ABORTION DEBATE
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she would be “absolutely” prepared to amend the NSW abortion bill to ban terminations based on gender, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The controversial “gender selection abortion” has been seized on by conservatives, with even Labor leader Jodi McKay expected to vote for an amendment criminalising it. The Australian Medical Association does not support such a ban, with NSW VP Danielle McMullen writing that there is no evidence to suggest patients are seeking abortions based on gender. Berejiklian’s move is seen as an attempt to quell anger from conservative MPs, with the divided Liberal party now in open warfare. “Too little too late” ($), The Daily Telegraph reports.
MENTAL HEALTH REVIEW
The NSW government has ordered a review into the Sydney stabbing suspect’s care in the state’s health system, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The 20 year old attacker was known to mental health services and was listed as a missing person, having visited multiple health centres with suicidal thoughts ($) in the days leading up to the attack. Police weren’t told that he was staying in temporary accommodation ($) even as they sought him over an August 7 domestic violence incident. He was also not on the radar of the Fixated Persons Investigations Unit, a NSW Police unit targeting single attackers who show warning signs of dangerous extremism.
For anyone seeking help, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, and Beyond Blue is 1300 22 4636. Headspace and ReachOut have useful mental health resources for young people.
SYDNEY VICTIM MOURNED
The 24 year old victim of the Sydney attack has been identified as Michaela Dunn, a former University of Notre Dame student and sex worker, the ABC reports. Friends took to social media to describe her as a “true delight” and “bright young woman”. Fellow sex worker Rose Harper told the ABC that Dunn’s death was being “overshadowed” by praise for the bystanders.
“In a few articles I’ve read [her death has] been tacked on like a footnote almost … they don’t even necessarily use the word ‘woman’; they just use her job title,” she said.
[free_worm]
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
The move in 2012 to a three-minute limit on answers was a dramatic improvement on my day, when Paul Keating would sustain his bucket on me for some 12 to 15 minutes.
John Hewson
The former Liberal opposition leader thinks question time is healthier now that figures like Paul Keating have a time limit, but argues it still leaves a lot to be desired.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Coalition rules out further cut to migration numbers amid decentralisation push
Genocide fears in Kashmir as Pakistan appeals for UN intervention
Officials admit letting accused Christchurch shooter send letter to supporter from prison
‘They robbed me of my youth’: Epstein sex abuse accuser files first of many lawsuits
WA Premier’s department head accused of ‘extremely serious’ breach of parliamentary privilege
Rosie Batty welcomes new Victoria Police tool to combat family violence
Pezzullo slammed over ‘jail’ comment ($)
Sky reporter Laura Jayes defends herself over Islamophobia claims ($)
Cop fights for release of Bourke St massacre report
Cheating found at Sydney uni up by 2000 per cent after new detection methods used
Mascot Towers owners say $10 million repairs bill a ‘dangerous precedent’
Protect children without infringing on religious freedom, Catholic Archbishop says
Adani approval ties India’s trade future to Australia: envoy ($)
Managers funded by Queensland government grant urge cane farmers to question reef science
Fracking causing rise in methane emissions, study finds
Tax: New data reveals Australians hold $100bn in offshore accounts
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
Things haven’t been this bad between Australia and China in 30 years
“What no one is saying out loud is the cold hard truth that the Australian government — and increasingly Australian businesses — are personae non gratae in China. There has been no contact beyond polite handshaking at multi-lateral conferences between senior leaders from the two countries, with just occasional contact at foreign minister level, for more than two and a half years, effectively ending Julia Gillard’s landmark foreign policy achievement of having a leader’s summit every year. Things are so bad — and this is pre-Hong Kong, remember — that Xi Jinping recently refused to meet Scott Morrison for a bilateral meeting at the recent Osaka G20 meeting, Crikey has learned.”
Looking into the black mirror: how teens use social media
“Talking to Paige, it’s clear that hiding the likes on Instagram won’t solve the problem of online bullying. The truly problematic behaviour is far more subtle and invisible than that. It’s things like creating group chats and leaving someone out of them. Or publicly rating people on their appearance, on a scale of one to 10. Or airdropping unflattering photographs of someone to everyone else at the bus stop — as one boy did recently to another.”
Life on Newstart means living your whole life behind the eight-ball
“Scott Morrison’s question time proclamation that he would not engage in “unfunded empathy” was a shocking revelation ripped straight from the pages of the Prosperity Gospel, the Christian belief that suggests faith leads to financial reward. This appears to be the foundation for Morrison’s economic narrative: if you’ve got more, you get to keep more. His government is handing out $5 billion a year in franking credit cash rebates to people who don’t even pay tax. Their new taxation system provides someone earning $200,000 a year a tax cut of around $10,000 per annum by 2024, but if you’re on Newstart you will get a drug test. This doesn’t fit the identikit of Jesus that I learned in Sunday school and, economically, it makes no sense.”
THE COMMENTARIAT
Media bosses proven right on Canberra’s ‘culture of secrecy’ ($) – Claire Bickers (The Daily Telegraph): “When human rights figures globally are concerned about press freedom deteriorating in Australia, it isn’t a positive sign that the nation’s top security and law enforcement figures are so unwilling to even acknowledge the current imbalance between the public’s right to know and national security laws. It’s even more concerning given the harrowing images of democracy protesters pitted against police currently coming out of Hong Kong. Australia should be making a stand for press freedom, not creeping further down a path we don’t want to go.”
Gender selection has nothing to do with decriminalising abortion: AMA – Danielle McMullen (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald): “The fact that gender selection is such an emotive issue is precisely why this bill’s opponents continue to make this bad-faith argument. The people who are doing this do not care about women, pregnancies or health. They simply see this as an opportunity to put a stop to something they don’t like and place controls back on women under the cover of doing something people broadly support – removing abortion from the Crimes Act.”
Jihadists and the West’s driftless male killers have much in common ($) – Reuel Marc Gerecht (The Australian): “It takes relatively few men running amok to unhinge communities. Men have an extraordinary, renewable capacity for violence. It can be aimed or aimless, redemptive or nihilist, solitary or fraternal. “Crazies” reveal what warriors only reluctantly admit: killing is exhilarating. With young men, in whom passions are immediate, it can be addictive. Islam has been plagued by extremely violent young men since the 1970s and contrasting these killers with our own offers insights that help illustrate what the West is confronting.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Canberra
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The Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security will hold another public hearing for its inquiry into the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on the freedom of the press.
Sydney
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The NSW upper house inquiry hearing into the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 will continue.
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Sydney Ideas will host “Who controls the Internet?” with speakers Bart Hogeveen (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), Dr Aim Sinpeng (University of Sydney), and Dr Damien Spry (University of SA).
Darwin
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ABC Darwin will host a Happy Hour in the Victoria Spiegeltent, with ABC Radio’s Liz Trevaskis will be broadcasting live from inside the tent.
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The Northern Territory Archives Centre will host a presentation by Charlotte Feakins on the buffalo shooting industry.
Melbourne
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The Victorian Collaborative Mental Health Nursing Conference will host its annual conference, a grassroots event that welcomes early, mid-career and veteran mental health nurses, researchers, nursing academics and nursing students alike.
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The National Gallery of Victoria will host Orchestra Victoria’s 50th anniversary concert.
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