MINISTER FOR EVERYTHING
Australia’s top spies had no idea former prime minister Scott Morrison was also treasurer, minister for Home Affairs, Health, Finance, and Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo and ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told the ABC they learnt at the same time as the rest of us. Incredibly, former home affairs minister Karen Andrews found out Morrison shared her portfolio during the press conference yesterday, as did former treasurer Josh Frydenberg — perhaps Morrison’s closest confidant, as the SMH reports. Frydenberg was reportedly livid, the AFR says, as was Andrews who called for Morrison to immediately resign. “I had nothing from him … no knowledge,” she said.
So will Morrison go? It’s hard to see how he could weather this storm — but the problem (for the Liberals) is his resignation would cause a byelection in Cook, and the party could lose the seat amid a voter protest (just look at independent Kerryn Phelps winning Wentworth with a 20% swing after Malcolm Turnbull stepped down). Former PM John Howard — who still gets so much air time 15 years after losing his seat and an election — told ABC that Morrison had explained himself and shouldn’t walk. The explanation (and apology) was no fewer than 1200 words — read it here — where Morrison basically waxed lyrical that he was worried ministers would get sick or die from COVID-19, calling his self-swearing-in a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency safeguard”. So why keep it a secret from nearly everyone? He claimed he didn’t tell the ministers he was elbowing into their portfolios so they wouldn’t feel undermined. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese retorted that it had “undermined our democracy”, saying it was “an attack on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy”, as Guardian Australia reports. Even if Morrison doesn’t resign, he’ll probably be censured when Parliament resumes in September.
[free_worm]
WET, WET, WET
The chance of another wet spring and summer is 70%, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), ABC reports. It’s extremely rare to see three consecutive years of La Niña, which brings heavy rain and flooding risk for the east of the country. So what the heck is going on? Two things: a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and warmer than normal waters to the north of Australia. A negative IOD means warmer ocean temperatures in the east, Guardian Australia explains, causing low-pressure systems. We can expect more weird climate events like triple La Niñas as the climate warms, Nature reports. Records are being smashed: Sydney had its wettest summer in 30 years during 2021-22 and its wettest March and July on record (with records dating back to 1859). As of August, the harbour city is already experiencing its wettest year on record. If you’re sick of the rain, may I suggest you book a holiday in Tasmania? It’ll be drier there during spring, the BOM says.
Meanwhile, mining titan BHP has binned plans to build a $1 billion coalmine in Queensland because of the Palaszczuk government’s royalties regime, The Courier-Mail ($) reports. But Treasurer Cameron Dick wasn’t buying it, saying the Blackwater South metallurgical coalmine near Emerald isn’t even due to be constructed until 2029, meaning the final investment would be years away anyway. It seems BHP is just making a point about the tax increase. So what is it all about? Well, one of the announcements in Queensland’s June budget was that mining companies would be taxed on their royalties to fund a $1.2 billion injection into the state’s mental health system, Guardian Australia reports. Dick said it was only fair considering the boom we’re living through — our trade surplus hit a record high in June, thanks to iron ore, minerals and coal shipments, The West ($) reports. It comes as clinical psychologist and author Jordan Peterson has weighed in on our 43% target for some reason, as Sky News reports, calling the Albanese government “delusional” for the move that will “devastate the nation”. We have about 26 months left to slash greenhouse gas emissions — including stopping any new fossil fuel projects — before we miss our last chance to avoid the worst impact of the climate crisis.
CHASING RAINBOWS
Australia’s Anglican church has split into two over same-sex marriage, the SMH reports. The former Sydney archbishop Glenn Davies launched the diocese of the Southern Cross on Sunday because he “cannot go along with same-sex blessings”. He said the breakaway movement would “send shivers down the spines of some bishops in the Anglican church of Australia”. It comes as dioceses such as Brisbane, Gippsland and Perth ordain women and bless same-sex marriages — there have been similar conservative rebellions in North America, Brazil and New Zealand, the paper says.
