Morrison rejects climate change report

MORRISON DISMISSES IPCC REPORT

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected calls from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to rapidly phase out coal-fired power stations, after the IPCC reported that a 1.5 degree hotter planet will be impossible to avoid without a drastic cut to emissions over the next decade.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the major IPCC report predicts the remaining carbon budget for a 1.5 degree increase is set to be wiped out under global trends over the next decade, with even that threshold seeing a 70-90% decline in coral reefs. However Morrison, backed by members of the resources sector and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg ($), has argued that Australia is not “bound” to meet any of the report’s conclusions or “to tip money into that big climate fund“.

While Labor and the Greens have since attacked the Coalition over the report, Morrison has reiterated his support for a 26% reduction on 2005 levels, a target the IPCC report paints as insufficient and government data says will not be met under current policies.

COALITION PUSHES MIGRANTS FROM MAJOR CITIES

New Urban ­Infrastructure and Population Minister Alan Tudge will today unveil visa proposals that would require thousands of migrants to settle outside Sydney and Melbourne for up to five years, in a Coalition bid to address population growth.

Ahead of the government’s official release of the new population policy, The Australian ($) reports that Tudge will today emphasise an unplanned population spike post-2007, reportedly driven by the Labor government’s lift in immigration and family reunion visas, and an alleged $25 billion a year lost in economic activity due to congestion.

Elsewhere, a new Australian National University/University of Melbourne study had found that Australia would risk a chronic shortage of young workers and economic damage from any drastic cuts to the annual migration rate.

TRUMP TARIFF TAKES AIM AT JETS

US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China could soon claim an unlikely target: A-League soccer team the Newcastle Jets.

The Australian ($) reports that the Jets’ owner, Chinese multi-billionaire Martin Lee, has considered cutting the team’s budget after Trump’s tariffs slashed the value of his shares in LED lighting company Ledman Optoelectronic over just five months. Lee reportedly floated the idea of cutting as much as $600,000 from Jets’ players wages, but pulled back from the idea.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

We mightn’t have even started. We haven’t even started. You’ll have to wait and see.

Andrew Crook

The media spokesman for Clive Palmer hints that those big yellow billboards and the recent $1 million spent on radio and TV spots in capital cities are just the first we’re going to see ($) of his return to federal politics. 

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Alan Jones doesn’t control New South Wales, political donations doMargot Saville

“In 2012, lawyer Geoff Watson likened disgraced NSW politician Eddie Obeid and his ilk to the infamous Rum Corps, a group of soldiers in the early colony who ran the liquor trade and used it to buy power. This ‘whatever it takes’ attitude has been revealed by the corruption watchdog, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, to be endemic to both sides of politics in NSW, where it has long been said that we get the ‘finest politicians money can buy’. “

The ongoing fight for Australian Netflix content quotasEmily Watkins

“Last week the European Parliament approved a local content quota on streaming video services including industry giant Netflix. Under the European agreement, online-only streaming services will be required to produce content in the markets it’s available in, and have local content available in their libraries.”

Nothing to see here: inside the Ramsay Centre’s proposed curriculumKishor Napier-Raman

“The debate around the Ramsay Centre’s proposed degrees in Western civilisation continues to divide, with academics at the University of Sydney now considering a boycott over its proposed introduction. But despite hysteria across the political spectrum, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the Ramsay Centre’s curriculum itself. A brief look at an indicative curriculum posted on the centre’s website in June puts the debate in perspective.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Hackers target the Queensland government with online attacks

Royal Commission into aged care will be based in Adelaide ($)

Women voters in poll position as parties court the female vote

Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC targeted by ATO ($)

‘I’m not going anywhere’: Perth wetlands protest reaches new heights

Former Howard adviser Peter Conran joins Morrison ($)

Gunner Government facing angry public backlash as alcohol prices surge ($)

Call to action as Australian recycling rates ‘stagnate’

Crossborder rustlers rort NSW drink container refund scheme ($)

Voters split on bringing families from Nauru to Australia, poll finds

THE COMMENTARIAT

Wealth or greed for their own sake does not define the liberal ($) — Adam Creighton (The Australian): “To be ‘on the Right’ of politics meant supporting the conventional wisdom of that time: lowering taxes on the wealthy, cutting welfare to encourage workforce participation, celebrating the financial services sector and privatising government assets. To be on the Left signalled, mainly, an affection for identity politics. So convincing had the ideas of the Right been that social democratic parties in the US, Britain and Australia pretty much adopted its program.”

