TIME TO RE-JOYCE?
The blows keep coming for the Coalition after former veterans affairs minister Darren Chester confirmed he’ll challenge Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce for the top job on Monday, The Age reports. Chester told the paper the Nationals (which held onto all 16 lower house seats) need to take some responsibility for Liberal losses in the cities. It was actually the worst Coalition election result since 1949, ABC says, after the Liberals lost a swath of blue-ribbon seats in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, in some cases to newly minted teal independents in what was undoubtedly a climate-action voter rebellion. The paper adds that the deputy leader David Littleproud will also challenge Joyce, and former leader Michael McCormack will probably do so too.
Speaking of the teals, Victorian MP Tim Smith has written an opinion piece for Spectator Australia ($) about the disaster that unfolded in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. The federal election result, that is, “not a reference to that time a heavily intoxicated Smith drove his new Jaguar into a child’s bedroom in Hawthorn,” the AFR’s Myriam Robin quipped. Yikes. In the op-ed, Smith called the teals “loud, entitled and rich” but also lampooned his fellow Liberal Melburnian Josh Frydenberg, who was “completely out-campaigned by an affluent political amateur” because, Smith continued, the campaign stood for nothing. It might’ve been a bit rough for Frydenberg to read (even if there is some truth in it) — the former treasurer actually backed Smith over Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge in a preselection battle back in 2014, as The Age reported at the time.
[free_worm]
UNDER PRESSURE
People in NSW who call 000 but don’t need urgent medical attention could be taken to GPs and even pharmacies via taxi under a new plan to take the pressure off ambulance networks, the SMH reports. The paper says NSW Ambulance reached its most severe level of pressure at 3pm yesterday — at one stage there were just seven available ambulances out of 142 on the road.
From healthcare to energy pressures — NSW households in dire financial straits can soon get up to an extra $400 a year to deal with surging bills, bringing the total yearly voucher amount available to $1600, the SMH reports. But NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns pointed to Queensland and asked why we can’t have what they have — electricity providers in the Sunshine state will automatically apply a $175 credit to the next round of all household power bills.
The NSW government is (reportedly) bailing out someone, however — construction giant Metricon, according to The Australian ($). Metricon is Australia’s largest homebuilder and is insisting nothing is wrong (“business as usual,” its acting chief said, as The Advertiser ($) writes) — but sources reportedly told the paper the business was on the verge of bankruptcy. A rescue package costing hundreds of millions is on the table, the Oz ($) adds. Meanwhile, lawyers in NSW are asking the state government to extend some of that empathy to people with COVID fines, Guardian Australia reports. Some of the state’s poorest residents bore the brunt of the fines — including people living in small remote towns Walgett, Brewarrina and Wilcannia — and some 3000 kids were hit with fines of up to $5000. The Law Society says many can’t afford to pay them, and it just continues the cycle of debt and disadvantage — indeed people can even end up in jail for not paying the fines.
CORONIAL INQUEST IN NT
The NT police force will be probed for “evidence of systemic racism” in a coronial inquest into the shooting death of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker, The Australian ($) reports. The 19-year-old Walker was shot three times by police officer Zachary Rolfe, 30, who was later acquitted of Walker’s murder. The inquest will also look at Rolfe’s background and conduct — including whether he was using drugs at the time, The New Daily adds. After the trial, evidence emerged that Rolfe had allegedly engaged in “excessive use of force” against Indigenous suspects, and had described Alice Springs as a place where cops did “cowboy stuff with no rules”. But the focus of the inquest will be mostly on the NT police force’s response, including looking at how police can make sure a death like Walker’s does not happen again.
Meanwhile, two Indigenous artworks by Wurundjeri artist William Barak are coming home after his family won two high profile auction bids in New York, The New Daily reports. The Victorian government pledged half a million dollars to help buy the works, which date back to 1897 — elder Ron Jones says he had lost all hope they’d be able to afford them, and described himself as “so pumped” that they won. Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams says she’s pleased the works will return to Country, where they rightfully belong.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
A coffee shop in Italy has been fined $1500 because an irate customer could not believe he was charged $3 for a cup of decaf espresso. It was an average day in Florence when the man rolled into Ditta Artigianale, which serves up award-winning coffee in that fast-paced style Italian coffee bars are known for (lots of standing, yelling, and downing tiny cups). The man ordered his espresso, expecting to pay about a euro ($1.50) which is the average in Italy. When he got slugged with the bill asking double that, the man promptly called the cops. His argument was that the price was not displayed, and the Italian police agreed, dolling out the hefty fine.
Ditta Artigianale’s owner Francesco Sanapo was indignant. “They fined me because somebody got offended for paying €2 for a decaffeinated coffee [which involves a water extraction process]. Can you believe it?” Sanapo said in a video while holding up a letter from the police. Some of the coffee joint’s regulars shared in his dismay. “If this customer went to London he’d get the FBI involved,” one wrote on Facebook. I’d hate to think how that man would react to getting slugged $6 for an oat milk cappuccino in Melbourne…
Hoping you feel brave enough to take a stand today too — and have a restful weekend ahead.
SAY WHAT?
I don’t think you need to be nasty and mean. I’m not the prettiest bloke on the block but I hope that I’m going to be pretty effective.
