2023 Beginning of Summer Open Thread

Kirsdarke Political Observation

Other than the Mulgrave by-election in Victoria on 18 November, there is little occurring in the way of Australian elections over the Summer.

This is a good opportunity for a general open thread to cover these bare months of politics, and hope for the best that the summer won’t be as bad as meteorologists have predicted. But going from its early start, it’s been pretty dreadful so far.

477 thoughts on “2023 Beginning of Summer Open Thread”

  4. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    The arrest of another former detainee has sparked new calls for the federal government to toughen its checks before releasing more people from indefinite immigration detention amid the political dispute over about 150 people released since a High Court ruling four weeks ago. This is going to go on forever!
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/new-arrest-sparks-calls-for-tougher-checks-before-more-detainees-released-20231207-p5eptj.html
    Examining this issue, Binoy Kampmark writes, “The hideous spectacle leaves us a desperate, disturbing conclusion. Even after time is served behind bars, refugees will be subject to the very discriminatory and punitive regimes that the UN Refugee Convention guards against. The agenda here is to perpetrate a regime of permanent punishment and surveillance, using an actuarial model of justice. Released refugees are to be treated no less as potential terrorists, permanently menacing. And it is a conflation the government and the main opposition parties are willing to entertain.”.
    https://theaimn.com/actuarial-justice-released-refugees-and-secondary-punishment/
    Labour hire workers will be paid more, and intentional wage theft will be criminalised after Employment Minister Tony Burke secured a surprise deal with Senate crossbenchers to pass his same job, same pay laws. Paul Sakkal tells us that unions hailed the changes while peak business groups and the Coalition labelled it a sneaky deal that would increase business costs and hinder the economy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/lambie-pocock-hand-labor-big-win-on-same-job-same-pay-laws-20231207-p5epwm.html
    The AFR tells us that big business will wage a mining-tax style campaign against the “economic vandals” in the Albanese government after it passed the most controversial part of its industrial relations shake-up, in a bid to pile on pressure before the next election.
    https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/chunk-of-labor-s-ir-laws-to-pass-within-hours-after-crossbench-deal-20231207-p5epqn
    The prime minister needs his mojo back, writes Phil Coorey
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/the-prime-minister-needs-his-mojo-back-20231206-p5epdp
    Michelle Grattan presents the winners and losers in her end-of-year report card on Albanese’s ministers.
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-winners-and-losers-in-end-of-year-report-card-on-albanese-ministers-219393
    Shane Wright says that the 0.2 percent expansion of the economy over the September quarter lays bare the financial knife edge the country sits upon as the Reserve Bank tackles inflation and the federal government repairs its budget bottom line.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/can-t-afford-the-sugar-to-coat-these-poor-national-accounts-20231206-p5ephd.html
    It is time to debunk “the Coalition are better economic managers” theory — once again, writes Michelle Pini who says that while all this noise about the superior economic prowess of the Coalition hails from the Coalition itself, its symbiotic relationship with Australia’s media means even a murmur is soon amplified to a deafening cacophony.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/taylor-and-ley-continue-long-coalition-tradition-of-fudging-the-figures,18153
    Business reporter Millie Muroi argues why the Reserve Bank’s wishes might land it on the naughty list. She points out that the measure that really matters, economic growth per person, slid faster in the September quarter than in the previous four, dropping 0.5 per cent. That’s how you know our growth hasn’t translated to better living standards for most people.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/why-the-reserve-bank-s-wishes-might-land-it-on-the-naughty-list-20231206-p5epf5.html
    Finding an end to the cost of living crisis will depend on modern economic theories rather than the outdated monetary models currently in effect, writes Dr Steven Hail.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/finding-the-tools-to-end-the-cost-of-living-crisis,18150
    David Crowe writes about the extraordinary work the late Peta Murphy did in getting unanimous cross-party committee findings and recommendations. Minister Rowland is prevaricating and Crowe wonders if Peta’s colleagues will gamble on her brave legacy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/murphy-s-law-will-peta-s-colleagues-gamble-on-her-brave-legacy-20231206-p5epmv.html
    Natassia Chrysanthos outlines the many recommendations from the major review of the NDIS that was released yesterday.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/diagnosis-list-for-ndis-to-be-scrapped-under-five-year-reboot-plan-20231207-p5epq6.html
    Phil Coorey and Michael Read say that service providers and plan managers profit gouging the NDIS will be drummed out, equipment for the disabled will face price caps and real-time payments, and participants will have their needs reassessed, all as part of a concerted plan to reboot the scheme and stop it collapsing due to cost blowouts.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/ndis-overhaul-to-weed-out-profiteers-and-price-gougers-20231207-p5epu4
    What’s the difference between ‘reasonable and necessary’ and ‘foundational’ supports? The Conversation explains what the NDIS review says.
    https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-reasonable-and-necessary-and-foundational-supports-heres-what-the-ndis-review-says-216074
    One of the men who alleged that Alan Jones indecently assaulted him has described feeling “sick to the stomach” after the broadcaster emphatically denied the claims. No doubt NineFax will use the truth defence in the defamation case.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/alan-jones-denials-leave-alleged-victim-sick-to-the-stomach-20231207-p5epx1.html
    The SMH editorial says that it stands by the paper’s story. Kate McClymont’s investigation was lengthy, forensic and diligent, typical of her body of work which has helped make this country a better and more civilised place. It declares that men like Jones hold powerful people up to scrutiny. We believe it is now time that Jones was also held up to scrutiny, and the series of people who claim he indecently assaulted them and bullied them over decades be given a voice to air their claims.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/talkback-radio-host-now-faces-tough-questions-20231207-p5epry.html
    Desperate apartment owners in Sydney’s notorious Mascot Towers are appealing for the state government to buy their defect-riddled building after the NSW Supreme Court slammed shut the gate on their last-ditch exit strategy. The residents had applied for permission to wind up the strata scheme so a liquidator could conduct a collective sale of the two towers to another developer who could knock them down or repair them for resale. What a disgrace!
    https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/treacy-left-mascot-towers-four-years-ago-now-she-s-1m-in-debt-and-has-brain-tumours-20231205-p5epaj.html
    One of the state’s top transport bureaucrats has faced a barrage of complaints from residents who have endured nearly two weeks of gridlock since the bungled opening of the Rozelle interchange. Transport for NSW coordinator general Howard Collins fronted a crowd of more than 250 people at a fiery public meeting at Balmain Town Hall in Sydney’s inner west last night. Brave man!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-just-gave-up-residents-vent-anger-over-rozelle-traffic-chaos-at-fiery-meeting-20231206-p5epms.html
    NSW Liberal President Jason Falinski will bring the party’s factional warlords together in a bid to implement significant reforms to modernise and improve the performance of the “dysfunctional” state executive. Max Maddison reports that the confidential email sent to party powerbrokers on Monday afternoon proposed eight “principles” the former federal MP is hoping to discuss, with an eye on an “interim set of measures” to be passed at the party’s annual general meeting in February.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/ex-mp-s-eight-proposals-to-fix-the-nsw-liberal-party-20231207-p5epr9.html
    Victoria’s public service is infected by a culture of fear that stops many bureaucrats from giving frank and fearless advice to the state government. That was one conclusion from Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass’ major report this week on how our government functions. Glass also found that bureaucrats were excluded from decision-making in favour of private consultants engaged to “prove up” the merits of the $200 billion Suburban Rail Loop, writes Annik Smethurst.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/for-victorian-labor-reports-of-dodgy-behaviour-are-of-no-concern-20231207-p5epta.html
    Powerful lobby group The Pharmacy Guild of Australia argues the imminent reverse takeover of Sigma Healthcare by Chemist Warehouse poses “significant questions and risks” to patient care, community pharmacy ownership, and competition in the sector, writes Carrie LaFrenz.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/pharmacy-guild-blasts-sigma-chemist-warehouse-deal-20231207-p5epxw
    The body in charge of Australia’s top journalism awards, The Walkley Foundation, has revoked the nomination of the Seven Network for its interview with Bruce Lehrmann in the Scoop of the Year category, following revelations the company covered Lehrmann’s rent for a year in exchange for exclusive access. Just desserts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/seven-s-lehrmann-scoop-disqualified-from-walkley-awards-20231207-p5epvk.html
    A former boyfriend of Brittany Higgins has told the Federal Court that she was sobbing in his arms and “broken” when they met in Canberra in the days after she alleges her then-colleague Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House. Michaela Whitbourn outlines some of yesterday’s evidence.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/watch-live-parliament-security-guards-higgins-ex-boyfriend-to-give-evidence-in-lehrmann-case-20231207-p5epqb.html
    The Australian has gone troppo over the details of the Higgins payout from the government. Absent in the paper today is any mention of yesterday’s evidence which put Lehrmann and the PM’s office in a bad light.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/brittany-higgins-bombshell-24m-payout-based-entirely-on-her-own-evidence/news-story/d8859eccb1e350da7e6f9117590497de?amp=
    The Guardian’s Amanda Meade DID write about it, saying Bruce Lehrmann’s former colleague, an aide-de-camp for the senator Linda Reynolds, has told the federal court she had “bad vibes” about him based on her “women’s intuition”. The army major, Nikita Irvine, also said she discussed Brittany Higgins’ allegation of sexual assault against Lehrmann with both Reynolds and her chief of staff, Fiona Brown.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/07/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-brittany-higgins-update-bad-vibes-ntwnfb
    And now Linda Reynolds has launched another high-profile defamation action, this time against the ACT government and former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold. A writ lodged in the West Australian supreme court on Monday says Drumgold sent a letter accusing the senator of “disturbing conduct” during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/07/linda-reynolds-sues-act-government-leaked-letter-shane-drumgold-afp
    Andrew Forrest has used the backdrop of the Cop28 climate summit to pay for ads in more than 10 major newspapers around the world attacking the oil and gas industry and calling for fossil fuels to be phased out.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/07/mining-billionaire-andrew-forrest-in-scathing-attack-on-oil-and-gas-industry
    The Albanese Government has just announced another $3B into the US submarine industrial base, in addition to the $4.7B already committed. It’s money that should have been spent in Australia instead. Rex Patrick reports on a widening foreign expenditure sinkhole.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/join-our-team-aukus-foreign-expenditure-sinkhole-blows-out-to-12b-already/
    Victoria’s watchdog for mental health complaints has not issued any compliance notices to service providers despite receiving more than 16,000 complaints over the past decade, prompting calls for an investigation into the system. Kieran Rooney reports that over the past five years, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has issued just 22 “enforceable undertakings” – where serious issues were identified but providers admitted to problems and agreed to correct them.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/more-than-16-000-mental-health-complaints-but-watchdog-yet-to-bite-20231207-p5epu9.html
    The Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel is trying to force prices higher. It isn’t working, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz who says the oil cartel may be losing control of the market.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-oil-cartel-may-be-losing-control-of-the-market-20231207-p5epqk.html
    Far from cleaning up Boris Johnson’s Covid mess, Rishi Sunak is drowning in it, says Gaby Hinsliff.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/07/far-from-cleaning-up-boris-johnsons-covid-mess-rishi-sunak-is-drowning-in-it
    And John Crace delivers another tasty serve of satire, saying Sulky Sunak tried to solve everything with a panicky press conference.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/07/sulky-sunak-solves-everything-with-a-panicky-press-conference
    “Arseholes of the Week” nomination goes to the thieves who tried to steal the body of underworld boss George Marrogi’s sister and had allegedly planned a revenge plot to film the desecration and mutilation of her corpse and send the recording to torment him in prison.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/plot-to-terrorise-gang-boss-by-mutilating-his-sister-s-corpse-on-video-20231130-p5enxv.html

