DEFEND AND SWERVE
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Special Minister of State Don Farrell say crossbenchers are protecting their millionaire backers by proposing we cap political donations at $1.5 million and not set a cap on election spending (teals argued it could bolster the two-party duopoly). Labor wants to cap both these things, and likely well below the $1.5 million mark, the SMH reports. (Meanwhile, farmers out west are raising $6 million to flip Labor seats over the live exports ban, The West ($) adds). The ABC is also on the defensive regarding a Russia-Ukraine war documentary aired on Four Corners that the Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko called a “bowl of vomit”. The broadcaster called the doco “challenging but legitimate” — Guardian Australia reports Myroshnychenko demanded a meeting with ABC boss David Anderson and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland because he alleged it “minimised and denigrated the deaths of thousands” of Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is turning his attention to religious discrimination reform, Sky News Australia reports, slamming Albanese’s decision to seek bipartisan support first as an “excuse” and accusing him of faltering on a key election promise. Multiple sources found the Voice to Parliament referendum, a bruising defeat for Labor, may have been successful with Coalition support, while former PM Scott Morrison declared he’d only proceed with his own election promise, a federal anti-corruption commission, if Labor agreed to his model in advance. The SMH notes the Coalition also hasn’t said yet whether it would support Labor’s bill, which would protect religious schools practising their faith while also protecting teachers and students from discrimination based on their sexuality. It was shelved by Morrison amid Liberal pushback, as AFR reported.
FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT
The UN found 2023 was the hottest year on record, ocean heat reached a record temperature, the global mean sea level reached a record high and Antarctic ice reached a record low, meaning last year broke every single climate indicator, the ABC reports. That’s according to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate report, which found millions are going hungry and hundreds of thousands are being displaced from their homes thanks to “heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and intense tropical cyclones”. It’s costing us billions. Meanwhile, we’re jailing our climate activists. Deanna “Violet” Coco, 33, and Bradley Homewood, 51 had their three-week jail terms tripled to two months after they appealed, The Age reports. The pair, who blocked traffic on the West Gate Bridge, were found to have created “significant risk and disruption to the lives of others”.
Brace for some woolly weather today in NSW and Victoria, news.com.au reports, as a southerly system moves through. Melbourne will reach a high of 18 degrees today, while Sydneysiders should bring a brolly to work — the harbour city may see chilly winds, rain, and thunderstorms after lunch (with a high of 27 degrees). Canberra will reach 24 degrees, while Hobart will hit 17. It comes as Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen would be feeling some small relief today after regulators indicated they’ll tell power retailers to cut so-called default rates by up to 9.7% from July 1, the AFR says, meaning about one in 10 of us will get cheaper bills (that is, consumers who don’t seek out better deals).
NOT FREE TO SEE
We now have no idea what federal MPs buy with their printing and communication expenses, Guardian Australia reports, thanks to a Finance Department change to reduce paperwork. The quarterly expenses report used to show detailed spending on things like printing (e.g. pamphlets), online advertising, newspaper subscriptions and books, but now it’s just a dollar figure. Former senator and transparency advocate Rex Patrick called the change “secrecy by stealth”, particularly considering some politicians (like independent MP Dai Le and Liberal-National MPs Ted O’Brien and Bert van Manen) spent more than $100,000 on printing in September-December 2022, the last reported expense period.
More than 170 immigration detainees could be released if the government loses April’s High Court challenge, revealed a leaked document Guardian Australia saw, a number Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has refused to say. They are: more than 110 “involuntary individuals” (which means their countries won’t give them a travel document), more than 40 who haven’t lodged visa applications, and more than 20 who want to be deported but haven’t been referred to the Australian Border Force. The paper says the government will probably win the challenge, however. Meanwhile, The Australian ($) reports on other internal documents that show the National Reconstruction Fund didn’t have a “formal expression of interest process” in January, with the paper declaring it false when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that it was “open for business”. The paper goes on to quote Albo verbatim saying it didn’t have a form process yet, however, so…
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
When a salty-haired Sydney teen named Bruce pulled his car into Noosa’s main beach in the ’60s, the 11-hour drive he’d just done melted away instantly. Perfect barrels were rolling onto the turquoise shore, and the urgency that makes surfers run, not walk, down to the water set in. He always wanted to return, but it would take nearly fifty years and three sons before he and his wife decided to do so in 2000. They sold nearly everything, hustled their boys into their truck and quickly settled into their new home on the Sunshine Coast, spending days surfing and riding motorcycles. One morning, Bruce woke up with a cough. Innocent enough, he thought, until he couldn’t kick it. Some scans showed three cancerous growths on his oesophagus. He was given a 3% chance of survival.
Suddenly, he thought of a new friend in Noosa, a guy who had just recovered from a similar ordeal. He rang the bloke who quickly got him into his doctor in Brisbane. There’s one thing I could try, that surgeon told Bruce. But you should know: it’s a risky procedure that few survive, with less than a 5% success rate. Well, that was better than his chance with cancer, Bruce thought. He agreed to it on the spot. The next minute, he was lying on the operating table without his oesophagus. The surgeon had removed it and was fiddling with his digestive system to attach his stomach to his throat. Nine gruelling hours later, the medical staff hung up their gowns and held their collective breath. Bruce made a complete recovery and has been cancer-free since. Even now, he marvels that his bold move to Noosa gave him another shot at life.
