Clive Palmer battles jab mandates — and wins

HEALTH OF A NATION

Billionaire Clive Palmer is boasting a world-first after bankrolling a profitable authorized problem to Queensland’s COVID vaccine mandates, Guardian Australia reviews. The Supreme Court docket discovered police and ambulance staff within the sunshine state have been unlawfully instructed to get vaccines or face punishment that at instances included being sacked. The decide mentioned the police commissioner ought to’ve thought of Queensland’s Human Rights Act extra rigorously when ordering vaccinations. It’s not clear but whether or not anybody’s employment might be reinstated in mild of the discovering. Palmer, who coughed up as a lot as $3 million for the case, says the “precedent” confirmed a “trampling of human rights”, including a category motion may be subsequent.

To extra well being information and 6 giant well being insurers instructed The Australian ($) they haven’t needed to wait this lengthy for the federal government to verify the premium enhance in 15 years and so they gained’t have time to inform prospects in the event that they don’t discover out this week. Is it to keep away from fallout earlier than Saturday’s Dunkley byelection? Well being Minister Mark Butler mentioned that’s hogwash, saying it has been a 12 months of each document earnings and a value of dwelling disaster and that we want will increase to be as “low as potential”. Talking of: the ABC reviews Labor’s tweaked stage three tax cuts sailed by way of the Senate final night time — with Coalition assist, thoughts you — that means they’ll turn into legislation. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed a tax coverage contest forward of the subsequent election, however identified Labor’s modifications price the identical as the unique plan (round $107 billion) — so what’s going to the Coalition lower from, Albo requested in a problem to the opposition.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Unbiased Senator Lidia Thorpe mentioned Mardi Gras was proper to uninvite the cops to the LGBTQIA+ pageant this weekend, Sky Information Australia reviews, after the dying of Jesse Baird and his companion Luke Davies allegedly by the hands of police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon. Thorpe mentioned the police wanted “actual scrutiny and accountability” as a substitute of “empty apologies and hole gestures”. In the meantime, the SMH has printed an perception into “troubled fantasist” Lamarre-Condon, who posted pictures in all white subsequent to non-public planes that buddies doubted he had boarded, and was additionally identified for running a blog about shut and at instances exaggerated encounters with celebrities. The paper famous his “extremely public pre-policing profession” didn’t appear to be a purple flag for the psychometric testing and psychology workforce.

In the meantime, one in every of Davies’ fellow Qantas cabin crew mentioned he spent greater than eight hours caring for a person with extreme dementia on a flight from Sydney to Singapore three weeks in the past. The person was one-half of a pair headed to Switzerland to see their son for the final time, and different cabin crew instructed the SMH they have been moved to tears by Davies tucking the person into mattress, reassuring him when his reminiscence faltered, and consoling his upset spouse. It got here as NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb apologised after describing the case as a “crime of ardour”, one thing Pleasure in Protest’s Evan Zijl mentioned confirmed police’s “elementary misunderstanding” of home violence as Guardian Australia says. The Australian ($) provides the households of Davies and Baird travelled to Bungonia, close to Goulburn, final night time the place the couple’s our bodies have been discovered.

IT’S NOT WORKING

NDIS High quality and Safeguards Commissioner Tracy Mackey has resigned days earlier than the discharge of a report into kids with autism being unlawfully restrained in NDIS-funded program Irabina Autism Companies in Melbourne, the ABC writes. 4 Corners confirmed footage of a non-verbal teenager being held face down by six staff as a part of a extreme behaviour program, and different youngsters aged 10-14 had been held down too, though the pin-down methodology is illegal. Mackey assured 4 Corners the Irabina Autism Companies program was no extra, however afterwards, NDIS deputy commissioner Jeffrey Chan mentioned he confirmed her proof it was nonetheless working. Chan alleged he was sacked two hours later as a scapegoat and swiftly took authorized motion that led to a settlement. Mackey winds up in Could, NDIS Minister Invoice Shorten mentioned.

