Plus: why have Iraqi authorities fined a jailed Australian US$50m?
View in browser
Saturday Nov 12
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Youtube
%%=v(@salutation)=%%
As Black Summer bushfires tore through Australia, a think tank funded by fossil fuel companies bought Google ads. Cam Wilson this week reported on the ads, which downplayed the link between the deadly blazes and climate change. But as Julia Bergin found, there are people around the country stepping up to use science to help address the climate crisis — from those growing magical methane-busting seaweed to a man shipping cow dung-burying beetles to farmers.

Also this week, Bernard Keane revealed the AFP no longer cares about Malcolm Turnbull’s missing memoirs, Charlie Lewis unpacked the News Corp obsession with ABC journalist Louise Milligan, and Anton Nilsson broke the story of a multimillion-dollar “fine” handed to a jailed Australian engineer by Iraqi authorities.

All that and more this week in Crikey.

Have a lovely weekend,
Gina Rushton Gina Rushton,
News editor
Advertisement
Ad
 
While Australia burned, Google took fossil fuel money to spread misinformation about climate change
CAM WILSON

A new report claims Google made more than $400,000 by breaking its own policy of prohibiting climate misinformation ads.

(Image: EPA/Evan Colls/DFES)
 
Dung beetles bury the problem as part of the climate solution
JULIA BERGIN

Better soil, more carbon retention, less toxic run-off and it's goodbye to the bushfly. All thanks to a tough little Aussie worker.

John Feehan with his dung beetles and the products of their hard work (Images: Supplied/Private Media)
 
How Australia’s seaweed farmers are feeding cows to help lower methane emissions
JULIA BERGIN

What can a spoonful of seaweed can do for the climate? Help save it.

(Image: CH4 Global/Zennie/Private Media)
Advertisement
Ad
 
AFP finds nothing to see here in illegal superspreading of Turnbull book
BERNARD KEANE

The Australian Federal Police has decided we should move on from Scott Morrison's staff illegally circulating Malcolm Turnbull's book. Publishers see a double standard.

Malcolm Turnbull (Image: AAP/Dean Lewins)
 
Wife of Australian jailed in Baghdad says he’s been fined US$50m by Iraqi authorities
ANTON NILSSON

Australian engineer Robert Pether, who's been behind bars for 19 months, has been served with papers demanding a huge sum of money.

Robert Pether (Image: Supplied)
 
DAN'S DILEMMA
Anatomy of a conspiracy theory: stairgate and the Republicanisation of Australian conservatism
CHARLIE LEWIS

The conspiracy theories around the 2021 accident of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have found their way to the front page of the Herald Sun. It might be a first for Australian journalism.

(Image: Tom Red/Private Media)
How do you spot a News Corp campaign? When a grown-up calls for calm
CHARLIE LEWIS

A columnist for The Australian has put out a reasoned piece criticising conspiratorial reporting about the Victorian premier. Curious timing.

 
AAT bullying allegations are just the tip of the iceberg
AMBER SCHULTZ

Seventeen current AAT members have had bullying or harassment complaints made against them since 2016, raising questions around the suitability of the tribunal.

(Image: AAT/Private Media)
 
News Corp, ABC waste precious time and resources over Louise Milligan culture war
CHARLIE LEWIS

The saga between The Australian and the ABC's Louise Milligan, now finding its way into Senate estimates, is a dreary reminder of what's wrong with Australian journalism.

The ABC's Louise Milligan and The Australian's Janet Albrechtsen (Image: ABC/Australian)
 
Elon Musk’s Twitter changes can be explained by this one simple number
CAM WILSON

There's been endless attempts to understand Twitter under the Elon Musk regime, but there's one number that explains his motivations.

Elon Musk (Image: Private Media)
 
ELECTION DISSECTION
Revelling in Republican defeat with the New Liberals of NYC
GUY RUNDLE

Guy Rundle went to a Manhattan bar expecting Democratic disappointment and defeat. But the night had other plans.

A Democrat rally at Sarah Lawrence College in New York's Westchester County (Image: Olga Fedorova/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
The Democrats may have survived a disaster — and could still clinch something resembling victory
GUY RUNDLE

It's beginning to look like the Democrats have avoided the worst. But several important seats won't be known for days.

The air is a little thick o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave
GUY RUNDLE

America has not been drowned in a red wave, but nor has it been able to catch a blue roller. It's going to be a messy couple of years.

 
The local dog pound will soon have what Australia’s hottest prison doesn’t — air-con
DENHAM SADLER

The Western Australian government has ignored two decades' of warnings about Roebourne prison, 'a corral of human misery'.

(Image: AAP)
 
Mental health worker compensation claims set to double by 2030 as workers face burnout
AMBER SCHULTZ

Despite the spike, however, getting a compensation payout isn't easy, with scores of claims rejected.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)
 
ASIC is looking into FTX’s Australian operations following the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse
CAM WILSON

The financial watchdog is speaking to FTX's Australian arms about what the sudden downfall of one of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency companies means for its local operations.

The crypto exchange FTX collapsed suddenly this week (Image: Adobe)
 
News Corp’s conspiracy theories help shield Andrews from legitimate scrutiny
BERNARD KEANE

While some journalists are working hard to hold Daniel Andrews to account, News Corp is making their job much harder.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)