Scott free

NOT TAKING A STAND

There’s not enough evidence former prime minister Scott Morrison deliberately misled Parliament, according to Speaker Milton Dick, who reportedly rejected a call from the Greens to refer Morrison to the powerful privileges committee. Guardian Australia reports that Dick’s letter to Greens leader Adam Bandt did say, however, that Morrison’s self-appointed ministries were “extremely serious”. It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he will launch an inquiry, though he’s still mulling over its structure. It’ll be a tricky line to walk, Michelle Grattan writes for The Conversation: how does Albanese frame the Morrison inquiry without embroiling the governor-general? One thing’s for sure, Albo says, we’ll need someone with “a serious legal background to undertake the inquiry”. Will Morrison take the stand? Stay tuned — we’re likely to find out in the coming days when the terms of reference reveal whether former ministers, staffers and ­bureaucrats will appear, The Australian ($) adds.

It follows the solicitor-general handing down a curtly-worded finding that Morrison’s actions “fundamentally undermined” responsible government, the ABC reports, though didn’t break any laws per se. The actual question put to Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue was: “Was Mr Morrison validly appointed to administer the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on 15 April 2021?” Yesterday Morrison said that in hindsight perhaps his five extra portfolios should be “reflected upon” and “lessons learnt”. Donaghue suggested a few fixes for the future: put all appointments in ministry lists, require departments to list ministers on their website, and even enshrine a legal requirement to publish appointments, which definitely sound like leaky holes in our democracy.

[free_worm]

HOME AND AWAY

Skyrocketing rents are making the labour shortage a lot worse, the Brisbane Times reports, costing places like Geelong and the Sunshine Coast $700 million in lost economic bucks a year. It’s the finding of research released today by Impact Economics and Policy ahead of the jobs and skills summit next week and it found prospective employees are being priced out of rental markets in regional areas. On the Sunshine Coast, rents are up a whopping 36% (!) since March 2020, and job vacancies are up 259%.  Meanwhile, Airbnb listings outnumber vacant rental properties by more than 40 to one in Western Australia, The West ($) reports. It comes as Planning Minister Rita Saffioti is yet to introduce legislation that would force Airbnb owners to put their homes on a register and apply for permission to rent the place out more than 60 nights a year.

To another nest egg now. Superannuation funds have been urged to focus on getting us the best returns, according to former senior Treasury official Mike Callaghan, not going after nation-building projects. It comes as Treasurer Jim Chalmers said our $3.3 trillion superannuation industry should put capital into clean energy and affordable housing, the AFR ($) reports, attracting the support of the father of super, Paul Keating. But Callaghan was like, it’s only justifiable if the members make the maximum returns possible. With $500 billion invested in Australian assets, industry funds are actually some of our biggest non-bank lenders, the paper adds. But our super assets declined 0.5% in 2021-22, Pensions and Investments reports, because of inflation, interest rates and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the past three months of the last financial year alone, our super dropped 4.2%, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority found.

THE FOX AND THE NEWSHOUND

Nearly two months ago, Crikey mentioned the words Murdoch and Murdochs in an article about Fox News, Donald Trump and the January 6 2021 insurrection in Washington. The next day Lachlan Murdoch threatened to sue us. We published his legal threats in full — as well as open letters in US and Australian newspapers inviting him to follow through. We believe in freedom of the press. We thought he did too. Last night, Lachlan Murdoch filed proceedings for defamation in Australia’s federal court against Crikey, our politics editor Bernard Keane and editor-in-chief Peter Fray. Here’s what we have to say:

“Crikey stands by its story and we look forward to defending our independent public interest journalism in court against the considerable resources of Lachlan Murdoch.

“We are determined to fight for the integrity and importance of diverse independent media in Australian democracy.

“We welcome Lachlan Murdoch’s writ.

“Crikey’s Murdoch Letters series this week reveals how media power works in this country. We believe that coverage of the events of January 6 at the US Capitol, and the role of Fox News in those events, is absolutely legitimate.

