Jim Chalmers: can you dig it?

ROLLED COAL

Mining will “underpin our efforts” in Australia’s green energy transition, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will tell the World Mining Congress in Brisbane today, adding: “We don’t need to choose between resources and renewable energy, or between mining and manufacturing.” The Courier-Mail reports he’ll continue that digging critical renewable tech ingredients such as copper, cobalt (for solar panels) as well as lithium, nickel and graphite (for batteries) could be a “generational, defining opportunity”, particularly for Queensland. He’ll also say that mining is responsible for $2 in every $10 of the government’s revenue, and has underpinned the country’s success. It comes as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek introduced laws that would allow for the first time greenhouse gases to be imported from some of Asia’s biggest polluters, The Age ($) reports. She says it “implements Australia’s international obligations under the London Protocol”.

Meanwhile independent Senator David Pocock called Labor “a new government that continues to back the fossil fuel subsidies of the Morrison government”, Guardian Australia reports. The worst one, he says, is $1.5 billion for the Middle Arm “sustainable” development precinct in Darwin — Beetaloo Basin aspiring fracker Tamboran Resources confirmed it was one of the site’s major tenants. So what’s Middle Arm? It’ll be a manufacturing site for gas, petrochemicals, blue and green hydrogen and critical minerals — but the paper FOI’d documents that showed it’ll be a “key enabler” for the export of gas from Beetaloo. Not only that. Documents show some of the Commonwealth-funded wharves will export gas and petrochemicals. What climate crisis?

FLIGHTS OF FANCY MPS

Kooyong independent MP Monique Ryan has claimed 27 business class flights — mostly from Melbourne to Canberra, which takes an hour — adding up to some $28,000 worth of air travel in her first year. That’s according to docs the SMH ($) FOI’d, which quips that maybe Ryan is “living for the job she wants, rather than the one she has” — a reference to her reported ambition to be PM, as the AFR ($) reported, something Ryan called a joke. Mhm. The SMH notes that plenty of Labor and Coalition MPs fly biz too, though it’s not so fancy on the crossbench, with Zoe Daniel flying business four times, Sophie Scamps once, and the rest not at all. Daniel is among those, including the Greens, pushing for a gambling ban to happen sooner than three years, Guardian Australia adds.

Staying in Canberra a moment and 14-year-olds in the ACT may be able to access assisted dying, Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne told The Australian ($), as ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr prepares to release the ­community consultation report on an assisted-dying framework today. Cheyne says the community has spoken: 18 is an arbitrary age limit, as those younger can experience “intolerable end-of-life suffering through terminal illnesses”. In NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania the age limit is 18. From death to birth, and a new report shows the average age of first-time mothers was up from 28.4 years in 2011 to 29.7 in 2021, the Brisbane Times ($) reports, adding a record number of bubs were born in 2021 — 315,705.

POLITICALLY INCORRECT

Consultancy firm Synergy 360 allegedly planned to pay former Liberal MP Stuart Robert so he’d help it win lucrative government contracts, according to Anthony Daly, a former Synergy worker and ex of one of the owners. The claims were in a sworn statement to the parliamentary inquiry — the SMH ($) says it’s the first time an “insider” has alleged the link with Robert, who claimed he’d never met Daly. Contracts linked to Synergy 360 were worth $374 million in taxpayer funds, a March review found, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he wouldn’t stand in the way of the whole thing going to the corruption watchdog NACC, as the AFR ($) adds, a referral Government Services Minister Bill Shorten indicated was on the cards.

Speaking of, the NSW counterpart will release its long-awaited report on former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s dealings with former boyfriend and Wagga MP Daryl Maguire today. It’s taken so long that the Minns government has introduced laws to force the watchdog to both set and report on deadlines for its investigations, the SMH ($) adds. If you’re thinking politics is in the toilet right now, you’re not alone: the SA government will get new security to stop people peeing around Parliament House, according to leaked documents The Advertiser ($) reports on. “Building services are investigating the possibility of installing a new security fence around the existing retaining wall to prevent vagrants consistently using the area as a toilet facility,” reads the agenda of the bipartisan Joint Parliamentary Service Committee. My stars.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Tom Gattos and his partner of 43 years, David, have recently given away all their money — and they don’t regret a cent. The idea came to Tom, 70, during the pandemic, when he started dabbling in the Lotto for fun. When checking his numbers one Sunday morning, he wondered whether there was a lottery where the proceeds support his LGBTQIA+ community, but some googling came up empty. So Tom went to his beloved and said let’s invent one using our life savings. He told The Guardian they felt they’d not done much for the community in their lifetime, and this was their big chance in their twilight years. Maybe it was a “primal thing, to do something important before you die”, Tom says. He’d thought hard about what they could give back, he reasoned to David, and came up with: “We are good at being gay!” David couldn’t argue with that.

