Dutton rallies for another challenge

WE AIN’T SEEN DUTTON YET

The Courier Mail ($) reports today that Malcolm Turnbull is facing pressure to call a leadership spill after key backbenchers and Peter Dutton supporters circulated a petition last night calling for a party room meeting. It reports Dutton supporters have said the “momentum was with them”, which means they may have “picked up the seven party room votes needed” to replace the PM.

It’s also reporting Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was in Dutton’s office last night, with Dutton supporters believing Cormann may throw his support behind a Dutton leadership, after company tax cuts failed to pass in the Senate yesterday. The Australian ($) reports that Cormann has already met with Turnbull to tell the PM he had lost the support of his party room.

‘DANGEROUSLY CHAOTIC’

A government source has told The Guardian the situation on Nauru has grown “dangerously chaotic”. The paper reports a 17-year-old girl is being treated inside the Nauru facility after refusing to eat, drink or receive medical care. Medical sources say the young girl’s condition has rapidly deteriorated and is now “one of the most critical cases on the island.”

This comes after a 12-year-old girl was taken to Nauru hospital yesterday “after reportedly attempting to set herself on fire”.

DONALD DUCKS AND WEAVES

The Guardian reports President Donald Trump contradicts his former lawyer Michael Cohen in a Fox & Friends teaser interview and denies any wrongdoing. Trump says he only knew “later on” about payments made during the 2016 campaign to silence two women from speaking out about previous affairs. Trump also says the payments didn’t come from campaign finances, and that “they came from me”. On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and alleged he “worked in coordination with and at the direction of” then-candidate Trump.

Also just in this morning, The Associated Press reports that New York state investigators have issued a subpoena to Michael Cohen as part of their criminal probe into the Trump Foundation. Cohen could act as a potential source of information for state investigators looking  into whether Trump or his charity broke state laws or lied about their tax liability.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

Turnbull is just a speedbump on the road to the Trumpification of the modern Liberal Party that a Dutton leadership would finalise #auspol

Wayne Swan

Last night, the Member for Lilley tweeted his assessment of the Turnbull-Dutton leadership uncertainty. This came after a petition calling for a party room meeting circulated parliament last night, in search of Dutton-aligned signatures.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

How cash, profile and coup fatigue will save Malcolm TurnbullStephen Mayne

“A veteran of many media and corporate takeover battles, the PM is already tactically war gaming to good effect. The first sensible move was to not criticise Peter Dutton yesterday and to not demand the resignations of those Ministers who voted for Dutton.”

NBN bombshell: new report shows network a nightmare for businessBernard Keane

“The long-awaited Residential households and business survey from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which commenced a year ago, was today released in full after residential survey data was released in April. Today’s release contains survey data on the experience of 1153 small and medium businesses with the NBN over 2017 and early 2018, and reveals a stunning level of dissatisfaction among business owners.”

Is Snowy Hydro 2.0 Turnbull’s singular environmental achievement?Chris Woods

“Part of why Turnbull has been able to market Snowy Hydro 2.0 so successfully is because the project demonstrates a genuine contribution to Australia’s electricity grid without outwardly threatening the right’s love affair with coal-powered generation.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

ALP legal advice says Peter Dutton in real peril under Section 44 ($)

Peter Dutton’s supporters failed to stage a fresh challenge against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ($)

Tardy, overcharging family lawyers could be forced to pay costs

‘A point of last resort’: Cybercrime insurers pitch to scam victims

Children orphaned, not abandoned, point to a Rohingya tragedy

Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty against female human rights activist

Aretha Franklin left no will or trust, setting up public hearing

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne

• Victorian parliament sits.

• The Legislative Council Privileges Committee will table its report on the Labor government’s rort-for-votes scheme. The inquiry is looking into Labor’s alleged misuse of $388,000 of parliamentary entitlements during the 2014 state election.

• La Trobe University will release a report on driverless buses. After a successful trial on local roads, academics believe the project is ready to hit Victorian roads.

• It’s Tracky Dack Day in Victoria’s Parliament. Some MPs will don tracksuit pants as part of a fundraising initiative for Australian children’s charity, TLC for Kids. Those taking part include James Merlino, Natalie Suleyman and Collin Brooks.

• The Royal Humane Society in Australasia will present the 2017 Clarke Gold Medal to Mrs Bridget O’Toole. Mrs O’Toole rescued her husband from being attacked by assailants in 2013. The Medal  is a prestigious award for the most outstanding case of bravery during the year.