Meanwhile, NSW Parliament’s Broderick review found people who identify as LGBTIQA+ were particularly vulnerable to the toxic work culture, SBS reports. The report found some of the views swirling in Parliament were like “going back 50 years”, with independent MP Alex Greenwich saying people should be able to bring their “whole selves” to work without feeling unsafe. Meanwhile, Victoria has welcomed Australia’s first purpose-built LGBTQIA Pride Centre, Stir World reports. It’s in St Kilda — the Victorian Pride Centre (VPC), a not-for-profit organisation, received funding from the Victorian government to build after the marriage equality bill passed in 2017. It’ll be home to a bunch of resident organisations, and will host meetings, events and projects, a public working hub, cafe, rooftop pavilion (!), and a community garden.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
The Tasmanian tiger is back folks — or it will be, if all goes well. Boffins in the US and Australia have teamed up to bring back the extinct predator, which is called the thylacine. It kind of looks like a dog with stripes down its back but, surprisingly, the Tasmanian tiger was actually a marsupial — indeed our only marsupial apex predator. It was once everywhere in Australia, but was ruthlessly hunted after we were colonised; the Tassie population was the last one standing. In 1936, we were down to just one known Tasmanian tiger who sadly died in captivity. The species was officially extinct. Until now — maybe. So how does one resurrect a species? Basically, we can sequence the genome of a young specimen — it gives us a kind of blueprint to create the animal again. Spooky.
Stem cells will be taken from the fat-tailed dunnart, which had similar DNA to the Tasmanian tiger, and edited to be like thylacine cells. Then the cells will be used to make an embryo and placed inside an artificial womb or dunnart surrogate to cook up the first Tasmanian tiger joey. It would be the first animal to ever be de-extincted, the co-founder of the biotechnology company at the helm told Guardian Australia. Hollywood hunk Chris Hemsworth is one of the investors, describing himself as thrilled to support the effort to bring the tiger back. But it’ll probably take at least six years. If it worked, the joey would be introduced back into Tasmania with the goal of releasing a bunch back into the wild again. If it doesn’t work, it’s a massive learning experience, one wildlife professor said: “If we do learn more about genetics that can be used to protect existing species, then all the better”.
Wishing you the courage to try today, even the tough stuff.
SAY WHAT?
We know the one ministry Scott Morrison won’t have secretly given himself is the arts, seeing he always failed to remember it existed.
Sarah Hanson-Young
The Greens senator scoffed at the fact Morrison took it upon himself to muscle in on five ministries, but clearly missed the arts — the ABS said 94% of arts workers were severely affected by the pandemic, compared with 53% in other industries, yet many found it tough to get government support such as JobKeeper or the disaster payment.
CRIKEY RECAP
Suspected QAnon figure Ron Watkins has gone dark and tried to scrub his internet history since being spotted in Australia
“Why Watkins has gone silent while also trying to sanitise his online history is unclear. One possible explanation is that Watkins is trying to avoid being deported. Visitors to Australia must fulfil requirements in the Migration Act 1958 to be granted a visa. This visa can be rejected or cancelled after being granted on health and character grounds. High-profile figures who’ve had their visas refused or cancelled include conspiracy theorist David Icke, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and far-right commentator Katie Hopkins.
“Many QAnon experts and journalists have provided evidence suggesting Watkins has been in control of the Q account, including Watkins’ own admission in a documentary. Even if Watkins is not behind Q, he has emerged as one of the world’s leading conspiracy theorists and was responsible for running the 8kun website that has inspired mass shootings and hosted child pornography.”
‘We had to stop him from swearing himself in as Australian of the Year’: Grace Tame leads the charge against ex-PM
“Elsewhere in [yesterday’s] Crikey, we revel in the sheer mind-boggling Scott Morrison of it all. The revelations that he’d appointed himself to various ministries during the pandemic, in some cases with such secrecy that the ministers already in those portfolios didn’t find out until the rest of us did, fulfilled the brief of every hallmark of Morrison’s time as prime minister: the hatred of transparency, the running roughshod over his colleagues, saying things that could easily be demonstrated to be untrue ….
“We are not the only ones to gratefully accept this one last chance — we think — to celebrate the most easily dunked upon Australian prime minister this side of Billy McMahon. Behold our favourite responses to the unfolding scandal, starting with Crikey‘s 2021 person of the year, Grace Tame, who gave a new context for her infamous side eye at Morrison during her January meeting with the then prime minister on her way out as Australian of the Year …”
Morrison and Pompeo: an off-the-books foreign policy bond that needs probing
“Was then foreign affairs minister Marise Payne kept in the loop on these conversations which surely covered precisely her patch? Did she even know they were happening? Was there any official record of the weekly contact between Australia’s prime minister and the US secretary of state, Crikey asked Payne at the time — and received no answer. So what’s the relevance now?
