SOUTH KOREA MARTIAL LAW
A number of hours in the past South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial regulation, just for round 190 politicians to then assemble within the nation’s Parliament at 1am and unanimously block the regulation.
The fast-moving story has already taken loads of twists and turns, however on the time of writing the state of affairs, as per the BBC, is thus:
The president used a late-night televised handle on Tuesday to declare martial regulation, claiming it was supposed to guard the nation from North Korean communist forces and get rid of anti-state components. Police then blocked the doorway to the nation’s Parliament as protesters gathered.
Regardless of the blockade, politicians managed to get into the Nationwide Meeting chamber (opposition consultant Lee Seong-yoon advised the BBC he had climbed over a 5ft fence to get in), the place they held a vote blocking the president’s transfer.
The broadcaster mentioned 190 of 300 members of the ruling and opposition events managed to be in attendance for the vote, with all current in favour. Nevertheless, the nation’s navy has mentioned it’ll keep martial regulation till it’s lifted by Yoon Suk Yeol.
Additionally in world information, Australian publications are reporting the Albanese authorities is outwardly contemplating “switching Australia’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian battle in a collection of high-profile United Nations votes, together with on a decision geared toward creating an ‘irreversible pathway’ to a Palestinian state”, as The Sydney Morning Herald places it.
The paper cites authorities sources who mentioned the choice to change the nation’s voting report on some points was being thought of consistent with Overseas Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s view that it was vital for the worldwide group to create momentum in the direction of a two-state answer.
A spokesperson for Wong is quoted as saying: “As a constructive center energy, Australia approaches UN resolutions to attempt to obtain the very best outcomes we are able to. We don’t at all times get all the things we would like. But when, on stability, we consider the decision will contribute to peace and a two-state answer, we are going to vote for it.
“On our personal, Australia has few methods to maneuver the dial within the Center East. Our solely hope is working throughout the worldwide group to push for an finish to the cycle of violence and work towards a two-state answer.”
The AFR says the Albanese authorities is “consulting with like-minded nations” forward of the UN votes in New York.
Lastly, in home information, most publications have coated the backlash to Commonwealth Financial institution’s (CBA) plans to cost some prospects $3 to withdraw their very own cash. The ABC remembers the adjustments will see these with a “Full Entry” account moved to a “Sensible Entry” account subsequent month. The latter account “contains an ‘assisted withdrawal price’, the place prospects taking cash out at financial institution branches, put up places of work or by cellphone are charged $3 per withdrawal”, the broadcaster stories.
The Age stories Monetary Companies Minister Stephen Jones has known as on the financial institution to rethink. “Commonwealth Financial institution has to rethink this horrible determination. It appears to me to be a tax on Australians who demand the correct to make use of their money, and the federal government received’t stand for it. So, we are saying to the Commonwealth Financial institution, that is the worst Christmas current ever. It’s a kick within the guts to your prospects,” he mentioned.
Information.com.au flags Queensland MP Bob Katter additionally advised Channel 10’s The Project: “I feel that it’s an act of defiance and contempt for the folks of Australia.”
In an announcement yesterday, CBA mentioned affected prospects might nonetheless entry free money withdrawals from its ATM community, whereas some might qualify for a price waiver by way of the brand new product, Guardian Australia flags.
GREENS WANT DEAL
On Tuesday we introduced you polling which suggests the federal government nonetheless has loads of work to do earlier than the federal election and that theme is continuous this morning with quite a few publications discovering alternative ways into the pre-election vacuum.
The ABC led in a single day (till South Korea’s president tried to declare martial regulation) on Greens chief Adam Bandt calling for a proper settlement to be locked in between his celebration and Labor if, as polls are predicting, the 2025 election ends in a hung Parliament.
“I feel working that out prematurely, figuring out what the advantages will truly be for folks and understanding how then the subsequent three years would map out… that’s most likely the precedence,” he advised Afternoon Briefing.
Citing Bob Brown’s settlement with Julia Gillard in 2010 as a mannequin of power-sharing, Bandt added: “As we go to the subsequent election, the Greens place will likely be to maintain [Opposition Leader] Peter Dutton out and push the subsequent authorities to behave on issues like well being and housing and local weather and atmosphere.”
The broadcaster stories Bandt’s remarks are the primary time he has expressly prompt the necessity for a structured settlement with Labor if crossbench assist is required to kind authorities. The ABC mentioned it was a part of a “dramatic shift” by the Greens in latest weeks, which included supporting greater than 40 authorities payments on the ultimate sitting day of Parliament.
