Below the water

WIND OF CHANGE

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon–Brookes will walk away from his bid to take over energy giant AGL — which would’ve seen a faster departure from fossil fuel plants — after he was rejected a second time, ABC reports. Cannon-Brookes was initially rebuffed over concerns from the AGL board that he undervalued the shares — so he went back with a bid that was 10% higher which was again rejected, the SMH continues. AGL will proceed with a demerger that it says will benefit shareholders, but Cannon-Brookes described that as a “terrible outcome for shareholders, taxpayers, customers, Australia and the planet we all share”.

More than 2000 homes in NSW’s northern rivers are unliveable, while two of every three flood-affected homes in Lismore will need to be demolished or substantially repaired, the SMH reports. Premier Dominic Perrottet describes the scenes as “unimaginable and devastating”. Across NSW some 800 buildings were severely damaged in the disaster, while floodwaters reached the ceilings of more than 1500 homes and businesses. The death toll is five. The Australian Defence Force has sent in 900 troops to help, but plenty of residents in Mullumbimby and Ballina feel they have been forgotten about. Ballina’s mayor says the first rescues were from private boat and helicopter owners.

In Queensland, a “supercell storm” wreaked havoc in the south-east yesterday, with 9cm hail pelting Beaudesert, ABC reports. The region is still reeling from days of heavy rainfall which created more than a year’s worth of landfill, according to Brisbane’s lord mayor. A search continues for a man who was swept away by floodwaters in the South Burnett region — a woman managed to cling to a tree after their car was pushed off the road by floodwaters. Also this morning, the Climate Council says our political leaders should acknowledge that climate change “isn’t a footnote to the story of these floods. It is the story”, saying the Morrison government was “supercharging” extreme weather by allowing fossil fuels to burn, Guardian Australia reports.

[free_worm]

THE NUCLEAR OPTION

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia now faces its “most difficult and dangerous security environment in 80 years”, and will reveal he has put aside $10 billion for the nuclear-powered submarines, Guardian Australia reports. A new base will be built in either Brisbane, Newcastle, or Port Kembla to allow US and UK nuclear submarines to visit. ABC reports Port Kembla is the Defence department’s favourite — it comes as Defence Minister Peter Dutton told Insiders yesterday the nuclear-powered subs would be in the water much faster than 2040, but we’re unlikely to hear which design (US or UK) we are going with before the election.

Morrison’s speech also reads that we face a world “devoid of principle, accountability, and transparency” amid Russia’s “unprovoked, unjust, and illegal war” in Ukraine. He urged democracy to avoid “pettiness of small differences”, saying our adversaries will exploit it, an apparent reference to the diplomatic row caused by us ghosting the French over our $90 million submarine deal. Dutton has before urged France to put aside “hurt feelings” after President Emmanuel Macron said Morrison lied to him — a claim somewhat bolstered by a leaked text message between the two that appeared to show Macron as not aware the deal was about to be sunk, as Reuters reports.

STATE FUNERAL FOR SHANE WARNE

Victoria will hold a state funeral for cricket icon Shane Warne after he was pronounced dead in Koh Samui, Thailand at the weekend. Warne, 52, had chest pains and had recently completed a two-week liquid diet before suffering a heart attack, The Australian ($) reports. His manager says he smoked most of his life too, but also said it could just be one of those awful out-of-the-blue things, The Age reports.

Warne’s body is undergoing a post-mortem examination at the moment — it should arrive home to Melbourne on Wednesday or Thursday, according to a hospital spokesperson. They are performing a toxicology report too, a police officer told the Oz, but the result could take months. Former Australian cricket captain and close friend Greg Chappell was adamant Warne did not do drugs, however, and a paramedic on the scene said there were no alcohol or cigarettes around, nothing to suggest a party. The Herald Sun ($) reports that Warne’s funeral will be held at the MCG, the site of his famous hat trick.

From a legend abroad to an (alleged) crook abroad — The Age this morning has a cracking investigation into Bill Papas, who is accused of one of the biggest frauds in Australian history. Papas is accused of an alleged $500 million swindle of Westpac but has “evaded banks, liquidators, and even an arrest warrant”. Papas told the paper he had been deprived of his chance to defend himself, and his primary concern is his health. Papas, a former president of Sydney Olympic soccer club, has been in Athens since last June, reportedly living in an apartment overlooking the sea in a ritzy suburb while liquidators sell his multi-million-dollar property.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

South Australian Peter Haines is chasing a world record. The Pinchunga Aged Care resident is at it for up to 10 hours a day, working towards a 2013 record set in Norway. His craft? Looming. It’s a kind of knitting using a surface with spikes on it, but it’s no walk in the park. To be the new record-holder, Haines, 74, has to loom more than an astonishing 4.5 kilometres of scarf — but his goal is just to make it to 3.5 kilometres at this stage, he tells ABC. So far, his rainbow scarf measures 140 metres — and community donations are pouring in to help Haines chase that world title. Initially, other residents and staff provided him the acrylic wool, but donations can be made through Penola’s Op Shop too.

Haines came up with the idea during the lockdown blues, preferring something a bit more challenging rather than switching on the box. He’s actually a self-taught loomer — he began on a small, plastic loom but soon realised his dreams were bigger than his tool. So a fellow resident at the aged care facility gave him a custom wooden loom and suddenly his pace picked up.  He’s hoping to pass the 300-metre mark by May, so it can be unwrapped around the football field at the Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival. Haines says there’s really nothing in it for him. “It’s just to see if we can raise a bit of money for the facility here — it’s my home and it’s what I want to look after,” he says. “If the community gives me a bit of support, well that’s all I need to keep going.”

Wishing you a little pep in your step today folks.

SAY WHAT?

Let’s face it, it is climate change.

Annastacia Palaszczuk

The Queensland premier put it bluntly when describing the extreme weather that has devastated her state and killed over a dozen people, as well as the state of NSW too. Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not follow suit, however, saying we already have policies in place and we have to deal with the “practical issues of the here and now”, whatever that means.

CRIKEY RECAP

People are using online communities to find out about volunteering in the Russia-Ukraine war. It’s not going great

Cam Wilson

Mar 04, 2022

4

“Reddit user u/tallalittlebit explained on the subreddit r/VolunteersForUkraine — an online space that’s grown to 32,000 members in just over a week — that people who had submitted their details to website www.volunteerforukraine.org hadn’t heard back because other volunteer organisers had been inundated with messages.

‘”I had 3 volunteers with heavy combat experience with multiple tours AND language skills and I didn’t find their messages for 3 days because 7,000 of you each day were spamming me with questions, most of it from people who DEFINITELY should not be going,’ they wrote.”

---

From petro-power to pariah state: the cancelling of Putin’s Russia

Kishor Napier-Raman

Mar 04, 2022

9

“For all its indefensible, cartoonishly evil behaviour at home and abroad, the Saudis have never faced the kind of international backlash Russia is rightly copping. Palestinian activists, whose calls for Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel are often met with opprobrium and discomfort, must be wondering why the West had no qualms taking such quick action on Ukraine.

“But Russia is an easy villain here. The invasion is so unjustifiable, Putin’s rationale (de-Nazification???) so absurd that save for a few conspiracy theorists, propagandists, and edgy teens on Q+A, you won’t find any defenders in the West.”

---

For a debate show, why does the ABC’s Q+A have such an uneasy relationship with actual debate? We searched for clues

Charlie Lewis

Mar 04, 2022

45

Unlocked

“It’s probably the biggest fuck-up in Q+A history … Bedlam followed. Then-prime minister Tony Abbott was furious about the broadcast of inflammatory language on a show he called a ‘lefty lynch mob’ and banned members of his front bench from appearing on the panel.

“The News Corp tabloids took up the issue with gusto — The Courier Mail going so far as to photoshop the ABC logo onto an ISIS flag. In the aftermath, the ABC appointed Shaun Brown and Ray Martin to audit Q+A and issued a formal warning to executive producer Peter McEvoy.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Foetal alcohol injuries in NZ ‘could be five times higher’ than some official figures suggest (Stuff)

Companies with female leaders outperform those dominated by men, data shows (The Guardian)

Over 2500 detained across Russia at anti-war protests: Monitor (Al Jazeera)

North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile off its eastern coast (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

Four ways the world has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine (CNN)

Queretaro v Atlas: At least 22 injured as fans fight at Mexican match (BBC)

Most women denied abortions by Texas law got them another way (The New York Times)

Visa, Mastercard to suspend operations in Russia (Al Jazeera)

Film industry banks on The Batman to mark start of ‘post-COVID’ cinema (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Rebuilding the grid is key to renewable power at lower prices — Chris Bowen (The AFR): “Morrison and Taylor are right to say that coal exits could undermine the reliability and affordability of power — but only if those exits are not properly managed. Hazelwood’s closure under Morrison as treasurer and Josh Frydenberg as energy minister was disastrous. But others need not be. That’s why Anthony Albanese and Labor do have a plan: our Powering Australia policy to cut power prices, create jobs and reduce emissions. In electricity, the centrepiece of our plan is a $20 billion investment to Rewire the Nation.

“… Rewiring the Nation will grow the renewable share of the National Electricity Market to 82 per cent by 2030. Because firmed renewables are the cheapest form of new power, they estimate this will cut average household electricity bills by $275 by 2025, compared with today. And industrial consumers would save $63 per megawatt hour by 2030. The model also shows that Rewiring the Nation will create hundreds of thousands of jobs — some in building transmission and the renewable projects it unlocks, and many thanks to cheaper electricity across the economy, including for manufacturing. Importantly, the modelling found that Rewiring the Nation would not bring forward coal closures, or impact reliability. That’s partly because those decisions will continue to be made by the market, not Canberra.”

How I’d have faced Warnie, the conjurer: Greg Chappell’s tribute to his friend — Greg Chappell (The SMH): “Shane was the quintessential competitor. He loved games and he loved to pit himself against an opponent where he could utilise his mental acuity and his enormously strong self-belief. I have often experienced his uncanny ability to will the magical to happen. He had so much belief in his superpowers that he was usually staggered when it didn’t come off. It was invariably written off to extreme bad luck. Some of his golf opponents tried to use this against him by telling him how unlucky he was, but it is hard to kid a kidder.

“During our chats on the golf course, Shane was always eager to talk about his three children, Brooke, Jackson and Summer. He was kind, caring and, above all else, a doting father. His many acts of kindness to others were only known to those closest to him. I was always interested in his attraction to poker, which he played regularly. Because I was never much interested in cards, I asked him how his attraction began. He said it started early in his life and he found, because of his ability with numbers and numerical patterns, that it came naturally to him. It also suited his competitive nature and his ability and delight in messing with opponents’ minds.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Online

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison will speak to the Lowy Institute on the conflict in Ukraine, how it affects the Indo-Pacific, and what Australia is doing in response.

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Federal Member for Macarthur Mike Freelander and NSW Member for Mulgoa Tanya Davies will be at the opening of The Shepherd Centre, a new facility for hearing loss.

• Tractor Ventures Co-Founder Jodie Imam will host a pre-International Women’s Day lunch event at The Commons Central to discuss raising capital, trends in the market, and work-life balance.

Muwinina Country (also known as Hobart)

• CSIRO’s Chloe MacKellah and Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes’ Paola Petrelli are among the speakers at Women in Data Science Hobart 2022, held at the KPMG Building.