Scott Morrison 2019 federal election
(Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

EGG ON HER FACE

A 24-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with common assault after attempting to egg Scott Morrison as he campaigned at a Country Women’s Association event in Albury. The woman approached the prime minister from behind and dropped the egg on his head, as seen in Nine News footage from the event. The egg did not crack on Morrison’s head, however, nor when it hit the ground, with the ABC’s Dan Conifer tweeting a photo of the fully intact egg. The ABC reports that the woman was tackled to the ground by security, knocking an older woman to the ground in the process.

According to reporters from The Australian ($), who followed the attempted egger as she was walked to the local police station, the young woman said the action “speaks for itself,” adding “have you seen his video to Manus Island?” The woman was also charged with possession of cannabis, which police allegedly found on her during a search, according to multiple reports.

RAISING ISSUES

Labor will today commit to a major overhaul of Australia’s charity sector according a new report from The Age. Charities spokesman Andrew Leigh told the paper that the sector was “yearning for change” after the coalition government had “waged a war on charities,” imposing onerous administrative burdens and installing controversial Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission head Gary Johns.

Labor also intends to introduce a statement of principles to recognise the benefits of political advocacy by charities and to reinstate the Annual Charities Report, both opposed by Johns, who has been accused in the past of harboring bias against Indigenous charities. While Labor would not be able to remove Johns as commissioner, the party also intends to empower the commission’s advisory board to sidestep Johns and report directly to the charities minister — a position Labor intends to establish if elected.

FLU SEASON WARNING

Medical experts at the Australian Science Media Centre briefing on Tuesday warned of a deadly 2019 flu season that is expected to kill 4000 Australians, according to The New Daily. Almost 40,000 cases of influenza have already been confirmed this year, compared to 58,500 for the entirety of 2018, with peak flu season still to come. The heightened rates of infection are being attributed to lowered immunity following a mild 2018 season and the fact that there are currently two strains of influenza A in circulation instead of one.

10 people have already died in an influenza outbreak in South Australia, according to the ABC, including a “healthy” teenager with no pre-existing health conditions.

 

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

You never know what might happen for Jessica [Whelan], because people in her electorate might actually come out and support her and she might be a Pauline Hanson of 2019.

Pauline Hanson

One-time disendorsed Liberal candidate Pauline Hanson sees something of herself in disendorsed Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Labor crackdown on large tax advice claims to hit millionaires

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Australians killed in London Bridge attack ran towards crashed van, inquest hears

Berejiklian government creates new climate change division in the public service

End of China boom roils universities ($)

Labor, Greens preference anti-vax campaigner and alleged cult member ahead of Coalition

Berejiklian and Latham meet as politician payouts on the cards  ($)

Clive Palmer loses High Court challenge to delay election polling results

Reserve Bank leaves interest rates on hold but odds of cut soon remain high

ABC defends free advertising to ‘disgraced’ Fraser Anning

‘He’s a good man, I love him’: Pamela Anderson visits Assange in jail

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Is this report enough to bring climate to the election?

and

May 08, 2019

15

“The blithe irrelevance of the 2019 election campaign has been put into rather stark relief by the report, which illustrates the global scale of ecosystem damage inflicted not merely by climate change but by western-style agricultural practices, rampant overfishing and plastics use.”

Where did all of Labor’s working class go?

May 08, 2019

10

“Labor’s candidate list is crowded out by professionals. There’s nothing wrong with having a broad base of support and representation, but it’s a question of degree. There are 17 candidates you might describe as workers standing for Labor out of 136 candidates, while Anning’s party has 18 of 70. There’s no doubt that so far as policies go, Labor has the best interests of Australia’s working class at heart, while Anning’s politics is anathema to working-class organising principles — but it feeds into a cynicism that workers are squeezed out politically, just as they are economically.”

‘I write the whole damn thing’: from best selling author to community paper publisher

May 08, 2019

3

“Morrissey produces the whole thing herself. She gets minimal advertising (“Fairfax has most of the print advertising stitched up”), and only pays one of her contributors, a refugee now living in Chicago. It’s distributed every month by a merry band of volunteers who pick up stacks of the papers, printed in Sydney, to distribute to libraries, medical clinics and fish and chip shops around the region.”

THE COMMENTARIAT

Scott Morrison is flying in the face of history with his fallacious claim — Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (The Sydney Morning Herald): “It is a blatant denial of history for Scott Morrison to allege that the Labor Party cannot manage the economy when he knows the design and structure of the modern Australian economy was put in place exclusively by the Labor Party.”

Tony Abbott bet me $100 the climate will not change in 10 years — Cassie Flanagan Willanski (The Guardian): “He was going to prove he disagreed with climate science, with the majority of Australian voters and with the mother of a six-year-old who had just literally begged him to take the climate emergency seriously, with a jocular bet. No doubt he expected me to laugh and back down.”

Egg attack on Morrison hints at rotten state of public debate — Chris Kenny (The Australian): “I have been with politicians when unarmed protesters have stormed a stage or invaded an event; the instant fear of something worse drives the security response and instils fear in those caught up in it — so the harm is far greater than what it seems with hindsight. Trying to egg, confront or shock a prominent politician on the campaign trail is the equivalent of yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre. There are repercussions that far outweigh the inanity of the prank.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Adelaide

  • Simon Birmingham, Cory Bernardi, Sarah Hanson-Young and Penny Wong will take part in a SA Press Club election debate.

Hobart

  • The Australian Institute of International Affairs will host the first of two panels commemorating 60 years of the Antarctic Treaty, discussing its achievements, challenges and future.

Melbourne

  • The Carbon Market Institute will host its sixth annual Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit, covering Australia’s role in the international climate sphere, private sector leadership, Australia’s domestic offset scheme and carbon farming roadmap. Peter Garrett will give the keynote speech at tonight’s dinner.

  • Julie Bishop will lead hundreds of women and men in white on a march to support the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation on World Ovarian Cancer Day.

Sydney

  • Environmental activist Jane Goodall will give a lecture drawing on her lifetime of research to explore solutions for the future of our planet and its inhabitants.

  • The Sydney Film Festival will launch its 2019 program with Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore making an address.

Perth

  • Participants in Shitbox Rally, in which teams of two tackle Australia’s dustiest outback roads in cars worth less than $1k to raise money for Cancer Council, will begin their drive from Perth to Sydney.

Canberra

  • Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten will face off in a third debate at the National Press Club, to be broadcast in prime time.

National/international

  • Rideshare drivers and delivery riders will join members of the TWU in Melbourne and Sydney as part of global day of action demanding that Uber prioritise safety for its workers.