Jobs losses, protests, court cases and scandal hit Labor
Nick Efstathiadis

James Massola From: The Australian August 22, 2011 6:47AM

As parliament resumes Labor faces a day of protests in Canberra, manufacturing job losses, a High Court challenge and an ongoing scandal.

Julia Gillard will launch the Australian Multicultural Council with Senator Kate Lundy today at about 11.30am. Cabinet will meet this evening. Ms Gillard will not address the Convoy of No Confidence rally, but she is expected to hold a press conference today.

Tony Abbott is expected to address the rally today in Canberra. He'll talk about the carbon tax, manufacturing job losses, the Craig Thomson scandal and the asylum seeker swap deal.

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Pressure on the Government is coming from all sides today. The Convoy of No Confidence, a collection of trucks, cars and semi-trailers is rolling into Canberra to protest at Parliament House (report), creating traffic chaos in the capital (report) (Convoy route). The Coalition is stepping up its push for an investigation into beseiged Labor MP Craig Thomson, calling for him to be stood down as chair of the House economics committee (report).

The move comes as the Daily Telegraph reports: MORE allegations have come to light against embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson, with court documents claiming he breached electoral laws by spending nearly $40,000 on his union credit card for his 2007 election campaign.

Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis will write to the NSW police today, calling for the force to be blind to the balance of power implications a possible by-election and begin investigating Mr Thomson. 

Job losses in the manufacturing sector will also be under scrutiny today as The Australian reports: BLUESCOPE Steel will today announce the shutdown of one of the nation's three remaining blast furnaces and the loss of at least 1000 jobs, spelling an end to Australian steel exports in what alarmed industry leaders are calling "a major crisis" in manufacturing.

The full bench of the High Court will meet in Melbourne today to consider whether the Malaysian asylum seeker swap deal is lawful. AAP reports: In an affidavit filed but not yet read in the High Court, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said he took into account a range of advice from Malaysian officials, his department and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR before deciding to send asylum seekers to Malaysia.

The Australian reports: LABOR'S factional leaders are poised to strike a deal to declare the vexed issue of same-sex marriage a conscience vote in order to defuse a potential brawl on the floor of December's national conference.

The Herald Sun reports: THE Federal Government says it would be too expensive to make bank account numbers portable like mobile telephone numbers.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: LABOR strategists are canvassing the prospect of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, being asked to step down and join the backbench should Craig Thomson lose his seat over the credit card fraud allegations.

The Age: reports: PROMINENT business and union leaders have endorsed a new strategy on asylum seekers that would have mandatory detention phased out within two years and Australia's intake of refugees significantly increased over five years. Heather Ridout and Janet Holmes a Court, along with ACTU chief Ged Kearney, are among more than 30 well-known Australians to back the strategy.

The Courier Mail reports DESTROYED homes and businesses are being sent massive power bills seven months after January's floods in what one community leader claims is a blatant rip-off.

Scathing: AUSTRALIA'S diplomatic footprint is grossly inadequate, with too few international posts, three times as many staff in Canberra as overseas and a level of foreign language ability so low as to look amateurish by world standards. (Ean Higgins reports)

Detention centre: A $150 million floating detention centre to transport new asylum seekers is being considered by the Government. (Joe Hildebrand reports)

IR laws: BIG business is stepping up its campaign against Labor's industrial relations laws, with business leaders warning ahead of a meeting with Wayne Swan this week that the Fair Work Act is a growing threat to productivity. (Damon Kitney reports)

Court challenge: THE spread of mining across Australia's food bowls will be tested today. Landholders from one of Queensland's richest grazing regions are taking Swiss resources giant Xstrata to court over its $3 billion coalmine. (Michael McKenna reports)

Roll-back: IT COULD take a Tony Abbott-led Coalition government until 2016 to axe Labor's carbon tax if it is forced to go to a double dissolution election, left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute claims. (Tom Arup reports)

Super boost: EIGHT million Australians will get a boost to their retirement nest-egg from the Gillard Government's move to increase compulsory superannuation contributions by their employers from 9 to 12 per cent. (Phillip Hudson reports)

Funding: THE nation's peak Muslim body is extracting millions of dollars in rent and fees from a successful Islamic school in Sydney that draws most of its funding from taxpayers. (Leo Shanahan reports)

He's back: KEVIN Rudd has declared he is fighting fit after his heart surgery and will not be stopped from maintaining his public life. (Renee Viellaris reports)

Asylum deal: THE politics have never been more rancorous. Yet since the first boatload of refugees turned up under their own steam in Darwin harbour in early 1976 with five Vietnamese men on board fleeing the communist regime, Labor and the Coalition have shared the one objective: stopping the boats. (David Marrreports)

Pension: THE buying power of Australia's unemployment benefit is shrinking. (Peter Martin reports)

Jobs losses, protests, court cases and scandal hit Labor | The Australian

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