’s political spin and then there’s BS. Clearly Birmingham is full of it. “The #COP26 climate summit was bullsh*t and Australia’s contribution stunk most of all.” he South Australian senator responded to the act with a witty tweet saying he’d “hate to see unnecessary waste”. “Any eager western suburbs gardeners are most welcome to help themselves to some spring fertiliser,” he posted. Senator Birmingham, who is in Adelaide, told ABC Radio that he hadn’t yet been into his office but his staff were faced with the “unpleasant welcoming”. “Whatever point Extinction Rebellion ever make, if they’re going to harass somebody I’m more grateful they’re disrupting me and my office than gluing themselves to the roads around Victoria Square and disrupting tens of thousands of South Australians like they did a couple weeks ago,” he said. “These are extremists who wouldn't ever be satisfied by anything.” “Let’s appreciate Australia’s made the commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 … We’re investing billions of dollars doing so.” “We’re one of the few countries in the world who can say we’ve met and exceeded all the commitments we've made to date and yet these guys, of course, still cry out in juvenile ways for more.”

Legal

New Zealand's ‘first man’ opens up on wedding plans with Prime Minister Ardern

Clarke Gayford told Sunrise he and Jacinda have put preparations “on the backburner” after the whole country was plunged into a COVID-19 lockdown last week. The wedding, scheduled for this summer in Gisborne on the North Island, has been anticipated for some time since the pair were engaged at Easter two years ago. But Gayford continued: “Unfortunately this latest lockdown has kind of just put everything on the backburner for the interim, so there will be a whole flurry of activity closer to the time,” he said. The 43-year-old, who shares a three-year-old daughter with Ardern, said the couple had not planned a honeymoon, admitting: “I don’t think we’ve even had that conversation.” Promoting his new fishing book as well <img style="width: 396.7611336032388px; height:500px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7843423/clarke-gayford-fish-of-the-day.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/087e60ad9da5403c81fcb65eab15a991" /> Gayford, who’s been a successful television and radio host for the past 20 years, was talking on Sunrise to promote his new fishing book which he has co-authored with Mike Bhana. Called Fish Of The Day – the book is based on Gayford’s fishing show of the same name and includes travel tips, recipes and more. Gayford told the Sunrise hosts, Natalie Barr and David Koch, he has been teaching Ardern how to fish and she’s “actually pretty good.” “I can say that she has got enthusiastically into some of the fishing trips that we’ve been able to get stuck into,” he said. “I’ve been teaching her how to soft bait and a style of fishing called speed-jigging and she’s very determined when she sets her mind to it.” The Kiwi said his first fishing trip with Ardern was “absolutely magic.” “It went dead flat, we had a whale show up, her first cast she got a 14 pound (6.3kg) snapper, her very next cast she caught this huge john dory - and she thought that was what fishing was always like. ”So she was hooked from that point onwards,” he laughed. Photos: Getty Images

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s heartbreaking loss

Prime Minister's extraordinary offer for "Bollard Man"

As Scott Morrison leaves parliament, where does he rank among Australian prime ministers?

Woman charged after NT Chief Minister hit in the face with crepe

Modern prime ministers have typically left parliament soon after defeat. So why doesn’t Scott Morrison?

New Zealand Prime Minister's heartbreaking family update

Ex-Finnish Prime Minister’s rebrand after divorce and leaving office

Minister steps in to stop deportation of family with Down syndrome son

Chris Hipkins announced as next Prime Minister of New Zealand

The "forgettables": 5 Australian prime ministers you may not know much about

The new UK Prime Minister is richer than King Charles

Who is Liz Truss, the new UK prime minister?

The who's who of the new Labor government

Readers respond: If you were prime minister, what would your first rule be?

Ministers not happy with new Respect at Work rules

Prime Minister explains media ban on tour of flooded regions

World’s youngest Prime Minister goes out clubbing after Covid exposure

Education Minister to stand aside amid abuse allegations

Climate change activists dump a huge pile of poo in front of minister's office in protest

New Zealand's ‘first man’ opens up on wedding plans with Prime Minister Ardern

Our Partners

News

Shop

Catalogues

Newspaper

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Compare

Games

Information

Keep up to date

Search

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s heartbreaking loss

Prime Minister's extraordinary offer for "Bollard Man"

As Scott Morrison leaves parliament, where does he rank among Australian prime ministers?

Woman charged after NT Chief Minister hit in the face with crepe

Modern prime ministers have typically left parliament soon after defeat. So why doesn’t Scott Morrison?

New Zealand Prime Minister's heartbreaking family update

Ex-Finnish Prime Minister’s rebrand after divorce and leaving office

Minister steps in to stop deportation of family with Down syndrome son

Chris Hipkins announced as next Prime Minister of New Zealand

The "forgettables": 5 Australian prime ministers you may not know much about

The new UK Prime Minister is richer than King Charles

Who is Liz Truss, the new UK prime minister?

The who's who of the new Labor government

Readers respond: If you were prime minister, what would your first rule be?

Ministers not happy with new Respect at Work rules

Prime Minister explains media ban on tour of flooded regions

World’s youngest Prime Minister goes out clubbing after Covid exposure

Education Minister to stand aside amid abuse allegations

Climate change activists dump a huge pile of poo in front of minister's office in protest

New Zealand's ‘first man’ opens up on wedding plans with Prime Minister Ardern

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