HITTING THE GAS
Energy Minister Angus Taylor will accelerate seven fossil fuel projects, The Australian ($) reports, despite the UN chief describing such a move as “madness” while naming and shaming our measly climate action. Taylor says skyrocketing gas prices in Europe (up 300% at the moment as Russia supplies about a third of its needs) prompted him to fast-track grants to the local gas projects in Queensland, NSW and Victoria, saying Europe was a “warning” for us. It’s part of a $50 million funding boost for the industry, the SMH adds.
It comes as the UN secretary-general António Guterres slammed Australia at a London climate summit, saying “a growing number of G20 developed economies have announced meaningful emissions reductions by 2030 — with a handful of holdouts, such as Australia”. Ouch. The Climate Council told AAP it’s “very unusual” to see Guterres call out a country by name. The UN chief continued that it would be “mutually assured destruction” if countries turned to fossil fuels like coal or gas to patch up the gap caused by Russia’s invasion, BBC continues.
So — natural gas, friend or foe? The government says it’s crucial in the transition to renewable sources because it’s a lower-emission alternative to coal, but scientists and climate activists say it’s too late in the day to use gas now, as Reuters reports — we’re already hurtling towards a 2 degree warming, and many are increasingly pointing out big batteries (fuelled by wind or solar) are just as — mind the pun — powerful now as fossil fuels anyway.
BITING THE BULLET
The WA government will completely rewrite its gun laws, The West ($) reports, after the WA Police Force database showed how widespread they are. Gun ownership in the west is up 60% in 13 years, yet the number of gun licence holders remains at about 89,000, which means each owns about four guns now. Police Minister Paul Papalia was “quite taken aback” by the stats, saying practically every street in the state is home to a person who owns several firearms. So what will the new laws look like? Well, it’ll give the cops the power to strip gun owners of their licences if they think they should (like domestic violence perpetrators) while also improving training, security and storage rules. It should go to Parliament next September, but with Labor controlling both houses, it’ll probably pass.
Speaking of weapons, Defence Minister Peter Dutton will today confirm an Australian “Space Force” that will defend us in space, a kind of fourth branch of our armed forces along with the army, navy and air force, The Australian ($) says. Dutton says it’ll be “modest” compared to similar ones, like the US Space Force that former US president Donald Trump launched that now has 6400 personnel. Dutton is set to point to Russia’s and Ukraine’s efforts to make hypersonic weapons in describing the militarisation of space. Dutton reckons China’s cyber-warfare capabilities shouldn’t be underestimated either, the AFR reports — the defence minister says the country’s online weaponry is now as strong as its military.
AGAINST OUR NATURE
The government is facing a criminal charge over allegedly building a walking track near a sensitive part of Kakadu National Park, the ABC reports. The NT’s sacred sites watchdog accused government-owned Parks Australia of illegally building the Gunlom waterfall track near a well-known sacred site, The New Daily continues (the waterfall was actually featured in the movie, Crocodile Dundee). The government has apologised and removed the track, but said you can’t prosecute us — it argued it has Commonwealth immunity from NT’s Sacred Sites Act.
The government is also under fire this morning for approving the destruction of habitat needed by threatened species, according to a report from the Australian Conservation Foundation. It found three-quarters of the land cleared — about 100,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds’ worth — was approved for mining developments, Guardian Australia reports. The most affected animal was the koala, which is already endangered in NSW, Queensland and the ACT, followed by the swift parrot, the greater glider and the spot-tailed quoll. The Olive Downs coal mine in Queensland (which got $175 million from the government) alone cleared a fifth of all levelled koala habitat during the last decade.
Unfortunately, the sea is copping it too — as the coral bleaching continues off Australia, researchers have found that fish that hang around are less and less colourful too, the Brisbane Times reports. It follows the analysis of 30 years of data. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says 60% of the corals on a 500km stretch of the reef is now severely bleached. It comes as a UNESCO World Heritage delegation arrived yesterday to inspect the reef, The New Daily adds. But — to finish on some positive stuff — the government has actually created one of the world’s largest safe havens for marine life, off Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands, The Advocate reports. It’s bigger than Victoria, ACT and Tasmania combined, and has been welcomed by environmental groups.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Nothing quite drives home the reality of ageing like hearing the slang of today. As Grandpa Simpson rather memorably warns in The Simpsons — “I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!”. Well, it’s even happening in the orangutan world — researchers were looking into the “kiss-squeak”, which is a kind of alarm sound the lanky primates make, when they notice something super interesting. The orangutans started introducing tweaks in the calls by changing up the pitch or duration, which would catch on among their peers. Researchers were astounded to realise: this is orangutan slang.
Why do they do it? “It seems ‘novelty’ is at a premium”, researcher Adriano Lameira told The Guardian, “much like in songbirds, and that individuals want to show off their coolness and how [much of a] rebel they are”. But just like with humans, slang becomes cool and then falls out of use fairly quickly in the large groups of orangutans, whereas it sticks around longer in the smaller groups — just like a friend circle or colleagues adopting their own lingo. Lameira says the remarkable discovery shows great apes are a model species for us to learn about our own human language origins.
Wishing you a little rebellion today, too.
SAY WHAT?
