Accentuating the negative

NOPE TROPE

The Coalition’s former spokesman for Indigenous Australians Julian Leeser has accused the No campaign of making Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo the “trope for the ‘angry Aboriginal man’” to rile up voters. Leeser, who quit the Coalition’s frontbench when Opposition Leader Peter Dutton resolved to object to the Voice to Parliament, said the referendum is “a technical change to the constitution”, Guardian Australia reports, and yet the No side splicing videos with Mayo’s words are “meant to get you angry” so you’ll vote against him. But Mayo himself is not on the ballot, Leeser stressed. It comes as the Australian Electoral Commission has published the 2000-word cases for the Yes and the No sides, The Australian ($) reports. The Yes side quotes former High Court chief justice Robert French, AFL legend Eddie Betts, rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston and more. The No side quotes several people, including Mayo and Megan Davis, presumably without permission considering they are pro-Voice.

Meanwhile the No side is also about to roll out a $1 million social media campaign to “explode the myth” that the Indigenous community is pro-Voice. Speaking to Sky News, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Yes case needed to be stronger against the No side because it’s sowing a whole lot of unfounded doubt, but also to overcome the odds of past unsuccessful referendums (just eight out of 48 have been successful). Meanwhile, another poll has found Albanese’s approval rating has slumped to an election low, though it’s still a very strong 51% to Peter Dutton’s 21% (the rest didn’t know), The Age ($) reports. The poll found the No. 1 thing people are worried about is cost of living (50%), with health and aged care next (11%).

BRAIN STORM

The cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s patients was slowed by 35% by two new “potentially life-changing” drugs from Eli Lilly, Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Susan Kohlhaas told The Guardian. Sixteen Australians took part in a trial at eight places in Victoria and NSW, the ABC adds, with 1700 participants in total. Kohlhaas said it followed two decades without any medical breakthrough for the disease, and urged regulators to approve the drugs in the hope dementia could become as manageable as diabetes and asthma. It’s awaiting approval in Australia.

Meanwhile SMH ($) editor Bevan Shields has slammed neurosurgeon Charlie Teo for saying in an interview with 7News last night that the newspaper’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, has been “very, very successful in killing a lot of people”. McClymont’s coverage of Teo’s costly and sometimes unsuccessful medical practices began in 2019; in 2021, the NSW Medical Council stopped him from operating without the approval of another approved doctor. Teo rather spuriously claimed “hundreds if not thousands of people have died” because of her journalism — one might point out McClymont is among the best investigative reporters in Australia and has been for decades. Shields called Teo’s claims “revolting” and noted the doctor went basically unchallenged by Seven’s Michael Usher on the claim (though Usher did call it extreme).

PETER PANNED

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is the “alternative prime minister from the alt-right” who heads up a party “replete with climate change deniers”, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will say today, per SMH ($). Go off, king. Bowen continues that Dutton wrote a letter of endorsement for LNP Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick, “a man who engages daily in blatant conspiracy theory propagation and disinformation when it comes to climate and vaccines”. Dutton’s on leave, but acting opposition leader and former environment minister Sussan “climate isn’t my problem” Ley retorted that Bowen should “take responsibility for the energy crisis”, adding without a lick of irony that the Coalition is “committed to strong action on climate change”.

Meanwhile, the big banks are refusing to bankroll Australia’s largest pure-play coalminer, Whitehaven, the Brisbane Times ($) reports. It admitted in a quarterly update on Monday that it couldn’t secure $1 billion in finance for thermal mines. Its CEO said thermal coal has proved to be “less appealing” for banks decarbonising their lending portfolios. And, finally, more than half the alternative locations for public housing that Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather suggested have flooding concerns or have had developments opposed by a Greens councillor, The Courier-Mail ($) reports. Chandler-Mather was like, this is little more than “bad faith attacks”, adding that at least the minor party was looking for public and affordable housing blocks for struggling Aussies.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Australian Tim Shaddock and his pooch Bella set off from Mexico in May, the wind in their shaggy hair and French Polynesia on their radar. For the first couple of weeks, it was idyllic smooth sailing aboard their catamaran, as the NZ Herald tells it. But one day, some angsty clouds began to swirl above. Hmm, that ain’t good, Shaddock thought. A thunderous downpour left the electricity on the boat fried, and in the aftermath, Shaddock took stock. They were adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with no means of communication. But they did have each other, and some fishing lines. So Shaddock got to work, assembling a rainwater catchment device for hydration and catching fish as needed for the pair to eat, sashimi-style. Days passed, then weeks, then months. Shaddock’s silvery beard grew, but his body became thin. It was hard, but the pair were surviving together. Last week, a tuna trawler spotted them, some two months in. His and Bella’s recovery is going well — lots of rest and small bits of food, though no fish, one would imagine.

