RUNNING ON EMPTY
The Albanese government could reserve gas for the east coast in a bid to stabilise energy prices, The Australian ($) reports, as a winter looms where many will struggle to heat their homes because of the cost. Wholesale electricity prices surged more than six-fold from normal levels yesterday alone, while the AEMO says prices have jumped 141% since this time last year, ABC reports. Things are so bad that smaller energy retailers like ReAmped Energy are telling customers to switch energy providers or be hit with much higher bills, The New Daily reports. Why? The Russia-Ukraine conflict mostly, with sanctions on Russian exports meaning there’s not enough to go around.
Amid what the Oz ($) had dubbed a “three-day crisis”, Resources Minister Madeleine King had meetings with the heads of Shell and Origin to work out how to fix skyrocketing prices — but the east coast domestic gas reserve is “on the table”, she says. The government is also considering activating former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s gas trigger, AFR continues — it would actually force gas exporters to keep more gas for the Australian market (we export 85% of our own gas, as The Conversation explains). The idea is that more supply means a lower price, and even though the extra gas wouldn’t flow until January 1, the government is hoping the threat of it might cause the gas giants to act on what has been dubbed a years-long issue.
But Greens Leader Adam Bandt says now is the time to get off gas — he says the government should subsidise households and businesses to transition away from the fossil fuel, and slammed King for urging more supply from gas suppliers, The Australian ($) says. Climate Minister Chris Bowen says the AEMO told him gas supply to the southern states should improve slightly over the next few days however — it was at 98% capacity yesterday.
DOLLARS AND SENSE
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says he will crack down on fleecers after four people in Sydney were charged with defrauding the NDIS of more than $2 million, The New Daily reports. Shorten says any government payment is like a “honey pot for the flies” and says safeguards would target organised crime, The Australian ($) reports. He also told the paper he’s conscious of the NDIS being treated as a catch-all — indeed the scheme is projected to balloon in cost from $29 billion in 2022-23 to $41 billion in 2024-25. He says we need more support for those with mental illness and schoolchildren with learning difficulties, explaining the NDIS was “never designed to provide some of the other supports”.
Shorten also promised a royal commission into the robodebt scandal by the end of the year, which former PM Scott Morrison was denying responsibility for as recently as last month, as Junkee reports. He blamed the scheme — which led to the deaths of more than 2000 people — on Labor, who he claimed introduced the maths used to determine the largely wrong debts to Centrelink (The Australian’s ($) Peter van Onselen called blaming Labor a “a lie, unless comparing oranges and apples is legitimate”). Actually, Morrison was the social services minister when robodebt was created, and once his then junior minister Alan Tudge took a look, as the Oz tells it, the big bucks the Coalition stood to gain for the budget from the flawed robodebt system became apparent. Morrison was treasurer by then, and the rest is dismal history.
Also this morning, the Morrison government did not show the cashless debit card worked, even though it ran trials all over Australia for more than five years, Guardian Australia writes, according to a new report from the Australian National Audit Office. Labor has promised to scrap it — it basically forces 80% of someone’s welfare payments onto a card that can’t be used to withdraw cash or to buy alcohol and gambling products.
REPUBLIC AND PRIVATE MOMENTS
For the first time, a government MP has been given responsibility for Australia becoming a republic, the SMH reports. The appointment of Assistant Minister for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite is the “greatest breakthrough” for the movement in 25 years, the Australian Republic Movement said, adding we’re on a countdown to another referendum. Thistlethwaite says a republic is a two-term proposition for Labor — indeed some speculated that if Queen Elizabeth, 96, dies in the next few years, so too will many Australians’ warmth towards the monarchy as her son Charles, 73, ascends the throne. Monarchists clutched their pearls about Thistlethwaite’s new post, saying taxpayers were paying for a minister of the crown to, well, quit the crown.
Barbados became a republic last November, as BBC reports — Prince Charles actually attended the event, and acknowledged the “appalling atrocity of slavery” the Caribbean island suffered under the British monarchy. But Thistlethwaite’s new gig is rather bad timing considering Lizzie is kicking off her four-day platinum jubilee, as ABC reports, marking 70 years as queen. Overnight the “breakout star” of the OTT celebrations was little Prince Louis, 4, who was jubilant and awestruck by the jets and turned to his great-grandmother to make sure she had seen them too, as NZ Herald reports. I’m not a monarchist, but even I admit it was bloody cute.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Anthony Albanese’s ministry was sworn in this week, and many MPs have promised to get straight to work on rolling out Labor’s vision — but the SMH’s Richard Glover has a slightly different set of priorities. He laid out his vision for Australia in a frank and engaging column, and more than one had me nodding along. For instance — Glover would ban tea bags. There’s no higher insult than paying $5 for a tea and getting lumped with a teabag you have to dunk yourself — we want tea leaves! “Someone needs to take a firm hand against what has become a nation of jigglers,” he says solemnly. Another — trendy shops selling pre-ripped jeans. Glover says the youth should go work in a field on their knees if they want to appear productive and experienced. And another thing — leaf blowers. In the bin, Glover says — they simply rearrange leaves, they don’t remove them, unlike the humble hero, the rake.
Scissors sold in hard shrink plastic that needs scissors to open them? Gone under a Glover government — “if you had a pair of scissors, you wouldn’t be buying a pair of scissors,” he reasons. He would immediately mandate sweets be elevated to adult height in all supermarket checkout sections. “For the supermarket to essentially wave chocolates in the face of a toddler at exactly the moment when the accompanying adult is under maximum pressure, just to extract an additional sale of $1.90, is an act of evil bastardry,” he declares. Perhaps his key policy? Shrinkflation would be punishable by law — tearing open a chip packet that’s a quarter full, it’s just wrong. And when is someone going to bring back the original generously-sized Wagon Wheel?!
