HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?
South-eastern Australia will today brace for all-time temperature records, as bushfires ravage parts of Victoria and Tasmania and BOM warns that “nowhere is going to escape the heat”.
According to the ABC, Adelaide’s hottest temperature on record, 46.1 degrees, is expected to be tested today after the South Australian town of Ceduna yesterday broke its all-time record of 48.4 degrees. Elsewhere, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Tasmania has 50 fires burning as of yesterday afternoon, with 55,000 hectares of wilderness already destroyed.
According to The Herald-Sun ($), the Australian Energy Market Operator has warned today’s heatwave could lead to possible load-shedding across homes and businesses in Victoria and South Australia, where The Advertiser ($) reports 101 solar battery systems have been installed as part of a preventative state government scheme.
AFTERPAIN
Electoral data designed to be used under Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act has been accessed for consumer identification purposes by buy now, pay later company Afterpay, as well as debt collectors, betting agencies and marketing firms.
The Age reports that Afterpay has harnessed confidential electoral roll data through debt-collectors and data marketing firm Illion in order to match identities to addresses while processing customer information from shops such as David Jones, Officeworks and Nike. While the original act gave access to the electoral information of over 16 million Australians to AFP, ASIC and the Director of Public Prosecutions in order to track criminals and suspects, legislative changes in November aimed at anti money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing widened this access to Illion, betting agency Betfair, marketing giant ACXIOM, and two other companies.
MAYORS JOIN FORCES
A coalition of south east Queensland mayors will today launch a $60 billion infrastructure and transport pitch set to include new tunnels, fast rail networks, river crossings, highway upgrades and new bypasses.
The Courier-Mail ($) reports that the South East Queensland Council of Mayors’ plan, officially titled “SEQ People Mass Movement Study”, proposes spending $3.5 billion every year through to 2031 on a total of 47 new projects. Pitches include a faster rail link from Brisbane to Ipswich, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, as well as a new tunnel between Ipswich and Toowoomba. The project is seeking federal and state approval.
[free_worm]
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
I think the state executive got it dead right. You don’t get to bully your way into a seat in the Liberal Party. That’s not how it works.
Scott Morrison
The man who was once parachuted into the seat of Cook over preselected and besmirched candidate Michael Towke defends parachuting Warren Mundine into Gilmore over preselected and now besmirched candidate Grant Schultz.
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
Tone-deaf Frydenberg fights the last war
“This year, with an election around the corner, there’s been none of the traditional late January official commencements to the political year. Instead, both sides are straight into campaign mode and unlikely to deviate from that until 6pm on polling night. That’s perhaps the reason why what was billed as a ‘major speech’ by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg yesterday got little attention beyond what was dropped to newspaper journalists ahead of time. Or it could be that people are so convinced of a Labor win that Frydenberg could announce the nationalisation of the banks and still struggle to get a headline.”
The politics of erasing Palestinians
“‘There were no such thing as Palestinians,’ declared Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in 1969. ‘It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist.’”
Greens candidate gets ahead of the story in the Oz
“The Greens are a primary beneficiary of this story. Their internal processes in response to several claims of sexual harassment within the party has been a subject of ongoing criticism for a year — Le Grand describes their relationship with Me Too as ‘bittersweet’ on account of the party supporting the movement but having been ‘badly burned’ by allegations.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Scott Morrison eyes pre-election cash splash for oldies ($)
Greens deny sex double standards ($)
Former ATO boss Michael Cranston misused power to benefit his son, Sydney court hears
ALP ‘locks in’ shipping fleet, MUA believes ($)
Detention of an Australian in China is Canberra’s worst nightmare
Autism support scaled back as NDIS tries to rein in blowout ($)
Labor proposes 40% target for women in Australian honours
NT Taxpayers spend six times national average on youth detention, report shows ($)
‘Sex trainer’ who said she could prove Russia meddled in US election freed
Protest closes Israel’s ‘apartheid road’ through West Bank
THE COMMENTARIAT
Wealthy Western elites fund Green activists to keep poor people poor ($) — Warren Mundine (The Daily Telegraph): “Green activists are fighting mining, industry and agriculture every step of the way, consistently opposing new projects and undermining existing business. Often with funding from foreign organisations and wealthy elites with deep pockets. I once challenged Green groups to name one place in Australia they’d support a new mine. Silence.”
Postcard from the edge of the Murray Darling’s ecological disaster — Sarah Hanson-Young (Sydney Morning Herald): “Two farming executives are currently facing criminal charges for defrauding the Commonwealth. They are before the courts in Queensland for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims and falsifying invoices related to water efficiency projects that never eventuated, to the tune of $20 million. Meanwhile, infrastructure works paid for by Australian taxpayers are keeping overland flows on their land.”
Why I would rather escape Australia Day than fight it — Jack Latimore (NITV): “A similar kind of nationalistic sentiment around the date of January 26 was re-kindled in 1997 with the Howard government settling into its first term in office after sweeping into power in March the year before. Seemingly in a single bound, the green boxing kangaroo of 80s Australia leapt back into national vogue to feature on flags, singlets, novelty barbecue aprons and thongs.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Melbourne
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Former Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans will help launch Australia’s first ride-to-work scheme.
Adelaide
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Close of nominations for Cheltenham and Enfield byelections, which will be held on February 9.
Hobart
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The Workplace Gender Equality Agency and the University of Tasmania will launch the fifth year of data on the status of gender equality in Tasmania and, more broadly, Australia.
Reidsdale, NSW
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Finalists for film festivals Tropfest and Trop Jr 2019 will be announced.
Kuri Bay, Western Australia
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A tropical low north of Kuri Bay, in the Kimberley region, could develop into a tropical cyclone today, intensifying as it moves southwest over water later this week.
Australia
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The Productivity Commission will release a report on government youth detention regime.
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