DOMESTIC
Remembrance Day: The 90th Anniversary of the end of World War I was commemorated across the country on the 11th of November at 11a.m, with former PM Paul Keating sparking a flurry of criticism and debate with his claim that too much historical emphasis was placed on the events at Gallipoli and their role in defining the nation.
Climate change: Ross Garnaut was out and about this week, defending his plan for Australia to commit to keeping emissions below 550ppm from both those who want to see far deeper cuts in emissions and those who believe any cost placed on emissions will damage the economy, some manufacturing industries continuing to claim they will be forced offshore if an ETS is introduced.
Petrol prices: FuelWatch was officially killed off by the Government this week, after they accepted they weren’t going to get the numbers in the Senate to pass the legislation, as petrol prices continued to drop sharply across Australia following recent heavy falls in the international oil price.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
President-Elect Obama: There has been continuing strong focus on the first days in waiting for Barack Obama’s administration, as he prepares to take over from George Bush in late January, with focus on his early staff choices and the length of the “lame duck” period before the new Democrat administration can make binding decisions.
Bali Bombers: The three men convicted of planning and carrying out the 2002 Bali bombings were executed in Indonesia over the weekend, with media coverage focusing on the possibility of reprisal attacks on tourists and the debate over the death penalty itself, concerns increasing for the Australians convicted of drug trafficking on death row in Bali.
In other international news: New Zealand has a new government after Helen Clark’s Labour Party was solidly defeated in last weekend’s election, bowing out after nine years, with the National’s John Key becoming the new Prime Minister; and China has announced a $600billion economic stimulus package to tray and stave off the effects of the international economic downturn.
BUSINESS NEWS
Share markets: The volatility on international share markets continued this week, with the overall trend continuing slightly downwards, but with wild daily swings of 5% and more, seeing billions of dollars of company value destroyed and recreated day by day. The media has had little time to do anything but report the wild swings as traders continues to try and pick the bottom of the market.
ABC Learning: The Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard spent much of the week trying to calm parents who have children enrolled at one of the hundreds of ABC Learning child care centres, ensuring them that the centres were viable although giving no government guarantees, while the future of the company itself remained extremely uncertain.
Car industry assistance: The Federal Government announced a $6bn assistance plan for the Australian automotive industry, with some media commentators quick to criticise the move as preferential treatment, while others defended the role of a car industry in Australian manufacturing.
TALKBACK
The execution of the Bali bombers was the leading one of a wide range of topics covered on talkback radio this week, with Remembrance Day commemorations and Paul Keating’s comments not far behind, as was discussion of the collapse of ABC Learning, with climate change also making a return to the Talkback Top five.
SPORT
Cricket in India – As the Australians slumped to a convincing defeat in the fourth test in Nagpur to lose the series in India two-nil, skipper Ricky Ponting received an avalanche of criticism from media commentators and former players for his decision to bowl part timers on the fourth day to avoid a possible ban.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“he’s declared war on drugs…war on inflation…war on unemployment…war on whalers…a war on downloads, pokies, doping in sport and on bankers’ salary deals. Prime Minister, how goes the war on everything? "
Opposition Frontbencher Joe Hockey mocks the PMs tendency to declare “war” on individual problems
Tracking the media, monitoring the message
No comments:
Post a Comment