NATIONAL BLAME NETWORK

The federal government remains committed to selling off the National Broadband Network (NBN) after 2020, despite concerns about its profitability and download speeds. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has responded to the growing concerns by dubbing the network “a calamitous train wreck of a project when we came into government”, while Communications Minister Mitch Fifield insisted the network will still be sold once rollout is complete.

Turnbull yesterday drew rebukes from former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, with the former accusing the PM of ditching Labor’s original NBN plan in order to placate News Corp head Rupert Murdoch.

As the political blame game goes on, ACCC head Rod Sims has rejected a suggestion by NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow that the company be shielded from private competition, saying such a move would be “disastrous” and increase costs for consumers.

MANUS LEGAL CHALLENGE

Australian refugee lawyers have launched a new legal challenge in PNG that, somewhat counterintuitively, aims to keep the island’s immigration detention centre open. While the centre is slated to close at the end of October, 606 people are refusing to leave, with alternative accommodation still to be completed. Concerns about the safety of entering the community are prevalent.

Grilled in Senate estimates, department officials have confirmed Australia will continue to provide up to $250 million per year to assist those once held in the centre as they await resettlement in Papua New Guinea or face deportation.

Elsewhere in estimates, questions were raised by Labor about Julie Bishop’s decision to bill taxpayers for a flight from South Korea to Sydney, where she attended the premiere of Hollywood blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok. Bishop was defended by Attorney-General George Brandis who said there had been no available flights direct to Canberra and that Bishop had been there in an official capacity.

MAKING CENSUS OF THE NUMBERS

New analysis from the 2016 census reveals Australians are more educated than ever before, with just under 25% of the eligible population holding a bachelor degree or higher.

The shift has been enabled by the uncapping of university places but has led the Grattan Institute’s Andrew Norton to warn of the “ever continuing spread of credentialism”, a kind of education arms race that leaves those with lower qualifications excluded from the jobs market.

And other findings indicate that the extra study isn’t doing much for younger Australians, with almost every category of work tracking a decline in the level of participation among those aged 24 or under, according to The Australian Financial Review.

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Around the Country: Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has his new autobiography published. 

Canberra: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull celebrates his 63rd birthday. Senate estimates continues.

Canberra: Midnight Oil frontman and former MP Peter Garrett speaks at the National Press Club.

Sydney: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will take a swipe at South Australia’s proposed bank levy during a key note address the Business Council of Australia.

Sydney: Current head of the RSL James Brown, the prime minister’s son-in-law, gives evidence at an inquiry into previous maladministration at the organisation.

Sydney: Day two of West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle’s defamation case against Fairfax. His teammate Dwayne Smith will give evidence.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Happy birthday, Malcolm Turnbull. I wish you a speedy retirement — Stephen Holt (Sydney Morning Herald): “Success outside politics propelled Malcolm Turnbull into The Lodge even though he lacks basic qualities needed to sustain success as a prime minister. He is very rich precisely because he is no good at politics. There is, as a result, a fearful asymmetry at the heart of Australian government.”

Rudd still can’t decide if he’s Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde — Troy Bramston (The Australian $) : “Rudd despises the roosters who were Kim Beazley’s Praetorian Guard and his factional enemies. He regrets making Swan treasurer, believing he was intellectually not up to it and an embarrassment in parliament. Lindsay Tanner, he now says, should have been treasurer.”

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

No case for dragging politicians’ personal lives through the media — Bernard Keane: “Merely mentioning marriage doesn’t make you a family values campaigner whose hypocrisy needs to be exposed to the public. There needs to be a compelling public interest in such exposure, and even if these specific allegations are true, this case is a very long way from satisfying that.”

View from the ‘accessible’ section: Victoria’s delirious, heartening euthanasia vote — Nia Sims: “For a Python-esque half hour or so at around 3am, the filibustering focused on the topic of the possibility of the cessation of filibustering.”

Rules of engagement: the tactics that inflict maximum damage and embarrassment — Emily Watkins: “The first, and most important rule of a Holy War is quantity. It doesn’t matter how small the original transgression, nor does it matter if there’s no update to report: the story must be kept alive.”

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