A breach of Truss

LONDON’S BURNING

Liz Truss has resigned as UK prime minister after 45 days in the job, making the Tory the shortest-serving PM in the country’s history. It’s “less time in office than it was for her to be elected over the summer”, the BBC notes. It follows weeks of pure, unbridled chaos in the hallowed halls of the British Parliament which came to a spectacular head yesterday when the deputy chief whip resigned, declaring, “I am fucking furious and I don’t give a fuck anymore,” The Spectator says. (No. 10 reckons he didn’t actually resign.) But wait, there’s more. Yesterday the home secretary quit (the UK’s version of a home affairs minister), as CNN reports, meaning two of Truss’ four most senior ministers were gone after Truss sacked her closest ally, finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng, earlier this month. His firing came after the pair’s mini-budget nearly crashed the country’s financial market and almost decimated people’s pensions, ABC reports.

Incredibly, in the Truss government’s penultimate scandal yesterday, there were reports Tory MPs were “physically manhandled” and “bullied” into voting with the government on a new law banning fracking that Labour tabled, Politics Home reports — two MPs saying they had seen the deputy prime minister “practically pick up a hesitant Tory MP”, while Business Secretary Jacob Rees- Mogg was “shouting” at MPs. So who will replace Truss in the leadership ballot next week? Maybe Boris Johnson, back from the dead. In a YouGov survey, a third of respondents chose him as the preferred successor, with only one in five choosing Rishi Sunak. Sunak, 42, is considered a bit of a wunderkind — as finance minister, he was almost PM before Truss beat him in the final round just two months ago. Johnson, Sunak and anyone else who wants to be PM will need a hefty 100 nominations to be on the ballot, The Guardian reports, so it could end up just being two people in the running — or even one. In that case, the person will automatically become prime minister.

[free_worm]

BROKEN RECORDS

Hackers say they stole credit card information from systems that hold the records of 1 million Medibank Private customers, the SMH reports, while the private insurer confirmed they definitely had taken the health records of customers in the breach. It came after Medibank received a data sample relating to 100 people and confirmed it was the real deal. Chief executive David Koczkar said the hackers knew customers’ health conditions, and where they had received medical treatment. It could mean they know “people’s sexual health, serious diagnoses such as cancer, whether a woman has undergone a termination, and whether a person has been treated for a mental health condition or substance abuse”, The Australian ($) adds. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil called the threat a “dog act” and confirmed that the “toughest and smartest people in the Australian government” are helping Medibank. We don’t know yet the scale of this attack — but Medibank has 3.9 million customers and holds data for seven years, so it’s probably going to grow.

Meanwhile AMA president Steve Robson hasn’t read the Medicare research that he claims is wrong, the SMH reports. Robson called the ABC/SMH joint investigation an “unjustified slur on the medical profession”, “fantasy” and “staggering in its inaccuracies and its nastiness”. He told 7.30 last night that he hasn’t read Margaret Faux’s PhD, which suggested $8 billion a year is “leaking” from Medicare, saying it’s “very, very long”. Hmm. Hey, interestingly, Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey tweeted that the ABC and SMH’s investigation was hardly an “exclusive” — Davey posted screengrabs from emails she sent to Health Minister Mark Butler in August about Faux’s PhD. Davey says it’s good when issues get wider coverage, but: “Don’t rip off my interrogations and the government’s response today as new. And give credit where it’s bloody due. I did this work alone.”

ALL POWER TO DAN

Victoria is nationalising electricity again — Premier Daniel Andrews says he’ll bring back the State Electricity Commission after three decades of privatisation, the AFR reports. Andrews said private energy companies were “pocketing” $23 billion in profits while energy bills soar, continuing that these assets should never have been sold in the ’90s. Unsurprisingly, fossil fuel giant Woodside Energy said nationalisation was a “blunt tool”, which came as Woodside announced $9.3 billion in revenue for the quarter as gas prices soared, WA Today reports. The Australian Energy Council (which represents major energy retailers and generators) called it a “retrograde step” that would chill private investment. Five weeks out from the state election, Andrews also promised to spend a billion dollars on wind and solar projects (which will replace Loy Yang A coal plant), as The Age continues, and end coal power generation in Victoria by 2035, well ahead of schedule. He also promised to legislate an emission reduction target of between 75-80% by 2035 too — that’s double the federal goal of 43% (by 2030 though).

