The Unshackled Waves Ep. 107 Same Sex Marriage Passed, Foreign Donations, Citizenship Declarations and Trump’s Week
Video Version
Show Description
On this week’s review show we welcome back to the show Senior Editor of The Unshackled Damien Ferri.
Same sex marriage in is now law in Australia as the House of Representatives passed the Dean Smith same sex marriage bill unamended. All efforts to protect religious freedoms were defeated, in the final vote only 4 voted no and 12 abstained. Overseas same sex marriages became recognized instantly and same sex couples have began giving their 30 days notice to wed. The left have already moved onto the next issue calling for LGBT sex education in schools, no voters should not feel all is lost as the left’s agenda can still be opposed.
The Turnbull Government announced a crackdown on foreign influence in Australia. All foreign donations are to be banned from political campaigning groups. It will also be illegal to undermine the national interest on behalf of a foreign government and all lobbyists aligned with a foreign interest will need to go on a registry. The government is hoping to target Sam Dastyari and GetUp under these new laws. There is the question of whether this is a restriction of political speech and if legitimate charities and non-profits could be caught up in these laws. Further revelations about Dastyari’s Chinese connections keep coming, the latest is that he used Senate estimates to question defense officials about the South China Sea 115 times.
MPs from both Houses had to lodge citizenship declarations and we will now see four Labor MPs referred to High Court along with Nick Xenophon Team MP Rebekha Sharkie. Labor tried moved in Parliament that four Liberal MPs also be referred but in the House the government used their numbers to defeat it. One of the Liberals Julia Banks in a marginal seat who would lose it in a by-election so the parties are still playing politics with this issue. Labor had claimed their vetting process were thorough David Feeney has proved to be Labor’s biggest embarrassment with him losing his citizenship renunciation paperwork, given his series of blunders it may look like this is the end for him.
United States President Donald Trump had a busy week with his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI and will co-operate with Special Prosecutor Robert Muller’s investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump camapign. Trump’s travel ban from seven Muslim majority countries was upheld by Supreme Court, this is a huge victory for him and it was only thwarted initially by activist judges in the federal courts. However Trump’s biggest action was moving US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Previous presidents promised this action but never followed through. Given that it is only a symbolic move and has only caused unrest in the Middle East it is questionable if this move was necessary and doesn’t appear to do anything to advance a two state solution.
Theme Music Super Power Cool Dude by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
News Discussed
BREAKING: Same Sex Marriage Bill Passes the House
The Left’s Plans After Same Sex Marriage
Wide focus for foreign donations ban – news.com.au
Bill Shorten Plays the Race Card to Defend Sam Dastyari
Citizenship dragnet puts Labor MPs in the by-election firing line as documents released
Forgetful Feeney: Another Labor Weak Link
Donald Trump: “Flynn Turned on Me.” How bad is this for Donald Trump?
Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban – CNBC
Trump’s Jerusalem move sparks violent backlash – SBS