DUTTON EVICTS ASYLUM SEEKERS

Refugees who have been transferred to the Australian community from offshore immigration detention centres will today have their benefits cut, raising fears they will face destitution. Over the weekend a number of media outlets were leaked details of a new “final departure Bridging E Visa”, which will cut the small amount of support provided to such people and evict them from government housing, forcing a return to offshore detention or countries of origin.

The fate of asylum seekers transferred from Manus Island and Nauru to Australia for medical treatment has been a major point of tension between refugee advocates and the government in recent years, and about 100 people are expected to be impacted by the changes, including families with with young children.

Labor leader Bill Shorten denounced the decision, calling it Malcolm Turnbull’s “weakest move yet”.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has hit back in The Daily Telegraph, which reported at least one of the asylum seekers had used sex workers. “They were brought to Australia on the premise that once their medical needs were met they would return to Nauru or Manus,” Dutton said.

LIBERALS AT END OF THE RAINBOW

A group of high-profile Liberal and National personalities will launch a campaign today encouraging conservatives to vote yes in the marriage equality postal survey. Among the patrons will be federal Liberal Party president Nick Greiner, Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and former federal minister Amanda Vanstone. Both Fairfax and The Australian report that current federal members Kelly O’Dwyer and Simon Birmingham will also play key roles.

Greiner outlines his conservative pitch in an op-ed today, writing that “Widening marriage will deliver stronger families and communities. More commitment and responsibility in our society will be the dividend of a Yes vote.”

Online polling reported on the weekend revealed majority support for same-sex marriage among the general community as well as among religious Australians. That isn’t slowing down the Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton, however, who has lodged a complaint against the ABC after being asked on television how he reconciled cheering for swimmer Ian Thorpe while opposing his right to marry.

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney: State Labor MP Sonia Hornery will appear in the local court on charges of misusing electoral information.

Adelaide: Josh Frydneyberg will visit a company designing self-sufficient houses.

Melbourne: Former senator Scott Ludlam will be in conversation with Gillian Triggs at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival.

COMMENTARIAT

There’s no future in a life on welfare, says Malcolm Turnbull — Malcolm Turnbull (Herald Sun $): “My first proper job was as a labourer in the fruit and vegetable markets and I have had many jobs since. And more importantly, with Lucy I have created many jobs, starting businesses, some of which did very well, some of which did not.”

Here’s a winner – cashless welfare will save lives — Tony Abbott (The Australian $): “To me, it makes sense for all working-age people on welfare — not just Aborigines in remote ­places — to have 80 per cent of taxpayer-provided benefits quarantined to the necessities of life as no one who genuinely needs ­welfare has much discretionary income.”

THE WORLD

French President Emmanuel Macron has suffered a dramatic turnaround in his approval rating, according to a new poll. As the president attempts to push through labour reforms and cuts to housing funding, his disapproval rate has shot up 14 points, to 57%. — Reuters

At least five people have been killed in the US city of Houston after Cyclone Harvey turned into a tropical storm and dumped rain on the city. The downfall is expected to continue for days. — New York Times

Boxer Floyd Mayweather has defeated Conor McGregor with a technical knockout in the 10th round. Undefeated in his career, Mayweather came out of retirement to fight McGregor, a UFC fighter new to boxing. The bout was controversial for this reason, but also because of the racial undertones of the battle, and Mayweather’s personal history of domestic violence. — New York Times

WHAT WE’RE READING

Why Germany will never have a Trump (Der Spiegel): “Who could emerge as a German Trump? There are no men like him in the German political world, nor are they prevalent in other areas of German life either. This aggressive, primitive archetype is no longer accepted here. The American masculinity myth stretches back to the cowboy, while the German equivalent is rooted in the soldier — and the latter died in World War II.”

Nigeria’s first ever corruption survey is as bad as most people imagined (Quartz): “On average, Nigerians pay six bribes per year, or one every two months. The total amount of bribes paid to public officials amount to $4.6 billion in purchasing power parity terms—the equivalent of 39% of the country’s federal and state budgets for education last year … bribes were mostly paid to facilitate bureaucratic tasks such as obtaining a driving license or a land ownership certificate.”

Backstage with Pauline Hanson: a cocktail of righteous patriotism, vitriol and fear (Guardian Australia): “Confoundingly, Hanson cites her own time in jail (she was jailed for electoral fraud in 2003) to argue that Australian prisons are not punitive enough.”

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