Labor voters’ identity crisis

Saturday May 6

%%=v(@salutation)=%%

Are you a rusted-on Labor voter? Which type? Guy Rundle guesses you're either an “original true believer” who remains loyal no matter what, or you're the type who criticises the party in the hope of strengthening left forces within it to “rally and resist”. This week our correspondent-at-large considered how the party faithful will respond to Tuesday's budget.

Elsewhere this week Cam Wilson brought you another exclusive investigation into a Daily Mail Australia employee with a secret racist Twitter account, Ben Clark argued the time to raise JobSeeker was yesterday, and Maeve McGregor took a closer look at Labor's billions in subsidies for fossil fuel companies.

Plus guess which regional town has become a battleground for a defamation tussle between councillors and a community radio station.

Find those stories and plenty more in today’s Crikey Weekender.

Have a great weekend,

Gina Rushton,
Editor

Labor’s rusted-ons can’t deny the decay any longer

GUY RUNDLE

Anthony Albanese's Labor looks nothing like the party of old, writes Guy Rundle. Those on the left must now take active steps to oppose it.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Darren England)

Australia views itself as a leader in reproductive rights. In truth, we’re struggling to catch up

MEGAN CLEMENT

Through a combination of complacency and political cowardice, the reproductive rights of Australians remain inadequate and insecure.

An abortion rights protester in New York (Image: Olga Fedorova/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

‘Appalling’: Morrison’s role as AUKUS father should disqualify him from plum defence job

DAVID HARDAKER

Morrison's own ministerial code of conduct suggests an AUKUS gig would be a step too far. But don't expect that to stop the revolving door.

Scott Morrison (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Labor’s billions to fossil fuel companies heralds a new era of political betrayal

MAEVE MCGREGOR

Caught between sunny rhetoric and darker realities, Australia's continued privileging of fossil fuel companies above the people will live in infamy.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen and a coalmine in the Hunter Valley (Image: AAP/AP/Mark Baker)

Daily Mail reporter who ran a secret racist Twitter account is now an editor there

CAM WILSON

A Daily Mail staff member complained about Sam Duncan's racist tweets in 2017. The next year, Duncan was promoted.

(Image: Zennie McLoughlin)

There’s no perfect time to raise JobSeeker. Just do it now

BENJAMIN CLARK

Waiting for the day when raising welfare is politically and economically costless is a recipe for cruel inaction.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers (Image: AAP/Jono Searle)

On welfare, can Albanese rescue his relationship with the past?

EVE VINCENT

The federal budget is likely to include changes to JobSeeker and the parenting payment. But will they be enough?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Rob Blakers)

Suing Latham and Hanson achieves nothing and risks a free-speech culture war

GUY RUNDLE

By going to court over a handful of tweets, Greenwich and Faruqi risk reviving One Nation over a battle for civil society and the 'woke' state.

Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson (Images: AAP)

Regional council members to sue community radio station over spa project comments

JOHN BUCKLEY

In the regional New South Wales town of Coonamble, council members are wielding defamation laws and the threat of financial ruin to rebuff local media.

Councillor Brian Sommerville and Coonamble Mayor Tim Horan (Images: Coonamble Shire Council)

Fearless, public interest journalism is now a victim of ‘lawfare’ the world over

JOHAN LIDBERG

It's not just obvious countries like Russia and China that intimidate reporters. Even liberal democracies such as Australia can silence critics.

Former US president Donald Trump and former Brazil president Jair Bolsolaro (Image: EPA/Alan Santos/Brazilian Presidency)

Sky News Australia’s YouTube videos among 100 flagged for monetising climate disinformation

EMMA ELSWORTHY

Google said in 2021 that it would stop running ads alongside videos that spread climate change disinformation or denialism. It didn't.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

‘Religious extremist’ anti-LGBTQIA+ group CitizenGO is now hiring in Australia

CAM WILSON

The anti-LGBTQIA+ advocacy group wants someone to 'develop and pursue large scale social change efforts' in Australia.

A job advertisement for an Australian-based position for CitizenGO (Image: LinkedIn)

The Voice: the brains behind the Yes campaigns

CHARLIE LEWIS

Crikey looks at key figures behind the Yes case for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and finds a truly diverse group.

Key figures behind the Yes campaign (Images: AAP, Zennie/Private Media)

The No campaign for the Voice to Parliament is winning the media battle

JOHN BUCKLEY and CAM WILSON

The Yes side's most authoritative voices emerged as those with the fewest mentions over the first two months of the campaign.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

On the Voice, ‘both sides’ journalism risks giving racism a platform

CHRISTOPHER WARREN

US journalist Wesley Lowery derides the 'paint-by-the-numbers balance' of contemporary journalism. Is this a problem here in Australia?

An Aboriginal flag in Canberra (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Dillon’s AFL CEO coronation looks like more of the same

MEGAN MAURICE

Andrew Dillon's appointment sees another middle-aged white man land the AFL's top job. Can he fulfil his pledge of making footy more accessible to all?

Richard Goyder, Incoming AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and Gillon McLachlan (Image: AAP/James Ross)

‘Delighted’: Qantas engineers and pilots respond to Alan Joyce’s departure

MICHAEL SAINSBURY

The longtime CEO may be going, but the announcement of his replacement, Vanessa Hudson, hasn't raised the spirits of many staff.

Outgoing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and his replacement, Vanessa Hudson (Image: (AAP/Bianca De Marchi)

NSW Police investigating officer for alleged false quotes in activist’s case

ANTON NILSSON

An activist waging a protest campaign against the Communist Party of China said he was being painted as a 'racist'.

Activist Drew Pavlou (Image: AAP/Dan Himbrechts)

The good ol’ days of excess are over — but it’s all neoliberalism had to offer

GUY RUNDLE

The Albanese government's first major budget next week will have to make some lifestyle cuts. What happens when the new bloc economies can't deliver?

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

How the Dominion case shaped Murdoch v Crikey — and offered a new defence

MICHAEL BRADLEY

Across the Pacific, a much larger defamation case between Dominion and Fox News unfolded spectacularly, and helped inform a new approach.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Unsubscribe from The Crikey Weekender
Manage your subscription preferences
Contact us