Leadership spill rumours intensify

BITTER SPILL

The Age reports that supporters of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton say he is leaning toward challenging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the top job, believing the government is “now in an unwinnable position”. On Sunday, Turnbull held a dinner with party colleagues to “stave-off a leadership challenge”. However, The Courier Mail ($) is reporting that Dutton only arrived to the crisis talks “post-dinner”. The Australian ($) reports that a number of MPs spoke with Dutton at the weekend to pledge their support if he were to challenge Turnbull.

In light of the speculation, a Fairfax-Ipsos poll has the Coalition trailing the opposition 45 to 55 on a two-party preferred basis.

TALIBAN CEASEFIRE

Reuters reports the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire with the Taliban starting Monday, to mark the beginning of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. Ghani said: “The conditional ceasefire will start tomorrow and it will continue as long as the Taliban preserves and respects it.” Although a senior official says the ceasefire will continue for three months, it isn’t clear whether the Taliban has accepted Ghani’s call for peace. In the last two weeks the Taliban have been responsible for numerous attacks on Afghan cities that have left hundreds dead and buildings destroyed.

SPY GAMES

Former CIA director John Brennan appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press where he threatened to sue Donald Trump after he was stripped of his security clearance, The Guardian reports. During the interview Brennan said he realised he had a “bullseye on his back” and that he was prepared to fight back against “yet another example of his [Trump’s] egregious abuse of power and authority”. Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearances of a number of former officials has been called “ill-considered and unprecedented” by 13 highly esteemed national security figures in a joint letter penned to the President. 

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

Truth isn’t truth.

Rudy Guiliani

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Guiliani spoke on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, where he explained why the President shouldn’t testify before special counsel Robert Mueller.

Oh the memes.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

How the government won the race to throw money at the ReefBernard Keane

“The 2017 budget forecast expenses at $464.3 billion. That increased a little in December but by March it was tracking $3 billion below estimates. Courtesy of good luck and good management, Cormann and Morrison had bundles of extra cash.”

How laws designed to protect young offenders might end up doing more harmGabriella Marchant

“Those advocating for change in the Northern Territory will tell you the naming and shaming of youth offenders often results in the salacious trials by media, which lack nuance and ignore the vulnerability of those they’re reporting on. And yet the insidious ways the suppression of an offending youth’s identity can pervert the public debate are less often discussed.”

Erdoğan’s Turkey is a Ponzi schemeGuy Rundle

“For years, Erdoğan has been trying to position Turkey as the major regional power, its “natural” position, explicitly reviving the notion of an Ottoman sphere of influence. That is now revealed as hopelessly overextended and overambitious.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

‘Brand’ damage warning for MPs ($)

LNP stands firm on tax cuts ($)

Ladbrokes splits on industry reform

Aboriginal men honoured for 1852 rescue

Exclusive images and footage of children in detention on Nauru Island ($)

Trump blasts New York Times over White House counsel report

Kofi Annan obituary

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne

• Victorian Trade Minister Philip Dalidakis will speak at an Australian Industry Group lunch. Dalidakis will launch a report that shows the benefits liberalised trade and investment has on the state’s economy.

• The accused for Melbourne’s “wheelie bin murder” will face court. The body of John Christianos, who’s been missing for 17 years, was found last month in a wheelie bin.

• Crime Stoppers Victoria CEO Erika Owens to hold a press conference on the search for 10 outlaws across Australia who are wanted for a number of offences, including murder and sexual assault. Three of the outlaws are from Victoria.

• Phuc Thien Tang, the ice addict who murdered his partner Hoa Thi Huynh with a vacuum cleaner pipe and samurai sword, will be sentenced at Victoria’s Supreme Court.

• The AMSA Global Health Conference for 2018 continues in Melbourne. Previous speakers of the conference include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Nobel Laureate Dr Peter Doherty.

• NRL All-Stars to make a special announcement on the 2019 NRL Harvey Norman All-Stars. Stars from Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters will be joined by Australian Rugby League Indigenous Council Member, Mal Cochrane and NRL Head of Football Brian Canavan.

Brisbane

• Queensland’s Transport and Public Works Committee will hold a public hearing into the state’s toll road inquiry.

• Crime Stoppers will launch an operation to catch Queensland fugitives. Those attending the event will be Crime Stoppers CEO Trevor O’Hara and Police Minister Mark Ryan.

Canberra

• Federal Parliament will swear in the first Muslim female senator Mehreen Faruqi.