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  5. I read an article in the SMH about the Stage 3 tax cuts. It was a real eyebrow raiser for me. Not so surprised after reading to find that the author was 1) American 2) An economist . A denizen of one of those myriads of ‘Institutes’ we now have .The author explains the ‘necessity’ of making sure the well off get the money..

    Monique Ryan has suggested leaving the 37% level and using the $8Billion saved for building houses and rent assistance. Tsk tsk says our economist , we can’t do that as it would cause inflation.

    Perhaps, instead, we use the $8Billion to help lower income people ? The economist must have reached for the smelling salts after that thought……..

    ….So too would funnelling the money to lower earners, since they are much more likely to spend, boosting demand, and thus inflation. Indeed, the fact stage 3 is skewed towards higher earners is an inflationary virtue, not a vice. There’s just nothing much that can be done with the savings to lower inflation – other than banking them.

    So there ya have it. To ‘save’ our economy we need to divert more $ to rich bastards because they don’t need it. Unlike the peasants who will only waste it on food, clothing and keeping a roof over their head..

  8. . bosses accuse Labor of declaring war on employers.

    Wailed The Australian. A quote from uber billionaire Warren Buffett sprang to mind….

    Warren Buffet: ‘There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.’

    • Trump looks ‘bigly’ less orange . Must have run out of Oompa Loompa brand face cream.

  11. Dan Andrews’ first interview since retiring from politics, a podcast with Stephen Donnelly that’s a pretty good listen.

    Learning a lot of interesting things from him, like this excerpt.

    Donnelly: “So you get your feet under the desk (as Opposition Leader) and you start to settle in, you’re now experiencing life in opposition. If you think back now and reflect on the foundations that the team built, what were those strong foundations that led to putting Labor in a chance of winning in 2014?”

    Andrews: “I think there’s a couple of points. One, we had a very experienced frontbench. We had obviously lost seats to lose, but it was a very tight parliament, a lot of the senior team, people who had been very senior ministers, knew government, knew how the public service worked, knew how parliament worked, all of those people absolutely signed up to continuing to work hard. So it was a crack team in many ways, up against a bunch of people who- I won’t say it was an accident, they won fair and square and they ran a really good campaign.

    But I think they were at least as surprised as some of our people were to find themselves on the Treasury benches. I don’t think they did themselves any favours, they took ages to appoint staff, they were not a unified team at least from our vantage point, and we were absolutely ruthless. We knew that if you didn’t run to win in ’14 that you would go backwards. History has you losing more seats when the government gets a close result in the first election, then having a much more workable majority, and then you’re out for a decade, you’re out for more. So we knew you had to go hard, you had to be brutal, you had to really focus on winning. Not this whole “Oh, we have to hold the government to account”, well, yes you are, but we’re here to win. We’re here to replace you. We are better than you, we have a bigger vision than you, we’ve got a better plan than you, we are going to do you. And that’s exactly what happened.

    If you don’t have that sort of self-belief and that sense of clarity about what your role is, it’s not to observe someone else win the day, it’s to win the prize, and you do the work. Because we’ve got a better and bigger and bolder vision, and it turned out that we wanted it for the right reasons, we’ve shown that when given it we’d work hard, and Victorians gave it to us.”

