One of the more of the many appalling – things – incidents – catastrophes of WW1 that happened:
Gallipoli.
Australia and New Zealand and the UK and – we should NEVER forget – Turkey – were embroiled in this utterly futile and destructive stretched-out battle. So many young men – teenagers, on both sides, were doing their best to kill each other, probably without any idea of the politics behind that war.
So many young lives wasted.
So many parents and siblings mourning.
So many families grieving forever.
Now the wannabe warlord/tsar of the world is wreaking his hubris on Ukraine – a place fought over for centuries. Who’s next? Poland, aka the battleground of Europe?
When I was a child, my family and I often visited the War Memorial in Canberra. For me, it was an important way of learning part of our history, and I learned so much from those visits: respect, sorrow, and – hey – let’s NEVER do that again.
Now I completely and utterly deplore the Australian War Memorial’s morphing into being a celebration of war. I don’t see anything in their glorification of war that supports the amazing efforts of the people of Ukraine. That is so sad.
I want the AWM to return to what it used to be: a memorial.
It’s not a memorial or a museum now. Instead, it’s – under its current leadership – a glorification of endless war.
My father served in the RAAF throughout WW2. He would be appalled by the current state of the “museum”.
THE PUB 
Trying to look like a Clive ad ? Not sure that is a good thing or not when it comes to people bothering to take in the message.
F.M –
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/27/theres-a-lot-going-on-so-happy-world-tapir-day-to-all-the-tapirs-and-tapir-enthusiasts
New thread
Good morning Dawn Patrollers. Rather a large collection today.
Niki Savva begins her contribution this week with, “Whether through complacency, neglect or ineptitude, the long promised khaki election, which was expected to help deliver another victory for Scott Morrison, is in danger of turning into a revamped Dad’s Army.” Another good read from Niki.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-s-khaki-election-risks-turning-into-dad-s-army-20220427-p5agff.html
Shane Wright and Katina Curtis write that the biggest increase in consumer prices since 2000 is expected to force the Reserve Bank into an interest rate rise just days out from the May 21 federal election, bringing the debate over cost-of-living back to the centre of the campaign in its final critical days.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/reserve-bank-facing-election-rate-rise-after-biggest-inflation-growth-in-22-years-20220427-p5agmf.html
Wright reckons there will be more questions of the RBA if it doesn’t raise the interest rate than if it doesn’t.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/it-s-elementary-case-closed-for-rba-election-rate-hike-20220427-p5agdo.html
And John Kehoe declares that the RBA should get off the fence and raise interest rates.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/rba-must-show-courage-in-election-rate-rise-20220427-p5aghj
The surge in inflation to its highest annual rate in more than 20 years comes at a difficult time for the Coalition because it has campaigned hard on its claim to be a superior economic manager, says the editorial in the SMH.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/cost-of-living-rise-ruins-coalition-s-pitch-on-economic-management-20220427-p5agn0.html
The Australian inflation rate gives the lie to Morrison’s claims of strong economic management, argues Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2022/apr/27/australian-inflation-rate-figures-give-the-lie-to-scott-morrison-claims-of-strong-economic-management
Labor has raised grave concerns about the home affairs minister’s use of “privileged access to intelligence reporting”, after Karen Andrews publicly alluded to a potential attempt by China at interference in the federal election, writes Daniel Hurst.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/28/labor-gravely-concerned-by-karen-andrews-claim-about-potential-china-election-interference
Scott Morrison has agreed to a second election debate with Anthony Albanese in a move that challenges the Labor leader to commit to the free-to-air forum to be broadcast in prime time on Sunday, May 8.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-accepts-another-leaders-debate-as-labor-watches-albanese-s-health-20220427-p5agnq.html
Paul Karp reveals that the Morrison government has directed an extra $10bn to private schools since 2018 while public schools are underfunded by at least $6.5bn every year, according to a new report. Well, here’s something a Laor government could get its teeth into! It’s a disgrace.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/28/private-schools-received-an-extra-10bn-funding-in-coalition-special-deals-study-finds
If any serious policy issues are aired during this election, it’s unlikely school education will feature. Yet our framework of schools is an evolving disaster. And while there are critical differences between the parties, none of the policy offerings address the root causes of our educational malaise, writes Chris Bonnor who throws out three priority things he would do for schools if her were the minister.
