More power to him

ME, MYSELF AND MY MINISTRY

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is investigating whether Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into any other portfolios than the three we know (Resources, Health, Finance), The Australian ($) reports, and the solicitor-general is working out whether it was legal for Morrison to do so. Cabinet is meeting today to discuss how Morrison managed it without public knowledge (or the knowledge of some of the relevant ministers, considering former finance minister Mathias Cormann found out they shared the portfolio at the weekend, as Sky News reports). Reports suggest former attorney-general Christian Porter was involved, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he didn’t know about it, as The New Daily adds. After Morrison muscled into the Resources portfolio, he went on to block the Pep11 gas project off the coast of Sydney and Newcastle (amid the teal uprising), but that’s being challenged in Federal Court now by Asset Energy, which accused Morrison of “bias”, Guardian Australia reports.

The whole thing is weird, Albanese said — it’s not a presidential system here, and Morrison’s manoeuvre was a deliberate centralisation of power. Albanese ordered a search for documents authorising the move, The Age continues. The governor-general was like, don’t look at me: he said his conscience was clear, pointing to section 64 of the constitution. But former PM Malcolm Turnbull said he was astonished the G-G would be part of it. It’s “sinister”, “secret government” stuff, Turnbull said. It’s also crazy to think it was just four weeks ago that Morrison told a Seoul forum that he was conscious of not being a “control freak” during the pandemic. “That is a recipe for disaster,” he said, as The Australian ($) reported at the time. Morrison went on to say “You must be able to trust and delegate” even though he appreciated “many Australians found it difficult to understand why the prime minister could not just make the decisions”. Yikes. That didn’t age well. Also this morning, news.com.au reports Morrison suffered from insomnia and relied on drugs to sedate him into sleep.

[free_worm]

MAKING THE MOULD

Australian rental properties are colder and more damp than World Health Organization safety standards after a report found rentals in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and ACT dropped below 18C more than 80% of the time. Guardian Australia reports that tenant organisation Better Renting asked 75 renters around the country to install tracking devices in their homes to see the temperature and humidity across six weeks in June and July. ACT rentals recorded 7.4C on average, in Victoria it was 9.8C and in NSW 10.5C. NSW was the wettest — humidity was a mould-loving 70.3%.

And yet it’s landlords getting the raw deal, according to a man who owns seven properties. He spoke to the ABC saying there is a “perception of the evil landlord, the cinematic slum lord idea”, but he’s considering selling his portfolio because interest rates, tenancy laws, and state-based land taxes are making it too tricky (the Victorian, Tasmanian and ACT governments have recently banned landlords from evicting tenants without grounds). He says tenants have all the rights now. Hmm. In February, writer Liz Duck-Chong asked Twitter for the worst landlord stories, as news.com.au reports: one woman said she found out their house was to be demolished after a planning permit was erected in the front yard, and the landlord withheld money for “wear and tear repairs” before knocking the house down. A man replied a tree came through his ceiling during hurricane Irene and the landlord asked him to cover the cost of the repair. Another woman said the landlord laid carpet over three rotted holes in the floor — they found out after they fell through two of them when walking on the carpet.

PACKERING A PUNCH

Billionaire businessman James Packer claimed Nine Entertainment chairman Peter Costello “made an important call” to then gaming minister Michael O’Brien on his behalf, The Australian ($) reports. Packer claims to have paid Costello a hefty $300,000 for lobbying services — at the time Costello was on the board of the Future Fund and not disclosed on the lobbyist register, Michael West Media says. But Packer’s story is at odds with Nine and Costello’s version. So what’s this all about? According to leaked emails, Packer said he hired Costello to be a casino lobbyist for Crown in 2011, to help him get close to the Victorian gaming minister, as AFR explains. But Nine said he wasn’t a “secret Crown lobbyist”, just an “adviser” during 2011 on other matters (Costello was an owner of ECG Advisory, a lobbying firm, at the time). That’s why he was never registered as a lobbyist, a Nine spokesperson tetchily continued — he isn’t a lobbyist. Costello denied he was a paid lobbyist, admitting he did consult for Packer but strongly denied lobbying O’Brien on Crown. Packer has sold his $3.3 billion stake in Crown now, and is getting ready to come back to Australia, the SMH adds.

