Media moguls and the Turnbull coup

TURNBULL V MURDOCH (AND MAYBE V STOKES)

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull reportedly made a personal call to media mogul Rupert Murdoch two days before last month’s leadership spill, in an attempt to thwart a perceived push against the Liberal leader from News Corp.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Murdoch downplayed his hand in coverage of leadership instability, deferring to his son and Australian co-chairman Lachlan, while Turnbull only learned later of a second conversation where Murdoch told Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes “Malcolm has got to go”. Stokes has this morning strongly rejected ($) a series of assertions in an ABC report of the alleged conversation.

DUTTON SHORT OF A MIRACLE

The Greens and Labor will today seek a no-confidence motion against Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, after a Senate inquiry report found he had misled parliament over the au pair saga.

The Guardian reports that the Labor-dominated committee found Dutton “had a clear personal connection and existing relationship with the intended employer of the au pair in the Brisbane case” and had therefore earlier misled parliament in claiming he did not “know these people”. While Greens MP Adam Bandt will today move the no-confidence motion with support from Labor members and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Coalition inquiry members have since dismissed the report as a “witch-hunt” and hit out against evidence provided by former Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg. 

Elsewhere, a series of emails released as part of the inquiry demonstrate the urgency with which the Department of Home Affairs handled the two au pair cases, while only last week Australia was reported to the UN human rights council for three cases of arbitrarily detaining people seeking asylum.

A DOG’S LIFE

A University of Queensland lab has injected new anti-cancer synthetic nano-particles into a beagle suffering prostate cancer as part of a clinical trial for humans.

The Brisbane Times reports that Hoover is undergoing tests as part of a clinical escalation from lab rats to cats and dogs, which researchers at ARC Centre of Excellence for Bio-Nano Science said has become crucial because larger mammals develop more complicated cancers (i.e. dogs are the only other mammals other than humans to naturally develop prostate cancer). The new nano-therapy technology is being developed as a way to seek out cancer cells with microscopic particles, which can then release more direct “payloads” of chemotherapy drugs or even radiation.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move—

That the Senate acknowledge:

1. The deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation.
2. It is okay to be white.

Pauline Hanson

The One Nation Senator seeks official endorsement of the twin, seemingly contradictory traditions of white supremacy and victimhood.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Labor has serious questions to answer about Witness KBernard Keane

“A small number of Labor MPs have begun finding their voice about the outrage of the prosecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery despite efforts by Labor’s leadership to provide cover for the Liberals’ harassment of the pair. Victorian MP Julian Hill and others raised the scandal in yesterday’s caucus meeting and are set to receive a briefing from shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on it.”

The mess after the spillEliza Berlage

“While Australians are now well accustomed to the political chaos wrought by a leadership change, few really know what that chaos looks like within government departments. From the Department of Foreign Affairs (aka ‘Gareth’s gazebo’) to the behemoth Department of Defence, the latest Libspill has created a trying time for Canberra’s public servants. And, nearly a month later, the dust is yet to settle.”

Who is Gareth Ward, the MP accused of bullying colleagues?Charlie Lewis

“So the Liberals continue to shiver themselves to pieces in the aftermath of Malcolm Turnbull’s axing. In announcing her resignation, member for Gilmore Ann Sudmalis — like Julia Banks and Malcolm Turnbull before her — tossed a match over her shoulder on her way across the bridge, making allegations of bullying, harassment, ‘plotting and manipulation’. But Sudmalis went further than any of the others, naming names. Or, specifically, one name: NSW state MP Gareth Ward.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

The government’s secret $660 million offer to crossbenchers during company tax cut negotiations

Move to head off China with Australian base in PNG ($)

Blackface stunt football players apologise for mocking Williams sisters

CBA and ANZ caught in fake banking apps scam

‘There’s no problem’: Labor rejects case for new free speech rules at universities

Hunt bows to MP pressure to reverse vaping ban ($)

