POLITICAL THEATRE?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “refusal” yesterday to rule out the possibility of a double dissolution election (in a very transparent attempt to try and break the stalemate over his government’s housing policies) has unsurprisingly attracted a fair amount of coverage overnight, despite no-one thinking he’ll actually do it.
The stalemate is over the government’s Help to Buy and Build to Rent housing reforms which the Greens have called for amendments to but Albanese refuses to budge.
The AAP reports this morning that constitutional and electoral experts believe there is no benefit in a double dissolution for the federal government. Analyst Ben Raue told the newswire: “I don’t understand the logic of it, which makes me think it’s just an empty threat. Labor is frustrated because they would like to be able to govern and the Greens have a different agenda.” AAP says the only way a double dissolution would benefit the Albanese government would be if voters who preferenced the Greens at the last election switched back to Labor, with current polling suggesting the opposite will happen.
Monash University constitutional law Professor Luke Beck agrees with Raue. “The political risk is that (Albanese) ends up with a worse crossbench,” Beck told AAP. “Whether he pulls the double dissolution trigger will come down to the political calculus. It’s probably more for political theatre than anything else.”
Also making headlines is Albanese’s address to the Business Council of Australia last night, which involved another dig at the Greens. Guardian Australia reports the prime minister used the opportunity to accuse the Greens of making “gesture-based climate amendments” to Labor’s environment legislation. As flagged in yesterday’s Worm, Bran Black, the council’s chief executive, followed the likes of the Minerals Council in expressing concern over Labor’s workplace rules. The PM sought to acknowledge those while also criticising the policies of the other parties. “We have different responsibilities that demand different approaches, so it is inevitable we will have occasional differences of opinion,” Albanese said, adding: “We’ve stood against some pretty extreme anti-business policies [from the crossbench]… and perhaps more surprisingly, by the opposition”.
In welcome news for the prime minister following his recent pledge to introduce a ban on children using social media, Meta announced Instagram has implemented “teen accounts” for users under 18 which will limit what they can view and who can contact them, the ABC reports.
The new accounts were introduced on Tuesday in Australia, the US, the UK and Canada, the BBC says. The broadcaster reports the new accounts turn most of the privacy settings on by default, including making all content unviewable to people who don’t follow the user and actively needing approval for all new followers. The Guardian says the accounts will give parents the ability to set daily time limits for using Instagram and block teens from using it at certain times. They will also allow parents to see the content categories their children are viewing and the accounts they are exchanging messages with. Under 16s will also need parental permission to change any privacy settings.
The account changes apply to all new users and will be rolled out to existing accounts over the next few months.
ISRAEL BLAMED FOR EXPLODING PAGERS
In world news, Lebanon’s health ministry has said at least nine people have been killed and thousands injured after pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded across the country on Tuesday. The ABC quotes the ministry as saying an eight-year-old girl is among the dead, and that 200 people are in a serious condition. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack.
An official from the Iranian-backed militant group, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. Hezbollah has claimed Israel will receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts, the newswire said, adding the Israeli military declined to comment when contacted.
Sources told Reuters in July that Hezbollah fighters had been using pagers to try and avoid Israel tracking their locations. Three security sources told Reuters the pagers that detonated on Tuesday were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months.
Elsewhere, US Vice President Kamala Harris has rung her Republican rival Donald Trump to directly express that “she is grateful he is safe” after an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday, The New York Times reports.
The paper says Trump has been told by the Secret Service that significant additional security arrangements and planning would be needed if the 78-year-old wanted to continue playing golf safely. Also, Attorney-General Merrick Garland has said the Justice Department’s national security division would play a central role in the investigation, which The New York Times suggests could mean suspect Ryan Routh facing more serious charges than the two gun-related ones he received on Monday.
Also in US election news, Harris took part in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday in which she denounced baseless claims and “hateful rhetoric” from Trump and his running mate JD Vance regarding Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, The Washington Post reports. The Republican nominee, meanwhile, is due to hold a town hall event in Flint, Michigan later in his first campaign event since the incident at his golf course at the weekend.
Finally, another musical superstar has publicly backed a candidate. Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas posted a video backing Harris and urging people to register to vote.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
We’ve waited long enough, it’s time to make note of the most famous hippo on the planet.
Moo-Deng, the baby pygmy hippo, from the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand has become an internet superstar after her keepers started posting clips on TikTok of her doing… well, all the cute things baby hippos do.
The Guardian quotes one of the keepers, Atthapon Nundee, as saying he began posting videos of the zoo’s animals online during the pandemic but none have attracted as much attention as Moo-Deng. The hippo’s name was chosen by a popular vote and means “bouncy pork”, the paper adds.
“The moment I saw Moo-Deng born, I set a goal to make her famous, but I never expected it would spread abroad. I thought she could be famous in Thailand but not internationally,” Atthapon said.