Whereas Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been very bullish in public about successful one other majority on the 2025 election and never wanting to interact with the Greens’ agenda, in non-public he could be serious about the totally different routes that probably permit him to remain in workplace. This morning Guardian Australia highlighted extra dissatisfaction, with an Australian Nationwide College research displaying simply 38% of Australian voters have faith within the federal authorities, closing in on the lows earlier than Scott Morrison was voted out of workplace in 2022.
The research discovered greater than three in 10 Australians reported discovering it tough to get by on their present revenue, the positioning mentioned. Youthful and middle-aged teams are significantly affected.
Examine co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle mentioned: “Monetary stress correlates with decrease satisfaction with democracy and decreased political belief. Equally, loneliness, skilled by 42% of Australians in some capability, aligns with disengagement from politics and establishments.” Guardian Australia additionally flagged that 12.1% of ladies polled stay undecided on who they’d vote for, in comparison with 6.7% of males.
Elsewhere, The Sydney Morning Herald stories Albanese has “infuriated Labor members with election meddling”. The paper stories “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has requested Labor’s marketing campaign chief to intervene in a factional battle for the prize NSW Labor seat of Barton, vacated by former Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.”
The SMH says the seat is meant to revert to Labor’s Proper faction underneath a deal struck in 2016 and the faction in NSW is “livid the prime minister is making an attempt to drive one other candidate from the Left into the prime place”. The paper says whereas Albanese has not explicitly endorsed councillor and unionist Ashvini Ambihaipahar, the Left’s most popular candidate, he has made it clear he needs the faction to retain the seat.
The Australian has led in a single day on Australian Employees Union boss Paul Farrow becoming a member of senior Tasmanian Labor figures in calling for Atmosphere Minister Tanya Plibersek’s “drawn-out” evaluations into the affect of salmon farming on the endangered Maugean skate to be finalised as quickly as doable.
The paper states the continuing evaluations have drawn concern inside the federal government over their affect on Labor’s electoral prospects within the Tasmanian seats of Braddon, Lyons and Bass. “That is now the second Christmas that Tasmanian salmon employees have been left in limbo not understanding what the longer term holds. It’s simply not proper to depart entire communities dangling like this,” Farrow mentioned.
The Australian additionally flags polling by Grasp Builders Australia which apparently states “65% of voters consider the Albanese authorities is on the hook to repair the housing disaster”.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Final week we talked about the saggy inexperienced cap cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman wore in a collection towards India within the Nineteen Forties was going up for public sale, so it’s solely proper we offer an replace on how mentioned public sale went.
The Australian stories the cap, which Bradman wore within the 1947-48 dwelling Check collection — throughout which he scored his one hundredth first-class century — ended up promoting for $390,000 at Bonhams in Sydney.
Auctioneer Alex Clark mentioned: “The curiosity within the cap was fairly extraordinary
“I’ve had folks calling up from throughout Australia saying they’ve an previous bat from the 1942 collection or no matter however there may be nothing like a saggy inexperienced.
“It created plenty of publicity, not simply round Australia however internationally.’’
The paper says the cap was offered to an Australian bidder who attended the public sale on Tuesday.
Say What?
A Delaware decide simply overruled a supermajority of shareholders who personal Tesla and who voted twice to pay @elonmusk what he’s price. The court docket’s determination is flawed, and we’re going to attraction.
Tesla
The automobile marker posted on X, a social media platform owned by Elon Musk, that its chief government, Elon Musk, ought to obtain a $US56 billion (A$86.6 billion) compensation package deal. Delaware Choose Kathaleen McCormick adopted a earlier ruling in January by as soon as once more declaring Musk mustn’t obtain the payout, regardless of shareholders voting to reinstate it earlier this 12 months.
CRIKEY RECAP
‘No foundation in any way’: Is Information Corp’s sponsored pro-gas protection filled with sizzling air?
This week, the Information Corp tabloids ran entrance pages proclaiming the start of the “Darkish Ages” and insisting Australia “Step On The Fuel” in pursuit of rectifying “Australia’s fuel scarcity”.
On Monday, December 2, the Information Corp tabloids in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide revealed entrance pages selling elevated funding in fuel. The Courier-Mail and Herald Solar splashed with “STEP ON THE GAS”, with the Hun even branding it an “unique”. In the meantime, The Every day Telegraph and The Advertiser splashed with “DARK AGES: We should step on the fuel to maintain lights on”, with The Advertiser describing it as a “particular report”.