In the meantime, the WorkSafe fees towards Netflix’s Outback Wrangler Matt Wright have gone earlier than an NT court docket, NT Information reviews. The costs have been introduced towards him and his firm Helibrook after the helicopter crash that killed Chris “Willow” Wilson — WorkSafe alleged Wright modified the variety of flight hours by tweaking the Hobbs meters (units that measure the period of time an plane is in use) and didn’t document flight instances accurately, which can have prevented the inspection and substitute of the plane’s life-limited elements. Wright mentioned the fees have been deceptive. Lastly, Woodside, Fortescue, Lendlease and Wesfarmers have weighed in on the explanation behind the gender pay hole revealed this week, the AFR reviews. Their concepts: care obligations forestall ladies from offshore jobs, the top-paid jobs are in male-dominated software program engineering, ladies tackle household obligations as a result of they settle for they’re much less more likely to get promotions, and never sufficient women do maths and science in school. Or, ya know, sexism.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

On a cobblestone avenue nook within the previous city of Burgdorf in Switzerland, simply 300 metres from a palace and a church, stands a stately resort. Rows of arched home windows reveal the golden glow of travellers inside, having fun with crisp pints of Feldschlösschen Authentic whereas wedged into squashy armchairs. However in the future of the 12 months, the Burgdorfer Stadthaus welcomes dorkuses from all corners of the globe for its annual chess competitors. Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa is an everyday face in aggressive chess circles — at his peak in 2015, the 37-year-old’s rating was a whopping 2544 factors, rating him nineteenth in Poland. So he could have been feeling greater than a bit smug when he sat down reverse Indian-born Singaporean Ashwath Kaushik to play chess on a cold Sunday this month.

White moved first and the sport was off. Out of the blue Kaushik was shifting in on Stopa’s items with militia-like precision, cornering the Pole’s king not as soon as, not twice, however thrice to the astonished gasps of onlookers. Three wins towards a professional wasn’t unhealthy for an eight-year-old child, in spite of everything. Kaushik’s mum Rohini Ramachandran, who occurred to be the identical age as her son’s competitor, was thrilled her Kaushik had simply turn into the youngest-ever participant to beat a grandmaster on the sport. He’d began taking part in chess at 4 years previous, as The Guardian tells it, however inside months the boy-genius had began profitable video games towards relations a number of instances his age. Kaushik simply loves chess. Except for the very fact it’s enjoyable, he says chess helps your mind “get higher and smarter” as a result of “you want quite a lot of pondering to seek out the perfect strikes”. Certainly.

Hoping your interior baby comes out to play at present.

SAY WHAT?

Haters wish to hate … isn’t that what Taylor [Swift] says?

Karen Webb

The NSW police commissioner brushed apart criticism of her dealing with of the alleged double homicide of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by quoting the popstar, a brand new stage of tone deafness for authority figures on this nation.

CRIKEY RECAP

Scott Morrison maintains his God delusion to the final

Scott Morrison at a church service in 2022 (Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

“So Morrison’s ardent perception in particular person ‘human dignity’ primarily utilized to himself. He was the one chosen by God and everybody else was on a decrease stage. Colleagues he stored at midnight and gaslighted. Voters he lied to. If it served Morrison’s political functions, human life didn’t have a lot worth or dignity in any respect.

“Reza Barati, murdered on Manus Island attempting to flee his attackers, was afforded none by then immigration minister Morrison. Robodebt victims acquired none from social safety minister Morrison. COVID-19 victims in nursing houses acquired none. Ladies victimised by political predators acquired none. Like Morrison’s God, who interfered within the 2019 election however apparently sat out in 2022, Morrison’s thought of human dignity is selective.”

Sky Information Australia the one main media firm within the nation and not using a gender pay hole

“Seven West Media had the most important gender pay disparity at 13.8%, however Guardian Australia had the worst illustration for girls within the lowest pay quartile at 72%. Whereas not a single main media firm had an equal share of girls of their high pay quartile, Sky Information Australia joins Information Corp as the one corporations with not less than 50% within the second-highest quartile.

“Regardless of its pay statistics, Sky Information Australia had by some margin the bottom share of girls in administration positions at 24%. Guardian Australia had essentially the most ladies represented as a share of whole workers at 55%, whereas newswire service Australian Related Press (AAP) had the bottom share at 40%.”

