INCREASED TARGETS
A dramatic new UN report paints a dire picture of the climate crisis, arguing that countries need to triple their emission reductions in order to keep global warming below two degrees. The report, to be presented at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York today, calls for contributions to be urgently increased and backed by immediate action, with the planet getting hotter, oceans rising quicker and glaciers melting faster.
Scott Morrison will not attend the summit, with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne representing Australia in his place. Environmentalists are accusing Morrison of “trashing” Australia’s reputation ahead of the summit, with official documents revealing the scale of the government’s efforts to increase coal exports.
REGIONAL PUSH
Population Minister Alan Tudge will today outline the federal government’s plan to ease pressure on the major cities by settling more refugees in country towns, the Nine papers report.
Delivering a speech at The Sydney Morning Herald’s population summit, Tudge will lay out measures to prevent Sydney and Melbourne from becoming congested “megacities”, including fast rail connections between the capitals and regional centres. NSW Planning and Public Spaces Minister Rob Stokes will also address the summit, backing a “national settlement strategy” and arguing for a new approach.
WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION
Decorated SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has denied ($) allegations published by Nine that he was involved in war crimes currently under investigation by the defence force and AFP.
Defence sources reportedly confirmed to Nine that Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated soldier, is a subject of an investigation into the death of a detained Afghan farmer. Roberts-Smith has previously initiated defamation proceedings against Nine for a series of articles into his past military conduct.
[free_worm]
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
Well I liked Malcolm, you’re talking about Malcolm, I liked Malcolm very much, but I tell ya Scott is — and I really think they’re both very good people — but I’ve developed a very special relationship with Scott, he’s a great gentleman.
Donald Trump
The US president on why he prefers Scott Morrison to Malcolm Turnbull, the man he famously hung up on.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Young Liberals back Berejiklian’s handling of abortion bill
AFP inquiry into Islamophobic posts dropped after ex-Liberal candidate made no referral
PM pushes China to help end trade battle ($)
Domestic violence training vital for MPs on family law inquiry: Law Council
Police face watchdog hearing over strip-search of teenage girl
Seven to cut jobs, invest more in content under restructure
Angus Taylor: Josh Frydenberg knew of family interest before grasslands meeting, minister says
‘It’s all gossip’: Morrison dismisses report he wanted Hillsong pastor at US events
NSW Police continues investigation into actions of Hillsong preacher Brian Houston
Supreme court poised to rule against Boris Johnson, legal experts say
Iran to lay out Gulf security proposal at UN general assembly
Hong Kong protests turn violent again
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
Striking is the only moral option
“It has started to become clear to millions that the climate and biosphere emergency is not a matter of the future, even the near-future; it is a matter of the moment-by-moment present. For decades in our culture, the passage to the future has been steadily more individualised: what will I do? What will I become? Most people barely asked that 100, or even 70 years ago. Only the named generations — silents/greatest, boomers, X, Y/millennials — had this at the centre of their lives. But it is now not simply a question of what will happen if one does nothing, but of what happens now if one does nothing.”
Great Barrier Reef inquiry doesn’t seem like it has much to do with science
“Unsurprisingly, the inquiry has drawn ample criticism. Conservationists have labelled it a politically-motivated attack on Queensland’s Labor government, and an opportunity to give a platform to Peter Ridd, a climate change denier whose views on the reef are at odds with scientific consensus and who helped farmers’ groups lobby the Coalition to hold the inquiry in the first place. Professor Terry Hughes, one of Australia’s leading reef scientists and an award winner for science advocacy in the face of government censorship, told Crikey that the Senate inquiry, which effectively undermines the conclusions of the government’s own experts, was an attempt to ‘muddy the waters; around climate science and the health of the reef.”
Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and what do they believe in?
“Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in living separately to the rest of society and to only trust other Jehovah’s Witnesses. They teach that ‘it was of great importance to Jesus that his followers keep separate from the world’. People who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses are referred to negatively within the organisation as ‘worldly’ people who are ‘not in the Truth’. They also practice shunning, where Witnesses are warned against associating, conversing or fraternising with a person who has chosen to leave the organisation or has been ‘disfellowshipped’.”
THE COMMENTARIAT
Protecting the white body politic ($) – Ruby Hamad (The Saturday Paper): “These men, in their quests for power, have all positioned the Western body politic as innocent and forever susceptible to ill-intentioned outsiders seeking to take advantage. Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are framed not as vulnerable people but as threats, illegals, interlopers and even contagions – they must be quarantined for the sake of the health of the nation. The rhetoric of protection accuses racialised men and women of using their bodies to infiltrate the innocent white population. Single men – such as those held on Manus Island, many of whom have now been moved to Port Moresby – are regarded as particularly dangerous. To extend even the most basic humanity of the medevac laws to these men is too much, such is the risk they pose.”
There’s a blueprint for humane youth detention, we just need to follow it – Brendan Murray and Ully Merkel (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald): “This is not the time to switch to do-not-disturb mode. Don’t be indifferent. Let’s draw from Wiesel’s teaching: ask questions and transform them into positive action. The place to start? The United Nations. Through the UN, the international community vowed not to allow atrocities to be repeated. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of everyone, everywhere. And they’ve been mapping and writing ever since. The UN has given us the Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (the Havana Rules). Let’s follow them. To do so requires overhauling governance and banishing politics from youth justice. Let’s establish an independent governing body for youth justice centres, accountable to the minister but not subject to his or her direction and control.”
The problem steering robo-debt is there are no humans at the wheel ($) – George Williams (The Australian): “One lingering question over robo-debt is whether it is lawful. There is a credible legal argument that the government is acting outside the law by demanding the repayment of money it is not actually owed. It also may be that the government is in the wrong by asserting a debt and then putting the onus on people to show why that is not correct. These issues no doubt will be tested as part of the class action. The fact these arguments can be mounted shows the government failed to properly lay the legal foundations for the scheme. Government Services Minister Stuart Robert says the system is working as it should. He is right that the government has a responsibility to collect its debts, but it is hard to see how this extends to demanding payment from people who do not owe a cent. Special laws and better procedures were needed from the beginning.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Sydney
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Federal Cities Minister Alan Tudge and NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Robert Stokes will address The Sydney Morning Herald’s population summit.
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The Special Commission into the Drug Ice will hear evidence about the role of harm reduction principles in informing policy.
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Doctors will front a parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s Northern Beaches Hospital, with Australian Medical Association NSW chief executive Fiona Davies among those to appear.
Melbourne
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Reason Leader Fiona Patten will hold a pill testing media conference with a group of young people who have had near-death drug experiences.
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The Federal Court will hand down a judgment in two land rights cases involving traditional owners in the Southwest Pilbara region, before the matters go to full hearings.
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The Royal Melbourne Show will run throughout the school holidays.
Darwin
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The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee will hold an inquiry hearing into the cashless welfare card.
Adelaide
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The University of Adelaide will host the sixth annual SA Gender, Sex, and Sexualities research conference, with the theme “Past, Present and Future: contested histories and emerging identities”.
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The SA coroner to launch an inquest into three drownings off the Adelaide coast.
New York, USA
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The UN Climate Action Summit will take place, with Secretary-General António Guterres asking leaders to come to the summit with plans to address the global climate emergency.
Ohio, USA
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend a ceremony for a new plant owned by billionaire businessman Anthony Pratt, alongside US president Donald Trump.
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