  15. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Laura Tingle praises Bill Horten and the released report on the NDIS and she says that the NDIS has a myriad of issues that need solving, the pointiest being what happens to the kids it cannot help.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-09/ndis-what-happens-to-kid-it-cant-help/103206530
    Somehow Australian politics has delivered a Christmas miracle – and that’s a big deal, writes Katharine Murphy who says Anthony Albanese’s success in pushing ahead on NDIS reform is a triumph of hope over experience. She wonders if Dutton can rise to the occasion. She opines that the brutal atmospherics over these past few months, the weaponisation of the voice referendum and the grim opportunism since, has reminded her of 2013. Albanese is in a different position to Gillard in many significant respects, but the hyper-partisanship and the febrile media climate sometimes feels analogous.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/09/somehow-australian-politics-has-delivered-a-christmas-miracle-and-thats-a-big-deal
    “‘Good story’ for workers but will Labor’s fair go agenda pay off?” headlines this contribution from Peter Hartcher who says the Albanese government has a suite of policies designed to correct some of the glaring inequity in Australia’s system. Next week’s mid-year update from Treasurer Jim Chalmers will show that housing has been allocated multi-billions in new support, just in the past seven months, for social and affordable housing.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/good-story-for-workers-but-will-labor-s-fair-go-agenda-pay-off-20231208-p5eq25.html
    But while it may have salvaged the end of the parliamentary year, the government has deep structural problems that will be tested sooner than the next election, writes Phil Coorey who says Labor in limping to the end of a miserable year.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-s-miserable-month-ends-on-a-high-note-20231207-p5epxn
    Paul Bongiorno writes about Dutton turning up the fear factor.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/12/09/dutton-turns-the-fear-factor
    Coalition MPs were almost salivating when they entered the House of Representatives at about 9pm on Wednesday as Labor sought to put a full stop on arguably its first full-blown political crisis. Paul Sakkal reports that the government wanted to ram through laws to re-detain a group of foreigners previously in immigration detention and opposition MPs, keen to cause chaos, were instructed to yell “resign” the moment Immigration Minister Andrew Giles rose to speak. He says the paradoxical end to the year – steadily honouring long-planned commitments while struggling to react to fast-moving political crises – in some ways encapsulates the government’s recent performance.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/how-the-high-court-sparked-albanese-s-first-full-blown-political-crisis-20231208-p5eq19.html
    “The Labor Party never recovered from the Tampa affair. The episode caught it unprepared and the party has remained that way since. They formulated no meaningful policy in response. They took no position, which in politics is the worst position. Border protection cost them the 2001 election. From that day forward, Labor has been afraid of refugees – unable to advocate for them, unable to think about them as people. When they begin to consider the issue, they cannot see anything but how they lose. All they have is self-defeat”, says the editorial in The Saturday Paper.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/editorial/2023/12/09/the-long-red-memory
    John Hewson writes, “Labor’s budget management is high on the agenda of the Coalition and its media mates, who always have their eyes on the next federal election. The situation is rife for a populist onslaught against the Albanese government. The overarching strategy of the opposition under Peter Dutton is informed by its obsession with bringing down the government – obstructing its efforts and casting doubt on its competence at every turn. This has become an ugly and unedifying spectacle, ignoring available evidence and policy substance at the expense of our national interest. By comparison, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been attempting to focus more on governing for the medium term, to move beyond these short-term political games.”
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/12/09/chalmers-budget-balancing-act
    The former national security monitor has warned the government’s preventive detention laws would be ‘shocking’ in other parts of the world, reports Karen Middleton.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/12/09/its-pathetic-outgoing-security-watchdog-slams-detention-laws
    Penny Wong is preparing to visit Israel and other Middle Eastern countries in January in a bid to play a constructive role in efforts to secure peace in the region, reports Matthew Knott who says a source in the Jewish-Australian community with close ties to Israel said Wong would receive the “red carpet treatment” in Israel and would be provided access to senior ministers in the Israeli unity government.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/she-ll-get-the-red-carpet-penny-wong-to-visit-israel-west-bank-20231208-p5eq5k.html
    The Albanese government should urgently embark on a decade-long $100 billion response to the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act by slugging fossil fuel companies to fund direct public spending on the clean energy transition, say the Greens. Jacob Greber writes that, in what amounts to an ambit claim on the government, which would probably need the Greens’ support in the Senate for any potential mega wave of transitional taxpayer-funded industry policy, the party will also call on Saturday for greater focus on affected communities.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/slug-fossil-fuel-companies-to-pay-for-100b-ira-response-say-greens-20231208-p5eq6y
    Chris Bowen has indicated Australia may be willing to back a global commitment at the Cop28 climate summit to phase out fossil fuels. He has also flagged that position may be unlikely to be adopted at the meeting in the United Arab Emirates unless it was attached to the word “unabated” – a controversial and undefined term usually taken to mean fossil fuels can continue if they are cutting their pollution through the use of carbon capture and storage.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/08/chris-bowen-backs-a-big-step-forward-on-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-at-cop28
    Matthew Elmas explains why the mining industry is in ‘open revolt’ over Labor’s industrial relations agenda.
    https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2023/12/08/why-the-mining-industry-is-in-open-revolt-over-labors-industrial-relations-agenda
    Olivia Ireland tells us that independents are calling on the federal government to build on the legacy of the late Labor MP Peta Murphy by banning online gambling ads as Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says it is still considering a report recommending the move. I can just imagine the acrimonious pushback from the insidious gambling industry if Murphy’s committee’s recommendations are taken up.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/online-gambling-ad-ban-an-opportunity-to-cement-peta-murphy-s-legacy-independents-say-20231208-p5eq2y.html
    “There was a time Labor could articulate, defend and lead. What happened?”, asks Jack Waterford who concludes his examination with, “It may well be – perhaps should be – that voters have such a memory of the awfulness of Morrison, Dutton and others in power that they would, for now, cross the street to vote to return this weak and stumbling government, one virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor in many important policies and with little sticking power on its minor differences. As it happens, their very timorousness is the biggest threat. Labor can win only when it makes a difference.”
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8452488/jack-waterford-labor-has-been-dancing-to-the-oppositions-tune/?cs=14258
    Troy Bramston tells us that Paul Keating has urged Anthony Albanese’s government to be brave and courageous, take policy risks and burn political capital – and not worry about polls or agonise about re-election – because voters will reward politicians who pursue bold reform in the national interest.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/burn-political-capital-and-take-policy-risks-paul-keating-urges-anthony-albaneses-labor/news-story/5dac5f4f0b38a32ca4fef7da41d26a46?amp=
    In the mid-20th century, Australia was a society where full-time, secure employment was the norm, and the government supplied excellent training in trades and other professions for school leavers. However, over the past four decades, neoliberal ideology has transformed Australian society, leading to high unemployment, insecure jobs, homelessness, poverty, and elevated levels of inequality, explains Dennis Hay.
    https://theaimn.com/the-transformation-of-australian-society-a-neoliberal-perspective/
    “The year just ending is the worst I can recall for more than half a century. Already there are strong indications the next will be worse’, bemoans Barry Jones.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/12/09/the-shadow-very-bad-year
    “Labor’s moral leadership on Israel and anti-Semitism is missing in action”, pontificates Paul Kelly. The Australin seems to define antisemitism as a lack of demonstrable fawning support of whatever the state of Israel does.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/labors-moral-leadership-on-israel-and-antisemitism-is-missing-in-action/news-story/37904ac197a769fda569a27e4823196b?amp=
    Greg Sheridan joins in.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/antisemitism-signals-deeper-malaise-in-wests-democracies/news-story/0ca17dc3e7036744aa4f4edf2eb4c504?amp=
    As, of course, does Gerard Henderson who misses no opportunity to whine about the ABC.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/nothing-silent-in-antisemitism-of-selfdelusional-left/news-story/41798a437c66c5157a576353681d09d7?amp=
    Treasurer Jim Chalmers has axed a controversial proposal requiring the Reserve Bank of Australia to give “equal consideration” to full employment and inflation as part of a new agreement that may mean interest rates stay higher for longer, writes Michael Read.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/rba-dual-mandate-tweak-could-mean-higher-rates-for-longer-20231208-p5eq1q
    The unlawful use of robodebt-style income averaging to calculate welfare debts has been going on for decades and may require large-scale waivers, says the ombudsman in a scathing summary of Centrelink’s handling, explains Rick Morton.’
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/12/09/centrelink-lashed-over-robodebt-style-accounting
    The gap between Labor and the Coalition in Victoria is at its tightest since last year’s state election, but the Allan government still holds a strong lead over the Opposition. Annika Smethurst writes that the findings are contained in a survey by Resolve Political Monitor, conducted exclusively for The Age, which shows Labor’s primary vote has dropped five percentage points since April when it recorded a 12-month peak of 42 per cent.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/support-for-allan-dips-but-labor-holds-strong-lead-over-coalition-20231208-p5eq38.html
    “Reform of an opposition after electoral loss is nearly always a fraught exercise given the open wounds, bruised egos and sectional interests lying around a defeated political party. But the NSW Liberals have no choice. Party president Jason Falinski’s attempt to bring factional warlords together to modernise and improve the performance of the “dysfunctional” state executive, as identified in a review of the March defeat by former premier Nick Greiner and former NSW MP Peta Seaton, is an admirable move to repair the past”, says the SMH editorial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-liberal-party-needs-to-unite-on-the-need-for-reform-20231208-p5eq36.html
    According to Michael Koziol, the NSW government’s plan to rezone land around train stations for more housing will override local heritage protections and create special entertainment precincts at each of the 39 locations identified in the plan, including in Sydney’s inner west and north shore.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/prepare-for-significant-change-rezonings-will-override-local-heritage-rules-20231208-p5eq2j.html
    The Minns government just announced a rezoning plan. For some areas, it’s the third in than 10 years. Will Sydney ever start building the homes it needs, wonders Jordan Baker.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/portrait-of-a-housing-crisis-the-deserted-block-in-my-burb-that-should-be-home-to-dozens-20231207-p5epw6.html
    When the Howard government privatised Australia’s Employment Services system it promised more innovative, effective and efficient services. Almost 25 years later, it’s clear that the giant experiment of full privatisation has failed. And the most vulnerable Australians pay the price, writes Julian Hill who says “Marketisation has failed”.
    https://johnmenadue.com/employment-services/
    Australia’s freedom of information regime has become “dysfunctional and broken” after years of funding and resourcing neglect and chronic backlogs caused in part by a pro-secrecy culture within the bureaucracy, a Senate committee has found. The recent resignation of the freedom of information commissioner, who was less than 12 months into a five-year term, has also been described as a “symptom” of the troubles faced by the system designed to make federal government processes transparent.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/09/australias-freedom-of-information-system-dysfunctional-and-broken-inquiry-finds
    The Senate has handed down its report into the operation of Commonwealth Freedom of Information laws, and Labor reports ‘nothing to see here’. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick looks at the inquiry’s findings.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/nothing-to-see-here-albos-vows-of-transparency-vanish-in-a-veil-of-secrecy/
    Tory Shepherd gives us this week’s weekly media round-up.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/08/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-seven-spotlight-paid-rent-weekly-beast-ntwnfb
    The annual COP gathering has become an outdated concept that risks stopping the progress the world has made, writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard who describes it as a fossilised racket.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/hot-air-the-cop-climate-conference-is-a-fossilised-racket-20231206-p5epbc.html
    Mike Seccombe believes that concession to the Greens over the Nature Repair bill has handed the environment minister a means to obstruct the Beetaloo Basin fracking project. He says the question now is whether she will use it.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/12/09/the-bill-that-could-stop-fracking-beetaloo-basin
    Brittany Higgins “desperately did want to report” her alleged rape but she did not want to lose her “dream job” in politics, a rape crisis counsellor has told the federal court. At the end of the third week of the defamation trial, the counsellor, Catherine Cripps, said Higgins was in an emotional “tug of war” between “I want to report but I want my job”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/08/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-alleged-rape-reporting-dream-job-ntwnfb
    This week the defamation trial has revealed more of Bruce Lehrmann’s interactions with Brittany Higgins in the weeks before the alleged rape, and tensions between him and his former colleagues, writes Rick Morton who takes a close look at last week’s trial proceedings.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/12/09/kind-lazy-and-idiot-the-bruce-lehrmann-trial
    Alan Jones has stepped down as chairman of the Talent Development Project Foundation a day after he was hit by claims he had preyed on young men and indecently assaulted them. Jones denies all the allegations.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/alan-jones-steps-aside-from-school-talent-program-after-indecent-assault-claims-20231208-p5eq7l.html
    Perry Duffin and Clare Sibthorpe write that human trafficking on rise in Australia and ‘hidden in plain sight’.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/human-trafficking-on-rise-in-australia-and-hidden-in-plain-sight-20231206-p5epfe.html
    “The TV at home is tuned to Bluey instead of the news when my granddaughter is around, for the images of children suffering are too ghastly for a child” explains a devastated Tony Wright.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/there-are-worse-things-stolen-from-children-than-the-colour-of-the-sea-20231206-p5epk4.html
    “Israel’s AI can produce 100 bombing targets a day in Gaza. Is this the future of war?”, writes the ANU’s Bianca Baggiarini.
    https://theconversation.com/israels-ai-can-produce-100-bombing-targets-a-day-in-gaza-is-this-the-future-of-war-219302
    Chris Uhlmann has been in the Ukraine to seek out the Australian Bushmasters and how they are performing. He has written quite a good article.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/have-our-bushmasters-helped-the-ukrainians-i-asked-hannah-hurava-20231206-p5epg9.html
    “Dork of the Year” nomination goes to Hunter Biden who has been charged with engaging in a four-year scheme to avoid paying some $US1.4 million ($2.2 million) in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/hunter-biden-charged-with-nine-criminal-counts-of-tax-evasion-20231208-p5eq4y.html

    Cartoon Corner

    Alan Moir

    David Rowe

    David Pope

    Matt Davidson

    Maria Ercagovac

    Robin Crowther


    Simon Letch

    Matt Golding



    Mark David


    Jim Pavlidis

    Glen Le Lievre


    Fiona Katauskas

    Vintage Cathy Wilcox

    Mark Knight

    Leak

    From the US















  16. “The TV at home is tuned to Bluey instead of the news when my granddaughter is around, for the images of children suffering are too ghastly for a child” explains a devastated Tony Wright.”