Hoping you take a chance today, big or small.
SAY WHAT?
Welcome to the team, Jodie Dunkley. Jodie has dedicated much of her working life to her community in Dunkley already.
Anthony Albanese
And her personal life, considering she appears to have taken the electorate as her second name. The bungle was swiftly deleted from the prime minister’s X account and reposted with the new MP’s actual surname, Belyea.
CRIKEY RECAP
“The only real problem with replacing Angus Taylor is finding someone from within the Liberal ranks who won’t be even worse. The dearth of talent in Liberal lower house ranks keeps him in place. There were multiple contenders for shadow treasurer when Julie Bishop’s fortunately brief time in the role came to an end in 2009.
“Who would fill Angus Taylor’s size eight RM Williams? Only Dan Tehan comes to mind — the Victorian Liberal (now there’s an unusual moniker) has led the opposition’s conspiracy theory charge about Labor’s ‘big Australia’ agenda and at the very least could combine the treasury portfolio with some insight into migration ….”
“Crikey first sought comment from the prime minister’s media team on March 11 and didn’t hear anything back for seven days, despite repeated phone calls and emails. On Monday, when a spokesperson finally did respond to the inquiry, they declined to make any comments on the record.
“Crikey had sent a list of questions, asking whether anyone from the prime minister’s staff had met with the protesters; what Albanese’s thoughts were about the sit-in; whether he’d been in the electorate office since it began; and whether the protest had disrupted the prime minister’s work in any way. The activists say they, too, have been met with silence from Albanese’s office.”
“We’ve never been more certain our serial truth-dodging former PM Scott Morrison was being sincere when he promised, in September of last year, that his memoir would be ‘quite unlike any other book written by a prime minister’. Well, the clumsily titled tome, Plans for Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness, is now available for pre-order.
“Morrison is explicitly targeting the lucrative US evangelical market with this book (worth upwards of a billion a year), though when it was first announced our publisher sources were sceptical that a figure with Morrison’s, shall we say, limited profile in the US would make much of ripple.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Israeli limits on Gaza aid may be ‘war crime’, UN warns (Al Jazeera)
Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro begins serving prison sentence after historic contempt prosecution (CNN)
Hong Kong passes security law which critics say further threatens freedoms (Reuters)
German politician takes to TikTok to compete with far-right AfD (euronews)
As UK Royals struggle to calm rumours, agency flags older edited photo (The New York Times) ($)
Brazil police indict Bolsonaro over alleged falsification of vaccination data (The Guardian)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Tasmania deserves better than the AFL jumper equivalent of a mullet — Damien Woolnough (The SMH): “Collingwood’s black and white stripes reflect the dogged determination of its supporters. The Sydney Swans’ guernsey plays with the familiar lines of the Sydney Opera House, while the West Coast Eagles’ bird head has the brash spirit of entrepreneur Alan Bond. The retro Tasmanian design, a nod to the island’s historical state of origin guernsey, has a fighting chance against the Gold Coast Suns jumper, which looks like a car decal. But the Queensland side’s kit is unlikely to be mistaken for an Aldi-like interpretation of a Victoria Bitter can. Weaving the spirit of an entire state in a jumper is a challenge, but this design ignores the present and fears the future.
“Anyone who has woken up in the pristine surrounds of Pumphouse Point, dined at Stillwater in Launceston or been left speechless by the vagina wall at the Museum of Old and New Art can feel the thrumming excitement behind Tasmania’s approach to hospitality and culture. There must be a way to capture that contemporary, world-class approach on a sleeveless polyester top. Jamaica inspired and delighted fans of fashion and sport with their jerseys for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The home jersey using plain green and gold, no botanical references necessary, offered graphic momentum with lines mimicking a soccer ball.”
Editing photos to make the family look good? Kate’s just following royal tradition — Stephen Bates (The Guardian): “Queen Elizabeth I personally authorised which images could be shown of her, which is why even the ones painted late in her reign, when she had blackened teeth and wore a wig, still depicted a youthful virgin queen. Or why Anthony van Dyck’s 12ft-high portrait of Charles I on an enormous white horse, which was hung at the end of the king’s gallery in St James’s Palace, may have caused a little confusion when visitors later met the five-foot-four monarch in person.
“Even Queen Victoria, the first monarch to be photographed, had her later portraits retouched to eliminate her double chins, pare down her waist, enhance her curves and thicken her hair. She was also stood on a box, concealed under her voluminous skirts, to increase her height. No one complained, least of all the royal photographers such as Alexander Bassano who was probably doing it for his other clients all the time. Since the dawn of photography, images have been manipulated, even news photographs.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Opposition Leader Rebecca White will speak at an election debate streamed online.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment Andrew Leigh will speak at the Australia Institute’s Climate Integrity Summit at the Australian Parliament House theatre.
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RMIT University’s Sharath Sriram will speak about science at the National Press Club.
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