Divisions emerge on euthanasia vote

EUTHANASIA ON THE SLAB

The Senate could today debate a private member’s bill from Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm to allow territories the right to legalise euthanasia, although friction within the Coalition could force Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to block the bill.

The Australian ($) reports that several senior ministers say that bringing the bill forward for debate or allowing a conscience vote threatens a repeat of divisions similar to those over same-sex ­marriage. Leyonhjelm has expressed confidence to Fairfax over the bill’s chance, which both NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner and Opposition Leader Gary Higgins support in the name of territory rights ($). The latest Newspoll has national support for assisted dying at 79%.

Elsewhere, the Coalition partyroom will today hold a crucial debate over the National Energy Guarantee, which has now officially attracted plans for a new coal-fired power station ($).

TROUBLE OUT WEST

The West Australian has slammed WA Opposition Leader Mike Nahan and will reportedly not send journalists to upcoming press conferences, in what Nahan has called a “grossly over the top” reaction to his dismissal of traditional news sources.

According to the ABC, Nahan knocked the influence of the Seven West-owned newspaper, as well as local TV and radio stations, during a speech to the Liberal Party’s state conference on Sunday in which he also announced that he would withdraw funding from the Safe Schools anti-bullying program.

The West Australian’s state political editor Gary Adshead delivered a strong rebuttal defending the paper’s work, which Nahan called a “hatchet job”, and has today published backlash from party colleagues and speculation over possible replacements under the headline “DEAD MAN WALKING”.

STAND-OFF

A siege in the South Australian town of Wallaroo has been “resolved safely” after police discovered no one inside the house.

The ABC reports that the Special Tasks and Rescue (STAR) Group cordoned off nearby streets and asked residents to stay inside in the belief that a man wanted for serious offences was holed up in the Yorke Peninsula town. After roughly nine hours, STAR officers entered the house only to find it empty.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

Carbon dioxide is not pollution, carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring trace gas. It’s not pollution, we need it for life.

Tony Abbott

The former prime minister continues to downplay the seriousness of climate change ahead of today’s partyroom vote on the NEG. Happy National Science Week 2018!

READ ALL ABOUT IT

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CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Weekly Times editor resigns amid controversyEmily Watkins

“In less than a year, journalists with close to 100 years newsroom experience between them have left Australia’s most widely read agricultural newspaper, under the short editorship of Natalee Ward. One formal complaint, as well as informal complaints and concerns raised in exit interviews, indicate that Ward’s alleged management style was responsible for some, but not all, of those departures.”

Royal commission must be extended, for super’s sakeBernard Keane

“The superannuation phase of the royal commission hearings has seen industry super funds sail through with minimal questioning. Rather than a parade of ‘venal union officials’, as Tony Abbott so falsely described the employer- and union-appointed directors of super funds, the hearings last week were dominated by executives of NAB and IOOF, and further revelations of account holders being charged for no service, dead people being charged and fund owners trying to evade the need to repay them.”

This grinning racism doesn’t reflect ‘Australia’Guy Rundle

“There seems to me a failure of analysis in renewed bouts of ‘I feel ashamed’ about my country, and discussion of the racist nature of ‘Australia’. Both are less than useful, because there is no one thing that ‘Australia’ is. Great currents of racism flow through the polity, nation, state, society, and bounded continent that that word describes, but so too do progressive and anti-racist sentiments, and trying to identify an essential character of the place is actually depoliticising, because it gives the impression that nothing can be combatted.”

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• Parliament will debate restoring territory rights in regards to euthanasia. The Coalition will also hold a partyroom meeting to debate the National Energy Guarantee.

• Katter’s Australian Party senator Fraser Anning and Bank Reform Now CEO Peter Brandson will speak at a Parliament House event.

• Authors Robin and Beck Feiner will launch their picture book If I Was Prime Minister in conversation with Labor MP Dr Anne Aly, along with 80 Year 5/6 students.

• President and Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Sydney and Chair of the “Group of Eight” universities Professor Ian Jacobs will speak at the National Press Club.

• The Lowy Institute will launch its latest report, the “Pacific Aid Map”.

• The father of the children killed in the Margaret River family massacre, Aaron Cockman, will join children’s advocates For Kids Sake and other groups lobbying for a fresh approach to family separations.

Melbourne

• A royal commission hearing on superannuation will hear from a Suncorp representative, Hostplus CEO and the head of Commonwealth Bank’s Colonial First State.

• IBAC will release its latest report, “Corruption and misconduct risks associated with employment practices in the Victorian public sector”.

