TAX BATTLE

Treasurer Scott Morrison has refused to split up the budget’s landmark $140 billion cuts to income tax, and called on Labor to pass the bill in its entirety in a move set to raise the stakes for upcoming byelections.

The ABC reports that Labor is pursuing costings for the latter end of the tax package, which would eventually have people earning between $41,001 and $200,000 pay the same marginal tax rate by July 1, 2024. Labor has unsuccessfully called on the government to break up the legislation so they can pass cuts for low- and middle-income earners. The government has thus far only released detailed costings for the first four years of the seven-year plan, which could pass anyway with support from the Senate crossbench and One Nation ($).

FORMER AFL PLAYER SUES FOR HARASSMENT

Former Gold Coast Suns player Joel Wilkinson will seek compensation from the AFL for racial abuse and sexual harassment in a submission to the Human Rights Commission.

The ABC reports that Wilkinson, a Sydney-born man of Nigerian descent, alleges he was subject to racial, sexual and religious harassment from AFL staff, the Gold Coast Suns, club officials and teammates, as well as opposition players and spectators. His lawyers have further argued that the AFL failed in its duty of care, and will seek compensation for loss of past/future wages, pain, suffering and humiliation.

PRISONERS RELEASED

North Korea has released three US citizens in the lead-up to a historic meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

As the The Sydney Morning Herald reports, Trump announced via Twitter that he would meet the three prisoners, two ethnic Koreans arrested for “hostile acts” and one a pastor arrested for “espionage”, once they land in America with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. However, with Iranian MPs burning paper US flags in Parliament, Trump is having less luck with his decision to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

I was in favour of freezing that when it happened, but I think the freeze has probably gone on too long.

John Howard

Even the deeply conservative former prime minister thinks the Coalition’s freeze to Newstart, condescendingly defended by current PM Malcolm Turnbull as an incentive “to get a job or to stay in the workforce”, has gone on long enough.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Labor set for byelection test after High Court ousts GallagherBernard Keane

“There will be another four citizenship byelections in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania in coming months in the wake of the High Court’s decision this morning to find ACT Labor Senator Katy Gallagher ineligible to have stood in the 2016 election.”

Michelle Guthrie
‘Ideological and vindictive’: reactions to ABC budgets cutsEmily Watkins

“The government’s cuts to ABC funding in yesterday’s federal budget have left managing director Michelle Guthrie ‘disappointed and concerned’, she said in an email to staff last night. ‘This decision will make it very difficult for the ABC to meet its charter requirements and audience expectations,’ she said.”

Should Netflix be forced to screen more Australian content?Ben Eltham

‘In recent months, the debate about the future shape of Australian culture has spilled out into the open, driven by a concerted campaign by industry groups, including Screen Producers Australia and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, to ‘make it Australian’.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Coalition’s ‘brutal’ plan to dock welfare for fines savaged by advocates

System ‘failed’ little girl in Tennant Creek, Office of NT Children’s Commissioner report finds ($)

Stillbirth tragedy: Report exposes failings at Fiona Stanley Hospital

New Bill to legalise sex work in SA tabled in Parliament by Greens MLC Tammy Franks ($)

Brisbane City Councillor Nicole Johnston takes council to court over conduct review panel finding ($)

Time to rug up — south-east Australia is about to get cold, wet and windy

AFL must stand up and back Tasmanian State League, says Premier Will Hodgman ($)

Melbourne CBD shut down as tens of thousands march in union protest

104-year-old academic David Goodall says in his final hours he has ‘no hesitations whatsoever’

Malaysia election: Mahathir Mohamad’s opposition alliance wins majority in parliament

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

  • Opposition leader Bill Shorten will deliver his budget reply speech in the House at 7.30pm AEST.

Melbourne

  • Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will begin her Australian tour in conversation with former prime minister Julia Gillard.

  • ABC Director of News, Analysis & Investigations Gaven Morris will discuss fake news and modern journalism at the Melbourne Press Club.

  • Day four of Melbourne Knowledge Week includes a screening of Food Fighter, a global exploration of food waste and OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn’s journey to find solutions.

  • Bureau of Meteorology’s Severe Weather Manager Steven McGibbony and SES Chief Operations Officer Tim Wiebusch will discuss Melbourne’s cold snap and potential for extreme weather.

Perth

  • WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt will unveil the 2018/19 state budget.

  • PwC will host a federal budget breakfast with former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr and former Liberal leader of the opposition Dr John Hewson.

Brisbane

  • Members of the National Tertiary Education Union at The University of Queensland will strike in support of improved pay and job security, following a month of work bans and organised one-hour work stoppages across the university. Speakers will include NTEU Western Australia Division Secretary Gabe Gooding and Queensland Council of Unions General Secretary Ros McLennan.

Palm Island, Queensland

  • Lex Wotton, Indigenous activist and lead applicant in the successful $30 million Palm Island class action settlement, will address a public meeting.

Adelaide

  • Up to three EA-18G Growler aircraft from RAAF Base Amberley will conduct diversion training over Edinburgh Base.

Rockhampton, Queensland

  • A 38 year-old-man will appear in court on 40 charges of fraud after allegedly pocketing $5 million in investors’ money.

Hastings, New Zealand

  • A community forum will be held into the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Project, to understand the project with Japan.

Switzerland

  • Australia’s oldest scientist at the age of 104, David Goodall, plans to end his life in Switzerland today after flying out of Perth on May 2 and visiting family in France throughout the week.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Because of Her I Can’t – the Rematriation of Her(Story) in His(Story) — Shannon Foster (IndigenousX): “Being born in 1891, Granny Eliza had little or no access to formal, western education. In the missions at the time, the intention was to ‘Christianise and civilise’, not to educate. What education there was available only went to Year 3 for Aboriginal students like Granny Eliza. Any education beyond this was deemed a waste of resources. Society at the time believed that Aboriginal people did not have the intellectual capacity to learn beyond a seven to eight year old level, so inferior was our race.”

Union movement can’t afford to waste goodwill of ‘staggering’ march — Ben Schneiders (The Age): “Staggering. Getting 100,000 people on to the streets of Melbourne to protest against Australia’s workplace laws shows there’s still some life in the once-mighty union movement. In fact it is gaining strength every day. It is fundamentally winning the debate over workplace relations against weak and ineffectual business groups and interests that have failed to counter its arguments.”

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