On Labor's first federal budget, sponsorship deals awry, and more.
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Saturday Oct 29
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All eyes were on our politicians and athletes this week. Crikey’s political editor Bernard Keane headed to Canberra with Amber Schultz, Jason Murphy and Anton Nilsson to cover Labor’s first federal budget. Find their wide-ranging coverage on our website.

Meanwhile a national conversation was underway about politics and sport as high-profile athletes spoke up about controversial sponsorship deals and human rights. Michael Bradley wrote about Gina Rinehart’s decision to take $15 million back off Netball Australia’s balance sheet after an Indigenous player raised concerns, while Julia Bergin broke down exactly how much sponsorship money comes from fossil fuel companies.

Plus Charlie Lewis collected a clutch of (un)parliamentary animal slurs after a Labor MP called the Coalition a shrieking mob of “bin chickens”.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Gina Rushton Gina Rushton,
News editor
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Budget breakdown
The core message of the ‘budget’: households are being smashed
BERNARD KEANE and GLENN DYER

Will Australian households ever get back to real wages levels they 'enjoyed' last year? It's not clear that will even happen this decade.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)
Has Australia finally got over its embarrassing surplus obsession?
JASON MURPHY

It appears Labor has accepted that economic reality trumps sheer bloody will. Could this represent a seachange in Australian politics?

Key budget takeouts: this year’s big winners and losers
AMBER SCHULTZ

Great news for DFAT staff and our neighbours in the Pacific. Just try not to catch COVID-19.

Why the government is buying a lot of puppies (and other weird spending measures)
JASON MURPHY

The good, the bad and the just plain bizarre.

 
Who is Bruce Lehrmann?
DAVID HARDAKER

He didn't speak at his trial, as is his right, but he boasted of his very important 'senior adviser' role when interviewed by AFP officers.

Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)
 
The criminal ‘justice’ system is medieval in concept and medieval in practice
MICHAEL BRADLEY

Especially in cases of rape and sexual assault, the brutal binary and catastrophic consequences of the system is no different to a bloodsport.

A protester holds a placard during this year's Women's March4Justice in Canberra (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)
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QAnon-spiced ReAwaken America rally takes Trump-crazy to new levels
GUY RUNDLE

If your thing is Eric Trump fandom, American flags made out of guns, and copious amounts of melted cheese, look no further.

(Image: Guy Rundle/Private Media)
The kids are alright: Proud Boys face college pushback in Pennsylvania
GUY RUNDLE

When far-right extremist Gavin McInnes came to Pennsylvania, the college kids were out in force. The police were out in force against the protesters. And Guy Rundle was in the thick of it.

 
Freshman MP’s tax cut ‘stunt’ unites government and opposition against Greens
ANTON NILSSON

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather's move in Parliament, after most MPs had left the chamber, managed to unite two unlikely allies.

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather (Image: AAP/Bianca De Marchi)
 
Sponsorship shakeup
The attention economy: an $800b commodity rush that’s all about you
BERNARD KEANE

When sports sponsors complain that they're getting the wrong sort of attention, it shows they've misread the dynamics of the attention economy.

Cricketers Pat Cummins (left) and Josh Hazlewood (right) with Alinta sponsorship displayed (Image: AAP/Dean Lewis)
Gina Rinehart could have mined another path in netball row: racism is a bigger evil than virtue signalling
MICHAEL BRADLEY

The mining magnate had an opportunity to engage in a dialogue. She instead walked, ignoring the issues at heart.

Dirty sponsorship in sport: new report finds fossil-fuel money won’t be missed
JULIA BERGIN

Sporting bodies won't find it hard at all to move on from coal, gas and oil sponsorships. Fossil-fuel companies, however, will certainly miss sport.

 
Inquest cancelled into death of man with disabilities as family drip-fed crucial information on NDIS failures
AMBER SCHULTZ

David Harris died after his NDIS funding was cut off. New information reveals the agency deleted a callback request weeks before his death.

David Harris with his sister Leanne (Image: Supplied)
 
Who is Rishi Sunak, the United Kingdom’s first Hindu prime minister?
CHARLIE LEWIS

Rishi Sunak will be the first non-white, non-Christian prime minister of the United Kingdom. What else do we know about the man?

New UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Image: AP/Tolga Akmen)
 
Whoever is the UK’s new PM, they’ll have to count the cost of Brexit
CLáR Ní CHONGHAILE

Unprecedented global conditions have lacerated the UK economy. Yet it's a situation that's been considerably worsened by Brexit.

Anti-Brexit protesters in Parliament Square, London (Image: Vuk Valcic/SOPA/Sipa USA)
 
Medicare is broken — but there is more to the story
LUKE SLAWOMIRSKI

Whether or not sensationalist reports of billions dollars wasted in Medicare rorting turn out to be true, problems with the system are much more complex — and won't go away without treatment.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)