THE TEAL DEAL
Atlassian founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes donated more than $2.5 million to the Climate 200 group that propped up the teal independents, the SMH reports, but the biggest single contributor was a trading firm founder from Sydney named Rob Keldoulis who gave $1.85 million. The trio were among 63 donors who gave more than $14,500, though 85% of people who donated to Climate 200 chipped in $500 or less — all in all a $13 million kitty. It didn’t deliver the teals the coveted balance of power, though it did create a very different make-up in Parliament. But it may be short-lived — Labor is looking into spending caps, lower thresholds for making donor identities public, and real-time donation disclosures. It comes as Australian officials at the COP27 in Egypt say our government is happy to talk about coughing up money for developing nations suffering the brunt of climate change right now, the ABC reports.
The concession is part of a wider, audacious bid to co-host the 2026 climate conference with Pacific nations, even though we’re considered a bit of a laggard on the world stage for climate action. That’s the point, Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy says — it would send a strong message about a new Labor dawn here on climate action. But not everyone agrees we’re in one. Former Greens leader Bob Brown has slammed Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for meeting with the minerals company MMG, which wants to build a big old mining waste dam and pipeline in Tasmania, Guardian Australia reports. Brown couldn’t understand why Plibersek met with the “industry that causes the damage” but didn’t take him up on an invitation to tour the Takayna (also known as Tarkine) rainforest. A somewhat awkies photo of Brown sitting “two tables away” from Plibersek at a restaurant was posted to Twitter. But Plibersek says she toured the Takayna by herself and met with workers to do research on her decision about the contentious proposal. The problem is the project could threaten the endangered Tasmanian masked owl — predecessor Sussan Ley greenlit it anyway, but the federal court overturned it, so the mine had to reapply.
[free_worm]
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
The Queensland election watchdog says its independence is at risk from “intrusive” legislation that could see ministers order reviews of it, The Courier-Mail reports. Queensland’s electoral commissioner Pat Vidgen says it’d have a “chilling effect” on voter confidence in the watchdog conducting free and fair elections. The Palaszczuk government introduced the bill last month — it lets a minister request public sector reviews, where a commissioner or similar could go into official premises, look at official documents, and interview workers. Not all integrity bodies are included though — the Crime and Corruption Commission (Queensland’s ICAC/IBAC) and the Audit Office are both excused.
Meanwhile, Victoria is taking inspiration from the Palaszczuk government, The Age reports — Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party wants cabinet documents, usually buried for 10 years, to be made public within a month in a policy tentatively supported by the Greens and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party (formerly the Australian Sex Party). Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the change in June in the name of public scrutiny — and it’s on the mind of Victorian voters ahead of the November 26 election, the paper says. Integrity in politics was the biggest thing that could sway votes, according to the paper’s surveys. But cabinet documents cannot be FOI’d under current laws — only ordered to be released by the all-powerful information commissioner. Speaking of matters of integrity, as Crikey reports, the Australian Parliament has apologised and admitted security officers messed up when they confiscated a bag of books from Julian Assange’s family during a visit to MPs. Initially the Department of Parliamentary Services declared the books “protest material” — even though there was no protest that day. Assange’s brother told Crikey he was “gobsmacked” that books would be seized in our Aussie democracy.
WORKING PARTY
The controversial industrial relations bill has been watered down slightly to get through the Senate, The Australian ($) reports. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says he would add lines that require a majority vote in a workplace before industrial action or multi-employer bargaining agreements could happen — as well as flagging a possible six-month grace period for workplaces before unions could start multi-employer bargaining. The bill is unsurprisingly not popular with big employers, but powerbrokers the Greens and ACT independent Senator David Pocock need to get on board for it to pass the Senate. Pocock says the bill is great for low-paid workers, but it needs to be split in two — half of it is too rushed, he claims.
Hey, speaking of hard-fought rights — New Zealanders want to be able to join the NDIS, and get citizenship faster. There are 11,000 Kiwis in Australia who are stuck in the years-long visa processing backlog thanks to the Morrison era, the AFR ($) reports. But it doesn’t reflect our bi-country bond — indeed the 1973 Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement allows citizens of the two countries to enter each other’s country to visit, live and work indefinitely, which is pretty cool. And 670,000 Kiwis have taken up that opportunity — which is about 15% of New Zealand’s population. A lobby group will meet with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles about advancing their rights here in Australia today (though voting is not on the table).
