Welcome to the first Crikey Weekender of 2020.

If anybody expected the news to slow down in the new year, they were in for a rude surprise. Fallout from the Coalition’s mishandling of the bushfire crisis continued to deepen, while elsewhere Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie was abruptly dragged into the spotlight after the bombshell of The Great Rort — the Coalition’s massive sports rorting scandal.

Meanwhile the fire crisis continued with such severity that even the rusted-on climate denialists at News Corp seemed to be seeing some sense.

But if the conservative media wants to abscond from responsibility, it’s going to have to fight for it. As Bernard Keane and Stephen Mayne dissected News Corp’s attempt to distance itself from its virulent climate denialism, Guy Rundle tackled the right-wing media’s culpability in a young conservative’s tragic death.

As always, we’d love to know what you thought of the week’s news. Drop us a line at boss@crikey.com.au.

Thank you for joining us. It’s going to be a big year.

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

A closer look at how fossil fuel companies influence policy making shows that Australia has a carbon industrial complex uniting government and greenhouse emitters.

STEPHEN MAYNE 4 minute read

James Murdoch has laid bare divisions on climate crisis within the media empire. Will it amount to any real change?

5 minute read

Here's what you can learn from the conservative response to the bushfire crisis — a masterclass in spin, wilful ignorance and weaponised disinformation.

4 minute read

Here are the billionaires, businesses and lobby groups donating to fire relief in the hopes you'll forget they're driving the world's climate crisis.

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

While Scott Morrison has stumbled from bungle to bungle in his bushfire response, Anthony Albanese, to the fury of progressives, is playing a long game.

GUY RUNDLE 4 minute read

Following a young conservative's death in Brisbane, the right seems surprised that the lethal politics it has courted for years has started to have tragic consequences.

JUSTINE LANDIS-HANLEY 3 minute read

Anti-Islam figures and far-right trolls are pushing conspiracies that Australia's bushfires are the work of Islamic terrorists.

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

What to do when your usual brand of climate denialism comes under fire? Find a new one, of course.

MICHAEL BRADLEY 4 minute read

Flying Nazi flags is abhorrent. But new laws against them won’t make the slightest difference to Australia's drift to authoritarianism.