Chalmers’ budget cuts a fine figure

MEN IN BLACK

Happy budget day, folks. We’ll see a $4 billion surplus tonight, Guardian Australia reports, the first in 15 years thanks to high commodity prices, lower unemployment (3.5%) and real wage growth. But there’ll be no back-in-black mugs, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says. The government will wait to celebrate until September when the final budget outcome is released, as the AFR ($) reports. Remarkably, the four-year projection is $143 billion better off than March last year under the Coalition, but we’re still in structural deficit — that just means our revenue will exceed our spending pretty soon. At The Australian ($), where it’s practically against the code of conduct to be optimistic about the Labor government, it stayed on brand by headlining the story “Budget 2023: Jim’s quick surplus: now you see it …” continuing we can expect a deficit next year.

Meanwhile Nationals Leader David Littleproud isn’t going to let a little thing like not yet seeing the budget stop him from saying regional Australia will be “forgotten”, The Daily Telegraph ($) reports. Littleproud says billions will be ripped from “infrastructure, roads, dams, rail” and there’ll be no extra spending on regional health. He also says farmland and bushland are under threat from wind and solar projects, saying: “We don’t need to rush this.” The world is on the brink of multiple disastrous tipping points, according to a major study The Guardian reported on seven months ago, so one might argue that there is a small sense of urgency here.

ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND POLITICS

Former chief of staff Sally Rugg has settled her unfair dismissal case against her old boss, Kooyong independent Monique Ryan, with $100,000 in the pocket but without any admission of fault from either the MP or the government, the SMH ($) reports. It means the part of the Fair Work Act that lets employees refuse unreasonable requests will remain untested and political staffers waiting to hear the judge define reasonable working hours will be disappointed. The settlement came after Rugg lodged an amended statement of claim which looped in Prime Minster Anthony Albanese — it may have been related to his decision to slash the number of political staffers on the public dime for independent MPs (from four to just one), as Guardian Australia reported.

Speaking of political spats — the mutinous NSW Nationals have rolled leader Paul Toole just one month after he was reelected to the top post and just 24 hours before sitting week kicks off, the SMH ($) reports. It means the Nats have to quickly redraw their Coalition agreement before Parliament resumes. Former agriculture minister Dugald Saunders took the wheel after the partyroom decided Toole’s leadership had become “tenuous” over the whole MP-Ben–Franklin-promotion-to-upper-house-speaker thing. The Coalition was like, no way: it would give NSW Labor an effective majority. Premier (and pal to Franklin) Chris Minns was for it — it squeezed into government with a minority in March’s election, as Guardian Australia continues. The plum job comes with a $150,000 pay rise, and perks including a driver, three staff and a private dining room, the AFR ($) reports.

THE LOUDEST VOICE

Two groups objecting to the Voice to Parliament — Fair Australia (Tony Abbott and opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price) and A Better Way (former ALP president Warren Mundine and ex-Labor minister Gary Johns) — have reportedly merged to become Australians for Unity, The Courier-Mail reports. Ironically, when I searched the new name (at 4.39am today), a description of why the Uluru Statement from the Heart is so important comes up, written by Amelia Ngatai, who describes it as a “call to the Australian people from First Nations Australians for unity and to build a better future”.

Speaking of — the NRL backed the Statement and has confirmed it will support the Yes campaign ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum, following in the footsteps of the Australian Olympic Committee and Tennis Australia. We can expect the final wording of the proposed constitutional amendments in June, and a vote between October and December, the government says. No word yet on whether the AFL will back the Yes side, though it got into hot water for circulating a memo seeking advice. Speaking of Aussie rules, footy umpire Libby Toovey is taking the AFL to the Fair Work Commission, the SMH ($) reports, because she was allegedly sacked for lifting the lid on the abuse of female umpires. The AFL retorted that she got the boot because she had “misrepresented her role, her responsibilities and her authority”.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Mike and Joanna Vink have been married for 40 years, but Joanna’s wedding ring dates back far longer than that — about 100 years, in fact. It’s an antique, with five identical diamonds across the band that she hopes to pass on to her daughter one day. But one day while the pair were cruising Sydney’s Parramatta River it bounced off Joanna’s finger on to the floor of the boat in a heart-stopping moment, and then plopped into the murky waters below. They were devastated. Mike quickly organised for scuba divers to scour the Five Dock Bay area, as the ABC tells it, but three searches came up empty-handed. The ring was lost.

