Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

NET ZERO-SUM GAME

The Nationals came up empty-handed on a climate resolution at a marathon four-hour party room meeting yesterday the ABC reports, despite a promise of no damage to regional industries. The Nats flatly rejected aiming for a higher emissions reduction by 2030, as The Australian ($) says, but reportedly said they were open to backing net zero by 2050 — on the condition they get “tens of billions of dollars” for regional Australia, the AFR reports. (Missing the irony completely, Nats Leader Barnaby Joyce said his party wouldn’t be held “hostage” to what the Liberals want). For comparison, courtesy of the SMH: our current 2030 target is a 26-28% reduction in emissions. The US pledged to reduce emissions by 50-52% by 2030. South Korea’s target is 40%. The UK’s target is more than double our commitment — a 68% reduction in emissions.

It’s actually not the first time the Nats have found themselves in the middle of climate policy — they’ve helped topple the carbon tax, the emissions trading scheme, and Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG). But since then, new pressures have emerged — aside from rising natural disasters, we’re seeing investor strikes and penalties, pressure from business leaders, and key export customers adopting net zero. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is headed to the climate summit in less than two weeks, and without — at the very least — a 2050 commitment, both his Coalition bond and international reputation could take major blows. In response, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese put it plainly, as the Fin reports: “If you want serious action on climate change, we have to change the government”.

[free_worm]

MISE-EN-VACCINE

It’s a new dawn, Sydney — the state’s 80% vaccine milestone sees new freedoms from today like resumed community sport, more family and friends allowed at home, and “vertical” drinking and dancing, as Guardian Australia puts it (what times we do live in). Premier Dominic Perrottet — who announced he’s also expecting his seventh kid — said “summer in NSW is looking good”. The state also confirmed its international border will open on November 1 — the SMH breaks down where you can fly from next month — and for how much.

You can do it, Melbourne! The world’s most locked-down city has just five more days to go, as The Age reports — Melburnians will get an early mark on Friday with “no lockdown, no restrictions on leaving home and no curfew”, Premier Dan Andrews confirmed. Melburnians will be able to travel throughout the city but regional travel is not on the cards yet, as Guardian Australia reports. Dining in restaurants is back, while kids are headed back to school part-time (regional students will go back full-time).”Bring forward the haircut and tell Mum you’ll be round for dinner,” he said cheerily, as AFR reports.

The narrow window between “freedom days” is a sign of things to come, it seems — Andrews said he expects NSW and Victoria will operate as “one zone” in the future.

MISCONDUCT IN SPORT

Australian sports is having a Me Too moment with the revelation of retired Matildas great Lisa De Vanna’s alleged sexual harassment, bullying, and ostracisation over a 20-year career, as she writes in The Daily Telegraph ($). Among them: she was allegedly held down while gyrated against as a 17-year-old young Matilda, and allegedly urged to wash two others in a shower. De Vanna’s former manager described her as “frightened, upset, scared and angry” at the time.

Football Australia has launched an independent Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) probe into misconduct in women’s soccer in response. The SMH reports SIA will have a pretty broad remit, not just to collate complaints but to actively investigate claims of harassment, bullying, intimidation, and discrimination — including from men’s soccer. Football Australia’s chief executive James Johnson says it would be a welcome first for the sport in Australia. But De Vanna told The Tele Johnson had left her feeling “rejected [and] abandoned”, after he released a statement defending Australian soccer culture in the wake of her revelations, as ESPN reports.

De Vanna’s allegations of harassment follows Hockey Australia’s damning report of fat-shaming and homophobia, complaints against Swimming Australia, and the Australian Human Rights Commission revealing sexual abuse accusations in gymnastics.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

From spoiling your dinner with a tray of biscuits to staying up all night watching scary movies, there’s any number of things children aspire to once they escape the rule of parents. And once a year, Donna Ferguson’s daughter Flora, gets a taste of that freedom. For 24 hours, Donna and her husband Neil become the children, and Flora the parent — a time where Flora can indulge her kid fantasies, say no to anything, and learn the responsibility that comes with power. A few easy rules were fine by Flora — nothing illegal or unsafe, and definitely no new pets. After the first stint, Donna says they were “exhausted but amazed” by every “nerve-racking, exhilarating crazy second”.

