(Image: AAP/Peter Rae)

DAY ONE FOR ASSANGE’S EXTRADITION HEARING

A US lawyer has used the opening day of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing to claim the Wikileaks co-founder risked the lives of informants in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan and, according to the ABC, argue journalism is not an excuse for criminality.

FUN FACT: Australian investigative journalist Mark Davis used an August 2019 presentation to claim Assange “literally worked all night” to manually redact 10,000 identities in the Afghan War Logs, as well as lob fairly severe, if ultimately clarified, allegations against The Guardian and The New York Times.

ASIO LISTS NEO-NAZIS AS TOP TERRORIST THREAT

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has warned that neo-Nazis are one of Australia’s top security threats, both the ABC and The Guardian report, in an annual threat assessment that identified a “probable” level of terrorist attacks and a “sleeper ring” of foreign interference in Australia.

TALKING POINT: As Labor MP Ed Husic noted yesterday, the anti-Islam massacre in Germany last week — and foiled plots directly inspired by the Christchurch massacre — barely ranked a mention in the Australian media. Something to consider when deciding which of ASIO’s warnings make the lead story ($) and which get relegated to a few lines in a sidebar ($).

[free_worm]

MALAYSIA’S PM HAS RESIGNED

Malaysia’s King has accepted the resignation of prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, but has named himinterim PM until a new person is appointed under the Federal Constitution.

The Age reports, following allegations Mahathir betrayed a promise to hand over the role to would-be prime minister Anwar Ibrahim under a 2018 power-sharing agreement, it is currently unclear whether the 94-year-old leader will ultimately step down or attempt to form a new government if the King calls snap elections.

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

[Wang Xining: “Stan worked with CNN, actually, your team went to Xinjiang a couple of times…”]

Ah, we were often detained, we were often physically assaulted while trying to speak to people in many parts of China — [laughter] — as well you know Wang from our time together.

Stan Grant

In an all-time tense episode of Q&A, the veteran journalist corrects the Chinese Embassy’s Minister and Deputy Head of Mission on his access to Uyghur ‘re-education’ camps.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Speaking the truth about power: the Coalition is hurting reliability, affordability and competition

Feb 24, 2020

18

“The latest report on the health of the east coast electricity market shows how the Coalition’s inability to determine a coherent energy policy is punishing consumers, hurting energy reliability and undermining the economy.”

Hard pill to swallow: questions persist on $20 million pain grant

Feb 24, 2020

1

“How do you calculate the power of Pharmacy Guild of Australia to influence government policy? One measure could be the $20 million grant — the largest ever in Australia for pain and pain medicine — handed to the guild for a trial of pain assessments by pharamacists, supported by Health Minister Greg Hunt.”

Can the law stop men killing their ex-partners? We asked an expert

Feb 24, 2020

3

“Every time there is a particularly horrific incident of violence against a woman, as there was this week with the brutal murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children by her separated husband, there are calls for something to be done.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

NSW fire chief cancels planned Liberal Party address

Iran’s coronavirus death toll reaches 12, raising fears of new stage in global spread

Storms break Perth’s dry weather spell this week ahead of Cyclone Esther’s arrival in WA

Alan Joyce’s ‘high-risk strategy’ could see Qantas land ‘bargain-basement’ fleet of Boeing 737 MAXs

NSW Labor revives push to ban property developers on local councils

Queensland pre-social media stalking laws ‘must be rewritten’

Stock markets tumble amid coronavirus fears

‘Namaste Trump’: India’s nationalist leader holds huge rally for US President’s visit

Israeli strikes in Syria and Gaza kill two Islamic Jihad fighters

THE COMMENTARIAT

Anne Aly opens up on being a survivor of domestic violence, calls for action now ($) — Dr Anne Aly (The West Australian): “I have known men like that. Abusers who explode with rage when their power is taken away. For every survivor of domestic violence, another murder reminds us of what could have been. No amount of talking will stop this.”

Whatever you think of Assange, his case has broad implications — Peter Greste (The Sydney Morning Herald): “There are two images of Julian Assange that display the deeply contradictory views of his supporters and his critics. The first is of Assange at the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, microphone in hand, addressing the media gathered in the street below.”

Angus Taylor plays funny business with zero emissions target — Paul Bongiorno (The New Daily): “Australia’s Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister [yes, that is his real title] Angus Taylor is counting on the fact he won’t be in Parliament in 2050. But in the meantime any argument against doing something meaningful about climate change will do.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

  • Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims will present a policy update at a CEDA event.

  • ANZ chief economist Richard Yetsenga and China trade policy specialist Philippa Jones will speak at a Lowy Institute event on the economic impact of the coronavirus.

  • Artist Mel O’Callaghan will launch her new book Centre of the Centre at Kronenberg Mais Wright.

Melbourne

  • The Wheeler Centre will host a 10th anniversary storytelling gala, titled “2020 Hindsight”, with Uncle Jack Charles, Alice Pung, Archie Roach and other storytellers from the past decade.

  • The Australian Energy Regulator will host the Dr Gill Owen Forum on “Fairness for consumers in the energy transition”, to include the launch of a commissioned Consumer Policy Research Centre report into regulatory approaches to consumer vulnerability.

  • A team from Melbourne Aquarium, GoBoat and Keep Victoria Beautiful will clean up floating rubbish along the Yarra River as part of Clean Up Australia’s “Business Clean Up Day”.

Churchill, Victoria

  • EPA Victoria will hold a community meeting to discuss a work approval application to build a 24/7 used lead acid battery recycling plant in Hazelwood North.

Canberra

  • NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation Badri Younes will present “The Science of Space Communications” at Questacon.

Hobart

  • Uyghur leader and spokesman Nurmuhammad Majid Siddiq will present “The Plight of the Uyghur People of East Turkistan” at an Amnesty International event.

Adelaide

  • Col. Francis Peter Scott DSO (ret’d) will launch his book The Forgotten War: A personal account of service in 3RAR in Japan and Korea 1949-1952 at Torrens Parade Ground.

Perth

  • Chair of the inquiry into microgrids and associated technologies in WA, Labor MLA Jessica Shaw, will present an overview of the final report “Taking Charge: Western Australia’s Transition to a distributed energy future” at an Australian Institute of Energy event.

  • WA’s 2018 Premier’s Book Award writer and asylum seeker biographer Reneé Pettitt-Schipp will deliver “Oral History and the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy” at the State Library of Western Australia.

Gold Coast, Queensland

  • Day one of the CFMEU’s three-day global “Cut the Dust” conference on Black Lung and occupational dust diseases.