“Amongst Australia’s greatest employers, the retailers had comparatively low gaps in whole remuneration, with Woolworths reporting 5.7%, Coles 5.6% and Wesfarmers 3.5%. The mining corporations had a lot greater gaps, with BHP Group reporting 20.3%, and Rio Tinto 13.5%. Qantas reported 37% and Telstra Group 20.2%.

“This new transparency is a part of reforms handed final 12 months to the Office Gender Equality Act 2012, designed to spur corporations to take extra motion on gender fairness. Of the just about 5,000 corporations included within the WGEA report, nearly 1,000 have a gender pay hole in median base earnings exceeding 20%. About 350 of those have a spot of greater than 30% and for about 100, the hole is bigger than 40%.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Pakistani journalist arrested for social posts towards authorities officers (Al Jazeera)

South Australia is about to elect the nation’s first Voice to Parliament. So what’s going to it do? (SBS)

Israel Gaza: Biden hopes for ceasefire by subsequent week (BBC)

There are 4 days till a partial [US] authorities shutdown, and lawmakers have but to achieve a deal to avert it (CNN)

Ethiopian authorities tries to cease UK public sale of looted Maqdala protect (The Guardian)

Canada’s high pensions have trillions in belongings. Ought to they do extra to gasoline the vitality transition? (CBC)

Sweden’s NATO accession ends period of go-it-alone safety (Reuters)

Russian court docket jails main rights advocate for “discrediting’ army (The New York Instances) ($)

THE COMMENTARIAT

No cops at Mardi Gras isn’t an ethical triumph, it’s fuzzy-headed victimhood — Josh Szeps (The SMH): “The obvious killing of those two beloved younger males is sickening. The historical past of police aggression in the direction of LGBTQIA+ Australians is an ethical disaster. It’s comprehensible that feelings are uncooked. However uniformed police have marched within the Mardi Gras parade for greater than 1 / 4 of a century. NSW Police formally apologised to the LGBTQIA+ group in 2016. The homicide suspect wasn’t performing in his capability as a cop. NSW Police charged him, as they need to any suspect, in any scenario of home violence, homosexual or straight. It was the commander of the murder squad, Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty, who laid out the allegations in an explosive press convention.

“If homosexual satisfaction is to imply something in 2024, it should imply satisfaction in variety, in openness, in inclusiveness. Pleasure in dismantling stereotypes, not in indulging them. Pleasure in resilience, not fragility. In magnanimity, not pettiness. When uniformed police started marching within the Mardi Gras parade in 1998, it was a watershed second. It represented the maturation of ‘homosexual rights’ from a rebellious fringe motion to a mainstream celebration. It was a triumph of the old style universalism of the civil rights pioneers — the aspiration that every one individuals ought to be handled equally, no matter color, intercourse, creed or, on this case, uniform. At the moment, against this, we’re inspired to amplify tribal variations and preserve a scrupulous scorecard of oppression. I’m a person, married to a person, with youngsters and a mortgage …”

Scott Morrison bids farewell with a posh legacy — Rita Panahi (The Herald Solar): “Whereas the PM’s defence of his authorities’s COVID-era response was fanciful bordering on delusional, the previous PM was 100% proper to induce an embrace of values that underpin our civilisation. However the place was the safety of liberty and particular person human dignity when the Morrison authorities was implementing draconian Covid insurance policies together with proscribing Australians from returning to their homeland? One doesn’t have to be non secular or perhaps a believer to know the significance of Judaeo-Christian values to this nation and certainly the West. There’s a motive why individuals from all forms of backgrounds from all corners of the world need to migrate to international locations like Australia.

“And, within the absence of faith, one thing sinister can take maintain; a brand new vapid, illiberal and woke perception system which affords no grace, no redemption. ScoMo could have been handled harshly by the media with lots of his lowest factors, such because the notorious Hawaiian vacation, courtesy of media hyperbole. However after profitable the unwinnable election in 2019, Morrison misplaced his mojo and ideological compass. That was evident from the Covid response errors to the ill-advised apology to Brittany Higgins to the embrace of web zero. In saying goodbye to politics, Morrison mentioned he was ‘launched from any bitterness’ and shed a tear paying tribute to spouse Jenny and their ‘miracle women’ Abby and Lily. Morrison’s legacy is complicated; he pissed off and disenchanted conservatives and the Left alike. One was left feeling that when it mattered most he lacked conviction.”