“Pompeo was in office from April 2018 to January 2021. During this time Australia shifted its position markedly on China, in lockstep with the Trump administration. Morrison also floated the idea of shifting Australia’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a move precisely in line with US policy under Pompeo (and informed by evangelical religious conviction). How much more influence was there?”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Defeated Odinga says Kenyan election result ‘null and void’ (Al Jazeera)
Lyft unveils self-driving car service in Las Vegas (with caveats) (The New York Times)
Blasts at Russian base in Crimea suggest Ukrainian fightback (Reuters)
Leaked audio reveals Liz Truss said British workers needed ‘more graft’ (The Guardian)
Israel admits to Gaza raid that killed children: report (Al Jazeera)
[NZ] Labour MP Gaurav Sharma suspended from party caucus ‘effective immediately’ – Jacinda Ardern (NZ Herald)
Sacheen Littlefeather: Oscars apologises to actress after 50 years (BBC)
In Alaska, Sarah Palin’s political comeback stirs debate among voters (The New York Times)
THE COMMENTARIAT
The Liberals would be better off with Morrison out of Parliament — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): “Even before this week’s revelations, there was nothing he could contribute – he sits as a failure from the past in a party that will have immense trouble adjusting to the future. Now he presents a live target for Labor. Anthony Albanese on Tuesday wouldn’t rule out Labor moving a censure against him. He enjoys minimal respect among his colleagues. As long as he hangs around, he’ll be a distraction. Former prime minister John Howard advanced the one pragmatic argument against Morrison quitting — it would create an unwanted and expensive by-election for the Liberals.
” ‘Apart from anything else it is not in the interests of the Liberal Party to have a byelection at the moment in a very safe seat, particularly as in the state of New South Wales we will face a state election in the early part of next year,’ Howard said bluntly, interviewed on the ABC on Tuesday night. Some would add that in these volatile political times no seat is absolutely ‘safe’. Morrison hasn’t been expected to see out the parliamentary term. But presumably he needs a job to go to. This week’s stories will have done nothing for his employability. The disclosure of Morrison’s behaviour has put heat on Governor-General David Hurley. Hurley was quick to issue a statement Monday setting out how he had acted in accordance with the constitution. He said it was up to the government whether the arrangements were made public.”
Beijing uses every chance to normalise aggressive activity — Dave Sharma (The Australian) ($): “The People’s Liberation Army now is engaged in the same preparation phase with respect to Taiwan. China has exploited the visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to expand the dimensions of its military activity and normalise aggression across the Taiwan Strait. In the initial four days of the PLA’s live-fire exercises, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry, 41 Chinese vessels and 110 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Eleven ballistic missiles were fired into waters north, east and south of Taiwan. The drills subsequently were extended by the PLA by two days. These exercises served a valuable military purpose for the PLA: increasing preparedness, improving interoperability and providing valuable lessons for future operations across the Taiwan Strait. But they also served a more important strategic purpose.
“Through these exercises, the PLA has effectively obliterated the median line across the Taiwan Strait as the unofficial buffer zone. The PLA now will operate with greater frequency and intensity across the median line. This will impose continued stress on Taiwan’s military readiness and preparedness, and impose sustained psychological pressure on Taiwan’s leadership and civilian population. And just as Sadat stepped up the frequency of Egyptian exercises to dull the senses of Israel before launching a genuine attack, China will be in a position to do the same. While an attack remains unlikely in the near term, the episode has shortened the time horizon for potential Chinese military action against Taiwan …”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Expect more train delays as strike action continues on the T3 Bankstown line, T8 airport and south and the Southern Highlands.
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Author Cameron K Murray will discuss his book, Rigged: How networks of powerful mates rip off every day Australians, at Glee Books.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Andrew McKellar will speak to the National Press Club about an economic agenda for the Jobs and Skills Summit and beyond.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Leadership expert Mel Kettle will chat about “Fully connected: how great leaders prioritise themselves, reclaim their energy and find joy” at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.
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