Tag: Question time

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. "It has been an immense honour to be the longest-serving Member for Curtin and also to be the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, the first female to hold the role, [and] for 11 years, over half my entire political career," she told the Parliament. She served in that role in opposition under Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott. After the party won the 2013 election, she became foreign minister and remained in the job until Mr Turnbull lost the Liberal leadership last year. Ms Bishop ran in the ballot to replace Mr Turnbull against Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton but was eliminated in the first round of voting. Mr Morrison, who won the leadership ballot and became the Prime Minister, paid tribute to Ms Bishop and her "tremendous service to her country". "She is an incredibly classy individual. "Her successor will have big shoes to fill, and we know that Julie has the best shoes in Parliament." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described her as a "trailblazer", even if they had not shared much in common when it came to politics. Ms Bishop had little to say as she left Parliament House for the week after making her announcement.

The BBC’s long-running politics show This Week is to end after presenter Andrew Neil announced he was stepping down. The BBC One show, which airs on Thursdays after Question Time, will be taken off air this summer when its current series ends, the corporation said. Neil has fronted the show since it began in 2003 and regular guests include former Conservative MP Michael Portillo and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott. Sorry, this content isn't available on your device. @bbcthisweek will end after its current run, as presenter @afneil steps down from late-night presenting #bbctw — BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) February 14, 2019 Fran Unsworth, BBC director of news, said: “We couldn’t imagine This Week without the inimitable Andrew Neil, one of Britain’s best political interviewers. After 16 years, Andrew is bowing out of late-night presenting on the show, at the top of his game.” Neil will continue to present Politics Live on Thursdays, Unsworth added, and the BBC wants to keep the 69-year-old “at the heart” of its political coverage. This Week is known for its informal look at politics while Ms Abbott and Mr Portillo form an unlikely on-screen double-act, despite being on opposite sides of the political divide. The move comes amid uncertainty surrounding the BBC’s news output. Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen and other foreign correspondents have asked Lord Tony Hall to reconsider. Last year, Sunday Politics, hosted by Sarah Smith, was axed and replaced by Politics Live, which airs Monday to Friday.

The Labour party has lodged a formal complaint with the BBC over the treatment of shadow home secretary Diane Abbott by the new Question Time presenter, Fiona Bruce during Thursday’s show. Last week, Abbott accused the programme of legitimising racist abuse, claiming she was repeatedly interrupted and singled out before the episode, with Bruce stepping in to correct her, wrongly, over the latest Labour polling figures. Labour has also demanded to see footage from the audience warm-up before the show amid allegations the crowd in Derby had been “whipped up” against Abbott. She said she had also been told Bruce made unpleasant remarks about her before the recording began. The BBC said they were “sorry” to hear of Abbott’s concerns and had sought to reassure her team that social media claims made about the warm-up, which have gone viral, were false. “A public broadcaster like the BBC should be expected to be a model of impartiality and equality. The BBC cannot claim anything of the sort when analysis of the programme shows that the only black woman on the panel was jeered at and interrupted more times than any other panellist, including by the chair herself. A Labour source said: “We want to see the warm-up footage because of these claims from audience members and we want an on-air apology over the polling.” Following Thursday’s Question Time and the criticism directed at the BBC, the corporation said in a post on Twitter: “We’ve reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.” Diane Abbott accuses BBC Question Time of legitimising racism Read more In a further statement, a BBC spokesman said: “Diane is a regular and important contributor to the programme. “We firmly reject claims that any of the panel was treated unfairly either before or during the recording.” In September 2017, it emerged that Abbott alone received almost half of all the abusive tweets sent to female MPs in the run-up to the general election according to Amnesty International, much of which was racist and sexist.

I think the convulsions we are seeing in Australian politics right now — in fact , since John Howard was defeated in 2007 — are a culmination of decades-long trends that center on the slow decline of our two big political parties. There’s a void at the center of our politics because the public and the political class have both retreated. Again, this is happening in all Western democracies: people have stopped joining political parties and civic organizations with a political voice, and the parties have responded by making politics more elite and professional. At the last federal election, nearly 25 percent of voters gave their primary vote to an independent or small party, and that figure is on a slow upward trend as the primary vote of the two major parties declines. In fact, minority government might be the new norm in Australian federal politics. Unfortunately, however, I don’t think the cynicism about politicians actually motivates the public to get involved. In fact, it may just reinforce the retreat I talked about. Now, for the most part, that has not been terribly damaging — O.K., politics is hollowed out and Australians are deeply cynical, but by global standards the place is still pretty well run, and economically we are in enviable shape. What might that look like in Australia? Readers from all over the world, including Australia, have been sharing questions all week with the climate scientist Kate Marvel, who has already started answering some of them.

“The UK is becoming a failed state, focused on enriching a Tory elite and impoverishing the rest.” Not the words of an excitable Momentum agitator or a red-faced ranter in the Question Time audience, but of a Scottish Cabinet minister. Mike Russell, Nicola Sturgeon’s Brexit secretary, was tweeting angrily in response to a report on UK poverty by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston. “For almost one in every two children to be poor in twenty-first century Britain is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.” Russell’s rage mirrors a sudden burst of furious rhetoric across the pro-independence movement. This was not in the plan. In her conference speech last month, Sturgeon asked for “pragmatism, perseverance and patience” from her supporters, warning that “our task now is to step up our work to update and strengthen the case.” It looks like that restraint will not be forthcoming. Mhairi Black, the young and influential SNP MP, said that if the Westminster government collapses and a general election is called “then it’s time for the SNP to put independence at the core of the manifesto.” Sturgeon’s cautious approach to a rerun is irritating some. First, the SNP leadership will be nervous about losing control of the narrative around a second referendum. It may be that the events of the next few months lead to a sudden shift in public opinion in favour of another indyref, but at present that seems unlikely. Support for independence has barely shifted from the 45 per cent it attracted in 2014. How does she maintain her control of the movement without bending to its will?

National has sent a letter to Trevor Mallard outlining their concerns over his handling of Question Time in Parliament. After all, they don't call it the bear pit for nothing. If Government MPs misbehave, the Opposition picks up extra questions. * Simon Bridges says 'no evidence' one of his MPs called Jacinda Ardern 'stupid little girl' * Paula Bennett storms out But after nine years in Government, much of which was spent staring down an increasingly hostile and rowdy Labour opposition across the House, National can probably feel justifiably aggrieved about the umpire changing the rules. If an MP had been kicked out every time someone heckled during the last term of Parliament, the debating chamber would have been empty most days. National is also grappling with the abrupt loss of power and access to officials and information that comes as a right when you are in Government. Which is why resentment has been brewing that Mallard's new rules are an attempt to screw the scrum in the new Government's favour. The mystery of the "stupid little girl" interjection has gone around the world but no one has owned up, and audio of the moment when it is supposed to have been said is almost indecipherable. Things will only get uglier from here on in unless Mallard agrees to a rapprochement. - Stuff