Government braces for Hayne recommendations

HERE COMES THE HAYNE TRAIN

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for “careful” responses to the banking royal commission’s final report, as the government prepares to receive the official recommendations today and release the report publicly Monday.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Morrison has warned that tightening lending or “playing politics” on the report could harm the economy, and argued new Reserve Bank data showing a recent dip in home lending demonstrated “in-part an almost instinctive reaction” to the royal commission.

The Australian Financial Review is awash with related pieces, from ASIC’s plan to issue new lending guidance post-commission ($) to the chief lobby group’s go-ahead for banks to use shareholder money for potential criminal defences ($).

ADF INVOLVEMENT

Australian Defence officials have revealed that Australian forces were involved in a June 2017 bombing mission in Iraq that led to the deaths of up to 18 civilians.

The ABC reports that, during the height of Iraqi and Coalition attempts to retake the northern city of Mosul, two RAAF fighter jets were called in to deploy guided missiles on a target of seven Islamic State fighters. Australian officials last night confirmed that between six and 18 civilians in a nearby building may have been killed during the attack, although they did not determine whether their deaths were “a result of the Australian airstrike, the nearby Coalition airstrike, or other actors”.

BOOCHANI TAKES TOP PRIZE

Kurdish-Iranian writer and detained Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani has won the Victorian Prize for Literature, the most lucrative literary prize in Australia, for his memoir No Friend But the Mountains at last night’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. He also took out the award for non-fiction.

According to The Guardian, Boochani described the prize win as creating a “paradoxical feeling” about a book that had to be composed one text message at a time and was aimed at educating Australians on “how this system has tortured innocent people on Manus and Nauru in a systematic way for almost six years”. The news comes days after a Catholic leader in Papua New Guinea confirmed that suicide attempts have become a daily occurrence amongst people detained on Manus.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

I know some people have left our party for various reasons over recent years. I wanted to personally write and encourage you to re-join the Liberal Party.

Scott Morrison

The Prime Minister issues a very personal call to all former Liberal Party members ($).

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

The NSW government attempted to muzzle GetUp and failed spectacularly

Michael Bradley

Feb 01, 2019

28

“There is a real concern here: the fear that Australian political campaigning could go the same way as the United States, where political parties and candidates are heavily constrained by law in their fundraising and spending but that PACs (political action committees) and super PACs who wield billions of dollars worth of power, are completely unregulated and have an enormous impact on electoral outcomes.”

---

Silencing MUP’s ‘loud voice’ was not part of review: publisher

Emily Watkins

Feb 01, 2019

18

“The University of Melbourne’s decision to neuter its publishing arm, Melbourne University Publishing, has come as a surprise to those who worked on a review of the publisher. Yesterday, longstanding CEO of MUP Louise Adler and five board members quit the university press over a University of Melbourne decision to shift its focus to scholarly works and install an editorial advisory board.”

---

Why is everyone pitching to Queensland this election?

Charlie Lewis

Feb 01, 2019

9

“There are many likelihoods in an election year: scare campaigns, three word slogans and photos of politicians attacking everyday food as though they were aliens who missed the class on how humans eat. But none are so reliable as the rush of party leaders to curry favour with the sunshine state.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

State and territory governments increase funding for private schools

Cashed-up ASIO hunting spies at naval shipyards ($)

‘How bad can it be thinking the cops will arrest you because you haven’t paid a bill?’

AMP reaps $100m in zombie super account fees ($)

Rain brings some respite but bushfire danger is far from over in Tasmania ($)

Morrison government moves to re-appoint Abbott-era AAT members

Bob Brown held talks with Greens MPs about splitting from the party

Turnbacks best deterrent, says IOM chief ($)

Former outspoken anti-fracker Paul Kirby says he’s capable of ‘mature’ discussions as new NT mining minister ($)

Katter’s Australia Party, One Nation in talks over alliance ($)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Cashless welfare card changes lives for the better ($) — Paul Fletcher (The Australian): “The Coalition government is rolling out the cashless debit card across Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland this week to address the issues of intergenerational welfare dependency and high youth unemployment. The card is an integral reform for this region. It was selected for Bundaberg and Hervey Bay following calls for its imple­mentation from key stakeholders.”

Debunking ‘There are more important things to talk about than Australia Day’ — Claire Coleman and Luke Pearson (IndigenousX): “It’s hard to imagine that the concept of a ‘Change the Date’ was much of an issue before 1994 as before that year Australia Day was not consistently on January 26. There was no need to protest to change the date because the date constantly changed. However, Indigenous people have been protesting on January 26 every year since at least back in 1938 when an ‘Aboriginal Day of Mourning’ was declared.”

We could have led the world and saved a river system, but for politics — Maryanne Slattery (The Sydney Morning Herald): “Politicians and bureaucrats are quick to claim credit for anything positive in the Basin, but deny responsibility when things go awry. The official explanation for the river full of dead fish virtually holds the fish responsible for their own deaths – decades-old native fish just weren’t able to handle Australia’s droughts and variable weather.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• Banks and financial services royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne will submit his final report to the Governor General. Public release is due on Monday afternoon after lockup.

Perth

• Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Senator Linda Reynolds will address the Swan Chamber of Commerce, with an introduction from Minister for Indigenous Health Ken Wyatt.

Sydney

• The senate regional affairs committee will hand down its report into issues around the APVMA and its handling of agriculture chemicals.

• The City of Sydney will welcome the Year of the Pig at an official launch of the 2019 Sydney Lunar Festival, to include a lighting of the Harbour Bridge.

• Independent MP Dr Kerryn Phelps will speak in-conversation at a panel event with members of the Sydney East Business Chamber.

Melbourne

• The EAT Foundation with launch “Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems” at a festival21 event with War on Waste’s Craig Reucassel.

Brisbane

• Chief Economist at HSBC Australia and New Zealand Paul Bloxham will present a 2019 Economic Outlook Briefing to the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Victoria

• Events will be held both at Melbourne’s La Trobe University and across the state commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires with survivors, police, commentators and researchers.

Australia

• To coincide with the Asian Cup Final, protests will take place outside the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s Federation Square, as well as in Beirut and London, calling for the release of detained soccer player Hakeem Al-Araibi and other prisoners of conscience.

• The Bureau of Meteorology will hold press conferences in Sydney and Hobart, discussing the record conditions across NSW and Tasmania respectively.

• AEC is due to release political party financial disclosure returns for 2017/18.

Hong Kong

• Julie Bishop will present a keynote at the Australian Chamber of Commerce on the Liberal Party’s inability to decide on climate action.