CHINESE CHECKERS
Opposition spokesman for countering foreign interference James Paterson says the Albanese government must replace at least 913 cameras, intercoms and video recorders created by two Chinese companies that are in buildings including Defence, Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department, The Australian ($) reports. Hikvision and Dahua are part-owned by the Chinese Communist Party, the paper says — although all companies in China are bound by a law that compels them to hand over data to Chinese intelligence agencies anyway. In November, the UK government banned Chinese-linked surveillance cameras in sensitive buildings, as Reuters ($) reports, and around the same time the US banned imports or sales of Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua surveillance products, Forbes adds. Overreaction or national security? Shrug. In a statement, Hikvision said it can’t send data from end-users to third parties, it doesn’t manage databases, and it doesn’t sell cloud storage.
It comes as Defence Minister Richard Marles will defend AUKUS today, the ABC reports, after former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating spoke out against it. In January, Turnbull was like, any nuclear submarine that we get from the US will need the supervision of the US Navy to be used, and Keating said similarly in 2021 that it would mean a “dramatic loss of Australian sovereignty”. But Marles will counter today that we need AUKUS — almost all of our “high-end capability” comes from our partners, he will say. Speaking of former PMs, Tony Abbott’s appointment to the board of a climate-sceptic think tank has prompted calls for him to be dropped as one of the UK government’s trade advisers on its Board of Trade, Guardian Australia reports. In 2021, the Global Warming Policy Foundation’s director said that it was “extraordinary that anyone should think there is a climate crisis”.
THE VICTORIAN ERA
New draft laws in Victoria could see police register children, lawyers, journalists, doctors, priests, parliamentarians and judges as snitches, The Age says. The proposed legislation came after the McMurdo royal commission — commonly referred to as the Lawyer X royal commission — which recommended the handling of police informants be legislated rather than left to the cops. But the Victorian Bar and the Law Institute of Victoria reckon the legislation isn’t tight enough and could see defence lawyers pass info about their clients on to the police. One thing’s for sure after the Nicola Gobbo saga, the Law Institute boss told the paper: “Lawyers should never be used as human sources.”
Meanwhile, a former Liberal candidate has apologised to former Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy for inviting him out to lunch with “criminals and underworld figures”, according to the Herald Sun ($). When the paper first reported the eyebrow-raising birthday lunch, an indignant Mulgrave candidate Michael Piastrino said he and Guy were considering suing the paper. But after reporters did some digging on a few of the attendee’s records, Piastrino apologised. He said he’d met many of them through the church and they were “working to turn their lives around” — which deserves the benefit of the doubt. Piastrino described himself as “devastated that this has hurt [Guy]”. If Piastrino’s name is ringing a bell, it might be because he ran against Premier Daniel Andrews in the state election — he apologised after accusing the premier of murder early in the campaign, as The Age ($) reported at the time.
RICH MEN, POOR MEN
Two dozen more fossil fuel projects could be killed after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek rejected mining billionaire Clive Palmer’s central Queensland coalmine, using our environmental laws, the AFR ($) reports. It’s actually the first time we’ve ever done such a thing. Plibersek said the proposed mine would damage the Great Barrier Reef, which was just 10km away from the site, and other nearby areas. She’s in step with the Palaszczuk government, as the Brisbane Times ($) reports, which warned about the project’s “unacceptable risks” in 2021. Palmer will probably lawyer up and challenge the decision, as is his wont…
To another disgruntled billionaire now and a company owned by one of the world’s richest men, Bernard Arnault, is demanding an Australian woman change her business name, named for her four-year-old Kenzie who has autism. Rim Daghmash’s Kenz Beauty is “deceptively similar” to Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy’s subsidiary Kenzo, the letter pontificated, as news.com.au ($) reports. But Daghmash, who donates part of her profits to autism research, says it’s just a small startup and is feeling “crushed” under the weight of legal fees. Her offers of mediation have been ignored, she says. To finish on something a bit nicer, the late Shane Warne’s three kids will get 93% of his $20.7 million wealth, his will has revealed as the SMH ($) reports, and his brother and brother’s kids will get the rest.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
An American couple named Vinny Dashukewich and Olivia Unwin were mucking around with their dog Cali when all the hairs on the pooch’s back stood up. She was acting kinda weird around the deck, they noticed, maybe having spotted a local cat. So Unwin peered into the semi-darkness underneath, as The New York Times tells it. “It’s a bear,” she yelped. Curled up in a furry ball was a bleary-eyed black bear, enjoying a lazy winter hibernation on a bed of leaves. Dashukewich looked at the bear, who looked back at him as if to say, I’m too tired for this shit. The local wildlife department was like, you could move him on by making a lot of noise or just leave him there — black bears are the most diminutive of any type. Dashukewich opted for the latter. “He hasn’t bothered us at all,” he said. “So we feel like there’s no reason to move him.”
Meanwhile, in other bear news, a female black bear has snapped 400 frankly gorgeous selfies using a Colorado wildlife camera, NBC News reports. She’s cheeky with her tongue out, now she’s demure like Lady Di, now she’s throwing her head back like she’s the modern power woman. The camera usually captures coyotes, beavers, mountain lions, black bears and all kinds of birds — it’s a measure to help the local parks department monitor them. But wildlife experts were dazzled when they looked at the photo stream on one of the cameras, with 400 of the 580 photos of this one voyeuristic bear. “These pictures made us laugh, and we thought others would, too,” parks spokesman Phillip Yates said.
