COURT MOVES SLOWLY ON CITIZENSHIP

The High Court will not hear the cases of MPs with question marks over their eligibility to serve in Parliament until mid-October. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel yesterday set aside three days to hear the cases, denying requests from the Attorney-General’s representative to have them held in September, citing the need to grant Senator Malcolm Roberts‘ lawyers sufficient time to prepare, and anticipating that Senators Nick Xenophon and Fiona Nash would also be referred to the court when Parliament resumes.

It’s bad news for the government, not helped by the fact Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan‘s publicly stated excuse for his dual citizenship appears to be evolving. Canavan initially blamed his mother for making an application for Italian citizenship on his behalf in 2006, but his lawyers told the court he had in fact been a citizen since age two.

Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue QC drew a line between the cases of Canavan, Barnaby Joyce and former Greens Senator Larissa Waters, and those of Roberts and Scott Ludlam, arguing the latter pair should be disqualified as they were aware of their dual citizen status.

ACCC BACKS TEN TAKOVER

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Simms has signed off on Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon’s efforts to buy Network Ten out of administration. Simms said the consumer watchdog had focused on Murdoch’s bid in particular and that, if it went ahead, the takeover would bring News Corp “right up there against the limit” of allowable acquisitions.

Although they have the green light, Murdoch and Gordon — who owns regional broadcaster Win Corporation — still need Parliament to alter Australia’s media diversity laws and repeal the “two out of three” rule, which prevents any one owner from controlling a newspaper, radio station, and TV channel in a capital city market.

With Pauline Hanson’s One Nation prepared to back the government’s plan to repeal the rule and Labor opposed, the key player is now Nick Xenophon.

ISIS LABELS AUSTRALIA ‘REGIONAL GUARD DOG’

Islamic State has released a video from the Philippines calling Australia a “regional guard dog” for the US. According the The Australian, the seven-minute English-language clip was produced by IS’ Al-Hayat Media Centre and encourages Muslims in the region to join the terrorist group’s cause.

Australia has played an increasingly visible role in resisting the Islamist movement in the southern Philippines, and ASIS chief Nick Warner visited the country and posed for a rare photo with President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week. Australia is also providing aerial surveillance.

After criticism about the wisdom of posing with Duterte, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defended Warner, and warned the Philippines “has the potential to be the Southeast Asian headquarters for ISIS”.

REAL ALL ABOUT IT

‘I’m pumped’: Terror plot accused lapped up beheading videos, court papers say

Coalition women form secret women-only WhatsApp group

Don’t rip up our proud history, says John Howard

I want the word ‘gay’ back: Bob Katter

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Moruya: PM Malcolm Turnbull’s magical regional tour heads to the NSW south coast.

Sydney: Mention for conspiracy trial featuring former state ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.

Melbourne: Labor leader Bill Shorten to speak at Vodafone’s small business summit.

COMMENTARIAT

The US Alliance: Keating and Howard go beyond the Kabuki — Laura Tingle (Australian Financial Review $): “We see Afghanistan and North Korea firmly through the prism of Australia’s alliance with the US. Yet this is at a time when seeing the alliance as some “set and forget” part of foreign policy has never had quite so many conflicting forces working on it.”

Despite the postcards from the edge, #auspol has yet to fully enter the twilight zone — Katharine Murphy (Guardian Australia): “Turnbull’s happy scenario plays out like this: a legally valid postal survey, followed by a yes vote, which can then be quickly and quietly legislated, and, while that’s all playing out, knuckle down and sort out the government’s unresolved energy policy by forging a productive path through the inevitable internal battle.”

Liberals brawl as the young walk on — David Crowe (The Australian $): “The government is losing younger voters on a scale not seen since John Howard was swept from the Lodge. Turnbull and his ministers must bend the ears of Australians under 40 any way they can. The fact Bill Shorten did five FM interviews yesterday is another small sign they are behind.”

THE WORLD

British officials might have vastly overestimated the number of immigrants in the country, with revealing around 97% of international students leave the country after completing their studies. Students are thought to be one of the largest immigrant groups in the country, and the new student data calls into questions the country’s overall figures, which are based on small airport surveys. — The Telegraph

Hezbollah has captured most of the territory along the border of Lebanon once held by Islamic State, its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said. Lebanon had endured spillover from the Syrian civil war but the border area is now almost entirely under the control of Hezbollah and the Lebanese army. — Reuters

WHAT WE’RE READING

My life at a Russian propaganda network (Politico): “In practice, Sputnik’s mission statement — “Telling the Untold” — means that Sputnik’s content should reflect the Russian side of any news story, whether it lines up with reality or not. When it came to the issue of Crimea (which has been occupied by Russian-backed troops since 2014), we were never to write anything on the subject that didn’t include language noting that 90 percent of Crimea residents voted in a referendum to rejoin Russia. Of course, when I’d include details of the tanks and armed men that lined the streets while the people of Crimea voted in that referendum, it would be removed from the story before it went live.”

America is on the verge of ratpocalypse (New Republic): “It’s no surprise that rats thrive in cities, where humans provide an abundance of food and shelter. But experts now agree that the weather is playing a role in these recent increases. Extreme summer heat and this past winter’s mild temperatures have created urban rat utopias.”

Why are millennials rejecting prized family possessions? (Observer): “The old method of passing possessions down to relatives isn’t so sure-fire anymore. And the easy Plan B — sell stuff or donate it to charity — has shifted, too. The second-hand industry has been hit with a glut of inventory right as demand has fallen off a cliff.” 

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