THE COMEBACK KID
The 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner has won the Australian Open in an epic comeback fit for a Hollywood movie, going from two sets to love down to winning the three-hour-44-minute five sets. Daniil Medvedev “did nothing wrong” in the first two “incredible” sets, Australian former champion Lleyton Hewitt told news.com.au, but Sinner served first in that third set and just “got better and better”. Sinner is the first Italian to win the Australian Open, and the first Italian male to win a grand slam in half a century. He’s also the youngest winner in 16 years — reader, the terrifyingly speedy passage of time may disturb you, but Sinner was born in 2001. Medvedev is the first player to lose two major finals from two sets up, and the record-holder for most time spent on the court during the Open (24 hours 17 minutes), Guardian Australia adds.
To another attempted comeback — and the WA Liberal Party’s efforts to win government from Labor after 16 years and counting in opposition took some hits this weekend. An IT error meant an unknown number of Liberal members were not sent a reminder to pay their fees on January 1 — the lapsed membership means they can’t vote for the candidate in their local seats. They’d breach their constitution if they voted anyway, The West Australian ($) says, but not giving everyone the same renewal reminder could be “discriminatory”. Meanwhile, Liberal hopeful and Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas says he didn’t call the women’s Australian Open (AO) match the “reserves game” in a viral video, instead claiming he was talking about reading the news while the AO was on. He’s no stranger to a gaffe: he wrote passionately about “forcibly” removing homeless people who “smell” in 2020, apologised after making comments about trans people, and was accused of shafting a presenter by announcing the Norm Smith Medal winner at the 2021 AFL grand final.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The working class in Coalition seats in regional and rural areas are the biggest winners in Labor’s tweaks to the stage three tax cuts, Guardian Australia reports, including Whitsunday, in the electorate of Dawson, East Pilbara in Durack, and Cairns in Leichhardt. Interestingly, voters in Dunkley, where there will be a by-election in March, also stand to gain the most. Labor’s inner-city seats (Reid, Higgins, Bennelong, Kingsford Smith, Grayndler) and the teal seats (Warringah, Wentworth, North Sydney, Mackellar, Goldstein, Kooyong and Curtin) would lose the most in the changes, but still get a tax cut — everyone does. Meanwhile, former PM Scott Morrison is an “arrogant arsehole” — according to one of his backbenchers, that is. Catch all the messy drama on the ABC’s Nemesis docu-series tonight.
Overseas now and it’s a sure thing the UK Labour Party will defeat the Conservative Party in this year’s election and form government, former high commissioner to the UK and federal attorney-general George Brandis writes for the SMH ($). Labour has led the Tories by 20 points for more than a year, and there are rumours of PM Rishi Sunak’s ousting — which’d be the third spill in 18 months. If Labour won, AUKUS would be safe (mostly because of its employment opportunities), Brandis says, as would the free trade agreement. But foreign policy might change if Labour prioritises the Middle East and Africa (beyond NATO countries), rather than the Indo-Pacific “tilt” it spoke of in the post-Brexit Integrated Review.
DIRTY SECRET
Asbestos-laden soil may have been used at childcare centres, residential areas, schools and parks across NSW, according to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). Guardian Australia reports the regulator has known for a decade, but didn’t tighten regulations in 2022 because of objections from the waste industry. The product is known as “recovered fines” and could contain asbestos fibres, which can get stuck in the lungs. But there’s no rule that producers have to test for it, even though an EPA testing in 2019 found recovered fines in 57% of facilities. Meanwhile investors are betting against our battery minerals or electrification companies, the SMH ($) reports, making up half of the top 10 most shorted stocks. Lithium prices have fallen 80% in the past 12 months, while nickel is down 40% — and one expert said a lot of new companies couldn’t weather the storm.
It comes as Victoria’s Allan government will not ban duck hunting, the Herald Sun reports, even though a government-led parliamentary inquiry called for it. The matter will go before state cabinet today, with pro-ban advocates such as Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell citing environmental factors, population numbers and animal welfare concerns. But anti-ban advocate Sheena Watt, a Yorta Yorta woman and Labor MP, pointed out First Nations Victorians have cultural reasons for hunting, and Electrical Trades Union members said they’d walk off the job if it was banned outright. It’s banned in Queensland, NSW and WA, however.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Diplomatic channels are in meltdown, geopolitical lines have been drawn, and officials on both sides of the pond are in hot water after a US scientist suggested the perfect cup of tea requires a single teaspoon of salt. Chemistry Professor Michelle Franci said she’d looked at modern studies and ancient texts dating back more than 1,000 years to find the best possible method for her book. The US embassy in London went into swift damage control. A statement on X (formerly Twitter) acknowledged its perilous relationship with the UK in light of Franci’s controversial finding, calling tea the “elixir of camaraderie, a sacred bond that unites our nations”. We cannot stand by and let that relationship go cold, the statement continues. “Adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy and never will be.”