https://johnmenadue.com/if-i-was-the-minister-for-education-these-are-the-three-priority-things-i-would-do-for-schools/
David Crowe tells us that coal mining companies would have to pay just $1.20 per tonne of coal to offset some of their carbon under a Labor policy to meet a United Nations target of net zero emissions by 2050, according to calculations that sharpen the debate over the cost of acting on climate change.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-climate-plan-would-have-little-financial-impact-on-coal-grattan-20220427-p5aghx.html
What is Labor’s Safeguard Mechanism plan? Is it a ‘sneaky carbon tax’ or a sensible way to cut emissions? Mike Foley answers the questions.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/what-is-labor-s-safeguard-mechanism-is-it-a-sneaky-carbon-tax-or-a-sensible-way-to-cut-emissions-20220427-p5agkd.html
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s attempt to frame Labor’s emissions policy as a “sneaky carbon tax” met with an indifferent reception from the business lobby yesterday, writes James Robertson who says Morrison’s carbon tax attack fizzled in a net-zero world.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2022/04/27/morrison-carbon-tax-net-zero/
Now it’s the Coalition’s turn to walk both sides of the street on climate, says David Crowe.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/now-it-s-the-coalition-s-turn-to-walk-both-sides-of-the-street-on-climate-20220427-p5aght.html
Meanwhile AGL, Australia’s top power supplier, has struck a deal to buy a biogas firm in its latest move to diversify away from fossil fuels.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/agl-strikes-deal-to-buy-biogas-firm-in-low-carbon-energy-shift-20220427-p5agl2.html
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has urged Labor to clarify the dates and size of emissions reductions it will enforce on business if elected and declared it does not want the Coalition’s net zero pledge to be “dead” as suggested by former resources minister Matt Canavan.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/mining-lobby-wants-total-commitment-to-net-zero-20220427-p5agf2
The latest Coalition climate catastrophe, Senator Matt Canavan declaring national net zero policy “dead,” rings alarm bells for what’s ahead if the Morrison government is returned to office. Meanwhile, our new rival in the Pacific region, China, is seizing the mantle of climate leadership. Blair Palese reports on Australia’s greatest failure as a nation.
https://michaelwest.com.au/net-zero-transition-china-world-leave-australia-behind-on-climate/
Michelle Grattan says that warring within Coalition over 2050 target brings some gold dust for the ‘teals’.
https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-warring-within-coalition-over-2050-target-brings-some-gold-dust-for-teals-181944
Net zero by 2050 will hit a major timing problem technology can’t solve. We need to talk about cutting consumption, argues Mark Diesendorf.
https://theconversation.com/net-zero-by-2050-will-hit-a-major-timing-problem-technology-cant-solve-we-need-to-talk-about-cutting-consumption-181951
Kaye Lee writes about “Josh Frydenberg – the smiling conman”.
