Drone company sends Liberal drone to Ukraine

FOLLOW THE MONEY

A Liberal senator travelled to Ukraine on a trip paid for by a drone company, even though the federal government had issued “do not travel” advice for the war-torn country. The Australian ($) reports Victorian Liberal Senator David Van went to the front lines in August to take “photographs of tanks, Australian Bushmaster armoured ­vehicles, bombed-out buildings and bullet-riddled cars”, on a jaunt paid for by Australian company DefendTex. After Van returned, he spruiked the company and its drones in a speech to the Senate reportedly without mentioning the paid trip, the paper says, though Van did put it on his register of interests.

Meanwhile, our Future Fund has a $17 million stake in ZTE Corp, the partly-CCP owned telco that was barred from our 5G network, according to documents former senator Rex Patrick FOI’d for Michael West Media. Patrick also said we have a $17 million stake in BYD Co Ltd — it’s a manufacturing company that has ties to Uyghur labour in Xinjiang, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Yikes. So what is the Future Fund? It’s the commonwealth’s nest egg: an independently managed wealth fund created to bolster the financial future of the Australian government. But it’s high time it divested some companies, Patrick says, not least because it sends a mixed message.

[free_worm]

OVERLAPPING VOICES

NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has walked away from the national committee she launched with Warren Mundine which objected to the Voice to Parliament. Price will instead go it alone in a new “grassroots” campaign funded by a right-wing activist group called Advance, The Australian ($) reports, though can you still use the word “grassroots” when the Fair Australia campaign is backed by a $1.45 million war chest and 77,000 members already recruited by Advance? Meanwhile, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney made an apparent reference to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s (and others’!) boycott of the Stolen Generations apology, the SMH reports. Dutton now says he regrets it — Burney said yesterday that people shouldn’t “repeat the mistakes of the past”. Former PM Kevin Rudd has since said he thinks Dutton’s contrition is total crap, arguing: “What he truly regrets is his damaged reputation.”

A few other things are happening today: a representative from right-wing New Zealand activist group Hobson’s Pledge will meet politicians in Canberra with warnings that a “misinterpretation” of the Treaty of Waitangi had “weakened NZ democracy by supplanting the popularly elected government on issues of national importance”. Guardian Australia adds that Greens Leader Adam Bandt has appointed Indigenous WA Senator Dorinda Cox the new First Nations spokeswoman after Senator Lidia Thorpe defected to the crossbench last week, and there’ll be a “historic moment” as the government unveils its second “closing the gap” plan, as National Indigenous Times delves into. It’ll see $424 million in additional federal funding for things like First Nations water infrastructure, remote housing and family violence support.

CRIMETIME VIEWING

US rapper Post Malone was denied entry to a Perth club because of his tattoos, telling The West Australian ($) that it had never happened to him before. Why now? Well, the QT Perth has a dress code that is enforced at the discretion of management — but the state is a bit weird about tattoos anyway. The Criminal Law (Unlawful Consorting and Prohibited Insignia) Bill 2021 basically bans people from showing off “prohibited” patches and insignias (which isn’t easy if they’re tattooed on) in a bid to be tough on organised crime — WA Attorney-General John Quigley called it the “toughest” law of its kind in the country, as Vice reports. Post Malone has several tattoos on his face, though they aren’t bikie references: he has the words “stay away” as well as barbed wire, a sword and more. He told the paper: “I’ve never really experienced anything like that.”

From organised crime to youth crime and Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has taken a thinly veiled swipe at Deputy Premier Steven Miles after 13 young offenders were granted bail last week. Guardian Australia reports Miles slammed the decision as a “media stunt” and rather extraordinarily claimed Townsville was being “held to ransom by rogue courts and rogue justices”. Miles, who leads the left faction, was condemned for the comments, which some — including the Queensland Law Society — said undermined the justice system. Dick, a senior figure in the right faction, distanced himself from the outburst, as Brisbane Times reports, saying he would “choose my words carefully and … be careful about what I say”. After the stabbing death of North Lakes mother Emma Lovell the state introduced tough youth crime laws, as the ABC reports, including a maximum of 14 years in jail if a youngster steals a car at night while pretending to be armed.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

The lives of as many as 19,000 refugees who have languished in a state of limbo in Australia for up to a decade will change in an incredible way this morning, as the ABC reports. The group will be eligible to stay here permanently after the Labor government binned “cruel” temporary protection visas. Everyone on those visas will be able to apply for a Resolution of Status (RoS) visa which is a fancy way of saying: welcome home. On RoS, refugees will have the same rights as any other permanent resident: they’ll get access to our social security payments, the NDIS, and higher education assistance. They can eventually become citizens, news.com.au adds, and sponsor family members to come here.

The fulfilled pre-election promise is something of a salve, don’t you think, after two decades of dismal refugee policy — who can forget that cringeworthy boat trophy on former PM Scott Morrison’s desk with “I stopped these” etched into it? Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced the measure last night to much celebration, saying temporary visa holders “work, pay taxes, start businesses, employ Australians and build lives in our communities” and yet they’ve been “unable to get a loan to buy a house, build their businesses or pursue further education”. That changes from today, he said. The government is also pitching in $9.4 million for free visa application assistance and legal advice, so the pathway to the new visa is straightforward for CALD folks.

Hoping you feel hopeful about the world today.

SAY WHAT?

[Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe’s] got a hard job to do. He’s got to balance getting on top of this inflation challenge without crunching the economy … I’m not going to second-guess the Reserve Bank governor.

