NSW Liberals push to topple Berejiklian

“Ultimately, while her situation is in part a muddled intersection between genuine concerns about Chinese government influence and mundane ‘yellow peril; xenophobia, there’s an actual question at its root regarding the integrity of the Australian parliament. Our constitution retains some anachronistic rules about who is or isn’t eligible to sit in parliament, exposed in recent years by serial section 44 cases over dual citizenship and pecuniary interests. However, there is a ground for expulsion that has never been successfully invoked but could come into play if Liu’s story isn’t adequately clarified. Section 44 disqualifies from parliament, in addition to foreign citizens, anyone who is ‘under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power’. Call it the foreign agent provision.”

“An order by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia to destroy confidential records could undermine a child abuse compensation claim currently being prepared for the Supreme Court of Victoria. A lawyer representing the victim says she was shocked to learn that the Christian body had ordered confidential documents, including notes taken by elders investigating child sexual abuse, to be destroyed.  ‘These are the sorts of documents that are required by la

DROUGHT INCOMING

Parts of regional NSW could run out of water by November, with projections from WaterNSW warning of worst-case scenarios if there’s no rain or government intervention, The Guardian reports.

Dubbo, Cobar, Nyngan and Narromine are expected to be the first towns to lose water supply, with the Macquarie River forecast to soon run dry. NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey has described the situation as “critical”, saying the government is doing “everything humanly possible” to get the state through the drought. Deputy premier John Barilaro is calling for a “line in the sand moment”, suggesting NSW should sacrifice a surplus and limit community consultation ($) to build dams faster, The Daily Telegraph reports.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE SCARE CONTINUES

NSW Labor MLC Shaoquett Moselmane hired a staffer who once completed a propaganda training course in Beijing, The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting. Moselmane, who has taken nine privately-funded trips to China since entering parliament in 2009, recently hired John Zhang, who in 2013 completed a propaganda training course run by a branch of the Chinese State Council targeted at overseas Chinese community leaders.

MPs have scaled back the China junkets ($) amid concerns over foreign influence, The Australian reports. An audit of MPs’ sponsored travel between 2016 and now showed a significant drop in visits to China, with parliamentarians continuing to accept internationally funded “study tours” paid for by other foreign governments, including Taiwan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco and Azerbaijan.

NATIONAL PRIORITIES

The Nationals have passed a motion in support of a national rollout of the cashless debit card for welfare recipients under 35, as well as restrictions on the labelling of non-dairy milk, The Guardian reports.

A meeting of the Nationals’ federal council on Saturday passed a motion calling on the Morrison government to pursue increasing welfare payments while also voting to expand the cashless debit card. The council also voted to lobby the federal government to change labelling requirements on vegan food, preventing soy milk and almond milk from being branded as milk. Former leader Barnaby Joyce auctioned off a lump of coal, which sold for $800, The New Daily notes.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

You don’t have to be a Catholic, you don’t have to be a Christian … you don’t have to believe in anything other than the basic decency of every other human being to think that we should never have infanticide on demand.

Tony Abbott

Speaking at an anti-abortion rally in Sydney, the former prime minister says that the NSW decriminalisation bill is “effectively infanticide on demand”.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Emergency warnings for NT bushfires downgraded

Boating tragedy in India’s Andhra Pradesh state kills 12, with 35 missing

Gladys Liu declines to explain her part in mysterious $105,000 donation

Labor flags complete overhaul of climate policy

Hong Kong protesters sing God Save the Queen and call on Britain to back them against Beijing

Julie Bishop offers to help with Iranian negotiations to free detained Australians

Berejiklian’s agenda risks getting stuck in legislative ‘graveyard’: MPs

Victoria’s chief commissioner investigated over alleged failure on bullying

End activist campaigns, CEOs warned ($)

US points finger at Iran over Saudi oil drone attack that could cause energy prices to spike

EU officials reject Boris Johnson claim of ‘huge progress’ in talks

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Porter elbows out Frydenberg to become Morrison’s most likely successor

Dennis Atkins

Sep 13, 2019

34

“Where Porter’s ability is best seen is in his role as the government’s chief parliamentary tactician, the leader of the house. His score against his Labor counterpart, Tony Burke, is entirely lopsided, as his mastery of standing orders demonstrated during this week’s intense battle over Victorian Liberal backbencher Gladys Liu’s interviewing skills, political doings and fundraising. Even in this matter, Porter showed he was able to go on the attack without stepping in the bear traps all over the place. When Porter had to shut down a Labor move to debate the Liu matter, he used Liberal Party history for protection and ammunition.”

