A hanging offence

FREEDOM FIGHTER

A Freedom Party candidate who said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews should be hanged has been preferenced ahead of Labor by the Victorian Liberals, the ABC reports. Rebekah Spelman, the party’s second candidate for the South-East Metropolitan Region, also tried and failed to run as a United Australia Party federal candidate in Aston this year. Spelman, who helped organise anti-lockdown rallies, declared in July that Andrews should be “arrested, tried, found guilty and hanged” — when the broadcaster asked her about it yesterday, she responded “I don’t regret saying it,” then qualified: “Nobody wants him dead, but people do want him to pay.” Spelman is 13th on the Lib’s group voting ticket, out of 56 candidates. Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has been going on and on about putting Labor last, except in exceptional circumstances. It seems hanging doesn’t qualify. Guy told the ABC they can’t vet everyone.

Meanwhile the Liberal Party has accused Climate 200’s Simon Holmes à Court and four teal candidates — Kew’s Sophie Torney, Hawthorn’s Melissa Lowe, Caulfield’s Nomi Kaltmann and Mornington’s Kate Lardner — of “criminal conduct”, The Australian ($) reports. Lawyers for the Liberals wrote to Victorian electoral commissioner Warwick Gately in October asking him to investigate Holmes à Court, as well as Climate 200, the candidates and three ­companies it called teal group entities — Kew Independents, Hawthorn Independents and Mornington Peninsula Independents. The Libs reckon Climate 200 is operating like a party, which would be in breach of the Electoral Act. Why? The letter says campaigns share advertising, events, expenditure, personnel and suppliers, as well as similar design and messaging. It also questioned Climate 200’s fundraising. The commission is looking into it, but won’t be done before Victoria’s November 26 election day. It’s been a campaign dominated by transparency and integrity issues for all parties, as Crikey delves into — among them, Andrews’ apparent involvement in awarding two grants worth millions of dollars to the Health Workers’ Union on the eve of the last election, as revealed by The Age. It’s hardly going to be a Danslide, but Andrews is probably going to walk it in, Crikey’s newest reporter, Maeve McGregor, says.

[free_worm]

ANOTHER BLAK DAY IN QUEENSLAND

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this section mentions a deceased person.

The head of Queensland Police First Nations unit allegedly blocked the promotion of a person of colour on racial grounds, according to Guardian Australia. The paper says it saw documents that showed the accusation against Kerry Johnson from a person of colour in the unit, as well as allegations he was disrespectful at a funeral in the Indigenous community of Cherbourg, and that he allegedly laughed at a joke about whether he was “Black enough” to head up the unit. Johnson says he has some First Nations heritage but doesn’t identify as Indigenous — Guardian Australia reports he doesn’t meet standard government working criteria for Indigenous status either. It’s significant because despite what police commissioner Katarina Carroll has spruiked, none of the 300 commissioned officers at the rank of inspector or above identify as Indigenous.

To the Top End now and cop Zachary Rolfe has refused to answer questions at an inquest into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker because he was scared he could get into trouble, The New Daily reports. Rolfe, who shot the 19-year-old Indigenous man three times, was acquitted of his murder this year. He’s back at work in the NT, but in the office, because he’s “banned from all police stations”. Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer asked him about a text he sent to another cop that read “Nah Brah, just slightly annoying. Haha. C–ns man”. (Crikey has chosen not to publish the racist slur.)

To other news and among the Australian delegates at COP27 is a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives campaigning for climate action and a better life for First Nations peoples, the National Indigenous Times reports. Among them, the National Native Title Council chief executive Jamie Lowe, activist Yessie Mosby, ATSIIEO executive director and Nyoongar man Jack Collard, and Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai. The latter duo are suing the Australian government to force the Commonwealth to “take reasonable care” to protect Torres Strait Islanders from climate change, the SMH reports, by committing to emissions reduction targets as per the best available science.

PRIME MOVERS

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the G20, the ABC reports. Sunak, who is the richest man ever to become leader in the UK, as Reuters says, was toting a fetching red leather folder around the place — Albo was like, “I have a little $1.50 folder,” to which Sunak responded, “We’re going to get you one of these,” and Albo added, “That’s part of the free trade agreement.” Just a little bit of PM humour (?) there. Sunak was probably buttering Albanese up because he wants us to pick UK-designed nuclear submarines, but Albo said we’d have to wait until March to find out more.