Jim Chalmers

No worries, we’ll do it for you, Liberal Senator Dean Smith and Labor Senator Deb O’Neill said. Lowe will face a grilling on Wednesday in Parliament after nine consecutive rate rises still haven’t driven down inflation (but have driven our mortgage repayments sky high). O’Neill said the cash rate hikes were “really distressing for people”.

CRIKEY RECAP

Using my case, the church sent a warning to abuse survivors seeking compensation. George Pell will be judged by history

John Ellis

Feb 10, 2023

27

“George Pell was a controversial figure for decades and was a staunch defender of the church. He repeatedly touted his credentials as a person to whom the sexual abuse of minors was an abhorrent scourge on the church.

“He did so as a cover to divert attention away from his record as a man who waged a covert war on victims and survivors of abuse, and who orchestrated the church’s defence to my claim — the ‘Ellis defence’, by which I was figuratively hanged, drawn and quartered, displayed as a warning to any other survivor who may have the temerity to seek to sue the church.”

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Pell’s supporters remain silent on John Ellis while washing the cardinal’s reputation clean

David Hardaker

Feb 10, 2023

18

“The royal commission was a transformative event in Australia’s recent history. Yet there are senior figures in and attached to the Catholic Church who, it is now glaringly apparent, simply don’t accept the commission’s findings. This rejection is possibly not surprising, coming from a centuries-old institution that believes it should not be accountable to secular law. It is, nevertheless, alarming.

“A leading rejectionist is Tony Abbott. He is entitled to his private views, of course. But when it suits him, Abbott carries the mantle of a former prime minister. There are powerful Liberal figures, such as Victoria’s Michael Kroger, who want him back in federal Parliament. A crackpot Abbott may be, but he at one time led Australia’s government and he continues to have a role in Liberal politics.”

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Listen, Peter Dutton just needs more detail on the Voice

Charlie Lewis

Feb 10, 2023

35

“One can’t help but sympathise with Dutton when you look at the sheer volume of places he can find no details. For example, he could find nothing in the 2017 final report of the referendum council on a proposed Voice to Parliament, there apparently being not a hint of detail in its 180 pages of what the Voice could potentially look like.

“He certainly couldn’t have asked his colleague, then-Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt, about the work he did with communities and the various models they looked at. And the report Wyatt brought to the cabinet, twice, detailing how the Voice might work? Absolutely no details there either, apparently. The Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition final report in 2018, or the report Professor Marcia Langton and Professor Tom Calma submitted in July 2021? Both submitted to the Morrison government — of which Dutton was a senior member — apparently no details in either of those.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Earthquake death toll tops 33,000, Turkey starts legal action (Reuters)

‘Free the Leopards!’ Campaign aims to ’embarrass’ Germany into sending tanks to Ukraine (EuroNews)

Childbirth is deadlier for Black families even when they’re rich, study says (The New York Times)

[Canadian] couple files $2.2m lawsuit over beach house being swallowed by Lake Huron (CBC)

New Zealand braces for severe storm Gabrielle after record floods (BBC)

Iran smuggled drones into Russia using boats and state airline, sources reveal (The Guardian)

US fighter jet shoots down unidentified object over Canada (Al Jazeera)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Why the Reserve Bank is pushing us towards a recession that we don’t need to have — Ian Verrender (ABC): “In the lead-up to the pandemic, wages growth was the slowest on record — even as unemployment eased and interest rates plunged. In the aftermath, jobs numbers inexplicably have remained strong despite surging prices and interest rates. That’s left central banks looking confused. And it has created an enormous quandary. If the fundamental basis for economic management is now in doubt, there is a risk that almost every major central bank — in their quest to kill the inflationary spike — could be about to unnecessarily throw millions of workers out of a job by doubling down on rate hikes.

“Until the 1970s, the idea of full employment meant exactly that. Governments aspired to have everyone employed. But William Phillips’ theory changed all that. After the global inflationary surge of the time, a new idea gained traction in the halls of power. What we needed, it was decided, was a largish pool of unemployed workers to ensure we kept wages and inflation in check. As an added bonus, they provided fodder for the tabloids which — for a bit of theatre to boost sales — delighted in labelling them welfare cheats and dole bludgers. The thinking became so entrenched, that mainstream economists and central banks developed a neat little acronym …”

The unseen gender gap in Australia’s media — Catherine Fox (The SMH) ($): “A bunch of women with impeccable credentials and experience became our surrogate best friends during the pandemic. Chief medical officers from around the country, distinguished epidemiologists, virologists and public health experts appeared regularly on our screens with advice and level-headed updates. Sadly, that picture clearly isn’t replicated across many other sectors with a new survey, from iSentia and Women in Media, finding women make up just 30% of sources and experts quoted in the media. Men particularly dominate as sources and experts as well as byline authors in sport, political and financial coverage.

“And this is despite the number of women’s bylines increasing to 43% in 2022 (an increase of more than 10% from six years ago), an explosion in participation and popularity of women’s sport, and increases in the number of female politicians. Even in the sectors where women make up the majority of employees, such as retail, they were less likely to be quoted than men. Claims there haven’t been enough women with experience or clout to be quoted are well past their use-by date. Research shows women have been graduating from higher education in greater numbers than men for decades: they make up the majority of law, vet science, dentistry and medicine graduates and an increasing number of middle-managers across many sectors.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Environment Minister James Griffin, mayor of Northern Beaches Council Michael Regan, and Youth Insearch CEO Stephen Lewin are among the speakers at a Manly beach vigil for End Youth Suicide Week.

Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)

• Barrister Sean Reidy, Griffith University’s David Peetz and Harmers Workplace Lawyers’ Michael Harmer will discuss their new book, A New Work Relations Architecture, at Avid Reader bookshop.