Trump trumped on his date in court

COURT JESTER

A judge has set a March 4 2024 date for Donald Trump to be tried for trying to overturn the results of the last US election. That federal case will be heard in Washington DC, several years earlier than Trump had hoped. The Associated Press reports the former US president’s legal team had argued the trial should not start before April 2026 because of “the huge volume of evidence they say they are reviewing and to prepare for what they contend is a novel and unprecedented prosecution”. Special counsel Jack Smith and his prosecution team had hoped for January 2024. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said: “The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter.”

There’s obviously some truth to that: later in 2024, American voters will hit the polls again, and Trump is running to be the Republican nominee. It would probably be helpful to know whether or not one of the presumed frontrunners is guilty of conspiracy to defraud the same country he wants to lead. On the other hand, the AP reports, the March date “would also ensure a blockbuster trial in the nation’s capital in the heat of the GOP presidential nominating calendar, forcing Trump to juggle campaign and courtroom appearances and coming the day before Super Tuesday — a crucial voting day when more than a dozen states will hold primaries and when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs”.

The conspiracy case is one of four that Trump is facing. Smith has also brought a separate federal case accusing Trump of illegally keeping official documents and refusing to return them — that case is likely to go to trial in Florida in May. There are also state cases in New York — for allegedly falsifying business documents in connection with hush payments to a porn actress — and in Georgia, where the charges also have to do with Trump’s efforts to change the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump’s mugshot after he was booked at a jail in Atlanta, Georgia, made headlines across the world when it dropped, and Trump’s campaign team wasn’t slow to use it to raise money. The UK’s Times ($) newspaper reports the campaign has already raised US$7 million since the mugshot was released, including by selling T-shirts and mugs with the image.

WHISTLING IN THE WIND

Australia’s federal whistleblower protection laws “have not successfully protected a single person since their inception”, Guardian Australia reports today. That conclusion was reached by the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), which looked at 78 court rulings in 70 cases where people sought protection under state and federal whistleblowing laws. On state and territory levels, 15 cases ended with the whistleblower succeeding, a rate of about one in five.

The HRLC has published a 13-page report on the topic, “The Cost of Courage”, which can be found on its website and which is worth a read. Report author lawyer Kieran Pender (who also writes for Guardian Australia) said in the report: “The research shows that Australian whistleblowing laws are not working as intended — protections that look good on paper have not translated into practically accessible, enforceable rights in practice.”

Australia’s whistleblower protections were last strengthened in June, when Parliament passed an amendment to the Public Interest Disclosure Act ahead of the start of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). “Key measures in the legislation will improve protections for public sector whistleblowers and witnesses through expanding the immunities and scope of the public interest disclosure scheme to those who ‘could make’ a disclosure,” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said then.

SAY WHAT?

A lot of capacity is being added to the market and it’s going to be significant over the next year, and that will bring down airfares quite considerably.

Alan Joyce

Qantas promises flights will become cheaper soon — let’s put a pin in that and see if it turns out to be true. Chief executive Joyce was grilled in a heated Senate hearing yesterday, where topics included $100 million in undisclosed flight credits owed to Jetstar customers (ABC), the government’s decision to reject an application by Qatar Airways for more flights to Australia (SMH) ($), and Joyce’s enormous personal pay package (9News).

CRIKEY RECAP

Media companies call for independent FOI commissioner to ‘champion’ accountability

JOHN BUCKLEY

“Australian news publishers have called for reforms to freedom of information (FOI) laws that would install a commissioner as ‘a champion’ of ‘openness and accountability’, one separate from the office of the Australian information commissioner, a Senate inquiry has heard.

“The call was first outlined in the Right to Know coalition’s submission to a Senate inquiry (launched Monday) into the delays that plague the FOI system and the waning resourcing that led to former FOI commissioner Leo Hardiman KC’s resignation less than a year into the job.

“The coalition, which represents Australian news publishers including AAP, Nine, Guardian Australia, News Corp Australia and The West Australian, among others, called for urgent reform to the system’s relevant legislation to be drafted by the end of June next year.”

