Dutton has a dig at miner

THE PETER PRINCIPLE

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Rio Tinto of hypocrisy over its support for the Voice to Parliament when it also blew up the Juukan Gorge, The New Daily reports. He told Sky News the mining giant did “significant damage to Indigenous culture” and was atoning for it retroactively for cred. It came as BHP, Rio Tinto and Wesfarmers (which employs 4000 Indigenous people) each donated $2 million to the Yes23 campaign, as the AFR ($) reports. Dutton went on to say some pro-Voice big companies “lacked a significant backbone” about the Voice to Parliament because they’re “craving popularity” and trying to impress Twitter. Or maybe they think Indigenous folks should be heard on laws that affect their own peoples? Just a wild guess. Dutton claimed some leaders have privately said they’re worried about “ESG [environmental, social and governance] and remuneration packages being voted down at AGMs”.

Meanwhile, Robert Menzies will win us the next election, Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor will say today, as The Australian ($) reports, citing the former PM’s approach to inflation, labour and power shortages, and a housing supply crisis in his 1949 win over the Chifley Labor government. Taylor says the Coalition should focus on home ownership, supporting business, fiscal discipline and freedom of choice in contrast to Labor’s supposed big government approach… so basically his party’s eponymous libertarianism repackaged? Anyway, Taylor also wants to lift our low productivity just like conservative governments overseas such as those of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher did, calling it, as well as inflation and over-regulation, “aspiration killers”, as the AFR ($) continues. He’ll also say Labor spent $185 billion more in its two budgets than the Morrison government spent in March 2022’s budget, saying it was “no wonder” interest rates went up within weeks.

GOING FOR BROKE

Gambling companies should be forced to pay for rehab and legal services, harm reduction advocates say via Guardian Australia. There’s already talk in the parliamentary inquiry of a levy to create a regulator and to disempower gambling companies in the creation of regulation, though it’s not clear yet how much it would be or whether the government will implement one. Financial Counselling Australia’s Lauren Levin says gambling companies have put the onus on the gambler for too long while also spruiking jobs they create, their contributions to tax revenue and junior sports support. But peak body Responsible Wagering Australia says big gambling paid $1.9 billion in taxes that fund healthcare and education, presumably angling for a gold star for obeying tax law.

From gambling to pork-barrelling, and transparency crusader Rex Patrick says Labor’s solar power program was a “taxpayer-funded rort”. Writing for Michael West Media, the former senator says new FOI documents show the $200 million Community Batteries for Household Solar program for 400 community batteries saw Labor pick 58 sites “without due diligence” as part of an effort to win seats… though there was no breakdown in the story of how many sites were Labor held or marginal. Patrick says the program has merit — it’s designed to cut household power bills by allowing them to draw upon excess solar energy in community batteries — but independent Rebekha Sharkie “smelt a rat” with the way it was announced and has written to the auditor-general asking him to look into it further. Finally, the NSW Labor government is scrapping the public sector wage cap, the SMH ($) reports, which has held back the salaries of teachers, nurses and paramedics.

THAT SINKING FEELING

Australia reportedly opposes a plan from several Pacific Island nations to slash carbon emissions from the shipping industry, according to sources the SMH ($) spoke to. The plan would see a $100 a tonne levy on maritime emissions to encourage the industry to adopt cleaner fuel. Oz, with China, Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, have expressed concern, even though the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council support it. Something for senior Foreign Affairs Department official Ewen McDonald to look at? He’s our new special envoy for the Pacific and regional affairs, the ABC reports, as well as the new high commissioner to the Republic of Fiji. He was appointed to help strengthen our bond with the Pacific, naming the region’s priorities in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent as a top priority.

Meanwhile Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko has invited Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong to visit Kyiv, Guardian Australia reports. He praised the ever-diplomatic Wong’s understanding of Ukraine but said experiencing it first-hand is important. Gut-wrenchingly, Myroshnychenko told a story about a mother searching for wedding dresses to bury her twin 14-year-olds in, a tradition to signify the girls will never get the opportunity to grow up and marry. Speaking of Ukraine, the AFR ($) has published a truly mind-boggling line in a story about how average Ukrainians supposedly speak fluent weaponry now. “Rather than complaints about Taylor Swift tickets, inside Ukraine you’ll find citizens debating the merits of F-16 fighter jets, ATACMS missile systems or Abrams tanks, and which countries have available stock,” Misha Zelinsky writes. Cripes.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Former electrician Graham Jahne felt it was time for a different career, so now an average day’s work can involve being set on fire, jumping off a six-storey building or running in front of a truck. It’s the best job in the world, he tells the ABC — Jahne is a full-time stunt man, having appeared in The Matrix Revolutions, Ghost Rider, Underbelly and Blue Heelers. Sparkie to big screen fixtures might seem like a bit of a jump, mind the pun, but the Melbourne man had long filled his spare time with martial arts, circus, skiing and motorbike riding, positioning him perfectly for the new career (and perhaps for James Bond-esque spy work too). So he hung up his tools and went along for an audition at a stunt agency in the early ’90s. There were hundreds of aspiring stunt people there, he recalls, but he was one of just 15 who were lucky enough to be signed.

