Dutton demands Qantas clarity

JOYCE TAKES FLIGHT

When today’s Worm hits your inbox, it will have been nearly 24 hours since Qantas announced Alan Joyce would step down as chief executive. It came after days of damaging headlines for the airline: first the airline posted a $2.7 billion annual profit, then Joyce revealed it owed customers millions more in credits than previously believed, and then the consumer watchdog said it was taking court action for the alleged sale of “ghost flight” tickets. The newspapers have had time to digest the news and are moving units today with big blaring headlines: “Joyce hits eject button” (SMH), “Cash landing” (The West Australian), “Australians all let us rejoyce” (The Daily Telegraph). Obviously some media outlets are happy to see Joyce go.

Some papers have moved the story forward as well. The Daily Telegraph ($) reports the Qantas board will look at clawing back some of Joyce’s $24 million in bonus payments as the airline’s share price dipped following his early retirement. “If you look at our remuneration report, there’s provisions for clawbacks,” chairman Richard Goyder was quoted as saying. Another story in the paper quoted Transport Workers Union boss Michael Kaine as saying Joyce had turned Qantas into a “corporate bully … bulldozing good, secure jobs” and “splintering the workforce”.

The Australian ($), meanwhile, reports Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has demanded the prime minister explain himself after Anthony Albanese clarified an answer he gave in Parliament about the government’s block of additional Qatar Airways flights. Albanese clarified he had discussed the move with the chief executive of Virgin on July 13 — days before the Qatar block was made public. “In that call the chief executive made representations relating to air services arrangements with Qatar. During that discussion, I did not know that the transport minister had made a decision on July 10 2023 — a detail that has only been advised to me after question time today,” Albanese said. He had earlier repeated his assertion he did not speak to Joyce before a decision was made.

“The prime minister’s story just doesn’t add up and every ­answer gives rise to more questions. The public needs to know what he was asked for, his response and what was discussed. His version of when he and others learned of the decision doesn’t add up,” Dutton told the newspaper. Luckily, as Guardian Australia reports, the opposition and the crossbench have teamed up to vote for a Senate inquiry into the Qatar block, so it’s possible we’ll learn more soon.

NZ VOLCANO CHARGES DISMISSED

The trio of brothers who own Whakaari in New Zealand, also known as White Island, have had charges laid against them dismissed, Radio New Zealand reports. The brothers had been personally charged for health and safety failings ahead of the December 2019 eruption on the volcano island, which killed 22 people, including 14 Australians. A further 10 Australians were injured by the explosive eruption, which happened as dozens of tourists were visiting.

Peter, Andrew and James Buttle were individually charged as directors of Whakaari Management Limited (WML), but an Auckland District Court judge threw the charges out yesterday citing a lack of evidence. “There is no evidence in this case of what happened behind the board room door at WML … Without that evidence I can not assess what a reasonable director would have done,” Judge Evangelos Thomas said.

Further charges, also brought by New Zealand’s WorkSafe agency, against WML as a company still stand. So do charges against ID Tours and Tauranga Tourism Services Limited, RNZ reports.

Correction: Yesterday’s Worm cited a Courier-Mail report as saying “an estimated $60m worth of fixed-rate mortgages expired … with a further $30m set to revert to variable terms come the end of September”. It should have been $60 billion and $30 billion, not million. Crikey regrets the error.

SAY WHAT?

Does anyone ever say ‘you know what, you’ve done a fucking good job, because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing?’

Gillian Keegan

The UK’s education secretary — the country’s fifth in two years — was caught on camera complaining she wasn’t getting enough credit for dealing with hundreds of school buildings found to be potentially unsafe. The problem with the buildings is that they contain old and weak concrete, and 104 have been ordered shut. The timing couldn’t be worse, because the UK autumn semester just began. Keegan later apologised for using “choice language” and said her comments were “unnecessary”, Reuters reports. But her public image problems didn’t stop there — yesterday, The Mirror reported Keegan had been “ruthlessly mocked” for a tweet she posted that contained a graphic exclaiming “most schools unaffected”. The newspaper wrote Labour came with a “brutal reply”, spoofing the graphic with one of their own that said: “Most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”.