Seven days, six dead women. When will we wake up? ($) — Sherele Moody (The Courier-Mail): “Six women were killed in the past week. Sixty-two women have suffered violent deaths since January 1. If this is not a national crisis, what the hell is? If a terrorist killed six people in Australia, our country would be in lock down. Major emergencies would be called. Cops would be roaming our streets in greater numbers. Billions of dollars would be set aside for terror-thwarting activities.”

Our media’s vested interest in racism — Celeste Liddle (Eureka Street): “In a month where it felt Aboriginal people and other people of colour were continually under attack in this country, the call on Aboriginal commentators to respond to this and therefore convince the public of our humanity reached boiling point. I, and other Aboriginal people I knew, were expressing disillusionment and exhaustion. It was just too much.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

• NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will be invited to accept a petition signed by more than 225,600 people calling for the Sydney Opera House to not be used as a billboard for horse racing, with the organiser of the petition to hold a press conference outside parliament. Protesters will also rally outside the Opera House.

• A NSW parliamentary inquiry into the WestConnex motorway project will hear from members of Sydney Motorway Corporation, Sydney Transport Partners and Roads and Maritime Services.

Brisbane

• The LNP will hold a party room meeting to discuss whether MPs are allowed a conscience vote in Labor’s bill to decriminalise abortion.

• Australia’s largest charity kitchen FareShare will open in Brisbane, with surplus food to be supplied by Foodbank and cooked to create 5000 meals every day.

• Representatives of Queensland’s thoroughbred racing industry will meet with Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe to discuss the state’s new gambling tax.

• USC Clinical Trials Centre will launch a trial of a new nasal spray aimed at reducing the severity and duration of the common cold.

Perth

• Federal Labor MP Matt Keogh will host the first WA Banking Royal Commission “round table”, to discuss how the royal commission has not yet made it to Perth.

• June Craig, former Liberal member of the WA Legislative Assembly and former federal cabinet member will deliver a presentation at Reid Library.

• The Quorum SME Business Network will hold a medicinal cannabis leadership seminar.

Port Hedland, Western Australia

• The House of Representatives Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources Committee will hold hearings as part of a mining and regional businesses inquiry.

Canberra

• United Firefighters Union branch secretaries will meet with experts to call for national approach to firefighting chemicals.

• Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute Professor Mark Howden will present “IPCC special report on Global Warming of 1.5°C: Deciphering the implications for emission-reduction and climate adaptation” at a public lecture to be opened by Deputy Secretary of the Department of Environment and Energy Jo Evans.

• Senior Director of Gender at the World Bank Dr Caren Grown will speak in conversation with journalist Virginia Haussegger on “The cost of gender inequality and global sexism” at an event hosted by the 50/50 By 2030 Foundation and DFAT.

Melbourne

• CPA Australia will host the Melbourne leg of the 2018 Aged Care Finance Forum.

• Global Economics Group chairman Dr David Evans will present the Melbourne Law School’s ninth annual Baxt Lecture on the domination of digital platforms, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, and their impact on the delivery of news and traditional business models.

• The Grattan Institute and State Library of Victoria will host a “Melbourne in a time of change” Policy Pitch forum event.

Adelaide

• The University of Adelaide will hold a “Gender gap — Progress for 2018 & beyond” panel discussion, which will include South Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity Dr Niki Vincent.

• The Mental Health Coalition of South Australia will hold a construction forum “From the Ground Up” on developing a mentally healthy workplace.

• Climate Council member Professor Andrew Stock will speak on “Changing the politics of climate and energy” at a Citizens Own Renewable Energy Network Australia event.