CLEAR WATERS
The Attorney-General George Brandis and Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue have opened a return to federal politics for former Greens’ Senator Larissa Waters, submitting to the High Court that Waters should not be ruled ineligible to sit in parliament. The Commonwealth’s submission to the Court backs other imperiled MPs with the exception of Scott Ludlam and Malcolm Roberts, arguing that a “person who does not know that they are, or ever were, a foreign citizen” should not be ruled out by Section 44 of the constitution.
Ludlam has already retired while Roberts looks to be in trouble after the Court established a set of facts that found he was a British citizen at the time of nomination. The cases will be heard from October 10-12.
If Roberts does lose his position it could open up a spot for the next person on the One Nation ticket, Fraser Anning, who received a total of just 19 below-the-line votes. In good news for those enjoying the legal orgy surrounding the citizenship saga, Anning is currently subject to bankruptcy proceedings and may have eligibility troubles himself, depending on their outcome.
BOTTOM LINE LOOKING BETTER
The Federal government’s 2016-17 budget has come out slightly better than expected, with a $4 billion boost thanks to an improving economic situation and less spending on welfare, disability, and student payments.
While Scott Morrison was yesterday talking up the result, it was in part enabled by the slower than expected expansion of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and savings achieved by the notoriously flawed welfare robo-debt collecting system.
The final deficit figure comes in at $33.2 billion, the lowest since 2008/9, with the bottom line buoyed by improved economic conditions and increasing revenue.
DRAGAN FINALLY SLAYED
A former Australian reservist has been sentenced to 15 years jail for war crimes.
Dragan Vasiljkovic, known as Captain Dragan, moved to Australia in his early teens but returned to Europe after Yugoslavia collapsed into war, working for Serbian intelligence chiefs and training special forces. Overnight he was sentenced by a Croatian court after being found responsible for two killings.
Vasiljkovic was wanted for many years before he was extradited from Australia after a long-running series of investigations by The Australian newspaper.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
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WHAT’S ON TODAY
Sydney: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg meet with gas company heads.
Sydney: Directions hearing for Nationals MP David Gillespie, who is having his eligibility to sit in parliament challenged on the basis that he allegedly received a benefit from the Commonwealth.
Sydney: A directions hearing is expected to outline a timetable for the transfer of Ten shares to CBS.
Sydney: The NRL holds its annual Dally M awards.
Melbourne: AGL Energy holds its AGM.
Melbourne: Former Human Rights Commission head Gillian Triggs delivers an oration at Victoria University’s College of Law and Justice.
Adelaide: The CFMEU will hold a rally for safer working conditions.
Bogata: Alleged Australian drug-smuggler Cassie Sainsbury returns to court with prosecutors expected to outline their case.
THE COMMENTARIAT
Coalition’s banking accountability regime too much to BEAR — Janet Albrechtsen (The Australian $): “Let’s try the concepts out in politics next. After all, politicians who busily regulate every facet of our lives, every corner of activity, every small, medium or large business, professions of all kinds, are members of the most unregulated profession in Australia. Even the most basic provisions around misleading and deceptive conduct that apply to businesses in Australia don’t apply to the business of politics.
We are going to fix the gas problem — Josh Frydenberg (Australian Financial Review $): “The Andrews government have been the nation’s biggest economic vandals, locking up 40 years’ worth of gas resource with bans on unconventional and moratoriums on conventional onshore gas development.”
A decade after the global financial crisis, we’re still not back to normal — Ross Gittins (Sydney Morning Herald): “Fancy footwork by the Rudd government at the time allowed us to escape the GFC with only a few scratches. Turns out it’s not that simple. The economy’s been below par ever since and, for the past four years, our growth in wages has been as weak as in the other advanced economies.”
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
From Blackout Bill to Juliar: why pejorative nicknames don’t work in politics — Bernard Keane: “The trick with a good political nickname is not just to slap a degrading moniker on someone — ‘Blackout Bill’ — and hope that the media and voters somehow, by osmosis, pick it up, but to find something that reflects some quintessential aspect of the target’s personality. The ‘Mad Monk’ stuck to Abbott because, in addition to his Catholicism, it was clear there was something unnervingly zealot-like about him.”
Why FM radio will be the real prize of media takeover frenzy — Emily Watkins: “The three metro FM radio groups — Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Australia Radio Network (ARN) and Nova — had record profit margins in 2016, which had increased by an average of 5.4% every year for the previous five years.”
ABC breached impartiality requirements — Emily Watkins: “The broadcasting regulator has found the ABC breached its impartiality requirements under its code for the first time since 2011. The ABC in Canberra broadcast a story in November last year about historical child sexual abuse allegations against the late Dr Vincent John Adams Flynn, conveying that the allegations were true and not noting his previous denials. The Australian Communications and Media Authority found the ABC breached the due impartiality standard, but didn’t find a breach of the standards that require accuracy, an opportunity to respond, or the attribution of information.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
Would like to think Brandis’ strategy including Larissa Waters was due to a pang of decency, but… maybe they’re just hoping her good character will improve the odour of the others.
Canavan has become a fake news specialist in his short political life, and water diviner Joyce makes a good pimp for our most scrupulous irrigationists.
Larissa Waters is surely one of the more genuine political players we have seen in recent times ( and I’m not a Green), hope she is welcomed back.
If the HC rules that ignorance is an excuse what sort of mess will that create?
Speed limits will have no meaning – “sorry officer, I did not know the speed limit was …km/h”
Thing is Larissa’s case is different as both parents are entirely Australian, she has no Canadian ancestry and her children would not have been able to claim citizenship, unlike the other cases where they could and tried to blame others.