    I refuse to watch the news. For that stuff, I watch The World which goes into the facts and considered opinions rather than the beastly war-porn.

    • It has been at least two decades since I watched any TV news but somehow I still manage to stay informed. The idea of waiting for the 7 pm news is incredibly dated when we can have “news” whenever we want.

      I’d rather watch “Bluey” than the slop we are served by the MSM. At least that program is entertaining and unlike TV news has something to say.

  20. Re the IR law changes and same work same pay. An unwitting admission by the mining company’s ‘Union’ with a wail of how the changes will cost them something like $1.3 Billion annually. It was nice of them to put a number of just how much they have been robbing Labour Hire workers of annually.

    • These days we seem to be expected to accept them 😦 Objecting to the slaughter risks being labelled a Hamas sympathiser or worse.
      Even talk of calling for a ceasefire has seem most of our ‘leaders’ respond with mealy-mouthed blather as to why they could not call for one.

  24. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Australia’s net migration will be halved within two years in a dramatic move to slash the annual intake from a record high of 510,000 by imposing tougher tests on overseas students and turning away workers with low skills. David Crowe takes us through the new migration strategy which will demand students pass a stronger English-language test and will require them to prove they are genuine students before they enter the country, while making it harder for them to stay if they do not find jobs that help fix the nation’s skills shortages.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-s-migrant-intake-blew-out-to-510-000-students-are-central-to-the-plan-to-halve-that-20231210-p5eqcg.html
    “We are a great country, with a broken migration system”, says Clare O’Neill in this op-ed for The Australian.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/we-are-a-great-country-with-a-broken-migration-system/news-story/8731bf70367829d1800beea1afcd5112?amp=
    The migration strategy won’t silence Dutton, but Labor is backing away from the feared Big Australia, writes Paul Karp who says the Albanese government is reducing migrant intake as it seeks to make inroads to easing the population and housing squeeze before the next election.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/11/the-migration-strategy-wont-silence-dutton-but-labor-is-backing-away-from-the-feared-big-australia
    The Albanese government has been nervous about seeming “too Labor”, but a strong theme of fairness is emerging in its agenda – and not too soon, writes Sean Kelly who says that the recent big-ticket pieces of legislation and announcement are part of the government’s economic strategy. But second, and more interestingly, they point to a shift in the economic debate, with increasing priority placed on economics as a question of fairness.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-has-been-uncomfortable-in-its-own-skin-in-2024-will-it-dare-play-to-its-strengths-20231208-p5eq6v.html
    The SMH editorial says that in the face of support falling for Australia’s migrant intake, the Albanese government’s reforms will have to tread delicately between assuaging public concerns and ensuring migrants continue to be a major economic asset. It does make the point that conflating the issue of detention with fears about immigration risks long-term economic damage.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/reform-the-migration-system-but-do-not-demonise-the-new-arrivals-20231210-p5eqcl.html
    After the farce over the release of 148 permanent detainees by the High Court, we must sadly conclude that the Labor Party is still traumatised by the Tampa nightmare of 2001. Actually, it’s not just refugees that have given Labor political PTSD – it’s housing, taxes and climate change as well, writes Alan Kohler. He says that after the High Court decision the Opposition and much of the media then went hysterical, or rather performed hysteria, each for their own reasons.
    https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/12/11/labors-political-ptsd
    Australia has one of the weakest tax systems for redistribution among industrial nations – the Stage 3 tax cuts will make it worse, argues Jim Stafford.
    https://theconversation.com/australia-has-one-of-the-weakest-tax-systems-for-redistribution-among-industrial-nations-the-stage-3-tax-cuts-will-make-it-worse-217820
    From Dubai, Adam Morton reports that Chris Bowen, has told nearly 200 countries at the Cop28 summit that the use of fossil fuels in energy production must end. This came as the president of the Cop, Sultan Al Jaber, convened a majlis – a meeting in the traditional form of an elders’ conference in the United Arab Emirates – between all countries late on Sunday in an attempt to reach consensus on points of deadlock, including whether fossil fuels should be phased out or phased down.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/11/chris-bowen-tells-cop28-to-end-the-use-of-fossil-fuels-in-energy-production-as-talks-try-to-break-deadlock
    In contrast, a Coalition government would sign a pledge to triple nuclear energy output when attending its first COP global climate talks after being re-elected, and overturn the Australian nuclear energy moratorium, opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien promised during a session at the world climate talks in Dubai on Saturday, reports Nick O’Malley. Surely this gives a green light to constantly probe them for details that can support it as a practical and confident plan.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/coalition-mp-talks-up-triple-nuclear-option-at-cop28-20231210-p5eqeu.html
    Higher interest rates are hitting the federal budget as well as household spending, and are forecast to cost the government an extra $80 billion over 11 years in larger interest repayments on debt bills. Rachel Clun explains how borrowing costs will overtake the NDIS as the fastest-growing area of federal government spending, according to figures from the mid-year budget update, even as gross Commonwealth debt is projected to be lower than forecast in the May budget.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-government-s-budget-has-the-same-problem-as-yours-interest-rates-20231210-p5eqce.html
    Since colonial times Australia has been an incarceration nation where lock ’em up is preferred to rehabilitation, writes Julianne Shultz who says the fearful reaction to the high court decision that people cannot be held in indefinite detention is a classic example.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2023/dec/10/since-colonial-times-australia-has-been-an-incarceration-nation-where-lock-em-up-is-preferred-to-rehabilitation
    Annastacia Palaszczuk’s success in Queensland is a template for Anthony Albanese to increase his majority – because that’s exactly what she did, opines David Crowe.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labor-has-a-queensland-problem-albanese-needs-to-study-palaszczuk-s-playbook-20231210-p5eqea.html
    “With Annastacia Palaszczuk gone, can Labor achieve the unachievable in Queensland?”, asks Paul Williams.
    https://theconversation.com/with-annastacia-palaszczuk-gone-can-labor-achieve-the-unachievable-in-queensland-219573
    The big four accounting firms will be hit with penalties of up to $782.5 million for breaching the tax agent code of professional conduct under an overhaul proposed by the government in response to the PwC tax scandal, explains Ronald Mizen. These fines could be career-ending for some of the partners, he says.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/big-four-face-782-5m-penalties-for-future-breaches-after-pwc-scandal-20231210-p5eqcm
    The extent to which Labor’s new Securing Faith-Based Places program is properly geared to addressing religious intolerance remains to be seen, reports Belinda Jones.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/funding-for-religious-organisations-favours-those-in-labor-held-seats,18162
    Australia’s insurance giants are warning premium costs will spiral beyond the reach of more households unless some homes are relocated from high-risk areas and planning laws are improved to better consider natural disasters. Insurance Australia Group (IAG), Suncorp and QBE have put the spotlight on rising premiums and point to locations like Wilberforce, Emu Plains and Warwick Farm in Sydney’s basin where planning controls fail to deal with unacceptable residual flood risk.
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/black-hole-insurers-warn-of-unaffordable-premiums-home-risks-20231207-p5epvh.html
    Kate McClymont reports that police investigated an allegation that Alan Jones indecently assaulted a schoolboy at the broadcaster’s sprawling Southern Highlands estate, directly contradicting a claim by the NSW police commissioner that no complaints have been received. Will the SMH be drip feeding stuff about Jone like this for a while?
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/schoolboy-went-to-police-over-alan-jones-indecent-assault-allegation-20231210-p5eqe3.html
    Nick McKenzie tells us how the Lehrmann case brings home the risks of suing for a court victory. (The just released Stan documentary on the Roberts-Smith story is well worth watching).
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/lehrmann-case-brings-home-the-risks-of-suing-for-a-court-victory-20231207-p5epvp.html
    “Israel is increasingly portrayed as the villain. Some perspective, please”, writes George Brandis.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-is-increasingly-portrayed-as-the-villain-some-perspective-please-20231208-p5eq6w.html
    Donald Trump has tested the contours of his gag order in the federal criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, assailing his former attorney general and potential trial witness William Barr in remarks at a Saturday night New York gala event. “I make this commitment to you tonight: we will not have Bill Barr as our attorney general, is that OK?” Trump said as he discussed a potential second presidency. “He was a coward. He was afraid of being impeached.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/10/trump-tests-federal-gag-order

    Cartoon Corner

    Glen Le Lievre

    Megan Herbert

    Jim Pavlidis

    Peter Broelman

    Spooner

    From the US



    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LLmTnhbNArd8vKsu5tiAz9-1024-80.jpg.webp





    • Many moons ago, I think it was back in early Rudd days*, there was another push for nuclear as an alternative to doing anything. ‘renewable’. Ziggy Switkowski ,who has an actual factual degree in nuclear physics and keen on it, pointed out something very important.

      What he pointed out was that the time needed to build the required infrastructure and .train the requisite specialists and technicians to support such a nuclear project could not be done in the timeframe needed to take action on climate change. This was back in about 2008 so we have even less time now.

      Ziggy likes nuclear and he sure as hell wouldn’t mind some but even a keen nuclear chap like him recognises that it is not going to reduce emissions by the required amount fast enough. I I guess to believe nuclear power could ‘decarbonize’ us fast enough to stop a climate disaster ‘ you need to be a lobbyists or politician rather than a mere nuclear physicist.

      * Thinking further on it that nuclear push may well have been during the Late Jurassic Rodent Era

  27. Excellent video from Friendlyjordies about how the IPA teams up with News Corp and the LNP to manufacture discontent.

