Crikey Worm: Auspol Infinity War

AUSPOL: INFINITY WAR

Almost every Australian political party is at war with itself today, and yes, it is the usual suspects.

First up, the SMH reports that former One Nation/soon-to-be Bob Katter’s Australian Party Senator Brian Burston is launching an effort to have party leader Pauline Hanson brought before the Senate privileges committee and potentially sanctioned over alleged interference, intimidation and threats following Burston’s defection on company tax cuts.

Secondly, both the ABC and The Australian ($) report of Nationals politicians pressuring their former leader Barnaby Joyce to reconsider his political future. Senior figures have reportedly urged resigned former leader John Anderson to challenge Joyce for preselection in his New England seat.

Finally, The Australian ($) reports that former NSW Labor minister Rodney Cavalier has attacked national president and federal frontbencher Mark Butler in a private newsletter post for party members over “self-serving buffoonery” and alleged hypocrisy over recent moves to encourage broader membership control of the party. Cavalier has also had a swipe at new members, party groups, and current leader Bill Shorten, for good measure.

FRANCHISEES IN FINANCIAL RUIN

Up to 173 franchisees with Australian mortgage broking giant Mortgage Choice are considering legal action over a business model they allege pushes scores of current and former brokers into unethical business practices, financial ruin, and depression.

A joint Fairfax-7.30 investigation has found that up to almost half of Mortgage Choice’s franchisees are considering setting up a legal fund if the company doesn’t create a fairer working relationship. The report found that Mortgage Choice’s business model is “pushing franchisees to cut corners, including churning customers, writing inflated loans to meet aggressive targets and in some cases committing fraud”. 

Shortly after being contacted for comment, the company told ASX they are reviewing their franchisee remuneration structure.

WILLIAMS OUT OF FRENCH OPEN

Tennis legend Serena Williams has pulled out of the French Open over a pectoral muscle injury, ahead of a fourth round match with Maria Sharapova. 

The ABC reports that the 36-year-old, 23-time Grand Slam champion announced the news overnight. Considering she had been playing relatively soon after a maternity break and once won a championship while pregnant, it is likely one hell of a pec muscle injury.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

Solemn ceremony [at] Southwark Cathedral for anniversary of London Bridge Islamist terror… Corbyn at least wearing a tie, was there with his equally appalling ex-girlfriend and ultra-leftist Diane Abbot [sic] MP. Was surprised to hear from his high pulpit the Bishop of Southwark the Right Reverend [sic] Christopher Chessun extoll the security services for their work that night in ‘eliminating’ the terrorists. His crediting of the British police reaction that night is deserved. Would [think] that Englishmen would apply such tough mindedness to other analogous circumstances, in other places.

Michael Danby

In a particularly poor-taste post to Facebook, the Australian Labor MP takes a swipe at British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his front-bench colleague Diane Abbott following a memorial service for London Bridge terror victims. While in equally poor taste, those final lines read as vague before you consider Danby’s rather militant defence of Israel.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

And the Wankley goes to… Sunday Night for its Barnaby Joyce interviewEmily Watkins

“Crikey likes to take the time to recognise the worst expressions of journalism with a Wankley award. And we can think of no one more deserving this morning than Channel Seven’s Sunday Night, for its softer-than-soft paid interview with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and his partner Vikki Campion (featuring their baby son).”

CommBank gives in to AUSTRAC, hands over $700 millionBernard Keane and Glenn Dyer

“Earlier this year, the Commonwealth Bank announced it had set aside $375 million for possible penalties arising from charges by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) in relation to money laundering. Today, the bank and AUSTRAC announced they had agreed to a penalty of just under twice that, $700 million, as part of CBA’s settlement with the regulator over years-long problems with its management and reporting of cash-deposit ATMs.”