She exemplified the courage and creativity that we all say we want from candidates for public office but on all sides we too often shun both, favouring useful idiots, obedient nudniks and bland time-servers.
Andrew Landeryou
Ouch. The husband of late senator Kimberley Kitching didn’t hold back ($) at her service, saying she had better moral judgement than what he called the “cantankerous cabal” who opposed her. As Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy writes, the aftermath of her sudden death is perhaps best understood as a grim glimpse into the “routine brutality of Australian politics” across the board.
CRIKEY RECAP
The true story of Kimberley Kitching and the Labor gang
“If I don’t believe Kitching’s claim she was being impacted by the factional conflict she was involved in, it’s because there is an established record of her being a strategic liar and of misusing official procedures, and good evidence of personal corruption.
“This is all without considering Kitching’s knowledge of her husband’s financial chaos, and his sudden sojourn to Costa Rica — an event which she presented as a complete surprise to her, something no one has ever believed for a second. This must, as they say in court, go to character. Or lack thereof.”
A culture of secrecy lies behind Hillsong’s malaise, and it’s starting to unravel
“It’s hard to know what is the most startling information to emerge from the extraordinary revelations made at last Friday’s all-staff Hillsong meeting, called to address mounting rumours around the behaviour of Pastor Brian Houston, as reported here by Crikey, drawing on a leaked audio recording.
“Is it the disclosure that the church needed an ‘integrity unit’ — so-called by senior pastor Phil Dooley — to check on the behaviour of its most prominent pastor? The National Rugby League has one… but a church? Is it that the six-member ‘integrity unit’ was composed almost entirely of men, most of whom are long-serving Hillsong figures with history with the Houston family stretching back decades?”
The Hillsong flock, lost and forlorn, looks to the Good Shepherd — as the young revolt
“Pastor Phil is a parable in himself. Hillsong to his Gucci bootstraps, he hails from the church’s heartland in north-west Sydney. He began with the church 30 years ago. The very image of the hip pastor, with black beanie pulled down over blond hair that tumbles nearly to his shoulders, Pastor Phil spoke of the dash he had made back to Sydney last week from the United States where he had spoken with church leaders, presumably on the Brian situation.
“Watching an inflight movie about the poignant story of the tennis-playing Williams sisters had triggered yet more tears for the already overwrought pastor. Meanwhile, Phil’s wife Lucinda was stuck in South Africa and couldn’t be by his side for this day.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
China Eastern plane carrying 132 crashes in Guangxi province (Al Jazeera)
Afghan aviators hide as Taliban urge them to return to duty (The New York Times)
Dow industrials move lower after last week’s rally (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
[NZ born] criminal’s 5 children not enough to stop Australia deporting him (NZ Herald)
Why some African countries are thinking twice about calling out Putin (CNN)
Jamaican campaigners call for colonialism apology from royal family (The Guardian)
US declares Myanmar army committed genocide against Rohingya (Al Jazeera)
Rare copy of first Marvel comic sells for $2.4 Million (The New York Times)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Casual work scheme a stalking horse for Albanese? — Judith Sloan (The Australian) ($): “Rousing stuff but these points, while politically helpful to federal Labor, have nothing to do with the rationale for the scheme. And, let’s face it, the Victorian scheme is simply undertaking the groundwork for a possible federal scheme that would cover all casual and contract workers in the country. Let us not forget that the Victorian government under premier Jeff Kennett referred the state’s industrial relations powers to the federal government a quarter of a century ago …
“So when the Victorian government commissioned the inquiry into the Victorian on-demand workforce — that is, the gig economy — in 2018, it was really setting out a blueprint for a federal Labor government to impose a suite of restrictions on the gig economy through the industrial relations system. There is very little the Victorian government can do on its own. So does the sick pay guarantee have any merits? … It’s no longer possible to use this justification for the scheme, particularly as casual workers are typically paid a 25% leave loading that more than compensates them for the lack of paid sick and carer’s leave”
Sure, we can axe the fuel excise … and do this instead — Jessica Irvine (The Age): “Truth is, fuel excise is already fading away as a viable source of ongoing revenue. More fuel-efficient cars, along with the rise of electric vehicles, means excise revenue is already shrinking as a share of total revenue and will continue to do so in coming decades. The real question is not whether we should abolish it — it’s going out the door slowly anyway — but what we should replace it with to make sure we can all enjoy an efficient and well-maintained road system.
“Economists are fairly unanimous in saying the answer lies in introducing ‘road-user charging’. That is, road users should be charged a tax or fee proportionate to the wear and tear they inflict on our roads. This could be done via systems which monitor distance travelled, and/or by introducing higher charges for people who drive at particular times of day or into particularly busy areas, like CBDs — also known as ‘congestion charging’.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
-
Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy and Essential Media’s Pete Lewis will unpack the fortnight’s political news in a webinar for the Australia Institute.
-
Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood, University of Sydney’s Elizabeth Hill, and AiGroup’s Nicola Street will discuss how cheaper childcare can help narrow the gender super gap.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
-
The University of Melbourne’s Tom Drummond and Monash University’s Jennifer Windt will discuss the science of dreaming and the role of the imagination in intelligence at the Wheeler Centre.
