BORIS V ENGLAND
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received permission from Queen Elizabeth to suspend parliament for five weeks from early September, in a move that would drastically cut the amount of time rival MPs would have to prevent a no-deal “hard” Brexit.
While Johnson has claimed the October 14 return date is aimed at delivering a new legislative agenda focused on crime, hospitals and education, The Guardian reports that many have slammed the suspension as “a constitutional outrage”. According to SMH’s Nick Miller, the move is also “barely legal“, while the hashtag #StopTheCoup has since gone viral on Twitter.
Johnson, who faces an increasingly united opposition bloc, has told colleagues the new timeframe allows for his EU negotiations on October 17 and then parliamentary votes on October 21-22 ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.
NSW LABOR CRISIS
NSW Labor has suspended general secretary Kaila Murnain after she revealed knowledge to ICAC of an allegedly illegal donation from Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo.
According to the ABC, Murnain told ICAC that she was informed by former Labor MP Ernest Wong in 2016 that Huang had made a large donation to the party — an illegal act for property developers in NSW — but she kept silent on advice from party lawyer Ian Robertson. State party leader Jodi McKay last night released a statement saying she had convened a late-night meeting in order to suspend Murnain, as ICAC continues its six-week investigation into whether the party received a $100,000 donation at a 2015 Chinese Friends of Labor dinner.
AND THE SCIENCE OSCAR GOES TO…
The Australian Museum has announced the winners of the national Eureka Prize science awards, Australia’s “science Oscars”. Winners include Indigenous science education, citizen frog surveys, wetland carbon storage research and cancer-killing immune cells.
The ABC reports that the National Indigenous Science Education Program, a 20-year-strong collaboration between Indigenous elders and Macquarie University scientists, took out the first “STEM Inclusion” prize. Other winners have helped restore mobility to people with paralysis, created disappearing bone repair material, and developed a device that can identify inorganic explosives in under a minute.
[free_worm]
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
I really loved Aquaman, I thought he was pretty cool. Really cool, so yeah Aquaman.
Scott Morrison
The man responsible for Operation Sovereign Borders picks the one superhero known for rescuing people at sea.
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
The power and the glory: Kerry Stokes’ influence at the West
“In June, following federal police raids on the ABC’s Sydney offices and a News Corp journalist’s home, editors around the country came out to denounce the attack on press freedom. The story was carried on the front page of almost every major newspaper. There was one exception. The West Australian, the dominating newspaper in WA, ran a short story on page six about the raids and has published no substantive mention of the high-profile campaign to protect media freedom since.”
It’s time for radical action on donations
“Short of towing the NSW Labor Party out to sea and sinking it, is there anything that can be done about persistent corruption in NSW? It’s clear from evidence emerging at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiring into political donations that the party that gave us a series of corrupt ministers persists in simply refusing to abide by the most basic rules of ethics and probity.”
What Four Corners left out of the Witness K story
“This week Four Corners aired an investigation into the now infamous prosecution of Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery and his former client, an Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) spy known as Witness K. Both men are accused of disclosing information about an ASIS operation against Timor-Leste in 2004. I was interviewed for the program which aired on Monday night.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
‘Please help me’: detained Australian Yang Hengjun pleads with Scott Morrison
Crown fallout: Melco puts plans to buy James Packer’s shares on hold
Geoffrey Rush loses bid to prevent News Corp from repeating allegations
A ‘hard landing’ for China could put 550,000 Australian jobs at risk
ASIC is pursuing underperforming superannuation funds
1MDB: Malaysian ex-PM appears in court over missing billions
Giant pumice raft drifted into clump the size of Manhattan, NASA finds
Poo transplants may save koalas from starvation, a new experiment finds
THE COMMENTARIAT
Aboriginal woman Tanya Day died in custody. Now an inquest is investigating if systemic racism played a role — Alison Whittaker (The Conversation): “If you haven’t yet heard of systemic racism — you’re about to. This week is the first ever inquest into an Indigenous death in custody to consider systemic racism. It has begun to take evidence of the role of systemic racism in the death of Aunty Tanya Day, a Yorta Yorta woman.”
It’s hardly racist of us to hold China to account ($) — Greg Sheridan (The Australian): “The arrest in China of Australian citizen Yang Hengjun on the ludicrous charge of espionage has predictably caused a new set of troubles in the Australia-China relationship. Foreign Minister Marise Payne, generally an understated politician, reacted with a sternly worded statement. She said she was extremely disappointed in Beijing’s actions.”
Recession is on the way but will the Coalition have guts to act? ($) — Kevin Rudd (The Australian Financial Review): “There is a great complacency emerging in our current economic policy settings. Complacency about the risk of recession. Complacency about long-term economic reform. Both are part of what in recent years has become the complacent country – as if our nation’s future is somehow written in the stars.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Brisbane
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State Greens MP Michael Berkman will host “Jobs, Justice & a Liveable World: A Green New Deal for Australia” at the University of Queensland, with panellists including Crikey contributor and Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union campaigner Jeremy Poxon.
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Day one of the three-day joint conference for Australia-Taiwan Business Council and its Taiwan counterpart, the ROC-Australia Business Council, to feature Queensland Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham, Taiwan’s Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Wen-Sheng (Vincent) Tseng, and Federal Minister for Regional Services Mark Coulton.
Melbourne
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Actor Uncle Jack Charles will launch Jack Charles: A Born-Again Blakfella at Fitzroy Town Hall.
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The Honorary Consulate General of France in Melbourne, Madame Boisbouvier-Wylie, will present the second part of the Young Diplomats Society Consular Series at International Chamber House.
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LGBTIQ rights activist and change.org executive director Sally Rugg will launch How Powerful We Are at Readings Carlton.
Sydney
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Former prime minister Kevin Rudd will speak with political adviser Marc Stears for “Sydney Ideas — Bold new ideas for Australia’s future”.
Canberra
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British author David Nicholls will discuss his new novel Sweet Sorrow with journalist Alex Sloan for an ANU/Canberra Times event.
Adelaide
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State Liberal MP Dennis Hood will open the SA launch for National Skills Week 2019.
Darwin
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Expert-led panel event “Territory Water Forum: what do new proposals for dams and water mean for our rivers and fishing?” will be held at Palmerston Game Fishing Club.
Perth
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Day one of the three-day “Succeeding Beyond Borders: Bridging the Economies and Communities of Australia and Africa International Conference”.
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The Department of Communities will hold consultation workshops for the 10-year State Disability Plan.
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Journalist Richard McGregor, author of the latest Lowy Institute Paper “Xi Jinping: The Backlash”, will speak in-conversation with chief executive officer of the Perth USAsia Centre Professor Gordon Flake.
Boris Johnson has acted, while so many others talk.
Yesterday’s U.K. Guardian had 33,000 comments on his action. Not even the politicians opposed to it were actually doing anything effective to counter it. Petitions and even legal action have rewards that are proportional to effort. Boris’ opponents will continue to lose while their focus is on protecting their own comfortable positions. Expect a no-deal Brexit.
Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement. Many Rightist figures have demonstrated over the last half-century that they have a very clear reactionary programme, especially by virtue of its success.