ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY
An Australian firm run by a Queensland household that donated tens of hundreds to the Liberal Nationwide Occasion was paid $1.82 billion for a five-year contract to function refugee companies on Nauru, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age ($) report this morning. A lot of that was paid out even after the variety of refugees and asylum seekers on the island dwindled, prompting questions over whether or not taxpayers acquired their cash’s price.
Final monetary yr alone, Canstruct, owned by the Murphy household from Brisbane, was paid greater than $300 million for offering welfare and garrison companies on Nauru. “Between 2017 and 2020, the household, its associated corporations and executives made donations of a minimum of $47,500 to the Liberal Nationwide Occasion,” the story says. The newspapers pressured they weren’t suggesting any wrongdoing or illegality referring to both the earnings or the donations, and neither does the Worm.
“Any illegality or corruption concern could be on behalf of a decision-maker in the event that they had been improperly influenced. The way in which the contract was managed by house affairs and the worth for cash it delivered are worthy of scrutiny,” the story added.
Over within the UK, the “cease the boats” politics that secured Tony Abbott’s 2013 landslide victory and that boosted using Nauru as an offshore processing vacation spot has been adopted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Sunak is copping warmth for utilizing a big barge, often called Bibby Stockholm, to deal with asylum seekers. The BBC reported earlier within the week the primary 15 folks had boarded the vessel the place “as much as 500 males will finally stay”. Human rights teams have stated the association is “inhumane”, and the UK’s Hearth Brigades Union has raised considerations over slim exits and the opportunity of overcrowding.
Greens NSW Senator David Shoebridge slammed the UK’s “cease the boats” coverage as a “repeat of the divisive and poisonous slogans” utilized by Australia’s former Coalition authorities. “This can be a floating jail barge designed to restrict the rights of asylum seekers within the UK. And it’s appallingly modelled on the brutal Australian precedent,” he stated final night time in feedback to information.com.au.
DATE WITH DESTINY
May Anthony Albanese’s springtime journey schedule provide a touch on when the First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum will likely be held? One constitutional regulation knowledgeable thinks so, and has nominated a selected date: October 14. The Australian ($) stories {that a} single parliamentary sitting week from September 11 to 14, and several other prime ministerial journeys deliberate for late October and early November, go away solely a four-week hole through which a correct closing marketing campaign could possibly be held (Parliament subsequent sits from October 16-19).
Information Albanese will go to the White Home on October 23 was the ultimate clue wanted for Professor George Williams from the College of NSW: “Every part has already pointed to the 14th [of October], however this leaves little doubt it’s the popular date.” Because the Parliament’s “fast information” to constitutional referendums makes clear, the vote must be held on a Saturday. September 30 wouldn’t be a sensible date as a result of it could conflict with the AFL Grand Remaining. In response to The Australian, the prime minister has stated he needs the referendum to be held earlier than the moist season begins in November.
SAY WHAT?
Self-importance in the end prevailed and I made a decision to yield to having an official portrait finished.
Kevin Rudd
Australia’s ambassador to Washington lastly unveiled his prime ministerial portrait, a decade after he was final a resident of the Lodge. Rudd delayed sitting for the portrait “for therefore lengthy that the administrators of the parliamentary artwork assortment turned exasperated and threatened to fee a ‘knock-up’ portrait based mostly on {a photograph}”, The Sydney Morning Herald ($) reported. However Rudd, who informed an occasion at Parliament yesterday he wasn’t completely satisfied along with his official {photograph}, lastly relented. The portray, by Ralph Heimans, depicts Rudd trying professorial, in a beard and swimsuit sans tie, in entrance of a group of Chinese language crockery and books. On a desk in entrance of him is a chess board on which treads the previous PM’s cat, Louie. For many who haven’t seen the portray, the Australian Related Press has printed a sequence of images.
CRIKEY RECAP
What’s the way forward for the Australian movie trade?
