Good afternoon. Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’s text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate, where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher, “very ugly”.
The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’s rape allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how the texts became public.
Other members of the Coalition again pursued Gallagher in question time today, requesting information about her links to Higgins’s partner, David Sharaz. Penny Wong asked the opposition to reflect on whether it was an “ethical” line of questioning given the texts were private, and from “an alleged survivor”.
Murder investigations into Ben Roberts-Smith abandoned | Two key criminal investigations into alleged murders involving Ben Roberts-Smith have been abandoned by the Australian federal police because of concerns over potentially inadmissible evidence. The long-running investigations will be replaced by new inquiries undertaken by a new joint taskforce.
Australian CEOs pocket 15% pay rises | Executives at some of Australia’s biggest companies recorded double-digit pay rises over the past year – more than double the rate of inflation – according to a new report. This compares to the average Australian worker seeing a rise of 3.7%.
Support pours in for Hunter Valley bus crash victims | Flowers have spilled over the centre circle at Singleton’s Rose Point Park, the home ground of the teammates who died in the Hunter Valley wedding bus crash. The New South Wales government is contributing $100,000 to a fund set up by Rotary Australia to support those caught up in the tragedy.
Australian found dead in Canadian wilderness | An Australian hiker has been found dead in Canadian bear country after a Mounties search that deployed police dogs and a drone. Julia-Mary Lane, 25, from Brisbane, had travelled to British Columbia for a week-long road trip at Bear Lake near the town of Kimberley.
Malaysia tracking down comedian over MH370 joke | Malaysia will seek Interpol’s assistance in tracking down and investigating US-based standup comedian, Jocelyn Chia, after she mocked the country and made jokes about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
A sullen Trump goes before judge in Miami | Donald Trump sat silently, sullenly, between his lawyers during the historical moment of a twice impeached, twice indicted ex-president appearing before a federal judge to deny he stole and retained some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets, while still remaining the runaway favourite to win the Republican party’s nomination for next year’s general election.
Fox News labels Biden ‘wannabe dictator’ | Fox News labelled US president Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator” who attempted to have “his political rival arrested” during a live broadcast of Donald Trump’s post-arraignment speech.
Full Story
Is the RBA pushing Australia into a recession?
The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates for the 12th time in 13 months, with governor Philip Lowe warning that rates will keep rising if necessary, despite “significant financial pressure”. This plan has come under fire, with treasurer Jim Chalmers saying the bank’s decision was ‘difficult to understand and difficult to cop’, and Commonwealth Bank economists predicting that Australia could slide into a recession this year.
Economics correspondent Peter Hannam explains why interest rates continue to rise and columnist Greg Jericho looks at whether the central bank is killing the economy
What they said …
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“I knew it wasn’t criminal because it was me. I couldn’t be criminal.” – Miriam Margoyles
Award winning actor, Miriam Margoyles, has made her British Vogue cover debut at the age of 82. Known for her foul mouth and lovable eccentricity, Margolyes came out as a lesbian in 1966, a time when homosexuality was illegal.
“I never had any shame about being gay or anything really,” she told British Vogue. “I think gay people are very lucky, because we are not conventional, we are a group slightly apart. It gives us an edge.”
In numbers
There’s a lot of argument about who, if anyone, is to blame for the cost-of-living crisis. John Quiggan argues while Australia’s supermarket duopoly didn’t start the inflation crisis, it is making it worse as the companies reap record profits while families are struggling to get by.
Before bed read
With mordant wit and stark description, literary great Cormac McCarthy – who died aged 89 on Tuesday - wove a tapestry of anger, humour, decency, bad behaviour, and of the perpetual terror of man.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: Nota. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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