KING’S CANCER
King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer. Doctors discovered it while he was receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate, though it’s a “separate issue” to that, and he’s begun treatment as an outpatient. We don’t know the stage of cancer yet, BBC notes, nor the prognosis, though he attended church on Sunday. Doctors told him not to attend public events but he will continue to work on state business and official paperwork, Buckingham Palace said. The monarch wanted to share the diagnosis “in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer,” the statement ended.
Staying overseas and Chinese-Australian democracy blogger Yang Hengjun was given a suspended death sentence for vague espionage charges after five years in custody and a secret 2021 trial Australian officials were barred from. It means his execution could become life in prison after two years of good behaviour. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong called the sentence “harrowing” and summoned China’s Ambassador in Canberra, Xiao Qian. The Conversation notes the suspended sentence for what China considers a capital offence was likely a diplomatic nod to Australia’s thawing relationship, but it’s still the harshest spy penalty the country has given to a foreigner since 1949, one expert told The Australian ($).China has never released a scrap of evidence for the charge, which Yang’s friend said was over “fabricated” claims he gave top secret info to Taiwan while he was in Hong Kong 28 years ago. You can sign an Amnesty International petition calling for his release here.
DEATH AND TAXES
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull says Scott Morrison duped him in the 2018 leadership ballot that led to the latter becoming leader, he told ABC. Cast your mind back and you may remember the Coalition going to a leadership vote on the Tuesday of that week — Turnbull beat Peter Dutton 48-35 but Dutton was emboldened and called for another spill. Turnbull said he’d stand aside if Dutton had the numbers, and he got them. So then it was Julie Bishop, Morrison and Dutton in the race. Looking back, Turnbull says Morrison played a “double game” where his supporters voted for Dutton in the first ballot to make him look more popular than he was. Morrison denied it. Turnbull also called Morrison a convincing liar (don’t we know it!), Dutton a “thug” and said Tony Abbott promised to be “very fucking difficult” as revenge following his 2016 ousting, Guardian Australia adds.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader will not call for higher taxes, The Age reports. Dutton will neither block nor delay Albanese’s tax reform that leaves 70% paying less for a full decade, but will call for more generous tax cuts to combat bracket creep. It’s mostly posturing however because sources told the paper Coalition MPs agreed to wave the cuts through Parliament. Treasury analysis found what Labor promised: 11.5 million taxpayers will get a bigger tax cut from the changes, while 1.1 million (everyone earning more than $146,400) will get a slightly lower tax cut. The Australian ($) basically says the 30% flat tax rate ($45,000 to $200,000) is dead in the water because the Coalition won’t take the Morrison-era bracket to the next election. The Oz adds Dutton will call out the broken promise in question time, however, and warn Labor’s going for negative gearing, trusts and the family home.
CARE AND CONCERN
Anglicare wouldn’t accept the Indigenous aunt of an Indigenous baby as a long-term carer because she was in a same-sex relationship, Guardian Australia reports. Instead, it tried to have the baby adopted by a non-Indigenous couple. Her mother Paula had written an affidavit saying she was concerned the baby’s foster parents were not Indigenous or family, and the law states a relative or kin should be the next stop. A caseworker for the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), who was charged with her parental responsibility, said Anglicare couldn’t assess the baby’s aunt and her partner’s applications “as per the agency’s policy on same-sex couples”, and DCJ advised the court she should be adopted.
Meanwhile, Victoria’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has launched an inquiry into a 12-year-old girl in state care who was charged with murder, the ABC reports. She had been reported missing from care 275 times, including at the time of the alleged murder, and commissioner Liana Buchanan said there were “significant concerns” about the way the state had handled the matter. Staying in Victoria and the Herald Sun says doctors will hike fees by 30% — from an average of $40.10 to more than $52 — because of the Allan government’s changes to payroll tax. Basically, payroll tax has applied to GP staff like nurses and receptionists, but not doctors because they’re not employees and lease rooms. Twin rulings in Victorian and NSW state revenue offices last year changed that, meaning doctors will now be liable for the tax.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
It’s had more celebrity bums on it than perhaps any lounge on Earth, and as prompted by the gleeful elfin energy of Graham Norton, has couched endless somewhat-rehearsed stories that show the 1% are just like us! But actor Colman Domingo recently shared a love story on the show that made viewers swoon across the world. It was back in 2005, and Domingo was walking into the pharmacy chain Walgreens in Berkeley, California, to get a face mask. Suddenly he locked eyes with a man walking out — “Beautiful hair down to here, lip piercing, beautiful” he recalled. The man, who continued down the street, kept throwing glances over his shoulder as Domingo stood there “dumbfounded” by the magic of the moment.
He wondered what to do next, thinking perhaps he could try coming back at the same time the following week. Three days later, Domingo was on classifieds site Craigslist scrolling idly for a new computer. That’s when it came to him — the missed connections section, where people post ads about strangers they missed their shot with. What the hell, Domingo thought, worth a try. Opening the section to write his post, he spots one that stops him dead. “Saw you outside of Walgreens. Berkeley,” the ad, posted two hours ago by Raúl Aktanov, read. The pair met up for a date three days later that turned into a sleepover. But Domingo couldn’t sleep. Looking at a slumbering Aktanov, he’d muttered into the darkness: “I think I love you and you’re about to change my life.” The pair are celebrating their 19th anniversary this year.