  28. Kirsdarke at 3:42 PM Edit

    Excellent video from Friendlyjordies about how the IPA teams up with News Corp

    Rupes’ dad was a founding IPA member, so all business as usual . Also avoid shopping at Coles. G.J.Coles was another of the ‘Dirty 14’ founders.

  30. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Katharine Murphy pulls apart the latest Essential poll.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/11/guardian-essential-poll-financial-woes-trigger-frustration-with-albanese-and-mistrust-in-institutions
    Peter Hartcher says that Penny Wong is making a world of difference and he tells us that she is just getting started.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/making-a-world-of-difference-why-penny-wong-s-just-getting-started-20231211-p5eqn6.html
    Almost $10 billion in federal spending will be either cut or pumped into other priorities in this week’s budget update as all levels of government come under pressure to reduce expenditure and ease inflation. Shane Wright tells us that tomorrow Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher will reveal in the mid-year budget update that despite trying to reduce expenditure, the government will have to spend more in areas ranging from controlling an outbreak of fire ants to removing a decrepit oil production vessel in the Timor Sea.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/10-billion-more-in-spending-cuts-changes-aimed-at-inflation-fight-20231211-p5eqj5.html
    Labor is right to be cautious with its new curbs on migration but is running out of time to cut the numbers when it admits the intake has soared to 510,000 a year. The good news is that the government has a robust plan to cut the intake to the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic – around 250,000 a year – while still attracting the new citizens the country needs, writes David Crowe who says the bad news is that some of the changes seem too modest to deal with a powerful global trend that pushed arrivals to a record high. That means the new plan will not be enough.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-needs-to-end-the-migration-surge-but-these-cuts-are-not-enough-20231211-p5eqhe.html
    The Australian government will change the rules on some visas to curb temporary migration numbers and overhaul what it calls a “broken” migration program. But experts say immigration was already predicted to return to the long-term trend and the effect of migration on jobs and housing is unclear.
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2023/dec/12/australia-immigration-data-spike-migration-rate-housing-prices
    There is never a bottom to Labor ministerial cowardice and incompetence when manipulated mob fury is at its height. On immigration policy, Labor has surrendered, and is dancing to Dutton’s tune, says Jack Waterford.
    https://johnmenadue.com/shiver-runs-up-and-breaks-the-labor-spine/
    Crispin Hull makes the point that in Australia 35 per cent of students go to private schools. In France it is 26 per cent and New Zealand is only 11 per cent. Then a whole swag of mainly European countries have under 10 per cent, and mostly educate their children as well if not better than in Australia. More importantly they do not have the shocking inequities that Australia has. These inequities damn children born into poor families to poor education and poor life chances for no fault of their own. It creates a vicious intergenerational cycle. Australia is no longer the land of equal opportunity (if it ever was), he says before concluding with, “If you want private schooling, you should pay for the whole lot. Otherwise go to the public system, which would be vastly improved with an injection of articulate, middle-class, monied families.”
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8455254/private-schools-and-educational-inequality-in-australia/?cs=14258
    A new report wants more funding and better support for Australian schools. But we need a proper plan for how to get there, say these contributors to The Conversation.
    https://theconversation.com/a-new-report-wants-more-funding-and-better-support-for-australian-schools-but-we-need-a-proper-plan-for-how-to-get-there-219491
    Last week’s national accounts confirm Australia is one of few economies successfully battling difficult global conditions, reports Alan Austin.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/gdp-growth-numbers-show-australian-workers-steadily-gaining,18163
    The Albanese government is softening up voters for increased aged care fees for those who can afford it by citing polling that claims people are eager to pay up to 40 per cent of the cost. Phil Coorey writes that while yet to decide the new user-pays policy settings to be unveiled at or before the May budget, the government released what it said were the poll’s key findings in its communiqué from the most recent meeting of its handpicked Aged Care Taskforce. (When polled, did respondents know that the average cost per resident per day is about $245, 40% of which is about $100/day?)
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/appetite-for-user-pays-in-aged-care-says-government-20231211-p5eqi3
    The gap between the nation’s richest and poorest school students is now firmly entrenched, warns a major report that calls for the rollout of a suite of new performance targets and a massive boost to public school funding. Lucy Carroll and Angus Thompson say that school systems would need to hit higher attendance and NAPLAN targets and provide greater funding transparency, while the best teachers could be sent to the poorest classrooms, under an expert panel’s proposals to the nation’s education ministers as part of a new 10-year funding agreement.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/new-school-targets-funding-boost-needed-to-overhaul-entrenched-disadvantage-report-20231211-p5eqm8.html
    The dream of debt-free homeownership at retirement is slipping away for more people despite increasing super balances, leaving older Australians increasingly exposed to interest rate changes. Millie Muroi reports that Australians aged over 50 are expecting to retire with more debt than ever before, according to research to be released on Tuesday by AMP, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a fourfold increase in household debt levels for those aged over 55 in the past 20 years.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/more-australians-set-to-retire-in-debt-amp-20231211-p5eqkg.html
    A rational decarbonising energy policy offers a middle path between the absolutists and the denialists, writes Craig Emerson who says Australia’s energy transition needs gas not nuclear.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/energy-transition-needs-gas-not-nuclear-20231203-p5eola
    A shortfall of 229,000 workers is looming across the infrastructure sector, with warnings it will add to ongoing cost pressures on everything from steel to quarry rocks and make planning for new homes, roads and power generation even more difficult, reports Shane Wright.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/huge-construction-workforce-shortfall-will-lead-to-price-rises-and-delays-report-warns-20231211-p5eqhb.html
    Michaela Whitbourn takes us through yesterday’s Lehrmann defamation trial during which Brittany Higgins’ mother said her daughter’s alleged sexual assault was “a mother’s worst nightmare” as she gave emotional evidence in court about the changes she perceived in her personality in the months after the alleged rape.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/watch-live-bruce-lehrmann-s-defamation-case-continues-as-security-guard-s-notebook-revealed-20231211-p5eqgz.html
    The union of Sigma and Chemist Warehouse is about to give birth to a $9 billion retail baby. It doesn’t have a name yet, but it will be to retail pharmacies what Bunnings is to hardware, what JB Hi-Fi is to electronics, or Endeavour to booze, writes Elizabeth Knight.
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/birth-of-a-9-billion-pharmacy-group-is-just-what-the-doctor-ordered-20231211-p5eqlp.html
    A landmark lawsuit against electronics giant JB Hi-Fi over extended warranties has sparked calls for reforms to protect consumers from so-called “junk” insurance products. It’s not just JB Hi-Fi!
    https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2023/12/11/jb-hi-fi-junk-warranties-class-action
    In 2002, fifty nations – including Australia – set up the Bali Process to sort out the tragedy of boat people. Since then, hundreds of asylum seekers have drowned trying to reach Australia and Indonesia. The boats have stopped, but the refugees are still coming. Duncan Graham reports from Aceh, ground zero for people smugglers.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/nowhere-to-go-refugees-stranded-in-indonesia-while-the-world-looks-away/
    The appetite for US government debt is going to be tested this week with auctions of $US108 billion ($164 billion) scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. The sales will test the depth of demand amid concern that US debt and deficits are stretching the capacity of the market to digest the flood of securities, explains Stephen Bartholomeusz.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-164-billion-question-markets-set-be-tested-by-a-flood-of-debt-20231211-p5eqhi.html
    “Rishi Sunak’s week of chaos reflects the state of his party. There’s only one answer: an election”, urges Simon Jenkins.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/11/rishi-sunak-election-covid-inquiry-rwanda-bill-tories
    We need to talk about the United States’ mental health crisis – and its larger causes, writes Robert Reich in quite a disturbing contribution.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/11/united-states-suicide-rates-mental-health-crisis-causes
    The rise of a ruthless new kingpin has embroiled Melbourne’s underworld in a gangland war in which police suspect he orchestrated a string of the “tobacco war” firebombings, a murder and a plot to desecrate the body of the sister of a long-time enemy, writes Chris Vedelago who names the mas as Kazem “Kaz” Hamad, a 39-year-old career criminal who police believe has been running a major Middle Eastern organised crime gang from Dubai and other sanctuaries overseas after being deported from Australia in the middle of the year. Enough, one would think, to earn nomination for “Arsehole of the Week”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-s-alleged-new-crime-boss-unmasked-20231107-p5ei6i.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Pope

    Cathy Wilcox

    John Shakespeare

    Glen Le Lievre

    Mark David

    Spooner never lets up!

    From the US
















  31. Ed is spot on

    Q: You’ve also said that some of those expressing concern for Palestinians are facing our generation of McCarthyism. What do you mean?

    Ed Husic:

    I mean, we have journalists sign up to a letter that said, we need to make sure that the way that we’re reporting the conflict is accurate, and they’ve been taken off writing stories in relation to the conflict by their editorial boards. Doctors who joined in a petition that in particular focused on the humanitarian impact in Gaza, I’ve got records now, are being professionally investigated for their participation in that … and you saw what happened with the Sydney Theatre Company too where three of the actors involved in the performance of The Seagull had basically triggered a furore as it was being described by wearing Palestinian scarves.

    And the question being, then, if people express a view, and have the decency to show heart in relation to what’s happening in Gaza and calling out the need to recognise humanity, then [are] effectively professionally blacklisted, I don’t think that’s right.

    I think people should be able to express their concern and stand with humanity and say that they are very concerned about what they’re seeing in Gaza, and they shouldn’t have to face professional retribution as a response.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/dec/12/australia-news-live-cyclone-jasper-queensland-migration-cost-of-living-interest-rates-jim-chalmers-housing-infrastructure-bruce-lehrmann#maincontent

    • It’s bad enough to make me want to buy a Palestinian scarf and wear it everywhere I go except scarves are hard to come by thanks to the war.