Amazingly, he’s not the only Australian who has survived against the odds at sea. SBS tells the story of Glenn Anderson, an experienced yachtsman who took his daughter Ruby, then 11, on a sailing trip in 2021 with some fellow crew. When a large wave rocked their yacht, Ruby was thrown overboard and broke her leg — her heroic dad promptly jumped in after her, while the other crew abandoned ship to swim to shore to get help. For four cold hours, Anderson held his little girl — who couldn’t swim with her injury — in the tumultuous water, somehow managing to keep both afloat. They were discovered by astounded rescuers, who described Anderson’s efforts as a “miracle” and “quite incredible”. Ruby agreed, saying she reckons her dad was “really brave and smart about it”. No higher accolade than that.

Wishing you a little of that courage and strength today too.

SAY WHAT?

In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record. And these records have already been broken a few times this year. Heatwaves put our health and lives at risk. The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It’s happening. I urge world leaders to act now

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

The director-general of the World Health Organization has declared the climate crisis is here. In the past week, California’s Death Valley recorded 53.3 degrees and it got to 52.2 degrees in China’s Sanbao, with the mercury tipped to hit 45 degrees in several places in Italy today.

CRIKEY RECAP

AFP suspends use of controversial surveillance tech found in Woolworths, Bunnings

CAM WILSON

“The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has suspended the use of surveillance platform Auror after a freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that more than 100 of its staff had used the platform — for more than a year in some cases – without considering privacy or security implications.

“Internal emails obtained by Crikey describe how AFP staff collected information from retailers that wasn’t reported to police and input their own information into Auror’s systems, all without any agency guardrails for its use. So little was known about the company internally, despite its widespread use, that it left an employee questioning other staff if it had been reviewed for use and if they knew who owned the technology.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Killing of opposition leader in Moldova’s Transnistria region probed (euronews)

Moscow halts grain deal in what UN calls a global blow to people in need (Reuters)

Israel recognises Western Sahara as part of Morocco (Al Jazeera)

France clamps down on dangerous drivers with new ‘road killing’ offence (The Guardian)

California crews battle wildfires in extreme heat (BBC)

Trump and allies forge plans to increase presidential power in 2025 (The New York Times)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Albanese, unlike Keating, believes NATO ties serve Australia’s interests — Peter Hartcher (The SMH) ($) : “And surely this is one of the defining reasons for Ukraine’s success in surviving Russia’s onslaught — the decisive contributions of money, weapons and political support from democracies across the world, well beyond Europe. But while deepening democratic alliances, Albanese has no intention of withdrawing from engagement with China. The world needs strategic guide rails, he told the NATO gathering, to manage incidents and avert war. In essence, this means dialogue. Xi Jinping has invited Albanese to Beijing and the prime minister plans to take him up it. Despite speculation to the contrary, Albanese is expected to make the trip before the end of the year.

“This is in spite of further provocation from China in the form of bounties announced for the arrest of an Australian citizen. And the fact that China is slow-walking the withdrawal of political trade bans on Australia products. And the continued detention in Beijing jails of Australian citizens on trumped-up charges, Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, effectively political hostages. But Albanese sees dialogue as the opportunity to press for progress rather than to stomp his foot in pique. ‘Officials are in discussions about timing, and I’ve said very clearly that we need to engage. It’s in our interests to engage with China,’ Albanese tells me.”

Misinformation bill will only feed appetite for conspiracy — Justin Quill (The Australian) ($): “Free speech is critical to our democracy. But it is vulnerable. If Australians don’t ferociously protect their free speech it could crumble and fall. It will never be taken away in one step. We wouldn’t stand for that. But like a brick wall, if you slowly remove bricks one at a time, eventually the wall doesn’t exist, even though the removal of one particular brick might not mean the ‘end’ of the wall. And right now, our federal government is proposing the removal of at least one — perhaps more — bricks from Australia’s free speech wall.

“The government has proposed an interestingly titled bill, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Act 2023. Make no mistake, this free-speech brick-removing legislation must be stopped. I’ve read the draft legislation carefully, and it seemed to me the draftsman must have been in a rush. If one of the lawyers in my team produced the sloppy drafting I’ve spotted in this bill, there would be a hard conversation had in my office. But poor drafting is the least of my concerns. You see, even the very best drafting cannot fix a bad idea. And the misinformation and disinformation bill is as bad a legislative idea or concept as I’ve seen.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Former prime minister John Howard will talk to author Andrew Blyth about his book, John Howard: From the Pavilion. It’s a collection of Howard’s columns in The Australian from 1989. This’ll take place at the Centre for Independent Studies.

Whadjuk Noongar Country (also known as Perth)

• Ambassador for First Nations People Justin Mohamed, Nelson Mandela University’s Bhekithemba (Bheki) Mngomezulu and Wungening Aboriginal Corporation’s Daniel Morrison are among several speakers at an International Nelson Mandela Day 2023 event at Curtin University.