MEDICATION NATION
It might be about to get harder to buy painkillers — the Therapeutic Goods Administration is looking into whether we should limit paracetamol to one to two packs a person, and prohibit people under 18 from buying it at all (without a prescription). A report found that 3575 cases of “intentional paracetamol poisoning”, as the SMH puts it, were reported last year in NSW (1417 in Victoria). In the decade between 2006-16, there was a 98% increase in young people doing so, and in the past few years, three times more females than males overdosed.
Meanwhile, when we take asylum seekers to get medical care, we often handcuff them. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) called the practice traumatic, inhumane and unlawful, and took the landmark case to federal court, as Guardian Australia reports. Now the group is calling on the United Nations’ torture prevention watchdog to weigh in when it visits in October. Border Force says handcuffs are a last resort, but the Commonwealth ombudsman says guards use them for routine appointments. One asylum seeker who had a history of torture and abuse told the court he missed loads of medical appointments because he just couldn’t bear the handcuffs around his wrists. It comes as three young people are taking on the state government in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal after they were locked up in police watch houses meant for adults, the ABC reports. The Public Guardian said it had been told of kids under 14 being locked up in the adult facilities for more than four days.
For anyone seeking help, Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue is 1300 22 4636. In an emergency, call 000.
MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been given the keys to Mexico City, ABC reports. As he’s locked up in a London prison his family accepted them on his behalf. Mexican President López Obrador is a big Assange supporter and has written to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, several times to call for the charges to be dropped. Still Assange’s brother called the keys a surprise. It’s kinda crazy to think the Assange saga has been going on for more than a decade — the family hopes that with the changing of the guard in Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese might take action to bring him home.
In another Australian legal matter now, the Daily Mail is appealing a defamation ruling after Sky News’s Erin Molan was awarded $150,000 over coverage of Molan saying “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” on 2GB radio. Molan said the Daily Mail article (this appears to be it) unfairly made her sound like a racist “arrogant woman of white privilege” who was mocking Polynesian names — she said she wasn’t, describing it as a “running joke” to do accents on the show, Guardian Australia reports. The court didn’t agree with Molan that the Daily Mail story made her out as a racist, but it did find that she was unfairly portrayed and awarded her substantial damages. Meanwhile, the NRL has suspended, fined and “educated” Indigenous Knights star Caitlin Moran over a tweet where she called the queen a “dumb dog”, Crikey reports. Bundjalung woman and advocate for human rights and reform advocate Vanessa Turnbull Roberts said the outrage desperately needs some historical perspective. “Punishing an Aboriginal woman for having a perspective on the violence and harmed caused by colonisation” is a “shame” on the NRL, she wrote.
UP FOR REVIEW
Do you find MyGov tough to use? It’s about to receive a sweeping review, lead by former Telstra boss David Thodey, the SMH reports. It gets a million logins daily, the paper says, but caused lots of frustration when it crashed at the beginning of the pandemic. For some, not being able to access MyGov (which can be linked to Centrelink) can mean the difference between keeping a roof over their family’s head or not, former human rights commissioner Edward Santow said. Speaking of reviews, Queensland is reviewing Airbnb-style rentals amid the state’s housing shortage, the Brisbane Times reports, as complaints have surged ahead of approvals for the property type. You’ve got to apply if you want to rent out a house or unit for stays under three months, but there have been 275 complaints from the community about the sector in the past three years.
To a decidedly different review now and Guardian Australia has broken down the four key areas to watch ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s report card. Yesterday submissions began rolling in ahead of the recommendations hitting Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ desk next March. It’ll delve into inflation targeting (how flexible our inflation rate is), the make-up of the nine-strong board (it’s selected by the government despite being independent), voting disclosures (the transparency of board votes) and future shocks (pandemic, war, recession? Basically — what the hell is coming next?).
