IRAN STRIKES ISRAEL
Iran says it has launched “dozens” of missiles at Israel and threatened to fire more if Israel responds, the BBC reports. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said approximately 180 missiles were fired on Tuesday evening and most were intercepted by the Israeli Air Force in cooperation with the US. The broadcaster quotes the IDF as saying the damage caused by the missiles that got through was being assessed.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari is also quoted as saying the Israeli Air Force will “strike powerfully in the Middle East” tonight. “Iran carried out a serious act tonight and is pushing the Middle East to an escalation. Tonight’s event will have consequences,” he said.
The Guardian reports the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces, said the attack was in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
The Associated Press said residents in Israel were sent messages on their phones and on national television to head to bomb shelters after the US warned that Iran was preparing a ballistic missile attack. The newswire said US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris monitored the attack from the White House Situation Room.
The BBC reports Ebrahim Azizi, the head of Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on state television that Israeli “military centres and facilities were our targets, but the attacks might have led to civilians being hit as well due to possible miscalculations”. He warned of a second “even more destructive” wave if Israel “makes a mistake” again. The attack comes a day after Israel began ground operations against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
As the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate, the ABC reported yesterday the NSW Police commissioner has applied to the Supreme Court to prohibit two planned pro-Palestinian rallies in Sydney later this month. The events, scheduled for Sunday, October 6 and Monday, October 7 have been organised by Palestine Action Group. The group submitted the required paperwork but police decided they were “not satisfied that the protest could proceed safely”, Guardian Australia adds. The site quotes Amal Naser, a spokesperson for the group, as saying it “unequivocally opposes this attempt to silence protests” and that the application to the Supreme Court represents an “attack on fundamental democratic rights”.
NSW Police said in its statement: “Officers from Operation Shelter have conducted negotiations with protest organisers, who did submit a form 1 for each proposed public assembly, but are not satisfied that the protest can proceed safely. Accordingly, the commissioner has decided to apply to the NSW Supreme Court to prohibit the two assemblies.” Guardian Australia highlighted Premier Chris Minns saying: “We fully support the decision. Our priority must be community safety.”
WALZ VS VANCE
The first and only vice presidential debate is taking place later this morning. Democrat Tim Walz will line up against Republican JD Vance at 11am AEST in New York City. With the election now just over a month away, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be hoping a strong performance by their VP picks might just move the dial in the campaign that remains incredibly close.
ABC’s 7.30 last night looked at the 110,000 Americans living in Australia who are eligible to vote in November’s US election. The broadcaster highlighted the lengths both sides are going to to get every vote this election, with the Democratic party spending almost half a million US dollars on its Democrats Abroad group. Not that it has any bearing on anything, but Michael Fullilove, the executive director of the Lowy Institute, also popped up to say the number of Australians supporting Trump had dropped off since Harris replaced Biden as the Democrat’s candidate. Polling shows almost three-quarters of Australians (73%) say they would prefer a Harris presidency, compared to 22% in favour of Trump.
As the US election campaign continues to ramp up, The Australian reckons Treasuer Jim Chalmers is stoking an Australian pre-election budget fight with Coalition. Fresh from announcing the first back-to-back surplus since 2008 (see Crikey Reads below on what readers actually think of this achievement…), Chalmers will today claim the opposition would have instead overseen two-year deficits totalling $55.5 billion if in power, the paper reports. The treasurer claims if he had banked around 40% of revenue upgrades (the average under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments) the surpluses would have in fact been deficits.
Chalmers called on Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor to reveal the Coalition’s costings for their policies, saying: “How will Peter Dutton pay for his nuclear fantasy and other policies? Unfunded commitments from the Coalition mean harsher cuts. These characters can’t be trusted with the budget or Australia’s economy.”
Taylor responded: “Having failed in his plan to politicise the RBA, the treasurer has now resorted to lows of politicising the public service not seen since the dying days of the Rudd-Gillard government.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A town hall in central London is staging 100 weddings in a single day to celebrate the building’s centenary.
The BBC is live blogging the ceremonies as one hundred couples prepare to get married, form civil partnerships, and renew their vows.
Old Marylebone Town Hall has previously hosted numerous celebrity weddings, including those of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, and Liam Gallagher, the broadcaster said.
The couples involved on Tuesday all paid £100 (A$193) to have their ceremony at the town hall.
The BBC was most excited about the wedding of Thomas Mackintosh and Paige Evans. The reason? Mackintosh works for the broadcaster and even took part in the live reporting on his big day. He posted on the BBC’s live blog in a breaking news post on Tuesday morning: “I do”. The couple’s wedding photos and love story were also shared on the blog.
Say What?
I am not here today because the system worked, I am free today after years of incarceration because I pleaded guilty to journalism.
Julian Assange
The WikiLeaks founder spoke at Europe’s leading human rights organisation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday.
