Crikey Worm: thousands mourn Eurydice Dixon

VIGILS LIGHT UP AUSTRALIA

Vigils have been held around the country mourning Melbourne’s Eurydice Dixon, Sydney’s Qi Yu, and other victims of gendered violence.

The ABC reports that roughly 10,000 people met at Melbourne’s Princes Park last night, the site where Dixon was raped and murdered last week, and that vigils were held across the country from Perth to Hobart to Ballarat to Canberra. A vigil in Sydney also honoured 30 women killed in the past year, including Qi who was allegedly murdered last week by her housemate.

In related news, a Northern Territory police officer is facing charges of violence and intimidation against his now ex-wife dating back almost a decade ($).

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call 000.

NSW’S BIG BUDGET

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will today announce a $3.9 billion budget surplus, in a “better than expected result” reportedly due to increased returns on investment, GST, and mining royalties.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the government is expected to focus on health and education in what will be their last budget before going to the polls in March next year. There are plans to employ an extra 900 teachers and 2000 health workers across the state.

Marring the occasion somewhat, a brawl at a NSW Liberal Party meeting last night left one man hospitalised in what a senior source described as a “tragic internal shit fight brought about by the pettiness of politics”.

SKIN IN THE GAME

Discussions over a controversial plan to redevelop a Perth oval have left a local mayor with a head injury.

According to the The Midland Reporter, an elderly Perth ratepayer allegedly assaulted Swan Mayor David Lucas with a microphone shortly after a special electors’ meeting on controversial plans to redevelop Midland Oval. Lucas was left bleeding at the head and later taken to hospital, while the second man was treated at the scene after falling in the struggle.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

It was clear from our meeting on May 22 2018 that operating the party by remote control from Queensland may be in breach of the NSW funding and disclosure laws.

Peter Breen

The secretary of One Nation’s NSW division snitches to the NSW Electoral Commission.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Easy as ABC: how to privatise national broadcastingBernard Keane

“While the government is rushing to distance itself from the Liberal Party’s now official policy that the ABC be privatised, the argument that it’s somehow impossible to do doesn’t stack up. Privatising the ABC doesn’t present particularly complex policy challenges.”

The bizarre reason Parliament House won’t tell us who has a security passWilliam Summers

“Of all the excuses I’ve heard for withholding public information, my latest run-in with parliamentary authorities wins the prize for the most creative. For more than eight months I’ve been trying to get hold of a list of organisations holding lobbyist security passes to Parliament House in Canberra. I’m not even asking for the names of individual pass holders, just a list of the organisations holding ‘sponsored’ passes and how many each of them has.”

What would it take to fix Australia’s restrictive defamation laws?Emily Watkins

“Australia’s defamation laws are often cited as one of the biggest threats to freedom of speech in this country. And if they’re not updated, Melbourne University associate professor and media expert Jason Bosland believes Australia, and especially Sydney, is likely to become the libel capital of the world, including for ‘libel tourism’. It’s a dubious honour, previously held by London before laws there were updated in 2013.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

NT Country Liberal Party leader calls for Prime Minister to be more ‘hands on’

Labor turns to Kiwis with plans to boost cheap housing supply ($)

Premier Steven Marshall says Future Adelaide must focus on innovation and less on social engineering in economic overhaul ($)

Dreamworld staffer desperately tried to save victims ($)

NSW Parliament to vote on criminal laws for admissions in confessional

School sectors in funding strike ($)

Michael Spence Q&A appearance sparks protest outside ABC studios

Billionaire Rinehart offers $390m for junior iron ore miner

‘Humane’ refugee bill introduced to Parliament to stop mandatory detention

ASIC warns on climate risk as heat turns on directors

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

• NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will deliver the state budget.

• ICAC is investigating allegations concerning the former Canterbury City Council between 2013 and 2016, with Con Vasiliades and Lisa Ho scheduled to give evidence.

• The Aboriginal Health College will hold “21st Century Aboriginal Health Research”, a showcase of Indigenous health research projects.

• Co-founder and Managing Director of Underwater Earth Lorna Parry will discuss the organisation, a supplier of Google Street View for the ocean, as part of a breakfast series at startup hub The Studio.

• Professor Kaarin Anstey, Senior Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia, will lead NeuRA’s “Ageing Well for Life” seminar.

• Former prime minister John Howard speaks with the Centre for Independent Studies’ executive director Tom Switzer on “threats to Australia’s core cultural institutions and beliefs”.

Canberra

• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will address a joint Coalition party room, and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will address a Labor caucus.

• Unions will march on parliament as part of the “Change the Rules” campaign. Speakers will include ACTU Secretary Sally McManus, Electrical Trades Union of Australia National Secretary Allen Hicks, CFMEU ACT Secretary Jason O’Mara and a range of other union heads, as well as Shadow Employment Minister Brendan O’Connor.

• The Auditor-General is due to report on foreign investment in real estate.

Melbourne

• ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie will address the Melbourne Press Club.

• City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp and Housing Minister Martin Foley will make an announcement regarding homelessness.

• Sustainability Victoria will launching a new campaign on food waste, including research on how Victorian parents and young people are contributing to the issue.

• Julian Assange’s father and other family members will attend a protest to mark the sixth anniversary of the WikiLeaks founder’s captivity in the London Ecuadorian Embassy.

Darwin

• The Northern Territory’s Estimates Committee will hear from the Minister for Corporate and Information Services, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tourism and Culture Lauren Moss, and Education Minister Eva Lawler.

• Catholic Professional Standards Ltd will hold an open forum on updating the draft National Catholic Safeguarding Standards.

Adelaide

• Flinders University will launch a driverless electric shuttle bus, to start transporting members of the public around the Tonsley Innovation District. SA Minister for Transport Stephan Knoll will attend and take a ride on FLEX.

• State Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas will speak at a Business Women’s Connexions event.

• Eight international neuroscience experts will speak at the Symposium iPSC in Neuroscience 2018.

• Dr Gillian Dooley will present the History Trust of South Australia’s monthly “Talking History” lecture, “Matthew Flinders and his Friends”.

• National Disability Services and the Department for Industry and Skills will hold an Allied Health Forum for students interested in working in the disability sector.

Bundaberg, Queensland

• Weather permitting, the former navy ship HMAS Tobruk will be scuttled off Queensland between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

Perth

• The Property Council will launch research piece Creating Great Australian Cities, by Professor Greg Clark and Dr Tim Moonen of the Business of Cities Ltd.

Hobart

• Comedian and musician Tim Minchin will hold his second and final show as part of Dark Mofo.

Brisbane

• A “Free Julian Assange” rally will be held at the Shrine of Remembrance.

THE COMMENTARIAT

To design safer parks for women, city planners must listen to their stories — Nicole Kalms (The Conversation): “Nothing can protect women from the random acts of violence committed by some men but engaging with the stories of women and girls is crucial for making cities safer. Planners, architects, the police and politicians need to put aside the traditional expert perspective to learn from — and design for — women’s experiences.”

No truce in the tax wars as Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten refuse to budge ($) — Jennifer Hewett (The Australian Financial Review): “The great Australian tax wars will play out during this parliamentary sitting ahead of a supposed July 1 start date as well as of a Super Saturday of byelections at the end of next month. So far, neither side is budging from their entrenched positions. The government insists the personal income tax cuts must be passed in their entirety, just as it will not give up on pursuing corporate income tax cuts for all businesses.”

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