Crikey Worm: four boys rescued from Thai cave

FIRST BOYS RESCUED

Emergency workers have rescued the first four members of the boys’ soccer team trapped in a northern Thailand cave. The ABC reports that divers last night helped rescue the four boys, who, after more than two weeks in the Tham Luang caves, are now recovering in hospital.

The rescue mission, which tragically claimed the life of former Navy SEAL Saman Kunan last week, was then put on hold for about ten hours as workers prepare for the next phase. Eight boys now remain in the cave. 

NO SLEEP TILL BRADDON

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have hit the campaign trail for the five Super Saturday byelections due July 28, as new polling from Fairfax shows a considerable bump to Labor in Queensland.

The quarterly Fairfax/Ipsos poll puts the Coalition behind nationally 47-53 on a two-party preferred basis and, in bad news for their chances at the Longman byelection, at just 48% in Queensland (down from 54% at the last election). The news comes as Turnbull and Shorten exchange personal barbs over health funding ahead of the Braddon, Tasmania byelection. Ipsos puts Braddon as the tightest of the five, with Labor leading by a mere point.

In related news, Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has hit out at internal Liberal party polling, allegedly pointing to Shorten’s declining popularity amongst young women, being leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.

#SAVEOURABC

A series of rallies to “save” the ABC across the country have attracted a throng of Australian journalists and celebrities, with former 7.30 host Kerry O’Brien, broadcaster Phillip Adams, and actor Magda Szubanski speaking at an overpacked Sydney event.

According to The Guardian, O’Brien emphasised non-partisanship in the face of the broadcaster’s broad popularity, and argued that the ABC was too important to become a partisan issue. Meanwhile, Adams reportedly pulled fewer punches, noting that after $400 million in cuts since 2014, several government inquiries, hostility from sections of News Corp, and calls for privatisation from the Liberal Party’s annual conference and the Institute of Public Affairs, he had never seen such a “moment of danger” across his 30 years at the station.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

This is to ensure that those opportunities that many across our community have enjoyed in Christian celebrations are maintained and not treated as though they must be hidden.

Kerry Latter

The LNP delegate speaks on a successful motion at the party’s annual state convention to stop the War On Christmas. Exactly when the war is supposed to begin was never specified.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Timor-Leste bugging was our Watergate — except in this version, Nixon winsBernard Keane

“Imagine Watergate if the Democrats, and many Republicans, had never been interested in pursuing it. And if the American media — not just The Washington Post, but the many other newspapers that began putting more and more resources into the story despite Nixon’s cover-up — hadn’t bothered. Well, there wouldn’t be any Watergate. Nixon would have served out his full two terms and retired as the elder statesman of post-war politics. The break-in at the Democrat headquarters on June 17, 1972, would be a piece of political trivia about one of the worst Democratic campaigns in history, and nothing more.”

A short history of animal antics in Parliament HouseEliza Berlage

“Being in Canberra, Parliament House can fulfil tourists’ expectation that Australia is a country where kangaroos are spotted on the street. But while macropods have been papped loitering on the front lawns, the Department of Parliamentary Services said there had been no reports of them jumping the fence. I suppose that’s one less security concern.”

How the global media covered Archbishop Philip Wilson’s convictionAlan Austin

“Newsrooms across the world are again reporting on Australia. Just months after Barnaby’s sex scandal and the Canberra bonk ban made news in more than 50 countries, a different kind of sexual impropriety is generating global headlines. China’s Huanqui,  Sina, LTN and UDN news outlets all ran stories this week about Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson’s conviction on charges of concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s. A conviction that Wilson now intends to appeal, it should be noted.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Family pushes for answers into 1996 death of Jeffrey Brooks ($)

The hard-nosed investors behind the Rockpool empire

Medicos warn of road to disaster after spate of incidents on NT roads ($)

Eddie Obeid’s $7 million debt to NSW taxpayers

WA girl remarkably survives multiple bites from deadly brown snake

Crocodiles, box jellyfish fail to deter 155 from swimming across Darwin’s Fannie Bay

Hobart Festival of Voices draws crowds to Big Sing Bonfire despite cold weather

Turnbull pushed on power prices ($)

National inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace gets underway

Royal commission adds pressure to loss-making directors’ and officers’ insurance ($)

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• The AEC will reveal citizenship declarations by candidates for five federal byelections.

Sydney

• ICAC will resume its public inquiry into allegations concerning the former Canterbury City Council. Marwan Chanine and Charbel Demian are scheduled to give evidence.

• Education Minister Simon Birmingham will help open the Conference of the Australian Science Teachers Association (CONASTA), to run until Wednesday July 11.

• NRMA CEO Rohan Lund will release the inaugural NRMA Blue Cost of Living Survey, to highlight an alarming jump in financial pressures on families over the last 12 months.

Braddon, Tasmania

• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will campaign ahead of the Super Saturday byelection. The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will also call on both major parties to focus on business ahead of the date.

Melbourne

• The Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre will host a NAIDOC Week panel discussion, “Celebrating Indigenous female entrepreneurs”. 

• The Melbourne Mining Club will host its “Cutting Edge” series forum.

• Mitsubishi Motors will launch the official opening of a national parts distribution warehouse, in conjunction with Renault and Nissan.

• Hundreds of people are expected to go nude for photographer Spencer Tunick’s latest work.

Adelaide

• SA Governor Hieu Van Le and Minda President Susan Neuhaus will open new Brighton accommodations.

• Carol Fenlon will launch her second novel, Mere, at Skelmersdale Library.

Brisbane

• Day two of the two-day Inspired Growth Conference, an event focused on rent roll growth and business development.

• Former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan will help launch Sean Jacobs’ new book Winners Don’t Cheat: Advice for Young Australians from a Young Australian.

Darwin

• Dr Payi Linda Ford will deliver a presentation, “Koonie Koonie Ngungu: These are my Senior Women”, at Northern Territory Archives Centre in celebration of NAIDOC Week.

• Early Childhood Australia NT will hold a special interest group meeting for their Reconciliation Action Plan.

• Children’s author Jasmin Herro will hold a reading of her new book, Teter Mek and the Stolen Crocodiles, at Nightcliff Library.

Perth

• Day one of Revelation Perth International Film Festival’s two-day Academic Conference.

• Journalists Paul Murray and Tony McManus will hold a media masterclass at the The Western Australian Club.

Australia

• Under the theme “Because of Her, We Can!”, today is the second day of Australia’s national celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, NAIDOC Week, with events around the country set to run until July 15.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Abbott the least of Frydenberg’s NEG worries ($) — Peter van Onselen (The Australian): “Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg is facing challenges on his right and his left flank as he tries to enact the ­national energy guarantee. Opponents on the right include a relatively small band of Liberal MPs, led by Tony Abbott and Craig Kelly. The irony in how small the numbers within this group are should not be lost on readers.”

Mayo hopefuls get down among the drivers and the dishes — Tony Wright (Sydney Morning Herald): “Georgina Downer stands by a roadside in the small coastal town of Middleton on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, waving to passing traffic. A biting wind blows, rain threatens and, though drivers wave and a couple give short blasts of their car horns, no one stops. Ms Downer is on a mission, and she is undaunted by freezing wind and rain.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE