ALBO IN LAOS
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is heading to Laos today for a meeting with South-East Asian leaders at the ASEAN-Australia Summit and the East Asia Summit. AAP says Myanmar’s civil war and tensions in the South China Sea are set to be high on the agenda.
The PM will also meet with leaders including Chinese Premier Li Qiang and business representatives to discuss improving trade relations. The newswire quotes Albanese as saying Australia is committed to working with nations to pursue a peaceful and stable region, as well as “acting to grasp economic opportunities in a region of incredible vitality and promise”.
The trip comes after Albanese issued an apology for remarks he made during question time yesterday when he sarcastically asked shadow treasurer Angus Taylor if he has Tourette syndrome, Capital Brief reports.
Responding to Taylor and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton repeatedly interrupting him and asking him about potential tax and negative gearing changes, the prime minister said: “This nonsense that they carry on with… Have you got Tourette’s or something? You know you just sit there, babble, babble, babble.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports late on Tuesday evening, to an almost empty chamber, Albanese expanded on his initial apology and withdrawal of his remarks. “Today, in question time, I made comments that were unkind and hurtful. I knew it was wrong as soon as I made the comment. I apologised and I withdrew as soon as I said it. But it shouldn’t have happened. And I also want to apologise to all Australians who suffer from this disability. I regret saying it. It was wrong. It was insensitive. And I apologise.”
The ABC and The Australian have led overnight on the Coalition refusing to support a government motion marking the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks. The latter claims “Australia’s longstanding bipartisan support for Israel has been stretched to breaking point” after Peter Dutton accused the PM of using the motion for personal political gain and “talking out of both sides of his mouth”.
The national broadcaster says Albanese’s motion reiterated the government’s “unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel” and called for hostages to be released. It also moved that the House of Representatives “mourns the death of all innocent civilians” and called for a ceasefire. The AFR says Dutton wanted a resolution focussed solely on the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas. The Coalition did not agree with three clauses in the government’s motion, including calling on Iran to stop destabilising the region; the need to break the “cycle of violence” and calling for ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza; and affirming support for a two-state solution.
Guardian Australia chose to highlight Labor MP Sally Sitou telling Parliament “there is no issue too big for him [Dutton] to politicise and show how small he is”. The motion passed the House of Representatives with the support of independent MPs, with the Greens abstaining.
POLICING PROTESTS
The Sydney Morning Herald reports hundreds of police officers in the city have stopped “non-urgent work including attending pro-Palestine rallies” until NSW Police addresses the staff shortages claimed by the police union.
The paper says officers from Auburn, Bankstown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Camden, Cumberland and Fairfield area commands have stopped carrying out duties such as attending rallies, undertaking prisoner transfers and conducting truancy checks for schools. It says other branches are expected to vote on union motions in the coming weeks.
Police Association of NSW president Kevin Morton is quoted as saying in a letter to over 16,000 members yesterday afternoon: “We are police not patient transporters, prisoner transport drivers, security guards, NDIS report takers, truancy officers, animal handlers or local rangers for the council. Our job is to protect our communities and we need all hands available to do so at this time. It’s time to let cops be cops again.”
AAP reports NSW Premier Chris Minns has attracted criticism for his suggestion police should be allowed to deny permits for pro-Palestine demonstrations due to stretched resources.
“If an application is made every single weekend, week after week after week, draining police resources and time and taxpayer money, police and taxpayers in the state are entitled to say we’ve got other things taking place,” Minns said, claiming policing around 40 pro-Palestine rallies this year had cost roughly $5 million. The NSW premier has ordered a review into the handling of the marches.
The remarks have been called “divisive” by the Australian National Imams Council. Senior advisor Bilal Rauf told AAP: “When he [Minns] takes the steps he does and puts money and resources into court bids and diverting resources for reviews, it flies in the face of his concern about the financial impact.”
AAP said the premier’s office declined to respond when approached about the remarks.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
CCTV cameras have captured a koala casually going for a stroll around a Sydney train station before the early commuters arrived.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the koala entered Casula station just after 4am last Friday after squeezing through a fence. It then walked down one of the platforms, skirting very close to the edge, headed up the station staircase and went onto the pedestrian bridge. Five minutes later the CCTV showed the koala returning down the stairs to the platform, at which point it was noticed by a commuter and guard on a passing train.
The paper said trains in the area were later warned to be aware of the koala’s presence and slow down when passing through Casula. Police were also called.
NSW Police officers subsequently followed the koala down the platform before it hopped over the fence and returned to the bush, the SMH said.
A spokesperson for Transport NSW is quoted as saying: “All passengers, great and small, are reminded to stay behind the yellow line.”
Say What?
I’m in a cheap hotel in California which doesn’t have a good internet or phone connection. I was going to have an MRI scan today but I’ll have to cancel that!
