Tech giants on notice to remove extreme content

REGULATION NATION

Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant has sent legal notices to tech giants Meta, Google, X, Telegram, WhatsApp and Reddit to warn they could be fined tens of millions of dollars if they don’t work harder to scrub terrorist, violent extremism and child abuse material from their platforms, The Australian ($) reports. “Telegram is the top-ranked mainstream platform linked with terrorist and violent extremist material ahead of Google’s YouTube, X, Meta-owned Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp,” the paper notes. And the rise of AI is making the situation worse, Grant said, including “shock-value propaganda” — deep fakes of bombings or beheadings that look real. Also — TikTok is the only social media giant not signed up to the global anti-extremism pact, the regulator added, as the SMH reports. The organisations have 49 days to respond to Grant about their measures.

It comes as the Greens introduce legislation to the Senate that would allow the consumer regulator to break up powerful corporations including banks, telcos and energy, The West Australian ($) reports. The Coles-Woolies duopoly, for instance, could be forced to divest assets if it was found that they are “misusing their market power to inflate prices, exploit their supply chains, or keep out competition”. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission could even force the sale of stores to a competitor or international operator. Meanwhile, the Greens will join forces with crossbenchers Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and the Jacqui Lambie Network on legislation that would cap political donations at $1.5 million, Guardian Australia reports. The bill would also bar donations from harmful industries like fossil fuels and lower the disclosure threshold to $1,000 with real-time reporting, but it wouldn’t cap election spending — that could “entrench the two major parties”, the paper says.

PAPER NOTES

Happy rates day, folks. The Reserve Bank is today expected to leave our cash rate as is, which is a 12-year high of 4.35%. It probably won’t change until next February, an economist told Guardian Australia, because Australia’s interest rate didn’t climb as high as similar economies (in Canada it’s 5% and in New Zealand it’s 5.5%). Inflation isn’t in that 2-3% range yet like the central bank wants, but it will probably wait longer rather than hike further. Meanwhile, millennials bought a third ($22.1 billion) of the $63.6 billion worth of stuff we all purchased online last year, the SMH reports per Australia Post data. Gen Z spent 11% less than the year before (a total of $10.6 billion), Gen X spent 1% more ($17.5 billion) while boomers spent 7% more ($12.5 billion). We bought smaller items more often, with a 2% decrease in our average basket size to $95.

Speaking of AusPost — the average Australian who sends about 15 small letters annually will pay an extra $4.50 a year because of a price hike, 7News reports. “From April 3, small letters will jump in price from $1.20 to $1.50. Large letters up to 125 grams (g) will now cost $3 to send (up from $2.40) and larger letters between 125g and 250g will soon set you back $4.50 (up from $3.60),” it reports. Speaking of paper trails — the inner circle of advisers around former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has opened a new strategic firm, The Age reports — they are ex-chief of staff Lissie Ratcliff, her deputy Jessie McCrone, strategy director Ben Foster and former media director Adam Sims. It’ll be called Foster McCrone Ratcliff & Sims but it won’t operate as a lobby group or register as a lobbyist. The paper notes there’s a rule former government execs and ministerial staffers aren’t allowed to do so for a year anyway.

HOT HOUSES

AGL Energy, Alinta, EnergyAustralia and Origin Energy all say nuclear energy couldn’t happen for at least a decade, Guardian Australia reports, despite what Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and other Coalition figures have been going on about. The big electricity generators said their focus remains on renewables (with batteries at Eraring and Mortlake), which are the cheapest and most abundant form of energy on this windy, hot continent. One exec told the paper our power bills would triple if we pursued nuclear power. The Coalition is also maintaining migration is causing “Labor’s housing crisis”, as The Australian ($) reports, pointing out there were 900,200 arrivals between July 2022 and December 2023, but only 265,000 building completions. Median rent went up 26% during that time. It comes as new housing will hit a decade-low in 2026, AFR says, with just 79,000 homes to be completed (down 26% compared to last year’s forecast).

Speaking of renting — rental properties are three degrees hotter than the outside temperature in summer, per a new report from Better Renting that Guardian Australia reports on. A survey of 109 homes from December to February found the median indoor temp was 25 degrees — that’s the World Health Organization’s maximum safe limit for nine hours a day. One woman told the paper she and her kid went to the shopping centre to escape their unit’s crappy insulation and window gaps, sending the indoor mercury to 36 degrees one day in December. Meanwhile, a peak into our real-world rental dystopia — WA Today reports on a back garden shed renting for $320 a week, while The West Australian ($) reports on an outdoor single bed renting for $130 a night on Airbnb.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

It’s March 1974 and Australia is reeling from the findings of the symposium on domestic and family violence when a woman clutching her baby suddenly climbs down Anne Summers’ ten-foot wall into her courtyard. The fearful mother had been fleeing her violent husband, and something just snapped in Summers, a member of the Sydney Women’s Liberation Movement. One Saturday night, she and a group of other women clutching tools and supplies crept out into the night headed for two vacant homes in Glebe. Smashing their way into the homes, some quickly set about replacing the locks on the doors, while others dipped a thick paintbrush into a tin and painted the words “women’s refuge” right across the front of the home. They’d invoked squatters’ rights — the act of using empty, disused and abandoned property and claiming subsequent title.