https://theaimn.com/josh-frydenberg-the-smiling-conman/
The Australian Public Service will have more than a thousand previously outsourced service delivery jobs restored if Labor is risen to power next month, the party promised on Wednesday. Three government entities delivering vital services to Australians are in-line to be boosted by $500 million under the Labor plan to reinvest savings from cutting wasteful use of private external labour. A purge of contractors and consultants used to perform the work that would otherwise be done by public servants could reap as much as $3 billion in budget savings over four years, the party claimed.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7715580/labor-to-purge-3b-aps-contractor-consultants-bill/?cs=24204
Nick McKenzie and Sumeyya Ilanbey tell us that Daniel Andrews has been secretly grilled by Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog as part of an investigation that has found the Labor Party’s culture is rotten and encouraged the serious misuse of public resources.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/anti-corruption-watchdog-calls-out-victorian-labor-s-rotten-culture-20220427-p5agdx.html
And The Age says that Victoria’s anti-corruption commission will probe allegations of serious misconduct against a senior police officer amid claims he used his position for personal gain, misused police information, maintained inappropriate associations and falsified evidence. This does not have a good look about it.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/anti-corruption-watchdog-to-probe-senior-police-officer-s-alleged-misconduct-20220427-p5aglu.html
The “teal independents” threatening to snatch once blue-ribbon Liberal seats are not only about changing the government but about changing the Liberal Party, too, moans Peta Credlin.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/existential-threat-to-libs-asteals-drag-party-left/news-story/7c9aaf7f742e45e45eafa618a6925d24
Alexandra Smith opines that Dominic Perrottet is fanning dangerous flame with his comments on the transgender issue.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/dominic-perrottet-fans-dangerous-flame-with-comments-on-trans-issue-20220427-p5aggx.html
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has taken the credit for an $11 million federal grant to a Queensland drag racing venue in a key marginal seat where the Coalition will need the minor party’s help to defeat Labor at the election. David Crowe writes that Labor is crying foul over the government grant after similar decisions over the past few years when taxpayer cash has been promised by One Nation rather than announced by a government minister.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/political-fury-after-one-nation-claims-credit-for-11m-federal-grant-20220426-p5agc5.html
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation will target Liberal moderate MPs in key seats across the country and push its supporters to preference Labor over several of Scott Morrison’s most vulnerable candidates, writes The Australian’s Matthew Denholm.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/federal-election-2022-liberals-backing-for-jacqui-lambie-sparks-preference-war-with-one-nations-pauline-hanson/news-story/787da8728e390736591b22266969532e
Megan Gorry, who is following the ICAC inquiry, reports that it was told the Sydney mayor at the centre of the inquiry allegedly requested an invitation to the Shanghai wedding of a Chinese businessman whose company attempted to win approval to build an apartment tower at Rhodes.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/mayor-allegedly-sought-invite-to-developer-s-shanghai-wedding-icac-told-20220427-p5agft.html
Josh Taylor writes that the prime minister’s office has refused to release any text messages between Scott Morrison and prominent QAnon supporter Tim Stewart, claiming they are not official government documents, following a two-year freedom of information battle.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/27/pms-office-wont-release-any-texts-with-qanon-friend-arguing-they-would-not-be-official-documents
The Conversation has asked five experts to compare the ICAC offerings of the major parties.
https://theconversation.com/how-do-the-major-parties-rate-on-an-independent-anti-corruption-commission-we-asked-5-experts-181077
The rental crisis engulfing the country should be a wake-up call for both major parties as they fight the election campaign on cost of living issues, welfare support groups say, as data shows there are almost no affordable rentals across Australia, writes Rachel Clun who points out that a rental affordability snapshot conducted by Anglicare found less than 1 per cent of rentals were affordable for people on income support, while those on the minimum wage could afford just 2 per cent of available rentals across the country.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/rental-crisis-a-blind-spot-for-politicians-in-cost-of-living-campaign-20220426-p5ag6l.html
According to the SMH, Sydney’s runaway property prices have been reigned (sic) in by a significant market slowdown, recording their weakest result since early stages of the pandemic.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/apartment-price-falls-signal-end-to-sydney-s-pandemic-property-boom-20220426-p5ag8g.html