Geoffrey Hinton
The British-Canadian professor, sometimes referred to as the “godfather of AI”, was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics alongside American John Hopfield. The pair were awarded the prestigious prize for “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”.
CRIKEY RECAP
The story may be familiar from other accounts from across the Albanese government, but it bears repeating: a risk-averse minister has placated the business lobby, and instead of responding to real-world needs has embarked on a painfully incremental, minimalist program of reforms that won’t achieve anything in the current parliamentary period.
It is verging on bizarre that a minister with a reputation and record as solid as Plibersek’s would risk them so meekly, but it’s not unusual among Labor ministers. One would think that after decades in Parliament, mostly in opposition, current cabinet ministers would have been busting to introduce real, significant reforms, and be well-equipped to do so. Instead they seem more intent on … I don’t know what they think they’re doing, to be honest. Treading a middling path to an inglorious victory and a future minority government?
Plibersek and Labor will point to small environmental victories along the way — the expansion of marine reserves and the national ranger program, for example — but what is required is of a different scale, and one beyond the scope of neoliberal status quo politics. What is required was laid out by Plibersek herself. Then ignored.
While Payman fell out with Labor over her support for a Greens motion to recognise a Palestinian state, her new party will not be focused on that issue or any other foreign policy questions, the senator told Crikey.
“It’s going to be one of the policies — obviously, I can’t detach it from me, [and] it’s also an escalating and deepening issue to many Australians,” Payman said of her support for Palestine. “But if I’m to represent Australians, it’s got to be inclusive, it’s got to be all-encompassing, and not just a one-issue minor party.”
Tackling the cost of living, including energy costs, and solving the housing crisis would be some of the new party’s areas of focus, Payman said. A listening tour around WA had convinced her there was an appetite for an independent alternative to Labor.
“[I was] talking to so many Australians that have been looking for an alternative; they think the Labor Party has lost its way, that they’re not brave and courageous enough to take any steps.”
It’s a redux in old media’s battle against emerging media, a reprise of August’s brouhaha when the Democratic National Convention accredited about 200 “content creators” (alongside about 1,000 more traditional journalists). The creators’ reward, wrote Taylor Lorenz, was to be “mocked and belittled” by the serious pundit class. (Lorenz, who has written widely on influencer culture, recently left the increasingly play-it-safe Washington Post to start a Substack.)
“The entitlement, the arrogance, and the gatekeeping is appalling,” she wrote. “This is the same kind of protectionist behaviour that has been happening in the media world for decades, as many invested in institutional power structures lash out amidst their dwindling influence.”
The reporting of the Washington press corps on Harris’ Call Her Daddy interview showed why the vice president is looking for media where she can directly reach the audience she wants to talk to (mainly women).
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Israel says it has killed slain Hezbollah leader’s successors (Reuters)
Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida as thousands flee (CNN)
Trump secretly gave Putin Covid test machines, Bob Woodward book says (The Guardian)
TikTok faces new lawsuits in the US accusing it of harming children (Al-Jazeera)
Madeleine McCann suspect cleared of rape charges in separate trial (BBC)
Russia trying to create ‘mayhem’ on UK streets, MI5 boss warns (Sky News)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Across the West, the right is rebranding itself as champions of the common folk. Will it work in Australia? — Peter Lewis (Guardian Australia): Despite its battler bluster, the Coalition remains the preferred party of the well-off, and it’s line ball between the majors on those who enjoy some level of financial security; it is where people are struggling that the coverage of the major parties breaks down.
The Greens, independents and minor parties of the right like One Nation and the UAP all enjoy significant support from those who believe the economic system is not working for them, with the flow of preferences among those in the most difficulty flowing to Labor.
So, before we start catastrophising about the Trump-ification of Australian politics, it is worth noting the differences between our systems. Whereas in America the two parties’ hold on power is absolute, in Australia these smaller groupings on the left, along with the ongoing institutional influence of the union movement, makes a full ideological eclipse less likely.
Paradoxically, for all the pain their insurgency causes Labor, the Greens and independents play a stabilising role, ensuring enough of those dissatisfied with status quo politics might still find a progressive home.
How crazy house prices and an ageing population are creating ‘tombstone suburbs’ — Matt Wade (The Sydney Morning Herald): Behaviour has also changed. In the past, many retirees permanently left big cities for a sea change or tree change, but more are now staying put near the cultural attractions and high-quality healthcare offered by big cities.
Recent patterns of wealth distribution, underpinned by strong growth in property prices, means many more middle-aged and older people have the money to live at the beach, or in the country, while keeping a crash pad in inner Melbourne or Sydney. This also contributes to the underutilisation of housing in our best-serviced suburbs.
These demographic trends are deep-rooted and will affect Melbourne and Sydney for decades to come.
