CORONAVIRUS-RELATED DISCRIMINATION
A Malaysian student has been evicted from a Perth sharehouse over fears of the coronavirus, the ABC reports, and, on the other side of the country, similar fears have forced Melbourne mainstay Chinatown’s Shark Fin House to shut due to a collapse in customers, The Age reports.
Meanwhile, The Guardian’s live-tracker (seriously, there’s that much coronavirus news) shows a cruise ship turned away from five countries has finally been allowed to dock in Cambodia.
LEARN MORE: Check out The New Daily‘s WHO-certified, myth-busting coronavirus fact-check.
THE COAL NINE YARDS
An Australian Conservation Foundation analysis of 2018-19 political donations found the fossil-fuel industry more than doubled its donations to the two major parties over the past four years — growing from $894,336 in 2015-16 to $1.9m, according to The Guardian. For more on who gave what, check out Crikey’s guide.
TALKING POINT: According to research from the World Wide Fund for Nature, global heating could cost Australia $29 billion a year by 2050 under “business as usual”, The New Daily reports.
NAVAL… TRAITORS… PIRATES! THEY’RE PIRATES!
The French company responsible for building Australia’s $80 billion attack-class submarines, Naval Group, has warned local suppliers might not get half the value of the prized knock-on contracts, complained of the capability of those same companies, and acknowledged “cultural problems” with the Department of Defence, The Australian ($) reports.
FUN FACT: When Googling for fun facts, I discovered every other article adds another billion dollars and a year to the construction timeline, and the deal has its own Wikipedia page.
[free_worm]
PORTER THE DEPORTER
Finally — because some people cannot take ‘no, you cannot deport Indigenous Australians’ for an answer — Attorney-General Christian Porter is looking at alternative powers to deport members of the small, select group of Indigenous Australians who do not hold citizenship and have served sentences of 12 months-plus jail-time, The Guardian reports.
HOT TAKE: This is disgusting.
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
Extreme activism and perhaps ‘eco-terrorism’? With satellite data showing 87% of Australian bushfires man-made (40% deliberately lit), it’s time to use communications meta-data in the investigation of arsonists. Are they lone actors or part of a sinister collective?
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
After inflating the proportion of fires started by arsonists by roughly 4000% — the ABC has the “deliberately lit” figure at less than 1% — the Liberal senator ratchets up the conspiracy theories by about the same.
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
Closing the gap: how we’ve failed, and how we talk about that failure
“Prime Minister Scott Morrison has just delivered a Closing the Gap report that — like every single Closing the Gap report before it — shows how many key benchmarks in achieving education and health equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia are failing. Crikey looks back at the original benchmarks, and the shifting of rhetoric around what success looks like.”
High Court decision on Indigenous Australians exposes fault lines of our divided nation
“First posed, the question sounds insane: can the Australian government deport an Aboriginal person? The High Court has answered it, in a decision as significant as Mabo.”
PM facing defamation claim over ‘anti-Semitism’ comment
“The man attempting to have Josh Frydenberg disqualified from parliament has launched a defamation action against Scott Morrison after the prime minister described the move on the Treasurer as ‘anti-Semitic’.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Pauline Hanson stymies bid to hobble Mathias Cormann
Age discrimination is Australia’s biggest barrier to opportunity: Report
Ambitious plan to end breast cancer deaths by 2030 unveiled ($)
ALP’s Otis Group pushes for turn to the right ($)
MPs take Assange freedom campaign to UK
Victorian health department ignored medical guidelines on opioid scripts
Push to oust Jackie Trad over fears of Queensland election defeat ($)
‘It’s heartbreaking’: storms cause devastating erosion at Newcastle’s Stockton beach
AFL men may help AFLW pay push
New document reveals PNG minister’s link to $US10.3m payment ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
To close the chasm leaving First Australians behind, hear our Voice — Thomas Mayor (The Age): “Woe and behold, imagine you are an Indigenous person observing the annual Closing the Gap speech. Before you is a rich, powerful man who does not fall under the constitution’s race power as you do. Rather, he wields his power with the Parliament he stands in.”
Greens’ deal pie in sky ($) — Innes Willox (The Australian): “Greens leader Adam Bandt wrote this week to leaders of business groups calling for support for a local version of a New Green Deal to revive the Australian economy and reshape our industrial base.”
All eyes on Australia as World Urban Forum urges climate action — Barbara Norman (The Conversation): “The Australian bushfires have caught the world’s attention. They dominated the speeches by global leaders at the World Urban Forum (WUF10) in Abu Dhabi this week.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Canberra
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The sports rorts inquiry will hold its first hearing, with the Auditor-General’s Office expected to attend.
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Former federal minister and Red Cross CEO Robert Tickner will speak with journalist Alex Sloan about his memoir Ten Doors Down at an ANU/Canberra Times event.
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The National Rural Health Alliance will host a morning event with MPs and senators to highlight the links between climate change and rural health.
Melbourne
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Academic William de Maria will launch his new book Trouble in the Land of Giving: Australian Charities, Fraud and the State at Reading Hawthorn.
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The Coalition of Everyone will host interactive panel “Democracy is not a spectator sport” at Trades Hall, with speakers including former Victorian MP Lidia Thorpe.
Brisbane
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Day one of the two-day Refugee Alternatives Conference 2020.
Perth
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The Lock the Gate Alliance will hold an anti-fracking protest outside Dumas House, after the McGowan government asked for public feedback on how fracking companies should manage stakeholder engagement.
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The Hydrogen Society of Australia will re-launch as a registered national not-for-profit, with speakers to include CSIRO hydrogen expert Dr Patrick Hartley, parliamentary secretary to the minister for water and science Chris Tallentire and Shadow Minister for Water Dr David John Honey.
Australia
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Today is the 12th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations.
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