  37. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Australia, New Zealand and Canada support a pause in fighting in Gaza and efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire, their leaders said in a joint statement released on Wednesday. The statement, which quickly condemned Hamas’ October 7 attacks and recognised Israel’s right to defend itself, went on to ask that Israel respect humanitarian law in doing so.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-calls-for-gaza-ceasefire-in-statement-with-nz-canadian-leaders-20231213-p5er29.html
    We are all slaves to conventional wisdom. The risk in politics is that conventional wisdom is being applied to the fate of the Albanese government when the conventional is dying. The dominant theme in our politics today is fracture – the established order is under assault, writes Paul Kelly. He says the old rules of politics are falling apart. The electorate is more temperamental, divided and volatile. The troubles of the Albanese government have two sources – its own mistakes and the fracturing of our political culture into subcultures.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/after-the-voice-disaffected-voters-are-ready-to-shatter-political-convention/news-story/4c98f6fa09b771ab7461c476e3d8cc4c?amp=
    Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is using every opportunity to target the Labor government, confident that he is ending this year with the political momentum rather than Anthony Albanese, writes Jennifer Hewett.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/why-dutton-feels-confident-in-attack-mode-20231212-p5eqvr
    In a top-notch contribution, Michael Pascoe accuses business of being too busy whingeing to lift productivity. He says, “As certain as death and taxes – well, death anyway – the business lobby has reacted to Labor’s “same work, same pay” bill by claiming the Four Horsemen are riding in Canberra and the earth shall split asunder, spewing forth toads and serpents and so on. That’s a lot easier than admitting Australia suffers from dud corporate leadership. The lobbyists’ hysteria coincides with a British economic stagnation study, key aspects of which fit Australia like a glove despite our lack of a Brexit disaster.”
    https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/12/13/michael-pascoe-business-productivity
    According to Peter Hannam, some economists are saying the Albanese government’s mid-year budget update will reveal a fiscal “sweet spot” fuelled by strong commodity prices, population growth and a resilient labour market. But experts believe the government is likely to play down the positive budget position in order to curb calls for more cost of living relief that could stoke inflation and keep interest rates higher for longer.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/13/stronger-than-expected-budget-position-to-fuel-calls-for-cost-of-living-relief-economists-say
    Trumpian populism hasn’t taken off in Australia. Ross Gittins thinks he knows why.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/trumpian-populism-hasn-t-taken-off-in-australia-i-think-i-know-why-20231212-p5equb.html
    Angus Thompson tells us that Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has warned that fast-tracking tradies under a new specialist skills visa could threaten Australian apprenticeships as the construction lobby accuses the Albanese government of snubbing blue-collar workers by excluding them from its fastest migration stream.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/minister-warns-of-foreign-tradie-free-for-all-as-builders-complain-new-visas-exclude-vital-workers-20231212-p5eqxi.html
    At last, the Albanese government has laid out coherent policies to address the problem of soaring numbers of international students who have remained in Australia after graduation in the increasingly vain hope of eventually winning permanent residency, writes The Australian’s Tim Dodd.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/after-deep-confusion-at-last-a-coherent-migration-plan/news-story/d10b8e8bac7364ed7edd208510e2ebb7?amp=
    Abul Rizvi says that Dutton’s dog whistle will sound if Albanese fails this migration test. A good read.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-s-dog-whistle-will-sound-if-albanese-fails-this-migration-test-20231212-p5equd.html
    Neoliberalism is the commodification of everyone and everything for profit regardless of the negative social or environmental costs. Neoliberalism, often characterized by its emphasis on free-market capitalism, deregulation, and minimal government intervention in the economy, has been a dominant economic and political ideology globally. However, its impact on society, the environment, and democratic systems has sparked significant debate and concern. Dennis Hay explores these impacts and argues for the necessity of reassessing and changing neoliberal policies for the greater good of society and the environment.
    https://theaimn.com/neoliberalism-a-threat-to-social-welfare-and-environmental-sustainability/
    The WestConnex debacle is a metaphor for 2023’s rolling political disasters, which have left voters seething, explains Peter Lewis.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2023/dec/12/westconnex-issues-details-labor-rozelle-interchange-traffic
    According to the SMH editorial, Stokes’ Seven West Media has fallen into a dark hollow with part of its news division recently turned into a platform for proven and alleged wrongdoers and egotists, where the priorities of late seem to outweigh a sense of news or professionalism. Ouch!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/stokes-seven-west-media-has-fallen-into-a-dark-hollow-20231212-p5equ0.html
    Universities and private colleges considered at “high risk” of recruiting students to Australia to work rather than study will be targeted under the government’s new migration strategy, writes Clay Lucas. Fair enough!
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-universities-set-to-lose-millions-of-dollars-in-international-student-crackdown-20231212-p5eqw9.html
    The US legislation to notionally enable Australia to buy a Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine in a decade’s time is a good first step, but like everything in AUKUS the payday is far, far ­beyond the horizon, there are countless “out clauses”, making the commitment at the moment purely symbolic. It’s good symbolism, of course. The congress on a bipartisan basis is endorsing, in principle, the decision to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. But the out clauses are prodigious, warns Greg Sheridan.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/symbolism-is-welcome-but-there-are-many-ways-aukus-subs-pact-can-founder/news-story/ed8fdcb1d8f0320f2851b91af3ae67d9?amp=
    A mega health regulator will be established to rapidly respond to crises in areas such as IVF, pest control, vaping and radiation safety as the Victorian government increases its capacity to tackle emerging medical and safety issues. Aisha Dow reports that Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas told The Age yesterday that many of the Health Department’s watchdog functions would be centralised in a new “super-team of regulators” – called the Health Regulator – within the year to better direct resources to where they were needed.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-super-team-of-regulators-to-take-on-ivf-bungles-pest-control-20231212-p5eqv4.html
    Engineered stone could be banned nationwide by next July if state and territory ministers sign off on a draft agreement in a high-stakes meeting on Wednesday as the Commonwealth faces renewed calls to ban imports of the product. The agreement, circulated among ministers ahead of the meeting, says they accept the findings of a major report on the substance, which is linked to lung disease in tradies, and agree to prohibit its use under work health and safety laws by the second half of next year.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/ministers-weigh-up-july-1-nationwide-ban-on-engineered-stone-20231212-p5eqsd.html
    ASIC’s case against Star’s board, launched 12 months ago, has come to a standstill because a judge is so busy he can’t hear it until February 2025, reports Michael Pelly.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/asic-sued-star-s-board-a-year-ago-the-case-will-be-heard-in-2025-20231205-p5ep4e
    Olivia Ireland reports that Andrew Leigh has become the most senior member of the government to support a ban on online gambling advertisements in comments backed by several Labor backbenchers. In a tribute to colleague Peta Murphy, who died last week aged 50 following a battle with cancer, the assistant minister for competition, charities and treasury spoke of her devotion to gambling reform. Bring it on!
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-andrew-leigh-backs-ban-on-gambling-ads-20231212-p5eqrx.html
    Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has signalled that social media giants will be required to verify advertisers on their platforms and ensure their ads comply with local laws, as part of an upcoming mandatory code aimed at combatting a wave of scams. Banks have long complained that scammers promoting fraudulent investment schemes have managed to advertise on social media, luring investors with the promise of high returns. Bring this on, too!
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/they-have-hr-departments-labor-to-fight-social-media-scammers-20231212-p5eqto.html
    Michaela Whitbourn writes that a telephone call Brittany Higgins secretly recorded with her then-boss, Liberal senator Michaelia Cash, has emerged as a flashpoint in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case after it was played for the first time in the Federal Court.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/watch-live-the-project-producer-angus-llewellyn-former-host-lisa-wilkinson-to-give-evidence-in-lehrmann-case-20231212-p5eqrt.html
    Amanda Meade gives us more details of what came up in yesterday’s hearing where Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer accused The Project of not checking the ‘credibility’ of Brittany Higgins’ claims.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/12/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-latest-updates-brittany-higgins-the-project-ntwnfb
    Broadcaster Alan Jones has sent a legal letter threatening defamation proceedings against the Nine media empire, claiming journalists want to destroy his reputation because they resent his rise as one of Australia’s most prominent commentators. Carrie Fellner reports that the concerns notice was sent on Tuesday afternoon to Bevan Shields, the editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Patrick Elligett, the editor of The Age, and Kate McClymont, the Herald’s chief investigative reporter.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/alan-jones-claims-journalists-concocted-indecent-assault-allegations-in-attempt-to-destroy-him-20231212-p5eqz0.html
    The European Union has finally agreed a detailed and highly prescriptive set of rules for regulating artificial intelligence but, with dissent already within Europe, Stephen Bartholomeusz wonders if anyone else will emulate them.
    https://www.smh.com.au/technology/controlling-the-arms-race-europe-sets-a-high-benchmark-for-ai-regulation-20231212-p5eqt3.html
    China’s economic woes have overshadowed the growing influence of the yuan. The world needs to pay attention, warns Bloomberg’s Andy Mukherjee.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/china-s-currency-is-flexing-its-muscles-20231211-p5eqga.html
    Rwanda bill has Tories outcompeting each other to new levels of insanity, writes John Crace in yet another excoriation full of expressive prose and characteristically short sentences.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/12/rwanda-bill-has-tories-outcompeting-each-other-to-new-levels-of-insanity
    Academic freedom is the loser when big donors hound US university presidents, writes Robert Reich who says the leaders of Harvard, Penn and MIT should have clearly condemned calls for genocide but the response has been almost as repugnant.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/12/us-college-donors-influence-gaza-israel

    Cartoon Corner

    David Pope

    Cathy Wilcox

    John Shakespeare

    Matt Golding

    Simon Letch

    Fiona Katauskas

    Mark Knight

    Spooner

    From the US

















  39. I came across this today, a skit lampooning QI and other British panel shows and I’m still chuckling.

  40. There seems to be a change in things with the US administration’s position on Gaza.

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/12/biden-administration-shift-on-gaza

    The top rated comment in particular caught my attention.