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A nice lie down: on news exhaustion and rehabilitation

Bhakthi Puvanenthiran

Sep 13, 2019

21

“People who previously lived and breathed politics and news reported a dramatic change. In the last few months, it seems progressives especially (though not exclusively) have been feeling helpless and lied to, and are taking a break for their own mental health. It was a good reminder that one of the best uses of social media is to grapple with the power of mainstream media. But it’s not just Twitter reacts that have given me pause. The reason I sent the tweet had a commercial interest. As an editor of Crikey, I had watched the audience num

OTHER GLADYS BESIEGED

Three rebel Liberal MPs will this morning move a spill motion against NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian over her “shameful” handling of the abortion bill, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Tanya Davies, Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato announced their intention in a statement last night, after their “key amendments” were rejected in negotiations with health minister Brad Hazzard. Davies had previously threatened to defect to the crossbench if the bill was not amended, but said she had decided to call for a spill instead. Key Coalition figures have tweeted their support for Berejiklian, including Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet. Fewer than 10 members ($) of the 46-member party room are expected to vote for the spill.

ABUSE ‘CLUSTERS’

An investigation by The Age has revealed how paedophile priests in Victoria worked together to share victims, passing on details of vulnerable targets and working together to conceal their crimes.

The paper has documented a number of “clusters”, or cases where there was either participation, collaboration, knowledge or influence between alleged offenders. The report finds that Melbourne seminary Corpus Christi was at the centre of a number of such networks, with at least 75 convicted and alleged sex offenders emerging from the seminary, including George Pell and Gerald Ridsdale.

Survivors of abuse can find support by calling Bravehearts at 1800 272 831 or the Blue Knot Foundation at 1300 657 380. The Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800.

BIG STICK BACKLASH

The government is facing backbench backlash over its proposed energy company break-up powers, with some conservatives slamming the “draconian” plan as a breach of Liberal Party philosophy, the Nine papers report.

Members of the Liberals’ backbench economics committee yesterday aired concerns with the law’s intervention in the free market, although ultimately signed off on the “big stick” package, with a promise that any major amendments be returned to the committee for approval, The Guardian reports. The policy, which contains the power to break up energy companies that engage in price gouging, has led to concerns the powers could be extended economy-wide, something Centre Alliance intends to push for in the Senate. The draft will today go to the Coalition partyroom for approval.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

I assure you there are a lot more politicians doing drugs than there are people on Newstart.

Sam Dastyari

The former senator received a round of applause on Q&A for suggesting drugs were more prevalent ($) among politicians than welfare recipients.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

More than 20,000 extra mining workers needed by 2024: report

Essential poll: Majority of Australians support medevac or better asylum care

Paladin forced to pay back $3.1m for failures in offshore detention

Australia not worried about oil shortages following Saudi attacks

Trump says US response to oil attack depends on Saudi Arabia’s assessment

Drought to slice off more than 20pc of farm exports ($)

Beijing locks in Pacific ally as Solomon Islands severs Taiwan ties

Fijian prime minister calls on Australia to be ‘far more ambitious’ on climate

Boris Johnson accused of creating ‘nightmare’ of uncertainty for Europeans

Morrison government takes sick leave case to the High Court

Gladys Liu friends bid $105,000 for dinner with PM that never happened

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Australian media has an asylum seeker problem

Christopher Warren

Sep 16, 2019

13

“We’re now 18 years on from that moment when MV Tampa steamed into our public debate and re-made Australian politics. Yet, as we saw with the reporting of the Biloela asylum seeker family’s threatened deportation, journalism is struggling to make a practical difference to the policy residue left in Tampa’s wake. It’s not for want of trying. There’s been some terrific reporting, including by asylum seeker and journalist Behrouz Boochani. But the lack of impact is because the media’s offering on asylum seekers is falling flat with the ageing white demographic — the ‘grumpy old men’ cohort that both consumes traditional media and has delivered government to the conservatives in most elections since Tampa.”

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The US wines and dines Morrison, and the media eats it up

Amber Schultz

Sep 16, 2019

17

“Australia was still only invited to a smattering of state dinners even before this decline. This is despite the key alliance between Australia and the US, with constant rhetoric around the countries’ ‘shared values’, ‘bonds of friendship’ and significant defence strategy.  Really, the only major difference between a state dinner and a regular visit is word ‘official’. That, apparently, and champagne-jelly salmon. But if they really are so important — and if our relationship with the US is really as special as we’re led to believe — why hasn’t Australia been invited to more?”