‘Redshirts’ MPs will get a questionnaire, not formal interview, over $1.3m scandal

Geoffrey Adams, the husband of missing Yorke Peninsula mother Colleen Adams, charged with her murder after 45 years ($)

Angus Taylor-made package prolongs coal’s power ($)

‘A travesty of justice’: Job seekers stripped of payments without right of appeal

THE COMMENTARIAT

Holding children indefinitely in offshore detention is Australia’s shame — and the world knows — Malcolm Farr (news.com.au): “The tolerance of Australians for the abuses of youngsters in the name of border protection will increasingly be tested as more details of their plights emerge. We will be confronted by terms such as ‘resignation syndrome’, a psychiatric disorder that drives a child to abandon all hopes of a better life.”

NT Farmers’ Association frustrated its opposition to Federal politicians’ Top End dams plan is being ignored ($) — Simon Smith (NT News): “I read with growing frustration the opinion piece, “Dams are Top End’s Future” by Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack in last week’s NT Business Review. Frustration for my members who for years have reached out to the National’s leadership for support on more immediate issues such a better roads and regional telecommunication coverage and labour shortages (now thankfully taken up by new Agriculture Minister Littleproud).”

Labor’s super reforms won’t go far enough — Linda White (Sydney Morning Herald): “It is a disturbing fact that the vast majority of Australian women do not have enough superannuation savings to live a dignified retirement. With an average 53 per cent of the super savings of men, many women are extremely vulnerable at retirement, particularly the one in four who are single and approaching retirement age, many of whom are separated after dedicating large parts of their life to care-giving.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• Greens MP Adam Bandt will introduce a motion of no confidence against Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton following a Senate report into the au pairs saga. Legislation will also be introduced in the House of Reps to toughen penalties for food tampering, and the Senate is expected to debate laws to make ABC coverage ‘fairer’ and better cover regional areas.

• Opposition leader Bill Shorten will host a Labor forum on renewable energy.

• A joint standing committee will hold an inquiry into Canberra’s national institutions, while a House inquiry will investigate superannuation fund investment in agriculture.

• A team of cyclists carrying the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’s Novel Peace Prize will arrive at Parliament House after a 900 kilometre trek to urge Australia to sign up to the global nuclear ban treaty.

• The National Museum of Australia will launch new exhibition “Rome: City and Empire”.

• Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will deliver the ANU’s Faith Bandler Lecture on the advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders rights.

• The Dementia Australia “Small actions Big difference” roadshow will feature an awareness lecture from Professor Kaarin Anstey and speeches from Melbourne City FC’s Amy Jackson and Carlton’s Nicola Stevens amongst others.

• Justice Melissa Perry will present “The duality of water”, a discussion on global water rights and resources, for the ANU’s annual Kirby Lecture on International Law.

• Authors Tania McCartney, Leife Shallcross and Katharine Murphy will speak as part of Australian Reading Hour at Harry Hartog Bookseller.

Melbourne

• Final sitting day of Victorian Parliament before the November 24th state election. Separately, Vision Australia will host seeing eye dog puppies at Parliament House.

• The financial services royal commission’s insurance round will hear from a woman whose home was damaged in the 2015 Hunter Valley floods and examine Suncorp’s handling of those claims and 2015 Wye River bushfires. Other witnesses for the day include a Youi executive to finish evidence and an Insurance Council of Australia CEO over industry regulation.

• The Crime Statistics Agency will release Victoria’s latest quarterly crime data for the year ending June 2018.

• Melbourne landmarks will be lit up as part of Dementia Awareness Month, with an event scheduled at AAMI Park today and Melbourne Town Hall tomorrow September 21st.

• Children’s Laureate Morris Gleiztman will speak to over 200 school kids as part of Australian Reading Hour at The Wheeler Centre. Elsewhere, author Danielle Binks will celebrate the day with a “Books on the Rail” event along the Melbourne City Loop train line.

• Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre Hugh de Kretser will present “Why Australia needs a Charter of Human Rights” for the 2018 Higinbotham Lecture at RMIT.

• Former Premier John Brumby and Pacific Islands News Association editor Makereta Komai will speak at La Trobe Asia public forum “Australia and China in the Pacific”.

• Author Johann Hari will speak on “Drugs, Depression and Discrimination” at Melbourne Town Hall.

• 2013 Nobel Laureate and cell biologist Professor Randy W Schekman will present the 2018 Grimwade Medal Oration at the University of Melbourne.

• Journalist Peter Greste will speak on “Journalism in the age of terror – how the media has become a battlefield” for an RMIT public talk.

• Author Gerald Murnane will speak in-conversation at The Wheeler Centre.

Adelaide

• Proceedings will be held in Adelaide’s Federal Court over Senator David Leyonhjelm’s allegedly defamatory remarks against Greens SA Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

• Business SA will hold a morning tea to launch the Mental Health Coalition’s “5-Day Workplace Challenge”, a campaign aimed at improving mental health in worksites.

• Philanthropist Maria Myers will present the Kimberley Foundation Australia’s 20th anniversary lecture at the South Australian Museum.

• Day one of the two-day annual Australian New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research symposium, to be held along the theme of “Disruptive Social Work” at Flinders University.

• Author Fiona McIntosh will speak as part of Australian Reading Hour at Adelaide City Library.

• The South Australian Business Index 2018 will be held by InDaily.

Sydney

• The families of Bowraville victims Colleen Walker-Craig, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux will join demonstrators outside Parliament House to protest inaction over the case and NSW double jeopardy laws.

• The State Library of NSW will host Walkley Media Talk “The legal landscape for journalism” with The Saturday Paper’s legal affairs editor Richard Ackland, Banki Haddock Fiora partner Kate Haddock, The Australian’s legal affairs correspondent Nicola Berkovic, Judge Judith Gibson and moderator Marcus Strom from media union MEAA.

• Author Garth Nix will speak as part of Australian Reading Hour at the Better Read Than Dead bookstore.

• Day one of the ten-day Philippine Food Festival.

• The University of Sydney will host a Sydney Ideas forum discussing, “Stem cell therapy: the good, the bad and the ugly”.

Brisbane

• The ABS will release an Australian demographic report, set to include information about internal migration.

• Professor of Palliative Care Research Luc Deliens will present “Assisted dying and palliative care – two antagonistic practices or two sides of the same coin?” for the ACHLR 6th Annual Public Oration at QUT.

• Day one of the two-day Australian Tactical Medicine Conference 2018.

• Dame Quentin Bryce will present for the “Australian Reading Hour: The books that made me” series at Indooroopilly Library.

• Metro Arts will hold a “Passion to Product” panel event with Ben’s Burgers founder Ben Chiu, ceramic artist Charlie De Deyne, and designer and fashion entrepreneur Amy Crow.

• ABC Radio’s Rebecca Levingston will host the second annual “Beeries” beer and cider award night.

Darwin

• CIO of Smarter Technology Solutions Danielle Storey will present on IoT at the Darwin Innovation Hub.

• Author Toni Tapp Coutts will speak as part of Australian Reading Hour at Nightcliff Library.

Perth

• The Nyoongar Tent Embassy will rally against government policies on Indigenous children at Forrest Chase shopping district.

• Author Glenn Swift will present as part of Australian Reading Hour at the City of Perth.

• Curtin University will host a “Big Ideas, Fast” seminar showcase.

Hobart

• The Tasmania Fire Service will hold a bushfire season briefing ahead of summer.

• Members of the Australian Education Union Tasmania will participate in a “Walk Off for Workload” action at the end of the school day, when their duty of care has ended, to protest unsustainable workloads.

• Author Heather Rose will speak as part of Australian Reading Hour at Hobart Library.