    Karen, aka Cassandra of Texas
    6 hours ago

    I don’t have any academic credentials, but I have friends in the foreign service, and have observed foreign affairs for about 50 years now. America has a pattern with bothersome allies:
    1. Talk privately, and explain why things need to change;
    2. If that doesn’t work, have an unidentified administration official ‘express frustration’ with Bothersome Ally;
    3. If that doesn’t work, have the Secretary of State state publicly that the US is ‘concerned’ with Bothersome Ally;
    4. If that doesn’t work, have the President give a speech complaining about Bothersome Ally;
    5. Bothersome Ally gets dropped in the very hot grease. The Shah of Iran is the type case here, but also Ferdinand Marcos, and a few others. It doesn’t happen often because very few allies of ours have been quite so stupid as to refuse to listen when things get to Stage 3.

    Bibi is at Stage 4.

  45. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Shane Wright and Rachel Clun tell us that a $62b tax windfall puts second successive budget surplus within ‘striking distance’. They say the improvement has been largely driven by much stronger tax collections. This year alone, the government has upgraded forecast revenue from working Australians by $8.9 billion to a record $328.3 billion. Company tax collections have been revised up by $9.2 billion to $137.9 billion.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/more-tax-from-workers-businesses-improves-federal-budget-20231213-p5er35.html
    There’s a glimmer of hope in the mid-year budget update, but inflation is still a big challenge, warns Professor Stephen Barnes.
    https://theconversation.com/theres-a-glimmer-of-hope-in-the-mid-year-budget-update-but-inflation-is-still-a-big-challenge-219611
    Nick O’Malley reports that the global climate talks have ended with a compromise text supporting a historic “transition away from fossil fuels”, but including support for the use of controversial abatement technologies such as carbon capture and storage. The end of the negotiations came suddenly, a day after the talks were to have ended and after two marathon nights of tough talks between voting blocs wanting to see a “phase out” of fossil fuels and petro states wanting to ensure they were not mentioned in the document at all.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/riddled-with-compromise-cop28-text-backs-transition-from-fossil-along-with-nuclear-20231213-p5erbk.html
    Chris Bowen says the COP28 climate summit sent a clear message that “our future is in clean energy and the age of fossil fuels will end”, but acknowledged it did not go as far as most countries wanted. Nearly 200 countries agreed to a deal that for the first time called on all nations to transition away from fossil fuels to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/13/the-age-of-fossil-fuels-will-end-australias-chris-bowen-hails-cop28-agreement
    The hard-fought COP28 agreement suggests the days of fossil fuels are numbered – but climate catastrophe is not yet averted, writes Professor Matt McDonald.
    https://theconversation.com/hard-fought-cop28-agreement-suggests-the-days-of-fossil-fuels-are-numbered-but-climate-catastrophe-is-not-yet-averted-219597
    Julia Gillard’s decision to step down as chair of Beyond Blue is a reminder how retired politicians can use their skills, connections and experience to do something positive for the broader Australian community. Her advocacy for mental health is certainly an admirable and dignified achievement, one that her fellow former prime minister colleagues might like to emulate. Former prime ministers are a valuable and scarce resource. But unlike Gillard, some of them seem only interested in looking for trouble or pushing their owns agendas, says the SMH editorial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/gillard-made-her-post-parliamentary-career-a-force-for-good-20231213-p5er4z.html
    Australia’s childhood vaccination rates have fallen for the second consecutive year, in a trend that concerned public health experts believe is linked to shortages in bulk-billing GPs and increased distrust in vaccines. After several years of rising uptake, the proportion of Australian five-year-olds fully vaccinated with routine inoculations – including for polio, measles and hepatitis B – has fallen 1.4 per cent, from a peak of 94.8 per cent in 2020, to 93.4 per cent in 2022. What is WRONG with these people?
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/lingering-mistrust-as-child-vaccination-rates-fall-for-second-year-20231204-p5eouf.html
    In the end, the paramedics have rescued Chris Minns from a real-time emergency, but the NSW government will still end the year bruised and battered, writes Alexndra Smith.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/paramedics-save-minns-from-a-new-year-catastrophe-20231213-p5er4q.html
    When Queensland voters go to the polls next October, Labor will have been in power for 30 of the past 35 years, having produced three of the most popular state Premiers in modern political history in the form of Wayne Goss, Peter Beattie and most recently, Annastacia Palaszczuk. Paul Syvret reports on what awaits Steven Miles, and Queensland and Australian politics.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/the-palaszczuk-ultimatum-and-the-miles-ahead-for-queensland-the-odd-dichotomy-of-australian-politics/
    The producer of Ten’s The Project program has told the Federal Court that Brittany Higgins was terrified her interview with Lisa Wilkinson could be “stopped by the government” before it aired, as he defended his steps to contact Bruce Lehrmann before the broadcast. Michaela Whitbourn takes us through yesterday’s court proceedings where Angus Llewellyn was grilled in Sydney on Wednesday in Lehrmann’s defamation case after documents revealing the texts Wilkinson had sent him in the weeks before the broadcast were released publicly.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/watch-live-lisa-wilkinson-s-texts-revealed-as-bruce-lehrmann-s-defamation-case-continues-20231213-p5er3e.html
    More details on the day in court from Amanda Meade.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/13/network-ten-producer-tells-bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-he-did-not-have-proof-of-some-claims-in-explosive-brittany-higgins-story
    Meanwhile, Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers intend to cross-examine witnesses in an attempt to prevent allegations he raped a woman in Toowoomba from proceeding to trial. Lehrmann is accused of twice raping the woman in October 2021, and the charges have been subject to a committal process since January to determine if there are sufficient grounds for a trial.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/13/bruce-lehrmanns-toowoomba-rape-trial-challenge-witnesses-ntwnfb
    Australia’s new education report fails to target the roots of structural inequality, writes professor of education, Glenn Savage who says that if we fail to implement bolder measures that take seriously the relationship between equity and excellence, we will continue to fall behind top-performing nations like Singapore and Canada which don’t shy away from delivering on the better – and the fairer – elements of a great education.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/13/australias-new-education-report-fails-to-target-the-roots-of-structural-inequality-glen-savage
    Parker McKenzie tells us that Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong is the most trusted politician in the country, according to a new poll, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is the most distrusted.
    https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2023/12/13/wong-trusted-politician
    “Does the Albanese government want Israel to immediately halt its war against Hamas in Gaza? Has the scale of human tragedy become so overwhelming that Australia has told Benjamin Netanyahu that “enough is enough”?”, asks Matthew Knott who thinks that it does not really want an immediate halt.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/wong-can-t-downplay-australia-s-vote-for-a-ceasefire-in-gaza-20231213-p5er63.html
    Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong took their Labor colleagues by surprise with their sudden move to support an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. David Crowe writes that caucus members were expecting the prime minister and foreign minister to side with the United States or repeat their decision six weeks ago when Australia abstained on a similar United Nations resolution.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-big-call-albanese-and-wong-made-in-secret-20231213-p5er80.html
    The Albanese government has abandoned its support of Israel by changing Australia’s position to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, regardless of whether the terrorist group Hamas releases hostages, lays down its weapons or abandons plans to rule Gaza in the future, says Greg Sheridan.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/labor-all-over-the-shop-on-israel-while-allies-stand-firm/news-story/80249421e50a35568199a6c75183542d?amp=
    Journalism, whether practised in a proclaimed democracy or in a country controlled by politburo or despot, is fraught and contentious but it is meant to tell the public and the world what is really going on, writes Quentin Dempster. He says that in war the even greater obstacles to truth telling are obvious: access to verifiable eyewitness accounts, informants, probative video, photography and audio, when at the exact same time, a formidable counter measure, propaganda, is aggressively deployed as a war winning strategy.
    https://johnmenadue.com/journalism-propaganda-and-war/
    The competition regulator will further investigate the operations and financial prowess of the nation’s stevedoring industry after its annual monitoring report discovered enormous operating profit margins of 24.9 per cent. According to the latest stevedoring report, profit margins strongly lifted from their lows of 5.8 per cent in 2018-19 to hit 15-year highs as the nation’s shipping companies saw their combined profits lift from $90.9m in 2018-19 to $481.6m in 2022-23.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/accc-to-investigate-the-enormous-profit-margins-reported-by-australias-stevedoring-industry/news-story/6e3c29aad10c4872e4e7e52f0e7a9cf0?amp=
    A Royal Commission into domestic, sexual and family violence to be held in South Australia will probe how to better protect women and children. Following a roundtable discussion with leaders in domestic violence prevention, Premier Peter Malinauskas announced a 12-month inquiry will be held.
    https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/south-australia-to-establish-royal-commission-into-domestic-violence-following-spate-of-deaths/news-story/4714a57a32cc1f58f8366de177686828?amp=
    With some honourable exceptions, most of the media and the parliament enthusiastically support almost everything the Director General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation Mike Burgess has to say. Although Burgess is not an extreme hardliner in the Australian intelligence world, many of his statements should not go unchallenged, says Brian Touhey.
    https://johnmenadue.com/the-greedy-jaws-of-national-security/
    Thousands of investors have lost millions of dollars in crypto investment schemes that have escaped regulator warnings in Australia, despite financial authorities overseas warning two of the schemes were a possible “scam” and “suspected pyramid scheme”, a Guardian Australia investigation has found. The schemes have operated under various names including HyperFund and HyperVerse, writes Sarah Martin (who we haven’t seen for quite a while).
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/14/crypto-currency-schemes-investors-losing-millions-regulation-hyperverse-warning-ntwnfb
    Compare action on engineered stone to the speed with which the government rushed through complex legislation to re-detain some of the people released from indefinite detention after last month’s High Court decision, writes Angus Thompson who says that for all the talk of urgency, the stone ban still too late for many.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/for-all-the-talk-of-urgency-stone-ban-still-too-late-for-many-workers-20231213-p5er4p.html
    Consumer advocate Gerard Brody tells us about the crafty ways supermarkets are pushing up your grocery bill and how we can fight back.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/the-crafty-ways-supermarkets-are-pushing-up-your-grocery-bill-and-how-we-can-fight-back-20231207-p5epz4.html
    A study into household telecommunication spending identifies some key revelations but also reveals a concern for low-income residences. Paul Budde reports.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/australian-households-and-the-affordability-of-telecommunications,18169
    Crown Resorts appears to be in crisis management after allegations that its chief executive, Ciaran Carruthers, overruled the casino’s own security officers, who had banned intoxicated customers and other patrons who had brought a minor into licensed areas. And the timing couldn’t be worse, says Elizabeth Knight.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/claims-against-crown-boss-couldn-t-come-at-worse-time-for-casino-giant-20231213-p5er9d.html
    Crown Resorts has urged its employees to speak up about improper conduct after launching an investigation into chief executive Ciaran Carruthers over allegations he intervened to allow patrons to gamble even though they had been blocked by security.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/crown-encourages-employees-to-speak-out-as-it-launches-investigation-into-ceo-20231213-p5era2.html
    Architect Norman Day discusses the “pattern book” approach to improving the supply of urban housing.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pattern-book-designs-may-solve-melbourne-s-housing-crisis-but-they-come-at-a-cost-20231128-p5enbg.html
    More than 2 million vehicles are being recalled to fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when using Tesla’s automated systems. Ouch!
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/tesla-recalls-nearly-all-vehicles-sold-in-us-to-fix-autopilot-safety-system-20231214-p5erdd.html
    Yesterday the US supreme court agreed to hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the future of a pill used in most abortions in the US, in the first major abortion rights case to land at the country’s highest court since the justices overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the national right to the procedure in 2022.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/13/abortion-pill-us-supreme-court-mifepristone
    Margaret Sullivan tells us about special counsel Jack Smith making a gutsy, momentous decision in his prosecution of Donald Trump.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/13/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith-supreme-court-immunity
    “Arsehole of the Week” nomination goes to this Sydney man who has been charged with sending out 17 million scam texts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-man-charged-with-sending-17-million-scam-texts-20231213-p5er5a.html