Thus the Rainbow Lottery was born in June 2021, a not-for-profit that has grown to more than 1700 players and raised nearly $200,000 for organisations including HIV-focused charity Terrence Higgins Trust, and local Pride groups. Tom works as a copywriter and rolls out of bed at 4.30am to do some paid work before spending the day on the Rainbow Lottery. “Consequently, we are penniless,” he says happily. It’s brought incredible meaning and purpose to their lives, not to mention the opportunity to rub shoulders with politicians and celebrities. It’s a quirky way of answering the age-old question as time passes: “What’s going to keep us active and busy and interested?” Altruism, it seems, as long as you’re happy to buy no clothing for two years… other than a rainbow-coloured shirt, of course, Tom adds.

Hoping you can spare a dollar, today and always.

SAY WHAT?

It’s hard to tell really. But [Putin’s] clearly losing the war in Iraq. He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world. And it’s not just NATO, it’s not just the European Union. It’s Japan, it’s 40 nations.

Joe Biden

The perennially gaffe-prone US president confused Iraq for Ukraine in a press conference, the second slip in 24 hours after he called Narendra Modi the leader of China, before correcting himself with India.

CRIKEY RECAP

Plibersek — hypocrite, climate vandal, or maybe just obeying the law?

BERNARD KEANE

“The bigger problem with attacking Plibersek — like the attacks on Garrett — is the assumption that, in making a decision under legislation, a minister can simply decide whatever they personally like, without consideration for the requirements and considerations Parliament imposes on the decision via the relevant act.

“And there’s no climate ‘trigger’ in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) with which a minister can block projects up for consideration. Block a project on the basis of its climate impact and a court will very quickly overturn the decision, regardless of how ardently a minister might feel on the issue.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Progressive party stages surprise upset in Guatemala elections (Al Jazeera)

Wagner mutineers included Russian convicts freed to fight in Ukraine (Reuters)

Turkish fury as Sweden allows Qur’an burning risks further delays to Nato bid (The Guardian)

Wildfire smoke affecting millions of Canadians expected to linger for at least 2 days (CBC)

Donald Trump sues E. Jean Carroll for defamation (CNN)

Finland’s ‘Nazi joke’ government minister survives Parliament no confidence vote (euronews)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Why are Taylor Swift tickets so hard to get? The economics are complicated — Paul Crosby (The Conversation): “More than 1 million people reportedly registered for a presale code within 12 hours of the Australian concert dates being announced. When tickets went on sale on Wednesday morning, more than 4 million users reportedly queued. But no more than 450,000 tickets are available for Taylor’s five Australian shows (three at Sydney’s Accor Stadium and two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground). The maths are simple. Most people wanting tickets will miss out. The economics of this scenario, however, are a bit more complicated.

“Typically when demand outstrips supply, suppliers will — in the interest of maximising profit — look to do one of two things: increase supply, or increase the price. Compared with most other markets, however, suppliers of concerts have less capacity to respond to demand signals. For Swift’s US tour, 17 concerts were added to the originally planned 35. But the juggernaut of her world tour, playing more than 100 shows in 18 countries, makes adding shows more logistically complex. This is apparently the reason Brisbane missed out on a Swift concert. Though the management of Brisbane’s Lang Park stadium (capacity 52,500) reportedly held open dates, organisers considered it impractical …”

Albanese confronts wicked dilemma on Voice as Liberal women engage in grubby exercise — Niki Savva (The Age) ($): “With the Voice referendum suffering from confused messaging, no obvious leadership, no coordination, festering competitive tensions between and within Indigenous camps and a ruthlessly misleading No campaign, Anthony Albanese confronts a wicked dilemma. If he throws himself body and soul into the campaign to try to rescue it while cost-of-living pressures remain paramount in the minds of voters, the danger is he will lose more votes than he gains. If he holds back and things continue as they have, the referendum will go down and he will be seriously damaged. The recriminations will be bitter and enduring.

“While they might be sympathetic to the plight of Indigenous people, voters still uncertain about the Voice will resent a prime minister seemingly distracted from addressing their pain or diverted from managing the economy to fight for a constitutional change so contested by fair means and foul. It is one of the many fears of those intimately involved in the campaign, who still believe it is salvageable, even though the vibe in the latter part of the year when the referendum is expected is bound to be hostile whether Albanese is prominent or not if — also as expected — prices remain high, unemployment rises and recession beckons. Defeat in such an environment could trigger a spiral which even the wily Albanese will find difficult to reverse.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Mental health advocate Brad Guy will chat about his new book, Freefall, at Better Read Than Dead bookshop.