Any reassurance scandalised and frankly frightened Britons felt from the official US statement was quickly squashed when the statement ended: “The US embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way — by microwaving it.” Cabinet Office in the UK quickly responded on X, agreeing on the two nations’ special relationship but drawing attention to a firm point of diplomatic contention: that tea should — nay, must — be made using a kettle. The US embassy in Australia declined to comment on the tea, though did say staff would continue to enjoy our country’s most renowned consumable product — Vegemite — in the proper way they’ve been taught by their Australian friends. “By the spoonful,” it added. Americans…
Hoping the smiles come easily today.
SAY WHAT?
Oh, it’s a reserve game then.
Basil Zempilas
The Perth lord mayor and Liberal Party hopeful was talking to a journalist when he appeared to disparage the women’s Australian Open final. Zempilas claimed he was referring to reading the news while the tennis was on another channel.
CRIKEY RECAP
“Frontline staff taking the brunt of customer frustrations over corporate or regulatory decisions — such as mask mandates and QR check-ins during the coronavirus pandemic — is nothing new. The retail union Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) told Crikey surveys of members had shown a marked increase in staff abuse over the past two years …
“With that market concentration in mind, and coupled with the intense focus on the cost-of-living crisis at the moment, the ACCC’s one-year probe means Woolworths has bigger worries than whether it should be stocking the green and gold.”
“The contradiction between actively pursuing division while loudly accusing your opponents of the same wasn’t a one-off or unique to the Voice campaign. It’s a design feature of how the Outrage Right now does business. The dominant political dynamic across the West currently isn’t the cost of living, the economy or even the nature of government: it’s about resentment, grievance and outrage and their exploitation.
“In the US, the business model of Donald Trump, his supporters Fox News and the entire MAGA ecosystem — and their counterparts in Australia, such as Peter Dutton, the federal Coalition, News Corp and minor political players like [Pauline] Hanson — is about provoking a deep sense of victimhood and fury.”
“It’s frustrating to watch politicians like Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson try to whip people into a frenzy about a shop choosing not to stock Australia Day thongs or whatever it was that fewer and fewer people are buying anyway. And it’s infuriating to see them try to pit us against one another.
“But there are also politicians who give me hope that things will get better, particularly here in Victoria where we have a government willing to have the difficult conversations that need to be had. One that has invested in a process that ensures we can come together with respect and on equal footing. The process is called Treaty.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Iran launches three satellites amid rising tensions with Western powers (Al Jazeera)
Jannik Sinner sinks Daniil Medvedev to win first slam title at Australian Open (The Guardian)
Carroll promises to do ‘something good’ with a fortune [US$83.3 million] won from Trump (The New York Times) ($)
Protesters hurl soup at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris (CNN)
UN urges reversal of funding pause for Palestinian agency, promises staff accountability (Reuters)
Ukraine says corrupt officials stole $40m meant to buy arms for the war with Russia (euronews)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Removing Netanyahu is Israel’s only chance to achieve a two-state solution — Gilead Sher and Dan Perry (The SMH) ($): It is hard to overstate the outrage that followed [the November 2022 Israel] election. The finance minister is a ‘proud homophobe’ who believes Israel’s first-world economy should be run by laws of the Torah. The national security minister boasts multiple convictions, including for supporting Jewish terrorism. The communications minister is dedicated to destroying the free media. The justice minister seeks to end judicial oversight of the executive. And the coalition’s Putinisation effort included 200-odd proposed laws, one of which allowed for banning opposition parties from running.
“Meanwhile, due to his dependence on the ultranationalist far right, Netanyahu allowed groups of extremist Jewish settlers to terrorise Palestinians and create a security emergency in the West Bank. That’s why the military was mainly preoccupied with the West Bank, a problem of Netanyahu’s own making and not focused on the combustible Gaza border despite numerous early warnings — so it took many hours to arrive at the massacre sites. Never in Israel’s 75-year history had there been a more traumatic breakdown.”
How to fix the housing supply nightmare — Mike Zorbas (The AFR) ($): “Over the past 20 years, only 1.8% of permanent migrants have arrived employed in construction trades. Infrastructure Australia’s recent market capacity report speaks to demand for up to 405,000 people across big builds, housing and energy infrastructure. As we intelligently dial down the overall number of immigrants, we need to boost the proportion of those new arrivals headed to work in the construction and care economies. All the great domestic training initiatives and incentives put together won’t bridge these gaps. We can’t ‘train’ our way to where we need to be. One day demand may subside, but not in the next five years.
“Second, the next wave of housing will ideally be a mix of transport-oriented growth area development and infill density with appropriate energy efficiency and climate resilience measures built in, and careful strategic planning of commercial and industrial land opportunities. It will be accompanied by the deployment of patient capital into customer-led purpose-built student accommodation, retirement living and build-to-rent communities, targeted in the national housing accord, and expansion of the important Housing Australia Future Fund. How? Governments will partner with developers on putting key-worker housing into big projects, and we will never again miss a chance to put accommodation into new or upgraded healthcare precincts.”
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WHAT’S ON TODAY
Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Avid Reader is hosting a midnight launch for the new Crescent City novel House of Flame and Shadow.
