Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)
Liberal Leader Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

BLAME SPREAD ABOUT LIBERALLY

The Australian appears to have gotten another sneak preview of the Liberal Party’s predictably scathing post-election internal review. The review, conducted by Senator Jane Hume and former party director Brian Loughnane, was launched on May 26 and received hundreds of submissions. It will apparently conclude that the party “no longer represented modern Australia”. While the report is said to reject one fairly straightforward fix for that problem — quotas for women — the Oz reports that it does “set targets for greater representation”.

This, of course, is far from the first insight we have got into the Liberals’ election post-mortem. The rejection of quotas was flagged in November, and in August we were told of the review’s examination of how the party alienated Chinese Australians via the war drumming of now opposition leader Peter Dutton, and former senator Eric Abetz’s demands that Australians of Chinese heritage condemn the leadership in Beijing.

The review will reportedly train the greatest amount of ire towards the Liberals’ NSW division. You may recall the arcane factional infighting in the lead-up to the election, with former prime minister Scott Morrison and his “consigliere”, Alex Hawke, accused of filibustering the preselection process so that the federal executive could intervene and install their favoured candidates.

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PITCH INVADERS FACE JAIL

Police in Victoria have released the images of nine men involved in the chaotic pitch invasion during the A-League Melbourne derby at AAMI Park on Saturday night. The match between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City was abandoned after more than 150 people invaded the pitch. City goalkeeper Tom Glover was struck by a metal bucket full of sand and was taken to hospital suffering a suspected concussion. Referee Alex King was also struck and suffered a cut to his eyebrow. A cameraman was hit with a flare.

Those involved could be facing jail time. According to The Australian, members of police Operation Astute are “poised” to raid the homes of some of the spectators who stormed the pitch, ostensibly as a protest against the widely derided decision to hold the next three league grand finals in Sydney regardless of who is playing.

Victory could be hit with serious sanctions over the behaviour of its fans, potentially including fines, spectator lockouts and a loss of league points. Four years ago, club owners broke away from Football Australia, the game’s governing body, but it will still be FA that administers the punishment. FA chief executive James Johnson has vowed to “weed out hooligan elements” in Australian crowds before next year’s women’s World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

Elsewhere in football news, overnight Argentina was crowned men’s world champions for the third time in its history, beating France 4-2 in penalty shootouts after a 3-3 draw in the World Cup final.

RUSSIA’S WAR PLANS REVEALED

The New York Times has obtained the plans for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — which have been republished in Australia by The Australian Financial Review. The plans show that the Russian military expected to “sprint hundreds of miles across Ukraine and triumph within days”. Officers were told to pack their dress uniforms and medals, on the assumption that there would be military parades in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Further, investigations by the team of NYT journalists, drawn from “hundreds of Russian government emails, documents, invasion plans, military ledgers and propaganda directives, [intercepted] Russian phone calls from the battlefield and [interviews] with dozens of soldiers, senior officials and [Vladimir] Putin confidants”, have identified many factors that have contributed to Russia’s military failure. It cites Putin’s self-aggrandisement and delusion, a military gutted by years of corruption and theft, bad intelligence, and “skeleton crews of underfed, under-trained and poorly equipped fighters”.

Perhaps relatedly, according to the BBC, the Russian defence ministry has announced the formation of the “frontline creative brigade”, which includes both vocalists and musicians and who will visit frontline troops to improve morale.

SAY WHAT?

People might be tempted to go out picking weeds thinking that they’ll get some sort of high [but] it’s really important to remember yes, there might be a hallucinogenic side to this, but there’s a whole lot of really horrible health issues.

Dr Brett Summerell

After reports that contaminated spinach around the country had been causing symptoms including delirium, confusion and hallucinations, the chief scientist at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens felt the need to warn the public not to go seeking that kind of thing out.

CRIKEY RECAP

‘We killed them’: Queensland shooters posted video online after attack

Dec 16, 2022

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“The videos show details about the Trains’ lives and the shooting, and were published prior to that information being reported in the media.

