Shorten announces energy package

LABOR’S ENERGY PLAY

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will today unveil Labor’s long-expected energy package, which is set to include a more ambitious version of the National Energy Guarantee, rebates for battery installations, and $10 billion for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The ABC reports that Labor’s adoption of the Coalition’s doomed energy policy is aimed at both tentatively offering a bipartisan solution and leapfrogging expected criticism, while also upgrading the Coalition’s target from 26% to 45% total emissions cuts on 2005 levels by 2030. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the CEFC funding would allow Labor to invest in new renewable or low-emission energy projects without having to negotiate with either the Coalition or the Greens.

MANUS CRISIS ESCALATES

A new report into the escalating mental health crisis on Manus Island has coincided with yet another suicide attempt. According to SBS, Amnesty International and the Refugee Council of Australia published the report, titled “Until when? The forgotten men on Manus Island”, just hours after Kurdish journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani reported the tenth suicide attempt or self harm event in the space of two weeks.

The report found that men are suffering after more than five years indefinite detention, cuts to mental and physical health services, and violence from local authorities and members of the public, while Boochani has claimed that Port Morseby’s hospital had inflamed tensions on Tuesday by rejecting a seriously ill refugee.

For anyone seeking help, Lifeline can be reach on 13 11 14, and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

BALI NINE MEMBER FREED

Convicted Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has become the first and only member of the group to be released from prison, and was deported last night after spending 13 years in Bali’s Bangli prison for trying to smuggle 2.7 kilograms of heroin to Australia.

The ABC reports that Lawrence, who had her original life sentence brought down to 20 years on appeal and then 13 due to good behaviour and Indonesia’s national holidays, is in good health and will arrive in Brisbane this morning. Lawrence is now banned from returning to Bali for life and faces outstanding charges relating to a car theft and high-speed chase in Sydney 2005.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

We’ll tender to the sector, whatever the markets decides, we’ll tender out.

Michael Lamb

Frankston’s Liberal candidate and Sky News’ David Speers provide the closest thing we’ll ever get to a spontaneous Clarke and Dawe sketch. 

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

This is not how you fix an ‘immigration problem’
Bernard Keane

“The same policy breakdown that has occurred in other areas of neoliberal policymaking is now occurring on immigration. It’s generating the same response as in other areas. And it has the same causes. Rinse, repeat. Scott Morrison, who only a matter of months ago was an ardent defender of high immigration, now wants to cut it. The PM says he has heard the complaints of residents of Sydney and Melbourne about congestion and access to services and housing.”

Why is it illegal to call the PM a cunt?
Charlie Lewis

“A Tasmanian man named Allan Maccaul copped a $500 fine this week after he shouted ‘you’re a fucking muppet, you’re a fucking muppet’ at Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at the Bathurst 1000 in early October. But wait, in the land where we apparently laud the larrikin, calling the PM a fucking muppet (hell, 50% of that description comes from Morrison himself) gets you set upon by the Protection Operations Unit?”

ABC calls for new funding model to prevent ‘capricious’ political decisions
Emily Watkins

“Anderson’s comments are some of the strongest to come directly from the ABC regarding successive governments’ cuts to the broadcaster. Following the government’s cuts in the 2018 budget, Guthrie, who was still managing director at the time, said the cuts would ‘make it very difficult for the ABC to meet its charter requirements and audience expectations’. That had followed repeated complaints from Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and others government MPs to the ABC regarding its editorial decisions and coverage.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

As bad as a Muslim hate preacher: Ex Border Force boss wants Gavin McInnes banned from Australia

Commonwealth Bank board asked former chairman to return fees, inquiry told

109 South Australians given medicinal cannabis prescriptions so far this year ($)

Victorian Liberals to shut down injecting room in a week if elected

Speaker Sue Hickey reaffirms support for Government as Health Minister condemns gender law reform as ‘social experiment’ ($)

Police red shirts probe has been undermined from within, insider says

Victorian state election 2018: Coalition promises $5b boost by leasing off sewage business ($)

Protesters interrupt Greens MLC’s final speech defending Buckingham

Scott Morrison considers roping in ‘Bob Katter wrangler’ ($)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Morrison’s ‘captain’s call’ on Israel embassy was a misguided stunt — John Hewson (Sydney Morning Herald): “To be absolutely clear, and ignoring the tsunami of subsequent hubris and spin, this was the Prime Minister’s captain’s call, made within a week of the Wentworth by-election, made in desperation, without consultation with DFAT, other relevant advisers, or cabinet, in an ill-conceived, naive attempt to win the so-called Jewish vote.”

Deliver what community wants or get off the bench ($) — Graham Richardson (The Australian) “If any improvement in this is to occur, there will need to be new methods of holding magistrates and judges to account. If magistrates ignore their community, then some counselling should be tried. This would let them know they are on thin ice. If their sentencing continued to be way out of line, a better mechanism than placing them before the parliament needs to be found.”

Kelly O’Dwyer’s boondoggles and bastardry — Eleanor Robertson (Meanjin): “A little-used expression that I really like is ‘praising with faint damnation’. The opposite of a more popular saying, ‘damning with faint praise’, it describes a way of politely under-reacting to something truly stupid or awful. It’s the ‘you’re going to need a bigger boat’ of political discourse. I thought of it yesterday when I read Tanya Plibersek’s reaction to the government’s Women’s Economic Security Statement.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

• Labor leader Bill Shorten will announce the opposition’s energy policy at BloombergNEF event. Stop Adani protests are also planned for outside the building.

• India’s President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Scott Morrison will present keynote speeches at the Australian Financial Review’s India Business Summit.

• Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer will continue giving evidence at the banking royal commission’s policy hearing before Macquarie Group CEO Nicholas Moore is set to appear.

• The House of Reps communications committee inquiry into Australian music industry will hear from Spotify, ABC, MEAA, and music industry representatives.

Melbourne

• Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews and Liberal leader Matthew Guy will take part in an ABC debate ahead of the November 24 election.

• A federal senate inquiry into Australia’s animal extinction crisis will begin hearings with first witness Professor David Lindenmayer from the Wilderness Society.

• The House Economics Committee inquiry into the implications of removing refundable franking credits will hold a public hearing.

• Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will attend Ronald McDonald House North Fitzroy at Casa Elda Vaccari for the opening of its newly renovated $4.4 million House, which will reportedly offer support to more than 1,000 families each year.

• Former Liberal Deputy Leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will deliver an address at La Trobe University on conservative politics in Australia.

Brisbane

• The 2018 Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism will be presented at a Brisbane gala.

• Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence is expected to return to Australia today after 13 years in prison.

• State Labor MP Kim Richards will appear on a BDA Committee For Brisbane panel discussion of governance around the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay.

Perth

• Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care Ken Wyatt will open the two-day World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference 2018.

Adelaide

• SA Chief Entrepreneur Jim Whalley will open two-day startup event SouthStart 2018.

Launceston, Tasmania

• National Skin Cancer Action Week will launch in Tasmania with a Launceston teenager expected to speak about early cancer detection that removed a pre-cancerous spot on her leg.

Australia

• Dairy Company Saputo workers will take part in a 24 hour stoppage, in a call for pay and condition parity with other companies, at the company’s fresh milk processing sites in Melbourne’s Laverton North and NSW’s Erskine Park.