CRIKEY RECAP
Elsewhere, while most Australians were sleeping ahead of the AFL grand final, Fox Corp, ahead of the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders at the Fox Studios lot in Los Angeles, dropped its 80-page proxy statement.
On page 46, the executive pay figures for 2023-24 are disclosed in full. Rupert Murdoch, 93, might have departed all public boards in November last year, but his final Fox Corp executive pay figure came in at US$21.2 million, comprising US$1.9 million in salary, a cash bonus of US$2.3 million, US$6.5 million in stock awards (as if he needs any more), US$2.1 million in option awards and a US$8.1 million increase in the net present value of his pension liability up until his death.
But Rupert wasn’t the highest-paid Murdoch, because eldest son Lachlan, 53, received a total package worth US$23.8 million as Fox Corp’s sole executive chair, which included US$142,793 for “personal use of the corporate aircraft” and US$1.6 million for “residential security”. None of the other five named key Fox executives billed the company for residential security.
However, for blockbuster Murdoch-approved executive payouts, the real showstopper this year is Viet Dinh, the former chief lawyer at Fox who took the rap for the embarrassing Dominion settlement worth US$787.5 million, but who had his exit smoothed by a US$23 million “severance payment” and a total package worth US$27.23 million.
The identity of the envoy is less important than the fact that this position simply should not exist in the first place. The delay in announcing the appointment was partially due to the need to consult with the relevant communities, but mostly because nearly all of those approached could detect a poisoned chalice when it was shoved under their noses, reeking of arsenic. Why should Muslims believe that the envoy will be a more effective vehicle for addressing Islamophobia than established institutions such as the Australian Human Rights Commission? And why should we believe that the envoy will be taken any more seriously than Senator Fatima Payman, whose reasons for crossing the floor (and eventually leaving the ALP) reflect the concerns of the vast majority of Muslims living in Australia?
The primary task of the envoys will be to manage the local fallout from the bloodshed in Israel, Palestine, and now Lebanon. But this is not a religious conflict and the Islamophobia envoy will not represent the experience of Palestinian and Lebanese Christians. Nor does the antisemitism envoy represent the concerns of many Australian Jews, as Silverstein and others have articulately stated. John Howard chose to use interfaith dialogue as a way of avoiding the word “racism”. Having just scolded the organisers of The Muslim Vote for (supposedly) attempting to introduce a faith-based political system to Australia, Anthony Albanese is now taking inspiration from confessional states such as Lebanon by deploying religious envoys to “manage” community tensions.
Brett Leslie writes: [The surplus is] important for several reasons. First, it demonstrates spending restraint to reduce inflation. Second, it demonstrates appropriate government finances to battle the myth a Coalition government will do a better job. Three, it puts the budget in a better condition for the next downturn.
And we could also say, four, it has helped the government reduce some long-term debt, which in turn reduces future interest rate payments. This article demonstrates that Labor is damned if they do show restraint on spending to reduce inflation, and damned if they don’t spend more to reduce the cost of living pressures. Go figure.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
As Iran launches attack, Israel’s next move may determine course of war (The New York Times) ($)
More than 100 to sue Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs (BBC)
‘Acid attack’ at West London school leaves girl with potentially life-changing injuries (Sky News)
Disabled BBC journalist Frank Gardner forced to crawl to toilet on flight from Warsaw (The Independent)
Nevada Republicans dismiss 43ft nude Trump effigy as ‘deplorable’ (The Guardian)
Jimmy Carter makes history as he turns 100 (Axios)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Claims that international students are the ‘modern version of the boat arrivals’ are inflammatory and unhelpful — Sean Stimson (Guardian Australia): The ramifications extend beyond the education sector. Reducing international student numbers through exorbitant visa fees could create a harmful ripple effect across the economy. International students support jobs in education, retail and hospitality and also often work part-time in industries like healthcare — sectors already experiencing workforce shortages.
International students deserve safety, respect and fair treatment. Scapegoating them for broader policy failures is not only morally wrong but also risks damaging Australia’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive destination for education. In a globalised world where competition for international students is fierce, Australia cannot afford to tarnish its image by mistreating those who contribute so much to our society.
The housing crisis requires our politicians to have the political courage to address the real issues without resorting to scapegoating or short-term fixes.
Qatar Airways deal can help Virgin escape Qantas’ flying wedge — Peter Harbison (AFR): But the more political “national interest” review by the FIRB (which makes recommendations to the treasurer) is a bit more unpredictable and is likely to be decided at cabinet level.
Given the relatively modest proposal and the likely effects, it’s hard to argue against it, but there won’t be any shortage of lobbying in Canberra.
A successful outcome would set up the airline for an IPO in mid-2025. That’ll be good news for Bain, which will be anxious to cash out some of its longer-than-expected investment. Qatar Airways will be happy too, because it gets a welcome foot in the door.
More importantly, a successful outcome will go a long way to creating a better competitive balance in the domestic market. That’s what the market needs right now.
