Plus: Productivity Commission backs the Voice?
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Saturday Jul 29
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Year 7 students at a school in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) wrote letters to their environment minister protesting against a proposed water allocation plan. Less than six weeks later, two government representatives showed up in class. Julia Bergin had the story.

Elsewhere this week Cam Wilson wrote on neo-Nazis getting comfortable in a Senator's instant-messaging channel, Charlie Lewis reminisced about John Howard's culture wars, and Bernard Keane wrote on a Liberal-commissioned Productivity Commission report that details why we need a Voice to Parliament.

All that plus the return of Media Briefs, and plenty more.

We hope you're having a wonderful weekend.
Gina Rushton Gina Rushton,
Editor
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Year 7 students write to the environment minister. Then department heads turn up
JULIA BERGIN

Alice Springs students protested against a new water allocation plan. It spurred a visit from the NT Environment Department.

NT Environment Minister Lauren Moss and some of the students' letters (Image: AAP/Lucy Hughes Jones/Supplied)
 
Neo-Nazis have taken over Senator Ralph Babet’s Telegram channel
CAM WILSON

The comments on the 700-follower channel are overrun with hate symbols, slurs and threats of violence.

United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)
 
Chewing on John Howard’s preferred cultural diet
CHARLIE LEWIS

The Australian continues its grand tradition of portraying John Howard as the human expression of mainstream Australia's pre-political soul.

Former Prime Minister John Howard (Image: AAP/Diego Fedele)
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Why the Productivity Commission thinks a Voice is needed to Close the Gap
BERNARD KEANE

In a Liberal-commissioned report into a Liberal government agreement, the Productivity Commission details why we need a Voice to Parliament.

An event in Sydney in support of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament (Image: AAP/Bianca De Marchi)
 
The ABCs of fumbling the bag 
JOHN BUCKLEY

This week: Stan Grant’s Q+A exit; Sky News finding its Voice; some quarterly results; and Oz camera operators break protocol during PM’s visit to NZ.

Stan Grant, Lenore Taylor, Malcolm Turnbull and Sharan Burrow (Images: AAP/Private Media)
 
Peter Dutton’s Game of Thrones moment as rivals gather to take out Sussan Ley
ANTON NILSSON

In the HBO fantasy drama series, political decisions often led to beheadings. Let's hope it doesn't go quite that far in Farrer.

Sussan Ley (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)
 
The Voice’s ‘liberal doom loop’ problem 
MAEVE MCGREGOR

The nation is now at a crossroads: there’s the path of ugly nationalism and the path of generous patriotism.

Aboriginal men in chains at Wyndham Prison in WA c.1901 (Image: Published in 'Nyibayarri: Kimberley tracker')
 
Voice referendum will be history long before Sky News is held to ‘account’ for its lies
BERNARD KEANE

Don't expect ACMA to do much about Sky News' disinformation about the Voice — even if it investigates, its findings will arrive far too late.

Rowan Dean, host of Sky News' Outsiders program (Image: Sky News/YouTube)
 
Australia’s rising tide of anti-LGBTIQA+ sentiment has a clear history
NEVENA SPIROVSKA

Recent attacks on Australia's LGBTQIA+ community form part of a global trend, but they have local roots.

Neo-Nazi protesters in Melbourne, 2023 (Image: AAP/Diego Fedele)
 
Who is Stuart Robert’s mate John Margerison? And why did he leave the country?
DAVID HARDAKER

Friends in deed and friends indeed: the former Coalition cabinet minister and the Gold Coast self-believing entrepreneur.

Former Liberal MP Stuart Robert and John Margerison (Images: AAP, John Margerison Philanthropy
 
Can the Productivity Commission’s fresh chair take on Labor’s new protectionism?
BERNARD KEANE

Chris Barrett — Jim Chalmers' former boss — is the new head of the Productivity Commission. Will he keep its independence intact?

Jim Chalmers and incoming Productivity Commission chair Chris Barrett (Image: Twitter/Jim Chalmers)
 
‘Intertwined with government’: PwC helped revamp NSW Health then raked in $30m
ANTON NILSSON

NSW Greens say the big four firm's restructure had turned NSW Health into a 'consultant’s playground'.

The PwC Australia offices in Melbourne (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)
 
Right-wing media likes to target women who call out men. Why?
BERNARD KEANE

Why was former Liberal MP Lucy Wicks outed as the source of complaints about a NSW Liberal MP? And why does this keep happening?

NSW upper house MP Taylor Martin (Image: Liberal Party)
 
Millions reportedly paid to Pacific MPs a drop in the ocean of detention expenses
CHARLIE LEWIS

Let's look back on what Australian taxpayer dollars have helped achieve on Manus Island and Nauru.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Darren England)
 
AUKUS’ nuclear waste dump is the secret no-one talks about. So what’ll it cost?
DAVID HARDAKER

The $360 billion cost of AUKUS might be startling, but on top of that is another undiscussed figure: the cost of building storage for nuclear waste.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)
 
Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand is a desperate move from a floundering company
CAM WILSON

Musk is changing Twitter's name to make it into something it's not. Perhaps he should focus on making sure it does what it's supposed to.

Elon Musk (Image: DPA Zentralbild/Patrick Pleul)
 
No campaign launches digital Voice campaign targeting Indigenous voters
CAM WILSON

Not My Voice, a Facebook page and website, has Indigenous peoples' testimony and lines such as 'We don't need to be treated differently'.

A graphic featuring Nyunggai Warren Mundine from the Not My Voice website (Image: Not My Voice)
 
Victoria’s two-speed democracy is still alive and well at the Commonwealth level
BERNARD KEANE

The IBAC report isn't just about Victoria — it's about how federal political donation laws allow a two-speed democracy.

Daniel Andrews (Image: AAP/James Ross)
 
Right-wing political conference headlined by US activist being sued for groping
CAM WILSON

Republican political activist Matt Schlapp says he did not grope a Senate candidate's staffer and his family is suffering 'unbearable pain'.

Chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp (Image: CPAC Australia)