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Kanye West scares Donald Trump, forced fun at work is over, MPs to pull a Saturday shift

All the news that's fit to mint.

Jenna ClarkeEditorial Director
9 min read
6:05PMNovember 25, 2022.
Updated 11:34AMNovember 28, 2022
The Oz
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All the news that's fit to mint.

What's happening in (The) Oz:

🍻 Dan Andrews is ready for his Mad Monday

🗳 David Pocock is the Deidre Chambers of #auspol 

🙇🏻 Politicians are going to have to work on a Saturday

🍝 Trump and Kanye made a meal of a meal at Mar-a- Lago

🙅🏻‍♂️ Queensland Libs aren't keen on The Voice

😈 The AFLW grand final was demonic

⚽️ The Socceroos headed for a knock out

🕺🏻 You no longer have to endure forced fun at work

🍆 Sex workers in the Northern Territory are thrilled with the government

🦠 Covid is still a thing. Especially in China and Perth

"It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me" - Monday.

But the sooner we log on, the quicker we can log off and stare at Instagram instead, to scroll over the three available posts from November 17.

(Seriously. Anyone else copping this cooked algorithm?).

Anyway, it's been a big weekend in politics as nerds never sleep (👋🏻).

Daniel Andrews is still the Premier of Victoria after winning his third consecutive election on Saturday.

It was a scrappy, grotty and, at times, grubby campaign however the ALP won out and will form majority government again.

READ MORE: Dan Andrews is getting his own statue

Coincidentally, he took his victory lap (and rubbed his three-peat into the noses of many pundits who said it couldn't be done) on the anniversary of Britney's greatest clap back banger.

The world sure does work in mysterious ways 'eh?

Speaking of coincidences...

Federal parliament will sit for the final week of the year on Monday and the government is gagging for its most ambitious achievement to be realised - changes to Australia's industrial relations law.

READ MORE: The Industrial Revolution was smoother than Albo's new industrial relations laws

There has been so much hyperbole and hand-wringing over the huge, dense IR bill we've all got mental chafe.

The opposition and many big employer groups are against it, but to get it over the legislative line, the PM really needs to get independent Senator David Pocock on board.

Pocock, as recently as last week, was holding out saying he wouldn't "horse trade" as he wanted the bill to be "split" to allow him and others more time to consult more broadly especially on things like the ramifications on small businesses and how minimum wages will be impacted.

Just a few days since he and Finance Minister (and former ACT Chief Minister) Katy Gallagher teamed up to talk up another Bill -  that will now almost certainly be passed to allow territories the right to vote on things like voluntary assisted dying - Pocock has agreed to vote with the government on the IR changes.

His change of heart comes after a weekend of meetings and compromises.

On Sunday Senator Pocock said that critical to his support was the government’s commitment to establish, an "expert advisory committee" led by the Treasurer and Minister for Social Services.

This squad will review the adequacy of support payments annually ahead of each Federal Budget, and publish the recommendations.

“In what I believe will be a game changer for people living below the poverty line in our country, the government will now also receive independent expert advice that is made publicly available before each federal budget looking at how the most vulnerable in our community are faring and what needs to change to ensure we don’t leave them behind,” he said.

Senator Pocock said the"stack of changes" he managed to negotiate struck the right balance between ensuring people started receiving long overdue wage rises, maintaining productivity and protecting the most vulnerable in our communities.

“This is now a substantially different Bill to the one introduced in the House of Representatives a month ago. It is better for business, better for workers and makes sure the most vulnerable in our community are no longer left behind,” he added.

“I have worked with the government to push them as far as they would go, and then a step further to ensure they addressed key concerns raised with me. 

“This legislation introduces significant reforms to Australia’s industrial relations system that will benefit women and low paid workers in particular. There are now additional safeguards in place for business, especially small businesses, and some important new powers to better protect the low paid and those reliant on government support.”

Anthony Albanese and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke were thrilled on Sunday.

The PM said the agreement with the Senate crossbench to pass the industrial relations bill this week represented a “huge day for working people”. 

The Prime Minister said the Bill showed Labor was acting on its election commitment to lift wages. 

“The IR bill will ensure that there is a more level playing field,” Albanese said, arguing it will address employers gaming the system. 

Burke said the laws would ensure companies that don’t want to engage in multi-employer bargaining will take part in enterprise bargaining. 

He said employers had found the better off overall test (what happens now) to be “horrifically legalistic and complex” and these changes would make the test more "workable". 

Big business groups and not thrilled with the developments.

"The Bill, as it stands, will do nothing to achieve the aim of increasing wages, and will only add cost and complexity to Australian businesses at a time when they are dealing with deteriorating conditions, " Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said.

"Ultimately, this Bill represents a fundamental de-linkage of wages with productivity and will detract from the flexibility and dynamism required by modern economies.

"We remain of the view that this Bill is not fit for passage. "

Opposition workplace spokesperson Michaelia Cash said amendments to the Bill the government negotiated with Pocock and others were merely “tinkering around the edges”.

“What you have today is a deal has been struck and the legislation will pass. The employers of Australia, the employers who create the jobs today, remain united," Senator Cash said on Sunday.

“I have one last plea to Mr Albanese and that is - please listen to the job creators in this country. It is going to be a really rough Christmas for so many employers out there.”

However Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus threw her support behind the bill, arguing it would deliver better working conditions and pay for struggling employees.

“This gives people hope. It gives people hope that we can start unwinding the large numbers of insecure jobs that we have in this country,” McManus said.

Grab the popcorn, it's going to be an interesting (and long) week in #auspol.

