RATTLED MARKETS
According to The Australian ($), uncertainty over the novel coronavirus has wiped $82 billion off the stock market in the past two days, while The Sydney Morning Herald reports Sports Minister Richard Colbeck has issued a warning about athlete health ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
As countries from Iran to Italy experience local spreads of the virus, The Guardian‘s live-updates show Austria and Croatia have confirmed their first cases, students are being sent home across the UK, and an entire hotel has been quarantined on Teneriffe, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.
BACKLASH
Victoria’s Royal Women’s Hospital has joined 13 state community health services in slamming the Morrison government’s proposed religious freedom bill, arguing it prioritises religious ideology over patient care, The Age reports.
TALKING POINT: Not only would the bill make it legal for doctors citing religion to refuse contraception, HIV medication, gender affirmation and abortions, but they would be under no obligation to refer patients to someone willing to, you know, save their life.
[free_worm]
MAJOR REFORM FOR CHILD ABUSE CASES
NSW has become the first of several federal-state jurisdictions to introduce legislation expanding the ability of jurors in child abuse cases to hear evidence of prior convictions and sexual interests, and for victims to create joint trials, according to The Australian ($).
Agreements struck between attorneys-general will see Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory and the federal government introduce similar bills that, by curtailing a defence team citing prejudice in blocking evidence, is almost guaranteed to increase the number of guilty verdicts.
PARLIAMENTARY PROTEST
Adam Bandt, Andrew Wilkie, Labor MP Susan Templeman and a collection of other leaders will today mark Israeli President Reuven Rivlin‘s visit to Parliament House by attending a vigil for Palestinian human rights and, according to the press release, protesting the Morrison government’s challenge of an International Criminal Court investigation into Israeli war crimes.
TALKING POINT: The latest of these war crimes involves ‘necroviolence’, Al Jazeera reports, after an Israeli bulldozer was videoed violently scooping up the body of an allegedly unarmed Palestinian man, who had been shot along the southern Gaza Strip.
WET AS HELL
A severe thunderstorm has hit Perth and surrounding areas overnight, crashing the ceiling of Morley Galleria shopping centre, creating chaos across peak-hour traffic, and stripping power from more than 18,000 properties, the ABC reports. Meanwhile, NT News ($) reports the Top End has seen up to 160mm of rainfall as ex-tropical Cyclone Esther continues to move inland.
THEY REALLY SAID THAT?
You can use ‘Islamic extremist’, you get in trouble for using that, you can use ‘left wing’ to describe everybody from the left to the right … I just don’t understand why we get bogged down in this language.
Peter Dutton
The man who didn’t exactly shy away from slamming “African gangs” explains an attempt to both-sides ASIO’s neo-Nazi warning.
CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY
Data retention scheme is being abused exactly as critics predicted
“A review of the mass surveillance scheme established by the Abbott government six years ago has revealed how it is being widely abused in ways voters were assured would never happen.”
Australia’s lobbyists are winning thanks to a ‘piss-poor’ regulatory framework
“If the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s lobbyists hadn’t kept their Instagram accounts public, Inq would never had stumbled on a vast visual diary of their incredible access to politicians. In Australia, there’s an awful lot we don’t know about political lobbyists, whose everyday work remains relatively hidden.”
In terror and hope — the world’s 20-year wild ride
“20 years ago, the world was watching with amazement as the Republican party chose, as its candidate to go up against heir presumptive Al Gore, the first candidate to fulfil the prophecy of H. L. Mencken: that one day ‘the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron’.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Michael McCormack grants exemption to live export ship that fails new rules
New waste crime squad to tackle illegal rubbish and chemical stockpiles
Sydney baboon escape: police confirm three animals recaptured at Royal Prince Alfred hospital
Uyghur mother of Australian son responds to Chinese diplomat’s Q+A comments
Minister’s adviser gives ‘weak’ evidence on Tamil family, court hears
Renewable investment tipped to outlive subsidies but growing pains remain
Peter Dutton’s regional airport security plan under fire in Coalition party room
Governments urged to invest in roads, water, telecoms to protect against natural disasters
Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak dies aged 91
THE COMMENTARIAT
Epidemic must not be allowed to unleash AIDS-style hysteria — Dr Justin Koonin (The Sydney Morning Herald): “In 1985, at the peak of AIDS hysteria, The New York Times published an article canvassing the views of Americans on how best to deal with the epidemic. A majority favoured the quarantine of AIDS patients, while a sizeable minority supported the view of columnist William Buckley that people with AIDS should be tattooed.”
Harvey Weinstein verdict is taking out the trash ($) — Rita Panahi (The Herald Sun): “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. One of the most powerful men in Hollywood, who could make or break careers and counted senators, presidents and First Ladies among his close friends, is finally behind bars.”
Why an Australian mining giant chose wind and solar over gas for $1 billion project — Giles Parkinson (Renew Economy): “It’s basically unheard of in Australia: An Australian mining giant announcing that it will choose wind, solar and battery storage to provide 80 per cent of the power needs of a proposed $1 billion nickel mine in outback Australia.”
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Canberra
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Universities Australia chair Professor Deborah Terry will present “Let’s dare to be wise: expertise and evidence are our best defence against future terrors” at the National Press Club. Education Minister Dan Tehan will also speak at day one Universities Australia’s annual conference.
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Health Minister Greg Hunt will launch the first-ever national action plan on rare diseases, coinciding with Rare Disease Day.
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Federal parliamentary inquiries will begin into the 2019 federal election, the national redress scheme, remote education, migration in regional Australia, waste management and recycling, a Coalition bill to amend the Transport Security Act and Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act, and the ATO’s proposed fit-out of offices in Brisbane.
Melbourne
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Victorian Aboriginal Legal Services will launch a report about Aboriginal homelessness in the state.
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Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio will speak at a CEDA event on moving towards a circular economy.
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The Victorian Sport Awards will be held at Marvel Stadium.
Sydney
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NSW’s 2019 Scientist of the Year Professor Rose Amal will present her latest research, “Harnessing Solar Energy To Power Our Planet” at NSW Parliament.
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Former Labor minister Robert Tickner will launch his memoir Ten Doors Down: the story of an extraordinary adoption reunion at the State Library of NSW.
How will Australia respond if the coronavirus outbreak becomes a pandemic? Copy three decades of bipartisan policy – offload the costs and problems onto the individuals while pressing ahead with last year’s huge tax giveaways! Coronavirus fears wiped $82 billion off the stock market in just 48 hours, but not a cent went to useful services.
Abandonment of the victims and the marginalised is capitalism’s automatic and inbuilt reaction to crises (now including climate change and pandemics).
Look to the language of abandonment being used in recent articles:
—–”Lanard and Sandman … recommend people slowly starting to stock up on non-perishable food “to last their households through several weeks of social distancing at home during an intense wave of transmission in their community”.
—–No government delivery of a day’s or a week’s rations to the front gate (Saddam Hussein arranged it for Iraqis during the West’s sanctions, but we are clearly not worthy of such consideration from those happy to launch a criminal and illegal war to depose him),
—–no provision of emergency mobile phones or cordless phones to those without them,
—–no provision for the group care of individuals who could not look after themselves or be looked after for that period,
—–no Centrelink advance for those who still need to pay bills,
—–no funding for hospital beds,
—–no funding or planning to maintain food, fuel, and pharmaceuticals supply chains.