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What can a movie about Brexit tell us about Scott Morrison’s Australia?

Dennis Atkins

Sep 16, 2019

13

“What makes Morrison stand out of from any of his predecessors is his belief in the constant campaign. We hear politicians talk about it, but they usually pay it no more than lip service until the looming election nears. Morrison is not going to follow that playbook. It’s why his political strategy is to do the most basic of government activity — literally just building stuff on the infrastructure front and cutting taxes — while he plays hardball with his opponents. This is the thinking behind his relentless foot-on-the-throat approach to Labor, outlining a series of ‘tests’ (or wedges) for the ALP. It’s so unsophisticated the opposition hasn’t realised what’s really happening.”

THE COMMENTARIAT

Why NSW is still fighting about abortion – Meredith Burgmann (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald): “As conservative MPs argue for ‘more time’ to discuss the issue, old feminists feel their hackles rising. This issue has been contested in the NSW Parliament since Labor MP George Petersen’s decriminalisation efforts in the early seventies. The main problem for NSW is that it is quite significantly more religious than other states. The 2016 Census figures show us that NSW is the most Catholic state in Australia (24.1 per cent identified as Catholic compared with, say, South Australia on 17.9 per cent) and is also the most religious generally with 65.3 per cent nominating a religion as opposed to 60 per cent in Australia.”

Win or lose the vote, Gladys Berejiklian faces turmoil ($) – Andrew Clennell (The Australian): “What her handling of the abortion bill has shown again is that she might be good at management when it comes to infrastructure projects but she is not much good at the politics, despite her intense self-belief that she is. The Premier tried to rush the bill through, claiming it was an independent MP’s bill so she had no say, and essentially tried to quell debate. She said she was for it and voted for it, then said she would be happy to take any amendments, and declined to speak on it in the parliament. The Premier has been all over the shop, showing again that the March election victory was more Labor leader Michael Daley’s loss than a sign of any brilliant politics from her.”

No public appetite for Liberal leadership spill drama ($) – Anna Caldwell (The Daily Telegraph): “Senior government ministers were last night scoffing at the absurdity of three rebel MPs trying to take down a premier who just won an election. And yet, they also were fully aware of just how serious their problem was. The public has no appetite for this kind of political theatre. Berejiklian should have never let it come to this and has shown a lack of strategic nous through the abortion debate, allowing the party to split violently down the middle. The Premier may get through Tuesday’s spill — but don’t mistake just how much skin will have been lost.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

• Chief Climate Councillor Tim Flannery and lead report author Lesley Hughes will launch a new Climate Council report about the Australian wildlife at risk of warming temperatures.

• The UNSW Graduate Research School will host its Three Minute Thesis Competition, with PhD candidates pitching their world-changing ideas in three minutes or less.

Melbourne

• Veteran broadcaster Jon Faine will deliver the State Library’s 2019 Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture.

• The Australian Technology Network Solar Car Team will unveil its new custom-built electric car, to compete in this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

• A police inspector will appear in court, charged with one count of disclosing information without authority, following an investigation by Professional Standards Command.

Bacchus Marsh, Victoria

• AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and AFL general manager Game Development Andrew Dillon will make a special announcement.

Adelaide

• Premier Steven Marshall will unveil a plaque honouring former premier Tom Price (1852-1909) the stonecutter who rose to become a much-loved statesman.

• The Federal Court will hold a case management hearing for a discrimination action between senior Anglicans, with a senior clergyman allegedly bullied out of a job by a bishop.

Clermont, Queensland

• A man will appear in court accused of dangerous operation of a vehicle, after riding his horse through an anti-Adani protest and injuring a woman.

bers plummet on political content after May 19. All news outlets experience ups and downs, but suddenly it seemed nobody wanted to read hot takes on Scott Morrison’s latest announcement or an explainer on what tax cuts really mean.”

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Welcome to the new normal: partisan government advertising all year round

Charlie Lewis

Sep 13, 2019

11

“Andrew Hughes, a lecturer at the College of Business & Economics at Australian National University said that as the use of departments for politicised advertising was a bipartisan pursuit, it was unsurprising the campaign passed the legal framework, even if it failed the ‘reasonable person test’. ‘And you know what will happen, as soon as Labor get in, we’ll see the same thing from them, they’ll say “the Libs have had their turn, and now it’s ours”,’ he said. ‘So as much as I’d like to see reform in this area, I won’t hold my breath, because it benefits both parties to have it this way.’”

