Two senior Gillard ministers have been forced to amend the register of members' interests to disclose hospitality from former NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.
Chalet: FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy have been dragged into the scandal enveloping Labor in NSW, admitting yesterday they received free holiday accommodation from allegedly corrupt former state MP Eddie Obeid.
Hindsight: Stephen Conroy confronted the revelation with typical bluster on ABC radio this morning. "Look, seven or eight years ago I failed to ask the question when invited to the snow: 'Will you be called before ICAC in eight years' time under corruption allegations?' I do accept that perhaps I should have asked that question eight years ago."
New intervention: JULIA Gillard will today declare that "rivers of grog" are returning to indigenous communities and commit her government to take action against the Northern Territory and Queensland governments over "any irresponsible policy changes" to overturn alcohol bans.
In Court: Craig Thomson will front a Melbourne court today to answer 149 fraud charges related to his time as HSU national secretary. He is strenuously maintaining his innocence. "In some respects the worst thing that could have happened would be that nothing happens and the thing just drops away and there is all the innuendo and so forth that is there," he said late yesterday. "So, to some extent, as bad as being charged can be, at least it gives the opportunity of resolving this issue."
Aussie terror link: A HEZBOLLAH terrorist cell involving an Australian citizen was behind a bus attack that killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year, investigators have said.
Whistleblower: A nurse with more than 40 years experience has likened the Nauru detention centre to a concentration camp, saying she witnessed multiple suicide attempts during her time on the island.
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Inside info: Scott Morrison's appointment of former immigration department assistant secretary Bob Correll as his new chief of staff has raised eyebrows in DIAC and the government. Government sources say Correll, the department's former business services chief, left the department after losing the confidence of former minister Chris Bowen. Morrison's office said: "Chris Bowen lost the confidence of the Australian people years ago. He is hardly a fit judge of competence." It noted Correll was a public service medal recipient.
Thaw: Almost a year ago, Simon Crean led the public flaying of Kevin Rudd, attacking him for running a "relentless, stealth campaign", against Julia Gillard. But relations seem to have improved. He wants Rudd to play a key role in the upcoming election campaign. The pair were seen in deep conversation yesterday evening during a House of Representatives division on a social security bill.
Technophobe: Note to Malcolm Turnbull - keep Bill Heffernan away from your alternative NBN plan. The Hef admitted yesterday he'd never used a computer. Said Heffernan yesterday: "Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I have not turned a computer on. Eddie Obeid wishes he had never turned a computer on." Kim Carr: "That is a confession - he has not turned on a computer! That is what I like-modernity in the Liberal Party!"
Caretaker claim: The opposition is jumping up and down claiming the government is in "virtual caretaker mode". It's a political ploy to ramp up the sense of chaos surrounding the government, not that Labor needed any help to do that. If they're serious, perhaps they'll forego taxpayer-funded transport for political staffers, which is immediately suspended in genuine caretaker mode, when the election writs are issued.
Climate backseat: It's fortunate Labor has introduced a carbon tax, because car pooling is unlikely to catch on if the example of government ministers is to be followed. Ministers Tanya Plibersek and Kate Ellis, and parly sec Mike Kelly, arrived for a 10.30 press conference in Queanbeyan yesterday in three separate Comcars. We'll take it up with Greg Combet.
Thin pretext: Parliament's latest weight loss craze is providing fresh one-liners for calorie-counting MPs. "If I'm prepared to do this to my waist, imagine what I'm prepared to do to Labor waste," said the man formerly known as "Sloppy Joe" Hockey yesterday.
Gait: There's been a noticeable swagger about Coalition MPs of late. But Tony Abbott, who's not known for a lack of self-confidence, has nipped it in the bud. Abbott warned his team yesterday against hubris and "personal snideness". Capital Circle will be on the lookout for any transgressions.
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Julia Gillard is in Canberra. She'll deliver the annual Closing the Gap statement in parliament this morning.
Tony Abbott will make his own Closing the gap speech following the Prime Minister.
The House of Representatives sits from 9am.
The Senate sits from 9.30am.
Question Time begins in both houses at 2pm.
