Defence Minister Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

MORE, MORE, MORE, DEMANDS DUTTON

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will forge ahead with a referendum on a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament with or without the support of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, the SMH ($) reports, who appears committed to familiar calls for more detail: “There is a lot of detail that has been requested and there are many more questions that have been posed today as a result of the third form of words put forward.”

Dutton’s refusal to offer a position on the Voice came shortly after the government announced a resolution to a weeks-long impasse with Indigenous leaders on the proposed change to the constitution. The question that will be put to voters as soon as October is this: “A proposed law: to alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?” If Australia votes yes, three clauses will make their way into the constitution, the SMH ($) reports. They are: “1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice; 2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; 3. The Parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”

[free_worm]

BLOCK AND TACKLE

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was tackled after she approached anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull on the lawns in front of Parliament House in Canberra yesterday afternoon, The Canberra Times ($) reports, where Keen-Minshull was joined by a huddle of anti-trans protesters under a marquee in light rain. Thorpe could be heard shouting “You are not welcome” at the group, the ABC reports, before being pushed by a man in a suit and taken to ground by police.

Footage of the incident uploaded to various platforms later prompted serious questions from senior figures across government, including Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, the SMH ($) reports, who called the incident “concerning” and said he was seeking “urgent advice” from the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. Greens Leader Adam Bandt echoed the A-G’s concerns, and demanded the AFP explain the officer’s actions.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

The plea from NSW Labor so close to the state election is directed at the state’s big businesses, the AFR ($) reports. Opposition Leader Chris Minns is trying to sell himself to execs as a white-collared custodian of the state economy worthy of serious consideration, as he threatens to oust the last remaining Coalition government on the Australian mainland. At the heart of the pitch, the Fin reports, is a promise to make NSW a more attractive place to work. He said: “The best thing a state government can do for business is have an environment where we’re focused on growing the economy. And secondly, that business has access to world-class skilled labour. And that’s where I think we can really step up.”

His rallying cry came within cooee of polling day, and with a slight two-party-preferred edge ahead of the Dominic Perrottet-led Coalition — currently about 53 to 47. Minns took the opportunity to reiterate plans to scrap the public sector wage cap and boost the number of international students arriving in and staying across NSW.

Make sure you stay up to date with the election results by visiting Crikey on Saturday night to follow along with our liveblog.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Is it possible for one newspaper to shape mainstream use of the English language globally? When we talk about the homogenisation of news presentation in the modern age, few organisations are able to match the footprint of The New York Times. Its subscriber profile is represented by more than 236 countries and, according to 2021 figures, more than 1 million of its 8.8 million subscribers were based outside the US — or “international”. As the demands of the news business shift to encompass trends dredged up from far-flung corners of the internet at speed, the expectation in general terms is that the Times already has it covered. But for each emerging topic considered fit to print, there is always a first mention in the paper. Enter Twitter’s @NYT_first_said.

Those of you who already follow the account will probably get more enjoyment out of this story in The New Yorker than others, but I’d like to suggest you all take the time to read it. Max Norman, in a “Rabbit Holes” column, speaks to the account’s founder and steers readers to interesting territory covering monopolistic language influence and the creation of the paper’s very own dialect. How does the account shine a light on the forces regulating Timesean language, and what impact does that regulation have on the broader use of mainstream English? Have a read.

SAY WHAT?

We’re all in.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

In a show of unrestrained emotion, Albanese fought back tears as he announced the words that will be put to voters at the referendum later this year. The government will see the thing out until the end, with or without the support of Peter Dutton and the Coalition, he said, flanked by Indigenous academic Marcia Langton and other members of the working group.

CRIKEY RECAP

Christian Lives Matter doxxes LGBTQIA+ protesters as the group seeks to shift blame for violence

Mar 23, 2023

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“Christian Lives Matter has published the identities of LGBTQIA+ protesters attacked outside an event promoted by the online conservative religious group, calling on them to be ‘held responsible for their actions’. This comes as those involved in the event have sought to blame the violence on the protesters for having provocative signs and allegedly blocking a road.

“On Tuesday night, a small group of Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) protesters were attacked near a community meeting featuring One Nation MP Mark Latham at St Michael’s Church Hall in Belfield. Footage shows a group of men running at protesters and NSW Police. Three men associated with the group were arrested for their involvement in the event on charges including assault.”