THE COMMENTARIAT

Why going green is the best way to fire up Australia’s economy – Rosalind Dixon and Richard Holden  (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald):  “We have suggested before that one way to address the problem of shovel readiness is with “green stimulus”. This would involve Treasury working with the states to compile a list of significant environmental expenditures — from tree planting to waterway clean-ups, and cycle-path construction to dune repair — that could be implemented quickly when fiscal stimulus is needed. The difficulty Australia faces, however, is that we have not done much of the planning to roll-out a full-scale green stimulus package of this kind. There may still be time for federal and state governments to develop such a plan. But in the meantime, the emphasis should be on finding projects that are socially worthwhile and shovel ready. That means prioritising green projects that can get done well and fast, not that are necessarily the best long-term investments. The hope, if the economy turns around, is that we will then have both the time and money needed to plan those projects.”

It’s not racist to call out politicians over their links to foreign interests ($) – Chris Mitchell (The Australian): “Some journalists remembered the importance of facts over feelings. The AFR on Friday reported the Chinese donor alleged to be at the centre of the Aldi bag $100,000 donation, Huang Xiangmo, had given $20,000 to the 2016 Liberal campaign of Michael Sukkar in the federal seat of Deakin. Liu played a role in Sukkar’s campaign. The Herald Sun reported Liu had failed to declare to the Electoral Commission a $39,675 donation made in 2015-16 and had links with a group that in 2016 held a rally against The Hague’s decision to block China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. No wonder she did not answer Bolt on the issue. Hastie has nailed it: Xi’s view of the future is one where capitalism will be eclipsed and ‘the consolidation of and development of the socialist system will require its own long period of history … it will require the tireless struggle of generations …’ The media does not yet know the truth about Liu’s involvement with Beijing. Its duty is to find that truth and ignore undergraduate cries of racism.”

From Manus Island to Port Moresby ($) – Shaminda Kanapathi (The Saturday Paper): “I feel broken seeing these men – whom I came to know as my brothers on Manus – in this state. I cannot process what I am seeing or the inhuman treatment of innocent vulnerable people that has caused such an unwinding in them. When these men first attempted to come to Australia, when they arrived on Christmas Island, they were young, strong, active and healthy. Even in the early stages on Manus they tried to remain involved in activities and sport. Now, after going through all the hardships of this never-ending torture of medical neglect, forced transfers, the powerlessness and dehumanisation of arbitrary indefinite detention, they have been completely worn down. They are broken men.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Nationwide

• Dementia Australia will launch Dementia Action Week, a nationwide awareness-raising campaign. A launch event will be held at the Sydney Opera House, including a panel discussion with Ita Buttrose, Maggie Beer, Shaynna Blaze and Phil Hazell.

Melbourne

• Olivia Newton-John will speak with Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre executive director Professor Grant McArthur at the VCCC’s research conference 2019.

• Voting will open for the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, with the assembly to replace the Treaty Advancement Commission and work with the government to prepare for negotiations.

• Henry Hammond will appear in court for a committal mention, charged with murdering Courtney Herron in Royal Park on May 25.

Sydney

• World-leading researchers will discuss the role that inflammation plays in human health and disease at the 14th World Congress on Inflammation.

Darwin, Alice Springs

• Prince Edward will attend events in Alice Springs and Darwin to celebrate 60 years of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in Australia.

Brisbane

• The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability will hold its first public sitting.

Adelaide

• Flinders Automotive Solar Team will launch Investigator Mark III solar car ahead of the World Solar Challenge.

w to hand over, so if they’re being destroyed, it’s incredible,’ Dr Judy Courtin told INQ. ‘Such evidence can be critical to whether a case gets up or not … It could be critical to the whole case.’”

“Bernard Lane has led the charge in this Holy War. Four experts have been key to his reporting. The Australian refers to them as ‘clinicians’ but one (Dr Geoff Holloway) is actually a health sociologist who describes himself as ‘pro-radical feminism’. He was, at the time, joined by paediatrics professor and former deputy president of Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party John Whitehall, developmental psychologist Dianna Kenny, and paediatrician and 2019 Senior Australian of the Year Dr Suzanne Packer. Kenny has compared ‘transgenderism’ to other ‘solipsistic disorders’ like anorexia, plastic surgery addiction or a rare ‘alien limb’ illness. Whitehall has admitted to supporting conversion therapy (a practice widely condemned by child welfare advocates), and having never treated transgender patients before.”