Wishing you a little vision this Friday morning, and a restful weekend ahead.
SAY WHAT?
If [the teaching was] limited to just environmental issues or just to climate change, it would be bad enough. But the extremism of some of the teachers and the language that they use, the approach that they take, it’s across a broad range of policy areas.
Peter Dutton
The Liberal leader says kids learning about the climate “is bad enough”, as some speculate he is bringing the US classroom culture wars to our shores to chase votes. The Katherine Deves effect in action, or genuine concern? You be the judge.
CRIKEY RECAP
A federal ICAC has much to accomplish — where do you start? Here’s Crikey’s list
“After a near decade in power, the Coalition has left government integrity in tatters. How much of it might end up being investigated by a federal anti-corruption commission? Without knowing the precise remit of a commission, it is impossible to know what will and won’t be investigated. What we do know is that the former government corrupted the processes of government in a way not seen before in Australia.
“It has left behind a dangerous perception of corruption in the case of some ministers and departmental actions. So much has been shrouded in secrecy. Crikey has decided to chronicle as much as we can of the degradation. It’s not all about money in brown paper bags.”
Me Too movement deserves more respect than the Heard-Depp trial gave it
“The fact of the matter is this: abuse is messy. It often happens behind closed doors, committed by intimate partners — making it difficult to prosecute. Victims often struggle to leave an abusive relationship due to family ties, a lack of resources or fear of punishment. Those who have been sexually abused often struggle with guilt and stigma, and it can take a long time to understand that abuse has occurred. But false allegations of sexual abuse are incredibly rare. And in most cases, men are the perpetrators and women are the victims.
“As long as we have celebrities and litigious societies, there will always be high-profile defamation cases. Pinning the success or failure of the movement based on the outcome of a single case is a mistake, and no lines should be drawn under the Me Too movement based on the testimony of either.”
Peter Dutton is banking on importing US classroom culture wars to Australia
“There are reasons to believe a renewed focus on classroom culture wars using the national curriculum as a trojan horse could be a smart strategy for the Liberal Party. Education remains an important issue for voters: an ANU-run poll found more than half of voters said improving the education system was a top priority ahead of the 2022 election, beating out issues like reducing crime or dealing with the pandemic.
“It’s also a traditional Labor strong suit. The party has an 8% lead in which of the two major parties is trusted more to handle the issue. If the US is anything to go by, embracing this fight could be a way for a Dutton-led opposition to neutralise or even gain ground on an issue that’s been a weakness for them.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
UN agrees to change Turkey’s official name to ‘Türkiye’ (Al Jazeera)
How the Proud Boys gripped the Miami-Dade Republican Party (The New York Times)
Michael Avenatti sentenced to 4 years for stealing nearly $300k from Stormy Daniels (CNN)
Ukraine war: Zelenskyy says Russia controls a fifth of Ukrainian territory (BBC)
El Salvador accused of ‘massive’ human rights violations with 2% of adults in prison (The Guardian)
Saudi oil boost, Yemen truce set stage for Biden visit to kingdom (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
Doctors transplant ear of human cells, made by 3D printer (The New York Times)
Putin, African Union head meet Friday to discuss food crisis (Al Jazeera)
THE COMMENTARIAT
And so begins the contest for middle Australia in 2025 — Cameron Miller (The Australian) ($): “The dust is settling on the election and Labor has emerged with a two-seat majority. The magic 76 Anthony Albanese so modestly said was all he needed to govern has been bettered by one now that Gilmore stays with Labor. The frothy polls pointing to a Ruddslide and giving Labor hopes of a big pre-poll and postal vote result failed to materialise as its two-party-preferred vote settled to 51.7%. Labor is briefing out back-to-back premierships: a repeat slim majority or a minority supported by Greens and teals. The small targeters back the latter, convinced those who criticised the 2010 experiment as Gillard-Swan’s ‘reign of error’ are wrong and Labor’s minority government is the most underappreciated since the nine months of Whitlam-Cairns in 1975.
“Astute political commentator James Campbell pointed out in News Corp newspapers on Sunday that Albanese would be moving back into public housing, this time the Lodge, with fewer votes than Bill Shorten had in 2019. As suburban TV viewers will recall from the fossil-fuelled movie The Fast and the Furious, ‘Ask any racer, any real racer, it doesn’t matter whether you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning.’ It’s interesting, then, to watch the jostling of both major parties since the election, while the Greens and teals fight over the climate equivalent of cycling’s yellow jersey.”
The Depp defamation suit should outrage and appall you — Jill Filipovic (The Guardian): “You can believe that Heard was not actually a domestic violence victim and also recognize the objective fact that the public associated her with domestic violence. You can believe that Depp was not an abuser and also recognize that he was, in fact, a man accused of abuse. You can believe that Amber Heard is the devil incarnate and Johnny Depp an innocent lamb still realize that the only fair reading of Heard’s words in the Post and of US law, which grants all of us broad rights of free speech, is that Heard’s words simply do not meet the requirements for defamation.
“The US sets a high bar for winning a defamation case, and that bar gets even higher when the allegedly defamed is a celebrity. In any defamation case, the baseline requirement is that a statement is both false and defamatory, and was published either maliciously or negligently. This case concerned the Washington Post op-ed specifically — a piece that was carefully worded and does not, in fact, contain false statements that are defamatory to Depp.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Cheese lovers can head down to The Bon Fromage Festival at The Rocks, where lots of French cheese and wine will be on offer.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Author Sally Piper will talk about her new novel, Bone Memories, at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch this one online.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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Silicon Valley boffin Marty Cagan will talk about his latest book, EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products, at a breakfast held at Propel Ventures
