Josh Frydenberg COVID-19
(Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

FRYDENBERG SAYS: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ‘GREAT RESHUFFLE’

Quit your job for a better paying one — that’s the reported advice of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg who is speaking to the Australian Industry Group today as The Australian ($) reports. Frydenberg will say we’re not seeing the so-called “Great Resignation” here (in the US, a record 4.5 million quit jobs in November) but rather the “Great Reshuffle” — the treasurer will reportedly point to the fact 10% more people are in jobs compared to BC (before COVID), as the AFR reports. “Switching jobs allows workers to move up the job ladder for better pay,” Frydenberg’s speech reportedly reads. And his claim checks out — the tax office says people who go the ‘Great Reshuffle’ route usually get 8-10% more pay in their new gig.

In the meantime, you could have a little more in your pocket at the end of the financial year as new tax changes introduce a write-off for rapid antigen tests (RATs). If you pay $20 for a dual-pack RAT you’ll get $6.50 back, Guardian Australia explains, while businesses can reduce their fringe benefits tax by $20 for each dual-pack. It’s not quite as good as Labor’s policy to give a number of them out to each person for free, however — while the US is already posting free tests to 60 million households, as The New York Times writes.

Frydenberg’s RAT write-off is a palate cleanser for what promises to be a racy fortnight when Parliament resumes tomorrow. The drama kicked off early at the weekend when Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce nearly resigned after an old text message surfaced where he called the PM a “liar and a hypocrite”, as the ABC reports. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he “couldn’t care less” and has forgiven Joyce for his acid tongue, AFR reports. To quote Marcia Brady, “sure, Jan“.

[free_worm]

GREENS WANT A PAUSE ON NEW COAL, GAS AND OIL PROJECTS

The Greens have told Labor they’ll only support them in a hung parliament if we can press pause on new coal, gas and oil projects. We just wanna talk, leader Adam Bandt says — he wants negotiations about climate action to take place without the background approvals of new fossil fuel projects, ABC reports. Bandt laid out the terms amid speculation the Greens could hold the balance of power in either the House or Senate after May’s federal election.

The moratorium sounds hasty but it’s far more conservative than the Greens’ actual policy, which is to pull the plug on fossil fuels altogether across the coming years. But the Greens have sworn they won’t block Labor’s climate action (whiffs of 2009’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme standoff still linger, it seems), even though Greens policy is to slash emissions by 75% by 2030 (and hit net zero by 2035). Labor’s target is a far more voter-friendly 43% by 2030, though it still puts us far behind many of our international friends (in the US it’s 50-52% by 2030, while the UK’s target is 78% by 2035).

Meanwhile, 250 firefighters in Western Australia are battling bushfires that have swept through more than 5000 hectares so far, in a situation described as “dire” by the state Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson. WA Today reports one man from Bridgetown is in a serious condition in hospital, while at least four homes have been engulfed. The IPCC says dangerous and deadly wildfires will increase in duration and severity if we do not act meaningfully on climate change, as Carbon Brief writes.

JAKARA ANTHONY WINS GOLD

Jakara Anthony, a 23-year-old skier from Cairns, has become the first Aussie in 12 years to win gold at the Winter Olympics. Anthony scored 83.09 in the women’s moguls and was floored by the win, The West ($) reports, saying “I’m just lost for words” — she only placed fourth in her Olympic debut in PyeongChang back in 2018.

It was an emotional moment for fellow Olympian Lydia Lassila too, who told Channel 7 she remembers awarding Anthony with school medals years back. Even as a kid, Lassila recalls, “she had this intensity about her”, as news.com.au reports. Australia’s last Winter Olympic golds were in 2010 at the Vancouver Games — it was Lassila for the women’s aerials and Torah Bright for the snowboard halfpipe, Guardian Australia adds.

It was a historic day yesterday too — it was the first time we have ever won more than one medal in a single day after Tess Coady got bronze in the snowboarding. It also capped off a nail-biting weekend when our mixed doubles curling team of Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill were told they would have to go home after Gill tested positive for COVID, as AP reports. Fortunately, the pair — who are our first-ever Olympic curling team — got a call an hour before the game, telling them they were allowed to compete as a medical panel deemed Gill’s viral load acceptable. The pair beat Switzerland hours later.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

A deaf rescue dog has learned sign language, BBC reports, and I think there’s something in both of my eyes. The sweet boy is named Rocco and he’s a spotty seven-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier. He was brought to Llys Nini Animal Centre by the RSCPA and he wasn’t in great shape, with ear infections that led to the decline of his hearing. But Rocco was not going to let a little thing like that stop him — so far he has learnt the signs for “good boy”, “go for a walk”, and “go wee”.

So how the heck does a dog learn sign language? Trainer Sally Humphries started with the classic thumbs up for “yes” — every time Rocco looked at her in the eyes, she’d reward him with the thumbs up and a treat. That was the basis, she says, for other hand movements to indicate different things too, like the walking fingers for “go for a walk”. Humphries says Rocco has been really receptive, and she hopes to teach his future owner the moves too. “Most dogs are more in tune with our body language than our constant chitter-chatter, so it’s not that tricky for a deaf dog to learn,” she explains. “You start off small and you build yourself up”.

Sounds like a good mantra to take into your Monday.

