How would Jesus say No?

SAYING NO THE CHRISTIAN WAY

The No side of the Voice to Parliament referendum is working with US marketing and fundraising firm RJ Dunham & Co which helps Christian non-profit ministries “fulfil their mission”, Guardian Australia says. That’s why No’s tactics smell of conservative US politics, as many suspected — the firm has worked with “the Australian Christian Lobby, a California megachurch, and a Texas service counselling women against abortions”, the paper says. Advance is also partnered with self-described “Australia’s conservative campaign consultancy” Whitestone Strategic, which has worked with Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, the ACT and federal Liberals, and Australian Christian Lobby head Lyle Shelton. It comes as a quarter of Indigenous folks in WA are not enrolled to vote ahead of the referendum, the lowest rate in the country, WA Today ($) says.

Meanwhile, Indigenous elder Wakka Wakka man Uncle Dennis Fisher, 66, has lost his bid to get Indigenous folks access to the pension earlier, the NT News ($) reports. He argued an Indigenous man at 65 had just 15.8 years ahead of him based on average life expectancy, compared with a non-Indigenous person’s 19 years, and the Racial Discrimination Act requires that Indigenous people receive the pension for the same duration as everyone else. But the judges didn’t side with him, saying the system wouldn’t be treating everyone with equal dignity and respect. Going back to the Christians a moment, and the Australian Catholic University is investigating after the ABC reported its security contractor, Asset Group Solutions, was founded by a guy who was charged over a Commonwealth public official bribe plan. His security licence was suspended, but his company retains its licence. The broadcaster notes Asset also provides security in the building where the NSW Police counterterrorism command is.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

Coalition politicians James Paterson, David Littleproud, Dan Tehan, Barnaby Joyce and Bridget McKenzie may be right to call Labor’s social media misinformation bill “Orwellian”, after the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said giving the media watchdog the power to determine truth may stifle public debate. The Australian ($) explains the bill would allow the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to fine Facebook, Twitter and others millions of dollars for misinformation and harmful content often created by shady foreign actors — but it could mean we just “censor unpopular opinions and enforce ideological conformity in Australia”, the AHRC said.

From cyberwar to boots on the ground and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed we’re sending 30 more Bushmaster armoured vehicles to Ukraine — “The best in the world,” he says, via the ABC. The Bendigo-made Bushmasters are being used to move troops and as ambulances — we’ve already sent 90. It comes as UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he isn’t the global marketplace Amazon, The Guardian reports. Wallace said the embattled country has a habit of lobbying for more weapons when it just got some, adding “people want to see a bit of gratitude”. Call me cynical but imagine if Jeff Bezos paid for the product placement in that comment. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan echoed his comments, saying the US “deserve a degree of gratitude” when asked about Zelenskyy’s frustration he still doesn’t have a NATO join date.

ABC + BBC = ANGSTY AUNTIES

The ABC has dropped its defence in former SAS Heston Russell’s defamation case so it doesn’t need to reveal a journalist’s source. Russell is suing over a story he says implied he had a hand in the death of an Afghan prisoner, though the story included a denial from him. Initially the ABC went with a truth defence but switched to a public interest one in May. To British aunty now and Huw Edwards has been revealed as the BBC presenter alleged to have paid a 17-year-old for explicit photos, his wife, Vicky Flind, said. Edwards has severe depression and is in hospital, she added. It came as the UK cops said there was no evidence Edwards had committed a crime, and the BBC said it wasn’t taking any further action. Edwards, 61, is a UK household name — some might recall the moment he broke the news Queen Elizabeth had died — and has worked for the BBC for four decades.

A quick sprint through the Edwards facts: a mother spoke to a tabloid about a BBC presenter paying the equivalent of $67,000 for photos from her drug-dependent then-17-year-old for three years, and Edwards (who wasn’t named for legal reasons) was quietly suspended. It is an offence to get explicit images from someone younger than 18 in the UK. Then the teen, who is now 20, said they told The Sun the claims were false, as The Guardian explains, but it reported them anyway. Then messages from Edwards to another 17-year-old surfaced, as well as claims he broke COVID lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old, as Sky News reports. One former BBC presenter said the whole saga was indicative of a “complicated private life”. In the public interest or a hit job on the broadcaster? You be the judge.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

It’s the 1500s and painter Albrecht Dürer has been commissioned to do an altarpiece by a rich guy named Jacob Heller. Cool, Dürer thought, and agreed to do it for 130 florins. But after he got started on the massive project, The Guardian reports that he sat down and wrote to Heller. My materials are expensive, he pleaded, and I need an assistant to help with the sides of the altar. I’m going to need more than 100 florins just for the paint alone, he reasoned. So Heller was like, hmmm… 230 florins then, and not a florin more. Dürer was basically like, quite frankly, this is bullshit. “I am losing time and money and earning your ingratitude,” he wrote in another letter, asking: “What do you imagine my living costs are?” But Heller wouldn’t budge a florin.

