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Last week I criticised the Abbott government for taking four days to pass two insignificant pieces of legislation. This week they have passed none.

This week's excuse for the government failing to govern is that they have been busy bullying Qantas into changing their position on the carbon tax. On Monday Qantas released a statement which said that their financial problems "were not related to the carbon tax". This angered a government who on the same day were claiming it was the primary reason.

Alan Joyce became CEO of Qantas in 2008. Prior to joining Qantas in 2000 Joyce served on the board that oversaw the collapse of Australia's other domestic carrier at that time, Ansett Airlines. Joyce was one of the few people to walk away from Ansett with full pay and remuneration.

The position of Opposition leader was declared vacant by Bill Shorten earlier this week. As a self appointed spokesperson on immigration for the non-existent Opposition, I request, for the sake of departmental consistency, that Tony Abbott henceforth be referred to by his boat arrival number, 5265617. Further to this I propose that he be detained indefinitely until his status as a genuine refugee can be determined and processed with the due diligence we have come to expect from the Department of Immigration.

The ALP has called for asylum seekers to continue to be sent to Manus Island. Shadow Immigration Minister Richard Marles has praised Manus Island as playing a vital role in border protection.
Since Manus Island was reopened by the Gillard government in 2012 it has cost over $1 billion dollars, holds approximately 800 people in conditions the UN has described as "violating prohibitions on torture" (a polite way of saying torture) and processed just one asylum seeker.

Thanks to a government hell-bent on destroying the country in its first year and an opposition which needs a week to prepare for question time, parliament predictably descended into chaos last week. Equally predictable was the star performance in this farce being delivered by the government's chief performing seal, Christopher Pyne.

Political bias at be ABC? Here is a list of all ABC board members appointed since 1996.

Howard government appointments:

Donald McDonald - Liberal Party member and long-time friend of the Howard Family.

Michael Kroger - Liberal party powerbroker and former president of the Victorian Liberal party. Member of the right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs ("Ding!")

In 1987 a young Tony Abbott turned his back on St Patricks seminary and a future in the Catholic priesthood. Six months later he wrote an article for the Bulletin. Apparently the modern Catholic Church had failed to live up to the ideals of the young Tony who admired the judgemental, homophobic and sexists traditions of the church but was not comfortable with what he saw as more modern concepts like caring for the sick and poor, forgiving sinners and generally carrying about other people.

The National Commission of Audit was set up by the government in October last year. One of over 50 reviews announced since Abbott became PM the stated purpose of the commission is to review the performance, functions and roles of the Commonwealth government. The actual purpose of all audit reviews since Jeff Kennett first came up with the idea in 1992 is to identify what government programs and services can be cut, privatised or outsourced.

The 85 richest people in the world have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest. In the last 30 years the richest 1% of Australians have increased their share of income by 100%, in the USA it has increased by 150%. Governments world wide have spent trillions in tax dollars bailing out banks and other large corporations since the GFC. While spending on health, education welfare and foreign aid has been cut to record lows, tax cuts for high income earners have continued to increase exponentially.

Happy Australia Fortnight and a bit.

Contrary to popular belief the 26th of January is not the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. The 11 boatloads of criminals and economic migrants that began European settlement in Australia arrived at Botany Bay between the 18th and the 20th of January 1788, 2 days after the arrival of a French scientific expedition.