• The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee will hold a Parliamentary Senate Inquiry into the Proposed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

• Government departments including DFAT, Home Affairs and Communications and Finance will give evidence at a public hearing on the Trans Pacific Partnership.

• The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade will hold an inquiry on small and medium-sized enterprises having access to free trade agreements.

• The Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training will hold an inquiry into Funding Australia’s Research. The House Committee will report on federally funded research agencies, funding mechanisms and university collaborative research.

• Polish President Andrzej Duda visits Australia and will hold talks with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

Sydney

• Woolworths, Primary Health Care, Beach Energy, Greencross and NIB Holdings release their financial year results.

• Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA) holds their 2018 Conference, focusing on research and practices into child and family welfare for policy makers, researchers and academics. A number of international speakers will attend the event, including UNESCO affiliate Dr Carmel Devaney.

• The parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s Light Rail project will be held. A secret report by the state government experts identified a number of issues including the rising costs and major delays.

• The trial continues for spiritual healer Riza Morinaj who pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and assault of a man during an alleged black magic ritual.

Adelaide

• Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure employee, Michael King will face court on corruption charges for misusing company credit cards. Charges were laid after an investigation by the state’s ICAC.

• Adelaide nursing student, Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif will appear in the Supreme Court, charged with being a member of ISIS.

• The inquest into the deaths of Michael John Russell and Leslie Robert Graham, who died after suffering strokes when two medical specialists were on leave, will continue at South Australia’s coroners court.

• Port Adelaide assistant coach Brendon Lade will speak at a media conference at Alberton Oval.

Perth

• The Swan River body-in-suitcase murder trial continues. Ah Ping Ban and Tiffany Yiting Wan plead not guilty to murdering Annabelle Chen whose body was found inside a suitcase in the Swan River.

• Adelaide chiropractor, Peter Wayne Snodgrass, who indecently filmed hundreds of his clients will face South Australia’s Supreme Court.

• Fortescue Metals will release their full year results.

• Netball team West Coast Fever will hold a media conference ahead of the Super Netball grand final, where the team will play against the Sunshine Coast Lightning. In attendance will be West Coast Fever star Nat Medhurst.

Darwin

• The Australian Centre for Business Growth will host the Business Acceleration Program, a Northern Territory Government initiative.

Hobart

• The Office of the Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (TASC) will host the August Regional Forum. In attendance will be TASC Executive Officer Katrina Beams.

Australia

• The recipient list of the Australian Bravery Decorations for 2018 will be released.

• RSPCA holds its annual Cupcake Day – the biggest bake-off in the southern hemisphere to fight animal cruelty and raise funds for the RSPCA. So far Cupcake Day has raised over $330,000.

• Dairy Australia hosts Healthy Bones Action Week (formerly Nationally Healthy Bones Week) to help promote maintaining healthy bones. Families, schools and community groups across Australia will have access to a number of ideas and resources to help raise awareness about bone health.

New Zealand

• Katy Perry performs her Witness world tour at the Spark Arena.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

• Australian filmmaker James Ricketson will reappear in court on spying charges

THE COMMENTARIAT

Even PM’s allies ask: what use is he to us? ($) – Simon Benson (The Australian): “By abandoning what was a core principle, a climate change target, he has risked undermining his own moral authority. Abbott loyalists will decree that Turnbull is now the leader of an ostensibly Abbott government, at least on policy. Turnbull’s colleagues are understandably beginning to ask the central question: what is the point and purpose of a Turnbull-led Coalition government.”

Ramsay Centre or not, Western treasures must endure ($) – Luke Slattery (The Australian): “Right-wing populism is on the rise. Donald Trump is a headache. Howard and Abbott have publicly trumpeted the virtues of Western civilisation and the Ramsay Centre. But that doesn’t mean the conclusions drawn by the anti-Western civilisation brigade are correct. In fact, their thinking on this subject doesn’t seem so much analytical as quasi-religious, coloured as it is by an end-of-days millenarianism.”

Is PayPass the enemy of the young? – Liora Miller (The Age): “Most young people have enough trouble maintaining their schedules and being punctual let alone keeping track of incidental spending. How can they possibly monitor the swipe purchases of takeaway coffees, brunches and cocktails when the impact of them is delayed?”

Talking Point: Clever, hi-tech cities counting the data of life ($) – Jude Franks (Mercury): “Sensors can be the kind that keep self-driving cars on the road and pedestrians safe, but they can also be telling the city which bins need emptying, informing passengers when the bus will arrive, and motorists which carparks are free. Smart cities operate on a variety of scales from Mona’s ‘O’ internal positioning system that tells you which artworks are nearby, to statewide freight tracking systems.

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