Sending you love today.
SAY WHAT?
Does that mean under your tax cut policy, men were drowning?
Patricia Karvelas
The ABC radio host’s perfectly timed response came after Liberal senator Jane Hume told her, of PM Anthony Albanese’s changes to the stage three tax cut, “If you’re a drowning man, you reach for a life raft … who doesn’t want a tax cut?”
CRIKEY RECAP
“AJA president David Adler explained in an October Zoom meeting with an international counterpart about how the organisation had obtained the footage: ‘That was an AJA project. We got that out. Robert had one of his friends down at the Opera House incognito,’ he said.
“AJA did not respond to a request for comment from Crikey and its videos remain online. However, the group did respond to the ECAJ’s statement on X by retweeting it with the words ‘100%’, and made multiple posts that joked about different things that the protesters might have said, such as ‘watch the news’, ‘go on cruise’ and ‘look at the views’ … [Barrister for the pro-Palestinian protest organisers and former police officer Mahmud Hawila] said it was important to know who had edited the AJA’s videos.”
“Among the actions that earned the government points in the latest scorecard, covering 2022, were the Climate Change Act — which enshrined the 2030 43% emissions reduction target into law — and the launch of a “Powering Australia Plan” to increase the share of renewables in the national electricity market to 82% by 2030.
“In 2022, the proportion of Australia’s total electricity generation that came from renewable sources was 32%. But it’s not looking likely Australia will meet the 2030 target. Analysts from renewable energy advisory firms Nexa and Rystad Energy said in August last year Australia would be more likely to hit about 60% …”
“When will the madness end? When will these cyber terrorists who target blameless politicians with extremely specific hacks cease their evil-doing? Over the weekend, Craig Kelly — the inexplicably protected Liberal MP turned extremely explicable United Australia Party MP turned former both of those things — fell victim to a hacker who accessed his X (formerly Twitter) account, retweeted a single scene of hardcore pornography, and then vanished like a ghost.
“Kelly was taking no chances, telling one concerned citizen that he had reported the hack and was ‘changing passports’. This was followed by a lot of X users pointing out that the post was still up, and reminding him that he could undo the hacker’s repost.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Ukraine’s president confirms plans for military shake-up (Al Jazeera)
More China tariffs if re-elected, Donald Trump says (BBC)
Kremlin quiet as Tucker Carlson Russia visit creates Putin interview rumours (The Guardian)
Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor’s claim ‘a brazen lie’, London court told (Reuters)
EU corruption scandal: Chief inspector’s leaked comments threaten to blow up case
(euronews)
What about the Treaty? No resolution at Waitangi, but mediators emerge (Stuff)
Controversy after US adult performer visits Iran (Al Jazeera)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Does Yang Hengjun have any legal hopes left after receiving a suspended death sentence in China? — Donald Rothwell (The Conversation): “The Chinese-Australian academic and writer, Yang Hengjun, has been detained in China for five years on suspicion of spying for Australia. A secret trial was held in 2021 with no family, friends or Australian consular officials permitted in the courtroom. The verdict was then delayed at least seven times, according to Amnesty International. Today, his fate has finally been made clear: Yang received a suspended death sentence which can be commuted to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.
“… Yang can still appeal his sentence through the Chinese legal system, which effectively provides him with certain levels of protection until his appeals have been exhausted. However, criminal appeals in China are rarely successful. Yang’s ill-health would also not provide any additional legal grounds for his release. Diplomatically, though, this would be a basis for Australia to continue to advocate for his release on humanitarian grounds. However, unlike the high-profile case of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were also accused of espionage and detained by China from 2018–21, Australia has no bargaining chip to secure Yang’s release.”
Until Israelis and Palestinians see more than a ‘faceless enemy’, there will never be peace — Samir El-Youssef (The Guardian): “Politics, especially politics in Palestine-Israel, is far too important to be left to politicians alone, especially the kind of politicians who have been in charge on both sides for at least the past 20 years. The main concern, not to say the only concern, of political leaders is their own survival. Palestinian and Israeli societies, on the other hand, are the ones who are paying the heavy price of the devastating violence that has been carried out for more than three months now.
“It is surely the responsibility of both societies to take the first courageous step and lift the veil of denial and face the shameful truth. Both sides must realise that they have dehumanised one another to the extent that it “permitted” them to unleash extreme uses of violence. Both societies, with their civil institutions and organisations, groups and individuals, must no longer exempt themselves from the responsibility of what has been happening. Nor should they accept remaining alienated from what directly concerns their present and future life and survival. The alternative could be a perpetual state of war even if the “two-state solution” became a reality.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Queensland Premier Steven Miles will speak about the state’s future at the Queensland Media Club.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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ASPI’s Gai Brodtmann and Alex Caples, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance’s John Dryzek, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s Leena Rikkilä Tamang, and Nine newspapers’ Chris Zappone will speak about democracy at the ASPI Auditorium.
