NDIS CHANGES A ‘BETRAYAL’
A new law outlining what supports those on the NDIS can access has passed the House of Representatives, with disability advocates saying it will “rip the heart out” of the NDIS, according to Guardian Australia. The changes are designed to curb a massive increase in NDIS costs and are expected to save the government $14.4 billion over the next four years.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten attempted to quell fears, saying “the sun will come up tomorrow”, but this did little to reassure disability advocates. Marayke Jonkers, president of People with Disability Australia, told the AAP her organisation was “concerned people will lose access to support before these new foundational supports are trialled, tested or even designed”. Meanwhile, Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John called the changes a “betrayal”, saying there will be “no certainty over what will and won’t be provided through the NDIS”.
The ABC is reporting that people with disabilities are wary of the “extra powers the legislation affords the agency that runs the scheme, and what will come of the proposed ‘foundational supports’ for those outside the scheme”. El Gibbs, deputy CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia, noted it’s not just about supporting people within the NDIS but broadening support to those outside it, who she says are currently getting little or no support. The ABC says only 660,000 of the estimated 5.5 million Australians with a disability are currently aided by the scheme.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told Australians to expect the government to be “responsible and restrained in the MYEFO [mid-year economic and fiscal outlook]” as it tries to rein in inflation, Nine newspapers are reporting. Inflation has almost halved since Labor came to power, but Chalmers says it’s too early to declare “mission accomplished” as he continues to jostle with the RBA, aiming to get inflation back in the central bank’s 2-3% target band.
The Australian reports Chalmers is reaching across the House in an attempt to get support for his RBA reforms, with the treasurer trying to “break up its board into one that sets interest rates and another that oversees the governance of the central bank”. The Coalition was reportedly wary that Labor intended to stack any new rate-setting board with sympathetic appointees, resulting in Chalmers ceding to demands to retain the current board should his proposed split take place.
HARRIS’ HISTORIC MOMENT
The time has come for Kamala Harris as she prepares to deliver her speech to the Democratic National Convention tonight (Chicago time), accepting the party’s nomination for president. If she were to win, she would be the first woman as well as the first person of South Asian heritage to be elected president, Reuters reports.
CNN is calling the speech “the highest-profile moment of her political life”, noting that “Harris has never been regarded as one of the party’s master speechmakers”. The presidential candidate has been criticised for not revealing a detailed policy platform and there are suggestions she may use the speech to lay out the aims of her prospective government, including cracking down on price-gouging, helping lower rents and assisting first-time home buyers, NBC reports.
Those close to Harris have suggested her speechwriting team will be “cautious about how they will incorporate talking about race and gender while understanding that it will be important to acknowledge the history-making position Harris is in”, the NBC continues.
Axios writes that the mothers of some of the most high-profile Black victims of police violence have been explicitly invited by the Democrats, suggesting the party may be looking to restart the conversation about police reform. Nearly 13,400 people have been killed by law enforcement in America since 2013, with Black and Native American victims 2.9 and 3.2 times (respectively) more likely to be killed than the general population.
On the same day Harris gives her nomination acceptance speech, Donald Trump will speak in Arizona in front of a stretch of the US-Mexico border wall, US ABC reports. It’s an interesting choice, given the wall that Trump previously promised to build was never actualised, with only 450 miles of barriers completed under his administration, much of which were upgrades to “existing barriers”.
Trump has spent much of the week taking pot-shots at the DNC and its speakers, most recently calling the speeches by Michelle and “Barack Hussein” Obama “nasty”. “I try and be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal,” Trump said. The former president and famously kind fellow claims to have been a victim of FAKE NEWS accusations about his character for his entire career, which for posterity I’ll just leave over here…
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Death is perhaps a strange subject for a lighter note, but the celebration of a life well lived can be an inspiriting affair that reminds us all to cherish the time we have, and those we love within it.
On that note, I’m sad to inform Crikey readers that Sphen, one-half of Australia’s favourite gay penguin power couple, has died at Sydney Aquarium aged 11. Sphen and his partner Magic rose to global stardom when they took each other as partners in 2018, later adopting and successfully raising two chicks — much to the chagrin of “it’s unnatural” nuclear-family-only homophobes that threaten to blow up a library whenever a fictional character in a new picture book has two dads.
Magic and Sphen inspired a Mardi Gras float, were featured on Netflix’s Atypical, and were perhaps the most famous queer bird icons to ever have not flown this Earth. Magic has been taken to see Sphen’s body and apparently grieved his lover with a song, the zoo said in a statement.