Speaking of state politics drama, the NSW agent-general in London was a “late entrant” to the recruitment process, the SMH reports, and his candidate brief was “massaged’” before he was appointed. It’s NSW’s most well-paid trade role, the paper writes, and a candidate, Paul Webster, had already been found (he got the 2IC gig instead) before Stephen Cartwright got the top job. The revelations come from emails presented to the upper house in the latest twist in the state government trade debacle.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

When Jamil Jan Kochai started kindergarten in the late 1990s, he didn’t speak a word of English. His family spoke Pashto and Farsi at home, but his bilingualism wasn’t exactly seen as a strength in his class — he was often punished by his teacher for not understanding directions. He struggled to learn English, but one glorious summer in Afghanistan wiped his beginner’s grasp completely. When Kochai started Year 2, his face burned red as he realised he could only remember 10 measly letters of the alphabet. He didn’t know it, but his new teacher, Ms Lung, was about to change his life. Every day after school, Ms Lung sat with Kochai and painstakingly taught him to read and write in English. By the end of the year, Kochai was thrilled. He had it! By Year 3, he was off to the races, even winning reading awards.

As a teenager, Kochai began to grasp the magnitude of what Ms Lung has done for him. So he tried to track her down, calling his old school, visiting the school district’s office, and searching the internet to no avail. There was one problem — he didn’t know Ms Lung’s name. But by his 20s, Kochai was writing for The New Yorker and The New York Times, and had just written his debut book, 99 Nights in Logar. One day he received a phone call from a man who said he was Ms Lung’s husband, who had seen an article where Kochai had mentioned his Year 2 teacher. When the familiar voice of Susan Lung said “hello” through the phone, Kochai began to cry. He told her he’d been looking for her, and everything he’d achieved was thanks to her unwavering belief in him. Kochai and Ms Lung met at a book signing shortly after “and seven-year-old me finally got to hug my 2nd grade teacher again”. Kochai says his father used to tell him in Pashto that every child is a rocket filled with fuel and all they need is a single spark to lift off into the sky. “Ms Lung, he said, was my spark.”

Hoping you can be the spark today.

SAY WHAT?

This is one of the most appalling things I have ever heard in our federal government. I mean, the idea that a prime minister would be sworn in to other ministries secretly is incredible.

Malcolm Turnbull

Scott Morrison’s predecessor said he was most astonished that Governor-General David Hurley was involved in the then PM swearing himself in secretly to the portfolios of Resources, Finance, and Health — so secretly, in fact, that former finance minister Mathias Cormann didn’t find out until the weekend.

CRIKEY RECAP

Hillsong whistleblower: more secrets emerge from the Till on the Hill

David Hardaker

Aug 15, 2022

19

“If what Moses says in her statement of claim is true, then it is hard to see how Hillsong can go unpunished for what appears to be breaches of the law. Her statement lays direct responsibility at the door of Hillsong’s directors, who have included Brian Houston and a more or less constant group of up to 10 close colleagues.

“At another level, though, Moses’ statement implies that the ACNC and Australia’s charity laws have failed to hold Hillsong to account for many years. This begs the question as to whether Australia’s laws are fit for purpose regarding regulating a wealthy multinational entity such as Hillsong, which can take advantage of weaker disclosure laws in other jurisdictions to get around national laws and accountability.”

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We figured out the surprise guests at Australia’s biggest conservative conference

Cam Wilson

Aug 15, 2022

16

“The source code for the conference’s webpage for all the speakers also hints at other as-yet-unannounced speakers. These include foreign affairs writer and Fox News regular Gordon G Chang — whose Wikipedia entry pointedly mentions that he wrote a book predicting the collapse of China in 2011, and subsequently ‘changed the timing of the year of the predicted collapse to 2012’ in December 2011 — as well as Liberal Senator Jim Molan and law academic James Allan.

“CPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The self-proclaimed ‘top conservative talkfest in Australia’ offers tickets starting from $119, going all the way up to $7249 for the ‘VIP platinum’ experience, which includes two private luncheons with the speakers.”

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James Packer ruins Peter Costello’s birthday bash with allegations about ‘secret $300k lobbying’

Stephen Mayne

Aug 15, 2022

13

“So what did Peter Costello do in Parliament which had the effect of enriching the Packers? As treasurer, he was the ultimate decision-maker on foreign investment. And after Family First’s Steve Fielding delivered the Coalition Senate control in 2004, the Howard government lifted the ban on foreign control of television licences, with Costello himself then directly approving CVC’s $5.5 billion purchase of a 75% stake in PBL Media.

“This was the Packer family’s most lucrative deal, eclipsing the famous $1.05 billion Channel Nine deal with Alan Bond in 1987 and the more recent $3.3 billion exit from Crown Resorts. When Costello retired from Parliament in October 2009, he set up the lobbying firm ECG with two former staffers, David Gazard and Jonathan Epstein. He remains chairman to this day, despite being appointed to the Future Fund board in 2009 and becoming chair in 2014.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

China, Russia draw closer to Taliban amid Western boycott (Al Jazeera)

William Ruto declared winner of Kenyan presidential vote amid chaos at election centre (CNN)

Rising mortgage rates to cost [NZ] households extra $3000 a year (Stuff)

The rise of the Worker Productivity Score (The New York Times)

Scotland becomes the first country to make access to free period products a legal right (Euro News)

Aung San Suu Kyi given six extra years in prison on corruption charges (The Guardian)

China unexpectedly cuts key rates as economic data disappoints (Reuters)

Salman Rushdie: Iran blames writer and supporters for stabbing (BBC)

Shoppers rush for the exits as Shanghai Ikea goes into lockdown (CNN)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Scott Morrison was sworn in to several portfolios other than prime minister during the pandemic. How can this be done? — Anne Twomey (The Conversation): “Because the titles and roles of ministers change all the time, statutes tend simply to confer power on ‘the minister’, without specifying which one. Section 19 of the Acts Interpretation Act says that to work this out you should look to the relevant ‘Administrative Arrangements Order’. An Administrative Arrangements Order sets out the matters and legislation that fall within the responsibility of particular departments and their administering minister.

“For example, during the pandemic, the Administrative Arrangements Orders said the Biosecurity Act was administered by the minister for health in relation to human health and the minister for agriculture in relation to animals and plants. They did not allocate the administration of this act to the prime minister. The governor-general makes Administrative Arrangements Orders on the advice of the Federal Executive Council. The orders are published on the Federal Register of Legislation. No such order allocates the administration of the health, finance or resources legislation to the prime minister. So the only way the prime minister could exercise powers granted by that legislation was if he was also appointed, or acting, as the minister for health, finance or resources.”

The art of choosing what to do with your life – Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey (The New York Times): “For the number of final ends is not infinite. Aquinas usefully suggests that the ultimate objects of human longing can be sorted into only eight enduring categories. If we want to understand where we’re headed, we should ask ourselves these questions: am I interested in this opportunity because it leads to wealth? Or am I aiming at praise and admiration? Do I want enduring glory? Or power — to ‘make an impact’? Is my goal to maximise my pleasures? Do I seek health? Do I seek some ‘good of the soul’, such as knowledge or virtue? Or is my ultimate longing to come face to face with the divine?

“Most students find, to their surprise, that they can locate their desires on this old map. This does not leave students feeling constrained, as they have often been led to fear. It leaves them feeling empowered, like wanderers suddenly recognising the orienting features of a landscape. Like any good map, Aquinas’ reasoned analysis of the human goods can tell us something about where we’re going before we get there. We start down the path to wealth, for example, because it is a universal means to almost any end. But wealth cannot be the final goal of life, for it gives satisfaction only when traded for something else. Admiration signals that people think we’re doing something well. But it is conferred by the often errant judgment of others and can lead you astray.”

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt will speak to the Crawford Fund 2022 annual conference.

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Author Bruce Watson will discuss his book, Forgotten Island: Australia, Realism and the Timor Crisis, at Glee Books.