CLOSING THE GAP
Well done everyone, we’ve made it to the end of quite the week of news. With the weekend just around the corner, let’s get on with it and take a look at what’s leading the agenda this morning.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Alice Springs today to announce a commitment of $842.6 million over six years to assist First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, Sky News reports.
The AAP says the investment will fund services such as policing, women’s safety, education and alcohol harm reduction, while the ABC reports the funding will be delivered through the NT Remote Aboriginal Investment — an agreement with the Northern Territory government — in collaboration with Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT.
“Australians want to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The task before us is to build a future in which all Australians have access to the same opportunities,” Albanese said in a statement trailing the announcement. The AAP reports funding “for up to 12 Aboriginal community-controlled children and family centres, and the establishment of local groups in up to eight locations, to design and deliver services in community” is also set out in the agreement.
Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT convener John Paterson said the investment was a step in the right direction and is quoted by the ABC as saying: “Investing in Aboriginal self-determination to close the gap in the Northern Territory will deliver vital services and programs for our mob in the bush. Programs and supports funded through this investment go to the heart of what Aboriginal Territorians have advocated for decades. Aboriginal people hold the knowledge needed to improve outcomes for our people and communities.”
In other news, the government’s hate crime laws passed Parliament yesterday and overnight we’ve had an awful lot of commentary on Labor’s decision to go against its national platform and adopt the Coalition’s push for mandatory sentencing. Josh Butler has a useful analysis piece in Guardian Australia about how the opposition is looking to frame the legislation as its win. The piece also analyses why Labor produced the U-turn and rounds up some of the reactions/disappointment.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson was keen for everyone to know what he thought of the passing of the new laws, telling Sky News: “The government has been dragged kicking and screaming to doing the right thing to protect Australians. But once again, it is Peter Dutton and the Coalition who has led and it’s Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party who has followed. Why would you choose a pale imitation of Peter Dutton when you could have the real thing?”
Albanese, for his part, defended the move, saying during a press conference where he was also announcing support for communities affected by the recent floods in North Queensland: “What we’ve done, through our legislation, makes sure that we have strong legislation. We are the first Government to introduce legislation about Nazis and other hate symbols. We did that last year. We’re strengthening the legislation today. We want people who are engaged in antisemitic activities to be caught, to be charged, and to be put in the clink. That’s my priority.”
Albanese was also asked about Dutton’s calls for an inquiry into when he was told about the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives in greater Sydney, to which the PM replied: “For Peter Dutton, there is no issue too big for him to show how small his approach to politics is and to attempt to play politics.”
In WA, the latest polling reported in The Australian shows Labor leading the Liberals 56-44 ahead of the state election next month, with Labor Premier Roger Cook enjoying a strong overall satisfaction rating. The paper also says the polling showed 50% of voters polled in WA believed it was “time to give someone else a go” as prime minister.
My colleague Charlie Lewis has written a helpful piece on the importance of the WA result, regardless of the fact the winner already seems like a foregone conclusion.
TRUMP REPEATS GAZA COMMENTS
The exhausting nature of the news cycle this week (and the two before it) is obviously due to the new resident of the White House, whose press conferences and every utterance continue to receive breathless coverage (see my colleague Bernard Keane’s latest piece on this phenomenon below).
On Thursday, Donald Trump reiterated his plan for a US “takeover” of Gaza, the BBC reports, with the US president writing on his Truth Social platform: “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like [Democrat Senator] Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”
“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The US, working with great development teams from all over the world, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
The British broadcaster says Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is still in Washington DC, told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 he was not surprised by Trump’s comments about Gaza this week. Meanwhile, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem is quoted as saying: “We do not need any country to manage Gaza, nor do we accept replacing one occupation with another.”
Palestinians have been protesting against Trump’s remarks, with the BBC reporting demonstrators outside the al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, holding banners declaring: “These lands are ours. We will build and develop Gaza with our will and determination.”
Reuters highlights how United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this week: “In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing. We must reaffirm the two-state solution.”
On the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, the Palestinian Authority’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Varsen Aghabekian, said: “We want to have Australia and all other countries who are for international law and who want a world order … to stand tall and say that this is not acceptable. You cannot defy international law.”
Elsewhere in global news, Fortune highlights that today is the deadline for millions of federal workers in the US to decide whether they’re willing to go into the office five days a week or resign. WIRED, which has done some brilliant reporting on the start of the Trump administration and in particular Elon Musk’s DOGE project, states rifts are emerging between the billionaire and the president’s inner circle. “There could be a collision course coming here at some point,” a Republican operative said. “He’s [Musk] getting too big for his breeches.”
Of particular interest for the Australian political parties, in the UK on Thursday the Bank of England cut interest rates to their lowest level in more than 18 months — to 4.5% — and halved the growth forecast for the year. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to make it easier to construct mini nuclear power stations, telling the BBC: “I say build baby build. I say we’re going to take on the blockers so that we can build.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
When Samy Arbid returned to his recently purchased home in Altadena, California, following the devastating wildfires he was in for a shock. His property was fine, but what lurked underneath was rather surprising.
The New York Times reports Arbid discovered on his return a 525-pound (238kg) California black bear hiding under the property.
“I have a ring camera that’s got a light on it, and I kind of just put it in the hole and into the crawl space, and there was a giant bear there. I couldn’t believe it,” he told ABC7.
When a local utility company came to restore power to the property, they unsurprisingly announced they could not complete the work. So the bear had to go.
