US mourns following synagogue attack

NAMES OF SYNAGOGUE VICTIMS RELEASED

The names of people killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue have been released, including a 97-year-old grandfather, after what is being cited as the deadliest assault on Jewish people in US history.

The BBC reports that 46-year-old gunman Robert Bowers is accused of killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue and injuring six others, including four police officers, before being arrested Saturday morning (local time). Bowers reportedly yelled “all Jews must die” during the attack and has since had an extensive history of violent anti-Semitic posts exposed.

Hundreds of people have since attended a vigil outside the Tree of Life, while Jewish organisations across the US have reportedly stepped up security.

MORRISON’S “FALSE HOPE” SLAMMED

Almost-confirmed Independent MP Kerryn Phelps has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of offering the “false hope” during the Wentworth byelection that the government would accept New Zealand’s offer to accept 150 asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Phelps has hit out at the Coalition first tentatively offering the New Zealand deal in exchange for their lifetime ban bill during the Wentworth campaign, and then subsequently dismissing Labor’s compromise offer. Labor announced yesterday that they are still willing to negotiate.

Phelps’ comments come after a poll for the Daily Telegraph ($) found that 79% of Australians want children and families evacuated from Nauru, and the latest Newspoll ($) saw both the Coalition’s TPP vote (46-54) and Morrison’s net approval rating (-3%) fall post-Wentworth.

CRICKET AUSTRALIA’S “SYSTEMIC ISSUES”

Cricket Australia has been branded as “arrogant” and out of touch in a review linking organisational input to the ball tampering scandal in South Africa.

Seven months after the fiasco, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that twin reviews into CA culture and the men’s team will be released today and, by highlighting systemic issues, raise grounds for a possible reduction in penalties against Steve Smith and David Warner.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

No thanks, ⁦@RichardDiNatale⁩ The Greens might enjoy demonising ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ But don’t bring the hyperpartisan politics of hatred here.

Miranda Devine

The Daily Telegraph columnist falls to a level of self-awareness that only lawyer Nyadol Nyuon’s 10-part Twitter expose can really do justice.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Australian politics is failing on sexual harassment allegationsBernard Keane

“Barnaby Joyce, it seems, may be about to escape lasting consequences in relation to his alleged actions in 2016 toward Catherine Marriott, who has accused him of sexual harassment. He is widely expected to replace Michael McCormack as Nationals leader, even if that does not occur this week, despite the failure of the Nationals Party administration to resolve Marriott’s complaint in the face of Joyce’s vigorous denial of the allegations.”

Journo’s death forces media into embarrassing retreat on Saudi princeRuby Hamad

“What a difference six months can make. In April of this year, it seemed neither media nor politicians could get enough of the then-golden child of Middle East geopolitics, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, ‘MBS’ for short, during his tour of the US.”

After Wentworth: which electorate will the rise and rise of independents take next?Charlie Lewis and William Bowe

“The overhaul, by independent Kerryn Phelps, of a nominally very safe Liberal Party seat in Wentworth takes in many factors. A popular and high profile independent running after the popular and high profile local member had been axed by his own party and a truly disastrous week for the government leading up to the poll cannot be ignored.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Shorten flags Australian infrastructure investment bank for Pacific

Home ownership plummeting among Australia’s young and poor, report finds

National Party probe targets fascists recruited to its ranks ($)

Unclaimed wages likely to top one billion dollars

Royal commission erodes trust in banks: new poll ($)

Victorian election: New paramedics promised by Labor, tax cut pledge from Coalition

Morrison government to woo small business ($)

Victoria’s public school among nation’s most poorly funded ($)

Tensions high among Aboriginal communities ahead of Tony Abbott’s special envoy visit

THE COMMENTARIAT

Broad church will always be a balancing act for Liberals ($) — Tony Abbott (The Australian): “I respectfully disagree with Paul Kelly’s assessment on this page last Wednesday that the Liberal Party (and the Coalition) is now almost irredeemably torn because it represents seats with a fundamentally different world-view. I accept that the view from Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs differs from the view in Longman on the outer fringes of Brisbane; but when Kerryn Phelps said last week that the big issues were ABC funding, climate change and getting children off Nauru, she said more about herself than about her new seat.”

Simon Birmingham’s intervention in research funding is not unprecedented, but dangerous — Jon Piccini and Dirk Moses (The Conversation): “Senator Simon Birmingham’s personal intervention during his time as education minister in 2017 and 2018 to deny funding to 11 Australian Research Council (ARC) grants, all in the humanities and worth a combined total of A$4.2 million, has sparked outrage.”

Corporate welfare on the nose ($) — Greg Barns (Hobart Mercury): “Last week it was revealed that the Hodgman Government has handed over almost $800,000 to a company owned by one of the world’s largest meat processing companies, JBS Group, to keep its Devonport abattoir open. Naturally, as is often the case, the company has taken the money and has decided to close the operation. Just as it did on King Island some years ago when then premier David Bartlett also wrote out a cheque for this company.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• Information relating to the Commonwealth spying case of Witness K and lawyer Bernard Collaery is expected be heard at the ACT Magistrates Court.

• Federal joint inquiries will examine CSIRO Myall Vale New Cotton Breeding Research Facilities Project and Defence High Performance Computing Centre.

• ACT Attorney General Gordon Ramsay will speak at the Families and Friends of Drug Law Reform’s 23rd Annual Remembrance Ceremony.

Sydney

• Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will deliver a speech on Australia’s foreign policy at the Lowy Institute.

• Day one of two-day Australian Council of Social Services conference, with Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher and Opposition spokeswoman Linda Burney to speak today.

• Former NSW premier Bob Carr will deliver the Annual Hedley Bull Memorial Lecture at the University of Sydney.

• Day one of the five-day migration-focused International Metropolis Conference, with speakers to include Labor MP Linda Burney, lawyer Nyadol Nyuon, and MC and chairman of SBS Dr B. Hass Dellal AO.

Melbourne

• Federal senate inquiries will examine United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century.

• A public forum will be held for the Inquiry into the On-Demand Workforce in Victoria.

• Former Premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill will present “South Australia’s journey to a renewable energy future” at the University of Melbourne.

• The Victoria Racing Club will officially launch the 2018 Melbourne Cup Carnival in the Park.

Perth

• Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and WA Liberal senator Dean Smith will address a 500 Club event.

• Art Gallery of WA chairperson Janet Holmes a Court and sculptor Tony Jones will lead a protest against Perron Group and Singapore’s Frasers Commercial Trust, which plan to relocate four of five panels of artwork by WA artist Brian McKay from the foyer of Central Park to make way for a coffee shop.

Darwin

• Chief Minister Michael Gunner will open a Darwin Space Industry forum, to hear from key industry players.

Adelaide

• Historian Clare Wright will discuss her history of Australia’s suffrage campaigners, You Daughters of Freedom, at the History Trust of South Australia.

Brisbane

• Director of The Australia Institute’s Climate and Energy Program Richie Merzian will preview the AI’s “Sunshine Coast HeatWatch” report, to be released tomorrow Tuesday October 30th.

Hobart

• New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia Chris Seed will deliver “A Small State’s Diplomacy in Challenging Times” for the University of Tasmania’s Sir James Plimsoll Lecture.

Geelong, Victoria

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil funding for the Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Revitalising Central Geelong, Deakin University Future Economy Precinct and upgrades for the Twelve Apostles.

Warburton, Victoria

• Opening day for a new hydro power plant in the small town of Warburton, capable of generating enough energy to power 150 homes.

Bali, Indonesia

• The Great Barrier Reef Foundation will launch a reef-resilience initiative at a global reef symposium, to be attended by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.