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Skip work this week and go for a swim in the sunshine, the SMH’s Michael Koziol reckons. Although much of the east coast is bracing for another rain dance from La Niña this summer, the Harbour City is in for a miraculous continuation of blue-sky weather this week. Melbourne will see sunshine tomorrow and Wednesday, while the sun will be out in the middle of the week in Canberra. There’s nothing for it — take your sickies, folks. May I suggest a spot of “gastro” as an excuse — contagious yet typically wraps up in 24 hours. Plus, it’s a bit on the nose, so no one will ask you for further details. Science implores you to get outside — psychology Professor Nick Haslam told the paper that a prolonged period of gloomy weather only intensifies the relief of the great outdoors on a fine day. But you can’t get the full benefit from looking out your office window, Haslam qualifies. And it’s not just you: the benefits flow on into society — on lovely days, people tip more and romantic propositions are more likely to result in a yes.
Many people are already going for it as the weather edges warmer. It’s a funny thing. It’s like we have been humbled by bushfires, restrictions and lots of rain. Our (very Australian) expectations of rows of 38-degree days and ne’er a cloud in the sky have been, unexpectedly blissfully, lowered. “Twenty degrees? It’s Bondi time. Water freezing? Dive in anyway — you never know when you’ll get another chance,” Koziol writes. And people are. The past few days have been a “delicious entrée” for summer. “You could see the relief written on people’s faces and feel the joy in everyday interactions, from the smiling barista to the dancing bartender”. Could this be the hot vaxxed summer we were promised last year, Koziol wonders? At the very least, we’re appreciating the glow of the gorgeous gold orb, the clean water-colour wash of blue skies, and the icy shock of our water, whether it’s the washing surf or the welcoming cleanse of the local pool. Gratitude can surprise us in the most unlikely of places.
Hoping you feel the sun on your face this week.
SAY WHAT?
I think it’s quite a serious hacking of Australia’s democratic processes and it’s fundamentally a lack of transparency.
Jason Falinski
The former moderate Liberal MP — who lost his seat to teal MP Sophie Scamps — reckons Climate 200 taking a few months to reveal its big donors was unfair for ordinary Aussies who don’t have loads of cash. But Climate 200 says donations were overwhelmingly (85%) below $500, and came from every single electorate in the country, with a third from rural and regional Australia.
CRIKEY RECAP
In a lone tavern, America’s ‘likely but undecided voters’ wax conspiratorial
“The results, if they go clearly in either direction, will tell us which country won: TV America or TikTok nation, or whatever is two clicks beyond TikTok now. One of the reasons polling may have collapsed is that it may simply be impossible for pollsters to keep up with shifting patterns of media and networking. There’s never been a midterms like this. There have been right-wing revenge fests, relying on high turnout among the white and old, but there has never been a midterms where both sides were slugging it out like it was a presidential [election].
“Both sides are putting everything on the field. Sign up to a candidate’s website to get info, and you are bombarded with a stream of requests, phone banking, donations, like nothing I have ever seen before. Thousands of groups on both sides have mobilisation efforts, in the way America does it. By and large you don’t campaign as a party rep — you campaign as Pro-Choice Texas for Beto, or We The People of Florida for Ron DeSantis.”
Australian Parliament backflips, ‘sincerely apologises’ to Julian Assange’s family for confiscating books
“The Australian Parliament has apologised and admitted security officers made a mistake when they seized a bag of books from Julian Assange’s family during a visit to MPs. Crikey can reveal a top Parliament official wrote to Assange’s father John Shipton this week to extend his ‘sincere apologies’ for the August incident.
“Department of Parliamentary Services secretary Rob Stefanic also wrote to Greens Senator David Shoebridge to say his department’s screening procedures had been clarified ‘to ensure that books are not categorised as protest material’. The backflip came after the department initially defended the decision to seize the books. Crikey revealed last month the department had justified the seizure by mistakenly claiming the books had been identified as ‘protest material’ …”
My client spoke her truth about Hawthorn — beyond that, she has no duty to the AFL
“As Amy* tells it, one morning she and her partner were celebrating because they had just reached 12 weeks of pregnancy and felt secure enough to let the world know. Amy said goodbye to Ian* as he headed off to training at the Hawthorn Football Club, where he was a promising AFL draftee. He was going to give the club the good news and was proud as punch about becoming a dad.
