CONSENSUS AT LAST
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is poised to announce a deal after reaching agreement on the wording of the Voice referendum with Indigenous leaders, the SMH ($) reports. Albanese, along with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, sat down with Indigenous working group members in an “hours-long” meeting last night to cut through a deadlock on the final wording that’s likely to be put to the Australian public later in the year. The report cites three anonymous sources with knowledge of the negotiations, with cabinet expected to sign off on the language at 9am today.
The advancements came as the Senate passed changes to the referendum machinery bill late on Wednesday, Guardian Australia reports, after Labor and the Coalition were able to hash out a deal in a rare show of bipartisanship. The bill will now head back to the lower house with a string of Senate amendments for consideration. As all of this was happening, Nationals Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price hosted a delegation of Indigenous Australians in Parliament in a bid to get politicians to join her splinter No campaign, backed by right-wing lobby group Fair Australia.
IT’S THE BANDT AND BOWEN SHOW
Greens Leader Adam Bandt is trying to convince his party to cut a deal with Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen over the government’s safeguard mechanism, the AFR ($) reports, despite public attacks characterising the bill as weak for its failure to stop new coal and gas projects. Citing “close observers”, the report suggests that private negotiations between the pair are progressing in “good faith” and that it’s party divisions that are responsible for slowing the announcement of an outcome. Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young denied any division on Wednesday. When asked whether the party was split, she said: “No, not at all.”
As it stands, Bandt hasn’t strayed from the party line in public, and continues to demand the federal government rule out any new coal or gas projects in return for his party’s support. Greens founder Bob Brown would probably hope it stays that way, too, the SMH ($) reports. Brown cancelled his lifetime membership with the Australian Conservation Foundation for its passive support of the safeguard mechanism on Tuesday, after the organisation’s chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy, said in a statement it should be approved as soon as possible: “The safeguard mechanism is a start, not an end, to climate policy in Australia — it covers just 28% of Australia’s domestic emissions but the volume of emissions in the coal and gas Australia exports is far, far greater.”
DOM’S FORUM FAIL
It may yet be too early to call but the folks at News Corp would have you think the ascendancy of NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns is all but a lock after he faced off with Premier Dominic Perrottet in the final leaders’ debate of the state election campaign before voters head to the polls this weekend. The “People’s forum” debate, hosted by The Daily Telegraph and Sky News in Penrith on Wednesday, saw Minns walk away with 48% of the audience’s support, The Daily Telegraph ($) reports, while Perrottet won over just 32% of the crowd and 20% were left feeling undecided.
Cost of living was reportedly a livewire issue for voters in the crowd, as were lingering questions about Perrottet’s privatisation record, the crises seen across NSW’s public health system and, of course, the premier’s public sector wage cap freeze. For Minns, each issue neatly played into the next, as he pitched an increase to the public sector wage cap as core to the solution required to stem the bleeding of the state’s perilous health system. Even Sky News’ commentators declared the debate a “major win” for Minns.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Ever since Beethoven’s death in March of 1827, a cottage industry has spawned to try and make sense of his illness and precise cause of death. So it goes, as he lay dying, grieving friends and acquaintances came to visit his bedside, and ask him for a parting gift: a lock of his hair. Within three days of his death at the age of 56, Beethoven was reportedly left without a single lock of hair on his head. What was able to be saved has since flipped “long-held beliefs about his health” and maybe even a new cause of death.
According to a new paper by a group of international researchers published this week, core tenets of Beethoven lore can now be cast aside. He died of lead poisoning? Nope. He was Black? Nope. What began as a hopeless investigative effort prompted by a single strand of Beethoven’s hair in 1994 has since become a scientific success praised by experts with aplomb. The New York Times ($) has a full potted cultural history of how it got there if you, like me, are interested in the race to solve Beethoven’s true cause of death.
SAY WHAT?
It is equally condemned that it would be used for political purposes in this place. It is a very poor reflection on you.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton
Dutton found himself in a bit of a political bind on Wednesday when he moved to suspend standing orders to debate a private member’s bill that would outlaw the display of Nazi symbols in the Commonwealth, after coming under fire for keeping his condemnations of the neo-Nazi display seen on the steps of Victorian Parliament at the weekend to himself. Labor wouldn’t be drawn.
CRIKEY RECAP
LGBTQIA+ protesters attacked at Mark Latham event after Christian Lives Matter members promised violence
“Two men have been arrested and riot police were deployed after LGBTQIA+ protesters and police were attacked in Sydney’s south-west outside a Christian Lives Matter-promoted event featuring One Nation MP Mark Latham.
“This comes after Christian Lives Matter group members had foreshadowed violence with protesters in the lead-up to the event, and in its aftermath have defended the attack.
“A small group of activists from the Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) said they were punched and pelted with glass bottles and rocks while protesting a pre-election community meeting hosting Latham at St Michael’s church hall in Belfield on Tuesday night.”
Labor’s refugee treatment is inhumane, hypocritical, and a relic of the Liberals
“ ‘You can be strong on borders without being weak on humanity. And on every issue, that’s what’s missing from this government — humanity.’
“This is a tweet written by Anthony Albanese in December 2019. Albanese was the opposition leader at the time, and this was his public reaction when the medevac law was repealed by the previous Coalition government.
“Today, in 2023, Albanese is prime minister. Despite previous strongly worded public statements against offshore detention and the associated abuse of human rights, the now-governing Labor Party recently voted against the Migration Amendment (Evacuation to Safety) Bill.”
ABC strike results in broadcast outages after angry staff walk off the job
“A number of ABC staff walked off the job for an hour this morning and are expected to do so again this afternoon as part of an ‘angry’ response to ABC management’s approach to negotiating a pay deal.
“For the first time in more than a decade, strike action caused disruptions to Radio National programs and other broadcasts from about 7am.
“Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) are expected to stop work for another hour from 3pm. The union declined to disclose how many members would walk out but the number is understood to be in the low hundreds.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Penny Wong raises foreign interference concerns during phone call with Iran’s FM (SBS News)
Fed raises rates but nods to greater uncertainty after banking stress (The Wall Street Journal)
Path to one Indigenous voice given final tweak (The Australian)
Legal drama surrounding Trump reaches a fever pitch (CNN)
What Republicans have said about a possible Trump indictment (The Washington Post)
Boris Johnson insists Partygate events were necessary at heated hearing (BBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Teals and independents are fighting hard to win a seat in the NSW Parliament. Have they done enough? — Anne Davies (Guardian Australia): “Michael Regan, the independent running for the New South Wales seat of Wakehurst, has told staff he wants his to be the first seat called by the ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, on Saturday night. By that he means he wants to emulate the blistering win of the independent Zali Steggall, who scored a second term in the overlapping federal seat of Warringah in 2022 with more than 50% of the primary vote.
“To set such a goal in this Saturday’s state election shows either hubris or a deep-seated knowledge and connection to his community. It’s hard to know which is accurate, as there has been little polling of individual seats the teals and other community backed-independents are seeking to win. But as the longstanding Northern Beaches mayor, Regan has sky-high recognition and deep local knowledge of what some deride as ‘the insular peninsula’. There are a group of independents contesting seats around Sydney, with most concentrated on the north shore. Insiders believe Regan has the best chance of success.”
It’s time to return fire against AUKUS naysayers — Peter Jennings (The Australian) ($): “The AUKUS pathway for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines is barely 10 days old. Already it is clear that the biggest threat to the plan is not the opposition, which is embracing bipartisan support, or China’s absurd attempts to distract from its own military behaviour by saying AUKUS threatens regional security. Labor’s biggest challenge comes from within: it’s the attacks on AUKUS from Paul Keating, Bob Carr, at least one Labor backbencher and former Labor staff. This critique of AUKUS includes sweeping but generally poorly informed dismissals of submarine technology, Australian defence policy, the reliability of the US and the supposed invincibility of China.
“If there is one lesson Anthony Albanese should take from the disastrous French submarine contract, it is that governments have no chance of delivering projects they can’t explain. AUKUS will have to be sold in the square of public opinion every day until the boats arrive.”
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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National Emergency Management Agency to appear at a committee inquiry hearing into the implications of severe weather on the national regional, rural and remote road network.
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Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue to appear at a committee inquiry hearing on supporting democracy in our region.
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Federal committee hearing on the project known as the Iron Boomerang — a rail corridor across northern Australia connecting iron ore with steel mills.
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US Senator Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, and Pam Melroy, deputy administrator, will address the National Press Club.
Eora country (also known as Sydney)
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Speakers at the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook (ADGO) conference include federal Resources Minister Madeleine King and Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart.
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The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)’s public inquiry continues as part of an investigation concerning the conduct of employees of Inner West Council (IWC), Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and others (Operation Hector).
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The Lowy Institute will host Dr Charles Edel, Dr Lavina Lee and Justin Burke to discuss the big decisions shaping Australia’s national security policy.