Albanese has also condemned Russia’s “reckless and dangerous use of force” and called for an inquiry into a missile that landed in Poland, killing two people, Guardian Australia reports. Interestingly, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said there was no evidence it was launched by Russia — and NATO’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg concurred, saying it was probably a rogue Ukrainian defence missile, though stressing it was “not Ukraine’s fault”. US President Joe Biden pointed out the trajectory didn’t suggest a Russian origin either, as The Guardian’s live blog summarises. But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is absolutely certain that the missile was not Ukrainian.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

France’s mascot for the 2024 Olympic Games is a clitoris in joggers. At least, that’s what the internet reckons — check it out here and decide for yourself. It’s kind of triangular, with a lovely little nob above frankly unsettling eyeballs, in a rather flushed-red colour. EuroNews went further, describing the mascots as “gurning plush clitorises with the cold dead eyes of a killer, who could be right at home in a particularly traumatic Cronenbergian fever dream”. My stars. Not to miss a perfect opportunity for education, London’s Vagina Museum (it is what it sounds like) posted a marked-up image of the erogenous critter on Twitter, helpfully labelling it with such anatomical terms as “glans”, “urethral opening” and “vaginal opening”. “We’ve published a new guide to the anatomy of the clitoris!” the museum wrote brightly.

France is like, non, non, non! It is a Phrygian cap, not a clitoris! The Phrygian cap, also known as a liberty cap, was worn during the French Revolution to symbolise freedom, as SBS explains. The Smurfs actually wear one, for some reason. “It’s the symbol of liberty, and it’s also a very strong message linked to the revolution that we want for those games,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said. “We want those games [to be] a big success.” Yes, a big climactic rush of joy, one assumes. It’s the latest in a long line of erogenous episodes that may have been avoided if someone had simply asked a woman to weigh in. Who can forget the time when former PM Scott Morrison’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet released a logo for the Women’s Network that looked, well, rather phallic and testicular? Paris 2024 tweeted that the mascots are “sporty, love to party… and are so French”. Well, they certainly get us all hot and bothered.

Wishing you a pleasurable day ahead.

SAY WHAT?

It felt like a five-star-hotel life in Australia … but even little things — like access to a library — you realise how they shape your life.

Samantha Ratnam

The Victorian Greens leader, whose Tamil family was forced to flee Sri Lanka after a murderous rampage called Black July in the late ’80s, recalls her first impressions of Australia as a young girl. She never thought she could be a politician — but she went on to become one of the state’s most electorally popular councillors before taking the reins at the Greens.

CRIKEY RECAP

Men on Twitter are losing their shit over Andrews’ free tampons announcement

Imogen Champagne

Nov 16, 2022

23

“The idea behind the free period products is that it helps address period poverty and is fundamental to gender equality. Monthly, up to 1 million people who menstruate in Australia find that financial constraints make it difficult to access sanitary products.

“Well, tell that to the men (and plenty of others, too) on Australian Twitter. Because as soon as Andrews made the announcement, the platform was awash with people who clearly know as much about menstruation as Elon Musk knows about blue tick verification having their say about free tampons … Here are the most bizarre and amusing takes on the announcement.”

---

Trump is responsible for the Republican midterm disaster. But he is far from over

Guy Rundle

Nov 16, 2022

54

“But the trouble for the Republicans is: there’s no one like The Donald. He is utterly singular. For his supporters — and he still has enough to surge through the primaries — he exists at a position somewhere between reality and fantasy. They love him not because he gives a story about free enterprise and that anyone can make it, but precisely because he doesn’t.

“Trump is, in the cultural memory and on TV, ‘the boss’, and for many he’s redolent of a time, the post-war Keynesian period, when a ‘class realism’ was more frequently applied than homilies about striving. Trump promised not that everyone could get rich, but that the ‘good jobs’ would come back. By this, he meant high-paying factory jobs of old, jobs that the non- or basic-skilled could walk into.”

---

Sorry, not sorry: the dark art that lies beneath corporate tech wrecks

Adam Schwab

Nov 16, 2022

7

“After that heartfelt apology, Zuckerberg did nothing to change anything as Facebook board members continued to resign faster than Elon Musk has thought bubbles. A few years later, Zuckerberg is destroying US$10 billion a year on his bizarre metaverse, a second-rate version of The Sims that even Elizabeth Holmes would have realised is a disaster.

