STINKING HOT

Australia has recorded both its hottest ever summer and highest ever greenhouse gas emissions.

The Guardian reports that the 2018-19 summer saw mean temperatures at least 2 degrees above the 27.5 degree benchmark of “normal” 1961-1990 figures. This is a considerable spike compared to the previous record holder, 2012-13, which saw a mean increase of 1.28 degrees. 

The figures come as the Department of Energy reports an emissions increase of 0.9% in the year to September 2018, another record when you drop the “negative” land use sector, just days after the Coalition confirmed plans to effectively halve its Paris obligations using Kyoto “carry-over credits”.

ISRAEL WAR CRIMES

United Nations investigators have found that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes in killing 189 Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 during last year’s Gaza protests.

The ABC reports that the UN Human Rights Council has released a report that, based on hundreds of interviews, medical records and direct footage, found Israeli forces killed and injured civilians who weren’t “participating in hostilities”. The independent investigation, which Australia notably opposed alongside the US, further revealed it has information on snipers and commanders responsible for the civilian killings. The Israeli government has rejected the report as a “theatre of the absurd”.

HE TRIED TO TELL YOU

An ATO whistleblower facing 161 years in prison for exposing excessive debt collection tactics tried and failed to have his concerns investigated internally, before blowing the lid last year.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, ATO investigators dismissed concerns raised by former tax official Richard Boyle over directives to automatically seize funds from small business and individual accounts. Boyle, whose efforts in the Fairfax/ABC investigation resulted in a scathing bipartisan parliamentary inquiry of the tax office, now faces 66 offences, including telephone tapping and recording protected information. His prospective sentence would be three times the size of Bourke Street mass murderer James Gargasoulas.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

I don’t want to see Australians who are in waiting lines at public hospitals kicked off those waiting lines because people from Nauru and Manus are now going to access those health services.

Peter Dutton

The Minister for Home Affairs (formerly Health) is worried Australia does not have the capacity to treat up to 1000 people it spent billions of dollars torturing.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

ParentsNext isn’t getting the attention it deserves

Mar 01, 2019

22

Even without having to compete with the revelations regarding George Pell that are dominating Australian media, you suspect this would have been a quiet story. As Crikey arrives at the Senate inquiry into the ParentsNext pre-employment program for single parents, The Guardian‘s Luke Henriques-Gomes is already there, assiduously typing away. His Twitter feed (along with Per Capita’s Abigail Lewis’) operates as a mini Hansard for the event and he represents exactly 100% of the other reporters there — although Crikey alumnus Sally Whyte is also listening in for The Canberra Times.” 

The road to anarchy: conservatives’ retrial of Pell is dangerous beyond reasonable doubt 

Mar 01, 2019

83

“The essence of conservative philosophy is the preservation of things that aren’t broken: the societal institutions and traditions that have endured and served, more or less, well. Of these, none is more important than the rule of law. So it comes as a surprise (not really) that, in the aftermath of the conviction of George Pell, the most dramatic consequence has been a full-scale assault on the rule of law by self-described conservatives.”

EXCLUSIVE sneak peek at Ita Buttrose’s revamped ABC line-up

Mar 01, 2019

7

“All hail Ita Buttrose! The new chairwoman of Her ABC has been chosen, and she is a fierce second-wave feminist full of fresh ideas. The founding editor of Cleo, former editor of Women’s Weekly and current blonde woman on breakfast TV is ready to make some big changes to the commercial, I mean, national broadcaster.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

‘I’m not faking, please’: CCC likens Fremantle police treatment of injured woman in lock-up to Ms Dhu

Opposition Leader Michael Daley failed to disclose 32 conflicts over council DAs ($)

Political donor: Labor’s lobster plan was mine, but minister botched it

Mission for Ita: deliver ABC back to the people ($)

Floods create risk of Great Barrier Reef ‘freshwater bleaching’

‘Killer robots’ to be taught ethics in world-topping Australian research project

Medivac costs to hamper panel, Peter Dutton says ($)

Australia to sign free trade agreement with Indonesia, ending months of uncertainty

‘Wrath is my weakness’: Jim’s Mowing’s ‘ruthless’ boss admits to sacking sister

Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi collapses after negotiations fail

THE COMMENTARIAT

We must improve fuel security ($) — Bill Shorten (The Australian): “On Sunday, I went down to Port Melbourne docks for the launch of the Victorian Reliance II — a new ship flying the Australian flag. That means it is registered in Australia, with Australian crews. It was an important day and I was proud to be there supporting Australian shipping, Australian seafarers and Australian jobs.”

Type 2 diabetes is killing our people – and its victims are getting younger — Ray Kelly (IndigenousX/The Guardian): “Aboriginal Australians are more than three times more likely to have diabetes. This is not only due to how we carry our body fat (around our organs – you know, big gut, skinny legs) but also because of social issues brought through colonisation which research has shown to be a strong contributor towards susceptibility of this disease.”

Michael Daley’s luxury car and yacht tax is class warfare at its worst ($) — Anna Caldwell (The Daily Telegraph): “When the history of the 2019 state election campaign is written, this will be remembered as the week ­Michael Daley went to the attic, rummaged around in an old box of ­Halloween costumes, and came back downstairs dressed as Robin Hood. Figuratively, of course.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

  • The NSW government will go into caretaker mode with the expiry of the Legislative Assembly ahead of the March 23 election.

  • The Australian LGBTI Awards will be held tonight, with nominees including Hannah Gadsby, David Pocock and former SBS CEO Michael Ebeid.

  • The Studio will host forum event “Cyber security and Australia’s new encryption law” with Home Affairs’ Assistant Secretary for National Security Policy Andrew Warnes, AustCyber’s Chief of Strategy Belinda Newham, and startup representatives.

  • Opening day of the 2019 Sydney Design Festival, to run until March 10. 

Melbourne

  • Victorian Multicultural Affairs Minister Richard Wynne will open the book launch of Refugee Stories, In their Own Words at Fitzroy Learning Network.

  • The Melbourne Press Club will hold a panel discussion on the fallout from the Hayne banking royal commission with former ACCC chair Allan Fels, journalist Adele Ferguson and Professor Ian Ramsay, who chaired a review of the financial system’s external dispute resolution.

  • State Minister for Local Government Adem Somyurek will launch the Annual Mayors & Deputy Mayors FastTrack Leadership Program.

  • School students will strike outside Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s office demanding climate action and a stop to Adani.

  • The winner of the National Designer Awards will be announced at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Canberra

  • The Australian Fulbright Alumni Association will host “Salon on the Future of the Australian-American Relationship” with American-Australian Nobel prize-winning physicist Brian Schmidt, Lowy Institute Director of Research Alex Oliver and professor of Australian-American relations James Curran.

Brisbane

  • Not-for-profit group Open Data Australia will launch at The Precinct, to coincide with International Open Data Day 2019.

Perth

  • Launch date for Cottesloe’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, to run until March 18.

Geelong, Victoria

  • Day one of the three-day Australian International Airshow 2019.