It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Resources Minister Madeleine King will announce a $100.5 million investment into our critical minerals today, The Australian ($) reports. We are actually the world’s largest lithium producer which is a key component of battery technology — with decarbonisation around the globe, it’s going to grow to a $14 billion industry in the next two years alone. Albanese reckons we’ll create 34,700 jobs in our battery industry by 2030. It comes as the Climate Transparency Report 2022 found fossil fuels still make up 91% of Australia’s overall energy mix, Renew Economy reports, which is 10 points higher than the G20 average. Our per capita transport emissions are dismal too — three times the G20 average. The report told us to stop “offsetting” (it’s a cop-out), stop creating new fossil fuel projects (a no brainer), and sign up to the global methane pledge. Needless to say, folks, we really need to get a wriggle on.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

In a sleepy fishing village nestled on the breezy blue shores of Lake Garda in Italy, 60 locals have a scientifically proven elixir pumping through their blood that stops them from gaining weight — no matter how many creamy cakes and salami sandwiches they eat. It’s called the Limone gene, named after the village, Limone sul Garda, and was first discovered when a Limone train driver was in an accident in Milan 40 years ago. Doctors were stunned by his blood results, and researchers poured in to test others. It turns out the gene contains a unique protein that destroys lipids (that’s what we call fatty, oily molecules). Shopkeeper Gianni Segala jokes to CNN that his family has given away so much blood for testing, “we’ve almost been bled out entirely”. One time, doctors made him swallow whipped cream every two hours while monitoring his blood. Segala felt nauseous, but doctors couldn’t stop: his blood was wiping out the fats after every last dollop.

Segala thinks of it as a sort of life insurance and says he eats whatever he likes (OK, no one likes a show-off, Segala…), listing “cotolette [crumbed veal cutlets], fried foods, salamis, and I also love to drink”, he says, though he regularly hikes too. For some reason, the gene hasn’t been found in the neighbouring villages — so what makes Limone so bloody special? We don’t know. It’s at the base of the frosty Alps, but its climate is unusually warm nearly all year ’round because the mountains block the wind, creating a mini-climate. The air in Limone is always citrusy, as it is the most northern place in the world that grows lemons naturally. Or maybe it’s the “extraordinary” extra virgin olive oil and always-fresh lake fish they enjoy before a lazy afternoon nap, one local muses. Nice life.

Wishing you a little wanderlust in your Friday morning, and a restful weekend.

SAY WHAT?

The Liberals’ spin they’re better at managing the economy has always been absolute bullshit and the last decade has proved that once and for all.

Jim Chalmers

The treasurer called a spade a spade in an interview with the AFR — when Labor left office in 2013, gross debt was forecast to hit $400 billion, but when Labor returned in May this year, it had ballooned to more than $900 billion and was set to hit $1 trillion during this term.

CRIKEY RECAP

The great diesel mystery: why is it more than 40 cents a litre dearer than petrol?

Jason Murphy

Oct 20, 2022

33

“We now sell twice as much diesel as petrol. In 2010 the two products sold in roughly equal volume. Australia is hit particularly hard by the rise in the price of diesel because we do a lot of mining, but also because we’ve been doing something quite silly — expanding our fleet of diesel cars aggressively.

“About a quarter of all vehicles on the road in Australia were diesels in 2021. But that share is growing as more than a third of new car sales are diesels. As this next chart shows, the big reason is our enthusiasm for big US-style utes. The Ford Ranger is a diesel, and so are most models among its mates the Hilux, the Navara, etc.”

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What’s killing Australians? Not what the media will tell you

Bernard Keane

Oct 20, 2022

33

“In short, the ‘pandemic made everyone drink more’ is a beat-up by the media and public health bodies funded by taxpayers to demonise alcohol. But let’s assume alcohol-related deaths are surging, for argument’s sake. 1600 people sounds like a lot! Does that mean alcohol is a major source of death?

“Let’s check the rest of the data: heart disease killed 17,000; dementia nearly 16,000; strokes nearly 10,000; lung and throat cancer nearly 9000. Where does alcohol fit? Go through all the causes of death and the most frequent alcohol-related killer, alcoholic liver disease, doesn’t make it into the top 70 causes of death. It’s well below transport accidents, falls (over 6000 deaths), unknown causes of death and brain tumours.”

