Crikey Worm: SA to axe protections for religious leaders

SPOTLIGHT ON RELIGIOUS LEADERS

South Australia will become the first state to axe protections for religious leaders later this year, with the others being urged to follow. The Advertiser ($) reports that SA will legislate for priests to carry the same legal responsibility to notify authorities of abuse as social workers, teachers, medical professionals and other workers.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announced yesterday that the federal government will act on 104 of the 122 of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, and that he will make a nation apology to survivors in October. However, in a rather blistering front-page story, the NT News ($) has criticised Turnbull for taking four months to address the rape of a two-year-old girl in Tennant Creek.

BURSTON QUITS ‘GONE NATION’

Federal Senator Brian Burston will today announce his resignation from One Nation, citing party leader Pauline Hanson’s “dictatorship” over colleagues as his reason for leaving.

The Age reports that Burston’s announcement that he will leave “Gone Nation” follows two weeks of internal fighting with Senator Hanson and will leave the party with just two members in Parliament ahead of crucial upper house votes on foreign interference laws and company and personal income tax cuts.

WHERE WE’RE GOING, WE DON’T NEED ROADS

Uber has identified Melbourne and Sydney as potential sites for the company’s first international tests for flying cars, to eventually form UberAir.

In news that could not possibly go wrong, the Herald Sun ($) reports that Uber executives are meeting Australian politicians, transport authorities and property developers this week about potential tests for the magic flying machines, which could begin as early as 2020.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

This is what is so exciting, we will have this amazing [laughs] tourism attraction, and if you are coming from New York and you’re flicking through the brochures of where you should travel, you should of course come to the beautiful South Burnett Bunya Mountains and on your way through visit the Big Peanut.

Deb Frecklington

The Queensland LNP leader and Member for Nanango very nearly gets through a plug for the soon-to-be-built Big Peanut with a straight face.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

The faceless bureaucracy that’s pushing us down the road to a police stateBernard Keane

“Once you discern a pattern of actions that are intended to establish a specific kind of anti-dissent police state, the next question is who is responsible, and why. Merely asserting it’s the fault of ‘the government’ or of individual politicians, doesn’t help. There will always be ambitious or power-hungry politicians, or politicians who value control and authority over freedom. The question is what has failed to restrain them, or why systemic factors have enabled them to have their way.”

Now the real game begins between the US and North KoreaProfessor Damien Kingsbury

“President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un have bested their doubters and not only smiled and shaken hands but have signed off on a document committing to the Holy Grail of contemporary diplomacy — the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. But what comes next, and how easily is this hard work undone?”

Is Malaysia spying on its students in Australia?Jeremy Nadel

“Malaysian students in Queensland believe that operatives of Malaysia’s police intelligence agency — Special Branch — filmed, photographed and took notes on them while they were passing on their ballot papers for the national election last month.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Carlton North death: Police release images of man in grey hoodie

$6b for NSW schools to deliver 170 new and upgraded schools

New Bridgewater crossing expected to be completed by 2024 ($)

Juvenile detainee put in spit hood by guards sues state government for $750K

NT cops wrongfully arrest one person a week ($)

Victoria’s failing mental health system ‘following path of US cities’

Land titles search prices tripled since NSW government sold it to 10 operators for $2.6 billion ($)

Water fight: mining billionaires battle for prized port

‘Dying man’s last wish’: Nauru refugee denied care in Australia

English test eyed for all new arrivals ($)

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Hobart

• Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein will hand down the state budget.

• Hobart artist Mike Parr will be buried alive beneath the bitumen of a busy city road for three days as part Tasmania’s Dark Mofo festival.

Melbourne

• The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee will hear from Family Violence, Women, Aboriginal Affairs and Industrial Relations Minister Natalie Hutchins and Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings.

• Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council will release a report on a decade of sentencing trends for illicit drug offences in the state.

• The Foundation for Young Australians will release “The New Work Reality”, a report following 14,000 young people’s journey from 15-25 to reveal key barriers preventing them from accessing full-time work, and four accelerating factors that help them make the transition faster.