As expected, each year Flora — who is 9 — stays up late, eats junk food, and watches a lot of TV. But Donna finds it heartwarming that she likes to indulge in simple pleasures like wearing fancy dresses to the cinema or eating chocolate cake in bed with a good book. The other thing Flora loves, Donna says, is parenting them. The first year, when Flora was 6, she gave Donna a bath, washed her hair, brushed her teeth, read her and Neil stories, and put them to bed at 7:30pm. Donna woke with a start at midnight and found Flora, happy as a clam, perched on the couch watching Octonauts and eating an entire box of Coco Pops. The kids will be alright.

The experience has taught Donna to live more in the moment, she says, and say yes to Flora more often on other days. “I learned something I had somehow managed to forget,” she adds. “That children really do know how to have fun”.

I hope Monday brings a little childlike wonder for you, too.

SAY WHAT?

[The government] has a prayer that hydrogen will somehow just work out, save all our jobs — well, the prime minister might believe in miracles, but I don’t think we should gamble people’s jobs on a wing and a prayer. People’s jobs are at risk here, hydrogen and other technologies might not work out, so why should we gamble our future, our security, our strength as a nation on stuff that we don’t know actually works?

Matthew Canavan

Climate change is affecting 85% of humanity, reportedly causing rapidly rising levels of mental distress and suicide, and Australia — one of the world’s largest polluters — was ranked last on climate action by the UN, but the Nationals backbencher described net zero by 2050 as simply another part of a “woke” agenda.

CRIKEY RECAP

Free-speech warriors want Grace Tame to sit down, shut up and stop giving a voice to the silenced

Oct 15, 2021

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“Albrechtsen’s main point was that it was a bad idea to make Tame Australian of the Year because she is a ‘fiery and passionate activist who may end up dividing the nation, rather than uniting us’ … On Albrechtsen’s thesis, she may not talk about politics, which includes anyone involved in politics, because that is politics.

And yet, Tame is Australian of the Year because she talks about being silenced. That was her experience as a sexual violence survivor, and she is a passionate advocate for an end to the silencing of survivors. In relation to Porter, Tame was speaking specifically of the political silencing of a deceased alleged victim. In relation to Morrison, she was speaking specifically of the protection and promotion of an alleged perpetrator and the message that sends to survivors.”

Pauline Hanson is more of a politician than Barnaby Joyce — she has an idea of national interest

Oct 15, 2021

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“Part of that normalisation reflects the persistent failure to understand what the National Party really is: it is, and always has been, a vehicle to exploit Australia’s parliamentary system to rort taxpayer funding in its own interests and those of the people who fund it — these days, fossil-fuel interests. It is not, by any conventional measure, a political party.

“Being a political party requires having some sort of political philosophy of government and the public interest — however warped or appalling it might be. Pauline Hanson is more of a politician than the Nationals, even if you might find her idea of the national interest repugnant. At least she has one. The Nationals have a common aim of racketeering, not a philosophy.”

Midnight coup, watchdog neutered and a leader all at sea. Is South Australia a failed state?

Oct 15, 2021

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“The same conservative defectors to oust the speaker have also sided with Labor to back a conflict-of-interest inquiry into the next most powerful person in the state, Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, over her refusal to back a port at Kangaroo Island where she has property interests.

“Observers say the tussles are more of the same political infighting that kept the party in opposition for 16 long years. But the factional warfare has heated up under the moderate Marshall government, which has moved to decriminalise abortion and introduce assisted dying legislation, angering conservatives. With an election due next year, the question is whether Premier Steven Marshall has lost control of his party, and indeed the Parliament.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Women escaping domestic violence to get access to $5k payments from this week (SBS)

More Brits for longer on post-pandemic holiday visa menu (The Australian) ($)

PM’s wedding stoush: Ardern dumps venue, jilted owner wants $5k (NZ Herald)

Sir David Amess: We must learn from hideous killing, says Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle (BBC)

The exhibitionist economy (Quillette)

Coalition ‘kills 160’ Yemen rebels as Marib battle intensifies (Al Jazeera)

Macron: crackdown on 1961 Algerian protest ‘unforgivable’ (The Guardian)

Heavy rains, landslides kill 19 in India’s Kerala (Al Jazeera)

The Nets had a chance to win over New York. Now, they’ll try again. (The New York Times)

Russian film crew return to Earth after shooting the first movie in space (The Guardian)

Haiti: US Christian missionaries kidnapped in Port-au-Prince — reports (BBC)

A bitcoin ETF is almost here. What does that mean for investors? (The Wall Street Journal)

Argentinian judge indicts Franco-era Spanish minister on homicide charges (The Guardian)

Former President Bill Clinton released from hospital (CNN)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Australian farmers don’t want another sleazy climate deal — Fiona Simson (AFR): “Emission Reduction Minister Angus Taylor is talking up ‘technology, not taxes’ and ‘“carrots, not sticks’. We agree. In August last year, the National Farmers’ Federation declared its support for an economy-wide aspiration of net zero by 2050… Farmers have always stood at the front line of Australia’s cruel climate, and many believe they are already seeing that climate change … [But] when Australia signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, a sleazy deal between the Commonwealth and the states saw vast tracts of private farmland locked up using land-clearing laws …

“Current negotiations, and the plan we take to COP26 in Glasgow, are a chance to do things better … We need a strong commitment from government to invest in measures that reward farmers on a ‘carbon+’ or ‘halo carbon’ basis — measuring and valuing additional benefits to things like biodiversity and soil health that often accompany carbon projects. It also requires a step change in spending, to develop tools and technologies that help farmers lower their emissions while continuing to produce the food and fibre the world needs. Agriculture has taken substantial steps in reducing emissions, especially in the livestock sector. Australia is already well-placed on this journey.”

My friend David Amess connected with everyone. We must not hide away — Lindsay Hoyle (The Guardian): “Sir David Amess was a regular in our office. Not because, like many members of parliament, he wanted to secure a debate or ask for something, but because he genuinely liked a gossip and a chat with my staff. If he wasn’t talking about his family — he was a very proud husband and father of five — he would be talking about his love of animals or extolling the delights of his constituency, Southend West, a place that he told us — and the House, at every opportunity — most certainly deserved to have city status …

“For more than two hours, constituents poured through the doors to talk to me about cowboy builders, housing problems, access to mental health services — and even if I knew where a cheerleading group could find new premises. Would I want that to end in the wake of the killings of two of my colleagues, David on Friday, and Jo Cox five years earlier? To me, the answer has to be a very firm no. The very essence of being an MP is to help and be seen by our constituents … The hate which drives these attacks has to end. Disagreements with politicians should be solved at the ballot box, not via threats, intimidation or murder.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Australia

  • Over 110 faith communities will hold early morning multi-faith vigils outside the offices of Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Cronulla, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce in Tamworth, and other MPs, calling for a climate game plan for 2030.

  • The 2021 Lowy Institute Media Lecture will be delivered by international correspondent Yalda Hakim, held online.

  • Authors Yves Rees, Dianne O’Brien, Sara El Sayed, SJ Norman, Bella Green, and Derek Chan will talk about reinvention, transformation, and starting over for The Wheeler Centre, held online.

  • Writer James McKenzie Watson will be in conversation with author Michelle Tom about her memoir Ten Thousand Aftershocks, held online.

Whadjuk Noongar Country (also known as Perth)

  • WA Deputy Premier Roger Cook and Agent General John Langoulant will speak about the state’s investment and trade opportunities at The University Club of Western Australia.