SOUTH KOREA MARTIAL LAW
A few hours ago South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law, only for around 190 politicians to then assemble in the country’s Parliament at 1am and unanimously block the law.
The fast-moving story has already taken plenty of twists and turns, but at the time of writing the situation, as per the BBC, is thus:
The president used a late-night televised address on Tuesday to declare martial law, claiming it was intended to protect the country from North Korean communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements. Police then blocked the entrance to the country’s Parliament as protesters gathered.
Despite the blockade, politicians managed to get into the National Assembly chamber (opposition representative Lee Seong-yoon told the BBC he had climbed over a 5ft fence to get in), where they held a vote blocking the president’s move.
The broadcaster said 190 of 300 members of the ruling and opposition parties managed to be in attendance for the vote, with all present in favour. However, the country’s military has said it will maintain martial law until it is lifted by Yoon Suk Yeol.
Also in world news, Australian publications are reporting the Albanese government is apparently considering “switching Australia’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a series of high-profile United Nations votes, including on a resolution aimed at creating an ‘irreversible pathway’ to a Palestinian state”, as The Sydney Morning Herald puts it.
The paper cites government sources who said the decision to switch the country’s voting record on some issues was being considered in line with Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s view that it was important for the international community to create momentum towards a two-state solution.
A spokesperson for Wong is quoted as saying: “As a constructive middle power, Australia approaches UN resolutions to try to achieve the best outcomes we can. We don’t always get everything we want. But if, on balance, we believe the resolution will contribute to peace and a two-state solution, we will vote for it.
“On our own, Australia has few ways to move the dial in the Middle East. Our only hope is working within the international community to push for an end to the cycle of violence and work toward a two-state solution.”
The AFR says the Albanese government is “consulting with like-minded nations” ahead of the UN votes in New York.
Finally, in domestic news, most publications have covered the backlash to Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) plans to charge some customers $3 to withdraw their own money. The ABC recalls the changes will see those with a “Complete Access” account moved to a “Smart Access” account next month. The latter account “includes an ‘assisted withdrawal fee’, where customers taking money out at bank branches, post offices or by phone are charged $3 per withdrawal”, the broadcaster reports.
The Age reports Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones has called on the bank to reconsider. “Commonwealth Bank has to rethink this terrible decision. It seems to me to be a tax on Australians who demand the right to use their cash, and the government won’t stand for it. So, we say to the Commonwealth Bank, this is the worst Christmas present ever. It’s a kick in the guts to your customers,” he said.
News.com.au flags Queensland MP Bob Katter also told Channel 10’s The Project: “I think that it’s an act of defiance and contempt for the people of Australia.”
In a statement yesterday, CBA said affected customers could still access free cash withdrawals from its ATM network, while some could qualify for a fee waiver via the new product, Guardian Australia flags.
GREENS WANT DEAL
On Tuesday we brought you polling which suggests the government still has plenty of work to do before the federal election and that theme is continuing this morning with numerous publications finding different ways into the pre-election vacuum.
The ABC led overnight (until South Korea’s president tried to declare martial law) on Greens leader Adam Bandt calling for a formal agreement to be locked in between his party and Labor if, as polls are predicting, the 2025 election ends in a hung Parliament.
“I think working that out in advance, working out what the benefits will actually be for people and knowing how then the next three years would map out… that is probably the priority,” he told Afternoon Briefing.
Citing Bob Brown’s agreement with Julia Gillard in 2010 as a model of power-sharing, Bandt added: “As we go to the next election, the Greens position will be to keep [Opposition Leader] Peter Dutton out and push the next government to act on things like health and housing and climate and environment.”
The broadcaster reports Bandt’s remarks are the first time he has expressly suggested the need for a structured agreement with Labor if crossbench support is required to form government. The ABC said it was part of a “dramatic shift” by the Greens in recent weeks, which included supporting more than 40 government bills on the final sitting day of Parliament.
