ARDERN GETS HER TURN

Jacinda Ardern is set to become New Zealand’s second-youngest prime minister after securing support from NZ First leader Winston Peters to form government.

The 37-year-old has led the Labour Party for just two and half months, taking the reins after securing just under 40% of the vote at the September 23 poll. Peters’ decision was made minutes before he departed to speak with the press, and Ardern was not told of the outcome in advance.

Peters told reporters his decision had been informed by the need to address poverty, and concerns about the level of immigration and housing costs. It had been thought he was more likely to align with the conservative National Party, which topped the poll with 44.4% of the vote.

“We had a choice to make for a modified status quo or for change,” he said. “… That’s why in the end we chose a coalition government of New Zealand First with the New Zealand Labour Party.”

The decision will elevate Peters to the role of deputy prime minister and establish a shaky three-seat majority for Labour, NZ First and the Greens, who will guarantee supply and potentially join the government.

Ardern’s triumph led to awkward questions for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who had said during the campaign she would find it difficult to trust the Labour Party after one member assisted Australian Labor to expose the dual citizenship of Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce. Yesterday, however, Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull both congratulated Ardern, with Bishop pointing out Ardern had criticised the conduct of her colleague on the issue.

DYING TO SLEEP

At the time of writing, Victoria’s lower house continues to debate a proposition to give dying patients access to life-ending drugs after those opposed to the reforms filibustered throughout the night, pushing exhausted MPs and onlookers into the debate’s 22nd hour.

The state is on the verge of becoming the first in Australia to see a government-backed bill legislating what has been variously termed “euthanasia” or “assisted dying”, though a series of last-minute interventions have put pressure on what is thought to be a bare majority of parliamentary supporters.

Yesterday, Deputy Premier James Merlino‘s attempt to have the bill shelved floundered, a small victory for its supporters. The standoff prompted the bill’s major backer, Health Minister Jill Hennessy, to accidentally send a text message to Merlino that was intended for another colleague, in which she called Merlino a “c—“.

As debate raged last night, former prime minister Paul Keating added his voice to the list of opponents, telling Fairfax that flaws in palliative care were the “weakest link” and that the laws would represent “an unacceptable departure in our approach to human existence”.

HIGHER ED CUTS REBUFFED

The government has again seen its efforts to find savings in higher education turned back by the Senate. The proposed changes would have lowered the threshold for HECS repayments to $42,000, increased fees, and cut 2.5% of government funding.

But after two previous failed attempts under two education ministers, current Education Minister Simon Birmingham failed to win support from Nick Xenophon’s bloc, with Senator Rebekha Sharkie instead calling for a comprehensive “Gonski style” review of the sector.

 “We are appalled that the troika of Labor, Greens and Xenophon parties are unwilling to make even modest reductions in the rate of spending growth, which under our reforms would still have increased university funding by 23 per cent over the next four years,” Birmingham said.

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Adelaide: Holden shuts down its last car-making plant in Australia.

Canberra: Heads of the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank appear before parliamentary inquiry.

Melbourne: The Sentencing Advisory Council releases a report into community correction orders and family violence orders.

Sydney: MasterChef judge George Calombaris to be sentenced over an assault of A-League fan. 

THE COMMENTARIAT

Amid all the noise, a significant moment in politics — Laura Tingle (Australian Financial Review $): “It has been the Coalition’s internal divisions — not just on policy but on political tactics — that have created so much uncertainty in Canberra in the past few years. This week, for the first time in eight years, the pathetic, destructive, pointless politics of Tony Abbott haven’t worked.”

Euthanasia fails doctors’ code — Michael Gannon (The Australian $): “Highly emotional stories of the grief felt subsequent to watching a loved one die do not constitute an intellectual argument in favour of EPAS. The Victorian parliament has other opportunities to improve the end-of-life care it provides its citizens. That people suffer painful or prolonged deaths should be a clarion call to improve end-of-life care.”

Malcolm Turnbull’s last big chance at connecting with voters — Sharri Markson (The Daily Telegraph $): “The Liberal Party doesn’t need Crosby Textor research to know its achievements aren’t getting through to the public. The most ­common word associated with Turnbull in focus group research is ‘disappointment’.”

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Australian journalism’s freak show: how a serious newspaper deals with its enemies — Eric Beecher and Emily Watkins: “Over the next two weeks, Crikey will catalogue one of the ugliest and most insidious features of Australian public life: the permanent spectacle of one of the country’s handful of serious daily news operations abusing its power to conduct personalised vindictive editorial warfare dressed up as objective reporting.”

Why the High Court shut down Tassie’s anti-protest laws in Bob Brown case — Michael Bradley: “The technical problem with the act, and main reason why the court knocked it over, was the impossibility of anyone being able to determine whether they’re standing in a “business premises” when they’re surrounded by trees. You don’t commit an offence under the act unless a police officer has ordered you to move on, but they can’t do that unless you’re on the premises and there’s no way they can know where the premises start and end.”

Hinch’s Senate Diary: the unseemly message Tony Abbott left on my voicemail — Derryn Hinch: “An irate Tony Abbott got my super private phone number from a mutual friend, introduced himself, and left a message demanding that I provide him with proof to back up what I had said, or name the source for what I’d said. ‘Otherwise,’ he said, ‘shut the fuck up.'”

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