“The most recent video shows Gareth and Stacey, huddled in darkness, telling the camera they had killed multiple people. The video was published at 7.39pm on Monday, several hours after four visiting police officers and a neighbour were reportedly fired on but prior to media reports with those details. ‘They came to kill us and we killed them. If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons you’re a coward,’ Gareth says.”

Sydney Theatre Company’s butchery of The Tempest reveals how weak our commitment to difficult art has become

Dec 15, 2022

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“This isn’t The Tempest. It’s a pseudo-product, presented as if it were The Tempest. It thus appears to be Shakespeare as contemporary luvvies want him to be: someone whose language can be appreciated without having to acknowledge that his plays are either indifferent to (or enthusiastic about) cruelty, domination, sadistic violence, and the absence of justice in a benighted world — and that the power of the language resides, in part, in the harshness of the worldview.

“One has to ask: how does an entire theatre company come to the point where they decide they want to stage a Shakespeare play but leave the most expressive language out? Such an absurdity appears to have come about because one particular interpretation of The Tempest — the post-colonial — has become an orthodoxy.”

Highlights from a weird and stupid year of politics

Dec 16, 2022

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“… Former prime minister Scott Morrison was treating 2022 like a John Farnham-style farewell tour from public life. After Morrison led the Coalition to a crushing defeat in the May 21 election, we thought he’d fade into the background, only for subsequent scandals — one freshly revealed, the other a long time coming — to facilitate an encore performance of the hits we came to know so well during his time in office…

“But if we are to pick one moment that defined his year, it’s probably when he tried to have a fun kickabout at a school in Tasmania during the election campaign and accidentally squished a kid.”

THE COMMENTARIAT

‘Our game is in tatters’: derby violence has left A-League broken beyond repair — Vince Rugari (The Age) ($): “The A-League, which not so long ago was the dominant summer sporting competition in Australia, is now on life support after Saturday night’s abandoned derby in Melbourne, which was called off after fans invaded the pitch and struck Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover in the head with a metal bucket, hospitalising him.

“Bloodied players and officials running for dear life, terrified parents, children in tears, Socceroos on social media openly admitting ‘our game is in tatters’ — this is damage that will take years to reverse, mud that may take a generation to scrub off.”

Trust frays as CEOs become wary of Canberra — Jennifer Hewett (The Australian Financial Review) ($): “Government ministers regularly point out that other countries have been forced to undertake similar drastic action to counter the energy disaster that has unfolded this year. After months of wrangling, for example, European Union leaders are also trying to finalise a price cap on gas before Christmas.

“But in Australia, the government response has created rising apprehension in business about the precedent it might establish for intervention in other sectors of the economy. Not only does the new ‘reasonable pricing’ regime for gas have no timetable for ending, it gives the government and regulators extraordinary powers to determine what is reasonable.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

US scrutinises political donations by Sam Bankman-Fried and allies (The New York Times)

Uncontrolled Yorke Peninsula bushfire downgraded (Adelaide Advertiser)

Giants of Mandurah: artist Thomas Dambo calls the act of vandalism ‘super sad’ (The West Australian)

Victoria’s RSLs made $163m from gambling but gave only $8.4m in direct community funding (Guardian Australia)

Oliver Dowden firm on pay as nurses warn of more strikes (BBC)

Victorian Liberals create justice reform and housing affordability roles in new frontbench (ABC)

EU reaches agreement on pivotal carbon market deal (Al Jazeera)

Dismal election turnout puts Tunisia president’s legitimacy under spotlight (Reuters)

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The Latest Headlines

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

  • Hearing for Hillsong founder and pastor Brian Houston who has been charged with concealing an alleged child sex offence in the 1970s.

  • NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members at the Mater and St Vincent’s Private hospitals will stop work for one hour at both sites.

Ngarrindjeri Nation Country (also known as Murray Bridge)

  • South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas will open a solar and battery storage farm near Murray Bridge.

Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)

  • New Victorian MPs orientation day.