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been very bullish in public about winning another majority at the 2025 election and not wanting to engage with the Greens’ agenda, in private he may well be thinking about the different routes that potentially allow him to stay in office. This morning Guardian Australia highlighted more dissatisfaction, with an Australian National University study showing just 38% of Australian voters have confidence in the federal government, closing in on the lows before Scott Morrison was voted out of office in 2022.
The study found more than three in 10 Australians reported finding it difficult to get by on their current income, the site said. Younger and middle-aged groups are particularly affected.
Study co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle said: “Financial stress correlates with lower satisfaction with democracy and reduced political trust. Similarly, loneliness, experienced by 42% of Australians in some capacity, aligns with disengagement from politics and institutions.” Guardian Australia also flagged that 12.1% of women polled remain undecided on who they would vote for, compared to 6.7% of men.
Elsewhere, The Sydney Morning Herald reports Albanese has “infuriated Labor members with election meddling”. The paper reports “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has asked Labor’s campaign chief to intervene in a factional fight for the prize NSW Labor seat of Barton, vacated by former Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.”
The SMH says the seat is supposed to revert to Labor’s Right faction under a deal struck in 2016 and the faction in NSW is “furious the prime minister is trying to force another candidate from the Left into the prime position”. The paper says while Albanese has not explicitly endorsed councillor and unionist Ashvini Ambihaipahar, the Left’s preferred candidate, he has made it clear he wants the faction to retain the seat.
The Australian has led overnight on Australian Workers Union boss Paul Farrow joining senior Tasmanian Labor figures in calling for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s “drawn-out” reviews into the impact of salmon farming on the endangered Maugean skate to be finalised as soon as possible.
The paper states the ongoing reviews have drawn concern inside the government over their impact on Labor’s electoral prospects in the Tasmanian seats of Braddon, Lyons and Bass. “This is now the second Christmas that Tasmanian salmon workers have been left in limbo not knowing what the future holds. It’s just not right to leave whole communities dangling like this,” Farrow said.
The Australian also flags polling by Master Builders Australia which apparently states “65% of voters believe the Albanese government is on the hook to fix the housing crisis”.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Last week we mentioned the baggy green cap cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman wore in a series against India in the 1940s was going up for auction, so it’s only right we provide an update on how said auction went.
The Australian reports the cap, which Bradman wore in the 1947-48 home Test series — during which he scored his 100th first-class century — ended up selling for $390,000 at Bonhams in Sydney.
Auctioneer Alex Clark said: “The interest in the cap was quite extraordinary
“I have had people calling up from all over Australia saying they have an old bat from the 1942 series or whatever but there is nothing like a baggy green.
“It created a lot of publicity, not just around Australia but internationally.’’
The paper says the cap was sold to an Australian bidder who attended the auction on Tuesday.
Say What?
A Delaware judge just overruled a supermajority of shareholders who own Tesla and who voted twice to pay @elonmusk what he’s worth. The court’s decision is wrong, and we’re going to appeal.
Tesla
The car marker posted on X, a social media platform owned by Elon Musk, that its chief executive, Elon Musk, should receive a $US56 billion (A$86.6 billion) compensation package. Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick followed a previous ruling in January by once again declaring Musk should not receive the payout, despite shareholders voting to reinstate it earlier this year.
CRIKEY RECAP
This week, the News Corp tabloids ran front pages proclaiming the beginning of the “Dark Ages” and insisting Australia “Step On The Gas” in pursuit of rectifying “Australia’s gas shortage”.
On Monday, December 2, the News Corp tabloids in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide published front pages promoting increased investment in gas. The Courier-Mail and Herald Sun splashed with “STEP ON THE GAS”, with the Hun even branding it an “exclusive”. Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph and The Advertiser splashed with “DARK AGES: We must step on the gas to keep lights on”, with The Advertiser describing it as a “special report”.
Each newspaper also carried an identical double-page spread which revealed in the top-right corner that the “exclusive” “special report” was in fact “proudly sponsored” by Santos, APA Group, Tamboran Resources and Jemena — all major gas companies. While Santos, APA and Tamboran are all publicly listed, Jemena is majority-owned by the Chinese state grid, with 40% also owned by Singaporean state-owned power company Singapore Power.
Legacy media — as the ABC and the free-to-air networks alike are finding — can no longer rely on the traditional loyalty of audiences to keep coming back because there isn’t anything else on offer.
Instead, news-hungry audiences are embracing the long-form to understand what’s going on — from podcasts to YouTube talks, from email Substack newsletters to literary magazines. It’s being fed by new media start-ups, particularly in populations large enough for a small audience to be big enough to get by, like the Vox/NY Mag group in the US, or “The Rest is…” podcast range in the UK, or the Digipub network in India.
It’s a trend reflected, too, in the subscription numbers. While tabloid media struggle, mastheads that offer deep analysis are thriving. In News Corp, for example, its upmarket mastheads like the London Times, the Wall Street Journal and, yes, even The Australian are building solid audiences for their journalism.
That said, Australia’s population size makes it a weaker trend here. And that’s the opening for the ABC.
This grim reality of large government organisations, one not understood by the Elon Musks and Gina Rineharts of the world, is that delivering goods or services (health; infrastructure; security; emergency management; education) on a state or country-sized scale to the satisfaction of those being served is complex, demanding and rarely achieved consistently even by skilled, experienced professional administrators. Insert people who aren’t skilled and experienced and the system might continue to deliver if they’re backed by enough more junior experts. But in a crisis or emergency, which places stress on bureaucratic systems that ends up accumulating at the weakest link, the systems start to malfunction. Insert people actively hostile to the organisation’s goals, or bent on pursuing others, and it doesn’t take a crisis to create dysfunction.
White Americans who voted for Trump might be perfectly happy for the federal government to be crippled and broken by Trump’s appointees — the whole system’s rotten, after all, so why not bring it crashing down? How long that sentiment survives amid natural disasters or terrorist attacks will be an interesting question.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
‘Significant’ step in returning Bali Five home but obstacles remain (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
Malaria vaccine rolled out in world’s worst-affected country (BBC)
Vietnamese tycoon faces scramble to raise billions to avoid death sentence (The Guardian)
Upcoming Proba-3 mission will create artificial solar eclipses to study the sun (Gizmodo)
Jaguar boss defends rebrand after backlash — as new electric car revealed (Sky News)
Trump to attend Notre Dame’s reopening in a diplomatic coup for Macron (Le Monde)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Trade, tech and Trump: How looming battles in the US will set the tone for Australia’s election — Peter Lewis (Guardian Australia): This final set of findings suggests Australia is not yet America, although the cultural, political and social excesses that are condemning that nation to decline continue to knock on our door.
The challenge for incumbent governments will be to understand the drivers of Trumpism without succumbing to them.
Anchoring a national discussion around the ideas of economic independence and the freedom to create sovereign online spaces would both harness and differentiate from the forces Trump has marshalled so effectively.
Like any horror movie, the trick is to remember it’s all make-believe and to know when to look away.
Calling all Trump supporters — we need you on Bluesky — Mark Steel (The i Paper): And lots of blue ticks seemed to be bought by Trump supporters so they appeared in response to almost everything. If you wrote, “I was thinking of painting my kitchen, has anyone got a suggestion for a bright, fresh colour?”, the replies would probably say “Trump won. Get over it you terrorist-supporting loser.”
This and other changes have made X harder and less pleasant to use, so millions of people have left to join a rival site called Bluesky.
But Bluesky’s selling point is that everyone on there is lovely and liberal, so it’s almost TOO full of kindness.
I joined it this week and immediately people sent messages such as, “SO pleased you’ve joined us here in this heartwarming community of empathy. Wishing you love and warmth and hope your aural centres are fully aligned.”
I think it needs some Trump supporters to make it seem a bit more wholesome.