The NYT says Arbid laid out a rotisserie chicken, sardines with tomato sauce and peanut-butter-smeared apples to lure the bear out of its hiding place (and into a trap he had set up). It worked and with the help of seven other people, he took the animal to Angeles National Forest where it was eventually released.
The pictures of the team trying to lure the bear into the trap are quite something. Check ‘em out.
Say What?
I am issuing an open invitation to anyone who believes they might have the resources and the ideas to oversee TED for its next 25 years (and beyond!) to step forward.
Chris Anderson
The British entrepreneur is giving away the non-profit organisation TED (you know, the one that does the talks) to whoever has the best idea of what to do with it. Anderson added in a blog post: “To be clear, I am not seeking to gain financially from this process.” So if you’ve got an idea, get applying!
CRIKEY RECAP
According to the Centre for Public Integrity, $74.5 million was declared by parties without a source, $35.2 million of it by the Coalition (little wonder the opposition opposes reforms to lower the disclosure threshold to $1,000). And don’t get me started on right-wing Advance Australia, which declared sources for just 7% of the $15 million it received — including $500,000 from the Cormack Foundation, a Liberal Party fundraising group. Nothing suss!
However, one group of donors has received outsized media attention. As the Murdoch media has eagerly reported, two of the three top donors gave to fundraising outfit Climate 200, with investors Rob Keldoulis and Marcus Catsaras each tipping in $1 million to its $6 million total — small in the scheme of things, but conveniently aligned with Coalition claims that Climate 200 constitutes “big money”.
I’m about to add to that attention, with a caveat that we should be more concerned by the money we can’t see. But it’s worth considering Climate 200’s backers, thousands of whom opt to be named on its site. Who are they? What do they want? And with debate once again swirling over Labor’s electoral reforms, how much is too much for one individual to give?
But despite the company’s excitement, there’s still scant evidence BorderAge can do what it says it can. No-one outside of Needemand has independently tested or used BorderAge yet. The product isn’t currently in use anywhere. And Polit acknowledged that the company is still sorting out its technological infrastructure so it can be used by others, even though he says the underlying technology already works.
Polit said Needemand is close to signing a contract with a company to host its product, the last hurdle before rolling out BorderAge. He mentioned that an Australian association, Retail Drinks Australia, wanted to be able to “test our solution very soon”.
A spokesperson for Retail Drinks Australia told Crikey that, after receiving a cold email from Needemand, a staff member “did have a very brief introduction/courtesy phone conversation with their company representative, and nothing further”.
The ACCS will test Needemand’s product as part of its Australian trial (the full list of companies to be included in the trial is expected to be announced later today). The trial will independently test these technologies, including assessing their accuracy and reliability, as well as other aspects like their ease of use, freedom from bias, and data security.
But as often happens with such statements by Trump, they were quickly undercut by his own people walking them back: suddenly, just hours later, his administration insisted Trump never said he wanted to permanently relocate Palestinians, nor that he would send US troops in as a colonial occupation force.
Nonetheless, his proposal triggered global outrage (having made a somewhat smaller splash when he first uttered such sentiments a week ago), which was precisely the point, or prompted more of that “Trump’s playing 4D chess” guff. (Peter Dutton: “He’s a big thinker and a deal maker.”)
Here, Nine papers engaged in performative outrage that the leader of the free world would demand ethnic cleansing — ironic given they have reliably backed Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and demonised critics of Israel (The Australian demanded that Trump’s idea “not be dismissed out of hand”).
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Hottest January on record shatters global temperatures (ITV News)
Chelsea’s Sam Kerr denies using ‘whiteness as an insult’ against police (BBC)
Earthquake surge prompts state of emergency on Greek island of Santorini (Associated Press)
Ex-cop who tasered 95-year-old fights to keep freedom (AAP)
Debt-laden Victoria could be paying $15m per match to host NFL (AFR)
Australian lawmaker changes his name to ‘Aussie Trump’ (Reuters)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Albo must copy ScoMo’s playbook and fight like hell — Lidija Ivanovski (AFR): It’s time for Albo, who says he “likes fighting Tories”, to start throwing some punches. Go after Dutton for his promise to perform “economic surgery”. Last weekend, Dutton pledged to cut government spending, but won’t tell voters what will get the chop until after they’ve made him prime minister. His plan to subsidise business lunches when people are struggling with the price of a kilo of mince is out of touch and the government needs to skewer him for it.
When Albanese decides to call the election, he will first have to request an audience with the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn. Perhaps they can reminisce about the fun they had at the jobs summit, where Mostyn, in her previous role as president of Chief Executive Women, was one of the star performers.
The warm glow from those convivial and cooperative days is long gone. Ultimately in politics, if you’re not fighting, you’re dying. It’s time for Albanese to fight like hell.
Labor survives the week, Peter Dutton summons the press and Pauline Hanson met with crickets as Parliament returns — Brett Worthington (ABC): It was quite the call from the leader of a party that had quite the penchant for secrecy during its almost decade in power.
Be it Dutton’s own use of “on water matters” to prevent answering as immigration minister, to Scott Morrison secretly being sworn in to a swathe of ministries or the overzealous badging documents as cabinet in confidence, the Coalition in power proved anything but advocates of transparency.
Dutton’s calls for transparency didn’t last long.
After offering his own theory on the delay in authorities briefing the PM about the caravan, Dutton, when pressed for evidence on his allegation, insisted he wouldn’t comment on conversations he’d had.
