TAKING THE STAND
A former Channel Seven producer alleged the network reimbursed former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann for drugs and sex workers after they met on January 5 last year while Seven was trying to woo him for an interview, Guardian Australia reports. But Taylor Auerbach didn’t have a copy of the invoice, and the paper notes the allegation is yet to be tested in court. He has, however, provided receipts showing: $10,315 in charges from Sensai Thai Massage in November 2022, a $555 meal at the Chophouse Restaurant (including a $361 Tomahawk steak weighing 1.9 kilograms), $401 on a round of golf and gear at Tasmania’s Barnbougle, $11,738 on Randwick accommodation, $517 spent at Sydney’s Franca restaurant, $450 spent at Sydney’s Spice Temple, and $259 spent at Tasmania’s Bridport Hotel. Auerbach alleged that Spotlight’s executive producer Mark Llewellyn approved the expenses, though Seven denied it (so did Llewellyn when news.com.au broke the story).
The SMH continues Auerbach will be cross-examined on Thursday afternoon after Justice Michael Lee greenlit Network Ten’s request to call fresh evidence in the defamation trial brought by Lehrmann (delaying the Thursday morning verdict). Ten’s silk said Auerbach also alleged Lehrmann gave Seven confidential information from his aborted ACT Supreme Court trial — specifically text messages between alleged sexual assault victim Brittany Higgins and her ex-boyfriend (Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence in that case, and the charges against him were dropped). That could be at odds with the Harman undertaking, which can result in contempt of court, as The Daily Telegraph continues, but Seven responded firmly that Lehrmann was not its source and would never say who was. The Australian’s ($) coverage mentioned the paper had “obtained” a video of Auerbach smashing his former colleague Steve Jackson’s golf clubs, and notes that “questions have been raised about [Auberach’s] recent conduct”.
VALE FRANKCOM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has summoned Israel’s ambassador Amir Maimon and contacted the Israeli government directly after Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was among a group killed in an Israeli airstrike while working for World Central Kitchen, The Australian ($) reports. Albanese called Frankcom’s death “completely unacceptable” and a “tragedy that should never have occurred”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his defence force had “harmed non-combatants”, The Age reports, and said: “This happens in war”. Greens foreign affairs spokesman David Shoebridge said the accountability for Frankcom’s death and that of the 33,301 Palestinians killed since October 7’s Hamas-led massacre starts with Albanese and his government. Frankcom was 43.
To a culture war now and One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson says Woolworths is refusing to stock the RSL’s special ANZAC biscuit tins, news.com.au reports, and said she would be continuing her Australia Day boycott. Woolies responded that it sells RSL-endorsed Bakers Finest ANZAC biscuits all year round and would be selling ANZAC and Poppy Appeal badges to support our veterans. Speaking of vulnerable Australians — energy company AGL was warned it was taking money from the welfare payments of former customers, court documents Guardian Australia saw alleged, because it got daily updates about the Centrepay transactions being made on the company’s behalf. Some $700,000 was allegedly wrongly taken by AGL, while Services Australia is clawing back overpayments to Queensland’s Ergon Energy too.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Some $16 million in anonymous money was donated to the Voice to Parliament referendum campaigns — about a fifth of the total — because the threshold for reporting it is $15,200. Guardian Australia reports Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy spent $1.93 million on its anti-Voice push, while pro-Voice donors included the Paul Ramsay Foundation ($7 million), ANZ bank ($2.5 million), Woodside Energy ($2.1 million) and Commonwealth Bank ($2.05 million). Meanwhile Treasurer Jim Chalmers continues to manage expectations about the May budget after the price of iron ore hit a 10-month low of less than US$100 a tonne (it was US$130 a tonne in January), Sky News Australia reports. Expect a “responsible budget” without the same sort of revenue upgrades we saw last time following the “quite concerning” resource price decline — though a second straight budget surplus is expected.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutton will say Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is doing a crap job of handling the nation’s finances, the SMH reports, with the opposition leader continuing that the Liberals are the party of the worker and business owner while Labor loves “inner-city elites, big business, union bosses, industry super funds and woke advocates”. Join me, he’ll tell CEOs and chairs, in loudly speaking out against him! It comes as The Courier-Mail called bullshit on Labor Premier Steven Miles’ claims Queensland can’t afford a new stadium for the Olympics in his decision to spend $1.6 billion upgrading the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre instead. The paper said the budget showed huge mining royalties and house prices had stuffed the Sunshine State’s coffers like never before — resulting in $87.7 billion worth of revenue, nearly double the $49.5 billion state Labor received in 2015.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Gold Coast woman Juliette Wells was walking with her partner Reece and Staffordshire bull terrier Peggy in 2020 when a little magpie chick plonked down on the grass nearby. The trio rushed over, peering down to see if it was alright and then up to scour the skies for its mum. There was nothing. So they bundled up the chick and brought it home with them. At first, Peggy the pup wasn’t quite sure — wasn’t she their best girl? — but her maternalism kicked in almost immediately, even producing milk for the little male magpie they christened Molly. Soon the unlikely pair were never apart, enjoying sunbaking, playing ball, and even snuggling in for naps together. Juliette and Reece were so moved they started an Instagram for the best buds, and some 719,000 people followed their unshakeable bond as we all struggled through lockdowns and the rising cost of living.
Unfortunately, it also attracted the attention of the Department of Environment, which demanded that Molly be surrendered. You have no rehabilitation permit, officials said, and native animals can’t hang out with domestic animals — it stresses them out. But news.com.au says the magpie has never been caged, nor had its wings clipped or been held inside. After surrendering Molly last week, Juliette and Reece were devastated. They published a poem at the weekend alongside some heartwarming footage of Peggy and Molly, asking: “If Molly had a voice, what would he say? / If Molly had a choice, where would he stay?”. Peggy is morose, Juliette added, while 135,000 gutted fans (and counting!) have signed a petition — including Queensland Premier Steven Miles, who called for the Pooh-and-Piglet pair to be reunited ASAP. Miles, who was once the environment minister, says he respects the rules… but there have to be exceptions in this life.
Hoping you don’t give up on love today either.
SAY WHAT?
I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.
J.K. Rowling
The Harry Potter author has dared Scottish authorities to arrest her after a new bill criminalised “stirring up hatred” relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. Rowling claimed it appeared to elevate men over women. Scottish Police responded that her misgendering comments weren’t a crime.
CRIKEY RECAP
“Why did climate denial suddenly become a touchstone for the global right? After all, when Rupert was pumping zero emissions, John Howard seemed to have been dragged reluctantly by his then environment minister Malcolm Turnbull to the idea of an emission trading scheme. The following year, Republican presidential candidate John McCain mouthed similar support.
“Follow the money. Fossil fuel corporates and the foundations they fund together with corrupt petro-states built a climate change denial countermovement. Surprising, I know, but here in Australia too.”
“There is no comparison with robodebt, which was about a deeply flawed and unlawful method of estimating overpaid welfare payments, dreamt up by bureaucrats and ministers who engaged in misleading conduct, and hounding people to pay up, in the end leading to suicides and deep misery on the part of many of the victims of fake debts. In this case, these are verified, existing, unpaid tax debts that will be taken from tax refunds.
“The comparison isn’t just wrong; it’s offensive to the tens of thousands of victims of robodebt. That hasn’t stopped the Greens — who have repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that the ATO is pursuing ‘questionable debts’ that people ‘may not even owe’ — and Guardian Australia chanting ‘robotax’ non-stop …”
“Unlike Abbott, Morrison stayed outside of the selection process, preferring it to run its course without his input. Although he’s made some appearances in the community alongside Kennedy, the ex-prime minister has taken a mostly hands-off approach to the campaign itself as well, Crikey understands.
“There are even rumours Morrison is planning to be abroad on April 13 when the by-election will be held. Two Liberal sources told Crikey Morrison has a work trip booked to Washington, DC that was planned before the by-election date was announced. The same sources said [Scott] Briggs would join him on that trip, but Briggs denied that.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
From prisoner to president in 20 days, Senegal’s Diomaye Faye takes office (Al Jazeera)
Who were the World Central Kitchen workers killed in Gaza? (BBC)
Fire at Istanbul nightclub kills dozens during renovation work, state media says (CNN)
How Rolexes put Peru’s presidency at risk (Reuters)
[EU] commission clears €1bn Greek aid for renewables (euronews)
Judge’s inaction in Trump classified documents case dashes July trial hopes (The Guardian)
[New Zealand] government signals boring budget as it looks to rebuild the economy (NZ Herald)
Biden talks to Xi about conflicts, from Ukraine to the Pacific (The New York Times) ($)
The disarray inside Boeing’s 737 factory before the door plug blowout (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Wider war looms as Tehran uses proxies forces to spread its evil — Greg Sheridan (The Australian) ($): “Iran has for decades been the key sponsor of Hamas, which itself is designated as a terrorist organisation under Australian law. It is also the key sponsor of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen. It controls a number of Shia militia in Iraq and is deeply involved in the Syrian civil war. Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as potentially an existential threat to the Jewish state. But Israeli operations against Iran in Syria have been much more targeted at Iranian efforts to provide weapons — especially missiles and drones — to Hamas.
“Interestingly Russia, which has two military bases in Syria, does not take any action to impede Israeli strikes against Iranian targets there, provided Israel makes sure to keep away from Russian forces. This is despite Iran’s role in selling military drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. The other striking aspect of Israel’s actions against Iran in Syria is that they are effectively the only direct price that Iran pays for all its sponsorship of terrorism and military conflict in the Middle East. The worst aspect of US President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy has been his determination to woo the Iranian government rather than contain it. This grievous policy blunder seems to be driven by nothing more profound than a desire to do the reverse of whatever Donald Trump did in office.”
From where we work to what we spend, the ABS knows more about us than ever before: here’s what’s changing — Peter Martin (The Conversation): “For more than half a century, every month since April 1961, the bureau has published an update on retail spending — how much we are spending in shops. The survey used to be quite useful. Back when it started, we did more than half our spending in shops. These days it’s only one third, the rest is on services. And the retail survey was always a pretty rough-and-ready way to find out what we spent in shops. Each month the bureau surveys about 700 large businesses and 2,700 smaller businesses selected at random. It uses phone calls and paper forms.
“Meantime, in part due to the national emergency created by COVID, it’s been given access to something better. Australia’s big four banks agreed to give the bureau de-identified card and transaction data to enable it to quickly get a handle on how much we were spending early in the pandemic, and they’ve kept providing it. It turns out to be very good indeed. It covers far more retail outlets than the retail survey ever did, as well as spending on services and spending overseas, and it divides spending into categories based on the type of merchant. It doesn’t directly cover what we spend in cash, but there’s a lot less of that than there used to be. It’ll replace the retail survey from the middle of next year.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)
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Comedian Fern Brady will talk about her memoir, Strong Female Character, at The Wheeler Centre.