Two years later, a Great Lakes metal detectorist named Nick Richards heard about the story of the lost diamond ring in the river, and the dismayed Joanna. Immediately, Nick was moved. “I just thought, ‘I have to search for that ring … I can’t leave it there,’ ” he said. He knew the odds were stacked against him — the Paramatta River isn’t exactly crystal clear, and the murky waters hide oodles of bull sharks (“I would imagine the bull sharks know exactly where we are,” he added). So Nick pulled in his friend “Dangar Stu” — also known as Stuart Allan — and the pair valiantly began mapping a 20-metre square section of water. Six cold, wet hours into their search, Nick’s metal detector suddenly pinged — they’d struck gold. He sifted through the mud until something ring-shaped suddenly slipped on to his finger. Nick says he can’t describe the feeling of finding the ring, nor the feeling of an emotional Joanna being reunited with it. Nick rebuffed any finder’s fee — it was payment enough. “If you can do that for someone,” Nick said, “that’s what it’s all about.”

Hoping you find something you thought was lost today.

SAY WHAT?

We need to be big people here … and if we’ve got people that can’t even afford breakfast on Newstart, certainly can’t afford a new shirt or get a bus ticket to get to their job interview, then we’ve got to move things around a little bit here. It won’t hurt the country for those of us who have got money to start giving back more and start evening it up.

Jacqui Lambie

The Jacqui Lambie Network founder says it’s unconscionable that we’re sticking with the stage three tax cuts, which mostly benefit the wealthy, while people on JobSeeker can barely afford to get to a job interview.

CRIKEY RECAP

Would every piece of legislation need Voice approval? No, that’s absurd

KATE ATKINSON

“While these specific details are yet to be decided, the government has released a set of design principles for the Voice to Parliament, which includes information about how the Voice would be able to give advice. The co-design report led by Professor Marcia Langton and Professor Tom Calma also outlines the potential Voice model.

“Neither of these documents suggests the Voice has to approve all proposed legislation. University of Melbourne laureate professor emeritus of constitutional law Cheryl Saunders told AAP FactCheck the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment ‘does not require the Voice to be consulted (on) anything’ … The claim every piece of legislation going through federal Parliament would have to be approved by the Voice is false.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

EU delegation cancels event in Israel over Ben-Gvir’s involvement (Al Jazeera)

Sudanese pin hopes on Jeddah talks between warring factions (Reuters)

PM quits as Slovakia struggles with political uncertainty (euronews)

‘Utterly despicable’: Nats and Act want full Kiri Allan [Radio NZ] speech released (NZ Herald)

[Canadian] residents urged to evacuate as wildfires continue to rage in north-east British Columbia (CBC)

King Charles III as head of state in St Vincent and the Grenadines ‘absurd’ [says its PM] (BBC)

Chile: major blow to president as far right triumphs in key constitution vote (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Waiting for my QR order, I hunger for the nourishment of human interaction — Nick Bryant (The SMH) ($): “The food was delicious — an exotic take on French toast, a reworking of the bacon and egg roll, a fried chicken burger genuinely finger-lickin’ good. The dining experience, however, was soulless. Or, more accurately, largely human-less. You know the drill. Rather than being presented with a menu, a staff member pointed us towards a disc embedded in the table with the now familiar chequerboard of black and white squares.

“Rather than verbally giving our order, we had to tick boxes on an online menu. Once our personal data had been harvested, and a pre-emptive tip solicited, our food was delivered not long afterwards, rich in flavour but lacking the nourishment of human interaction. Cheap fast food joints already offer us the representation of food. I worry that cafes and even good restaurants are going down the same path, offering us the representation of a dine-in experience. Such is virtual life in the post-COVID world of QR codes, Zoom, LinkedIn and Slack.”

Imagine if another Bernie Sanders challenges Joe Biden — Peter Beinart (The New York Times) ($): “By challenging him from the left, [Bernie] Sanders didn’t only change [Joe] Biden’s candidacy. He also made him a better president. But only on domestic policy. There was no joint working group specifically devoted to foreign affairs — and it shows. With rare exceptions, Biden hasn’t challenged the hawkish conventional wisdom that permeates Washington; he’s embodied it. He’s largely ignored progressives, who, polls suggest, want a fundamentally different approach to the world. And he’ll keep ignoring them until a challenger turns progressive discontent into votes.

“Take China. America’s new cold war against Beijing may enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, but it doesn’t enjoy bipartisan support in the United States. According to an April Pew Research Center poll, only 27% of Democrats see China as an enemy — roughly half the figure among Republicans. In a December 2021 Chicago Council survey, two-thirds of Republicans — but fewer than four in 10 Democrats — described limiting China’s global influence as a very important foreign policy goal.”

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• The University of Sydney Alexander Howard will lead a discussion about the book Silent Spring, written by 20th-century ecologist Rachel Carson, at Leichhardt Library.