Looking back, they hadn’t exactly thought it through, Summers admitted to the ABC, but made it work thanks to anonymous locals leaving clothes, kitchenware and blankets at their doorstep. Glebe businesses chucked in leftover food, while a white goods retailer dropped off appliances free of charge. It was dubbed the Elsie Refuge, and this week marks 50 years since the pioneering spot opened. In the years since, the police slowly took notice, domestic violence was criminalised and hundreds more refuges have opened. Summers — now Dr Summers — has since become an advocate, political adviser and professor of domestic and family violence. Domestic Violence NSW CEO Delia Donovan told the broadcaster she was humbled to be “standing on the shoulders” of those unflinching women who broke into those homes a half-century ago, fed up and hell-bent.

Wishing you a dash of that courage, today and always.

SAY WHAT?

I don’t understand why you have this, like, demonic little gremlin high priestess of climatism as the goddess in classrooms, Greta [Thunberg] … All the kids are all coming home with depression and anxiety.

Holly Valance

If the Neighbours soap star turned billionaire’s wife thinks kids are sad now, wait till the climate wars begin.

CRIKEY RECAP

The likelihood of nuclear energy in Australia via 13 timelines

CHARLIE LEWIS

“Years Switkowski predicted it would likely take to build a new nuclear power plant: 15. The earliest we could open a nuclear power plant, according to former chief scientist Alan Finkel: 2040s. The latest coal power stations are due to be decommissioned: 2038. Years since France (the world’s biggest user of nuclear) launched its first atomic reactor: 76. Years since the UK government announced plans for the Hinkley nuclear power plant: 14.

“Projected delay (so far) on completing the Hinkley nuclear power plant: 14 years. Years since the Chernobyl disaster: 38 (as of April 26). Years until the immediate zone around Chernobyl is safe to inhabit again: 20,000. Years since the Fukushima plant disaster: 13. Years the Fukushima clean-up and decommissioning is set to take: 30-40. Age of the oldest member of Parliament in Australian history: 90 years.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Inside the ABC’s call to take [Journalist Antoinette] Lattouf off-air (The Age)

Oxfam accuses Israel of ‘deliberately’ blocking aid to famine-stalked Gaza (Al Jazeera)

Trump unable to get $464m bond in New York fraud case, his lawyers say (BBC)

Global ocean heat has hit a new record every single day for the last year (CNN)

Bulgarian foreign minister Mariya Gabriel agrees to form new government (Reuters)

Putin open to Macron’s ceasefire proposal during Paris Olympics (euronews)

Headaches, fatigue and ‘sonic attacks’ … but Havana syndrome might all be in the mind (Stuff)

Star wars: Sri Lanka’s powerful astrologers split over auspicious dates (The Guardian)

Five takeaways from Putin’s orchestrated win in Russia (The New York Times) ($)

THE COMMENTARIAT

What’s behind Wang Yi’s meeting with Paul Keating? — John Lee (The Australian) ($): “That Wang Yi’s invitation was a calculated move to belittle his Australian host is obvious. He will be delighted Keating accepted. There is cunning and purpose behind Wang reaching out to Keating. From foreign interference to economic punishment, Beijing’s aim is to divide the Labor Party and the Australian community. This is attempted through seduction or coercion to encourage voices within the government to agitate for a softening of policies towards China.

“There are some in Labor who agree with Keating that our alliance with the US and arrangements like AUKUS do not serve our interests because they are an affront to China. Using the drama of an unofficial meeting to amplify the voice and standing of Keating is designed to make it more difficult for the Albanese government to stiffen future policies towards China. The Albanese government has inadvertently created this opening for Wang Yi’s bold diplomatic move. Beijing has been praising the current government for learning from the supposed mistakes of the Turnbull and Morrison governments.”

The exclusive — but growing — group no one wants to be part of — Kylie Moore-Gilbert (The SMH): “Australia should consider passing similar legislation, perhaps modelled on the Canadian act. We could also potentially use our autonomous sanctions regime (‘Magnitsky’ sanctions) to punish individuals who are known repeat perpetrators of the wrongful detention of Australians, which is a grave violation of international law. We should also increase funding to the Department of Foreign Affairs’ consular operations to ensure they can continue to provide the exemplary support that I received to all Australian victims.

“The cold flame of anger still burns inside me to this day. Maybe it will never be extinguished — and maybe that is not necessarily a bad thing. With this new alliance, I am able to channel that anger in a productive direction and try to focus it on helping others, rather than feeding it with bitterness or tempting it with the urge for revenge or recrimination. Maybe we will fail in our task, but in striving, there is healing.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Writer Nikos Athanasou will talk about his new collection, Late Hybrids, at Glee Books.

Kaurna Country (also known as Adelaide)

• SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher will speak about the 2023 referendum and SA Voice elections at Ligertwood 231.