Morrison considers Jerusalem recognition

MORRISON CONSIDERS FOLLOWING TRUMP ON JERUSALEM

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will consider a controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a decision that would follow Donald Trump’s move earlier in the year and risk further alienating Palestine.

According to both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian ($), Morrison will also announce support today for two key US and Israeli policies: a review of Australia’s support for Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, and a vote against Palestine’s leadership of a United Nations voting bloc of developing nations.

Shifting the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a possibility echoed yesterday by Wentworth candidate Dave Sharma, would make Australia just the second major country to follow Trump’s decision. It would also follow a similar move earlier in the year where the US and Australia cast the only two votes against a UN investigation into the March-May Gaza killings.

LIBERALS CALL FOR #KIDSOFFNAURU

A group of Liberal backbenchers have reportedly plead with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to evacuate 85 refugee children and their parents from Nauru.

The Herald Sun ($) reports that Russell Broadbent, Craig Laundy and Julia Banks spoke to Morrison last month and believe the situation on Nauru has hit a “tipping point”, after multiple accounts of child suicide attempts. They say the Coalition has an opportunity to offer a compassionate evacuation on the back of a groundswell of calls from groups such as UNHCR, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Australian Medical Association, MSF and the International Committee for the Red Cross.

POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS ENTER THE ARENA

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced support for the country’s first online marketplace for power purchase agreements, a model that builds on American success stories and would help businesses and local councils source cheaper renewable energy sources direct.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that ARENA will provide $500,000, to be matched by $300,000 in funds from the NSW and Victorian governments, to the Business Renewables Centre. The announcement coincides with a new Climate Council study of state and territory shares of renewable energy, which currently puts Tasmania, ACT and South Australia well above both Victoria and NSW.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

[We] acknowledge:

1. The deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation; and
2. It is okay to be white.

28 Australian senators

A One Nation motion with roots in online white supremacist movements gets voted down by just 31-28 in the Australian senate.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Is Morrison’s agility enough to get the Liberals over the line?Bernard Keane

“Whether you buy The Australian‘s narrative of a Liberal resurgence under Morrison (although Peter van Onselen essentially called it bullshit) or Fairfax’s narrative that the government has actually gone backwards since even the smoking-ruins aftermath of a pointless leadership spill, it is clear Scott Morrison is a different leader than Turnbull.”

The Honey Badger’s sales pitch to (and for) AustraliaMeg Watson

“‘Break up with a bird’, ‘spin a yarn’, ‘cry like a man’, ‘play golf naked’, ‘survive in the wild’, ‘hijack a rum truck’. The inside cover of Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins’ new book is best read while imagining him hollering the words at you from the other side of a country pub, likely with a lukewarm schooner of Toohey’s New Iron Jack in hand.”

How the government weaponises the ABC’s complaints processChristopher Warren

“The ABC is caught managing a relationship with a Liberal government that never seems to have moved on from Howard adviser Grahame Morris’ analysis (“our enemies talking to our friends”). That’s why the federal government puts so much effort into complaining about the ABC; it’s signalling to its base.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Government ‘did not ask’ for crucial documents in ABC investigation

Push to increase and expand GST

ALP looks at right to strike for industry-wide pay claims ($)

WA’s federal MPs bill taxpayers $19.1m in travel and office expenses

Queensland police scale back strawberry probe to one full-time detective

Research maps real risk of major tsunami in Sydney

Labor puts the heat on Coalition over teacher discrimination

Tourism Minister David Ridgway forgets to declare $1.1m family home in pecuniary interests register ($)

Grand Mufti challenges gay teachers’ rights to work in Islamic schools ($)

‘It’ll change back’: Trump says climate change not a hoax, but denies lasting impact

THE COMMENTARIAT

Morrison plays smart hand on Iran and Israel ($) — Greg Sheridan (The Australian): “All the moves that Scott Morrison will announce today on Israel, Iran and the Middle East are good, bold, measured and responsible. Australia should seldom if ever take refuge in abstaining from anti-Israel resolutions at the UN. If we think the resolution is bad, as they mostly are, then we should have the courage of our convictions to vote no rather than taking refuge in the coward’s castle of abstention.”

Viral letter to PM shows the people are united — Dr Sara Townend (The Sydney Morning Herald): “The Prime Minister’s rejection of the Australian Medical Association’s call for the transfer of the asylum seeker and refugee children and their families off Nauru has been swift but it hasn’t deterred us. Now, just over two weeks later, more than 5600 doctors and medical students from around the country say they agree.”

Australians care about animals – but we don’t buy ethical meat — Amelia Cornish and Paul McGreevy (The Conversation): “Australians clearly care about animal welfare: our research has found 92% shoppers in Sydney considered animal welfare to be important. However, when we look at the distribution of market share of so-called high-welfare foods in Australia, we get a varied picture. Aussie shoppers seem to care far more about free-range eggs than the living conditions of pigs, cows and broilers (meat poultry).”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service Dr Cassandra Goldie will launch the new ACOSS/UNSW “Poverty in Australia 2018” report at the National Press Club.

• National president of the Planning Institute Australia Brendan Nelson will launch the National Settlement Strategy, a strategic planning framework.

• Rural Australians for Refugees, Ngunnawal people, mayors and more will hold a country-led rally at Parliament House calling for refugee children to be released from Nauru.

• Author Robyn Williams will speak on her new memoir Turmoil: Letters from the brink, in-conversation with journalist Alex Sloan for an ANU/Canberra Times event.

Sydney

• Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will begin their Australian tour in Sydney.

• Actor John Jarratt is listed to appear in court for a case mention regarding a rape charge from the 1970s.

• Telstra will hold its AGM.

Melbourne

• The Victorian Multicultural Commission will launch its “Ambassadors for Multiculturalism” campaign with a panel event to include Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott and five high profile Victorians.

• More than 150 emergency doctors, psychiatrists, consumers, clinicians and other stakeholders will attend the Mental Health in the Emergency Department Summit.

• Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith will speak in-conversation for the Fifth Estate with the Wheeler Centre’s Sally Warhaft.

• Members of African communities will speak on their experiences within the education system at Footscray event “Walking with African Communities”, to include an update on Department of Education and Training initiatives.

Adelaide

• The Australia Day Council will host a breakfast event with key stakeholders on homelessness and domestic violence.

• Research Director at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Professor Miriam Jorgensen will present “American exceptionalism or Australian opportunity?: An examination of Indigenous nation building” for Flinders University’s 2018 Elliott Johnston Memorial Lecture.

• NBN Co will host a “Get Online” community event.

Brisbane

• Journalist Kay McGrath will host a “Women and Poverty” public forum at Parliament House, with guests speakers to include Minister for Employment and Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development Shannon Fentiman.

Hobart

• Scientists will sail from Hobart on the research ship Investigator to study ocean currents south of Tasmania and how they could impact global climate.

• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members working at the Royal Hobart Hospital will take to the street as part of weekly industrial action.

Ballarat, Victoria

• A service will be held at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Hellfire Pass and the completion of the Thai–Burma Railway.

Perth

• The Dementia Partnership Project will host the “We” in Dementia Community Services symposium.