MIXED REVIEWS

The 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games have opened with a celebration of Indigenous cultures and, separately, a blockade from Indigenous protestors.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that last night’s Opening Ceremony celebrated a diversity of Indigenous peoples and cultures, including a smoking ceremony, performance from didgeridoo legend William Barton, My Island Home mashup from pop-star Christine Anu and rapper Mau Power, and Welcome to Country from local Yugambeh elders Ted Williams and Patricia O’Connor.

The event came only hours after peaceful ”Stolenwealth Games” protesters blocked the Queen’s Baton relay at Southport, the first of many planned demonstrations from a national committee of Indigenous activist groups. Three separate protesters, including former Don Dale detainee Dylan Voller, were also charged with public nuisance ($) after trying to force their way into the Opening Ceremony.

LIDDELL BY LIDDELL

Energy giant AGL is facing sustained political pressure from the federal government to either sell its ageing coal-fired power station in Liddell, New South Wales, or compromise, and continue running the station three-years past its planned 2022 retirement.

The Australian ($) today reports that Alinta Energy has flagged a $1 billion offer to takeover the station as soon as August this year and operate until 2027 or 2029, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday pressured the company to sell the 1800 megwatt (MW) station “in the public ­interest”. However, Turnbull has also spoken to SMH about potentially reaching a “compromise” with board directors that would keep Liddell running until the Snowy 2.0 hydro power expansion finishes in 2025, after which AGL would presumably resume their original plan to transition to gas peakers, renewables, battery storage and demand response.

DEMONS CLOSE POKIES

The Melbourne Demons will rake in close to $11 million from the club’s decision to exit poker machines and sell their gaming venue.

The Age reports that the Demons have negotiated the sale of their lucrative Leighoak venue to the Moonee Valley Racing Club and, while they will continue to operate the Bentleigh Club, they will not renew gaming entitlements set to expire in 2022. 

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

“[W]e disassociate ourselves specifically from the Forum’s use of the Monash name to give their anti-science and anti-intellectual argument an air of authority, and we ask that they withdraw the name.

“While Monash himself was no left-wing radical in his personal politics, he was intellectual and scientific … We are sure that, today, he would be a proponent of the new technologies e.g. wind and solar generation, rather than revert to the horse-and-buggy era.”

— Descendants of military hero and energy pioneer Sir John Monash hit out at the hard-right Coalition faction co-opting Monash’s name in their anti-Liberal pursuit of new, government-run coal plants. While Tony Abbott and co. are yet to find a new name, new suggestions include the Illegitimate Forum, the Coal Ash Forum, and, via Tony Windsor, the Moaners Group.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

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South Sudan, Somalia and Iran excluded from one of Australia’s refugee programs

Facebook says up to 87m people affected in Cambridge Analytica data-mining scandal

AFP raid home of tax office whistleblower over ABC investigation

Centrelink robo-debt program accused of enforcing ‘illegal’ debts

Mark Zuckerberg to testify before House panel on April 11

China gets out big stick to retaliate against Donald Trump on trade

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Melbourne: Suspension decision due for six Victoria Police officers recorded assaulting a Melbourne disability pensioner.

Perth: Treasurer Scott Morrison is reportedly expected to give WA a 47 cents in the dollar GST distribution, up from 34 cents this financial year and two cents higher than expected by state treasury.

Canberra: Defence Minister Marise Payne will address the Lowy Institute on the importance of Pacific stability to Australia.

Melbourne: Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate nominations open.

Canberra: Consumers Health Forum medical costs report into out-of-pocket medical costs will be released by chief executive Leanne Wells, breast cancer sufferer Kathy Hayes, CHOICE chief executive Alan Kirkland and National Rural Health Alliance chief executive Mark Diamond.

Bendigo, Victoria: Labor MP and local federal member Lisa Chesters will tour a recently completed men’s shed with the Bendigo District Aboriginal Co-op.

Sydney: Employers from across NSW will be recognised for their support for Australian Defence Force Reservists at an awards function.

Mandurah, WA: The fourth National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report will be released by the Liberal MP and federal member for Mandurah Andrew Hastie and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission CEO Michael Phelan.

Melbourne: “Towards climate justice: fresh perspectives in the climate discussion” panel will discuss social justice issues arising from climate change. The panel will include Professor Gillian Triggs, Tongan Olympian Pita Taufatofua, President of Voices of the Valley Wendy Farmer, and barrister, academic, and member of the Yawuru people Professor Mick Dodson.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Could Costello save the Coalition in 2019? — Imre Salusinszky (SMH): “If anybody can reunite conservatives in Australia and make them election-ready, it is Costello. While Turnbull’s positions on social issues are often derided by conservatives as trendy, Costello’s are respected because they derive from the same set of classical liberal values that make him an advocate for small government.”

Uluru, reconciliation and republic: a chance to reimagine Australia? — Paul Daley (The Guardian): “There is an awakening among constitutional progressives that perhaps the Australian republic ought not be so divorced from the cry out of Uluru last May for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament and a formal truth-telling. Australia is nearing the inevitable moment where it might define itself through introspection – away from the palace, Gallipoli or John Howard’s sheriff, the USA. This continent’s timeless Indigenous occupancy, meanwhile, with its miracles of spirit, culture and essential love of country, continue to find increasing purchase in our national psyche.”

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Greens’ embrace of idiot fringe economics ruins years of credibility — Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer: “Following their Batman debacle, the Greens appear determined to abandon their remaining economic credibility by embracing nonsensical housing and welfare policies: today at the National Press Club, leader Richard Di Natale will announce new policies on the Reserve Bank offering discounted housing mortgages and a universal basic income.”

‘The reasonable person thinks we’re fake news’: breaking the Barnaby story  — Emily Watkins: “True Crime News Weekly was partly inspired by publisher Serkan Ozturk’s former fiancee’s love of true crime documentaries. When he started the site — which he says is ‘deliberately hokey’ — 18 months ago, he mainly wanted it to be about crime, but it’s politics that’s brought him the most traffic so far.”

Miranda Devine is trying to make ‘cuckservative’ a thing in Australia — Margot Saville: “I used to think that the worst part of attending an event run by the Mad Right was the need for strong liquor. But now that I know about Cambridge Analytica, whisky will not suffice. Thanks to hearing Miranda Devine use the alt-right term ‘cuckservatives’ last night, my Facebook feed will likely now feature gun-toting bikies and tattoo ads.”

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