CRIKEY RECAP

The Australian ‘unfairly’ characterised Louise Milligan as lazy and deceitful: Press Council

JOHN BUCKLEY

“The Australian ‘misleadingly and unfairly’ led readers to believe the ABC’s award-winning Four Corners journalist Louise Milligan was associated with ‘bad, lazy, deceitful journalism’ in a 2021 editorial, the Australian Press Council has found.

“The finding comes two years after Milligan first filed a complaint over the piece, which ran on June 8 2021 in both print and online, and claimed reporters at the ABC “decry any form of scrutiny”, particularly when it is published in The Australian.

“In the article, The Australian — under the headline ‘Greatest enemy of truth is those who conspire to lie’ — claimed the newspaper’s senior staff ‘know well’ the ‘habits and hubris’ of both reporters. The Press Council found the claim was misleadingly presented to readers as fact, ‘not merely an expression of opinion’.”

“Milligan and her former Four Corners colleague Sally Neighbour, who took home the Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award at last year’s Walkley Awards, were the only two ABC employees referenced by name in the article.”

Meta is profiting from Australian ads for drugs, fake cash, cloned credit cards and illegal goods

CAM WILSON

“If you go on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger, you might come across advertisements selling illegal drugs, counterfeit Australian banknotes, cloned credit cards, guns or, in one case, a monkey.

“And Meta, the owner of these platforms, makes money each time it shows these ads to you — despite its own rules prohibiting them.

“There are dozens of these posts from the last month on the company’s public database of advertisements, called the Meta Ad Library, that advertisers have paid to promote to Australian Facebook, Instagram and Messenger users.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

At least 5 people die as severe rainstorms trigger flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria (Associated Press)

Britain’s second-largest city effectively declares itself bankrupt (CNN)

Who is Ukraine’s new defence minister Rustem Umerov? (BBC)

France reportedly in talks with Niger for possible withdrawal of its troops (Al Jazeera)

Spain fires Jorge Vilda after kiss furore, names first woman coach of national football team (France24)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Pharmacists want to have their cake, eat it, and get another cake for later – Peter Breadon (SMH) ($): “The scare campaign against 60-day medication dispensing was bad enough. Then, on Monday, aggrieved pharmacists descended on Parliament House, reportedly hurling abuse at people who work there.

“As a reminder of where all the outrage is coming from, the federal government announced earlier this year that it would allow patients to collect a 60-day supply of some medicines when they visit the pharmacy instead of the previous model, which generally only allowed for 30-day supplies.

“Though the change will initially apply to around 100 drugs for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the pushback from pharmacists has been intense.”

I’m no clairvoyant, but undecided Voice voters are unlikely to be won over by Peter Dutton’s siren song – Rebecca Huntley (Guardian Australia): “I’m a social researcher not a clairvoyant but there is something about the future I know for sure.

“Successful or not, after October 14 no-one wants another referendum anytime soon.

“Public enthusiasm for a constitutional do-over would be in the single digits, if that.

“Peter Dutton’s recent declaration that he will hold a referendum of his own over Indigenous recognition if the Voice referendum is unsuccessful — if taken at face value — reveals a failure to read the electorate.”

Speculation about Queensland premier’s leadership grows while she’s on holiday – Peter McCutcheon (ABC): “Annastacia Palaszczuk has been a favourite topic of discussion at just about every media event held by Queensland ministers over the past week, despite the Labor premier being more than 15,000 kilometres away on holidays in southern Italy. That’s not a good sign.

“Her deputy — and this week acting premier — Steven Miles also revealed the premier’s own cabinet colleagues, not just the media, are keen to join in the conversation.

“‘Many ministers, in fact all ministers, wanted to express the strength of their support for Annastacia Palaszczuk, their unity, the belief in the team that we have,’ he told journalists after a cabinet meeting on Monday.”