NOVEMBER 10, 2018

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Welcome to the best of Crikey for the week,

This week, Scott Morrison continued his campaign to convince Australian voters he’s the most ridgey-bloody-didge bloke out there. Naturally, Crikey cast a jaundiced eye at ScoMo’s repeated cries of “fair dinkum!”.

Meanwhile, the proverbial hit the fan for the other side politics. In New South Wales, Luke Foley went after the ABC after one of its reporters detailed sexual assault allegations against the now-former state Labor leader.

Elsewhere, Australia’s No. 1 Trump fan Ross Cameron got sacked from Sky News for racist comments he made on air. We looked at the prospect of a Greens insurgency in “safe” Labor seats in Victoria. And, finally, in what now seems like the inevitable marriage from hell, Mark Latham officially joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

As ever, we’re keen to hear what you think. Write to us at boss at crikey dot com dot au.

Have a great weekend,

Anonymous
Whistleblower

Scott Morrison, the most Aussie PM of them all

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

The Morrison government is composed of all the worst qualities of Australia, and few of the good ones.

The Liberals should stop pretending to enjoy beer and leave it to the ALP

HELEN RAZER 4 minute read

No Liberal leader has ever looked natural while drinking a beer. Meanwhile, Labor has known the visual language of beer in every era and election.

Win or lose, Foley’s defamation suit would bring no vindication

MICHAEL BRADLEY 4 minute read

Australia's idiotic defamation laws will be put to work once again, but what is really left to be gained here?

US midterms

US midterms confirm America is deeply (and dangerously) divided

WILLIAM BOWE 3 minute read

Though the Democrats seized the House, the results suggest Donald Trump's populist movement retains much of its potency.

When a majority ain’t a majority: the rocky road ahead for US Democrats

GUY RUNDLE 4 minute read

It's good news overall for the Democrats, but the thorny issue of intra-party conflict remains a pressing concern.

Blue wave or big victory? How the media covered the midterms.

KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 4 minute read

The results have been used as evidence of America's "cold civil war", with either side able to interpret them as they wish. To an extent, that division has been imported to Australia.

Why losing the House could actually help Trump in 2020

DAMIEN KINGSBURY 3 minute read

If the Democrats go into the 2020 elections complaining about the conduct of the 2016 elections, they don't stand a chance against Trump's populist appeal.

Ross Cameron and the limits of News Corp’s outrage economy

CHRISTOPHER WARREN 3 minute read

Sky News' sacking of Ross Cameron after racist on-air remarks shows a News Corp increasingly conscious of the enhanced role commercial activism plays in media revenue disruption.

Insurgent Greens are the real threat to Labor in Victoria

WILLIAM BOWE 3 minute read

With the Liberals down and out, the Greens represent the real challenge for Labor at the November 24 state election.

Fair dinkum fraud: the Morrison government is patriotic in words alone

BENJAMIN CLARK 4 minute read

Don’t be fooled by the ultra-Aussie rhetoric: the Coalition's actions show contempt for Australia’s most beloved institutions and national symbols.

‘Heart-sick’ Andrew Bolt defends Ross Cameron’s racist comments

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In a column published in the newspaper and online Monday, [Andrew Bolt] argued that calling Chinese people “slanty-eyed” was not racist but a “badly chosen comment” by “an apologist for China”. He also posted a video to the full segment on his blog — which Sky News has removed from all its own platforms because it was offensive — to prove his point. — Emily Watkins

Sky News said the comments have “no place on any of our platforms”, but do other News Corp outlets feel the same way?

Despite crisis after crisis, government contracts still go to Serco

ADELE PEROVIC 4 minute read

Proven neglect at Serco facilities around the world remains a constant, so why are they getting more taxpayer money to build a private prison?

Government goes all out to hide the trial of K and Collaery from public

BERNARD KEANE and CLINTON FERNANDES 3 minute read

The government is trying dirty tricks in its efforts to prevent the public from knowing about its persecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery.

In an alternative universe, Turnbull could be poised for victory

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If Malcolm Turnbull was still Prime Minister, there’s a good chance he’d be heading to the polls right now, despite the Victorian election. He could have called an election for December 8, conscious that at best he only had a small gap in the polls to make up — or perhaps the government might have finally drawn even in Newspoll by now. But most of all, he would have had a strong wind of economic and fiscal news behind him — Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane

With continuing jobs growth and a commodity price boom, a Turnbull government would have been well-placed to go to the polls and win an unlikely victory.

How Penthouse Australia went from nudie mag to alt-right rag

KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 4 minute read

In a bid to remain relevant in the age of declining lads' mags, Penthouse Australia has rolled out the red carpet for alt-right ideologues like Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes. Can it ignore the violence they provoke?

Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson are a marriage made in hell

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

Australia's most frequent job-seeker has teamed up with Australia's least loyal employer. This should end well.

How newsworthy is a horse killed at the Melbourne Cup?

EMILY WATKINS 2 minute read

Not very, according to the vast majority of media outlets.