No camp’s strategy: fear over fact

FEAR AND LOATHING

Advance’s Chris Inglis has instructed the No group’s volunteers to use “emotive language” rather than “facts and figures” to “hammer” feelings of “uncertainty, of doubt or fear” into voters, the SMH ($) reports. Inglis, a longtime Liberal staff member, said so in an online training session, where he also told them not to say they’re from the No camp upfront. Rather they should sound like concerned citizens who are associated with Fair Australia, he continued, because it sounds “soft” and “calming”. The paper pointedly adds that “Inglis had worked on state and federal election campaigns for about 12 years”. Fair Australia was seething someone had given the paper access, and primly said it’d be referring the matter to federal police — though it’s not quite clear what the crime would be. It comes after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton again called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to withdraw the “divisive” referendum, as The Australian ($) reports, wilfully ignoring that all referendums are, by very definition, a choice between two options.

Speaking of recordings… it turns out Queensland cops who made “horrific” racist comments while working in a Brisbane watch house didn’t even get disciplined, as Guardian Australia reports. Instead they were given some “areas for improvement”, despite talking about an Indigenous colleague giving oral sex, about burying and beating Sudanese people, saying they hoped “Ebola works”, calling Nigerians “jigaboos” and talking about Muslim “outbreeding”. Dismal. Last year, even Queensland’s police commissioner Katarina Carroll agreed the two cops and two watch house officers should go. And finally, Victoria’s Nationals leader, who is also opposition spokesman on Indigenous affairs, wrote a column where he mixed up cultural heritage and Indigenous legislation, critics say via The Age ($). Whether it’s “ignorance or mischievousness”, it was clear Peter Walsh didn’t understand what he was writing about, Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council Matthew Storey said. First Peoples Minister Gabrielle Williams went harder, saying it was just another misinformation moment in the Voice debate.

MEN AROUND THE HOUSE

Former Coalition home affairs minister Karen Andrews said a male colleague harassed her in the House of Representatives, including breathing on her neck and crudely describing her questions as “thrusting and probing”. Andrews didn’t name anyone. She told the ABC’s Annabel Crabb she called it out sometimes, but she couldn’t “be in every fight”. It’s not the first time she has called out shitty treatment of women — in 2021 she said she’d had a “gutful”, via the SMH ($). Andrews, who worked in male-dominated industries such as engineering before politics, told Crabb she’d never copped it so much “simply because I was a woman”. For instance, she said, male colleagues would routinely not invite her to get-togethers where political strategising took place. Former PM Scott Morrison, who apologised to Josh Frydenberg and Mathias Cormann for secretly swearing himself into their portfolios, apologised to Andrews for doing the same to her only after it was widely reported he hadn’t.

Meanwhile independent MP Kylea Tink spoke more on the ABC about her allegation she was yelled at in an “aggressive” and “quite confronting” way by an unnamed member of the Coalition. She said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s comment that it was worse in the Keating era was “disappointing” and added she’d received letters saying teachers found classes unruly after watching the antics of question time. Nationals MP Kevin Hogan told Tink he was sorry that she had felt intimidated — the first time any Coalition MP had apologised over it, Q+A’s Patricia Karvelas noted. Meanwhile Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is supporting two Labor MPs, Jim Madden and Don Brown, who were accused of mistreating women, The Courier-Mail ($) reports, just minutes after she finished a monologue about being a role model for women. Madden reportedly breached Labor Party rules 22 times over his treatment of a female staff member, while Brown was accused of “hateful and bullying” conduct by Redlands Mayor Karen Williams. Madden isn’t running again.

PLANE SPEAKING

Stop taking free club memberships from Qantas, some 70% of voters have told elected politicians via an SMH ($) poll. Plus only 15% want the government to limit foreign airline flights, after the controversial federal ruling to bar Qatar Airways from getting more planes in the air here. As the AFR ($) reports, Transport Minister Catherine King said she’d spoken to “relevant colleagues” about the decision but wouldn’t say who; it wasn’t us, Trade Minister Don Farrell and Defence Minister Richard Marles both said. Yesterday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the decision wasn’t influenced by former Qantas boss Alan Joyce, and no, Joyce did not dine at the Lodge, though he did travel on my jet to the jobs summit.

The spirit of Australia is awaiting an appeal verdict tomorrow as it continues to battle a 2021 case that found it had illegally sacked and outsourced 1700 staff during the pandemic. The head of Qantas’ information division won’t be there to see it — Sam Charmand has quit after 16 years at the airline, The Age ($) reports. And the stories keep on coming — an elderly couple celebrating a birthday were told to sit apart on the plane because the airline had overbooked the flight, their daughter (who is a travel agent) told 3AW yesterday. Qantas has asked Boston Consulting Group to help it navigate the public turbulence, news.com.au ($) reports, which hit a low note after the airline reported a $2.47 billion profit amid a class-action lawsuit over dodgy refunds, an ACCC investigation about selling cancelled fares, and countless lost luggage.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Metalheads took quick slurps of beer as they yelled themselves hoarse singing along to Metallica’s weird and wonderful hits. The show was in San Francisco, the band’s base for most of its decades-long career, so the energy at SoFi Stadium was positively buzzing. Most fans were standing, but Storm was happily seated as she listened along. She wasn’t supposed to be there, strictly speaking, but she’d sneaked out from her home opposite the stadium without anyone noticing. Not only that — she’d also slipped by the stern-looking security guards, and even managed to find an empty seat at the heavy metal concert to claim as her own. Onlookers could not resist snapping a photo — how often do you see a dog enjoying a metal concert?

Metallica later posted the pic of the husky, whose tongue was hanging happily from her mouth, saying she’d had a ball “listening to her favourite songs, including ‘Barx Æterna’, ‘Master of Puppies’ and ‘The Mailman That Never Comes’” (I’d also add that it seems the little dog can get in after all.) She was reunited with her initially worried owner, Arizbeth, who told local rag the San Francisco Chronicle that she had no idea Storm liked to rock out so much. The American woman also admitted that once she knew her beloved pooch was safe, she could not stop laughing at the photo of her dog. Metallica agreed that it was super funny, but advised fans it’s a good rule of paw to leave your dog at home when you’re ready to rock. “But this dog sure did have her day,” the band added.

Hoping you get away with something cheeky today too.

SAY WHAT?

Someone told me yesterday that the Voice referendum is a lot like Brexit in that a lot of people who vote No will realise they were influenced by a misinformation campaign after the vote like the leavers were.

Claire G Coleman

The Noongar woman and author said the No campaign has more than a whiff of the same misinformation that saw right-wing Brexiters convince the British that leaving the EU was the best thing for their country. This year, even former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage admitted Brexit failed.

CRIKEY RECAP

Labor fought to protect Qantas’ Europe business — but it’s an illusion

MICHAEL SAINSBURY

“Qantas’ European service is simply smoke-and-mirrors ticket clipping, akin to a travel agent. The Australian company takes a percentage, thought to be about 10% of the ticket price — the usual Qantas financial transparency applies here, as it won’t divulge the true amount — for marketing the Emirates service. It’s virtual, and virtually risk-free, profit. Customers using these flights have become used to the superior Emirates inflight service and on-time aircraft.

“Sure, codeshare customers still get Qantas points that they can use domestically or in Asia — when they can find a flight — but Qantas has largely lost them to Emirates’ superior ‘product’. The deal means Qantas effectively sent, and is continuing to send, an increasing number of jobs to Dubai during the course of the deal. Conversely, having allowed Qatar to send dozens more flights in and out of Australia would have brought thousands of jobs to Australia in terms of tourism …”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Colombia sets new coca cultivation record, UN report finds (Al Jazeera)

Morocco earthquake toll passes 2800 as rescuers search for survivors (Reuters)

Kim Jong Un: North Korea leader’s armoured train reportedly heading to meet Putin (BBC)

Trump is explaining exactly how wild and extreme his second term would be (CNN)

‘Ugly’, ‘wrong’, ‘desperate’: [NZ] political leaders pile in to scold Winston Peters (Stuff)

[Canada’s British Columbia] raises allowable rent increase to 3.5% for 2024 (CBC)

Up to 2000 feared drowned after Libyan city hit by ‘catastrophic’ storm floods (The Guardian)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Australia’s still dangerously secretive, and it’s our democracy that’s at risk — Peter Greste (The SMH) ($): “When it comes to corruption, mismanagement and abuse of power, there is a clear known unknown. We can be sure that across Australia there are scandals that remain hidden in both government and the corporate world, concealed by the corrupt, the unethical and the powerful. There will be abuses of authority, millions (perhaps billions) of dollars skimmed off in crooked scams, cases of mismanagement and malpractice, sexual assault, abuses of human rights, countless innocent victims, and a few good people who know what’s going on but are too afraid to speak out.

“We know this because, for a long time, we’ve watched precious few courageous whistleblowers rely on journalists to tell their stories. There’s Jeff Morris, the Commonwealth Bank insider who revealed corrupt practices at its financial planning arm and triggered the banking royal commission; Alan Parkinson, who went to the ABC in 1997 to expose the failures in the clean-up of nuclear waste at Maralinga; and nurse Toni Hoffman, who revealed the gross medical malpractice of a surgeon in Bundaberg. But in Australia, the laws that protect both whistleblowing and media freedom — two of the mechanisms essential to a working democracy — are manifestly failing.”

Megacities in the desert: the human cost of Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s bold new projects — Nesrine Malik (The Guardian): “On an urban planner’s paper, it is sort of impressive. A city groaning under a large population, and historically concentrated in a few areas in downtown and old Cairo stretching along the Nile river, has expanded into the desert and modernised. But with that, history, antiquity, green spaces and people’s rights to land and memories are being sacrificed, as the soul of the city itself seems to decamp towards the new buildings on its outskirts. In haste, places such as the City of the Dead become not repositories of precious heritage and sacred burial ground, but inconveniently located obstacles to the highways that need to be built.

“But it’s not all a crude but well-intentioned dash to the future. It is also a rebuking of the past. The shadow of the 2011 revolution still looms large, and even though its goals didn’t come to be, the remnants of its physical and psychological infrastructure remain, barriers to a political future where the possibility of uprising is foreclosed. And so Tahrir Square, the green centre of the protests, where people would gather, loiter and picnic, has been vacated and filled with concrete and smooth granite, with pharaonic antiquities at the centre and security guards on the periphery.”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Former diplomat Martin Indyk will speak about the US in the Middle East, as well as his latest book, Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy, at the Lowy Institute.

Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)

• Author Lucinda Holdforth will talk about her new book, 21st-Century Virtues: How They Are Failing Our Democracy, at Avid Reader bookshop.