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Writer Ella McLeod has this grandma, Sylvia. Sylvia had humble beginnings in 1930s Jamacia, growing up with just one pair of shoes. When she emigrated to London in 1962 as a trainee nurse, she was prim and proper — the “height of professionalism”, McLeod writes for The Guardian. Fast forward to 2007, when Sylvia’s husband — McLeod’s grandad — died the whole family was heartbroken… and a little nervous. How was grandma going to cope? Little did they know Sylvia was about to enter her Michelin-star era. She was devastated by her loss, but after a while declared that “she had not yet finished eating at the table of life”, McLeod writes. Now Sylvia is a total sunflower, as McLeod’s sister describes her — bright petals, solid in the centre with a stem of iron. The 87-year-old is a fully-fledged emoji enthusiast when texting with her family. She bats her eyelids at the charmed department store staff and always seems to leave with a discount. When she drops into the hospital as a patient, she flirts outrageously with every male medic she finds.
The 122cm-tall Sylvia isn’t afraid to give it straight back to life either when the moment calls for it. On the bus recently, a huffy man with a suitcase carelessly knocked into her — she kissed her teeth, looked him in the eye and told him that if he pushed her again, she’d “clap yuh wi’ me stick”. And Sylvia’s quite the sight to behold, McLeod says — she never leaves home unless adorned in a silk blouse, matching silk scarf — and some rose gold sneakers, of course. She tells her granddaughter she’s got to look good, because what if she runs into someone? And, somehow, she always does, McLeod writes — a 40-minute turn around the suburb for some dull errands is a two-hour affair as Sylvia meets and greets friends and acquaintances like she’s the “prom queen”. “She is an octogenarian It girl,” McLeod concludes incredulously. “And I can only aspire to be the same.”
Wishing you some of that Sylvia lust for life — and a restful weekend.
Dear Worm reader, I’ll be on holiday for the next week and my esteemed colleague Julia Bergin will bring you your morning newsletter. As always, I welcome you dropping into my inbox — eelsworthy@crikey.com.au. Perhaps you have a book recommendation for me? Until Monday week, E.
SAY WHAT?
Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognise when it’s time to end my competitive career.
Roger Federer
The 41-year-old tennis player — some say the best ever — will hang up his racquet after clocking 20 grand slam titles in his career. Federer says his body was sending him a clear message and it was time to heed it.
CRIKEY RECAP
Just how many ABC staff have gone to London to visit the queen?
“So how many people has the ABC sent to the UK to cover the death and funeral of Elizabeth II? It’s 27, according to the ABC — plus two extra journalists or former journalists who were coincidentally in Europe at the time, who have been roped in to help, including veteran correspondent Phil Williams, who though he retired from the ABC last year can’t seem to stay away from the joint.
“ABC News has a team of ‘around’ 12 journalists and nine production staff in the UK, it says. But ABC Radio has also sent six people — three presenters (we’re told Virginia Trioli and Raf Epstein from ABC Melbourne and Richard Glover, ABC Sydney Drive host) and three production people. Crikey has been told Trioli, Epstein and Glover travelled business class, but the ABC declined to confirm this.”
‘Very damaging message’: Indigenous athlete questions NRL’s cultural awareness
“Setting aside gendered and racial overtones, the incident harks back to the free speech debate that raged in 2019 after rugby star Israel Folau took the nation by storm over an Instagram post which laid down the law of the land on homosexuals in the eyes of God.
“Conservative think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) called out Rugby Australia and GoFundMe for their ‘totalitarian’ treatment of Folau. The IPA said: ‘What is happening to Israel Folau should not happen in a free society. They wanted to silence him, penalise his speech, and to stop people from donating to his cause. This is fundamentally totalitarian.’ The IPA did not respond to a request for comment on whether [Caitlin] Moran had also her free speech curtailed.”
What’s a guy gotta do to not be invited to the queen’s funeral?
“Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, whose soft fascism has the redeeming feature of being largely ineffective, is invited. Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has relentlessly cracked down on dissent, increased censorship, blocked access to large parts of the internet, and charged thousands of his citizens with ‘insulting the president’, will also be there. It’s not been confirmed whether Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud will go.