SAY WHAT?

[Prime Minister Scott Morrison] is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time. I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearranges the truth to a lie.

Barnaby Joyce

The 2IC of the country apologised and offered to resign after the rather explosive text message was leaked. He described his words as “assumption and commentary” rather than those of a “working relationship”. Joyce, who was a backbencher at the time, wrestled back the reins of the Nationals a few months later.

CRIKEY RECAP

Way out west: two or three things you should know about Western Australia…

Feb 04, 2022

21

Unlocked

“The preamble to Australia’s constitution makes no mention of Western Australia. It was so reluctant to federate that it neither sought popular support for the draft constitution, as other colonies had, nor joined the petition to Queen Victoria to enact it …

“Perth had the last Blockbuster in the country, probably the second last in the whole world. It didn’t close until 2019. I’ll never forgive myself for not going in.”

Advance Australia got more donations than One Nation. Where does the cash go?

Feb 04, 2022

4

“Since then Advance Australia (which has tried to rebrand as Advance) hasn’t made much of a dent on the political scene. Until this week, when the Australian Electoral Commission’s disclosure data revealed it had received two of the biggest political donations of the 2020-21 financial year.

“All up, Advance Australia got $1.3 million — far less than other campaigner groups (GetUp got nearly $12 million) but enough in donations to rival some state party branches.”

The public airing of private shame haunts the Ben Roberts-Smith trial

Feb 04, 2022

8

“At the time, it was one of the most dangerous places in the world for an Allied soldier; Kakarak was one of the last Taliban outposts in Uruzgan province. There had been two bloody battles during which Australian soldiers saw some of the most sustained fighting since the Vietnam War.

“Person 41 told the court on Thursday that he had witnessed Roberts-Smith ‘frog-marching’ an Afghan man, throwing him to the ground and firing ‘three to five rounds’ into his back.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics daily briefing: a day of records and firsts (The Guardian)

Thousands protest the killing of a Congolese refugee in Brazil (Al Jazeera)

Andrew Cuomo plans comeback months after resigning amid sexual-harassment claims (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

US warns of grim toll if Putin pursues full invasion of Ukraine (The New York Times)

Pacific Islander farm workers demand justice after claims of ‘modern slavery‘ (SBS)

Save Rayan: Death of Moroccan boy sparks outpouring of heartbreak (Al Jazeera)

No end in sight to Ottawa [Freedom Convoy] protests, not enough resources, says police chief (CBC)

Lata Mangeshkar: India bids farewell to beloved singer (BBC)

Joe Rogan apologises for using racial slurs (CNN)

Queen Elizabeth, anchor in a storm-tossed Britain, marks 70-Year reign (The New York Times)

Cyclone Batsirai: Whole villages swept away in Madagascar (BBC)

End of the road? Long-running Australian soap Neighbours to stop filming (Stuff)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Victimhood an injustice to Tame and Higgins — Claire Lehmann (The Australian) ($): “However, while we can recognise these young women are courageous, admirable and worthy of deep respect, I believe we should also be circumspect about creating a culture that fetishises stories of female victimisation … From ancient myths to medieval fairy tales, the damsel in distress has been a constant fixture of the Western imagination. Whether she is a princess threatened by a dragon, or a young girl terrorised by an evil stepmother, the story of the girl who needs rescuing is as old as writing itself …

“Nevertheless, if we truly wish for women to have the same opportunities as men we should gently push back against the notion that victimhood is central to the female experience and identity. This is not simply a matter of abstract principle, but practical, concrete necessity if women want to be seen as having as much agency and personal responsibility as their male counterparts … we need to strike a balance between recognising such courageous women, while remembering there is much more to womanhood than being mistreated by men.”

Your job doesn’t have to be your passion. Good enough is OK — Johanna Leggatt (The Guardian): “Inundated with messages about our right to deeply fulfilling work, many of us try to shoehorn our passion, that thing we love doing when we are not at work, into billable hours. In doing so we run the risk of commodifying it, of transforming the passion into a joyless chore that calcifies within the constraints of the labour model. What is joyful, creative and fun becomes hard graft. A friend of mine worked in a bookstore in his 20s and during those years he stopped reading novels as they became too closely associated with the nine-to-five. Another friend has sworn off fiction entirely because he teaches English five days a week and would prefer not to be reminded of sentences when he is at home.

“Thus the solution to soul-crushing work is not likely to be found in monetising our passions, but in seeking out ‘good-enough’ work that is well-suited to our skills and personalities. It will look slightly different for each of us but for me good-enough work is defined by a measure of autonomy so I can make the work mine and thereby meaningful. Good-enough work also allows me the space to pursue my true passion: pretending to write a novel, while taking pictures of my dog in weird outfits.”

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The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

  • Expect train delays this morning as rail workers continue their industrial action over a new bargaining agreement.

  • NSW Treasurer Matt Kean and Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes will speak at the Sydney Summit, a half-day leadership forum.

Gumbaynggirr Country (also known as Coffs Harbour)

  • There’s a meeting to discuss launching an Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society in the Coffs Coast region at the Harry Bailey Memorial Library.

Online

  • Cartoonist Alison Bechdel is in conversation with author Ronnie Scott about her latest work, The Secret to Superhuman Strength.