• The RACV Club and the Robert Rose Foundation will present their annual Bob Rose Lecture fundraiser for people with spinal cord injuries. This years lecture will be delivered by Copyright Agency Chairman Kim Williams AM. Responding will be former CEO of the AFL Andrew Demetriou.

• Victorian police officer Simon Mareangareu will be sentenced in County Court after he was found guilty of assault after punching a teenager in the face.

• The committal hearing for Malcolm Hooper, former chiropractor and owner of oxygen therapy clinic, Oxymed Australia, who is charged with breaches of workplace safety after the death of a client, will continue. Craig Dawson died after using a hyperbaric chamber in April last year. The Melbourne Magistrates Court will determine if there’s enough evidence to send the case to trial.

Brisbane

• Queensland parliament sits.

• Rugby team, the Queensland Reds will announce a player signing.

Canberra

• Barnaby Joyce will join national affairs editor for The Age and SMH, Mark Kenny in conversation at the National Press Club. Joyce will also be talking about his new memoir.

• The House Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs will hold an inquiry into the growing presence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, craft and merchandise being sold across Australia.

• Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth will hold an inquiry into Australia’s trade system and the digital economy.

• House Standing Committee Agriculture and Water Resources will hold an inquiry into the superannuation fund investment in agriculture.

Sydney

• Australian business leaders will gather at Sydney Opera House to discuss the “first national discussion into shared parental” for men and women. Those in attendance include Chief Executive of Parents at Work Emma Walsh and Director of Workplace Gender Equality Agency Libby Lyons.

• The Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law will host “Good evidence, bad politics: Overcoming the noise in climate change and migration policy”. Panellists include CSIRO research scientist Professor John Church, Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam and Walter Kalin, Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement.

• Hundreds of personnel and agencies at Sydney Airport will take part in an emergency management exercise. Volunteers will “play” passengers, families and friends in a mock incident.

• Convicted murderer, John Walsh will be sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court after he murdered his cellmate with a sandwich press.

Adelaide

• The Supreme Court of South Australia will decide if 200 Indigenous people are eligible to join a community vote on whether a nuclear waste dump should be built at Kimba. The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation will argue that native title-holders who live outside the Kimba Council boundaries  should be entitled to vote.

• The Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin will resume public hearings. The inquiry will look into the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s plan for environmental water recovery targets.

Perth

• Western Australian Parliament sits.

• The Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices will table its report in both houses of parliament.

• Residents of Subiaco will fight Fresh Start drug rehab clinic in the WA Supreme Court. According to the Subiaco Community Association, residents and business owners were unsuccessful in their attempts to discuss their safety concerns with Fresh Start CEO Jeff Claughton. According to the Association “patients are heard and seen screaming and operating in extreme states, day and night.”

Darwin

• Northern Territory parliament sits.

• Operations manager of Rio Tinto Gove, Linda Murray will speak at a Darwin Mining Club event at the Darwin Convention Centre.

Australia

• The 8th annual Be Medicinewise Week continues, encouraging families across Australia to be conscious of their medical decisions and health choices.

THE COMMENTARIAT

The trials of Turnbull: under fire in fight he never picked – Paddy Manning (The Sydney Morning Herald): “Turnbull did not go into politics to save the planet or to pick a fight with the Liberal Party over climate change. The fight, rather, has picked him and, although it is not over yet, it appears unlikely that Turnbull will survive, even though he has capitulated, repeatedly, to the party’s denialist wing, spearheaded by his nemesis Tony Abbott.”

Leadership uncertainty throws big business under the bus – John Warhurst (The Age): “The Turnbull government has demonstrated, after initially defending the big four banks and opposing the calls for a Royal Commission, that they now see corporate Australia not as its natural allies in the search for the public interest but as profit-seekers who must be corralled and then bludgeoned into submission to achieve a fair result. The government has thrown big business overboard.”

Testing Peter Dutton’s eligibility for parliament is the right thing to do ($) – George Williams (The Australian): “The government is right to examine claims that prime ministerial hopeful Peter Dutton is disqualified from sitting in parliament. In seeking advice from its chief legal officer, Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, the government has turned to a person whose views can be treated as independent.”

Vaccine complacency is a luxury we do not have ($)  – Louise Roberts (The Daily Telegraph): “In this era of hypervigilant parenting, it astounds me that a deliberate and dangerous decision about a child’s health would get any traction at all. That’s the charm of the committed anti vaxxers and their non-science agenda: to hell with vaccines, everyone else’s children and the risks they will be exposed to.”

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