“The leadership of Russia, Syria, Venezuela, Belarus, Myanmar and Afghanistan are all missing from the invite list. Our working theory is that if they’d wanted to come, they really ought to have demonstrated a bit more interest in horses. How else to explain the likely attendance of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum?”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Magdalena Andersson: Sweden’s PM resigns after conceding election to right-wing (EuroNews)
Roger Federer says he will retire from tennis (The New York Times)
Guatemala concert stampede leaves at least nine dead, 20 injured (Al Jazeera)
Putin concedes China has ‘questions and concerns’ over Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine (CNN)
Irish teacher jailed for contempt of court after refusing to refer to pupil as ‘they’ (The Guardian)
Is it time to change the name of New Zealand to Aotearoa? (NZ Herald)
Hungary is no longer a full democracy, says European Parliament (The Guardian)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Trade pact should be only for those who play by rules — Shingo Yamagami (The Australian) ($): “The relevance of this aspect of Abe’s legacy is keenly felt in the Indo-Pacific, where the rules-based international order is facing serious challenges. Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, as seen in the brutal aggression by Russia against Ukraine, are also increasingly blatant and prevalent in the East and South China seas, including in the waters around the Senkaku Islands. Beijing’s military activities, including unprecedented exercises around Taiwan, have intensified dramatically. What I intend to highlight here is the seriousness of the challenge presented to international trade architecture in the face of economic coercion. There can be no clearer or more blatant opposition to the foundational principles of the World Trade Organization than the weaponisation of economic clout. The irony is economic coercion has become a signature modus operandi of a certain major WTO member. Economic coercion, along with disruptions to global logistics caused by COVID-19, has also laid bare the potential vulnerabilities of global supply chains.
“In response, like-minded partners are joining forces to reinforce the rules-based international trade architecture and to develop resilient supply chains. At the global level, WTO reforms remain a key challenge. While much remains to be done, the achievements at the 12th WTO ministerial conference in June should form a basis to build on. In discussing economic coercion, it is worth noting the export of rare earth from China to Japan was temporarily suspended in 2010. China’s non-transparent de facto import restrictions on Australian products (including barley and wine) are being scrutinised in Geneva. At the regional level, Japan and Australia, together with key partners including Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, are taking a multi-layered approach and working on initiatives such as the CPTPP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the newly launched Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.”
Defeat of the Voice would be a body blow for achieving a republic — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): “The passage of the proposed referendum on a Voice to Parliament could be a necessary, albeit not a sufficient, condition for Australia to become a republic in the next few years. Anthony Albanese, on grounds of respect, is declining to be drawn on the republic issue immediately after the queen’s death. Assistant Minister for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite has lips buttoned (although he was embarrassed when Sky publicised a fundraising dinner he was slated to attend next month). Albanese’s bid to change Australia’s constitutional arrangements has been pencilled in for a second term, assuming Labor gets one.
“Thistlethwaite’s early appointment both sent a signal and marked the start of tilling the ground, initially in a low-key way. A defeat for the Voice, however, would potentially be a massive stumbling block. It’s hard to see the government being willing to risk a second referendum rebuff. On the other hand, a win for the Voice would create momentum for a republic referendum, ending the perception that constitutional change has become almost impossible. Assuming the Voice were enshrined, the push for the republic would still face formidable obstacles, arguably tougher than when people voted it down in 1999. Then, despite the result, there had been a strong mood for change. The controversial role of the governor-general in the 1975 political crisis was in relatively near memory; now it is ancient history for most people. And in the 1990s, moving to a republic was cast as important for Australia’s foreign policy pitch to Asia.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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The Australia Institute’s Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch’s Lizze O’Shea, and Guardian Australia’s Dan Stinton are among the speakers in a Centre for Responsible Technology webinar.
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Intel’s Genevieve Bell and Kepios’s Simon Kemp are among the speakers at Disrupt Sydney conference held at the University of Sydney.
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Author Tom Ravlic will chat about his new book, Crown: Playing in the Shadows, at Glee Books.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Doctor Lachlan McIver will chat about his memoir, Life and Death Decisions, at Avid Reader bookshop. You can also catch his one online.