“We welcome the chance to test what an honest, open and public debate actually means for free speech in Australia. We stand by our reporting.”

As always folks, I welcome you dropping into my inbox to share your thoughts or feelings on this, or anything — eelsworthy@crikey.com.au

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

There’s almost certainly a person who looks exactly like you out there, and scientists say you share DNA with them, too. It all started when Canadian photographer François Brunelle kept being told he looked like Mr Bean — aka British actor Rowan Atkinson. Brunelle got to thinking about the genetic lottery, and how randomised numbers — just like facial features — are bound to repeat if the lottery is run enough times. So he rounded up a bunch of doppelgangers for his photography project — check it out here. But when Spanish scientist Manel Esteller saw the photos, he sat up straight. What if these lookalikes share more than just a similar schnoz?

He decided to test the theory, and had 32 of Brunelle’s lookalikes take a DNA test. To make sure they were as physically alike as possible, facial recognition scanned their faces too, which found 16 of them were as similar as identical twins — even though they were complete strangers. Spooky. So Esteller ran the DNA of these 16 people and was astounded to find they share “significantly more of their genes than the other group”. A super interesting finding for sure, but could it actually be good for humanity too? Esteller thinks so — he says doppelgangers who have similar genes could share predilections for disease too. Saving the world aside, two participants in Brunelle’s photography project say it’s just comforting to know that it doesn’t look like we’re alone, even if we feel that way sometimes. Our doppelganger out there is just “another way to connect all of us in the human race”.

Hoping you feel part of something bigger today, too.

SAY WHAT?

I’m just not going to defend what was done. On the other hand, we’ve got a report from the solicitor-general. It clearly says that there was nothing illegal done, but it also clearly indicates that it is just highly unconventional, highly unorthodox and shouldn’t have happened.

Tony Abbott

The former Liberal PM says even he can’t muster the oratory gymnastics to justify Scott Morrison secretly swearing himself into a slew of portfolios, with Abbott continuing that when there’s a vacancy of “good, sensible behaviour” the best thing is to pursue political process — like an inquiry. The cheese truly stands alone.

CRIKEY RECAP

The carnival truly is over: vale Tom Springfield, a man who made his fame last

Guy Rundle

Aug 23, 2022

7

“With the announcement of the death of Tom Springfield, the ‘fifth Seeker’, so soon after Judith Durham died, the carnival really is over. Springfield, dead at 88 just 10 days before Durham, was the writer of the group’s greatest hits, including ‘The Carnival Is Over’, ‘Georgy Girl’ and ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’.

“Writer? Co-writer, really — especially of ‘The Carnival Is Over’, the tune of which was co-written by the Russian people. It’s a folk song called ‘Stenka Razin’, and it’s the heartwarming tale of a Cossack hero who spends a night with a beautiful Persian princess — and is then so angered at being taunted by fellow Cossacks for having fallen in love that he throws her off the side of a boat into the Volga, where she drowns. Respectful relationships, 1600s-style.”

---

Right-wing commentator Avi Yemini denied entry to New Zealand over domestic abuse conviction

Cam Wilson

Aug 23, 2022

6

“Australian far-right figure Avi Yemini was not allowed to board a flight to New Zealand to cover the country’s conspiracy protests because of his criminal record, immigration officials said. Immigration New Zealand’s acting general manager for border and visa operations Michael Carley told Crikey Yemini was denied entry on character grounds yesterday …

“Carley’s explanation contradicts Yemini’s claims that he was rejected because of the NZ Herald’s reporting in which Yemini and Rukshan Fernando — a fellow content creator popular with Australia’s freedom and anti-vaccine movements — were called ‘Australian conspiracy commentators’ who planned to attend anti-government protests today.”

