Australia’s Most Mentioned Issues in the News (June 25 – July 1, 2016)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to this weekly recap of Australia’s news, powered by iSentia
Last week, the UK announced it would leave the European Union, with ‘leave’ winning 52 per cent of votes in Thursday’s referendum. Global sharemarkets dropped dramatically in response, and the most popular UK search term for Google after the announcement was “What is the EU?”. Meanwhile, there are calls for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to step down after he lost a vote of no confidence in his leadership with 172 votes to 40 earlier in the week. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says Britain’s decision to leave the EU is a reason to support stability in government, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the Australian government’s policies are creating the “preconditions” for the turbulence seen in the UK.Turkey observed a national day of mourning on Wednesday after a gun and suicide bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport killed 42 people and injured over 200. The airport is the third busiest in Europe after London’s Heathrow and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, and the attack is the sixth this year targeting either Istanbul or Turkey’s capital, Ankara. Treasurer Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop have not confirmed whether they would uphold a plebiscite vote for same-sex marriage, and other Liberal MPs have said they would abstain rathe than vote in Parliament. PM Malcolm Turnbull said he has confidence in Australians to have a respectful discussion about the issue, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is also facing criticism for his 2013 comments supporting a plebiscite. Labor’s claims that the Government is planning to privatise Medicare have continued to be criticised this week, after Shorten appeared on the ABC and refused to point to the Liberal Party’s website and show host Leigh Sales their policy. Meanwhile, the Euro 2016 football championship has reached the quarter-finals, with Iceland defeating England 2-1 and English manager Roy Hodgson resigning after four years in the role. Quote of the week: “It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there, it’s not in the national interests and I would say, for heaven’s sake man, go” – British PM David Cameron to Labour Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn
