RAIN CHECK
More than 50,000 people have been told to evacuate in NSW — including in Sydney’s Manly, Narrabeen, McGraths Hill and Mulgrave — as the floodwaters continue to rise, The Australian ($) reports. Cars were floating on the six-lane Roseville Bridge, dozens of train services were cancelled in the west, while the Georges River, Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers, and Macleay River swelled in the west and northern suburbs. A mother and son are dead in Constitution Hill — it brings the national death toll of the flood disaster to 21. The Blue Mountains was declared a natural disaster area — photos show the scope of landslides. Sydney has actually received double a year’s worth of rain since January, the SMH reports, some 820mm. It smashes the 1956 record of 782mm — indeed some areas of Sydney got 120mm of rain in just six hours yesterday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is flying to Lismore today, The Australian ($) continues, while the Australian Defence Force will deploy another 2550 soldiers to Lismore, Woodburn, Brisbane, Gympie and Ipswich. The paper says the government has so far paid out more than $282 million in disaster payments, but NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has apologised about the government’s response, conceding many victims feel “abandoned”, Guardian Australia continues. Look at the bright side, a somewhat tone-deaf Defence Minister Peter Dutton says — he said Australians should “look at the positives” and said he wouldn’t cop criticism of the Australian Defence Force. But Labor MP Justine Elliot was like, where are they? She says there is hardly anyone on the ground in Byron or Mullumbimby, in what she called a “humanitarian crisis“.
OIL AND WATER
Russia has named Australia as a hostile country, Interfax reports, while warning of “catastrophic consequences” if oil imports are banned. We are one in a list of “unfriendly states” that includes 27 European Union countries, the US, UK, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland and Japan, plus more. SBS explains the only practical implication is that Russians can only pay debts in roubles, their currency — and the rouble has been crashing in recent days. Overnight the UK and the US did ban oil imports, as well as gas and coal from Russia too, but US President Joe Biden warned it would mean higher prices at the bowser. Back home the Australian government is working with Facebook, Twitter and Google to block Russian state media, while SBS and Foxtel already have.
We’ve just sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary and some Russian TV hosts, The Age reports, but former foreign minister Julie Bishop says sanctions aren’t going to deter Russia unless China were to follow, calling that scenario “game over”, ABC reports. Bishop also recalled a meeting with Putin amid the “shirt-front” saga years back — to jog your memory, then-prime minister Tony Abbott said he would “shirt-front” (an AFL head-charge) Putin over the MH17 plane crash, in which 27 Australians and 11 permanent residents died when it was shot down over Ukraine. Bishop — no stranger to a staredown, if you watched The Chaser back in the day — confronted Putin at a Milan summit about Russia’s role, recalling him as unblinking, steely and menacing.
HAWKE, HOWARD, ALBANESE
Labor Leader Anthony Albanese would be like Hawke or Howard as PM, according to his speech to be delivered today at the AFR summit. Albanese says he wants to end the climate and culture wars, and instead foster collaboration between governments, trade unions, businesses and civil society, Guardian Australia reports, with an aim to create jobs and growth. Albanese says Prime Minister Scott Morrison rules using division, which stops us from progressing — just look at how we’ve fallen behind the world on renewables during the “lost decade”, the Labor leader will say today, as The Canberra Times reports.
So what cue is he taking from former PM Bob Hawke? News.com.au reports Albanese will point out that the Hawke era saw increased wages but also safeguarded things like Medicare and super, leading to decades of economic growth. He also drew a comparison with former Liberal PM John Howard in saying he believed you never actually reach the finish line of economic reform — there’s always more to do — but will argue Morrison often indicates he wants the government to step back. Morrison is banking on the uncertain era making voters stick with what they know — the Coalition — and told the summit yesterday he wouldn’t put up the GST or reinstate a carbon tax.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Have you ever wondered why some animals run the way they do? No, not once, what type of question is that, Emma? OK, humour me then. Cheetahs are the speediest animal on land, running nearly 100km an hour, but — like a horse — what they do is actually a gallop, with their front legs moving together then their back legs. It’s known as the asymmetrical gait. Compare that to the humble salamander, who scampers a bit slower using left limbs, then right limbs — what is known as the symmetrical gait. We used to believe this asymmetry cheetahs use was something they and other animals evolved to do, but a new study has cast doubt on that. We’ve actually found evidence of the gallop some 400 million years ago. But not on land — in the water.
Scientists looked at 308 species and found about a 75% chance the ancestors of jawed vertebrates deep in the ocean had this same cheetah run. It’s a style that scientists now think was lost and gained over the millennia, rather than following the straight line of evolution that sometimes feels a bit neater. But that’s life, according to biologist Sudhir Kumar. “In evolution, nothing is sacred,” he said. “We gain and lose characteristics based on our environment, based on our behaviours, based on our needs, and that’s what you see here — the way animals walk is not fixed. It evolves.” Quite the win for the humble salamander.
Hoping you feel open to evolving with the times too.
SAY WHAT?
I did not buy Hitler’s car. Its [sic] more Fake News.
Clive Palmer
The mining billionaire — mid-defamation case with WA Premier Mark McGowan — says he’ll also commence legal proceedings against Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews over the “outrageous lies” that he bought a 1939 Mercedes-Benz that belonged to Nazi Adolf Hitler (which was first reported The Courier Mail ($)). A spokesperson confirmed to The Feed it was “fake news” but declined to answer whether Palmer had attempted to buy it.
CRIKEY RECAP
Abandoned: voters face up to a world where governments can’t or won’t govern
“The grim truth on offer in towns in wrecked, mud-filled northern NSW is not that governments work against their citizens, but that they don’t work at all, that the only people who’ve got your back when disaster comes are your family, your friends and your community.
“It’s a painful and traumatic realisation … we rely on, and pay, governments to keep us safe. And Morrison capering and gambolling on the national stage talking about nuclear submarines isn’t what most of us have in mind.”
Trump evokes Bond villain as he waxes lyrical in movie-length speech
“The phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that initiated his impeachment — in which he appeared to threaten to withhold aid until Ukrainian authorities investigated his political opponents — didn’t get a mention.
“But he also came up with some new material. Most striking was the suggestion the US should put Chinese flags on its F-22s, ‘bomb the shit out of Russia … and then we say, China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it, and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch’.”
Anti-vaxxer backs away from UAP … debunking pickle propaganda … IWD activi$m
“In war, misinformation is rife, even in seemingly harmless stories. International media picked up the story of a Ukraine woman who apparently disabled a Russian drone with nothing but a jar of pickled cucumbers.
“So credit to Ukrainian outlet Liga, which tracked down the woman to set the record straight. Those were not pickled cucumbers. They were pickled tomatoes. The whole story, roughly translated by Ukrainian journalist Katya Gorchinskaya, is here.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Nigerian parliament rescinds decision on gender equality bills (Al Jazeera)
The future turns dark for Russia’s oil industry (The New York Times)
Ukrainians defy heartbreak to win bittersweet Paralympic golds (Al Jazeera)
UN human rights chief to visit China, including Xinjiang, in May (The Guardian)
Elon Musk seeks to terminate 2018 fraud settlement with SEC (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
Ghislaine Maxwell: Judge grants immunity to juror who did not disclose abuse (BBC)
Christchurch council bans parking around shrinking protest campsite (Stuff)
Congress gives final approval to make lynching a hate crime (The New York Times)
Biden announces ban on Russian energy imports (CNN)
Co-ops allow people of all incomes to live affordably in cities. So why aren’t we building more? (CBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
East coast subs base choice is no beauty pageant — Michael Shoebridge (The AFR): “A simple reason is politics: Scott Morrison no doubt wants to keep the national security theme running, as he thinks it gives the Coalition an advantage. He probably assesses that Labor remains politically vulnerable here with voters, and keeping Anthony Albanese agreeing with him on security helps Morrison more than it helps Labor.
“Beyond the politics, though, getting the possible base locations out into the public debate makes sense. The nuclear submarine program is a decades-long endeavour, and will cost well north of the cancelled French Attack class subs program’s $90 billion price tag. A figure of double that, maybe even $250 billion, would not be a surprise.”
The sanctions strategy is flawed. To defeat Putin, you have to know how the Kremlin works — Olga Chyzh (The Guardian): “The second group, the strongmen, consists of Putin’s St Petersburg political connections. Originally middle managers, low-level administrators, special ops, scientists, athletes, and criminal thugs, these individuals are now holding key government and other power positions. These are Putin’s most loyal supporters, who also hold the most political influence. This group, on balance, are ideologically conservative and hostile towards the West … Strongmen have no reason to remove Putin now — he is fulfilling their dream of a ruthless police state …
“What the sanctions do achieve is the weakening of Russia’s economy, and with that, its military capacity. It is only a matter of time before the state can no longer pay its entitlements and employees — doctors, teachers, administrators, but also the police and the military-industrial complex. No new tanks, destroyers or howitzers, and no soldiers to shoot them either.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Online
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Labor Leader Anthony Albanese (8.15am) and Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe (9.15am) will speak to The Australian Financial Review Business Summit.
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
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CEO and founder of food rescue charity OzHarvest Ronni Kahn will speak to the National Press Club.
Yuggera Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner will chat to journalist Ellen Fanning at the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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UK poet Joelle Taylor will chat about her latest collection C+nto: & Othered Poems at the Wheeler Centre.
