QUEENSLAND ELECTION ARRIVES
As Queensland’s political leaders make their final pitch to voters today ahead of Saturday’s election, new polling suggests the Liberal National Party’s lead has narrowed significantly.
The Australian‘s latest Newspoll suggests the LNP leads Labor 52.5% to 47.5% after preferences, a drop of 2.5% for the opposition and a bump of 2.5% for Premier Steven Miles’ Labor.
Despite the narrowing, AAP claims the polling still suggests the David Crisafulli-led LNP will be returned to office for the first time since 2015, while The Australian’s headline declares: “David Crisafulli squanders lead but Queensland LNP on track for knife-edge win.”
The polling of 1,151 Queenslanders was conducted between last Friday and yesterday and indicates Labor’s primary vote has risen three points to 33%, while the LNP’s is still at 42%. Despite the continuing lead in the polls, the Oz claims Crisafulli’s campaign was “derailed” by attacks on his party’s stance on abortion as well as his small-target strategy.
The AAP highlights that almost half of eligible voters have already cast their ballots, while the ABC flags the LNP yesterday vowed to rein in nearly $6.8 billion in spending on consultants if it wins government, a plan that was later described by Labor Treasurer Cameron Dick as a “fantasy”.
As Queensland politicians race around the state making last-minute pitches to voters today, Commonwealth leaders, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will be sitting down for talks in Samoa, with UK PM Sir Kier Starmer’s claim slavery reparations won’t be on the agenda looking unlikely.
The Associated Press reports Caribbean leaders have said they plan to highlight the issue at the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Philip Davis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, told Politico: “Let’s have a conversation about this … We all appreciate this, the horrendous impact that the Transatlantic slave business had on the African diaspora and it requires justice. It’s not just about an apology. It’s not about money. It’s about an appreciation and embracing and understanding of what our ancestors went through, that has left a scourge on our race, culturally, mentally and physically.”
He added: “There should be… a ‘come to Jesus’ moment, where we truly look at one another in the eye and say, ‘look, this is what happened.’”
The BBC has reported a draft text of a statement to be issued by leaders after meetings on Friday and Saturday includes an acknowledgement of calls for “reparatory justice” over the slave trade. Despite Downing Street saying the issue was not on the agenda, the broadcaster said Commonwealth leaders “are expected to defy the UK and debate ways of securing reparations for historical slavery”.
Later on Thursday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC: “We’re not going to be paying out the reparations that some countries are speaking about. I understand why they make those demands but that’s not something that this government is doing.”
HARRIS’ STAR-STUDDED LINEUP
Another polling day that is almost upon us is the always-understated spectacle that is the US election.
With Americans heading to cast their votes in just 11 days (those who haven’t already voted early that is), we’ve reached the stage of the campaign where the celebrities start popping up and encouraging people to vote one way or the other.
Earlier this week we had Eminem introducing former US president Barack Obama at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Detroit. Now The Washington Post reports Bruce Springsteen, film director Spike Lee, actor Samuel L. Jackson and entertainer Tyler Perry will be appearing with the vice president in the battleground state of Georgia. Obama will also be at the rally. The paper also adds another name into the mix, claiming Beyoncé will be appearing at a Houston rally on Friday for Harris, alongside country music star Willie Nelson.
Meanwhile, Harris’ Republican rival, former president Donald Trump, is planning appearances in Arizona and Nevada on Thursday. The Washington Post says in its average of national and state polls Harris “continues to lead nationally, as well as in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Donald Trump leads in Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina remain very tight”.
Elsewhere in the campaign, Trump has said he would fire the special counsel who indicted him if he wins the election, The New York Times reports. During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked about Jack Smith, who has brought two federal indictments against him in the past 18 months, and responded: “I would fire him within two seconds.” In the interview he also said he would not rule out pardoning Hunter Biden, the president’s son.
The NYT also highlights that more than 80 American Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics have signed an open letter endorsing Harris for president.
Elsewhere in world news, the Associated Press flags an international conference for Lebanon in Paris has raised $US1 billion ($A1.5 billion) in pledges for humanitarian aid and military support. The newswire highlights the war between Hezbollah and Israel has resulted in the death of more than 2,500 people with a million displaced. France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told a news conference: “The message [for Israel] is simple: Cease fire!”, Reuters reports.
The Sydney Morning Herald meanwhile reports Treasurer Jim Chalmers used an address to the International Monetary Fund in Washington to warn fellow finance ministers an escalation of war across the Middle East threatens the global economy.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
If you thought the world might have moved on from obsessing over Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn’s performance at the Paris Olympics, I’m afraid you would be very wrong.
With Halloween just around the corner, Google has released its annual “Frightgeist” list which includes the 25 costume ideas the search engine claims are “trending” in the lead-up to October 31, CNN reports.
And (you can see where this is going), Raygun’s now iconic Olympic uniform features highly on the list — in fact, it’s currently in second place. Google reckons “People searching ‘Raygun costume’ are also searching for ‘green and yellow track suit’ and ‘green track pants’.”
Current number one on the list is Shrunken Head Bob, a ghost from the Beetlejuice sequel.