“The Lengthy Passeggiata is one in every of 4 unproduced scripts chosen by the Campari Posters to Manufacturing initiative — the corporate has designed posters for every, that are displayed on the Campari cinema lounge on the Melbourne Worldwide Movie Competition (MIFF) this yr. Every carries a QR code which results in a GoFundMe web page to assist the movie increase manufacturing funds.
“What does such an initiative say concerning the well being of Australian cinema? Of the practically $1 billion taken in by all movies on the Australian field workplace in 2022, $48.6 million was claimed by Australian movies, and of that, $33 million was for Baz Luhrmann’s love letter to Americana, Elvis.”
Political campaigners are utilizing AI to jot down supporters’ letters to authorities
“Greater than 100 folks have used a synthetic intelligence (AI) assistant arrange by a marketing campaign towards the federal authorities’s proposed misinformation regulation to jot down submission letters opposing the invoice, in what seems to be a primary for the know-how.
“Cease Aussie Censorship is a marketing campaign created final month to oppose the Communications Laws Modification (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Invoice 2023 after an publicity draft of the regulation was printed and a public session launched in June.
“The group behind the marketing campaign, Australian Democracy By Discourse, describes itself on its web site as ‘a significantly-sized and various group of Australians from throughout the political spectrum who got here collectively out of shared concern for this harmful invoice’.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
How an enormous scout occasion spiralled into ‘Fyre Fest’ for teenagers (The Each day Beast) ($)
Russia’s army push on the japanese entrance prompts Ukraine to evacuate hundreds of civilians (Related Press)
Donald Trump pleads not responsible to newest costs in paperwork case (BBC Information)
Hawaii wildfires raze resort metropolis on Maui island, killing dozens (Reuters)
West African bloc leaders activate standby pressure, say all choices open for Niger (Al Jazeera)
Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated at marketing campaign occasion (CNN)
THE COMMENTARIAT
When MPs allegedly behave badly, justice pays little half within the penalties — Annika Smethurst (The Age) ($): “Fuelled by overexposure, I developed a reasonably phlegmatic perspective in the direction of misbehaving politicians throughout my time working at Parliament Home in Canberra. It was solely once I was invited to offer proof in Kate Jenkins’ evaluation into the tradition at Parliament Home that I realised how jaded I had develop into.
“Fortunately, a whole bunch of witnesses shared their allegations of bullying, harassment and sexual assault in federal Parliament, forcing the Parliament to behave. But, little has been finished to formalise the grievance course of and enhance office security on Spring Road, which is not any much less hazardous.”
Indigenous kids could be among the many best beneficiaries of the voice — Catherine Liddle (Guardian Australia): “Increasingly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids are being faraway from their households and put into out-of-home care. This isn’t as a result of they don’t seem to be cherished. It’s as a result of susceptible households are trapped in techniques and insurance policies that had been designed for them, however with out their enter. We don’t make significant progress; we’re shifting backwards.
“These statistics aren’t simply numbers, they aren’t simply one other bureaucratic measure. They’re an indicator of the difficulties and challenges we nonetheless face as a nation; they’re a reminder of how a lot we nonetheless have to do, and the way grim our actuality is.”
The Coalition’s doubtless embrace of nuclear power is high-risk politics — Michelle Grattan (The Dialog): “Loopy courageous, or simply loopy? If, as appears doubtless, the opposition embraces nuclear energy in its 2025 election coverage, it is going to be taking an enormous political gamble. The Coalition would possibly argue this is able to be the very best (or solely) manner to make sure we obtain internet zero by 2050. However ‘nuclear’ is a set off phrase within the political debate, and the reactions it triggers are largely destructive.
“Opposition Chief Peter Dutton has been open because the election about nuclear power being on the Coalition’s agenda. It’s a ‘no surprises’ tactic — however one which has allowed the federal government, particularly Local weather Change Minister Chris Bowen, to usually assault and mock the concept.”
