JANUARY 31, 2020

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Welcome to Crikey Weekender.

This week we were proud to publish a special Inq investigation into the country’s rapidly collapsing coastlines. Australia’s Collapsing Coast drew on the work of scientists and locals on the front lines of coastal erosion, probed the growing impact of climate change, and questioned what governments must do to stave off perhaps Australia’s most pressing ecological danger.

Elsewhere, Crikey looked at the wider effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak, while Bernard Keane asked where the bloody hell Scott Morrison’s sense of leadership has gone. And who could forget: the ceaseless embarrassments of the Bridget McKenzie saga somehow got more embarrassing. (We’re sure the bottom is there somewhere, but the diggers at the Coalition keep proving us wrong.)

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

Have a great weekend,

Emily Watkins
News editor

Give ’em nothing, take ’em nowhere: bereft Morrison cannot lead

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

Whatever the reason for Scott Morrison's major speech yesterday, the prime minister had nothing to offer the country at a time when leadership is urgently required.

Where do the unions stand on Labor’s climate dilemma?

GEORGIA WILKINS 3 minute read

Crikey asked Australia's biggest unions what kind of climate policies they want. The answers show they're divided.

Australia's Collapsing Coast

The tide is coming: why our beaches are vanishing

CHARLIE LEWIS and KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 4 minute read

Communities around the country are coming face-to-face with the growing threat of coastal erosion. And as the climate crisis hastens, the problem is only going to get worse...

‘The waves are going to be crashing through their door’: the erosion hot spots

CHARLIE LEWIS and KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 4 minute read

Experts and residents have known about Australia's collapsing coastline for years, but the true extent of the growing damage is staggering.

The tragedy of the horizon: why action is needed now

CHARLIE LEWIS and KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 3 minute read

When it comes to solutions to the problem of Australia's eroding coastline, there's some good news... and a whole lot of bad news.

Biloela family is ‘very worried’ about coronavirus Christmas Island plan

REBEKAH HOLT and JUSTINE LANDIS-HANLEY 4 minute read

The family are the only people being housed at the detention centre. Soon they'll be trapped in a quarantine site.

Five things to be done on coastal erosion

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

Australia's coastline is collapsing. So what can we do to turn the tide?

What will unite us when the beaches are gone?

“

I often question what happens to a culture, to stories, to people when those cultures arose in places that no longer exist. I wonder what will happen when vast areas of Australia’s coast have been eroded away, when suburbs and entire cities on the coast become unliveable, when increased storms and more dangerous bushfires destroy what’s left. — Claire Coleman

Beaches might be the only thing capable of uniting Australia. If they were to disappear, it would rip into the heart of our identity.

After the fires, some new challenges: dead fish, the ice spike and fewer tourists

JUSTINE LANDIS-HANLEY 4 minute read

A huge percentage of NSW's cannabis crop has almost certainly gone up in smoke. These things all have roll-on effects.

The Saga of Bridget McKenzie

Rort and sold: to recap, here is the case against McKenzie

CHARLIE LEWIS 3 minute read

The PM is trying to rewrite history on the Bridget McKenzie scandal. Here are the facts.

Even Coalition boosters want McKenzie gone

CHARLIE LEWIS 3 minute read

Does Bridget McKenzie have any supporters left? Certainly not in the media.

Bridget McKenzie forgot about her gun club, but found time to declare other gifts. What gives?

DAVID HARDAKER 3 minute read

Bridget McKenzie is not short on gifts – so why was a membership to a gun club that received a sports grant left undeclared?

Australian universities brace for financial fallout from coronavirus

4 minute read

A large portion of Australia's $35.2 billion international education market comes from Chinese students. How much will this drop in 2020?

The science behind our vanishing beaches

SARAH BOULTER 3 minute read

We are already seeing the impact of climate change on our coastal communities. The way forward demands difficult conversations and challenging decisions.

We will not go down to the sea. It will come to us

“

Starting before dawn, boats are launched from the adjacent ramp, coming and going until after dark. It is no wilderness. Rather, it is a scene that could be described as Australian Coastal: a classic example of the mythological soul of our waterfront nation where people and the marine environment meet. — James Woodford

Sea levels rising and falling up to hundreds of metres is a story re-told on Earth multiple times over the past hundred million years. But this time is different.

Removal of asbestos, no way. New swizzle sticks, you bet! The other McKenzie spreadsheet

BEN POBJIE 1 minute read

$100,000 for horse massages? Seems fair!