The Murdochs sell stories. But what of those they tell themselves?

SALLY YOUNG

“Stories are the lifeblood of journalism. But just as important as the narratives published in the Murdoch family newspapers, websites and news channels are those the family’s leaders have told themselves for more than a century.

“In the 1890s, when Keith Murdoch was the shy, stammering target of school bullies, he told himself that being powerful would fix everything, and from a young age he was fixated on attaining power and security. As an adult, Keith also told himself that he was a self-made man, and there was certainly truth in this. He did work his way up from a bottom-rung ‘penny-a-line’ reporter in the early 1900s, becoming head of Australia’s largest media empire and a political kingmaker by the 1930s.

“A journalist who knew Keith well said his power lust was ‘insatiable’. And Keith’s success was a product of his skill in cultivating close friendships with powerful men — a strategy that his strict and social climbing father, the Reverend Patrick Murdoch, had instilled.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

France defies Niger ultimatum for ambassador to go (BBC)

Ukraine says its troops liberate key south-eastern settlement (Reuters)

Stolen at birth, man re­unit­ed with Chilean moth­er af­ter 42 years (Al Jazeera)

Australian writer detained in China fears he will die in jail (CNN)

Iraq hangs 3 for IS-claimed blast that killed hundreds (AFP)

THE COMMENTARIAT

US, world should fear new Donald Trump presidency — Troy Bramston (The Australian) ($): “What a second Trump presidency would mean for the US and Australia is examined in Bruce Wolpe’s new book, Trump’s Australia. It makes for sober reading. Wolpe, who worked with US Democrats and for prime minister Julia Gillard, suggests US democracy will be under siege if Trump is reelected. He also examines the impact of a Trump presidency on US allies such as Australia.

“For a start, the $368 billion trilateral defence pact with the US and UK to acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines by 2055 would be in jeopardy. The US was an unreliable ally during the Trump presidency as he trashed historic partnerships and abused world leaders. Congressional Republicans have repeatedly threatened to scuttle AUKUS.

“In Christoffer Guldbrandsen’s documentary A Storm Foretold, a candid Roger Stone said Trump was ‘the greatest single mistake in American history’. He is right about that. He began by debasing the political culture and repudiating established norms and conventions. He ended his single term with no regard for the rule of law or free and fair elections.”

I have studied emperor penguins for 30 years. We may witness their demise in our lifetime — Barbara Wienecke (Guardian Australia): “Over several years now, the sea ice has formed later in autumn and has not lasted as long as it used to in summer. Recently, several colonies experienced early ice break-outs and consequently huge chick losses. But what happened in the Bellingshausen Sea is unprecedented. Significant chick deaths occurred at multiple colonies in the same region and the same year.

“Deeply concerning is that such events happened at some of the southern-most colonies. The Weddell and Ross seas were considered possible climate refugia for emperors as Antarctica is getting warmer. However, some of the disastrous early losses of fast ice occurred in just these regions. Emperor penguins have limited options.

“Unfortunately, since the rate at which their environment is changing is faster than the rate at which they can adapt, we are likely to witness the demise of an extraordinary species that has graced earth for millions of years.”

If there’s one thing Australia needs, it’s more federal MPs. No really — Shane Wright (SMH) ($): “The last substantial increase to the Parliament was in 1984 when Bob Hawke upped the number of electorates from 125 to 148 (the Senate also increased from 64 to 76). Australia’s population has grown by 10 million since then.

“So why hasn’t anything changed in almost 40 years? The simple answer is that we don’t like the idea. More MPs is not the kind of job creation Australians want to see, even if it means cutting off our nose to spite our face. All parliamentarians know any proposal along those lines would go down like a lead balloon, lose them voters and possibly office on the way.

“The status quo is failing. It’s failing our political system, it’s failing our MPs, and most of all, it’s failing voters who are not getting adequate representation.”

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh will address the National Press Club on the topic “Evaluating Policy Impact: Working Out What Works”.