• More than 700 students will compete at the University of Melbourne for the RoboCup Junior State Finals and vie for a spot in the national competition.

• American philosopher, activist and writer Dr Cornel West and British journalist Douglas Murray will speak at a Think Inc event.

• Former journalist and politician Maxine McKew will moderate the University of Melbourne’s Science Festival 2018 keynote event, “Power the World”, with chemistry Professor Paul Mulvaney, Greens MLA Ellen Sandell, Clean Energy Council Chair and Pacific Hydro Interim CEO Rachel Watson, and economics Professor Ross Garnaut.

Sydney

• NSW Greens MP Justin Field will introduce laws aimed at reducing plastic pollution, including phasing out all single-use plastic in NSW by 2023.

• Australian of the Year 2018 and UNSW Scientia Professor of Quantum Physics Michelle Simmons will present “The Einstein Lecture: The Quantum Computing Revolution” as part of National Science Week. Nobel Laureate and Professor of Chemistry Sir Fraser Stoddart will also present a UNSW lecture, “Engines Through the Ages”.

• Three Australian competitors for the Invictus Games will speak at a press conference before engaging in trials for a driving challenge.

• Up to three Air Force C-130J Hercules transport aircrafts will hold flypasts over Cabramatta to commemorate Victory in the Pacific Day.

Darwin

• The Indian Air Force will launch an aircraft as part of a mission for joint multinational military operation, “Exercise Pitch Black 18”.

• Author Anne McLeod will discuss her book, The Spirited Life of Marie Byles, as part of the City of Darwin Seniors Month.

Brisbane

• The French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will host a panel discussion on the role of renewables in the future of Australia’s resources sector, with speakers set to include Queensland’s Resources Investment Commissioner Todd Harrington and CEFC Director Bobby Vidakovic amongst others.

• SBS and NITV will hold a “Meet The Broadcasters 2018” event.

• Authors Bri Lee and Ann Cleeves will speak at Brisbane Square and Carindale libraries, respectively, as part of the Lord Mayor’s Writers in Residence series.

Hobart

• Three NASA scientists, Dr Jonathan Faine, Dr Andrew Rushby and Jake Clark, will take park in a special “Science in the Pub” event for National Science Week. The University of Tasmania will hold another panel event, “Observing Our Oceans: High tech solutions for a hostile environment”, with a range of Tasmanian and national oceanic experts.

Adelaide

• The University of Adelaide will hold a sustainable fishing forum “Protecting The Catch”, as part of a number of events for National Science Week.

• Udder Delights Australia Chief Executive Sheree Sullivan will present at a “behind closed doors” business lunch.

• Marine science professor Bronwyn Gillanders will speak on “Giant Australian cuttlefish” as part of the University of Adelaide’s Sprigg lecture series.

Perth

• The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Dr Ian Foster will speak on the “Future Climate and Food in WA” as part of National Science Week 2018. Other events will include an “Ultimate Science Showdown” at Murdoch University and a discussion on the role citizen journalists at City of Perth Library.

• The Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia will hold a “tech talk” on the “Role of the Digital Twin and the Mine of Tomorrow”.

• Tank Stream Labs will host panel event “International Expansion: An Engine For Growth” as part of Female Entrepreneur Week Perth, with guests set to include co-founder of VROC Artificial Intelligence Jennifer Reyes, Acting WA Chair for Australia Indonesia Business Council Julia Scott, and WA State Manager for Export Council of Australia Honor Iosif amongst others.

• Dr Terry Houston will launch his new book, A Guide to Native Bees of Australia, at the City of Perth Library.

Australia

• Newcrest Mining and Whitehaven Coal will release their annual results.

Jerusalem, Israel

• Jerusalem District Court is expected to receive the latest psychiatric report for Malka Leifer, a former Melbourne school teacher who is facing extradition to Australia on charges of abusing students.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Why I’m voting ‘no’ on the assisted suicide bill: Seselja — Zed Seselja (The Canberra Times): “This debate and subsequent vote will be a matter of conscience, just as the 1997 Andrews Bill was. On other occasions when the question has been territory rights, as some claim this bill is exclusively about, political parties have had no problem enforcing party rule, so to allow a conscience vote here points to the real issue at stake.”

ASIO and the China scare ($) — Bob Carr (The Australian): “Australia was ‘unimaginable’ without the dynamic presence of Chinese-Australians. Those were the words of Malcolm Turnbull last week, resetting the rhetoric of Australia-China relations. The new language is welcome, especially to someone such as Kun Huang, who might be wondering if it had been a mistake to have been born in China 27 years ago.”

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