But it wasn’t until 1996 that he got his big break — Hong Kong actor and stuntman Jackie Chan had come to town, and Jahne turned up to a little flat in South Yarra to audition. Chan was sitting right there — it was “one of the most surreal experiences” in his life, Jahne says, having spent years watching Chan’s iconic flicks. He quickly learnt and performed a fight scene in front of the man himself, and was elated to hear he’d scored a part in the 1997 film Mr Nice Guy. It’s kind of a weird thing, he says — you’re not on the billboards, despite months of gruelling work on the film. But it’s pretty cool to rub shoulders with stars, and in what other job would you wear frozen underwear, be doused in fuel and set alight? Needless to say, when it comes to your nether regions, “you pick your safety crew very carefully”, he says.

Hoping your Monday brings a thrill, large or small.

Folks, it’s my two-year anniversary of writing your Worm! I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for your readership and support of Crikey. As always, I welcome you popping into my inbox for a chat: eelsworthy@crikey.com.au.

SAY WHAT?

It doesn’t matter what your income is, everyone feels the pain, and the gradual loss of hope about past aspirations.

Angus Taylor

The opposition’s Treasury spokesman says the 1% are in just as much pain as the rest of us during periods of high inflation. One might counter that being unable to put food on the table is a little different from selling your spare yacht.

CRIKEY RECAP

Penny Wong and the thousand cuts of the Kimberley Kitching saga

MARGARET SIMONS

“Wong’s character was shaped by the bullying she suffered as a child. Perhaps as a result, she is highly sensitive to any suggestion that she can herself be a bully. After the publication of the first edition of Penny Wong, I was told by her friends that the parts she disliked most — that hurt her — were those that talked about her displays of temper, including towards her staff.

“She is a warrior with a sharp wit and tongue — as well as that uncanny ability to lower the temperature in a room with her quiet anger. Yet she has also retained key staff members for years. She builds deep and loving relationships. Those who know her best reject the idea that she is a bully. They say that her displays of aggression and temper would be seen differently, and more favourably, if she were a man.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Action needed against ‘religious hatred’ after Quran defiled [in Sweden]: IOC (Al Jazeera)

Rioters assault home of French mayor, injure his wife (Reuters)

Lithuania’s Pride defies counterprotests, despite slow march to equality (euronews)

Canada’s wildfires: where they are, how much has burned and how it’s changing air quality (CBC)

South African Zulu king’s entourage denies ‘poisoning’ rumours (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Indonesia could help bring China and America back from the brink — John McCarthy (The AFR) ($): “As of 2021, each was only the other’s 13th-largest trading partners. Indonesia ranked 27th as a destination for Australian foreign investment. Indonesia was the 38th-largest source of foreign investment for Australia. Australian business has always been risk-averse about Indonesia. But other countries make money there. We need to do something about it. Partly given the openings created by the 2021 Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, opportunities exist across the board — but particularly in healthcare, food and agriculture, education, and resources and energy services.

“Then there is the role we would like to see Indonesia play in terms of regional security. Indonesia has tended to be first among equals in South-East Asia — particularly so when Suharto’s authority was at his height and the gifted Ali Alatas was foreign minister. Historically, Indonesia has not always used its natural agency as a big country with an intelligent leadership as effectively as it might. Its foreign policy has sometimes been clothed in the nebulous rhetoric of non-alignment or subsumed under the carapace of ASEAN solidarity. It has even been called a ‘small, big country’ for having fallen short of its promise in the international domain. Although Jokowi is known as a domestic president, he has done better than that.”

Dutton’s disturbing defence of Berejiklian — Sean Kelly (The Age) ($): “This is why Dutton’s rhetorical strategy is so disturbing. Yes, he said, there is a person — but what matters is not what that person chose to do, it is who I think she is. He sought to replace a cool, evidenced, considered judgment of Berejiklian’s actions with his own impression. In effect, he was saying: yes, somebody did these things, but not Gladys, not the Gladys I know. Who was it then? We are left again with an impersonal machine, in which nobody with power ever has to take responsibility for what they have done.

“Politicians will always seek to tell us stories about who they supposedly are in private. But they should not expect us to believe there is some ‘real’ version of them hiding just over there, away from the actions they have taken. We know enough about Berejiklian now to make up our own minds. If Dutton wants us to know something new about him, it is his right to make an ad. But if he wants us to believe he is somebody other than who he has so far appeared to be, then it is up to him to demonstrate it in his leadership of the federal opposition. Pretending the ICAC findings are not as serious as they are is not a good first step.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• The New York Times’ Damien Cave and The Lowy Institute’s Meg Keen and Hervé Lemahieu will unpack the findings of the 2023 Lowy Institute Poll, at the institute.

• Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor will speak at Zurich Financial Services.