The High Court will deliver its judgment in the Google v ACCC case after the search engine provider appealed a ruling that it had engaged in misleading conduct.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver will address the National Press Club.
The Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety will hold a public hearing on the nature and prevalence of cyber threats to senior Australians.
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Here to help: PRESSURE is growing on Julia Gillard to exploit Kevin Rudd's popularity with the electorate and elevate his role in the election campaign, with four members of her cabinet now publicly declaring that the former prime minister is an asset for the party.
Super danger: ONE of the architects of the superannuation regime has warned against a tax hike on workers' savings, amid industry predictions that Labor's proposed changes could deliver a "retrospective" hit to concessions worth $32 billion a year.
New fight: ACTU secretary Dave Oliver will today unveil plans to mobilise hundreds of thousands of union members in the nation's marginal seats in the lead up to the September poll, calling on Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to support job security proposals that include enshrining penalty rates in law.
Money trail: EDDIE Obeid and his wife, Judith, drew at least $4 million from their family trust in the past decade, despite the former NSW Labor powerbroker declaring only a minimal parliamentary salary and his wife not submitting a tax return.
Don't meddle: The AFR reports two important Labor figures in the development of the superannuation system have warned the Gillard government against increasing super taxes and suggested other changes, including cuts to generous public service super, as better ways to raise revenue.
Frack off: THE SMH reports the Gillard government appears set to impose stricter environmental assessments on coal seam gas projects in NSW, accusing the state of refusing adequate approval processes.
Spoilt for choice: The AFR reports the federal Coalition has an election campaign strategy all but ready to go in the event Kevin Rudd supplants Julia Gillard as Labor leader.
Challenge: THE National Congress of Australia's First Peoples is calling for the federal government to expand its Closing the Gap targets to include commitments to halve the incarceration rates of Aborigines and halve the rates of violence experienced by indigenous victims.
Nest egg: THE Future Fund's healthy return of 12.8 per cent last year has boosted its coffers to more than $82.3 billion.
Case closed: The SMH reports Australian authorities did not conduct critical interviews about the theft of the damaging video of Kevin Rudd swearing and banging a table and never formally asked for details of who uploaded the footage, which helped trigger Mr Rudd's unsuccessful leadership challenge last February.
Zed v Gary: The Canberra Times reports the ACT Liberal Party was accused on Tuesday evening of manipulating the pre-selection process to the advantage of Senate challenger Zed Seselja.
Upstarts: The SMH reports ALP Senator John Faulkner has been labelled a "hypocrite" and a "contemptible charlatan" by members of Australian Young Labor in a draft motion to the organisation's annual conference.
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Dennis Shanahan writes: JULIA Gillard is now facing the new challenge of "what to do" about Kevin Rudd.
Paul Kelly writes: THE first serious 2013 week of politics has resurrected nearly every institutional bogy plaguing the Gillard government, a reminder of its fragility despite Julia Gillard's justified risk in nominating September 14 as the election date.
Imre Salusinszky writes: With friends like Eddie Obeid, who needs a nuclear missile directed at the heart of their political ambitions?
Kate McClymont writes: OF ALL the colourful people with whom the Obeids have done business, the most colourful must be Viktor Djamirze, a one-time bankrupt who was banned by corporate regulators for four years and whose business partners have included convicted corporate criminal Alan Bond and murdered businessman Michael McGurk.
Troy Bramston and Chris Kenny write: ONE of the hard facts of political life is that whenever a leader addresses a meeting, there will be some in the audience who wish them ill.
Janet Albrechtsen writes: People power defeated Roxon's radical agenda.
Peter Costello writes: Super changes will sap certainty and hit savings.
Mark Kenny writes: Whether Rudd feeds it or not, Labor MPs are keeping talk of leadership alive.
Jessica Irvine writes: TONY Abbott doesn't have a woman problem. What he has is a radical, feminist policy proposal that, if he's elected, will contribute enormously to the advancement of women in the workplace.
A RAUCOUS question time returned a sense of normality to national affairs yesterday, a fact that says a lot about the state of Australian politics.
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