Chinese checkers in the sky

WATCH THIS SPACE

Hundreds of Chinese satellites are hovering over Australia collecting intelligence on our military training with the US and others, the ABC reports. EOS Space Systems followed three that manoeuvred into place over our Talisman Sabre war games in northern Australia, and 300 smaller satellites have been tracked since August 10 looking at Australian, US, Indian and Japanese warships in Sydney Harbour. So what sort of info could Beijing be collecting? Our capabilities, equipment and military activity processes, an expert said. The Defence Department was like, yeah, we know — we track them too, as part of our “broader space domain awareness efforts”. But we don’t have any military satellites, the ABC adds. It comes as China’s army has released a propaganda video where soldiers seem to be preparing for conflict in the Taiwan strait, The Guardian reports. Gulp.

Meanwhile a video of an Indigenous man being thrown to the ground in Taree while he had a seizure has prompted a NSW Police investigation. His family told Guardian Australia no-one called an ambulance, even though the 18-year-old was allegedly bleeding from the head. He has “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and had been on the disability pension since he was 16”, the paper adds. He was charged with possessing suspected stolen goods. Some 549 Indigenous people have died in police custody or jail since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the federal government says, 49 people this year alone. It comes as the Central Land Council says there is no such thing as a “progressive” No vote on the Voice to Parliament referendum — history will not distinguish the two, the council’s Josie Douglas says. The democratically elected council represents more than 30 major Indigenous communities and 100 homelands/outstations.

WATER, VAPER, GAS

A quarter of the public submissions to the government’s vaping reform consultation period parroted the tobacco and vaping industry’s campaign, Guardian Australia reports. The Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change’s Michelle Jongenelis went through 2385 submissions and found 26% were word for word with an unnamed astroturfing campaign (astroturfing is when a “grassroots” movement is driven by a big multinational). Vaping has encouraged e-cigarette users to reject reforms — basically, to lobby on their behalf — often guided by “unsubstantiated claims and misinformation”, Jongenelis says.

To another toxic vapour now and being anti-gas is too woke, according to Coalition Senator Andrew Bragg via The Age ($). He’ll warn today that “if we lose electrification to a culture war, we may never get to net zero” and will suggest incoming bans on gas connections ought to be replaced with tax breaks for household batteries (in Victoria, for instance, from 2024 new builds can’t have gas — and it’ll save a Melbournian $12,000-$14,000 over 10 years, the Grattan Institute found). Bragg is pro-household electrification, but just doesn’t want to see it “lost in a political bunfight”.

CLIVE CALLED THE SHOTS

Billionaire Clive Palmer bankrolled an abandoned class action lawsuit against Telstra over COVID vaccine mandates, the SMH ($) reports. A former Telstra installer-repairer tried to argue that the mandate breached enterprise agreements and work health and safety laws, but the case was aborted because “the funder” pulled his credit card. Turns out it was the United Australia Party founder. Meanwhile his former political foe, WA Premier Mark McGowan, is in “talks” to join BHP, The West ($) reports. The filthy fossil-fuel giant wouldn’t confirm, but the paper says he’ll probably join the board or be an adviser. McGowan was a big supporter of keeping mines open during the pandemic, with the dosh pouring billions into our state and federal budgets. And all we had to trade for it was the health of the planet as we sweated through the hottest month ever recorded and then witnessed the deadliest bushfires in the US in a century.

It comes as former PM Malcolm Turnbull says we need to ditch grey hydrogen (made from fossil fuels) and get behind clean hydrogen. Writing for Guardian Australia, he says we need it in steelmaking, shipping and aviation, but it’s got to be renewable electrolytic green hydrogen, not blue (made with natural gas with carbon capture tech used along the way). Blue costs too much, and doesn’t minimise enough CO2 or methane, Turnbull says. Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest agreed via The Washington Post ($) last year, saying “blue hydrogen” is just marketing speak. Finally, Labor is forming a plan to copy US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which’ll see US$3 trillion for renewable tech, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed. It was passed on the floor of Labor’s conference in Brisbane, The Australian ($) says.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Vale Parky. Chat show king Michael Parkinson has died, aged 88, after a short illness. He was described as “the best interviewer in the business” by environmentalist David Attenborough, who always “brought out the very best” in his guests, musician Elton John added. British actor Michael Caine agreed, saying Parky “always wanted the interviewee to shine”. Parkinson was born to a miner dad and developed a love for cricket early on that led to him reporting sports results for his local Cudworth rag. After two years in the army, Parkinson joined The Guardian and then the Daily Express before moving to BBC TV to host his eponymous first show in 1971. His favourite interviewee? Boxer Muhammad Ali, he said (watch here). The one that got away? Cricketer Donald Bradman — Parky told the SMH last year the Don wasn’t rude about it, just never wanted to be interviewed. Revisit more of his memorable interviews here via the ABC.

