Coca-Cola Amatil has agreed to a number of conditions put by the government to clear the way for a taxpayer cash injection into its fruit canning subsidiary SPC Ardmona, putting pressure on the federal cabinet to approve the deal when it next meets in January. The conditions include a proviso to control wages of…
HEALTH Minister Peter Dutton is facing a backbench revolt with demands he dump proposed packaging requirements that use a star system to show the nutritional value of food. Mr Dutton will meet with his state colleagues today as part of the Council of Australian Governments process, with separate discussions on food regulation also scheduled to…
REGIONAL Victorians will benefit from a withdrawal of the carbon tax. -That was the message Nationals Senator for Victoria, Bridget McKenzie, had while visiting Wangaratta last week. Ms McKenzie said she would be supporting legislation, to be introduced by the Coalition next month, to repeal the tax “in an effort to restore security to local…
The Productivity Commission’s public hearing in Melbourne on October 28 will provide key players a chance to respond to an interim report which found that SPC Ardmona’s application for emergency assistance was not warranted. The outcome was disappointing, but not surprising. Since the Agreement on Safeguards was established in 1994, only one Australian application for…
SENATOR Bridget McKenzie has welcomed her new role as whip of the Nationals Party for the Senate. The party whip is a member of parliament who is elected by their party to take on the role of team manager. See your ad hereEach party has whips who work in the House of Representatives or the…
LAST week we saw the Labor opposition selectively highlight demographics in an attempt to measure how representative the Abbott-Truss government is. But this does not serve to inform the public of anything substantial. The commentary has focused on the lack of women in the Abbott-Truss ministry. But in terms of outcomes, gender is less important…
NATIONALS Senator Bridget McKenzie has taken aim at Liberal candidate Greg Bickley for “paying lip service” to Bendigo jobs. Senator McKenzie’s outburst is another indication the Nationals intend to play hard-ball with their Coalition partner should it win on Saturday. The Bendigo-based Victorian Senator said front running candidates for both major parties had repeatedly…
GEOGRAPHY should not be a factor in gaining a higher education, according to Nationals Senator for Victoria Bridget McKenzie. The Senator visited the Mildura campuses of La Trobe University and Sunraysia Institute of TAFE this week to discuss her party’s plan to implement a $20,000 rural access allowance for students who have to leave their…
Next up in our Women in Politics series, is Senator Bridget McKenzie. Tall and blonde, Ms McKenzie gained unwanted media attention last year when fellow National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce referred to her in the Senate as “a flash bit of kit.” FROM the age of five, an eager Bridget McKenzie would wake up at…
THE senator who will become Aboriginal Affairs Minister if a coalition wins the impending federal election has praised the Gunditjmara Budj Bim heritage site, describing it as “fantastic and wonderful.” Senator Nigel Scullion, visiting the southwest from the Northern Territory alongside Victorian National Party Senator Bridget McKenzie, toured the site near Tyrendarra with prominent …