The Australian tells us that National Disability Insurance Agency staff are under pressure to employ a “no initial contact call” process when assessing thousands of participants’ claims for a review of their NDIS plan. The new system turns on its head the previous practice of NDIA assessors routinely conducting a telephone interview with NDIS participants or their carers. This is a likely cause of the explosion of cases making their way to the AAT.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/nation/more-ndis-appeals-being-knocked-back-without-a-phone-call-to-discuss-claim/news-story/6ba25c81a48a2dced34f91bae35c0c50
Spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme is expected to blow out to $64 billion a year in 2030, even higher than previously estimated, according to an external actuarial review commissioned by disability ministers, explains Tom Burton.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/ndis-cost-to-blow-out-to-64b-by-2030-new-report-20220427-p5agg1
Christopher Knaus writes that the former attorney general Christian Porter rejected a plea for mercy from six Indonesians who said they were wrongly jailed as children using unreliable evidence, telling them they had no chance of success despite their lawyers pointing to a landmark ruling years earlier finding a miscarriage of justice in a similar case.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/28/christian-porter-denied-justice-plea-from-indonesians-jailed-in-australia-when-they-were-children
Andrew Tillett writes that a former navy chief has urged the government to dump the troubled $45 billion future frigate program, arguing the Hunter class warships cannot carry enough missiles for self-defence and to attack enemies. In a damning assessment for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, retired vice-admiral David Shackleton said the navy should instead build a local version of the United States’ existing destroyers or, failing that, revive construction of the navy’s Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyer fleet.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/former-navy-chief-urges-government-to-axe-frigates-deal-20220427-p5agfd
David Soloman chronicles how the Coalition has lost its foreign policy edge.
https://johnmenadue.com/government-loses-foreign-policy-edge/
In an astonishing development, Harriet Alexandra tells us that a former Special Air Service soldier who testified for war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith at his defamation suit has been arrested and charged with harming and resisting a Commonwealth official following his turn in the witness box.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/witness-for-ben-roberts-smith-hit-with-criminal-charges-after-finishing-his-evidence-20220427-p5agn1.html
Looking at the case itself, Michaela Whitbourn reports that a second former Special Air Service soldier has supported Ben Roberts-Smith in his Federal Court defamation case, backing the war veteran’s denial that he was involved in the alleged murder of Afghan prisoners.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/second-former-sas-soldier-backs-roberts-smith-in-defamation-case-20220427-p5aghr.html
According to Anthony Galloway, Australia will resist sending soldiers and police to Solomon Islands if they are forced to operate alongside Chinese security personnel as concern grows that Beijing will deploy brutal and repressive tactics in the Pacific island nation.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-doesn-t-want-its-forces-operating-alongside-ruthless-chinese-in-solomon-islands-20220427-p5agj0.html
Angus Thompson reports that an industrial umpire has said a political staffer to Labor senator Kristina Keneally fired for allegedly threatening a former government minister over his interactions with a Liberal hopeful should have been given a right of reply before he was sacked.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sacked-keneally-staffer-may-have-had-metoo-defence-over-alleged-threats-tribunal-20220427-p5agmo.html
After years of inaction toward saving our koalas, another term for the Morrison Government would result in their extinction, writes Sue Arnold.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/vote-for-the-morrison-government-and-say-goodbye-to-our-koalas,16299
Influenza cases in NSW more than tripled between March and April, as experts warn the state is headed for a “significant flu epidemic” after the pandemic virtually wiped out the disease.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-headed-for-significant-flu-epidemic-as-cases-triple-20220427-p5agfi.html
Sarah McPhee fills us in on what transpired in court yesterday with the $15m taxation fraud case. The key defendant is the son of a federal taxation commissioner.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/fee-free-payroll-services-in-alleged-105m-tax-fraud-too-good-to-be-true-jury-told-20220427-p5ageq.html
Jack Niall says that fans must come first, before players, in the next AFL broadcast deal.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/fans-must-come-first-before-players-in-next-broadcast-deal-20220427-p5aggj.html
The supreme court’s coming abortion ruling may spark a new era of US unrest, warns Stephen Marche.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/27/supreme-court-abortion-new-era-unrest
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
David Pope
Alan Moir
Dionne Gain
Cathy Wilcox
Matt Golding
Mark Knight
Andrew Dyson
John Shakespeare
Peter Broelman
Leak
From the US