“The metaverse debacle, coupled with Apple’s privacy changes destroying Facebook’s ability to provide returns for advertisers, has led to Facebook firing 11,000 people last week. Zuck again took responsibility, but like last time won’t be giving up his total domination over Facebook, nor it appears, is yet scaling back his metaverse insanity.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Oil tanker hit by armed drone off coast of Oman: official (Al Jazeera)

Escalation fears ease after NATO, Warsaw say missile that hit Poland was Ukrainian stray (Reuters)

Mormon church voices support for [US] Senate bill to protect gay marriage (The Guardian)

How the Canadian prime minister fell for false reports on Iran death sentences (CNN)

Amazon staff laid off as tech giants cut costs, according to LinkedIn posts (BBC)

Trump is running in 2024. The White House has a plan. (The New York Times)

Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are ‘ready’ to join Schengen, says European Commission (EuroNews)

Chinese President Xi Jinping accuses Trudeau of ‘leaking’ details of conversation to media (CBC)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Victoria, it’s time to end the cult of Andrews — Peta Credlin (The Australian) ($): “The Victorian election is not just a referendum on Daniel Andrews and his government. It’s also a test of us as citizens: what is the standard we are prepared to walk by, and therefore implicitly accept in our democracy? … There is no doubt that Andrews is the most domineering premier Australia has seen in decades. Not only has he been premier for eight years, Labor leader for 12 and a frontbencher for 16, but — due to the pandemic, and Scott Morrison’s foolhardy creation of the so-called national cabinet that gave Andrews almost equal billing with the prime minister — he has become the best-known premier since Queensland’s Joh Bjelke–Petersen and maybe even NSW’s Jack Lang.

“As virtual health dictator for the duration of the pandemic, ­Andrews turned Melbourne into the world’s most locked-down city. With curfews that we didn’t even have in wartime. With 5 kilometre travel limits inside ‘rings of steel’. With playgrounds closed. Loved ones dying alone and buried without family in attendance. With a pregnant woman arrested by riot police in her own home over a Facebook post. And with police using tear gas and rubber bullets against fellow citizens … Only months ago, the anti-corruption watchdog, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, found that serious abuse of taxpayer funds was endemic in Victorian Labor, but likewise no one was personally to blame, certainly not the premier, even though he’d run the party for the past dozen years.”

Crypto exchanges have no future in a libertarian nirvana — Andrew Bragg (The AFR) ($): “I continue to take the long view on digital assets. I believe the fundamental strength of the concepts of blockchain and cryptography is assured. The ability of the technology to disrupt incumbents and introduce new competition and choice also remains. However, we must not continue hurtling along in an unregulated libertarian nirvana. The FTX collapse shows the Australian Senate was right back in October 2021 to recommend legislative reform to regulate crypto for two reasons. First, the best way to protect consumers is to establish regulated markets. Our first recommendation was ‘that the Australian government establish a market licensing regime for digital currency exchanges, including capital adequacy, auditing and responsible person tests’.

“This was adopted by the Liberal Party as our policy and, before the May elections, Josh Frydenberg released a Treasury consultation paper on how this recommendation could be turned into a law. Our ambitions for Australia to become a leading jurisdiction, as measured by rules promoting consumer protection and investment, were thwarted when we lost the elections. Since Labor came to power six months ago, it has shown little or no interest in digital assets, let alone lifted a finger on the policy provided to it on a platter … The Senate select committee I chaired last year was largely bipartisan and the Treasury consultation is a non-partisan departmental process. But [Financial Services Minister Stephen] Jones isn’t just ignoring the work of the Senate. He’s also ignoring the Reserve Bank …”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)

• Teens from different backgrounds Grace Coff, Saad Murtaza, and Lumina Rotar will share their experience of the school system at an event at the Wheeler Centre. You can catch this online too.

Kaurna Country (also known as Adelaide)

• SA Premier Peter Malinauskas will launch The Essential Entrepreneur by Richard Turner as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 14-20), at Ayers House.

Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)

• The Conversation’s Liz Minchin, journalist Kate Power, the University of Queensland Business School’s Matthew Hornsey and Wamba Wamba writer Eddie Synot will chat about The Conversation’s new book of essays, 2022: Reckoning With Power and Privilege, at Avid Reader bookshop.

• Celebrated businesswoman Lady Jane Edwards will speak at an event held by the Brisbane Business Hub at Central Plaza.

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• Retired US Army major-general John Davis will speak to the National Press Club about “Russia and Ukraine: Lessons Learned for Future (Cyber) Warfare”.