The politics of hope

Saturday Jun 3

%%=v(@salutation)=%%

This week Maeve McGregor scrutinised the politics of hope in a climate crisis. She wrote that, on current trends, young people are all but guaranteed to watch “the ties of civilisation fray during their lifetime when the world eclipses at least nine climate tipping points”.

Elsewhere Charlie Lewis reflected on exiting WA premier Mark McGowan's political legacy, Kristin O'Connell coloured in the shades of grey on the debate about buy-now-pay-later schemes, and Guy Rundle argued defamation cases brought by politicians against each other and their parties should fail.

Meanwhile David Hardaker delivered an investigative series on the power and influence of lobbyists Crosby Textor, Anton Nilsson revealed the Defence Department entered $6 million’ worth of contracts with PwC after the consulting firm’s tax scandal broke, and Crikey released REDACTED, an eight-part look into Australia's broken freedom of information system.

Plus, all the latest analysis on the Ben Roberts-Smith case.

We hope you're having a wonderful weekend,

Sophie Black,
Editor-in-chief

A wilderness of smoke and mirrors: why there is no climate hope

MAEVE MCGREGOR

If we all stopped pretending, perhaps we'd be able to give young people the only semblance of optimism left.

Black Saturday (Image: Supplied)

Crosby Textor: the pollsters that took over the Liberal Party and became a global power

DAVID HARDAKER

Is the political lobbying powerhouse serving Liberal governments? Or are Liberal governments serving the group and its clients?

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Mere coincidence? Crosby Textor is the common link in Morrison’s AUKUS deal

DAVID HARDAKER

The nuclear-powered submarine deal with the UK and the US was backed by the nuclear-powered lobbying firm and political consultancy.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Scott Morrison issues blanket denial on nuclear submarine questions

DAVID HARDAKER

The former PM answered with an emphatic 'No' when asked if he knew of links between powerful lobbyists and the AUKUS deal.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Spooks and spies: Crosby Textor moves into shadowy territory

DAVID HARDAKER

C|T has long since diversified its business model, with an intelligence arm capable of servicing corporate clients and wealthy individuals the world over.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Crosby Textor group’s influence on the Liberals has been pervasive. Is it time to cut the link?

DAVID HARDAKER

C|T and the Liberal Party are so closely linked it can be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Crosby Textor’s influence on prime ministers helped it dominate the Anglosphere

DAVID HARDAKER

C|T Group's political influence reached far, having at one point former senior officials at the apex of power in both Australia and the UK.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

When ‘my rights’ take over free speech in the public arena

GUY RUNDLE

The cases brought by politicians against each other and their parties all deserve to lose — and we'll all be better off if they do.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, NSW MP Alex Greenwich, and Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi (Images: AAP)

Buy-now-pay-later should be regulated, but it’s also a lifeline for people in poverty

KRISTIN O'CONNELL

Why do the powers-that-be presume that because people are poor they can't run their own finances?

(Image: Igor Golovniov/SOPA/Sipa USA)

Why didn’t the tax office refer the PwC partner to the police?

TOM RAVLIC

There is a strata of penalties the Tax Practitioners Board can impose, ranging from additional training to outright termination.

Former PwC partner Peter Collins (Image: Supplied)

Defence reveals seven new PwC contracts worth $6m after tax scandal broke

ANTON NILSSON

Crikey can reveal the Defence Department entered into the following contracts with PwC after January 23 when the PwC tax scandal broke.

A PwC building in Sydney (Image: AAP/Dan Himbrechts)

‘You’ve got to be parochial’: WA emperor Mark McGowan’s complicated triumph

CHARLIE LEWIS

McGowan's reign, a product of and emblem for the COVID era, shows us how much — and how little — the era fundamentally changed.

Outgoing WA Premier Mark McGowan (AAP/Richard Wainwright)

Labor shuffles to centre-right as three-party system waltzes in

JOHN QUIGGIN

Anthony Albanese is moving his government to the centre-right to try to stay in office. But as urban voters move left, his hold will be tenuous.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

‘The system is broken’: a landmark legal battle sets the stage for FOI reform

JOHN BUCKLEY

A Federal Court case on Australia's FOI system gets to the heart of the delays suffered by journalists, politicians and everyday citizens.

Former senator Rex Patrick (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

‘Outrageous’ refusals, redactions, delays: inside the fight for FOI

JOHN BUCKLEY

Many freedom of information requests fall prey to obfuscation, evasion or flat-out rejection — including from the prime minister himself.

John Lyons (left), then-executive editor of ABC News, followed by an AFP officer walking out the ABC office in Sydney during the AFP raid in June 2019 (Image: AAP/David Gray)

‘Australia is an outlier’: sluggish FOI system sets secrecy as the default

ANTON NILSSON

'I don't know of any other liberal democracy that places such limitations on the press.'

New York Times editorial, 2018 (Image: AP/Mark Lennihan)

Labor, it’s time: choose transparency over hypocrisy

PETER TIMMINS

While in opposition, Labor decried the Coalition's lack of transparency. Now in power, its silence on reform speaks volumes.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (Image: AAP/Bianca De Marchi)

Canada’s on fire. It’s a grim sign of what Australia’s hot, dry year could bring

EMMA ELSWORTHY

Bushfires are blazing across the Great White North, scarring 2.7 million hectares so far. Australia could face something similar on the horizon.

A structure destroyed by wildfires in Drayton Valley southwest of Edmonton, Canada (Image: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

What have we learned since Queensland’s police and political corruption inquiry?

PHIL DICKIE

Phil Dickie played a key role exposing the corruption leading to Queensland's Fitzgerald inquiry and the downfall of the Bjelke-Petersen regime. Thirty-four years later, he considers where the state is at on corruption and transparency.

Former Queenland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen (Image: Queensland State Archives/Flickr)

How Ben Roberts-Smith’s disgrace could inspire a national reckoning

MAEVE MCGREGOR

There's no doubt the decorated war criminal deserves our ire, but so too does our nationalistic Anzac mythology.

Ben Roberts-Smith leaves Federal Court (Image: AAP/Dan Himbrech)

The Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case was a soap opera for nerds

MICHAEL DOUGLAS

The full effects of the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial are yet to be felt, but one thing is certain: it was one for the ages.

Ben Roberts-Smith leaves Federal Court (Image: AAP/Dean Lewins)

The media reacts to the momentous conclusion of the Ben Roberts-Smith case

CHARLIE LEWIS

While some media outlets — unsurprisingly, Nine — went grandiose in their coverage, others were far more muted.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Breaking news: the ABC is its own worst enemy

CRIKEY READERS

The national broadcaster needs to ‘grow a spine’, say Crikey readers, and turn its back on News Corp’s insidious influence.

(Image: AAP/Private Media)

Unsubscribe from The Crikey Weekender
Manage your subscription preferences
Contact us