The Evening Standard reports visitor numbers to the zoo have almost doubled since Moo-Deng became an internet sensation. However, it has also resulted in poor behaviour from some of the patrons who have been throwing water and shellfish at the animal to wake her up. CCTV has since been put up around her enclosure, with zoo manager Narongwit Chodchoi declaring: “It’s not only cruel but also dangerous. We must protect these animals and ensure that they have a safe and comfortable environment.”
Meanwhile, Moo-Deng’s popularity has raised questions over her captivity with the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand questioning the need for more pygmy hippos to be kept in zoo settings, The Guardian adds.
Say What?
Well, we’ll wait and see.
Anthony Albanese
The prime minister caused a stir on Tuesday when he was asked if a double dissolution was being considered after negotiations stalled on the government’s housing bill.
CRIKEY RECAP
The extent to which gambling advertising has infiltrated sport has been well-documented in Crikey’s Punted series. It is inescapable.
Every week, Australians are bombarded via our televisions with betting tips from former players, while clubs sign deals with the same betting agencies that hire executives from the AFL.
The AFL’s deals with gambling companies are reported (by one of the media figures on this Crikey list, no less) to be worth between $30-$40 million in product fees alone, plus an additional $8 million in sponsorship and another $1-$3 million in signage.
It would therefore come as no surprise that there are a glut of media figures who are happily involved with betting companies, whether it be providing tips or producing content.
Former Australian men’s cricket captain Tim Paine has slammed sports media for failing to report on the secret abusive X account run by Foxtel’s cricket chief, accusing journalists of being too afraid to be critical of a high-profile figure from a major media company.
A Crikey investigation last month revealed that Fox Sports’ general manager of cricket Matt Weiss had spent years running an X (formerly Twitter) account that attacked colleagues, rivals, cricketers and political figures. Weiss continues to head up Foxtel’s cricket coverage despite both the company and Cricket Australia being made aware of this account in 2021.
Weiss has not responded to multiple requests from Crikey for comment.
In 2021, when Crikey launched a series on Scott Morrison’s propensity to lie, it attracted huge traffic and even attention from other media — which normally prefers to pretend we don’t exist. We’d dared to say something that virtually no-one had previously pointed out about the then prime minister. Thereafter, other media began pointing it out as well. It became part of his political image.
When we called out Peter Dutton last week as a racist, the reaction from readers was more like: “Yeah, we know.” Clearly, readers had long since made up their minds about Dutton. It’s probably fair to say a lot of voters have as well.
But the point of devoting space to the opposition leader’s attitude to race issues, and how it fits within the broader political history of Australia since the White Australia Policy was dismantled two generations ago, wasn’t to attempt to shape his political image. It was to provide a better understanding of the man who might yet be the next prime minister, and his political character, and to consider the political tools he is using in his quest to become prime minister.
The problem with simply dismissing Dutton as racist because, say, he wants to ban Palestinian refugees, or he boycotted the Apology to the Stolen Generations, is that it fails to give sufficient weight to the charge of racism. As I noted in a piece earlier in the week, when charges of racism are everywhere, they lose their value. When everyone and everything is racist, no-one and nothing is.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Far-right conspiracies abound after second apparent Trump assassination attempt (The Guardian)
‘I am a rapist’, admits husband in French mass rape trial (BBC)
Flooding death toll rises to 21 in Central Europe as more areas on alert (al-Jazeera)
Sean Combs indicted on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering (The New York Times) ($)
Elon Musk is on track to soon become the world’s first trillionaire (CNN)
Scotland to host Commonwealth Games in 2026 after Australian funding deal (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
A double dissolution could create a Hunger Games contest — and Albanese knows it — Karen Middleton (Guardian Australia): So, there are a few reasons Albanese might be tempted to a double-dissolution. Malcolm Turnbull did it in 2016 and it didn’t go terribly well. He ended up with a reduced majority in the House of Representatives and three fewer seats in the Senate. Then again, he also had a 54-day campaign — a very bad idea.
But this current non-threat isn’t really about whether Albanese will do it. It’s about the possibility, just like putting the housing bills to the Parliament without further negotiation is about declaring that the Coalition and the Greens are stopping the government from governing.
Albanese doubtless hopes the combined angst of all this might just generate more cooperation in the red chamber across the hall.
For young people, the great Australian dream now means leaving the country — Alexandra Koster (The Sydney Morning Herald): We’re not flocking overseas for green smoothies or beach breaks; we’re seeking drastic solutions to survive. A third of young Australians feel financially insecure, while half of Gen Zs and Millennials live paycheck to paycheck, with 65% currently experiencing housing stress and 31% skipping meals to save money. That young Australians feel that they have to move overseas as a long-term financial survival solution in the first place is a sign of just how dire things really are.
The great Australian dream used to be homeownership and having a family. But the new dream might simply be being able to live without a financial existential crisis at every turn — whether that’s getting dental work done, running out of food or having debt collectors on your tail over unpaid bills.
For as long as that’s the reality awaiting us, maybe it’s time we all book plane tickets.