A colonial war and David Elliott’s broken promise: inside the ‘offensive’ plan to dig up a dead soldier

Mar 23, 2023

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“When David Elliott became NSW minister for veterans, one of his first major promises was to repatriate the remains of an Australian soldier who died abroad. But a Crikey investigation reveals Elliott, who retires from politics on Saturday, has done nothing at all to achieve this ‘top priority’ — and that any attempts would likely have caused confusion and offence.

“Internal emails unearthed by Crikey also reveal some government officials raised doubts about whether the soldier in question deserves to be called the first Australian serviceman to die abroad, as Elliott and others have claimed.”

What happens next if Trump is arrested?

Mar 23, 2023

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“As I write, rumour has it that law enforcement officers are trying to lure Donald Trump out from under his bed with a cheeseburger, so they can arrest him. The mental image of The Donald being perp-walked by the NYPD in his pyjamas is very enticing. We don’t actually know whether this dream will be fulfilled — it was Trump himself who claimed he was going to be arrested imminently, triggering a support rally outside Trump Tower that attracted five people. But there are solid indications from official sources that criminal charges are now highly likely.

“Amazingly, Trump has never been charged with a criminal offence, testament to the wisdom of choosing to have rich parents. However, the legal walls have been closing in for a long time. The most likely, and simplest, case is being investigated in New York: that Trump paid money to former adult-film star Stormy Daniels to shut up her claims that they’d had an affair.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

TikTok CEO fails to appease lawmakers in heated hearing (Bloomberg)

Violent clashes in Paris as pension age row rages (BBC)

Manhattan DA: Trump created false expectation of arrest, Republicans interfered (Reuters)

Judge sentences Jan 6 defendant who breached Pelosi’s office to 36 months in prison (Politico)

In Israel, another divisive law on another day of mass protest (The New York Times)

Bank of England raises UK interest rates by quarter-point to 4.25% (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Offshore junkets veiled by MPs’ tardy disclosure — Myriam Robin (The Australian Financial Review) ($): “While federal public servants are barred from hospitality of any great expense, no such prohibition exists on politicians. All they have to do is disclose the largesse on their register of interests, promptly, within the month. Nonetheless, keeping on top of this paperwork is evidently beyond many. And with the adherence to the disclosure scheme policed by Parliament itself, no real censure routinely follows the breach.

“Last December, six federal MPs visited Taiwan on a trip funded by that government. Four promptly declared the visit on the public register of members’ interests. Liberal National Party member Terry Young and Labor member Libby Coker did not. At least, not until after they were contacted on Wednesday by ex-Liberal staffer turned accountability campaigner Sean Johnson, of Open Politics. The trip itself was no secret, with Young for one posting happy snaps of the whole thing on Facebook (“Nice to see a country that has electronic voting in Parliament,” he enthused). Though if anything should prompt full disclosure of its particulars (not to mention adherence to Parliament’s own rules), it’s a trip by Australian parliamentarians funded by a foreign government.”

Wording aside, the voice will end in tears — Henry Ergas (The Australian) ($): “With many voters demanding more information about the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, its supporters have become increasingly irritated. But the proposition that the electorate has a right to know exactly what it is being asked to endorse is ­utterly unimpeachable. And the prime minister’s ­decision to largely retain the referendum question’s original wording, despite the far-reaching problems it could create, only makes transparency and complete disclosure of the potential implications even more critical.

“After all, the referendum’s purpose is not simply to modify the constitution: it is to give the change the legitimacy which comes from popular approval. We would not regard as ­legitimate a contract whose risks had not been disclosed; for the same reasons, a constitutional amendment whose consequences had not been made apparent could hardly claim democratic legitimacy. The very high stakes involved in modifying the constitution underscore the point. Germans refer to constitutions as the ‘grundgesetz’ or ‘grundnorm’: the ‘ground law’ on which the polity rests. To act as a foundation, constitutions must be ­stable — and the price of stability is that change is hard to effect, and even harder to undo.”

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

  • Federal committee hearing on the project known as the Iron Boomerang — a rail corridor across northern Australia connecting iron ore with steel mills.

  • Federal departments and aid organisations to appear at a parliamentary committee hearing on the rights of women and children.

Eora country (also known as Sydney)

  • The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)’s public inquiry continues as part of an investigation concerning the conduct of employees of Inner West Council (IWC), Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and others (Operation Hector).

  • NSW Bushfires coronial inquiry into the deaths of three US airmen in January 2020 continues.