A meta dilemma

Thanks to this IR Bill the parliament will work on a Saturday for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Burke said Labor would move to suspend standing orders on Thursday afternoon rather than adjourn the House of Representatives (the green room), and return on Saturday at 9am to accept the Senate’s amendments to its Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill.

No word if the MPs will cop those sweet penalty rates for working on a weekend...

Kanye West makes Donald Trump seem sensible

Former US President Donald Trump is back on Twitter but has been too busy hosting guests to tweet.

According to a scoop by US outlet Axios over the weekend Trump "dined and conversed with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at Mar-a-Lago".

Fuentes has been labelled a "white supremacist" by the US Department of Justice (the same peeps who raided Trump's house a few weeks ago and reportedly found classified documents from the Oval Office).

The dinner date with Ye and Fuentes came a week after Trump declared his plans to run for president in 2024.

@theoz.com.au

Trump announces his 2024 #presidential run. #donaldtrump #politics #uspolitics

♬ original sound - The Oz

Trump denied knowing who Fuentes was and said: "Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about."

Trump is now distancing himself from Ye.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform.

“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful,” Trump said. “They then left for the airport.”

It was there Ye reportedly told the former President he now wants all Trump's policies held "to the Bible" ahead of the next race to the White House.

However then Ye asked Trump to be his running mate as the former designer and rapper is also preparing to run for President (again).

Ye is apparently pulling together a campaign team for his 2024 tilt that will include Fuentes - a far-right activist and Holocaust denier - and former commentator Milo Yiannopoulos. A bloke who is banned from nearly every social media platform for inciting racist attacks a few year ago.

No sunny reception for The Voice in the Sunshine State

The Queensland brand of the Liberal party are not keen on the The Voice.

According to The Australian, Queensland’s Liberal National Party has urged the federal Coalition to oppose a voice to parliament.

"As Peter Dutton comes under growing internal pressure to bind MPs to a united no position rather than allowing a conscience vote," The Australian reports. 

READ MORE: What we learnt on the road with Linda Burney

Daisy Pearce is our newest GOAT

The Melbourne Demons have won the 2022 AFLW grand final beating the Brisbane Lions in front of a sell out crowd in Brissy on Sunday.

New(ish) Dees recruit Tayla Harris shone in the match the team were "doing it for Daisy" in order to win the league veteran her first premiership.

“I’ve felt uncomfortable the whole time, the narrative, it being about me, I feel like that’s a glorified thing that happens outside of these four walls,” she amid the post-match celebrations.

The queen of the round ball has spoken

Sam Kerr said it best.

As the Socceroos chalked up a win against Tunisia at the World Cup on Saturday night.

It's our first World Cup win in 12 years and we're now one match away from reaching the all important knock out round for the first time since 2006. 

Set your alarm for 2am (AEDST) Thursday, December 1 when the boys take on Denmark.

Christmas party szn warning

Good news for those who are the office Grinch there is now a precedent for you not having to participate in forced fun on the clock.

A French court has ruled that companies can't fire their workers for failing to be sufficiently "fun."

The ruling comes after a man, referred to in court documents as Mr T (not even kidding), was fired from a Paris consultancy firm called  Cubik Partners back in 2015 for refusing to participate in after work drinks and team building activities.

According to the court documents, Mr T joined the business in February 2011 and was promoted in 2014. He was then fired a year later for "professional incompetence". More specifically his refusal to adhere to the company's "fun" values.

Those values were found to be "excessive alcoholism" and "promiscuity". He was also encouraged to share a bed with a colleague according to documents submitted to France's highest court which has ruled Mr T was exercising his "freedom of expression by refusing to get amongst it.

However, Cubik Partners also said Mr T was difficult to work with and a poor listener. 

Some good HR news....

Happened in the Northern Territory last week for sex workers and those in the LGBT community when the NT parliament pass new anti-discrimination laws.

The additions to the legislation include the removal of a clause that allowed religious groups to discriminate against a person on the basis of their religious beliefs or sexuality.

It also expands on what is considering "protected personal attributes".

The overhaul of the laws include changes for sex workers. While it is decriminalised in the NT, sex work has now been added as a "personal attribute" protected against discrimination.

Scarlet Alliance chief executive Jules Kim said the new laws were welcome as sex workers face discrimination almost "daily".

"We have explicit protections now, for the first time," Kim told the ABC.

"Not only does it send an important message that discrimination is unacceptable, it also means when we experience it, that we have an avenue to get it addressed."

Covid is back

A cruise ship with 2000 passengers destined for Bali is set to dock in Fremantle, near Perth, with a reported 200 cases of Covid on board in the latest "outbreak" in Australia recorded over the weekend.

Meanwhile in China, people have had enough of the government imposed lockdowns which are back thanks to another wave.

This time the unrest is more contagious than the spicy cough as protests are taking place with the chants "down with the Communist Party" and "Xi Jinping, step down" reverberating at rallies around the country. 

"Anti-government protests on a scale not seen since 1989’s Tiananmen massacre broke out on Saturday in cities including Xi’an, Nanjing and Shanghai, three of China’s most politically influential cities," The Australian reports. 

READ MORE: Violent riots erupt at Chinese iPhone factory

“Down with the Communist party” an angry crowd chanted on Saturday night in Shanghai, a city of more than 25 million people that was brutally locked down for three months earlier in the year."

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-oz/news/kanye-west-is-now-spooking-donald-trump-forced-fun-at-work-is-over-mps-to-pull-a-saturday-shift/news-story/dea83fe9d8110cc9e737d55d728b9e75