CNN also highlights the presence of Deadpool’s female counterpart Lady Deadpool and singer Sabrina Carpenter in the top 10, while Red from Disney’s Descendants is the top searched kids’ outfit.
Say What?
Once you broach the subject it may take a while for people to come around but come around they will.
Frederick Mitchell
The foreign affairs minister of the Bahamas tells the BBC about the calls for reparatory justice for the transatlantic slave trade.
CRIKEY RECAP
Most politicians have white-collar backgrounds, often with jobs like barrister, manager, consultant or political staffer on their resumes. But what do they do once they’re done with politics?
Analysis by Crikey and the transparency project Open Politics shows many Labor and Coalition frontbenchers who have retired in the past five years have gone on to cushy roles such as corporate advisers or appointments to boards of directors. Many have also started their own advisory businesses related to the government, or gained employment with firms that used to be their stakeholders, monetising the influence and connections they made in their public roles. Others have focused on charity and non-corporate roles or left public life altogether.
The Centre for Public Integrity said the post-Parliament careers of some politicians raised questions of whether certain private enterprises gained an unfair advantage, and whether government decisions were being made in the public interest or not. These risks could be mitigated by introducing minimum times ex-politicians would have to wait until accepting private sector employment.
Except, Bolton also said “I think his behaviour alone is troubling enough”, adding, “I think it’s extremely important that John [Kelly] has gone public the way he has. I think it’s something the American people should listen to. I’m not trying to understate the dangers of a Trump presidency. I think it’s important to focus on the dangers themselves.”
These aren’t senators, or armchair commentators in another country, or Murdoch drones eager to help deliver a Trump win, or “left-of-centre” journalists, or earnest historians and political scientists who have written whole books arguing the toss about whether Trump precisely fits the definition of a fascist. They are men who have worked closely with the former president, in Kelly’s case in literally the closest possible role to Trump, for 18 months. Three of them are hardened military men. And none of them have any personal interest in attacking Trump; to the contrary, as Milley’s case demonstrates, criticising Trump comes with substantial personal cost. And yet they are clear that Trump is a fascist, a would-be dictator and an enormous threat to the United States.
Will the right now stop demonising those who describe Trump as a fascist? Unlikely.
WIN Corporation has launched an investigation into an employee’s social media accounts after receiving questions from Crikey.
An X (formerly Twitter) account seemingly linked to a WIN Corporation employee, who Crikey has chosen not to name, appears to have abused sporting and media personalities dating back to October 2023.
Following questions from Crikey to WIN, the X account was deleted, and a related Instagram account, which referenced WIN in the handle, was scrubbed to remove references to WIN and renamed to the same handle as the dead X account. It was also later deleted.
The since-deleted X account contained disparaging references to a host of sporting and media figures, including inferences of paedophilia directed at a prominent sports reporter. It also used ableist, fatphobic and transphobic slurs.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C is ‘virtually zero’ on current trends, UN warns (Sky News)
Donald Trump groped me in what felt like a ‘twisted game’ with Jeffrey Epstein, former model alleges (The Guardian)
Takeaways from Kamala Harris’ CNN town hall (CNN)
Lebanon: Satellite imagery reveals intensity of Israeli bombing (BBC)
Disposable vapes to be banned across the UK by next summer (The Times) ($)
Do people in ‘blue zones’ actually live longer? (The New York Times) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
A possible Trump victory is making the Albanese government cagey about its 2035 climate target — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): Next month, Bowen will attend COP29 in Azerbaijan, where the central issue will be a financial goal, replacing the 2015 goal, for developed and major economies to help fund developing countries’ emission reduction efforts. Bowen, with Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad, is leading the consultations on this, and so has a significant role at the conference.
At the COP meeting, Bowen will get a better idea of where other countries are on their expected 2035 targets. He indicated this week he has already started taking soundings. “Obviously […] of course you think about international context.”
By the time of COP, which runs November 11-22, America will have chosen its next president. The COP meeting will either be business as usual, looking to an incoming Kamala Harris presidency, or trying to anticipate the implications of a Trump administration that could be a major disruptor of international climate policy.
Global calls for reparations are only growing louder. Why is Britain still digging in its heels? — Hilary Beckles (The Guardian): Once again Caribbean governments and civil society are calling on the British government and national institutions such as the Bank of England and the Church of England — as well as the high street banks and insurance companies that generated and distributed wealth from slavery — to engage in a compassionate, intergenerational strategy to support postcolonial reconstruction. Britain received the Marshall Plan after the Second World War, but refuses to engage with the Caribbean after the slavery holocaust.
Many British families whose wealth is derived from slavery have already come forward to discuss the reparations project and have been well received. The search for a win-win solution remains the dominant approach. The concepts of reconciliation and racial healing inform the initiative proposed by the Caricom Commission.
“Correcting the world” for the 21st century is indeed the imperative, and stands in contrast to those who seek to promote fear-mongering and persistent racist attitudes. The British government has yet another opportunity to do the right thing by its citizens and the Caribbean world. There are no enemies within the reparations enterprise, just partners in search of mutual development and justice for all.