---

Crikey’s Murdoch move ripples around the nation — and the world

Charlie Lewis

Aug 23, 2022

18

“As you might expect, our decision to encourage Lachlan Murdoch’s threatened legal action in response to our coverage of the January 6 committee hearings has received attention around the world, particularly in the US. There have also been some notable gaps in the coverage here in Australia …

“Further, as The New Daily notes, the Nine papers declined to run the ads that the NYT and The Canberra Times included. We’re not sure the exact reason — managing director of publishing at Nine James Chessell declined to comment when Crikey asked — but regardless, we’re happy to hear Nine has tightened up its standards around what it’ll accept money to put in its papers. How many front-page ads did you run for Clive Palmer’s political party (you know, the one that was advocating vaccine scepticism during a pandemic) again? We lost count.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Tennis fan that Nick Kyrgios accused of having ‘700 drinks’ during Wimbledon sues for defamation (news.com.au)

Paul Pelosi, husband of Nancy, gets 5 days in jail for drink-driving (The Age)

India fires officers for accidental missile launch into Pakistan (Al Jazeera)

YouTube joins Facebook in banning Andrew Tate (BBC)

Twitter’s former security chief accuses it of ‘egregious deficiencies’ (The New York Times)

Hungary sacks weather chiefs after wrong forecast stops Budapest fireworks display (Euro News)

Kyiv accuses Moscow of mass abduction of Ukrainian children (The Guardian)

The 30-year-old spending $1 billion to save crypto (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

Five things to watch as Democratic primaries in New York and Florida take centre stage (CNN)

Six months of Russia’s war in Ukraine, explained in maps (Al Jazeera)

Europe’s drought the worst in 500 years — report (BBC)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Albanese’s jobs summit is not a rerun of Hawke’s: this time voters want to challenge globalisation, not embrace it — Peter Lewis (Guardian Australia): “Australians want to see government doing more than fiddling around the edges; there is strong support for price caps, super-profit taxes and industry-wide pay deals. Support for each measure crosses partisan voting lines, with negligible opposition to any of these propositions. On paper, these are all radical departures from the neoliberal consensus that defined the 1983 summit and so much economic debate since.

“Only increasing immigration fits into this framework and, unsurprisingly, it is the least popular option put forward — although one with still significant support. Explaining the impact on housing, health services and infrastructure of this influx will be essential to consolidate support behind this measure. The broader message from the public is clear: like the successful Hawke government before it, we want the new government to be brave; to recognise the moment it is in and to not just think outside the box, but to break the box. Only this time, the challenge for government is not to coax people into giving them permission to give up control, but to reclaim responsibility for the well-being of its citizens by tempering the unrestrained forces of global capital that have so badly let us down.”

Future generations deserve an explanation for pandemic profligacy — Chris Uhlmann (The Age): “Take one example as a guide. The Albanese government has, rightly, signalled it will call a royal commission into the robo-debt debacle, where unlawful debts were issued to 443,000 people. A court found the Commonwealth owed compensation of $1.8 billion, including interest. By comparison, Australia’s entire 26 million-strong population was affected by the pandemic and the diktats it spawned from every level of government. It radiated out to include temporary and prospective migrants, international students and tourists. The international border closure helps explain our chronic worker shortage.

“… So, easily more than half a trillion dollars was borrowed and all of it will have to be repaid with interest by future taxpayers; the vast bulk by young workers, their children and those as yet unborn. The chances are better than even that future governments will reward them for this effort by cutting services in the hunt for savings … In sum, not only did the Reserve Bank cut the cost of cash to near zero, it effectively printed $350 billion worth of Australian currency and sprayed it into the marketplace on top of the government spending. The people who benefit most from this sort of environment are typically those who already have money. One effect of this tsunami of cash was to supercharge the housing market and encourage investors to pour into it.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, Secretary for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Andrew Metcalfe, and the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions’ Mark Howden are among the speakers at Landcare’s national conference at the International Conference Centre.

• Journalist John Lyons will discuss his new book, Dateline Jerusalem: Journalism’s Toughest Assignment, with ABC’s Stan Grant at Glee Books.

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• Comedian and media presenter Em Rusciano will speak to the National Press Club in partnership with Women in Media.

Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)

• Journalist Andrew Quilty will chat about his new book, August in Kabul: America’s Last Days in Afghanistan, at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.