Every newspaper additionally carried an an identical double-page unfold which revealed within the top-right nook that the “unique” “particular report” was in actual fact “proudly sponsored” by Santos, APA Group, Tamboran Assets and Jemena — all main fuel corporations. Whereas Santos, APA and Tamboran are all publicly listed, Jemena is majority-owned by the Chinese language state grid, with 40% additionally owned by Singaporean state-owned energy firm Singapore Energy.
The media’s drive for visitors has hit a lifeless finish. What now?
Legacy media — because the ABC and the free-to-air networks alike are discovering — can not depend on the standard loyalty of audiences to maintain coming again as a result of there isn’t anything on provide.
As an alternative, news-hungry audiences are embracing the long-form to know what’s occurring — from podcasts to YouTube talks, from electronic mail Substack newsletters to literary magazines. It’s being fed by new media start-ups, significantly in populations giant sufficient for a small viewers to be sufficiently big to get by, just like the Vox/NY Magazine group within the US, or “The Relaxation is…” podcast vary within the UK, or the Digipub community in India.
It’s a development mirrored, too, within the subscription numbers. Whereas tabloid media battle, mastheads that supply deep evaluation are thriving. In Information Corp, for instance, its upmarket mastheads just like the London Occasions, the Wall Road Journal and, sure, even The Australian are constructing strong audiences for his or her journalism.
That mentioned, Australia’s inhabitants dimension makes it a weaker development right here. And that’s the opening for the ABC.
Kash Patel will do a heck of a job on the FBI
This grim actuality of enormous authorities organisations, one not understood by the Elon Musks and Gina Rineharts of the world, is that delivering items or providers (well being; infrastructure; safety; emergency administration; training) on a state or country-sized scale to the satisfaction of these being served is advanced, demanding and barely achieved persistently even by expert, skilled skilled directors. Insert individuals who aren’t expert and skilled and the system would possibly proceed to ship in the event that they’re backed by sufficient extra junior specialists. However in a disaster or emergency, which locations stress on bureaucratic techniques that finally ends up accumulating on the weakest hyperlink, the techniques begin to malfunction. Insert folks actively hostile to the organisation’s objectives, or bent on pursuing others, and it doesn’t take a disaster to create dysfunction.
White People who voted for Trump may be completely pleased for the federal authorities to be crippled and damaged by Trump’s appointees — the entire system’s rotten, in spite of everything, so why not deliver it crashing down? How lengthy that sentiment survives amid pure disasters or terrorist assaults will likely be an fascinating query.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
‘Vital’ step in returning Bali 5 dwelling however obstacles stay (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
Malaria vaccine rolled out in world’s worst-affected nation (BBC)
Vietnamese tycoon faces scramble to lift billions to keep away from loss of life sentence (The Guardian)
Upcoming Proba-3 mission will create synthetic photo voltaic eclipses to review the solar (Gizmodo)
Jaguar boss defends rebrand after backlash — as new electrical automobile revealed (Sky Information)
Trump to attend Notre Dame’s reopening in a diplomatic coup for Macron (Le Monde)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Commerce, tech and Trump: How looming battles within the US will set the tone for Australia’s election — Peter Lewis (Guardian Australia): This ultimate set of findings suggests Australia is just not but America, though the cultural, political and social excesses which can be condemning that nation to say no proceed to knock on our door.
The problem for incumbent governments will likely be to know the drivers of Trumpism with out succumbing to them.
Anchoring a nationwide dialogue across the concepts of financial independence and the liberty to create sovereign on-line areas would each harness and differentiate from the forces Trump has marshalled so successfully.
Like every horror film, the trick is to recollect it’s all make-believe and to know when to look away.
Calling all Trump supporters — we want you on Bluesky — Mark Metal (The i Paper): And plenty of blue ticks appeared to be purchased by Trump supporters in order that they appeared in response to virtually all the things. When you wrote, “I used to be considering of portray my kitchen, has anybody acquired a suggestion for a vivid, contemporary color?”, the replies would most likely say “Trump received. Recover from it you terrorist-supporting loser.”
This and different adjustments have made X more durable and fewer nice to make use of, so hundreds of thousands of individuals have left to affix a rival website known as Bluesky.
However Bluesky’s promoting level is that everybody on there may be beautiful and liberal, so it’s virtually TOO filled with kindness.
I joined it this week and instantly folks despatched messages reminiscent of, “SO happy you’ve joined us right here on this heartwarming group of empathy. Wishing you like and heat and hope your aural centres are totally aligned.”
I feel it wants some Trump supporters to make it appear a bit extra healthful.