Peter Dutton
The likely next Liberal Party leader says Labor MP Tanya Plibersek’s comments about him looking like Voldemort were not very nice — though some critics were quick to point out Dutton hasn’t exactly made his name on being kind and empathetic — Dutton boycotted the apology to the Stolen Generation, apologised to journalist Samantha Maiden for calling her a “mad fucking witch”, and said some refugee women had “claimed that they’ve been raped” in order to come to Australia.
CRIKEY RECAP
Is the 2022 election result the beginning of the end for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation?
“In fact, if you compare their average primary vote per seat in each state, Pauline Hanson’s party has gone backwards. If you look at Queensland, where it ran candidates in every seat except for Kennedy (where Bob Katter is the sitting member) in both 2019 and 2022, it suffered a swing against them of 1.4%.
“Dr Kurt Sengul is a researcher at the University of Sydney who wrote his doctoral thesis on Pauline Hanson, populism and the far right. He says that support for minor right-wing parties hitting a ceiling this election is part of a broader story about the movement’s inability to organise behind one candidate.”
Dutton is a dud — Marise Payne would have been an ideal Liberal Party leader
“In many ways, Payne would have been well positioned to rebuild the bridge between Liberal conservatives and moderates. She is a moderate, taking a stand against her party on issues around women’s rights, Indigenous rights, drug law reform and detention of illegal immigrants.
“Her appointment could have helped bridge the divide between the NSW Liberals and the federal branch after Morrison’s gung-ho attempt at intervening to resolve a factional feud. Payne’s partner, Stuart Ayres, is the deputy leader of the NSW Liberals. But more than her connection and ideals, it’s Payne’s style that would have appealed to voters”
After-dark pundits want to push the Liberals further right. Let them
“Of the Liberals’ remaining eight seats — eight seats! — in Victoria, four are more marginal than Labor’s only marginal, McEwan. Of the other four, none are held at greater than 60/40. If the Liberal Party moves right, then Aston, Deakin and Menzies — eastern suburbs seats filling up with young professionals — could all go to Labor, or to suburban centrist independents (Cyans? Violets? I dunno). With no reason to expect gain elsewhere.
“The obvious point is that, on the numbers alone, it’s a better bet to try and reconstruct the party in a hmmm-liberal direction, so it can be competitive in — hear me out on this — seats it usually wins. But if the darkists can take it rightwards for their internal factional purposes, and leave it there, they could take the non-LNP Liberal Party down to 15 seats, and we are there for it. We want it darker.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Goodfellas star Ray Liotta dies aged 67 (BBC)
Palestinian probe says Israeli forces deliberately shot Abu Akleh (Al Jazeera)
Kevin Spacey facing sexual assault charges in Britain (The New York Times)
‘It seems this heat will take our lives’: Pakistan city fearful after hitting 51C (The Guardian)
Texas shooting: Police accused of delay in storming Uvalde school (BBC)
UN envoy tells of serious concern at Taliban’s ‘erasure of women’ (Al Jazeera)
Trump said to have reacted approvingly to Jan. 6 chants about hanging Pence (The New York Times)
A third of recent cannabis users say they have driven while high: government survey (CBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Don’t talk to me about ‘civility.’ On Tuesday morning those children were alive. — Roxanne Gay (The New York Times): “Incivility runs through the history of this country, founded on stolen land, built with the labor of stolen lives. The document that governs our lives effectively denied more than half of the population the right to vote. It counted only three-fifths of the enslaved population when determining representation. If you want to talk about incivility, let us be clear about how deep those roots reach. The United States has become ungovernable not because of political differences or protest or a lack of civility but because this is a country unwilling to protect and care for its citizens — its women, its racial minorities and especially its children.
“When politicians talk about civility and public discourse, what they’re really saying is that they would prefer for people to remain silent in the face of injustice. They want marginalized people to accept that the conditions of oppression are unalterable facts of life. They want to luxuriate in the power they hold, where they never have to compromise, never have to confront their consciences or lack thereof, never have to face the consequences of their inaction. Gun violence is one of the problems with which they need not concern themselves because they believe these calamities will never affect them or their families.”
Stellar first week for Anthony Albanese but tough months ahead — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): “An incoming government has, for a limited period, a sort of immunity from blame. It’s able to say it has ‘inherited’ a bad situation. But this doesn’t last — anyway, the situation itself has to be dealt with, as best the government can. Chalmers on Wednesday said he would be ‘blunt’ in the economic statement he’ll deliver when parliament sits. He highlighted the negatives facing the Australian economy — rising inflation, increasing interest rates, the squeeze on wages. He pointed in particular to the inflationary spikes in power prices and building costs …
“For many Australians the remainder of this year will be very difficult, and there is not much the government can do about it. The October budget will be a juggling act for Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher (they’re already searching for savings), and not as benign as the March one. One feature of Albanese’s first week was his signal he is apparently determined to try to improve political behaviour. He publicly rebuked his frontbencher Tanya Plibersek for insulting Peter Dutton, who next week will become opposition leader.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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The Centre for CSR Development Ukraine’s Maryna Saprykina will speak at the Fiona Wain Oration which will focus on the conflict in Ukraine and is held by the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Urban development expert David Wilmoth will talk about his new book, The Promise of the City: Adventures in learning cities and higher education at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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Poet Andy Jackson, writers Sarah Krasnostein and Rick Morton, and storyteller Allara will speak at the Wheeler Centre’s latest salon series — Love and Vulnerability.
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