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Thorpe admits secret relationship with ex-bikie, loses Greens leadership job

Anton Nilsson

Oct 20, 2022

15

“Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe has been sacked as the party’s deputy Senate leader after she confirmed an ABC report she was in an undisclosed relationship with a former president of an outlaw motorcycle gang. The relationship went on while she was sitting on a law enforcement committee and receiving confidential police briefings about bikie activities, the ABC reported.

“Thorpe told the ABC it was correct she used to date the ex-president of the Victorian chapter of the Rebels group, Dean Martin. The ABC reported on Thursday that staffers in Thorpe’s office were alarmed by the relationship because it risked a potential conflict of interest, and that they raised the issue with the chief of staff of Greens Leader Adam Bandt. Bandt, however, said he didn’t find out until he was recently contacted by the ABC.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

[Organization of American States] to meet after Peru’s embattled president alleges ‘coup’ (Al Jazeera)

Spain and France announce new deal to build underwater gas pipeline (EuroNews)

Israel imposes strict rules on travel to West Bank (The Guardian)

Texas sues Google for allegedly capturing biometric data of millions without consent (Reuters)

Teenage boy shot dead at Iran protest [over morality police death of Mahsa Amini] — sources (BBC)

US home sales dropped for eighth straight month in September (The Wall Street Journal) ($)

French right votes down move to make abortion constitutional right (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Scott Morrison’s mistakes made stage three tax cuts too costly — Malcolm Turnbull (the AFR)) ($): “Turning to today’s debate, I have two observations to make. First, those who are urging Anthony Albanese to scrap his election promise not to repeal the legislated tax cuts do not have the Labor government’s best interests at heart. The Liberal Party lost the election in large part because Australians did not trust Scott Morrison. Labor won, but not in a landslide, and with a historically low primary vote. Because of the teals, the Liberal loss was much more substantial than the Labor win. But win Labor did, and integrity was on the ballot. To break an election promise less than six months into the new government would be hugely damaging. The clamour from the progressive left that Labor should do so is a reminder that in politics your friends can get you into just as much trouble as your enemies.

“The claim that people earning $180,000 were the “top end of town” was always misguided. And the percentage of personal income tax paid by the top 5% of taxpayers remained the same. The big idea in 2018 was to abolish the 37% tax bracket entirely for incomes between $41,000 and $200,000, which would have meant that from July 1 2024 there was a flat marginal rate of tax at 32.5% from $41,000 to $200,000. Rising marginal tax rates are a disincentive to earning more income, especially when combined with a reduction in means-tested social welfare benefits. At the time we estimated that by 2024, 94% of Australians would pay no more than 32.5% tax on additional earnings.”

Drawing a line on sponsorship deals in a changing world — Helen Trinca (The Australian) ($): “The obvious and important question in the debate on sports sponsorship is where the money will come from if clubs start knocking back energy companies or others with policies or products they consider harmful. It’s the same question many people ask about state governments if they were to ban or limit poker machines and other gambling. The answer is also the same: they would manage, of course – manage to regroup, to rethink and reimagine their operations and their budgets in response to loss of funding from these sources. In the case of sporting clubs and codes, the market would sort itself out and other sponsors, offering more or less or the same funds as the rejected partners, would emerge.

“Lower or no sponsorship would send a signal about the value society puts on a particular professional sport and how much it reckons a star footballer or cricketer is really worth. There might even be more money from sponsors and supporters happy about a club taking a stand and wanting to be associated with this. The level of funding in a world of hyper-awareness about a sponsor’s values is hard to predict but what is not in much doubt is that social activism by players and supporters is only likely to increase. It’s not only young athletes who have grown up green and fluid who are pushing their values on to their clubs, but the social media generation is a particularly powerful group. Such activism in sports is fairly novel in this country.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)

• Leave some extra time in your commute — Extinction Rebellion Victoria protesters will blockade the Yarra River to call for climate action.

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Author Anne Casey-Hardy will be in conversation with Tegan Bennett Daylight about the former’s new book, Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls, at Better Read Than Dead bookshop.

• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell, Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, and independent Senator David Pocock will be at the Federal Leadership Summit.

• Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland will give the 2022 Charles Todd oration at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf.

Whadjuk Noongar Country (also known as Perth)

• Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is due to land in Perth for the annual Australia-Japan leaders’ meeting.