“Amy next heard from Ian that afternoon, a brief phone call in which he told her he wanted to end their relationship and the pregnancy. An hour later, his phone was disconnected. It would be months before they spoke again. According to his later account, members of the Hawthorn coaching staff had stood over him as he made the call and delivered the words they had told him to say. That’s Amy’s truth, and it won’t be changing.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Tanzania plane crash death toll jumps to 19: PM (Al Jazeera)
Trump expected to announce 2024 campaign before end of November (The Guardian)
Twitter updates app to start charging $8 for blue checkmark (Reuters)
Russia reactivates its trolls and bots ahead of Tuesday’s midterms (The New York Times)
Putin signs law to mobilise Russian citizens convicted of serious crimes (CNN)
Climate crisis: past eight years were the eight hottest ever, says UN (The Guardian)
France: Bardella replaces [Marine] Le Pen as far-right National Rally president (EuroNews)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Albanese fails own leadership test on climate change — Dave Sharma (The Australian) ($): “It will be hard to convince others of Australia’s credentials to host such a meeting when our leader does not bother attending them. When Australia put in our bid to host the G20, back in 2011, then prime minister Julia Gillard was tireless in her international travel in support of that bid. Her personal interactions with world leaders helped secure us the G20 hosting rights in 2014. If Albanese is serious about wanting to host the COP, he will need to be equally tireless. There are also the issues to be discussed and settled at Sharm el-Sheikh; in particular, the accounting rules and methodologies needed to establish a functioning global carbon market, and how countries will qualify for certified emissions reductions. This is particularly important for Australia, given our ambition to generate such carbon credits using soil carbon and other agricultural methods …
“Beyond this, multilateral meetings such as the COP provide valuable opportunities for leaders to meet on the sidelines and discuss other important issues. With the current level of turmoil in the world, from soaring energy prices to surging inflation and Russia’s war against Ukraine, Australian leaders should be taking every opportunity available to inject our views and perspectives. There is an Australian contingent of about two dozen Australian Defence Force personnel currently stationed in the Sinai Peninsula, close to Sharm el-Sheikh, helping to oversee and implement the peace agreements between Israel and Egypt. If Albanese made the trip to COP, he could thank our service personnel for their work in a challenging and dangerous operational environment.”
How Mandela’s moral courage can guide climate battle (by his granddaughter) — Ndileka Mandela: “When my grandfather, Nelson Mandela, stood up to apartheid in South Africa, he did so from a place of strong political leadership. However, he was guided and grounded by his morals. And his efforts were complimented by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who knew better than anyone that religious values were crucial to change. They inspired a genuine culture shift that spread across South Africa, changing the hearts and minds of millions. Like climate change, it was a moral challenge. And moral challenges require leaders who can provide a moral framework that political goals can leverage. Except now we need it on a global scale.
“We know that to effectively tackle climate change, the world’s societies will have to undergo vast behavioural changes. In fact, without mass individual change, meeting net-zero targets will be all but impossible. And who better to shift global opinion than society’s most powerful behavioural change agents? Faith remains one of the last remaining universal unifiers. Yet politicians and religious leaders rarely address real-world issues together. Until now. This past week, for the first time, the world’s religious leaders were asked to partake at the G20 meeting of faith leaders, otherwise known as R20. Co-organised by Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the largest Islamic NGO in the world, the Muslim World League, R20 gathered more than 300 religious leaders in Bali to form a new era of climate moral leadership underscored by an unprecedented coalition of interfaith climate alliances.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)
-
Australian Energy Market Operator chair Drew Clarke will give the 2022 Solar Oration at the Australian National University, sharing his thoughts on technology, markets, infrastructure, governance and social licence.
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
-
Philanthropist Wendy Whiteley will chat about her memoir, A Year with Wendy Whiteley: Conversations about Art, Life and Gardening, at the Wheeler Centre.
-
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s Sarah Schwartz and Victorian MP Fiona Patten will chat about the challenges of law reform in a talk held at the Chestnut Tree Bookshop. You can also catch this online.
-
First Nations women including poet Ali Cobby Eckermann, historian Jackie Huggins, academic Amy Thunig, playwright Emily Wells, and ABC’s Bridget Caldwell-Bright will chat about motherhood and the transmission of knowledge systems, in a talk held by the Wheeler Centre.
Why is Plibesek not attending COPout27 – doesn’t her ministry cover the environment or something similar?