• Australian of the Year Professor Michelle Simmons will visit Year 2 students at St Mary of the Cross Catholic Primary School.

• Mental Health Victoria will release new analysis on the state’s mental health system, which the group says shows Victoria has dropped from the nation’s best performer in the sector to “the bottom of the ladder”. Speakers will include chief executive Angus Clelland and Professor Patrick McGorry.

• Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency will release its latest three-monthly data set.

Darwin

• The Northern Territory’s Estimates Committee will hear from NT Treasurer, Health Minister and Leader of Government Business Natasha Fyles and Minister for Essential Services, Housing and Community Development, and Public Employment Gerald McCarthy.

• The Northern Territory Not For Profit Forum will hold events for representatives from the Territory’s not-for-profit sector.

Sydney

• Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will address an Australian British Chamber of Commerce lunch.

• The NSW Nationals will hold their annual general conference in Cowra.

• HMAS Creswell will host a graduation parade for 140 new entry officer course graduates from the Royal Australian Naval College.

Brisbane

• The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG will officially launch the Queensland Branch of The Asian Australian Lawyers Association (AALA) and will deliver a keynote speech on “Cultural Diversity in the Law”. Panel guests for the launch will also include barrister Laina Chan, UQ Associate Professor Ann Black and Allens partner Nicholas Ng.

• The Queensland Exploration Council will hold an investment showcase.

• Researchers from the Australian Catholic University will hold a public discussion on the idea of the middle school years “slump”.

Canberra

• Jobs and Innovation Minister Michaelia Cash and Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles will speak at the first full day of the ASPI space industry conference.

• The AIDS Action Council will hold a special movie fundraiser and screening of Ideal Home.

Adelaide

• Adelaide Airport will announce details of a significant investment in its terminal infrastructure.

• Professor Carol Kulik from UniSA Business School’s Centre for Workplace Excellence and South Australia’s Equal Opportunity Commissioner Dr Niki Vincent will hold a public discussion on the long-run effects of gender diversity and its impacts for organisations.

• Piper Alderman and the University of Adelaide will host the full-day Personal Insolvency Forum.

Perth

• The Cancer Council WA will hold a Cancer Myths Roadshow.

• Members of Sea Shepherd Marine Debriz Campaign will speak at a screening of Albatross, a documentary on the impacts of ocean pollution.

Logan City, Victoria

• The granddaughter of Eddie Mabo, Boneta-Marie Mabo, will join Acting Mayor Cherie Dalley for a special event in recognition of National Reconciliation Week in Logan.

Richmond, NSW

• The Department of Defence will hold a community walk-in session to present the findings of its Detailed Site Investigation into legacy fire-fighting chemicals at RAAF Base Richmond. Assistant Secretary PFAS Investigation and Management Program, Luke McLeod, will be in attendance.

Deniliquin, NSW

• The NSW government will officially open the new Deniliquin Police Station.

Russia

• Today is opening day of the FIFA World Cup 2018, to run until July 15.

THE COMMENTARIAT

It’s time to stop giving more rights to global corporations — Dr Patricia Ranald (The Age): “The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published new research that shows that increased market power of global corporations is driving global income inequality. It notes that ‘in 2009–2015, the surplus profits of the top 1 per cent of publicly listed firms in a new UNCTAD firm-level database represented 55 per cent of recorded operating profits,’ and recommends a review of existing regulation and trade agreements to develop ‘measures to curb abusive business practices.’”

If ancestors could vote — Karen Wyld (IndigenousX): “Georgina Downer, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs and long-term Victorian resident, is the Liberal candidate. Georgina Downer has spoken publicly of her desire to continue the Downer ‘dynasty’ in South Australia. Given her great grandfather’s lack of fortitude to make just decisions during the frontier wars, which saw Aboriginal people murdered or driven off their ancestral lands, perhaps some political dynasties need to come to an end — so we can all move forward.”

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