Good afternoon. Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the leader of the voice referendum’s no campaign, has claimed colonisation had no negative impact on Indigenous Australians in an extraordinary speech at the National Press Club.
“A positive impact, absolutely,” she said.
The speech was immediately rebuked by the influential Central Land Council, an Indigenous body representing dozens of remote communities in central Australia, which said she did not represent them.
A worthy moment to revisit our Killing Times project, which mapped the violent colonisation of Australia and the massacres of the frontier wars.
Top news
Presbyterian church bans acknowledgement of country | The church has banned congregations across Australia from conducting an acknowledgment of country at their regular services, in a decision described as “extreme” and saddening by Indigenous Christians.
Palaszczuk government will not intervene on police racist remarks | The Guardian learned this week that three officers revealed to have made racist remarks escaped sanction, despite pledges from the state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, to crack down on racism in the service. The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, today rejected calls for her government to intervene, saying it would be “inappropriate” – a stance Greens MP Michael Berkman called “a complete cop out and a bald-faced lie”.
Sydney’s hazardous smoke | Sydney was ranked third-worst in the world for air quality as smoke from hazard reduction continues to blanket the city. Smoke was expected to remain over parts of Sydney and the Central Coast until late in the week.
Queensland man’s death not from snake bite | Donald Morrison, who was in his 60s, was thought to have died from a snake bite on the weekend when helping a friend. But a toxicology report did not find any venom in his body.
Unemployment rate remains steady | Employers hired almost 65,000 more workers in August, more than expected, keeping the unemployment rate at 3.7%. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, heralded the figures as “a tremendous result”, but warned high interest rates, persisting inflation and worries about China’s economy “would inevitably weigh on our economy and our labour market in the year ahead”.
Outrage after man touches bottom of Spanish reporter on air | Isa Balado was reporting on a robbery when the passerby appeared to touch her rear, leading to an on-air confrontation and sparking outrage among Spanish government ministers. Watch the video.
International aid slowly reaching Libya | Rescue workers in the devastated Libyan city of Derna have appealed for more body bags after a catastrophic flood killed as many as 20,000 people and swept many out to sea. “Bodies are everywhere, inside houses, in the streets, at sea. Wherever you go, you find dead men, women, and children,” Emad al-Falah, an aid worker from Benghazi, told the Associated Press over the phone from Derna. “Entire families were lost.”
Mexican senate hears testimony on aliens | “We are not alone”, the Senate heard as it was presented with the alleged remains of “non-human” mummies. Lawmakers were shown two shriveled bodies with shrunken heads – alongside video footage of “unexplained anomalous phenomena” – by Jaime Maussan, a sports journalist turned UFO enthusiast.
Kim Jong-un invites Putin to North Korea | The North Korean leader extended the invitation during their meeting in Russia, amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.
Full Story
Have the Greens lost the fight for renters’ rights?
After months of tense negotiations, the Greens have agreed to support Labor’s $10bn housing Australia future fund bill. And while the minor party are claiming victory on securing an extra $3bn for community housing, there is nothing additional for renters. Why did they make the deal? Listen to this 14-minute episode.
What they said …
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“The reality is we haven’t had any decent answers on this from the government. If anyone’s going to lose out on that decision it’s going to be Virgin and the jobs they wouldn’t have otherwise. So it’s a real blow.” – Graham Turner, Flight Centre Group CEO
The Qatar Airways controversy continues to pepper on, with Flight Centre the latest to criticise the Albanese government’s decision to block the request for additional flights.
In numbers
Worker agitation by way of strikes has slowed despite rising cost of living pressures and the government’s industrial relations reforms. One exception is Chevron, where workers are threatening to strike after a breakdown in negotiations over pay and conditions.
Before bed read
Tim Gurner, the multimillionaire property developer CEO of Gurner Group, continues to draw criticism for calling for “pain in the economy” and unemployment to rise.
“Pain for thee, of course, and not for he,” columnist Van Badham writes. “Tim Gurner is not talking about restraining his own material aspirations. He’s not suggesting he reinvest profits in his workforce to encourage productivity. He doesn’t plan to offload anything like the lovely blue Porsche he’s photographed with in a Daily Mail article, or cut back bonuses to executives, or in any way restrict the greed of the corporate class he represents so elegantly.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: TAR. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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