What we learned today, Sunday 22 March
That’s where we’ll leave you this Sunday. Here’s a snapshot from today:
Tropical Cyclone Narelle made landfall in the NT before being downgraded to an ex-tropical cyclone around midday. The system has brought more heavy rain to the Top End and the risk of major flooding in the Katherine and Daly rivers. The chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, said Katherine was preparing for even worse flooding than it had endured earlier this month. Narelle could re-intensify into a tropical cyclone before it crosses into the WA Kimberley on Monday.
The climate and energy minister, Chris Bowen, revealed six of 81 ships delivering fuel supplies to Australia had been cancelled. Fuel rationing was not currently on the cards, he said, and would not be invoked lightly. Meanwhile, the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union has joined others, including the Victorian Greens and the Victorian Farmers Federation, in calling for urgent cuts to public transport fares and increased services in response to the crisis.
State and federal politicians across the political spectrum took stock after Labor’s landslide win in the South Australian election. The re-elected SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, said mainstream parties needed to offer a clear policy agenda in response to the rise of parties like One Nation. The One Nation MP, Barnaby Joyce, said Labor’s win was partly due to the premier being “a good-looking guy”.
Updated
Peak Muslim group denounces Joyce’s comments likening migrants to cattle as ‘profound ignorance’
The peak Muslim group has condemned comments by Barnaby Joyce earlier today, likening a ban on migration from Muslim countries to buying cattle “that just don’t work”.
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) has described the comments as “deeply offensive” and betraying a “profound ignorance of Australia’s history, values, and social fabric”.
On Sky News this morning, Joyce said it was a matter of having to conform “with an Australian culture, no matter where you come from”, when asked if One Nation would ban Muslim migrants from Australia.
He continued:
I don’t want to be trite about it, but it’s a bit like buying cattle. If you’re getting cattle in from a certain … seller, and there’s an unreasonable number of ones that just don’t work when they get off the truck, well, you don’t buy them any more.
In response, ANIC’s senior adviser and spokesperson, Bilal Rauf, said:
Such language dehumanises entire communities and echoes the worst instincts of dog-whistle politics long associated with One Nation.
More troubling still is the normalisation of this rhetoric in mainstream political discourse. When such views are aired and enabled, they risk eroding public trust in our institutions and weakening the social cohesion that underpins a diverse and democratic society.
That said, I remain confident that most Australians will see these comments for what they are and reject the ignorance and division they represent.
Updated