I’m not crying, you’re crying…
Say What?
Okay, a buffalo will suffice, too.
Arshad Nadeem
The 27-year-old Pakistani athlete became the first of his country to secure an individual gold medal when he broke the Olympic javelin record in Paris this year. Nadeem, who received no assistance from his government before his medal, has been overwhelmed with gifts since his victory, including an apartment, a car and a buffalo. NPR notes, “In rural communities, a buffalo is considered one of the most honourable and valuable gifts”, as it produces huge amounts of milk products and requires little care. He received the gift from his wealthy father-in-law, joking about it on a Pakistan morning TV show.
CRIKEY RECAP
Steggall may or may not be the original “teal” (that title could also go to Kerryn Phelps), but she knocked off Tony Abbott in 2019 and was the first of this new wave to run on the blue-green colour that has since come to define them, meaning she is likely the reason we now use the term “teals”. She is also the first among them to be reelected, growing her already impressive margin in 2022, making her formerly safe Liberal seat a safe independent seat.
Perhaps this is what gives Steggall the confidence she displayed last Thursday when she demanded Dutton “stop being racist”. The two-term teal has since doubled down, telling outlets she stands by the label with regards to the proposed Palestine visa ban, prompting threats of legal action from the opposition leader and fierce condemnation from conservative media, which is, as per the playbook, more concerned about accusations of racism than racism itself.
We’re not exactly rolling in it, but Crikey has never taken gambling money. It’s not loose change we’re rejecting, either. Gambling brands spend a lot. And mostly pay full price.
We asked our ad sales team to do a rough, back-of-the-envelope calculation. Stay with us here: based on the available ad impressions, and imagining we sold 10% of them, (and factor in hiring a seller devoted to the job), it could conceivably shake out at a net margin contribution of around $300,000 — enough to really sink our teeth into some stories.
But we don’t go after that kind of money, we don’t take it when it’s offered and we’re not about to start. Why?
With the recent news that Anthony Albanese has requested a fresh takeover of the Victorian branch of the ALP, it should be obvious to everyone that neither of the two biggest stories around — the destruction of the CFMEU and the ramping up of AUKUS — have anything to do with building, corruption or national security. They are external expressions of internal Labor factional battles, as the party prepares for preselections in vacant seats in Victoria and for the federal election in general. Not only does it run deep in Labor. It is determining the direction of our foreign policy for decades to come.
The simplest way to put it is that the forces who believe Billy Bob Shorten should be elevated to the highest office have been on the move for some time. They’ve been revving the tanks. Mr Shorten himself is a modest man, a minister currently charged with ensuring the welfare of sea lions, the smooth running of Ascensiontide and matters pertaining to Yass. Others dream of higher office for him.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Israeli attacks kill at least 40 in Gaza (Al Jazeera)
German support for Ukraine comes under new strains (The New York Times) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
You know Trump’s in trouble when he can’t settle on a nickname for his enemy — Waleed Aly (The Age): Trump is not disorientated simply because he’s behind in the polls. He’s been there before with Hillary Clinton in 2016, and coped with it fine. He’s disorientated because Harris’ momentum has a particular character. It’s the speed of the thing, the whiplash, even the euphoria of it. This is the momentum of freshness.
I have no doubt this freshness is a product of circumstance. Harris is not fresh because she’s an electric figure in the Obama mould. She’s fresh precisely because by the end, Joe Biden wasn’t. Just as food tastes better after a fast, or sunshine is more vivid after weeks of rain, Harris’ vitality is in direct proportion to Biden’s tiredness. The “change” she represents is more aesthetic than anything. Presidents set the tone of their administration, and her tone is wholly different to Biden’s. That she’s a woman of colour only heightens that sense.
This week showed politics can still work in the national interest — Phillip Coorey (AFR): The week demonstrated that politics still can be serious when it matters and work in the national interest. People should not be fooled into thinking it’s all about the antics of crossbench poseurs, or the confected conflict of question time.
For example, barely a day goes by without Health Minister Mark Butler using a Dorothy Dixer to proclaim Peter Dutton to be the worst health minister ever. At the same time, Butler and Dutton have been cooperating behind the scenes on the aged care reforms, just as they did in 2012 when Butler, as aged care minister, first reformed the sector. Dutton was a willing participant despite pressure from Abbott at the time to have a fight instead.
