SWIMMER BACKS BAN
Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell has backed the world’s peak swimming body banning trans women competing in the women’s category in elite competition. Read Campbell’s speech here — she says inclusion and fairness underpin sport, but argues the two conflict when it comes to trans athletes. She says she wants trans athletes in the community but urged people to “listen to the science and experts”. Former athlete Ricki Coughlan, who is one of Australia’s first out trans women in sport, says FINA’s decision is an “exclusion policy” and “lazy on ethics and science”, she writes in The Age. Coughlan argues that it’s physiology, mindset, and opportunity that gets people on the winner’s podium. Why can’t we stick with the extensive testing we have, Coughlan asks, to determine trans-inclusion? She was tested for eligibility for some 18 months, she says.
This sentiment was echoed in The New York Times’ letter section, where a reader said athletes are more than bodies, hormones, and sex assigned at birth. “Proximity to coaches, facilities, and parents with money and time are most predictive of success,” they write. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines released last year say there’s no reason to assume advantage based on sex variations, physical appearance, or transgender status. The IOC worked with leaders in medicine, athletics, and human rights to reach the conclusion.
So what’s the deal? FINA says trans women cannot compete if they went through male puberty, The Guardian reports, and it was backed by 71% of the 152 members, though trans men can compete in male competition. They floated the idea of a third category for trans women as an alternative. It comes after US swimmer Lia Thomas won a big title in the US after being an average college swimmer in the male category, as ESPN reports, which could be down to many, many things other than Thomas’ sex assigned at birth.
COURT OUT?
The lawyers representing the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins have asked to delay the case after Lisa Wilkinson’s Logie speech, The Australian ($) reports. Wilkinson won the gong for her interview with Higgins, a former Liberal staffer, who revealed she had been allegedly assaulted inside Senator Linda Reynolds’ office at Parliament in 2019. Accused Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister said 800,000 people saw Wilkinson’s speech and argued it could make the trial unfair. The judge will mull over the delay request today.
To another high-profile court case now: Opposition leader Peter Dutton wants to appeal his failed defamation case against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi, arguing there had been a “miscarriage of justice”. Dutton took Bazzi to court over a tweet that called the then defence minister a “rape apologist”, as Guardian Australia reports. Dutton had said some female refugees were “trying it on” in claiming they had been raped and thus needed abortions in Australia. Initially, Dutton won, but an appeal found in Bazzi’s favour, as the tweet “did not convey the defamatory meaning that [Dutton] ‘excused rape’”. If Dutton’s appeal doesn’t go ahead, he added he shouldn’t have to pay costs because Bazzi crowdfunded the case. Stay tuned.
In an overseas court now and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeated his wish that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange should return to Australia, The Age reports. The change of government has seen a shift among MPs for Assange’s fate — a statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the case has dragged on way too long. The Assange camp is appealing an extradition to the US.
POURING TROUBLE ON OILY WATERS
There’s been an oil spill 200km off WA — a cargo tank has leaked at the Montara field, WA Today reports. They found a 3cm hole at the bottom of the tank, and between 3000 and 5000 litres of oil escaped. It’s just three months after 25,000 litres of light oil spewed out off WA while Santos loaded a tanker. Dismal. Meanwhile a new report this morning shows emissions from biogas are probably on par with (or maybe even higher than) natural gas, ABC reports. Biogas is made from waste and was thought to be a good alternative to natural gas as we transition away from fossil fuels. But scientists say even with high emissions along its supply chain it’s still a greener alternative — that’s because it decomposed naturally in the first place.
Speaking of toxic emissions, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is looking into the poisoning of 28.5 hectares of Monaro grasslands at a property in Corrowong — it was held by Jam Land, which was part-owned by former energy minister Angus “well done Angus” Taylor. Guardian Australia has FOI’d documents about the federal government’s handling of the poisoning — after it started investigating, there were meetings between Taylor and Josh Frydenberg, and the AAT heard the investigation paused temporarily after them. Speaking of — one of the remaining moderate Liberals told the AFR they want to hear out Labor’s case for legislating 43% emissions reduction, at odds with leader Peter Dutton saying they wouldn’t back it. The anonymous Liberal pointed out that the climate crisis was why the party lost so many seats to teals.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Eleven people in a Rome-based mafia are facing trial over a somewhat unusual crime — stealing electricity. Italian prosecutors say the Casamonica clan hacked into their neighbour’s meter and literally installed a cable to run to their own home, dodging an electricity bill in the process. And when I say home, I mean sprawling decadent villa adorned with the most obnoxious furnishings you can imagine — solid marble and gold statues of tigers and horses among them.
The Casamonica clan first hit the headlines in 2015 for this ostentatious Hollywood-style funeral for crime boss Vittorio Casamonica — folks, there was a gilded horse-drawn carriage in lieu of a hearse and red rose petals thrown from an actual helicopter, while a booming rendition of The Godfather’s theme song welcomed hundreds of mourners to the church. Huge banners outside the church showing Vittorio read “King of Rome”, but he wasn’t exactly a benevolent king — the family has been accused of drug trafficking, racketeering, extortion, and usury, and Vittorio was the subject of “many investigations into Roman criminality”. Indeed one witness described him as “a man with contacts… [in] the police, the Vatican … he got in everywhere, got whatever he wanted”.
