MPS TO PLAY MUSICAL SEATS

A redistribution is expected to be delivered by the Australian Electoral Commission today. The redistribution is based on new ABS data, and it is expected that Victoria and the ACT will gain a lower house seat while South Australia loses one. As Fairfax reports, the new 151 seat House will benefit Labor, potentially leaving Coalition Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne at risk if his seat of Sturt soaks up surrounding areas.

It’s a nervous time for MPs, with the High Court and the AEC shaking things up. Crikey’s own diarist, Senator Derryn Hinch, has been moved to the “in doubt” column, admitting this week he might still have ties to the US because he maintains a Social Security number. Though not a US citizen, Hinch says he’ll have a quiet chat with the Solicitor-General about the issue.

At the Press Club yesterday, constitutional expert George Williams warned members of the government caught up in the scandal should not be making ministerial decisions, arguing the directives of Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash could later be subject to individual legal challenges if either is ruled ineligible by the High Court.

POLITICAL FORECAST REMAINS HOT

PM Malcolm Turnbull is reportedly treading carefully after saying the government had “no plans” to build a new coal-fired power station. That angered the Coalition’s coal crew, particularly Queensland state leader Tim Nicholls, who is about to fight an election campaign. Turnbull has now backed away from the statement, indicating a coal power station in — you guessed it — Queensland could get federal funding, winning praise from his good friend and defender Tony Abbott.

As expected, Turnbull met with the heads of energy companies yesterday, extracting a promise they will notify 2 million customers of cheaper deals on offer. The execs in turn asked for certainty about the Clean Energy Target, unlikely thanks to the aforementioned Liberal turmoil.

The Climate Council has meanwhile released a state scorecard on renewable energy, with Tasmania coming out on top, followed by South Australia. On the other side of the table are Queensland, WA and the NT.

BAD SPORTS

The Australian cricket team has been humbled by Bangladesh, collapsing to its first ever Test defeat to the underdog local side. If Australia loses the second Test in the series it will have fallen from the No. 1 ranked test team to sixth in the course of just 18 months.

The timing is particularly awkward for the Australian players, who just negotiated a new pay deal. Their contracts now average a value of $1.36 million per year, reports The Australian. The average wage for the Bangladeshi team is closer to $26,000, about one week worth of wages for the Australians.

There’s also bad news for mercurial tennis star Nick Kyrgios, with the 14th seed bundled out of the US Open by fellow Australian John Millman in the first round.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Manus refugees given ultimatum as Turnbull government comes under pressure

AFP calls in phone hacking experts

Chris Uhlmann leaving ABC to take Laurie Oakes‘ job at Nine

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney: Treasurer Scott Morrison to deliver the Bloomberg address and attack Bill Shorten over his “socialist agenda”

Sydney: NBN Co CEO Bill Morrow to release the network’s three-year corporate plan

Melbourne: State memorial for Labor state MP and minister Fiona Richardson

Perth: Same-sex marriage advocates expected to launch television commercial

COMMENTARIAT

Shorten wants to keep the farm, but CBS can buy Ten — Niki Savva (The Australian $): “…the network senior members of the government consider the most persistently, consistently, anti-Coalition in its nightly news coverage is Ten.”

Our universities are a frontline in China’s ideological wars — John Garnaut (Australian Financial Review $): “There can be no doubting the pressure on universities to fill classrooms with full fee-paying foreign students, generate private donations, and rise up the research rankings. But they will need to find a way to reconcile their scholarly values and principles with the political objectives of their dominant customer.”

Defeated Liberals could be facing Coalition split after next election — James Campbell (Herald Sun $): “Assuming therefore that Abbott is passed over, the consensus seems to be that the leadership of the Liberal Party would pass to Peter Dutton — if he wants it — and if he holds his seat.”

THE WORLD

US President Donald Trump has tweeted that talking with North Korea “is not the answer” to the escalating conflict between the isolated nation and the world. Trump was swiftly contradicted by his Secretary for Defense, however, with Jim Mattis telling reporters “we are never out of diplomatic solutions”. Malcolm Turnbull has also joined the fray, turning North Korea’s own warning back on the state, saying Kim Jong-un would be writing a “suicide note” if he attacked South Korea. — Reuters

WHAT WE’RE READING

Harvey should be the turning point in fighting climate change (Washington Post): “It’s clearly too late to stop the Category 4 hurricane that led to the millennial flooding in Houston. But it may not be too late to save the planet if we heed Harvey’s hard lesson here in Texas, a proud state that doesn’t like to be messed with. It could be the perfect place to start.”

We need to nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon. Here’s why (The Guardian): “In the past, natural monopolies like utilities and railways that enjoy huge economies of scale and serve the common good have been prime candidates for public ownership. The solution to our newfangled monopoly problem lies in this sort of age-old fix, updated for our digital age. It would mean taking back control over the internet and our digital infrastructure, instead of allowing them to be run in the pursuit of profit and power.”

How Bashar al-Assad won the war in Syria (The National Interest): “The US, Europe, and most of the Arab world who would rightly prefer a more democratic and peaceful alternative to the current administration in Damascus are now forced to reckon with the hard reality that Bashar al-Assad will continue to be Syria’s president. Regime change in Syria, partly due to Washington’s unwillingness to get fully involved in a proxy war with combatants that increasingly operate with similar brutality, partly due to the the support of Syria’s allies, and partly due to Assad’s tactics, is now a dead letter.”

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