    Cartoon Corner

    Cathy Wilcox

    David Pope

    John Shakespeare

    Glen Le Lievre

    Spooner goes troppo again

    From the US










  48. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Coal power’s economic viability is collapsing faster than expected, according to the latest electricity grid road map, as plant failures combine with an east coast heatwave to spur requests for households to reduce their energy use. Mike Foley tells us that the Australian Energy Market Operator will forecast today that the last coal plant would shut in 2038, five years earlier than it expected just two years ago, with cheaper renewables undercutting fossil fuel profitability.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/heat-on-electricity-grid-as-coal-exits-faster-than-forecast-20231214-p5ergd.html
    Ben Potter gives us four key takeaways from the new energy market roadmap.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/four-key-takeaways-from-the-new-energy-market-roadmap-20231214-p5erkb
    COP28 has put the heat on everyone but Australia is well-placed to act, writes energy expert Kerry Schott.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/cop28-puts-heat-on-everyone-but-australia-is-well-placed-to-act-20231214-p5erl0.html
    Victorians can expect rapid and sharp rises in gas bills within four years as the local supply hits a cliff and the state uses more gas than it produces, with a new state government report calling for 2 million households to urgently switch to electricity. Kieran Rooney reports that new incentives will be offered to encourage people to ditch gas cooktops as the state government pushes ahead with plans to install electric appliances in new buildings and replace obsolete equipment in older homes.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/bills-to-soar-as-victoria-moves-away-from-gas-20231214-p5erjv.html
    As politicians, activists and UN emissaries haggled with fossil fuel chiefs at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, the world keeps getting hotter. James Goldie and Chris Bartlett report.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/cop28-finished-with-a-whimper-while-2023-will-be-the-hottest-year-on-record-what-gives/
    Three-year terms mean that the government, after just 20 months in power, will start pulling down the new policy shutters, with the opposition dialling everything up to 11, writes Phil Coorey.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/we-ll-be-back-in-election-mode-on-the-other-side-of-christmas-20231214-p5eres
    Ross Gittins argues why we should make much more use of the budget to fight inflation.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/why-we-should-make-much-more-use-of-the-budget-to-fight-inflation-20231214-p5ern3.html
    Jim Chalmers is still reciting the government’s successes of the past year, but voters need a new narrative because inflation remains too high, growth too low, and anyone with a home loan is suffering, writes David Crowe who says the government needs to pick a fight, choose a big agenda and simplify its message.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-m-a-smooth-talking-treasurer-get-me-out-of-here-20231214-p5erm2.html
    Jim Chalmers has resisted pressure to spend a $64 billion tax windfall. The tougher test will be showing sustained fiscal discipline and getting the runaway NDIS under control, says John Kehoe.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/chalmers-best-budget-effort-must-be-sustained-20231213-p5er3a
    Jim Chalmers’ lucky budget surplus is no comfort to workers whose pay is shrinking, writes Greg Jericho saying thati t’s hard to get excited about MYEFO figures when median earnings fell, stage-three tax cuts remain sacrosanct and there are no new measures to relieve cost-of-living pressures.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2023/dec/14/jim-chalmers-lucky-budget-surplus-myefo-2023-workers-pay-shrinking
    A surge of jobseekers has lifted the participation rate to a record high but also pushed unemployment up to 3.9 per cent – signs economists say should reassure the Reserve Bank that efforts to slow the economy without sending it into a recession are working, writes Rachel Clun.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/unemployment-rises-but-jobs-market-remains-strong-20231214-p5erel.html
    John Pesutto is quietly making a strong case to become premier, if his party doesn’t ditch him first, says Annika Smethurst.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/has-john-pesutto-mastered-the-thankless-art-of-opposition-20231214-p5erfm.html
    The Minns government will allow proposed affordable housing quotas to be scaled back to 10 per cent for smaller new apartment projects, under a suite of concessions won by developers. Max Maddison and Michael Koziol report that Planning Minister Paul Scully and Housing Minister Rose Jackson released the revised policy yesterday after months of consultation with stakeholders and councils, which will also lower the capital threshold for eligible projects in regional NSW to $30 million, and allow build-to-rent developments in commercial zones.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/developers-claim-win-with-minns-government-s-affordable-housing-reform-20231214-p5eri0.html
    “Can Labor win the war on gambling advertising, or will it capitulate in a brutal betrayal?”, wonders Malcolm Farr.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/14/can-labor-win-the-war-on-gambling-advertising-or-will-it-capitulate-in-a-brutal-betrayal
    Matthew Knott writes that Defence Minister Richard Marles has stressed that the federal government is focused on promoting freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region as it weighs up a request from the United States to send a warship to dangerous waters in the Middle East.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/focused-on-our-region-government-wary-of-us-red-sea-warship-request-20231214-p5erm7.html
    Chris Bowen has called on News Corp to sack Andrew Bolt after the controversial commentator penned a column suggesting Australians are “sick of kowtowing to the primitive”. On Wednesday, Bolt criticised the climate change minister for staging what he contended was “a one-man clown show at the United Nations’ global warming jamboree in Dubai” which included a “sermon” linking “the government’s disastrous race-based tribalism with its ruinous crusade against oil and gas”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/14/andrew-bolt-herald-sun-newspaper-newscorp-column-chris-bowen-sacking-calls-ntwnfb
    Harriett Alexander writes about Lisa Wilkinson’s testy appearance in court yesterday.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/tested-and-testy-wilkinson-defends-her-brittany-higgins-interview-20231214-p5erg3.html
    Christopher Knaus and Amanda Meade give us their slant on the Wilkinson testimony.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/14/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-brittany-higgins-alleged-rape-lisa-wilkinson-rejects-idea-pride-ego-before-fair-trial-ntwnfb
    Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp relies on underhand news-gathering practices that present a lack of journalistic integrity, declares Paul Begley.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/news-corp-has-no-shame-in-having-no-standards,18172
    James Ashby is running for office in the Queensland seat of Keppel. Ross Jones and Dave Donovan take a close look at the Pauline Hanson One-Nation poster boy.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/pauline-hanson-launches-ashbygate-james-towards-the-keppel-wrecks,18173
    For an issue in which Australia is not a player and has no direct influence, the Israel-Hamas conflict is putting serious strain on the Albanese government, internally and externally, says Michelle Grattan.
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-albanese-government-comes-under-more-heat-as-it-tries-to-navigate-its-position-on-gaza-conflict-219904
    It is not exactly open warfare, but the country’s biggest industry super funds are flexing the muscles that are constantly pumped up by growth in funds under management, writes Elizabeth Knight who points out that, for company boards, just paying lip service to their shareholders wants or concerns comes with risks.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/warning-big-super-wants-changes-boards-won-t-like-20231214-p5erjc.html
    Champagne corks were popping on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve gave the clearest signal yet that it believes that it has laid the foundation for several rate cuts next year, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz who suggests the inflation tide may have turned.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/why-a-group-of-dots-sent-sharemarkets-surging-20231214-p5ereh.html

    Cartoon Corner

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