So Dürer decided to get the ultimate creative revenge — a built-in ad for his own services. He painted himself into the altar, right below Mary and Jesus, to “ensure that any viewer’s gaze was directed to just this spot”, one academic said. Dürer added a sign in his hands naming himself as a painter — an astonishingly bold move. “Nobody ever did anything like this again,” the academic added. After Dürer’s death in 1528 the price of his works skyrocketed — indeed one of his drawings was recently valued at US$50 million. If only the famed Renaissance painter could see that now.

Wishing you the courage to stand up for yourself today.

SAY WHAT?

After 31 years of marriage, we have made the decision to live apart. Our friendship and commitment to our family remains strong. There is no impact on the operations, control or direction of Fortescue, Minderoo or Tattarang. We will continue our shared mission to create and gift our wealth to tackle community and global challenges.

Andrew and Nicola Forrest

One of Australia’s richest couples have split after 31 years together. They control more than a third of Fortescue Metals Group, which made $9.2 billion net profit after tax last year.

CRIKEY RECAP

‘Fadden is not Aston’: despite robodebt, could the LNP actually increase its margin?

ANTON NILSSON

“While Robert has been a no-show, other LNP celebrities have stumped for the party’s candidate, local councillor Cameron Caldwell. Crikey’s spies have spotted Peter Dutton, Karen Andrews, Anne Ruston and even Barnaby Joyce on the Gold Coast in recent weeks …

“Labor has had some celebrities on the campaign trail too — Anthony Albanese flew up to launch the campaign of Letitia Del Fabbro, and Bill Shorten visited earlier this week. Del Fabbro, a nurse and Griffith University lecturer, is being sold by Labor as a local nurse and mother who supports more investment in aged care, healthcare and for working parents.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

NATO allies offer security assurances for Ukraine on path to membership (Reuters)

Microsoft says China-linked hackers accessed government emails (Al Jazeera)

Threads review: how Meta’s new app stacks up against Twitter (The New York Times)

Emmy nominations 2023: The Last of Us and Succession up for top TV awards (BBC)

[US] inflation eased to 3% in June, slowest pace in more than two years (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

Finland’s far-right leader Riikka Purra ‘sorry’ for her racist, violent writings (euronews)

Largest net migration loss to Australia since 2013 as Kiwis pursue higher wages and cheaper living costs (NZ Herald)

THE COMMENTARIAT

What would Menzies have thought of Morrison’s robodebt? — Samantha Maiden (The Advertiser) ($): “It’s safe to say he would be rolling in his grave. The story of how it was allowed to happen has been canvassed in the wake of the final report of the royal commission into the scheme. The idea of income averaging first emerged around October 2014. The Department of Human Services discussed it with the Department of Social Services which suggested it was unethical and speculative invoicing. Bureaucrats started guessing about a welfare recipient’s income and then invoicing them on that basis.

“Legal advice was sought. The legal advice was highly critical of the idea. Then, in December 2014, Tony Abbott announced he was moving Scott Morrison out of the immigration portfolio and into the Department of Social Services. After spearheading the Operation Sovereign Borders agenda, Morrison suggested he planned to roll out the same law enforcement zeal to his new portfolio. He promised a ‘tough welfare cop’ on the beat and at his first meeting asked Kathryn Campbell, the secretary of the Department of Human Services (DHS), for ideas to improve compliance. As it happened, bureaucrats were already on the job. One idea was a compliance system that compared tax office PAYG data — which were annual figures — with the fortnightly income reported to Centrelink.”

As Australians, we think we’re open-minded. The truth is we don’t like change at all — Shaun Carney (The SMH) ($): “The nation’s housing situation is a disgrace, with a shortage of available dwellings, and property prices and rents that are unreasonably high. Many of those who can scrape together enough to buy a place to live are burdening themselves with debts that will accompany them to their retirement. The steady and quite absurd rise in property values through the years was only ever going to lead us to this point. A key part of the problem is that simultaneously, because of our system of setting wages, real income levels were basically flatlining and barely kept pace with what for a long time was a historically very low inflation rate. The housing predicament was a long time in the making. Policymakers, the banks, the property industry, the media, and the community let it run and run.

“​The political system failed us. Just as it did on robodebt. And climate change. And aged care. And the wildly inequitable education system.​ ​In truth, the political system is mostly about politicians and their parties, if they belong to one. But it’s also about how those politicians interact with bureaucrats, sectoral interests and voters. Leadership counts for a lot. When voters are shy of accepting difficult changes — let’s stop using the term ​’​reform​’​ because it’s lost all political meaning — it’s up to genuine leaders to bring them around. The Hawke–Keating years are often held up as the gold standard of a government steering through challenging policies. What’s often forgotten is that the deregulatory financial and economic changes Bob Hawke and Paul Keating implemented through five terms were only acceptable to voters because they were accompanied by the introduction and maintenance of universal healthcare, a comprehensive social welfare safety net, a sensible incomes policy and compulsory superannuation.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Palawa Nation (also known as Devonport)

• Assistant Minister for Charities Andrew Leigh will host a town hall meeting for the charity and non-profit sector at the Paranaple Centre.

Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)

• Artist Erin Kim, performance artist Ari Tampubolon and poet Hannah Wu are among those speaking at “Fanchants and Fingerhearts: A Night of K-Pop Stanning” at the Wheeler Centre.