Wishing you the confidence and nonchalance of a bear today.
SAY WHAT?
Should this Voice pass, be under no illusion about what will then happen: Australia Day will change; there will be more demands to rewrite history; and there will be a multitude of treaties at all levels of government between our country and small groups of its citizens.
Peta Credlin
Turns out a lot of positive things could happen if the Voice to Parliament passes, though it may not have been how Credlin meant it in her damning opinion piece in The Australian ($). The former Liberal staffer says the Voice is really about who “owns Australia” than recognition.
CRIKEY RECAP
Porn, daytime vodka and monkey-pig hybrids: the 22,000 texts of Alex Jones
“Last August, during one of a series of trials that left online outrage merchant Alex Jones owing the families of Sandy Hook victims more than a billion dollars in damages, it was revealed that his lawyer had “messed up” and provided the families’ lawyer with his entire phone records.
“They landed with a satisfying thud of schadenfreude, and allowed the complainants to demonstrate Jones’ frequent demonstrable lies under oath. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch has delved deeply into them, reviewing more than 22,000 text messages Jones sent and received between August 2019 and May 2020. The tranche paints a grim picture of what it is to be Alex Jones. I mean, even grimmer than we already knew it was.”
Is Thorpe the underarm bowler of Australian politics, or a dead-set warrior?
“However, accepting she is sincere in her basic convictions around sovereignty and the illegitimacy of our constitutional framework (remember, she did have to be sworn in twice after first refusing to express her allegiance to the queen), it’s fair for her to ask why she should comply with conventions made by settler society in furtherance of its long-term illegal occupation of territory never ceded?
“In that frame, taking a bit of liberty with voters’ faith while doing nothing remotely illegal, to secure a seat in the upper house and wield some actual legislative power for a while, is a long way from bomb-throwing anarchy. It could be described as, well, a poignant fuck-you to the power structure she believes keeps her people down by design and intent.”
How an anti-vaccine Port Arthur sceptic came to rub shoulders with federal MPs
“Jammal is one of the people behind Turning Point Australia, a right-wing group named after the influential youth conservative group Turning Point USA. Jammal and Turning Point Australia have become increasingly common fixtures on the fringes of Australia’s conservative movement.
“The group ran a climate denial event last week with One Nation NSW MP Mark Latham, former MP and United Australia Party national director Craig Kelly, and One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts hosted by Jammal. At the upcoming Church & State conference, Jammal will appear alongside Latham and Family First national director Lyle Shelton.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Outrage over Charlie Hebdo’s Turkey-Syria earthquake cartoon (Al Jazeera)
Zelenskyy, touring Europe, wins UK pledge to train pilots on NATO jets (Reuters)
Russia conducting ‘hybrid war’ in Moldova with protests and cyber attacks: prime minister (EuroNews)
Six takeaways from Biden’s State of the Union address (CNN)
Big oil walks back climate pledges as earnings show 2022 was their most profitable year (CBC)
Emir of Qatar interested in buying Manchester United for £4.5b (The Guardian)
Tropical cyclone Gabrielle expected to ‘rapidly deepen’ into severe storm within 24 hours (NZ Herald)
THE COMMENTARIAT
I’m a proud, gay, married man. But World Pride looks like a drag — Damien Woolnough (The SMH) ($): “It’s like the imposter syndrome I had as a closeted teenager, singing along in pubs to Cold Chisel’s “Khe Sanh” while wearing suspiciously clean Blundstone boots and an ironed flannelette shirt. There’s a thrilling World Pride program, with comedy events, poetry readings, First Nations activations and exhibitions but my ability to join the party is hampered by the slick and sequinned marketing from brands showing their support for the rainbow dollar.
“Walking around Sydney or scrolling through social media in the lead-up to World Pride is like being trapped in a RuPaul’s Drag Race marathon, with countless images of drag queens promoting pride flights, hotel brunches and bingo, with back-up from a slew of oiled, topless men. World Pride’s program has something for everyone but most of the imagery used to promote events is limited, making the celebration look like the type of hens’ parties where phallic straws are plunged into Aperol spritzes.”
Labor given a hand grenade on how to fix financial advice — Jennifer Hewett (The AFR) ($): “The release of the Levy review into financial advice is a reminder of the risks of unintended consequences and regulatory overreach. One of the proudest reforms of the last Labor government was the future of financial advice legislation designed to deal with the egregious conflicts of interest rampant across the industry. Now this Labor government has been handed a political hand grenade — dealing with the long-term impact of good intentions when translated into regulations that create a new set of problems.
“Michelle Levy, a partner at Allens, was appointed by the Morrison government to undertake a review designed ‘to ensure Australians have access to high quality, accessible and affordable financial advice’. That’s certainly not the case for most people. Only about 10% of Australians — a steadily declining number — receive financial advice, with the great majority reluctant to pay thousands of dollars in upfront fees. While getting no advice is certainly preferable to getting bad advice, it means very few Australians receive any assistance in making what can be extremely significant financial choices. That gap will only become more marked as a generation of baby boomers retire and try to figure out the complex interaction of super, pension and mortgage payments.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
-
Former army officer and Lowy nonresident fellow Rodger Shanahan will launch his book, Islamic State in Australia, at the Lowy Institute.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
-
Editor Carody Culver and contributors Martine Kropkowski and Alex Philp will talk about taxidermy, folklore and conspiracy theories in the new Griffith Review 79 edition called Counterfeit Culture at Avid Reader bookshop.