The Menzies and Mings: another guide to Australia’s (many) political dynastiesCharlie Lewis

“The Katters and the Douglases: Rasping eccentric and member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, is but a single tree that springs from a particularly fertile orchard; one that’s notable even among these monarchic political families. Bob Snr previously held the same state (Flinders) and federal seats his son would later occupy. And, since 1966, the Katters have held Kennedy for all but two years (between 1990 and 1992 it was held by Rob Hulls, who would go on to be deputy premier of Victoria).”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Fears as emergency gridlock hits Royal Hobart Hospital ($)

Funding boost for out-of-home care adoption in NSW

Elite police unit twice refused to arrest Gargasoulas before massacre

AAco bosses gave themselves beefy pay rise before sacking 200 workers at Livingstone abattoir ($)

Adelaide Crows take control of Adelaide Bite licence, continue off-field media and sport expansion ($)

High school sport stars targeted by criminals with prostitutes, drugs and cash ($)

Dan Sultan apologises to fans for ‘disrespectful’ Cairns performance

NSW overhauls mega projects amid cost blowouts ($)

Fears Nauru’s sweeping new contempt laws target opposition

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• ACT Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr will hand down the territory 2018/19 budget.

• Final day of the current round of federal Senate estimates will hear from portfolio representatives for Industry, Innovation and Science (Resources and Northern Australia Development, NOPSEMA, GeoScience Australia and Marine Science Institute), Treasury (any groups or agencies that missed out on May 29-30), and Education and Training (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership; Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority; Department’s “Outcome 2: Higher Education, Skills and Training”; Australian Research Council, Australian Skills and Quality Authority and National Centre for Vocational Education Research).

• Senate reports on credit reporting legislation and migration laws will be presented.

Melbourne

• Federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will doorstop at Coles for World Environment Day.

• Launch of the Antarctic Science Foundation, a project creating the first opportunities for philanthropic support of Antarctic research.

• Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam and MPs Sam Hibbins and Ellen Sandell help launch the party’s anti-privatisation campaign, as part of its 2018 state election platform.

Burnie, Tasmania

• Opposition leader Bill Shorten will hold a press conference in the seat of Braddon, Tasmania.

Sydney

• The Ethics Centre and Vivid Ideas will present a IQ2 debate: “Has #MeToo gone too far?”, with guests journalist Libby-Jane Charleston and criminologist Michael Salter arguing “for” and writer Benjamin Law and journalist Jeannette Francis “against”.

• Day one of the two-day Totara User Conference – Asia Pacific 2018.

Adelaide

• Day one of the 16th Public Health Association of Australia’s National Immunisation Conference, a three-day event discussing the prevention and control of vaccine preventable diseases.

Darwin

• Opening night for The Pen and the Sword, a performance showcasing poetry from the end of WW1.

Perth

• The Centre for Parenting Excellence will run a masterclass for people working in Early Childhood Education and Care settings.

• Arbonne Australia will host their Business Essentials Roadshow.

Brisbane

• The Women in Design & Construction group will run a “Personal Finances 101” workshop.

• icare will operate a community engagement event on worker insurance.

Australia

• RBA board meeting will be held on interest rates.

India

• Today is the UN’s World Environment Day, with host country India holding events dedicated around the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Many women with breast cancer may not need chemo, but beware misleading headlines — Darren Saunders (The Conversation): “Findings from a major international clinical trial suggest a significant number of women with the most common form of early-stage breast cancer do not need chemotherapy after surgery. The results of the so-called TAILORx trial were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and concurrently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Everyone I know who works in hospitality has been exploited. That needs to change — Chad Parkhill (The Guardian): “One of my formative experiences in the hospitality industry was of being exploited. 18 years old, fresh out of a small country town and studying at university in Brisbane, and to support myself (or, if I’m being honest, to defray the costs of my parents’ support), I got a job as a dish-pig and general hand at the local football club. I was paid less than the minimum wage — cash in hand, of course — and would have to front up to the office to collect that cash weekly from one of the club’s managers.”

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