In 2018, an astonishing 600 police took over eight Casamonica villas and it was huge news in Italy — some celebrating the downfall of a slice of mafia corruption, others in awe of the powerful and glamorous clan, and many just keen to have a stickybeak inside their characteristically OTT fresco-lined palaces. As Mario Puzo says, “Behind every successful fortune there is a crime”.
Hoping there’s a little excitement in your Tuesday.
SAY WHAT?
For many people, this flag represents dispossession and the lingering pains of colonisation. Through treaty with First Nations’ people and by moving to a republic, we can have a flag that represents all of us.
Adam Bandt
A Greens staffer removed the Australian flag from the leader’s podium backdrop yesterday, leaving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in view. It attracted the usual outrage from right-wing media like Sky News and The Australian ($), but Bandt wasn’t worried, saying he usually removes it before he speaks.
CRIKEY RECAP
Alan Joyce is out of runway and should be permanently grounded
“Throughout this period, Joyce and his team have blamed everyone else. First it was passengers who were not ‘match fit’. Then it was airports that were to blame for not having enough staff. Then it was the labour market and shortages of workers — after Qantas had illegally sacked thousands of baggage handlers during the pandemic …
“The fact that it now doesn’t have enough staff to answer phones, crew to fly planes, or workers for its outsourced baggage-handling operation is all completely on Joyce and his attitude of belligerent grievance toward the people who make the airline run day after day. What’s fascinating is that Joyce has been able to get away with it. He is still taken seriously in the media, especially the business media that adores his hatred of workers, and is allowed to opine on all manner of subjects — most recently energy …”
‘I love being used’: we ask artificial intelligence to show off how good AI is getting
“In the past few months, there has been a suite of new artificial intelligence products that go far beyond what has been made available to the public before. Last week, the high-profile suspension of a Google employee after he went public about an AI chat bot that he thought was (almost certainly incorrectly) sentient put a spotlight on just how far AI has come.
“One major advancement has been the new AI model Generative Pre-trained Transformer-3 (GPT-3) by research firm OpenAI, released in 2020. Since its initial release, OpenAI has slowly rolled out access to the model for various uses — carefully allowing access to it due to fear of the powerful technology being misused. Just how powerful is this technology?”
Meet Ralph Babet, Clive Palmer acolyte and Victoria’s newest senator
“Soon after election night, Babet deleted his UAP campaign Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter account. However, archived posts from these accounts and other online content reveals that his views are well and truly in line with those of his right-wing populist and conspiracy promoting party leader Palmer.
“Beyond arguing that the election was going to be fraudulent, Babet promoted the same conspiracy theory that the World Economic Forum is carrying out a globalist takeover of the country’s sovereignty. Soon after the election was called for Labor, he posted on his account: ‘I would like to congratulate the prime minister of Australia on an excellent campaign. Well done Klaus Schwab‘.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Israeli coalition to submit bill to dissolve parliament (Al Jazeera)
Texas Republicans approve far-right platform declaring Biden’s election illegitimate (The New York Times)
World’s largest freshwater fish found in Mekong, scientists say (BBC)
‘A huge crisis’: At least 26 more dead and millions marooned in flood-hit India and Bangladesh (SBS)
Coe hints athletics may bar transgender women from female competition (The Guardian)
Canada spending almost $5b to upgrade continental defence, Anand says (CBC)
Nigeria: Supreme Court upholds freeze on Shell’s asset sale (Al Jazeera)
PM backs Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill despite overwhelming criticism (Stuff)
Japan: Osaka court rules ban on same-sex marriage constitutional (BBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
TV’s night of whites: Why are the Logie Awards taking so long to catch up on diversity? — Osman Faruqi (The SMH): “There’s no specific individual, production company or broadcaster to blame here — it’s a problem across the industry, and across the country. The lack of diversity on Australian TV is itself indicative of the structural barriers that face many non-white communities in this country, and of course those barriers won’t be magically erased if TV starts looking more like Australia. But that’s not an excuse not to act.
“Network executives and producers are shifting on this issue. Across drama, comedy, news and reality, TV is starting to look a bit more like the country we live in. But that doesn’t seem to have flowed through when it comes to Logies nominations and wins. When the Oscars were faced with this kind of criticism they responded by transparently sharing the makeup of the Academy who votes on the awards, and committing to making it more diverse.”
Anthony Albanese’s NATO trip must include a visit to Ukraine — Peter Jennings (The Australian): “Albanese’s security is not to be taken lightly, but he will be no less secure than British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has visited Kyiv twice, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, and dozens of other European and world leaders who have gone to the Ukrainian capital.
“Additional to the formidable Ukrainian forces that protect Zelenskyy, Albanese would likely travel with a military close personal protection team. I have travelled with these folk in Afghanistan and Iraq — they were there to protect the Defence Force Chief, not me. Albanese can be confident about his security. The reason for going would not simply be for a photo opportunity with Zelenskyy, who has emerged out of a comedy and acting background to become one of the leading political figures of this century. The reason for going is because Australia has a desperate interest in Ukraine enduring through this war.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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The Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue will host a webinar about Australia’s foreign policy in the Pacific.
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe will speak on the economic outlook and monetary policy at an event held by the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia at ANZ Tower.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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Consulting powerhouse Lyndal Thorburn will speak at the second instalment of the Billion Dollar Panel series at the Canberra Innovation Network.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Writer Eleanor Limprecht will talk about her latest novel, The Coast, at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.
