Good afternoon. In a day of high-profile departures, former Coalition minister Stuart Robert has resigned from parliament, sparking a byelection in his Queensland seat of Fadden. Meanwhile, North Melbourne AFL coach, Alastair Clarkson, is stepping aside for health reasons.
And Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok outright – how they intend to enforce the measure is another matter.
Top news
Stuart Robert | The former Liberal MP’s Gold Coast seat of Fadden has been held by the LNP every election, bar one, since 1977. At the last poll, Robert won with a 10.6% margin, despite an almost 5% swing against him. Labor does not expect to win the seat at the coming byelection, given the need for a double-digit swing.
Shane Drumgold on leave | The ACT’s director of public prosecutions is taking time out for four weeks, only a week after facing an inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann trial. Drumgold told the inquiry his team had “closed ranks” against police because they believed officers had lost objectivity in the matter.
NSW police allegedly Taser elderly woman with dementia | A 95-year-old woman who suffers from dementia is in hospital with a suspected fractured skull and “brain bleed” after she was allegedly Tasered by police at an aged care facility. “The family are grieving because they don’t expect their nan to make it through the day or tomorrow at the latest,” Andrew Thaler, who ran as an independent candidate for Eden-Monaro and spoke with permission from the woman’s family, said.
South Australia anti-protest laws | The state has rushed through anti-protest laws less than a day after a rally outside the annual oil and gas conference in Adelaide briefly closed traffic. The extraordinary move – which appears to have been hashed out on talkback radio on Thursday morning – comes after the state mining and energy minister, Tom Koutsantonis, told the industry the state government was “at your service”.
Alastair Clarkson | The North Melbourne coach is standing down for an indefinite period to focus on his physical and emotional wellbeing, with the toll of the investigation into historical alleged racism at Hawthorn behind the move. Clarkson, who has denied wrongdoing, will hand the reins to his assistant, Brett Ratten, immediately with no timeline yet for his return.
AFL, rugby back voice | The AFL and Rugby Australia have become the latest sporting codes to declare support for the yes vote, with the organisations making clear their positions on the Indigenous voice to parliament today.
Montana bans TikTok | TikTok said in a statement that Montana’s new law “infringes on the first amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok” and that the company intends to “defend the rights of our users inside and outside Montana”.
Chinese envoy to Canberra takes aim at Japan | China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has been critical of Japan as it prepares to host the G7 summit. “To me personally, I think it’s ironic for Japan, a loser in the second world war, to talk about safeguarding the international system established at the end of the second world war,” Xiao said. “Between China and Australia, we don’t have historical skirmishes. We didn’t whatsoever ever threaten Australia. We didn’t bomb Darwin like Japan did. We didn’t kill Australians like Japanese did.”
Devastating Italy floods | Nine people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes after heavy storms wreaked havoc in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, causing severe flooding and landslides.
In video
New monitoring has revealed the population of the critically endangered brush-tailed bettongs continues to grow in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes national park on South Australia’s Yorke peninsula – with the help of peanut butter! Watch the 1m25s video, and read the story.
What they said …
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“Fight for your sector … fight for yourselves … We need you to work with us to push back against this government’s detrimental policies.” – Peter Dutton to the oil and gas lobby.
The Coalition has signalled it might not back the federal government’s industry-supported changes to the petroleum resource rent tax, which would require Labor to negotiate with the Greens and independents. Given the Greens and several independents feel the tax changes don’t go far enough, it’s a scenario the fossil fuel industry wants to avoid.
In numbers
“An increase in the unemployment rate is not welcome but it does give the RBA some evidence that pressures are easing and that they are on track to bring inflation back to the target zone [of 2%-3%],” KPMG economist, Michael Malakellis, said.
Before bed read
How did John Farnham’s You’re the Voice become an Australian anthem? A new documentary, in cinemas from today, will tell you.
“Written by the British songwriter Chris Thompson, Icehouse’s Andy Qunta, Procol Harum songwriter Keith Reid and singer-songwriter Maggie Ryder, You’re the Voice was inspired by a 1985 nuclear disarmament rally in London that Thompson missed; saddened that he hadn’t been there to lend support, he began writing a song that he felt captured the spirit of the massive protest. Eventually the tape was passed to Farnham and his team.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: PILA. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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