JONES ‘FULL OF SHIT’

The government has set a collision course with broadcaster Alan Jones, with “senior” Coalition sources speaking to the Australian Financial Review‘s Phillip Coorey and lashing the callback radio host. Jones has become a fierce critic of Malcolm Turnbull and has attacked the government over high energy prices while also supporting anti-fracking campaigns.

The government holds Jones partially responsible for the defeat of Campbell Newman’s government in Queensland and one source said the broadcaster was “full of shit”.

Jones yesterday launched Mark Latham’s new book and labelled Turnbull the most “radically leftist and divisive Prime Minister in Australia’s history”.

Whatever Jones is or is not full of, the fact remains that to expand fracking or unconventional gas development in NSW Turnbull and co. still need to overcome Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who is holding firm for now. It has been mooted that the Commonwealth Grants Commission could dock GST from states who block such projects but the Commission’s own research has found such a move would have virtually no financial impact on the states, rendering the threat largely symbolic.

The Fin also released its annual power rankings today, with Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull coming out on top. Ominously for the PM, Tony Abbott has also returned to the top 10.

STATES SIGN ON TO SURVEILLANCE

State and territory governments have accepted the need to unify detention laws and sign on to a national facial recognition plan.

Initially framed as an anti-terror initiative, the face-matching program known as The Capability will also be used for general law enforcement. The only government to raise objections was the ACT, with Chief Minister Andrew Barr arguing access to state identity records should be restricted to national security and community safety investigations. It will now be left to the Senate to check any powers added at the Commonwealth level.

In the days preceding news of the facial recognition plan there was a surge in reports relating to terror threats and law enforcement activities, particularly in The Australian. Today, the paper reports Apple has rejected or challenged 399 requests for account information lodged by Australian agencies since 2013.

MINISTER REVEALS CANCER BATTLE

Senator, minister, and Turnbull ally Arthur Sinodinos has revealed his current medical leave is the result of a cancer diagnosis.

Fairfax reports that Sinodinos is confident about overcoming the illness and has the full backing of the PM.

“Arthur is and remains a valued member of the cabinet, he has a good prognosis and I look forward to having Arthur back as soon as he is ready,” Turnbull said. 

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WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne: Cardinal George Pell’s case relating to historic child sex offences returns to court for a committal mention.

Melbourne: Anti-abortion protestor Kathleen Clubb to appear in court on charges of prohibited behaviour in safe access zone outside a fertility clinic.

Melbourne: Court to rule on costs in case of Damian Sheales, who successfully sued The Age for defamation.

Townsville: State funeral for Indigenous campaigner Dr Evelyn Scott. 

Hobart: Coalition for Marriage holds a campaign event.

Oslo: The Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced. 

THE COMMENTARIAT

Better gun laws? Australia lacks that calibre of MP today — David Crowe (The Australian $): “What happens if a terrorist kills with a semiautomatic handgun? What if another Man Haron Monis appears, this time with a licensed lever-action shotgun instead of a stolen pump-action? Australia does not look ready for that challenge.”

The elephant in the room in the NSW byelections — Sean Nicholls (Sydney Morning Herald): “Absent from the Nationals campaigning in either seat is the thundering, Piccoli-like condemnation of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers position on gun policy you might expect, particularly given the massacre in Las Vegas. There is a good reason: guns are a serious issue for the Nationals’ farming constituency who regard them, with justification, as tools of their trade.”

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Your surveilled life: no escape from the Politicians’ Panopticon — Bernard Keane: “Staying away from CCTV and not using the internet or a phone will be the only way to ensure a politician, or bureaucrat, or security agency doesn’t know where you are and what you’re doing. And even then they can probably make a pretty good guess.”

Bonsai of the Vanities: sitting in stunned silence at Mark Latham’s book launch — Margot Saville: “Jones, 76, talked for 35 minutes about the book’s contents: political correctness, the Human Rights Commission, Safe Schools, the ABC, Islam, radical feminism, free speech — a kind of roll-call of all the usual targets of the alt-lite. Anyone who’s read Andrew Bolt or watched any of the late-night chat shows on Sky News would know the script. Isn’t it time for them to find some new topics?”

Mark Zuckerberg is full of feelings. He might also be full of shit. — Helen Razer: “Zuckerberg is likely now somewhat statesmanlike, with his listening tours and his international friendships, not because he wants to run for president, as is rumoured. He is statesmanlike, as are Musk and Gates and co., because he is actually a statesman. A reversal of this governance by corporations would require years of rage and decades of reform. So, let’s aim lower than a Musky utopia. I say we simply quibble with one of them about very particular matters.”

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