Parkinson saw Australia as somewhat of a second home — you may remember swimmer Ian Thorpe’s 2014 TV special when our greatest-ever Olympian revealed he was gay, as Guardian Australia reported. Parky also interviewed former PM Bob Hawke on Parkinson in Australia (1979-83) and was good mates with the late Shane Warne. He described an “intellectual side to Australians that is fascinating”, and enjoyed the “great sense of humour here”. He liked the easy company of Aussies: “I’ve always fitted in with them.” The secret to his success? Simple, he told the SMH: “Do your research, find out everything you can, and then get them to tell the story — their story.” It’s about steering them to “explain the previously inexplicable, where their talents come from, to try and explain the great mystery”. Great advice for any aspiring conversationalist. Go well.

Hoping you feel heard today, and that you have a restful weekend.

SAY WHAT?

You’ve been proudly supporting England all tournament. Not a word for Australia. Not that we expect it. We prefer the honesty. Without the patronising pat on the head in defeat. Support the Lionesses & let us get on with our business, mate.

Craig Foster

Shut the hell up, the co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement told the future king, after Prince William tweeted his “commiserations” to the Matildas, calling them “fantastic co-hosts”.

CRIKEY RECAP

Brian Houston found not guilty of charges he concealed his father’s sex crimes

DAVID HARDAKER

“The question of exactly what Brian Houston knew about his father’s crimes and what he should have done with that knowledge followed the pastor for more than 20 years as his power and influence spread.  At the same time, Houston’s razzamatazz style of Pentecostal Christianity grew in popularity as the traditional religions struggled to attract attendees.

“For much of the time, the detail and extent of the scandal surrounding Frank Houston was known to only a select group of senior Pentecostal figures. When Frank Houston died in 2004, his funeral was attended by up to a thousand mourners, including politicians and a future NSW police commissioner. He was farewelled as a great man of religion. The secular world only caught on to Hillsong’s darkest secret in 2014 …”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Most of West Africa ready to join standby force in Niger: [Economic Community of West African State] (Al Jazeera)

H&M says it will ‘phase out’ sourcing from Myanmar (Reuters)

Mortgage rates soar to their highest level in 21 years [to 7.09%] (CNN)

EU to reach winter gas storage target months ahead of new deadline (euronews)

Video promoting $2000 [monthly] rent for 200-square-foot Vancouver apartment widely criticised (CBC)

Sweden raises terrorist threat level after Qur’an burnings (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Self-determination can’t be achieved through compromised finance — Ben Abbatangelo (IndigenousX): “It’s confronting to see mob take money from Andrew Forrest and his Minderoo Foundation. The Forrest family has a well documented history of paternalism and has generated its wealth from trampling all over our communities. Forrest and his Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomon Mine, the companies most successful iron ore mine that has been operating illegally on the Yindjibarndi’s Peoples Country for more than a decade, has been syphoning tens of billions of dollars out of their lands. This illegal project, as adjudicated by the highest court in the land after more than a decade-long legal battle, is the subject of what is expected to be one of the largest compensation claims in Australian history. Projects like the illegal Solomon Mine are the spine of Forrest and his foundation’s wealth.

“We need to ask how we can in good conscience finance our initiatives and aspirations with the blood money that was extracted from other Indigenous peoples lands? What are the lines and where are they drawn? While there is compromise in everything, are these compromises the ones that we are willing to make? Yes, the conversation is uncomfortable, particularly as the existing pool of government, corporate and philanthropic funding is dwarfed by the scale of challenges that our communities face, but it is one that we need to have. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do believe that we need to think deeply about the current economic paradigms and hold ourselves and each other to a higher account.”

Ardern nemesis key to new era of NZ conservatism — Craig Greaves (The Australian) ($): “One of New Zealand’s most important politicians is an earnest and enthusiastic Aucklander whose actions once famously provoked Jacinda Ardern into calling him a ‘prick’ during parliamentary debate. The politician in question is David Seymour and he is having a whale of a time, despite being a political minnow as a leader of the minor party. Seymour helms ACT New Zealand, which sits comfortably on the right wing of politics as a classic libertarian party. ACT sees value in tradition and a limited government, as well as virtue in personal responsibility and freedom.

“Seymour, 40, is enjoying his new-found station because the party he has led for seven years has never been stronger. It’s primed not just to help usher in the next government but to signal its direction. Recent polling suggests a change of government in what is still likely to be a keenly contested October 14 general election. The opposition centre-right National Party’s polling advantage has recently strengthened, while the centre-left incumbent Labour Party is struggling to gain ground, in part because of a barrage of ministerial scandals and a dogged cost-of-living crisis. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is generally polling around the 30% mark, with the Christopher Luxon-led National Party consistently about 2-3 points higher.”

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• Afghanistan ambassador to Australia Wahidullah Waissi will speak about keeping hope alive at the National Press Club.