Senior ABC staff demand answers

SWEEP THE BOARD

Following outgoing ABC chairman Justin Milne‘s revealing interview with 7.30’s Leigh Sales, The Australian ($) today reports that senior ABC staff are demanding explanations over why board members at best passively supported his allegedly politically motivated push to fire reporters Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn. Sales also took to Twitter to ask why the board had decided to fire former managing director Michelle Guthrie.

The Sydney Morning Herald meanwhile has called for the entire ABC board to resign and, in case there was any confusion over what “Get rid of her” meant, released Milne’s full, leaked Alberici email. Finally, the leader of a government efficiency review into both the ABC and SBS, former Foxtel chief executive and News Corp boss Peter Tonagh has told The Age that the board upheaval was “helpful” and provides scope for savings.

WE DID NAZI THAT COMING

Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has found that an implied threat from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to withdraw resources from the Katter’s Australian Party over Senator Fraser Anning‘s “final solution” speech could constitute bribery.

The Brisbane Times reports that Robbie Katter had earlier this month referred both the Premier and LNP to the CCC, following Palaszczuk’s decision to rip up an agreement for five extra staff for the party, in response to the Nazi-esque speech.

ABBOTT SHAMED

Former prime minister and new “Indigenous Affairs Envoy” Tony Abbott has been thoroughly rejected by a Northern Territory community over accusations of assimilationist and puntivie policies.

The NT News ($) reports that Borroloola elders, educators and parents publicly condemned Abbott at a Wednesday community meeting over millions in regional cuts he had overseen as prime minister for Indigenous Affairs, punitive plans to link school attendance with welfare payments, and reports of wanting Indigenous children to both speak and “think” in English.

In other Indigenous news, BuzzFeed has revealed how First Nations people have come to be detained in immigration centres and, in some cases, deported.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

They weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing with me.

Donald Trump

The US President responds to questions over how it felt to have world leaders laugh at him.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Milne is gone but he was just one part of a broader war on the ABCBernard Keane

“With Justin Milne’s resignation as chair of the ABC, the risk is that this sorry saga will be seen as only about Milne’s political motivations and failures in the role. Instead, Milne’s performance makes more sense if he is seen as the Liberal Party’s inside man in a broader, and increasingly relentless, war against the ABC.”

How Kerryn Phelps became the ‘inclusive’ third way for WentworthHelen Razer

“Kerryn Phelps may not be progressive. What? Next, they’ll be saying our Vicar of Christ lives in Rome. It’s not like Councillor Phelps was described by her Mayor last June as ‘more comfortable with the conservatives on council’. Phelps never found herself poolside chez Turnbull. She did not publish a book in 2002 then ask Alan Jones to launch it at a hatted Sydney restaurant. No. By which we mean, yes. These are facts, but also alternative facts. They are, if you like, post-truth.”

Who fired Michelle Guthrie? A brief look at the ABC board.Kishor Napier-Raman

“The dramatic fallout from Michelle Guthrie’s sacking has put the ABC’s board under the microscope. A quick glance at the CVs of the ABC’s board of directors indicates that they are drawn overwhelmingly from the highest echelons of corporate Australia. Conversely, the board collectively has almost no journalistic experience.”

This week from the New York Times

Jacinda Ardern’s progressive politics made her a global sensation. But do they work at home?

Brett Kavanaugh and America’s ‘himpathy’ reckoning

In britain, even children are feeling the effects of austerity

The existential void of the pop-up ‘experience’

Has Australia abandoned the salad sandwich?

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Government threatens to withhold billions in school funding unless states back new deal

Flammable cladding confirmed on five Queensland government buildings

Clive Palmer reveals his election plans for South Australia ($)

Broken Labor promise lets ‘God clause’ wipe out endangered species

Aussie arrivals to face new heights of security checks ($)

Royal Hobart Hospital nurses, doctor describe being ‘flogged’, ‘burnt out’ by constant stress

ICAC refuses to provide any details of a possible investigation into Renewal SA, after two executives stepped away ($)

Westpac warns staff on culture as banks brace for Hayne pain ($)

NSW Labor MP criticised for questioning political future of pregnant backbencher

Christine Blasey Ford ‘100%’ certain Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

THE COMMENTARIAT

This is about more than the ABC — Waleed Aly (The Sydney Morning Herald): “The broader picture here is of a political culture hostile to criticism and if it comes to it, transparency; aggressively prepared to pursue critics, whistleblowers and journalists rather than engage with the substantive complaints those people might be raising. Not all of these responses are the same. Some are legislative, others are intimidatory.”

Donald Trump’s trade war overshadows China’s irritations with Australia ($) — Jennifer Hewett (Australian Financial Review): “But it’s the high-stakes game of bluff between Washington and Beijing that presents Australia with its most difficult political balancing act in decades. That includes some (limited) benefits as well as risks when it comes to trade directly affecting this country. “

Talking Point: We have the power to fix housing ($) — Andrew Wilkie (The Mercury): “Australia is a rich and lucky country. We have the 13th biggest economy in the world and our per capita national wealth is second only to the Swiss. So it beggars belief that so many Australians struggle to find an affordable home. Just look at the most recent Census figures where a staggering 116,427 people are homeless, including more than 1500 in Tasmania. In Denison, the figure is more than 500.”

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne

• An interim report on the banking royal commission is expected to be released. Today is also the final day the commission will accept public submissions.

• Multiple events will be held for the MCG’s Footy Festival, and around Victoria, as part of the state’s AFL Grand Final Friday public holiday.

Canberra

• The Senate is due to receive the most recent data on the number of people in the national prioritisation queue who have been waiting longer than 12 months to receive home care packages.

• Radio journalist Richard Fidler will present “Telling and Writing the Story” for the 2018 Seymour Biography Lecture at National Library of Australia.

• Human rights lawyer Julian Burnside and migration agent Marion Lê will address ANU’s 2018 LSS Social Justice Dinner.

Sydney

• The AEC will declare candidates for the Wentworth by-election and conduct the random draw for positions on the ballot paper.

• The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research will release a joint-report on ovarian cancer treatment.

• NSW Parliament House will host the 6th Annual Model Global Parliament.

• Former Australian diplomat Warwick Mayne-Wilson we speak on his work with the Department of Foreign Affairs at Woollahra Library.

Hobart

• An inquiry into acute health services in Tasmania will hear from the Health Complaints Commissioner and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation.

• Author Heather Rose will speak at Kingston Library’s “Books Uncovered” event.

Perth

• Former Justice of the High Court Michael Kirby will deliver “Where to now? The Future of LGBTIQ+ Human Rights” for the Curtin Annual Human Rights Lecture.

Darwin

• Former Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs will launch her memoir Speaking Up at the Northern Territory Library.

• Opening day of Indigenous light festival “Parrtjima”, set to run until October 7th.

Brisbane

• Day one of the two-day “LibertyFest” conference, to feature Warren Mundine, Senator Amanda Stoker, Senator David Leyonhjelm, Craig Kelly MP and Mark Latham amongst others.

• Day one of Brisbane’s three-day Food & Wine Expo 2018.

Adelaide

• Director of excavation works for the Sydney Metro Linda Miller will present “Dreaming Big – Transportation Infrastructure and Interdisciplinary Interfaces on Complex Mega-Projects” for the Institution of Civil Engineers’s 12th Brunel International Lecture Series.

Australia

• Today is National Police Remembrance Day, with services expected across the country to remember officers killed in the line of duty.

New York, USA

• NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will address the United Nations General Assembly.