Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DUTTON HEARTS (WHITE) REFUGEES

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has flagged fast-tracking visas for white South African farmers, following new president Cyril Ramaphosa‘s decision to appropriate farm land as reparations for black citizens.

Discussing the idea with The Daily Telegraph ($), Dutton also expressed empathy for challenges faced by white farmers, notably land seizure and reports of violence, and admiration for their work ethic and, pointedly, capacity to “not lead a life on welfare”. This makes “white South Africans” the first group of would-be refugees Dutton has championed in over three years on the job. He certainly hasn’t been much help to the Sri Lankan-Australian family subjected to a dawn raid last week. The Biloela locals of four years only narrowly escaped deportation thanks to last-minute legal intervention.

SHORTEN’S PROMISE TO PENSIONERS

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is reportedly considering a supplement payment package for up to 250,000 pensioners to make up for cash refunds they stand to lose, as Labor’s dividend imputation changes draw criticism from both Liberals and the Greens.

According to The Australian ($), Labor will consider a “financial sweetener” for the 10% of pensioners on the lowest annual incomes that may lose imputation credit refunds. While Shorten has stressed that pensioners will be taken care of under any changes, The Age reports that the Greens have used the potential for “unintended consequences” as a wedge in the lead-up to the Batman byelection.

WEDNESDAY WALKOUT

Thousands of American students have walked out of class in a mass demonstration for gun control. The Guardian‘s live blog covered acts of protest such as taking a knee outside an Atlanta high school, spelling out “ENOUGH” on a football field and laying 7000 pairs of shoes representing murdered school kids near the White House.

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

“It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.”

— Professor Stephen Hawking, quoted yesterday in a statement from his children Lucy, Robert and Tim announcing his passing. Hawking was 76.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Derryn Hinch suffers brain trauma after falling from Uber

Northern Territory government takes over funding of Safe Schools ($)

SA election 2018: Who won the Advertiser/Sky News People’s Forum ($)

Torn to pieces: The rage inside the Greens’ Batman machine

Bank’s sad tale of dishonesty and delays ($)

UK to expel Russian diplomats in response to ex-spy’s attempted murder

Wednesday walkout: students step out of class to spur action on gun control – live

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne: Banks royal commission hearing will focus on the Commonwealth Bank’s accreditation of mortgage brokers and misconduct in subsidiary Aussie Home Loans, with the first witness expected to be CBA executive Daniel Huggins.

Aukland: Speech from Climate Change Minister James Shaw will mark the start of public consultation on a Zero Carbon Bill.

Sydney: CSIRO chairman David Thodey will act as keynote speaker at the CEDA’s “Creating Value Through Science” industrial event.

Melbourne: ABB Customer World 2018 will feature speeches, educational sessions and workshops on the industrial move towards lower emissions. Speakers include Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio, Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)’s Chloe Munro and Australian Industry Group’s Tennant Reed.

Sydney: Sydney Writers’ Festival program to be revealed.

THE COMMENTARIAT

What it’s like being Muslim and LGBTQ — Roqayah Chamseddine (Daily Life): “Mainstream coverage of LGBTQ events, including this month’s Mardi Gras parade, has largely centered on the flashy, white, and middle class, thereby fashioning a marketable caricature of LGBTQ identity that restricts entire communities, and their unique concerns, into the margins.”

Factchecking Coalition claims: is Labor going after Mum and Dad’s savings? — Katharine Murphy (The Guardian): “Scott Morrison has declared Labor is stealing tax refunds from pensioners and low-income retirees, and Malcolm Turnbull says Bill Shorten ‘is going after the savings of your parents and their friends and their contemporaries’. So how do these terrifying-sounding claims stack up?”

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Doyle is finished, but what about the men who supported him? — Stephen Mayne: “The fall of Robert Doyle ought to have been completed yesterday. Even his number one sponsor in Melbourne, 3AW shock jock Neil Mitchell, today declared he was ‘finished, and rightly so’. Melbourne’s former lord mayor had been in possession of the Freckelton report for six weeks and a sensible approach would have been to accept the findings detailed in it, apologise to the women involved and state that he was a problem drinker who was determined to do something about it.”

Deborah Cheetham is done with ‘cleaning up the mess of a white man’ — Bhakthi Puvanenthiran: “Authored by long-time music writer Clinton Walker, the book will soon fall out of the headlines, with publisher NewSouth Books removing it from shelves and attempting to redress the issue. But for Yorta Yorta soprano Deborah Cheetham, the events of last week are not just a singular burst of energy, but a repeated phenomenon in which she and other Indigenous people are called upon to clean up the mistakes of non-Indigenous Australians.”

Tillerson is gone, and torture is in? A cheat sheet to Trump’s new appointments — Charlie Lewis: “The 20th member of this White House administration to walk, lemming-like, over the edge into oblivion, has been confirmed: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is gone, just in time for the North Korean summit. This makes room for Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo to become Secretary of State, and deputy director Gina Hapsel to step up into the top job at the CIA.” 

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE